2009 British Television Advertising Awards

There are many avenues for inspiration in advertising; but, the one that seems to trump them all every year is the annual British Television Advertising Awards.

I was fortunate enough to be back at home in Minneapolis over Christmas and got a chance to see a showing of the awards this year at the Walker Art Center. Although the work skewed more towards the serious this year (most likely due to the economic climate) the work was still excellent. I have found also that the few that you remember a week later are the ones that I truly need to learn from.

I think the greatest or worst piece of a creative persons’ character can be seen when faced with obvious greatness in their field. Those that see it as a command to rise and those that denounce and hate it in fear.

Some of my favorites this year:

Barnardo’s/////BBH

PG TIPS/////MOTHER

Sony/////Fallon

Virgin Atlantic/////RKCR/Y&R

Economic Recovery?

Will the signs of revitalization be noticeable as they happen or only in hind sight?

I’ve liked looking at each agency as a mini-cosmos of the gradually improving economy and I think one of the best success stories of the past few months has been Fallon in Minneapolis.

Creative Success with Alice

Creative Success with Fizzy Lizzy

Business Success with winning Chrysler

Not a bad way to end the year or to bring a jolt back to the ad community in Minneapolis.

Mobile Marketing

Before the iPhone there was nothing but a void.

The question is, will the mobile market truly serve as a viable arena to truly leverage and sell more product in the future? As an iPhone user and designer myself it seems that the average user goes through three phases of iPhone use including junky, clean up and utility.

Personally I have never been sold on a product on my iPhone as of yet. The future of the apps as a mobile market seems to be in leveraging services. Through making a service fully or partially mobile on one’s phone and being hyper utilitarian you can create a greater hook on keeping a consumer.

So apps can certainly pro-long and enhance a current relationship with a brand/service; but, could it ever create that desire solely on mobile? With the oversaturation of the app store, it seems that the chance of that happening is slim to none.

Non-Existent Hero

Can your hero be non-existent?

Society, across all spectrums, appears to have embraced the idea that one can become a hero to another before their prime has passed or even when it has just started. For example, a few designers and artists that are currently looked up to and studied in art and design schools are still very much active in their fields, such as Barbara Kruger, Michael Graves or Milton Glaser.

My question though is the idea that your hero could actually be someone younger than yourself. The concept of looking up to one that is a fresh up start. An example for me, and a few of the people that I went to MCAD with, is Olly Moss. A relatively younger designer and illustrator in the UK, best know for his movie poster work, that could be at par with some of the greats such as Paul Rand or the Eames.

I don’t think it is unusual because I feel that when one is a great in their field, no matter what their age or industry experience, they deserve the recognition for their ability.

The Importance of Integration

“The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time." -Anonymous

What is the point of making advertising if the voice isn't consistent and whats the point of using a logo if the application is random? Many people laugh off the need to have a singular voice projected for any given company or product/service. The need to follow brand regulations doesn't seem to be a large concern of many creatives and agencies. So why is there a perception out there that you need to?

Lets not forget the consumer. If a specific brand is telling them one day that they are high end and the next day they are offering a coupon in the penny saver, exactly what will the consumer think of that brand? Often it seems that consumers perceptions default to the lowest common denominator.

So than, isn't it important to remain consistent to give the consumer a clear idea? I was once told that advertising should speak in the simplest voice possible so the any given consumer can understand it. They continued to say, it's not because the consumer is stupid; but, it's because they don't genuinely care. All they want to do is read their magazine or watch their show. It has to be simple to stick and the way to do that is to remain consistent pushing ONE attribute that differentiates your brand.

Fallon created an excellent example of a great integrated campaign over multiple platforms for the SyFy show, Alice. Check out a piece of the guerilla advertising, social media and online marketing.

How to Generate New Business

"My main reason for adopting literature as a profession was that, as the author is never seen by his clients, he need not dress respectably." -George Bernard Shaw

Can a creative comment on the task of an account manager? A major area of interest to me, as a young creative in the ad world, is the sourcing of new business and the true reason that new clients are won.

At MCAD, I was taught that new clients are won at ad agencies because of a good mixture of great work and excellent pitching schools of the Chief Creative Officer, Executive Account Manager and so on. In the past agencies won clients through well placed compliments and extensive friendships; but, things were thought to have changes with small, new agencies becoming agency of record on large brands.

When working at Campbell Mithun, H&R Block dropped us for DDB Chicago based solely on a strong relationship between the heads of DDB and the newly appointed head of H&R Block. This isn't an isolated event, so are things still the same or is it simply different client to client and agency to agency?

