• Poll: Creative Industry Professional by Day, ________ by Night.

    February 1st, 2012 / Comments (8)

    All work and no play makes Jack a complete wacko. We know there are plenty of you out there who have embraced this to the point of establishing a side career. What we want to know is:

    What is your side career, and how has it influenced the way you look at advertising and design?

  • Getting the Most Out of Your Internship

    January 31st, 2012 / Comments (0)

    Giving students a jump-start to their career, college programs provide many aspiring creatives an opportunity to get some real-life experience through an ad agency internship. This is when young creatives learn fast that working in the biz is nothing like the textbook or bubble test said. It's actually much more interesting and fun. But knowing what it takes to make the leap from unpaid (or poorly paid) volunteer to a junior level employee who earns a paycheck starts by knowing what to soak up during that two-three month adventure.

    Here are the seven things I think are most important for interns learn:

    1. If You Don't Ask, No One Will Help You. 
    Not the last thing a creative will do, but low on the list is checking on an intern. Many professional creatives are wrapped up in their own world of "make the logo bigger" crises. Don't be afraid to bug someone or ask them to get coffee, lunch or an after-work beer just to talk shop. They'll probably welcome the break. The result is that creative pro will label you as a driven individual. Should a higher-up ask about you, he/she will now have something positive to say. During your chat, put your ideas on the chopping block, ask "why" and milk his or her mind for all it's worth.

    2. Go To Meetings That Have Nothing To Do With You.
    Meetings ... boring, yes. Valuable for an intern, definitely. You'll pick up lingo and understand the DNA of the agency. You'll also discover why certain people are stressed and why so many agency workers drink moderate to heavily. There will be presentation documents, creative briefs, short brainstorms and client feedback. These are all things you'll never see in a classroom setting.

    3. Your A+ Thesis Paper Has Nothing To Do With Creative Copywriting.
    My first creative director told me: "Clients don't pay you to write or for me to design. They pay us for our minds." It's true. Think about it this way: everyone thinks they can write and/or design (until they actually have to). But thinking creatively on a highly strategic level is a skill few possess. It's what separates us from our clients and their brand team - we are their brand's thought leaders. It's not about writing a clever headline with a pretty photo, rather it's about writing a clever headline and designing an ad that meets six brand objectives while still clearly communicating to a human being. Forget writing essays and designing your cousin's band poster, the creative side of the biz is based on intelligently communicating with people in creative ways. Learn that or at least show a spark, and you'll be valuable.

    4. Jump In On A Pitch.
    Many ad students get to participate in the AAF competition through "Campaigns" class. They have four months to come up with a large creative presentation for a national client, where they'll compete against other college student teams. In the agency world, that same process happens in about 10-14 days (sometimes less) instead of 120 days. You're guaranteed to hear the word "RFP" (request for proposal) while interning. When you do, do what you can to get involved. Even if it's just gathering photos, proofing or binding. Pay attention to how the team brainstorms. Study how the copywriter writes up the ideas to be sold. How the art directors design comps to communicate the idea. Figure out why the creative director and account director wanted it in certain order. It may not be a flawless process and final product. But this is your chance to finally see how the sausage is made. "Just Do It" wasn't sold as just a clever line - the agency went through a pitch process, creating a strategic deck book that made the idea of that famous line shine.

    5. Keep Building Your Book, Even If It's Not "Real" Work.
    In some situations, it can be difficult as an intern to truly own a project. If you have that chance, save every PDF and file, and make it the showpiece of your book. Unfortunately for many, you'll dabble here and there, but may feel uncomfortable claiming a finished piece as your own. Don't let that stop you -- now that you understand a brand better than ever, go ahead and design your own campaign. Show what you can do with total creative control. Have a reason for everything you do and say in the campaign. In your upcoming interviews, creative directors are going to be looking to see that you can think and execute creatively and strategically. The ad doesn't have to be printed in Time Magazine. Good creative is good creative.

    6. Be Digital Or Be Left Behind.
    You know the vehicles: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Now get active and learn everything you can about them. Pay attention to what brands and marketers are doing with them. Connect with others in the industry through it. Know how to talk about social media in simple terms. Need practice? Try explaining Twitter to your grandparents or crazy uncle. While interning, ask if you can participate in speaking for the agency through their social media channels. Contribute to the agency blog. Be seen, be heard and know what you're talking about.

    7. Be A Writer Or Designer. Never Both.
    If you say you can do it all, no one will believe you. If you really can excel at both writing and designing, more power to you. But for most, it's crucial to pick one path and become as great as you can be at it. Creative directors and agency heads want to know that you're "our writer guy" or "our design gal." Don't get me wrong, having cross-over skills is great -- just don't sell yourself as such. At least until you reach the level of Creative Director.

    With the ultimate goal is landing that first job shortly after the internship, remember the process is all about luck, timing, skills, your book, drive, resiliency and intangibles... plus a bunch of other things.

    Good luck and let me know what you think. Like the Dude says, everything in this post is just, like my opinion, man.

    ---

    Eammon is a copywriter who's worked over eleven years in the ad agency business. He's won a few ADDYs, judged a few shows and worked on a variety of national clients. Find out all about him on his LinkedIn profile and feel free to follow him on Twitter.

    Linkedin link:
    http://www.linkedin.com/in/eammonazizi

    Twitter link:
    www.twitter.com/eammon

  • Trust Me, I'm a Social Media Expert

    January 20th, 2012 / Comments (0)

    Originally written for Forbes.com

    The very funny website SocialMediaDouchebag (SMDB) begins by asking us, “Do you want to learn how to use Web 2.0 Social Media to become a millionaire overnight? How would you like to increase your Twitter followers by eleventy-billion in 3.68 seconds? Do you want to use Twitter to make a gazillion dollars through affiliate marketing and multi-level marketing schemes? Do you use the term “Twitter Coach” to describe yourself?

