Making Lemonade

More than 70,000 advertising professionals have lost their jobs in this “Great Recession.” Lemonade is about what happens when people who were once paid to be creative in advertising are forced to be creative with their own lives.

We can’t wait to see the stories unfold on how these people dealt with a block in the road.
~a

Not dead…yet.

Amanda and I aren’t dead – not yet, anyway. Quite the opposite really…we’re busy little bees at the moment and neglected to update our blog during the second half of May. Whoops.

But, we’re back and ready to post some fun creative challenges and opinions about where advertising is now and where we think it may be going in the future. It’s a difficult, but exciting time to be in the industry!

Wills and What Not

Amanda and I have been working on a campaign for Quicken WillMaker – easy to use software that lets you create a will in a matter of minutes. We decided to write our own goofy wills as a fun little creative exercise to get us in a will-making mindset. We tried a few different strategies during our time in ad school but had to put things on hold when we both got our first jobs. Stay tuned to see what we come up with – our team portfolio is being revived and reworked!

Until then – here are our wills:

AMANDA
Car - Donate to charity, unless one of my sisters or Nick doesn’t have a working car
CD’s (all 40 of them) – Donate to library or give back to people who gave them to me
Food in fridge – Give to the homeless
Food in freezer – Stays with the roommate
Food in pantry – Donate to Capitol Food Bank
Socks – White ones go to Nick, Fun ones go to Terri
Makeup – Kim
The Dude (the dog) – Goes to Nick and my mom gets visitation
Clothes – My sister can have the ones she wants, others go to Goodwill
Secret Stash of Cash - The Dude gets it. He should pay for his own way sometimes
“Goodie” Box – Kim
Art – Should go on tour as the largest collection of female nudes
Sharpies – Sarah – she likes to doodle, and they come in 20 colors
Knickknacks – Shall be wrapped as white elephant gifts for the Trogus Christmas Get-together
TV’s – Give to Nick when he returns to the states
Huge Debt – Goes to my parents
Last Poo – Please place on the door step of the woman who always comes out and stands on the porch when I pass her house while walking the dog
Furniture – Free for all – must lick it to claim it
Mac – Mom, now you can have a computer that doesn’t get viruses
Books – Art/Design/Photography books goes to the Leobrary; CA’s go to the freshman ad students; Others will have to be won by games of paper-rock-scissors one-by-one

SARAH
Car – little bro…for all of the times I picked on him.
Books – donate. Hopefully they’ll find loving homes.
Furniture/Household Gadgets – Friends get first dibs, then put it on a garage sale. Don’t price anything – just take the first offer. Send money to a charity.
Electronics – Eh, little bro again – why not? The kid’s broke.
Clothes – my current wardrobe is pathetic. No lie. Working at a laid back SEO firm doesn’t require you to look even remotely nice. Tshirts/jeans/flip flops…that’s basically it. Give to charity and hope that someone can find some use for them.
CDs and other music – give my dad back the CDs I stole over the years. Bury me with Changesbowie. K thanks.
Movies – donate to the local library. Their current movie selection blows chunks.
Diary – no one touches the diary. Put it next to Changesbowie.
Student Loan Debt – Just tell them I’m on vacation. Maybe they’ll never figure things out.
Food – if there are actually “kids starving in China” please send them my food. Surely my mom wasn’t lying…?
Passwords to my social networking stuff – secretly give to one of my friends. Pick randomly. Tell them to tweet/email/update once after I’m gone. I love a good prank.

Green Ways & The Outdoors

Google has rented goats to help reduce its carbon emissions. While they may be starting a “corporate animal grazing” fad, it reminds me of when farmers in the Netherlands were dressing their livestock in branded jackets to make a few extra bucks (or Euros).

Really, my question is how do you calculate your ROI? When clients go to book a room at hotels.nl, and they get to the question of “How did you hear about us?” do they say “somewhere between Rotterdam and The Hague, third sheep from the left.” ?

Maybe now we could combine the two? Corporate Animal Grazing + Jacketed Livestock = Green Advertising

Jacketed Livestock

~a

You Can’t Handle the Truth!

Haha. You’ve probably seen this already – if not, enjoy!

Strategy: B of the Bs…or is it all about Weaknesses?

We graduated about a year ago and constantly were told in ad school to find the benefits of the benefits. This tactic helps get a little closer to the truth of the product, but still leaves a person wondering – what about the weaknesses of the brand/product?

If there’s an obvious weakness/negative aspect of a brand or product that the consumers are overly aware of – isn’t it more powerful to address that issue and attempt to spin it into something positive? Brand sincerity is key. If you feed consumers bullshit, there’s gonna be a backlash…not only from them, but from your client as well. At the end of the day, bullshit isn’t going to move any product. No cha-ching and consumer resentment – a nightmare double-whammy.

