The big AD-venture

A month or two back, William and Francis rolled into Boulder. They were recent graduates of Ad House in New York on an epic journey. Their scheme was to travel across the country interview today's top creative minds. Naturally, they were looking to have a chat with Alex Bogusky. Unfortunately, he was out. So they got me instead.

Even if it was by default, it's quite an honor to be among contemporary luminaries like Rei Inamoto, John Maxham, Scott Goodson and others. The resulting film is called The AD-venture, and it's sure to be a great piece. Sort of Art & Copy who aren't in the history books quite yet.

Check out the trailer here:

The AD-venture

More to come from these guys, I'm sure.

A poem I wrote inspired by recent events in my house

Eloquent Idiot Bard

O, eloquent idiot bard,
Burning on into the night.
Dreams three feet deep,
Groping at tree branches and imagining highways,
Drinking up the spice mulled wine in August.
Here’s where your branches lead.
They tangle into great yarn balls in the grandiose darkness.
You cast a line into your beloved abyss
And come up with a crappie.
Dumbass.

A comic

A very short-lived tradition I'm bringing back. The daily comic. Starting with this one.

They can take away our Twitter . . .

But they don't give two bits about Blogger.

This whole DDOS (distributed denial of service) attack on Twitter today is fascinating to watch unfold. It legitimately feels like warfare. Almost like a non-life-threatening part of our lives are under attack. Like pirates knock all reality TV shows off the air or something.

But it's also no longer just social media. It's commerce and communications too. This'll be big news for Twitter-lovin' CNN anchor Rick Sanchez.

And the cardinal said, "You have proven yourself true, my son."

Sorry I've been so MIA lately. But really, it's not my fault. And that's according to SCIENCE.
Report: Social Networks Growing while Other Social Media Sites Stagnate and Decline

It's been a year exactly since I left school and started my career officially at Wieden+Kennedy. Dang. I'll be writing a one-year retrospective very soon. Look out.

Till then, just check out The Whoa.

Twitter feeds are the new iPhone app

First there was a MySpace page, then a widget, then a Facebook app, then an iPhone app. Now the hip, new interactive advertising thing to do is add a Twitter feed. Doesn't matter what brand it is. It's got to have a Twitter feed embedded somewhere. We seem to do it to everything, and somehow everything seems cooler with a Twitter feed. (I say this wholly ironically, uniroincally and hypocritically all at the same time, having just launched two major websites in the last month that feature Twitter feeds quite prominently. In case you haven't seen one of them, check out the new http://beta.cpbgroup.com/.)

Well, I got to thinking the other day. My Twitter feed twitter.com/ievenwrotethis is pretty cool. But what would make it even cooler? That's right. Its own Twitter feed.

I give you twitter.com/heevenwrotethat. It uses a very simple bot I wrote I'm calling 2itter that retweets everything I say on my main Twitter feed over to this second Twitter feed.

BOOM. A Twitter feed of a Twitter feed. Now that's hip as hell.

And yes. The internet just got post-post-modern.

The Battle for Your Social Screen

Interesting that Twitter launched its Verified Accounts just one day before the start of the Facebook Username bonanza that's set to erupt tonight at midnight EST.

As Facebook moves more and more into the realms of both MySpace and Twitter it seems to be slowly losing relevance. Evolution in the social platforms is necessary to staying exciting and innovative, but it also risks making them overcluttered and obnoxious. That was the opposite of Facebook's appeal in the first place. It was about enhancing your real-life connections and making them easily available anywhere, at any moment. So why usernames? Hm. Good question.

I'm not calling Facebook dead by a long shot. If I were Zuckerberg I'd double check its life insurance policy.

Talking the Talk = Talking Out Your Ass

[Disclaimer: Views expressed here are just my own and absolutely no one else's, including my employer.]

A few weeks back I wrote a post about how people will soon be using Facebook to target jobs they want directly. Well, as I was YouTwitFacing today I came across another such ad. Although, this time is wasn't a hopefully young creative trying to break into a top agency. It was just this dude:


OK, fair, I thought. Let's see what Doug's got. Clicking his ad took me to a page that looked like this:


No, Doug. No. No thanks. No thank you. Somehow I don't think our styles would jive. (Also, make sure you use the agency's name correctly.)

If you want to check the page, it's right here. He's also got a post about this "campaign" on his website here.

Here's the issue I have with stuff like this. Doug's clearly gets that there are ways to reach consumers/people/your target/whatever with media in smart ways. The problem is that that's where the smarts end. Not to knock Doug—I'm sure he's a great guy—but this is what I keep seeing time and time again. Self-professed social media experts that promise to "provide vision and guidance needed to navigate the waters of social media, digital marketing and influence."

OK. a) That's just a lot of meaningless words you jumbled together. If that's the kind of masterful command of the social landscape I can expect from you, I'm better off without help. And 2) Anyone with a laptop and an internet connection, you should be their own social media expert. As advertisers it's our job to understand this sort of thing. I'm sick of hearing all this BS from people who's only goal is to follow as many people as they can on Twitter just so they'll get followed back. It's the same sort of people that sit in coffee shops yammering loudly about branding and the Starbucks model and how their start-up will leverage intelligent marketing. (Also an experience today.) Good people don't talk about how good they are. They just make kickass work and let that speak for them.

