Andre Still Has a Posse

Today I took the brand new Karmaloop TV service from Karmaloop for a spin today, and it definitely has a lot of promise. I always dig an ‘insider’ look at an underground-type of industry. My favorite segment so far is an interview with Shepard Fairey, artist and founder of Obey. It was a Fairey experiment that produced the famous image above, which you probably recognize if you were skating in the mid-90’s.

Before I get to the content of the interview though, let me just say that Karmaloop CEO Greg Selkoe clearly should not be interviewing people. He is eating the microphone, his questions are pretty dumb, and he introduces himself with aliases? Who does that besides Sal Masekela and Sway? It detracts from the person you are trying to interview and just doesn’t look very professional. I admire him because he has been pretty successful, but leave the interviewing to someone else!

Once Shepard Fairey took over the interview, it became very insightful. He spoke on his humble roots and how the whole ‘Andre the Giant has a posse’ meme came about. Fairey really goes global when commenting on his reaction to the growth of the ‘Andre’ image:

“…it really opened my mind to the ideas of an image in public sparking a reaction that is something that is outside of advertising and the usual signage that you see that raises people’s awareness about what’s going on around them.”

I had just read something about influential street artist Banksy and his exhibit here in New York. Fairey’s comments got my mind rolling on the whole awareness idea. In advertising, we really inundate the public with ‘awareness’ campaigns that are trashed and forgotten almost immediately. Today one of my clients sent out almost two million direct mailings to consumers. They are hoping 95-98% of recipients don’t trash the piece immediately.

Comparatively, Fairey’s Andre image was first published on a sticker in 1989, and almost twenty years later his art has grown into not only a full business, but has influenced many people to look at the world in a different way.

All we have to do is take some time and create real creative work for our clients. More than just words on a page describing policies and legal. Make them feel something as well. This can be accomplished just as thoroughly with art as a traditional print or TV campaign. But make it something rare – make it something your target will seek out and obtain, rather than have it stuffed into their mailbox. Only then can we create influential works to last over time.

Total Gibberish and the Geniuses that Use It

There is a guy who sells food for a diner down the street from our offices. I say it in these vague terms because I have absolutely no idea what this guy is selling. I know he is out there, day and night, yelling about the special deals the shop has that day. But what he is yelling…it’s not words.

It’s not another language either. It’s total and complete gibberish, a la Don Vito of Viva la Bam fame, or recently that guy on (edit: Mr. Wise) I Love New York 2 who cannot speak english.

But yet somehow…it just works. People actually take samples off the platter he shoves in your face, samples which look a little bit like 2 week old bagel bites covered with cheese sauce. He hands flyers out by the dozen, while others struggle to get a few tourists to take their pieces of paper.

And he has become an icon around here. In doing a bit of research for this post, I asked around the office, and EVERYONE knew who I was talking about with little or no explanation. Try describing a popular ad placed in the middle of prime time television. Some people know it, but even fewer will know what product it is for. That placement cost millions. This guy, for minimum wage (probably) stands outside a small diner and yells words that are literally not understandable. And people love him.

Does it sell more food? I’m really not sure. But they have created a buzz-worthy character with little to no spending. They could have wasted all their money on a stupid billboard or an ad in the paper. Heck, they could have really beat their marketing campaign to death and posted ads inside the Subway.

But they didn’t, and it’s been a real success. To top it off, their ‘advertisement’ is totally interactive. Not sure he will answer my questions in a real language, but I’m willing to give it a try. That’s marketing genius, brought to you by your local hole in the wall.

image via Flickr member Goran Anicic

This Weeks Links

I’ve been saving a whole bunch of these up for a while, so I hope you haven’t seen all of this already!

Adrants turned me on to this new video from the WPP group and agency Cole & Weber on workspace etiquette. As someone who works at a desk and around cubicles, this video rings SO true. And it’s good to poke fun at something everyone in this business has to go through.

Agency Spy wrote up this piece on ways people get into the Ad Industry. That’s what this blog is all about, so I was really interested. They also pointed me to a new blog for the roll called “Getting You Into Advertising“. Their “Star Stories” are just like my “A Day in the Ad Life” but with a better title…guess I gotta get on that.

Stylish Labs brings you “5 Great Resources to Publish Your Portfolio!” A great post and some good advice.

