Thursday, December 1, 2011

Red and Black

The student run newspaper. It used to be printed everyday. And I used to do the crosswords, at least I would attempt.

But the printed word is dying. And with it the Red and Black. Now its only published on Thursdays. I don't even look at it anymore. I couldn't tell you what the cover picture was for any story this entire year, not a single one. In fact, last night, at the HSBT meeting half the room actually thought that they had gone out of print. And even once they found out it was still in print, the once a day stipulation was kind ofa turn off. Part of me thinks that they realized how little influence the paper had anymore that it wouldn't be worth it at all to spend money on something people didn't know even existed.

Even at the beginning of the year I wondered why they would stop printing daily. I predicted it. I knew that the lack of repetition would only lead to lack of awareness. I understand that their budget has probably been cut but, I think they hurt themselves in the long run. Now on one picks it up and they are still wasting money.

If it was me... I would have maybe cut the print days down to every other day. I never really read the paper, I only did the crosswords but, maybe it would be beneficial to find out what people actually read and then only write those kinds of pieces. And they should probably attempt to come across funds in a different way. I don't really know how they are run and where their budget comes from now but, I think something creative might help. Also, we talked about this in PR but, if the company has a good reputation, they are more likely to survive a crisis without so much as a blemish to their good name. The Red and Black was definitely not able to do that with the reputation that they had before people thought they were extinct.

I have faith in my fellow Grady students but, I feel like they've just stopped trying as far as this paper goes.

Darth Vader

I'm sure that we all remember the Volkswagen Super Bowl ad from last year. Just in case you don't (and just because I absolutely love that ad)


Unfortunately, this ad was highly memorable but no one can really recall the car company. Still, I think I watch it at least once every month. And now, I've started to associate this little Darth Vader with other images I see of Darth Vader.

For example, I recently came across an ad for Lego Star Wars that simply featured a picture of the Lego Darth Vader. And all I could think of was this commercial. Not Star Wars. Not even Lego, the company for which the ad was made. Just this commercial. And then of course I just had to go watch this commercial.

Now that is powerful advertising; when the consumer has your brand at the top of their mind to that extent. If I had been on that campaign, that would have been my pride and glory, my shining moment. I would probably get a screen cap for that commercial printed and placed over my front door.

The most wonderful time of the year

Only if the most wonderful time of the year was about seeing how much stress you can pack into a matter of a couple of days. And I'm not talking about the stress from school now, that's winding down. Now its a whole new batch of stress. Now we're talking about the holidays.

Do you know how much the holidays cost? A lot. Do you know how much money I have lying around for me to spend on the holidays? Not very much at all. True, there are sales that attempt to help out the poor consumer like me, but, for me at least, all such sales do is give me another excuse to buy more things that I probably don't really need. But they're less money now, I should definitely buy at least two! And the ads, is it me or do they just get flashier and fancier and more enticing around Christmas? All I want to do around the holidays is buy stuff and go shopping and order stuff and then buy some more stuff (I suppose I want to eat a lot too, that cost quite a bit of money as well, by the way).

And how am I supposed to pay for all of this?! I know there are plenty of corners in Athens but, its kind of cold outside and I'm not really a fan of prostitution. Darn, advertisers! We do our job to well!

Sincerely,
Broke College Student

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Oh how I detest this phrase! I agree that everyone should be entitled to their opinion and that there comes a time when people must agree to disagree. But, there is also a time when you need to set your opinions aside and simply consider something for what its worth, face value.

This was my problem with the Lamar Dodd. I was a graphic design student before I changed sides. I loved, and continue to love, everything about graphic design and art, as far as the curriculum goes. It was really this whole "I like what I like and that's the end" thing that made me want to leave. Long story short, my graphic design teacher didn't love my pieces and I would always get just shy of an A. By the end though, I managed to pull together and A- in the class and so when the portfolio review came around (you know the thing that decides whether or not I can be a graphic design major) I thought, for sure, I'd be able to pass, even if it wasn't with flying colors. I was shocked to find out people who didn't even pass the class could pass the review when I was turned out. It just didn't make sense to me to subjectively judge people. You'd probably miss out on some really great ideas or work or pieces in the future.