Marketing is empty without creative. Sure. You can talk at people with your entire ad budget or masterful "navigation of the waters of social media" until you're a deep, purpley blue. But if your breath still stinks, everyone's going to turn away. Media and marketing are not ideas in and of themselves. Surprising, creative work supported by great media ideas are. Just because you can tweet doesn't mean you always should.

I remember seeing an article recently about why advertising creatives are so antagonistic toward these social media experts. I can't find it now, but it's true obviously true that we are. I'll be 100% honest when I say I scoff at most. Not because I feel superior. I just don't see their necessity yet. Until I see one wildly successful campaign (or heck, even anything of note) created by a social media expert, I'm going to hold that opinion. And I loved to be proved wrong. Seriously. Maybe I'm being ignorant here. So please, if you know something I don't know, clue me in.

I'm not threatened or scared of them like the article said. Just annoyed. Like when I see a banner ad with George Washington booty shaking in front of a list of all 50 states telling me I can save on my car insurance.

Epilogue:
As I was navigating ole Dougy's page, another banner of his popped up.


Where's the third to make this thing a full-blown campaign?

UPDATE:
Ha. Just found the third.

What Website?

Agencies have gotten leaps and bounds more innovative over the last year or so with their websites. After all, doing work for yourself is sort of the dream. You're the client. If you like it, it's going to run. Guaranteed.

One of the biggest trends has been the move away from the labor-intensive and usability-crushing Flashturbation extravaganzas of past years. Instead we've seen the reemergence of HTML-based sites. Easier to navigate and update, they provide more function over form—which is really the model the web has embraced.

Still, agencies are coming up with some killer ways to make their sites engaging and really surprising. The best example is Modernista!'s overlay site, which recently won a Gold Pencil, along with a straight rip-off courtesy of the folks at Agency.com and Skittles.

Well, here's another brilliant stroke, the Boone Oakley website.

BooneOakely.com
Don't be fooled. That's not a video about the website. That is the website. Contained all within a series of YouTube videos, it provides a showcase of work and navigation within the video itself. It screams all kinds of smart and has garnered over 100,000 views in just a few days, even cracking the Viral Video Chart around the 14 position. It's not a sustainable model or one that others should replicate, but it's something brand damn new that will surely work wonders for a little shop based out of Charlotte, NC. Cheers, guys.

Milking the Internet to Land a Job

There's been all kind of big news over using the internet to get job, get clients and get noticed. Recently my very own agency has gotten the twitterverse all a-twitter over our hiring of Chris Kahle from tweet spamming and now our current intern auction on eBay.

If you learn how to work the angles and have a fresh idea, the internet can be a very kind place to you. Here's another example of smart thinking.

I was just sitting here at work, doing something on Facebook when an ad on the page caught my eye:


Facebook owns a massive amount of data on its users, making it easy to target a very specific type of person. I was wondering how long it was going to take someone to do this. Kelly, kudos. You got my attention. You can check out Kelly's work here.

Reminds me of what Think Tank 3 did a little while back. Although I think this actually works a lot better for Kelly.

But always remember, pulling a publicity coup is one thing, but you've always got to have the work to back it up too. I had a long discussion about that with one of my CDs yesterday. I'm all for smart stunts. But if it's just a one-time stroke of luck and not a piece in a larger ouerve of smart work, no thanks. (That's not a comment on Kelly's work necessarily, just a general thought to remember.)

Maybe that'll spark some ideas in your noggin. Go get 'em.

News Headline Fail

Just caught this one on CNN.com:

An interview that's Nothing But Awesome

I've known Kent Sewell for a little while now. I think we actually met through this blog. Really smart guy, nice dude and a copywriter in NYC. A few days he approached me about doing a little interview for his own blog.

We covered the definition of success, 35-hours work days, the dying art of copywriting, making ballsy work and a bunch more stuff. In typical style, it's a little long, but if you're interesting, you can check it out the whole thing over on his blog Nothing But Awesome.

Thought for the Day

You can sleep when you're retired/after you've been up for three days straight and have finally turned in all your projects. For now, you have to prove yourself. Don't ever turn anything down, and be flattered to have too much on your plate.

That being said, I'm not sure when the next time I'll be sleeping will be. Ever.

So, I'm Up for an Award

Just found out that my CPB Shred School site is up for a People's Voice Webby Award.


Wanna help a brother out and cast a vote for it? Yeah you do.

Just click over to http://pv.webbyawards.com, register (yeah, bummer), choose Shred School from the drop down menu at the top and give us your vote. I'll split the prize money with you. Promise.

Thanks.

What Comes First? A few tips on ordering your portfolio

So, you've been working on your portfolio for the last 20 odd months. You've got countless late nights and long weekends-worth of work sitting in front of you, and you're thinking, Yes. I am done. Throw these puppies in a case and get me out the door.

Wrong-o.

There is one very key step you cannot skip here: ordering your book. For the most part I thought worrying about order was bull. I sat down, thought a few minutes on how everything should flow, decided on something that seemed satisfactory to me and off I went.

