Thursday, May 31, 2007

And We've Reached a New Low

According to MediaDaily News, Spot Runner and Lexis Nexis are teaming up to offer "turnkey media planning and addressable ads to local law firms around the nation." This represents the worst of what advertising has to offer. Thank God someone has found a way to make bombarding the airwaves with slimy personal injury lawyers even easier.

I can't wait to see what sort of prepackaged creative is available. "Let's see. Hmmm. Should we go man slipping in hallway, us standing in front of books, to whiplash diagram or the other way around?" It's shit like this that makes me hesitant sometimes to tell people I want to work in advertising.

Now if they only had a way to make chasing ambulances digital. I think I just created a new Google app.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Just Like George

Now that I take a second look at my eleven year old brother Will's dead squirrel email (see previous post), I've noticed that his style is strikingly similar to George Parker's style. George is the blogger that runs AdScam/The Horror. I put it all together after I found myself reading Will's email in the same voice I read AdScam.

He's very funny and seems to be cynical in a good way that doesn't make me want to run away screaming from a career in advertising. To me, he takes an industry that seems to be full of it's own bull shit down a peg or ten. I like how he cuts to the core of everything and pisses people off. I think I'm going to buy his book.




"I write like an eleven year old, but I'm really fucking funny."

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

I Blame Bad Headlines on my Dad.

Last week, my brother John showed my brother Will and me a picture of a dead squirrel he took with his camera phone. We laughed. There was something about the expression on the squirrel's face. He looked like he was faking. Like he set himself up in a taxidermist shop to get a laugh from his friends. The moment passed and we moved on. And then I got this email from Will yesterday:
this is wat i think a real squrl should look like after it dies!!!!!! as u recall on yur b-day party we were waiten in the car for sarha and john showed us that pic! well.... this is my pic that i took 2 days ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This photo was attached.


This shouldn't be funny to me. It's sick. It's gross. But I think it's funny. I blame my father. He's just socially acceptable enough to be accepted as pleasant company but weird enough to generate a "check please" kind of moment that makes everybody seem sort of uncomfortable. I've been subjected to those moments all my life and have no option but to find the humor in them. And as I'm finding in my own life, he's gifted me with the ability to make the same sorts of comments.

Here's where my writing comes in. I'm about four quarters into the copywriting program at the Creative Circus and by now I can tell the difference between a good headline and a bad one. But somewhere in bad headline land, there's a little island inhabited by bad headlines that I, for whatever reason, think are good. Almost always, there's something off-beat about them. They're offensive, make a weird reference or are just plain stupid. Yet I'm attracted to them. My internal bouncer lets these headlines into the party even though they don't have the proper credentials. The part of my brain that thinks dead squirrel emails are funny also allows this island to exist. Most of these headlines, like the dead squirrel, generate a pungent odor that only rotting rodents and bad advertising can produce.

But there's something cool about this island of headlines. Every now and then, among the most horrible of puns and the ramblings that only make sense to me, something will come off the island that is pure gold. It's like a gift from the advertising gods. Headlines that are like a down and out Daniel LaRusso who conquers the naysayers around him. They're unexpected gifts – Christmas presents in July.

From this island will come work that says something about me and that solves a problem in a way only I know how to solve it. I can only benefit as a creative by tapping into things that are funny/interesting/angering/weird/heartbreaking/uplifting/inspiring to me because of who I am and how I was raised.

If only I could find my way out to that island more often, I'd make better ads. If I just had more dead squirrels, I could build a raft.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Foot Entourage (or Entoerage)

I've found it interesting to apply the characters from the HBO show Entourage to various groups of five in my life. Each character brings something to the table.


Here's how my toes line up.

After asking a few friends to do the same,I think it says something about the person going through the exercise. For instance, what stands out about each of the five characters to them? And how do they go about making the connection between characters and toes? Is everything rational? Do they sort by size, personality or rank?

Either way, entourage is an awesome show.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Paid



Behold, the first check I've received for writing something. May there be many, many more.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

In Praise of Absurdity

I've been thinking quite a bit about where I want to work assuming I end up with a decent book. I've been paying attention to the ad world consistently for about two years and the work that I tend to like the most has an appreciation of the absurd.

I pretty much love anything that comes out of Goodby or TBWA/Chiat Day NYC. I'm a huge fan of the relatively new Starburst commercial featuring the Little Lad. I love the Slowkys for Comcast and loved the original Emerald Nuts campaign.

I thought about why I gravitate towards that sort of work. And then I thought of Ernest. When I was a kid, it didn't get much better than Ernest Goes to Camp. I remember reciting the lines from the beginning of the movie when Ernest confesses to the twentieth century's most infamous crimes as the camp nurse gives him a shot ("I am Josef Mengele! I kidnapped the Lindbergh baby!"). Maybe it's genetic or the result of weird parents, but I've always responded to the absurd.

So here it is, The Little Lad followed by Ernest.