Tuesday, October 28, 2008

How do you Rebel?

I am really interested in this whole Mac v PC advertising that has been going on lately. Both TBWA/Chiat/Day and Crispin Porter & Bogusky are very respectable agencies, and I have to say I favor CP&B. A while ago, I was reading an article about Alex Bogusky's take on what they would have to do in order to save Microsoft as a brand. Most of what he said was expected, it made sense. You have to make people want to use a PC, duh. He had a lot of interesting things to say about it, but what really stuck with me was something quite unrelated to the two brands. The reporter commented on how, over the years, Bogusky's office "matured" into what was a more contemporary and "respectable" office. His reasoning for the change was that "Life conspires to beat the rebel out of you...I was at a meeting at Nike recently with a bunch of senior people, and that's just the thought that went through my head. For everyone at the table, I could see how life was trying to beat it out of us."

Well I think that sucks. Why should the rebel in us be something we have to get rid of in order to be respected. Is it not that same rebel that makes us unique, that makes us interesting? Maybe we should change the meaning of the word rebel to fit my definition (one that I believe Alex Bogusky pretty much is refering to). First of all, I don't think any one person should wholly be "rebel," that's when you become some kind of extremist, and usually that is very dangerous. I do believe that we should all indulge the little rebel inside of us every once in a while. And by that I mean daily.

For me, the little rebel is so tiny that there are a million of them. I have plenty. The rebel represents all of the things that make people look at you twice when they see you. It makes them laugh when you tell a story. It inspires you to think of something new. The little rebel is the reason we are in advertising knowing full well that the economy sucks and that entry level pay is crap regardless. The rebel in us is the reason why we come to class til 8:30 every Tuesday and are fully prepared to spend countless hours on a campaign that may or may not be chosen as the winner.

So I embrace my little rebels. And I'm calling on you all to embrace yours too. I'll even list some of mine off the top of my head.

1. I've watched Beauty and the Beast approximately 15 times in the past 4 months-- and I'm 21 years old
2. I will not touch a cotton ball, end of discussion
3. I watch Univision and don't understand a word of it
4. I went to Armenia for a month simply because I didn't feel like seeing a boy anymore.
5. Sorry Justin, I do not know who ADCD is.
6. Dedicated Michael Jackson fan.

That's enough for now, I'm tired. Here is the link to the article I was talking about.

How do you Rebel?

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