Grab a Bud!

Here is something to think about when enjoying a bud, while watching the Super Bowl, this weekend!

Blogging 101

i haven't blogged in a while. maybe it's because i've been working so diligently with my amazing creative 2 group on our fabulous ideas. or maybe it's because I get sick of typing after leaving work for the day. or maybe, just maybe, it's because i've had a huge, lingering, black cloud of guilt hanging over my head because of tom's lecture this past monday (the pathetic little "i love you" at the end of the speech did nothing to dull the sting of regret.. but thanks, tom). i am one of the many guilty of a few typos here-and-there in my blog. and, i admit, i'm also one of the ones guilty of blogging about nothing that creative, or... err, good.

so, i thought i'd help myself by turning to who else but google, the almighty source of all knowledge for a true generation Y-er such as myself.

returned were some interesting and informative articles about how to blog better. check 'em out, because i dont know if anyone else agrees, but reading YouTube video posts is getting old... and isn't this supposed to be a CREATIVE class?




http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/12/30/tens-tips-for-writing-a-blog-post/

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writebetter

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/04/26/how_to_write_a_successful.htm

I watch WAY too much tv

So yesterday I decided that I needed to take a nap at around 6, and I guess I hit one of those awake up randomly in a disoriented state type situations. I couldn't tell if the sun was going down, or coming up, so naturally, I thought it was Friday morning (days of the week-- not my forte). Whatever, I figure this has happened to everyone before, when you wake up at a random time at night and start getting ready for a class that you have in 7 hours (or in my case in about 36 hours). Well, my natural reaction was to turn to the TV, that way I could tell by "my stories" what time it was. But some jerk must've played a prank on me in my sleep because the TV was on TV Land. How the hell am I supposed to know what time it is based on the fact that the Andy Griffin show is on? It took me like 3 whole minutes to realize I could figure out the time by just looking at a clock. Turns out it was only 6:15. But I couldn't tell you the last time I felt so panicked. I need a wrist watch...

Oy

Thought these were pretty cool. Check 'em out!

Rudolph missing!?!!

Lookie what I found...!!



Our teachers are so silly!

-April

For Monday Haters Like Me

First. Wow, I can't believe that story is actually true! Tom, you lied to us! haha

Now, I really like this ad, simply because I totally relate to it. :D

It's true!

After our class discussion invoving kidney snatching I randomly came upon this article. Maybe it isn't such an urban legend...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/29/india.transplant/index.html

How about that?

On another note, it is fun to tell others that yesterday in class, I had to avoid Baby-J, a pig, in her attempt to eat the candy off of my socks. They just dont understand how much fun we have.

More homework like that please.

Design Help for Non-Designers pt.1

Since each group didn't get an "official" designer I thought I'd post some helpful links on how to do Graphic Design and stuff. I know we all "took the class" but the truth is if you don't actively do it every day it's not so easy (especially if you ran into a LOT of problems while in said class). So these are relatively simple to follow and cover a lot of the basics (that may not have been touched on in class) as sort of a refresher on how to move around in the programs.

How to add special effects to Layers
http://www.psvideo.info/video/PlWfZeyvk9Y

How to use the Brushes & Cool effects you can create with them
http://tutorials.startphotoshop.com/BrushupBrushes2.html

For super advanced people, there are a ton of awesome tutorials on this site for everything from Flash to Java.

How to sell underwear to men

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi624jdzPZo

World Famous Creative Strategy: A post with soul...

Hola,

Liz, Susan and I were planning the ADclub trip and decided to take a break. We were trying to think of our next creative blog....and here it is. Enjoy! There are some things you may learn from this video. For example- Liz has no rhythm, and I look way too into this. How I knew the words is beyond me...

There is also a blooper vid and a vid with Susan rapping (she's a natural). The links are below:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkE3jQps3pU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXkE8Q_FtCE


--Joe Camel

2008 Trendspotting

Found this article online about the top 80 trends to watch out for in 2008. Thought it was interesting.

Press Release
Source: JWT

Eighty Things to Watch in 2008Wednesday December 26, 9:30 am ET
Facebook Suicides, Eco-Fatigue and Intellectual Luxury Included on JWT's Annual List
NEW YORK, Dec. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- JWT, the largest advertising agency in the U.S. and the fourth-largest full-service network in the world, today released its list of 80 things to watch in 2008.
"These people, products, places, services and shifts will help to define 2008," says Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT. "By examining what will resonate with people or drive their thinking and behavior, we can identify larger patterns that will shape all of our lives in the years to come."
"Love it or hate it, technology continues to be a common thread on our list," adds Mack. "It drives the serendipitous randomness that throws up chance connections, groundbreaking discoveries and great business ideas."
JWT's list of 80 Things to Watch in 2008, in alphabetical order:
1. Africa (foreign investment and development in)
2. Antibiotic backlash
3. Assisted marriage
4. Beijing 2008
5. Blue replacing green as the environmental movement's color du jour
6. Brain exercises
7. British actress Keira Knightley
8. Carbon tax
9. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang
10. Classical musician Gustavo Dudamel
11. Climate sightseeing
12. Continuation of comebacks (Indiana Jones, The Cure, etc.)
13. Cooperative consumption
14. Couch surfing
15. Country branding (Oman, Indonesia, etc.)
16. Designer Phillip Lim
17. De-teching
18. DJ Tiesto
19. DNA-based exercising
20. E-clutter (and e-clutter consultants)
21. Eco-fatigue
22. E-mail etiquette
23. Facebook suicides
24. Fashion label Vena Cava
25. Foreign government investment (e.g., China, UAE) in U.S. companies
26. French President Nicolas Sarkozy
27. Game 3.0 (gamer-generated global gaming)
28. Google's Android
29. Gossip Girl
30. Gphone
31. Green weddings
32. Higher education online
33. Hip-hop's Retro Kids
34. Humbling of the hedge fund manager (anti-excess post sub-prime)
35. Hybrid taxis
36. Indian actress Deepika Padukone
37. Intellectual luxury
38. Investigating ingredients
39. Japanese designs (Tsumori Chisato, Uniqlo, Muji, etc.)
40. Kitchen appliances as new power tools
41. Lifestyle curators
42. Lipstick trumping lip gloss
43. Manga-inspired clothes
44. Mobile technology explosion
45. Mobulimia
46. Music as awareness driver; concerts and other residuals as cash cow
47. Musicovery (music tailored to moods)
48. Myanmar
49. Nollywood (the rise of Nigerian cinema)
50. Outsourcing to Ukraine (and other Eastern European countries)
51. Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto
52. Pantone's 18-3943 (blue iris)
53. Pets in the office
54. Prius homes
55. Radical transparency
56. Radiohead repeats (name-your-own-price music)
57. Recycling into fashion (Nau, Gary Harvey, etc.)
58. Selfless as the new selfish
59. Sex and the City, the movie
60. Shiny Toy Guns (the band)
61. Skiing in novel spots (Kashmir, Japan, Greenland, Russia, Korea,
etc.)
62. Single men saying no to sex
63. Skype sex
64. Smart Cars in American cities
65. SNS (social network service) brand communities
66. Spanish actor Javier Bardem
67. Staycations
68. Sturking
69. Tequila as the new wine
70. The N-11
71. Third screen (the mobile screen) rivaling the first screen (TV)
72. Trans-ertainment
73. U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson
74. U.S. presidential election
75. Vicarious consumption
76. (Video) Gaming Olympics
77. Virtual gifting
78. Wannabe young Internet entrepreneurs (a.k.a. Mark Zuckerberg
copycats)
79. Weak dollar/strong euro
80. Women juggling men

BIG BROTHER... the show.