    Much like uber-agency TraDigery and its Chief Executive Strategic Knowlegation Officer Lauren Heishman teaches us about the PR space, SMDB creator and queen sniper Alison Gianotto quite validly points out that communicators spend far too much time telling their peers about their ability to display awe-inspiring labels like “ninjas,” “experts,” “mavens,” or “gurus.”

    Many haven’t particularly earned it, but they do.

    Those who started participating in the space before, say, 2007, recognized that understanding social media isn’t about slapping a ridiculous moniker on your Twitter account or boasting that you’re the “177th Most Influential Person Online” according to Muppets Hairstyles Monthly Magazine.

    It’s about understanding human beings, how individuals consume media, what drives us, what amuses us, what speaks to us. And the reality is the answer to any of those questions is highly complex and differs from person to person.

    That’s why the dumbest thing that consistently comes out of nearly every national politician’s mouth is, “The American people want……..” When in reality, we all want different things.

    Previously in private circles — untracked by algorithms, bots or Mr. T — people have always chosen the topics they were interested in. You just didn’t know it because they were simply calling a toll-free number to order Sports Illustrated or Cooking With Wilfred. Now, however, social media allows people to pick and choose individual interests and it’s up to companies to find a way to intersect with them where it counts – by interest, location or need.

    And, of equal importance, it should be noted that it’s not just social media — it’s all media. Haven’t we reached the point where social media has simply become plain old media? Seriously, look at any daily newspaper online today and you’ll see an aggregate of blogs. It’s all just a series of channels through which we are trying to send a message, engage on some level, reciprocate feedback, build reputation, make a buck, or all of the above.

    Audiences are more fragmented than ever across a dizzying number of media, and the attention of most is under constant assault from a maddening amount of companies competing for that limited bandwidth. The dirty little secret is how much money and time is wasted on brand campaigns that go nowhere in any media venue, simply because they don’t start with a human element.

    There is an unquestioned art and science to breaking through the media clutter, and there is a specified expertise to getting results that deliver bottom line results. But it’s about people — understanding and actually trying to relate to people from their perspective, not your own.

    As Alison puts in on SMDB, “….if you don’t ‘agree’ that this it the most ‘valuable’ Web 2.0 resource for making money that you’ve ever ‘used’, simply Web. 2.0 email me and I’ll issue you a 100% refund on the spot.”

    Trust me, I’m an expert.

  • Agency Insider: Atomicdust

    January 12th, 2012 / Comments (5)

    Company Name:
    Atomicdust

    Year Founded:
    Moonlighting since 1996. Officially a company in 2001.

    Physical Location:
    3021 Locust Street
St. Louis, MO 63103

    Online Location:
    www.atomicdust.com
    facebook.com/atomicdust
    twitter.com: @atomicdust

    Company Philosophy:
    Atomicdust wants to make a difference for the industries we serve and our clients within them. We’ve built a culture around helping organizations make bold statements in conservative industries by building and promoting brands that are meaningfully different. We believe in being ourselves while doing this, all in an environment where we want to be every day.

    Client List:
    Most of our clients are business-to-business. We typically work with 10-12 clients a year. They range from healthcare companies you never heard of, to consumer electronic products you might have.

    Personnel Count:
    We currently have 15 full-time people.

    Best Achievements from Last Year:
    • Moving offices to Midtown Alley and meeting a bunch of great creative people in St. Louis.
    • Supporting 2 key staff members in pursuit of their dream jobs, even though that meant them leaving Atomicdust.
    • Helping some deserving companies with their brands who normally wouldn’t be able to afford working with an agency.

    3 Things The World Doesn't Know About Atomicdust That It Should:
    1. The majority of our projects start with brand consulting. We spend more time in meetings about positioning and messaging than we do designing.

    2. People expect an agency – especially one with a name like Atomicdust – to be a wacky, crazy environment filled with bounce castles. The truth is, our office is quiet and our culture is more focused on letting people think about projects.

    3. We want other St. Louis creative firms to succeed. We’re sad when we see agencies close their doors. It’s bad for everyone. There’s plenty of clients in the world. Atomicdust’s success doesn’t depend on the failure of other agencies. We love our industry and our city, and we’re happy to share anything we can with others.

    Our Space








    Our Work

    Client: St. Louis BWORKS
    Project: Website + Identity

    Client: Koplar Properties (launching soon, but we thought we’d include it)
    Project: Website

    Client: LPS / Perch
    Project: Branding + Naming for Perch

    Client: CMT Properties / Sean Phillips
    Project: Identity + Blog + Promotional

    Client: World Events Productions / Voltron
    Project: Identity + Website + Promotional

    Client: Yurbuds
    Project: Website (in collaboration with Halski Studios)

  • St. Louis Doesn't Suck

    December 7th, 2011 / Comments (4)

    Originally written for Forbes.com

    I’ve lived a somewhat nomadic existence in my adult life, moving from Richmond to Miami to New Orleans to New York to Raleigh to St. Petersburg. Six years ago my wife and I reluctantly moved to St. Louis but very quickly found it to be a great place to live, work, and raise small people.

    St. Louis has its problems like anywhere else, but there’s a lot to like: good schools, nice parks, great public institutions, competitive sports teams, strong corporate base, the world’s largest mustache (Gateway Arch), and plenty of places that make delicious beer.

    In the last two weeks, however, two stories have taken pot shots at my adopted hometown.

    First there was a farcical piece in The Onion that the Labor Department reported 4 million new U.S. jobs in October, “though government officials hastened to add that the new positions are all located in the St. Louis…” I love The Onion but it essentially delivers the underlying message that people outside of “The Lou” think it’s not so hot.

