Earlier this year, the Wheaton Franciscan Heart Care Team extended its experience and expertise to the Elmbrook Memorial Campus with the introduction of a new heart-focused surgical suite and cardiac catheterization lab. As noted in a recent Business Journal article, the hospital is exceeding its projections.

Together, with Elmbrook’s crack marketing and communications teams, we launched a tightly integrated marketing campaign consisting of paid, owned and earned media–and experiential tactics. It’s that final piece–Elmbrook’s presence within the community, bringing tools and messages about a heart-healthy lifestyle to real, live people–that tells the real story of what Elmbrook’s doing right.

A central component of this campaign was Elmbrook Memorial’s partnership with the Brookfield Farmer’s Market. Participating once a month in June through October, physicians and staff from Elmbrook and the Wheaton Franciscan Medical Group provided blood pressure screenings, a healthy cooking demonstration and recipes, heart-healthy living tips, and goodies to farmer’s market attendees, interacting one-on-one and encouraging community members to take control of their heart health.

Alongside the farmer’s market Dr. Mushir Hassan launched the “Walk with a Wheaton Doc” program, in which he took a group of community members on two-mile walk from the market and back, offering a water stop and tour of the nearby WFMG physician office where he practices, and giving people a chance to engage with him in casual conversation on preventive health care and overall heart health.

The video below provides a fun glimpse into the Walk with a Wheaton Doc program:

All throughout the campaign, community members responded positively to Elmbrook’s partnership with the Brookfield Farmer’s Market—requesting future walks with Dr. Hassan (the Walk with a Wheaton Doc will continue into 2013) and even expressing gratitude for bringing the heart care program to the Brookfield area. This integrated marketing initiative serves as a great example of a brand humanizing itself and interacting in a personal, meaningful way with its audience.

Growing is something most marketing agencies strive to achieve, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here at Jigsaw. Recently, we welcomed two new members to the family.

Jigsaw’s new hires, Eoghan and Rachel, were given their first to-do:
“Introduce yourself, blog-style.” – Mr. Johnny Abbate

The day I found out I had an interview
Eoghan: Rays of sunshine shining through my triple shot Americano at my favorite Alterra coffee shop. There I sat, chatting with my film team in preparation for our annual 72 hour film challenge. The phone rang a number I didn’t recognize. My favorite kind. I said yes, yes and yes, thank you.
Rachel: The day I found out I had an interview I had just lost my grandma to cancer. She kept a red ribbon with her for good luck. I brought a piece with me to my interview and VOILA.

Position(s)
Eoghan: Front-End Developer
Rachel: Interactive Project Manager

First thought(s)
Eoghan: Downtown, doorman, fancy elevators… very sleek Jigsaw lobby…
*gasp* …and jeans! Alright. Now we are talking!
Rachel: How will I remember which one is Wold and which one is Marsho?

I like this industry because
Eoghan: I am an artist, and everyone sees advertisements. Whether we like them or not they are everywhere, and what is more rewarding to an artist than an audience? I also love the communications side of advertising. Let’s walk. Let’s talk. Let’s conceptualize. And let’s deliver. Now let us celebrate!
Rachel: I get to work and play with insanely creative people.

It’s 3pm
Eoghan: My inner conflict engulfs me surrounding the dire dialogue to latte or not to latte. That is always the question. Fortunately or unfortunately it has the same sealed fate every time: to latte. Roughly at 3:15 pm I am now conflicting over latte or coffee. A good cup of coffee has more caffeine, but a smooth latte soothes the soul. By 4 pm I’ve got some warm drink in my hand.
Rachel: I’m eating something with peanut butter.

For more about our team and agency, tweet with us @Jigsaw_LLC.

We all are guilty of succumbing to procrastination now and then, especially when we have to complete a task that we are not particularly excited about doing (and any job comes with some of *those* tasks). Our level of motivation to achieve a given task and our perception of the reward both play integral roles in our likeliness to put off the task.

The following video explains the science behind procrastination in a light (and entertaining) way.

As the video explains, our human tendency to over or underestimate the value of a reward that completing a task will deliver is based on its temporal proximity – or its closeness in time. If a deadline for an undesirable task is far away, say two weeks as opposed to two days or two hours, our brains are likely to “temporally discount” it in favor of working on other tasks that will provide us with more immediate rewards. Which leads us to procrastination.

Human motivation is highly influenced by how imminent the reward is perceived to be. The further away the reward is the more you discount its value. This is referred to as hyperbolic discounting, or present bias.

When we experience something positive, our brain sends a dose of dopamine, which modifies the neurons and makes you more likely to repeat the behavior that brought the reward. Reading an article on the Internet, for example, provides a small and continuous reward that we can achieve quickly rather than a one-time future reward.

Think studying for an exam. Until temporal proximity increases the value of the reward that studying will provide (a good grade on the exam), we are likely to discount its reward in favor of more immediate rewards that we can achieve until the exam date gets closer. (Cue pulling an all-nighter 24-hours before the exam).

How does understanding the science behind procrastination actually help us improve our productivity?

