jettlandicho.com

Work, Peace and Nerdiness

2011-07-24T10:39:00.008-04:00

Rule #1 to Blogging Success: Never stop blogging.

Whoops.

To the fans I earned off the strength of this site, I'm sorry. It's been way too long since I've updated. While I know it's too late to win you back, and I'm not sure I'm in a place where I want to put as much effort into this site as I used to, I still wanted to at least explain where I've been since I supposedly fell off the face of the Earth.

I've been concentrating on work

This site was meant to act as a quasi-portfolio for me. As a student coming out of school, I felt like I needed something to demonstrate my understanding of the business and my ability to succeed. Ultimately, it worked. When interview time came at 58Ninety, this was one of the resources they used to judge me and it worked in my favour. I've been with 58Ninety since April 2010.

In the last year-and-a-half, I've grown tremendously as an interactive advertising industry professional. I was promoted to Client Engagement Manager a few months ago, and along the way I've had a chance to refine my skills in account management, project management, new business development, content entry, information architecture and most recently, strategic planning. I've also been fortunate enough to work with an amazing team that have helped me grow and made the experience enjoyable. I hope that I'm leaving as positive an impact on the rest of the team as they have on me. I'm forever thankful to 58Ninety for the opportunity they've given me and I'll continue to do my best to get better to the benefit of everyone around.

With that said, maintaining this blog fell on the priority list. I'm proving my worth every day with the work I contribute to 58Ninety and the experience I gain during that process. Those will hold more weight to my overall worth than my writings about "ad campaign X" ever could.

I've been concentrating on In Third Person

What was once a passion project has grown much bigger than I could have ever imagined. Ever since In Third Person was featured on the Wordpress.com home page, the trajectory of that site changed dramatically. That event affected In Third Person in two ways:

Short-Term Win: It brought thousands of new readers to my site for a few days

Long-Term Win: It significantly improved my placement in the Google search rankings

Recognizing the opportunity at hand, I put in the extra effort to building on that success, which has paid off so far. What was once a pet project that got 100 visits a month if I was lucky has grown to a site that serves thousands of monthly visitors. Though it may not tie into interactive advertising in terms of subject matter, you could make a strong case for In Third Person being a stronger 'portfolio piece' than this site ever was. It's still hard for me to believe that the site gets that many eyes on it and that I've gained loyal fans around the world who care about my perspective on video games.

The best part of this experience is that In Third Person has never felt like work. I was doing this for for fun a year before this success, and I would have continued writing for it regardless of the outcome. As long as it's still fun, I'll keep regularly updating it.

I've been concentrating on life

Much of my adult life to-date has been spent working assorted part-time jobs to pay the bills. I've worked a ton of nights and weekends making close to minimum wage, and because of that, I had to make sacrifices to other parts of my life. I understood that these were the steps I needed to take to get to the next level, but they're tough steps to take.

Now that I'm working a mostly 9-5 gig, that opens up things that many people take for granted, such as evenings, weekends and holidays. There's a life outside of work, too, and now I have more opportunities to enjoy that. The most exciting thing lined up for is a trip to England with my girlfriend Steff. I've never really had the opportunity in my life to travel for the sake of traveling up until now, so this trip is going to be special for all sorts of reasons.

That's where I'm at. Life is good, and I'm hoping life is going well for you, too. Thank you for still checking this page out after all of this time. I'm still not sure where to take this site from here, but I'll at least check in more than once a year. If you'd like to follow my more frequent works, check out In Third Person.

My 15 Minutes of Fame Starts Now

2010-09-09T22:12:00.003-04:00

When I started In Third Person, I never anticipated it being nothing more than my personal place to write about video games. If people outside of myself enjoyed it, I would consider a bonus.

Today, a lot of people enjoyed it. First, the team at Wordpress, who chose to feature my blog on the Wordpress.com home page. Then, the many people who followed through. My site at most normally gets a few dozen visits a day, but today I broke 1,000 and got a lot of great discussion in the comments.

I'm honoured to have my work featured on the Wordpress home page. It says a lot about the quality of my work and I hope that those who found my blog through Wordpress will continue to read my posts and comment on them. Here's to hoping the success continues.

Making My Hobby Site Work For Me

2010-08-04T22:32:00.011-04:00

Just over a year ago, I started jettlandicho.com with the intention of it being my professional presence on the Internet. I planned to create content that I would be proud to show advertising industry professionals, advertising students, my mom or anyone that happened to Google my name. In an era where every employer will use the Internet to know everything there is to know about prospective hires, I wanted to make everything they found awesome. Outside of that joke Amazon.com review written in my name (thanks, Ahmed), I think I have done a decent job of taking control of the 'Jett Landicho brand'.

A few months after jettlandicho.com launched, I started another site. It's origin story was completely different. It was created as an outlet to express my thoughts and feelings in regards to a life-long hobby of mine. I intentionally didn't tell anyone I knew about the site for a number of reasons:

1) Employers probably don't care about my hobby
2) My friends don't care about my hobby like I do
3) I wanted to see how my 'anonymous' Internet effort would perform without my name attached to it

While I think points one and two still stand, I think there are some positives to be had from claiming this other site as mine. Should you be interested in my personal project and the rationale for 'outing' it, read the rest of this post.

About the Site

In Third Person is a video game blog. I may not have the credentials of IGN, Gamespot or Ice-T, but it's the only place to get video game thoughts and opinions from yours truly. I try and write everything as personable and relatable as possible so that I can provide you with a compelling third person perspective on everything relating to video games. If you value what I have to say about games, awesome. If you don't, you're more than welcome to disagree with me in the comments.

Why In Third Person Matters to Me

I love video games. I've been actively playing games for over 20 years. I've been actively following the scene and the culture since the early days of Electronic Gaming Monthly. There are a lot of thoughts and experiences I've always wanted to share but never had the outlet to express myself. This may sound cheesy, but I think having this outlet has been good for my soul. This project was birthed out of my love for video games and I hope it comes through in my work.

Why It Might Matter to You

Most of the jettlandicho.com traffic comes from potential employers looking for background information on me and from advertising students who know me through Seneca College's Creative Advertising program. Odds are, if you're in the first audience, you probably don't care about video games. I understand that.

What might be relevant to you is that In Third Person is another example of my ability to work with blogs and, in particular, the Wordpress platform. I'm still fine-tuning the blog to get the right template and plug-ins, but I know how to use it and I use this all the time. Feel free to judge me based on my ability express thoughts and ideas through interactive and social technologies.

I am also putting this out there as another means for someone to learn more about me as a person. jettlandicho.com was partially made to compensate for my lack of interactive advertising experience and my lack of a professional presence on the web. A year later, I'm fortunate to have a number of interactive and social media projects under my belt. When the time comes, I can always speak to that experience and to this blog.

Throughout this past year of working in advertising, I've also learned about the value in personality. Opportunities can be made or lost based my personality and how I would mesh with others. While who I am is framed mainly within the context of video games, I think a lot about who I am as a person shines through.

In Conclusion

In Third Person is my gaming blog that is independent of the work I do on jettlandicho.com. I'm just as proud of the content on In Third Person as I am of the content here. If you enjoy video games or just want to learn a bit more about me, head over there right now.

Answering Internship-Related Questions

2010-06-22T19:38:00.005-04:00

Earlier today, I saw a bunch of internship-related questions pop up on my Twitter from my former professor and "Big Daddy CABBIE", Anthony Kalamut a.k.a. @southsideadguy. He's put out a bunch of questions for the Internet at large to answer so that he can relay that information back to his advertising students, who are all required to complete an internship before graduating.

I know it's scary being in his student's shoes, because I was there just a year ago. I've received a lot of help along my relatively successful journey in the advertising industry so far and I actively try and pay it forward. Answering a few of these questions is the least I can do to help my fellow adlanders score their internships. Jump through the cut to see my answers to Anthony's questions relating to internships.

If a company rejects you, would you apply again for their program at a later date?

Absolutely. Just because a company says no to you once doesn't mean that they'll say no to you forever. As time passes, circumstances change, people change and people change their minds. If you go for an interview and they don't hire you, I would recommend at least adding the people who interviewed you as contacts on LinkedIn or keeping their email on file. That way, you'll have the ability to ask if there are any new opportunities available or, even better, they'll have the ability to contact you first if another opportunity were to arise. Also, the people considering you the first time around might not even be there the second time you apply, which would leave you with a clean slate. While I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket and focus all of my efforts into one agency, I wouldn't write off an agency that has said no before, either.

What's most important in an internship? Atmosphere/culture, opportunity to be hired, experience or compensation?

While they're all important, I can rank those from top to bottom what are most important to me:

1. Experience
2. Atmosphere/Culture
3. Opportunity to be hired
4. Compensation

Experience is key because experience is the biggest indicator of your value. You can also consider your experience as an investment to yourself. Regardless of how your internship ends, that experience will stay with you forever, which you can use to leverage yourself into a paid agency position. Atmosphere and culture I put at #2 because a good working environment is extremely important. If you're going to spend 8 hours a day and 5 days a week, you're going to want to spend that time in a place where you're comfortable and enjoy the people you work with. Having worked in both a large agency and a small agency, I can tell you that the atmosphere is very different in comparison, but I enjoy both for different reasons. Finding an agency where you "fit" in terms of skill-set and in personality will go a long way towards a great internship and possibly bigger things in the future.

I ranked opportunity to be hired and compensation at the bottom because there are factors beyond your control at play there. You might be hire-worthy, but if your agency doesn't have the money to keep you on, you're out of luck. Also, most agencies don't pay for interns. If you're holding out for a paid internship, you could be waiting for a long time.

What challenges have you faced when trying to acquire an internship?

The lack of experience and the "lack" of opportunities. I'll start with experience first.

Student work helps, but employers definitely prefer to see real work, even from prospective interns. If you come across any opportunities to do any sort of "real" advertising work that you can put in your portfolio or resume, go for it. One of the other things you can do is find another way to demonstrate what you have to offer. For me, my solution was starting up this blog, which actually did help me get my most recent job. However, every person is different and I'm sure there are countless other ways to sell yourself.

There are opportunities for internships everywhere, but as a student who doesn't know where to look, it can be daunting. To overcome that, I often consulted with my teachers who had information on openings and I conducted as many informationals with industry professionals as I could to not only learn more about the industry, but also to build a contact base that could possibly help me out in the future.

How did/would you find your internship?

My story is actually really weird. I had applied to a bunch of ad agencies and done a few interviews, but nothing had panned out. During my final semester at school, we had an assignment to come up with an advertising pitch for a small business. My girlfriend/partner on the assignment, Stephanie, chose an organic candy company called Pure Fun.

During our research, we found the President of the company on Facebook. We sent her a message telling her what we were doing and we sent her a mini brief containing info that we'd gathered so far. The President of Pure Fun loved it so much, she wanted to meet us in person. From there, Stephanie and I polished up our presentation, got a bunch of advice from our teachers, and we pitched the President of the company in a school board room. Before we had even graduated, we had essentially won our own account, which then turned into our internships.

There are a lot of ways to go about acquiring an internship other than sending resumes to every agency under the sun. In a time when the economy hit the absolute bottom, Stephanie and I created our own jobs by expanding our horizons and putting in the extra effort. Other advertising students have the capability to do the same thing, if not bigger.

Would you consider relocating to a different city for an internship?

If the circumstances line up in your favour, yes. During my radio career, I did my internship in a city I'd never been to at a station that played country music, a genre I knew nothing about. Through that experience of being in a totally new environment, I learned a lot about radio, the world and myself.

There have been a few opportunities for me to do my internship outside of the country through school, but there were other life factors involved that prevented me from going. If I were a student again and all the stars aligned for me to take that step, I totally would.

At what age, if any, are you “too old” to be an intern?

If you can prove that you have the ability to handle the work of an intern, I don't think you can be "too old". There are people in every industry that are entering their respective fields at different ages because they decided to change their career path or what have you. If you're happy with what you're doing, then your age shouldn't matter.

Much respect to Anthony for putting in the effort of getting this type of feedback for his students. His students are really lucky to have a professor like him who is willing to go the extra mile like this. I'm still very much a student of advertising myself with a lot more to learn, but if my answers help even one adlander find their way, then this was totally worth it.

Early iPad Impression

2010-05-31T22:13:00.008-04:00

Do I need to invest in a "tweener" machine that doesn't really beat out the other two devices I own? Probably not.

Me, "The iPad Cometh"

So much for that. Thanks to a recently-passed birthday and a chance visit to the Apple store on launch day, I fell in love with the iPad after 5 minutes of use. Did I need it? Probably not. Did I want it? Enough to buy it after 20 minutes of hard thinking. Do I deserve it? As the birthday boy, absolutely. :P

I've had a few days to play around with it. While I'm definitely not one to say whether or not its going to revolutionize computers, I do have enough experience with it to at least tell you what's awesome/not so hot about it. Hit the link for my impressions of the hottest thing in tech.

First things first: I think the iPad at its core is a giant iPod Touch. I've already caught some flack from a few of my iPad-owning compatriots, but it's hard not to draw the similarities. They function pretty much the exact same way, with size being the only major difference between the two. If you've used an iPod Touch before, for the most part, you know what you're getting.

With that said, size really does make a difference. It's big enough to make most iPhone and iPad applications a lot easier to use but still notably smaller than a netbook. It's oddly neat to be able to carry what is roughly a very thin book to the couch and do a lot of computer-type stuff on a tablet. I don't think it'll outright replace laptops or netbooks, but it's really neat on the go or if you just want something small to consume digital media with.

I play a ton of games on my iDevices, and having the extra real estate made a big difference in playing certain games like Monopoly and The Price is Right. Thanks to the big screen, it's easier for multiple people to look at the screen at the same time, which makes it a much better communal experience.

Surfing the web also benefits greatly on the iPad. I hate surfing the web on my G1 iPod Touch because it's slow and unless you're on a mobile site, it's really hard to navigate through anything. With the iPad, everything moves really quickly, even when I could only get a 1-bar connection. The extra space also makes it easier to surf non-mobile sites, so you can surf the web as you know it with your hands.

If you have a lot of iPhone apps and fear that they'll look like crap when expanded to fit on the iPad screen, I have relatively good news for you: they don't look like crap. There's a clear drop in definition, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. iPad-specific applications definitely look better on the big screen, but it's absolutely not a deal-breaker.

One thing that has caught me off guard with this device is the great battery life. Even after playing a bunch of games and watching YouTube over the past few days, I have yet to charge it since launch because my battery still has over 50% in the tank. With my iPod Touch, I put the brightness down all the way and turn off wifi whenever I'm not using it to maximize my battery because it seems to run out so quickly. With the iPad at default settings and wifi on all the time, it's still kicking after a number of days of not being charged.

While I love having the iPad, I wouldn't go out and throw away your netbook or your laptop in exchange for this. If you're looking for a "real" computer experience, this is definitely not it. Like I said, it essentially has the advantages/disadvantages of a big iPod Touch, so it won't have all of the functionality you may want from a computer at double the price of an entry-level netbook.

It's worth noting that Steve Jobs is a liar when he said that typing on an iPad was a dream. I eventually got used to typing with my thumbs on my iPod Touch, and this device has a similar learning curve. The big on-screen keyboard initially makes you think you can touch-type on it like you would a real keyboard, but it doesn't work as smooth as you'd hope. You'll frequently hit the wrong buttons and lose your place on the keyboard without the tactile feedback. Using your pointer fingers to start should work fine, though typing up a business document on it could be a nightmare. You can buy the iPad keyboard attachment to alleviate that stress, but at that point, you might as well just buy a real laptop.

My only other major gripe is not Flash-related (though not having that is a bummer, too). While the form-factor is great for portability, the tablet style isn't the most ergonomic computing solution. You won't always have it sitting on your lap at the perfect angle to interact with it, so you're either holding it up (which can get tiring) or resting it on a table (which can hurt your neck if it's flat against the table). My girlfriend bought me the official iPad case to go with it, so the cover can be folded back to rest the iPad on an angle, which helps it a bit as far as usability goes. However, for certain applications, such as watching a longer video, you may need to prop it up against something to have it stand upright.

I'm not sure if the iPad will change the world, even though it's sold over 2 million units in the last 59 days. At this point, I'm not even 100% sure where my iPad fits into my own lifestyle, other than as a piece of nerd bling. But I do love using it and I think it has a lot of potential as a computing and media consumption device. If you know what you're getting at the price you're paying and are happy with that, then go right ahead and splurge on an iPad. It's going to take some time before developers, advertisers, content makers and consumers really figure out what this thing can do and how to make the most of it. Till then, I'll chime in on my blog with more impressions on the device, apps, ads and anything else worth noting as I play around with it.

South Park: You Have 0 Friends

2010-04-08T13:19:00.004-04:00

I'm not an avid South Park watcher, but some of my favourite episodes are the ones that cover current events and issues. The newest episode of the show, "You Have 0 Friends" is all about how serious Facebook can be.

As an avid fan of Facebook humour (and a regular viewer of Lamebook) this episode was right up my alley. Stan is the guy who is forced into the Facebook world kicking and screaming, Kyle is a Farmville addict who quickly loses friends when he becomes friends with the unpopular kid and Cartman is in classic form. In particular, his segment on Chatroulette may be my favourite part of this particular episode.

With the exception of the Tron bits, I think I've seen or experienced all of these scenarios and behaviours since I signed up for the service years ago. I recommend checking it out here if you haven't already seen it.

Say Hello To My Little Friends

2010-03-29T22:52:00.004-04:00

As someone who is a huge fan of the Al Pacino version of Scarface, I'm not sure whether or not this YouTube video of elementary students reenacting Scarface for a school play is horribly disturbing or the best thing ever. In any case, it's probably going to make its rounds as the viral video du jour. Click through to see the video and some of my impressions.

This video hit the Internet today care of YouTube user cindymomof6. At face value, the responsible side of me feels really uncomfortable watching this. I have no idea what benefit the kids would get from re-enacting a movie involving gang members, drugs and tons of violence. Even the kids self-censorship makes me feel weird, even though I love fudge. How did any school approve of this? The other side of me thinks that this is freaking hilarious. I've watched it three times over, posted it on my Twitter and Facebook, sent it via IM to a bunch of other people, and am now writing a blog post about it.

Is there more going on here? Or is this just the Internet being the Internet? The idea of a kids version of Scarface that was sanctioned by any school just does not compute in my head. Also, this user's favourite videos are all very religious, which kind of contradicts the life and times of Tony Montana. I guess until we learn more about why this video exists, I'll go back to watching Tony Montana go out with a bang.

UPDATE: This was not a school play. This was done by director Marc Klasfeld and Rockhard Films, whose credits include Lady Gaga's "Pokerface" and Adam Lambert's "For Your Entertainment. Thanks to TMZ for cracking that case pretty quick!

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Michelle Fargas

2010-02-17T23:20:00.009-05:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Michelle Fargas

Career Path: Project Management

Education: Seneca Creative Advertising - Graduated in 2009 with Honours

Advertising Experience: 4 months interning at Fjord (Cossette); currently working full-time as Project Coordinator at Proximity Canada (BBDO)

One Thing About You: I'm a heavy metal music lover with a penchant for arts & crafts, and kittens.

Contact: michellefargas@gmail.com

Click READ MORE for the full interview!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

I like to think it's in my blood. My father was in advertising. He started out as a graphic designer turned Art Director, and eventually became a professor in marketing. I've been hearing his "lectures" since I was a kid and I guess I actually listened! I was officially set on advertising when I went to Seneca's orientation session. One of the profs sold it to me and I grabbed on - hook, line and sinker.

