Blog Post Number 50

I made it, this is blog post number 50.

I started this blog not really knowing for sure where it was going. I knew I wanted to write about advertising, my views on it and sprinkle in some of my own journey as a young art director trying to make it in the rapidly changing ad world. All in all I'm fairly happy with the content that I have been able to put out.

Yet I’m surprised with the effect I’ve had through my blog, website and single day facebook ad campaign. My blog currently stands at having had a little over 400 unique hits last month alone primarily in Minnesota, Arkansas, Texas, California and New York. Through my digital efforts, I got the job I have now at Rockfish Interactive, have had the chance to chat with a number of people at some cool agencies and more surprisingly, to me, was having an effect on other people with my posts.

A number of my posts inspired conversations with coworkers at work, friends & agency people in other states and even inspired an old classmate from MCAD to blog about my blog. Yet I think the thing that I’ve learned the most is the power of digital and social media along with how to maximize the effect of it.

I’m excited to continue to see where this goes and look forward to any and all new conversations it will inspire. Feel free to start a conversation with me through twitter or through email: taylor.snyder@me.com

There Are No Cool Products

In my short time in advertising, I’ve found that there are no cool products, only great creatives. Its those game changing creatives that I want to work with.

I feel its a good practice to seek out agencies that are doing excellent work and shaping brands into something cool because your more likely to find these creatives. Yet to seek out an agency to specifically work on the nike, apple, burger king, etc. account is a miss. The creatives that established that brand may or may not work there still. Although you will be able to work within that brand and create some good work, you may miss out on the chance to learn from those that have been successful at establishing it. So I've found that the best way to work on those accounts that are redefining and thriving is by tracking the creatives that establish them.

Those that can get excited about redefining a stodgy deodorant brand, infusing life into a personality void brand or creating real positive social impact with a soap, are the types of creatives changing the way to advertise.

The question I have, and still have not been able to answer, is can that excitement and energy be taught or does it only come naturally to a select few?

Ad of the Week: Nike

It's a new thing for me to post about; but, every week there is an ad or two that refuels my love for what I do and shifts the way I think about advertising, design and/or branding.

For my first post I'm glad that it is such an excellent ad, Nike's: Human Chain. The piece that makes this ad stand out for me is the simple message, "Everybody gets knocked down, how quick are you gonna get up?" which speaks to me as a type "A" personality. It speaks to not just athleticism; but, also the drive in each of us to want to be successful and push ourselves beyond all constraints and it reinforces the simple message in the well known nike brand, "Just do it."

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland

Art Director: Ryan O'Rourke

Copywriter: Jason Bagley

Music: "Ali in the Jungle" by The Hours

The Need to Brand Yourself

Could marketing yourself yield the same results as advertising/branding a major company? Yes.

In fact, one of the strongest lessons they pushed at my college, MCAD, was the necessity to treat and market yourself as a brand. Although this made some students a bit skittish, it is important more than ever to treat and market yourself as a brand.

Many people believe that with the rise of social media outlets such as twitter, that significantly shorten our attention span, as proof that brands are dyeing when it is quite the opposite. When you have 140 characters to push a complex aspect of a product or the sleekness of a brand, the necessity to push the brand to keep it short, sweet and repeatable is impartially important.

Treating one’s self as a brand forces you to consider truly what makes you different and what your true selling points are. It allows you to create your paired down elevator pitch, and with repetition, gives you the chance to attribute those aspects to a recognizable logo.

So it than no longer is a question of to brand or not to brand and it turns into what is unique about your brand?

Are Brands Dead?

With the rise of short lived digital experiences, the removal of coke from Cost Co and the reduction of major name brands from the shelves of Walmart, the question on many people’s minds is: Are brand names still powerful?

At present, major name brands are putting more attention on creating utility for their consumers and straying away from big budget commercials. An example of this is Pepsi deciding to not run any super bowl ads this year and instead invested that money into charitable giving driven by the consumer. Yet, is this really a mark of straying away from inflating their brand? In the end, we are going through hard economic times and companies are being judged more than ever when looking at what they are doing for their consumers. Pepsi can with hold from doing brand ads and give the money away instead because they already have such a strong brand clout from previous years.

In the future, many are predicting that brands will have to move away from heavy branding because consumers are wanting to live within their means and see it reflected in media. Yet, shifting from showing an extravagant life to one of means isn’t the removal of brand. Branding can just as easily be about living frugally or responsibly. Toyota is an excellent example of this from leveraging their minor green traits they have created a cult following and even in spite of their major recalls, polls consistently show that their consumers still believe in them. By investing in their customer base, their customers are willing to forgive them.

In the past, the great Marlboro Friday scare in 1993 created the declaration that the brand name was dead. Yet since 1993 strong brand names have been established or reestablished to have created stronger cult followings than we have seen in the past including Target, Toyota and Apple. So is this latest declaration another fable or a true shift in advertising?