I suppose its their loss, though, because now I'm an advertising student and I love how open people are to new ideas, at least I thought they were. Maybe its because I'm dealing with PR people for this class or maybe its just this one TA that needs to be more open-minded. Either way, you know there is a problem when over half the class is distraught, and when I say distraught I seriously mean in tears, over their grade on this last project. By simply looking over people's work I could tell that we all spent a lot of time working on our press packets or event plans. And we are all extremely proud of the finished product. So it doesn't make sense that our grades would not represent that effort.

And when we tried to bring up our complaints to her, the TA's response was to put on her "angry eyes" and get distraught herself. Apparently, we were supposed to completely understand her decision and the fact that we were arguing for our grades was completely unacceptable. Her answers to our questions were always vague and a lot of times she would say "I could have done better" or "I could have thought of more." Well, that's simply not fair. We aren't you. We don't think like you. We probably wouldn't like every press packet or event that you would put together. Your job is to grade us on our ability to take the instructions (incomplete and contradictory as they may have been) and the course content and produce a cohesive and clean project. And if everyone is arguing that you haven't done that, there is a problem.

This is a common theme in the art world, and one reason was I was more than happy to leave. This could slightly be compared to "real world" experience because the client won't always like your idea and it is your job to please them. But, the real world isn't graded. In the real world you would be creating for a client, not a TA. The client is already going to like the subject matter of the campaign or press packet or event because its their product/ service. Our TA did not.

Ok, now I just need to breathe and move on. Life happens. Its not the end of the world. Its still angers me to no end but, I will survive.

Sport Advertising

Certain things about advertising I think are super creative, other things are simply irritating. Lets take sports advertising, for example. Theres the kind that I think is kind of pointless because it never gets noticed, like brand names on equipment. Its really too small to get noticed by anyone besides the players.

And renaming things, like the Staples Center, or the Tostitos Bowl. That is just annoying! Office supplies have nothing to do with basketball! And Bridgestone has nothing to do with halftime! So I dont understand why they have to flood the sports arena with their names. It makes no sense and, to be completely honest, it makes me never want to support which ever team or event again.

But, then there are those moments of genius where promotional items actually do their job- attract attention and support toward the brand or company. For example, every year, at the Tennessee basketball game, Techron distributes. A shirt was placed on each seat and depending on which side of the stadium the seat was located the shirt was either red or black with Techron written on the back. With everyone wearing the same shirt, there was an atmosphere of unity amongst the fans that they helped create. And even after the game, when the students wear the shirt to their classes, people will see the Techron logo. The cost of those shirts in relation to the return on investment is extremely low because people will continue to wear the shirts, for free. Now that is genius.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Done

I finally got in touch with my group for the student run agency today. And apparently our client has a marketing director that is notorious for being hard to reach. Which is almost a good thing, almost a terrible thing. Its wonderful that I wasn't missing information or meetings that I was supposed to have. On the other hand, its awful that we haven't been able to get any work done because our client has made themselves unreachable.

So today, we had to pull together a presentation. With no information. So we got together and did a little research and managed to put together a little something. It wasn't a Prezi like last time, but it was pretty.

We went first again. But we didn't blow them out of the water like last time. Especially because one of the girls jumped the gun on her part and took mine. I didn't really mind because I don't really like public speaking. But, she realized halfway through that she had taken the wrong part and then preceded to awkwardly stumble through mine. It kind of made me cringe internally. Normally she is such a good speaker but, c'est la vie, it happens to us all.

Other than that meeting, and the impromptu one where we made the presentation, I had another meeting in between them. This one was for a paper for Ad research. Basically we divided the work between each group member and that was about it. 2 hours and that was all we got done. To be honest, I really couldn't concentrate because I had so much on my mind and so little energy left. The Starbucks from earlier had completely worn off. So by time that was over I was pretty dead.

