To those who don't know, the Adcenter is no more. Kaput.
Were moving to our new diggs away from the nasty, dirty, bodily fluid filled building, into the new fancy scmancy building. I snuck into the construction zone a few months back and took a peek. Looks awesome but definitely is missing the charm of the old building. What charm? The stains that look like dragonflys, personalized roof tiles over the ping pong table, Fenske photos, and the rest that makes it home.
I will miss it only so much but thats enough sometimes. Im happy to be the last to use it. Gods speed dirty Adcenter. Hello gorgeous new building and new program: Brandcenter.
The beloved computer lab. Too much time spent here.
This couch is colorfully called the "Cum Couch." Good god.
Art Directors dungenon. Where dreams come to live and die. Mostly die.
Fenske's Wall of Non-Dissaproval. Im up there somewhere.
My favorite spot in the Adcenter. One one side of the table of ping.
The last 15 weeks were some of the most challenging I have ever had. Mentally physically emotionally and every other lly you can think of. There were all nighters editing video, shooting commercials. There were countless hours spent in front of blank documents on my laptop. I've slept 18 of the last 24 hours, and my cough will not go away, but I sleep so well.
I've never been through anything like that. The feeling though is that if you can survive the first one you can make it through the rest. God i hope so.
Now I'm not complaining that it was too much, well maybe a little, but it was worth it. I have a lot of respect for the people in this program, we are not normal people to be able to put up with this.
I have nothing that will ever make it into my book, or anything that will see the light of day. Thats not a bad thing. The work will get better. I finally feel like an art director though. And I'm beginning to really like this.
The classes the first semester were amazing and tough. They each challenged you differently. And each mind fucked you as well. The teachers know exactly what you're going to do and when. The best days are the ones when you spin it back around on them and show them something they didn't know you could do.
Don Just's business of advertising class was the beast of the first semester. I was not prepared in any way for what he wanted. The clients we presented for were terrible boring and killed you creatively. But now that its done it is probably one of the more important ones.
Visual storytelling was the most difficult class for me. I had no idea that I would struggle so much with concepting a commercial. Im not even close to good yet but Im miles better than where I started. The teachers said that after this class you wouldn't watch movies the same again. They were right. Oh and Final Cut pro is amazing software.
Fenske's class was interesting. He is a fountain of advice, and stories, and sarcasm. We sat for hours dissecting poetry and listening to NPR pieces. Our work was random and didn't feel like it was helping anything. I don't know when the benefits of this class will come into play but I'll appreciate it later.
Visual Executions was my bread and butter art direction class. It was more graphic design than art direction for me. I've gotten much better with my adobe. My concepting is still weak but better. I have solid work that will never see the light of day. The good news is that it can only get better.
Overall that was the toughest Ive ever worked in my life.
I don't ever know if I'll fully drink the cool aid here, but I at least take a sip here and there.
Well not exactly. Im tired here, not an excuse but its one none the less. My thanksgiving "break" was nothing but. I got back and it felt like starting an engine in the dead of winter. You get a week of TV and cat naps and have to jump right back to full ad student mode. Not easy, but im almost done.
Today was our last Don Just class. Nice feeling. He read a commencement speach from years past. I would have liked to hear better but I was half asleep. From what I heard Don Just told us congratulations, that we did better than he thought we would, and even got a little choked up.
As much as I will not miss his work load, STILL GOING ACTUALLY, I will miss him as a teacher. If you ever get a chance to come here as a student or prospective or just see him take five minutes to talk. He is one of the only teachers to actually listen, not just listen to see how they can help, but just listen. Its a good skill to have.
Good Afternoon DJ BOA, you magnanimous silver fox.
More to come about the semester and a final review of semester one at VCU Adcenter.
TBWA is out of the Playstation business according to Agency Spy. The 150MM dollar account was being pursued by incumbent TBWA, Publicis & Hal Riney, Publicis West, Grey, Young & Rubicam, and JWT in San Francisco; and independents 72andSunny in El Segundo. Hopefully we can see some new stuff that doesn't involve tons of graphics special effects, and celebrity endorsements in favor of something that will help SELL THE PS3!
Well if you do im sorry for you. However this microsite for Stanley Tools new all in one Thor like hammer from hell dubbed FUBAR, which is a great name for this tool, is a great way to roll out a tool that looks like it belongs on Jason or Micheal Myers tool belt.
