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Hello borderline unhealthy, obsessed with advertising, creative geniuses. I know exactly how you feel. Because I am one of you. Maybe your looking to land your dream job at a big agency or design firm. Or maybe you are still in school and just trying to get some work to add to your book. Or maybe you already had your dream job at a big agency, and now your retired. No matter what stage of these you’re at right now, we all have something in common, a little obsession with the world of advertising. So while you’re waiting for that big agency to call and offer you a job, why not pick up a little light reading? I have come up with a list of 4 must read books if you are in the advertising business, or working on being in the advertising business. So here it goes, happy reading!

1. Luke Sullivan’s Hey Whipple, Squeeze This

click here to order on amazon.com

About the Book: This is the new edition of the irreverent, celebrated bestseller, master copywriter Luke Sullivan looks at the history of advertising, from the good, to the bad, to the ugly. Updated to cover online advertising, this edition gives you the best advertising guidance for traditional media and all the possibilities of new media and technologies. You’ll learn why bad ads sometimes work, why great ads fail, and how you can balance creative work with the mandate to sell. This is a must read for anyone in the business or anyone who hopes to be one day.

About the Author: Luke Sullivan is an award-winning copywriter with thirty years experience in the business at many of the top agencies in the country such as, Fallon McElligott and the Martin Agency. Luke has over twenty medals to his name in the prestigious advertising award show-One Show. He currently is the Group Creative Director at GSD& M In Austin, Texas.

2. How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising: 21st Century Edition by Maxine Paetro

click here to order on amazon.com

About the Book: This book is great if you are in the process of putting together your first portfolio. Whether you are a copywriter or art director, this book provides you with everything you will need to know to guide you in putting together your first book. It is written by a very successful former creative department administrator. This is the 4^th edition, being updated in order to keep up with this ever-changing industry. This book will explain to you what a “professional” book consists of as well as tips on presenting your book and yourself effectively. The advice comes from someone who saw anywhere from 10-20 books a day, so she knows what creative directors are looking for. I promise you the tips, secrets and information in this book will help make the process of landing an ad job a little easier, and not so long.

About the Author: From 1975 through 1987 Maxine Paetro was a recruiter and EVP creative department manager at many large and successful New York City advertising agencies.

3. Pick Me: Breaking Into Advertising and Staying There by Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin

click here to order on amazon.com

About the Book: Many people might think they want a job in advertising, probably beacuase they watch Mad Men. However, it isn’t as easy as it is on TV. Advertising is a great industry to be in, but actually landing a job-or even your foot in the door, is very hard. So if you find yourself asking the question, “how do I get a job in advertising” –this book has the answers you have been looking for. The thing I like best about this book is that fourteen industry superstars share their insights and explain how they broke into the business. You’ll hear from Bob Barrie, Rick Boyko, David Droga, Mark Fenske, Neil French, Sally Hogshead, Mike Hughes, Shane Hutton, Brian Millar, Tom Monahan, Chuck Porter, Bob Scarpelli, Chris Staples, and Lorraine Tao. I always think it is interesting to hear everyone’s stories, it kind of gives your more inspiration to write your own. Bottom line about this book: Forget the clichés; forget the Mad Men comparisons, this is advertising as it really is. If you’re stuck on making it, this book will point you in all the right directions for a career in the most exciting businesses on the planet.

In Pick Me, the authors also answer all the ad career questions you have, like:

• Is advertising right for me?

• How do I build a killer portfolio?
• How do I get an interview with the elusive creative director?
• Should I accept an unpaid internship?
• How do I find the right partner?
• How do I beat creative block?
• How do I avoid burnout?

About the Authors: Authors Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin are veteran creative directors and longtime creative partners. Nancy Vonk is Co-Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto. She started at Ogilvy in 1988 as an art director. She had previously worked at shops in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Toronto. Janet has worked at Y&R, Leo Burnett and Ogilvy, twice, where she met creative soul mate, Nancy.  While working together their work has won Cannes Lions, One Show Pencils and Clios.

4. Russell Wiley Is Out To Lunch Richard Hine’s Debut Novel

click here to order from amazon.com

About the Book: Richard Hine’s debut novel Russell Wiley Is Out To Lunch is a corporate satire, set in the New York media industry, that looks at the challenges of print media in making the transition to the digital age. Written by a true media insider, the novel will be published by Amazon’s new AmazonEncore imprint this October, will connect immediately with readers throughout the media and advertising business, and will resonate with everyone who works in a troubled industry. Book reviews include Publishers Weekly: “Will make readers cheer… one part Glengarry Glen Ross and two parts Sophie Kinsella …a winner in every way.” And from Paul Steiger, Editor-in-Chief, ProPublica.org: “A rollicking satire about the slitherings of corporate snakes and the gambits of conjob consultants in the desperate world of modern media, where fickle advertisers and disgruntled readers breathlessly lurch toward the Next Big Thing.” The book will be available October 12, 2010, and in order to publicize the book launch, Amazon & Zooppa just launched the world’s 1st crowdsourced book-launch promotion contest. The mission is to Create video, graphic design or banner ads by following the creative requirements of the creative brief, that will spark interest in the release of Russell Wiley Is Out to Lunch and direct viewers/readers to order a copy from the main online sites or their favorite bookstore – VERY EXCITING! Click here to enter the competition on Zooppa.com. And click here to pre-order your copy of the book from amazon.com!