Thank goodness its all over now! All the meetings, the presentations, the decisions. All done!

Canning

So I wouldn't really call myself a history buff or really nostalgic (technically, I can only be nostalgic for the early 90s since that's all I've experienced...) but, every once and a while I will watch the History Channel or have a yearning to dress up like a woman from the 40s. I think its a love for learning new things. I'm just so curious (sometimes too much for my own good). I like comparing the "then" to the "now" and seeing how things have changed and grown. And I like imagining that I was a part of the "then". I also consider myself an official judge of which is better, "then" or "now".

Which brings me to this:

This is a timeline. Two timelines really, placed conveniently right next to each other. Granted it doesn't show a large time span, it shows two major competitors. On top of that, look at all the cool fonts! And then the graphics, with the fonts and how they fit together! What could be more perfect? (I suppose a longer timeline would actually be a lot more perfect but, hey, beggars can't be choosers.) 

As I actually read the info graphic, I was kind of disappointed though. The author was obviously biased because their descriptions of the Pepsi cans were mostly negative while Coke received mostly rave reviews. I'm wondering if they even chose the best representations of past Pepsi cans in the last 3 years simply because they wanted to pit them poorly against Coke. Whatever their reason, however, I've chosen to enjoy the infographic for the actual graphics, not the info. 

But I want to take a little time to defend Pepsi. To be honest, I am also a Coke fan but, I don't approve of belittling your opponents. 

Indecision
First of all, the title of this section says it all: the author doesn't like Pepsi. Therefore, their creative decision will always seam negative to them. However, I think it actually might have been a bad idea to create a new can design every 3 weeks for a total of 35 new cans! That so many changes, so much confusion, and copious amounts of money!

Cheap Labor
Although crowd sourcing truly is cheap labor, its a really good idea. They will get consumer input and bring the consumer closer to the brand. 

Worth it?
If its not broke, don't fix it. Pepsi should have listened to that, in my opinion. But, to be honest, I didn't even notice the different in the logo change until I looked closely at this infographic. Maybe its because I'm a Coke person...

Sweet Nostalgia
I am such a big fan of this one! Like I said, I'm interested in historic things like this, they are just so fascinating! So, its no wonder that this can is my favorite of all the Pepsi ones pictured. The font of "Pepsi-Cola" has so much character and texture. And the contrast it makes with the current font of "throwback" looks really nice, in my opinion. I'm such a dork, I would buy that can just to collect it. Or I even might paint that can in guashe so I can hang it on my wall!

 Not fat
I'm actually I big fan of this can. I like the the tall slender look, its very contemporary and stylish. I understand where the complaints were coming from but, I think there is a point where you need to take the design for what it is, simply a product design, not support for eating disorders. 

Nostalgia Redux
To be honest, I'm not quite sure what their throwback brand is. Do they have two types of Pepsi? Did they permanently change the can design to that of a throwback? No matter the answer, as much as I like the throwback idea, I must say I prefer the other throwback. This one just seams to be too busy. I think the previous design had a much cleaner, and therefore, more attractive look.


So now, that I've attempted to defend Pepsi, I think I'll go back to enjoying the infographic for the designs.

Absolut stress

Let me preface with "today is by far the most stressful of my semester". Everything is due today and tomorrow, with a few things sprinkled throughout finals week. But the weight of these two days compared with finals week is highly disproportionate, with most of the weight unexpectedly on the former.

With that in mind, lets continue with advertising. Last semester in my advertising message strategy class we did print ads for the infamous Absolut Vodka. Of course, now I forget what our copy was but, I remember we were targeting an older demographic that could in a world be summarized as cultured. We showed the absolut bottle distorted in front of a dizzying tie-dye pattern. It definitely had something to do with the 60s and turned out quite nice if I do say so myself.

So when I saw their Absolut blank campaign I smiled. It reminded me of that project, for one. For another, I got to see other people's creativity and I was inspired to dream up some new ideas. Unfortunately, I'm lacking a little thing called time at the moment but, I would have like to actually play around on photoshop or InDesign again and create something!

