Ready to be new again

And thus another semester is afoot. It seems like just yesterday I was scrambling to finish an 8-page final paper on Greco-Roman religion in a harrowing effort to get a B in a class on said subject.

Now I find myself an actual upperclassman. With half of college over with, I probably should know approximately where I'm going in life. That's just where I'm at: an approximate goal. I know I want to be involved in this industry. That's about it.

Our school has two "tracks" for advertising majors: management and creative. Either side will tell you that management people are the ones that interact with clients, make business decisions, wear suits and carry briefcases. Creatives wear jeans and loaf in bean bag chairs. Only the inflection in their respective voices changes when summarizing their own track.


I'm not sure which route I want to take. I had originally thought management because I do like to analyze and study advertising and follow the business moving and shaking. I also thought I wasn't creative enough for the opposite to be my profession. I have had second thoughts about that since, having been told that my creative work is passable. While not a Photoshop "wizard" as my Portfolio professor would say, I think I'm ok at conceptualizing ideas in ads.

This confusion is why I opted to take two completely different advertising courses this semester: ADV 401; Portfolio One and ADV 507; Advertising Media.

I had 401 today, and have come to find out that now is when the legendary competition in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications really begins. For every "project," only one student in the class will receive the "agency recommendation" and a perfect grade, everyone else can do no better than a 90 ("presented to client"), or otherwise can score an 85 or lower.

I had just began to get to know most of the people in my major, and now I have to compete with them? Also, apparently, we'll be teamed up at various points and try to "Beat the Clock" with ad ideas in less than a class period. And who said class couldn't simulate the real world? I'm excited about the opportunities, but a little worried about the workload, especially considering I don't know what to expect from 507, a class on the opposite end of the spectrum and not to mention a graduate level course. Yikes.

First assignments from 401: Review the best ads of the year from '85, '95, or 2005 and pick a favorite, and choose the one campaign you can remember that was most effected you. I'll report back when I make my choices.

Fall semester 2009: here goes nothin'

Location, location, locaiton

Walking through the Carousel Mall the other day, I had to snap a picture of the following:



In the foreground is a triangular mall directory with two ads, and in the background is a Dunkin Donuts. The ad that just so happens to be facing Dunkin is one for Coldstone Creamery's iced and blended coffees. I didn't know Coldstone even had coffee products, but if I'm considering getting an iced coffee and I'm near Dunkin, maybe I trust the ice cream place with an iced product more than the donut place, upon seeing this ad. May I add that this particular August day saw 90 degree temperatures in Syracuse (I don't know how long the ad had been up for).

This reminded me of the age old lesson; location, location, location.

The ad wasn't creative, funny, or necessarily enticing by itself. It's placement is what makes it a great ad. The people most likely to buy an iced coffee product are the ones that have just entered from the heat, are about to leave into the heat, and/or are hovering around a different coffee place. The Dunkin in question was indeed right by one of the mall's main entrances.

Not every creative idea has to be some pun in a print ad or a cute/funny commercial. The ad itself can be rather ordinary by itself, but if it's placed in an ironic or bizzare fashion it can generate huge publicity.

Copyranter points out this bridge in India whose support has been converted into a human bone with an ad for a Calcium supplement:

If this image isn't working, click the link above.

It's too bad that the image appears to be pretty phallic, and the use of the phrase "strong bones" doesn't really alleviate my mind of the naughty image. But whatever, that's the 12-year old in me. Nice job, Saatchi.

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An Ohio newspaper explains how Dubya was elected twice

As one can tell by the title and usual subject matter of this blog, I don’t normally comment on the news industries. What I found this past weekend however had to be posted somewhere.

Back story:

Driving back to Buffalo from the Pro Football Hall of Fame festivities in Canton, Ohio, we hit a rest stop in what I assumed was the lovely town of Ashtabula, near the PA-OH border. I went in to grab a drink and an Ohio lottery ticket (I lost), and saw the town’s newspaper sitting on a rack. I bought it instantly (with quarters I borrowed to get to $1.25).

Pictured are the front and rear pages of section A.



If you live in an area that is urban at all, perhaps you have wondered how the backwoods redneck culture can even still exist. Perhaps you wonder how politicians like those who raise their hand to this question ever get elected. Nobody actually buys a confederate flag decal for their pickup truck, right?

Don’t we all have a lot to learn about our country?

I’ll limit myself on the social commentary and just go on to the highlights of the article, for those of you that don’t want to try to read it and want a good laugh:

Ashtabula resident Jesse Staut on the appeal of the Redneck Games: “This is the most exciting thing happening in Ashtabula County this weekend…we all get together and they share the beer and I drink it.”

The festival’s rules on kids: “Make them, don’t take them.”

The couple pictured on the back page, Brittany and James, actually just met on Friday. This is Sunday’s paper.

Aforementioned Brittany on her heritage: “I was raised as a redneck because all of my family members are from West Virginia” (A sounding endorsement, if ere I’ve heard one).

