I haven't posted much since I stopped working in advertising. Something I'm proud of is this: http://adage.com/abstract.php?article_id=119844
Last week, 151 interns graduated from the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Multicultural Advertising Intern Program, after 10-week stints with participating agencies across 23 cities. In her keynote address, SMG Multicultural CEO Monica Gadsby said, "Rest assured this industry needs you as much as you need us."
~AAAA Smartbrief
Yay, go us!
But what really compelled me to post today is a Trojan ad I just saw on TV. I was watching Comedy Central, and since the channel is aimed at the elusive 18-25 year old male, there are a lot of ads for that particular demographic. The one that I was watching had the tagline, "Evolve. Use a condom," and the story was that a pig who uses a condom turns into a man.
I have a huge complaint about that tagline. How exactly are we supposed to evolve if we use a condom? Evolution is based on genetic mutations and passed through reproduction. Condoms, the last time I checked, were used to prevent reproduction. Were people thinking when they came up with that tagline? I'm still not sure how a lot of ads get passed through client reviews. I know the client I worked with this summer was pretty strict about every aspect of the ad, down to even very minuscule color blocks.
Of course I'm thinking too much into this ad. It's an ad for condoms. It's not meant to be analyzed even to this very shallow depth. Moving on.
After staying at work until 11:30pm working on a project with the rest of my team, my boss turns to me and says, "Welcome to advertising."
My hours really aren't all that bad, though. I know the pay is terrible, but it's really easy to pull at 45-50 hour work week. I have friends working 115 hours a week, and we're all still only interns.
I think one of the things I really like about this industry is how flexible everything is. I don't have set hours. I can come and go as I want. A lot of it is my decision. My previous job was very accommodating of my schedule. If I had somewhere I needed to be, I could just tell my boss. It wasn't about asking her permission, it was about letting her know where I was going to be so that she would know not to come looking for me. It's almost the same way now. I left work at 2pm on Wednesday because I felt like I had pulled a lot of hours on Tuesday. I had a friend staying over, and I hadn't had time to do anything with him yet because of work. So I left.
It's also very important to learn how to work professionally at a job. A lot of interns that I've seen still treat work as high school. They're constantly asking their bosses about what to do. They don't know what to do unless someone specifically tells them. They're constantly asking permission for things. They spend their time either procrastinating on work they have to do or fooling around when they're not given any work to do.
Now I'm not say that happens with all interns, nor am I saying that I'm not guilty of those things occasionally. I do have fun at work. I will goof off occasionally as well because I don't want to get burnt out. But I also have asked for long term projects that I can work on. If I don't have anything to do, I'll read things online to catch me up with what's going on in both the advertising industry and the industry of the client that I work for. I like being knowledgeable about the company that I'm working for.
I feel like I've gotten so much more mature since I've started working sophomore year. I wouldn't give away this experience for anything.
Listening to a Chief Digital Officer's approach to digital marketing was much more interesting than trying to stumble my way through the concept by experimenting online. While I enjoy reading Digg posts, blogs, Facebook feeds, magazines, and newspapers, it's really hard to find time to actually do all of that. So to have it all summarized in a presentation was really helpful.
JP didn't touch upon anything I hadn't already heard, but the passion in his voice about how things are turning digital really made me want to get back into the digital world. As much fun as traditional media is, and as much as I like trying to help come up with 'new media' ideas for my company, I miss the interactive experiences that I've had since sophomore year. I've tried to keep up by almost overloading myself with information on the subject, but it's not the same as being totally immersed in the field. This traditional media stuff is holding me back from the digital world.
I always try to think of a good question when listening to presentations like this. I wanted to avoid the usual questions about where the future is headed and what the effects of having to measure everything means. Those questions just show that you're not familiar with the field because those are the most common questions that everyone asks. I have always wondered something about the digital advertising process. A lot of traditional advertising is used for brand building. I see digital advertising a lot more like direct marketing in that if results are not seen almost instantly, then the campaign gets changed or cut. But in such a fast-paced environment, isn't it more difficult to build a lasting brand that people can relate to?
JP answered my question really well. I've been looking at this whole digital thing the wrong way, and I now have a new perspective. Digital is not going to be replacing traditional media any more than television replaced the radio. We still listen to the radio, and we're still going to be watching television. It's more about the when and where. Digital advertising should be integrated into one's overall campaign in order to target the population you want to reach. But if you choose to do an entirely digital campaign, yes, it will be like direct marketing. However, it's important to use many different digital mediums like blogs, text ads, banner ads, microsites, etc. Then if one doesn't work, money can be taken away from it and fed into one that does work.
It's a strange hour to start talking about campaigns and things, but I was walking home from a fun night out, and I saw an ad for dontalmostgive.org. I wanted to post about it before I forgot.