Anyways, the tag line for the campaign is "It all starts with an absolut blank". Kind of a lovely thought, isn't it? The art gallery shows professional bottle decorations and the app gallery shows consumers' masterpieces. At first I didn't realize that there was an app to go along with it. I simply thought that people would send in their work via email or snail mail and maybe it would be displayed on the site. But, when you think about it, an App is the way to go. And having everyone's work displayed is definitely more attractive to consumers than the almost impossible chance of getting published if you're not a professional. Kudos, Absolut. You've succeeded again, as if we expected anything less.





Source

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Obvious photoshop editing

So the question is: is there a limit to photoshop? Is there a point where it stops being effective and becomes more of a hindrance? 


The reason I ask is the above picture. This ad caught my eye, so it was successful at capturing the audience's attention. But the more I looked at it, the more I realized how photoshopped it actually was.

I'm willing to bet that the boy is completely healthy, that he was never sitting in a play ground, that the slide wasn't in the playground, and that the playground wasn't in front of a neighbourhood. A part of me hates being critical of an ad with such a good meaning. But, doesn't one person ruin it for everyone? Won't one exaggerated ad gain lack of believability for all?

Or does it?

Let's say the audience has seen this ad and, like me, they start to doubt the validity of the image. Does that mean they won't take the copy or the cause seriously?

The copy reads "Would you care more if it happened on your doorstep? Help children of Niger"

So then, I develop a new hypothesis. For this particular ad, what if their intention was obviousness all along? The copy asks the reader to imagine to bring the situation in Niger into their personal reality, to make the image of starving African children look like something more familiar. Then the photoshopping begins to make a little sense. In order to make this apply to all Frenchmen, as this is a French ad, is to place common French architecture in the background. Whether or not there is a park in front of said building it is certainly believable, with the limited amount of space in Europe, that a park could be just about anywhere. The slide, a necessary element of any good park. And the starving French boy, who really doesn't exist in the first place; it is simply a what if. And the viewer sees all this and understands it for what it is, make-believe. There is no question about their reliability or the existence of a cause. Viewers are still affected by the message.

That applies to only this ad, however. What about other ads that apply to much photoshop, or simply apply it incorrectly? I guess what I'm trying to say is maybe the message means more than the end result of the creative work. Obviously, it pays to have both at top notch and your campaign will be that much more successful with both. But, wouldn't you still be touched by an ad such as the one above. Wouldn't you disregard the photoshopping for observance of the copy. For this ad at least, I know I would!

Source

Monday, November 28, 2011

And we have progress!

I got emails back from both my advertising groups! The ad research group is meeting today and hopefully we'll get it all figured out. And luckily, it seams that our client for the student run ad agency is hard to get in touch with. So, there is nothing really that we can do except wait. I'm ok with that. At least I know that there is nothing I'm forgetting to do!

And I just got back from my Japanese final. I forgot my calculator though. Not something you would think you'd need for a Japanese final. But, its business Japanese and you need to know how to calculate gains and losses and such in Japanese. Of course, math is never as easy on someone else's calculator. To make it more confusing, it only calculated in exponents. Hopefully, I didn't mess up the math that badly, because I think I translated it correctly. And if I did make minor mistakes, I can only hope he likes us enough to give us half credit for effort.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is going to be a random post about nothing in particular. Just an update on the life of a Grady ad student.

First, let me discuss projects. Grady is full of them. Typically, I like them. I love putting what I learned in class to use because I learn better with a hands on approach. However, I seam to chose the section of a course that doesn't give complete/ easy to understand directions to the project. The entire class always ends up really confused and, to make matters worse, the teacher winds up pushing back explanations or in class work time in order to spend more time explaining course material.

So now, I'm left, close to the end of the semester, dangerously close to the due date of my research project, and I'm still mostly confused about what I'm supposed to be doing. Basically, we had Thanksgiving Break to work on said project. And I worked all break. I have had no time to decipher, let alone be productive on it. Our group is gonna meet Sunday and hopefully we can get it worked out.

