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.