Refuse to have a bad day

I guess it's that time of year where everyone becomes disenchanted with school and looks forward to spring break. Maybe it's just me. Progress comes in cycles and I feel like I'm hitting a lull in creative growth. There has been a noticeable decline in my optimism through the years. Especially since coming here. However, it's built into this program. Confident enough to feel competent, but broken enough to forgo ego. Well, at least for some people. Some have a super natural propensity toward inflated self-worth. This industry is supposedly saturated with those types. But for the most part, everyone here seems to agree that we're all in it together. A quote that sums up my feelings on ego is "if i am to keep my good character, i shall be rich enough" -platorius. Keep focused and keep away from the water cooler and b.s.

VD-day

I spent my Valentine's Day with my partner, el Pink, concepting about toothbrushes. Hot date. It's amazing how fast this place (or the advertising industry, in general) can kill any relationship. I know several people that started their Adcenter career with a relationship, that has since mysteriously deteriorated. It's a vaccuum. It's possible to completely forget about the outside world and your supposed obligations to it. An incredible amount of understanding is needed. For the non-Adcenter party to be continually blown off for other partners, groups, and projects. To be happy with whatever scraps of time they can get. Scattered five minute conversations between meetings. To take the abuse of mis-guided Adcenter frustration. Feigning interest when we talk about the latest campaigns or trends in the industry. Never really understanding and feeling a bit left out because of it. Are these legitimate arguments to date someone in the industry? Or would that be overkill? However, dating someone outside advertising is an escape from this insane industry, even though it never really leaves you. And do relationships suffer because of that unfortunate side effect? Well, kudos to those that pull it off. You'll have to disclose the secrets to the rest of us.

Kill trees

Proliferate. Don't throw anything away. Keep an idea vault. Be humble. Be nice. Help each other out. We're in it together. Keep your diseases to yourself. Be concise. Have something to say. Start over. Focus. Constructive criticism. Defend your point of view. Have heated discussions, but don't take it personally. Write sentence fragments. Find the fine line between the art of procrastination and productivity. Soak up every piece of information about anything, you never know when it'll come in handy. Be passionate. Once it's on the wall, it's just a piece of paper, they're not judging you. Be objective. Don't get married to an idea. Give yourself. "If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right"

SuperBowl XL

I know it's a little late for SuperBowl commentary, but I have been slaving away to make sure I don't ever produce shite like that since Sunday. In general, a bit disappointing. There were a few spots that deserve a little pat on the back, such as the FedEx spot (with dinosaurs) -- interesting way to deliver the message. The Dove spot as a branding message, I commend them for saying something different to women with their real beauty campaign. I actually liked the CareerBuilder spots because they illustrated the situation well, but I think the main reason they pitched it was because they wanted to use monkeys. And really, who doesn't? Ameriquest spots were pretty funny, but it didn't bring anything new to the table from last year. And also, no one really understood what the hell the product was, which is kind of important in advertising. Creepy king and burger dancers, um, interesting and goes right with their campaign. Got attention and was right for their target. That king is so creepy, but it works for him. Sharpie clicker, pirate guy pretty good, gets the job done. Theft deterrant phone, pretty funny, don't know if anyone will remember which company did it though.

Other than that, the Bud ad with the giant beer is a rip-off of the big Carlton beer ad. The GoDaddy ad was just trying to capitalize off last year's concept and ended up being really confusing, as well as a cheap PR effort (it was their 14th version and they made it a point to highly publicize that.) The Hybrid commercial aimed at Hispanics was so full of cheese, everyone in the room had a mini coronary from the cholesterol. The words "brown and bubbly" alone (Diet Pepsi) made me throw up in my mouth. Not to mention the effects of the terrible creative and liberal use of random celebrities that were a lot less funny than they are in real life. WTF, Jay Mohr. Outback and the boomerang, I bet that guy is from Jersey. Pizza Hut and Jessica Simpson, I don't even want to comment on it. And believe me there is a lot of ground for a good verbal bashing. Where the heck was Miller Light or MGD? Bud completely took over the show and had a million spots. Doesn't matter, nothing matters. Escalade, pretty cool car, stupid ad. es-ca-LADE. west siiiide. I couldn't understand what the eff Shaq was saying due to a lack of enunciation. Some of the spots had me saying, "that shit don't make no sense." Perhaps I've just become cynical and jaded as a result of being saturated in advertising 24/7. Or perhaps, I am joining the ranks of the typical consumer, whose general distrust for advertising is more than correlated to crappy, irrelevant work.

If you want to see the spots, click on the title. At your own risk.

French spot for AIDS awareness

An example of something that would never run in the US.

Gap Remodel

Nicely done. Directed by Spike Jonze. Click on title to see.

Kinko's

Cool outdoor ad by BBDO NY.

Nike--"Awake"

If you are or were ever an athlete, this spot will hit you. I'll admit, it makes me well up a little bit. I know, lame, but some of you will understand. This is the kind of work I want to do. The stuff that punches you in the neck and/or gut. Click on title and pump up the sound.

Mental explosives

Everyone has a creative side, whether they believe so or not. There's research that says there's no special mental process for creativity, just a lot of hard work. You sit down with a problem, throw out ideas until you hit a wall and think you're tapped, then the real work begins. Once you state all the obvious solutions, the cliches, the work that's already been done, then you start moving into uncharted territory and that's where innovation lives. And it hurts, it's not a pretty process. You kind of want to kill yourself every time. But once you hit it all the pain pales in comparison to the exhiliration of finding that golden nugget. And you don't hit a home run every time, so don't expect that. But the big idea is in there somewhere. And only you have it, because no one else can think of it the way you do because they're not you. You'll go down in flames occassionally, but that's part of the game. Every failure is setting you up for the ultimate victory. And those ideas that seemingly appear out of nowhere, they're a result of all the work you've done up to that point. Even if you're not actively working on the problem, that little rodent that is your subconscious is constantly turning your brain wheel. So if you're one of those people that say "oh, i'm not really that creative," there is something in you that no one else has and you just have to work harder to discover it.