In addition to that, I have a Japanese final on Monday for which I also haven't had the time to study. And I have extra credit for that class that I have yet to complete. And homework that I haven't even looked at.

Then there's Christmas shopping. Even if I knew what to buy, which I don't, I'd have to find time to go out and make the purchase. And time is one of those things that I'm sorely lacking.

Then, too look way into the future, there's internships that I should be applying for. And an account on linkedin that I should be updating and monitoring. And connections with potential employers that I should be cultivating.

And so the stress mounts.


And so I lose sleep.


And so Thanksgiving Break becomes nonexistent. And the end of the semester continues to come closer.

Without Heinz

We all know the "Got Milk?" ads. This ad for heinz ketchup is similar to that in the respect that something is missing from the image. Instead of suggesting that something is necessary for our lives, Heinz suggests that food would be tasteless with out the vibrant flavor of Heinz ketchup. Though it takes a less direct path than milk in pointing out the necessity of the product, Heinz manages to show us how boring food would be if we didn't have ketchup.


There were a couple of other ads in this campaign but, this one is my favorite because I'm definitely an eggs and ketchup kind of person. This ad makes me wanna stock up on Heinz because cardboard eggs just don't sound tasty.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Give a hand to wildlife

Another post about art. This time its on the body instead of the ground (but still just as breathtakingly stunning). 

Its the ads done for World Wildlife Fund. I realize that they are a little dated but, like I said before, the internet is a wonderful thing. 






At first glance, these ads have nothing to do with giving money to wildlife. The beauty comes when you delve deeper into the image (which you are bound to do), read the text and connect the double entendre. Simply genius; and I love it.

These ads are the product of Saachi & Saatchi Switzerland and body painter Guido Daniele. Its simply astounding how gorgeously Daniele can replicate basically anything onto the body with paint, particularly animals. Its so lifelike that its almost scary. I mean, you can tell that they aren't actually animals but, its hard to believe that they are really hands; especially that they are really hands that haven't been photoshop-ed.

Once you have gotten over the sheer incredibleness of the hand painting, your eyes float up to the logo and copy.

And then the ah-ha moment. Giving a hand to wildlife can be taken as helping wildlife by donating or, as the people in the ad have so kindly done, volunteering your hand to be painted as wildlife for WWF.

Maybe I get too excited about things like this but, when I realized that those were hands painted as animals and made the connection between that and the type, I seriously did a little happy dance. This probably relates back to previous post with my new mantra " Obsessions make my life worse and my work better". I'm so in love with advertising and art (and font) that any and all well-executed piece is really exciting to me.

Photo source

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Obsessions make my life worse and my Work better

The internet is so convenient. You can see so many things that otherwise you would never have gotten the opportunity to see. And, they never go away. You can see records of things long after they have actually disappeared.

This is especially convenient for some of my favorite art; gorilla art. (the kind that takes over our everyday living spaces, not the kind about monkeys). We all already know about the 3D sidewalk art of Julian Beever. But, there are plenty of other people doing miraculous things on sidewalks and the internet gives us the chance to experience them.

For example, I stumbled upon this beautiful piece of penny art. 
http://newgrids.fr/2011/11/07/obsessions-make-my-life-worse-and-my-work-better/

This spectacular sidewalk mosaic was created by Stefan Sagmeister in 6 days time with 250,000 coins. Unbelievably crazy, isn't it? It looks like something out of a movie, something created by a computer software program; those people aren't really standing next to a coin mosaic, it was definitely computer generated and photoshop-ed in.  Except, no. In actuality, that is real, those coins are actually meticulously placed to form the intricately designed text and floral pattern. And I am simply floored. 

Beyond the sheer magnitude of its difficulty and copious amounts of shiny material, I'm very interested in the font. I love font. Its a strange addiction that I developed from my Intro to Graphic Design class. My teacher is actually a famous type designer, among type designers, and knew every type simply by sight. It was so fascinating and I was introduced to so many historically interesting fonts that I couldn't help but develop a love for them. And it isn't so much the history of the fonts but, the way they look on a page, the way they interact with each other, and their connotations that draw me in and keep me interested. So, when I saw this piece one of the first things I thought was "what is this font?" and "where can I get it."

