Valentine's Day

Another day set up for commercialization. Florists, greeting card makers, jewelry stores, and chocolatiers are bringing in the ol' mighty dollar from 1 day in February. I shouldn't criticize as I have benefited in recent years as the recipient of powder blue jewelry boxes and dozens upon dozens of flowers.
This is just one of the few times during the year I wish the personal desire to share a thought, send a gift, make a wish, or offer a greeting was because he would have done so anyway even if society wasn't whispering loudly in his ear.

Overuse of Brands (in school)

Here's an old post I started weeks ago, but didn't finish until today. Enjoy!

*****************************

For the record, I enjoy attending the Adcenter. Oops...I mean Brandcenter. There is just a little area of annoyance I have when professors use certain brands to prove their points or bring a concept to life. The examples are almost always the SAME PRODUCTS / BRANDS!!

I probably shouldn't complain too much. The Brandcenter "professors" are active working advertising professionals and not college trained educators who strive to teach the entire breadth of the advertising industry from a book. (Then again there are books who use some of these same brands as examples as well.) I just wish it wasn't automatically ASSUMED that everyone at the school is interested in or actively use:

Apple, Starbucks, Netflix, Ukrops, GEICO, UPS, Nike

Is it me? Am I continuously shopping in the wrong places? Am I the anti-brand? Here is my take on the products listed above.

first time Apple owner. If it wasn't highly recommended by this school, I still wouldn't own one. Never saw what the big deal was and still don't.


not a coffee drinker. I have to gift cards given to me almost 2 years ago. I carry them around in anticipation I will actual use one.


never used personally. If motivated, I can definitely find movies that I wouldn't mind seeing. There just aren't enough of them out there that entice me from recall alone.


This is a regional (maybe VA only) based grocery store. Yup, me too. Never heard of it before. One day I'll check it out to see what all the hype is about.

Ah! A product I actually use! Gosh darnit, just remembered...my premium is due soon.

absolutely abhor this company. UPS rarely delivers a package on time. I've had to literally hunt down the delivery truck en route to pick up packages before. The shining point was when UPS was used to send a package less than 10 miles overnight. UPS lost the package! After 8 months, I'm still trying to get reimbursed for the lost items.

Haven't bought anything Nike since the 90's. Since I'm discovered a better running shoe (and now I don't run at all), Nike hasn't given me a reason to want an expensive gym shoe.

All of this makes me acknowledge that the industry is full of brands I do not personal use or buy, but will eventually work on. Once on the account, I will of course become intimately familiar with the product or brand. However, in the meantime, does it say something about the type of consumer I am when I have little to no interest in the most popular brands everyone else can't get enough of?

Conviction to the Extreme

As part of my Strategic Brand Concepts class, I read Conviction a white paper written by Kelly O'Keefe. A brand's conviction is defined by O'Keefe as "an internal conviction about how to run a business based on [the company's] own values, not on the whims of the customers." Well, I discovered a brand who has taken conviction to the extreme.

Situation: While a grocery worker was on break a store manager requested help with
stopping a shoplifter

Conviction: Whole Foods Market enforced its policy that under no circumstances should
an employee ever physically touch a customer

Result: Grocery worker fired for stopping shoplifter

How far is too far to take a brand's conviction? Given the regional nature of the story, there may not be any major negative impact to the brand; however, does the brand really wants to risk that?

Bull's eye on Bull-shit

As usual, I am catching up on my industry trade emails at the wee hours of the morning. Today I came across "Target Tells a Blogger to Go Away," an article in the New York Times. This picture is what sparked the controversy.


Amy Jussel, Founder of ShapingYouth.org believes the advertisement has strategically placed a woman's crotch at the bull's eye and contacted Target directly for comment. You say toe-mae-toe and I say toe-mah-toe.

There is no sexual innuendo in this print ad. I saw a woman making a snow angel over a company logo.

I see blogging as an expansion of the word-of-mouth channel. As one person who said, "Bloggers are people with electronic megaphones, no more, no less." And I wholeheartedly agree.

Über Preparation

For the record...

For those who don't know me, I'm a planner and extremely goal-oriented. I like to know where I'm going and how to get there. If an obstacle confronts me, I'm more likely to strategize a way around it than to blow it away.

I am determined and dedicated to succeed in life. Definition of success: Wealth through a loving, supportive family and a passion for living my life with no regrets. The no regrets part is why I opted to leave a satisfactory job (and a nice salary to boot), in search of an emotionally lucrative career. Now I'm at the Brandcenter. I have no regrets.

I'm enjoying the experience, learning tons, and forever thankful for the thrill of a good challenge that reminds me to work better and not longer.

Laughter is Good Medicine

Here are a few video clips that kept the laughter going longer than most.

