August 2011
1 post
1 tag
Dealing with Resistance
It hurts to get rejected. Especially after spending those countless hours thinking of the perfect strategy to woo and propose to that special someone (who in this case, is referring to a client.)
As consultants, we become accustomed to bearing witness to the multiple variations of “no.” While we are pitching our idea, one client impulsively sits back and crosses her arms as soon as she hears the...
July 2011
6 posts
9 tags
Chowing Down a Little Too Much Recently
Here at REaction, things move fast. Don’t believe me? Well, in the 2 days that I was out of town to go to San Diego Comic Con International, James and Tammy saw Robert Downey Jr, finished a stakeholder’s analysis, met with a theatre company in Los Angeles, and had crazy amazing food in LA. It wasn’t as epic as Comic Con, but it seemed quite exciting. When I came back Sunday night, I had close...
4 tags
Asking the Tough Questions
(Caption for photo above: a typical scene from one of our client meetings)
The third biggest fear I have, aside from public speaking and wasps, is a fear of asking questions. Especially when the ultimate question that begs for even more questions is directed at me– Do you have any questions? It makes me tremble in my shoes, my palms turn clammy, and a small bead of sweat trickles down the side...
7 tags
Doing Better than a Really Good Stakeholder...
Here at REaction we strive to be better than the standard. So when we do a stakeholder analysis, we don’t go for just good or really good; no, we go for REALLY REALLY GOOD. That’s right, TWO reallys, because we have learned firsthand just how important a good stakeholder analysis is to a successful project. A solid stakeholder analysis will tell you two important things: where the group is, and...
Learning from Our San Jose Trip
As faithful followers know from our vlogs here and here, three members of Team REaction made the six-hour trek up to Northern California a couple weekends ago to meet with and film 2010 CNN Hero Evans Wadongo (one of our clients). Here are 6 things we learned from our trip that we’ll keep in mind for future work:
1. During travel, everyone’s communication styles come out
We all...
Going to Norcal to Work with Evans (Part 2/2)
(Ed. Note: This is part two of Erik’s completely biased account of our trip to Northern California to film and execute a marketing strategy for our client, CNN Hero Evans Wadongo. Part 1 is here.)
What started off as a simple dinner of pho turned out to be something much more interesting. We were originally gonna have thai food, but the fact that Kasra and I actually haven’t ever had it...
Going to Norcal to Work with Evans (Part 1/2)
Waking up at 4 in the morning is never a good thing. Not being able to find base plates (“shoes”) for the two primary tripods you planned on using that trip isn’t a good sign of things to come. Myself, James, and our cameraman Kasra had a combined total of 9 hours of sleep the night before and were facing a drudging 6 hour car ride up to Northern California at 6AM. 3 days, Sunday...
June 2011
8 posts
Featured on CSR Wire!
Thanks to our awesome mentors and friends at Compass (seriously, it’s a program that keeps on giving), we were spotlighted today on CSR Wire. The article offers a little more of a glimpse into why we’re doing what we’re doing this summer. And, a little well-deserved credit goes to our team members who are giving up traditional internships for this incredible startup...
Welcoming Cheng Gong to the Team
(Ed. Note: Today we welcome and spotlight our third (and probably last) addition to the REaction team this summer. People who know Cheng personally know him as the guy who’s four math levels ahead of his grade. People who don’t know him personally know him as the boy genius developer for this and this.)
My name is Cheng, and my job is to make good websites.
About three months ago,...
Welcoming Tammy Cho to the Summer Team
(Ed. Note: We’ve caught some flack for lack of gender diversity on Team REaction. In truly reactive fashion, today we gladly welcome our second female to the team, Tammy Cho. Consider the testosterone tempered.)
This morning, I woke up quite anxious to see what was in store for my first official day with the REaction team. I had already met with James, Erik and Cheng at our orientation...
Welcoming Erik Nguyen to the Summer Team
Today was my first official day with REaction as a summer intern/consultant. I was with James, Mike, Luke, and even Cheng a few weeks ago (I’m talking about the amazing Friday Cover Lipsync video which you should see if you haven’t yet down below), but I was still in school at University of California, San Diego then. Right now however, I’m finally on summer break even though these guys have...
Spending A Day With James Li
Up until yesterday I had only known a little about James Li apart from his Renaissance man nature and the fact that he was obsessed with the Broncos. The football team not the animal. And the little anecdotes I had squeezed out of his father while he was in the bathroom over the last few days helped fill in some key numbers on the Sudoku page but not all of them. Yes, James is Asian so that...
May 2011
10 posts
Learning about Non-Profit Needs
Last Friday, our team had the unique chance to visit and pitch to two non-profits in the LA area. In the morning, we visited Pathways Volunteer Hospice in Lakewood; in the afternoon, we took a trip to Hunger Action LA in downtown Los Angeles. Was it weird transitioning from a hospice in the morning to a hunger non-profit in the afternoon? Admittedly, yes. Did we work our asses off the day before...
In Malibu Again
On Friday after a great client meeting in L.A., we headed over to Malibu for a “sundowner party” at the Creative Visions location. (We’ll have a post about our client meetings in a later post) Here are some photos to recapture the amazing time we had!
The breathtaking view from the Malibu Pad.
Friday was a 70’s chic day! I had to be serious enough for a client...
going full-time this summer
Congratulations! You’ve found ‘REACTION IS:’, our sometimes intelligent, often irreverent, but always sexy blog about the going-ons at REaction Strategy Group. Here you’ll find a bold blend of photos, videos, and snarky journals straight from our team of highly-trained monkeys.
We started this blog because, as of today, REaction has taken its next big step: going...
