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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.