I have finally arrived to leave my mark on this exciting, invigorating new semester of Creative Strategy with Tom and the gang!
I must say that coming into this course I had NO idea of what to expect. I guess that's what a semester of Tom does to you. His classic guideline of no rules, no boundaries and no exceptions is truly the framework of a creative individual. While I am not necessarily the most creative person alive, I'll definitely give it my best shot while I'm a student of Tom and Melissa. One of the thing I've learned to do, yet can always improve upon, is to just let loose - not be afraid of your limits and just pursue the first thing that comes to mind.
This not only applies to those of us entering the creative facet of the ad business, but also those of us who might be pursuing fields that are unrelated to marketing/advertising. Creativity is existent in almost every profession and way of life. It might be more transparent in, say, a creative-driven field like advertising but it is very much existent in any career path that requires a pulse. The ability to think abstractly and outside the box is such an awesome tool to have and yet so little people relatively speaking actually utilize it.
Why? My opinion is that creativity isn't exactly cultivated in secondary education and even lower-level college education across the world. We're so consumed with subjects like mathematics, sciences, history, etc. - all incredibly important fields in their own right - but yet in those very subjects are we rarely asked to expound upon the information we learn. We're taught to memorize facts to ace quizzes, write papers and make formal presentations to the class but it's not too often where a teacher tells you to "get loose and go with the flow."
Very often education is structured and has a limited framework to work within. Many times kids will just go to class, maybe stay awake for a few minutes or so, then leave. Some students are very good at memorization and are auditory learners and are gifted at recollecting what the teacher tells them. Others are just dazed and confused and bored out of their minds. But how about the ones that are asked to not only process the information dictated to them, but to reflect upon it and even make it their own? How many of those do we really see and how many are hiding away from it because nobody else is actually doing it?
These questions are what make Creative Strategy - and the creative aspect of advertising in general - unique. Rarely do you find a professional path that allows you to work outside your conventional limits while being paid for it. I expect much of this class to be similar to Creative Strategy I, but I do not expect the lessons I learn and the advancements I make in my thought process to be similar at all. I may not ever be the most creative individual on the planet, but I can definitely evolve and progress in that category. Because it's something I can always apply in one way and another and always make use of, no matter my destination in life.
Here's to a good campaign, everybody.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Hello World!!!
Nouvelle Cour- A really cool idea by an advertising agency!
Hey ya'll!
My name is Stacy Lynn (I wasn't in class the first day), but I am also in Creative II and this is my first time blogging as well.
This summer I'm studying abroad in France, so I've been very interested in their culture and things going on over there. I found this article which is by a member of a multi-national advertising agency called TBWA. Its about how TBWA\FRANCE is giving less priveliged students an incredible opportunity and personally taking them on as their students. A couple different clients have agreed to let the students assist with their accounts as well. I thought it was especially cool because it relates to our class this semester. While I don't think we are the "less priveleged" because we go to the greatest college in the US ;0) Catch Your Limit is doing a similar thing for us.
Anyways, I thought it was interesting and hopefully you will to!! I don't really know how to do attachments or anything on here yet, so I just copied and pasted the article below. See ya'll in class today!
THURSDAYBY
JMD
Why is Thursday the best day of the week? Because it’s close enough to start thinking about the weekend and just far enough from Monday to still smile.
Many French teenagers, especially in the "banlieues" (the outskirts of large cities, in particular those with a multicultural
population, a high unemployment rate, and delinquency issues) typically do not get the education one would need to start
a successful career. Among these teenagers, some have a desire to work in the communication business. The city of La
Courneuve, considered to be an infamous "banlieue," offers them a proper education with an undergraduate diploma in
communications at the Lycée Jacques-Brel. But the students, coming from ill-famed neighborhoods, were often deterred by
potential employers for lack of professional experience.
One of their teachers, Francis Benhaïm, fed up with this situation, decided to take the problem the other way. Since the
students applying to companies and agencies located in wealthier areas of the Paris region were faced with many social
prejudices, he had the idea to make the agency come to the students – physically. You know the saying: if the mountain will
not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain.
TBWA\FRANCE, when presented with the project, loved it. The idea to create a "first-step
agency" in La Courneuve to offer students the first professional experience they lacked was
both original and pragmatic – it bore all the signs of Disruption. As LCI, a very successful TV
news channel in France, was already on board and convinced by the incredible energy of
Samira Djouadi, a fellow La Courneuve citizen and now President of the agency, the project
took off quickly. Two of TBWA\FRANCE’s biggest clients, SNCF and BNP-Paribas supported
the initiative by assigning real projects to the new agency, and Paprec, the leading recycling
company in France, generously offered to house the new-born agency on its premises -- just a
few blocks away from the Lycée.