I took my portfolio on a trip around Manhattan a few days later. Generally speaking, it went really well; I got a lot of positive reviews. But it wasn't until I saw Creative Circus alum Cooper Smith and Dave Canning at Y&R that I really thought too much about the order. They dug my stuff but thought it could be presented better. They told me, when they were in the height of the job hunt, they would often sit in their apartment, spread their work all across the floor and spend hours ordering and reordering everything. (Or so they told me). We sat in their seventh floor office for a bit doing just that. Ultimately, I didn't use the order they thought was best, but their obsession with portfolio ordering showed me its importance.

What was the biggest problem with my book? It didn't have an easy in. My first campaign was a beautiful three-piece print that was based on ridiculously intricate illustrations and super heady headlines. I put it there because it was a personal favorite and seemed the most impressive to me. The problem was, it was so intense, it was like getting punched in the gut as soon as you opened my portfolio. In the end, I changed the pole position to my another campaign that starts off right away with a big, silly joke. Bold, stark and black and white on the page. They never suspected a thing, but they couldn't escape it. It was the best thing I did for my portfolio.

Right off the bat. If you can make someone laugh, they've already got a big smile on their face when they're turning to that next page. And if you've gotten them smiling, they're already on your side.

From there, it's really a matter of the different pieces you have. Generally speaking, you want to kick them in the teeth at the beginning and get a nut shot in at the end. That way they'll remember you. Big, fun, memorable campaigns. In between is where your dense stuff might go—non-profits, body copy, tech heavy.

Pacing is important as you don't want someone to feel fatigued as they trudge through your book, so it's great to throw a fast, fun campaign in between two heavier ones. (Read: This does not mean do a visual solutions campaign. I am and will always be against that. Worthwhile visual solutions are dead. Just like "viral videos." Just not impressive for a student book. You can do better.)

When you actually sit down to do this, I'd start with taking all your campaigns and putting them in piles on the floor. Decide on your bookends—what's going to kick it off and then what's going to close the deal. From there, you'll likely see what should come second. If you've won any awards, I'd probably throw those campaigns in first or second, maybe last. One of my campaigns that won something wasn't the most exciting campaign so I didn't want it first. But the name dropping alone helps, so it made a great second piece. It gets people thinking early, Hey, this kid won something, I should pay attention.

And don't get too attached to your order. I hate self-editing. Once I decided on how my book would read, I didn't feel like changing it. But I'm very glad I did. It made a huge difference. So don't be afraid to get in there and mess it all up and look at it with fresh eyes.

Really, it's just like telling a good story. You've got to have a hook, development and then a big climax. Now, go make a best-seller.

Really? Really, Internet? Really?

I just realized I had never looked at what the all-time top videos on YouTube are. Have you? I just did. Guess what's number one. Go ahead, just guess.

Nope.

Try: Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend. Really. It's right here. You can watch it for yourself and add to the 118,740,546 other views that is has at the moment I write this. (And that's with embedding disabled!)

Avril's barely edging out that stupid Evolution of Dance video everyone went crazy over. Chris Brown's got two in there as do the Jonas Brothers, albeit a little lower in the ranks. Also, Charlie Bit My Finger comes in at a mind-blowing fourth place. And then there's Jeff Dunham's Achmed the Dead Terrorist skit which is pretty unfunny and will likely get us bombed sometime soon.

Here's a screen grab of the whole thing, or you can just click here to see it for yourself.

Really, this is a pretty interesting look into our internet zeitgeist. (Seriously, how trendy is that word right now?) If I'm reading this correctly we're a mixture of good-natured, cheesy saps plus 13-year old, top 40 consuming addicts. Probably not far off.

Wow. I just checked Most Popular Today, and it's basically all Britain's Got Talent Clips. That makes me a little sad. Then again, most surveys of pop culture do.

Got any other good ones for me?

A bit of advice on what you NEED to put in your portfolio

Nothing.

When you're in school and obsessed with the all-important book you'll here a lot of stuff about what you have to include in there (implying if you don't, you won't get a job) and what you can't include in there (which will, of course, preclude you from a job). You hear you have to have something tech, a financial, travel, a package good, a service, long copy, headlines, a visual solution. I'm here to tell you all of that is bull.

I think in the book I graduated Creative Circus with I had a service, an automotive, two packaged good, two food (both candies, no less), one video game. Overall, it lean pretty heavy on the fun. I'm not sure I have a single thing super serious or hard-hitting. All of them are pretty absurd campaigns.

It's a great idea to challenge yourself in school. You should take on clients you wouldn't normally think to do. Do women's products, financial, furniture, get out of your comfort zone. It's good practice.

But ultimately, when it comes to putting your book together, don't murder yourself trying to fill this hole and that hole. Your book should reflect the kind of work you do. Some people are very serious, dramatic screenwriter-like writers. There are plenty of places out there that you will fit in perfectly. If you're an art director with a seriously artistic bent, there are places that need and want someone just like you.