Is anyone excited about the upcoming season of Big Brother 9? Probably not... because no one seems to know about the show. I've been watching it since I was in 7th grade. It has come on every summer and is in its 9th season. Fourteen house guests live together and vote each other out of the house one by one, competing for the ultimate prize of $500,000. It's kind of like Real World on MTV, but better.

I just wanted to check to see if anyone watched it because I'm absolutely obsessed.

Thank You For Letting Me Vent! :)

I am going to take this opportunity to vent about something that I just can not wrap my head around. It's one of those situations where you think, "Did this really just happen to me?" I have been bummed out for days...

So I went home over Christmas break nervous and excited because I got myself an interview for summer internship. I had received a great contact, at a great advertising agency, in a great city and got myself a great interview opportunity. The details of the city, agency and contact I will not say but I was very excited and nervous for this possible opportunity. When I got to the agency for my interview I immediately felt at home in the laid back, creative atmosphere.

Needless to say the interview went amazing! By the end of the interview he asked me when I could start and introduced me to everyone in the building. I kept in touch with my contact and we both seemed very excited for me to intern this summer. Last week I emailed him to confirm I could fax him my paperwork to get internship credit for school and he emailed right back as usual saying, of course.

Two days later, this being three days ago, I get an email telling me he has bad news. This great agency will not have the funding for interns this summer. Of course he went on to say he has already passed my resume along to other agencies and told them what a great addition to their team I would be and even told me that he would be sure to get me a great internship somewhere if I needed the help...oh and he would let me know if anything was to change at this great agency...

I freaked out...How could he do this to me??? I was sooo excited, I had my whole summer planned out around this great internship! Now I'm back at square one or even worse because I have no experience on my resume and have not been in the process of looking for anything new since I thought I had it all worked out. I had been sooo proud of myself and very excited for this internship.

My question is: Does it make any sense that a large, more well known advertising agency does not have the funding for summer interns? First of all it was basically unpaid; as I was only receiving free parking and free lunch each day. What kind of funding does a company need for that?!?

I feel like I am royally screwed because it is now getting to be late in the game to find a summer internship! And anything I pull off now will probably not compare to the internship I had originally lined up.

Am I the only one worried about getting an internship? Am I actually screwed... Seriously how could this happen? I had everything all planned out. :(

Papers shouldn't be excluded from your daily diet ... Fiber anyone?

In a country where there is so much uncertainty and as the President of the United States speaks about the future of this nation, I thought it was only appropriate to try and increase young people to get involved in politics, news, and watching the markets.

Everyone says that newspapers are dead, and that Gen Y doesn't read the newspaper, but it is free in select areas on campus and can be a great way to find out more about what is going on around the city, the nation and the world. (The Tallahassee Democrat, USA Today and New York Times are available in the bins Monday through Friday.)

Creativity doesn't have to be hindered by being current in the news. I think that without being involved and knowing what is going on with the target market it has to be hard to impossible to reach them. Research, although hated by many, has to be done by all, and really should be done incessantly.

Hallmark's Advertising

So besides the fact that I do have a partial bias to Hallmark's company because I grew up on Hallmark Drive and it was founded by a Zeta (which is why their symbol is a 5-pointed crown), I saw some interesting advertising by them this weekend. I went home for my mom and little brother's birthdays, and my mom loves the sappy family-oriented movies. We were watching Channel 5 and there was a Hallmark special movie on. I thought this was a little interesting because now with Digital Cable and everyone have tons of channels, Hallmark has its own channel. But they were running the movie on the more mainstream CBS. Despite the fact that they had obviously paid the production costs to create the movie, the only advertisements throughout the entire movie were Hallmark advertisements. And they weren't normal ones either. They were all about 2 minute spots. They were actually really cute, touching commercials as well and would definitely appeal to anyone watching the featured movie. I think that is pretty smart advertising. I don't have any idea how much it cost though, and whether they had a deal with CBS in which CBS was able to show their movie for free in exchange for the advertising that Hallmark gets out of it or how that was set up. I looked for videos of the commercial and didn't find any of the one's I saw last night, however, here are a couple links to some similar style commercials by Hallmark. These are quite as good though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxTUBSdlTGg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmIyfAlIaOM

Excited for Super Bowl Ads =)

Due to the fact none of my teams made it to the Superbowl, I am far more excited to see what the advertising world has in store for us! Here is a link to one of Fed-Ex's Superbowl ads with none other than FSU's Burt Reynolds.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zOE3pLGTmsI

i get high off life but find this interesting

Pot in Vending Machines

Los Angeles, Marijuana, California

Libertarians are fond of imagining a Utopian future in which heroin will be available in vending machines.

California is, as usual, leading the way. At least some people (those who’ve gotten a doctor’s prescription), as of next Monday, will be able to purchase marijuana from at least two vending machine locations in Los Angeles:

Melrose Quality Pain Relief, 4906 Melrose Ave, Mid-Wilshire; 323.957.7777

Herbal Nutrition Center, 1435 S. La Cienega Blvd. Suite G, Mid-Wilshire; 310.855.9484

Marijuana vending machine

Posted by David Pescovitz, January 25, 2008 11:15 AM | permalink

Two medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles have installed pot vending machines. They're accessible 24 hours a day and monitored by security guards. From Thrillist:

After cinching up your doctor's consultation, hit an AVM location to get your prescription approved, fingerprint taken, and a prepaid credit card loaded with your profile: dosage (3.5 or 7 grams, up to 1oz a week) and strain preference (choice of five, including OG Cush and Granddaddy Purple, the mildly hallucinogenic forebear to Prince). Then day or night, all you do is hit a machine and walk away with enough vacuum-sealed, plastic-encapsulated cheeba to adequately treat your illness.

Link


I have friends who smoke and they think this is a huge deal.
It's so new I'm not sure what to think about it.
My sister and I have never smoked before but we have mentioned that we will when we are old and dying. We will do it together and be high and happy...maybe we won't have to get it from our grandkids we can just do it legally. ha
Does anyone have a strong opinion about this???

cutest video ever!

i had to share this...the accent is adorable!
(im not sure how to get the video to show up on the page..here is the link)

charlie bit me

Trader Joes

This reminds me of the fish video so I had to share…

Just another example of people having fun at work.

Trader Joe's

My Sincere Apology!

Dear Class,

This is my first actual blog even though I have been reading many of them in the past few weeks. I had trouble in the beginning and failed to fix the problem until now. I promise to be a devout blogger for the rest of the semester!

Sorry again for the lack of contribution!

Sincerely,

Laura McNamara

Hum..Apparently, Mac users think they're better than everyone else!

I just read this article on AdAge about a survey revealing that Mac users tend to be less modest than PC users.. 

I dont agree with it, but I think is pretty interesting :D

Mac Owners Are Just Like, Well, the Mac Guy

Study: Apple Computer Users Less Modest but More Open Than General (Read: PC) Population

Ads from all over

I saw this on U Tube, and i thought it was pretty interesting to see the different styles of comedy that take place in different countries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5jREZ_RINo

Pickeled Pigs Feet

Creativity is a lot like washing a pig... your told its going to be messy, dirty, and fun, but it never happens. I don't have any links to advertisements but out of any new ones that I've seen on TV lately I really like the Burger King AD that picks on McDonalds Cheeseburgers and small hands. BurgerKing has had alot of good commercials lately from the IAMMAN one and the WhopperFreak campaign. THis is a neat link to a McDonalds freestyle that should have been turned into some type of commercial a long time ago.http://youtube.com/watch?v=FLn45-7Pn2Y

Ratings and GRPs

I can't explain why I am not able to compute GRPs. It is the hardest thing. I just suck at the math.

