Speaker Series: Nancy Vonk and Janet Kent

Nancy Vonk and Janet Kent, CCOs of Ogilvy Toronto, spoke to us today about their work on the Dove Evolution campaign with a talk entitled "Evolution: Ads are Dead."

Nancy and Janet begun their talk by pointing out that solving problems with a :30 spot isn't going to happen. We are at a tipping point. And so it is an exciting time to be in advertising. TV and print are tools for this trade, but they are no longer the only tools. Campaigns like BMW Films and the Subservient Chicken, which were earth shattering at their inception, are now mainstream.

The ladies of Ogilvy pointed out that big brands need to ask big questions. The best work is elected to be seen, and consumers don't make that kind of choice when the same old methods and message are used to get in touch with them. We are in a time when work is being researched to death and clients cannot keep up with new technology. In the words of Don Tapscott, we are in "the age of marketing to cats."

This brought the talk to the Dove Evolution campaign. Now that it's done and successful, everyone wants a dove film, but it took three years of work to get there. First came the Dove Self Esteem Fund. The Self Esteem Fund existed before the Real Beauty campaign, and so layers of its good will message can be seen throughout the. campaign.

Big Idea versus Big Ideal.

Speaker Series: Lisa Seward

Lisa Seward, currently of MOD communications (founder), formerly of the Fallon media department, came to speak to us today in a talk entitled "Media - From Messenger to Message to Metaphor." MOD is a three year old company that Lisa created in order for her to be a better advocate for media and creative working together.

Lisa Seward described Fallon as the US pioneer of the modern outlook on the role of media. After visiting London for inspiration, they created a department based on the connection/context planning methods. The key idea in Fallon's media department seems to be 'insight applied to creative solutions.'

In her current life, Lisa runs MOD communications and writes a column for MEDIA magazine. In that context, she describes herself as the Andy Rooney of Media. Comments along the lines of 'agencies create process to justify themselves' and 'there are no experts in this business' have made her a controversial figure at times -- though a forward thinking one.

She shared her ideal process model for strategists and media planners with us, which went a little something like this:

1. Communications Strategists and Media Planners work together from the start
2. Think about PR, events and branded content
3. Is there anything else left for ads?
4. Creative

Later in her talk, Lisa Seward made the interesting comment that "you can't know what channels are right just becuase you know the consumer." Though we're taught to try and keep every aspect in mind at the Adcenter, we spend so much time trying to get to know the consumer that it's sometimes refreshing to be reminded. To prove her point, Seward pointed out that consumers have changed radically and are now in charge, and that communication abilities in a web 2.0 or 3.0 world change the playing field for both customers and marketers. Media 'then' was abotu allocating budget to accumulate eyeballs, while media now is about attracting people to message via good ideas.

She left us with the following thoughts:

1. All advertising is spam ~ use that as your filter when creating
2. Fit brands into consumers lives and add value
3. Great ideas are solicited, wanted, relevant and appropriate
4. An idea, not a distribution method, is core
5. Ideas are currency
6. Insight --> Ideas --> execution

Speaker Series: Pam Reeve

Pam Reeve, a recruiter, came to us today to speak about getting jobs in the advertising industry. Her overall wisdom was that advertising is an intuitive business where people begin judging immediately: act accordingly. To go into more depth, her tips are listed below.

During your interview:

- Know your weaknesses and work on them
- An interview needs to be a two way conversation
- Use gently persuasive speech
- Be likable and trustworthy
- Research the company
- Listen to your interviewer so that you're truly engaged instead of just responding

Pre-Interview Etiquette:

- Email your introduction in a manner that is short and polite
- Admire the company
- Send an attached version of your resume so that it can be printed separately, saved for later, forwarded on, etc.
- Wait 2-3 weeks to follow up if you don't get a response
- Let people know if you get a job, so that they don't waste time trying to fit you into their schedules

Interview Etiquette:

- Do not expect for an agency to pay for your trip
- Do not interview with other agencies if you get an agency to pay for your flight. It's a small community and whoever paid will be unimpressed with your action.