Based on my personal experience as well as talking to advertising students, not a lot of students are striving for Project Management positions. Many don't even know what a Project Manager does. How did you end up in that field?

I totally fell into Project Management because of my internship at Cossette. I received a call from the HR department requesting my resume (I had left my contact information there after my class pitched to Cossette for our final semester - my team won, by the way!) and a phone interview with the Director of Production of Fjord, Cossette's interactive side. The position was support for the Project Managers and even though I didn't know what it was I jumped at the chance to intern for Cossette.

You were fortunate enough to have interned at Cossette as a Project Manager. What was that experience like? What were the key things you learned to be successful as a Project Manager?

It took me about two days to shake off the awe that I was interning at the biggest Canadian agency in Canada. In that aspect, I was excited and ready to start each day. I absorbed as much as I could from the people around me and asked questions about processes, best practices, formats, etc. Sometimes I just asked "Why?" Understanding the base process for something helps in future situations wherein you can take that practice and apply it to another project.

Part of my learning experience was gathered from where I was sitting - first I sat with the Flash developers and then with the coding dev teams (the office is open-concept and we had the PMs and AMs around us). This helped me learn more about what they do and how they do it, which is important in figuring out project estimates and whether projects are feasible. My boss told me he sat me there on purpose, just to learn things like that.

Key Things I Learned…
Be nice to the developers! They will be the ones who can break you or save you during those looming deadlines.
Write everything down. Everything! Don't go anywhere without a pen and notebook.
Don't be afraid to ask questions.
Smile, and mean it! :)
Make use of Post-it notes.
Don't take on more than you can chew - pass things up if you need to, and do it waaay before the deadline!

A few months ago, you made the big jump from intern to full-time employee, landing a position at BBDO Proximity. What was the process of securing a job like for you?

I am extremely lucky to be where I am now. For me, it was all about connections. I kept in touch with the Director of Production at Fjord, who was leaving to work elsewhere as I was settling into my internship. Laura and I talked about my future a lot and she had heard from the staff that they were really happy with me and my work. I guess she knew at the time that Fjord wasn’t looking to hire a junior like me so she took my contact information and resume before her last day. A few weeks later I was responding to calls from her agency contacts/acquaintances that were either looking for contract or full-time positions within Project Management.

One of those calls was for an interview with BBDO. I met with the two Project Directors/Brand Directors for my first interview and made sure not to lean on my Laura, my reference, too much but did discuss working and training with her. My second interview was with the PMO Consultant. It was a little tougher on the questions and I actually got to discuss salary options.

Overall it happened really quickly for me. While at Cossette I gathered contacts by letting people know I was looking for full-time work and most were happy to give me an email address or two. I set up a few informationals that way which helped me stay in the “interview mindframe” and work on asking/answering questions. Basically I believe I am in area of "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."

I know a lot of students are curious about the role a project manager plays at an advertising agency. What do you do as a Project Coordinator?

As a Project Coordinator at Proximity, I am dedicated to one major client. I am assigned to the smaller projects Proximity deals with (from online ads, website builds, changes, emails, etc). Working with our Resource Manager, I find a team to complete the job and then we get briefed by the accounting team. I ensure the resources (developers, art directors, designers, and copy writers) get everything we need to complete the deliverables on time. I am the liaison between accounting and the creative/developers for the most part and keep the team on a timeline.

After the project has been completed, we go through a series of Quality Assurance (QA). Sometimes I do this for my PMs or we have a team of QA to go through it checking for errors against our proposed deliverables. We are also checking for functionality when it comes to websites, CMS, flash, etc on different platforms.

For the paperwork, I write up job estimates, process invoices, budget tracking and a few other administration duties. I also do little things for the Project Managers as needed, such as purchasing images, typefaces and sound clips online.

Many people would consider Project Management as a "business" job. What role do you play in the creative side?

Project Management is a great mix of business and creative when it comes to interactive advertising. Even my junior level here at Proximity, I am able to get involved with brainstorming and concepting during briefs, internal reviews and through emails. We are encouraged to give our opinion. PMs are also the people who know what is feasible when an idea is pitched (in terms of the timeline, budget or client expectations).

We often get all-staff emails from staff informing us “what’s cool and new” or just plain interesting articles. This way we all keep up with the pace of the internet and it starts our discussion about using these various tools and interactive methods with our own clients.

When working in Interactive, there's an extra layer of technical knowledge you need to have in order to be successful at your job. How easy or difficult was it for you to grasp that side of the business? Do you think the average advertising student can handle it?

For me, it was very easy to take on the technical side of developing interactive ads. I was one of those teenagers who clamped onto the internet during the dial-up days of the early ‘90s so I have knowledge of html and xml. With that it became a bit easier to understand how CSS and other coding work in terms of the final performance of an ad. My dev team at Fjord was awesome at explaining things to me when I was tasked with a job; instead of just telling me what to do, they explained the system and let me ask questions about its functionality so it made sense to me in cause and effect terms.

I think with the increasing interest in interactive advertising, schools are beginning to take another look at the importance of learning the technical skills needed for this medium. Our semester learned a bit of what goes on for both front- and back-end development but half a semester isn’t enough to grasp it without some kind of interest in manipulating the medium to begin with.

For any students interested in a Project Management position, what would you say to them to sell them on a career in this field?

Project Management is like working for Accounts, without the task of dealing with clients. It’s like being in with the Creatives, except you watch deadlines! The project wouldn't get done on time without a project manager.

What do you do for fun?

I love going to concerts/music festivals; the atmosphere and adrenaline rush from going to heavy metal concerts is incredible! I enjoy reading, cuddling with my new kitten, playing around with the hundreds of apps on my iPod, cooking and baking. I love the internet and its infinite resource of all things inspirational, or all things inane (hey, you need this once in a while!). Friends and family hang-outs are fun, too.

E-elevator pitch (sell yourself in 140 characters or less)

I'm a fusion of the left and right sides of the brain: I can switch from creative tasks to business, bringing organization to imagination.

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

The Impact of Sharing Your Location Through Social Media

2010-02-17T11:52:00.003-05:00

Last summer, I was out of town on a family vacation and I thought it'd be cool to tweet that. Later that day, while listening to This Week in Tech, one of the hosts mentioned the rise in house robberies after someone tweets that they're not home. I was horrified for the rest of the trip.

Thankfully, my house was not hit. However, sharing your location publicly through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare can be dangerous. Getting your house robbed is one thing; but what if someone you don't know decides to go and find you?

Please Rob Me is a website that aims to raise awareness about the dangers of sharing your location publicly on social media platforms. While they don't actually want people to use this site as a resource for who to rob, it very well could come in handy for a lot of bad things if used the wrong way. Through this site, you can see every Foursquare tweet in the world, or narrow down your search by location or Twitter user name. I was especially startled when I searched a local city and found people I knew on the first page. The sad thing is, I'm sure 99.9% of the people listed on this website have no idea that their tweets are being displayed on a site that indirectly encourages people to rob you, let alone the fact that your tweets are being displayed elsewhere at all.

We still have a long way to go before we can catch up with the technology and the ramifications of our actions. I'm not saying to stop playing Foursquare or never share your location. Just understand what you could be getting into when you put your location out there.

The iPad Cometh

2010-01-27T18:57:00.005-05:00

Image from Engadget

As a proud owner of a Macbook and an iPod Touch, I have a number of rational reasons for not spending between $500-800 on an Apple iPad. My iPod can run almost all the functions an iPad can and fit in my pocket. And my Macbook is a more powerful machine than an iPad in a package that I never felt wasn't portable enough.

Do I need to invest in a "tweener" machine that doesn't really beat out the other two devices I own? Probably not. But do I want an iPad? Dude, yes!@#$111

For strictly emotional reasons, I want an iPad. I want it cause it looks hot. I want it cause it's a new piece of tech. I want it just to have it. My lust for this iPad is strong. Someone talk me out of buying one, quick!

Why Playing The Piano On YouTube Isn't Awesome

2010-01-08T23:17:00.004-05:00

I was checking out Mashable today and saw this post on playing the piano on YouTube. A Swedish production company called KOKOKAKA had put it together and I thought I would try it out. I'm always interested in seeing new or unique applications of technology, so I thought I'd try it out. If you haven't already tried it out in the video above, it takes advantage of the YouTube feature that allows users to click back to a certain portion of the video. The team then recorded themselves playing all of the notes and linked them for a user to play in any sequence they like. Plan on tearing through Beethoven's 9th symphony on it? Good luck. As an interactive piece, I appreciate all the work that went into it. However, it's not that fun to play with.

Playing the piano on things other than a piano is kind of played out, and the fun theory piano stairs have this beat in terms of uniqueness. On a computer, there are a number of free online pianos that work a lot better. Also, the nature of YouTube technology doesn't really lend itself to actually making music in this particular execution. Having to wait for the video to finish loading while the video itself is playing is a major turn-off for most people who expect instant satisfaction when watching anything on YouTube. On top of that, the slight delay between your mouse click and the sound playing is just a bit too much to make anything sound good, and the sound of the video cutting in every time you hit a note is annoying.

As a lesson learned on the process of creating content for interactive, I think its great. It demonstrates two factors everyone should consider when they create interactive content.

1) What are the possibilities and limitations of the technology?

The designers behind this video totally saw an opportunity to use YouTube to trigger notes on a piano. To me, I feel like they completely disregarded the limitations YouTube brings to the equation. The way they put that video together and the way the cue feature works doesn't make it work the way a user would want a piano to work. Which leads directly to my next point.

2) Is it any good to interact with?

It's possible for anyone to put ice cream on a steak, but would you want to eat it? My guess is no. Like anything in the world that we interact with, it has to be something we want to do in order for us to get any value from it. In concept, it sounds kind of cool to create something with a technology that it wasn't originally intended to do. However, that's a moot point if the final product isn't any good to use. The piano stairs are extremely difficult to make music with, but that's not really the point because they're still fun to use. Maybe you had the time of your life using the YouTube piano, but I did not like the experience it provided.

As a proof of concept, maybe it will lead into something greater. On its own, it's a unique idea that doesn't respect the limits of the technology enough to be something people would want to use. For anyone making anything that others have to interact with, I hope you you keep these two points in mind.

I Win My First Advertising Award*

2009-12-22T23:19:00.012-05:00

Last week at the Toronto Euro RSCG Christmas party, I was surprised to receive my first-ever advertising award. I guess if anything, my parents deserve it more than I do, but I've accepted it nonetheless. I won the award for "Best Name Ever". Not a bad start to my career, now is it?

Hit the READ MORE link to see pics!

Thank you Bekki for these pictures. Above is a picture of me receiving my award from Bill Sharpe, Chairman of Sharpe Blackmore. Watching in the back of this image is Tom Blackmore, the President of the company.

And here's a pic of me with my certificate. I will be framing it and displaying it on my desk at work. Here's to hoping I can win more awards in the future!

Christmas Light Hero

2009-12-13T16:38:00.004-05:00

The Internet never fails to impress me. This time, former Disney special effects engineer Ric Turner created this interactive Christmas lights masterpiece that lets you play Guitar Hero...ON YOUR HOUSE. The entire house acts as the gameplay interface as well as providing the user a lights show of awesome while you rock out to "Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson.

I admit, I don't even have a Christmas tree up in my house yet, and they can play Guitar Hero on their house. If there was ever a time I felt like the Grinch, that time is now.

A Word About Child's Play Charity And Donating This Christmas

2009-11-30T22:03:00.007-05:00

This Christmas, there are a number of excellent charities to donate to, should you feel inclined to do so. I donate to a few assorted charities here and there throughout the year, but Child's Play is a bit different for me. In my experiences of donating, I knew that I was donating to a good cause, but never felt any personal or vested interest in the causes I was donating to. With Child's Play, for me specifically, I really feel like it's a cause I can personally get behind.

Since 2003, Child's Play has raised over $5 million dollars in donations of toys, games, books, movies and more for sick kids hospitals around the world. As a gamer, and as someone with a lot of younger family members that I've taken care of throughout the years, its a cause I can really empathize with. Hospitalized children don't spend all day being treated, and the downtime can get boring and at worst, detrimental to the recovery of a child. Providing hospitalized children with any form of entertainment can go a long way to boosting a child's spirits and ultimately, their recovery. There aren't that many charities out there like it and this one is powered by like-minded people, which makes the act of donating to the cause more powerful to me.

Last year, I bought Rock Band downloadable songs where all the proceeds raised by the songs went to Child's Play. This year, I went through their Amazon Gift List system and donated Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii to The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto. While my contributions aren't nearly as large as the $132,000 raised by the Desert Bus For Hope marathon, I'm sure my contributions will go towards a few smiles for children that really need it. From here on out, I'll make a conscious effort to donate to the cause when I can.

With all that said, it would be awesome if you donated to the cause too. However, I'm not forcing you to do anything. I would be happy if you donated to any charity this holiday season, especially one you feel strongly about. Anything we can do to make the holidays brighter for others is a win for everyone.

Muppets Perform Bohemian Rhapsody

2009-11-24T21:38:00.005-05:00

I'm just as confused as you. Yesterday, the Muppets went viral and take part in at least the coolest video of the day. Click on the READ MORE link to catch the Muppets rock out in 1080p goodness.

I have no idea what the objective of this video is or why it even exists, but who cares? Watching Muppets rock out is always fun. Do you think this was a..."reaction"...to any other homemade Muppet videos out there on YouTube? If you don't know what I'm alluding to, it's probably for the best.

Anyway, this official Muppet Studios video is pretty awesome and SFW. While I'm still talking about Muppets, if you haven't already seen this one, I recommend you check out the drum battle between Animal and Buddy Rich too.

Adweek's Best of the 2000s

2009-11-22T14:02:00.004-05:00

Starting this week, Adweek Media is conducting a poll for the best of the 2000s. There are a number of categories to choose from, including agency of the decade, commercial of the decade, and even blog of the decade. At some point in the nomination process my blog was lost in the shuffle, but I'll let it slide this decade (yeah right).

All jokes aside, I recommend you take a few minutes to vote for who you feels deserves the distinction. As of writing, I just checked agency of the decade and to my surprise, Euro RSCG is #1. As a current employee of a Euro RSCG agency, I can't hate on that. However, don't let me me influence your voting...Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG...Euro RSCG

How To Get To Sesame Street

2009-11-04T19:20:00.004-05:00

Image from the National Post

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street (the greatest children's television show of all time in my humble opinion), the National Post has put together this simple and neat interactive piece chronicling 101 muppets from the show. Credit goes out to Steve Murray, who wrote and illustrated the piece, Rebecca Yanovskaya for the interactive design and the information from the muppet wikia.

The piece isn't going to win any awards, but It's going to draw a lot of traffic and engagement for being simple, cool and fun to use. It also doesn't hurt that it's subject matter covers Sesame Street. True story: when my brother was born in 1990, I insisted my parents name him Ernie, after my favourite Sesame Street character at the time.

I recommend you give the piece a look. After that, you can come back here and check out my favourite Sesame Street song. I love it so much, I even have it on my iPod.

CAB Grads Keep The "Planet in Focus"

2009-10-22T21:41:00.014-04:00

Images from Slava Yedlin

If you've been in and around the Greater Toronto Area over the last month or so, you may have seen these ads for the Planet in Focus Film Festival. What makes this campaign significant to me is that it was developed by my friends and fellow Seneca Creative Advertising alumi. Much respect goes out to Slava Yedlin, Christine Porto, Victoria Morozova, Francesco Fiore, Steven Tran, Cole and "Leader of the New" Keely Powell for a great campaign and for earning the opportunity to make power moves straight out of college!

Image from Stephanie Harrison

How did they land this awesome opportunity? A few months ago, Cundari gave our class a chance to create campaigns for Planet in Focus and Slava Vodka. They put a lot of hard work into it (as did every other group assigned to Planet in Focus) but their team, known back then as BGE (Best Group Ever) wowed Cundari and the client enough to land the job.

I was proud back then for them having won the pitch and even moreso now that their all of their hard work has been realized into a full campaign. I wish them, the rest of my fellow alumni and all of the up-and-coming advertisers much success moving forward!

Do You Enjoy The Go?

2009-10-21T22:29:00.004-04:00

Image from Brackiswater

(I'm going to try and write this with as few toilet jokes as possible)

If you're looking for your first or next corporate blogging gig, Charmin might have the job for you. Well, Charmin is looking for people to handle their business while you "handle your business" (sorry, I couldn't help it). They're looking for 5 bloggers to staff Times Square bathrooms and blog about it. Tryouts for this position are at the New York Hilton at 53rd Street and 6th Avenue. If you're planning on doing it, don't forget to bring your resume, a photo as well as an explanation for why you "enjoy the go".

As bizarre as this may seem, I think it would be hilarious to have this on your resume. It also pays handsomely. At $10,000 for 5 weeks of work, that's almost an insane amount of money to for the work they're asking you to do. If you're planning on going for this, good luck!

Original story from Ad Age

Warfare In Your Hand

2009-10-19T22:26:00.004-04:00

Hitting the Internet today from John Mayer is the world's first augmented reality music video. While most of the augmented reality experiences I have tried out don't really expand beyond short animations, this one depicts John Mayer performing the entire song with video elements and changing backgrounds. Check it out HERE.

The idea of an augmented reality music video is really cool. As a final product, it does demonstrate some potential for the future if augmented reality, but not without highlighting a few of the technology's current weaknesses.

I think due to limitations of the technology, it doesn't look all that great visually. Usually these executions feature only animated 3D renderings. Because they used video, John Mayer is a bit flat and pixelated. Also, there are only two fairly generic backgrounds that switch in and out. If this were an actual music video, it would be slammed for being one of the ugliest and cheesy videos of all time.

As an augmented reality piece however, it's an exciting new step and a proof of concept for something more than what it currently is. It was a weird sensation to be "holding" John Mayer in my hands. I look forward to seeing how creative minds push this technology.

Did You Just Make Love?

2009-10-13T20:35:00.006-04:00

I am a huge fan of Google Maps because of the many ways it can be used and integrated into other technology. Some of its uses are really convenient, such as finding the closest parking lot in your downtown core, to more voyeuristic purposes just for the heck of it.

The application I'm about to blog about definitely falls into the latter category, as I Just Made Love is well, fairly self explanatory.

Using Google Maps, a user can place a marker down on a map to indicate where they just made love, then leave a description, whether your experience was indoor or outdoor, the sexual orientation of the two involved, positions performed and a few other juicy details.

The creepy voyeur in me wants to click on every single one of these and read the details behind every hookup. That could take some time, as there are over 35,000 markers worldwide to date.

Neat idea. However, I don't see this catching on as the next big thing. I'm fairly certain that 99.9% of these markers are fake, and even then the comments people leave are pretty boring. The other major issue I see is that this could lead to some creepers using this information for who knows what.

Next time you make love, will you be dropping a marker on Google Maps?

The End of Blogger Payola

2009-10-05T21:10:00.003-04:00

Image from Taxpayers Against Fraud

Remember the old days of radio payola? Or heck, even the more recent days of radio payola? To this day, people still question on a regular basis the legitimacy of the songs they hear on the radio. Having worked in the radio business for a number of years, I can't say I've personally seen it happen, but heard the skeptics on a regular basis. While I haven't heard the same type of criticism and cynicism aimed towards bloggers, the Federal Trade Commission nonetheless have taken major steps towards curbing blogger Payola.

Is it too late for me to tell you how AMAZING the Sham-Wow is? I'll be right back, right after I...make a deposit :P

All jokes aside, Ad Age does a pretty good job outlining the consequences and reasoning for the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on bloggers getting paid to say nice things about products or services without full disclosure. At $11,000 per violation, that's a whole lot of money to lose as an individual blogger. However, is that enough to curb a major corporation from rolling the dice?

