6. People creating beautiful things

Inspiration comes from a great many places.  Here are just a few of the great things I have stumbled upon in just one day.  They are an inspiration and a reminder that making things and doing stuff not only shows that you are inspired, but turns you into an inspiration for others. 

Talk about mastering your craft...

Getting it all out can be frustrating, this is such a great visual...

This is really funny and a clever mash up of old and new...

Searching for inspiration when you feel like it's all too much (see image above), can really help get your head right.  After taking some time to look at great things, laugh at funny clips, listen to good music and tune out the noise of day to day life, I feel much more prepared to tackle the big things.  Time to do stuff, make things and be great!

5. Car Alarms and Advertising

What do car alarms and advertising have in common you ask? Well, one very important commonality is that about 99% of the population is doesn't care about either of them.  Recently changing my major from psychology to advertising has made me much more aware of the ad world, but car alarms...alas, not so much. 

Much to my dismay my car was burgled on Monday night.  And yes, my car alarm went off (right in front of my house!) and I didn't even notice.  Well, maybe I did notice and I probably thought, or even said out loud something like "That freaking alarm is so annoying, wish those neighbors would get a handle on that (insert expletive here)"

After I had calmed down the next morning, cleaned up the glass and mourned the loss of all of my school books, and a slew of other valuable electronic devices I decided to refocus and think about how I could spin this into something good.  I teachable moment, me teaching myself how to take something so unbelievably crappy and turn it into something good.  So, I started reading about ad desensitizing and how to combat it.  I also started looking into things like The Club, and this handy little car accessory, but I digress. Let's get back on track.

People don't care about ads anymore.

Do you remember that one ad from the Police Department that said "Call us if your being robbed, we will save you, we have guns and training and we keep people safe for a living"

No? That's because they never had to advertise.  Everyone knows that the police are here to keep the community safe.  We are emotionally invested in our personal well being and therefore we connect to the police department.  We know what they do and we CARE about it.  Most businesses aren't going to save you from a life threatening ordeal, so people really just don't have a reason to care.

The teachable moment here is this: The goal is not to simply break into your target audience's car.  Break into their car, once they start freaking out about all the stuff they lost then tell them how great your anti-theft device is.  Brand strategy is all about giving them a reason to care about what you have to offer.

4. The St. Vincent de Paul Hurdle

Currently myself and 2 other lovely people, Shannon Kluss and Rob Beard, are working to put together a brief for St. Vincent de Paul's Lane county chapter.  Our assignment, tackle the ultra ambiguous topic of Corporate Identity.  Corporate Identity? What is it, what's our marketing objective, who are we targeting, and how are we going to tackle this beast?

Depending on how you look at it we have the best or the worst topic out of everyone in our class.  After speaking with the St. Vincent's rep we have found ourselves without much direction.  They don't have a budget, they aren't really attached to any of the current campaigns they run, and all they want is for us to "sum up St. Vincent de Paul's in 8 words or less".  I'm thinking that we have free reign to come up with cheap creative strategies to really move this organization to the front of their pack. 

St. Vinnies is a community superhero, after some serious brainstorming we are on the right path.  The rebranding of St. Vinnies begins now.

3. Turning the mountain into a mole hill.

There is a continual stream of thoughts that run through my head daily.  Most of them revolve around school with a few random thoughts about work, family and bills thrown in just for kicks.  The school thoughts consume my weekdays, and usually they end with this closing thought: "Holy Shit!”  Yes, that is how my days go.  The internal dialogue generally ends with that final exclamation, and then I go to bed.
 
There is so much information out there, so many blogs to take in, websites to process and books to read.  It is a mountain of information.  In the ad industry we are consistently bombarded with information in all forms, and as a students and professional in training it is our job to consume, process and form new and interesting opinions.  So how can a student who looks at that mountain and says "Holy Shit", work that mountain down into a more manageable mole hill?