• The Pomodoro technique suggests that we can be more efficient by breaking our to-do lists down into manageable, definable tasks that can be accomplished in 30 minutes or less (“Organize outline for annual report” as opposed to a more daunting to-do of “Write the annual report”). Creating self-imposed mini-deadlines improves your work habits and helps you manage deadlines that are farther away.
• Giving yourself 5 minute breaks or simple rewards in between tasks, such as taking a brief walk, can help you stay motivated among varying tasks by breaking down large projects into smaller to-do’s that provide more immediate rewards. By gradually increasing the amount of work time you put in, you will improve your high-level functioning.
• Instead of looking at a task as “25 minutes of doing something I don’t want to do,” focus on the enjoyment of achieving an unpleasant task – or the reasons that accomplishing the task will help you to achieve a higher goal that you are working toward.
• Avoid distractions – and avoid unnecessarily distracting others. Procrastination is a symptom – not a cause – of being improperly motivated. Putting obstacles in the way of your procrastination habits can help keep you on track. Turn off the Internet, shut your office door or get out and work elsewhere from the office for a few hours in a new space to break the habit of distraction and stay on track.
• On the reverse side, respect your co-workers’ time the way you’d like them to respect yours. If you appreciate having an hour to focus on a task without being interrupted, do the same for those you work with to enable them to be their most productive as well.

In the end, it simply comes down to managing your intrinsic motivation and perception of reward to overcome the habit of procrastination.

If you’re interested in learning more about the psychology behind motivation, check out The Willpower Instinct by Stanford University psychologist Kelly McGonigal, explaining the science of self-control and tips for improving your happiness, health and productivity.

Women-only poetry reading for local non-profit web video to be held on March 25 from 9 am – 3 pm at Carte Blanche, located at 1024 South 5th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53204.

Calling all female actors, spoken word artists and real people with a passion to be on camera!

We are looking for women to audition to read a poem (approximately two minutes in length) on camera with the potential of being used within a web video for a major local non-profit organization.  The readings will take place on March 25 from 9 am – 3 pm at Carte Blanche, located at 1024 South 5th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53204.

You do not need to be a professional to audition, and we encourage women of all ages, heights, weights and ethnicities to attend.  Snacks will be provided!

To schedule a 20-minute performance block and receive a copy of the poem to practice, email Andi at andi@flipeleven.com.

We ask that you plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment and familiarize with the poem prior to filming with us. There is no guarantee your reading will make it into the final cut.

It’s difficult to imagine living in a world without instant access to information at our fingertips.  The Internet has not only drastically impacted the efficiency of our everyday lives, but it’s also changing the way our brains work.

A recent study conducted at Columbia University explored the relationship between human memory and technology, challenging the myth that our access to the Internet is making us mentally lazier.

The study, referred to as “The Google Effect,” confirmed that the use of the Google search engine alters our brains and changes the way we organize and recall information.  Instead of relying on our rote memory (learning through pattern or repetition) to remember information, we rely heavily on external sources to find the information for us.

The Internet essentially serves as a form of transactive memory, or information that is stored collectively outside of our personal memory that we can call upon at any time.  Knowing that we can rely on Google to access information instantly, we often outsource our rote memory search to Google and eliminate the need for our brain to do the job.

Historically, humans have relied on other information reservoirs (e.g. other people) to help them out in recalling information.  Prior to the existence of the Internet and search engines, people relied heavily on “group memories,” or memories passed on from person to person within groups.  Today, Google acts as the primary group memory source.  We’ve become primed to defer to technology when tasked with recalling information or asked a difficult question.  Thus, we have lower rates of recalling information based on our own memory, but enhanced recall for where we can access information.

Simply put, if we know where we can find the information we seek, we are much less likely to put forth the effort store it in our own brain.

One of the key experiments within the Google Effect study asked participants to type 40 pieces of trivia info a computer.  Half of the subjects believed the information would be saved on the computer, and half were told that the items they typed would be erased.  Those that thought the information would be deleted were more likely to remember the trivia, as they believed that would not be able to access the information at a later time if they needed to recall it, indicating that people are much less likely to put forth effort in remembering information when they know where they can find it instead.

Further delving into how we use our memory in conjunction with our technological resources, researchers were curious as to what we think of first when asked to recall a piece of information.  Do we think about the specific memory first and dig into our rote memory to find it, or do we immediately jump to where we can go to find out?

Participants were asked whether there are any countries with only one color on their national flag.  What surprised researchers was that participants were better able to recall the folder on the computer where they had previously stored the information, instead of the actual information itself.

Remembering where you can find information, rather than the information itself, is referred to as our transactive memory.  Our brains rely on the Internet for memory in a very similar way as we rely on friends, family, co-workers and others to recall specific memories and information.  We remember less through knowing information itself than by knowing where information can be found.

The use of search engines suggests that human memory is reorganizing where it turns to find information.  We are adapting to new technologies rather than solely relying on our rote memory.  With new technology constantly being introduced and integrated into our daily lives, our brains evolve as we learn to use it.  Our brains will continue to evolve over time in response to the environmental stimuli that it is presented with.

While the Internet’s effects on memory are still largely unexplored territory, the Internet has become a primary external storage system, saving us time and freeing up parts of our brain to use for other, more creative endeavors.  It is easier to learn and understand complex concepts when we don’t feel pressured to have to remember everything.  By freeing up our mental RAM, we increase the speed by which we process other information.

Betsy Sparrow, psychologist and lead researcher on the Google Effect study, was quoted saying, “We’re not thoughtless, empty-headed people who don’t have memories anymore, but we are becoming particularly adept at remembering where to go to find things.  And that’s kind of amazing.”