Here are the requirements:

• You must have a real Baltimore accent – not a silly one you do at parties, but the real thing.

• The ideal candidate will be over 40 — the older the better – although anyone 18 or older will be considered.

• You should be passionate for Baltimore and have lived in the city or surrounding area your whole life.

• Don’t try to be funny. Just be genuine.

Know someone who fits the bill?  If so, we’d like you to make a video or audio recording of the script we’ve written.  Go to TheVoiceOfBaltimore.com to read the script and then upload a video or audio file.  Auditions must be received by April 30. Good luck!

If you are new to Pinterest, make sure to check out this post and play around with a personal profile first. Then, follow these tips to get your brand “pinning” and noticed by your customers on Pinterest.

1) Identify what boards you will be pinning to.

Pinterest allows you to create your own custom boards, and this is a great opportunity to show some brand personality. Think outside the box with this one. Appropriate pin boards don’t have to just showcase your brand’s product. Take Whole Foods for instance. Of course, they share great recipes and organic food information, but they also have a board that shows off amazing kitchens and one that talks about their favorite books. Think like your customer. Figure out what other interests they may have and put your brand’s spin on it.

2) Content, content, content.

Like any social network site, content is king (or should we say queen) on Pinterest. The more you involve yourself in the Pinterest community, the more you will see what content people love to share. While re-pinning others’ pins is a great way to get involved, make sure that you are consistently creating original content that your customers and followers will want to share.

This can be a lot for one person to take on. We suggest sharing pin boards with multiple people in your organization, so more than one employee can contribute.

3) Grow your following.

What good is a pin board if you have no one to look at it? Get out into the Pinterest community and start accruing followers. Re-pinning someone’s post is a good way to get noticed, but sometimes all it may take is simply following someone to expose them to your brand’s pin boards and give you a follow.

Also, don’t forget your current customers. Chances are, a lot of them are already using Pinterest. Include the news that you are now pinning in email and website updates, share your links on your existing social networks, and include a Pinterst icon on your site.

4) Stay Active.

Just like any social network, you need to continuously fuel the fire to keep your customers engaged. Pinterest is a fast moving network that will require updates multiple times a day. If you are going to venture into the world of pinning, we suggest making sure that you have the assets available to keep your pin boards fresh.

If you have any questions on how you or your brand should be using Pinterest to accomplish your goals, feel free to send me an email at RWalters@mghus.com. In the mean time, happy pinning.

$20 says if you’re not already using Pinterest, you know at least 10 people who are. As of January, the highly publicized site hit 10 million unique monthly U.S. visitors faster than any other standalone site in history, according to comScore.

And, the new social bookmarking site continues to grow and shows no sign of being a fad. So if you were disappointed by the last “next big thing,” fear not because this new social site is living up to the hype.

But before you get carried away and try to create a Pinterest profile for your brand, we here at MGH want to remind you Pinterest isn’t right for every company and suggest you try it out with a personal profile first. Here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Create multiple Pinboards with a range of themes and topics.

Don’t be afraid to mix things up and create loads of Pinboards. Profiles with the most traffic have anywhere from 10–40 Pinboards with specific topics and themes. The more content your profile features, the more users you’ll attract, especially if those users can find boards that exactly match the topic for which they’re specifically searching.

2. Create fresh content with original Pins.

Though repining from others is much needed for success on a site like Pinterest, creating original Pins can help make your presence known. Because original content states which user first posted the Pin, those interested in it can easily link back to its creator when seeking out similar content.

3. Find users with similar interests.

Though some methods may be a bit time consuming, Pinterest allows you the opportunity to seek out users with similar interests. You can search specific keywords in Pins, Boards and People, permitting you to find what you’re interested in, who else is interested in it and what similar topics those users like.

Check back tomorrow for part two of Getting Started with Pinterest, when we’ll offer tips for brands looking to launch their presence on the site.

This year, Kelly Clarkson larded her performance with quavers and grace notes until the poor “Star-Spangled Banner” sagged under their weight like Charlie Brown’s forlorn Christmas tree. And as the anthem went, so went the commercials.

Everything was piled on way too high. More rock bands and supermodels. Bigger explosions. Ridiculous “can you top-this” scenarios. The Bud Light “Weego” dog, for example. Not only was the whole idea a complete rip-off of the old Stroh’s “Alex” campaign, it got progressively more ludicrous (and less funny). Kudos, at least, for the shout-out for rescued dogs, a highly worthwhile cause.

A couple of clients revisited last year’s themes. Volkswagen shoehorned a “Star Wars” reference into their overweight-dog premise: a spot which would have been far more effective if it had just stayed short, simple and stuck with the aliens in the Mos Eisley cantina arguing about last year’s spot.