Post-Interview Etiquette:

- Send a follow-up emailed thank you note
- Look for ways to open up a new path of communication
- Never take rejection personally: you cannot be 100% loved on every interview and people are disengaged for many reasons
- Get a referall from eeryone you talk to. Keep track of who you met, what they said, who they know, etc.

Relationship Building:

- Is an intrinsic feeling
- Don't ask meaningless interview questions
- Make sure that you have shared values with the company you interview at

Are you a tough little weed?

Your career will be long. Look at the big picture with you in the middle (eagle's view)

On Resumes:

- Make sure your resume is seperate from your book
- Your resume must be well written. It is just as much a representation of who you are as your book.
- Resumes are often read from the bottom up. Keep that in mind when you organize.
- Bring a hard copy (or several) of your resume to every interview

On Money:

- Don't discuss money until the very end
- There is a balance between low pay and being used
- Don't overask
- Don't be afraid to negotiate within reason
- Be polite
- Your second job is when it's really 'open season' for money negotiation

Decision Making:

- You must let people know if you have another offer
- You don't have a job until you have an offer letter

Final Thoughts:

- A Recruiter is internal, a Head Hunter is external
- It's best to shop your book/resume by yourself as a junior
- Juniors are usually freebies for recruiters, so no one is more interested in your getting a job than you are
- When you do look for a head hunter to work with, find someone who will build your career with you

Speaker Series: Steve Bassett

Today's speaker was Steve Bassett, SVP Creative Director of The Martin Agency, right here in Richmond. Steve spoke to us today about the GEICO account in a talk entitled "Humor is a Serious Business: the Evolution of the GEICO Campaign." Martin has had the GEICO account for 13 years and Steve has been on it for 6.

To take it back to the beginning... in 1993, insurance equaled punishment. t was scary to think about and definitely not a cocktail party topic. Insurance advertising reflected as much, with its tried and true methods of scaring people into expensive plans through deep-voiced men, numbers flashing on screens and the occasional crash video.

GEICO's idea came about as a response to all of that. To knock down the barriers of "changing insurance is a hassle, what if it doesn't go well!?" The category of insurance was dark, and GEICO wanted to steer clear of that.

With that in mind, Martin decided to be direct. Don't appologise, use it as an advantage and create a feeling of insurance as reward.

Bassett pointed out that througout the GEICO campaign, the humor has changed depending on the creative director. When he took over the account, it was his goal to make the ads "a little less Benny Hill, a little more David Letterman." He is perfectly candid about the fact that his vision, too, is fluid. The next creative director, he said with a shrug, will probably want a little less Letterman and a little more Conan O'Brien.

On the use of the Gecko, Steve Bassett points out that it was an accidental brand icon. The Gecko wasn't focus grouped to death. It was meant to eliminate confusion, and the actors strike made one animated gecko ad turn into four more. But that said, the gecko isn't just another icon -- he knows he's an icon. As the years have gone by, the gecko has gotten more human looking and has gotten a more everyday British accent.

The 'Good News' campaign started with an old jok.

In one of the most recent campaigns, involving the now famous GEICO caveman, people appreciate subtle humor done well. Bassett describes it as the right campaign for the current PC climate.

The last campaign that Steve Bassett talked about was teh testimonial campaign. GEICO came to The Martin Agency and said that they would like to do a testimonial campaign, since they had so many happy customers. Martin was not thrilled, as testimonial campaigns are generally humorless and boring, but they tried to think of it in a 'GEICO' manner. When they reframed the problem by asking "how can we do it in a way GEICO can own?" the testimonial campaign was born.

Up next? the use of Mike Wallace, the driver that GEICO sponsors in the Busch series. And thus was born the 'Lauren Wallace' campaign.

Speaker Series: Colin Decker

This week's speaker was Colin Decker, Creative Director of CurrentTV.

