by Rachael Glaszcz, guest blogger

Facebook will reportedly roll out a beta version of timeline interface for brands by the end of February. Is your brand ready? Are you set to detail your company’s accomplishments and perhaps (gasp!) public-worthy failures in glorious chronological order?

Facebook VP-Global Marketing Solutions David Fischer has said Timeline for brands will be “consistent” with the Timeline look for personal profiles, which is picture-heavy and scrapbook-like. If this is the case, companies will want to capitalize on the visual opportunities before them. For example, brands will be able to showcase big, bold photos or muted, clean colors- all depending on what their brand is, of course. Designers have jumped at the chance to mock up possible pages for major brands.

Another factor brands should consider is lifestyle apps and how they will come into play in the timeline interface. Right now apps such as Spotify and Pinterest show up in boxes on a user’s wall. Users “listened to” a song on Spotify and “pinned” something on Pinterest. This goes beyond Facebook users simply “liking” a brand. Spotify and Pinterest have found a way to engage users in a way that basically shouts, “Hey, this user used our brand!”

So with the prospect of the roll out before us, here are a few easy and brief ideas to get you and your brand ready to roll.

1. Consider the cover photo
First impressions are everything. That big, shiny picture will likely be front and center like it is on personal profiles. What is the first impression you want to make when people are perusing your page?

2. Talk about timeline
When was your company born? When did you have your first, major success? When did you attempt something that wasn’t successful at first, but it paved the way for something so successful you would’ve never dreamed it would become reality? How much of this do you want your fans to know? Perhaps you have video of these milestones that you want to share. Think about how you want to organize the information and how detailed you want it to be.

3. Mind your message
When the Timeline rolls out, what is the first thing you want to tell your fans about your new page? Talk about the best ways to showcase your hard work and come up with the messaging you want to use.

Ad Age reports Facebook Timeline for brands will debut February 29th, at fMC, its conference for marketers. What are you doing to get your brand ready?

Steven Paul Jobs, the visionary, the entrepreneur, the man who redefined the digital age, changed music, movies and mobile communications, and made our jobs easier, died yesterday.

His contributions go further than his 317 patents. He encouraged us to find what we love, do great work and not settle. He gave us the tools to be creative. He changed our culture. He inspired millions to think differently and believe we could change the world. He gave wings to the crazy ones. As a modern day Thomas Edison, he moved the human race forward.

Thank you, Steve!

This is a guest blog post from our intern Laura who reflects on her summer internship experience.

Throughout Fonzie’s life there were many girls who were influential to his career. Once upon a time the glorious…

And that’s what you get when you let all the interns try to write a blog post together. It’s probably better that you don’t ask questions about that, but if you ever get a chance visit the Bronze Fonz down on the Milwaukee River.

So for me this whole summer internship and experience started in Dublin, Ireland. I studied abroad for the month of May around Ireland and was sitting in the Dublin airport waiting for one of my three flights home when I got the news that I was a new OrangeAid sponge. I remember walking into the office on the first day and got paraded around being introduced and feeling like I was going through sorority recruitment all of over again (not something you ever want to do twice).  Then we got down to business.

We were given our client and dove right into their strategy and concepts feeling like the Mad Men themselves. This was in the beginning of June. Now it’s nearing the end of August and I’m already back at school waiting to spend my money on books, pens, and notebooks (because that is exactly what I want to spend my money on).

My eyes have been opened to exactly how a project is completed and the biggest lesson I learned all summer. Are you ready for it? Okay good. You can always revise something to be better. We wrote numerous amounts of copy for our client and through our own revisions about 89% of it is currently in a trash can or crossed out on paper in bright red pen. But seeing that and going forward was always encouraging. Everyone working with us wouldn’t just shoot us down but they would raise the bar a little higher so we could really write and be proud of our accomplishments. I mean, I learned a lot of other stuff too that I will take with me in life. For example, 62% is the best amount of cocoa to be in chocolate, and Icelandic candy is not yummy…at all. But in all seriousness, this internship has only strengthened my want to be in the  Ad World and find my niche in a place like Jigsaw.

