Definition (n): the degree of distinctness in the outline of an object, image, sound, or person in a given society.
I just finished watching the new documentary "Art & Copy" at the San Francisco Film Festival. Profiling the ad industry as a key media and culture purveyor in the United States, the movie profiled a few of the "greats" in the industry that I'm fueling up to launch into. By delving into the lives and motivations of Lee Clout, Dan Weiden, and Rich Silverstein among others, it gave some insight into how great ideas are created and where creativity comes from. To see how the famous Creatives see themselves, I could define myself as an original thinker and see my commonalities with my fellow ad students/ creative cronies, who are all fairly intent on both making a living and making the world a better place. Sometimes, those life goals seem fairly exclusive to each other.
I feel like those of us studying the business are constantly on our toes, defending our career choices to friends and family. More often, I tell them stories about inspiration and society; like the effect on culture that Nike had with the first "Just Do It" campaign. Not only motivating people to get out and buy athletic shoes, Dan Weiden from Weiden+Kennedy told the audience about the torrents of mail he's received over the years from people across the country about "Just Do It". Stories about how the campaign was the activation energy needed to finally leave an abusive spouse, to go back to school to get a more fulfilling career, or generally start living again. Inspiring peoples lives like this makes the pill easier to swallow. In Advertising, my overarching goal is to learn how to give people ideas to better express themselves and distinguish their unique place in life. How to make their individual life experience better.
I feel like those of us studying the business are constantly on our toes, defending our career choices to friends and family. More often, I tell them stories about inspiration and society; like the effect on culture that Nike had with the first "Just Do It" campaign. Not only motivating people to get out and buy athletic shoes, Dan Weiden from Weiden+Kennedy told the audience about the torrents of mail he's received over the years from people across the country about "Just Do It". Stories about how the campaign was the activation energy needed to finally leave an abusive spouse, to go back to school to get a more fulfilling career, or generally start living again. Inspiring peoples lives like this makes the pill easier to swallow. In Advertising, my overarching goal is to learn how to give people ideas to better express themselves and distinguish their unique place in life. How to make their individual life experience better.
Some could say object, "But look at how Nike conducts its business in other countries, making shoes from sweat shop labor. What about the lives of the workers who make the shoes?" and that's a huge thing to think about. The film (and some of our classes) went on to make the point that in the coming years, Creative thinkers will be the ones who set the course for successful businesses; perhaps set the course for the development of new cultures and ways of valuing life. Businesses are listening to creative shops more than ever and they have a unique opportunity to change business practices for the better. Advertisers now have to be thinkers, product designers, foreign relations specialists, anthropological humanitarians, gurus in traditions. Now, Advertising is less about spin and more about augmentation. In our economy of over-choice in time-deficits, those who take an alternative course to life/ business might be the ones who get noticed more often.
I now feel a little more at ease when thinking about this in relation to how long it's taking me to get through college. Four years in a standard education system probably would've constrained me more than given me the keys to the future and I'm excited to be strapped in for the long haul. Living in a unique city, learning in unique classes, and breeding unique thoughts and ideas is invariably going to make my life experience better. Meanwhile, I'm out getting other experiences far removed from creating culture or selling ideas. I'll always be exploring.
Yesterday, I fulfilled a childhood dream by trekking over to the Oakland ice rink and meeting some members of the NorCal Speed Skating Association. Apolo Ohno made it look so easy and while there's lots of crossover to cycling in the muscle groups used, I'm not used to crossing my feet over one another at 15mph on slick ice. After warming up and getting some technical advice from some skin-suit clad ice racers, I found myself barreling down the straightaways of the rink.
I now feel a little more at ease when thinking about this in relation to how long it's taking me to get through college. Four years in a standard education system probably would've constrained me more than given me the keys to the future and I'm excited to be strapped in for the long haul. Living in a unique city, learning in unique classes, and breeding unique thoughts and ideas is invariably going to make my life experience better. Meanwhile, I'm out getting other experiences far removed from creating culture or selling ideas. I'll always be exploring.
Yesterday, I fulfilled a childhood dream by trekking over to the Oakland ice rink and meeting some members of the NorCal Speed Skating Association. Apolo Ohno made it look so easy and while there's lots of crossover to cycling in the muscle groups used, I'm not used to crossing my feet over one another at 15mph on slick ice. After warming up and getting some technical advice from some skin-suit clad ice racers, I found myself barreling down the straightaways of the rink.
Problems arose when I'd come to the end and have to turn left for when turning and maintaining speed as I don't have much blade control and my skate would loose traction. Things came to a sliding stop when I lost my balance on an inside turn, went down, and smashed my chin on the ice, transforming the Oakland Ice Rink into what looked like a murder scene (The average human has about 5 quarts of blood, so I didn't have a huge problem with parting with a few drops). Apparently, ice is as hard as concrete and it's times like this that I'm thankful for being such a helmet zealot. I'm now hobbling around on a sprained ankle and smirking when explaining my 5 new stitches to curious friends.
In America, the culture code for scars is WAR STORIES and for the sake of storytelling, I may embellish a bit when showing this one off for a good while.
My new stripes
My new stripes
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