Nevertheless, I think it's a good move on the FTC is taking steps to curbing such shady tactics online.

Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

2009-10-01T22:57:00.009-04:00

While my blog has been fairly stagnant for the last little while, it's not because of a lack of effort. Okay, I probably could put in a bit more effort, but I've been busy with a number of personal and professional projects, such as the book I'm putting together for myself, working on career stuff and...being a rock star?

I have mentioned in the past that I dabbled in music. In my free time over these last few weeks, I've decided to learn the bass guitar. I'm having a lot of fun with it and even performed live at my local street party. Anybody looking for a drummer or bassist for next year's Battle of the Ad Bands in New York?

My other big "excuse" for not updating as frequently as I used to is, I've been busy getting career stuff together. In fact, I got a new job and am officially starting Monday! I'm really excited for a chance to live the dream of aspiring ad people everywhere.

If you still follow my blog, thank you for your support! I'll do my best in the coming weeks to make it up to you!

I'ma Let You Finish

2009-09-16T17:51:00.003-04:00

By now, we've all seen the ridiculous outburst made by Kanye West to Taylor Swift at the MTV VMA's on Sunday. Immediately after the incident happen, celebrity tweets went through the roof condemning Kanye's behaviour. He immediately posted on his blog an apology, but it has done little to put out the flames that have come with his actions.

Of course, it didn't take long for the rest of the Internet community to bombard the landscape with parody videos, gifs and images. One site I found compiling the best of these parodies is I'ma Let You Finish.

I know he's been making the apology rounds, but is there anything he can do to gain back respect? How badly will this hurt his future endeavours? How quickly will the Internet drive this joke into the ground?

Click on the READ MORE link to check out a few choice images.

(Don't get this one? Do your homework.)

Smells Like Uncomfortable Marketing

2009-09-01T21:56:00.003-04:00

Making the rounds of video game websites and blogs is the above video from YouTube user Corporalgregg2, who recorded a few of the awkward things you can do with Kurt Cobain in Guitar Hero 5. Everything from imitating Flava Flav's trademark, "Yeah boy!" to four Kurt Cobain's performing a Megadeath song with invisible instruments.

My initial reaction is, "LOL! Look at Kurt Cobain being crazy!" However, as someone who knows a little bit about the life and death of Kurt Cobain, I can't help but feel eerily uncomfortable watching this. I'm sure when the marketing team pitched the estate of Kurt Cobain to try and have him in their game, part of the deal didn't include playing in the same band as a skeleton or singing high-pitched vocals to a funk song.

Part of the reason why Kurt Cobain is no longer with us is because he hated celebrity and the commercialism his music brought to him. He wanted to be seen in a certain light, and that not happening partially lead to his death. Ever since then, the legacy of Kurt Cobain has been fairly well protected.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise to see cyber Kurt Cobain in the video singing music from Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder with an XBOX avatar and a skeleton. When the makers of Guitar Hero pitched this idea to the estate of Kurt Cobain, did they mention that this would be possible? If so, was the estate of Kurt Cobain cool with it?

I understand from a marketing perspective that having Kurt Cobain in your rock music game sounds like a good idea. However, giving users the ability to take him out of context doesn't seem very tasteful to the life and legacy of a deceased, iconic rock star that probably wouldn't have approved of this if he were still alive in the first place.

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Kathy Lee

2009-08-19T12:51:00.001-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Kathy Lee

Career Path: Account Services

Education: B.A: Psychology (York U), Diploma: Creative Advertising (Seneca College)

Advertising Experience: Internship at Cundari Group
Research and Re-branding Toronto Police’s TAVIS program
Internship at Axis Integrated (Dubai, UAE)

One Thing About You: That there’s never just one thing about me.

Contact: klee.ads@gmail.com

Read the interview after the break!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

I’m not gonna lie. I fell in love with advertising after watching What Women Want with Mel Gibson. I remember sitting there and saying, “That’s what I want to do… throw ideas around.. pitch it.. and then make it all happen!” But that was years ago and back then I didn’t know if I had what it took to succeed. But after winning the student IMC campaign for BMW I knew I had what it was the perfect career choice for me.

Everything about it just feels right.

You have a background in volunteer work. Tell us about it.

Most of my volunteer work has been in the community-based level, but as I got older I wanted to extend my services towards third world countries and global causes.

I had my first international experience back in 2007 when I traveled to Haiti with a group called Third World Awareness (twawareness.org). My family and friends were worried about my safety and didn’t think I could handle the rough conditions. And to be honest, I was really scared too but knew I had to just throw myself head on and embrace it.

The experience was tremendous and life changing. And from that I learned to continually challenge myself to the next level in every aspect of my life.

Do you ever plan on incorporating that volunteer experience into your advertising career somehow?

Definitely. I am very passionate about both and I think together exceptional things can come from it.

Advertising is no longer just about selling goods. It’s a communication tool that can be strategically and creatively used to create a cultural movement. And in this case, for the better good- whether it’s globally, nationally or on a community based level.

*This is usually the part when my friends put up their peace sign and flick their lighters for me. They think I’m a bit of a hippie.

You were on a very important trip in Dubai recently trying to encourage the world to “Choose To L.I.V.E.”. What is that all about?

I was selected as one of the international delegates to attend the Education without Borders conference in Dubai. This event was a platform for students from all over the world to share their ideas and solutions to some of our global challenges. And fortunately, I was blessed with the opportunity to introduce my “solution” for cultural exchange.

My concept was to address the challenges that come along with cultural globalization, such as war, violence, hate and racism. Unfortunately, due to so many variables and differences there is never just one solution. But I do believe that through inter-connectivity and positive engagement we can strive toward narrowing the gap of misunderstandings and ignorance to achieve better tolerance, deeper understanding and enduring peace.

Choose to L.I.V.E. is a concept that I developed as a global call to action for human betterment through inter-connectivity. L.I.V.E. is a catalyst representing four elements of effective communication: learning, interacting, volunteering and expression through creativity.
This initiative is called Choose to L.I.V.E. because I want it to be a conscious statement that we make. I want people to understand that the decision to contribute to the survival of humanity is as vital as our decision to live.

You did an internship at an agency in Dubai. What agency is it, and what were you doing with them?

I interned at Axis Integrated in Media City - the advertising hub of Dubai. It’s a small agency so I had the chance to see how the overall operation works. Most of my responsibilities were related to the client servicing side. The type of work I did included market research, PowerPoint presentations, revisions with studio team, writing up briefs and assisting the account manager.
The main account that I worked on was for Heinz baby foods. But since it’s a small agency I had the opportunity to work very closely with the creative team and really share my ideas. I even had the chance to do some copywriting, which is something that I really enjoy doing.

With your experience traveling the world and living abroad, how has that affected your view and approach on life?

My view is that we constantly have to keep aiming for the next level. The only way I see this being done is to do things that are not within our comfort zone. We surprise ourselves of what we are capable of when we throw ourselves into a challenge. Traveling to a foreign part of the world or living abroad is a gateway of growth and learning.

I’m the type of person that embraces an experience for its entirety - emotionally, physically mentally and spiritually. And then I step back and analyze for the faults, improvements, success and hidden lessons in it. I want to be constantly evolving.

Define what success is to you in your own terms.

Success to me is in three folds.

1. Success to me is being able to get up after each time I fall or fumble and continue to fiercely go after what I am passionate about.
2. Being true to myself.
3. Being able to overcome challenges and seeing the lessons in them.

Elevator Pitch:

My psychic says I’m gonna be successful in my career, but I can’t give details. But I’ll give you her number so you can have your own reading done and see how accurate she is.

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

Catching Laptops With Your Butt

2009-08-12T11:22:00.004-04:00

MSI is doing a YouTube contest that asks users to create an "extreme crazy video" with an MSI notebook.

One entry in particular is catching like wildfire, and for good (?) reason. It features a guy catching laptops with his butt. What?

Click READ MORE to watch the video!

As I'm writing this, it's been watched over 125,000 times on YouTube. While I'm not sure that being able to catch a laptop with your butt is a great way to demonstrate the portability of the unit, I don't think it's hurting the brand, either. At the very least, it's garnering a lot of views, buzz and people talking about it, like me!

I would love to have been a part of the creative process that lead to this video. An idea like this I would never pull out of my...yeah.

Leaders of the New Gets Recognized

2009-08-03T20:43:00.007-04:00

This really caught me by surprise. My brother was Google searching our family name when he found this article from Marketing And Advertising Internships.com about my website and Leaders of the New.

One word: "Awesome!"

Marketing and Advertising Internships is a great resource for students looking for an internship or employers looking for the best new talent to join their team. It's definitely worth your time.

As I've said since the beginning of Leaders of the New, my hope for the initiative was to help fellow fresh advertising and marketing professionals get their name out there. This is a good start.

Thank you to Marketing And Advertising Internships.com for the shout out. Much appreciated.

Check the AR, You Like It So Far?

2009-07-27T15:44:00.003-04:00

*brownie points for anyone that can correctly name the song I'm referring to in the post title*

Today on the Adweek website, they've posted an article about Augmented Reality (AR). While the technology isn't necessarily new (I remember seeing videos of this type of technology in action years ago, unfortunately I can't recall exactly what the video was called to show it to you), Adweek discusses it's potential as the next big thing in advertising.

The article focuses in on one company in particular:

Zugara is dabbling in this area with its Webcam Social Shopper app. The prototype, which the shop created as a test for clients, lets consumers "try on" clothing -- via their Webcams and monitors -- as if they were in a store. In a twist reminiscent of Minority Report, users can switch to new outfits by motioning with their hands. They can also share their outfits through social networks like Facebook.

It's kind of crazy to think this is the stuff we thought of being way off in the distant future, and it's happening now. And it's cool to see that they're doing something a bit more "practical" with the technology. As new technology is rolled out, we get caught up in doing the flashiest and coolest things we can while losing site of our overall goals, objectives and concepts.

These types of executions have mostly been done using paper, but the article discusses the next step of bringing this type of technology to mobile devices. I think once that is up and running, it'll really take off.

Matt Szymczyk, CEO of Zugara, goes as far as saying that AR will be the big thing in the next year. Yes, he has a vested interest in this technology taking off, but do you agree? Disagree?

Even without the mobile integration, I'd love to start thinking of ways to use that technology. Do you have any ideas off the top of your head?

Twitter 101 For Businesses

2009-07-24T12:20:00.003-04:00

As Twitter continues to grow, more and more businesses are jumping on the bandwagon to try and improve their web presence. For a lot of start-up advertisers and marketers (such as myself), creating and maintaining a Twitter account is going to be an increasingly important part of our future.

Thankfully, Twitter has launched a guide called Twitter 101 for Business. Having read through it, it seems like something you should definitely check out if you have any sort of social media work coming your way.

If you're already a Tweet junkie, you can probably skip the basics (such as the lingo section), but the "best practices" section in particular I recommend you check out. Using Twitter as a business tool takes makes your role in the Twitter-verse a bit different, and people's tolerance for your "Twitter-rhea" is minimal. I've removed myself from such accounts cause it was just too many tweets to go through.

Twitter Trending Topic Pollution

2009-07-15T19:41:00.003-04:00

One of my favourite things about Twitter besides telling everyone how awesome my lunch was, is the Trending Topics feature. I've always found it fascinating to see what people are talking about and be part of the "party line" either by reading what people have to say about the topic or jumping into the conversation.

But recently I've noticed a ton of people taking advantage of the system and to me it's really hampering the experience.

Let me pull up one example from a trending topic this instant: Wal-Mart.

Why is it a trending topic right now? Let's see if I can find out.

lcarou2148 Make $20.00 an Hour on Twitter See how here! http://tinyurl.com/mrwcve Michael Jackson harry potter WAL-MART less than 20 seconds ago from web

Swing and a miss. Spam is becoming increasingly prevalent on Twitter and it's really disrupting the conversation. People who throw in trending topics into their tweets to draw attention to their spam are just as evil as any other form of spammer.

chiquitaaa @LegendaryWriter Why the heck is wal-mart in the trending topics??? O.o weird... less than a minute ago from web

It seems like every time something new breaks into the trending topics section, 80% the tweets then become, "Why is this a trending topic?" instead of just hitting the topic button and finding out for themselves. Ugh.

Divas365 I sometimes hook in Wal-Mart parking lots hoping to meet harry potter & Nia long.

Personally the worst to me. The people who think they're clever writing a sentence with every trending topic at that moment are just maddening. Your not clever if everyone on Twitter is doing it. And the idea is dumb in the first place just a shameless cry for e-attention.

I'm about 100 tweets in, and I STILL don't know exactly why Wal-Mart is a trending topic? I found only two bits of news (something about India and something about rating eco-friendly products), but 98% of the Wal-Mart tweets were just garbage.

I'm not sure if there's any solution to spammers or people being...people. But I do miss when it was easy to find out why a trending topic was a trending topic.

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Craig Brandon

2009-07-09T00:00:00.002-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Craig Brandon

Career Path: Art Direction.

Education: Graphic Design 05-07 Creative Advertising 08-09

Advertising Experience: Design Internship at Smack Design (Winter 07) Advertising Internship at Soda&Tonic Advertising (Summer 09)

One Thing About You: I have four first names, Craig Normand Drew Brandon.

Contact: 416.791.0705 / cbrandon36@hotmail.com

Full interview after the break!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

I trace my roots to this industry back to a couple things. One, my “big present” one year for Christmas was a giant box of art supplies (which made me a very happy child). Two, my elementary school graduation ceremony presented me with the first ever art award. They felt the need to give this to me based on my level of enthusiasm for arts and crafts time (they also gave me the Science Award, and I’m far short of being a scientist!).

However, I would have never known that Advertising and Design was a career option had it not been for my cousin Adam who looked over my shoulder and said “you know you could be getting paid for that stuff” one day while I was screwing around on Microsoft Paint.

Do you think you could have pursued a career in advertising with just your Graphic Design experience?

I have friends that are currently trying to do that with little success, very talented friends. So not saying that it is impossible to succeed with just the graphic design background, but I would do school the exact same way if I had to do it all over again. At the end of the day having both Graphic Design and Creative Advertising makes me more well rounded and polished as an AD.

Describe your creative process. How do you brainstorm? How do you keep track of ideas? How do you know when one of your ideas is good? What do you do when you're creatively stumped?

Creative process-
Well, I feel every brief creates a unique problem. Therefore, every brief needs a new angle and therefore new creative process.

Brainstorming-
Ideally I have someone to bounce ideas off of. Whether I have someone or not, I generally try and get to the most basic idea and then add a twist of originality to it.
I don’t like using traditional ways of brainstorming like creating an idea web.

Keeping Track-
This varies from the traditional notepad, to a napkin, sometimes even the palm of my hand. I occasionally find myself trying to just remember the idea, like when it comes to me via laying in bed at 3:00 a.m. (I’m trying to break this habit because a lot of ideas have died in this process.) The best and most unique way I’ve ever kept track of an idea is drawing on the shower wall using the steam and glass as my canvas.

Good Idea/ Bad Idea-
This is subjective but I base an ideas effectiveness on the waiting game because if I can look at an idea a week or two later and still like it I generally don’t care what other people think of it. Someone will always hate an idea, but there is always someone who likes it.

Creative Slump-
The best way I have to get out of a creative slump is by looking at it in a new angle. A trick I find myself using a lot is trying to place the product at the centre of a joke where as I am the bully poking fun at it. This trick creates as unique of an idea as the product is. If you have a truly unique product this trick is almost always a winner.

How did you go from being a student to being an intern at Soda & Tonic Advertising?

That was a fun process, one day I’m stressing to find an internship the next I get an email from David Barbuto, a teacher of CAB, basically telling me that he would like to have me as his intern. I jumped at the opportunity and have been having a blast there since. I got the email around week 5/6 of semester 4 of CAB.

Describe a day in the life of Craig Brandon at Soda & Tonic.

I have a nice schedule, 9:30 - 5:30. On a day to day basis I hardly ever know what project I will be working on next. Sometimes its an ad campaign, sometimes its a design project. Regardless of what it is I am generally busy during my time at work. When I’m not and I have down time, I spend time doing spec ads that we later try to set up a meeting and pitch.

What have you learned so far from your experience at Soda & Tonic?

I’d say as a creative person, you never stop learning. I’ve learned new ways to approach things, I’ve learned how to handle client demands, I’ve learned that what a client and what your boss asks for are two very different things. Overall I’ve learned that I made the right decision by joining this industry.

Outside of advertising, how else do you express your creativity?

I constantly keep a notebook on me to scribble art into half of which has nothing to do with advertising. I like to draw/ illustrate on my computer whenever I get some spare time. But I would say my biggest creative hobby outside of design and advertising would be the 2 novels that I have on the go. Both of these novels are being co-written with people more polished in the ways of grammar. They both are fiction based stories, think Peter Pan, or Alice in Wonderland style writing.

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

I want to be as high up on the work latter as possible, at a well known industry. I don’t know the industry process well enough to properly estimate whether I’ll be a senior AD, a CD, a partner in a firm, or whether I’ll still be a Junior AD. I do know that the first 5 years of my career will be an uphill battle and I need to work as hard as possible to get wherever it is I will end up.

What do you do for fun?

Outside of work I spend a lot of time watching sports, mainly football and hockey. I like to roller blade, write, hang out with friends, rock climb, swim/diving.

E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

Passion in a career means you’d work for free. I currently do.

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

Perez Makes Jerk Comments About Michael Jackson, Everyone Gets Mad

2009-06-28T12:36:00.009-04:00

Image originally from perezhilton.com

While the world still wasn't sure of the fate of Michael Jackson, Perez Hilton of celebrity blogging and more recently, getting punched in the face fame, was quick to judge the early reports of MJ's condition and...I'll just let you read what he had to say.

The original post:

We knew something like this would happen!!

Michael Jackson was taken by ambulance from his Holmby Hills home to a nearby Los Angeles hospital on Thursday afternoon!!

Supposedly, the singer went into cardiac arrest and the paramedics had to administer CPR!!!

His mother is even on the way to visit him!!!

We are dubious!!

Jacko pulled a similar stunt when he was getting ready for his big HBO special in '95 when he "collapsed" at rehearsal!

He was dragging his heels on that just like his upcoming 50 date London residency at the 02 Arena, of which he already postponed the first few dates!!!

Either he's lying or making himself sick, but we're curious to see if he's able to go on!!!

Get your money back, ticket holders!!!!

If you look for it now (which you can read here) it's been edited with no acknowledgement of being edited. As someone who just got punched in the face for being insensitive, this type of commentary really didn't help his cause for the world to feel bad for him. Even though he soon edited the post, the message of the original entry wasn't let go by the readers of his site, lashing out with a ton of negativity towards him.

Here's just a sampling of the almost 300 hateful comments they had to say on his blog:

What if he's dying?

Seriously, I sort of get your point, but atleast wait with saying stuff like that until we know what the hell is going on…
- Shuyinda
I thought maybe you would have turned over a new leaf after all the negativity directed at you for your recent idiocy, but it appears as you are just the same old fat idiot. Making fun of someone that has had a serious medical emergency.

You are not worthy of being a human being…good thing you look like a pig, cause in the pen is the only place you will be accepted soon.
- KCP1967
Perez, for Christ sake, if he suffered cardiac arrest it means his heart stopped beating. If someone has a cardiac arrest and doctors don't administer whatever needed to restart the heart beating again, the person is DEAD.
My father had a heart arrest, the doctors worked and worked on resuscitation and brought him back to life. Next day in the hospital bed he looked better, and suddenly his heart arrested again, the line on the heart monitor went flat, and the doctors worked and worked on him, but he was dead.
- soccer mom
What happened to your original post on him Perez?!? You know, the one where you were "dubious" and thought he was faking this to get out of his concert tickets? The one where you told ticket holders to get their $$ back? It was mysteriously edited after you posted that he DIED.

