structure fire

Shifting the structure fire

2007-08-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

New blog at www.jennylui.blogspot.com. It's just got a better url. Spanks.

Worst blogger ever

2007-08-09T12:12:00.001-07:00

So yeah, Jay just yelled at me for not updating my blog. Ever. And then a rando person totally blew up my spot when they left a comment reprimanding me for being uncommited to being a committed blogger. So fine. You're right. I am a terrible blogger. Are you happy?

To me, blogging has several imagined flaws. As a perfectionist, a blog post hasn't gone through enough drafts to be worthy of permanence. Also, being more introvert than extrovert, it makes me itchy and uncomfortable to have other people peering into my consciousness. Although since these words are offered freely, any embarrassment from overexposure would have to be my own fault. And I don't like the absence of a physical product. I like to hold writing. Little bit of cupping. Maybe petting. Not heavy petting. That's too much petting.

Super lame blogger

2007-01-20T12:42:00.000-08:00

After a two-month hiatus, I'm going to give blogging another solid go and try not to be so easily distracted. We'll see about that. This blog is about "That what she said" etiquette. Credit to Evan Thompson for his blatant overuse of the phase, which saturated the catchphrase market and created popularity through overflow. First of all, "That's what she said" is a phase that magically transforms a non-sexual comment into something perverse. Ex. (Action - opening a grill and getting steam in your eyes, you say, "Ahh, that went right in my eye." "That's what she said," -third party observer.

Timing is important. You want what the set-up man says to sink in before you deliver the punchline. Ex. of bad timing--looking at a leaning street sign. "Why is that crook--." "That's what she said!!!" Not only was the delivery pre-mature (that's what she said) (see below*), but there was entirely too much enthusiasm, as indicated by the excessive exclamation marks. Optimally, you want a certain degree of "understated, yet sly swarminess."

*As referenced above, it is poor "That's what she said" etiquette to set yourself up for the punchline. You must leave a two-second grace window for any potential "That's what she said" takers. If you are able to count to three, you may then take the bait you've conveniently laid out for yourself. The potential "That's what she said"-ers are either asleep at the wheel or have decided that the bait was worth passing up. Be selective because you have a limited number of "That's what she said's" before you earn the title of "humorless twat." "That's what she said" is not something you can just spam and hope everything it hits is a great success.

And although amusing, it is not okay to make your default drinking game rule "you have to say "That's what she said" after everything you say." Good luck. Happy perverting.

So creative that we're not

2006-11-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

From www.overheardinnewyork.com.

20-something girl: I once broke up with a guy because he was too small.
Queer: Yikes.
20-something girl: It wouldn't have been a problem if he could have, you know, made up for it in other ways.
Queer: He wasn't creative?
20-something girl: He was in advertising.

continuing our adventure in egoland

2006-10-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

The best creatives find a way to get their ideas across. But unlike strategists, they don’t have the option of simply giving up credit and being content to know their idea was used. Our livelihood depends on having good ideas attributed to us. How can we get good work while avoiding the ego game and still be viewed as a valuable contributor?
Despite the need to have great work credited to you, a good creative is one that realizes that the idea is king. It doesn't matter where it came from. A lot of people probably touched it and changed it along the way. One project you carry the load, the next time it'll be your partner's turn. Being precious with an idea is a sign of insecurity. The need to garner full credit because of the fear that you will get none. People can notice that good ideas always happen when you're around. It's the balance between taking care of the idea versus taking care of yourself. But if you always err on the side of humble, you'll be known for both.

egomania

2006-10-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

Egomania has its advantages. Maybe that's why advertising is full of it. Because of their perception of eternal flawlessness, egomaniacs have the luxury of by-passing an internal edit, the first killer of work. Also, this elevated perception can be contagious. Being so undeniably certain about your work can fool others into the same mindset. The ability to ramble about various subject matter just to hear yourself talk also projects the image that you have much to say about many things. The overwhelming amount of words coming out of the egomaniac's mouth can make it seem like their portion of actual work is equal to or greater than the hot air they dispel. A gross exaggeration of character.

But seriously, I wonder if egomania comes out on top when pitted against quiet brilliance? I've witnessed this argument in process regarding a few people. However, I can attest to the fact that I did notice it happening, so that must mean others have noticed as well. There is a distinct difference between confidence and egomania. I'm not saying we should all become argumentative assholes. It's the natural tendency of creative types to err on the side of insecurity and uncertainty, but if we are to get the best work out of ourselves and our group members we all need to be more brazen. Relinquish the certainty of your uncertainty. Believe you are right while being open to the possibility that you are not. We have all mentally kicked ourselves when we ignore our gut feeling only to find out later that it was right. If you put it all on the table you will never have to deal with that feeling again. For all the self abuse we inflict, we all need one less tool for torturing ourselves.