This summer has flown by so fast, but Jigsaw and OrangeAid have definitely been a good time.  Seeing the orange gorilla sitting out, taking over an empty office looking out to the Bronze Fonz and having sticky notes upon sticky notes clinging to my notebook with reminders and ideas have all made my summer and provided a few good laughs.  It was also great being treated as an intern with a mind rather than an errand girl or copy girl, we even got graph paper delivered to us! (Bryan and Joel are probably still freaking out about that.)

Working with everyone and learning what goes on the big kid world helped me realize that I may actually survive and not get eaten by sharks when I eventually graduate college. But really, I don’t think I can say how much I appreciate everything I was taught and the experience I was given through OrangeAid. I even got to go on a field trip and take a picture with the Bronze Fonz! (ps. Where are those pictures?)

Orange FTW

Written by Amanda Janssen-Egan and Julie Pendergast

We know our planet is changing. Stories about global warming, population growth, natural disasters and its future impact on our planet, flood (no pun intended,) our TV programs, newspapers and magazines. We are exposed to these issues on a daily basis.  Some of us take it seriously. Some of us don’t give it a second thought. PBS’s Planet Forward, a project of the Center for Innovative Media at The George Washington University, wants you to get involved, and they are offering fame in return.

Users can submit their ideas for community innovation for adapting to a future planet at http://planetforward.org/season/adaptation/, for a chance to be featured in one of Planet Forward’s many webisodes, on PBS’s Nightly Business Report, or in their Fall 2011 PBS Special on Smart Communities. Nominated ideas will be posted on the site, where users can vote on the winners. Do you have an idea to submit? Check out other’s recent ideas here.

Photo By, Loca Luna/Anna Gay

What a great example of using crowdsourcing to develop content, while at the same time spreading the word about a cause that affects us all.  Not to mention inspiring community involvement. Have you given a second thought to how the changing planet is going to affect future generations? Is there anything in particular you do? Can you tell the difference in the environment between now and when you were a kid?

And we keep growing! After looking for new interns and an Account Coordinator, now we are in the search for the most amazing and passionate Assistant Account Executive to join our melting pot of talent.

This position is ideal for someone who already has a few years of account management and agency experience. For someone who can keep cool in a fast-paced environment, work across all forms of media, including digital and mobile, and bring fresh ideas to the table every day 3294783673284 times a day.

What will the most amazing Assistant Account Executive do?

• Provide support to overall management of assigned accounts, serving as primary day-to-day client contact for projects and client requests.
• Manage project status reports, project timelines, and project costs.
• Work with media planner to understand and manage media deadlines.
• Assist in the creation of creative briefs and facilitate internal team briefings.
• Independently manage projects with internal team, coordinating with production, traffic, media and creative departments.
• Oversee delivery of project elements to clients, ensuring quality and accuracy, capturing client feedback, managing changes and guaranteeing final delivery of all materials.
• Actively prepare for and participate in client meetings, facilitating portions of meeting, capturing meeting notes and generating conference reports.
• Perform, summarize and present secondary research as directed by account managers. Proactively seek out and track advertising and client industry news, trends and insights.
• Assist the account team with other organizational tasks or projects as needed.
• Contribute to Jigsaw’s online presence.
• Be awesome.

What will make you the most amazing Assistant Account Executive?

• Bachelor’s Degree; Advertising/Marketing/Communications major strongly preferred.
• 2-3 years of agency experience or equivalent professional experience in a marketing/communications capacity.
• Team player who is enthusiastic, flexible, highly organized, implicitly motivated, dependable with an innate attention to detail.
• Strong writing, communication and presentation skills.
• Interest/experience in social media.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office programs: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Knowledge of Keynote is a bonus.
• Awesomeness and brilliance.

Interested? Submit your resume and cover letter to humanresources@jigsawllc.com.