And of course, the listing of events:
- Mud Volleyball (pictured on the front page)
- Redneck Horseshoes (difference from regular horseshoes is not mentioned)
- Tug-of-war
- Belly Flop
- Wet T-shirt contest
- Daisy Duke shorts competition

I wish I were kidding, ya’ll. Also note, I broke my boycott of things using Comic Sans to buy this paper.

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Best ad on TV 8/8/1963

New from the people who brought you much more normal toys like Operation, Lite Brite, and Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots:



It's all the thrills of having your own 15 year old dog, but he's never too old to walkity walkity walk with you!

It's Ideal!

Coupons: Offers you can't refuse

Allow me to begin by saying that I don’t really like McDonald’s, or fast food in general. When it’s convenient, my other options are limited, and I have yet to add a coating of lard to my major arteries in a given week I’ll splurge on a Value Meal.

Yesterday was different. I had an overwhelming urge to go out of my way for a Big Mac.

You see, I found a series of coupons on my kitchen counter which I assume came out of this past Sunday’s paper. The coupons were all “buy one _____ get one free” from McDonald’s. For some reason, they caught my eye, and it just so happened that I had a limited window in which to eat lunch. Without thought, I clipped the coup for BOGO Big Mac, and went off to Mickey D’s.

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There had to be something about that coupon that made me think I was getting an unbelievable deal. I of course ordered the two sandwiches, along with a large fry and a tea. I then proceeded to take part in one of the favorite sedentary activities of Americans; eating the fast food in my car. Because if you’re going to develop Adult Onset Diabetes, what better way than to not even give your fat ass the time of day to sit down and eat.

As I said, I don’t even like fast food, but something about that coupon made me feel like I couldn’t pass up the deal (they expired on August 1st!).

I’m not your stereotypical coupon clipper, yet I was reeled in. This incident has led me to realize what an easy print ad opportunity coupons really are. Their purpose is twofold: remind you that a place exists (or tell you about it for the first time), and give you an incentive to go (a discount or something for free).

As an added bonus to the advertiser, if you include the “must surrender coupon at purchase” clause, you can easily track your rate of return. If you run a commercial instead, you offer no additional incentive to come into the establishment and you have no idea which customers are there in part due to the ad.

In the money-centric society in which we live, we can’t pass up a bargain, especially for extra calories. Oh, and that second free sandwich? I wasn’t even able to finish it. You win this round, McDonald’s.

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I did a real ad (!)

Sorry for a lack of updates over the past couple weeks.

Big news: I conceived/designed a real ad that will run in a Northeast Florida directory this fall.

Story:
The company I'm an intern for, Showcase Publishing, creates directories for chambers of commerce in various areas around the country. We don't charge the chambers for this service, our revenue comes strictly from ads in the directories and on online, which we sell to members of the chamber so as to "enhance" their listings in the directory.

We've been working on the book for St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, and my job was pretty much to sort, record, and file all the "insertion orders," or requests for ads. On a whim, I asked our designer on the project if I could "do" an ad. He took one of the orders I had just handed him and handed it back to me, and said "here, go at it." I borrowed another designers computer for access to Adobe CS4, and less than an hour later I had a pretty good looking quarter page magazine ad for CartSmarts of St. Augustine, a new golf cart sales and service center.

I assumed the owner, who requested the ad, would ask for changes because in his request, he indicated that he had seen little to no return on investment in his other forays into advertising. Since his business was very young, I'm not sure how quickly he expected a large turnaround, but then again I also don't know how often Florida's octogenarians buy golf carts, and how much competition there is in the market. It might be as big as used car sales in the Northeast.

To my surprise, the owner approved the ad within days, asking no questions and requesting no changes. Either it was as good as I'd hoped, or the man is easily impressed. Either way, it feels really good to have someone willing to pay for your work. I'll post the ad here when I feel it's safe to do so.

RIP: Billy Mays 1958-2009

Story

The direct marketing world lost an icon and one of the greatest pitchmen of all time today; Billy Mays was found dead in his Florida home a little before 8:00 AM this morning. He was 50 years old.

In a week where the entertainment world lost Michal Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon, it's hard to imagine losing another public figure. This one hits the advertising world particularly hard, especially with the recent rise of direct marketing (the "CALL NOW AND RECEIVE..." commercials) with the dip in the economy.

Mays had an unparalleled ability to sell you something that he made look really useful, even if you didn't need it at all. Products like OxiClean, Mighty Putty, and the Awesome Auger are just a few of his success stories. Recently, he had been seen pushing iCan health insurance, and mocking his own style in ads for ESPN360.com.

Little is known about Mays' shocking death right now, but foul play is not suspected. It is reported that Mays had been hit in the head by falling baggage after a turbulent landing on a US Airways flight Saturday afternoon; it will not be known if this was a contributing factor until after tomorrow's autopsy.

Many of us will genuinely miss one of the world's most transcendent marketing personalities.

Rest in Peace.