Shiny objects

2006-10-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

It's so easy to get caught up in the pursuit of image. Production value. All flash and no substance. Where is the truth in what we do? Everyone is off chasing the "cool factor" that sometimes they forget about the insight. Sometimes it's about saying something obvious in a cool way, but I find that saying something insightful makes more of an inpact. Obviously execution and insight are the ultimate goal. But it seems like most people chase the first rather than the latter. I feel like I'm starting to forget my own point of view because everything/everyone around me is trying to be one thing and I start to think I need to be that too. It's a shiny object and bright lights, it's easy to be distracted and drawn to it. The gold lives in our own experiences and connecting to those experiences. Not in throwing up an idealized image and making people feel bad that they're not that. It doesn't matter how cool it looks if it's not genuine.

haza!

2006-10-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

I'd like to thank Jake Kamath for being living proof that more than one person reads this thing. Haza!

Anyhoo, on with the gibberish. When presenting teamwork, everyone should strike the word "I" from their vocabulary. It doesn't matter if you came up with the idea. It was probably born of someone else's comment or idea. We can't do it alone. Art is not original. Continuously saying "I" in a team presentation is slightly demeaning to the rest of the team and diminishes their contributions. Being a team is partly about giving up credit. And knowing when to ask for help. Sometimes we think we can do it all ourselves and pressure ourselves to come up with a miraculous answer, when in reality the answer is held in a conversation. Shared knowledge and adding to a nugget. This whole post is really cheesy. But completely genuine. Maybe people don't realize they do it. Is it a lack of self-awareness or arrogance? Is it over-compensating for self-esteem and a need to publicly validate their contribution? Maybe I'm the only one that notices. Or maybe it's the time in the semester when I don't know what the hell I'm doing coupled with the fact that I can't drink caffeine or booze for a week.

anyone out there?

2006-10-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

I've begun to realize that one person reads my blog. He's sitting about 5 feet away from me. It's one of my roommates, Mike. So basically I am blogging to him. This is reminiscent of our summer at Ogilvy as a creative team. We were so lazy that our only mode of communication was through IM despite being 3 feet away from each other. And through the miracle of blogging, we have somehow found a less efficient mode of communication. Soon we will be sending letters through snail mail, messages in a bottle haphawardly through into the ocean, and hiding notes at the end of a loaf of bread. Hey Mike, tell me when you get this. Did you pay the rent?

Keep pushing it

2006-09-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

That may be the most generic feedback you get on your work, but it's really a term that's multi-functional. It can be applied to every dilemma. If you are stuck, keep wading through the vomit, you'll get past it. If you think of something good, keep going there is something much better. It's always the tip of the iceberg. If you're not sure about something going through the natural progression of ideas will cement your gut feeling. If you like your first idea push until the room is filled with tree carcass and if your first idea is the only one that doesn't reek, then you've at least done the work. And you'll feel better about not taking the easy way out by going with the first idea, even though it might be the right solution. Although we may be frustrated by a seemingly one-size-fits-all response, our professors really do know the answer. But perhaps it's just a matter of intonation.

let the mothafucka burn...no, wait, don't!

2006-09-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

You wouldn't believe what a small industry this is. And you wouldn't believe how many people continue to burn their bridges despite knowing this. Don't be a dick. Everyone talks. Never let someone make you believe they are better than you because in advertising no one knows what the hell they are doing. We're all in it together in our little freak world. We work each other up into a frenzy of award shows and name-dropping, but in reality no one out there cares about what we do. No need to attach an inflated sense of worth to making a direct mail piece for butter substitute. And help someone out whenever you can, they won't forget. They also won't forget that you're a dick.

concept?

2006-09-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Crap, it's schoo' time and I've forgotten how to make ads. Making ads is like a language, use it or lose it. I feel like I'm at square one. Disoriented...slightly dehydrated. But I know that all it takes is just a taste of success. To whet the appetite and make you remember that it's possible. Who knows how long that will take though. You're not doing it right unless it hurts, right? You masochistic bastards. Back to wading through tons of crap and by crap I mean, absolute bile.

Addendum

2006-08-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

Jumping off the last post, which I will partially reposted for your viewing convenience while Mike art directs some shit at 2 am on our last late night at Ogilvy.

"Really great creative tells you something in an interesting way that you knew all along, but have never been able to verbalize. Or it gives you the gift of a completely new idea that you never would have thought of."