Although this economic climate could mean the death to some brands often it’s the ones that forget that they need to continue to grow, change and innovate to stay on top. Just because the brands are moving into the digital space doesn’t mean the brand is dead but simply that it is yet again adapting for the better.

The Asset of Being You

One of the hardest lessons for me to learn, as a young art director, was that your personality and quirks often can prove to be an asset.

I began my working career at Target and Starbucks. Both are good places to work and both are pretty strict corporations that ask that you leave your personality at the door and put on the brand face. When taught to, on a daily basis, remove your personality when at work, it becomes difficult when asked to express myself regularly at an agency.

Although not every career expressly wants you to be yourself on a daily basis, no one wants to work with someone that is dull or rude. When interviewing for design and art director positions at agencies, I’ve found that the agencies that were always heavily interested in me were the ones in which I was very relaxed and simply being my normal, odd self. By being someone that is naturally happy and spreads humor to others I have an asset outside of my ability to create good work and pitch it well to clients, I have the ability to help create a stronger team through being myself.

Yet, the hardest lesson to learn for those that have radically different or unusual personalities is the necessity to do what I call, “Easing people into your crazy.” By with holding much of your personality initially to gauge others, find your niche and allow for your personality to gradually come out, you become a natural fit. On the other hand, being extremely out there from day one can often create apprehension, unease and the feeling of being ostracized from the group.

So in the end I’ve found the best practice is to show your personality, craziness and all; but, don’t jump the gun (ease people into your oddities).

It's Not The Choice Itself Thats Important

Like most people, I get on kicks and as of late its playfully threatening to shank my co-workers. I was asked by a close coworker why I have such a violent sense of humor and the first thing that shot to my mind is, “Violence is the way to live life.”

Not literally of course; but, I feel there are two ways to live life: violent or secure (with most people living somewhere in the gray between).

The violent ones are the ones that are incredibly passionate and narrowly focused on what it is in life that they love and seek. They will take ballsy risks in persuit of what they love and are willing to give up some everyday luxuries to get it. These people either burn out fast or rise to the occasion and achieve what it is they are pursuing.

The secure ones are those that put a greater emphasis on family, security and an everyday life well lived. They also may have a passion they are going after; but, choose to do it in a far more calculated and methodical way. Although they may not create the sweeping change the violent ones create they also don’t run the same risk of burning themselves out before they achieve their goals.

It’s not that one or the other is good or bad it simply is a choice and my choice is to live violently. The film Revolutionary Road does an amazing depiction of the struggle between these two extremes in a married couple.

My Super Bowl Ad Picks

The Super Bowl is, in comparison, the British Television Advertising Awards for the U.S. It has historically held some of the best advertising in the current market.

I would agree with the common sentiment that this year, due to the economic climate and waning interest, the ads didn't live up to the usual glory; but, there were still none the less some gems in the mix. Here are my picks for the 2010 Super Bowl:

1. Dove: Journey to Comfort/////Ogilvy

Although I felt the voice over was a little off, it had a relatively original, funny approach to selling a men's skin care product without making men appear to be unintelligent. I also love the reference to the scene in A Clockwork Orange with the use of music, content and cuts.

2. Cars.com: With Knowledge Comes Confidence/////DDB Chicago

Rarely does a serious ad seem to hit the mark on the Super Bowl; but, this in one of two that really did. It wasn't too preachy and had just enough dry humor to make it memorable. The best part though, it drove home it's main selling point, be confident with the knowledge you get from cars.com.

3. Google: Paris/////???

Again I was surprised with how memorable this simple ad was. It was one of the more innovative concepts, to tell a story through a simple search box and it seemed to target the 40% of female viewers that most ads ignored or openly offended.

4. Motorola: Megan Fox/////Anomaly

Although most ads featuring a half naked woman tend to be mindless and forget to talk about the product, this is one of the rare few that was very funny, sexy and left you with a clear idea of the product motorola blur.

5. Intel: Jeffrey the Robot/////Venables Bell & Partners

The first sweet and funny ad I've seen that is part of the larger excellent re-branding efforts of intel (putting faces to the name). I also feel that this is another great ad that was talking to the 40% of female viewers that most of the ads ignored.

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Worst Ad of the Super Bowl

Boost Mobile: Shuffle Dance/////180 Los Angeles

I would have to say this ad was terrible from the post production of trying to make it look dated, to the terrible copywriting and finally the horrible editing that destroyed the jokes. The worst part, everyone was so distracted with what was going on that they completely missed the message of the Boost Mobile's cheap rates.

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Best Social Media Ads

Brand Bowl///// Mullen & Radian 6

The sixth highest trending topic on twitter and a great way to stay on top of the winners on twitter in real time.

Squawq/////Colle+McVoy

Beautifully designed and a great analysis of the brand winners on all of twitter.

