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.