The 'Don't Almost Give. Give.' campaign is one of my favorite campaigns. Whoever came up with the campaign was really in tune with the fact that everyone usually wants to do good deeds. Everyone thinks about how they can help others. But fewer people actually act on that idea. There are all sorts of excuses floating around. I won't go into detail about what they are because I'm sure everyone knows and has used those excuses multiple times. I know I have. And this campaign addresses that fact. It plays on emotions like most other nonprofit/charity campaigns, but it also knows that you want to do something about the cause.
Then it takes it to the next level. It says, "Don't just think about giving. Go out and do something about it." And though I don't like using the term, I think it guilts people into doing something other than picking up a pamphlet or listening to whatever activist knocks on your door/stops you on the sidewalk. And the call to action "Give" tells people that even though you felt like you may have done something, it's not enough unless you actually donate.
I'm curious to see what the results of the campaign are - what the numbers are like. I'll look them up in the morning.
It's always so exciting when you feel like you've been let in on a secret. "Welcome to this exclusive party," these secrets seem to say. This feeling of elitism is exactly what befell me a few days ago when I watched food stylists and photographers hard at work.
I never realized how much work goes into taking pictures for print ads. The photo shoot took the entire day for just one chocolate bar and shots of the packaging. The day started off with the two food stylists Michelle and Julie carefully cleaning up the chocolate. I've would've imagined that only surgeons were capable of such careful precision, but the way Michelle handled her knives made me think that she was handling the most vital of organs.
The photo process was just as interesting. I was probably the only person there who hadn't seen the process before, so I was able to watch everyone do their things the entire day without getting bored. I've wanted to learn photography for some time now, but I've just been too busy/lazy to read up on the process. Thus, watching a professional at work was incredibly thrilling, to say the least.
I can't help but wonder if food photography for ads borders on being a sham. It's almost like some sort of trickery is involved. The actual foods never look as good as the photos in the ads or the packaging. But then again, no one would've bought fast food if they thought it looked the way it does in reality.
I'm very grateful for the opportunity to watch that photo shoot. It reinforces my decision to be glad that I never got into being a creative. My life would've been wraught with tedium, and while some people enjoy being creative even if it means going back to the drawing board multiple times, I do not have that kind of patience.
Advertising is not quite as glamorous as a lot of people make it out to be. I had originally wanted to get into advertising because it seemed like the natural transition from the graphic design that I wanted to pursue to the business career path that my parents wanted to pursue. I started off my freshman year with the idea that I'd be some great graphic designer modifying all sorts of print and online ads. Business school has supposedly knocked a little sense in me and has told me that if I actually want to move up in the world, I should seek more of a management type position.
I've been working as an account management intern for almost three weeks, and I have mixed feelings about what it takes to be an AAE or an AE. Long hours, low pay, getting bitched at from all directions.. I'm not sure I can handle it. I was drawn to advertising for the psychological aspect and the strategic thinking, but all the organization and bookkeeping involved in account management doesn't leave much time for strategic thinking.
I recently attended one of those Lunch & Learn sessions given by two AEs. It was the most helpful professional development-esque event regarding what happens to entry level account management people. In addition to certain skill sets that one needs, the two AEs talked about what is usually expected of AAEs, what are things to avoid, and most important, compensation and growth levels. It was a much clearer picture of the job than I've ever gotten. However, their description caused me to rethink my direction. As much as I like traditional advertising, I have to think about my future, and I just don't see how traditional advertising fits in with what I want to do. I'm still considering pursuing interactive advertising, but I've started looking at other career options as well.
I love what I'm doing this summer, but I'm not entirely sure how long it would take before I got tired of the job if I took it on as a full-time position.
An advertisement is only seen as intrusive if the audience members haven't given the ad permission to disrupt their lives. However, there are plenty of ads that are actively sought. As a student of advertising, I will look for advertisements and actually enjoy finding new creative pieces. Of course I still get annoyed at ads, but I think I'm more tolerant than the average person because my love and passion still exists. I haven't been in the industry for long at all, and thus I have yet to become jaded and disillusioned by the glamor of ads.
However, I still haven't figured out where the line is between ads that seem invasive and ads that people actually enjoy. The threshold for tolerance is different for every person, but some ads are just easier to accept than others. On a scale, I'm sure most people can agree that on a scale of one to annoying, popup ads (which most people no longer see thanks to some very effective popup blockers) rank off the charts. But the Mini Coopers in the remake of The Italian Job are applauded almost as if they themselves were characters in the movie.