I have been thinking of what I could possibly write about in this blog for a couple days now, and I have decided to write about music in advertising, since I love music. Last fall I went to the AWNY conference in NYC and at one of the work shops I learned about the importance of music in advertising. There was a man I don't remember his name but he talked about how he was the guy that put the music to the ads. He explained that for his job we would seek out new talent and essentially use the ad campaigns to promote the bands and get them heard. He said this means of using the music is one of the newer ways bands are getting their music out there. Also some songs were created just for the advertisement and eventually were made into real songs because people liked them so much. In this field you work with record labels and musicians, oh and he also wrote jingles. Over all I think this would definitely be a great career choice, if you really like music. I think one of the band that he said that grew from advertising was The Fray.

You can check out what songs are in what ads on adtunes.com

The Secret!

So I randomly saw this segment on laws of attraction and how to change your life. I know it sounds like the average "how to improve yourself" show but this is really interesting. Check it out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_b1GKGWJbE8. It's called "The Secret: 1st 20 minutes" on youtube.com.

See you all tonight :o)

Hopin' it's a Hoppin' Sock Hop

I cannot wait for tomorrow's class! I'm sure there are going to be a lot of sweet sock designs... And, of course, there's going to be a pig sitting in on the lecture! That's a first for me and I must say I'm delighted.


Here is the link for one of the most innovative and most ballsy ideas for a billboard ever. These guys look like they're having a blast up there!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EpW6PN7KvTU

Hope nobody forgets to cut them loose after their shift is over :) hehe

Creativity Gone Bad

As Im sitting here in my sorority house making my socks ( yes, I procrastinate) I am getting the oddest looks from people wondering what the heck I'm doing. I say that I have to make a pair of creative socks for my class and of course they laugh... They only wish they were able to partake in our sweet sock parade...

Anyway I have this problem where I have these sweet ideas ( like for my socks) and then when I go to put those ideas into action they turn out really bad. I guess you could call me artistically/crafty challenged. But don't worry you will all get to see that tomorrow with my socks.

This week I don't have a commercial to post, but in the spirit of my procrastination I am going to post a funny video about Facebook. It's a parody of the E-Harmony commercials made by a bunch of college students. I don't know If I know how to embed the video but if not then Im just going to post the link.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHi-ZcvFV_0

An Ad with a Message

Remember going to the grocery store with your parents when you were little and they would never let you get everything you wanted? Or you would sneak things in when they weren't looking? I know I did. This ad takes a spin on this idea and has a clever ending I didn't see coming. See if you can figure out the tagline!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-OqKWXirsU&feature=related

socks have sucked all my creativity out of me so this is the only title i have

okay so i really have nothing cool to talk about....so i'll just post this video and if you don't cry laughing then your sense of humor really sucks. oh and i dont know how to embed videos in here soooooooo follow the link.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/74

aaaand i would all be pretty excited about my socks if i were you.
go giants :)

Weird and Wonderful Things

I was just googling something to Blog and came across this website called Dark Roasted Blend: Weird and Wonderful Things... This particular page features a bunch of cool ads they found... some definitely weird and some you could say are wonderful i guess... Check em out!

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/07/cool-ads-part-6.html

firebrand.com

Hey I went on the website firebrand.com that Kyle was telling us about last class. I really like it, it definitely has some great ads. I like the different categories they have, like comedy, classic, drama, etc. So go check it out, you may get a lot of great stuff for class from there!

P.S.
Definitely check out the ad from Goodwin Silverstein and Partin for Doritos...its called "Mouse Trap"...i literally laughed out loud =)

Oh and the one called "Gorilla" for Cadbury is ridiculous..you have to see it

As I was searching the web for ads to bring to class I found a website with a bunch of old ads. Here's a medley of commercials from the sixties that take place at the beach. Dig the crazy sunglasses - and the catchy jingles!

TVparty Beach Party

Why so serious?

Many of you are aware of Heath Ledger's unfortunate passing. I only bring this up because I started thinking of the elaborate campaign for his movie "The Dark Knight", and how his death will affect marketing for this movie. The campaign has been built around the Joker, Ledger's character. I found this article that answered a few of the questions I had: http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/will-dark-knight-marketing-change-after/n20080124101109990037

Fun Ads

Hey guys! Here are some of my favorite holiday ads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwpfjU0MC_4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knidq8QClHw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6wZQBh_Bg8

Enjoy!

The Age of Ambition - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

This is a great article on the burgeoning field of social entrepreneurship - the practice of young people like you and me making altruistic efforts to reach out to the poor and mis fortunate in third world countries. The article brings up a really good point of how this generation of social entrepreneurs is parallel to that of the hippie protesters of the 1960's; just like our mom's and dad's 40 years ago, young people today are willing to make a difference because their government can not.

Has anybody seriously considered this at all? I mean if I had the time and resources, I'd love to get involved. I think it would be pretty honorable and noble to help the natives in an underdeveloped country, or to even assist the underprivileged on the domestic front, by possibly joining Teach For America or something like that. Hell, I wouldn't even mind giving the Peace Corps a shot if I could take time off from school/work for a few years or so.

The thing is that anybody can get into it: The article makes not of a Harvard grad named Andrew Kabler whom started out by contributing to the young children of AIDS victims as a sophomore in school. He started out by making small donations to cover school expenses for young orphans, paying administrative costs out of pocket along with a few of his friends. Now he has even expanded the operation to include a huge eyeglasses drive to assist those with vision-related problems. This caught my eye because here you have a guy who is basically a year or two younger than us at the time contributing more time and effort to these people than most governments would. A 20-year-old kid making more of a difference in underdeveloped societies than governments with trillion-dollar budgets normally do. It's really fascinating and simultaneously, rather sad.

I really think that social entrepreneurship has a bright future because frankly, I think it is truly the only way that economic concerns in third-world nations can be solved. As I noted before, most governments around the world are negligent and ignore the concerns of the deprived and malnourished. Sure they may say that they care as a big PR move, but how many governments truly make it their priority? And i'm not necessarily directing this at the U.S. and the West (although they could always contribute more) but mainly at the governments that preside over the disadvantaged. The rulers of these African nations who would rather hoard their riches and build palaces and raise armies than providing support and building infrastructure for those in need. Africa has been in a horrid state of affairs since European colonization dissolved, and I really don't think much will change in the near future.

But in the mean time, all we can do is hope that governments and world leaders can start taking closer notice at these pertinent issues. And more importantly - that these social entrepreneurs keep putting up the good fight.

Stumbled...

I found this new website, new to me may be not to you, and I wanted to share it. The site is called Stumble Upon , www.stumbleupon.com, It's a neat site sort of like youtube, it basically has all the interesting stuff on it that you want to know. Instead of googling, use stumbleupon, it's a great source find websites, photos, and videos. Let me know if there is something else out there that's better.

Creative Apple Ad on NY Times Website

This is a very creative ad that was actually posted on the New York Times website.

Key west or bust...

Saturday afternoons are no better spent than at the computer lab with friends planning the final spring break of our college career. It's hard to believe that my title will soon be switching to "recent graduate"/ "alumni". Four years passed and time to move on to the next step. I am stoked, ready to do some traveling, relaxing, learing, and living it to the fullest. For now though, we've got to find a place to call home for our last week of mayhem in our college existence.

Im just curious..

How come sometimes the youtube videos in here are posted so that you can just push play,

and then sometimes is only a link that takes you to the youtube page?

Can someone please tell me? Im sorry, Im just not very good at blogging :D

Free Pretzels?!

So I know if I don't post this now I'll forget...on Feb. 2nd between 10am-4pm Auntie Anne's is giving away free pretzels!! http://www.auntieannes.com/auntieannes.aspx?pID=97

Super Blog dat Hoe

So this if my first post on the blog. I'm not gonna lie I'm kinda lazy when it comes to this whole blog thing. So I went to the career fair today. It kind of sucked though cause there aren't a lot opportunities in PR or Advertising at those things. I talked to a few companies involved in sales, which its always good to have sales experience. Honestly I don't even know what to talk about. I'm not gonna post some ad cause I've pretty much seen every ad possible through this blog.

