Updating, Fixing and "Best of A View From An AdGuy"

In the coming days I will be doing some fixing and cleaning up of my blog.

As I went through a of the few older posts I noticed a number of the video links and images were broken so I will fix those were ever I can.

During this search I realized there are a good number of "gems" posted here. So it got me thinking to repost them as a series called "Best of A View From An AdGuy".

As I fix and add I will Tweet out and post to my Facebook page and group page.

Stay tuned.

Peace and respect,

Anthony

The Digital Don Drapers; Today's 'mad men' and women are still taught to search for The Big Idea - but technology has transformed the way they deliver it.

I was asked to comment on advertising education in the Globe and Mail (Canada's National Newspaper) and on globeandmail.com on November 17, 2011

Today's advertising industry is far removed from the world portrayed in the television drama Mad Men, about a 1960s Manhattan agency dominated by chain-smoking male executives who dazzle clients with their print and broadcast creations.

For one thing, women share the spotlight with men. Meanwhile, technology has reshaped the industry, and masterminding brand buzz more commonly involves the digital space.

As consumers increasingly turn to online communication, the dozens of colleges across Canada that offer advertising education are shifting the way they groom their "mad men" - and women - of the future, augmenting traditional programs with web-based and social networking training.

Because students also get real-world experience, working with ad agencies and other industry members, most get jobs right after graduation.

…Despite the increasing importance of digital advertising and marketing, there remains a "media agnostic" approach to teaching students how to sell their ideas, because print, radio and newspaper advertising aren't dead: This is stressed by Mr. Rosen and Anthony Kalamut, co-ordinator of the two-year creative advertising diploma program at Seneca College in Toronto.

Mr. Kalamut says ad education at Seneca, which graduates about 50 students a year and has a partnership with York University that results in a bachelor of arts degree, emphasizes creating "the big idea" that works across all platforms.

"Big ideas can sell little products, and no one idea can be considered out of play any more," he says. "You have to figure out the story to tell, to engage with the audience and put the pieces into play.

"We have to be flexible, quick and agile enough to say, 'Facebook will be a nice accent to what we're doing on billboards.'"

Seneca has run an ad program for about 40 years but revamped it about 15 years ago to meet the changing industry. Students now learn design and layout, effective communication and presentation, copywriting, computers and applications, and desktop publishing. In the second year, they choose one of two streams: creative, which prepares students for jobs in, for instance, copy writing or art direction; or business, which offers preparation for jobs in account management, media planning and buying, and strategic planning.

As an example of how traditional ad vehicles can team with a modern method of communication, Mr. Kalamut points to the award-winning "Billboard Coupon Campaign" for James Ready beer.

Seneca alumni Steve Persico is a copywriter at Toronto's Leo Burnett agency, which worked with James Ready on the campaign. The beer company partnered with local businesses offering discounts on their products and services that were splashed on billboards. People could take a picture of the billboard, on their camera phones, for instance, and show that picture to the relevant company to get the discount.

The concept behind the billboard-coupon campaign: People can save money on necessities and then have more money to spend on beer… 
College ad programs don’t just attract students right out of high school. Some are already in advertising jobs and looking to update their skills, while others want to change career paths.

Seneca creative advertising student Jillian Pearson, 26, for instance, was acting and running a theatre company in New York after studying acting at Dalhousie University in Halifax, but wanted “a different kind of adventure with more structure” that still tapped her creative energy.

Now in her second semester at Seneca, Ms. Pearson was among students who worked with the Cundari ad agency on a BMW Series 7 relaunch project – part of the hands-on experience that makes students job ready after graduation.

“The professors are well-connected – they’re still in the industry so we get the opportunity to reach out to clients that you might not be able to reach out to until later in your career,” says Toronto-born Ms. Pearson, who wants a copywriting career after she graduates in August.

What Have We Become When Reviewing Young Talent... NICE!

Steve Hall, Founder of AdRants and AdGabber posted this a few years back. I could help but repost it as many advertising grads and future AdLanders begin to polish their "books" into something that will soon be seen by the world of Creative Directors... all who have an opinion.

It's true being nice just to be nice doesn't help anyone.  

In fact, according to this video for the Denver Ad Club, it can cause a person to drown. 

Of course, no one in advertising is ever nice just to be nice. In fact, going into advertising offers the perfect platform for a person to rip the shit out of another person and toss it of as simply "critiquing the work."  

But anyway, the Denver Ad Club wants young creatives about NEXT, a portfolio-building program designed to bluntly inform people what's working and what isn't in their portfolio.

Steve Hall AdGabber

 

Be aware young AdLanders, there may be an agenda when showing your book... but it may not be the one you are looking for.

The Best and The Worst on Super Bowl XLVIII

These are top 5 Spots that had me talking and made cut through the clutter for me (and even a couple that made me WTF!!!).

Chrysler 200 Super Bowl Commercial featuring Bob Dylan



Coca-Cola: "America the Beautiful” (Best Diversity)



T-Mobile No Contract  Four Margaritas (Simplest / Lowest Budget)

 

Radio Shack ReBranding Ad (Star Studded and Not your dads Radio Shack)




Budweiser — "Puppy Love” USA Today Ad Meter Winner and 49 Million plus views



WORST ADS

"The Truth" | Official Kia K900 Morpheus




Beats Music's Ellen DeGeneres... Wrong Target Audience.

Sunset. Sunrise. Happy "New Year"... Yes, A New Year Begins.

I am a child of the sun. I am a child of summer.

I usually start feeling the "blues" or "funk" sets in around the last few days of August.

Always have, since as long as I remember.

I wondered if it because my birthday is on August 13th?

No, it was the fact that I knew summer was coming to an end bringing with it a start to a new school year, daylight hours would be shorter, the crisp air and leaves of fall would give way to bitter winter and summer and the beach would be nine moths away. But something changed, and in recent years the end of August has become a time of excitement and renewal.

What changed?

Well back in September 1993 my career and life changed forever. I began a new chapter in my life when I was offered to join the teaching faculty at Seneca College and the School of Communication Arts in Toronto. Yes, September 2013 marks my twentieth year as a professor in the Creative Advertising Department. I need to be a little cliche by stating the standard "It feels like only yesterday"... but truth be told, it feels like only yesterday. Honest.

One of my greatest mentors was Ken Coleman. A gruff, strong willed and passionate individual. I owe him much. He taught me well. He gave me the "adguy" handle that so many know me by. Not just the details of becoming an art director but how to be passionate and insatiable for the creative drive and curiosity. He also taught me the need for "paying forward". Ken recommended me when he was seeking a new faculty member with an advertising background and the rest is history.

There's another cliche that floats around but fits this post very well; "If you LOVE what you do you'll never work a day in your life". Yup, it's true. This has never been a 'job' or 'work'... it has been a wonderful and enjoyable ride. My students allow me to learn everyday and share in the joy of a business I so love.

So now I start year twenty... with greater passion and curiosity. In a couple weeks I'll take another group of young "AdLanders" to New York. I will start to work with a group of senior students a semester away from their career dreams. I can only hope that I can give them the tools that will let them find the 'what', 'how' and 'why' it will take to live those dreams.

HAPPY NEW YEAR AHEAD... Shana Tova Umetukah.

A final footnote to summer. The summer of 1976 marked me putting the wraps on my freshman year of college and this song became my "theme". Los Angeles based funk/soul/latino/R&B band WAR released "Summer". Timeless rhythms.

ENJOY!

WAR - Summer