creative riff

Lordy me, it’s Easter. I think the website is officially 1 year 1 month and 1 day old at this point. Things have changed dramatically from last year. I had just gotten back from Florence, Italy, and was living back in the dorms for a semester my senior year as I was scrambling to apply to a number of ad schools. Yes, that was my take on what these schools were for.

Now, I have two bedrooms and I am student at the VCU Brandcenter in communications strategy. 2009 already seems like it was eons ago. Yet, I feel like I have grown a ton over the past six months here in Richmond. I am now an loyal podcast/NPR listener and I am now able to create a number of mixed cocktails at a moment’s notice.

So the heat has begun to roll into the South and with it comes the desire to stay alert as I move ever closer towards summer. My latest investment? The Aeropress French coffee press. 350 filters later I am a much happier person. I would take the time to explain how it all works, but this will suffice. Enjoy!

It has been a long time coming. Hi, I am back in the saddle again. The first semester at the VCU Brandcenter is long over and I am beginning to take back the physical detriment it caused my body. Weight gain aside, I am becoming so much more involved in the advertising process.

So where does that leave me for the second semester? Longing for some NBA Jam. Yes, the game franchise that began on SEGA Genesis has had more staying power than anything else I have encountered over the past month. Fans of Saturday Night Live will remember Andy Samburg’s turn as a victim of ADD (“Automatic Death Disease”) fulfilling his wish to commentate a professional basketball or football game. This skit completely describes my current mindset. Speak loudly and learn quickly from your own mistakes.

I suppose what I am trying to get at is that I am more serious than ever about becoming a good planner but not at the expense of fun. Hopefully, I can shut up now and begin to post what is on this mind of mine more often.

Cheers, all!

They say there are two constants in life: death and taxes, so when the Internal Revenue Service decides to invade the virtual computer massively multiplayer online [MMO] game known as Second Life a few heads should turn (as well as a few eyes start rolling).

Virtual Worlds & Social Networking Project Manager Frank Stripe said, “In 2008, the IRS project team established a presence in the Second Life virtual world with the goal of exploring the potential use of this environment for recruitment and training purposes. The team has created the IRS Careers Island and constructed a sky platform with an IRS Careers Center and an IRS Education Center. A number of building design configurations have been tested. A number of education and entertainment features have also been built to attract residents to the simulation (sim). All basic construction has been completed and the sim has been opened to the general population in Second Life since February 2009.”

Stripe goes on to say about the advertising they spend

In the physical world, we could spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on sponsoring a race car that displays our brand in a field of thirty or more other cars. In the SL virtual world, we have spent a few thousand dollars to build complete entertainment and communications venue that includes a race course. IRS branding throughout the venue not only displays our messaging, but it also instantly dispenses marketing collateral and links to our Careers web site.

Did the IRS gain some form of competition that requires them to even enter the sphere of advertising? They are the one agency that will go out of their way to find the “deadbeats” and make them pay. Can the IRS even “reshape” their public image? Sigh. Now people who are much too overweight can learn about the benefits given to people who are married and not hanging out in their parent’s bonus room above the garage.

Sources: Kotaku.com & College Recuiter.com

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The reference in the title is from the sublime film Lost In Translation. Not only does the film depict the creepiness of Tokyo it also does a great job of examining how the city is both foreign and inviting at the same time. Simultaneously, it also features the best use of Scarlett Johansson’s butt in film yet.

Caught up on a few photography blogs, and I found an article everyone should check out. I thought I would link the two Tommy Lee Jones television spots because they are too awesome to miss out on.

Oh, and this…

Source: Michael John Grist’s Photoblog

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In what could go down as one of the lamest attempt at corporate backlash, Apple apparently tried to get the latest Microsoft ads pulled from TV. Apple cited a recent “price drop” of $100 across their computer line that rendered the “too expensive” statements in the ads as slander.

Microsoft’s response:

Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer said,

And so we’ve been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? “Oh, I’m looking to spend less than $1,000.” Well we’ll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.

And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. (Applause.)

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.

Good on Microsoft for handling the situation like the responsible company they are. Don’t get me wrong, I like my Touch but the snobbery just hit an all time high. Hey Apple, next time it is better to not inadvertently tell your competition they are doing a damn good job. It’s kinda soul crushing when you read this story online the next day.

Now, if only we can erase those recent Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads from our memories.

Source: Microsoft: Apple wanted ‘Laptop Hunters’ ads pulled [cnet]

“In writing ads, act as you would if you met the individual buyer face to face. Don’t show off. Don’t try to be funny. Don’t try to be clever. Don’t behave eccentrically. Measure ads by salesmen’s standards, not by amusement standards.”

