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.