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?
Monday, January 21, 2008
When I Grow Up...
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/
Sunday, January 20, 2008
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
Saturday, January 19, 2008
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.
Friday, January 18, 2008
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
Thursday, January 17, 2008
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
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.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
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.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
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 :)
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.
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