Sure, you need to show some range in your book. But ultimately, your book will determine the type of job you get. So, logic leads us to say, if your book is a reflection of you, you'll get hired somewhere that's a good fit for you, and you'll be much, much happier and do better. I'm a bit of the mindset that if you have a generic, check-all-the-boxes-off book, you'll get a generic, check-all-the-copy-points-off job.

Some things will never change though. Writers need to show you can write. That means having some great headlines in there plus some sort of body copy. Art directors, show you can kill a page. That means beautiful design, attention to type. (My one complaint on student books is that they all feel dimensionally flat. It's amazing what a drop shadow here and there can do.)

The two things your book should do are: prove you're smart and prove who you are. If it does that, you'll be just fine. Don't fret on the details of how you do it. Everyone will have a different way.

(And the great irony of this all is, two of the major clients I work on are a women's fashion brand and a financial. But the best part is, I'm doing it at an agency that aligns with who I am as a creative, so it's a perfect fit.)

I've got more thoughts on perfecting your portfolio if you guy want to hear. Just let me know.

I got NSAC'd in the face

This weekend I had the pleasure/honor of being at judge at the AAF District XI NSAC in Spokane, Washington. (If you're not one for acronyms, that's the American Advertising Federation's Northwest National Student Advertising Competition.) Normally it'd be an rad event to take part in, but it was particular cool for me because I actually competed in the NSAC back during my senior year at the UGA (University of Georgia). So, being back three years later, sitting on the other side of the table, it was a strange experience. (And to make things even more bizarre, one of the other judges was Lori Hicks from the Traffic Agency in LA. She was from the University of Tennessee team that we competed against our district, but we had never met until Friday morning.)

To particiapte in NSAC, teams of college seniors (mostly) spend one or two semesters preparing an entire advertising campaign for the same brief. Research, media plans, creative, PR, everything. It's the first time that most students get a taste of what it's really like to put a full campaign together. As I was doing it, I remember thinking, "Wait, you mean I can just focus on creative and other people can worry about making a budget and putting all that other crap together?" That was the first time I started to understand what it might be like to actual be a "real-life creative."

This year the brief was for an anti-binge drinking campaign for students 18-24, sponsored by The Century Council. In the past it's ranged from Yahoo! to Coca-Cola to Toyota Matrix to Postal Vault. (Postal Vault was my year. Look it up. Ugh.)

Definitely a tough assignment for anyone, and it was great to see the students really tear into it. There were some issues here and there, but for most, it's the first time out of the gate. Overall the other judges and myself were really impressed by the all work and especially the presentations. One thing I particularly enjoyed was when teams built an identifiable brand around their campaign, rather than just makig a pile of advertising. If you look at any of the really good non-profit work nowadays, most of it is centered around a great brand—truth, The Tap Project, Project (RED), all brilliant. It's easier and more powerful for us to associate an idea was a logo, name, design and tone of voice. So, it was great to see some of the teams nod to that. There are some very smart kids out there in the Pacific Northwest.

Congrats to all the students and sponsors that threw away sleep, sanity and in some cases boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses to crank out some great work. I know Lori and I especially appreciated it because we've been in the exact same spot and know exactly what it's like. I also know how much it sucks to do all that work and then get anything but first place. (My team got sixth. Lori got first.) It makes it seem like the entire thing was all a waste of time. But it's not. To be honest, it was just the start of one crazy career ahead. There will be many more nights, weeks, months like that. And each time you do it, you'll get smarter, better, faster.

Congrats to the top teams too: Portland State, Boise State, BYU and Washington State. Nicely done, folks. And best of luck to everyone.

Don't celebrate too hard. OK, maybe just once or twice. You've earned it.

The Lion, The Future and the Young

I've been meaning to write in here for a while, but I've been insanely busy (hey, what else is new?). Insanely busy, as in sleeping a max of four hours a night if I lucky. But life (in general) is good.

In fact, recently three friends and I were asked to shoot and edit together a video for this year's Future Lions competition. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. But really, I'm more pleased with reliving the entirely experience every time I watch it. It really makes me want to go back to Cannes again.

Future Lions Winners: Where Are They Now?

Speaking of going back to Cannes again . . . Miss Liza "F'ing" Behles just won a Young Lions award and is going back to Cannes in June! She's the first person to win a Future Lion and a Young Lion. Insane. What a badass. Congrat her.

And if you're a student, DO FUTURE LIONS. It can change your life. Seriously. Do it. Now. Right now. Go. Go do it right now.

Bye.

Mr. Internet, Episode 4

Here is one badass television program produced in-house, here at CP+B. This episode is by far the best one. Enjoy.

You can peep of them here.

The Late, Late, Late, Late Night

So, it's 4:28, and I think I'm about to leave work. Big presentation tomorrow, an all-nighter here and there, but it's been fun.

Mostly because of my new show on Ustream. If you have heard, it's ANDYVISION. It's been a fun experiment so far, and it's taken off at the office (and beyond). For the record, I'm not the creepy one. You are. You're watching me. I'm doing nothing creepy except sitting at my desk, working and occasionally eating Quizno's Torpedos in inappropriate fashion. Stay tuned for more.

Oh yeah, and look for a new blog coming soon. It's gonna be huge. Literally.