Chrysler’s continuation worked far better. Once again, the automaker raised the banner for its home city with a gritty pep talk that may well have launched the Clint Eastwood for President campaign. If politicians from both parties really want to reach hard-pressed voters, they’d do well to junk the negative garbage and study this one closely.

I was surprised at how well Honda’s “Ferris Bueller” spot worked – a guilty little pleasure that, unlike so many others, worked even better in its full-length internet version. And in a Super Bowl dominated by apocalyptic movie promos and commercials, I liked the simple premise of Chevy’s Silverado survivor spot (“Dave drove a Ford”). It was a nice way to work in an actual product benefit with humor.

Another guilty pleasure: the Met Life cartoon characters. With Scooby, Richie and Optimus Prime, they hit boomers and Generation X squarely on target.

At the bottom of the scale was GoDaddy.com. It’s amazing that they can get prominent female spokespeople – we’re talking to you, Danica – to aid and abet their rampant chauvinism. But GoDaddy was actually beaten to the basement by the TaxACT.com spot with the kid urinating in the swimming pool. Three million bucks of the client’s money for that? Hey guys, way to give our profession – and your client – a black eye at the same time.

What have we learned? Ferris still rules, Chrysler still hits the gut and next year, all spots should be restricted to 30 seconds. The compulsion to spend tons of money on movie-like productions isn’t serving clients or agencies well at all.

At next year’s Super Bowl, I expect to see two things. Better spots. And the Ravens.

Inside Facebook

On a recently released page on Facebook’s help site, users can read about the way this new ad unit will display in their Feed. These featured stories will be denoted in users’ News Feeds by the word “Featured” on the bottom right hand side of the post. It is important to note that these Featured Stories are part of the Sponsored Stories ad unit and will only be shown to users who currently like the Page buying the ad unit. This means your news feed is safe from unsolicited ads, for the moment.

This ad unit is being rolled out slowly and users will only be exposed to one featured story in their News Feed a day.

Have you seen a featured story yet? Do you think it will affect your Facebook usage?

Katchpole is the Washington, D.C., graduate student whose angry social media petition sparked a nationwide revolt against Bank of America’s plan to charge customers $5 per month for their debit cards. After losing thousands of accounts, B of A backed off.

The target of Hardwick’s online petition is his employer: Target. His ire was sparked by Target’s decision to fling open its doors to Black Friday bargain-hunters at midnight on Thanksgiving. “All Americans,” Hardwick declares, “should be able to break bread with loved ones and get a good night’s rest on Thanksgiving!” With a little more than a week to go before Thanksgiving, Hardwick’s petition had already racked up more than 154,000 signatures, many from fellow Target employees.

And Hardwick isn’t the only one facing an early wake-up call. Macy’s, Kohl’s and Best Buy are also opening at midnight. Wal-Mart, which had hoped to steal a march by opening at 10 p.m. Thursday, has since been one-upped by Toys “R” Us, which announced a 9 p.m. start.

It’s not just employees who are angry, though. There are growing signs that even the most hardened shoppers are fed up. The New York Times recently reported that outraged Black Friday veterans are flocking to the social media barricades, declaring that they’re not going to cut short or eliminate family gatherings just to save a few bucks at the nearest big box store.

Battered by the Great Recession, retailers are understandably desperate to boost sales any way they can. But there’s an intriguing question here. Will a grassroots social media drive again thwart the plans of big business? Are customers really ticked off enough that they’ll gravitate to stores like J.C. Penney – which says it won’t open until 4 a.m. Friday to allow its employees to spend Thursday with their families?

Or will finance trump family, with value-seeking consumers blearily charging through the doors at midnight because they need to save money any way they can?

The answer is coming soon to a Twitter feed, a Facebook page and a shopping center parking lot near you.

Those who called for Paterno’s ouster – following his handling of an alleged 2002 pedophilia incident by former assistant Jerry Sandusky – believed he failed that victim and all subsequent victims when he did not use his power to force those in the athletic department and university administration to contact the authorities, instead of allegedly opting to deal with the problem internally.

The reported actions of those top decision makers at Penn State, which began in the days following the 2002 locker room incident and continued until this week, all shared the same misguided goal: Protecting the institution at all costs.

Those involved in the scandal likely thought they were being successful crisis managers the past nine years because the story never reached the media. That all changed on Sunday with news of Sandusky’s indictment and the filing of perjury charges against University Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley for lying to the same grand jury that indicted Sandusky.

Even in the face of such unprecedented scrutiny, University President Graham Spanier stuck with the broken game plan of protecting the institution at all costs by placing unconditional support behind the two men charged with perjury when a statement calling for an internal investigation would have better served the university.