    Then there was something a bit uglier. Yahoo! Health reported St. Louis to be among the 10 saddest cities in America based on suicide and unemployment rates, the percentage of households that use antidepressants, and other factors.

    Oye gevault!

    I’ve got to believe St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, the Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA), or St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley can’t like pieces like these.

    The trouble being that nearly every political or civic entity in the region working to fix metro-St. Louis’ reputation is doing it on their own, in a silo, with little coordination with other partners. There have been some quiet efforts to galvanize private sector forces, but nothing has materialized primarily due to the political infighting that seemingly lies beneath the surface.

    Why do you think that despite being a relatively safe place to live, St. Louis crime statistics are listed by the FBI as being four times higher than the national average and the city is routinely noted as one of America’s most dangerous? It’s because as the city and surrounding county battle for turf, they refuse to do what most other major metro areas do in combining regional crime statistics which leads to better rankings.

    Thank you Mssrs. Slay and Dooley.

    So with all of this in mind, as my holiday gift to St. Louis, I’m going to outline a strategy for altering St. Louis’ reputation on the national landscape.

    Let’s begin with the foundation — one that’s a bit edgy and disrupts the same conservative Midwestern sensibilities that caused the city to foolishly pass on hosting Red Bull’s popular Flugtag event a few years back.

    You see, despite a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch report citing that the city attracted more young people than it lost for the first time in eons, the city has a long way to go in drawing the younger workforce that leading edge employers crave. And as my partner Brian Cross wrote on his blog, natives are still looking elsewhere for post-graduate jobs.

    After all, a recent Stanford or Univ. of Miami graduate doesn’t really care if St. Louis is “Perfectly Centered. Remarkably Connected.” They want to live and work somewhere that has a thriving downtown with a great night life and is perceived to be progressive.

    Which brings us to the St. Louis Doesn’t Suck campaign, focusing on delivering four key messages that support any thriving metro area:

    • St. Louis has affordable housing: According to the Cost of Living Index Calculator, greater St. Louis has the lowest cost of living among the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas for 2010.
    • St. Louis has a collection of outstanding education resources: The cities of Clayton and Ladue have two of the finest and well-funded public school systems in the U.S., there is a nice collection of high ranking private and parochial schools, and a several leading colleges including Washington University — regularly ranked in the top 10 nationally.
    • St. Louis has a strong employment base: Did you know there are more plant scientists in the St. Louis region than any other concentrated area in the world? We do a great job telling each other that here — just not the outside world. But thanks to the likes of Monsanto, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and a host of mid-size and smaller plant science related entities in the region — and the fact that the city is located within 500 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. corn crop — St. Louis is arguably the center of plant science research and innovation worldwide. Add that to the fact the region is also home to 21 of the Fortune 1000 companies with leading employers like Anheuser-Busch/InBev, Peabody Energy, Emerson Electric, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Boeing, Mastercard, Nestle-Purina, and Build-A-Bear — and the case is easy that there are good jobs to be had.
    • St. Louis has rich cultural resources: Let’s start with the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals and the team’s fine downtown ballpark. Then there’s one of the top ranked zoos in the U.S. that also happens to be free of charge to enter, a symphony that is highly respected worldwide, one of the largest urban parks in the U.S., a very healthy and diverse collection of restaurants, tremendous live music venues, acclaimed art and history museums as well as a City Museum that is beyond explanation, and the list goes on.

    Not sucking at all thus far. But now comes the hard part. How do we best deliver these messages? It takes a comprehensive approach that not only touches the manner in which people seek and find information today, but then compels them to take action.

    St. Louis Doesn’t Suck harnesses the most meaningful marketing communications channels and surrounds working adults ages 22 to 55, delivering a consistent message that St. Louis has the housing, education, employment and cultural resources that encompass a great place to live, work, visit, and play.

    The tools the program leverages include:

    • Digital centerpiece: While the Regional Chamber has tried, there’s no digital centerpiece or website that represents the region in a way that makes you want to stay on the site for more than 30 seconds. It’s an ADHD world people, and to keep an audience — especially today’s 21 – 35-year-old young professional — you need engaging and fresh content that is comprised of the people and entities that enrich the region telling the story in first person. No one really wants to read, “Situated at the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers, we have a tradition of leadership in transportation, distribution, and logistics.”
    • Video speaks volumes: A strong message in 60 seconds can potentially say far more than 1,500 words of text. Let’s see CEOs George Paz of Express-Scripts, Hugh Grant of Monsanto, Energizer’s Ward Klein talking about their vision. How about young employees from Arch Coal, HOK, or Brian Cave showing people their favorite haunts around town? Remember the “I’m a Mormon” campaign from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints? Very strong stuff.
    • Social media: Yes, have a Facebook page. Sure, a Twitter account is nice. More important, however, you’ve got to understand how to use these tools other than to simply have an account or page, like the Regional Chamber’s Facebook page that has 140-some fans. How about livestreaming a free concert from the Pageant music venue on Facebook; or get a group of CEOs from mid-size companies engaging in a Google+ Hangout with some top college students talking about what they are looking for from the local workforce; or take suggestions from city residents via Twitter (and actually use one of them) on how to improve a public park. Just spend some time looking at how Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak engages constituents on Twitter. It’s not your standard press feeder.
    • PR: Once you’re doing some of these things and there’s an actual story of change to tell, take some leaders of influence on the road in tandem and visit some national media. And by “leaders of influence,” I don’t necessarily mean the Mayor and head of the Regional Chamber. It’s about the sum of the city’s parts — a coalition of leading CEOs, the heads of the five local angel investors group, a handful of leading entrepreneurs. Or, how about pitching a recurring HuffingtonPost column from the mayor or a collection of local CEOs. Why not ask InBev CEO Carlos Brito or one of his top lieutenants to write a column on beer.
    • Mobile: There are more cellular phones in the U.S. than there are people, and at the very least any centralized website for a coordinated effort should be mobile enabled. But think bigger: an app that serves as a virtual tour guide, has push notifications for events, and includes searchable capabilities for activities meeting specific criteria.
    • Paid media: Look at a small, controlled program of paid media — traditional and digital. How about a Letter to America ad in the Wall St. Journal about the needs of American business co-signed by a group of local CEOs, but more important use Google Adwords and Facebook cost-per-click to drive to engaging video content telling first person stories about the region.
    • SEO: I saved this for last because online search is the magic bullet. It’s what everything drives towards. And if you don’t have an SEO component as part of an integrated marketing plan, you lose. Think of it this way: you own a business in Miami and you’re tired of all of the fair weather sports fans there so you tell your director of facilities it’s time to find a new headquarters town. What does that director do? He puts together a due diligence committee and they all start doing research — online — using search engines and terms like “best cities to work” and “best cities to live” and looking at tax incentives and quality of life, etc. In short, all the other stuff you’re doing in the marketing channels are filling the SEO funnel that needs to be filled, stacked, stuffed and overflowing with good news.

