Week’s Ad Lessons

Yay I didn’t get an entirely shitty critique today in my Strategic Thinking class. Thank the gods. This week has been a lot of hard lessons, so I feel it might be useful for me to re-list them here even though I know some textbooks might disagree with what I’m about to say:

+ Headlines should always be intrusive, no matter what.
+ Ads must always have tension.
+ What you think is on-brand is always too boring. Pump it up but not too extreme.
+ When you think you’re finished with long copy, cut it down by three sentences.
+ Never watch TV when trying to get your work done.
+ Be provocative. Be a blasphemer.
+ Simplify, simplify, simplify. That often means killing words on an ad. Unfortunately…
+ Creatives love humor. Don’t even try for drama in San Francisco.

These are pretty sweeping generalizations, and I realize I spoke in stern absolutes. Yet the way they’re teaching this quarter is making this sound like the stone is pretty set. I’ll live off these ideas until told otherwise. Live, learn, live, learn. Goodnight and let the grind begin anew tomorrow.

30-Day Blog Challenge: 12

Day 12: Something you hope to change about yourself and why.
Entries seem a bit redundant? Maybe because I can’t seem to stay on topic. Nonetheless, there are many things I hope to change about myself. This probably stems from the fact, that I’m never satisfied with what I’ve already got. The grass is greener on the other side, I suppose.

To begin with, I wish I had a nicer body. Sure I’ve been working out for a long time, but things always seem to get in the way of my routine. From extreme homework, visitors, and poor eating habits. I’m not and have not been where I wanted to be for a long time. If anything, I felt like I was in better shape in Seattle. I blame most of this on how I can’t find the time to have a proper meal and also save money. The paradox. Should I save money or just blow it all on my health? Either way I’m losing. I suppose this change just takes time and is a game of patience. Hopefully getting a full-time job out of school will afford me some more stability to once again pursue my fitness. AND allow me the means to afford it.

I also wish I were smarter. I’m finally surrounding myself with creative people who are winning awards left and right. I’m jealous. Networking can help but even then, I’m just so awkward around meeting industry professionals. They look at me like another pathetic peon in the masses. How do I make myself stand out? Easy answer: I have to produce great work. However, what I think is great turns out to be shit in the eyes of others. Kills my ego slowly everyday. Practice makes perfect and mastery comes over time, but I wish I were as naturally talented as some people in this school. Once again the only thing I can do is repeat my affirmation: IT’S NOT THE HEIGHT OF YOUR LOGIC, BUT THE DEPTH OF YOUR CONVICTION.

Somehow, someday, somewhere all my hard work has to pay off.

The World is Flat

My observation of Miami Ad School SF students.

“I can’t meet because I’ll be in Tokyo this weekend.” Oh.
“Yeah he just hopped on a plane back to Sweden.” Okay.
“Next week I’ll be in Ibiza.” Gotcha.

When did all this globetrotting become so nonchalant?!

30-Day Blog Challenge: 11

Funny how I started this so long ago, and yet I’m still so far from reaching 30 days. Seems like I spit on my diligence heh.

Day 11: Something about which people seem to compliment you.
Most recently, I’ve been most commented on my sense of style. It’s a vainful aspect of my character that has nothing to do with merit, but any type of compliment helps ease me through some of the more difficult days. I’ll welcome any type of praise.

These compliments started to develop after college. It’s sad because I’ve always considered myself to be a stylish person even in middle school, but when I reflect I realize that I actually looked like a complete dweeb. Not until I grew into an adult did people really look at me as an authority. I think the validation came from so many of my friends approaching me for style tips, often requesting me to take them out shopping.

However, I am not a fashion expert. I believe there’s an often misconstrued idea about the relationship between fashion and style. The two are different, and by knowing this, I can acknowledge my own sense of style and appreciate others’. As for fashion, I admittedly know more about the topic than your average bear but am by no means an expert in the field. There’s a lot I wish to learn out of curiosity but only as a hobby.

If anything, my desire out of all of this is to be associated with more fashion people. Let’s be friends and hang out. Surrounding myself with likeminded individuals in this realm can only help to enhance my own personal style, and to that, I say bring it on.

Not enough hours, not enough!

In essence, I’ve been swamped-swamped-swamped.

Xue was in town last weekend which caused me to fall behind on school work. That snowballed into a lack of concentration which resulted into a lack of good ideas to present for all classes. All of my critiques have been miserable – not a good feeling.

