Interview: Samantha Berens, Fresh Creative

Samantha Berens
Resourcer,
Fresh Creative

In addition to her Resourcing work, Sam contributes significantly to crafting the strategic direction of Fresh Creative client accounts with leadership and expertise in marketing strategy, media planning and negotiating, integrated branding programs and the creative process.

CB: What fascinates you about the web?
SB: Increased efficiency and resourcefulness. Those who know me personally might chuckle at my answer because they know that those two attributes are at the core of how I approach life. I’m part of the generation that grew up in the technology age– computers
and the internet have been mainstream for most of my life. Living with this technology has trained me (and many of my peers) to resource and process information quickly. No problem is unsolvable and the speed with which we’re able to access information allows us to find solutions quickly.

CB: What would you change about it?
SB: I’d like to make it more personal and slow it down. Although it’s made us more efficient, provided more information at our finger tips than ever before, and made geography mean nothing, there has been a decline in our ability to build meaningful professional relationships. Some even say that all this increased technology has bred a group of young people whose ethical standard is weakened. Since email is so
quick and web meetings so easy, we no longer rely on someone’s good word and handshake, when, quite possibly, that’s worth more than technology can provide. The second part of my answer, slow it down, might seem in contradiction to my above
stated drive for efficiency, but efficiency is worth nothing if it’s not delivered with accuracy. We’re so accustomed to having it now– we no longer value the time spent in intellectual thought and our standard of accuracy has suffered.

CB: Do you have a blog? If not, what are you waiting for?

SB: Ok– so I don’t have a blog. What am I waiting for? Time! Maybe if my suggestion to slow things down a bit were taken, I’d have time to blog. For now, I’m content adding my two cents on others’; but I know one day (and probably soon), I’ll have to jump on the bandwagon.

CB: What technology has had the greatest impact on how you do your job?

SB: Wireless communication has made a big difference in how and where we operate. I can take a laptop anywhere and check email on my phone. Maybe this hasn’t been a positive impact, but a major one nonetheless. We now must make the conscious decision to put work away.

CB: Who has influenced or helped you the most in your career?
SB: The first account executive I worked under at my first agency job gave me a wake-up call on my second or third day on the job. I was a junior in college and she gave me a research assignment. I happily “researched” for a few hours and went back to her with my findings. She perused it and threw it back at me, saying something like “If you can’t get more than that with all the resources at your fingertips, then you’ll never make it here. Get resourceful.” I was an A student… I had never had an encounter like that, but she was right. That was my wake-up call to understanding that good isn’t always good enough. Learning to go the extra mile is probably what has made me most
successful in my career so far.

CB: You recently changed roles to be the Resourcer at Fresh Creative. What makes you uniquely suited to this role?
SB: I would say that my commitment to efficiency, accuracy, and resourcefulness is what makes me best suited for the role of Resourcer. Although, some here would say that it has more to do with my ability to be a @#$*&%. Those who understand the role of Resourcing will get my humor. My position is all about staying on time and on budget while delivering a superior end-product to our clients. Anyone who is willing to let any of the three elements I mentioned above slide will never make resourcing work.

CB: What makes Fresh Creative a cut above its competitors?
SB: We value thinking over doing. We dont spin our wheels crafting solutions until we know what our clients problem is and have purposefully and thoughtfully considered it.

CB: If you had one sentence to pitch a potential client, what would it be?
SB: We turn away more work than we accept.

CB: I believe that everyone has a specific and unique talent that comes in handy at just the right time. It might be something most people know about you or something very few know. What is your super-power?
SB: I dont like to hear no. So, I work hard to strategize every possible scenario so that no hurdle is impossible to jump. I guess that means my super-power is perseverance. X-ray vision would still be cooler, though.

CB: If the worlds technological and economic systems were to collapse and revert society to locally-focused, agrarian communities, what role would you assume?
SB: I think Id still be a Resourcer. Somebody would need to make sure seeds were planted and crops harvested all while turning a profit!