Note to self: Avoid bullshit at all costs.

Spinning a negative into something truthful and likeable is gold. Absolute GOLD. Not only do you make it difficult for your competitors to point you out as a fraud, but it gains the respect and trust of consumers. Get on their good side and they’ll want to spend more time with your brand. Can you ask for more?

So maybe next time you’re thinking about the benefits of the benefits, you might want to take note of the weaknesses as well. As this world becomes more transparent – you can’t hide anything! Especially during a recession.

- Sarah

The Importance of Play

I’ve started reading Dr. Stuart Brown’s book – Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul and watching some great TED talks on the same topic:

Tim Brown: The powerful link between creativity and play
Stuart Brown: Why play is vital — no matter your age

The bottom line – if you want to be a great problem solver and a truly creative person, you have to be able to play.

That said, Amanda and I are going to take a moment out of our busy day to do some kind of goofy/creative activity. Something that pulls us out of our “adulthood” and sends us like a slingshot back to some distant part of our childhood. This is an experiment in play – and we’ll do at least one a week to start. Read on with an open mind and even join in! We’d love to see what you come up with.

THIS WEEK: Create a rap on any topic (we chose advertising)

AMANDA’S RAP
Hot dogs and company blogs,
Gettin’ people to cut less logs–
I’m in a Green state of mind
after I left UT behind

A good first place
to start my ladder race
but clients still want their logos as big as their face

It’s an AD rap
about resizing n’ crap
I’d rather be brainstorming
than idea mourning

There’s lots of blood along the way
Mostly creations that don’t see the light of day

Now most conservative state clients
don’t see the potential
Don’t see it from our point of view,
Their business – essential

Even though I’m stuck with low budgets
I have the talent to create for McNuggets

Speakin’ of lunch–
I’ve got the urge to munch
The tacos across the street
they can’t be beat

This is as far as the beat goes.
Adios mis Amigos!

SARAH’S RAP
Hey capitalize!
It’s right in front of my eyes
Pages and pages
I edit for the wages

From chi town to texas
My current job perplexes
I’m runnin’ adwords – it’s google
You want keywords? I got a room full

And while there seems no end in sight-sight
I’ve been preppin’ for the fight-fight

I got my BA, my MA,
from Illy State n’ UT
I’m a creative
but I ain’t native
to this economy

you see —
Deep down I’m a copywriter
an ad cage fighter
You put me in the ring and I’ma
bring the strategy tighter
to a tagline, an idea
You hungry for a headline?
I’m gonna feed ya.

Oh yeah – I still gotta lot to learn
Got some old ads I should burn
Portfolio’s changing, rearranging…
Doin’ time idea exchanging
We’re findin’ new ways to reach the peeps
Thinkin’ up new ways to take some leaps

And when it’s all said and done
writin’ raps is pretty fun
But hey now, be nice – don’t mock
I swear it helps with writer’s block…

Is Personal Branding Creating Egomaniacs?

Just read “Personal Branding Further Inflates Our Sense of Entitlement” at Adage.com. I agree – and I don’t. It’s a rough economy to be getting into advertising right now. You’ve got to do something to stand out in the crowd, but I think a lot of young creatives equate standing out with being outrageous.

Yes, this will get you noticed for a moment, but it’s not sticky enough/doesn’t have any staying power. It’s a cheap gimmick. Nothing more.

Personal branding is just peachy as long as you’ve got the work to back up. All too often, I see these outrageously weird online portfolios of recent graduates that have a lot more bark than bite. If you’re gonna be outrageous and throw your giant ego around, it’s probably important that you actually have a bad-ass portfolio. After all, at the end of the day – it’s about the ideas.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to jump into social networks and become a part of the conversation – you absolutely should if you want to stay up-to-date with what advertising is these days and where it’s headed. Just be careful that your ego is not so massive that you think you can skate by with some so-so portfolio as long as you slap some outrageous bow on it.

Smart thinking and solid strategies go a long way. Anyone can be outrageous. I was outrageous just yesterday. Over-rated.

-Sarah

Get Yourself Some Moxie

Leo Burnett wasn’t playin’ around – “When to Take My Name Off the Door”

Something good to keep in mind. Money and other stresses may begin to cloud things (especially in this economy). Keeping the true purpose in mind is the only way to not drown in the thick of it.

- Sarah

Inspiring Ads

I came across these ads this morning. I think that they are an inspiring way to look at our environment and see how our product or service could naturally fit in/make sense. More importantly – most of them are memorable.

~a