 The Most Important Tip: Give yourself some credit, if you are trying to immerse yourself in the information, you are on the right track.  This was a hard one, but I feel much better when I pat myself on the back once in a while.

First things first, get your routine down.  No matter when you get out of bed, you should have a routine.  I start my day with coffee, very, very strong coffee.  Then I move to the computer and open these sites: NYT, CNN, MSN, Facebook, Deb Morrison's blog and twitter.  I get my daily dose of world news out of the way, followed by entertainment and then social networking.  This way I can really focus without being too distracted. 

Once I have had my fix of news and status updates it's time to get serious.  As a student it helps to think of this online reading in the same way you would tackle a math assignment.  Accept this is WAY better than math, it's interesting and you will likely be able to write about what you read in your blog and use it in real life. You can smile just knowing that you don't have to do a math assignment, I do.

Next step: Read.  And make note of valuable information and sites that you come across.  The web takes you all over the place and it's easy to get lost.  Bookmark, tweet, and take good old fashioned notes.  This will help you remember what you have read and also how to find it again.

I found out how I start my day and how I have been tackling this mountain by taking a hard look at my media habits.  Take one week and note all of the media that you work with and when.  Once you have that it's easy to see how your pattern is naturally developing.  Once you see what you are already doing it's much easier to feel in control.  You're less likely to end your daily thoughts with "Holy Shit!" this way.

2. Dedicated Planner Seeks Hard Working Creative

It's time to get working on a group project for Creative Strategist, and I am currently without a group.  Is anyone looking for a media planner with a love of design and knowledge of the Adobe Suite?

I like long walks on the beach and a nice glass of red wine...sorry, I had to throw that in here.  But seriously, I have skills to bring to the table and I'm ready to get started on this.  Below is a short list of things you may want to know.

I have an excellent ability to meet deadlines and keep a group on task.  I am a planner and an organizer by nature and work daily in a job that requires those skills.

I love the creative side and have always wanted to work in that area, but found that planning is a better fit for me.  That said, I do work well in Final Cut, Flash, Illustrator and InDesign.  My first dream was to be a writer, so I am more than willing to put in my ideas in this area as well.

I love working in small groups and tackling projects as a team.  I pull my own weight and am more than ready to stay up late, do the research and work my ass of to produce somthing that I am proud of. 

I am ready to get started on this as soon as possible. Please contact me if you would like to work together.

1. The intimidation factor.

Recently I was exposed to this lovely piece by Karl Fisch in my Media Planning course here at the UO. Holy shit! If you are a student, or a professional or even if you are just some random person who is considering making it out there in the world of technology, watch this and let me know how it makes you feel.  Oh, and one other thing;  This was made in 2008, that fact alone should make you freak out just a little bit more.  Just think of how much higher the figures are and how much more advanced the world has become in the few years since this was created. 

I was blown away by these stats, and of course, Professor Koranda showed this at the beginning of class as a result I proceeded to spend the next hour completely spazzing out about my future.  Thoughts like,  "how on earth will I stand out when there are 1300 people just like me!" or "I don't even know what an excabyte is!" were all running through my head.  FYI: I am really skilled at spazzing out sometimes, but I am equally skilled at calming myself down and thinking rationally.  It usually takes me a couple of hours and a good cup of coffee (or a nice stiff drink) to calm down and look at things like the level headed human being that I know I really am.  Once I did that, I took a second look at this video and realized that it is full of great information on how to approach this last year of my college career.

Standing out when there are (at least) 1300 people just like you is hard, but this year the ultimate goal is not to be just like the other 1300, but to be THE ONE in 1300, the one that stands out, the one that agencies look at and go "that's some great stuff".  Hopefully they follow that line up with a job offer.  Time to do shit, time to make stuff and time to work my ass off in order to succeed.  Oh, and if you want to know what an excabyte is take a second look at the video, 3:17 mark.
How did this video make you feel?