YOU COWARD!!! I hope you feel disgusted and ashamed of yourself, you deserve nothing less.
- LOLA BB

What should have Perez done? Well first, not jump to conclusions. He made some very insesitive comments that angered many people, and they all called for him to edit what he said. Second, he shouldn't have tried to edit his post without any sort of apology or acknowledgement that it was edited. You can't sweep anything under the rug on the Internet, and for Perez to think all he had to do was edit the original post and act like nothing happened was really shady and unprofessional.

Once you've gone that far in, I think the only thing left for him to do is to clearly state that he edited the post and apologize for the original comments. He has yet to make it clear that he edited what he said and I don't expect him to now.

I know he's a celebrity tabloid style blogger, but he went too far this time. And the lack of any acknowledgement of his editing makes it even shadier. I hope we as bloggers and posters on the Internet can learn a lesson from this.

A T-Swizzle and T-Pizzle Collaboration

2009-06-17T08:00:00.001-04:00

You may not be a country music fan, but odds are you won't be able to escape the opening of last night's CMT Music Awards, which featured Taylor Swift kicking dope rhymes with T-Pain.

Personally, the whole Andy Samberg shtick is growing a little tired to me, but since I'm a huge fan of Taylor Swift, and since country rap hasn't been the same since Cowboy Troy, I'll let this one slide.

While I'm sure that this video by itself is going to be huge, do you think it's going to draw in a broader audience to country music? I'm pretty sure T-Pain wasn't brought in to appeal to the country folk.

Taylor Swift is about as crossover as it gets, and hits a much younger target than Shania ever went after. Maybe it's a step in that direction? Does it even matter?

I hope at the next major music awards show, they collaborate again, only this time have T-Swizzle on the AutoTune and T-Pain singing with a country twang over banjos.

PS22 Chorus = Coolest Choir Ever?

2009-06-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

Last night, I saw the PS22 Chorus rendition of "Eye of the Tiger" on CNN and thought, "Wow! This is cool! I wish I had a music class as cool as this!" Today, I check into YouTube and their rendition of Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" is currently the second-most popular video on YouTube. They've made fans out of Perez Hilton, Tori Amos, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and more. And the PS22 isn't some special music school...just an ever-changing group of grade 5 NYC public school kids.

I love this whole initiative primarily for two reasons:

1) The implementation of more "popular" and "contemporary" music into its curriculum and

2) The leveraging of social media such as the PS22 Chorus blog and YouTube videos to not only keep the kids interested, but spread the word about what it is they're doing.

Personally, I've had a very weird and informal path discovering, learning and creating music. Little to none of which occured in school. A lot of that unsatisfactory feeling towards my school music experience came from not being able to sing and learn the songs we wanted to learn. It was always the by-the-book kiddie stuff or music we students couldn't connect with.

Why not work some work some "cooler" music into the curriculum?

I know school will never be the place for choirs to sing Crank That by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, but is there any less musical merit in a Miley Cyrus song? A Fleetwood Mac song? Heck, "Eye of the Tiger" is almost 30 years old, but the choir sang that song because the lead singer loved that song in Guitar Hero. If part of your job as a music teacher is to get the kids to enjoy music, why not work with more songs that the kids like?

Also, can't let these boys and girls go without talking about their social media implementation. Their teacher has created a blog and a YouTube channel to document their performances and major accomplishments to add an extra level of legitimacy to what these kids are doing. Even if they weren't discovered by Perez Hilton or Ashton Kutcher, just being able to show my parents and my friends what I'm doing at school is super cool. Not only that, knowing that the whole world could be watching, I'd try a little bit harder to make a lasting impression too.

Great job everyone at PS22 Chorus. Can't wait to here more music from you!

Coming Out of My Shell

2009-06-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

This video brought back a lot of old memories for me. Back when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were at their commercial peak, they put down the weapons, picked up some instruments, and hit the road. At the time, I thought that the Coming Out of Their Shells tour was the coolest thing ever. I had bitten on the Ninja Turtle cultural movement, and HARD. As part of my conquest to have everything Ninja Turtle-related, I made my parents take me to Pizza Hut to pick up the poster and album.

Until watching these videos on YouTube now, I actually never saw the concert. It's a really weird feeling of my life feeling one puzzle piece closer to completion, yet the piece doesn't fit quite like it should have back then.

Click on the READ MORE button to see how hardcore I actually was/am for the Coming Out of Their Shells tour.

This is me, at age 6 or 7. Not only did I have the official Coming Out of Their Shells tour poster on my wall, but if you look really carefully, there are Ninja Turtle drawings on there too. One of those pictures in particular was a picture I drew of the first Ninja Turtles game on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

I don't have any of those pictures or that poster anymore, but I still have this:

That's right, the original album on cassette. I still remember listening to this all the time when I first got it. I remembered each song word-for-word. Then for a long time, this tape was just lost to me and I forgot about it. But at some point years after we had moved, I found the tape in our new house. Of course I threw it in the tape deck to relish in nostalgia only to find that, the music now wasn't nearly as awesome as I remembered it.

Oh well, strictly as a nostalgia piece, it's one of the best things ever to me. Now I'm gonna go back to watching the rest of this concert. I'm on part 6 and the Shredder has taken over the show. Will the Turtles overcome the Shredder one more time?

One more thing: no talk about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and music is complete without the following.

Walmart Ad Mistake

2009-06-14T23:30:00.014-04:00

I was reading the June 15th issue of People magazine when I saw this Walmart ad as the back cover. The average person probably would have never caught this mistake, but I circled the mistake in red. Apologies for the glare, I took this picture with my digital camera and there were fluorescent lights in the room.

These two kids are rocking out with Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero guitars, leading us to believe they're playing some sort of guitar-centric music game. I can tell they're playing Nintendo Wii from the fact that Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero guitars require you to insert the remote into the guitar. The kid on the left in the picture has a Wii remote plugged in. But the kid on the right? He's pretty animated for someone whose guitar isn't actually connected to the game.

Hit the READ MORE link for a close-up.

Tweet My Gaming: What Nerds Are Talking About

2009-06-14T00:00:00.000-04:00

One thing I love about Twitter is being able to join and follow the conversation. Regardless of the topic, you'll be able to use the search engine to see up to the second what people have to say about pretty much anything.

Though this method does have it's limitations, which is why I find Tweet My Gaming so cool. It tracks in real-time all tweets that mention video games or anything video game related. Using Twitter search, you can only find stuff if it's hash-tagged or very specific things. For instance, if I wanted to find stuff about "video games", Twitter search would only pull up results where people typed "video games". Tweet My Gaming seems to be able to grab anything with a video game reference.

It'll be cool to see all of the different variations on this idea pop up to follow all sorts of subject matter. Tweet My Baseball? Tweet My Lunch? Tweet My Re-tweet?

Post-It Note Madness

2009-06-12T13:14:00.003-04:00

I never cease to get tired with the crazy acts of creativity that happen on the Internet.

This video was made by YouTube user bunliu as his senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. While post-it art isn't necessarily new, the concept behind the piece and the execution is spectacular.

Right now it's #1 on the Viral Video Chart. I wonder if the Post-It company is looking at this and going, "Damn...why didn't we think of that?"

If you'd like to see how this video was made, hit the READ MORE button and watch the making of "Deadline". Amazing stuff!

I'm Big In Taiwan?

2009-06-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, my brother and I posted this video of us playing Street Fighter II using DDR dance mats. We thought with such an ~~original~~ stupid idea, we were bound to skyrocket to e-fame.

We did. Sort of. But not how we thought we would.

Uhh...what?

As it turns out, a Taiwan-based video game website used our video, which through them has been viewed over 800 times. From what I gather, it was a rundown of every video game controller they could think of. Those two paragraphs above us? Here's what Yahoo! Babel Fish had to say:

A game's operating mode during like everybody knows, is coordinates in the picture the instruction and music rhythm, grasps punctually steps on treads fills up all around 4 directions to tread the spot, completes the dance step which the game assigns. Following and grows imitates innumerably, treads the pad also to grow each kind of variety disposition from the primitive section paper, until now is considered as on is one of as before popular game types. 　　

Because the home use version treads the pad usually is treads 4 directions the point correspondence to the standard controller's direction key, and provides confirmed that Niu with cancels Niu the control function menu, therefore plays the family will work as a volunteer the attempt with to tread the pad controller to play other type game, even challenges the instruction complex wrestle game, also will be the kind impractical, but the bountiful interest the kind will slight the law in addition.

I think whoever wrote that was trying to say that you can use DDR pads for games other than DDR, even if it's dumb and pointless. I'm not quite big in Japan, but Taiwan is close enough for now.

The Facebook Username Scramble

2009-06-11T20:00:00.000-04:00

You probably already know this, but come this Saturday at 12:01 AM, there will be a mad scramble of users trying to get their user name because they can't spend another day as Facebook ID # 103898908909022. If your name is John Smith, you might as well give up now.

Are you excited to finally not be a number anymore? No? Me neither.

Will I make a mad scramble like everybody else to get the name I want? Probably.

Facebook says they're doing it to make it easier to find people, but I never really had a problem finding people on Facebook, and people who wanted to add me don't seem to have a problem finding me either. And I never access Facebook in a way where I need to check out specific profiles on a consistent basis.

The only reason I'm remotely interested in this is for the mad scramble that is bound to happen when the time comes. Will Facebook crash? Will Bob Joe in Kentucky take Oprah away from Oprah and charge her a gazillion dollars to get it back? Will it actually make a notable impact on the Facebook experience in the long run? Will anybody care within 24 hours of this launching?

Probably not. But I'll be here, hitting F5 over and over until I can finally get my hands on facebook.com/keyboardcat.

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Samaneh Sadaghiani

2009-06-10T23:30:00.001-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Samaneh Sadaghiani (Sami)

Career Path: Copywriting

Education:
Seneca College - Creative Advertising Diploma Program
Seneca College - Law Clerk Diploma Program

One Thing About You: I wear orange on Fridays.

Contact: sami@shewriteshedraws.com

Full interview after the jump!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

Lisa Atkins’ intro to copywriting class semester one - She was explaining a day in the life of a copywriter and I got goose bumps from excitement!

I remember when I first met you that you had your heart set on working on the business side of advertising. Why the switch?

I’m going to admit to something here: sometimes, I’m really slow. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I guess I never thought I could actually make a living out of it. Again, back to Lisa’s class, after that one lecture, it hit me and I was sold!

Describe your creative process. How do you brainstorm? How do you keep track of ideas? How do you know when one of your ideas is good? What do you do when you're creatively stumped?

For the record, that’s three questions in one!

Brainstorming:

Mind maps! Study the brief/your product/your target. Figure out the ONE thing you want to say. Narrow it down to one word and go from there! Just associate anything and everything that you can with that word until you find your direction.

Keeping track:

I write everything that comes to mind down. I either type things or write them in my giant sketchbook, a notepad or on a piece of paper that I stick on the wall… I’m pretty much all over the place!

Good idea:

The really good ones are the ones that make me super nervous. Then I ask anyone and everyone (sometimes everything) to tell me what they think about it and I go from there.

How has your previous career venture affected your current path towards advertising? Do any of the lessons you learned before cross over?

I’ve been working for a divorce lawyer for 3 years. It has taught me not to get married. Ever.

You’ve formed a creative team called “She Writes. He Draws.” with Art Director Ryan Bannon. How did you two form that partnership? How do you complement each other?

Funny story! Actually not that funny… We went to breakfast at Cora’s one morning and discussed our hopes and dreams for the future. We realized we had many of the same goals and decided to team up as we were both willing to put in ridiculous hours and all our energy. Okay, not a funny story at all…Fail.

You’ve competed in a few advertising competitions. What were those experiences like?

I really enjoy participating in those competitions as the tight deadlines force you to really push yourself. You learn something new about how well you perform under pressure and challenge yourself to do better in the future. I think that’s excellent practice.

What is your biggest accomplishment so far in advertising? What is your biggest accomplishment so far in life?

The thing I’m most proud of in life is my ability to relate. Putting myself in other people’s shoes is a skill I’ve been practicing since I was very young. My circle of friends consists of very opinionated and unique individuals. It helps me appreciate and understand their decisions when I’m able to put aside my own views and see the world through theirs.

I also believe this is beneficial to my career in advertising as it makes relating to the target a tiny bit easier.

What would happen to the universe if you and I ever get to execute our genius Wonderbread campaign for real?

Every other brand of toast would go out of business. Permanently.

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

I would like to run my own agency while I’m young and fresh!

What do you do for fun?

I really enjoy conversing with people who are different than me - whether it’s cultural differences, or religious/ spiritual views. I’m very intrigued by human behaviour, morals, values, etc. and love learning from all sorts of people.

To feed my curiosity, I like to check out different scenes around town. One night you’ll find me at a metal bar hanging out with people sporting bikes and spikes and the next night I’m all dolled up having a Kir Royale in Yorkville.

I also LOVE to travel. The experience/knowledge you gain from traveling is absolutely priceless.

E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

LET ME WRITE FOR YOU! I’LL WORK MY BUTT OFF AND I LOVE ADVERTISING! (I’ll be wearing a hoodie so the exchange will be intimidating and effective.)

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

Can't Knock The Hustle

2009-06-07T20:29:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry.

For the few dedicated souls who check into this page every day, I owe you an apology.

My life over these past few weeks has been a whirlwind of professional and personal craziness. If you read my interview, you would know that I just got a full-time job. The transition to that has taken up a lot of my resources.

Also, I'm still working another part time job on top of that. And somewhere in there, I have to try and have a life too.

So I haven't been as prolific a blogger of late. I don't ever plan on stopping this blogging thing, but I don't make many guarantees as to when I'll blog either. All I can say is I'll keep this updated as often as I can, and I'll do what I can to make sure you keep reading. Please click "READ MORE" and accept my peace offering.

Image: Monsters And Critics

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Jett Landicho

2009-06-03T23:50:00.017-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Jett Landicho

Career Path: Creative Strategy for Interactive and Mass Media

Education: Radio Broadcasting at Humber College and Creative Advertising at Seneca

Advertising Experience: On-Air Talent, Promotions Staff and Copywriter for KICX 106, Promotions Staff and Corporate Blogger for Z103.5 and Senior Marketing Associate at Pure Fun Confections

One Thing About You: Before pursuing a career in advertising, I worked almost four years in the radio industry. I did a lot of different types of work in that time, from corporate blogging, to street team work, to being a country radio announcer. If you would like to listen to my old KICX 106 country demo made from live air checks click here.

Contact: jettlandicho@gmail.com

Read the full interview after the jump!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

I took a class in high school called English Media. The final project was to create a product and an advertising campaign around it. My group wanted to come up with the dumbest product to sell, in order to highlight how great our advertising would be. In hindsight, it was pretty bold of us to assume that our advertising was so awesome that we could sell just about anything, but hey, we were young and maybe a bit cocky. We decided to create "Bling", a brand of coloured water.

I had so much fun with that assignment, from building the website to the print ad to producing television and radio commercials that I heavily considered taking advertising in college. But I also hosted a morning radio show at my high school, and when push came to shove, at the time radio won. I was drawn into the whole "celebrity" aspect of it and I'm still just a big music fan in general.

However, what goes around comes around I guess. Through my experience in the radio industry, I've written scripts that went to air, helped out a lot on the promotions side and even worked in corporate blogging. It brought back all the memories of that one high school assignment and how much fun I had doing it that I decided to pursue advertising for real.

How has your previous experience in the radio broadcasting industry helped you?

My experience in the radio industry has helped me grow, both as a professional and as a person. As a professional, the radio industry has taught me a number of things, including the power of opportunity. In an industry that's so small and insular, you need to work so hard for those opportunities. Even when it seems like opportunities fall into your lap because you know someone that knows someone, you helped make that opportunity by knowing that someone in the first place.

As a person, working in the radio industry has been a huge factor in my maturing process. Not to neglect my Z103.5 experience, but in particular, my time at the country radio station was a real coming of age moment for me. I was very hesitant at first to accept the internship at KICX 106 in Waterloo, because country music wasn't my scene and the station was in a city over 100km away from home. But I took the chance because I knew it would be a great career experience.

What I didn't know was that it would also be an amazing personal experience too. Coming out of college, I sort of felt like I had learned everything I needed to know. However, being so far away from home, meeting new people and trying new things made me realize that I still had a lot to learn and it opened my mind up to the bigger picture of the world. During that time, I had to learn about country music, the Kitchener-Waterloo area, and everything about the people that listen to our station. I had a lot of fun doing it, and wouldn't trade that experience in for the world.

Ever since then, I've tried to keep myself open to new knowledge and experiences. If I could learn to appreciate country music and the country lifestyle, what other awesome things am I missing out on that I just don't know about yet? Even though it's been years since I worked there, I still have a little bit of country on my iPod that I like cause I think it's good music.

My KICX 106 t-shirt autographed by the best country artist of all-time, GM Paterson ;)

What interests you most about interactive and social media?

I admit, I'm a bit of a geek. So I already have a bit of a technology slant to me. However, I love interactive and social media, and would be working with them whether I was in advertising or not.

I was one of those kids that made websites on Geocities that grew up into a teenager who wrote in a blog into a young adult that made a podcast when I decided to take my announcing career into my own hands. It's a shame that the podcast had to end the way it did, because we were at 1,000 subscribers! And that was achieved by promoting the show through Facebook, iTunes, YouTube and a blog. I had just as much fun plotting out the strategy to advertise the show as I did recording and editing the show. When we find the time and the right concept, for sure we'll get back into podcasting again. In the world of online, I love the fact that the average person can have a very large impact on the world.

As advertising vehicles, I love the engagement factor that interactive and social media offers. There are so many different ways that advertisers can reach consumers in a way where they feel like you're giving them a valuable experience in return. And the ways to engage consumers grows every day with new technology and techniques.

When I realized that there were opportunities for me to combine my love of advertising with my love of online and social media, it was almost like an epiphany for me. I hope that I can make both aspects connect to make a fun and exciting career path for myself.

How does this blog fit into your career plan?

My initial goal for this blog was to be a place where I could bring my best foot forward to anyone wanting to learn about me, from teachers, to friends, to potential employers. Sort of like a portfolio, but showing a different and wider scope of who I am. But through the "Leaders of the New" initiative, this could prove far bigger than just me. By showcasing a lot of my peers starting out in this business, this blog also becomes a way for them to sell themselves.

I want every person featured on "Leaders of the New" to be proud enough to show their interviews to potential employers as another resource in their arsenal. Even better, I want potential employers to find these interviews and go, "Hey, this person is really good! I think I need to talk to them!" With the power of Google and the power of blog tags, that second scenario doesn't seem too out of reach to me.

How did you go from being a student to working at Pure Fun Confections?

It's a crazy story in hindsight. At the time, I was working really hard to get an agency internship. I'd been in talks with a few agencies and even did a few interviews. During school though, I was working on a group assignment where we were asked to put together a pitch to present to a small company. We were never actually assigned to present it to a company for real.

Our group had chosen Pure Fun after finding an article about the company on the Toronto Star's website. We really liked the company's vision and the idea of working on organic candy, something new and different in the marketplace. While in the process of working on that assignment, Stephanie and I found the President of the company on Facebook. Thinking nothing of it, we decided to contact her, let her know what we were doing and sent her a rough brief we had put together so that she could check the validity of our information. She was really impressed with what we had done, and told us she was willing to meet with us when we were ready.