Of course, Mike jumps down my throat before he's finished reading. But his disagreement is "Well, I would disagree. I would say great creative tells you something new." And then I coldly stared at him as he finished reading the paragraph, to which he answered "Oh...I don't disagree as much now."
But does he have a point? Should great ads always tell you something new? What if there's nothing new to say about the product or the category? "Dig deeper?" Well, I respect that answer because really there is a new idea in everything. Ideas are infinite so it would make sense that eventually a new idea would stumble out of the time-space continuum that is infinity. But again, how much can you really say about chewing gum? Does an ad that says something new in a bland way better than an ad that brilliantly tells you something very obvious and boring? Obviously the goal is to do both, but when something's got to give what do you favor?

Wow, our job is so easy!

2006-07-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

(click title)
Why don't we all do this? Repeat our boring message thrice and slap on some gratuitous animation. Done. Go watch a movie. Recall shoots up. Sales are off the chart. If you're too lazy to click the link, this is about the hypnotic commercial for Head-on (a headache remedy) that simply states, "Head-on, apply directly to the forehead. Head-on, apply directly to the forehead. Head-on, apply directly to the forehead" in an almost pleasant, robotic female voice.

This brings up the struggle between art and business in advertising. Results vs. random creative. We are in the business of selling things. But sometimes you wonder if the creatives had a business goal in mind or an inside joke they wanted displayed on national tv. Some brands are so boring that any random story you can attach to them will help its cause, but it is really relevant? Or is it just relevant because the story and product shot run in close proximity to one another? As always there are extremes. Creative where you cannot possibly make any sort of connection to the product and creative that is obviously "pecked to death by ducks," meaning consumer tested and had the creative soul sucked out in favor of a banal study stating "headlines with 10 words sell more than short headlines."
I think testing creative is a terrible idea. They will say what they're supposed to say. That's why planning and strategy are difficult, everyone has a communcation problem. No one ever says what they really mean. Sometimes it's a matter of keeping up a societal norm, sometimes people have no idea what they're really thinking and fail to pinpoint any kind of relevant thought. Really great creative tells you something in an interesting way that you knew all along, but have never been able to verbalize. Or it gives you the gift of a completely new idea that you never would have thought of. Either way, that kind of creative is not created in a focus group.

Ad pollution

2006-07-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

Click on title.

Is it bad that I often side with Adbusters over AdAge? That I think a lot of guerilla and outdoor is cause for self-inflicted retinal damage? Maybe it's because 90% of the stuff that's screaming in our faces is non-sensical, annoying, and uninteresting. But advertising is so subjective that maybe I'm completely wrong.
Although, I doubt any consumer enjoys the visual raping at the hands of advertising they get every time they step into a public space (or sometimes private for that matter.)
The suggestion of having a career full of forced compromise and average work makes me cringe. One of the most valuable parts of this internship experience is getting a glimpse into the way things really work. At school we have this idealized world where we can do whatever we want. Damn the client, damn the media costs, the account ppl, fear, or any real restrictions. Being fortunate enough to get a taste of many different projects we've gotten to see how the client, existing campaigns, money, conflicting points of view, and anything and everything else can severely injure creative work. That's reality and our challenge. One of my biggest fear is contributing to the mountains of shitty advertising and not being allowed to say anything worthwhile. If it was easy everyone would do it, but I don't believe it really has to be this difficult.
Everyone is always talking about collaboration and the free marketplace of ideas. Good idea, poor execution. I've heard of media companies placing ads they haven't even seen. What is the point?! Yes, I'm being young and idealistic, but isn't that just common sense. How do these oversights happen on a daily basis?
Ugh, every time we are completely horrified by something, (i.e. the client actually rewriting the ads themselves, 19 and counting different versions of the simplest ad (many times being changed back into previous versions), miscommunication, etc.) our mentors tell us "welcome to advertising."
How long can we hang on to that horrified feeling, the feeling that viscerally we know that's not the way it should work, that we can do better, that the client deserves better? Or will we be strong-armed into being disgruntled graying cynics?

god damn it, japan, way to peretuate the idea that asians are frickin weirdos

2006-07-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

click link. i really cannot fathom any sort of explanation, so please no questions.

real people don't care about wieden

2006-07-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Following up on the last post. I think most of us ad people have an awful habit of relating every topic to advertising. People outside of advertising have begun to fear us. I am reluctantly to expose my other friends to advertising people, knowing full well that 95% of the conversation will revolve around who won what account, the demise of the :60 second spot, and what kind of crazy shit you're coming up with. Get a life. Live outside advertising. And of course, myself included.

who said that?

