Random

As a social occasion, they’re great. You get all of Buffalo’s ad people in a room with hors d’oeuvres and an open bar and you’ll probably have a good time.

As a professional showcase, they’re unmatched. You show all their best work on the big screen and you’ll probably end up motivated and inspired. Long story short, there was a lot of talent in that room.

Despite how proud I might be to be part of that community, though, it’s hard not to go there and feel a little small.

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If you’re wondering why there’s a sudden resurgence in your colleague’s interest in Pokémon this week, you’re probably the only one who hasn’t heard about Pokémon Go. Pokémon Go is an augmented reality app for iPhone and Android devices, released this week. Essentially, you open up the app and it combines the nostalgic world of Pokémon with our very own, leading us to wander around the world with our phones in front of our faces looking for the little creatures.

But this isn’t the only augmented reality people are using: from Google Glass to educational apps like Star Walk, augmented reality has been on the rise for several years.

Besides looking really cool while using it (see below), what does this mean for marketers?

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Hello!

My name is Christopher D’Amato and I am a Digital Marketing intern.

In addition, I am also an Advertising and Psychology double major at Xavier University, with a minor in Digital Media.

As an aspiring Creative Director, and hopeful owner of my own agency sometime in the future, I crave every opportunity I can to improve my knowledge on both the art and science of interpretation. Simply put, I yearn for an understanding of Advertising and Psychology on all levels.

My first task as an intern was to put these qualities into words and answer the Proust Questionnaire in order for you and a few others to understand the kind of person I am.

Grab that espresso you have been thinking about, sit back, and try to relax. Allow my answers to guide your stream of consciousness for the next few minutes.

Quit shaking! Breathe deeply.

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Hello, I’m Jaime Anna. Yes, my last name is a first name, I know. Oh, and I’m a Digital Marketing intern at LUMINUS.

Once upon a time, I was sitting at my desk on the first day of my internship. Suddenly, I was tasked with answering the Proust Questionnaire. If this guy was answering these types of questions with such eloquence at the mere age of 13, he had great things going for him. If he only lived in 2016 and saw the kinds of answers that I’ve given.

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Algorithms are, basically, processes that automated systems like computers use to make decisions. At least in the beginning, they’re created by humans to serve certain purposes, though (especially as machine learning gets better) they can start to change and refine themselves in a way that is opaque to most if not all flesh-and-blood intelligence.

The dangers of relying on algorithms, then, are obvious. The biases of the creator are encoded in the algorithm, which then acts in a way that is trusted to be unbiased, or at least reality-informed. And then self-refining algorithms have the potential to get away from us.

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Hi, I’m Amanda….a rookie here at LUMINUS! What I mean by that is that i’m a new intern here and I would like to share with you my experience so far and why you should also become an intern here at LUMINUS!

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Hello There.

I’m Shakeel.

The fancy jargon for what I’ve been gaining experience in at LUMINUS is called Digital Marketing.

I must say that I learned quite a few things that I couldn’t otherwise at that 40-hour thing known as my current job.

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Hi ya’ll, my name is Amanda Mertowski.

I am a Digital Marketing Intern at LUMINUS.

The Proust Questionnaire… “a closely related set of questions posed to famous subjects about their lives, thoughts, values and experience.”

Well, I wouldn’t call myself famous but I was asked to answer these questions, so I guess that makes me someone who is known. So like many before me my answers will be shared with the world or at least with my mom.

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Hello, my name is Shakeel Alexander.

I’m a Digital Marketing Intern at LUMINUS.

On day two of my internship at LUMINUS, I was tasked with writing something about myself. This is often difficult for me, considering that I’m changing my mind about everything, EVERY DAY. 

 And just like that, the Proust Questionnaire fell into my inbox.

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Earlier today, our developer, John Connelly, jumped six feet back from his keyboard.

“What in the world?”

I rolled over to his desk where I was greeted with a Chrome window featuring a blue screen of death and a popup with a lengthy, garbled error message. John unplugged his headphones so we could hear the accompanying audio, read in a pleasing computerized female voice:

“This is an important security message. Please call the number provided as soon as possible. You will be guided for the removal of the adware spyware virus on your computer. Seeing these popups means that you have a virus installed on your computer which puts the security of your personal data at a serious risk. It’s strongly advised that you call the number provided and get your computer fixed before you do any shopping online.”

Even weirder than this web page warning John of this “adware spyware virus” was how he got there. Like many a user, he’d Googled “YouTube” and clicked the top result (in this case, a PPC ad). That redirected him not to YouTube proper, but “www.youtubues.com,” a site undoubtedly created to prey on lazy typers.

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