I think it's less black and white than that. It seems strong relationships, developed by the account managers, only get you so far, it's the creatives that have to deliver to finally win over the account. It seems the agencies that are winning are those where there is a strong relationship between the creatives and the account managers.

What Inspires You?

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." -Jack London

I believe that seeking out inspiration, not just for a specific project, but as an ongoing process is necessary for all successful creative people. The things that inspire us tend to be so different, and for many, it doesn't always come from the same creative field as our own.

I collected together all of the inspiring things that I have posted on my facebook over the last year. They tend to be from industrial design, graphic design, advertising and things that just made me smile.

Check it out and get inspired: pictoral///video

Brand Power

"Since the crocodile is the symbol of Lacoste, we thought they might be interested in sponsoring our crocodiles." - Silvino Gomes, Commercial Director of the Lisbon Zoo

The discussion of brand relevance in the ad world had been going on for a quite some time yet it became most relevant on Marlboro Friday in 1993. (The first time that Marlboro cut it's price in spite of it's massive branding.) It was considered the death of the brand until the recession ended. When people had extra capital they spent the extra money by going back to the high brands they loved. A formula seemed to arise from that.

With the growth of interactive, came the rise of marketing over advertising. Instead of promising people happiness, simplicity, youth by using a brand. They turned to creating contests and child-like prizes for giving out your user information. The book, "Married to the Brand", points out that when "courting" your consumer giving them deals and price cuts only shortens the potential life of that consumer shopping your store. Instead of creating a lasting relationship through seeing themselves in you, the brand is saying, "Sorry we aren't awesome, here's a dollar for your email information."

The questions isn't wether or not interactive is here to stay or not. The question is when will we figure out how to integrate brand advertising successfully into interactive advertising?

Here's an example of one place I think it did work:

Agency: Big Spaceship

Client: HBO

Campaign: Voyeur

Work Work Work

I decided to take on another book building project with my art director friend, Karlisha Gray, and my copywriter friend, Katie Bode, generating concepts for the Nissan Cube.

It's a foreign car competing directly with the Honda Element, Kia Soul and Scion xB. It's main selling features being the unique interior styling, asymmetrical window, slightly smaller price point, shorter length and better gas mileage. Check back for more soon.

Some initial inspiration we've been pulling includes: Sprite's SubLymonal Ads, Lacoste Red!, and of course, cubism

Heimie's Haberdashery

As I mentioned in previous posts, I started working on a project for a small men's clothing boutique based in St. Paul, Heimie's Haberdashery, with my art director friend Dan Spillman. This is an update on our progress thus far.

It's been about a month or so since we started the project and after 20 or so ideation sessions we have it narrowed down to half a dozen ideas for fleshing out and picking one to produce. We also took on an awesome copywriter that is finishing up her last year at MCAD, Katie Bode.

Dan has been illustrating some logo concepts for rebranding Heimie's to give it an updated feel that still stays true to Heimie's roots. We were drawn to the more stamp, ornate feel of the top row and the more distinctive aristocratic look of the second row. Dan is working on fleshing these out and turning them into vector images.

While narrowing down the concepts, we have been left with the decision to ramp up the wankiness of the store and sell it for all it's ciche. Or to take a slightly more serious refined route with the creative. It will be exciting to see where we end up so stay tuned for more.

Some of our inspiration on this project: Mustache Blog, Victorian Portraits, Old Spice, Postmodern Gentleman, & Kubrick's Barry Lyndon

Great Creatives Are A Dime A Dozen

"It takes two to make a very great career: the man who is great, and the man (almost rarer) who is great enough to see greatness and say so." - Ayn Rand

I ran across this quote again recently and was surprised with how much it resonates with me now more than ever. My perception has been altered after being fortunate enough to have experience working in three different ad agencies (ranging from traditional to interactive) and having in class experience at two more. From those experiences, no matter what the perception of the agency is to the outside world, I have found brilliant, extremely talented creatives at each of the agencies.

The impetus for agencies that are perceived by the industry to be more creative or cutting edge seems to stem from, not the creatives, but those with the gavel that allow work to pass onto the clients [ie creative directors & account managers]. The creative director is the one that has the chance to see the potential in any given budding idea or stamp it out before it becomes fully formed. The account manager has the power to sell the client into believing in the work and pushing back, when appropriate, to ensure great creative is born for the clients future success.

But the thing I learned the most from my experiences thus far is that when an idea fails or succeeds people pass the blame or clamor for the glory. I do think, to a point, that it is still the creatives fault too. If they can't properly sell their work to their superiors, what right do they have to demand them to buy into it?