CurrentTV is a television channel that is filled with User Generated Content. He started off the lecture by giving several acronyms for user generated content, pointing out that it was still a new enough idea that no one term had been adopted. For example:

UGC - user generated content
CGC - consumer generated content
UGV - user generated video
VC2 - viewer created content

Throughout his presentation, Decker's focus was on engagement. He pointed out that the 30 second TV spot is a passive experience, while the web is a two way street. You are engaged, you are watching it, and you probably went and found it yourself. Decker stated that at this point, it looks like engaging an audience is the future of marketing, advertising, and probably all media.

Instead of speaking only about currentTV, Decker also brought other UGC ideas into the mix. He talked about the Converse Gallery (www.conversegallery.com), the Doritos Superbowl Ad and the Chevy Tahoe Campaign as three examples of the UGC phenomenon. Everybody is hanging their hat on UGC without knowing why. At this point, Decker said that marketers and advertisers understand that they have to engage consumers, but they don't quite know how. Is the point to engage online, or is the point to give consumers control? The result, for companies that don't know, is that the UGC commercials that they end up posting are the ones that look just like professional commericals, instead of the ones that celebrate being homemade, different, and of-the-people. There are, after all, a lot of out of work DPs who have access to the kinds of equiptment that they need to make a professional spot.

On Current TV, content is uploaded and voted on by online users. Segments generally run between 3 and 7 minutes, and the network will show anything other than scripted television. There are no 30 minute shows, so they call their mini-segments 'pods'. There is no universal clock / schedule for the channel, and Neilsen has no idea how to rate them. At the moment, CurrentTV consists of 30% user voted content, and 30% producer generated content ... he didn't touch on the last 40%.

Most interestingly to me, the channel includes viewer created advertising messages (VCAM). When viewers log onto the CurrentTV website (www.current.tv) they can see assignments from specific sponsors of the channel (Sony, L'Oreal, etc.) and make their own advertisements for those products. If chosen for the network, the creater receives $1000. In Decker's mind, CurrentTV mergers authentic brands with advertisers. It is a network focused on two way communication. He summed up this part of his speech with the words "real real is in."

Decker then talked about agencies and brands, saying that when it came to UGC, there were two types:
1. the "this is all crap / fad" type
2. the "this is a new language to reach people with" type
He calmed our ad-school fears by noting that VCAM will not replace agencies. Instead, it is another tool.

In speaking about the CurrentTV network, Decker pointed out that it is an online community, not an online contest. YouTube, he said, is about broadcasting yourself. They have done much to get people actively interested in the idea of creating and watching UGC. CurrentTV, however, is for broadcasting yourself if you have something to say.

Check it out at www.current.tv or on your television if you have cable.

Speaker Series: Jacob Trollback

Jacob Trollback is the owner of Trollback + Company NY-LA, an eight year old branding and motion graphics design production company. Originally from Sweden, he started as a DJ and then opened his own club. In order to get his club started, Trollback began to make his own fliers, which lead him to become a designer. His lecture was a bit disjointed as some of his videos didn't work, but I really enjoyed hearing his thoughts on design and on being a designer.

Throughout the lecture, Trollback spoke about inspiration. For him, inspiration comes from many things. His musical background, nature, architecture, photography, furniture, etc. When asked whether he had any copywriters permanently on staff, he said 'no,' explaining that they dealt mostly with freelance copywriters because some projects needed them and some did not. He then mentioned that he would, however, love to hire and architect or furniture designer or someone like that. I love the thought of getting someone into your business who could constantly bring an outside perspective and a different type of creativity.

Jacob Trollback's lecture was very multi sensory. At one point, he wrote 'Helvetica and Bach' on the power point slide in Helvetica, and then played Bach to that slide. He challenged us to see how those two things went together, and understand the style they created.

