I've been packing my belongings for days, setting aside books to read in the coming weeks as I gaze longingly at my bed. Just a few more nights and I'll be able to slip into a blissful, albeit short, coma. This year has finally come to a close and I can safely say that I have never worked harder in my life.
I'll be starting my internship at Hallmark in three weeks as a Copywriter in the Marketing Studio. Acquiring an internship was a tough journey that I prepared for extensively. At the beginning of my Junior year, however, it would have been nice to receive more guidance in my preparation. I used the Career Services department and my peers for guidance in crafting my resume and portfolio, but I would have benefited greatly from practice interviews. Although my portfolio was not as developed at the time, it would have been good to sit down with members of the Advertising Design faculty to establish my strengths and weaknesses prior to the start of such a pivotal year. We were well aware of what content was necessary for presentation in our Junior Reviews, but the results of the review could have been bench-marked prior to the start of the semester.
I learned more this year about Copywriting than all my years at Ringling combined. My father constantly challenged me to be the wordsmith that I am today, but the commercial art of copywriting involves so much more than a snappy headline. The most important thing I learned is to always maintain a holistic view of the work so that each individual piece works together with alternative campaign elements and the original creative brief. Keeping the big picture in mind helps to ground a piece of work so that it's bulletproof against client and consumer scrutiny.
Art Direction follows suit: I went through years of visual preparation in Fine Arts, but the advertising courses at Ringling have taught me that individual elements all need to tie into the main campaign idea. Brilliant one-offs are more common than complete campaigns with equal merit, so it's important that I prove my value as an artist capable of holding my own in more significant bodies of work.
Because I have harnessed skills in both copywriting and art direction over the past three years, this summer I am going to focus on more illustrative explorations. I believe that I can produce illustrations in my work that will round out my campaigns significantly. This year, for the first time since high school, I was able to keep up with a sketchbook on a regular basis. I plan on maintaining a sketchbook daily over the summer and completing a number of larger pieces in order to develop my rendering abilities.
Senior year, I look forward to bringing together all of these elements in order to promote myself as the total package to potential employers. The NSAC course at Ringling will allow me to continue to develop my leadership skills, which our Global Branding course will let me develop as an individual.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Illustration Abound
I've set a goal for myself over the summer to develop my illustrations as much as possible so that I can better incorperate them into my work next year. I thought I would take this opportunity to share a few of my favorite print advertisements that involve illustration.
I like how this Hubba Bubba ad applies the illustration style accross the logo and typography. I think it maes for a more complete ad that someone might tear out and hang up because it looks cool, not simply because it is selling a product.
This ad is just plain cool because they used the product as the medium. It makes dog food look so much more colorful and exotic.
And this last ad is great because the contrast between photograph and illustration really makes the problem stand out for the viewer. All of these styles look like something I could one day achieve which is why I will continue keeping work like this in mind in the coming months!
I like how this Hubba Bubba ad applies the illustration style accross the logo and typography. I think it maes for a more complete ad that someone might tear out and hang up because it looks cool, not simply because it is selling a product.
This ad is just plain cool because they used the product as the medium. It makes dog food look so much more colorful and exotic.
And this last ad is great because the contrast between photograph and illustration really makes the problem stand out for the viewer. All of these styles look like something I could one day achieve which is why I will continue keeping work like this in mind in the coming months!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
The Tweet Heard Round the World
Well... the cabin at least.
A recent flight announcement lead to the breaking of a quirky little World Record - all sparked by a single tweet. When KLM announced their new flight route from Amsterdam to Miami, local musicians Tweeted a request to move the flight up a few days so that they could catch the Miami Ultra Music Festival. The flight was played up with reporters and bloggers covering DJ appearances in the cabin, all leading to the presentation of a Guinnis World Record for the Highest-Altitude Dance Party.
The event was an appropriate celebration of the innaugural flight, but it has also sparked appreciation and loyalty for KLM with a young demographic. It promotes the fact that KLM listens to its customers while staying up to date with communication trends. I think more companies should embrace this kind of launch because it creates lasting effects for the life of the product or service.
A recent flight announcement lead to the breaking of a quirky little World Record - all sparked by a single tweet. When KLM announced their new flight route from Amsterdam to Miami, local musicians Tweeted a request to move the flight up a few days so that they could catch the Miami Ultra Music Festival. The flight was played up with reporters and bloggers covering DJ appearances in the cabin, all leading to the presentation of a Guinnis World Record for the Highest-Altitude Dance Party.
