half way

It's half way through the semester and I'm starting to realize some of the core values of the advertising business. In essence, it's what we learn from Sesame Street: always play nice, always try your hardest and even, it's okay to cry.

a steady but sure start

There's nothing like playing the waiting game. While it builds anticipation, it's that gray area where you can't decide if you're ready or if you're not. Mostly, I'm ready and I just can't wait.

hit the ground running

I've always hated that term of expression, it might as well be phrased as, "Well, you better start working or you're going to get shitted on." More or less in those terms but it's real. It's the relative toll of advertising classes that are taking effect. Inch by inch, the responsibilities are starting to pile up, but that of course is expected. I guess what isn't expected is the fact that I haven't had a nervous breakdown yet. Who am I kidding? Give me 3 months...

We entered our first day, already setting up accounts. I got my pick, and I'm leading. It's enthralling to be leading, not in that Mussolini leading but rather taking charge and being proactive. Being proactive is essential to all of those. Luckily, I hate lagging so much that I tend to get my feet dirtied up a bit. That and with club, it's going to be advertising mayham, to say that very least. But I'm excited for it, as I said before, it's this advertising high that I'm on.

the early bird gets the worm

The school year is about to begin in t minus 3 weeks. As much as I play cool, I'm a nerd at heart. I yearn for the trips to the store to buy school supplies - and yes, I'm picky about my supplies - as well as the first day of school. I have my first day outfit picked, I don't care, it's important to make a great impression. More importantly, I'm excited about the Agency. I'm looking forward to finally advancing myself, learning the little in's and out's about advertising.

This summer seemed to be filled with misses. I didn't get the internship, which is understandable. But as all situations have a silver lining, mine was this: I was a sophomore in college that actually had an interview with a "big name" agency. That has to earn me some points right? Well, hopefully, this year will gain some driving force from this summer to get me somewhere next summer.

But let me digress from my own life to talk about the new season of Mad Men. I feel like I completely forgot about season 3, feeling a little lost in the beginning. But of course it still didn't steered me from getting completely involved. I like Peggy, she's a lot more confident, more demanding and has a better hairstyle. Good personality, good hair - can't go wrong there. Also, does anyone else notice Peggy's new assistant, uhh McCopywriterHottie! Hello Joey Baird - You can Baird at my cubicle anytime ;)

Oh my, Joseph Gordon Levitt

Inception was definitely reminiscent of older Christoper Nolan films - i.e. a mind boggling experience aided with special effects. It tapped into an interesting aspect of REM sleep and delve deeper into the idea of manipulation of our subconscious through dreams. Of course, it didn't hurt to have my favorite actor to be the eye candy. It was a great movie, Leo Dicaprio's character the main driving force in the film. Aside from the actual film, I've heard/read that the marketing for Inception in itself was quite amazing. Wall posters of building coming part not only sparked online buzz but it also kept the audience intrigued..after all, the trailer was no ordinary trailer, it actually left audiences wondering. In large part, both the actors and production knew how enigmatic the film and especially the marketing. Guess we'll find out the results soon...

The art of dating..er..internships

I'm frantic. It's almost like MRM Worldwide is my Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I have but one chance to prove my love. It's been said before, interviews for internships are like dating. You can't be easy, but you can't be hard to please. Appearances and presence are everything...so don't get too comfortable. Be prepared, in the case of any emergency whether it be a question you didn't think you were going to be asked or spill water on your date. Either way, be prepared.

I've been given really great advice on how to tackle my date. But it's still a tad bit intimidating. I'm not quite sure what to expect.

Then there's the question as to what to wear. I've been searching in the deep crevices of my mind..and I've come up with some darn cute business clothes. But i feel like shopping for purpose defeats shopping with me. I don't get to enjoy it quite the same..or with as much luck.

But I digress, my days in the advertising department are growing. In one of my projects, I was able to work with a great non-profit organization called Unity Care Group. My point was to create and implement a tangible communications strategy. Granted it was simple, but then again it wasn't simple enough for them to do. I wanted it to be simple because it was local with a simple cause. I'm not quite sure what my grade is with this class, but I hope I'm satisfied...I'm starting to hone on my skills, it's kind've cool to see my own progress.

But I digress..dating, interviewing with internships just seemed so tiring. I'm literally facebook-stalking and google binging on this agency..I feel like quite the P.I, if I don't say so myself.