What brought about this post is this need that advertisers seem to have to get involved with Web 2.0. Sure, it's new and exciting and very 2006, but not all products need or even fit into the Web 2.0 environment. I've worked on communities for products that not enough people cared about. I've seen MySpace profiles, blogs, Facebook updates, what have you for products and companies. I understand everyone has spent the past year trying to figure out how to engage the consumer, but the more advertisers do so, the more we become desensitized to their efforts. We know a blatant advertising scheme when we see one, and we're not impressed.
I like relevant information. I love that Yahoo's Launch will play artists that are similar to what I like, which in turn lets me discover new music. It's about the act of discovery. I don't like things pushed onto me, but if I discover something myself, I'll be sure to talk it up and initiate that word of mouth chain that's also the hot new catchphrase these days. I 'discovered' a BMW print ad that I loved so much, I used it as my desktop profile for a while. I got many comments on that. I've 'discovered' interesting company microsites that I've shared with my friends. I've also 'discovered' new products, new music, and new ways of doing things. And you can be sure that my friends knew about it.
I can't conclude this post with an epiphany of any sort because I haven't had one yet, but I can reiterate something that I'm sure all marketers know by now. Relevance is key. Know your audience. Move beyond demographics and even psychographics. Imagine how I live my life. Marketers are very similar to actors and writers. We all need to do research to get to know the characters we create, become, and sell to. As creepy as it may be, a successful marketer can imagine me and know exactly what I like to do and when I like to do it. Then he'll also know how I'll change as I grow older. Now that should bring about success.
I think I want to take this blog in a different direction. It's not that I haven't been exposed to as many ads (no, that hasn't changed at all), nor have I forgotten about it. I just haven't had the motivation to post - busy with school and such. But now that school is over, I think I want to take this thing up again. I started it last summer when I had plenty of time on my hands. I think it's time to renew it this summer with a new focus.
There are many blogs out there that introduce their readers to new and astonishing ads. While I read many of them, that's not what I want to do. In fact, most of the ads that I've commented on in the past have been ones that have been around for a while. I certainly wasn't the first to see them. I just wanted to write about something that had made an impact on me somehow, both good or bad.
There are also blogs out there that criticize ads. I love ads and advertising, but I'm always up for a good critique. However, this is not what this blog is about either. I will occasionally make fun of a terrible ad, but to focus on such a thing would make me a cynic and a critic of the industry that I love. I know advertising is not the most noble occupation in the world (I'm not even sure it's up in the top 50), but the industry's subtle and not so subtle forms of persuasion. It appeals to both my creative interests and my psychological interests.
There are blogs out there that provide great insight to the marketing and advertising world. Some will take a random occurrence in the world and try to pull out marketing concepts that people should follow. Some just give off the airs of being profound without saying much at all. I read both kinds. But that's what what I want to do either. I don't think I have the experience to do such a thing. I'll let those people who enjoy philosophizing about such things take care of that angle.
Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure how I want to take this. As a student of marketing, there's still a lot for me to learn. I have a lot to say about what I'm learning through school and my various internships. I think I'm just going to write and see what happens from there. It'll be a personal account about my journey from a kid to a full-fledged marketer/advertiser. The journey is almost complete. I'm entering my senior year of college, and soon I'll be out in the real world convincing people that one product or service is better than another whether or not I believe it to be true. Can I handle it? We'll see.
I just caught an Office Depot commercial that was really creepy. It started off like a Staples commercial where there was a really messy office space. I was waiting for the large red Easy button to appear, but instead some guy had a box. And then a song came on about giving people a hand while a hand popped out of the box.
I do not enjoy the dismembered hand in the box. The catchy song was entirely blocked out as I stared at the hand grab things off shelves and toss them in a shopping cart, all while still stuck inside the box. And everyone around was all happy that there was a random hand "helping" them. That was the strangest part. I would not have a fake smile plastered to my face if I saw a hand in a box.
The only thing that gives this commercial any merit is the fact that it reminds me of Justin Timberlake's "Dick in a Box."
This rich media ad for the Nintendo Wii is very clever. It's not at all obtrusive and annoying. I just saw the little 'Wii' logo next to a comment on my Xanga and thought, "What is this?" I hovered my mouse over it and noticed that it was an ad for the Wii. I think the most effective part of it was that I felt I was entirely in control. No one asked me to see the ad. I didn't even have to look at it if I didn't want to because it's so small. But I did want to look at it because it sparked my curiosity.
Clicking on the ad takes you to a page hosted by Xanga. But it's not a static page. It's just a regular Xanga entry about the Wii, where people can comment. I think it's a brave step that Nintendo took to allow all sorts of users to provide feedback for not just this product but essentially their whole line of products. I only wish the controller on the left side of the screen did something fun.
This is just a place where I, an undergraduate marketing major, will talk about anything marketing or advertising related that may affect my life. I'm not sure what direction this blog will take or if I'll continue using it, but here we go.