Great idea from Mullen. What better way to show a tool designed to break, smash and completely annihilate everything than a group or construction workers wailing on toilets and pianos. I particularly like the head cam option and the sound of constructions workers cheering your brutal demolition on.
The Mac vs. Windows ads have definitely lost their steam in my opinion. They were played out, over run and worse, parodied. I didn't think there was a way to keep them going. And once again its saved, for now.
This is a web banner running on certain sites that plays when rolled over. There are two sections so keep watch up above for the payoff.
Kudos to TBWA for finding another medium to run this under. Who knows the possibilities here. Will the apple machine ever topple Windows? It could. Rumors of Apple and Google talking behind closed doors to take down the giant are everywhere.
After ten years at TBWA worldwide, Sony looks like theyre about to ask for client pitches from around the world for their Playstation 3 account. This was going to happen, but not because of TBWA and their lack of effort. Its mostly Sony's fault for not inventing the Wii first.
They have a great product that nobody wants. No amount of advertising can fix that. TBWA has done some great things with Sony and has won shopping carts full of awards with them, including a Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004, but unfortunately have lost a lot of their top talent to other agencies. I don't think this is the right move for them but you have to shake things up with sales so low. Maybe they should save their money and concentrate on Playstation 4.
Does anyone else think that the PS3 logo is too close to the Spiderman movie logos?
Everyone is doing it these days. Companies are letting Joe public throw their hat into the advertising ring for their favorite brands. Its a good idea. It creates a two way street of conversation between the product and brand. It also gets people who are passionate about the product a platform to get their message out there. And lets face it sometimes actual consumers know more about the product than the company itself.
Doritos did it famously for the last Super Bowl. User submitted commercials were aired during the most expensive air time on earth. Were they polished, on target, message specific, funny, entertaining commercials we expect when we turn on the TV?
No.
They were terrible.
See below:
It seems so easy to do this when you're 5 beers deep looking at the Head On ads but the reality is that its not.
Doritos little user submitted adventure did nothing but five minutes of fame for the people who made them. No increased sales. No market gain. Failure. However they didn't learn their lesson. Nope. Doritos is the One Show sponsor. What better way to follow up horrible commercials made by people with no experience than to ask people with little experience to do work for you.
Don't get me wrong, ill be working on Doritos One Show along with everyone else, but if I was the CMO of Doritos I would be looking through Craigslist ads for new jobs. Leave the job to the professionals. Cheers on endorsing Colbert for President though. That was a great move.
There is a better way to do this experiement, Apple and Red Bull with their great marketing machines are taking the lead. They take work that's good, polish it up and send it out the right way.
TBWA cought wind of this little video made by Nick Haley:
And turned it into this:
Not much but a little gloss, but success. For TBWA and for Apple by looking like they love their fans and their passion for the company.
Red Bull's new plan is user submitted stories that will be turned into commercials. They don't want videos or scripts, just broad ideas, funny stories, myths legends, and then give those to their marketing machine. This is a great idea. Let the agency do what it does best, while getting ideas from the outside.
No google didn't reveal a new phone like the press thought they were going to do. A big sigh of relief came from across the bay at Apple. Instead they did what they do best, create amazing open software people love to use.
Android is Google's open source program designed to work on a wide variety of phones set to be out the first quarter 2008. 34 companies signed up with Google to provide phones and service compatible with Android.
The big news behind this is the 3rd party capabilities. This new software will let everyone design programs for these phones. Imagine being able to completely customize your phone to your every whim. Not just ring tones and colors but games, maps, or if you want, to create something yourself for your phone no one has seen.
Once again Google capitalizes on a their best talent. Taking existing technology, making it easy and fun to use. Even though their name won't be plastered across the phones. Google will be the leader in mobile software for phones for years to come.
This is exactly what customers have wanted from phones. Companies have relied on the fact that they buy phones based on the features they have, this will break that connection, and hopefully get phone manufacturers to step it up as well.
Another week another Don Just project. This time was different though. It was the first time I tried the strategy hat on. The requested media was not on target with what I felt was the core audience. I changed the assignment to better fit the core audience.
This previous paragraph is not one you usually hear from Art Directors. Its all where's my brief I've got to make this pretty STAT!
Thats the difference behind Adcenter. Its not just about creative, its about learning to make decisions that are the best for the specific client. Its a weird feeling to act this way. I never came here thinking I would learn some business. I like making things pretty, but its nice to touch the other side for once.
