West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall on November 11, 1989, as they watch East German border guards demolishing a section of the wall in order to open a new crossing point between East and West Berlin.

Nearly thirty years, the Berlin Wall aka the most famous—or better stated as infamous—edifice of the 20th century crumbled, signaling the end of a divided Germany. It fell under the East Germans’ yearning to meet the other side of the wall. As soon as the first section crashed down, the flood of humanity descended on Berlin from all over the world to the wall and grab their own piece of history: a chunk of the wall to remind them of oppression.

There’s something about a wall. The restrictions. The definition of what’s mine and what’s yours. The very sense of ensuring you have to work a little bit harder to experience the other side—if you are even allowed to do so. As Robert Frost wrote in his remarkable poem “Mending Wall,” there is something subversive about a wall.  A wall is an angry piece of construction. A wall possesses no beauty or aesthetic sense. It divides rather than unifies. Why is it there in the first place? Who is trying to keep who out or who is trying to defeat whom?  Almost from the moment of its birth, a wall is an insult to human freedom, a challenge to those whom it excludes. It was somehow calling out to be “unbuilt.”

Around November 1990, within a year of the wall coming down, most of the Wall had all but disappeared from Berlin’s landscape. Enormous sections of the Wall were peddled all over the world to governments, companies, and private citizens, while other pieces were reused to make German streets and roads.

Fast forward to 2009, where only approximately two kilometers of the Wall stood tall, almost defiant to the progress of Germany (there were originally 43 kilometers of the Berlin Wall). It was then that protestors literally stood strong in the face of progress to police and bulldozers to protect the last pieces. Willy Brandt, the former mayor of West Berlin and chancellor of West Germany, urged those pillaging the Wall in 1989 to stop because “a piece of this terrible edifice should be left standing as a historical monstrosity” for future generations to see. It too twenty years, but they finally listened.

Today, the most popular site to see the Wall is the East Side Gallery. The site where the longest section sits has become famous because of the murals painted after the Wall fell. This section represents the explosion of freedom in 1989, rather than the repression that characterized the Wall until then.

The post The Berlin Wall: Visiting the East Side Gallery appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

There’s been some rumor about a trip to Hungary to see the amazing architecture and take in the opera at the Hungarian State Opera House (amazing!). And, I may have needed to be in Hollywood to accept my Emmy (yeah, that’s a thing, woo hoo!). And, I may or may not be stalking mirroring following uhhhhhhhhh, reporting on the global premieres of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 and the fashion of Jennifer Lawrence.

The London Premiere

For this column, let’s go with The Hunger Games. By now, most of you know of my affinity for Ms Lawrence (read: Straight Out of Encino and Dreaming on the Oscars Red Carpet for a better taste of that), so this plum assignment was too good to pass up.

London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin with a side trip to Hungary? Who am I to say no? All the big designers has showed up in style for the Oscar goddess: Burberry, Christian Dior, Dion Lee, Mugler, Thakoon, Schiaparelli, and Ralph Lauren,

The Los Angeles Premiere

So just when I was soaking in Jlaw’s Jimmy Choo gold Dory sandals and her gorgeous, goofy command of the red carpet, I ran into Gaby Lorenzo, a Bay Area marketing genius and she shared why it’s nearly impossible not to draw parallels from the Hunger Games into your life and society.

But allow me to digress a moment with this JLaw tidbit from the world premiere roadie as she admitted on the Conan Show that she made a horrible mistake with her first tattoo. “I feel I have ‘I’m stupid’ tattooed on my hand permanently,” she said. She added to is by telling us that she made a pact with her Hunger Games co-stars to all get tattoos when filming finally wrapped on the series of movies. She decided to get ‘H2O’ to “remind me to drink more water.” But she admitted that she got the ‘2’ in the wrong spot – superscript above the other characters, rather than below. “It’s now H-squared!”

“I didn’t go to school…I’m an uneducated idiot.”

Yet, I digress; back to The Hunger Games and its unique life lessons. Whether it’s politics, romance, business, or even pop culture, there are lessons we can draw from the trilogy and apply to our daily routines. Here key takeaways and lessons learned from the Suzanne Collins’s fictional characters:

The New York Premiere

Develop relationships and network.

With 24 tributes participating in the games, it’s important that you make connections (think about your colleagues and business partners). Your friends and allies are your key assets. Whether you need food, medicine or weapons, all of the tributes must rely on the help of others. The Hunger Games are not something that you can participate in alone. Ask for help when you need it. Seek and create resources for yourself and your team. Everything we do is based on relationships and experiences we encounter with media, colleagues and prospects. The relationships we develop over time help us to produce good work and to continue to advance to new adventures, and ultimately grow. Like the arena in The Hunger Games, the world is smaller than you think, and every day I continue to remain surprised at how often paths will cross.

Your work ethic matters.

The Paris Premiere

At the end of the day, there is no shortcut to getting ahead. The shortcut is working hard. Determination is the key to success in all future endeavors. It’s the work, planning and preparation you put in along the way that gets you to the finish line. Like the tributes, PR professionals must remain committed and strategic in everything that they do to produce stellar results. Hard work rarely goes unnoticed in our industry, and the leaders in the arena like Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark exemplify these traits. They also showcase their many values: dedicated, smart, honorable and ballsy to name a few!

Showcase your skills and value.

The Berlin Premiere

Tributes in The Hunger Games must rely on their special skills. This will help them differentiate themselves from the other tributes. The core competencies that they possess cannot only help them win, but also to get sponsorships from the districts (think investors). This is the value-add, and the players in the arena must leverage their special skills – from hunting, to camouflage, to building a fire and even gathering food. In communications, it’s just as important to highlight your special skills. Are you a good writer? Do you know all of social media’s secrets? Familiar with analyst relations? Are you an expert in Adobe Illustrator? Flaunt those skills! Bring something to the table that no one else can offer. For our clients, they find our special skills to be most beneficial.

Just keep swimming.

The Madrid Premiere

While we are not fighting for our lives day-in and day-out, we need to remember to keep breathing. Naturally, the PR and marketing industry is not as hectic as the arena that the characters face. It’s important to look ahead and focus on the big picture – keep trekking through the workday. Whatever you do, just don’t give up. Finnick, a tribute in Mockingjay once said, “It’s better to not give in. It takes ten times as long to put your self back together as it does to fall apart.” Mind over matter in the games is key, and in real life, it absolutely holds meaning. Remember to stay motivated even when the days can get stressful. At the same time, remember that we aren’t saving lives.

As Effie Trinket would say, “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

AD OF THE WEEK/MONTH/WHATEVER

What else could it be than the epic final trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 and  its $40 plus marketing budget:

The post The Hunger Games World Tour and the Fashion of Jennifer Lawrence appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.