From there, it really got us thinking that this could be a lot more than just an assignment. We kept in regular contact with the President of Pure Fun, asked for a lot of advice from our teachers and industry contacts on how to approach this pitch, and tweaked our plan to make it just right for the presentation. On the big day, the President of the company came down to the school and we had booked a school boardroom to present to her. Chris De Corneille, one of our teachers, was on hand for support. I was unbelievably nervous throughout the whole thing, but Stephanie and I both proved our worth and were brought in to intern for the company. After two months of interning, I was offered a job.

That was another eye-opening experience in my life. While advertising students tend to focus on working for just advertising agencies, there are a lot of other opportunities out there to do similar work for other types of companies. Despite the tough economic times, Stephanie and I were able to create opportunities for ourselves within a company that didn't have opportunities before. I'm sure that others can find success with an advertising education in a variety of places if they're willing to look outside the box and work hard to make those opportunities happen.

If you want to think bigger, Stephanie and I have already in a way won a client pitch before even graduating and have done the work to prove our worth. Who says we couldn't do it again? Who says we couldn't go as far as starting our own agency should we so choose? Who says you couldn't do the same or better?

What has the transition been like from advertising to marketing?

All of the skills I've learned from Seneca's Creative Advertising have proven relevant to me here. I've had to dabble in account services work, media consulting, public relations, direct marketing, online and even some copywriting and art direction where necessary. I feel like thanks to the education I got at Seneca, I have the tools to get to where I need to go.

What I've learned sort of the hard way is the differences in advertising and marketing. Advertising is primarily marketing communications, but on this side of the fence that's just one aspect of a bigger picture I need to look at. I need to look at everything happening above that, from the distribution channel to product development to retailer relations and more.

One of the aspects of Pure Fun's business I'm going to have to learn more about is the entire organic scene. Just as an example: do you know why high fructose corn syrup is an issue? As an advertiser, I would just think of a way to tell that to generally one target audience. But what I have to do on the marketing side, is communicate that to everybody that makes the company work, from the people in product development, to retailers to consumers and more. It's daunting have to tackle the entire marketing mix and make every element of that mix work together, but I'm up for the challenge.

For those who have an advertising background and are considering making the jump, I'd say go for it. It opens up your scope of potential work opportunities and if you're willing to learn some additional stuff on top of your advertising background you'll do fine.

If you could offer one piece of advice to future advertisers, what would it be?

My one piece of advice isn't so much an advertising-specific piece of advice as it is life advice: always continue to learn. Back to my story about how much of an impact my country radio stint had on my life for a second. It made me realize that I was living life in a small bubble and the world was just so much more than my little slice of reality had grasped up to that point. My personal quest for knowledge from that point on wasn't even driven by a desire to be "smarter". My motivation for learning more about everything was just to be more aware of the world around me.

It's not hard to be more aware, either. You can learn a lot from just reading the headlines in the newspaper or taking off your headphones while you're out in public and paying closer attention to the world around you. Try out new kinds of food. Read any random message board on the Internet and see what people are talking about. You never know when a nugget of knowledge can prove valuable to you in the future.

And if you keep your mind open to new opportunities, who knows what success you could have? I never could have predicted that I would have worked for both a country radio station and an organic candy company, but I was open enough to give it a chance and it worked. I still have a ways to go on my quest for success, but I'll always be on the lookout for the next big thing for me, wherever it may come from.

What do you do for fun?

I love spending time with friends and family. It's been tough trying to make time for the people I love due to school, career ambitions and multiple jobs, but it's important to make time for them too.

I am a life-long gamer. Some of my gaming triumphs/shames include owning E.T. on the Atari 2600, winning over 5000 Tetris DS online matches and being able to play expert plastic guitar behind my head. Like friends and family, finding time to play video games has been hard too. I read about them and listen to podcasts about video games a lot more nowadays than I actually play them.

Speaking of podcasts, I'm a huge fan of the medium. It's not for everybody, but a lot of my day revolves around podcast consuming. Currently, I subscribe to 35 different podcasts, ranging from a variety of subjects from video games, to the How Stuff Works series of podcasts, to news. I don't have time for all of them every week, but I have content that interests me to consume basically anytime, anywhere.

I love to play and watch basketball. Also, I love making music. I've produced over 150 hip-hop instrumentals since I started that in 2003, and have been playing the drums now for 8 months now. I'm not formally trained in either discipline. I was self-taught on the hip-hop side, just struggling to play the instruments, handle the technology and develop the "ear" till I got to a point where I was happy with the music I was making. As for drumming, I learned how to play real drums by playing the video game Rock Band. Sounds crazy, but it's true. You can listen to one of my beats by clicking here, or watch me play the drums below.

E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

I still can't top the original.

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

Culture Remixed: The Literal Version

2009-05-30T22:49:00.002-04:00

The video is a great example of something called "The Literal Version". People are parodying music videos by singing what's happening on the screen, to varying results. This one in particular works so well because the source material is straight-up crazy. I know that it was early in the lifespan of music videos, but who thought any of this was a good idea?

Click on the READ MORE button below and I'll give you a few more literal versions for your viewing pleasure.

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Kunaal Jagtianey

2009-05-27T23:30:00.003-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Kunaal Jagtianey

Career Path: Creative/Copywriter

Education: Graduate of two-year Creative Advertising program at Seneca College

Advertising Experience:
- Completed Creative Advertising at Seneca
- Pitches to live clients
- Educated by professors that are or have been in the industry
- Attended Ad week in New York
- Experienced with Adobe Creative Suite

One Thing About You: An Indian guy born and raised in Kuwait, I was brought to Canada at the age of 13 and six years later, all of my memories are still fresh in my mind. Even though I have been heavily influenced by western culture, I will never toss away my heritage.

Contact: kunaaljagtianey@rogers.com

Full interview after the break!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

There were a couple of experiences in my life that pointed me towards the field. When I was a kid, my uncle used to give me advertising projects to pass the time. Every time I look back at those memories, they make me smile. Over a decade later, I was in grade eleven and attended a course called media. My life wasn’t really where it should have been at that point, but after that class, I was set on studying advertising. It was just something about the influence I would play on someone’s decisions, which drew me to it.

When I started the Creative Advertising at Seneca, I felt lost. Well, for about three days. Then I set foot into my first ever copywriting class. I didn’t really think I was going to be a copywriter when I started (my family history pushed me towards the business side) but Lisa Atkins changed all of that. As I learned about copywriting, I realized that this was what I wanted to do. Like many others, I have doubted myself. I’ve been kicked when I was down but I haven’t thought of another career path since day three at Seneca.

You just wrapped up two years of education in the Creative Advertising program. What did you think about the whole experience?

It was unbelievable for me. Not only because I learned about advertising and found my passion, but because of the way it has influenced my life. I feel like I have grown so much over the past two years and advertising is the only thing I can really thank (along with all the professors) and now I’m going to return the favour but working my (explicit) off to create great advertising.

Describe your creative process. How do you brainstorm? How do you keep track of ideas? How do you know when one of your ideas is good? What do you do when you're creatively stumped?

I don’t have a single creative process that I really rely on. It changes all the time based on a bunch of variables but I will describe the one I have used the most. If I haven’t been educated about a product yet, that is the first thing on my mind. What is the product benefit? What does this have that its competitors don’t? If I am well informed about the product, I give it a test run and then look at what the brief requires me to do.

If I have an Art Director with me, we start throwing around ideas, writing down everything that comes to mind (but I can do this alone too). It might be a bit cliché, but no idea is a bad idea. I go through all these different concepts thinking about possible executions for them and once I get the best three from the lot, time for a break. I come back and look at the ideas to see if they still make sense and then start writing lines in different styles. Emotional or rational, comedic or serious, whatever sells it better. Once that is decided, I focus on the best two and devote most of my time to writing lines to fit all of the requirements.

The final phase is the crucial ‘which idea is best’ phase. It is when I take the best idea and work around that concept. How do I know it’s good? Sometimes you can tell because it follows the brief and gets good reactions when you run it by other people. Other times, you just know. That is the easy part though; it’s getting to that point that can sometimes be a challenge.

A tactic I learned from a fellow Copywriter, that helps me when my mind breaks down on me (as I write headline after headline) is: get anyone that is capable of writing lines (the idea of the lines are more important than the structure of them) and add a header with the required message. Then start writing lines, with each line feeding off the idea and growing from the last line written on the page. Start going over the lines and choose the best ones. At this point, you can tighten the lines up.

Note: It also works for creating a concept.

Is there a medium you prefer to write for? Why?

Just getting a chance to write professionally makes the hairs on my arms stand. If I had to pick one medium, it would be Radio.

I became a writer to write copy, and radio is the only medium where all they have is the words (all the time). I feel like an artist when I write Radio because I try to make the listeners visualize what they are hearing, painting a vivid portrait in their imaginations. It is so much easier to see yourself in a certain position when there isn’t already a face there.

You’re a big fan of video games. What do you think about the current state of advergaming? If you ever get to a position where you could make a difference in that area, what would you do?

I see advergaming as an emerging medium right now. Everyone should be involved but only if they can do it subtly.

This is way too intrusive and once it gets to that point, people stop listening (too much for a game they paid for). This on the other hand, adds realism and doesn’t give the player a chance to even think about the fact that we just advertised to them. I personally prefer this idea of advergaming adding to a sense of realism. You aren’t going to see the McDonalds logo spray painted on some random garage while walking down the street. However, you are going to see the interchanging ads at a hockey game. But console gaming is just one portion of it.

My favourite part about turning into a one-gadget world (see link) is the fact that we can blatantly advertise without raising suspicion from the user. Lets just say we are talking about the iPhone. The average user has put a lot of money into the device, so companies make games for free (kind of). Since I have already mentioned McDonalds once, I’ll do it again. McDonalds realizes that a large portion of the target owns an iPhone. Here are their two options. Sit on thumbs or take this amazing opportunity and advertise on this ‘do it all’ device. What they should do is put out a game or application at no cost to the downloader. Everywhere the user goes, this app follows. When they’re bored and all they have is their iPhone, guess what name pops up. That’s right, Ronald McDonalds hunt for the Big Mac Sauce recipe (or something more subtle like McDonalds bowling). If I were put in a position to help, I would do all of the above. Try to get advergaming to the point where the average Joe doesn’t realize we are advertising to him while he is playing a game, no matter where he is.

Do you have any other creative outlets besides writing copy?

Before I got into copywriting, I often wrote short stories. When I lived in Kuwait, I wasn’t the best English student. My flow was off when I wrote essays and I made simple grammatical errors. But then I got home and started writing these stories, and all of that didn’t matter. It was a way to express my thoughts on paper without being criticized for how I wrote, instead, being criticized for what I wrote. With time came mechanics and it made me a better writer. I don’t think I would be writing this interview if that portion of my past didn’t occur. Or maybe I would have been on the business side of things.

What do you hope to achieve before you retire?

I have answered this question at least ten times in the past month, with a different response each time. The first goal was being hired (set the bar low). The next time, I decided to set my sights a little bit higher with (award winning) Copywriter at a high caliber agency, and then it went to Creative Director followed by CEO in Canada (Alternatives are Mumbai, Dubai and New York). At this point in my life (19 years old) I think that all of my goals are achievable, but you never know what could change once I get a job.

What do you do for fun?

I am a big fan of keeping current, focusing on many popular TV shows so I can make conversation at the local watering hole. I also watch basketball religiously (go Cavs) and play when I get the chance.

I spend a chunk of my time on Advertising blogs, electronics/ basketball forums, music websites, and anything else that catches my interest. Even though I learn a great deal from these websites, it never feels like learning.

I am also an avid gamer, or used to be. Since I started college, most of my past times have taken a back seat but I see that as a sign of dedication rather than a loss.

The one thing I could never give up, is my dog Snickers. He just brightens up my day when I get a chance to see him. (I have friends too, but that is something that everyone talks about ‘I hang out with friends, blah blah blah.)

Kunaal's dog Snickers

E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

Seneca Advertising program+ diverse background + the obsession to advertise + the synonym button (funny on paper) = ready to start tomorrow

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

Ready to Sing "The Ballad of Gay Tony"?

2009-05-26T17:09:00.005-04:00

Today, Rockstar announced the title of the latest Grand Theft Auto IV expansion pack to the world. Everybody knew that an expansion pack was on the way, but the name or the theme behind the pack was unknown till now.

I don't need to tell you that the title of this expansion pack is going to raise a few eyebrows among the general population and the media (for better or worse), but before we jump into conclusions as to what this is about, let's put the whole thing into perspective.

From the Business Wire:

Grand Theft Auto IV's second downloadable episode, The Ballad of Gay Tony injects Liberty City with an overdose of guns, glitz, and grime. As Luis Lopez, part-time hoodlum and full-time assistant to legendary nightclub impresario Tony Prince (aka "Gay Tony"), players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price.

Other than the fact that the main character works for a guy who goes by the nickname "Gay Tony", on the surface there doesn't seem to be anything..."gay" about it. While Rockstar is known for controversy, such as this video game existing in the first place, the Hot Coffee scandal and ESRB approved male full-frontal nudity (SFW), I don't see this product turning into anything you would expect anything with the word "Gay" to be about.

I applaud Rockstar for being progressive enough of a company to put that word in the title of arguably the most masculine game series out there. In the grand scheme of things, I don't see the problem in it. However, I'm sure that the media will and start laying ridiculous and untrue accusations about the product just because it has the word "gay" in it. That's to be expected at this point.

What really interests me though is the reaction from the gamers. From the people who actually buy Grand Theft Auto games. My perception of the people who play GTA games is that they are not the most open when it comes to that particular subject matter. Will the name of the game be a deterrent? So far I've been kind of surprised at how well overall the name has been received, but just to be a sensationalist, let's end this post with some of the user comments you would expect.

From Twitter:

georgelab georgelab.com - Rockstar goes gay with GTAIV: The Ballad of Gay Tony DLC - http://tinyurl.com/plo9lx

SeanMHayes @JosephFrost I suppose. Where would Gay Tony get a helicopter from? I hope its not pink with frills, or in the shape of a massive cock.

DarrenWells "The Ballad of Gay Tony"? Oh, grow up, Rockstar Games. What next - "The March of Nazi Rapists"?

From Joystiq:

Captain Planet @ May 26th 2009 7:13PM
Did they really have to put the word "Gay" in there? Why couldn't it just be "The Ballad of Tony"? It's pretty sad to think Rockstar would put that in there to turn a few heads and sell a few extra copies, but it wouldn't be too far I guess, we are talking about Rockstar. I'd like to see them release their next pack and call it "The Return of Straight Nico".

Sources: Joystiq, Gaming Age, warzonegamer

I Can't Live Without My Radio...Or Can I?

2009-05-22T23:34:00.003-04:00

As the era of new media continues to reshape the landscape, Brandweek reports on a medium that has been hit especially hard: radio.

How bad? According to this article, the radio industry suffered its worst quarter in history. As a whole, the industry fell a whopping 24%.

This story hit home with me on a personal level. I spent two years of my life training for a career in radio broadcasting and almost four years working in the radio industry. I have a lot of great memories of working in the business, much of which are trade secrets that I'll take to the grave. However, I ultimately got to a point where I wanted to try on some new hats.

Even back then, I knew that the medium I was pursuing a career in was heading towards some tough times due to the advent of the Internet and the iPod. I'm not sure if this recent news is a sign of the beginning of the end or just a rough quarter, but I know I'd be sad should the day come if/when traditional radio is no more.

Sources: Brandweek and thehometeam

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Scott Boniface

2009-05-20T00:00:00.002-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Scott Boniface

Career Path: Copywriter

Education: Seneca College- Creative Advertising Diploma

Advertising Experience: 5-months of internship experience

One Thing About You: I do my best to remind myself daily that life’s too short for the negatives.

Contact: saboniface@hotmail.com, 647-404-3078

Full interview after the break!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

This question provokes a fantastic lie about how an ad, or tagline changed my life forever. Unlike some I don’t have that defining fork in the road that got me hyped on advertising. I was just psyched about the creative writing and sheer brilliance being showcased. Today I’m a groupie of great creative. There’s no better feeling than coming up with a great idea, or reveling in one you wish was yours. I do believe this is one of the best jobs in the world and am blessed to feel the passion everyday.

Describe your creative process. How do you brainstorm? How do you keep track of ideas? How do you know when one of your ideas is good? What do you do when you're creatively stumped.

I stare Hemmingway’s “white bull” in the eyes and jump on it’s back. Then ride it for a couple seconds until I get thrown on my ass. Then I get a coffee.

Joking aside, I think it’s crucial to immerse yourself with the product/service benefits, past advertising and as many google links as I possibly can. Then put my pencil to paper (Not fingers to keys) and start with some terrible unclear ideas I would never show anyone.

A great tactic I often try is one of Luke Sullivan’s tips for getting started. I’ve found it can almost always give you the initial tools needed to get the ideas flowing. “This is an ad about…” then I’ll just write until I’m out of things to say, and ways to say them.

Incubation is also a great tool. Doing anything to separate yourself from the problem at hand. You could watch a movie, ride a bike or do some jumping jacks, whatever your in the mood for. Then return with a fresh mind ready to tackle your previous thoughts. Narrow them down until only the strong survive.

You’ll know you have that bullet proof idea when you’re feeling giddy like a 5th grade school girl meeting The Jonas Brothers.

Good feeling… Good feeling…

How did you get from being a student to being an intern at Fjord?

Well, I would have never heard about the opportunity without Anthony Kalamut’s undeniable ear secured to the industry’s pulse.

I did my best to shake the nerves off, get my book ready and tried to show that I was capable and worthy of the opportunity being presented. I showed my book to the CD who has since become one of the nicest and most supportive people I’ve met in the industry thus far. I got a call back, started two weeks later and am still trying to prove my worth everyday.

Describe a day in the life of Scott Boniface at Fjord.

I stare at people on the GO train and wonder where it is they work, and some potential storylines of their life. Weird I know, but it’s something I’ve always done. Judge me if you must. You’ve done it, I’m sure of it.

I walk from Union to King & Spadina, usually with a big smile just feeling blessed to have the opportunity to come downtown everyday and do something I love.

I arrive and elevate to the creative floor and say hello to the immense talent that fills the building, get a coffee/tea and start the day. Whether its for a brief, helping another writer or some portfolio work on the side. I try my best to dedicate my 8+ hours here a day to learning, growing and writing to the best of my ability.

I’m involved in briefings, conference calls, brainstorming sessions, preparing copy decks and mood boards. Anything they need/want/feel comfortable with me doing I’ll do with a big smile all the while.

Then I head home and stare at some more people on the GO train. But now… as they sleep. (Okay, that was creepy)

What’s the biggest difference between writing for traditional media versus writing for interactive? Do you have a preference?

While attracting attention is what advertising is all about, I feel that the interactive world also relies heavily on the CTA, which is actually the most challenging part. Why would anyone feel inclined to click that banner? I know when I’m online that’s the last thing I want to do. It’s challenging to break through the clutter in an interesting, innovative way when everyone’s so conditioned to online ads.

Although I don’t really have a preference, I know that the way the interactive world is taking charge it’s important to stay involved and updated on what’s being done, and more so, what’s possible.

You’re one of the biggest hip-hop fans I know. Do you have any sort of plans or ambitions of working on something hip-hop related in your advertising career? Has hip-hop influenced your approach to writing or your approach to life in general?

Haven’t thought much about it honestly. About a year ago I approached a couple websites I loved about possibly writing some album reviews or daily blogs but it never really fell through.