According to many reports, when the media arrived on campus earlier this week and demanded answers, Spanier did not allow Paterno the opportunity to host his weekly news conference, which could have served as a forum to express even the simplest words of concern for the victims. Instead, silence prevailed once again.

Yes, the leaders at Penn State did manage to protect the institution’s name for nine years by keeping this information away from the public, but for what? This short-sighted and frankly dangerous attempt at crisis management made the situation so much worse and has potentially ruined the legacy they were all working so hard to protect.

Effective crisis management is so much more than keeping negative information out of the news. As this week’s events have shown, word will eventually get out. Acting as if it will not is a flawed crisis management strategy.

Being ready to accept accountability, acknowledging fault and explaining how things will be repaired are the real key tenets of crisis management that never found their way into Penn State’s strategy – until last night.

While not everyone is pleased with Joe Paterno’s firing – as evidenced by the riots on campus in State College – it was the only option left on the table for the Board of Trustees, the real top decision maker at Penn State and the one that actually understands how public relations works.

Removing Paterno (and Spanier for that matter) sent a clear message that Penn State University understands its responsibility to protect the institution AND the importance of having the support of its fans, alumni, faculty, donors, state and federal education officials and the general public. Being connected with those who were part of the alleged cover up could not continue.

The trustees understand very well that without public support there is no Penn State University. It’s a shame it took this long for this storied institution to finally properly manage what is likely the worst scandal in college sports history.

So you might be thinking at this point (if you don’t run an adult entertainment site), what does this have to do with me? Unfortunately, a lot. See, if you don’t act now to protect your domain name, trademark, company name or product, before you know it, you could find your brand associated with a pornographic site.

In fact, ICM, the registry operator that fought for the new domain extension, stands to make over $200 million a year from members of the adult entertainment community and from brands defensively registering their domains.

So, now that I’ve frightened you sufficiently, what should you do? Between now and Oct. 28, 2011, if your organization owns a federal trademark registration, you can file to block anyone from using that mark with the .xxx extension as a domain name (example: MGHus.xxx). Through domain registrars like Network Solutions and Go Daddy, intellectual property holders can pay a one-time fee to block the future use of their name with the .xxx extension. By submitting an application, your brand will be protected year after year. This process is being called Sunrise B – Block for Trademark.

To be eligible to participate in Sunrise B:

• The applicant must be the holder of a valid trademark or service mark that has obtained registered status in a country of the work prior to Sept. 1, 2011.
• The applicant does not intend to use the .xxx domain name to host a live website and will not participate in the Membership Application Process to become a member of the Sponsored Community.
• The applicant will complete all necessary Assignee Supporting Declaration Forms (if applicable) by Nov. 2, 2011 at 12 p.m. ET.

Visit Network Solutions or Go Daddy to begin the application process, and select the Sunrise B option.

If you don’t have a trademarked name, but still wish to protect your brand, you can pre-register to purchase any available domain with the .xxx extension through Network Solutions or Go Daddy. If you don’t participate in Sunrise B or pre-register, domains will be first come, first serve starting Dec. 6, 2011.

We highly recommend that you take the steps now (or contact MGH and we’ll help you through it) to protect your brand from what’s sure to be the first of many new online threats.

Wren’s most famous design is St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, whose dome vies with the towers of Parliament as the city’s most recognizable structure. When Wren died, his body was placed in a crypt there. A nearby plaque states, “Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.”

As I looked around our family room, I saw my daughter’s iPod, sitting on the table next to my MacBook laptop. My wife was watching a TV show on her iPad. Both she and our older son have smartphones that use systems based largely on the iPhone.

I didn’t have to seek Steve Jobs’ monument. It was all around me.

One of the most prescient quotes I heard on Jobs’ passing was someone who said, “He knew what people wanted before they did.” Steve Jobs’ innovations weren’t as much about technology as the way we use technology. It started with the original user-friendly Mac operating systems – which forced PC programmers to respond by developing Windows. It continued through downloading music or an app to find the closest Chinese restaurant.

Quite simply, Steve Jobs understood how many things the average person could accomplish with technology if it was made easy to use. And he delivered that technology in stylish packages that said “smart” simply with their elegant design.

All of which is a lesson to us in marketing and advertising. In order to succeed, we must do what Steve Jobs did: Focus on how consumers use our products and services, both in product design and in advertising. Does this service save me time? Does this product save me money? How do I use it in concert with my smartphone, my computer, my social network?

If the product or service fits – and the advertising clearly demonstrates how it fits – we will succeed. And we will find our audience. Because in the end, it’s all about the consumer. It’s all about what benefits we can offer.

Steve Jobs always remembered that. Which is why we’ll never forget him.