January 27, 2023
This is a momentous occasion. We’re so proud to finally be giving birth to our first future-of-tech forecast, a joint effort with our friends at internet & tech culture newsletter extraordinaire Garbage Day. We’re (pretty) sure you’ll love it.
It’s also the first outing for a new feature of our ole’ newsletter here called Ways We Work Together. One of the main ingredients in our figure-it-out-itude sauce is a healthy helping of sensible policies and initiatives that allow each other to thrive and succeed. And we want to give you some insight into how it all happens. Bon appétit!
Hyped or Slumped in 2023?
There’s a lot of hype in the world of technology right now. It’s felt like ever since the pandemic started, Silicon Valley has been searching — sometimes desperately — for the next big thing. Brands and businesses love to join in on the hype. But very rarely are internet users themselves asked how they feel about the new trends flying across their various screens. Similarly, it’s rare for brands to respond to trends quickly and effectively without sacrificing quality.
*Garbage Day, treasured thoughts.*
So, as we enter into 2023, we polled Garbage Day readers about what they thought were the most (and least) exciting things on the technological horizon. As a preview, imagine this vaguely to the tune of “12 Days of Christmas,” there’s: bite-sized brands, intentional DM sliding, work tools, Yellowstone, binging & baiting, niche creators, the hidden internet, and A LOT of thoughts on AI. So many in fact that we’re having an IRL conversation with Garbage Day and a slew of other AI-savvy folk called Not So Artificially Intelligent: How Humans Can Make the Most from AI and Not Lose Their Souls. That’s happening Wednesday, Feb 8, from 5-7 at Luminary (1204 Broadway, NYC). RSVP here & see ya there :)
Ways We Work Together: Sick Time
Paying lip service to the importance of internal culture isn’t our thing. We try hard to implement policies and procedures that facilitate accomplishing what we need to do without sacrificing our teammates in the process. To that end, we’re going to start sharing our perspectives on collaborating and what we’re learning about working together. Led by our incomparable Experience Operations Lead, Jessica Grasmann, check out how we do sick time, PTO, and giving yourself a break before the candle burns at both ends.
Building Leaders and Creators - BLAC
Part and Sum is proud to be participating in the BLAC internship program this summer. BLAC is partnering with 30 different agencies across the country to accomplish one central goal: get more Black voices into advertising. BLAC is an advertising bootcamp that focuses on skills training and job opportunities. The positions, running May 22 - August 11, are paid and the deadline for submissions is February 17. All kinds of creative thinkers are encouraged to apply here and if you’re reading this and know someone who might be interested, please share it with them!
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