Best beer in America map

That's right. Number two.

Oh, I can only imagine all the lovely, delicious beers out there that I'm not drinking. Just like all the insightful, articulate blog posts I'm not writing.

Some day I won't work 35 hours a day, 8 days a week, and I'll actually do something fun/worthwhile. But for now, I work.

Snowden

In case you were wondering how much it snowed here in Boulder yesterday, here's your answer.


I think the official accumulation was over 16 inches. It was honestly very random. I'd been up for about three days straight getting a client presentation ready, passed out around 7 pm in a normal world and then awoke in the morning in this one.

Even the office was shut down. It was nice to have a semi-work day. I got the promo video for FutureLions 2009 almost done. So, I'll be sharing that shortly once we pass it off to AKQA.

Everyone be good, be safe.

More brilliance from the border patrol

You read this headline and just think, "What could go wrong?"


Currently the lead story in CNN.com. Full article here.

In other news, I've slept exactly one hour in the last three days. I'm feeling fine at the moment, but I can feel my eyes starting to fuzz up a bit. Also, someone randomly came to visit me at work today and gave me a case of Budweiser. Goodnight.

Why the internet baffles me on a daily basis

Google Maps user reviews are always fun, right?

Yesterday I was poking around Maps to find the zip code to our office (it's on my business cards, duh) when I stumbled across something that only qualifies as bizarre.


Everything looks pretty standard. . . . Hm, wait. There's one review of our agency. Weird. Wonder what it says.


OK . . . One of the best parts is that "1 out of 3 people found this review helpful." And if you click on ole Mike's name you'll see he doesn't have a profile but has also reviewed two other places in town with increasingly bizarre comments.

Online prank or another subversive anti-us campaign? Weird either way.

The Funcooker lives!

Don't know if there are any 30 Rock fans out there, but I had to share this. Sitting on my toilet this morning, I was leafing through Wired as usual when, wonder of wonders, my eyes befell in advertisement in on the second to last page: the iwavecube.

For anyone that watched last week's 30 Rock you know that a main story arc was Jack's launching of a pocket-sized microwave. Well, truth is stranger than fiction because apparent this puppy really does exist. This one-foot cubic wonder promises to blast your vittles with 800 watts of juice. Perfect for kittens too!



Another kudos to the iwavecube for having one of the more absurd taglines(?) I've seen in a while: "Small. Light. Quiet. Personal. Portable. Versatile. Energy Efficient." Catchy. Sure to be the next "Just do it."

Learn more about the next Segway on the icubed website.

If you haven't seen the episode (or the show in general), I suggest you watch below, courtesy of our friends at Hulu.

30 Rock - The Funcooker

Media planning is dead.

Googlovation slays yet another industry. Now, with a few clicks of the mouse you can buy an entire television advertising campaign. This video will blow your mind. (Perhaps only if you are in advertising.)

Google TV Ads

I vote for Google to take over the cable industry. Comcast blows. Plus, I have this idea about in the future being able to serve only relevant ads to television consumers that choose which ads they want to see. And I think Google can make that happen.

Slug Sex

For your Saturday night.

Slug sex

What's the morning after conversation like after that?

(That's to Chris Walker for this one.)

. . . And who doesn't love a good poop joke?

First this:

All Bran - Construction Worker"

Now this:



OK, admittedly I love the spot. Hilarious. Not sure where this print is coming from. Seems a little much. Not sure why. Maybe it's the giant puckered asshole. Maybe not.

What makes one more execution worse than another? Also, if you look closely, it looks like the door is to an elephant pen at a zoo. There's already bits of dried pachyderm dung scattered about.

What do you think?

(Shout out to Ben Salas/Will Thomsen/Jimi Turek for "Moves Food Along.")

S&M Kitty

I might've posted this here before, but it was big hit last night on the Twitters and buddy list. I present for you amazement and horror, S&M Kitty.

Cat S&M

Ha! What the--, I'm so disturbed, so awesome, eww.

A Grand Prix just wasn't enough

Here's a trailer for the new movie by some dude that did Old School or something. Not the most original formula ever. Dude is getting married, friends have crazy party in Las Vegas, wake up the next day and try to piece together what happened in a crazy string of antics the night before (Dude, Where's My Card?, Very Bad Things and basically any other comedy made about drunk dudes). Zach Galifianakis is a genius, but I'm not sure strapping a baby to him is the best use of his talent.

Either way, check out the trailer. Particularly the last scene.

The Hangover trailer

You know you've made something culturally relevant when it appears in a movie (that's not Not Another Teen Movie or Meet the Spartans). And not just the movie but the trailer. Congrats, Juan Cabral. You evil genius.

(If you really have no idea what I'm talking about, click here.)

Speaking of Juan, his Bravia "Balls" continues to get ripped off (replicated?) by other agencies with the Sony account. Here's the latest one out of New Zealand.


Sony Bravia - "Domino City"

Never order the same thing twice and don't decide until the waitress asks, "And for you?"

I realized the other day that my motto for life can be summarized in the single sentence above.

It's a simple thought (or two I suppose), but it's directed most of my life. Any life decision I can think about fits rather neatly under this philosophy. And besides the big things, this sort of thinking can push you creatively too.