Last but not least, uber popular Alex Bogusky, the Chief Creative Officer at Crispon Porter (and Bogusky too!) got interviewed by I Have An Idea and it was an inspiring read. Check it.

addendum: another great site coming up (shameless promo) is a blog-dialog (term I’m coining) called “Living the Dream”.  Check out some of the work I’ve put together for it here:

The Ballet Goes Off the Path

So I’m sure you’ve seen the new Renault “Ballet” commercial. If not, here it is on YouTube:

Reader’s of this blog know I love to look at and dissect auto advertising. I have no clue why, I just find it fascinating. There are few other industries where the types of commercials vary so widely in their artistic quality and message. You start with incredible, thought-provoking stuff like the “Go Beyond” spot for Land Rover, to total push-type crap like Billy Fuccillo:

I enjoy him for comedic purposes, and he has definitely blanketed the East Coast with his repetitive and, ahem, inventive spots. Guess it goes to show that if you have enough money, you can get your name out there big-time.

My point is, this Renault ad has really caught a lot of people’s attention lately, and I started thinking – what if all car ads were like this? But specifically, what if everything related to cars went something like this.

My main client is a large, American-based Auto Insurance company. And up till now, they have always played it conservative, with direct mail, basic online presence, and fairly common-style television spots. But I’d love to see them take a bit of their budget and move it towards something off the beaten path, something totally different and eye-catching.

Looking at Auto Insurance, it’s hard to show the product working. But how about a new look at car damage, the way the ballet ad did here for Renault. How can the interaction between the car owner and their insurance company become a dance, not a cold or troublesome experience? It occurs to me that I’m not just looking at the advertising, but the product and customer touchpoint design as well. Maybe that means I’m on to something…

Please, don’t post your thoughts below (a little reverse-psychology)

photo by Flickr user Danntanna

Rabbits are Awesome!

Just saw the new Sony Bravia ad, it’s awesome. It’s had so much hype and build up, I can’t believe that it totally delivered. I really enjoyed it, I think you will too. The graphics and music are really fun and work together so well.

Great for Sony, I hope this results in a whole bunch of sales so we can see more ads like this!

Also, here’s the “making of” they did on this commercial – so inspiration for somebody like me (and you too):

Open Letter to Ad Execs, re: TV Sponsorships

This is a bit of an ongoing series, as I try to understand the bone-headed moves some ad campaigns make. To read my first installment, on eBay’s “windorphins” and advertising on the NYC Subway, click here. Today, I’m going to tackle TV content sponsorships: where they are now, and where I think they should head in the future.

I was watching Top Chef the other day, one of my favorite shows on TV. For any of you who live under a rock, Top Chef runs on Bravo on Wednesday nights. The finale of Season 3 is this week. The series pits chefs against each other in a series of challenges to determine one “Top Chef”.

When the chefs arrived at their ‘quick fire’ challenge, they were greeted by not a chef, but a Bombay Saffire mixologist. What the heck? The challenge here was to create a dish to go with a mixed Bombay Saffire drink. There were huge Bombay logos everywhere in the kitchen, and the different flavors of Bombay were extensively covered during the challenge. It was then I realized…Top Chef has sold out.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the show, I still love the content. But this type of sponsorship is a slippery slope. When the sponsors, and not the producers, have the control of the challenges in the show, the show takes on a completely different (and commercial) tone. Judges lose their power as sponsors begin to chose who stays and who goes on the show. The entire premise of the show begins to fall apart as it sells it’s soul to commercial sponsorship.

This is nothing new for Top Chef. They have been touting “the Glad family of products” and the “Kenmore Elite” kitchen the chefs work in since day 1 of the series. But this season they have turned a completely new corner. Failed TV chef Rocco Dispirito brought his new line of frozen meals to this season, with a spot during EVERY commercial break, and an episode where he acts as guest judge. I really enjoyed the “breakfast” challenge episode, except for how many times Padma referred to the Breville blenders the chefs were using.

This blatant, over-the-top type sponsorship is to me not only a growing problem, but a total waste of money. Oh, I believe in sponsorships, but it has to be done right. Did sponsoring ‘24′ increase sales for Ford or Toyota? Not in a way that rationalizes all the money they spent on it. And it definitely wasn’t worth it for us 24 fans, who had to watch the Ford trucks logo pushed into our faces again and again.

Obviously this onslaught of branded entertainment is not worth it, nor is it going away. Instead, agencies have to find a way to support the content of the show, not alter or disrupt it. And just stop pushing it our faces already! Subtle sponsorship and support of content can go a long long way.