Honestly, I love it. I love every piece of it; the movement, the material, the font, the message, the photography, the floral design, everything. To top it all off, it applies itself to me and my chosen profession. I'm completely in love with advertising. Sometimes, that makes me the odd ball out in society, or a little overworked and crazy but, I wouldn't have it any other way. And my passion for advertising only feeds my work ethic. I may be crazy and stressed sometimes but, the results of my frantic perfectionism produces pure genius in the end (at least, I like to think its genius). 

Moral of the story: fonts are fascinating, Sagmeister is amazing, and "Obsessions make my life worse and my work better" is my new excuse for any abnormalities I may exhibit. 

Pore Billboards

Next topic: the scum of the skyline- billboards. 

No one really likes driving past them. No one really likes them dotting their precious cities' skylines. They are generally just an eye swore and, to top it all off, not very effective. 

But, every once in a while there are a few clever ones that sneak past the clutter and provide us with a momentary escape. Oddly enough, the escape is from horribly executed advertising to brilliantly perfected creative masterpieces. 

If you can't tell already, I'm definitely a fan of these flamboyant, eye-catching billboards. Below is one that I found recently while surfing the web.  


The billboard is for Ponds and, obviously, extremely attractive. I imagine that if I had seen this ad while I was driving I probably would have caused some accidents for being so enthralled by its ingenuity. There is a man in the center of the billboard for Pete's sake! I seriously sat here, at my computer, for minutes thinking about how they could have pulled off such a feat. To achieve that kind of interaction with the brand, especially with a billboard that people normally pay so little attention to, is quite remarkable.

I'm sure that this particular billboard cost relatively a lot of money but, considering the end result, I think its well worth it.

False advertising

Liars. Untrustworthy. Misleading. Profit before people.

These are a few of the negative connotations of the industry. Unfortunately, those opinions are there for a reason. Once upon a time, advertising was so hyperbolic, it was comical; well, at least it's comical to us now. At the time, however, I'm sure the people weren't so excited to be tricked so blatantly by advertising. 

Although I believe we have moved away from such a realm of lies, even I don't believe every ad that I see. I realize that some people hold different moral standards and rationalize lying to the public in different ways. 

But, when the product is so completely different from the ad, how could you convince yourself for even a second that people accept it? This image, for example, displays the drastic difference between what you see on TV and what you get at the drive thru window. 

Obviously, its disappointing. 

And everyone realizes its happening. People understand that what they order won't look like what they receive. And yet, they keep ordering. There is like some sort of agreement between advertisers and consumers on the topic of fast food. Even if you make it look outrageously better than the real deal, I solemnly swear to continue consumer mass amounts of your burgers, fries, and tacos. 

Maybe its because, as a culture, we just can't get enough of our fast food; we thrive on it. Well, maybe thrive is the wrong word... get along. We get along with our fast food. And with out it, well let's just not think about it!

And yet, that poster still astounds me! Fast food definitely isn't as appealing in real life as it is in advertisements! In fact, if advertisements featured actual images of burgers, fries, and tacos, I would probably never want to eat them again. 

Monday, November 14, 2011

Now what....?

So my group hasn't met since our last agency meeting... that was quite a while ago. And now, I'm very worried. I feel like we should have met with our client by now or at least have some idea of what we were working towards since our last meeting. But, as of yet, I know nothing.

I'm very worried about this entire process now. At the beginning, it seemed like such good experience; like such a well-oiled machine. And now, I'm worried that its less structured then I thought originally. And that makes me really disappointed.

To top it all off, this semester is coming to an end. And that means final projects and tests and tons and tons of stress. I'm most definitely not ready for all of that especially because everything happens right after Thanksgiving Break. Needless to say things are about to get messy....