    St. Louis isn’t perfect — the local style of pizza is horrendous, our NFL football team should not be playing in a dome, the airport is an embarrassment, and the traffic lights aren’t timed. More important, we still struggle to create, attract, and retain more skilled workers. It’s an old-time, Mississippi River-based manufacturing economy that’s yet to fully reinvent itself that last year lost 14 percent of its professional services companies (law firms, architects, ad agencies).

    Without question, St. Louis does not suck. But with the exception of one very smart tourism campaign developed by the CVB, we typically do a terrible job of externally articulating what those offerings are.

    Perhaps by stepping out of our comfort zone, moving beyond silly turf battles, and developing a comprehensive approach to marketing the area, St. Louis can better promote a region that has much to offer.

    Happy holidays.

  • Here’s a Radical Idea. How About Being Honest?

    November 23rd, 2011 / Comments (0)

    “That the best you got Felix? Not very radical is it?”

    Well, it’s not a new idea. Bill Bernbach started the whole “honesty in advertising” thing way back in the sixties, and then, it really was radical. The very idea that you would devote a full-page ad to a car that was inferior, or a “lemon,” well that was shocking.

    Back then, traditional car ads went on and on about how awesome the cars were. Any flaws were overlooked. Any problems were locked away in deep, dark dungeons, never to be talked about again. The ads painted picturesque Norman Rockwell images of nuclear families, in pastel tones, all ready to take a drive after a good ol’ steak ‘n’ taters dinner. Sure, the husband was beating his wife and kids behind closed doors, drinking bourbon and fingerbanging the secretary at work, but that’s all laundry that wasn’t aired. Happy, blissful, unfettered motoring was all that needed to be talked about.

    So, the sheer nerve of saying “hey, some of these cars have problems, so we recall them” was mind blowing. It was…honest. You know, not lying, not “exaggerating the benefit,” but really saying something pure. And the public lapped it up. They loved being treated with that kind of respect. Volkswagens could not be built fast enough. Who’d a thunk it?

    Then, Avis came out (courtesy of Bill B.) saying “we’re number 2, so we try harder.”

    “Number two? Are you fucking insane? Don’t ever admit that, it will never wor…oh, it worked. Shit. Wow. What the hell is going on?”

    Honesty, for a time, was in. It was bold, fresh, different and absolutely wonderful. Even now, I bathe in the glory of those ads. If I was slightly more perverted I’d rub one out to them, but even I have my sick and sordid limits.

    Here’s the tragedy, though. Honesty is still a radical idea, right now. In fact, it may be even more radical that it was back in Bill’s day.

    Can you imagine, for one tender fucking moment, that those DDB ads would make it past the uptight, creatively-baron boardrooms of today’s neurotic, moneygrubbing corporations? There are shareholders to please. There are corporate standards (oxymoron) to uphold. There are lawyers to contend with. Think about it.

    “Christ, what if we put out an ad saying we have to recall some cars, and then the cars that make it to the showroom end up having a mechanical failure? We’re wide open for a goddamned lawsuit, we’ll be ruined. Which twat came up with this stupid fucking idea anyway?! Fire this old-school fucktard, hire an art director to show a pretty picture of the car, throw in a pithy headline if you must – it’s ok to stare – and slap our logo in the corner. That’s it! Anything else is leaving us wide open. Now, I have an enormous bonus check to deposit so leave me the fuck alone.”

    Take a quick look at adsoftheworld.com and scour the hundreds of pages of ads. When you find one that’s even trying to be honest, jot it down. Actually, count them on your fingers, you’ll only need one hand anyway. And chances are, that ad is for a smaller business that’s trying to make a splash and doesn’t have corporate lawyers leeching the life out of it yet.

    There was an ok-ish movie made in 1990 called “Crazy People.” The premise was great, the execution not so good. It starred Dudley Moore (listen to Derek & Clive if you want to know the real Dudley) as a frustrated creative who was sick of the glossy ads that said nothing. So, he started producing honest ads. He wanted to level with America. There were gems like:

    “Buy Volvos. They’re Boxy, But They’re Good.”

    “Forget France. The French Can Be Annoying. Come to Greece. We’re Nicer.”

    “Quaker Oats. Does This Cereal Taste Great? Who Knows, But The Box Is Cute.”

    “Jaguar. For Men Who’s Like Hand Jobs From Beautiful Women They Hardly Know.”