It seems to say somewhere in the “sponsorship handbook” that if you sponsor a program, you have to shove it down consumers throats or they will forget. It’s just not so.

The introduction of blog buzz has made that strategy obsolete. Instead, a subtle underlying sponsorship can reap you huge benefits as bloggers spread word about your supportive action and how it helped the event/content happen.

Take Top Chef for example. The sponsorships they have are relevant, they are just too blatant. If instead of mentioning Breville blenders a million times, let the consumer be the one to ask. Let them get on the blogs or forums and say, “man, I want one of those blenders! Where can I get one?” Let Tom Colicchio, a trusted source and head judge of Top Chef, provide an HONEST review of your knives, or blenders, or other products. Which you provided to the show, free of charge.

I know after every episode of the Sopranos or Entourage, I would go online to find out what music was playing in that episode. There are more consumer touch points to reach the target than just in the middle of the show itself. A smart sponsor will find where they can assist the participants or the viewers and position themselves there. Relevantly.

Whatever you do, make the media where the sponsorship is inherently interactive. I mean make it on a blog, a forum, somewhere where the viewers can provide their honest feedback. Making the consumer seek it out, instead of shoving it in their face, makes them more likely to remember your brand and brand message.

I know, it’s harder and requires more thought than just throwing a bag of money at a show. This is supposed to be the challenge of our business. But don’t be afraid to try and be creative with your sponsorships, then let the show itself and the bloggers do the work. Watch your brand message spread quicker than any ad campaign could, and you are doing a good deed in the process!

Have other examples of good sponsorships? Feel free to comment below and tell us about them!

Flickr images provided by Pan-Ga’s Photos and FngKestrel. Thanks a lot!

Today’s 5 Reasons

 

I’ve decided to start including more lists in my posts, as Leo Babauta suggested in In Defense of Lists, a post he wrote for North x East, which I read pretty religiously for tips on better blogging.

So I’m going to experiment with list length, design, and so on, but just from brainstorming on the train this morning I have a bunch of ideas for short lists I can write. If you the reader have some lists you want me to write or some input on future design ideas, feel free to email me or leave a comment telling me so.

 

So without further ado, my first list is a celebration of New York City. I am not a native City person (snob). I miss driving my car, I miss grass, I miss being non-cultured. With that being said, there are a lot of great reasons to start your advertising/marketing career here, in the Big Apple. But I’m only going to give you five, and you can leave more here in your comments.

1. You are in the busiest place on Earth
Welcome to New York! No matter where you are walking, someone very short and very slow will be walking in front of you! But if you strut around with sunglasses on, it makes you feel more important and professional (not that I do that). If you keep your eyes up off the pavement as you walk anywhere, you will likely see at least one thing you will never see anywhere else on planet Earth. Yesterday I almost missed a sixty-something year old man whiz by on a Segway on 5th Avenue. Possibly the best thing I’ve ever seen. Should be the slogan for New York City: “NYC: Keep Your Camera Ready”.

2. Fastest moving location for our industry in the United States
I’m not going to load you with a bunch of data, but basically, New York City has more multi-million dollar advertising accounts per square inch than anywhere else in the world. The biggest accounts have the most work, most files, most client communications. And when you are just trying to get started in advertising, that means lots of entry-level jobs.

3. You never know where you will be when…
This is similar to #1, but with so many things going on around you, you are absolutely guaranteed to find yourself in a unique situation regarding things others may skip over. I very rarely watch the evening news anymore, for several reasons. I use Digg to tell me what news is most important to the most people. Not only that, but Digg starts discussions and presents me all kinds of links relevant to a cultural geek like me.
But the other main reason is because sometimes I’m a part of the news without even knowing it. Yesterday I walked out of the office for lunch and a haircut and ran head-long into the Iran President’s visit situation. I was greeted outside of the office by buses of Jewish children, there to protest his views on the Holocaust. I walked through a group of fifty or so police officers in riot gear. Then I finally sat down in the barber’s chair, and lo and behold my barber was Iranian. He shed more light on the situation in Iran than hours of CNN could. I no longer watch the evening news because purer sources of news are all around me.

4. Incredible night life
From my Jersey City apartment, I have options galore: bars and restaurants in Hoboken five minutes away; bars, clubs, and restaurants in New York forty minutes away; drinking 40s on my couch, a three minute walk to the bodega and back. When you are young, broke, and energy-packed, it pays to have options. Tons of my friends, in all different industries, have come to New York to pursue their passions. I feel incredible lucky to be able to continue to spend time with them after college. I will never look back and say: I wish I lived alone and never went out with my friends.