Being A Creative

"The most frightening thing. . . about being what someone calls a 'creative person' is that you have absolutely no idea where any of your thoughts come from really. . ." This is a quote pulled from the trailer for the ad documentary Art & Copy which I was fortunate to have a chance to see recently.

That quote made me think about the fact that not only do you not know where your ideas come from, you can't truly be taught how to get to them because every creative has a different way of doing it. The one similar thread through most creatives though, is the need to immerse themselves in inspiration wether that be other design work, the client's research or something entirely different.

One thing that has served as a source of inspiration for me is my surrounding, my ethics and the people I'm with. And Arkansas has not fallen short in providing inspiration thus far.

Check out some of the pics I've kept while looking for inspiration in Arkansas.

Transition of a Blog

This blog was going to be about the search of a "modern day" art director student for his first creative position during a recession. That hunt lasted less than three weeks (thankfully). This marks that transition of my blog into the progress of a young art director as I continue to build my book, make a name for myself and hopefully win an award or two along the way.

It also is a cataloging of the transition of an art director working as a designer, a traditional advertising thinker into an interactive one and a northerner operating as a southerner.

This will definitely be an interesting journey and marks the second step into a career I'm looking forward to.

The First Creative

When I told them I'm moving to Arkansas, they asked why? That was the consistent question I was asked when I told colleagues, friends and family that I had accepted the job at Rockfish Interactive as an Interactive Designer. The reason why requires some quick background.

After high school, I took a year off and worked at Target for a year before starting my college education. During that period I was constantly told by people at Target that I would become a "lifer"(one that starts a retail job after high school and never goes back for a higher education). Shortly after I started my college education, I quit my job at Target and took up a job as an Assistant Manager at Noodles & Co. When I was asked by my mother, why I did that. I told her that I didn't want to be like most americans: stuck in a job they can't stand but afraid to quit because they don't know if they could rise to the challenge again.

I took the job at Rockfish because with all the potential doubts of living in the south, living in a small town, working for a relatively unknown agency and with many people that didn't have prior experience in an ad agency setting, the thing that trumped it was the potential. With most not having prior agency experience coupled with a desire to rethink the approach to online advertising, creates a great environment to even rethink the structure of an agency in general. Working for an unknown gives me the chance to help put them on the map. And after meeting the people, seeing the space and feeling the passion and excitement that they had for their work, I knew that I had come to the right place for my first full time creative position.

Headin' to Arkansas

If an ad agency makes a great ad; but, it's hitting the wrong target is it really that bad?

I think thats a question that hangs in the air whenever an advertisement seems to be off key from a brand perspective. Of course, being way out of left field, hitting the wrong gender, race and age all at once would be too far off and would most likely dilute the brand by sending out too many and contradictory messages. However, how close to brand is too "close to brand."

When a client is obsessing where the toys came from, be it Target or Wal-Mart (which is the same exact toy), in a kid's fast food ad because their target consume is considered a wal-mart-like shopper. Is that going too far and isn't that obsessing too much over details that could detract from the big picture?

The subject came up when discussing the new memorable Caribou Coffee ads on youtube made by Colle + McVoy. The ads have a sometimes violent or disgusting sense of humor that feels more apt for a teenager and yet their audience tends to be middle aged, stay at home mom's.

You be the judge:

Caribou's "The Autumn Adventure of Jack & Gourdo #5"

Agency: Colle + McVoy

Reason: A well-made, dry sense of humor that plays with boundaries of acceptability; but, may be off the key consumer.

On a side note: I am happy to report that after being unemployed for a total of 12 day (8 work days), I received a job offer from an excellent, quickly growing agency Rockfish Interactive. They not only create great websites, innovative back-end tools, iPhone apps and social media tools; but, they also launch brands and were named "Best Small Agency of the Year" by Ad Age.

So I will be heading out on a road trip to Arkansas to check out the state and the agency in person. Look for posts on Thursday of traveling pics. . . y'all (thought I'd get started on my accent conversion).

Why Advertising?

Is what drives a person into a creative advertising position a failed art career, utter happenstance or something else completely?

Today during a phone interview I was asked, quite innocently, what drove me to want to be in advertising. Of the 40 or more interviews I have been on across the last two years for practice, for internships, for freelance or full-time positions, I don't think that question hit me quite the same way. I think for each person it is drastically different; but, for most it's a desire to create awesome work that is RELEVANT.