I would love to, because there really is nothing I know more about than hip-hop culture, from the very beginning till’ today. Its something that has always been a passion of mine, and it’s never going to stop. Not as long as true hip-hop stays alive.

In terms of my life, the culture has helped shape who I am today.

If you could give one piece of advice for any aspiring copywriters out there, what would it be?

Soak it up like a sponge, Continue to learn and grow daily.

What do you do for fun?

Skateboard, Listen to music, Writing (advertising, poetry, short stories) and I try my best to experience life for everything it offers in some way everyday. I just put my best foot forward and learn something new everyday.

E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

Scott Boniface- Creative Copywriter- Seneca College- Creative Advertising- 5 months+ of agency experience. Passion, Talent, Persistence.

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

Recession Busters

2009-05-17T22:51:00.006-04:00

USA Today released a story yesterday about retail items that are bucking the economic downturn . While some of the items seem obvious (of course Kraft Dinner growth is in the double digits) but certain other products and industries that may not be obvious are shining right now too. Did you know that sales of condoms, laxatives and running shoes are actually increasing?

If you'd like to see what else is shaking things up in this downturn along with my *cough* expert analysis, hit that "READ MORE" button below.

Hershey reported sales up 20%

People are stressing out and are turning to "comfort food". For many, like myself, that's junkie stuff like chocolate. Speaking of, it was only last year when I realized that Hershey's Kisses are nothing more than large chocolate chips. Branding totally got me on that one.

Condom sales up 5%

The article says that maybe these hard times are putting people in the mood. I don't know about that, but I think that if I'm not in a financial position to raise a child, I would take more precautions to make sure I don't accidently become a parent. Just for fun and loosely related, I'd recommend checking out the Durex Sex Survey results for the state of lovemaking around the world. The latest one isn't as in-depth as in previous years, so if the latest version intrigues you, Google search older results.

match.com is seeing its best performance in 7 years

People in tough economic times need love, too. Maybe now more than ever. I don't really have anything other than that.

Home vegetable gardens projected to grow (no pun intended) 40% this year

I can see this coming from a couple of things. Seeds are a cheaper initial investment. They may be cheaper in the long run. Also, the trend towards natural and organic foods may have something to do with it.

Laxative sales up 11.5% in the last year

Um...

Images and statistics from USA Today

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Ross Webster

2009-05-14T00:00:00.002-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Ross Webster

Career Path: Account Executive

Education: Creative Advertising Graduate of Seneca College/Business Marketing Graduate of Humber College

Advertising Experience:
Internship at Integra Foundation
• Client relations
• Research
• Direct Mail
• Organize files
• Attend recording session (Susan Hayes looks exactly how she does on television)

2 years of the Creative Advertising Program at Seneca College
• Various agency pitches
• Volunteer for Marketing Week
• Numerous days of “burning the candle on both ends”

One Thing About You:
I love listening to great, thought-provoking music. Great musicians can paint a picture in their lyrics and are able to make you think. Some musicians that have influenced me have been Jay-Z, Common, Nas, Outkast, John Mayor, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Anthony Hamilton and Kanye West. (The list can get longer). Music keeps me focused, motivated, calmed and really clears my mind.

Contact: rossmwebster@gmail.com / websterross@hotmail.com

Full interview after the break!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

I think ever since I was old enough to watch TV my father always told me, “I should be in advertising.” I always wondered about advertising and what it took for a commercial to air on TV. After my first semester agency pitch to Due North in the Creative Advertising Program (CAB) at Seneca, I was pretty certain that I wanted to be in advertising in some way, shape or form. After all the hours my group put in, down to actual pitch was fun and exciting, even the arguments and stress we had was an experience I’ve never been through, but it excited me and I knew I could handle it and wanted more (laughs).

One expression I’ll never forget you saying is, “Advertising is my hustle.” What do you mean by that?

(Laughs) I had a feeling this question would pop up. Well just to make sure I’m clear I would have to define hustle, because I know that there could be a negative stereotype which surrounds that word.

To me a hustle is something that someone has a great passion for and is something that person dedicates their time to. Ever 1996 I’ve listened to ever single Jay-Z album, and he chronicles his life as a hustler, in his music he would describe the amount of time and effort he put into his hustle. As I grew older I realized that it’s not only “drug dealers” who are “hustlers” but it can be anyone who is passionate about what they do. For example Michael Jordan, yes he’s greatest basketball player ever, but I would label him a “basketball hustler” because he spent so time to perfect his game, becoming basketball’s greatest player ever. Then he turned himself into brand (clothes, shoes, fragrances etc).

Both Jay-Z and MJ throughout their respective career have accomplished so much and they can adapt to the changing environment as well. So when I say, “Advertising is my hustle,” it means I’m trying my best to understand advertising as a whole, the history, the pioneers, all the aspects of advertising. I try to adapt and understand new media, and I embrace the challenges it throws at me. Obviously you may not find me on a Mac creating a logo, but I know I have a creative mind, and hey I can draw! (laughs). I read newsletters from various sources (Adage, Mediaweek, Brandweek etc.) and subscribe to Marketing Magazine to keep myself informed about what is happening in the advertising spectrum.

Lastly and most importantly, I have to mention that even though people like Jay-Z, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Quincy Jones, and other legends are great at what they do, they did because they loved and enjoyed what they did. I wouldn’t force to myself to be an “Ad Hustler” if I didn’t enjoy this, advertising in my opinion is a great art form with so much to offer. I really have to shout out Anthony Kalamut (CAB’s program co-ordinator). His class sessions were really inspiring and gave me confidence and drive. Shout out to all the other professors as well, “it takes a village”.

How did you get from being a student to being an intern at Integra?

Connections my friend. Billy Sharma (DM God) my professor and colleague connected me with the great people at Integra. He has a great reputation for recommending great interns, so I suppose his word is as good as gold. I went in for the interview, which was more like a casual gathering, and at the end of it I was offered the position.

Describe a day in the life of Ross Webster at Integra?

I’m sure you’ve heard this before but, everyday is totally different. At times it can be time consuming conducting client research, and other times could be spent proof reading newsletters, emails, and reading blogs. This past week Susan Hayes from Global came by Integra to record a story on one of the programs at Integra, and she interviewed a few people. Just seeing that whole process of a recording session was great because it’s not every day you get to see that whole process of an interview before it hits TV. The people I work with are great and caring people as well, they’re easy to work with and we spend all day laughing and telling stories (while we do work of course).

What’s unique about working for a not-for-profit company?

The distinctive part about working at Integra is their “cause”. Integra does work for children that have mental health issues, a LD (Learning Disability) and other behavioural problems. Integra has various programs that help and guide these children, which in turn helps them mentally and socially. I think that cause alone makes what I do really worth it. I’ve met some of the children that Integra helps and just talking to them, makes me happy to know I work for a company that cares and does something to help children.

You were networking so hard when we worked together at Marketing Week 2008. What is your whole mindset towards networking? How do you approach it?

This goes back to my mind set of “Advertising is my hustle” and that I have strong presentation skills. During that week as you know, we saw a lot of the industry’s top and best for example, Frank Palmer, Scott Goodson and Paul Lavoie just to name a few. I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to watch an opportunity pass me by, because I know if I don’t move on my instinct, I might regret it.

So I tried talking to as much people as possible, let them know I exist and that I’m here trying to make an impact. I remember in my 1st semester in CAB, right before our first agency pitch I was extremely nervous, but it occurred to me that I had nothing to be nervous about; I thought to myself “these people breathe the same air as me” (laugh) as weird as that may sound, it’s true. That helped me to relax, and make an awesome presentation.

I remember talking to Frank Palmer (DDB) about what he thought about the changes in advertising, starting up an agency and other things, and after we finished talking, I realized, “I just talked to CEO of DDB Canada, if I can talk to him what’s stopping me from approaching anyone else?” Anthony Kalamut always reminded me, “What is the worst thing someone can tell you? No.”

What would be your dream client to work with? Why?

I don’t have a dream client to tell you the truth. I hope after having a more experience maybe I’ll gain a “favourite client”. But as of now, I think my dream client would a client that shares the same ideas and values that I have, they’ll be a client that’s fun. I wouldn’t mind working for Jay-Z though.

Before you retire, what do you hope to achieve?

I would be happy having a good reputation and have the respect of people and peers within the industry. Knowing that people respect my voice, thoughts and my ideas is something I would appreciate. I want to be accomplished and successful of course. I want that positive retention in my peers’ mind. I’ll be happy with just that.

What do you do for fun?

I like being around good people who are doing something with their life just as I am, and not sitting around waiting for their life to start. I love to play a good game of dominoes, because in order to win a game of dominoes you need strategy, and that won’t happen if you’re just matching the numbers together (laughs).

I love reading about the history of other countries and just history in general. I used to be a frequent movie goer but due to school I had to cut back, but I think I’ll be starting to go the movies once again. I also love to travel, especially to Barbados to see family and friends and of course to attend Crop Over (similar to Caribana in Toronto/Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago) but better. (laughs) I love to watch sports and attend sporting events, I would love to go to a tailgate party for the Steelers at Heinz Field, or sit courtside and watch Kobe and LeBron go head to head.

E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

Let me show how I can be a great asset to your team. I have great presentation skills, which is why I’m taking this chance to talk to you now. Most of histories greatest moments occurred because someone took a chance. I’m free labour; you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain!

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

The Dirty 30

2009-05-13T01:45:00.004-04:00

Image from Brandweek

Have you ever been on a website and said to yourself, "This page needs more 30-second advertisements between pages,"? ShortTail Media hopes you do. This summer, it will be launching a beta for what they call a Digital 30, or "D30" for short. It will be a full-screen ad unit between pages that will run 15 or 30-second television style commercials that users can't avoid.

Is this the solution to solve the dilemma of selling effective online ad space? Or is this an example of duct-taping an old solution to a new problem?

This quote from the Brandweek article gives me an indication of where their heads are at with this one:

Back in February at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's annual meeting, Payne [CEO of ShortTail] delivered a speech urging the industry to adopt bigger, bolder creative and to be less sensitive to user experience.

I have no problems with bigger, bolder or creative. But being less sensitive to the user experience sounds like a huge no-no, especially in the world of online. Part of the reason why television and television advertising isn't working like it used to is because of the user experience. Consumers that want content and want it now will not sit through your 30-second advertisement. They'll flip the channel. Part of why the online world is big to consumers is the ability to avoid 30-second commercials.

Online, the user-experience is critical because the user has all the power. They have near-complete control over what it is they want to experience when behind a computer. If a user doesn't want to watch your 30-second ad, odds are they can probably get the same content from somewhere else that serves the same stuff without those ads. Or they'll pull up a new window or tab and look at something else.

Payne says, "Companies have tried things like this before with mixed results. But we may be reaching a stage in the growth of our industry that for video users tolerance is higher." I really don't think we're there yet. And I'm not sure we will ever be.

I'm not disrespecting video (or even the D30 altogether), but this really feels like the old guard trying to force their way back into the world of new media. The world of new media comes with its own unique set of challenges and opportunities, including a number of ways to get people to go out of their way to watch or be a part of advertising. This solution doesn't feel like it takes any of the aspects of the Internet into consideration and instead comes off as a selfish cash-grab that I don't think people will tolerate.

We'll find out together I guess when the beta rolls out this summer.

Twitter + Google Street View = Stweet = Overly Creepy Mash-Up of Technology?

2009-05-11T01:56:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Mashable, I discovered this new application called Stweet. It's the unholy mash-up of Twitter and Google Maps street view so that you can see the latest tweet in that city and a view of approximately where the person was tweeting from. It works by syncing up with such mobile applications as Twitterfon and locating an approximate address of where you just tweeted. For some, part of the appeal of Twitter is having people care about each and every move you make. But do you really want people to know exactly where you are when you do it?

Right now the site is a bit buggy, with the feed dropping out every few minutes. Certain cities work better than others. I'm not sure if this will ever have any practical use as is, but it's a cool mash-up nonetheless. For now, I'll go back to randomly stalking New York tweeters for no other reason than the fact that I can now.

You're Gonna Love My Nuts

2009-05-10T02:30:00.004-04:00

2 weeks ago, YouTube user djsteveporter posted this hilarious creation on YouTube. His remixing of the Slap Chop infomercial has been viewed over 1.5 million times, spawned almost 400 blog posts and 8,000 comments since release. Using a classic-era break beat and Auto-Tune, he makes an entire song and music video with the Slap Chop infomercial, starring Vince Shlomi, better known as the Sham Wow guy.

Digging into it a bit further, I discovered that the original Slap Chop infomercial has been remixed over 100 times, most of which are crude edits focused around the line, "You're gonna love my nuts!".

If you're the makers of Slap Chop, how do you feel? How do you react? Besides the fact that the star of the infomercial is in hot water for beating a prostitute, your brand is getting some serious online word-of-mouth that you may or may not want to associate your brand with. Do you get offended that people are "violating" the brand? Or are happy that people are getting some enjoyment out of it that might translate into sales, even if isn't how you originally planned?

In the age of new media, you can't really control this remixing of your brand, but if the community remembers you more for the song than someone editing your video so that your spokesperson says, "You're gonna love my nuts!" over and over, maybe it wouldn't hurt to ride this one out.

MPAA Gives Teachers Stupid Solution to Creating Educational Clips

2009-05-07T23:54:00.009-04:00

MPAA shows how to videorecord a TV set by Vimeo user Timothy Vollmer

The Copyright Office is currently going through proposed exceptions to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. One proposed exception concerns teachers, who would like the legal approval to rip DVD's and edit them for classroom use. To me, that sounds totally fine. However, if the Motion Picture Association of America were to say no, I'd probably say mean things to them, but recognize that copyright law is what it is.

However, instead of giving a "yes" or "no" answer, they showed off the video above, in which they try to convince the rulemaking comittee that videotaping your television with a camcorder is an acceptable alternative to ripping and editing video. Are you kidding me?

I'm no expert in copyright law. I understand that copyright law is a mess right now, and as technology destroys the entire model that copyright law was built upon in the first place it's only going to get tougher. But I know enough to say that FILMING YOUR TELEVISION IS NOT THE ANSWER!

I understand why they think it's the answer. This way, you only take the chunks you need, and the quality is worse. But having teachers film their televisions isn't going to solve anything.

The MPAA's draconian process takes longer, more equipment, crappier quality, and sacrifices the quality of education to the students to protect a mixtape of clips that is useless outside the classroom? The MPAA has a lot more to worry about than teachers putting together teaching materials.

There was a quote I found on boingboing that put it best:

In the words of media literacy researcher Martine Courant Rife, that's like typing up a quote from a book, taking it outside, chiseling the words in a rock, photographing the rock, scanning the photo, and running OCR on it. And for what?"

I'm not sure what the real answer is to copywrites in the 21st century. But it seems like both the MPAA and the RIAA strike-out every single time they've tried to impose their power on the new world of media, whether that's suing children for downloading, trying to make people feel bad for getting a movie for free, and now this. If they want to be seen as the protectors of intelligent property rather than out-of-touch executives on a power trip, they'll need to come up with some better solutions than what they've shown during the last decade.

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Keely Powell

2009-05-07T00:00:00.003-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Keely Powell

Career Path: Radio writing and production

Education: Seneca College

Advertising Experience: Volunteer at ihaveanidea.org portfolio night 6, adweek NYC ‘08, Planet In Focus and Burt’s Bees winners of Seneca College student campaign competition.

One Thing About You: At one point in my life I had 9 body piercings at the same time.

Contact: keelypowell@gmail.com

Full interview after the break!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

I don’t know when I knew that advertising was for me. I still don’t even really know if I’m for advertising. I fell hard for it when I began at Seneca. And then, as these things tend to happen to people my age, I hit a pivotal moment in my life and where I was going and I had to make a lot of realizations about myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel as strongly about advertising after that but I persevered and I decided to find a path for myself to proud of, to back up the education I’ve received, and to revive the strong feelings of love and admiration I used to feel for advertising. Which is a good segway into the next question:

You’ve told me that you want to specialize in radio advertising. Why?

Radio advertising just happened to be the niche I discovered for myself. It is the area of advertising into which I feel I fit best. It just makes sense to me. Now not many people know this but before I decided to come to Seneca College’s Creative Advertising program, I juggled my post-secondary education options between graphic design and radio broadcast and before that point in my life I also had a strong passion for literature and writing.

So since I have always been interested in broadcast and I’ve always loved writing, the Seneca College Creative Advertising program brought that all of my interests together and taught me that I love writing scripts for radio commercials. Specializing in radio advertising and radio production seemed like an incredibly lucky opportunity for me to stumble upon, but really it was the choices I made for myself that led me to where I can be happy and enjoy working for the rest of my life.

Radio, unlike other forms of media, doesn’t have the luxury of visuals to convey the message. What do you do to compensate for that?

Sounds. Effects. Ideas. It’s the clever mixing of internal thoughts and external noise into a perfect form that makes radio interesting and intelligent to write and create. It’s no disadvantage to have to work without visual aids; it is a challenge, an accomplishment.

Describe your creative process. How do you brainstorm? How do you keep track of ideas? How do you know when one of your ideas is good? What do you do when you're creatively stumped?

I brainstorm on the bus and the subway. I brainstorm when I’m not stressed or busy with other things, when I can focus my energy on brainstorming. I keep track of ideas by writing them down with a pen on paper. I can’t work on a computer until I’m through with the heavy thinking and planning process. Some people I know go through their whole creative process on a computer and come up with great work. But I can’t do that. To me, computers are necessary only for research, typing stuff up, editing and revising good work. And I never know when an idea is good. I just work and I think and I write until I’ve come up with something I like and something that works. Then I take it to a friend and I ask for their opinion and go from there.

Every idea is a good idea. Some ideas just need to be cleaned off and fixed up first. And if, after the idea’s been cleaned off and fixed up, it doesn’t work for what I need it for, then oh well. Lastly, if I am creatively stumped, usually I go for a walk or a bike ride.

Do you want to just be a radio copywriter, or venture into the production side?

Well Jett,I don’t want to “just” be anything, but I know that’s not what you meant, so I’ll say: I don’t think I can be 100% happy with the radio I write until I am also producing the spots myself. Think of it this way: A chef can’t create a 5 star meal without knowing what’s in the kitchen first. Plus I am the kind of person who likes to have the reins in my hands when it comes to my own work. Unfortunately right now I have little to no experience or knowledge when it comes to radio recording and production equipment. But! I am currently working on scheduling a day to go in to Think Music to observe the recording and post-production of a radio spot, in order learn the basics and ask some questions.

Outside of advertising, do you express yourself creativity in any other ways?

Yes, I write poetry and short stories. I’ve got one short story in the planning and organizing phase right now and an outline for another idea I want to write about. I bake delicious cakes and cookies (and crepes) from scratch recipes I’ve mostly made up. I like to decorate and design space. And I’m not much for drawing, but I enjoy creating other kinds of art.

What is your biggest accomplishment so far in life? What do you hope to achieve someday?

My biggest accomplishment so far in life, eh? Never flunking out of school regardless of how tempting it seemed at times. In high school I was a big slacker and didn’t really care for much other than partying. But now, on the other hand, I’ve got high hopes; I want to write and be known for writing novels, and also, I want to bring back the old time radio show. (ie. Cloak and Dagger)

What do you do for fun?

Bike! I love my bike. And read. I love to read. And I’m writing short stories in my free time, so that’s pretty fun too.

E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

Script+sound+sales=radioKeely

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

The Breaking of the English Language Should "Pique" Your Interest

2009-05-06T20:36:00.006-04:00

I just finished writing an email for work purposes, and during that process I wanted to use the expression "pique your interest". It was then I realized I wasn't exactly sure how to spell the word in that context. Was it "peak", "peek", "pique", or something entirely different?

