Cracking Copy

Ever wonder what ad school is all about? This is your chance to live it vicariously through an incoming copywriter, from #DayOne through #Graduation.

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Verizon Door

Had a screening today from a production conglomerate. This is one of the examples they showed, done in tandem with Wieden+Kennedy, that I had not seen before. Loved it. 

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Latest Delta Spot

Really digging this spot. Like, a lot. 

What’s happening here is not normal. It’s extraordinary.

291 people. 350 tons. 186 miles per hour.

You’re not sure what’s on the other side to that time after you land, but momentum pushes you forward. 

You are a test pilot. Breaking through where others broke. This is why you take off. Same reason the pioneers before you went in canoes and covered wagons with wild eyes and big fevered dreams. And it’s why we’re with you.

80,000 people now. On the ground. In the air. Engines on. 

Because there is no stop in us. Or you. Only go.

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Vermödalen

Another favorite from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.

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Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

I absolutely love this series. Here’s one of my favorites.

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Looking Back on The Pitch.

This was the big papa. One fully executed integrated campaign a week. A group of planning students spent the quarter with us for this class, which made it a ton of fun. 

Pros: Tons and tons of concepting across a variety of brands. It was great practice in creating big ideas without having a client tell you “no.” So we could do anything we dreamed up.

Cons: The effectiveness of this class really depended on who your partners were. I had a phenomenal group, so I can’t complain. Some groups seemed to struggle to come together. I would have liked a midweek check in with the two teachers who taught the class, though. 

Class Structure: On Saturdays, the planners would get a brief from their strategy teacher (every week it was a different strategist from a big name agency that would come to teach the Saturday class). Then the planners would tell the creatives which brand we were going to be working on for the next week and a half. 

The planners would brief the creatives on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then the creatives would have a week to produce a campaign for the group to present on the following Wednesday. There were 11 groups. Each group had 10 minutes to present the insight, SMP, strategy, support and creative. Afterward, the teachers would vote who were the top two groups for the week. 

Assignments/Brands: The brands we worked on were:

Volkswagen USA

ASPCA

Brookside Chocolate

Sony

U-Glove

We also had a brief that asked us to develop a original coffee shop concept for an investor. That was pretty cool. 

Thoughts: I loved the class. I wish every single class in school were like that. We produced stuff every week. For me personally, I liked all of the ideas we had for each week. The feedback from the teachers was good in that they were very critical of the idea. Of course, I didn’t necessarily agree with all of their comments, but creativity is subjective. So...

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Looking Back On Interactive Concepting.

Another top-notch class, thanks in large part to the teacher. The final two weeks were gold. More on that below.

Pros: A very seasoned creative director taught the class. He’s been through some great shops. He gave the class some great feedback and had us do plenty of idea generating exercises. I gained a ton from spending 10 weeks with this guy.

Cons: The first eight weeks were a huge missed opportunity. It’s not every day you get to have the attention of a CD like this. I wish we produced more finished work during the quarter.

Class Structure: Each class began with the teacher plopping down a product and giving us 20 minutes to describe the product in different ways. He would say, “first write it straight, then write it great.”

Then we would present concept sketches for the product we were given the week before. He would whittle down the ideas to the best one or two and ask us to do more thinking on those directions and bring it for the next class.

Final Two Classes: For the final two classes we were given a brief and asked to develop a strategy and produce three print ads during the three hour class. Once we got our strategy, we met with the teacher. He would give his input, then we’d write headlines and concept art direction. We’d get his feedback again. Then we’d polish and get the final tweaks. This was huge, and to have 10 weeks of this would have been a game changer. 

Thoughts: Easily one of the best classes taught so far. I wish I could take it again, because the teacher said next time he teaches the class he’ll do the three hour in class assignment exclusively. Lucky are those who get him next.

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Looking Back On Improv

This was just pure fun. No real assignments other than write a 3-minute standup bit. We play lots of Improv games, bounced a ball to each other and had more than a few laughs.

Pros: Gets you to let loose and think on your feet. 

Cons: None, really. A few times I could have really used those three hours to work on projects. That’s about it.

