Mark, leave me alone about my blog

Since Mark and Colin won't leave me alone about my updates or there lack of, here you go. What will this be about, probably not to sure about that. There has been a lot that has happened since my last blog post. Who honestly follows this. Seriously, outside of you two that read this? Ha this can be interesting. We are on a deadline come the Sept. 19th here we are on a make or break session that hopefully will lead to the rest of my life. Who knows, I have a little vacation ahead too, that should be fun. So here we go. Everyone follow Mark's comments, and feel free to give me money to gamble for you.

What's Gatorade mean to you Colin?

Wow some one actually follows this. I thought I was just spilling dribble out into the Internet to stop the Junk Emails for enhancement pills and car warranty information.

Honestly What's G? Isn't G just Gatorade trying to reinvent itself. Whats G, Gatorade?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63rjG7Jd5nk&feature=related

Is that What G is? a bunch of Athletes, A high school basketball player that was a national highlight reel, or a group of Dancers that were made famous through MTV? Sure it is if you consider G or Gatorade for those that want to text their friends with the new lingo. What's Lil Wayne have anything to do with G? Who knows maybe he needs some more money for some cars and chains. Ask Nike they seem to like him.

What's G have to do with Monty Python? Good question.

I ask how many people actually know Monty Python's work? Do the consumers of Gatorade get it? Maybe? It's an awfully good question when you barely see Derek Jeter's face. How many people of Generation Y actually know who Kareem Abdul Jabbar is? Did they know he was Lew Alcindor? Or do you just recognize the jabberwockees.
Gatorade decided to reinvent itself after the Tiger brand didn't get the type of response they wanted. Element 79 were behind those ads. Really Tiger Woods Golfing on the moon. Ok but why wait till the end to see his face. That's money well spent.

Enough of me Ranting and getting off topic. TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles is who you can thank for the G's new advertising. Are we really that lazy where we aren't going to call it Gatorade. For the Series of Commercials it is enjoyable, there are certain parts where you think that they could have elaborated more. For instance, Usain Bolt gave up his ego? no one knows that he is the fastest man from that commercial. While I applaud the idea. I think that with some more elements that were elaborated on this could have been a long lasting impression. I do like the voice over at the end, I thought that was Jordon, but I thought it was a great fit. Take a look for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jJoGDG4UE

Account Services

I never really thought that Will Work For Food wouldn't really work. Hmmm, I am thinking of going the extra mile and making a cardboard sign and standing outside of a Agency. Will that work? Who knows. What does it take to prove to someone that I am capable of doing a job even if I would work for free for a year?

So you could say I have a crush on Wieden and Kennedy but there is some good work going on there.

Take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24HyZfGwPnk&feature=related

So what do you have less than ten seconds of Tiger Woods and you Promote a new wave of Nike Golfers. Brilliant, it also promotes the PGA Tour starting to get the gears rolling on a new season. Which means spring is right around the corner, which in turn will still drive golf sales. Simple really.

Now I have nothing against celebrity endorsements, but there has to be some kind of connection. There are some Ads that are funny but what value did the celebrity add. I have seen many celebrities endorse products that they have no business doing so. There are positive examples of their own brand being successful.
Tiger Woods
George Foreman
Lebron James
Michael Jordon

Simple high visibility will allow for a higher believability when it comes to products. Its simply not getting a great spokesperson or celebrity to endorse your product its finding the right fit. Fit is the most important element when it comes too advertising, Look at Covergirl's Drew Barrymore, the girl next door, makes the female seem like that she could look like that and look better, unlike the supermodel spokespersons that they have had before.

So I start next monday

So I have a job as a quality control inspector for the PPG group for Snelling Staffing. Yeah right on the track to My Career. I apply and apply but it just stinks out there right now.


So here is what I am thinking about Advertising.

Branding is an art form. It's like a first date; You want to impress, you want there to be a second date. You want to be the one they think about the next day. Seems simple doesn't it. If it were only so simple. In my opinion who has a great brand. Lebron James. Look around he is recognizable. He is the face of the NBA, he made more money than any of us before he ever step foot on a basketball court. Nike made him a Multimillionaire before he was out of his teens. Why? Why give this High School kid tens of millions of dollars to market their product? It's simple really.