Funniest Ads of 2007? I think not.

So this year around the new year I decided to DVR the Kevin Nealon special wiht the funniest ad's pf the year, and really did not find any of them that funny. So I remembered they had a website where they had more ads to choose from..and very few of them are funny. I have seem some commercials that are fantastic..but none of them were picked. The one that I REALLY couldn't stand was the Reebok one from the U.K. (if you go to www.veryfunnyads.com you can see it). They have commercials from all over the world and they are just no good. I think it was Denmark, but one country had almost every commercial in the same format. Whoever makes the call on these commercials needs to be relocated to a better suited job. They are coming out with another one that just features super bowl ads, which are generally good so we can only hope it will be better.

Steve Ballmer is the Greatest Salesman Alive

No wonder Microsoft is a multi-billion dollar corporation. Sorry Bill - but this dude is the true genius behind your company:

Anyone can make money these days!

Allergic to homework

I am supposed to be doing all sorts of other homework, homework that isn't as fun as this I must say. So I find myself blogging a little earlier this week. At least blogging on here is better then roaming around facebook in efforts to ignore my homework...so here I find myself. I must say I'm disappointed the pigwashing party is postponed...but I am excited Baby J is coming to class. As far as my socks come they are still fuzzy and white...nothing profound yet. Well anyways here is a link to a cute ad I found in efforts to ignore the other things I should be doing...have a good weekend everyone:-)

http://veryfunnyads.com/ads/25429.html

Can We Please Make A Video Like This In Class One Day?

... i'm pretty sure if we do we'd actually be world famous. at least my mom thinks so. no, really.

Cashmere does not come from a cow.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but...

i love pigs. really. i love them, a lot. to the point that i havent eaten pork since i was old enough to know where it came from, and get pig birthday cards every november, and that my mom sends me the classified ads of piglets for sale. because, one day, when i finally move out of my nicely decorated jail cell, i WILL own a pig.

now some of you might be thinking, how could someone deal with a huge, messy, dirty, stupid pig. well, my slightly confused and totally misinformed friend, first of all, no pig is messy, or dirty. in fact, they are considered a much cleaner pet than a dog. (no offense to dogs, i actually love them just as much, but we're talking about pigs here.) now, not saying that they don't go roll around in stuff, but lets face it, i know some PEOPLE who go roll around in stuff. especially after happy hour. secondly, they're considered smarter than dogs. a lot smarter. they're actually one of the smartest pets you can have, being ranked 4th in intellence of all creatures (being beat only by humans, primates and dolphins). and finally, there is such a thing as miniture pigs. they grow to be 20lbs at most, and are completely, utterly and totally awesome. don't believe me? check it out: http://www.royaldandie.com/

with moday fast approaching, i feel its only fair to give all of you (and the pig) fair warning of my slight obsession. now there will be no excuse for you to think i'm weird when i want to hang out with the pig more than anyone else.

trouble with link

it seems I am having trouble inserting the link for the Dunkin' Donuts article. If anyone is interested, it is on the home page of adage.com. :)

Dunkin' Donuts, stepping it up

Hey guys!

I found this article about Dunkin' Donuts on Ad Age. It talks about how they have been the leader in Hot coffee sales and lattes since 2003, but consumers are not really aware of it. As a result, the store is "featuring a new store design featuring more coffee tones and prominent placement of its espresso station..." I thought this was interesting. To read the full article: 

The Largest Fake Bottle.

I saw this on Ad Age, and found it really interesting. Coca-Cola China hosted a grand New Year countdown party in Beijing, where they launched an iconic bottle to celebrate the 2008 Olympic New Year. The bottle is about 5-story-high, but is actually a digital video sign. It is the world's largest bottle graphic. It will be moving to Shanghai for the chinese New Year in February, and to other cities celebrating the Olimpics.

For the AdAge article:

http://adage.com/brightcove/lineup.php?lineup=1266084202

For a faster video of the event:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=60jVRkmuMEw

Interning Is Quite Fun

Hello everyone, I'd like to start out by saying that I am proud of myself for blogging 4 days before the actual assignment is due... I tend to wait until RIGHT before it's due. BUT, I got home from the first week of my internship and decided that I should tell everyone about it. I just started interning at Zimmerman on Tuesday and it was a great first week. I went in to the internship accepting that I would most likely spend the majority of my time filing papers, but it turns out that I was wrong.

The best part of the internship so far is that everyone that works at Zimmerman is extremely nice. I've had quite a few jobs and there has always been at least one unpleasant person, not at Zimmerman. By the way, Laura, who is in creative II works at Zimmerman and has helped me out a lot since I've been there which is awesome. The other great part so far has been sitting in on calls/meetings and seeing the exciting and creative ads that everyone has worked together to create. I can honestly say that after this class and my internship I will have a million times better understanding of advertising and what field I hope to work for in the future.

I'm just glad that I've learned about computer programs, been able to proofread documents, helped organize advertising documents on the computer, many other interesting tasks, and of course, file some papers here and there. I'll just say that I'm very excited for what's to come.

By the way, it's pretty sad that the party got cancelled ... it should be interesting to bring our socks to class though. See everyone Monday!

MJ vs Larry Bird

I know Michael J. made a lot of commercials in the day, but this was always my favorite. Set up as a game of H.O.R.S.E. between him and Larry Bird, I fondly remember this as a child:

PIG WASH/PARTY NEWS BULLETIN-pass the word

The soiree scheduled on Monday at Tom and Melissa’s residence has been temporarily POSTPONED due to nuclear contamination. An EPA task force will be clearing the site (Tom and Melissa’s house) for the next few weeks. There will be a party this semester and we’ll announce the date once we know the area is no longer contaminated

Creative Strategy I & II will take place at their regularly scheduled time and location (University Center B).

The PIG will attend class and the SOCK PARADE will take place as planned on Monday, January 28, 2008. Bring your creative socks but leave your pig washing supplies at home.

Baby J demanded on attending class as she was unwilling to be washed by complete strangers. I think that is understandable. This will give everyone an opportunity to meet Baby J before you scrub her. The PIG WASH will be RESCHEDULED along with the Creative Strategy Gala at Tom and Melissa’s house.

Sorry for changing the plans but it is due to the EPA that we were shut down. We’re very sorry! Apparently radioactive waste has some side effects and we don’t want any students to be at risk for potential mutations.

P.S. Don’t forget your socks

FSU Parking Sucks!

I just wanted to comment on how terrible FSU parking is!! It's really redickulous! We should start a petition or something lol. The school is building so many new buildings...but no new parking! It's a little crazy that you have to circle for like an hour before you find parking. and people are mean! I saw two girls get in a fight yesterday. They should really do something about that.