Two ideas that I found especially interesting:

1. Style is getting rid of everything that doesn't mean anything
2. Trollback +Company is in the business of capturing essential moments

To learn more about Trollback +Company, visit www.trollback.com

Speaker Series: Perry Merkley

Our speaker for this week was Perry Merkley, who worked for Ogilvy on their famous American Express advertisements before starting his own agency in North Carolina. Much of his talk was spent showing us clips of his work for different clients such as Amex, BMW motorcycles, OXO, Champion, Bell South, Mercedes and Citigroup. In one of the Bell South commercials, Merkley pointed out that Britney Spears is playing a little girl on a swing.

Overall, the two messages that I got from Perry Merkley were:

The creative idea and the strategic idea must be the same idea. Work that is creative but not strategic is usually indulgent.

The best clients have both vision and clout.

Speaker Series: Mike Henry

Our speaker today was Mike Henry, a writer and character for Family Guy. Mike plays Herbert the Old Man, Cleveland, Cleveland Jr. and Death among other characters. His voice, while not any one of theirs, has aspects of all of them, which made his talk quite amusing. During his time with us, he focused on a few things:

The making of Family Guy
The Family Guy Theory of Comedy
His biography

First, he talked about the making of the show. He told us that when creating an episode, the writers keep in mind that they have 22 minutes to present a three act piece. For that reason, they start their storyboard with one simple idea: being fired up about being an American, day labor, etc. After choosing a main concept, the show unfolds as the writers focus on sandwiching emotion in humor. To make each episode is a three month process that goes something like this:

Whiteboard
Outline
Seth McFarland looks at it
50 page script is written
50 page script is torn apart in meetings
Table readings
Fix jokes that don't work
Record
Fix jokes that still don't work
Animation
Color screening
Rewrite again
Sound mix with 30 piece orchestra
Put the show on air

Second, Mike talked about the Family Guy Theory of Comedy, which he summed up as "make Seth laugh." He pointed out that most shows focus on getting the whole audience to laugh. If a joke won't appeal to almost the entire audience, it's out. At Family Guy, they don't agree with that idea. Mike pointed out that if everyone is laughing at every joke, the jokes are probably too broad to be memorable. Instead, the writers at Family Guy believe in what they call 10%ers: jokes that make 10% of the audience laugh really hard. In short, if it's funny it should be in the show. One thing that I found particularly interesting is what 10 out of the 14 writers do voices on the show. That way, the show remains pure -- comedy is heard the way that the writers intended, as there is no middleman.

Lastly, Mike talked about his history and how he met Seth McFarland. Mike Henry originally started in Advertising on the account side. He worked at Martin and found himself uninspired to the point where he spent his time making prank calls to his boss and making fun of clients. he moved to Hollywood, took classes and did standup for threee years before discovering that he needed a reel to get anywhere. And so, he moved back to Richmond where he did radio vices, produced and worked with some small agencies. After building a reel that way, Mike moved to New York. At that point, his brother was a student at RISD, and kept asking Mike to be in his film projects. His brother also happened to be a friend of Seth McFarland's. The three of them became friends, Seth created Family Guy, and Mike has had a job ever since.

Mike's final advice to us was that side projects can keep you alive creatively. He taked about taking time off from Family Guy to get some perspective and do other things, working on his own films in his free time, and always envisioning new things rather than just relying on Family Guy to fulfill him creatively.

Speaker Series: dennis Ryan

This week's speaker was dennis Ryan, Chief Creative Officer of element79partners. dennis was a fantastic speaker and gave us some extremely practical suggestions. It was especially fun for me to see his talk, as dennis was my nextdoor neighbor when I lived in Evanston, and then moved near to my family in Winnetka as well. As a little kid I had no idea what he did, but I remember thinking that he and his wife were possibly the coolest people to walk the earth. Years later, he's still pretty cool.

dennis' talk was about getting and keeping your first job in advertising. In brief, his suggestions were as follows:

