Insights from Nebo

Email may have turned 50 years old this year, but don’t let those hip, new communication channels distract you. Email is one of the oldest and most effective messaging channels there is — and, like Bill Murray, the coolest. 

With so many social media platforms, we ask ourselves where do we even begin?

Let’s jump right in.

‘Twas the Friday after Cyber Week and all through the agency, not a single Neeb was stirring, except maybe a few office dogs.

As a professional social media enthusiast, this is the best time of the year to scroll through my feed mindlessly. I see beautiful tablescapes and homes decked out in cozy decor, hundreds of Instagram Stories of pets dressed in ugly sweaters, and brands putting all of their creative efforts into social media campaigns that take months of planning. 

How can you tell if someone is vegan? 

Don’t worry — they’ll tell you. 

Alternative punchline: invite them to Thanksgiving. If the only dish they touch is canned cranberry sauce, you’ll know. Unless you’ve got a plant-based turkey on hand, that is — and these days, you actually might. 

In the last few years, meat-free food has undergone a major rebrand. Vegan is dead — and if you ask me, good riddance. In its place is a shiny new rebrand: Plant-Based. Ushered in by the tastebud-defying likes of Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger, meat-free options are not only bountiful these days, but actually palatable. Like, so fucking good, even my meat-loving aunt digs in.  

BACK TO THE FUTURE

The Noid. Pac-Man. Blockbuster. If you were a kid in the ’80s and ’90s, then these words probably spark a memory of your childhood. Growing up in the MTV generation, I was part of an early explosion of advertising geared toward children. I felt like toys, games and TV shows were being created just for me. And there’s a reason for it. In 1984, Ronald Reagan deregulated advertising to children. This allowed companies to market as much as they wanted to children, leading to an explosion of toys, junk food, cartoons, fast food and breakfast cereals all aimed at young kids. And I loved it! From “The Smurfs” to “Star Wars,” I was part of a new era in advertising.

And then I grew up.

I recently turned 40 and I have to admit I still have the taste of my 12-year-old self. When I see toys, characters or films from my childhood, I feel more than nostalgia. It feels comforting and familiar in a world full of extreme unpredictability.

We know how the saying goes -- Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. As project managers, we were obviously all born great – but how many of us told our parents this is what we wanted to be when we grew up?

Project Managers sit in a fun middle ground, where many softer skills are equally as important as our technical marketing know-how, and many of us have been practicing those skills from an early age. In honor of International Project Management Day, some Nebo project managers compiled cherished childhood memories that, in retrospect, outline how our career paths began from an early age.