The event was an appropriate celebration of the innaugural flight, but it has also sparked appreciation and loyalty for KLM with a young demographic. It promotes the fact that KLM listens to its customers while staying up to date with communication trends. I think more companies should embrace this kind of launch because it creates lasting effects for the life of the product or service.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Learning Zen
Ahh, Advertising… the fruits of evolution. Well, evolution, money, and consumerism. Luckily, Social Media is a cheap and innovative way to cash in on consumer awareness without feeling like a total skeezbag. With a little help from the creators of "The Zen of Social Media Marketing", I've learned a great deal about what it takes to be a true online guru.
1. Websites are completely and unavoidably necessary. I created my own personal portfolio site out of a sense of obligation. In order to promote myself, dropping a quick url became an easy way for people to see my work. After reading the chapter in Zen about "Websites, Blogs, and SEO", something dawned on me. I was able to acknowledge, as a consumer, that when a company lacked a website (company.com or even product.com), I grew irritated and felt disconnected. Artists may find it necessary to create a website in order to put themselves out there, but companies need one for customers to fall back on. It's not simply a means of accessing product information - it's a way of acknowledging a company's relevance and connectedness.
2. Social media isn't simple a way to attract and inform consumers - it's goal is to create customers. I always saw social media as a means of connecting to customers, but companies need to seal the deal by creating purchases at the end of the day.
3. This transitions nicely into my next Zen-nugget: customers aren't simply there to purchase your goods and services - they serve as salesmen as well when they attract friends, family, and onlookers. Getting a new customer is great, but it means less over time if they make one purchase without looking back. It's necessary to create lasting relationships with these consumers so that they will become salesmen on their own.
4. Strategy before tactics. I really enjoyed this statement as a brief, easy-to-remember tidbit to keep in mind when I'm crafting my own social media exploits. I cannot simply throw tactics at customers, thinking that it will benefit me in the long run. Lasting relationships and quality service require the implementation of strategy. The same can be said for traditional business practice. A company with a solid strategy in place will succeed and go further than one that implements tactics before thinking about the big picture.
5. SEO is great and all, but creating an avatar for your target consumer (like many other strategic processes) allows you to narrow your focus and concentrate your optimization efforts. I'd really like to get more involved in SEO in the future, but this tidbit seems like something I can apply to so many other aspects of my advertising career. Avatars serve such a simple, but brilliant, purpose when it comes to guiding consumers to online content. With the insane amount of information available online today, focusing marketing tactics seems like a great way to access consumer who are more likely to be interested in the content you distribute.
Zen of Social Media Marketing is a nice little book that you should read for yourself! Check out all the details here.
1. Websites are completely and unavoidably necessary. I created my own personal portfolio site out of a sense of obligation. In order to promote myself, dropping a quick url became an easy way for people to see my work. After reading the chapter in Zen about "Websites, Blogs, and SEO", something dawned on me. I was able to acknowledge, as a consumer, that when a company lacked a website (company.com or even product.com), I grew irritated and felt disconnected. Artists may find it necessary to create a website in order to put themselves out there, but companies need one for customers to fall back on. It's not simply a means of accessing product information - it's a way of acknowledging a company's relevance and connectedness.
2. Social media isn't simple a way to attract and inform consumers - it's goal is to create customers. I always saw social media as a means of connecting to customers, but companies need to seal the deal by creating purchases at the end of the day.
3. This transitions nicely into my next Zen-nugget: customers aren't simply there to purchase your goods and services - they serve as salesmen as well when they attract friends, family, and onlookers. Getting a new customer is great, but it means less over time if they make one purchase without looking back. It's necessary to create lasting relationships with these consumers so that they will become salesmen on their own.
4. Strategy before tactics. I really enjoyed this statement as a brief, easy-to-remember tidbit to keep in mind when I'm crafting my own social media exploits. I cannot simply throw tactics at customers, thinking that it will benefit me in the long run. Lasting relationships and quality service require the implementation of strategy. The same can be said for traditional business practice. A company with a solid strategy in place will succeed and go further than one that implements tactics before thinking about the big picture.
5. SEO is great and all, but creating an avatar for your target consumer (like many other strategic processes) allows you to narrow your focus and concentrate your optimization efforts. I'd really like to get more involved in SEO in the future, but this tidbit seems like something I can apply to so many other aspects of my advertising career. Avatars serve such a simple, but brilliant, purpose when it comes to guiding consumers to online content. With the insane amount of information available online today, focusing marketing tactics seems like a great way to access consumer who are more likely to be interested in the content you distribute.