Monday, October 31, 2011

Presentation: check!

Second agency meeting of the year and we had to present our research so far about our clients.

To be honest, I thought we had to make a presentation. I wanted to go above and beyond so, I decided that I wouldn't just make a presentation, I would make a Prezi. I have never made a Prezi before. All I knew was it ended up looking really cool at the end. So, I divided in, with absolutely no idea what the finished product was going to look like, what information I was going to add, let alone even how to compile the presentation.

Before I dive into an explanation about my Prezi building experience, let me just vent for a second about people finding research and then sending it punctually. This doesn't happen very often, by the way. In fact, during this project, I think one person actually got back to me on time. To be fair, one person sent me an email telling me she had forgotten but, was going to send me her part within an hour; which she followed through on. And her info was actually really useful, which I appreciated. Its definitely more difficult to make a presentation with other people's vague, half completed research than with descriptive, in-depth research. I ended up having to some of it myself, which really made me ten times more stressed.

So here I am, sick, stressed-out about completing this presentation on time, worried and upset about not getting everyone's part on time and trying to figure out Prezi. This presentation program is definitely a keeper but, at the same time, its hard to get started, unless you have practice; which I did not. The best advice I can give is just to play around with it, relentlessly trying images, fonts, frames, order, everything. I must have made at least 10 versions of my presentation before I settled on the one we showed to the agency.

Fast-forward Wednesday night. In front of the agency. Our group was the first to present. To put it bluntly, we rocked it. Turns out, a presentation was not necessary, let alone a well-crafted Prezi. Needless to say, no group could come close to the standard we raised.

I felt so accomplished because my group loved the presentation and the fact that we were the best group. Now, the only problem is going to be coming up with something to top that.

Monday, October 24, 2011

And so it begins...

We had our first group meeting last Thursday for our client. Everything went smoothly; we all got on the same page and divvied up the research work between us. There was also mention of a due date for that work. That due date was today, 12:00. The work was to be sent to me. Because I have to make our presentation for the agency meeting Wednesday. Guess who still has yet to receive research from members of her group. Me!

I guess I can't be too frustrated. I don't claim to have the best memory. In fact, I have to make lists of everything I need to get done, in order, everyday. And when I say everything, I mean everything; shopping lists, eating dinner, working out, the order in which I will complete my homework. It sounds super crazy, and half the time it makes me more exhausted than anything else. But, hey, at least work is getting done!

Anyway, here I am, waiting for emails before I can start this presentation. I feel a late night panic attack looming in my future....

Meeting #1

This was a general body meeting of the entire agency. It was pretty relaxed and, I'm proud to say, embarrassment and mistake free. The executive board went over everything they expected from us and who was assigned to which client.

And my client is....

Drum roll please......

A hospital! (whose name I have decided I'm going to omit, for the remainder of the time I'll be giving code names for anything regarding this project)

We will be working on a new project they are planning to unveil which caters to expecting mothers giving birth. Since they are still in the formulation stage of the project, we will be helping in everything from promotional materials to research to naming and marketing. I'm so thrilled and blessed to be given this opportunity to exercise my skills.

Here goes... everything!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Long time no see!

Sorry about that; I've been really busy lately with midterms. And, to be honest, I forgot all about this blog... But, I'm back now and I'm going to attempt to be more consistent.

So recently, the most significant thing that has happened to me in relation to advertising is my acceptance into the student run advertising agency here on campus. It's called Hooper Stanford Baldwin Thomas, HSBT for short, after the streets surrounding Grady. I was so thrilled to be apart of the agency but, at the same time, I'm extremely anxious. I don't want to disgrace the agency or the client. To be honest I'm not really worried about embarrassing myself or, typically, making mistakes. Mistakes are a chance for me to learn and grow, I'd just rather not sacrifice the clients time and money to do it. As far as embarrassing myself, its pretty similar to making mistakes, I'll only let that embarrassing situation happen once before I figure out how I should have handled things. Still, if this was a perfect world, I wouldn't have to deal with either misfortune. I'd saunter into the meetings and problem solve, strategize, and organize like a pro.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Charles Parrott Building