Who is David Ogilvy? Many, including this reader, proclaim him as their main inspiration for entering the advertising field. Why? There are three reasons: 1) Ogilvy’s working philosophy was not the 1960s smoke-filled business pitch as seen in AMC’s Mad Men. He always professed to “sell” the product through detailed feature descriptions and speaking directly to his audience. 2) He interacted and had meaningful relationships with so many assorted major thinkers of the twentieth century that these experiences could be distilled into a damn good film on their own right. 3) The subject of this biography lived nearly 30 years of his life in one of the oldest châteaux in France, Touffou.

David Ogilvy was larger than life and his mixed heritage only accounts for part of his eccentricities. Born on June 23, 1911 in England to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, Ogilvy would eventually attend Oxford on scholarship before eventually dropping out to work numerous jobs in Paris. Finally settling down as a waiter at the elusive Hotel Majestic, Ogilvy learned the art of presentation and preparation. When his successful brother ordered him back to England to help him sell Aga Cooker Stoves. Ogilvy offered free cooking lessons to all housewives who allowed him to demonstrate the stove’s features at their home. He was an instant hit and turned the product into an exclusive status symbol almost overnight in England. Even the Queen wanted one.

Widely considered the most famous automotive ad of all time and Ogilvy's best. The ad was so successful for Rolls-Royce "they don't dare run the ad again for fear of running completely out of stock."

Throughout his career, Ogilvy became known as the odd man out in the world of American advertising when he moved to New York City and opened a small shop. Before Ogilvy, British advertising borrowed heavily from whatever sold in America. Ogilvy’s work consistently proved that the consumer was smart and should be treated as such. He was also one of the first to hire a multi-racial staff. He was also one of the first to decry advertising awards as “distracting” and offered monetary awards to his staff for sales generated over “creativity.”

The man in the Hathaway shirt. His famous eye patch helped to sell more shirts in the ad's initial run than were available.

Kenneth Roman, the former chair and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather (pronounced May-ther), Ogilvy’s ad firm, has created a startling case for his former boss. Ogilvy was a dynamic creature that never held back in expressing his colorful opinions. Ogilvy would tell that you he is only remembered because he “outlived his betters.” Ogilvy is remembered because he was so productive even until his death. He never quite left the public eye or stopped writing.

Early ad for the Aga Cooker featuring Edouard Manet's Luncheon on the Grass. Both were considered controversial when they were first released.

Ogilvy wrote two autobiographies during his lifetime but it is Roman’s that offers the Ogilvy we cherish. There are many parts of Ogilvy’s philosophy that I disagree with, but it is hard to criticize a person that placed as much value on research as he did. Almost nobody bested Ogilvy in any argument and he was self-aware of his genius. Perhaps that is his most admirable quality.

One of Ogilvy's most famous quotes with the Russian dolls that inspired it.

If you are going to read any book on advertising, it should be Ogilvy’s Confessions of an Advertising Man. If you want to read a biography on the man who helped to form much of our contemporary view of core principals of brand image this is your book. Roman was in the best position as a friend and co-worker for so many years to write Ogilvy’s “second opinion” biography. The book is worth a read if only to check out his teen years and the section detailing Ogilvy’s involvement with the OSS during WWII.

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For those unfamiliar with Volkswagen’s “Pink Moon” ad it goes like this: Four friends are riding in a Cabrio at night to a house party. There are lots of quick shots cutting to the moon and the four friends enjoying a night drive. The wind whips their hair about as they make off-screen stares into the light created by the headlights. Upon their eventual arrival at the party the four friends silently decide that the ride over was more fun than the party they are going to will be. The final scene shows the friends enjoying the expansion of their carbon footprint.

So what makes this ad so great? Unlike the newer VW ads that use shock value to grab the viewer’s attention it is the seamless use of music and visual imagery to tell the story. Nick Drake’s Pink Moon provides a haunting backdrop for the beautiful cinematography. There are no spoken lines by the actors in the entire commercial but we are fine with that. Like the iPod commercials it just isn’t necessary. We get it.

I get the sense that after this ad was shot and was being presented to Volkswagen there were more than a few tears shed. I keep hoping that VW will pick up this campaign at some point and create some more nocturnal wandering.

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So I have about 38 page views total over the past month. Something in my cranium thought it might be a good idea to generate some revenue as I expand this in whatever capacity I expand. Click on it or block it. I’m not scared. At best, laugh at a banner ad like we all used to do with Netscape and AOL.