    What happens next? They have him committed to a lunatic asylum, but somehow his ads get printed anyway, and the public goes nuts for them. Like selling out of everything, empty shelves nuts. And so, he works on more “true” ads with all the drooling vegetables in the lunatic asylum, because it takes morons to write true ads. Here’s one:

    “Porsche. It’s a Little Too Small To Get Laid In. But You Get Laid The Minute You Get Out.”

    And eventually, they do an ad for Sony that has the following script:

    “The Japanese. They’re short, so their eyes are closer to the components than many other nationalities. Caucasians are too tall and gangly. Look how far away the Caucasian workers eyes are from the integrated circuitry. That’s why Sony products are better. SONY. Because Caucasians Are Just Too Damn Tall.”

    Can you imagine, for a second, what would happen if an ad like that ran? Well, maybe not as blatantly racist, but with the honesty of the Volvo or Porsche ad? Aside from the insane amount of free PR it would get, it would be taking a stand in a place that no corporation ever goes. And as Dave Trott has said often, getting noticed is way more important than an ad being liked.

    How about some honest ads for products you and I all know well? Here are a few that probably go too far, but…

    Want some more? How about…

    Toyota. How Big A Discount Will It Take To Make You Forget About Our Runaway Cars?

    Levis. Give Your Fat Ass A Chance To Look Less Fat.

    Obsession. Smell Like The Attractive Woman You’ll Never Be. It’s Dark In The Nightclubs Anyway.

    Well, ok, too far. But what’s better? Blatantly misleading and grossly exaggerating the few benefits of the product, or pushing something truthful? And these days, the truth would stick out like an uncut dick at a Jewish nudist colony.

    If getting noticed is key, be honest.
    If being memorable is the issue, be honest.
    If customer loyalty is needed, be honest.

    I think a sharp, but cleverly worded, dose of the truth could really change things for the better. Honest.

    Felix Unger is a site contributor, ranter and curmudgeon for The Denver Egotist. He’s been in the ad game a long time, but he’s still young enough to know he doesn’t know everything. If he uses the f-bomb from time-to-time, forgive him. Sometimes, when you're ranting, no other word will do. In his spare time, he does not torture small animals. He has been known, on occasion, to drink alcohol by the gallon. Do as he says, not as he does.

  • Production Company Insider: A Look Inside Coolfire Media

    November 15th, 2011 / Comments (0)

    Company Name:
    Coolfire Media

    Year Founded:
    2002

    Physical Location:
    415 N. 10th Street, 3rd Floor
    Saint Louis, MO 63101

    Online Location:
    WWW: coolfiremedia.com
    FB: facebook.com/CoolfireMedia
    Twitter: @coolfiremedia

    Company Philosophy:
    • It's all about the work and providing our clients the best execution of their creative vision and project objective.
    • A good work environment is key. We work hard and have fun.
    • Managerially speaking, we hire good people and get the hell out of the way.
    • Give back to the creative community. That's why we do things like the Pinewood Derby and our Fall Party. It's important to be able to get our creative community together and socialize.

    Client List:
    • Just about every agency in St. Louis, plus many others across the country.

    Personnel Count:
    Currently we have 22 employees at Coolfire Media. Coolfire Originals has 4 employees and Coolfire Solutions has 12 employees.

    Best Achievements from Last Year:
    • Gold Pencil (Typography), FWA SOTD, and Webby Nomination for Vibram (youarethetechnology.com) site.
    • Finally finishing our new space design.
    • Having Tone Loc and Digital Underground play at our annual fall party. *EGOTIST NOTE* (This year's party was even better. Coolio & Young MC ripped it as an excellent soundtrack to unforgettable Game 6)

    3 Things The World Doesn't Know About Coolfire Media That It Should:
    1. We ARE a Production Company. We are NOT an ad agency. We partner with practically every agency in Saint Louis and have clients throughout the country and worldwide. We love to collaborate and consider ourselves a satellite office of those we serve.
    2. We have two other separate entities of Coolfire. Coolfire Originals creates television shows for major networks. They are currently in production on a show called "Sweetie Pies" for OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) and have other shows in development with FX, Lifetime and many other networks. The group is represented by William Morris Endeavor. Coolfire Solutions, specializes in mobile application development for the defense and military intelligence sectors. They recently launched an "app store" specifically for the military. We can't say any more than that as it may be a breech of national security. Between the three companies we are able to share expertise, opinions and ideas - allowing each of the companies to
    3. Founder Jeff Keane can sing a mean karaoke rendition of "Rappers Delight."

    Our Space





    Our Work

    Project Title: St. Louis Destination Video

    Hoffman Lewis credits:
    Mark Manion, Creative Director
    Ashley LaPoint, Art Director
    Jake Edinger, Copywriter
    Diane Chacharon, Agency Producer
    Blake Padberg, Account Director
    Teri Schilly, Account Executive

    CFM Credits:
    Jason Stamp, Director
    David Johnson, EP
    Pete Halliday, EP
    Bill Schwarz, DP
    Patrick Vaughan, Editor/Lead Animator
    Brent Johnson, Original Music Sound Design
    Mary Kate Shields, Production Coordinator

    Project Title: RAM Trucks CV Launch

    Ad Agency: Sapient Nitro
    Notes: CFM produced the live action video and oversaw all of the still photography. CFM produced all of the final audio and online editing of the piece. Shot on 5D in Detroit.
    CFM Credits:
    Director (Stills / Live Action): Jason Stamp
    Executive Producer: David Johnson
    Online Editor: Mike Kuhn
    Audio: Brent Johnson

    Project Title: Chrysler - "Boggy Creek Farms" & "Studio B Design

    CFM Credits:
    Jason Stamp, Director/Editor/Color
    Brent Johnson, Audio

    Project Title: "Spill-abration" for Carpet-One

    Ad Agency: Integer
    Notes: Fun national spot shot on the Phantom high speed digital camera.
    CFM Credits:
    Director: Patrick Vaughan
    Producer: Pete Halliday
    Editor/Final Color Correction: Mike Kuhn
    Audio: Brent Johnson

    Project Title: Tuaca Facebook Tab - "Tuaca Gets Inked"
    Click image to go to Facebook page.