2006-07-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

How many people really truly know who they are? I'll admit, I'm getting a sense of it, but I know I don't REALLY know. When you finally figure it out you've got a foot and half your torso in the grave. That's just the way it works. Is anyone completely themselves at all times? Very few. When you think you know, just wait a few years and your present self will look back and call your past self an asshole. It's perpetual. I admire those few people that can be themselves all the time and not give a shit what people think. But sometimes, those are the people the rest of call jerk-offs and pricks. But they don't care anyway, so good for them, I guess. And too bad for those of us that are jealous of their ability to shun societal acceptance. But there is a difference between being yourself and just having no filter. Or is there? If to be yourself is not to censor yourself then I suppose being a filterless freak is the epitome of self-realization.
OK, let's bring this back to Earth. So there are these thought boards for Suave. The theme is perceptions of women and their view of beauty. Of course, everyone gives these idealized answers. "ALL women are beautiful." "...a woman is beautiful when she is herself..." Yes, yes, deep down I know a lot of people believe that. But how many people act in a way that coincides with that philosophy?
Which brings us to advertising, as always. It is a terrible habit, bringing everything back to advertising. That's a whole other post. But there is a great podcast called "American Copywriter," which discussed how important it is to "be you more" in advertising. How it is so easy to compromise your beliefs and defer to the business. And this next thought is from Jim Henson. Sometimes you have to compromise your art for business, but at the end of the day the business is allowing you to share your art with more people. In fact, it allows us to continue making the art. Rather than be starving artists and writers. Advertising is our bullhorn. And yes, we complain about the client and being put in little boxes and being whores to commercialism. But at the end of the day, I love this job. We all do. Unfortunately.

"please believe me! motherfucka, i'll kill you, i didn't touch that bitch! "

2006-07-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

Linguists have named fill-in-the-blank idioms, such as "The first rule of X club is you do not talk about X club." They call it the snowclone. But is it laziness or cultural literacy? Lazy in that you're simply mad-libbing your own context into the skeleton of an established joke. Or repeating quotes. Is it being intellectually dishonest in humor? You're pushing someone into the piranha tank and then jumping in when they discover they're Swedish fish. It's safe. You know you'll get a laugh out of a movie quote or comedian's work. However, I will say that who doesn't enjoy a well placed movie quote or a new twist on an obscure reference. Everyone does it. People like it. Is it so bad? Is the craftsmanship in your interpretation of the comment? Timing? Situation? And understanding the reference is a little wink nudge to pop culture and being culturally literate. There's an immediate bond between the people that get it. It's the basis of most of the humor on Family Guy or the Simpsons. Crazy, I know. Crazy like a fox.

way to make a name for yourself

2006-07-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a great ad D'Amico found. Look at the ad, study the craftsmanship. Then look at the very last line. Then look at the pictures in the background. There's TP if you look hard.

you magnificent bastard

2006-07-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

click on title. Wow. No words.

kind of completely awesome

2006-07-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

everyone loves monkeys!

2006-07-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Disappointment is a career choice

2006-06-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a career of disappointment. During our internship we got our first glimpse into the client/agency dynamic. The assignment was to put together an ad that was an announcement of a big deal: a newsy headline and the different 'deals' outlined in boxes. Simple enough. We get it done and are quasi-proud that something we worked on will run in the New York Times. Until they send it off for approval by the client. The client fucks with it. Completely changes the headline to something they had before and now Mike is currently on his 8th revision of the 'boxes'. Boxes! How can four black straight lines cause such agony? Vertical, no wait, horizontal. Move the logo to the top, but not before you try it on the bottom...again. So the lesson is the majority of our careers will consist of wasted creativity (in the end, it's never wasteful, but it certainly feels that way). We spend vast amounts of energy coming up with something interesting, only to have the client's preconceived dirt boring version run. And this is an ad that no one cares about. The most terrifying thing we heard during this experience, said by our art director mentor, "Wait until it's something you really care about." We are masocist bastards.

one thousand piece of illegitimate art

2006-06-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

I hate this site. Anyone who paid for one of these pieces should be punched in the neck/throat.

what the blinkin' eff, the life of a creative

2006-06-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

Every project is different. Every time the process is different. You will feel like you forget how to do it. You will feel like you never knew how in the first place. If you lose those feelings something is wrong. With every project there is an undetermined amount of time that you will want to kill yourself. You will feel like a complete failure and a waste of carbon material. You will question your value as a/an [insert job title]. That time will pass. The walls come down. You realize everyone is making it up as they go along. There is no handbook, there can't be. You want the volatility that comes with uncertainty. You want it to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. You want the process to be different every time because the end result will follow suit.

this job sucks, let's burn the place down!