That's what drove me into Advertising. I had a business acumen that I picked up from my parents; but, was always more driven by the subjectivity and social impact of an artistic career. As a result I naturally fell in love with one of the rare career thats satisfies my love of business and creativity while pandering to my need for intense competition.

Yet all I said to them was: "When I saw this specific ad on tv it hit me oddly. I stopped what I was doing from the music, was pulled in by the visuals and was surprised at how well it delivered a message and how beautifully."

This is the ad:

Target's "Design for All"

Agency: Peterson Milla Hooks

Lost Touch & Heimie's Ideas

An interesting subject was broached among my mother, my sister and myself, the effectiveness of the new Toyota Prius Ads.

How effective are ad reviewer's at major publications and how objective is their analysis? I read an article decrying the Toyota ad for being to flippiant and creative for creatives sake. Yet, many non-ad friend's and relatives have brought up the ad on their own, and upon looking it up it ranked 3rd in most liked ads by Nielson during May. Judge for yourself.

Read this review on an earlier Toyota ad by Ad Age.

Toyota Prius' "Harmony"

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi

Reason: Although it hinges on being visually stimulating it truly has the effect of capturing the consumer's attention and getting across the eco-friendly message.

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to get some in-progress work up for the concept I'm working on with my friend Dan on Heimie's Haberdashery. For the time being it's been primarily research, consumer target and the bigger picture idea; but, I had a chance to start sketching out some logo and tag line ideas.

Take a look at the progress thus far. And below is a first go at a logo. I'm not too terribly happy with it at the moment; but, it was great to get it out of my system and see how it looked.

Other Sources of Inspiration

As creative person in the advertising industry, many individuals have different sources of inspiration that influence their work, mine tend to be in the camps of graphic design, industrial design and package design (a strong sector of industrial design).

While working on Heimie's Haberdashery this morning I stumbled upon some great finds of vintage logo inspiration and package design.

Hermann Oak Leather Logo
Reason: I love the looseness of the typography and the wanky placement drawn together with the aesthetic curly elements.

You Smell Packaging
Reason: Not only a great vintage inspired logo, it also has a very distinct personality in the placement and usage. Found on thedieline blog.

Old World Deli Logo
Reason: Another great vintage inspired logo but with a bit more of a masculine feel to it.

I also came across a great bank of over a hundred 70's logos you can download on Eric Carl's blog.

Sticking To It

After having my site live for just under a week (coupled with an 8-hour campaign), I received an offer for freelancing, over 300 hits on my site, a threat to sue from a major agency and the same agency calling back a few hours later with interest in my work and approach. All-in-all it's been a good week.

I spent the majority of my day generating ideas for the Heimie's Haberdashery campaign, which I mentioned in an earlier post. After spending some time thinking about the specific target consumer I feel we should go after, I tried a number of different approaches in terms of the way the campaign should feel. In the process I dug up some great old pieces of reference that I researched when working on an alcohol pitch earlier in the summer. These two are excellent examples of targeting the same demographic with slightly different personalities.

42 Below Vodka's "Map of the World"
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Reason: It pulls off an extremely dry sense of humor very well. A perfect approach for an affluent single male around 21-30.

Ketel One's "Table"
Agency: Grey Group
Reason: It pulls of classy cool in a unique way. Great for the affluent single man that thinks of himself as an alpha male.

Look out for some of my process work for this campaign which I will have posted tomorrow.

What I Learned

What I learned the most from working at two agencies (MRM Worldwide & Campbell Mithun) is you can't go after the creative position that will pay you the most or give you the most prestige, you must go after the one that will allow you to create work you are proud of.

Even more importantly is how do you find which agency to work at that will offer you the type of creative freedom you are looking for? I found that it isn't the agency itself; but the people that work for that agency. Just because agency "x" created an awesome campaign for "y" brand last week doesn't mean the CD, AD or CW that worked on it are even still at that agency. In a way you almost have to follow the individuals that inspire you in order to have the chance to construct the career and book of work that you want.

The following are five ad pieces that have truly inspired me.

Levi's O' Pioneers

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy

Reason: A highly aspirational ad targeting the positive younger generation selling them on the concept of the brand Levi's as a steadfast company fighting for change as many americans have. The ad that was art directed beautifully and has some excellent post production.

Target's Brand New Day

Agency: Peterson Milla Hooks

Reason: A truly unique, original approach to show savings at a department store. Beautiful Art Direction & A Great Song

Apple's The Intel Chip

Agency: TBWA

Reason: A tension/excitement building ad that delivers one simple message: Macs are now coming with Intel Chips.