Stop doing what you know, and start ordering the goat for a change. (Sorry, I ate Nepalese food this weekend.)

Burning the candle on all three ends

Sometimes I wonder if clients realize how much—as "advertisers"—we kill ourselves for them, lose sleep for them, lose relationships for them.

Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be on the other side of the phone call. What it's like to have some people you pay present you ideas, say "Cool, we'll take 'em but can you change these five things?" and then go home for the night, usually in time for dinner even.

I wonder all this because I'm coming off a marathon of a week. I was in the office essentially non-stop since . . . Well, I was going to say when it all started but I can't even remember. I know I was basically living here from Friday to Monday. Like, literally working the entire time, without sleep. Then, another project came up. So, until last night, I slept about 14 hours since Saturday.

It's been insane. But it's a good insane. I'm getting a chance to get my hands on a lot of thing, getting some awesome opportunities to work on some amazing clients under/alongside some insanely talented people.

But all I can say is I might have to take a mental health day tomorrow and go hiking. I wonder what the clients have planned this weekend.

I dumped my pants while watching this

OK, it might be the four beers, utter lack of sleep and sweet episode of LOST talking, but this video is actually one of the best I've seen. (Forget the last one I posted.)

The Quattro toilet


This video is basically the toilet version of Belndtec's Will It Blend? But, the thing about Will It Blend? is that it doesn't relate the products being blended to the messy results of bowel movement.

But, never fear. Because the Quattro by St. Thomas Creations can handle any load you dump on it. I've just been sitting here imagining what each test drop represents. This is truly a priceless video. If intention, brilliant. If lucky, not surrprised.

This is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen

Just watch.

Poodle Exercise with Humans
I must be a year and a half late on this scene, but this is crazy. Thanks, Thanh!

The little joys of comping Guitar Hero

Like any job as a creative, you spend a lot of time comping ideas for presentations. Luckily for those of us working on Guitar Hero, Flickr is a veritable bottomless magician's hat of picture of people playing the game. Like any social phenomenon, it's well documented on there and on YouTube.

But the best part of comping for Guitar Hero is finding really, really weird shit on Flickr involving Guitar Hero controllers. The images below are highlights from about a two-minute session for "guitar+hero+back".









Yeah. I have no idea what that last one has to do with Guitar Hero or backs, but hey, it was there. My favorite is obviously the dude in the Matrix cape on the roof. You can't make that up.

What Indie watches when it's not reading Pitchfork

Here's the trailer for the new flick 500 Days of Summer. You will gather almost immediately that this movie is attempting to be the most "indie" film of all time. (Look out Garden State!) Just when you don't think it can get any more indie, BAM! A Feist (or Feist-ish) song! BAM! Running through a department store! BAM! Rotoscoping on top of live action!

500 Days of Summer trailer
It seems the premise (as usually) is falling in love, when it's just not the right time, with someone you're destined to be with yet can't because of both of your irreconcilable idiosyncrasies.You know, I wouldn't care. I would feel the agony of love-lost a million times over to just be in love with Zoe Deschanel for a week. Actually, I think I did fall in love with her after Elf came out. I should've claimed her them

Damn you, Ben Gibbard, and your wily indie ways!

You should've spent more budget on getting a better concept

I think I was searching for "businessman seated" today on Google Images when this came up.

I suppose it's a more contemporary version of clipart. (Ah, remember lovely, horrible clipart?) Every time I come across images like this (and there seems to be an abundance of them related to businesspeople) I always wonder to myself, Who are these photographers? Who are these people that concept, set up and then shoot these atrocities? Then there's the retoucher, props people, models, all that.

Truthfully, I'm fascinated by this sector of the communications industry. I guess you can find bad art anywhere, just like you can find bad ads, bad writing, bad TV. It still just blows my mind.

Speaking of bad TV/movies . . .

Death scene from Hard Ticket to Hawaii
Tough break.

iPhone band covers MGMT

I wrote a little while back about the idea of exclusively iPhone-produced music.

Well, here it is. Middle-aged women dressed in funky clothes to make them feel better about their waning hipness playing "Kids" by MGMT on their Apple-birthed devices. (I'm sure that's not what they titled it; they just called themselves The Mentalists. But I find my nomenclature more accurate.)

MGMT - Kids (on iPhones)
Will this start off a meme? Is it the next frontier of music? As cool as this video is, I'm going to say probably not.

Album Cover Meme

Finally. The much anticipated debut . . .


Check out a few other classics, via Buzzfeed.


CREATE YOUR OWN ALBUM COVER

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days

Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

5 - Tag the friends you want to join in.

Memes are generally pretty dumb, but I love this one more than most things in my life. I wonder how many actually bands this will spawn. And will real bands start using this as a device for designing/naming albums? I sure hope so.

Mojo

What a great word. Do you know how you can tell it’s a great word?