2006-06-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

Great media placement. There is too much gratuitous guerilla, where the message doesn't make sense in the environment and it's simply an excuse to put an ad somewhere. It just annoys people and they are increasingly jaded about advertising. Good advertising attempts to have a conversation with someone, drawing them in. Not running up to them and shouting. Of course, this is sometimes difficult to remember. It's so easy to become sucked in to the ad bubble and create things that we like, but doesn't necessarily connect with the consumer.

dissecting iggy pop

2006-06-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen this you have to check it out. It's Pandora by the music genome project. (click on title for link) It systematically creates a personalized radio station for you based on your favorite artists and the music that most closely mimics their harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, lyrics, orchestration, singing and vocal harmony. Basically, it's the first steps of an impending IRobot disaster where artificial intelligence can predict our every thought and exploit predictably "human" thinking such as a speciesism, insecurity, and naivete. And then exterminating the human race with the greatest possible amount of irony. Was that overly dramatic? Well, it's an awesome website.

think outside the box while sitting in the box

2006-05-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

There is an eternal debate over nature vs. nurture. Innate vs. learned behavior. I would defend neither side on its own; however, I believe that most elements (definitive physical features aside) hail from a mixture of the two and without one the result would not have occurred in the same way. Environment plays a paramount role in the way you behave, react, and think. So what happens when you are forced to think creatively in a stifling environment? It's not the easiest thing to do but you have to think beyond your environment. You have to will yourself out of the conditions. Some of the most masterful works have been created in an isolated space devoid of stimulation or inspiration. Not the ideal situation but sometimes you don't have a choice. And the choice lives within your reaction to the environment.

They're gone pay us?

2006-05-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

It's been said, think of your worst day in this industry and compare that with an imagined best day in any other industry. If your worst day is better you're doing ok. If not, maybe you need to rethink your career choice. I think I forget that sometimes. That they're actually going to pay us to do this. I can't imagine doing anything else. Despite the brain hemorrhages and progressing ulcers, I wouldn't choose another job. My stomach churns at the thought of sitting in a dimly lit cube crunching numbers all day. I will gladly take the premature grey hair, high divorce rate, and constantly having to explain what i actually do. Not many industries can claim that kind of youthful, naive dedication.

history

2006-04-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Is the main reason humans record history to validate our existence? To remember? I doubt it's to learn from it. How many times have humans made the same mistake? On a collective and individual level. We do not learn from example well. We learn from experience. And if we can't experience it, we make stuff up. From the invention of folklore to explain the unexplained to science fiction, humans can never just be. More often than not, that's a great thing. We are constantly trying to advance ourselves and the things around us, our own version of natural selection. But sometimes it gets us in trouble. Yet, because we are human, we will continue to do it.

words?

2006-04-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

If precision is concision, and there is not a perfect word that fits without sounding pretentious, then is precision accomplished through the addition of more words?

growing pains

2006-04-14T01:41:00.000-07:00

When someone tells you something you understand it on a cognitive level, but you never really understand it on a visceral level. Until you experience it. I find that often good advice is never really as useful as a good fuck-up. For example, our professor has been telling us the same pieces of advice for about a year now. And for some reason, we refuse to really listen to him. Not out of defiance, but out of a lack of true understanding. We would do the things he told us to, but only because he told us to. It was not until we struggled through the lesson that we understood it. And you have to go though it. There's no other way to truly understand it. For the most part, if it's painful, you're learning. The pain is the process. Not the most enjoyable thing in the world, but the best way to learn.

"tightened sphincter"

2006-04-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

There's something about writing for advertising that constricts your throat and pen, or as Coz says makes 'your sphincter tighten up.' Maybe it's the unnatural amount of stress and pressure we put on ourselves to come up with something brilliant, despite being mere novices at the craft. Is it because we ARE novices? Is it because the business of advertising gets in the way of the art of it? Another thing Coz is right about is the fact that when you do your own writing, it flows out like water. I have no trouble rambling this shite. It's probably because there is no pressure, there is no daunting request for perfection, and there is no other voice to uphold. Just mine. With advertising, extracting words is more difficult than gathering a cup of water from a stone. Every word must have a purpose. It cannot be 'self-indulgent bullshit.' You are in the business of advertising. You are speaking on behalf of someone else and that is your first priority. However, if you can stay true to their voice and yours, you can have a great time in this industry and not feel stiffled by the handcuffs of the business. But every writer wants to discover and develop their own voice. Writing in your own voice should also be an escape from the industry. Everything shouldn't be about advertising, despite the importance we assign it.

Mattress Ad

2006-04-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

You idiots.

Xerox?

2006-04-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in advertising you come across ads that are eerily similar. Is it the creative unconscious or conceptual theft? Well, there is the argument that any self-respecting creatives would never lift someone else's concept, whether it's on account of morals or the fact that they'd look pretty silly if discovered. But then there is the disturbing new trend of recycling old ad concepts from back in the day. Example, the Coke ad with the kids singing on the rooftop, recreated from an ad in the 60s for the same product. If you can recycle your own concepts, why not someone else's? Where do you draw the line? Why not cement the misconception that ad folk are dirty weasels? Me personally. I would weigh in on the side of the creative unconscious. I would like to have faith that people are continually trying to bring something new to the table and if something has similarities to something else, it is merely a coincedence or a case of poor memory. As creatives you are constantly surveying the work, seeing what's out there and new trends. It'd be pretty easy to pull something out of the memory banks and mistake it for your own original idea. However, no art is truly original. There are elements of something else in everything. It is simply inescapable. But the difference is in if you are able to combine those elements in a new and original way.