Smokin' Innovation

One of the great things about having a part-time job as a Google Quality Rater is that it exposes me to topics, sites, information and products I otherwise would not know existed. One such product is NJOY.

Stop laughing, blushing or whatever you may be doing right now. I'm not not talking about the sex toys njoy. I'm talking about NJOY - the electronic cigarette / cigar, which debuted at the 2008 International CES show last week in Las Vegas.

SIDEBAR: I am NOT a smoker so keep in mind that some of my comments are definitely in line with the anti-smoking regime.

The biggest benefit of NJOY is it's healthier than smoking (no carcinogens), which means no cancerous side effects. Other joys is that no lingering odor in clothes & hair, no smoke only a visual vapor and nothing flammable only a LCD light that glows red with each puff.

The negatives are currently limited to the visual vapor that has the scent of smoke and the rumor of TSA approving the device for airline use. If there is a scent, I don't want to be trapped with it for hours on end even if it isn't harmful to my health.

Now for the fun part: Can you imagine what the tobacco companies are planning to do to squash this new innovation? Will it be a cat fight, a stealth low blow, or a sparring of words and intellect? They're probably pow-wowing now to create a "just in case this blows up into something big" strategy. For now, they will simply wait and see how their most loyal smokers respond to NJOY - IF they even heard of it.

See it in action:

Hit the ground running or get out of the track!

My first days of class are complete. This semester I have Intro to Brand Management, Accounting for Communications, Strategic Brand Concepts, and Media Planning & Research. Boy do they make you hit the ground rolling! Over two days I had 4 classes and about 7.5 hours of instruction (normal is 12 hrs, but this was an "easy week".) Here's what I mean:

Assignments due next class period:
1 Brand Culture Analysis - Rolls Royce
1 Fragrance concept, design, and marketing plan - Coty
1 Strength & Weakness Analysis - Circuit City
9 Media Strategies covering three different objectives
1 Article Analysis
4 In-Store Visits - Best Buy, Circuit City, The City & Rolls Royce
2 Website Reviews
9 Chapters to read
6 Handouts to read
2 chapters worth of end of chapters problems
3 Team Meetings & Counting
Research, research & more research!!!

Oddly enough I'm not complaining (at least not yet). This semester is shaping up to be an excellent catalyst to get me running with the advertising wolf pack. Not to mention I'll have some really great work to include in my currently non-existent portfolio book representing the skills I will have further developed during the first year.

It's always the people

I spent time in NYC over the break and realized one thing at the end of it all. I REALLY MISS NYC!! Well, it's probably more the people who are in it than anything else. My friends and extended family, my Sorors and former co-workers. Don't get me wrong...the city itself has MUCH to offer especially compared to little ol' Richmond, but for me it's rarely the place. Always the people.

The Birth of the Brandcenter

Well it's official! The VCU Adcenter is now the VCU Brandcenter. I had the pleasure of having an impromptu tour of the school 10 days before the first day of 2nd semester. Not everyone had that luxury or rather skill to sweet talk a few workers with "please" and "thank you".

Sneak Peek: The Brandcenter

Happy New Year!

Since I recently relocated from New York City to Richmond, I decided to give the "Dirty Rich" an opportunity to prove me wrong by attending the 2nd Annual Carytown New Year's Eve Ball Drop.

Even though I lived in NYC for longer than I will admit on a blog, I never had an interest to attend the Times Square ball drop. Primary reasons have always been too cold and too crowded. I figured Richmond would be different and it was.


Unlike NYC where you have to arrive in Times Square early afternoon to get a prime location for the evening festivities, I arrived to Carytown shortly after 11PM. There was still space in the streets and no one was bumping me. The temperature was cold, but I knew NYC was even colder.

A little after 11:30PM the crowd finally arrived. There was bumping and shoving, but nothing too bad especially since I once again found enough space in the crowd to call my own.

11:45PM: Okay...did I feel the energy in the air of the new year approaching? No. Luckily I was with Adcenter classmates who kept things entertained.

11:55PM: There is no musical performances, no one on stage talking (at least that I could tell), and no sign of the New Year's Eve Ball that was on top of the Byrd Theater.

Midnight: Oh, wow! A not completely round ball made of Christmas lights finally rose....yes rose to the top of a pole. There was no count down, no screaming, just confusion. Everyone in my group grabbed cellphones to confirm it was actually midnight. How can a city have a grandstand celebration for the new year, but not bother to do a countdown!!

12:05AM: First fight of the year broke out. Happy New Year!

Offering my work for the world to see

I was starting to feel like I was bragging by placing my work on my blog well after the fact. However, I do have an alternative purpose for it as well. This blog will be a record of sort of my work. Think of it as a back up drive of sorts.

Once I figure out how best to get my work from other courses up here...you'll be the first to know. It also allows you the opportunity to offer me suggestions for improvement or simply say great job.