1. Make the agency value you.
2. Make the agency value your work.
3. Set on a path to keep growing.

To make your agency value YOU, dennis suggested a few things:
- Work hard.
- Focus on creativity. Creativity is not the dominion of a select few. It is a mindset, not an asset; and if you work in an agency in any job, you should always think creatively. It produces better results and it's "the fun part" -- in all realms.
- Prove that you are a valuable person by being enthusiastic and curious. Smart, cool, exciting, fun thinkers who have excitement about their ideas are capable of selling those ideas. Enthusiasm is key. Curiosity is equally key (and is the foundation of the element79 culture). Have a constantly questioning mindset.... Why (question)? Why not (scepticism)? What if (inspiration)!
- To get that first job in advertising, make sure that you bring yourself to the table in your book. Be you. Don't murder the differences -- they influence your work.

dennis' suggestions for making your agency value your WORK:
- Advertising is the only team sport that operates without a play book. Nothing is done by yourself so play well with others.
- Always remember that this is a confidence game. Not a con game. Take pride in your work and have the confidence to speak up for it and showcase it.
- 'The work' is different than 'selling the work.' There will be compromises, and the client cannot be the enemy. In order to keep the integrity of your work intact, consider the following: What compromise will kill your idea? Have you truly done your best to persuade people, and do you understand the art of persuasion? Are you dealing well with the people around you who have influence?
- Learn to sell to your boss first.
- Figure out different people's problems. Understand and empathise with people. It will better your work and relationships.

To GROW in a job, keep the following in mind:
- There is so much you don't know when you start -- that's okay. Take experience where you can get it. Learn fast but don't pretend to know it all when you get there.
- The editor shapes a story. Know new music, know the editor.
- People are interested in learning and sharing their experiences. Ask.

Parting thoughts:
- When researching, focus on ideas rather than execution.
- Give context and persuade. People have a hard time getting outside of themselves.
- You are always answering to someone.
- Build trust with your clients. The best client allows you to take chances, isn't a pushover, helps to shape ideas, and lets good ideas get in.
- Clients should focus on finding an agency that they trust and knowing that the agency cares.

element79partners Info:
- At element79 you will work harder and get paid less... but they're nice.
- Visit www.e79ff06.com to keep yourself fired up about ideas.

I am not an art director

This post is dedicated to Devika, who likes to encourage my artistic expression.

In my heart of hearts, I would love to be some kind of do-it-all strategic art director. But alas, I just used photoshop for the first time today and am not quite accomplished at the whole concept of the 'layout' yet.

For my quant/qual course, my assignment is to write a brief for a product for which I am not the target. I chose to write about Earth's Best organic baby food. This was an interesting assignment for me in two ways. First, Earth's Best is something I had tried to write a brief about last winter, for the purpose of building my own book. Second, part of the assignment was to do your own art to prove that the brief was usable. It was interesting to see where my brief was last year, versus where this one is now.

In the end, I came up with the following two brilliant art pieces. One ad for a parenting magazine and one iasle ad for a grocery store. Don't laugh too hard.

Speaker Series: Caroline Hadlock

Caroline Hadlock came to the Adcenter as a representative of Young and Laramore in Indianapolis, Indiana. In her introduction, Peter Coughter highlighted that she was here to prove to us that advertising happened in places outside of New York.

The offices of Young and Laramore are in a rehabbed elementary school, which looked very neat. Lots of open space and a youthful/learning/endless possibilities look. She first pointed out the power of editorial, explaining that Y and L had formed in 1993, but had been recognized by Creative Arts in 2005, which had done wonders for their business and reputation. She describes Y and L as being in the business of taking clients from local to national.

Caroline pointed out that we need better/braver clients. Clients have huge pressures on them. The average CMO's tenure is 23 months. In that impossibly short amount of time they are supposed to make their mark and make major changes. Creative people need to keep that in mind when designing campaigns. We now have a shorter time to establish ourselves and gain trust. Clients are also enamored with their products. They live and breathe them, and forget that not everyone else does as well.

Be intentionally ignorant. That, in a very small nutshell, is Y and L's process. Formally, they call it the 'unlearning curve' and will not take on a client without the agreement that they will all follow that process. In the unlearning curve process, client problems are looked into with no preconceived notions and by getting deep into people's lives (ethnography). The two to three month process goes something like this: go where the customers are, listen to what they say and what they mean, preconceptions start to fall away, creative work can then begin.