R.I.P. Creativity

i remember the days when i was free. yes, free. i could do what i want, when i wanted, how i wanted. the good life. my house was like creativity central. my group would meet there every time, and everytime we would walk out with something great accomplished. i would get things done promptly and on time. oh, yes, i remember. and why is this so incredibly easy to recall? because these days were only 6 months ago. and now, i'm currently trapped living in a cell, i mean room... ok well more like awesomely interior decorated cell.. with someone else. those of you who feel my pain (literally, pain) will know that i'm not just talking about inconviences like fighting over mirror space (i was running late for work), the hair straightener (her hair is already naturally straight), borrowing shoes (i'm sorry, but that foot is NOT a size 7) or the tv station (she football. a lot.) i pretty much blame living in KD for my complete lack of creativity. or at least, my lack of blogging.

it doesn't help that the wireless internet is probably the most disfunctional network in the united states of america. c'mon people, its 2008. if you can't get the wireless to work, what good is life? but, put that on top of living with 40 girls (and i'm talking girls. as in, girly girls. its a sorority house. stereotype.) when you have an hour, or half an hour, or even like, 10 solid minutes to yourself the last thing you're even worried about is the internet black hole you've been sucked into and all the homework you need to get done but can't. its like, me time. and all you can do is relish in the fact that its just you. by yourself. no girls. its like some kind of catatonic state of ultimate om.

i realized it was an issue when i actually looked forward to going to work. first of all, there are boys (granted, about 65% of them are gay, but whatever, they're guys), AND in addition to that, the internet works (i'm using it right now). ok so the food isn't as good, and i really do love my friends (internet, not so much. but maybe if you'd work i'd reconsider) but i can't help but remember my days of youth (aka 21.. i'm now 22) where getting things done wasn't a constant struggle. i have to admit, i bring a lot of it on myself. sometimes hearing about that guy or so-and-so with this-and-that is more appealing than surveying people. sometimes i want to paint my nails instead of type. it happens. not that i don't enjoy doing the other things, but when i'm surrounded by temptation to join in the uber girliness, who can blame me?

in order to pass this class, maybe i should sublease.

Reality TV Sucks

For the longest time I hated reality TV. In the beginning they were tolerable when restricted to The Real World and game shows. Now we are in reality TV show overhaul. Everybody has a reality TV show and it's pure garbage. They bring the quality of TV way done. I'm all about scripted TV with a story, purpose, and great writing such as the abc show Pushing Daisies. I am well aware of the appeal of Reality Shows to the greedy network conglomeration. It's cheap to film, produce, and you don't have to pay the stars of the show rayalties for syndication. However, creativity people. There are now spin off of spin off of the spin off. For instance, VH1. This channel created Surreal Life whiched Spanned Strange Love which spanned Flavor of Love which Spanned I love New York and Flavor of Love: Charm School. To make matter worse they have the nerve to create sequels to Flavor of Love and I Love New York. And what gives with the constant marathon. Orininality people. Please try something new. O, and don't get me started on the 24 hour marathon of America's Next Top Model on VH1 and MTV.
That reminds me. MTV, what gives? MTV stands for music television yet that channel is the last place to go if you want to actually hear music. It's nonp reality tv shows. They know created another channel called MTV 2 and MTV Hits in order to listen to music. However, the messed up part of it is that those channels are only available to people with premium cable.
The sad part of this rant is I completely understand the business and practicality of reality shows. It's all about ratings and impressions. Why couldn't people appreciate what made the olds shows iconic.
Another sad fact is that this rant was brought on because I just finished reading an article about product placement in reality shows and the fact that there will be a lot more reality shows brought on by this writers strike. *Sigh. I'm also dismayed because I am already to aware of product placement. A year ago I was able to watch movies and TV shows all happy and oblivious to the For Sale sign on my forhead.
= Tochi Signing out

Top 10 Car Commericals of 2007

According to askmen.com these are the top ten car commericals of 2007. This was on the homepage of AOL.com today. It made me want to check it out. I would have to say that the first one was pretty funny. Soo check it out! http://autos.aol.com/article/general/v2/_a/top-10-car-commercials/20080122132309990001

-Brittany

the big O!

I dunno if anybody else has too much time on there hands and is watching Oprah right now, but she's doing a show on commercials that have shaped American culture, or have become iconic… so if your as much of a dork as me… tune in!

Things that caught my eye

This is a save the trees ad that I thought was interesting http://www.frederiksamuel.com/blog/images/wwf_paper.jpg

Im not sure if this is is hilarious or just way creepy
http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/commons/crt-rugby-world-cup.jpg

This has nothing to do with advertising but it made me laugh
http://www.strangeplaces.net/weirdthings/travel.html

Political Apparel

Pretty interesting new direction for American Apparel and their ad campaign. Coming from Miami I find immigration to be a pretty pressing issue, and the fact that they are addressing it in such a way is refreshing to see. LOVELOVELOVE seeing that all ad campaigns aren't for monetary gain, but also social awareness. Bravo, American Apparel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/business/media/18adco.html?ex=1358398800&en=df3e65772e15460e&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

and for those that are unfamiliar with the product: http://americanapparel.net/

-April

i blame my grandmother

Sorry I was out of town visiting my grandmother, and everybody knows grandma’s and the internet are like Britney and Kevin… ya I went there… ANYWAYS…
I just wanna give some love to my favorite commercials on TV right now…
First I would like to give props to the H&R block commercial. I think it’s bad ass. For like last three years my mom has told me she would do my taxes and then always calls me wining out how she can’t figure out turbo tax. Considering that Turbo Tax is a really big threat to all the traditional tax companies I think it’s awesome that they blatantly called them out “why don’t you call the box!” … (sorry YouTube didn’t have it!) but keep an eye out!

My other new favorite ads right now are defiantly the Comcast “slowsky” ads. The way that angry turtle yells at the new neighbors is priceless! I laugh every time.

Another ad I want to give that’s awesome to is the “Slim Quick” TV spots with the lady and her husband, they’re so creative, dead on and are the most relatable ad to their target market… plus it’s really funny when her boobs shrink!

Just another little side tangent… Cosmo is the only magazine in my house right now and I was going through it trying to find ads that fit our “personalities” and there was not a single good “thinker” ad… there's a shocker.
oh PSPS: i know we all spend a lot of time in the stadium, but did anybody else know that sweet shop closed? I mean the place sucked... but I was still shocked!

Chester Grows Up

I'm sure you've all seen the new Cheetos ad. If not, its about a college age girl at the laundry mat. She apparently has gone to the vending machine and when she gets back some lady has thrown the girls things out or the washer on to the table and floor saying simply "other people need to do laundry too." To get even, the College Girl puts Cheetos in with the woman's drying whites. The clentcher is that Chester encourages her to do it! What does that mean? Cheetahs and their snack foods are now for hip, young DELINQUENTS!!!

Viva Orange Underground!

Oops....

The 3 day weekend messed with my mind and I totally forgot to post my blog last night! But I had been reading through the posts about creativity in schools and I noticed a lot of people talking about Odyssey of the Mind. I never participated in that particular competition, however I was a part of the Future Problem Solving team which was very similar. You got a hypothetical problem set in the future. Your solutions seemed endless because in the future you could make up an invention or imagine the world was like the Jetsons and hovercrafts were the new way of transportation. Being a "gifted" student, I felt like creativity was the base of my education. Every Thursday in elementary school the gifted kids were excused from their normal classroom and went to a portable to basically let our minds and imagination take over. We went to Nickelodeon studios in Orlando one day and learned about film and television and then were asked to create a pilot episode of our own tv show. One project was to build a bridge with toothpicks and we had a budget and a checkbook, and every time you needed to buy building materials you had to write a check and keep your books balanced. After each time completed their bridge, we tested to see how much weight each one would hold before buckling. It was really fun and yet it also helped kids learn how to keep a checkbook so it was practical as well. Yet as much as elementary school helped, I then learned about how creativity can be hindered in middle school and high school. So much of our lessons are based around standardized tests and bubble sheets. And when I finally found a great class, it was always the first to get dropped after the budget cuts. I had an amazing theatre teacher in 7th grade and when she left, they would give the job to the newest teacher on staff. The lowest man on the totem pole got stuck teaching drama so the program went downhill because most teachers had no experience to teach it. Then in high school I found an amazing photography teacher and after he retired they scrapped the program and gave away all of the darkroom supplies. The students who really wanted to continue with photography fought to get it back but when we succeeded it wasn't the same class that we wanted. We ended up with a new teacher with a completely different focus. We had lost all of our supplies and materials so we changed from film to digital and we only had 2 computers to do our digital editing in a class of 20 kids. It was awful. Luckily my high school had a class called "gifted studies" for the gifted students and it was a throwback to those portable days in elementary school. We did fun creative games and learned how to think in different ways. So I agree that schools are definitely heading in a direction that hinders creativity but luckily some people are fighting to keep the classes that really help students stretch their mind. We just need more of those people in the world.