So what's a guy to do? Google search, of course. It's here where I found a great blog entry from Cicada Song about people using the expression. The correct spelling is "pique", but do more people use it correctly or incorrectly? Her Google search results:

"peaked her interest" = 455
"peaked his interest" = 965
"peaked their interest" = 857,000

"peeked her interest" = 428,000
"peeked his interest" = 342,000
"peeked their interest" = 238,000

"piqued her interest" = 27,000
"piqued his interest" = 45,300
"piqued their interest" = 18,900

Fascinating results. Not only do the majority of people on the Internet not know how to properly spell out the expression, but weren't even close. At least with "peaked", it sort of reads like you raised interest, which is sort of what "piqued" means (check the definition here) but "peeked" has nothing to do with anything in the way "piqued your interest" is supposed to.

What does that say about our grasp of the English language? What does that say about anything? I don't know, I just found it interesting and worth sharing.

As the Poor Get Poorer, the Rich Retreat

2009-05-05T14:27:00.006-04:00

One of the podcasts I subscribe to is BBC's Documentaries podcast. Like 60 Minutes, the stories they cover really open up my mind to a lot of different subject matter that I normally wouldn't delve into on my own, such as the trafficking of children, how people living in the oppressive USSR got a hold of Beatles music in the 60's and the threat of the Yiddish language disappearing.

However, the episode I do want to discuss today is a subject that has become increasingly relevant to us all: the economy. It's supposedly not just the poor people being hurt in this downturn; rich people are feeling the pressure too. The BBC put together a piece called The Rich in Retreat, which is one of my favourite pieces from the BBC to date, regardless of my feelings towards that segment of the population.

The struggles of lower and middle class citizens have been well-documented in the media. For a lot of us, we don't need the media to tell us that things are bad. We can see the effects of the downturn in our everyday lives, whether that's those around us our ourselves who are suffering. But there's another side to the story that the average person would probably detest more than ever: the life of the wealthy in this downturn. The actions of AIG a few months ago didn't help, and the disdain towards the wealthy is more fierce than ever.

This podcast tries to get into the hearts and minds of the wealthy during this crunch. It includes interviews with those who live in the upper-crust, while covering the struggles they go through and the personal greed that ultimately caused this financial crisis in the first place. One of the highlights of this piece is an interview with a multi-millionaire who ended up in jail after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion.

After hearing their stories, do you feel bad for them? Do you hate them even more? Do you think they really understand the problems that the average person is feeling right now?

Give it a listen by clicking on the picture below, and come to your own conclusions. I'd love to hear what you think as well. Drop me a comment on the blog and let's discuss.

Assignment - Rich in Retreat

If you'd like to hear more BBC Documentaries podcasts, you can check out their web page, or subscribe to it on iTunes.

Images from Connect Michigan and the BBC

Anyone Looking For A Male Copywriter?

2009-05-04T14:24:00.004-04:00

(thank you to Steff for sending this to me)

How about this guy?

Lawson Clarke, *cough* Male Copywriter, has blessed us with his...presence through his website. Say what you will about the physique (I don't even know if that's actually him in the picture), but I think it makes for a bold self-promo site that's already making some noise.

The website is real slick and easy to navigate. It also doesn't hurt that he's done some great work, my favourite being the interactive aquarium.

As for other advertisers out there with self-promo websites (such as myself), maybe we can learn from this and help better cultivate our brand and our identity online so that we can stand out from the crowd of other self-promo websites and poorly manscaped bodies.

Without Advertising, fill in the blank

2009-05-03T11:06:00.016-04:00

Web developer Mindrally has put together a site called "Without Advertising", where users are given the statement, "Without Advertising," and asked to fill in the blank. I had come up with something similar when my group pitched Zig a month ago. I'm still not sure exactly what they're trying to achieve with this particular site, and a lot of people are just posting irrelevant comments to mess with the system, but just "for the lulz", I pulled out a few choice comments, which you can read below.

I left a comment on there, too:

Tips to Control Your Personal Brand

2009-05-01T10:50:00.004-04:00

The idea of personal branding is extremely important to me. I started this blog as one way to control my personal brand, so that there were other things to find out about me besides a fake Amazon review under my name. I also started Leaders of the New as a way for other future advertisers to control their personal brand.

Yesterday, Mashable (which is quickly becoming one of my favourite blogs) posted an article about 5 ways to control your personal brand right now. If you have any sort of interest in controlling your personal brand, it's a must-read.

Thanks to the article, I signed up for a Google Profile, which will help bring up direct information about you when people try and search for you. For current and potential Leaders of the New, it wouldn't be a bad idea to post the link to your interview on your Google Profile.

I'm not going to run through all 5 tips, because the article explains it a lot better than I could. The one other thing I wanted to mention is that the E-elevator pitch is real, and happening right now.

There is a service called twtjobs, that allows users to create and distribute a resume through Twitter in 140 characters or less. When I first came up with the e-elevator pitch, I half meant it as a joke. Now it's real. Should I brush up my current pitch?

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Alex Bird

2009-04-28T23:00:00.003-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Alex Bird

Career Path: Copywriting

Education: York University BFA, Seneca College - Creative Advertising

Advertising Experience: Two years of ad school; two month internship at Cossette.

One Thing About You: I could be good at any job. I can be great in advertising.

Contact: alex.m.bird@gmail.com

Alex did an informational interview with Matt Bielby, and for every question Matt answered, he wanted Alex to answer too. Read Alex's answers after the jump!

Why advertising? What drew you into it?

Charm.

When I finished studying music at York, I knew two things:

1) I didn't want three part time jobs to support a career in music and
2) I still wanted a career that was both creative and fun.

The award shows, after-parties, creative environment, dedication to excellence and cool vibe that I see on a consistent basis just support my reasons to want in on it.

What’s your story? How did you get in?

Coincidence.

You could also say luck. I talked to a buddy of mine (who's now at TAXI Vancouver) at my brother's wedding, shortly after I finished my undergrad. I can't imagine a more unlikely set of circumstances that led me to talk to him about his gig in advertising. Perhaps it was boredom, intrigue, or maybe even desperation. Regardless, here I am, and I'm glad I'm here. Prior to that moment, I hadn't given advertising a lick of thought.

What does advertising mean to you?

Creativity.

And a lot of hard work. But there's something special about that moment when you and your partner reach that creative breakthrough; that lightning bolt instance when everything clicks. It's a rare quality to find in a profession and one that I love to pursue. I was also going to go with "fun." As Jerry Della Femina said, it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

A piece from Alex's portfolio

What is the best part of the business?

People.

If it was charm that drew me into advertising, it's the people that keep me here. I've never seen such support and nurturing of talent anywhere else. The energy, passion, excitement and humility that is shared by so many is a constant source of inspiration.

What is the worst part, if there is one?

Frustration.

The frustration that comes from writer's block. The frustration that comes from finding out that your fantastic award-winning idea was just done by someone else. The frustration that comes from clients who kill your ideas for reasons that defy intelligible thought. Well, I haven't personally experienced that last one, but I do remember a line from Luke Sullivan about a client that killed a two month old campaign between sips of coffee with a happy little "good first effort." However, frustration is a healthy part of the creative process, and I think that it makes the finished product that much more fulfilling.

What’s your favourite media channel?

All.

A copywriter named Matt Bielby opened up my eyes with this question. It's not so much about media as it is about ideas, finding the right way to reach the consumer, and applying them to whatever media channel you're given.

Which do you like better: traditional or non-conventional?

Depends.

It's all about the ideas and how good the concept is overall. Any project is going to be aggravating if you're stuck with a really bad concept. Likewise, a great concept can be really rewarding throughout the entire creative process. Pushing a great idea through any media channel is awesome. Trying to push a bad idea sucks.

There are a whole bunch of reasons to love visually-based ads: no language barrier, they’re pleasing to the eye, easy to understand in a few seconds; do you think that long-copy ads, or even just copy-based ads in general, are on the way out? Or is this just another trend?

Interest.

I also want to say multiculturalism. Language barriers don't help, and smart lines can be misunderstood by anyone who can't grasp certain colloquial expressions. But I think that it's the writer's job to figure that out. People will read anything if it sparks their interest. Great copy written in English can still speak their language.

Do you think that consumers are interested in reading long copy? Or is it good copywriting that lures them in? Better yet, does it simply depend on the target audience?

Audience.

Heh. Yeah, I know. I answered the question when I asked it. People will read whatever they find interesting, no matter how short or long it is. Long copy needs to be extremely gripping at the beginning or they just won't bother, and good writing is paramount. In a chat I had with Steve Jurisic, he told me to always make it simple, original and provocative.

A sample of Alex's long copy work

How do you stay creative?

Questions.

It's about thinking differently, and asking "what if?" There are no wrong ideas, and everything is relevant. I don't like it when people say no to an idea. It kills the creative atmosphere. I also want to say that the people I work with boost my creativity. We feed off of each other and work to make our ideas better. That nurturing environment keeps ideas fresh and interesting.

What’s a typical day in your shoes?

Workaholic.

Let's just say I skipped my own birthday to finish a research project that was due in two weeks. My buds often joke that I go home to work on next semester's assignments. I try to read everything, I try to stay current with everything, and most of all I try make time so I can polish my portfolio. I get up, scan the media, go to school, read ad mags, go to class, spend too much time getting an A, work on my portfolio, come home, get pressured into late night partying, and repeat. School has such a "same sh*t, different day" feel to it. Maybe I'm just eager to get into the industry.

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

60% of Twitter Users Abandon Fail Whale After Only A Month?

2009-04-28T20:32:00.010-04:00

According to a post on the Nielson blog (which I found through Mashable) over 60% of Twitter users quit the service after only one month. All of the staggering growth aside, it seems as though Twitter may have a hard time riding out this momentum long-term.

From the Nielson blog:

Currently, more than 60 percent of Twitter users fail to return the following month, or in other words, Twitter’s audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month’s users who come back the following month, is currently about 40 percent. For most of the past 12 months, pre-Oprah, Twitter has languished below 30 percent retention.

image from Nielson

A 40% retention rate is not that great, especially compared to Facebook and MySpace, who years later still hover around 70%. Having people drop off the service that fast will not be good for growth or the future of Twitter.

Personally, I know a lot of people who signed up for the service, thought it was dumb and left. Part of that comes from the service being caught in the media hype-train. Part of it comes from the stigma of Twitter being the service to tell people what you just ate for lunch. Part of that comes from people who try it out and find out it's not for them.

I've become quite the Twitter fan, but having used the service for a couple of months now, I don't see it offering enough to ever catch up to something like Facebook or Myspace. Does it need to? Probably not. Right now, it's estimated to only have about 6 million users, which is still low, especially considering all the hype it's been getting. Do you think Twitter is going to make it through or is the high dropout rate proof that Twitter is the next social media fad?

TIME's Most Influential Person Is...This Guy?

2009-04-28T09:00:00.001-04:00

image from extraface

You're looking at Christopher Poole, better known as "moot" on 4chan, and now the #1 most influential person in the world, according to *cough* readers of TIME magazine and TIME online. He "beat out" Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Miley Cyrus by a landslide in terms of total votes and influence score. How did this happen? I must admit, he did start the website that was the home for Rick Rolling and LOLcats, so that did have to count for something. TIME says it was a clean vote, but even the 4chan community says otherwise.

In TIME's article about the victory, they say:

Moot denies knowing about any concerted plan by his followers to influence the poll, though TIME.com's technical team did detect and extinguish several attempts to hack the vote.

But then how do you explain this?

Image from Paul Lamere

First of all, the discrepancy in scores and votes should raise alarms right off the bat. But then look at the secret message: "Marblecake Also The Game". It's not a coincidence. They even documented how TIME tried to break this and ultimately failed at stopping it.

I'm not surprised that something like this happened. I'm kind of surprised it's taken this long for TIME's list to get punk'd by a bunch of hackers. The Internet community beats the large media corporation yet again, to hilarious results.

What does irk me though is TIME trying to put on a brave face and act like nothing wrong ever happened. You know it, we know it and nobody is really surprised by it. Why not just fess up?

In any case, moot stands as TIME's most influential person in the world. Based on the work his community has done in the past, and their work in beating the system here, maybe it was truly deserved after all.

Konami Code Integration Makes ESPN Website Awesome

2009-04-27T19:15:00.007-04:00

(UPDATE 10:21PM: The unicorns have been taken down. However, if you use the cached version of the site, you'll still get the magical goodness. Also, if you'd like to learn more about the significance of the Konami code, check out the Wikipedia article.)

I was surfing Kotaku just now and I found this awesome story about a trick you can do on the ESPN website. For some reason, if you enter in the sacred Konami code (that's up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A for those unfamiliar), images of unicorns and rainbows will appear. The more buttons you press, the more images pop up.

To me, it seems as though the developer of the site created this "Easter Egg" for no apparent reason other than the fact that it's hilarious. ~~It'll be interesting to see how ESPN responds, because I don't think that's something you can fix right away.~~

However, the idea of input codes on websites could have legs. To ESPN's chagrin, I'm sure that traffic to their site is booming right now. I could see it working beyond its use as an Easter Egg. How else do you think a company can use input codes such as this for the power of good?

That trick made my day. It's got me thinking that now's a good time to whip out the old Nintendo and blaze through Contra for the millionth time using the classic code.

image from significant-bits

Google Analytics Makes Numbers Fun, Maybe Overly Personal

2009-04-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

image from Blogoscoped

Back when I first started blogging, I was naive enough to believe that literally nobody on the Internet would ever read my blog, let alone find it. Maybe if I had access to analytics back then and was able to see that people actually did read what I had to say, I would have been a lot more conscious about the things I wrote.

A few nights ago, while trying to find a new design, I found a guide on how to configure Google Analytics to my Blogger blog. If you're on a Wordpress account, it's even easier. I just got in my first round of numbers, and the level of information I can get kind of freaks me out.

I'm used to not having any real reference of how people use any site I've ever made. I just put it out there, make some content and people do what they do. The thoroughness of Google Analytics is almost too much information to me.

Now there's so much more to scrutinize. I get mad if my unique visitor count drops from one day to the next, or a less than desired number of people read a specific post. I sit here and wonder how could anybody find my site when they searched "Cundari Toronto" when I don't think I've ever mentioned them on my blog. I can see how much time people spend on my site to the second how long people spend reading my page. I can even tell how effective my tweets are in driving traffic to my blog.

The most heartbreaking thing I've discovered about my blog to date: I started this blog so that when someone Google searches my name, this blog shows up. When I looked at my numbers, then tried searching for my name on Google, I realized that my blog didn't appear anywhere. My profile did, but nothing I wrote showed up. Since then, I've played with some of my tags to try and shake things up. We'll see how that goes.

It's nothing new if you've played with analytics before. I did for the first time a few weeks ago using Compete for my internship. But when it's your blog, you might take all the numbers a bit personally, for better or for worse.

image from sheremembers

I almost feel like I've opened Pandora's box. All I wanted to know was roughly how many people look at my blog, but now I could tell you all sorts of weird facts and figures about it. And based on those weird facts, trying to come up with strategies to boost my "stickiness" or drive users to a specific part of my blog. Knowing the type of person that I am, I might even just sit here analyzing numbers more than writing content, which is what I started this blog for in the first place.

For most people, tracking your blog this intricately is probably not on your radar. However, if you've ever wondered how your site or blog is performing, there are free tools out there to do so. You never know what you might find, or know how deeply you'll get into it.

In the meantime, I'll be hitting "refresh" on my browser until the next set of numbers rolls in.

Things To Know: Swine Flu

2009-04-25T16:04:00.008-04:00

I was originally going to write about an apology video posted by Dominos Pizza about a series of disgusting videos posted on YouTube by two former employees. But there are bigger issues in the world than people farting on food.

The last few days have been abuzz about swine flu. What is the swine flu? Is this the next coming of SARS? Can I get it from eating pork? I'm watching CNN right now and the station is doing a full hour of coverage on swine flu, as well as following Twitter. CNN is talking about how 8 or 9 students at a New York school show signs of having it, two people in Kansas have been confirmed to have it and according to Breaking News on Twitter, 200 high school students in Queens, New York have it. Can't confirm that last one, but it's spreading across Twitter like wildfire.

I'm no expert on the matter, and news of this is breaking as I'm typing this. But I thought I'd offer you a few resources to brush up on the issue at hand. Pretty much any news outlet would be a good start, but here's a few other places to look.

Q&A: What Is Swine Flu?

This is a Q&A compiled by the Associated Press on the matter. Before watching CNN, I started here.

1976: The Swine Flu Scare

It's not the first time we've had a swine flu scare. The strain of flu going around now however is probably different from what's happening right now.

HOW TO: Track Swine Flu Online

Mashable has put together a pretty solid guide on tracking the latest news about the virus. Not sure that the people that read my blog are going to configure their Google News Alerts or follow HealthMap, but I'm putting it out there for everyone that wants that level of information.

Twitter Search

Maybe not the most accurate resource. But people will be quick to point out anything interesting that comes up. And you can never get enough of fun insights like:

chicshockey NBC interrupts game for a swine flu alert in US and Mexico. Way to down hot dog slaes! This means that I will only eat Canadian bacon.

ZenGrifter RT @islandbell: You can't get Swine Flu from eating Pork......Bring on the Baby Back Ribs. : )

KristiGiff26 Your mom has the swine flu less than 20 seconds ago from TwitterFon

Also, here are a few jot notes I know that I can pass along to you:

- Swine flu primarily passes from pig-to-person, but it's also spreading from person-to-person
- Scientists are not sure if it will blow up into a pandemic or die down on its own
- The virus only needs 1-3 days after exposure to incubate
- Every identified case of Swine Flu in the US have been minor cases
- The current strain of swine flu spreading now is actually four different viruses put together

Keep your eyes open on this subject, as it could be a real big issue in our world in the coming days and weeks!

Come Out And Play (Date)

2009-04-24T23:05:00.007-04:00

True story: My girlfriend and I's first date was a play date. No, that wasn't a euphemism for anything. After a heated MSN conversation about whose wordplay was better, we decided to settle the score with a game of Scrabble. Controversial judging aside, we had a great time and Scrabble made for an excellent first date.

As nerdy as our love story is, it turns out that we're not alone. There are many people turning to alternative entertainment options besides going out to the club or going to the movie theatre. In fact, there is a monthly social event in the US called "Play Date" that's built on the concept of adults getting together to play board games.

The concept was developed by Imari Harvard in 2005, when he had a network of 80 people coming to his house to play board games. The goal was to attract 25-55 year old professionals, singles, couples and those who don't normally go out to party. The unique alternative to a night out so far is working; it's now in 20 major US cities and expanding. The music isn't necessarily loud or trendy. The atmosphere is a lot more chill. And based around the context of games, it's a lot more conducive to social activity with your friends, significant other, or strangers.

For $10 admission, you get access to a ton of tables with games like Scrabble, Uno, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Taboo and more. They even play an "adult" version of musical chairs for those interested.

I hope the concept takes off. I think the environment coupled with more traditional games lend themselves well to a very cool vibe that's a lot more warm and inviting than say a movie theatre, club or pool hall. Most importantly, it sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Even if a branded Play Date doesn't make it to a city near you, why not consider getting some people over for a little Twister?

Image from Reach Out Michigan

Or depending on how close you are with your company, this type of Twister?

Image from Gadgets Shop.nl

Sorry, I just had to throw that picture in there.