Other Y and L methods include showing only one campaign and not allowing the testing of their creative.

Caroline made a very good point that I think many people overlook. She encouraged us to start the agency process by talking to anyone who can say 'no' to the work. By doing that, you get to meet people you never would have met otherwise, get an upfront buy-in, earn the respect of your client, get new perspectives, and bring those powerful people into your process.

Lastly, she tried to impress on us the following ideas:
How you present is as important as what you present
Be multi-sensory
show don't tell

Speaker Series: Brian Hurewitz

This week's speaker was Brian Hurewitz, VP, Senior Art Director/ACD at Green Team USA. Green Team describes their mission as guiding their clients into the hearts, minds and homes of Awakening Consumers. They aim to do great work while advancing society and the environment. I think the concept is very interesting, especially considering their client list, which is not your typical Smokey the Bear environmental type stuff. I had never heard of Green Team before this speaker event, so if you're in that boat I urge you to check out their website at www.greenteamusa.com.

Brian spoke a lot about his journey from Florida beach bum to the advertising world. He was one of the more humorous speakers we've had to date. However, instead of focusing on that aspect of his speech I would rather spend time talking about Green Team's secondary site, www.afterthesemessages.com.

After These Messages gives everyday people like you and me the opportunity to view and review current advertisements. After you answer their questions, they will show you on a four-square diagram where you rated the advertisement (one axis is heaven vs. hell, the other is hack vs. genius) and where other people rated it. If you rate enough of them, you win points and get prizes. Aside from the fact that there are rewards attached to this site in the form of pencils and jewelry, I think this is just a generally cool idea. In my many hours of free time, I plan to review some ads and see how my views measure up.

Overall, what I got from this speaker was the concept of acting responsibly, as a consumer, a client and an advertiser.

Speaker Series: Jason Whiting

Today's speaker was Jason Whiting, Managing Director of AKQA Washington, who gave a talk called "Digital Out of the Ghetto." AKQA does interactive and digital advertising only. For offline work, they partner with other agencies. They are the largest independent interactive agency in the world.

Consumers spend 30% of their time on-line
Advertisers spend 5% of their marketing budget on-line
TV viewing has fallen by 1/3 since 1985
70% of DVR/Tivo users regularly skip through ads
57% of American teens are content creators
Over 1/2 the on-line population uses an on-line social network
87% of kids 12 - 17 are on-line
80% of people 18 - 40 are on-line
70% of people 40+ use the Internet

Virtual is reality.

With sites like Myspace, flickr, wikepedia and second life, consumers have become creators. You can now customize messages on M&Ms, make a music video on You Tube and buy pass along your favorite content to anyone with Internet access. In short, it is a more level playing field. Advertisers must now go from saying to doing, from interuption to engagement.

Speaker Series: John Bell

John Bell, of Ogilvy's PR division, came to speak at the Adcenter today. He gave a talk entitled "How trust, technology and social media changes marketing and communications.

Bell discussed blogs and wikis among many other digital medias. He pointed out that the internet feels extremely personal to most people, and that advertisers are currently trying to connect with consumers in a way that doesn't spoil that feeling.

Words I need to remember: digital services, microcasting, digital advocacy, syndication, email, online media, social computing,

A large portion of the talk was devoted to the issue of trust. We trust different people today than we used to. Trust in advertisers and marketers is down, trust in the media is diminishing. On the other hand, peer-to-peer recommendation is trusted above most other forms of communication.