Class Structure: Every class began with us standing in a circle and bouncing a ball around to each other. Our goal was to bounce it as many times without the ball hitting the floor. 52 was our best count. 

Then we would loosen up with some tongue twisters. Red leather, yellow leather. You need, unique New York. Mamma-lo, Pappa-lo, Good blood, bad blood. That sorta thing.

Then we’d play easy games like Category Die, where the audience would choose a category in which there are many things, and we’d stand in a line and have to name something in that category if we were pointed to. If you stuttered, paused or said something someone else already said, you die. 

Then we played a series of Improv games for the rest of the time. 

The final week we had to put on an hour-long show for the school and invited guests. You were not forced to do your standup routine. If you wanted to, great. If not, no worries. I did not perform mine. 

Thoughts: The class made me realize I enjoy acting more than I thought. I had taken a few acting classes back in college, but I didn’t realize how much I liked it. Even for people who openly identify as introverted, they really came out of their shell and had fun. 

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Looking Back On Visual Impact

Let’s get the bad out of the way. 

Remember back in second quarter when I added on a couple classes? Well, I was enrolled into Visual Impact this quarter because without it I would only have three classes on my schedule. Which would have been fine... since I was already two classes ahead. The school is for profit, what can I say.

Any hoo, the class was all art directors and me. It was exactly like a first quarter class called Tools where you make posters by hand.

Pros: Maybe a little bit of insight on making stuff by hand. 

Cons: No book work. I mean, come on! This is 4th quarter and we’re making stuff by hand?? That’s ridiculous. 

Assignments:

Week 1: Create 50 “images” for the San Francisco Blue Note Music School. These could be logos or anything that describes this client.

Week 2: Hand design a book cover. 

Week 3: Hand design a movie poster for any film that won best picture in the last 20 years.

Week 4: Create handmade type out of anything that describes a type of restaurant. The word you are using for the type is “Menu.”

Week 5: Create a handmade cover for an iTunes album.

Week 6: Create a handmade image that can be used for a magazine who’s cover story is “What’s Next?”

Weel 7: Choose any previous piece and revise it based off in-class feedback.

Week 8: Present final project to class.

Week 9: One-on-ones.

Thoughts: I’m in school to build a book. So this one took a back seat. This was the first time the teacher taught this class, and I think he needs to take a step back and really think about what it is we’re trying to accomplish here. He’s a great art director from a giant glamor agency. His time could have been used in a more impactful way (fuck yea that pun was intended). 

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Ice Men

I’m in awe over this.

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Sauza 901

I am guessing the insight is “so good you don’t even need a lime.”

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Subjectiveness in Class.

Holy smokes, people. I’m sitting in Interactive Concepting, and the teacher has yet again brought a guest. Only this time he’s brought a guy who is a long time copywriter who actually knows his shit. He’s jumping up and basically providing all the feedback in class, laughing at lines. Giving great feedback to students. Not being too cynical. Raising the moral. 

This dude should be the teacher. I’ll find out who he is and post.

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Second Pitch

Tonight we presented our pitch for ASPCA. Of 11 groups, we were group nine.

We tried to save the audience from pulling their hair out by speeding up our objective, target and research portion, and jumping into the creative a little quicker.

For our creative presentation we did a skit, which was well received. But then the guest planning instructor from Butler Shine Stern & Partners decided to jump on our planner for breezing through the basics. Kind of cast a black cloud on the presentation. Bummer.

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One of my favorite commercials of all time.

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Love this web video from years back. 

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All About Improv.

This is a really silly class. 

We start every session by bouncing a ball to each other. 

Then we recite some tongue twisters, followed by improv exercises where we act out different scenarios or play off one another’s lead. 

For the upcoming class on Tuesday we have to write stand up comedy. Should be good practice for me since I love to write fun scripts. 

Red leather. Yellow leather. 

Unique, unique New York.

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Jeep “River in the City.”

I think this is absolutely incredible. Done by The Richards Group. 

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Volkswagen.

Our first assignment in The Pitch is to reverse engineer the strategy behind an ad we like. 

My group and I chose this one. Coincidentally, the brand for our first campaign is also VW.