Blowing With The Wind Of Chaaaaange….

What a difference a year makes. At this time last year, I was working on the biggest content strategy project I had ever taken on while doing work for a client that had recently announced they were ending their 91 year relationship with my agency.

As I began wrapping up my time working on the Chevrolet project I was met with more change. I took on new clients in the Centers for Disease Control, Carrier, Olympic Paint and Stain and OnStar.

Along the way I also learned that I was going to be a father for the first time.

During the past 8 months I’ve been very fortunate to have the time to begin writing about things I love (context, neuro, etc.), working on projects that I’m passionate about and preparing for the arrival of my son. However, I was recently approached with the opportunity to take on a new challenge working on a brand that I have long admired. This opportunity allows me to be much closer to home and my family, while giving me the chance to work with team of digital professionals leading the way in terms of online communication.

So it’s both with a heavy heart and an excited mind that I announce that I’ll be joining Team Detroit to serve as an Enterprise Digital Strategist working on the Ford North America account. Though I no longer have content strategy in my title, rest assured that I’ll continue to be practicing it and forcing it upon my new friends and colleagues.

I can’t begin to say enough good things about the team at Campbell Ewald. The decision to leave the agency and a firmly established content strategy practice was not an easy one to come to, but the promise of an 11 mile commute and the chance to help shape one of the world’s most iconic brands was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. The good news is that my departure has left a vacancy in a fantastic group. Should you want to take an opportunity to work here in the Mitten with the likes of Chris Moritz, Jinita Shah, Arthur Mitchell and tons of more smart folks, you should check out this job description and speak kindly of me when you inquire.

What does this change mean for this space? Absolutely nothing. I’ll continue to be talking about context, testing and presenting my independent research and thoughts here. I’m recovering from Confab and hope to post lots and lots before baby Eizans greets us. Stay tuned.

I’m not dead yet.

I’ve been absent here for quite a while. I have lots of reasons for that.

The number one reason being that I took a new position as Senior Communication Manager and Counselor at a Communication Management and Counseling firm in Detroit called Bassett & Bassett Inc. The transition has been a VERY busy one. At present, I’m getting up to speed on all of my new clients, which I’ll most likely share here from time to time.

That being said, I’m not really a “marketer” anymore, so I’ll be changing the masthead of the site and doing some work under the hood of the site this weekend.

Goes to show you, once you get happy with something, that’s when you need to tear it all back up. Unfortunately that’s where I’m at here. I’ll keep the design consistent, but the mast, title and some of the tagging will change. I’ll keep you all posted. Thanks for bearing with me.

7 Random Things About Me

Unless you haven’t been reading any blogs at all, you’ve probably already seen the “7 things” social media meme. I’m happy to report that I’ve been tagged by the lovelyLeah McChesney, who I met at the Novi Tweetup earlier this week. Leah was tagged by Lori Laurent Smith who was tagged by Marta Strickland, who was tagged by Stacy Lukas, who was tagged by Ken Burbary who was tagged by Shannon Paul. So, to keep it all going, here’s 7 random things about me:

1. I play several different instruments and sing. I’ve been in four different bands and have recorded an album with one of them. Sometimes I still play solo. Music has always been a huge part of my life.

2. I’m a fluent German speaker

3. I’m a yogi. Even though I no longer practice in a studio, I still meditate regularly and attempt to practice when I can.

4. I’ve been shocked by a tazer. When I was a reporter at The Monroe Evening News I volunteered to be shocked when the Flat Rock Police Department bought them and began training.

5. I can recite every line from the film Caddyshack, start to finish.

6. Sometime I still get a little teary-eyed when I look at pictures of my wife and I on our wedding day. She’s my best friend, my partner and crime and the funniest person I’ve ever met.

7. I’m deathly afraid of bats. I know this a ridiculous thing to be afraid of, but I’m still afraid of them. I’ve starred down bears, wolves and other wildlife, no problems.

So, in spirit of the meme, I’ll pass it along to: (and to be honest, I can only find four of my regular people who I read that haven’t done this yet)

Sheena Harrison
Dr. William J. Ward (a.k.a. Dr4ward)
Brandon Chesnutt
David Murray

Can’t wait to read what you all have to say.

The Four Simple Rules:

* Link your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
* Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
* Let them know they’ve been tagged

Why I redesigned Danieleizans.com

When people ask me what I do, I sometimes struggle to come up with a definition. During the course of my career, I’ve been a lot of different things. I’ve been a newspaper reporter, a Web designer, a programmer, a marketer, a strategist and probably a slew of other titles that I can’t recall. My favorite title is probably “husband.” While I wear this one full-time, I sometimes wonder if I’m cut out for the job. Thankfully, I have the best co-worker a man could ask for. But I digress.

Despite my career meanderings, the thing that has never changed is the fact that I’ve worked to produce engaging and meaningful content. It’s exactly for that reason I redesigned my Web site. The previous two versions of my site were creatively driven. I used this space to showcased my design skills, my creative portfolio and my love for music and art. I maintained a blog that largely came second.

As I have become more interested in social media and in developing content solutions for clients, I’ve realized it’s time to take my own medicine. It’s high time I start being more congruent – to practice what I preach – and to produce some quality, engaging content of my own. And with my redesigned site, powered by WordPress, I believe I have the right tools in place.

Hopefully, we’ll have some interesting conversations and we can learn from each other. I’m looking forward to a more frequently updated, more usable Danieleizans.com. I’m open to your thoughts and suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments below.