5. More new friends and business contacts than you can shake a stick at
My office building alone has over a dozen other business tenants. There are literally hundreds of people my age who work in media and marketing in this building. I could be working alongside them for years and not even know it yet. But you never know where your best contacts are going to come from and when you are going to need them, as all the Communications professors would say. Take advantage of the networking opportunities around you, you never know when they will pay off. When you are on the search for that perfect job, it always pays to network.

So that was my first foray into lists! Hope you all enjoyed it, please feel free to leave me feedback. Till next time.

A Day in the Life

Just a few months ago, I was unemployed, penniless, and had NO idea how to move into the advertising industry. I had tried cold-calling, emailing, networking. I was down and out, until a friend recommended I start writing a blog.

I was feeling a bit sly that day, so I named my blog “How to Not Get a Job in Advertising.” After that, I just kinda threw it together and let the cards fall where they may. I wrote a few posts, critiqued a few ads, and felt better.

The first few days, my mom and my girlfriend were my only readers. But I had so many ideas built up, I just wrote and wrote and wrote. And luckily, it became a habit. I’m still writing, despite the fact that I’m now employed, (relatively) well off, and have a pretty good boot in the door of the advertising industry. But now that I’ve climbed a bit of the ladder, I want to look back and help everyone and anyone that I can. So far, that has been by providing my input and perspective on our exciting industry.

The way I look at it, if someone is thinking about going into the advertising industry, hopefully my thoughts will give them a bit of an idea of what it’s like starting out. And I’m very excited for how this will evolve as I become more and more involved in the advertising world.

I want to start talking a bit more about what my work life is like, since I could never find a blog that spoke to me like that. I read tons of ad blogs, only a few of which are on my blogroll. I would be happy to suggest blogs to anyone who would like some extra reading.

I’m also working on a project to bring my friends’ work lives to you through this blog. I want to give everyone a chance to see what life is like all over the advertising industry. And I can’t take all the credit for this, since I was truly inspired by a discussion over on ihaveanidea. I definitely recommend checking out the discussion and adding input, as I have.

So let me be the first to start sharing “A Day in the Life”

I wake up at seven. I don’t have to be at work until around 9:30, but I like to drink my coffee out on our balcony. So after some Eggo Waffles, coffee, and a shower, I head off for the Path.

So what do I do at work? Each morning I always start with email and organizing when I come into the office. Many times people from the team will email me first thing in the morning, telling me what kind of work they will need help with during the day. I like to get a to-do list going first thing. Sometimes the clients will email us after I leave the office and you definitely want to catch up on that!

After a morning team meeting, we have client status call. We run over what we need from the client, they let us know what they need from us. And then, before you know it, I’m walking the streets of New York for lunch.

Sometimes there is a lot of work to be done after lunch, sometimes I get to kick back and surf the web for a while. I check out Digg (which I also check first thing in the morning), Lifehacker, and Scary Ideas, although there are sooo many more. If I’m really inspired, I post here on HTNGAJA. Many of my links go over on Scary Basement.

I do many other things, approving pdfs, routing job bags through the agency, and working on other projects with members of my team. As a really young member, I try to learn new things and support the team. Today I arranged to have cars pick up visiting clients from the airport and set up a breakfast and lunch meeting with them. To me, you never know exactly what you will be working on when you arrive in the office. And that can be so exciting.

And yeah, sometimes working as a young ad exec is about making copies, or shredding old work. But it hasn’t been, in my experience, running to get coffee or picking up dry cleaning. The other members of the team make me feel valued and important. If you are somewhere they don’t – you should leave!

Around six I clean off my desk, pop my headphones on, and head out of the office. I’m always exhausted, but I am really excited to see what tomorrow is going to be like.

So that was a day in the life for me. It wasn’t incredibly detailed I know, but hopefully next week I will be able to get into some more details.

I hope you guys found this valuable. If you did, let me know. If you didn’t, let me know. Also, feel free to email me a description of your day, or post it as a comment here. I would really like to keep this discussion going. And on another side note, thanks so much everyone for reading. Today I broke 1,000 unique visits from my short stay here at WordPress. So thanks everybody, I’ll see you at 2,000!

