Make it Up as You Go Along.

Every now and then, the "This I Believe" series nails it. Here is an Essay by Alice Brock, former owner of the famous Alice's Restaurant. Her thoughts on improvisation play just as well in an agency as they did in her restaurant. No need to explain it any further, just enjoy.

The Big List

I'm in the process of compiling a list of advertising agency links to aid the job search. There are about 210 links and counting. It might be useful to other portfolio students as well. So here it is:

http://del.icio.us/circuskidsbookmarks

Escape Secret Santa Unscathed (too much?)

My favorite holiday tradition from last year was the Secret Santa party at my part-time job. Unwanted gifts fly around like emails and the everybody's inner-Brando gets coaxed to the surface. I guess it's like any Secret Santa party. Only at my job, half of the attendees aren't actually present. They're on the other end of a video conference. All expressions of faux-gratitude are amplified for the camera, exaggerated like it's car give away time on Oprah.

This year, I'm going to follow the advice of this article on wired.com.

And I'm going to add one suggestion. If you happen to be so lucky as to have a Secret Santa who recently acquired the new Radiohead album, there's a 68% chance he or she paid nothing. So go ahead and send a $25 check to Thom Yorke. Thom gets the cash, your coworker gets a clear conscience. Everybody wins.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh." That Was a Heavenly Chant, if You Didn't Notice.

Airplane safety video for Virgin America done by Anomaly. I love how they have made something mundane fun and enjoyable.




I love "For the .000001% of you who have never operated a seat belt..."

Guzzling the Kool-Aid.

Now it's official: Google is the coolest company ever.

"We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers," said Larry Page, Google Co-founder and President of Products. "We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal."

Read all about it here.

What I Remember About Alex Bogusky's Talk.

I thought it would be fun to hold off on writing about it until it had a while to soak in. You know, wait and see what sticks. Unfortunately, I was tainted a bit by Danny G's post on AdPulp yesterday. So I won't mention presenting ideas as press releases or how Bogusky and Chuck Porter shaped the agency.

What stuck out to me was the way he deals with creative block. At the Circus, we've been taught dozens of techniques for breaking through. But they're all focused on treating it as it happens. Crispins' approach is more of a preventative method.

Teams will spend some portion of their day just sort of look at each other and say things like, "I'm so fucking creative right now. You look like you're feeling creative too." They also keep loose by playing little improve games. For example, someone will walk up to someone on another team and say "Hey, I had a great idea for that project you're working on..." without having an idea. Just start the sentence and see what comes out. As for Alex, he pictures ideas and creativity just dripping off him. Coming up with ideas is no problem because they're just falling off constantly. That's a pretty cool way to think about it.

Reason to Like JWT.

Stop Motion Test

This is only a test. I had an hour to kill yesterday so I made a quick stop motion video using the chattering teeth I won in the Creative Circus 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament.

I had a really hard time with the various services that host videos. Google Video was particularly bad when it came time to upload the video. Vimeo was bar far the cleanest, fastest and easiest. So here it is.




Teeth Experiment 2
from Mike

"Winding Road" = Interesting

There's an article over at Ad Age today about the new VW campaign and the "winding road" the work has taken over the last fifteen months or so. The article cites a couple experts that the "hair pin turns" taken by VW are a mistake. I couldn't disagree more.

Of all the brands out there, none has held my attention like VW. Why? Because they mix it up and they keep it interesting. The work fits together over time, but it's not repetitive. The inconsistencies in the individual messages just make it more interesting. I remember being delighted when VW gave away guitars and had spots featuring Slash and John Mayer. Guitars that can plug into cars? Why? Because it's interesting.

I'm also reminded of bits and pieces of thinking about brands that I read on Russell Davies blog. In particular, I remember a post (or was it a video) where he discussed polyphonic brands. Russell compares brands to a symphony. In which there are many different nuanced sounds (that are interesting in and of themselves) that create a collective whole.

The VW work's incongruity and freshness makes the brand more interesting and engages the audience even more. As it becomes harder and harder for brands to reach a mass audience, it becomes more important that brands be nuanced, varied and well, interesting. No one is interested in a person that says the same things, tells the same jokes or wears the same clothes. Why would we like brands that do the same things over and over?

Inspiration: Folkstreams

I heard a piece on NPR about Folkstreams.net. The site is described as "A National Preserve of Documentary Films about American Roots Cultures streamed with essays about the traditions and filmmaking."

I just watched about a half-hour of Style Wars. The filmmakers explore the emergence of hip-hop culture in New York during the early eighties.

Folkstreams.net is a perfect place to go if your in need of some inspiration or just need to get your mind off advertising for a while.