What you need to realize is that Nike's investment was one of the greatest moves of all time. Did they know that he would be any good? No not a clue, what they did know is that it was a fifty-fifty risk. Look at the numbers, how much do you think Nike makes off each pair of Lebron's shoe they have. The return from that compared to how much they pay Lebron is simple, He brings in consumer spending for the Nike Brand. ESPN has some great commercials with LEBRON too make sure to youtube them, simple making him more and more vi sable.

Sure its simple marketing but look at how Lebron has moved from high school to staring in his own series of commercials. Some of my personal favorites really. Take a look at this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsoP6bjADic&feature=related
I mean is it Nike or is it Lebron, Obviously it's Lebron, Nike is going to benefit but if he wanted to when his contract is up he can easily have what Jordon has with his own brand of clothing and merchandise.

The Lebron commercials are some of my favorites simply because they make you laugh, they don't force you to go buy anything. The message is simple. LEBRON is the present and the Future. I mean come on he has his own Bubbaliscious gum flavor.

I give credit where it is due for Wieden + Kennedy have produced some great Nike Spots and used Nike's athletes to do some great work. What they can't do is use shameless insertions of Lil Wayne into their ads like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRl9zdqOrpo
If I am Nike I don't want Lil Wayne to be a feature of my product. Yes he may be popular but he doesn't stand for what Nike does. Unless Nike stands for Guns and degrading women. But hey what ever sells a shoe.

Greenhouse a no go

So I guess the whole production line doesn't work for me or so thought my previous employer. So now I move on to the professional side of Temp work. What I am still longing to do is work 14 hour days for minimum wage for an adverting agency. I will work for free and I seem that I still can't find what I am looking for.

So enough of my complaining. Let's look at today's advertising. Today we will look at TV ads, everyone knows them and has their favorite. I find that TV ads can be memorable although they don't really always deliver what the client wants. Let me give you some examples;

Go Daddy.com

Ugh, everyone has to realize that these are for shock value but ask the person walking down the street what do they do? anyone? does anyone actually know that they do website domain names and web hosting. Funny seems that with all that money spent on their commercials at least you would hope that people could walk away knowing what they actually do.

Here is another that I am sick of,

Budweiser, yeah the king of beers and Lately DDB the agency in charge of their creative design is dropping the ball. Here is Budweiser's next years Superbowl commercial. Ready here we go open on a barn with a Clydesdale some sort of sappy story line, insert Datamation, show Clydesdale running and close. Thirty seconds later and 3.4 million in the hole Budweiser is no better off then they were before the game.

Ok, last but not least is every single car ad on the market that shows the car driving around mountains and driving through back road trails and every instance in between. So let's see I take cookie cutter car ad insert new car to show the wonders of the handling, the versatility of any car that they want to buy. What makes this worth even putting out there, take your thirty second commercial take it and divide it into two :15 spots and then show the financing options and take the media planner and have them split up the spots to reach a greater audience.


I guess people have thought of this before but waited for me to post it on here that makes it official. I really need to start working in an agency.

Where to work

Considering the options, I am currently working at a Staffing Firm working in a greenhouse. Obviously this isn't where I want to be. What I would like to do is start working in Advertisng in some form as soon as possible. I will most likely work until I have saved enough to either move to a larger city and hopefully be able to land an entry level position in the Account Services side; Or Decide that I need to go back to school and work on a advanced degree.

I think its silly to see that every job I come across needs 1-3 years experience. I have had that experience in school and have worked in a variety of customer service roles. I only hope that someone will take the time to interview me and realize that if you give me a chance that I can exceed expectations.

I hope that this will show my experiences and abilities to hopefully let me be given the chance that I feel that I deserve. I hope to contribute to this once a week and talk about the Advertising industry and where I see it can be improved. My opinion may not seem like a big deal to some, but there is a problem with today's Ideas. Stay Tuned