Well, fingers crossed it gets me somewhere,

a bit of inspiration

I finally watched Art and Copy. It was just the right amount of inspiration I needed to get through this semester. It just seemed like an advertising-filled day, started with the "new" agency meeting the "old" agency, then studying for consumer advertising, take the final and then ended in home watching Art and Copy. Tomorrow, McCan meets with Spartan Ad club. Excited, yes I am. Alas, let's welcome the brutality that is finals, bubbling and all-nighters!

an inch, an ounce

one small step for isidora, and it's still one small step..

Meet Us After School is slowly coming along, I didn't realize how many agencies there are in just the Bay Area. Really, there are some really great offices here. I'm losing sleep, it's getting crazy. All this for one night? You betcha.

Being a Man is Apparently Great

..so aside from not getting their periods or child birth, it seems that men have been the golden children of the ages. Superbowl ads have arrived, and sadly, I wasn't there in real time to experience every million-worthy second. I had work so I had to watch them online, you see, the bowl works around my time. My favorite one that I've seen so far are the Doritos ads that were consumer generated and the Dove for Men ad. Somehow, Dove just gets it right every time. The catchy tune, although familiar but different, seemed to go perfectly well with its pitch, "be comfortable in your skin." Another round of applause for Dove. Seriously, it works for women with their real beauty campaign and now for men? And the the Doritos, absolutely hilarious. I'm torn between the man-slapping kid or the snack attack samurais...oh man, to be a man.

Anything but ideal

As I continue my education, I feel like the more we enter into this recession, the more slack I seemed to get. It just seems that either way I take, professional-wise, I'm going to be SOL. So, to make myself a better candidate for future jobs, I decided to double-major. Mind you, I'm still taking a minor because at state, the only way you can major in advertising is if you have a minor. But technically, I don't see the point at having an Advertisement major at state. All the classes seemed to provide knowledge that seems to be irrelevant. I just feel like with this industry, more classes should emphasize experience to the max, after all, we are in Silicon Valley. But I digress..I just feel like I need to be more multi-faceted especially if I'm going against other students who have MBAs. I'm being quite a "Debbie Downer." The funny thing is, despite all unpleasantness thinking about the future, I still have the drive for it. Everytime I watch my favorite ad, it reinvigorates me to do what I want to do... I guess that's what makes a good ad.

To catch up on my ad news, I started looking at DDB's website, updating myself on their newest stuff. I particularly liked this ad that Paris DDB made for GQ magazine. Maybe because I fall in GQ's age range, I find it funny. Also, as a woman, I found the selling points to be relateable to my mentality of men. GQ is definitely a young man's magazine. I can't but smile at their hot men they put on their covers..definitely chic. Can that be possible? A man's magazine chic? Esquire seems to be one of GQ's competition, but there is difference in content and demographics. Anyways..have a look:

...Are you a Honda?

There comes a point in every student's lives where they wonder what has brought them to where they are now. I bring this concern to the forefront, not to elaborate on the meaning of life, but rather how important it is to the ad world. On the management track, I have yet to take big gulp of advertising. The trickles I've managed to get have been splendid - but I'm yearning for more. In a past post from "Please Feed the Animals," Josh Copeland reveals that, "an account animal's judgement affects the work an agency produces on a daily basis." Minute decisions could be the determining factor as to what makes the product good or the best. So Copeland asks his readers to determine why you made the decisions you've made, career wise as well as life-wise. I've heard this matter of choices in my intro to advertising class as well, and it still leaves me stumped. Humans possess this natural ability to story tell - to give concrete explanations to ideas, concepts and feels that may or may even had evidence to support. Humans can't very well say "I don't know," in fact we glare sternly at those who do mutter those disappointing words. In Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, Gladwell responds to the cries of "I don't know" as satisfactory - there are times when sometimes "I don't know" just maybe that and we should accept it. There's that gut feelings that lets us know, this is right or this is wrong. And while the advertising world may need that explanation, considering how much is money is on the line, what if there was someone out there who just knew this was it. Granted, that person may have a large opposition, but it'd still be interesting.

So early in my advertising career that I feel like I need to refocus my way of thinking. I must reason why I make the decisions and I make...but of course take with me that bit of spontaneity.

On a different note, has anyone seen the new campaigns for Honda? There's always something cleaver about the new Honda campaigns - they have a tendency to either be cute and cool, or cool and cool. A la the Civic nation campaign, it doesn't try to hard to attract the likes of the hip and the cool, say for example like Kia's Soul with the hip hamsters. So the question remains, "are you a Honda?"