The world is our playground

2006-03-25T16:52:00.000-08:00

Some interesting stuff from Nike in Mexico. And those are fully functioning cars.

There's stuff outside Adcenter?

2006-03-22T19:35:00.000-08:00

As Michelle, fellow adcenter-er said, 'it's weird when real life happens outside the adcenter.' When something happens that forces you to snap back to the real world and realize that there are things that are much more important than advertising. I think we lose sight of that every other day around here. People are killing themselves to succeed. We are all completely sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated, driven-to-the-point-of-sickness lunatics. And for what? If we don't live our lives and get away from advertising every once in a while, we will have nothing to contribute to advertising. Because our inspiration will be only advertising and then it becomes this incestuous cycle of recycled ideas. Ok, maybe incestuous is too strong of a description, but it got the point across. Escape from the Adcenter. Now we'll see if I can follow my own advice.

Simpsons' ad

2006-03-13T15:27:00.000-08:00

click title

For Ipod Hi-Fi

2006-03-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

whhaaat? whhhhhaaat?! ok!

2006-03-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

Why can't you just say it? Why can't you just say 'hey, this product is better because of X. there.' Well, first of all, America regards all of us as dirty rat bastard liars. This is the industry that invented halitosis to sell kitchen cleaner. And then advertising would be easy and everyone or no one (depending on your perspective) would want to do it. But that's what makes it interesting. You have to find a way to connect with people, to draw them in by saying something interesting or painful or scary or mostly importantly, true. Technology changes, but people remain the same. Insecure, irrational, fragile beings. And the point is not to exploit that, but to speak to it. Yes, it could be argue that advertising has created problems in society, an example-the impossible standard of beauty imposed on women. But there is something primal that the thought was born from. Advertising did not invent insecurity, it simply stumbled upon it and used it to its advantage. That's where it's on us as the creators of this communication to be more responsible. To resist being fear mongers and speak to people in the most human way possible without exploiting that humanity. It's not easy, but it's not meant to be.

Don't hate the playa

2006-03-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

I don't want to play this game. I don't want to be cutthroat. Or arrogant. Or kiss ass. Or pretend to be something I'm not. Do you have to act a certain way to stay in the sandbox? It's much more meaningful when 'your good qualities are discovered without your help.' But in this industry, I feel like those sentiments will simply get you passed over and written off. There is a certain amount of fearlessness that you have to have, which I hope to embody someday. But will that be discovered if no one gives you a chance? Well, being the eternal optimist, I'll be counting on letting the work speak. I know eventually I will be forced to play the game, but hopefully, it'll be by my standards.

Refuse to have a bad day

2006-02-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-15T18:07:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-15T17:49:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

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

Gap Remodel

2006-02-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

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

Kinko's

2006-02-06T11:33:00.000-08:00

Cool outdoor ad by BBDO NY.

Nike--"Awake"

2006-02-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

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.

Down with recycling

2006-01-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

There's currently a trend in the industry where companies are reusing old ideas. A few examples, coke and the kids singing on the rooftop ("I'd like to buy the world a coke/teach the world to chill), produced in the 60's. Alka Seltzer, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing", originally produced by Wells Rich Greene. Recently reshot, almost identically frame for frame, using "Ray's parents" from "Everyone Loves Raymond." From a strategic point of view, the advertisers were trying to tap into the nostalgic brand equity that these campaigns have. In a time of fickle client relationships, impossible deadlines, and exceedingly high expectations, I could see how strategically it would make sense to try to remind consumers why they love the brand in the first place by using campaigns that were successful in the past.

However, as a creative, I think it's a piss poor attempt at generating ideas by relabeling them. It's lazy and just isn't as good the second time around. We are killing ourselves everyday to come up with ground-breaking and innovative ideas. I can see how the pressure to produce a golden nugget could make someone so desperate that they use the archives as an emergency idea grab bag and present it as a decent, fresh concept. It's doing a disservice to themselves and the consumer. The original concepts don't even mean the same thing to a new generation. And when you become complacent (i.e. reshooting a commercial identically), there is no room for improvement and innovation. The only argument I can make for this trend is to push it further. If you take an old idea and turn it on its head, so it's executed even better than the original, yet relevant to your audience than I will throw a little support toward the idea of recycling. But other than that, come up with your own G-damn ideas.

Child labor. Except with larger, older creatures.

2006-01-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

This is what we have to look forward to.