Ad Group

I'm not quite sure if this is late or not...but hey, at least its here, and with much less difficulty this time I might add...
Anyways I was on Facebook today and remembered that I joined a group a few months back that you should all be interested in. Its called the "Ad Group". I presume many of you are already in it, but for those of you who aren't, you should definitely join. They don't spam you with annoying Facebook messages nor do they alert you to every minuscule detail that goes on in the group. However it is interesting to read the posts and see the cool ads that are put up from time to time. So go join it...and while you're at it make sure to join the FSU Ad Club group if you're not in it already. Oh and first Ad Club meeting of the semester is Tuesday night =) woohoo! See you there!

Ronald Hearts Your Fat Kid

The title of this post is a bumper sticker I saw on a car a few years back. It's blunt, kind of sad, and incredibly true. This article on AdWeek's site reaffirmed the frightening fact that fast food has a death grip on our nation, and particularly on kids.

America's continuing battle with obesity will continue to face obstacles and barriers because of junk food sold in cafeterias and fast food advertising on report cards. Advertising can be very effective for impressionable young minds. Sadly, effectiveness does not always bode well for the targets of these ads.

I have tiger heads on my feet

Wolf Blitzer just asked Barack Obama if Bill Clinton was the first black president. Who asks a question like that? I mean it's HILLARYious, but irrelevant. I think I'd make a good president, but it's scary to think that such regular people are in charge of the type of actions that have consequences to everybody in the world. I'm kind of mad about the penalty on Florida's delegates for the premature primary.I think I'm going to vote Democrat this time but if Hillary wins I might vote for John Mc Cain. It probally won't matter much regardless. I like IBM commercials and Captain Morgan commercials, but not so many Budweiser commercials lately. I really hate commercials that look like they were done on home video.S.orry my blog was boring this time, maybe next week something interesting will happen

My Favorite Ads of the 2007 Holiday Season

I couldn't help but fall in love with Macy's ads this past winter. The ads featured celebrities and their brands that are featured in the store. Check them out @ http://youtube.com/watch?v=UdpkdcvGAaA

Jen

Being A Flaming Socializer Is Why My Blogs Are Alway Late

My blog would've been on time. because-thanks to our responsible classmate Erin-she reminded me at a pary last night (i know....who blogs at a party?) but i had had too many drinks at that point and i couldn't remember my password :-\ but i really did try-you can ask her lol
anyway-enough of that. we'll stick to topic. so, in light of upcoming elections and primaries and whatever I realized how much I hate political ads. It's like they try to persuade you-without actually telling you anything. (i.e. "Believe in change!" uhhh cool I was never questioning if changed existed) They're going for some inspirational, heartwrenching feeling-and I should vote for you because you can pay a company to put ochestra music to a slideshow of pictures of you hugging old people? Really? I wish they would just take the candidate and sit them down and be like "Barack, list 15 reasons why Hillary sucks and you don't"-that would be a commercial I'd pay attention to. (not that I have any political affiliation with either-I don't even vote.) Society is way too obsessed with political correctness for anything cool like that to happen though. I guess I just feel like every commercial is the same and they're not even good. They should save their campaign money and, oh I don't know, give it to me....or fix social security-whatever works.

Obama ad:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-aR3Gpsn4v4
Hillary ad:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=h3xepwid_sY

My username is finally up and running!

Let me just say that I have gone through a lot to get my blog username working. I had to go home for the night to drop a friend off and it seems that this computer is much more blog friendly.

On a better note, my sister told me an interesting story about one of her classes in college. She told me that on the first day of class her teacher asked everyone to draw a pig. Once everybody was done drawing the teacher explained that the way your pig is facing, whether the tail is squiggly or not and many other factors can be very telling of whether a person is creative or not. Since this exercise has to do with a pig I'm hoping that someone can find the rules online and we can do this on Monday or sometime in class. By the way, Liz, I read your blog and my little toy pig is still in my backpack haha.

One last thing, I was watching the playoff games and I saw one of my favorite commercials quite a few times. It's the one where the dalmation jumps into the Miller Light truck... I'm going to find that commercial and post it when I figure out how to do that haha. I'll see you all on Monday night to wash a pig!

real creative beer ad

These beer ads are very epic, so grab the popcorn and enjoy!

Funny

Food for thought

I've noticed posting "cool new ads" has become quite common on this blog so I figured I would share some quotes I've come across pertaining to advertising. It's funny my whole life I expected to graduate, move to New York City, and have the glamorous career many dream of. Well reality is a lot different I've come to learn, and now I'm excited that I'm not sure where I'll work or where I'll live, I really want to just let the wind blow me into a niche where I fit. I really think this class is going to help me figure out what it is I really want....but I mean at 21 are you supposed to know that...I don't think so.

Anyways...here's some quotes people...

"Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence."
Norman Podhoretz

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it."
Dee Hock

"The faults of advertising are only those common to all human institutions. If advertising speaks to a thousand in order to influence one, so does the church. And if it encourages people to live beyond their means, so does matrimony. Good times, bad times, there will always be advertising. In good times, people want to advertise; in bad times they have to."
Bruce Barton, chairman of BBDO, 1955.

Are we really what we think we are?

If you hit the next blog button above this blog, you might find something a little interesting. When I pushed the button I went to someone's blog about Hawaii and how it is different then what you might think it is. A very interesting concept...something people have such a strong opinion/notion/thought about, but do we really know what it is like. The same concept could be applied to anything that you look at.

For instance advertising could be challenged to find out if it really works, if it is worth it, or maybe a company's money is better off being spent in a different way like to train employees better.

What would an "outsider" think when he or she stumbled across this blog?

Challenge everything...

Ad Age's Agency of the year

Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. After loosing a $190 million dollar Saturn account without warning in January 2007, Goodby has rebounded world-wide. They are responsible for HPs "the computer is personal again" campaign. Other accounts that Goodby currently holds include, Sprint and Fritos-Lays Doritos.
Top 10 Agencies
1. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
2. Crispin Porter & Bogusky
3. Martin Agency
4. Starcom
5. Weinden & Kennedy
6. Saatchi & Saatchi
7. AKQA
8. Vidal Partnership
9. Edelman
10. Anomaly

Here is the link to the full article in Ad Age
http://adage.com/article?article_id=123178

Pay Attention-your opportunity has arrived

The secret of all effective originality in advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships."
--Leo Burnett

Why Hires Must Be Experts in Multiple Areas
As Marketers Look to Manage Their Brands Across Multiple Media, so to Must They Handle Their Teams

A recent study by McKinsey & Co. posited that "the most important corporate resource over the next 20 years will be talent." As we are painfully aware, in no industry is the war for talent more evident than in advertising, promotions and marketing. Spurred by the creation of the "360-degree agency," which demands that employees be able to work across media, a tight talent pool is even shallower as few creatives yet sport this cross-dimensional expertise.

This growing convergence of marketing, promotions and advertising is largely being driven by marketers' desire to streamline messaging and ensure all aspects of brand are managed consistently. Also fueling this change is the continuous development of online media and interactive advertising, which blur the communication lines. Nicole Blake, senior VP-marketing for Classic Media, an entertainment-rights company, says she works with both her internal team and agency partners to create solutions that play across all media and deliver a consistent voice for brand classics such as "Where's Waldo," "Casper" and "Lassie."