Does this mean there will be a 1EPIPHANEE website in the distant future?

Media of Note: Sex (still) Sells

I've been catching up on my advertising industry email subscriptions. I've probably signed up for way too many because every time I make a dent in the list, it seems that 30 more pop up within a day or two. I want to cut down on them so I can actually keep up especially once school starts again. Oh well...what can I say - they're interesting. So sue me!

Below are a few links to products that are using advertising methods I have found intriguing. I would provide summary details, but you won't be the same...you got to see it. Enjoy.

(1) Agent Provocateur (Agency: Unknown) - The URL for this product is actually part 2 of a series. It is definitely a new way to sell lingerie.

(2) Wonderbra (Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Frankfurt) - This one probably caused a few double takes or accidents.

(3) OhMiBod - DailyCandy.com brought this product to my attention.

The Business of Baseball

I'm not a baseball fan at the least. However given the "praises" on how interesting a read the Mitchell Report is, I decided to share a cool flow diagram summarizing the report. I like diagram so much I'm going to keep it in my arsenal for future business presentations. For those who were not aware of the Mitchell Report, here is a little background from the NY Times.

Randy Pausch - Amazing

I just saw an inspirational video lecture given by Professor Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon. He is coming to notoriety because of a recent segment on the Oprah Show, but I think his words will continue well beyond his recent fame.

If you don’t have time to listen to the full lecture, these are some of the comments that struck home with me. Unless indicated all quotes are from Mr. Pausch.

1. Brickwalls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things
2. Have something you bring to the table because that will make you more welcomed
3. Got to get the fundamentals down otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work
4. When you’re screwing up and no one is saying anything to you anymore that means they gave up.
5. Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you want
6. Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you – Jon Snoddy
7. Decide if you are a Tigger or a Eeyore
8. Never lose the child-like wonder
9. Help Others
10. Never Give Up
11. Don’t bail; the best gold is at the bottom of barrels of crap
12. Get a feedback loop; and listen to it
13. Show Gratitude
14. Don’t complain; just work harder
15. Be good at something; it makes you valuable
16. Find the best in everybody; no matter how long you have to wait for them to show it
17. Be prepared: “luck” is where preparation meets opportunity
18. You can’t get there alone, believe in karma
19. Tell the truth
20. Be earnest, not hip
21. Apologize when you screw up
22. Focus on others, not yourself

Full lecture from September 2007 can be found on You Tube. (Searched for “randy pausch” posted by “thduynguyen”. It is an 11 part series starting with zero.)

*******************************

Watch a 10 minute version of Randy's famous "Last Lecture.”

Randy Pausch is a married father of three, a very popular professor at Carnegie Mellon University—and he is dying. He is suffering from pancreatic cancer, which he says has returned after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors say he has only a few months to live.

In September 2007, Randy gave a final lecture to his students at Carnegie Mellon that has since been downloaded more than a million times on the Internet. Despite the lecture's wide popularity, Randy says he really only intended his words for his three small children. "I think it's great that so many people have benefited from this lecture, but the truth of the matter is that I didn't really even give it to the 400 people at Carnegie Mellon who came. I only wrote this lecture for three people, and when they're older, they'll watch it," he says. (Oprah Show)

The dreamcatcher caught a wierd one

I find it so very odd that I dreamt about a man I have not spoken to in at least 5 years. I don’t remember too many of my dreams, but this one I do and it doesn’t make complete sense to me. Maybe you can help me.

The guy was a friend from college. In the dream I don’t know how we crossed paths again, but we were evidently a couple attending a surprise birthday dinner in a fancy suite within a very fancy hotel in Detroit, MI (go figure). We were quite affectionate with one another and finally I said I needed to go to the drug store. I had nasal congestion and didn’t want to be sniffling throughout the entire evening.

A British classmate was also in my dream as he was attending the dinner party as well. A few other folks were arriving as I left, I knew them as well but my dream is fading so I can’t tell you immediately who they were.

One of the dinner servers told me the hotel didn’t have a drugstore within it so I would have to go outside. The hotel was HUGE. I found another hotel employee and asked how to get to the lobby so I could exit and go to the drugstore. The employee got stuck in a communication loop and repeated the same thing to me no matter how many different ways I asked it. She focused on how it is better for me to get on a higher floor so I can get down faster. Since I was already on the 5th floor, I didn’t mind taking the stairs to get to the lobby. All I wanted to do was know how to find an exit so I could go to drugstore and get back before the birthday boy arrived.

I woke up shortly after yelling in frustration at the hotel employee and some other hotel guests that all I wanted to know was how to get to the lobby and didn’t care if I could get down faster by taking an elevator up before going down.

Does anyone know what this all means?