Honda Civic "Choir"

2006-01-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

Holy shit, you gotta see this. Click on the title.

masochists

2006-01-27T18:05:00.000-08:00

Brain aneurisms are fun. We have to convince ourselves of that or we're not going to make it. All that work and all those all-nighters. And you're still not in love with the work. My eternal optimism is keeping me afloat. I am blindly lending my faith to those that tell me that one day the heavens (or whatever you believe in) will open up and you'll see the light. But until then, this is a dark, dark time in our lives. I'm sticking to the law of averages theory. If you have a hundred ideas, at least 5 of them have to be decent. Is that margin too narrow? Should I check my numbers and break out the abacus? I'm nervous.

Ad Doom and the Revolution

2006-01-21T13:48:00.000-08:00

Most of the advertising out there is obtrusive, obnoxious, unimaginative, and irritating. But have you ever wondered why? What is the common element in their ad equation? Bad strategy? Clients from hell? Flat creative? If there are people like us out there all trying to bring advertising out of its own ass, where are the results? Or are we just spoiled at this school by being surrounded by gifted creative people with vision? Maybe we forget that most people's perception of advertising is the shmucky stereotype of advertising. And that some of those people are actually creating advertising. Quite frightening. But then there are rare occasions of success and creative breakthrough that revive the pulse of those that work toward something better. The revolution is just beginning.

Push it real good

2006-01-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

Commercial that is standing the test of time for me. Nextel commercial where three offices guys are jamming out to a beatbox playing "Push it" by Salt N Pepa. Fourth dude comes in firing frantic business questionsat them, questions are all calmly and efficiently answered using Nextel. Three guys continue gyrating to early 90's hip-hop. Nice.

Just one sentence

2006-01-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this is something all writers deal with, but I sometimes have trouble just getting something on paper. It's the perfectionist in me. The thought that whatever I write down has to be the best thing I've ever written. So I mull it over in my head til I think it's polished, then I write it down. And to my surprise it is still quite crappy. A lot happens from the brain to the pen. So I find it much more productive to just write it down, just scribble something down, anything. Half-formed thoughts, jokes, two word sentences, doodlings of the underworld. I'm getting better at practicing diarrhea of the pen (as vulgar as that sounds), but I still sometimes find myself wrestling with the white bull all day. But when you write something down you actually have something to work with. And you can kill it all if you want. But you gotta have something to kill first.

No, really, what the fuck do you do?

2005-11-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

Hello friends. It seems as though some of you have found your way to this site. My intentions for this blog are to de-mystify whatever it is that I have been doing and will be doing in these next few years, as well as allow people to keep track of me and me of them. Being in grad school has managed to damage my already inept ability to keep in touch with people. So I hope you enjoy peeking into my noggin every once in awhile. And remember, part of the deal is to reciprocate information about yourselves. So drop me a hello sometime, jenniferwlui@yahoo.com.

Hacks

2005-11-20T15:35:00.000-08:00

As a writer you will never rid yourself of the nagging suspicion that you are a hack. It's a good thing, supposedly. It forces you to be a fierce self-editor. It makes you wonder how 90% of the advertising out there is produced. Are these people in hack denial? Do they honestly think that the work is good? Did they "accidently" present crap that the client inevitably latches onto? What if you're a hack and you're the only one that doesn't know? Well, I would be really pissed at all my co-workers. It's like wandering around with a chicken nugget stuck in your teeth and having no one bother to tell you. What if you're a hack and you're the only one that knows? Fairness would suggest that you would be discovered and then shunned, I'm not sure this is what happens. But I don't know much. What if you can't tell the good work from the bad work? Everyone has an opinion, but if you really can't tell, you should rethink entering advertising because you will contribute to the mountains of crap that are already being produced. What makes me think I know what I'm talking about? Well, I don't. I could very well have all three of the preceding characteristics. But if I do please be a friend and let me know I have something in my teeth.

San Fran in Jell-o

2005-11-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

With the bippin' and the boppin' and the puddin' pop.