Portfolio Night 7, Brought To You by Seneca College's Creative Advertising Program

2009-04-24T16:37:00.004-04:00

image from Anthony Kalamut

I Was checking my email this morning when I saw Anthony Kalamut had sent me this link to his blog, announcing a very special partnership between the Seneca College Creative Advertising program and ihaveanidea.org Portfolio Night 7 in Toronto. Head over to his blog for more details, but it sounds like a great partnership for the school and Ihaveanidea.

If anybody was going to secure something like this, it would be Anthony. You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody else out there putting in as much hard work and effort into nurturing the future talents of advertising. I'm actually sad that I'm now set to graduate the program and move into the business for real, partially because I won't get to continue learning from him and the great faculty that the Creative Advertising program has.

Enough about me though. Any creatives with a portfolio in the city should definitely check this event out.

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Andrea Alexis-James

2009-04-23T00:00:00.009-04:00

Leaders of the New is an ongoing series at jettlandicho.com that will focus on the future talents of advertising. Click here to check the archives.

Name: Andrea Alexis-James

Career Path: The wonderful world of media planning

Education: 2 years in the psychology program at York University, 2 years in Seneca’s Creative Advertising Program

Advertising Experience: Internship at PHD

One Thing About You: If you want to win my heart, scrap the flowers, bring me feta!

Contact: aalexisjames@gmail.com

Full interview after the jump!

When did you know that advertising was for you?

Well, first of all I knew that psychology wasn't for me by the time the first semester of my first year at York was drawing to a close. I started shopping around for alternatives, and although I had never really considered the college route, I explored it. I found the Creative Advertising program and Seneca and found myself back on the course descriptions website almost daily, wishing I were there instead. I convinced my mother that the world would in fact not crumble if I left York and applied crossing my fingers that out of the 800 odd people that apply, I would be one of 75 chosen…and I was!

I noticed just recently that it’s always been part of me. I recently found a small hoard of ad clippings I had put aside years ago because I really liked them.

When you first entered the Creative Advertising program at Seneca, did you think you would want to work in media? What swayed you to the media side?

God no, much like the rest of the class, when second semester Media class rolled around and we were told we needed a calculator, my initial reaction was, “WHHOOOAAAA! Hold on there buddy, no one said ANYTHING about math!”. I was convinced I was going to be a copywriter. I didn’t have any interest in media until me and another classmate paid a trip to the agency formerly known as ACLC and got talking to members of different departments. For whatever reason the media planning spiel we received stuck with me, and I mulled it over the summer and decided it was right for me.

How did you get from being a student to being an intern at PHD?

Simple. I had an informational interview with someone from the company, and she seemed to like the cut of my jib. Unfortunately, she was soon to be going on maternity leave, so she gave me the email and name of someone else to get in touch with. And then I harassed her until I got a start date =).

Describe a day in the life of Andrea at PHD.

I roll in sometime between 8:30 and 8:50, fetch a coffee (for myself only!), check my email, check the entertainment, weird news and business RSS feeds in outlook, send an email to the two people (one on the planning side, one on the buying side) that I work under and ask who I belong to that day, and then either enter a LOT of data or if its planning work, I could easily spend 5 hours staring at PMB and Nielsen data. I grab lunch somewhere in the middle, sometimes there will be a meeting or presentation (complete with swag!) and then quittin’ time rolls around and I head home. Then I get home and I’m severely at a loss of what to do with myself now that I have no homework =\.

What were your experiences of real-life media planning/media buying like? Do you have a preference?

Media planning is definitely my preference. There is definitely a lot more creative license to be had, and you’re in touch with reps and making contacts from earlier on in the game. As a junior buyer, your life is pretty much data entry from what I can see.

Usually when people think of media planning, they think numbers. But do you feel there’s creativity in media planning?

There are definitely numbers but there is definitely creativity. A few weeks ago I was asked to put together a rough magazine plan for a new make up product, and then at the end my supervisor threw in that I could suggest any different creative treatments I thought of. Those wacky installments you might see brands advertising their products with? Yeah, a lot of that is us.

What campaign that is currently running do you really like and why?

I think a lot of people like it but I’ve got to say the Stride Commercials. I’ve only personally seen the one commercial with the ram, but it gets me every time and has definitely made me turn to Stride when I go into a convenience store to buy gum, for Kudos if nothing else.

What’s the next move for you?

Who knows Jett, who knows. I don’t know for sure what my future is at PHD, so I’m shopping around, and my supervisor has assured me that she will write me a letter of recommendation should I need one.

What do you do for fun?

Chicken wrestling, tractor pulls, ya know, what normal 21 year old girls do on their free time. I guess I like movies, and I probably spend 50% of my (currently nonexistent) income on concerts, go to bars now and then. I like adventuring. I’m the friend that will call you up at 3 on a Monday and say, “Hey…wanna go to Barrie? I dunno why, just cause we can?”.

E-Elevator Pitch: Sell yourself in 140 characters or less.

Seneca Creative Advertising grad, complete with fresh ideas, weird in a way that can only be beneficial and a great team player.

If you're an advertising student or are just starting out in the business and would like to be featured on Leaders of the New, send me an email at jettlandicho@gmail.com

Lego Continues to Successfully "Build" Brand Through Video Games

2009-04-21T23:18:00.009-04:00

Following in the footsteps of Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman comes Lego Rock Band, which was formally announced today.

Lego is not new to branded video games, having been in the space since 1998. However, since the success of the original Lego Star Wars, the brand has seen huge gains in both their game sales and more importantly, the sales of Lego blocks.

In terms of game sales, the Lego Star Wars series of video games alone have sold over 19 million copies, Lego Indiana Jones has sold almost 8 million copies, and Lego Batman has sold over 4 million copies. And how has this new wave of Lego video games boosted block sales? Sales were up 38% in 2008 even in the face of the economic downturn.

Where does Lego succeed in the video game space where other brands fail? Let's discuss.

image from russellbeattie.com

The gamer in me instinctively wants to say that the plan works because the games don't suck. While they're not perfect, the games achieve an acceptable level of quality, unlike most advergames (including every Lego game before Lego Star Wars). The ad guys and gals of the world take this part for granted, and I hope in the future that they don't. The power of interactive advertising lies in the fact that you can associate your brand with a positive experience. If you give the consumer your brand and tie it to a negative experience, odds are they'll think negatively about your brand. Even kids have standards for video games and are looking for a positive experience, and a poorly developed game will get shunned the moment the game isn't fun anymore.

The marketers not well versed in the world of video games would probably say it sold because it was attached to popular licenses. Yes, having Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman helps quite a bit. However, if it was just the license association selling the games, then the increase in Lego block sales would only affect the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman product lines. As big as those are, I don't think they're big enough to pull in the type of gains that Lego had in 2008. And they would have explicitly said their gains came from just those lines, which they didn't.

So what then makes these games sell more Lego blocks?

Let's break it down with the Anthony Kalamut classic, 1+1=3.

1+1=3
Client/Product/Brand Insights + Consumer/Audience Insights = Sweet Spot/Big Idea/Execution

Lego blocks have for many years been a childhood staple. To kids, they are more than just blocks. You're building ideas. You're taking an idea in your head and making it come to life.

Children love to play. They love to pretend. They love to make things and use their imagination.

=
Fun, virtual and interactive Lego experience.

Every game in the "Lego" lineage captures the experience of playing with Lego blocks. All the characters look and move as you would imagine Lego people would. They fall apart into Lego blocks when "killed". Lego characters in these games never die, they just get put back together. The Lego pieces never talk, but they emote so vividly that they can convey an entire story without actually talking. Just like playing with Legos in real life, your Lego pieces never talk, it's up to you to think/say what your Lego people will say. The games feature a lot of building elements. And even within the framework of a popular series like Star Wars, they allow room for children to use their imaginations and make their own fun. Everything fun about playing with Lego blocks, they were able to translate into these games and inspire the youth of today to invest in the brand even further.

Lego has managed to put together the pieces of the advergaming puzzle to form something that works very well for their brand (sorry for the unavoidable pun). It'll be interesting to see how successful Lego Rock Band will be. Unlike the other games in the current Lego series, this one is a music game and not an adventure, and I feel that adventure lends itself better to the Lego experience. However, Google search has just exploited the limits of my imagination, by proving that lots of people have been rocking out with their Lego pieces. Lego, if you're listening, all I ask for is some sort of nod to the brilliant video for "Fell In Love With A Girl" by the White Stripes.

Twitter Wars: Niketalk Vs. Diddy

2009-04-20T15:56:00.006-04:00

image from Niketalk

Niketalk is one of my favourite message boards on the Internet. No, I've never been an official member of the board since I started following it in 2002. And no, I haven't even been following the sneaker industry for years. But the Niketalk general message boards are a regular stop-over of mine, checking a few times a day at least. It's an interesting window into the world of sneaker fans that includes a unique perspective on the latest events of the world, lots of discussion about girl problems, and is one of my favourite places to get funny pictures.

I was on Niketalk just now and I found the community decided to do something I hadn't seen done before.

Gang up on a celebrity. First victim? Diddy.

In the "NT Roastin' ______ on Twitter Appreciation...Who's next?" thread, they coordinated an attack where numerous Niketalk members sent Diddy countless insults through Twitter. Let's look at some of the highlights:

@iamdiddy Ol, "You had a spark when you started / but now you just garbage" - type of man.4 minutes ago from web

@iamdiddy Ol' "I've never even wrote helped compose the best songs on my own albums"-style man.21 minutes ago from web

@iamdiddy Ol', "I charged Miss V. Wallace $$$ to use her son's music in his own biopic"-man. (-_-)

Dre_704 Ya moms didn't let you play baseball after ya greasy %%% slid from 1st base to centerfield. Umpires f'd around and called a travel @iamdiddy

pasCHITOWNyo ol selfish %%@ %@+!$..the least you coulda did was put craig mack in some proactive commercials @iamdiddy

I wish Jada woulda really hit you w/ the refrigerator @iamdiddy.

There were far too many insults thrown at Diddy for me to post here, so I'll leave it to you to find the rest of them. Diddy didn't respond directly to the outpouring of hate typed his way, but he did post this towards the end of Niketalk's tirade.

image from Niketalk

Certain companies and celebrities have opened themselves up more through technology like Twitter, for better or worse. On the other side of the coin, you, as an average person have power. If you know how to use something like a blog, Twitter, or Facebook, you could make something happen. Like making Diddy sad, if that's one of your goals in life, I guess. I'd hope you aim higher than committing the virtual equivalent of throwing a cream pie into someone's face, but I guess this is a start.

How Sweet It Is

2009-04-20T10:00:00.000-04:00

Just over a year ago, I remember sitting in the lunchroom at work, reading People magazine, when I came across this ad.

"What? I'm supposed to peel this off and lick it?" I asked myself.

Intrigued as I was, it was not my copy of People magazine to violate and I was too poor at the time to invest in my own. I figured that this campaign would run across multiple magazines and I'd be able to pick it by the time my pay check rolled around.

Turns out it that one in particular was a one-shot deal. Bummer.

If it's any consolation, I read an article in the Toronto Star yesterday about First Flavor - the company behind that Welch's ad - will be bringing their tasty technology to newspapers.

It reminded me of arguably my favourite seminar at Ad Week in New York, where they discussed how to market using all 5 senses. Taste isn't the first sense you associate with advertising, but this type of application seems super cool. In the article, they even mention how they made an intentionally bad taste tab that tasted like cigarettes to give to kids in order to deter them from smoking. Hypothetically speaking though, couldn't that work the other way around as well and really you just gave some kids the gateway to cigarettes?

The article also reminded me of how varied in advertising can be in terms of media selection and job opportunities. The number of options available to advertisers is growing all the time, and something like taste is still in its infancy. Where could it go from here? As a prospective job-seeker, there's so much more out there for you besides working at a full-service agency. You could specialize in...taste marketing with First Flavor. Sounds cool to me. The other place like this which I'd love to take a crack at someday is SnapTell, who specialize in image recognition based mobile marketing.

With all that said, how much longer do we have to wait before smell-o-vision goes mainstream?

How to Fight Modern-Day Pirates

2009-04-18T20:51:00.007-04:00

Pirates are so hot right now. Even without any more Pirates of the Caribbean movies on the horizon, pirates have been one of the most talked about subjects in the media of late (and not in a good way). In the great debate about pirates versus ninjas, pirates are pulling away fast and no amount of Jean Claude Van Damme is going to help.

Seriously though, pirates have evolved greatly since the stories of Captain Hook and Jack Sparrow, and are causing quite the ruckus around Somalia as I type this. I didn't know just how bad things were till a few days ago when I saw a map of reported Somali pirate attacks in the newspaper. It wasn't this exact map, but it looked something like this:

This isn't the exact map that I saw, and I know it's kind of hard to read, but all those dots in the water indicate that there's a lot of things going down with pirates in that area. It's a bit disconcerting to think that pirates actually exist in modern times and are holding boats for ransom for millions of dollars.

So what do we do? Thanks to Digg, I found an NPR article about the latest in pirate-fighting technology. I admit, I giggled to myself typing, "pirate-fighting technology." Isn't it crazy that pirate-fighting technology is relevant in 2009? Most ships aren't ready to stock guns just yet, so they have a few non-life-threatening alternatives available.

This one looks like it came out of the Home Alone playbook. It's a foam that makes any surface it's sprayed on extremely slippery. Apparently, it's a product developed by the Marine Corps for crowd control purposes that is being repositioned as a way to fight pirates.

And this here is a really powerful hose. The Force 80 Water Cannon can spray 1400 gallons a minute a distance of upwards of 100 yards in any direction. Here's a picture of it in action:

Neat stuff. However, after listening to the episode of the Stuff You Should Know podcast, where they talked about a recently captured pirate vessel that contained assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, are a giant hose and slippery stairs the answer? Until I come up with any better ideas, I can't be one to judge. In any case, this war on pirates is probably going to be a hot-button topic in the coming weeks and months, and I'll be sure to stay tuned on all the pirate shenanigans.

Lamar Runs Twitter Digital Billboards Under 140 Characters

2009-04-18T00:15:00.008-04:00

Image from Ad Age

You're welcome, Ashton.

As if Twitter-mania needed the hype, Lamar Advertising yesterday ran pro-bono ads on 1,133 of its digital billboards in support of the Ashton Kutcher/CNN first to a million race.

Everybody wins in this transaction. Twitter gets even more buzz. Ashton Kutcher gets his one millionth follower before CNN. And Lamar Advertising has the advertising and media planning world talking about them. They apparently were able to have that ready to go within just a couple of hours of notice. Digital out-of-home is cool for a number of reasons, and that was one of them.

Here's a bonus ad that Steff sent me. Volvo integrated Twitter into one of its banner ads on YouTube. The creative uses for Twitter continue to pile up, 140 characters at a time.

Hate Me Now

2009-04-17T01:05:00.006-04:00

When you look at that face and watch this video, do you instantly think "#2 most viewed director on YouTube Canada this week"? Do you think "#11 most subscribed to of all-time on YouTube Canada"?

I doubt it.

Regardless of what you or I think (and regardless of how most of his videos are rated lower than 3 stars), Pruane2Forever is one of the hottest people on YouTube right now. 148 videos deep, he's ranted about everything from fights at his school to 50 Cent's..."product-line expansion".

Why?

I've seen this guy's videos pop up on a variety of message boards, usually under the context of, "LOL look at this loser!" I saw one or two, didn't get it, and moved on. I thought that was it. Before this, I had no idea this guy (who lists himself as having the name "sexman") had 148 videos, over 30,000 subscribers and had a YouTube channel that had been viewed almost 2 million times. So what makes this kid so popular? Is he just popular because people like to laugh at him?

It's too easy to say he's popular because he captures the essence of what society deems as "nerdy". The "Revenge of the Nerds" caliber nerdy. The pale skin. The braces. The whiny voice. The barely intelligent ranting about whatever he feels like talking about. But is that really it? I dug a bit deeper. I watched a variety of videos of him sitting in his bedroom, talking up a storm about a variety of topics as well as watching a few of his skits. I don't get the appeal at all. I don't even find them funny in an ironic way.

Do people really see value in this guy's opinion? Or has the Internet made this guy an Internet celebrity for all the wrong reasons? I don't think this kid is going out of his way to be humourous. The look isn't intentionally there to make us laugh at him. The voice I don't think he's putting on for show. I get the feeling that he's just a kid that takes his opinion very seriously, and while he has the eyes and ears of the world on him, they don't really care about anything he has to say.

Maybe he has us all fooled (or at least me). Maybe it is all an act. Maybe he's another Lonelygirl15 and has actually been collecting cheques from Eminem's record label to hype up his latest single. In any case, Pruane2Forever's standing at the top of YouTube is further proof of the expression below holds true today. Or something like that.

image from uniquities.co.uk

jettlandicho.com

Work, Peace and Nerdiness

My 15 Minutes of Fame Starts Now

Making My Hobby Site Work For Me

Answering Internship-Related Questions

Early iPad Impression

South Park: You Have 0 Friends

Say Hello To My Little Friends

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Michelle Fargas

The Impact of Sharing Your Location Through Social Media

The iPad Cometh

Why Playing The Piano On YouTube Isn't Awesome

I Win My First Advertising Award*

Christmas Light Hero

A Word About Child's Play Charity And Donating This Christmas

Muppets Perform Bohemian Rhapsody

Adweek's Best of the 2000s

How To Get To Sesame Street

CAB Grads Keep The "Planet in Focus"

Do You Enjoy The Go?

Warfare In Your Hand

Did You Just Make Love?

The End of Blogger Payola

Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I'ma Let You Finish

Smells Like Uncomfortable Marketing

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Kathy Lee

Catching Laptops With Your Butt

Leaders of the New Gets Recognized

Check the AR, You Like It So Far?

Twitter 101 For Businesses

Twitter Trending Topic Pollution

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Craig Brandon

Perez Makes Jerk Comments About Michael Jackson, Everyone Gets Mad

A T-Swizzle and T-Pizzle Collaboration

PS22 Chorus = Coolest Choir Ever?

Coming Out of My Shell

Walmart Ad Mistake

Tweet My Gaming: What Nerds Are Talking About

Post-It Note Madness

I'm Big In Taiwan?

The Facebook Username Scramble

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Samaneh Sadaghiani

Can't Knock The Hustle

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Jett Landicho

Culture Remixed: The Literal Version

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Kunaal Jagtianey

Ready to Sing "The Ballad of Gay Tony"?

Captain Planet @ May 26th 2009 7:13PM

I Can't Live Without My Radio...Or Can I?

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Scott Boniface

Recession Busters

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Ross Webster

The Dirty 30

Twitter + Google Street View = Stweet = Overly Creepy Mash-Up of Technology?

You're Gonna Love My Nuts

MPAA Gives Teachers Stupid Solution to Creating Educational Clips

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Keely Powell

The Breaking of the English Language Should "Pique" Your Interest

As the Poor Get Poorer, the Rich Retreat

Anyone Looking For A Male Copywriter?

Without Advertising, *fill in the blank*

Tips to Control Your Personal Brand

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Alex Bird

60% of Twitter Users Abandon Fail Whale After Only A Month?

TIME's Most Influential Person Is...This Guy?

Konami Code Integration Makes ESPN Website Awesome

Google Analytics Makes Numbers Fun, Maybe Overly Personal

Things To Know: Swine Flu

Come Out And Play (Date)

Portfolio Night 7, Brought To You by Seneca College's Creative Advertising Program

LEADERS OF THE NEW: Andrea Alexis-James

Lego Continues to Successfully "Build" Brand Through Video Games

Twitter Wars: Niketalk Vs. Diddy

How Sweet It Is

How to Fight Modern-Day Pirates

Lamar Runs Twitter Digital Billboards Under 140 Characters

Hate Me Now

Without Advertising, fill in the blank