Look at is synonyms. I was just looking through my writer’s thesaurus and stumbled across it. Check out what Oxford chimed in with:

mojo noun informal 1 get our mojo working MAGIC, voodoo, hoodoo, wizardry, sorcery; charm, lucky charm, amulet, talisman, churinga

2 he’s lost his mojo ENERGY, vitality, spirit, zest, verve; power, dynamism, drive; fire, passion, ardor, zeal; informal zip, zing, pep, pizzazz, punch, bounce, oomph, moxie, go, get-up-and-go, vim and vigor, feistiness

Hizzah! Wham! Pow!

(Special shout-out to Andi. Chartreuse llama.)

Dan Kelly made this

Or at least he should have.

Dick's Sporting Goods/Nike spot

It was actually done by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, but whatever.

Check out Dan's lifelong body of work here: Just Kidding, But Seriously. And just wait for when he tears it up at david&goliath. Coming soon.

Putting the F in fantasy and football

OK, I know I'm a little late on these, but somehow I managed not to click on these for the past five months. But now, thankfully, faithful reader ___ has brought them to my attention. They're nice 'n tricky, just the way the internet likes 'em.

NFL Fantasy Football

Big night

I was within an hour and a half of pulling an all-nighter last night. Left the office around 7 in the morning. Sevenish briefs. Lots of stuff.

Sort of feel like this guy. But without the awesome party the night before.

Pure Waters

A really nice/heart-warming/witty spot for Tasmanian beer James Boags done by Aussie agency Publicis Mojo.

James Boags - "Pure Waters"
Reminds me of so much of the other stuff out there right now. It's sort of this nostalgic fanciful style akin to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? or Big Fish. Still, it makes for a nice spot almost every time.

I want some of that water. I mean, beer.

Welcome to 2009

In case you didn't know, advertising takes place in real time now.

It's crazy.

Lenin is watching. Lenin is always watching.

An email blast from the past

My Entourage notifier just popped up telling me I had a new email. "No subject, probably Nuno," I thought. But when I clicked on it, this is what I saw:


I think someone from the past is trying to send me a message through email. Maybe someone time traveled back to 1904, and is attempting to reach me to tell me that they're trapped.

I'm trying to think of who I know that could possibly have time travel capabilities, and I'm drawing a bit of a blank. If you're the person that's trying to contact me, leave me a message scrawled under the right back table of the Laughing Goat coffee shop (or whatever it is in 1904) in Boulder, Colorado.

My Ode to the Economy

Cheer up, little guy.

President Please!

A heart-warming story out of Harlem. Apparently the word "president" has replaced the N-word in honor of President Obama.

President replaces N-word

Clearly a parody of some sort. But well done. Check out President Please for more. Not sure how deep this rabbit hole goes, but it's funny either way.

(Rank on ViralVideoChart: 10)

Job is fun

This is what yesterday felt like. (Skip ahead to :57 for best representation.)

Yesterday
And this is today:


I just found this picture. There are so many things wrong with it. In fact, I want you to click on it and really take it all in. Thanks.

Live Rat Mirror!

Rat staring contest

Reminds me off the two rats I used to have, Socrates and Vince MacMahon.

Helvetica: The Blog Post

I finally watched the documentary Helvetica last night. If you haven't seen it—and are a total design nerd—I'd highly recommend it. The film tracks the origins of the universal typeface, how it changed our visual and cultural landscape and where it's left us today. A flock of type and design gods weigh in with their own very strong beliefs on the typeface, ranging from the embodiment of perfect ecstasy to a criminal representation of design facism.

If you have Netflix (and I recommend that you get that too), you can watch it instantly. So go for it. Right now. Here's just a little taste:

Helvetica trailer

And in honor of the movie, I thought I'd post this piece that sits in our house, made by my roommate, the illustrious and unflappable Nuno Ferreira. (The kerning's a little off, but we'll overlook that.)


Brilliant.

THAT Guy

You may know that guy. You know, that guy. The one that jumps into the background of an innocent group of girls' photo and utterly ruins it with some bizarre face or obscene gesture. Well, one of my friends from UGA discovered a flaw in the UGA Facebook system and was able to create an account for him. Check him out here, friend him so you can tag your own pictures with him in it.

Oddly enough, Valentine's Day is THAT Guy's birthday (note the spelling). And recently College Humor published a gallery of some of his greatest work. It's not connected to the Facebook page, but still awesome in its own right. Here's just a taste.

Creep McGee.

A classic. A favorite.

The ultimate.

The sasquatch. (Also, what is going on in this picture? And how can I be there?)

Check out the whole gallery for yourself. As someone who's been THAT Guy his fair share of times, I can tell you, there are some true gems in here.

He says he quit surfing

Oh hey. Look who it is. Mr. Editor-In-Chief himself.

I'm going to start a whole blog that's just pictures of Brandon. It'll be call the Brandon Blog. The Brandblog. The Brandog.

Scary.

I've seen some dorky things

... but this one is perhaps wins it. It might just be because I identify with this one so much. Behold, KERN the iPhone game.

KERN iphone game demo from Jason Franzen on Vimeo

I just downloaded it a few minutes ago. The design is really clean and somewhat unconventional. It's worth the $0.99 for that alone. (Also, how rad is that vertical Vimeo player? Great for iPhone demos.)

After some clicking, I found that these guys have made another app too. Check out EYE vs. EYE.