Recent marketing strategies" "the Shack" and the Palm Pre

Has anyone seen the new Radio Shack campaigns? The re-branding of "the Shack" is quite interesting. When I saw the first 15 second spot, I couldn't help but chuckle. To me, it targeted the most obvious - gen x, the millennials if you will. I watched the second one and again had the same response. And like every other ad student there, I started to do some research. Apparently, not everyone was swooned by the re-branding. Most found that the re-branding really wouldn't help RadioShack's problems at all. I'd compare their ads to the recent Palm Pre campaign. Weird, creepy girl talking to you? Yes, that's the one. And BINGO, there you go. Consumers are able to recognize the ad, thus recognize the product. I guess it's too early to tell whether or not the ads are working but I definitely like to see how it all progresses.

In comparison, the new Iphone ads showing the benefits of their applications are probably boosting many of their sells. I wouldn't be surprised, it's either Iphones or Blackberries. I am in fact a Blackberry user. I love my Blackberry. More Apple news, founders of said ipods are going to be obsolete. A complete duh to the world, but let's face it the ipod touch and the iphone are just conquering.


OHHYEAAAH.

Crazy about Mad Men?

So I finally did it. I finally became a fan of Mad Men. At first I was skeptical -too many people liked it, the critics loved it, I figured I'd be the person to dislike it. The first episode didn't captivate me but as I continued to watch the first season, I started to gasp with each little plot twist and turn. I will admit I am not a fan of Peggy, she just irks me. I have no problem with a woman succeeding in the world of copyrighting but she just in general irks me. And for Don Draper? My, oh my. He's a quite a man. It's so ironic how every woman wants him because he exemplifies that strong, dependable husband yet he's the primary example of everything you would not want in a husband. Anyways, I'm really excited for the third season. Visually, it's amazing..and for once, I love seeing women in natural sizes. Hello, Christina Hendricks as Joan! If that isn't sexy to any heterosexual man out there..then I don't know what it is.

Like my professor mentioned before, the show isn't so focused on advertising but when they do plots concerning them, (which is basically all of them, duh) it's truly something to learn from. It's quite inspiring to learn the history of the future occupation you wish to acquire.

A little less sex in the city.

Every girl's dream: the perfect walk in closet. TBWA\Neboko channeled a very Carrie Bradshaw moment except for men.

Being colorblind

So occasionally we stumble on the ads that remind us the innocence of our childhood. Remember when all you needed to do to be best friends with someone was to share stickers? Or when naptime was the best time of the day? And while some of us still consider naptime the best part of the day, some of us grew up too quickly.

Anyways, here's an ad from Leo Burnett Malaysia. To clear up the confusion you might have after watching the ad, the girl's Malaysian and the boy is Chinese.




On a random side note: Tan Hong Ming's smirk brings back some good ol' playground memories. First crushes die hard. Yes, I'm talking to you Robert, you were worth losing my Judy Blume book so I had an excuse to talk to you during recess.

B's

I got a B+ in Adv91. I'm actually excited about it. A good chunk of her students were worried about their grade because it was based on a midterm, the campaign and the final. Yeah, we were scared pretty shitless. Considering that I bombed the midterm and final, a B+ was generous. Go Noxzema campaign for boosting that grade up! I mostly received B's as grades which is great considering the lack of effort I've been putting into my classes. I realized I should have taken more credits. Oh well, new lessons to learn.

New York/New Jersey is tomorrow..my nerves are jumpy. I'm excited but I'm completely afraid.

reluctant buyer

I think by this point my professor has embedded in our brains that we should know more about advertising than the average person. As a result of this, it has made me become a reluctant consumer. Who knew the Pro-V vitamins in Pantene weren't real? I sure as hell didn't. It never really occured to me that such science could be fake because after all, that's what the ad said. Hah, thanks to a semester's worth of advertising, I spot pseudoscience in every aisle at my local drugstore. Naturally, it delays any impulse I have to buy a product because formula 5343535 is proven to make me smarter. It's amazing how much words, when formed a certain way, can really persuade the consumer to make an impulse buy. Walking down the beauty aisle, it's so hard not to miss the many improvements one can have with a simple use of mascara or lip balm. It's like every beauty product is made to improve your "natural" beauty...might as well throw in some plastic surgeons while you're at. But in retrospect you must appluad those who have created this call to action to improve your beauty. Because in the end, Olay's a billion dollar brand and it wouldn't be if the millions who are using it didn't get whisked away with the advertising.