Why did we call the agency "Nouvelle Cour"? It was like a sign sent to the teenagers
of these "banlieues." A good majority use a specific slang called "verlan," which is
essentially a form of dyslexia (where syllables of some words are pronounced in reverse
order). And so, the project was named using verlan: La Courneuve became La Neuve-
Cour and finally \Nouvelle Cour ("New (Play)ground").
Today, \Nouvelle Cour is a small, yet full-fledged agency, employing young alumni of
Lycée Jacques-Brel. And there are great professionals supervising them: David Breysse,
who took the position of Managing Director, and Sofiane Ouaddah, a Jacques-Brel
alumnus. Senior advertisers from TBWA\France provide their support to control and
guide them in their work on a wide range of projects (events, advertising, edition…). In
all these jobs, the team’s unconventional but down-to-earth approach has proved to be
a decisive asset, in what can already be considered a success.
All those who believed in this initiative since the beginning gathered on October 24th to
celebrate the first anniversary of \Nouvelle Cour. Mrs. Christine Boutin, French Minister
of Housing and Urban Development, also attended.
\Nouvelle Cour is a perfect example of our ninth goal (within the 10x10 plan) to "Give back through a creative social
responsibility strategy." With Room 13 and all the initiatives that, like \Nouvelle Cour, will spring up from each part of the
TBWA network, I hope that, in the years to come, we will have many more anniversaries like this one to celebrate.
\NOUVELLE COUR
11.29.07
Copyright © 2007 TBWA Worldwide Inc. All rights reserved
Google "socks"
I was thinking about my creative sock idea and decided to google "creative socks" for some inspiration. I am glad to inform everyone that our blog is #9 when you google "creative socks." Very exciting!
Creativity Is The New Black
“Only great minds can afford a simple style.”
- Stendhal quotes (One of the most original and complex French writers of the 19th century, 1783-1842)
www.fabsugar.com
Hi People!!!!
Isn't today a beautiful day outside!?
It was a little cold this morning getting out of swim practice, but other than that..... Yep, so after practice I went to Starbucks and the lady in the drive threw must of had about 20,000 espresso shots because her eyes were the size of golf
balls and she was talking a mile a minute. "How has your morning been so far?" I like your nail polish. You couldn't help but smile. Then I went to walmart. It was great no one is there at 7:30 in the morning. Then I went home and slept and watched Regis and Kelly.
Carlyn
Hospital Rants
So, yes, I know my first post is late, but I promise I'll post again by the end of the week. That should count right?
Since I've spent the last week going back and forth to the hospital to visit my friend, I'd like to dedicate this post to her.
Please, under no circumstance visit TMH if you are ill. You will be much better off at home performing your own surgery while watching a how-to online video. Why must patients sit in the waiting room for 10 hours before being seen?
Why would it take doctors 4 days to diagnose extreme abdominal pain as appendicitis and perform surgery?
I really hope my life never depends on the medical staff in Tallahassee.
Okay..its blog time
I'm a blogger now.Is that the right terminology? hahaha whatever...But instead of rambling on and on about my first blogging experience I'll just share a funny e-mail I got today entitled "Questions that Haunt Me..."
Can you cry under water?
How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'.. But it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?
Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?
If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see your body anyway. Why is 'bra ' singular and 'panties' plural?
Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him? Can a hearse carrying a coffin drive in the carpool lane?
If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!
If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Do the Alphabet song , Bah bah Black Sheep, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
Why did you just try singing the songs above?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window? =)
Ingredients sold here
So slow
Lets talk about how it took me about 45 minutes just to figure out how to sign in to this blog. I'm gonna have to upgrade my computer skills/ brain capacity. Tony is gay, but watching him blog is hilarious. This will be an interesting semester if he doesn't run out of "B" words. While he is doing that, I'm making socks. I WIN :D
I have a dinosaur on my chest
Big blogs bore big bloggers, boring blogs bite big boar bottoms. Before bloggers begin blogging beautifully, board boats bearing beautiful bombastic borders. Blue.