That wraps up the 2010 Super Bowl Ads. The biggest surprise this year, for me, was how memorable and well done the serious ads were over the funny ones.

My Greatest Source of Inspiration

When looking back at my previous blog posts, I’ve found that I talk a lot about inspiration.

In the end, as a creative person inspiration is key to continuously moving, reaching for the nearly unattainable and getting you going. Often that inspiration will come from a related field; but, I’ve found, for me, that some of my strongest inspiration comes from outside of advertising.

The individual that has inspired me the most is the writer/philosopher, Ayn Rand. She wrote a lot on the behalf of supporting laissez-faire capitalism, the positive attributes of selfishness, anti-religion and being pro-individual. Yet, the thing that consistently grabs me the most is simply that she clearly and ardently fights for her point of view.

In a sea of being politically correct, speaking between the lines and passive aggressive culture, she consistently cut to the core of what was being discussed and eloquently stated her point of view. She never backed away from her ideals and never apologized for her position on issues. Even though she wasn’t a native English speaker, she worked herself to death writing and rewriting drafts until she produced Fountainhead (read by my most American high school students) and Atlas Shrugged which has been judged to be the second most influential book in human history (second only to the bible).

Yet, with even a figure that I so deeply admire, I still wonder to myself how much of it is the ideals themselves and how much of it is simply excellent persuasive writing?

Always Meet The Team Before Accepting The Offer

When helping a friend think of advice to give to ad students three things immediately jumped to mind. They are what have and will continue to guide me on my career path:

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1. “Start your career at a small agency, it is incredibly chaotic; but, you get your hands in everything and can learn skills that will help your later career flourish.” –Brian Collins, CEO at Collins

2. “Always plan your agency path three moves ahead. If you can’t get into your top agency of choice find out where most of the creatives came from and go there. You can gain the skills that the creative team will look for having come from a similar career path.” –Tim Brunelle, Co-Founder & CEO at Hello Viking

3. “Always meet the creative team before accepting the offer.” –Kathy Umland, Director of Creative Operations at Martin Williams

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For most students who are lectured to be choosey when selecting agencies to go after the thought is often: I wish I had that luxury.

Yet, the thing you rapidly learn in the industry is that it isn’t a luxury it truly is a necessity. If one works at an agency with a poor reputation, often the creative industry will have a predisposition to think less of you. As a result, you have to work much harder to prove yourself to that agency later in your career.

For a student using that advice as a guiding principle more than set in stone needs, it can prove to be quite fruitful. In the end, I was surprised how I had followed all the advice unconsciously starting at a small agency, Rockfish Interactive, where I have had a chance to have my hands on everything including the pitch, I’m gaining the interactive experience the big agencies are looking for and before I accepted I drove to Arkansas to meet the team.

My advice as a young art director is: “Never underestimate anything. Do what you want and prove yourself the most on the 'throw away' projects, they are what earn you the clients you want to work on.”

The Necessity of Collaboration

One of the hardest lessons for me to learn, when attending MCAD, was the necessity for collaboration.

Like most new advertising students, I started my education with little information and a massive ego. When we received a new client to work on, be it a live or hypothetical, I would delve into research surrounding their product, the market, potential targets etc., I would look for what I thought was the perfect mixture and attempt to sell my partner on why we should head in that direction. As a result, there was a lack of collaboration.

I was lucky enough to attend MCAD where a healthy mixture of Nancy Rice, my fellow students and the live clients taught me the strength of partnerships. It is a fundamental truth; but, many creatives struggle with collaboration. If you look at history for examples, some of the best advertising creatives jumped at each project as if they had to prove themselves yet again and openly collaborated as a result.

No matter the drive on each project, having that approach of humility and openness to new ideas from any creative is paramount. Yet the most difficult part about collaboration is a strong foundation of trust. If you can’t trust your partner to put in the hours, to have the skills to rise to the occasion or give honest critique, the partnership will fail. Yet, if one can find the elusive creative partner that makes a great fit, the work that they produce together can literally be ground breaking.

The question is how does one determine who that partner is and can it only be found through trial and error?

Why I Love My Clients

One of the hardships for an entrepreneur is giving up control and placing full trust in a new agency.

When working with an agency it can be difficult to emotionally remove themselves from the way their product or service is being marketed. As a result, they can often become a micro-manager in the creative process, wanting to say too much at once or potentially highlighting an asset that won’t resonate with their target market.

The important thing to remember as an entrepreneur, is to allow each person and organization to fully bring their expertise to the table. In doing so, they can have even greater business results than they had hoped for.

That is why I love my current clients. They understand this fundamental truth, give their incredibly logical feedback and at the end of the day allow for us to do something great for them that will hopefully yield even better results than they originally hoped for.

The question is though: When a client is micro-managing, what is the best approach for helping them understand this fundamental truth and who, within an agency, should be leveraging the agencies strengths?