Another subject was micro-niche markets. The internet has made it extremely easy for people who share beliefs (no matter how niche those beliefs are) to find and communicate with eachother. Micro-niche markets are eating away at TV. TV is being replaced by more personal forms of media like blogs, photo blogs, wikis, search/tagging, computing, growing communities, message boards and opinion sites. Currently, 60% of available video content on the internet is on YouTube ... how can we use that knowledge more strategically? To look into blog statistics, visit Technorati.com or the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

Steps to take to become part of the digital world:
1. start reading by using an RSS aggregator (myyahoo, bloglines, pageflakes, etc.)
2. go to http://blogfeeds.ogilvypr.com.
3. join the conversation at blog.ogilvypr.com.
4. create a digital influence strategy for a client
5. start a blog, make a podcast, creat a flickr galery, use del.icio.us ... etc.

Sites to remember:
rocketboom
secondlife
88slide
boing boing
execrtolux design lab
turn here: videos of places

My First Win

Before now, the only thing I had ever won before was a free Diet Coke (which I never redeemed).

But today, I found out that I won one of the AICP Directors Scholarships at alloted to the Adcenter. It's a very small amount of money, but I'm really honored, as well as excited to have the opportunity to add the word 'scholarship' to my resume.

My Application (be warned -- it's quite sappy):

The day that I met Libby, a strategic planner at Y&R in Chicago, I knew my life had changed. Eating salads with her at the China Grill, I had the kind of feeling that made me suddenly understand what priests were talking about when they discussed their “calling.” I vividly remember listening to her speak about her job, her daily routine and the people she worked with. All I could think was, “this is what I need to do with my life.” It may sound cheesy -- the way that being called by God had often seemed to me – but I can’t think of any other way to express my need to fulfill this strategic planning dream.

At the time of my conversation with Libby I didn’t know if I could be a great planner or even a good one, but I had a hunch that if I could manage it there would be no career better suited for me. Two internships, one grad school application and eleven months later, I am confident that I have chosen the right path for myself. I have come to the Adcenter to learn how to delve deeper into people and what makes them ‘tick’; to use that information to make advertisements and build brands in a way that is more creative, relevant and focused; and to kill my fear.

I am a big fan of the phrase “times change.” People, ideas, technology, priorities and morals may change, but time only changes in relation to them all. It is my view that the job of the planner is to keep up with the changing times by understanding all of the things that change them. A planner must ask ‘why’ until he or she gets to the highest level of the problem, and then must use that knowledge to deliver ideas to people in a way that makes them actually listen and consider.

For many years advertising has numbed people with its frequency and monotony. There have been great ads, great campaigns and great brands built, but not enough of them. I believe that one major, extremely basic reason for this is the fact that advertising has not changed at nearly the rate that time has. As advertisers, it is time to recognize and fully grasp the fact that consumers are now in control. We can no longer expect that people won’t change the channel or switch the station or avert their eyes from our messages. Instead of wallowing in sadness about Tivo and Sirius and people’s general distain of bad advertising, it is now time to put down the megaphones and focus on truly engaging the people that we are trying to reach.

I am at the Adcenter to find out if I have what it takes to encourage and actively participate in changing the way that advertisers think about their consumers. I believe I do. I am at the Adcenter to stretch myself, to learn all that I can from the professors here and to remember their ideas as I try my hardest to be a part of the movement to bring advertising up to speed with its audience. I believe I can.

I believe that my commitment to making advertising more focused on the people that it is meant for and my willingness to really work for that change are what make me an ideal candidate for a scholarship at the Adcenter. I will not be just another person to pass through here. I plan to learn all that I can and to use that knowledge to create change, interest, and ads that people can stand to watch.

Speaker Series: Marty Cooke

Marty Cooke of SS+K came to speak at the Adcenter today. His talk was entitled "Building Brands and Opinion In A Fractured World."

Cooke talked a lot about integration, referencing SS+K as a truly integrated agency and not just one more shop capitalizing on the buzz word. From the website and the video he showed us, SS+K seemed like a very interesting place to work -- they produce a lot of alternative media pieces and seem to collect employees with a broad range of backgrounds. I was saddened to hear him say that he generally didn't hire people right out of grad school but looked for people who had a few years of agency experience first.

He called the process of building brands and opinion in a fractured world "asymmetric communication," which I thought was an intersting term.