I don't really see a tiger as a farm animal, but i picked it as my favorite. I don't think I like farm animals, or farms to much for that matter, but... I watched "The Prestige" the other night and it was an awesome movie. I'm actually kind of upset that no one ever told me to see it before, it's kind of disappointing to know that this really good movie exists and no one had the love for you to tell you to see it. Hey Vanessa
The New Focus Groups: Online Networks-Wall St. Journal
The New Focus Groups: Online Networks
Proprietary Panels Help Consumer Companies Shape Products, Ads
By EMILY STEEL January 14, 2008; Page B6
When Del Monte Foods was considering a new breakfast treat for dogs, it sent out a note to an online community of dog owners asking them what they most wanted to feed their pets in the morning. The consensus answer was something with a bacon-and-egg taste.
The result: Last summer, Del Monte introduced its Snausages Breakfast Bites. They are flavored like bacon and eggs, and contain an extra dose of vitamins and minerals, which the dog owners said was also important to them.
The online community, called "I Love My Dog," isn't some random chat room or yet another Web site for dog enthusiasts -- the group was created by Del Monte. Its 400 members were handpicked to join the private network, which the company uses to help create products, test marketing campaigns and stir up buzz.
Such online networks, first cultivated as a tool for consumer research by tech and videogame firms, are now rapidly spreading to companies ranging from Coca-Cola to Walt Disney's ABC Television Studios. They are often cheaper and more effective than phone surveys or traditional focus groups because companies can draw on the participants in a much broader and deeper way than they could in an offline setting.
The sites often bear some resemblance to other social-networking sites, where members create profile pages and post to discussion boards. Companies use them to administer polls, chat in real time with consumers and even ask members to go to the store to try out specific products. The rapid back-and-forth between the company and the online community can help substantially shorten the product-development cycle. It can typically take a year or more from the time a company comes up with a product idea until the item arrives in stores. For Snausages Breakfast Bites, that process took six months. During that time, Del Monte contacted "I Love My Dog" members dozens of times, both as a group and individually. The company has also tapped members for prelaunch insights into other products, including a 50-calorie pack of its Pup-Peroni treat that recently landed on store shelves.
"It is not just a focus group that you see for three hours; you are developing a relationship with these pet parents," says Gala Amoroso, Del Monte's senior manager of consumer insights.
But as with any social-networking site, the consumer companies that run these private networks face the constant risk of member boredom -- and ultimately, member flight. There can be a fair amount of turnover on the private networks, and the companies that set them up have to constantly add games and other features -- as well as provide incentives such as coupons, giveaways and sneak peaks at new products -- to keep members around.
The private networks are part of companies' continuing efforts to figure out how to use the Web to assess and shape the way consumers think about their products. Some have created profiles on popular social-networking sites such as Facebook and News Corp.'s MySpace, while others, including Procter & Gamble, have set up their own social-networking sites. But many of those efforts have fallen flat, because people typically join a social-networking venue not to talk about brands but to socialize with friends. Other marketers, particularly in the tech community, have tried scanning blogs for consumer insights.
Networks such as "I Love My Dog" help remove some of the guesswork for marketers, by letting brands know exactly to whom they are talking -- and giving them more control over the discussions. The companies work with technology firms such as MarketTools and Passenger to create the members-only networks, whose participants are often drawn from a company's internal databases. "Otherwise, it is completely controlled by the users. That is allowing the inmates to run the asylum," says Jonathan Edwards, an analyst at market-research firm Yankee Group.
Some companies are using the private online communities to test new advertising campaigns. Sylvan Learning, for instance, is working with MarketTools to survey a group of mothers as it creates a new national ad campaign to launch next month. Sylvan sent mothers with children in first through 12th grades potential story boards for a possible TV commercial. Through online chats, email and other research, Sylvan found that it needed to focus on the success children can have through tutoring instead of the struggles kids face with school.
To conduct similar research in the past, Sylvan has interrupted people at places like shopping malls or called them at home. Because mothers participating in the online network are generally in their own homes and choose to participate in the research, Sylvan thinks they are relaxed and willing to give more honest answers.
While spending on these proprietary market-research networks is a small piece of total market-research spending, it is growing. In 2007, spending on proprietary panels in the U.S. came to $40 million, according to Inside Research, a firm that tracks market-research spending. That figure is projected to grow to $69 million this year.
Now, some of the big social-networking sites are thinking about ways they can tap their own communities to generate market research. MySpace, for instance, says it is talking with Passenger about how it could sell advertisers the option of creating such private communities using MySpace members.