    Agency: Boxing Clever

  • ARE WE ALL BREAKING THE FIRST RULE OF ADVERTISING?

    November 3rd, 2011 / Comments (4)

    As I sat drinking chamomile tea on the highest peak of Mount Kanchenjunga, with only a few goats and some hardened dung for company, I got to thinking.

    Man, I am really…fucking…bored.

    So I am back from my crusty hiatus, which was designed to calm me the fuck down. And I have to say, I still have a lot of problems with the current state of advertising. Too many, in fact, to list in this one post; so consider this the return, for now, of your unfriendly neighborhood adman.

    (Oh, and if that was an incorrect use of the semi-colon, try and remember that I really don’t give a shit. Jesus, chamomile tea isn’t all it’s cracked up to be).

    Anyway, here’s what I’m starting to see, and it’s spreading like an STD in a Bangkok whorehouse. We’re treating our audience(s) like complete morons.

    One of the biggest rules of advertising, some say the first rule, is that you should never underestimate the customer. Don’t speak down to them. Don’t think they won’t get it. Don’t assume that you’re smart and they’re dumb (even though, sometimes, it’s true).

    And yet, like a strange echo of Mike Judge’s seminal movie, “Idiocracy,” we’re creating (and re-creating) the advertising equivalent of “Ow, My Balls.”

    Take a look at some of the ads that have graced our airwaves, billboards and magazines recently. It’s moving beyond the territory of bizarre, challenging and surreal, and it’s now just fucking inane. I know Dave Trott has said that it’s more important to be 'noticed and irrelevant' than 'relevant and unnoticed,' but holy fuck this is going too far.

    Let’s start with JC Penney. The basic message behind this one is “hey old guys, you hate ads, but take a look at these crappy clothes and you can see some tits and ass at the same time! Boner time, it’s Phoebe Cates from the 1980s! Takes you back, right?!”

    It’s not only insulting to the intelligence of the most sexually-repressed, alcohol-drenched, brain-dead jock, it’s also confusing as fuck. Take one semi-naked chick from an 80s movie (Phoebe Cates is almost 50 for Christ’s sake), mix it with some bland clothes that even Ned Flanders would think twice about, and then target men who shop at JC Penney.

    They may as well have come out and said “Hey old fella, like naked chicks? Buy these clothes!”

    JC stands for Jesus Christ by the way. As in “Jesus Christ, how’d you manage to piss off women and men at the same time and not sell any more product?”

    What’s worse is the script. It starts out with the mother of all straw man arguments:

    “JC Penney understands that you don’t like advertising for clothes. Who does?”

    Really? I’d say ads for clothes are usually more entertaining than ads for most other products or services. Levis, Victoria’s Secret, Nike, they usually grab your attention in a way that’s not a teeth-itching Progressive Insurance commercial. Are people really complaining about this? Well, let’s assume they are. The pointless frontman continues:

    “Tell you what, though. If you look at these smart fashion choices from Van Heusen, we’re gonna show you this…”

    Cut to the infamous Phoebe Cates pool shot.

    “…that way, everyone wins.”

    Oh how wrong you are. By the way, “smart fashion choices” sounds about as hip and cool as, well, JC Penney. And we close with “JC Penney, it is seriously hot in here.”

    The stench from that line would gag a maggot.

    Want another example?

    How about this one for Old Spice?

    Let me wait a second while I let the murmurs and grumblings die down. “Did he just say Old Spice?” I did indeed. Because as much as I enjoyed, and loved, the initial spots and the bizarreness of the Terry Crews follow-ups, they at least had a thread that tied them to the product. The man your man could smell like? Yes. Odor-blocking as powerful as me? Yes. But Ray Lewis saying he needs Old Spice Swagger to be an athlete, and it’s “like a fantasy but real,” well, now the creatives are just taking the piss.

    Here’s another campaign that bugs the living shit out of me. Diesel has always been known for some pretty obscure ad campaigns. It’s more permissible with fashion as you’re trying to build a brand that people want to wear, and be associated with, so there’s a lot of wiggle room here. But the “Be Stupid” campaign?

    We are now celebrating low IQs? “Hey fucktard, show your tits to a security camera, and do it in a pair of $200 jeans made by starving kids earning 18 cents a day.”

    Maybe that’s what they mean. "Oy, dipshit. Yeah, you! Be stupid, spend all of your cash on our jeans. Awesome bro! Or dudette!"

    Other ads show a “cool dude” with his head stuck in a mailbox, or some vapid tart in a bikini snapping a photo of her snatch while a lion gets ready to make a meal of another clueless fashion model. It looks like being cool means you’re a fucking idiot. Oh a risk taker, sure. But a moronic one.

    I could go on, but why give further attention to any more of this horseshit? We’re all consumers as well as advertisers. Is this how we view ourselves? Are we avid viewers of The Jersey Fucking Shore? Would we buy a pair of Diesel jeans because it’s cool to have the common sense of a house plant? Would we buy Old Spice because “umm, de funny ad wiv de big man on de big bird made me laugh in my belly momma,” or are we just a little smarter than that?