Open Letter to Ad Execs re: windorphins

This is a post that most surely will be edited, revised, re-written, added on to, addendum-ed, fixed, etc. in the months to come. Basically, this was the catch-all title for my rants on different topics. Today’s topic (well, I’ve been thinking about it for the last few days) is advertising on the MTA, or the New York City Subway.

So let’s begin with what I, and no doubt everyone around me on the subway, hate. WHY oh why is every inch of most trains covered in the exact same ad? Just yesterday I rode on the Justin Timberlake train, followed by the Budweiser train, and then finally the hated Windorphins train.

Seriously, I hate these Windorphins. No idea what they are, and don’t want to know (although if you do, fellow blogger Syposphere did some research). I just want them gone.

I would probably be hooked, or interested, if the ad wasn’t played to death all over the train. Maybe one ad on the train, maybe two to be sure and cover most of the car. But every single panel? What is the advantage of that? Haven’t any of you ever ridden on the train for more than 5 minutes? You do a lot of looking around, and not just at the people (that gets creepy fast) you really DO look at the ad panels. So change it up a bit (and not just the already annoying copy).

But note what I said there – I DO look at the ads. I do notice them. So the Subway is a good place for ads – no, its a great place for ads. There I am, stuck in a train, listening to some music and just looking around for a good 30 minutes. I am ready to be inundated with advertising messages. But for the love of Mike Staub can you make them interesting? (or at least humorous, as this was)

It’s incredible (but not necessarily surprising) to me when a singular individual, with a tiny tiny ad budget, does better advertising than most professionals in the subway. A few days ago someone had posted their rap group’s flyer over the Justin Timberlake ads. All the flyer included was the name of the group, a website, and then the copy: “(famous rapper) would approve!”

That was it. Was it great advertising? No. Do I remember the group name or the website. No. But someone probably did, and it cost them nothing to make a few hundred paper copies of their flyer. I wish I had taken a picture to provide.

So what can a company do to make an impact in the MTA. Well, a long long while ago I covered a great example of just that (read that post here). The short answer is, make the experience memorable, make it innovative, or give the commuters something to smile about and take with them the rest of their day. ANY of those would work, and a combination just makes it better. And none of those are particularly hard with some thinking.

So don’t just take the JT ad from the magazine, stretch it to fit the subway panel, then send it out. Nope, that sucks.

Instead, create a new concept for this media, base it on the same big idea and appearance, and send it out. Or, if you are going to completely inundate subway riders with your ad content, make it interactive. I was riding yesterday and thinking…what if Allstate replaced subway seats with giant hands…”you’re in good hands…” Run that for a month on a few select train cars, get people laughing, giggling, taking and sending their friends pictures. Then, when the event is over, put brand new benches in the hands’ place. This provides a lasting benefit for the riders – and believe me they won’t quickly forget that.

And yeah, you are going to weird some people out. You might annoy some. But as long as your advertising isn’t inherently annoying like the windorphins, you are good in my book.

Or how about a ski mountain ad running above the swinging hand holds over the seats? Unlucky people who are stuck holding them will appear to be taking a ride up to the top of a mountain. Have I designed it? No, but someone can. Replace the handles with ski grips and you are good to go. A water skiing school or wakeboard gear shop could benefit from this idea as well.

As an industry, we should be working towards making people’s days happier, more enjoyable. Call it a rosy view, but if we all had that as one of our goals, I believe we would be more successful.

I guess the best place to start is getting rid of those damn windorphins.

More links to come over at the scary basement.

Your Entry Sign

In the mornings I check Digg’s most popular list. It’s a good way to catch up on all the coolest stuff that happens when I’m sleeping. This morning I came across this sign and it was very inspiring to me.

Sure, it’s probably illegal to alter a government sign, but what isn’t illegal these days.

It got me thinking – if I had my own entry sign on my office or in my driveway, what would it look like? I know I grew up with a “Yankee Parking Only Sign” next to my bed, a gift from my Dad at a young age. I still have it, although now it occupies a space in my Yankee clubhouse basement.

I’ve been working hard on branding my projects, from “How to Not Get a Job…” to Scary Basement to Big Words. I think this is a great step in the branding process. If I had an entry sign on my Big Words office, what would it look like? How would I customize the world around me to show I had been there?

And the same goes for your workplace. When trying to get a job, how do you customize your resume or tailor your interview to reflect your personality? How do you mark your desk as yours?

What is your Ninja Entry sign? Once I make mine, I’ll be sure to post it here.