Speaking of beauty products, I couldn't help but think in retrospect about our group's Noxzema ad. I think I'm still pushing for the original idea that we had for it. I think there are lot of beauty products out there that promise something for their consumer. Because of this, you're gonna be popular and happy. But for teenage girls and young women, is that really what they're looking for? I think the Dove Campaign, "Real Beauty," speaks wonders. Instead of promoting the benefit of the product, they promoted who's using the product. Generally, not every gal wakes up refreshed and rejuvenated, but they do wake up with their own body and face. With that in mind, not everyone is obviously molded into the same size and shape. By using real women with real problems, they were able to resonate with an audience. This allowed them to push away the idea of supermodels and beauty products to beauty products with a purpose. This is what sets Dove apart from other brands: its beauty campaigns touched a cultural nerve by challenging the current super-thin, silky-hair, perfect skin standard. If you watch Trust Me, there's an episode about Sarah creating the tv spot for Dove's shampoo. It was about damaged hair but they transformed the idea of damage to a relatable issue while injecting the truth about this product. "We can't fix your love life, but we can fix your hair." COME ON! Tell me that isn't great. But enough about Dove..I wanted our campaign to focus on the idea of a mirror and what it brings to a woman. In front of a mirror, every woman either gains or loses her confidence. In that defining moment she decides how she's gonna look and feel. In such an intricate part of a woman's day that it's hardly noticed. I wanted to our campaign to bring that small, important part of our day to the forefront of our consumer's mind. And somehow, include Noxzema into that equation. Blah, I guess I'm not a creative so I wouldn't know how to execute that. But still..I wished our creative was strong enough to demonstrate either idea better. I don't blame our professor for choosing the other group. They had a clear creative and execution. They were pitching a great story while we were pitch a brand personality without really demonstrating that personality. It's weird...but I guess that's what intro's for, to learn and grow.


This is a lot for a Sunday afternoon. Countdown to New York begins now. :)

FIN.

Finally, it's finals; POWER of blogs

I'm seriously getting sick of my laptop. I think for the past week or so, I've been on this thing nonstop looking at lectures, notes, anything related to finals. Goodness, I didn't realize how time-consuming and draining study could be. Today was our advertising final. The grading goes pretty much like this: you didn't write the book, you failed. So the latter being quite obvious, I quickly said good bye to intro to advertising.

On a different note, I quickly underestimated the power of blogs. In a recent blog about Noxzema, I quickly mentioned the results as well as the work that my team had put into it. Low and behold, a creative director from Wieden + Kennedy emailed me. They're actually working on the Noxzema account as we speak! I can't even fathom an email of that caliber could even reach my beloved inbox. I was hyperventilating as I read the email. Yeah, it was that intense. Isn't that crazy?

So moral of the story? Continue to write fellow bloggers because you just don't know who might come across your blog...it might be someone you'd least expect. But I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and pretend like you didn't know already.

Final Noxzema update along with other stuff

Through all the unnecessary mutilation of stick figures, the countless all-nighters, the vast scent of eucalyptus polluating the air, we finally finished. Wednesday seemed like a cobalt blue nightmare, but we were able to grab the attention of our fellow classmates with the intoxicating theme of Darth Vader, thanks to my amazing humming skills. All in all, I thought our presentation went well. We found out who won the campaign, and sadly, it wasn't us. I wasn't too sad because at some point, I kind've had to expect it.

But I digress..so after class, Lilly basically gives an overview of what we're in for if we decide to stay as ad majors. Whenever I hear this speech, I swear I get overwhelmed. Although it's my first year, I always feel like I'm late. There's this constant rush I need to fulfill. I started to feel like I was a million steps behind the finish line. It took me the entire day to realize, "hey! you're just 18, you still have time!"

My plans for New York are still in the air. Lilly gave me the names of two former students who now work at Deutsch Inc. Some of their clients include Dr.Pepper, IKEA and Kodak. They're located in Los Angles and New York.

Check 'em out: http://www.deutschinc.com/


..and uh secret jewel? Check out Leo Burnett's interactive integreat media plan for Secret's uhh new secret?

http://www.leoburnett.com/

My official favorite

You know how there are some ads that make you go, "well, fuck..I could've done that!" There's a particular ad that I could not even dream of coming up with. It's perfect in every sense of the word. It brings an entirely new meaning to even the simplest of gestures. The way it's executed is beyond brilliant.



This officially solidified my career in advertising.


BTW, fuck yeah, Noxzema is done with.