Zen of Social Media Marketing is a nice little book that you should read for yourself! Check out all the details here.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Expand the Rainbow
Creating a memorable viral campaign is difficult enough, but expanding upon it months after the campaign has been released is a different beast all together. Skittles has recently released a small campaign of viral videos that are magically funny like their previous spots, with a fresh and engaging twist:
These videos are brilliant because they capture the same zany qualities as their other videos, while physically pulling the viewing into the magic. A few are even downright creepy, just like a some work we've seen before:
It really seems like Skittles is able to do more than just rely on the magicality of their initial viral fame (you can view the entire series here). But they don't just stick to video footage in their work. They brought the magic outdoors, throwing Facebook into the mix with this alternative piece:
Skittle's recent work definitely holds a few qualities I would like to keep in mind for my own work: magic, mayhem,... and beards.
These videos are brilliant because they capture the same zany qualities as their other videos, while physically pulling the viewing into the magic. A few are even downright creepy, just like a some work we've seen before:
It really seems like Skittles is able to do more than just rely on the magicality of their initial viral fame (you can view the entire series here). But they don't just stick to video footage in their work. They brought the magic outdoors, throwing Facebook into the mix with this alternative piece:
Skittle's recent work definitely holds a few qualities I would like to keep in mind for my own work: magic, mayhem,... and beards.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Bad Writing - Reflection
After viewing Bad Writing, I wanted to have some deeper dialogue about the various topics discussed in the film. You can read more about Bad Writing here, but I recommend everyone find a showing and see the movie before!
I don't think that Bad Writing was created simply for the people viewing it - I think the creators needed a few questions answered as well. I think that the film makers were trying to acknowledge their own ideas about writing while creating an illuminating experience for the audience. The interviews provided some great alternative views for comparison. The views expressed by each person interviewed seemed generally fluid and upbeat. They all had one opinion in common: Vernon's writing was bad. Beyond that, their discussions were diverse and intriguing, without providing drastic opposition.
I believe that the most important thing I learned from viewing the film was to continue to develop my craft and take outside influence more often. Like any other profession, writing takes patience and persistence. Yes, some individuals are born with more "natural" talent, but many skills can be crafted over time. I believe that this film has given me better hope for my future as a writer and as an artist.
Advertising campaigns, as visual as they have become over the years, will always require strong ideas to back them up. Writing becomes a powerful force in the creation and development of a campaign. One line of bad copy can ruin a great ad or make a mediocre ad worth remembering. I really enjoyed the reflections on storytelling during the film. Storytelling is such an important part of advertising, but it sometimes plays its biggest role behind the scenes. As a consumer, we may not realize just how much writing, revising, and re-writing goes into the production of a campaign.
Bad Writing may be intended as a good resource for creative writing professionals, but it contains refreshing ideas that apply to anyone who finds the need to occasionally put pen to paper.
I don't think that Bad Writing was created simply for the people viewing it - I think the creators needed a few questions answered as well. I think that the film makers were trying to acknowledge their own ideas about writing while creating an illuminating experience for the audience. The interviews provided some great alternative views for comparison. The views expressed by each person interviewed seemed generally fluid and upbeat. They all had one opinion in common: Vernon's writing was bad. Beyond that, their discussions were diverse and intriguing, without providing drastic opposition.
I believe that the most important thing I learned from viewing the film was to continue to develop my craft and take outside influence more often. Like any other profession, writing takes patience and persistence. Yes, some individuals are born with more "natural" talent, but many skills can be crafted over time. I believe that this film has given me better hope for my future as a writer and as an artist.
Advertising campaigns, as visual as they have become over the years, will always require strong ideas to back them up. Writing becomes a powerful force in the creation and development of a campaign. One line of bad copy can ruin a great ad or make a mediocre ad worth remembering. I really enjoyed the reflections on storytelling during the film. Storytelling is such an important part of advertising, but it sometimes plays its biggest role behind the scenes. As a consumer, we may not realize just how much writing, revising, and re-writing goes into the production of a campaign.
Bad Writing may be intended as a good resource for creative writing professionals, but it contains refreshing ideas that apply to anyone who finds the need to occasionally put pen to paper.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Bad Writing Movie Screening
Today I'll be blogging about a film, appropriately named, Bad Writing. Vernon Lot will be taking us through his journey to ask questions about writing - the good, the bad, and everything in between. You can learn more about the film here.
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