But practical as it may seem, 360-degree agencies can be more difficult to manage because the company infrastructure must be able to handle intersecting disciplines. At a minimum, companies should establish a regular, integrated meeting to ensure creative synergy and make certain no one area is dictating a campaign. Yet beyond that, the true key to success, as McKinsey points out, is having the best talent, or "innovation drivers" -- people who understand how all aspects of promotions, advertising and marketing work together.

In the midst of the talent war, finding the rare innovation driver is one more battle to be fought. Candidates with the ability to fill multiple roles using expanded and diverse skill sets are extremely scarce, and many companies are "cross pollinating," looking across industries to find people with unique backgrounds. Marketing companies are looking to the promotions people that are in turn looking to advertising people and vice versa. Charlie Tarzian, president-CEO of Co-Active, an integrated 360-degree marketing firm based in New York, says he is looking for great athletes. He says the 360-degree agency requires the navigation of smart people of all stripes.

And when one global client, which specializes in experiential marketing, asked us to search for a VP-account manager, it asked us not to look in "the usual places." The company wanted a person with skills that included promotional, marketing and advertising with the ability to create client deliverables outside of experiential.

The reinvention of the traditionally siloed agency is not just about keeping up with the times; companies also are finding that the incorporation of creative services under one roof may attract the best talent. Top candidates are certainly looking for more than financial compensation. Many are seeking room for advancement, a challenging environment and an inspiring mission.

Companies fortunate enough to have these rare innovation drivers on their payrolls have been increasing their compensation at a rapid pace to keep them onboard. In fact, it's becoming more commonplace to pay 5%-10% higher salaries than even five years previously. Other, more cost-effective incentives that work to attract and keep the best people, especially the millennials, include added vacation days or perks such as sports tickets. Employee-training programs for employees also can be a great way to merge skill sets. And capable executives crave new challenges no matter what level.

Bottom line: Traditional agencies looking to please both clients and employees need to reinvent themselves, not only to help ensure business success, but also to attract and retain the innovation drivers and to enable their current employees to fill multiple roles.

Cannonball into the hot tub

Not a very good ad but funny!

When I Grow Up...

I want to work in Advertising.

It's a video I got off YouTube a while back. Some of you may have seen it. We've shown it at ad club before. But for those of you who haven't...



...also, speaking for Ad Club. Our first meeting is on Tuesday night, January 22nd at 7:30 P.M. in HCB room 215. There will be pizza and we'll be talking about the upcoming semester and our trip to Atlanta. Come on out!

So has anyone lost their little pink pig?

Rila Publicidad

I've always wondered how this industry has been fairing in my homeland, Panama. I was talking to my mother and she just told me that she actually used to work at an advertising firm when she was my age. How you forget to mention that is beyond me, but I found the company online and thought it was an interesting site to browse around. Check out an agency based in the real Panama @ http://www.rilapublicidad.com/

Annoying Ads

So I've been reading the Whipple book which Luke Sullivan (the author) begins by talking about a commercial that he absolutely despised as a kid. This led me to put the book down and think about all the ads that have annoyed me lately. For starters, remember those "Head-on: Apply directly to the forehead" commercials? Well, now Zoo York has TV spots mocking the repetitive "Head-on" commercials: "Zoo York: Apply directly to your footwear". Seriously, why would you even want to associate your company with Head-on? It baffles and bothers the hell out of me.

How about you guys, what are some of the most annoying ads you've seen lately?

Creative Video

Ok so we all know those music videos that are really cliche' and stero-typical...I saw this video and thought it was cool. The idea to add animation was a great creative move and transforms the video into something that is pretty unique...Check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRG55KnZkqc

Watch out Starbucks

I found this article on Ad age about Mcdonalds revamping their java options. They have boosted coffee sales by 40% and discuss how they consider themselves a competitor to Starbucks. I disagree, but you can check it out for yourselves.


McD's Grande Plan: Become Java Giant

Very Funny!!!

Check out veryfunnycommercials.com for some very funny stuff. Click the "Humor" tab to find games and videos.

Terry Tate Office Linebacker!!

Have you ever had a problem with implementing new policies in the work place? Perhaps recycling or filing paperwork properly. Here's a solution to your problems. After I seen this video I knew I had to share it. Take a look I hope you enjoy.

Cloverfield

So for the past few days I have been seeing the Trailer for the movie Cloverfield run, and throughout the whole series of them I still had no idea what the movie is about. It's hard to figure out what genre it is like is it scary or a monster movie or just suspense or sci-fi or whatever. I then asked myself if that is a good advertising tactic for movies at least, to leave a lot of ambiguity so the viewer gains interest. However I have to say I haven't gained much interest though. It has a bit TOO much confusion so I'm not sure if it looks interesting or not. What do you guys think?

Here's a link to the trailer in case you have no idea what I'm talking about: http://www.fandango.com/videos_1_688137/v413038

Breaking Through The Clutter?

I was browsing online and was reading about the new partnership between HP and 20th Century Fox's new movie "Jumper." I have seen the HP commercial with Serena Williams several times and found this new add to be very different from the norm, combining the movie trailer and the HP commercial into a 90 second spot. Take a look...
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185114685/bctid1381640299

Life Takes Advertising

Ok...So I confess I didn't blog the first week of class....I guess I was apprehensive because I wanted to post meaningful things that weren't just filler...But now I'm seeing that its fun to see what everyone else puts on this crazy thing....ANYWAYS I saw this ad for Visa on t.v. last night and I thought it was cool.....It's a a fine example of how advertising influences and shapes social norms...Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THfjMljhg9c

Monster Ad from BBDO

http://creativity-online.com/work/view?seed=eINTprjc

What do you think?

Baby J Revealed

Get ready to scrub!

baby jay

Hi everyone!

I have to share this little tidbit from work today, but first I need to preface it (so it makes sense.) Back on the first day of class someone asked the name of the pig we would be washing, and Tom replied, "Baby Jay." I found this all too coincidental, because a guy I work with is always talking about his pet pig, also named Baby Jay. Anyhow, I thought it to be quite strange, but forgot about it after a few minutes. Well, today, I saw the guy at work, Josh, and told him I had this crazy story about how I found someone else who had a pig named Baby Jay. After telling him the story about how we have to wash it, he laughed and said, "you know that's my pig you're going to be washing?"

I thought it was really funny because I have been hearing stories about this pig for months now, and have always said I wanted to come see it...and now I have to wash it! Small world.

The Best Rejected Advertising

Thought this was kind of interesting to see what flys and what doesn't in the industry. Some of its kinda crazy and out there... you can see why they were banned... check it out...

Best Rejected Advertising was the first book to publish ads that had been rejected by clients on aesthetic, commercial or strategic grounds. This website broadens the original concept by including rejected, banned, spoof and most complained about ads and commercials.

http://www.bestrejectedadvertising.com/html/?page=latest

Odyssey of the Mind

I know that bloggs can be quite boring when all the bloggers do is write about themselves, but on the topic of Creativity in Public Education, I feel inclined to share an experience of mine...

In Elementary school I was introduced to a worldwide competition called Odyssey of the Mind. Students were placed in teams of 5-7 people and given a problem that they had to solve in a creative 8 minute skit. There were about 5 or so different problem categories ranging from Classics to Structure building. Here is an example of a problem for this year's competition...

"Problem 2: DinoStoriesDivisions I, II, III, & IV. What might have happened to the dinosaurs that existed so many years ago? In a humorous performance, teams will present their original theory of what caused the dinosaurs to become extinct. The performance will include a dinosaur, a replica of the same dinosaur, an animal that is not a dinosaur, and a technical simulation of the team's "extinction theory." At least part of the performance will take place in a setting from the Triassic, Jurassic, or Cretaceous periods. Cost limit: $145 USD."