Cooke shared with us his agency's beliefs on the idea of 'Noble Truth.' Cooke explained that a Noble Truth = Consumer Truth + Brand Truth.

Lastly, he suggested showed us the website www.secretwebsite.org, which was very neat.

Speaker Series: Jonah Bloom

Today was the first lecture in the Adcenter speaker series. To kickoff the school year Jonah Bloom, editor of Adweek, came to speak to us. His talk was entitled "Marketing is Dead, Long Live Marketing."

Bloom suggested that we read the following books:
"A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink
"Advertising is Dead, Long Live Advertising"
"The Substance of Style" by Virginia Postrell

The three big words in his presentation were Asia, Automation and Abundance.

Bloom talked about the fact that outsourcing and commoditization were forcing people to try to make products either better or cheaper (which is now almost impossible, in the case of cheaper). People no longer want for anything anymore. At this point America is in a search for meaning: we aren't any happier jsut because of what we have. Bloom noted that P&G now has more designers than engineers. Marketers are now understanding the importance of aesthetics.

A large part of his talk was on the shift from pure function to meaning. It has become necessary to add meaning into the things we sell. Axe deodorant has become a status symbol and toilet brushes are now made by designers.

Marketing has had to become more honest because the consumer is in control. Communication channels are endless and marketers don't know where they will catch consumers. Bloom mentioned two models of marketing: the push and pull models. In the Push Model, consumers will be there waiting for you. In the Pull Model, consumers have to want it. They must be accurately targeted if you want to attract them to your message. In the Pull Model, the best advertising is inseparable from the best content.

New Tools:
1. Search Marketing
2. The use of Smart Databases

Bloom continued his speech by talking about consumer creation and co-creation. Agencies are now trying to get consumers to co-create marketing messages, sometimes with success and sometimes not (in the cases of the Burger King mask videos and Chevy Tahoe commercials).

In terms of measurement, Bloom spoke about the fact that companies were more and more interested in the idea of ROI. As marketing bcomes talked about it becomes more disputed. Brand Officers have to answer serious questions from their companies and shareholders about how money is being spent. Measurement is no longer about tiems seen, it is now about times clicked, considered, gone to store, etc.

One week down, 59 to go

I've made it through my first week. Orientation and my classes were a blur. As usual, I've been having trouble remembering everyone's name. Proper nouns were never my forte. I've already been told several times that brevity is key around here, so to summarize my week:

Orientation: Very neat to see everyone together. We're the largest Adcenter class yet and have already been yelled at for not knowing what a PVR is. What is the difference between a DVR and a PVR? Holy Boyko!

Creative Thinking: Any class that starts out with the analysis of a poem is good with me. It soothes me to know that the teachers here believe in and practice the idea that creativity beyond advertising is important to discuss as well. My teacher, Mark Fenske (www.markfenske.com) made it clear that those who showed up to class late would get peed on. His words, not mine. As Professor Fenske has gone back to working at Weiden, our class will be taught by a series of guest teachers.

Media Research & Planning: Donna spent a lot of time talking about how this course would be a review for most people, which worried me. Trust me Donna, they don't teach HUTs and PUTs to Drama majors.

Business of Advertising: Wow. Don Just is exactly the man that rumor states him to be. He requires business attire to be worn in class and is quite striking really. What presence -- a bit scary, but quite admirable. As Professor Just stated in his own words, he IS the bar at the Adcenter: he sees every students and weeds out the weak. I must be strong.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research: I wasn't excited for this class ahead of time but it actually looks quite cool. Again, this is a course that is a refresher for all the advertising and marketing undergrads, but a totally new subject for me.

Welcome to your new life

Welcome to my new life at the VCU Adcenter. I am a 23 year old planning-hopeful, embarking on what has the potential to be the journey of a lifetime. One year ago I hadn't even seriously considered strategic planning as a career option. Today, I begin orientation at the most competitive planning / advertising school in the United States.

For more details, check it out at: http://adcenter.vcu.edu