Blogging?!?!
This class is determined to make me technologically SAVY. This is my first blog ever, and I'll I can think about since the first day of class is the fact that I'm going to wash a dirty stinky hog, I can't wait.
First Post
Well, Right now I am in my graphic Design class learning something new and old things. For the most part I am learning a lot of stuff in Illustrator. It is crazy. I have been using this program for years and I didn't know half of these tools. Sadly, I am not very into lectures. In fact my mind strays very easily. I am quite bored. If we weren't using computers I might have been in deep REM right now.
ugh talking about yourself is akward... very akward
Hey guys! I’m Carrie Tucker from Washington, DC and just to let you know I’m really bad at this kind of stuff, so sorry my first “blog” sucks. I’ve never written in a blog before, mainly because of the ones I read are pretty much just people complaining or talking about themselves, two things I have more then enough of in my life with out the internet involved. :) Usually I just want them to go get off their computer and get a therapist; but so far our blog is mildly entertaining soooo props to us! I didn’t get to go to class last week and I’ve only heard the mild run down of the whole socks project, but it sounds awesome! I’ll see you all tonight!
I wonder who's actually reading these.
So since it's the first post, I suppose we're just introducing ourselves? Well let's see-my name is Whitney. I'm a Junior & I recently turned 21 and I'm still celebrating. I want to get my degree in advertising and move to New York and have the time of my life. Sounds pretty easy, right? I'm from Indiana, and absolutely nothing cool happens there, and I came to FSU because it's warmer and has no corn. uhhh let's see-my roomate is fighting with her boyfriend on the phone right now. and i have a pair of socks sitting next to me with not a damn single thing on them. i'm sure it'll all work out :)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Trouble with blogging!!
Hey everyone!
I am Susan Oliasami and I have already managed to have trouble with the blog. For some reason google does not want to give me a username... Luckily, my amazing friend has let me borrow her username so that I don't have to miss the assignment. But, on to better topics...
I am completely new to blogging (you all have probably realized this by now) but I am pretty excited to start using a blog since it's a very popular social network. I'm sure we will all make it a great experience. I am also very excited about creative strategy class and I hope to get to know everyone and learn a lot through the course. I definitely think that the day that we head over to the professor's house is going to bring us all a lot closer. It certainly sounds like it's going to be a great time. I've already started thinking about how to decorate my socks...
Well, I'll definitely be back to write more, and hopefully next time I will be on my very own username!
Hello Creative Strategy class! I figure that for my first post I might as well let everyone know a little bit about me. My name is Erin, I'm a Sophomore Ad major (obviously), and the youngest(by one minute) of four. I'm the third from my family to attend FSU, and my twin brother attends Stanford University. I came to FSU because of its Communications school and I couldn't be happier. This being only my second year in college, I jumped into this major pretty quickly but I am loving it. Anyway, I'm really excited to get to know and work with everyone in the class, regardless of whether or not I'm in your group for the final project. See everyone tomorrow!
Hello friends! I hope you all had a lovely weekend - I know I sure did. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the brunch at Chez Pierre that many of you attended. I can honestly say that I am in excellent company in my classes and I'm excited to have made so many new friends. I love you guys!
Enough with the mushy stuff - Did anyone watch the horrible Golden Globe announcements?! >:-O Due to the writers' strike, they canceled the big event and instead had Nancy O'Dell and her fool of a co-host (I don't even remember the guy's name, that's how wonderful he was) simply announce the winners in a very unceremonious way. It was almost painful to watch. On top of the cheesy Access Hollywood set and obnoxious hosts, none of my personal picks won awards that they were well deserving of. Honestly, I never paid too much to attention to the Golden Globes anyway but if they cancel the Grammy's I will be furious!
Have a good week everyone!
"Life is too short to have anything but delusional notions about yourself." - Gene Simmons
Wind Power
Here's a really funny commerical that I saw at the career conference in NYC, I still keep thinking how funny it is. Enjoy!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2mTLO2F_ERY
Advertising and such
Hey Guys!
I'm Monica. I'm a Tally local and I love to ride horses. I've always loved advertising, especially the creative part of it. I especially love print and TV commercials, but my ultimate goal is to do movie advertising (like movie trailers, ect.). I think this is gonna be an awesome class!
Ooh and I would be totally interested in carpooling to the pig wash (I saw that somebody posted a blog on carpooling??). See ya!