Along with the problem solving there was also the "Spontaneous" part of the competition. The group would be given a question, have 1 minute to think about it and 2 minutes to go around and give creative responses. For example, the question would be "Use box in a sentence". Answers would get extra points if it was something creative like " I'm boxed in a situation".

From 3rd-8Th grade I participated in this competition, finally making it to the World Competition in Colorado where I met teams from Hong Kong, Poland, and China, just to name a few. Not only was it some of the most fun experiences I had growing up, but it gave me the opportunity to think outside of the box on a daily basis and learn the importance of teamwork.

Anyway, I guess what I am saying with this post is that I completely agree that creativity in school is something not to be overlooked or pushed aside. With OM, I was able to learn about "creative strategy" before I really understood what it even meant. If I hadn't been given the opportunity to compete in OM for so many years there's a good chance that I wouldn't be taking this class right now, designing my very own pair of creative socks!

Beer Advertisements

I figured I would get my post done with early this week... I found this article online on clever beer advertisements so I figured I'd share. Some of these are pretty cool.

Thoughts on Jeff's post

So I finally got around to watching Jeff's video earlier tonight featuring Sir Kenneth Robinson, and I have to say that it's absolutely right on the money concerning the state of creativity in today's education system. Let me preface by saying that if you haven't watched this video yet - do so ASAP. Kenneth is a funny and knowledgeable guy with incredible insight into both education and the mind of school children in general. Watching him speak on this topic gave me both laughs and keen analysis on creativity in the school system.

I figured that since I have nothing better to do tonight, I'll sort of sum up Kenneth's presentation for those of you unable to view the video either for technical or time-related reasons. I'm going to run through the presentation, chronologically, by highlighting some key quotes of his stated in the presentation and my personal analysis of it. Here we go:


"Creativity is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status." (3:27)

A brilliant thesis statement to start of the speech. He jumps the gun and makes the message very clear: Creativity simply isn't recognized or even enforced in public education. He goes on to tell a few anecdotes illustrating this point. The first is a story about a girl drawing a picture of God, in which after being approached by the teacher who says "but we don't know what God looks like," she replies "neither do I."

Another has to do with his very own son who plays the role of one of Joseph in a school reproduction of the Nativity. He tells of how the first two of the Three Wise Men present gold and mer respectively, each one presenting their gift saying, "I present you with ___". The third one hands over his gift stating, "Frank sent this" clearly misconstruing the correct pronunciation of 'frankincense.' (Note that my two recollections aren't exactly accurate but just a quick annotation of what I heard. Please correct me if I'm wrong, as it's 11:30 at night.)

His point is that kids aren't afraid to take chances at an early age and aren't afraid to be wrong. In both instances, the young children were oblivious to social conventions simply because they didn't know what was considered "right" or "wrong". They just went with the flow and did what they wanted to without limits.


"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original." (5:56)

Absolutely in agreement. And simply because this doesn't just apply to a traditional creative field like advertising, but ANYTHING in life that requires effort and determination. Look at all of the multi-billionaires, tycoons and moguls that rule the business world. There are two things that set them apart from the pretenders: 1) Perseverance and vision, and 2) their ability to think outside the box.

Marketing mogul Donnie Deutche has a show called The Big Idea and he harps on this all the time. I can't quote anything from him ad verbatim, but one thing he always says is that to make it big you need to think of something that nobody else has and do whatever it takes to be recognized for it. Dress up in a chicken suit to draw attention to your little store on the side of the road if that's what it takes. Just be smart and don't be afraid of failure.

Ken's other main point is that even though kids aren't afraid to be wrong (as stated previously) we as a society stigmatize mistakes. This stunts intellectual growth in a lot of cases and most importantly, creativity. And creativity, of course, is one in the same with being willing to take chances.


"We do not grow into creativity - we are educated out of it." (6:31)

Excellent observation. Following a humorous anecdote of he and his family moving to LA from Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, he goes into detail on what he calls a "hierarchy of subject" in public schools. His belief is that the public education system places varied importance on the various academic disciplines in schools. He claims that at the very top of the hierarchy, math/science/languages reign supreme. And towards the bottom, you reach more creative disciplines such as the arts; these include anywhere from music to dance to studio art.

He also builds a new sub-hierarchy within the arts. He states that fields such as traditional art and music rate higher than dance and performing arts like acting, theater, etc. Although frankly I view all art as almost one in the same (as essentially you're creating something in some way or another) this is an interesting view on his part. In high school, I was a part of one of the most recognized high school marching bands in the state, if not, the country. We were undoubtedly the shining star of the arts program at school while other sub-divisions like orchestra, theater, chorus, etc. were often overlooked despite their great talents.


"The whole purpose of public education is to produce university professors." (10:00)

Very funny, but mainly true. As he claims, the bulk of public education in this country is predicated on the academic ability required for entrance into the university level.

One of the more interesting observations he makes is the historical explanation behind this structure. According to Ken, public education wasn't established until late in the 19th century when the Industrial Revolution really started to take full-effect. As a result, public education was designed to meet the needs of growing industrialism during this time. Ken reiterates what he says earlier by giving two main effects of this cause: 1) The most useful a.k.a. practical subjects like math and sciences are positioned towards the top of the academic hierarchy, and 2) public education is centered around university entrance and the arts are stigmatized as a result.

I personally feel that for the most part, math and science departments in high schools are often the more revered and prestiged divisions of the school and art departments are mostly taken for granted. In my high school this wasn't the case as we had one of the best art programs in the state, but I can definitely see how this scenario holds true in other schools around the country. The ultimated result is that creativity is stunted and not emphasized by schools who are often more concerned with high test scores and college placement for their students.


Towards the end, Ken lays out his three primary components for intelligence (and coincidentally they all start with the letter 'D'.)

1. Diverse - this deals with the way we perceive the world around us; either visually, through sound, or kinesthetically.

2. Dynamic - Interactivity. Creativity comes form the interaction between a person and the things around them.

3. Distinct - Ken tells an inspiring anecdote about Gillian Lynne, the chief choreographer for the musical CATS. He tells the story of how when she was a little girl, her parents brought her to a doctor to diagnose problems she had been having in school. She was said to always be fidgeting and being unstable during class and could never pay attention to the teacher or any of her classmates. This was during a time where ADHD hasn't even been conceived yet, so the doctors had NO idea of how to approach this.

After a few hours, the doctor told her mother to come with him for private conference in another room. Before he left, he turned a radio on in the same room as Gillian. The doctor and her mother than observed Gillian dancing to the radio, unknowingly. It was then when the doctor told the mother that she belonged in dance school.

From that point on, Gillian would enroll in dance classes for the rest of her young life. Eventually, she would go on to meet Andrew Lloyd Webber and they would produce a little Broadway musical called CATS. She is now incredibly successful and a multi-millionaire.


Ken concludes his presentation by reaffirming that education needs to be reformatted to inspire creativity in young children. To paraphrase, "we must breed creativity and educated our children to secure a future for all."


Once again Jeff - excellent, excellent post of yours. I'm really glad you put this on the blog for all to see.

And for those of you who actually made it through this entire thing, remind me in class next time that I owe you a cookie. OK, well maybe I can't get you a cookie necessarily, but at least I'd really appreciate the fact that I didn't just waste an hour of my life :)

Do schools today kill creativity? (Sir Kenneth Robinson, Creative Guru)

Rob brought up a great point about our education system. Sir Kenneth Robinson has spent a lifetime studying creativity and education. Here is what he has to say. He is incredibly funny but insightful. Take 20 minutes and listen, you'll be glad you did.

By the way...sorry guys I'm an idiot and created a whole new blog page or something called Nouvelle Cour. Like I said, this was my first time blogging so I don't really know what I'm doing. I can't figure out a way to delete it so just ignore it. Sorry!