    If this is the level we’re playing down to, we’ve only got ourselves to blame. We wonder why people don’t read copy any more, or want to know more about the product, and then we proudly throw this vomit out there. Sometimes, it wins awards. Wrangler jeans for We Are Animals. Need I say more?

    Let’s all raise the IQ of our advertising. We don’t have to use 14-syllable words, but we also don’t need to aim everything at the lowest common denominator. Let's steer this ship in the right direction.

    OK, it’s time for my shot of Thorazine. But I’ll be back when it wears off.

    Felix Unger is a site contributor, ranter and curmudgeon for The Denver Egotist. He’s been in the ad game a long time, but he’s still young enough to know he doesn’t know everything. If he uses the f-bomb from time-to-time, forgive him. Sometimes, when you're ranting, no other word will do. In his spare time, he does not torture small animals. He has been known, on occasion, to drink alcohol by the gallon. Do as he says, not as he does.

  • Locals Only: ShootPaul.com - Performance Artists/Professional Pain Receivers

    October 19th, 2011 / Comments (3)

    Sit back and check out our interview with the twin masochists of paintball pain, Houvenagel & Paul of ShootPaul.com.


    What was your inspiration for the project?
    Houvenagle: Personally I’ve been inspired by the dot com entrepreneur Josh Harris and advancing the inevitable. If you haven’t seen the documentary We Live in Public, watch it… just pay no mind to the whole leaving the country thing.

    Paul: That reminds me of a time when I had mentioned that if things go bad, I’d just go live in Ukraine for a while. Houvenagle was visibly shaken by the idea, I think I even saw a tear. I suppose a partner with a plan out isn’t ideal. But to answer your question with a question, how could I pass up being shot paintballs over the internet?

    Who designed the site?
    Houvenagle: That would be one of my contributions to the site. I make the pictures, Paul makes them work… Paul and his splendid army of Ukrainians, Sergey Golyck (Mr. Serg) and Turds Programmer A. Artemov. We wanted to create a primarily monochromatic environment to house our full color, live streaming video.

    What stopped the original launch in 2009?
    Paul: The original plan had a single major flaw, me living in the room 24 hours a day. I made it three weeks being shot at day and night. The last day, three shots hit the back of my ear in under a second. I blurted out some words I would never say in front of my mother, threw a trash can across the room and immediately drove to my favorite pub for its finest glass of Scotch (Stagger Inn).

    Is it true you built the shooting robot? Tell us more about that.
    Houvenagle: I watched, or I was painting something on the wall while he MacGyver’d things up in the House.

    Paul: I DID! THAT WAS ME! The robot is actually a really simple concept. It’s just a pan/tilt with two servos for up and down and a third to pull the trigger. The servos respond to commands from the control computer via Python. Mr. Serg took care of all the programming nonsense.

    How badly do the affects of your new day job interfere with your daily life?
    Houvenagle: People’s first reaction to the site, well second after shoot him in the nuts, is one of pity. Well, let me tell you this… pity no one, the House is oddly fun and we enjoy every minute of it. Other than sleep deprivation and a few bruises on the ol’ forehead, there’s nothing a long sleeve shirt can’t take care of. More coffee please.

    Paul: Aside from looking like a hickey addict, not too bad. It has certainly taken a toll on the amount of personal time I have available though. I get an immense amount of joy from strangers that recognize me and say something like, ‘My boss yelled at me so I logged on and shot you in the throat. I had a wonderful day after that.’

    Besides friends, family and St. Louisans, are you attracting shooters from elsewhere?
    Houvenagle: The Internet is full of wonderful patrons. We’ve found new friends on each coast, throughout the Midwest, Germany, Australia, UK, Costa Rica, Iceland… you name it and most likely we’ve been shot by a citizen from there. Some kind fella by the handle EarHole even sent us some homemade jerky… mmm Internet food. Seems as though we’ve developed a core cult following of strangers and new faces sprinkle in each day. Most of our friends and family have stopped shooting us by now… turns out they might actually like us.

    Paul: What? My friends and family still shoot me... This question prompted me to take a look into our analytics. Shots have been fired in love by residents of 100 countries... as remote as Senegal. Even Iran has gotten in on the action. I’m proud to call St. Louis home and I love representing a side of the city a lot of people might not know exist.

    What’s the most painful shot you’ve taken so far?
    Houvenagle: Though constant shots to the back of the hands can become extremely painful one on top of the other, for me the most painful would have to be 4 consecutive shots to my Adam’s Apple within a second or two.

    Paul: Pretty much any one of them has a chance to make me RAGE. The RAGE as it’s come to be known on the site is a favorite with users. Basically, if I get it in the side of the head enough times, or similar, the trash can is going to get it. Even more skilled users can elicit a RAGEQUIT. This is when I get really hurt from multiple well placed shots and end up in an impromptu chair chucking contest. I storm out of the room shouting expletives only to return five minutes later for more.

    How long will it take until you can take no more?
    Houvenagle: Fun is never ending… at least I hope so.

    Paul: I’ve already purchased my tickets to Ukraine.

    Any exciting new features coming our way?
    Paul: I have plans for what has come to be known as the God Gun. Imagine a bird’s eye view of the entire warehouse. Users would look down through a robotic gun that’s fixed to a track on the ceiling. The gun would encompasses the entire room and move freely in a arc. The ultimate in human hunting...
     
    Houvenagle: What he said.

    When you’re not being shot at, what are doing with your life?
    Houvenagle: I enjoy my time away from the site riding bicycles, designing and eating frozen pizza. Yep, that’s pretty much my life wrapped into once sentence… well, maybe add watching documentaries to the list.

    Paul: Ugh, the weird ‘talk about yourself’ part. I enjoy sneaking off for ethnic food with my lady friend, beers with Houvenagle and friends, and hipster dance parties. My Great Dane, Lloyd, also brings an immense amount of humor into my life.

