The good life

Really great advertising is powerful.

It can make you laugh or move you to tears. Tonight we did PSA (Public Service Announcement) ads for the prevention of animal cruelty.

I spent time looking at the award winning ads in this category and was definitely moved by what I saw. One ad I really liked had the following line (I'm paraphrasing):

This is the box a mink comes in (Visual of fancy garment box)
This is the box a mink lives in (Visual of much smaller box drawn in dotted lines inside garment box)

Assuming that the dimensions of the boxes represent accurate living quarters, how can you not feel for these animals? The key to moving the viewer is taking an interesting fact (mink living small quarters) and providing a twist (showing dimensions in relation to garment box).

My PSA campaign stayed on the wall so I was very excited. There is a huge difference doing research for Scope Mouthwash and the prevention of animal cruelty...it was torture just to see some of what goes on, I'm glad that's over!


Tonight the professors spoke about their preferences regarding student portfolios.

Portfolio = website and simplicity is king.

I'm going to get a few campaigns art-directed over the next month. It's kind of exciting to get my work produced, I can't wait to see how it comes out!

My professors advised us to not be cute on our website as it only takes away from our work.

I agree. Let the work speak for itself darn it! (Maybe I'll feel differently after my 100th rejection, who knows?!)

Tomorrow is another busy day in the life of this unemployed 27 year old. I have special motivation to work hard this week as this is the last assignment of the semester and we have been instructed to create a guerrilla (ambient) campaign. My previous guerrilla attempts have sucked but I'm hopeful I can improve ;o)

The great thing about being your own boss (which I am these days) is that you can make and break, your own schedule. Here's mine for tomorrow:

7:30am - breakfast
9:00am - Yoga (I have to workout the back for tennis!)
10:30am - Advertising research
12:30pm - Lunch
1:30pm - Photography - I have to take a picture that shows boredom or enthusiasm
2:30pm - Contact Art Directors and continue with Ad research
4:30pm - Run
5:30pm - Dinner
6:30pm - Work to improve past ad campaigns for portfolio

This list will stretch out to 4am, easy (probably because I totally lied about the allotted lunch and dinner times in the schedule above!). There will be moments of intense focus and inspiration followed by periods of procrastination and digestion. Items will be added to the list and others will be completely ignored.

As always, the day will unfold and I'll roll with the punches. It'll go fast and that's why I'm taking a moment right now to stop and enjoy the fact that unemployment has been treating me well.

I'm living the good life and hope you are too!

joeyz101
http://twitter.com/joeyz101