I believe you dream about things that have been on your mind. Well, here is what has been on mine. I am congested and been so for several days so a decongestant would be great. I haven’t thought about the college friend in I don’t know how long so I am completely amazed that I dreamt about him. I did however recently email an acquaintance with a similar name. The closest thing I have to an upcoming dinner party with gifts involved is Christmas dinner. And maybe the hotel comes into play because I was telling my sister how it would be nice to go and take a fancy trip somewhere, while on holiday break.

But boy was this an interesting way to put all those thoughts together!

Finally a BK commercial I like

I've been catching up on reading the advertising related email subscriptions and came across one regarding the new Burger King campaign. It is done in a documentary style format where customers are led to believe BK has eliminated the Whopper from the menu forever. Real customers share their thoughts and feelings about the Whopper being gone.

This campaign is brilliant especially if you take the time to watch the 10 minute video documenting the entire experiment called "Whopper Freakout". The real life reactions of the customers are more humorous than depicted in the few 30 sec commercials produced.

Sample Work: First Semester

Here is some more of my work from Creative Thinking 2007.

Assignment (9/20): Make the Students & Faculty of the Adcenter aware of Jena Six

This project is my pride and joy since it is my first project where I really used the full functionalities of Photoshop. The picture is a blending of two pictures and then I created an effect where it appears that "Justice 4 Jena 6" has been carved into the tree.

Not bad for a non-Art Director....don't you think?

------------------------------------------------

Assignment (9/27): Write a Love Poem
Creative Thinking is all about taking an idea as far as you can go. When assigned a love poem to write, I wanted a topic that was dear to me, but need something unexpected to others.

Each picture represents a particular person who is my extended family and lives on W. 136th Street. I mailed the letter to them and got a really good response.





Click here to zoom and read the poem



Special Shout Out: Thank you Sekou for helping me with my writer's block.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Assignment (10/4): Create a comic strip where you are the Superhero
Special Shout Out: Bobby C. for the comic strip / hero expertise.

Special Shout Out: Kyle L. for the application and art direction.

The only thing I have to say for this assignment is that I spent WAY TOO MUCH time on it to have gotten a "C". The one time I don't take my computer to class is the day the professor was expecting everyone to show their work on the big screen so everyone could see. That's what less than 2 hours of sleep will do to ya!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Assignment (10/19): Your home has been broken into and your most prized possession was stolen. What was it, who took it, and how will you get it back.

I remember when I my apartment was burglarized in college. I was distraught that the thieves had taken my camera that still had undeveloped film from my first trip to France.

So it's no surprise that my most prized possessions are my memories. This is the wanted poster I created. If you're curious about how I got my memories back, well...you should have been in class that day.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

If I could figure out a way to show you some of my remaining work for Creative Thinking, I would. I think it is my best work was for the movie "American Gangster" because of how I presented it in class. I was also extremely pleased with how I concepted the "soap box" assignment.

Sample Work: First Semester

Since I am a little delayed in setting up my blog, I am backfilling with select samples of my 1st semester work so when 2nd semester starts you'll be caught up and can continue to monitor my progress.

1st Creative Thinking Assignment - Create an album cover that tells your life story

The album front is better seen in the physical form as the wording is pressed into the cover so a person can feel the words. One can see the wording if holding the cover at a certain angle or if in a certain type of light.


The words used on the cover were provided by family & friends who I asked how would they describe me. The cover album words are written below:

Budding Superstar, Sassy, Wise, Voila, Goal Oriented, Independent, Focused, Strong-Minded, Supportive, Dynamic, Biz & Balance, Popular, Dedicated, What’s With The Hair?, Beautiful, Determined, Dependable, Smart, Loyal, Ambitious, Fiercely Committed, Natural Beauty, Persistent, Responsible, Sister, Creative Soul, Sexy, Beautifully Driven Passion…

Breathless

Album back cover:

-------------------------------------

It's Amazing: 15 weeks

I am completely in awe. Amazed at where I am and what I have accomplished in the 15 weeks that equal my first semester at the VCU Adcenter. If anyone had asked me last year, what I would be doing right now - living in Richmond, VA to earn my masters in advertising - would not have been one them.

It may sound conceited, but I am extremely proud of myself. My family and many friends have always seen me as an independent, no nonsense, goal-oriented person who is willing to do whatever it takes to get the most out of life. That has been so far from the truth, for so many years - until now.

In under 6 months, I resigned from a great company, move to an unknown city, bought a house, and started THE MOST INTENSE advertising program. My journey to becoming a Creative Brand Manager began on a rough, rocky, unstable path that made me consistently unsure of my footing. Luckily with the support of family and a very special friend, I was soon able to gain enough of my balance to continue and see where this path leads me. This blog will document the remaining 45 weeks of this 60 week adventure.