All these external factors have affected my internal decisions. Consequence: my writing has gone to shit. My workout and eating habits have also gone to shit. I try to stay organized and on top of everything, but things are starting to get too overwhelming. For the first time in a very long time, I feel like there is literally not enough hours in the day for me to accomplish all I need to do. This doesn’t seem normal.

To make matters worse, events keep popping up each weekend and are labeled “unmissable”. San Francisco always has something going on which makes it so hard to live here. On the other hand, the same would apply for New York. Yet in particular, this weekend is Bay to Breakers. I’ll need to find a costume in addition to my busy-as-hell workload in order to attend. It’s something that people say I cannot miss, so I’ll need to make time for it for the sake of both my curiosity and sanity.

Next week Poon is also coming, so I have to get even more ahead of schedule to accomodate his visit. Even vacations are becoming a burden. I’m not sure why this quarter is so busy. My classes are all conceptual which makes for a huge pain in the ass. It doesn’t help that group meeting times are also so difficult. Nobody’s times seems to align with mine. Life then becomes a living hell because of it. I’m really looking forward for this quarter to be over so I can once more regain some sense of stability in my life. First quarter was a breeze compared to now, and it sucks that I had taken it so much for granted.

Long Copy Inspiration from Lego

Lovely print ad campaign and relatively easy to generate body copy.

The Worst Feedback

Today I got pulverized on my Strategic Thinking critique. What ego-searing madness I had to endure. I wonder what could have went wrong? I actually liked a lot of the campaigns presented, but none of them were clicking. I suppose this is the advertising life. Can’t win all your battles, especially as a junior coming into the fray. All great artists get their work torn to shreds before something worthwhile manages to surface.

From this experience, I am more humbled than ever and even more resolved to kick ass for my next presentation. I want to make sure that my schedule is no longer compromised by external reasons, allowing me to fully commit to my education. I want to murder my next project because I can’t bear to go through another round of the torment I went through today.

Sad for Humanity

My friend shared a video with me this evening that both enraged and saddened me. The video is of two Chinese men being beaten in the street for stealing. Onlookers stare and do nothing, almost as if legitimizing the act. As the beating escalates, more people join in and start using bricks to slam against the victims’ fingers.

I am bewildered by how a society can still inflict such inhumane and brutal treatment among their fellow man. I’m disgusted but refuse to turn a blind eye. Not sure if sharing this video is the right course, but nonetheless I am compelled to take some sort of action.

30-Day Blog Challenge: 10

Day 10: Something at which you’ve been a champion or the best.
This question is harder to answer than I initially expected. I’ve done a great deal of things in my life but no activity in which to call myself a master. Perhaps that’s me being cynical and hard on myself, but really, I feel like there’s nothing in my life that I do better than others.

There is always someone who I look up to or admire. I’m no champion of my craft by any means. On the other hand, I will admit that I have done a great breadth of things that I am proud of. There’s things in my personal life, social life, and education which have made me an elated winner for fleeting moments, and I’m always aspiring to reclaim the title once again.

Yet in the immediate moment, I’m at a lack of success and feel like the world is my dominus. It’s the tail-end of award season and everyone around me has gotten recognition. Of course, they’ve done great work to deserve it, but still, it pains me to have been rejected from my applied scholarships and other endeavors. I can’t say I’m that surprised, but not getting what I sought out to achieve still sucks. I suppose I must remind myself that this is all a result of my youth and relative inexperience.

I long for the day that I can confidently say that I have mastered and become a champion of something. However, I know that notion to be unrealistic. In fact, it’s a bit pompous to presume that anyone can ever achieve that state of being. Who in this world is perfect? Who dares to claim and be? If you’re that person, hubris is your downfall and that is no character trait I would wish upon myself.

Gorgeous Pelephone Ad

Discovered this commercial today that I absolutely fell in love with.

The art direction is gorgeous. The writing is whimsical and akin to someone’s actual dream journal. The whole piece transports you into another world and inspires me to do really cool work as an homage. Leaves the viewer feeling good at the end. Too bad an ad like this is wasted on a brand like Pelephone.

In spite of its beauty, this really has nothing to do with the brand. The line that attempts to tie it altogether at the end is weak. Quite unfortunate how one chip in the armor can devastate the body as a whole. Regardless, I’ve enjoyed watching and will probably return to this eye candy every so often for quite a while.

Source: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/tv/pelephone_wedding