Today I took a big step in my career as I moved up to the 9th floor of the office. This is ironic as I started on the 11th floor nearly three years ago. Neither here nor there. In celebration of my move, for lack of a better word, Emily and I held a photo shoot celebrating the realities of office space. We even used a hipster camera app that all the cool kids are using. No worries dear client, this is totally billable.
How I exited my cube on a daily basis, some time around 5 p.m.
Was not a fan of geometry, but the lines and shapes of this picture trip me out all over the place.
Dreaming about big things, like an office with a river view.
A small portion of my day has been researching the "digital space" for tiny tidbits of information that could (ahem, should) be appreciated across clients. I found these and wanted to share.
This is a word cloud, filtering out reoccurring words from Wikipedia's article on social media. Thank you Wordle for making Wikipedia even more dummy proof.
Then here is this winner with its warm up music, which makes me want to present to a conference room full of head scratching marketing directors. In a pair of breakaway pants.
I admit that some of these terms and buzz words are overused, underdeveloped and totally boring. Whatever it is, it's real. Social media should not be a challenge, but an appreciated asset that compliments existing plans.
"Social media isn't a fad, it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate"
I swear this blog is supposed to separate my personal from my private life but lately that has been extremely difficult. A new campaign, of which I am just a small part of in this colossal mess of respectable media companies, just launched "Mayhem" and I was spurred to write by the New York Times article from this morning. Dean Winters already gets my vote, as he guest starred in 30 Rock for multiple episodes and I have a girl crush on Tina Fey. His character is Mayhem as he personifies something that is truly inevitable no matter how hard we protect ourselves. Give me you thoughts and I would like your feedback. Yes, I know when "Mayhem" is officially coming but I won't tell.
Way back in high school, I exposed myself to a variety of literary forms for amusement and education alike. Senior year I struggled my way through Dante's Inferno, a 14th century poem about the Italian author's journey through the nine circles of medieval hell.
Centuries later, I see Dante's work in real life, through the advertisements of Taco Hell.
Like Dante's adulterers and heretics, Taco Bell has its own offenders. The circles include the drunk, the fat, the poor, and the stoned. In purgatory, somewhere between real food and the 5 layer burrito, are the curious bystanders awaiting their Tex Mex. (To save face, outside of the circle are the people whom love those yummy, yummy cinnamon twists!)
A few years ago, Taco Bell introduced us to fourth meal in an attempt to bring together the high and the inebriated by offering grade D meat, white iceberg lettuce and soggy tortillas.
Now all the circles of hell surface in the 'restaurant's" (loose term) new ad campaigns.
Exhibit 1: The Five Layer Burrito. This 490 calorie wonder will still your heart, literally. Your coronaries will shut down. At least T-Bell shares some honesty with this campaign.
Exhibit 2: The Pacific Shrimp Taco. o-m-g. On the fifth day, when God filled the seas with living creatures, He had no intention that they may end up in a Taco Bell soft shell. No crustacean deserves a fate this vile, even if lacking of a vertebrae. At the low, low price of $2.99 I can only imagine where these shrimps actually originate.
Exhibit 3: Here's the kicker: the Taco Bell drive-thru diet. I'm not saying I don't believe in it, but I still have a hard time believing in the packaging. Don't mess with me TB, you are a wolf in sheep's clothing and I will not play your games!
Taco Bell is just one of a handful of brands lacking in ad direction. (I'm looking at you little-beady-money-eyes-style Geico.) T-Bell is attempting to be something it's not (healthy) while still delivering its old, consistent messages of eating glutinous food at 2 a.m.
[True story, last time I walked past a TB drive thru at 2 a.m. there were screaming Hispanics and glass bottles shattering. I turned for four seconds and kept walking.]
While Taco Bell searches for its self image, I will instead visit the El Burrito Mexicano hole-in-the-wall restaurant underneath of the red line tracks. Sure, the burritos are two bites away from burning a hole in my stomach and the employees don't speak English, but at least there's no advertising to disrupt my post-bars dining experience.
Another case of tarnished self image in the media. Another girl has been objectified and terminated from her contract for being unable "to meet the obligations under her contract with us"/too fat. Filippa Hamilton, who is my age, has been modeling with Ralph Lauren since she was fifteen. Take a step back - what were YOU doing at 15? I was hardly finished picking food from my braces and buying horrendous jeans from Aeropostale. Neither here nor there.
Filippa is a total babe. She will be hired elsewhere by an agency who truly appreciates her for her talent and basic hotness.
Her situation is not alone. I see it Monday through Friday.
I work in print advertising. I have about 137 magazines on my desk RIGHT now and twelve unopened manila envelopes. Underneath my phone, Milla Jovovich is downright staring at me while tugging her shirt off. (I needed to pull info for a Maxim July 2009 invoice.) Truthfully, I rarely read these. The word "regurgitate" is fair to use when describing the content of mostly any publication. Our society is obsessed with self help, celebrity smut, and a quick influx of information.
Why not, let's discover what you can learn from my desk...
● The 50 hottest men/mas guapos ● What is going on between R. Patz and Kirsten Stewart? ● Jon and Kate Gosselin need to be banished to an island in Asia (Jon would be happy) ● It is very unlikely that you will fail as a parent - but you will fear it ● The best beauty buys for ANYTHING ● How to lose 10 pounds this week! ● Sex...anything. Just sex. ● Jacob Lautner is 17 years old. And super hot. ● Why you will never look as good as anyone in a magazine whether it's hair, clothes, make anything. However, you will spend your paycheck attempting to and that's exactly what they want
So go ahead, keep on picking up those publications at the grocery store check out line. It will be like the first time you ever read the article - even though you did four months ago!
Even as a beginner in advertising I can almost guarantee PETA had no actual intention of appearing during the Super Bowl with a $3 million price tag. This ad is viral and created more for the internet than anything. Nothing creates buzz like asparagus being rubbed on a girl's...gross. I love people complaining that NBC will air beer commercials but not PETA's produced ad. People drink beer, lots of it, on Super Bowl Sunday. Less probable - a well put together veggie tray.
Keep your slutty broccoli to yourself, this is just a cheap marketing ploy.
With literally hundreds of magazines crossing my path at work I often glance at titles for fun. Print exists for every health ailment, relationship inadequacy and celebrity fascination out there. Among them there is an incredible amount of magazines concering parenting - rumored to be the most difficult job of all. How to feed, the best schools, should kids watch TV or not? Bla, bla, bla. New comer Cookie proudly boats it is for the "upscale" mom - whether this is for the suburban house wife or the power working mommy I am not certain.
Hell, I am 22 years old and my parents still exhibit naivety when it comes to my transition into adulthood.
These magazines make me wonder whether these readers are more concerned with parental success - or failure. "Mommy bloggers" are some of the most active producers of original material presently on the internet. Their impact is far reaching and affects everything from appropriate advertising and product segmentation. Women no longer just ask their mothers or matronly friends for help - they go to the blogosphere at the slighest jolt of misbehavior from Junior.
As someone with absolutely no aspirations of becoming a parent in the near distant future I will most likely watch these publications develop and fold from the sidelines. Until the time I find it necessary to pick up the magazine Conceive for the...ya, I think you understand.
20-something lady living the life the life of young professionalism in Chicago and having some fun doing it too. A fair warning, I enjoy my current career path and am destined to spew some media insight onto this blog.
Yep, I caught you creeping.
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