EYE vs. EYE iPhone game demo from Jason Franzen on Vimeo

If anyone from the Circus is reading this, I dare you to get this game and challenge Sylvia to a round. I double dog dare ya.

Thanks to Mr. Mind for this gem.

EPIC Dance

Captured from the Celtics Jumbotron feed, this is Jeremy Fry. Way epic.

Celtics fan dance

Today's post goes out to Kasia Haupt. She knows why.

15 Inches of Fame, or My First Ad

It's been over six month now since I left school and jumped into adlandia, and just now am I starting to see the fruits of my labor (or my loins or whatever). While I was at Wieden I mostly worked on two campaigns, one for Starbucks Via which was just announced yesterday. The other was for a new set of Tazo Tea products that debuted a week or two ago. It wasn't my campaign, but I ended up writing some OOH, print, in-store and doing some interactive.

Budgets ended up getting cut, and I left Wieden so I didn't think much of it. That is, until I was walking past a Starbucks the other day and caught glimpse of a sign. It wasn't something I wrote, but still it was like, "Hey, that my first campaign."


Then, Tuesday morning I was in Target, walking out past the in-store Starbucks, when I noticed another sign. This time it was one of the lines I wrote (albeit a slightly bastardized version).


(Sorry, no zoom on iPhone. It says, "Let one of these be your to-do-list.")

I always thought the first time you see one of your ads run would be a transcendental experience. Suddenly your catapulted into the upper eschelons of communicative arts and stardom. You've created a piece of propaganda seen by millions (or maybe just thousands).

Maybe it had something to do with the fact it was a 18x24 poster behind the counter of an in-Target Starbucks or or the fact the budget for the campaign got gutted to encompass only in-store signage or the fact that I'm so distanced from Starbucks at this point, but I just sort of felt apathetic.

I think one thing I realized was that I make advertising. There are millions upon millions of ads and images and message out there. Mine was just another piece out there. No more or less special than any other piece, just because I made it.

Overall, it was good positive though. It put things into perspective, for at least a moment. All I am is a poster hanging in Starbucks. Tomorrow I may be more. But it's good to remember who we are, what we do and to be humble about both.

An Internet Orgy of Awesome

David After Dentist just won't die. And why should it? It's one of the best virals to hit the interwebs since Two Girls. (Man, do you remember when you thought you'd be talking about that video every day for the rest of your life?)

Well, today we have a bit of a meme mashup. When you add this:

David After Dentist

to this:

<
Kittens Inspired by Kitten

you get this:


Kittens Inspired by David After Dentist

Yaaaaay internet!

Obey banners

Has anyone else been seeing this AWFUL banners everywhere around the internet? Or is it just me?

Seriously. WTF. I see these everywhere, and they're grossing me out. Anyone? Maybe I'm just going to all the wrong sites. I don't know. But I want it to stop.

(This is some brilliant new project by Shepard Fairey?)

Instant inferiority complex coming in 3, 2, 1 . . .

Want to feel bad about how lazy and stupid you are? Perfect!

See this little kid right here? This nine-year old kid? Well, he just wrote an app for the iPhone that allows you to finger paint on the screen. It's called Doodle Kids.


That's not all. Our little Chinese wunderkind here is already fluent six programming languages. Yes, Lim Ding Wen "first started using a computer when he was two-years-old, discovered programming aged seven, and has since completed more than 20 programming projects."

Lim Thye Chean, his fathers seems proud. This is what he had to say about it:

"Ding Wen is an above average boy with an interest in computers, especially Apple IIGS and Macs, likes to do programming, and that's it. Doodle Kids is an extremely simple program that can be done by anybody. Everybody can program - if Ding Wen can, so can you."

Don't be too excited, dad. Geez, I was happy when I was able to set up my wireless network. Google better snatch up this kid before the Chinese government does.

Here's the story from the BBC.

Squirrelkitties

This is the meeting of Kasia's and my worlds.

Cat adopts baby squirrels

Oh yeah, and the video uses Papyrus. I'm not sure what this all signifies, but I should probably be scared.

Advertising and deers

This is what's weird about working for a huge advertising agency that just randomly happens to be in the middle of nowhere (i.e. Boulder, Colorado). I was pulling in to park at home after leaving the office, and there, right next to my house is this deer. A buck. Just chilling, eating my bush. I live in the middle of Boulder. There's just a deer someone here. Hanging out.


It's funny. As I drove to work the other morning I was watching the landscape pass by my window and thought to myself, "I can guarantee that no one else in the entire advertising saw a herd of cows on their morning commute this morning." But yet, I do every morning. There's a stretch of farm land between town and our office on the outskirts of the city limits. It's just weird. And somehow awesome.

It's cool to be removed from the world somewhat, not caught up in all the stuff going on out there. It's like a mountain hideout: Lock yourself up in the basement, scheme and then emerge with an awesome/evil plan. I like it.

I like venison too.

(As an aside, I refrained from any crashing-your-friends-car-head-on-into-a-deer-so-the-deer's-ghost-is-now-following-you-to-finish-of-your-new-car jokes for Ben's sake. I care about you, dude.)