I love downtown athens, for obvious reasons (who doesn't need to unwind at the end of the week). And then there's the not so obvious reasons, the hidden gems that are well worth uncovering. The Charles Parrott building, for example. I did a little "google-ing" and found that... it really isn't that interesting of a building, in terms of history and fun stories. But, the architecture is never the less extraordinary. Case-in-point, this is about the only literature that I can find on the building, online:


"This three-story commercial building bears a Richardsonian Romanesque style front facade. A large round-arched entrance frames the deeply recessed doorway, which features the deeply recessed doorway, which features rough hewn stone, a flat lintel, a radiating voussoir segmental arch, and flanking windows. Two string courses divide the second and third stories. Three Italinate stone-arch windows form the bays separated by Doric brickwork pilasters. A double-triangulated, pediment dormer caps the four stone brackets of the projecting cornice. Pyramidal turrets accent the mansard roof. The original interior floor plan, still intactm has two rooms with a side wall stairwell..."



Following this was a short history of how the plot of land changed hands over time. There really wasn't enough worth-while information divulged for my taste. And the description doesn't really do much for me either, I don't speak architecture. Besides, when I think of this building, I don't think about the "pyramidal turrets" or "doric brickwork pilasters". I think about the ad on the side.
I was a graphic design student before I was an ad kid. That intro class made be obsessed with text and layouts. So this ad practically gives me goosebumps! I don't claim to be a master of font identification like my professor but, I do recognize the Victorian fonts. In fact, I wish I knew what they were because I absolutely love them! And I love that this ad is a testament for the enduring nature of advertising, history, graphic design, and art. For this is a lost art. A little piece of history, sitting quietly on the skyline of Athens. Lovely. Simply lovely. 

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Best of the Web

This evening, or technically yesterday evening, since its now 1:00 in the morning, ADclub had an interesting "workshop" called "Best of the Web". The guy talked about websites, apps and such that were hot online right now. Not quite what I was expecting but, still worth the time.

This is ADclub's official post about the meeting. I don't see the point of re-hyperlinking all of the pages when they've already done such a wonderful job!

My absolute favorite find: Brand New
I find this topic so interesting. Its one of those "I wish I thought of it first" kind of things, you know if I had the resources to create a blog like that.

Also: folliohd
I tried to make a portfolio off tumblr, simply because I like the high res photo capabilities. But, if a website is going to the trouble of making a templet specifically for portfolios, I might as well use it right? I plan on looking into it more before I make a full scale move from tumblr to folliohd but, it looks clean and simple enough. Brilliant.

Thanks ADclub!

loss for words

This is what I saw when I went to do the "daily" puzzle last week. Normally, I get a laugh out of All Good Lounge's ads; they are fresh with humour relevant to their TA and client. "Shame: the ultimate garnish", for example, was the tag line for the ad the previous week.

This one surprised me though. Last time I checked, STDs were a bad thing; no one wants them, people fear them. So, why do you want your establishment to be associated with them? Furthermore, beyond the negative connotations, the blatant statement that contracting an STD is a success, is a bad move ethically. In essence, they are condoning sexual relations with random strangers. Which I understand is a lifestyle choice and a subject that, when addressed properly, subject can make for hilarious material, mostly in sitcoms and comedies. But it is mostly the fact that they are stating one's night of sexual exploits are not complete until you have contracted a deadly disease.

Now, I might be missing some important double entendre or innuendo because, I don't claim to be the most socially or culturally up-to-date person. On top of that, I've never been to All Good Lounge, so they could have a drink named STD. (I don't know if I would ever try it but...) In which case, I give them props for creativity and edgy humour.

On first glance though, I'm taken aback and slightly disgusted. Although they got me to spend more time with their ad, kudos to them- that's the point, I'm probably not ever going to visit their bar now, despite all their previous ads which I really liked.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Tester Post

This is my first post, just to see what the layout looks like... :)