Johnnie Walker's Android

Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Reason: An aspirational ad that targets current consumers of Johnnie Walker and reinforces what the brand stands for: Men that keep walking. An excellent concept around the brand theme.

Famous Footwear's Make Today Famous

Agency: Campbell Mithun

Reason: The first ad to truly infuse life into a brand that has had little to no personality thus far. Excellent Art Direction & A Great Song

Heimie's Haberdashery

This marks the first time I'll be partnering with another art director to create a campaign.

I started working on an awesome hypothetical ad piece for my portfolio for Heimie's Haberdashery (a high-end men's only store) and today I went to their first Cabaret show hosted at the store. I had an awesome time with the great female and male singers they had going for about two hours tonight.

I am working with a good friend from MCAD Dan Spillman. The only hitch is, it's the first time I've partnered with another Art Director instead of a Copywriter. We plan to reel in one of our busy Copywriting friend's when the time comes; but, for the time being this will be another interesting experiment into how two art director's partner together to come up with the big idea and the visual concept behind it.

Stay tuned for the work in a week or two.

A Great First Campaign

I pulled the campaign I started in the morning and have been astounded by the results of my unique mixed on-line approach.

After the campaign ran for eight hours on a weekday it generated 278 unique hits on my portfolio site (from 40 states, Canada & the UK), generated a threat to sue from a major agency and a phone call from the same major agency (a few hours later) showing interest in my work & wanting to chat further. All in all I think my first experiment has FAR exceeded my expectations and I hope my next one will as well.

And after all, if you're a creative in the ad world that gets a threat to sue, you must be doing something right.

Step 4

As I mentioned in an earlier post one of the things I want to focus on during my "Great Unemployed Experiment" is "Advertise It."

By that I mean I want to impress the agencies I'm interested in working for by approaching them in an original way. Not through the materials of your "mailer" but by thinking of yourself objectively as a product/service, the consumer as the creatives at "x" agency and figuring out the best way to get their attention and deliver a message.

I came up with a different way to attack agencies of interest by coupling two well known website's ad analytics to deliver specific messages to specific people in agencies.

Today I have a few dozen unique hits on my site (according to google analytics) and when my ads start tomorrow we'll see what will happen.

My Portfolio

As an Art Director, one of the most important things for you to have is a great portfolio and even more so a great website. After an hour of figuring out how to build a website, I designed it, built it in Dreamweaver and published it, in under three days. Let me know what you think!

www.taylorsnyder.com

The First Day

Today is Monday September 14th, my first day of unemployment in over six years.

I am surprised because, mixed with the tension of the school loans coming soon, I feel happy that I have the time to build my website and flush out the newer projects to go in my book. I found the best article from Ad Age which was written by a recently hired graduate that had been unemployed for quite awhile. She has seven suggestions of things to do while waiting to find a position and three of those stood out to me (that I'll be attempting to implement during my unemployed period) which are as follows:

1. Stay connected. Spend at least an hour a day blogging and twittering about who you are and what you are looking for in the industry. Only by putting yourself out there, will you be able to get noticed by people in the industry.

2. Take Everything. Any freelance project that comes your way, take. You never know who you will meet by doing it or where it could end up leading down the road.

3. Get Involved. Join your local ad and design groups and go to every event. Again by mingling and getting yourself out there, you never know what opportunities may come your way.

I added my own number to her list of things to do.

4. Advertise It. If you really want to impress the agency you want to work for. Approach them and market yourself in an original way. Not with an awesome envelope or printing your business card on steel; but, by thinking of yourself as a product or service, your consumer as the creatives at "x" agency and figuring out how to communicate in the best fashion to get their attention and to get them to care.

This will be my great unemployed experiment.

The Start to an Interesting Career

Hello, I'm Taylor Snyder. I just graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design into the worst financial crisis since the great depression.

My career of choice, for the last five years, has been to be an Art Director in the Ad World. I graduated with a BFA in Advertising Design from one of the top design schools in the mid-west and was tutored by Nancy Rice (one of the founders of Fallon Worldwide). I am an extremely hard worker having worked full time as a Starbucks Store Manager and Noodles & Co. Assistant Store Manager (avg 60 hrs a week) while going to school full time.

I have worked in two agencies thus far including MRM Worldwide and Campbell Mithun. Both agencies wanted to hire me. Both extended my internship (MRM for over a year). And at the end of this week my extension will be over at Campbell Mithun.

It's most definitely an interesting time and this is for sure a start to an interesting career.