     
    What does your girlfriend and/or mother think of all this?
    Houvenagle: I’ve yet to find a girlfriend willing to put up with my shit. My mother on the other hand, loves to monitor the chat. Fortunately she has an iPad (which still doesn’t support flash streaming), so she can’t truly see what the Internet mongers are doing to her beloved son. Look for the username Mommy to pop up in the Live Chat… that’s the real momma Houvenagle, talk to her, she’s nice.

    Paul: I have a girlfriend! Ms. Wright, as she’s known on the site, is very supportive. She keeps me well fed and my bruises nursed. I’m not sure my own mother has been on the site yet. She’s an adventurous one. Recently she booked a trip to Egypt during their uprising. The United States would not let her go.
     
    What do you hope  be like this time next year, or how long will this endeavor last?
    Houvenagle: Well it won’t happen in a year’s time, but I’ve personally got plans for an abandoned super market… That reminds me, hey Paul, we need to buy a super market.

    Paul: Personally, I don’t have a grand plan for ShootPaul.com. Since the site is for ‘fun purposes only’ we don’t have much of a profit motive. If Houvenagle wants a super market, then we’ll have to get one for him. I am committed to this website for an entire year. After that I suspect I’ll seriously be evaluating my life’s choices. Currently we’ve had 100,000 shots fired and we’re looking forward to our millionth.

     
    Are you hiring?
    Houvenagle: Master of Minions, Paul is always on the lookout for his next minion.

    Paul: We are finishing up the paperwork on our first minion. He has a lot of character and I think people are really going to like him.

    You had an additional statement for us?
    Paul: Thank you for the interview. Jake likes butts. And we’ll see you around the site.

    Photography by Brian Cummings
    Videos by Brian Cummings & Tangent Mind

  • You and Your Meaningless Career in Advertising

    September 21st, 2011 / Comments (2)

    If you ask a random sample of advertising people what would make their lives more fulfilling, a good chunk of them will say the following: “I wish I had a more meaningful outlet for applying my creativity.” It’s a predictable answer, but a telling one, and an even more predictable side effect of a career devoted to consumerism.

    But despite ad folk’s general commiseration over the shortage of meaning in our day to day lives, only a handful of us are actively devoting a portion of our creative guts to the general betterment of mankind. Lately I’ve been wondering about this, because with so much apparent interest in making the world a better place, the number of people really doing it doesn’t seem to add up. What’s holding us back?

    It’s not a lack of problems, that’s for sure. No one spending 80 percent of their day on a computer can hide from the subpar-ness of some choices we made in the last 100 years, and fresh side effects of these decisions surface daily. But as our definition of ‘social bad’ continues to broaden, it’s curious to note that the definition of ‘social good’ is stubbornly refusing to keep up, with its everyday interpretation more or less hitting a hard wall at helping malnourished kiddos in remote Kenya find water, food or medicine.

    There’s a weird battle that pops up when attempting to modernize this definition, one that‘s potentially at the root of why so many of us swiftly abandon our inclination to get involved. It’s a competition of causes; a man made measure of what, exactly, counts as making a difference. I’m not sure what the point of the debate is, but I'm convinced that its core holds nothing better than a crappy sense of self-righteousness, born from finding the most CNN-ready crime against humanity and claiming that problem as your own. No more hunger by by 2020? Sure, that counts. Rounding up all your credit card purchases to give to charity? Eh, that’s not social good. That’s white guilt.

    Besides the obvious silliness of turning the social good space into yet another ego battle, the bummer is that this “problem elitism” is polarizing enough to turn 'normal' people off from getting involved. Not to mention the real bummer, which translates to a major loss in the amount of good stuff getting done, period. After all, if there’s a barrier to entry for saving the world, how can we possibly maximize the earth-redeeming potential for all skill sets, including (and perhaps especially) creative ones?

    I’m sure there’s more reasons why ad people are only wading in the world of meaningful things. But in effort to debunk at least one of those reasons, I've gotta clear the air about this one in particular: Social good is not a world owned by saints and martyrs, nor is it defined by the scale of the problem you’re hoping to solve. Social good is everybody's, and it happens each time we do something a little better, a little greener, and a little more considerately than the people before us.

    It has to be. Because the truth is, we’re long past the point where problems are confined to third world countries. Most of our most pressing, more localized issues aren’t things that can be solved by a team of lawyers specializing in social justice, they’re just things our forefathers did wrong the first time. It’s almost fair to call them White People Problems, because we’re certainly responsible for their existence.

    So what is fair cause for white guilt? Definitely not a hesitancy to relocate to Africa. But if you’re staying mum while your print production team repeatedly selects toxic processes and materials over greener ones, well, maybe you should speak up. If your client’s seeking new packaging but you’re not strongly recommending biodegradable options, maybe you should start researching those alternatives. If something of local significance has been bringing up some questions for you, maybe you should write an open letter, blow it up, and wheat paste it on your garage door. If you're not doing those things and you're whining about your meaningless existence in advertising, well, maybe you should shut the fuck up.

    Yes we’re running out of water. Yes we’re running out of clean air. But you know what else a lot of people suspect we’re running out of? Creativity. And that’s exactly what we need to rethink what’s broken. So get off your butt. Drop the guilt, grab a White Person Problem and start using a fraction of what you’ve got - anything you’ve got - to make it go away. That’s all it takes. And if the 'social good' people give you hell for helping from the comfort of your air conditioned office - just tell them it's social good enough. And maybe ask what the hell they're doing back in the US. Slackers.

    Carmel Hagen is a communication and experience designer at COMMON, a creative community for rapidly prototyping social change.

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