Tap that cerebrum

2005-11-15T21:59:00.000-08:00

"Easy reading is damned hard writing." After a few months here as a copywriter my appreciation of Hawthorne's sentiments have never been more apparent. I've developed a love/hate relationship with words. They will always be a love of mine, but have transformed into the bane of my existence. Every waking moment struggling with them. Chasing them or whittling them down. Write a paragraph on anything. Now look at that paragraph, chances are there are a dozen extraneous words in there. Find them. Remove them. Replace them. Rewrite it. Now make sure it has the right voice, is talking to the right people, has the right message, is clever, or not, works with pictures, or not, has the right number of words, and a dozen other requirements that will be imposed upon it. Daunting enough to persuade you not to write anything at all for fear of failure. But that's another thing about being a writer, you have to be willing to write badly. If no one did, there wouldn't be much in terms of written words in the civilized world. No one sits down and writes a Pulitzer in their first draft. You wouldn't imagine the crap you have to wade through to get to a good line or idea even. But it's presently the only known path. If you know a better way, you should patent it right now.
As for time, the other day I was talking to a friend who is a bona fide time nazi and she brought up the fact that she didn't like research. It "wastes time when i don't find what i'm looking for right away." I set her straight about wasted time. You have no idea about wasted time until you are an advertising creative. With the amount of time spent pissing around, staring at your partner, and sifting through shitty, shitty ideas we could have cured cancer. Had we been scientifically gifted. But we are not, for the most part. We do something much less noble (something else to keep in perspective). We have our brief shining moments where we move the human race forward, but the majority of "advertising" is keeping us all stapled right to our stagnant ideals. Hopefully, what we're trying to do here is attempting to change that. Look for an advertising revolution or a spike in Prozac use for advertising creatives in the next few years.

Play "free bird"

2005-11-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

We've been here for a little over two months. I'm sure there has been a time when everyone has questioned why they are here. But I'm also positive that that number is outweighed by the number of times they can't believe how lucky they are. It's been a wretched euphoric ride. In some ways it becomes easier, but the perpetual balance of the adcenter universe ensures that other parts become immensely more difficult. I'm glad we get to test out the concept of "balancing your life" here. At any given time, there are a dozen different things pulling you in million different directions. I have naively been ignoring my "real life," but quickly realized that your "life" keeps you sane. It's counter-productive to bury yourself in your work, for you have nothing to put in besides the work itself. The final product becomes a predictable regurgitation of a generic ad concept. To be a good writer you must have a life and go experience it. I try, we'll see if I can put this into practice.

Shit fuck

2005-10-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

Blinded by frustration. I can't say that I have been truly proud of anything I have produced thus far at this school. Perhaps it is because I am a fierce self-editor. Perhaps it is because my conceptual self is still a work in progress. Perhaps I am a hack. However, I am getting a lot better at ping pong. But my attitude towards my work has ranged from casually indifferent optimism to utter self-loathing. Tonight is a night of the latter. I am told everyone questions themselves during these two years. I am told a lot of things. Many words of wisdom I feel are simply a device to keep people from hurting themselves.

The Long Dark Road

2005-10-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

It has been said that advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Conversely, it is as frustrating as trying to play billards using a foam pool noodle as a cue. After hours spent twisting and grinding your brain to the point of hemorraging you rarely have anything to show for it. All you have is an idea. Most of the time that idea only makes sense to you. And then upon further review you discover it is one of the worst ideas you have ever heard. You start over. Many more atrocious ideas run up to you and pull at your pantleg. But you have to continue to wade through them to get to anything worth considering. You can't get lazy and lean down to pick up just any creature of an idea. These gremlins are a dime a dozen. You have to wait. You have to wait for the idea that all the other gremlins are afraid of. A creature that looks like nothing anyone has ever seen before. This idea avoids other living creatures like the plague. You have to chase it, it might run up a tree. Coax it down and promise you'll take care of it. This is your gizmo. But you have to be careful with how you treat it. If not properly cared for it'll just turn into another gremlin.

Manufactured insomnia

2005-09-29T00:54:00.000-07:00

It's 4am and I'm writing body copy for Coz class tomorrow. I don't know when I'll get to sleep. Or if I'll be able to, due to unnatural amounts of caffeine seering through my veins. I feel like a failure on a daily basis. I'm told that's not a bad thing. But at this point, I'm going to have to disagree. How do you let your soul out when it's weighed down by layers of self doubt and insecurities? Where is the path to heaven? My compass is broken and I think I've sprained my ankle.

I suck at blogging

2005-09-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've realized that this blog is pointless if it is to sit unused with two boring posts. So now there are three boring posts for your voyeuristic pleasure. Another thing I've realized is that I haven't really changed in my willingness to open up and share my thoughts and feelings with potential viewers which may or may not be complete strangers in cyberspace, I have enough trouble opening up to people I've known for the better part of a decade. This also undermines the purpose of these blogs. I suppose my point is this is quite possibly the worst blog ever, so please spend your time elsewhere, lest you have some masochistic fetish in reading very boring material.

From CBS's Rock INXS on national TV

2005-09-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

Someone got fired for letting that one slip by.

Extracting brain juice.

2005-09-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am constantly surrounded by an eclectic batch of creative people. I came to school to sit around, make jokes, and think of crazy ideas all day. And do a crapload of work, but that's besides the point. Seeing a film or reading a magazine is considered cultural research. There is no such thing as an impossible idea. Or running out of ideas. You won't survive if you do. Sometimes we play ping pong. Last night, we continuously murdered a stuffed rabbit for a short film. I am in heaven.