About the Author: Richard Hine was born in London and began his career as an advertising copywriter. He moved to New York when he was twenty-four, held creative and marketing positions at Adweek; Time magazine – where he went on to become the publisher of Time’s Latin America edition; and the Wall Street Journal, where he was the marketing vice president responsible for the launch of the Journal’s Weekend Edition. Since 2006, Hine’s work included, a marketing and media consultant, ghostwriter, and novelist. His fiction has appeared in many literary publications, such as London Magazine and the Brooklyn Review. He currently lives in New York City. (Amazon.com)

So there it is! All these books can be purchased on amazon.com by clicking on the link provided! I hope you enjoy them, and here is a list of some other must-reads when you are done with these 4! Have a great weekend everyone! Click on the title to order from amazon.com

-Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage by Pat Fallon and Fred Senn

-Sagmeister: Made you look by Stefan Sagmeister

-Hoopla: The Story of Crispin Porter+Bogusky by Warren Berger

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Need Expert Photoshop Help, RetouchLIVE!

 

As a self-proclaimed Photoshop Junkie I am constantly searching the web for helpful tips and ideas. Today a co-worker of mine at Zooppa introduced me to RetouchLIVE. I went to the site and I think that there is a lot of really good advice, even if you are a Photoshop Junkie like me, there is definitely something to take away. Below is an introduction to RetouchLIVE by Margeaux Egelston of Zooppa. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

So, it is that time of the week again, FRIDAY! Woohoo! Which could mean many things, maybe your off to Vegas for the weekend, or possibly you are already at your favorite happy hour spot. But as for us at Zooppa, Friday means it is time for our second Design Post-and then we will be off to happy hour. This week I have something really cool to share with you guys! Well, hopefully every week I have something really cool to share, but I’m really excited about this one, I think many of you will find it very useful. I discovered this little gem, called RetouchLIVE, this summer when I had the chance to take classes in Seattle at one of our partner schools, School of Visual Concepts. I took a photoshop class with the very talented, okay…GENIUS, photoshop guru Jason Hoppe. He can literally do anything in photoshop, and well, all of Creative Suite, and all faster than you can even blink. But, the point is he turned us on to a very cool podcast of his, RetouchLIVE.

RetouchLIVE is completely free, and allows you to access 31 different projects Jason has worked on. They range from old family portraits, concert photos, wedding photos and many others. The great thing about it, is they are all live, hence the name, RetouchLIVE. You get to watch him go to work on each project, and he also explains every step along the way. The screen also shows keyboard shortcuts, so it is easier to follow along with what he is doing. Jason throws in many little tricks and tips in each video as well, not to mention he is pretty entertaining. RetouchLIVE is a great way to see and hear how a professional goes about solving photoshop dilemmas. With all the 31 different episodes, Jason goes over pretty much every tool and demonstrates how it is used. Watching this is like having your own private teacher! Another cool thing is that all the photos that are re-touched have been sent in by viewers. So if you have a photo you need some help with-send it in, and it might be the newest podcast!

Even if you consider yourself an expert photoshopper, I guarantee you will learn something from RetouchLIVE. Whether he is piecing together a ripped wedding photograph from 50 years ago, adding a hand to the lead singer in a concert photo or adjusting the lighting on wild Rams, Jason can do it, and do it very well. And with the help of RetouchLIVE, you can do it too!

So if your having trouble with any tools or just want some inspiration for your next print piece, check out RetouchLIVE, I’m sure it will help. If you don’t have the chance to take a class from Jason, the next best thing is to utilize RetouchLIVE… however he does bring homemade chocolate chip cookies to class, which is the only drawback of RetouchLIVE.

 

Posted via email from Zooppa

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Famous philosopher and author Marshall McLuhan, in 1967 before computers or the Internet were even dreamed of, claimed that, “The medium, or process, of our time - electric technology is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life. It is forcing us to reconsider and re-evaluate practically every thought, every action, and every institution formerly taken for granted.” His claims were at the time thought to be outlandish and far off, but look at us now in 2010. We are a nation of consumers that has reshaped our entire social interdependence and every aspect of our social life around the newest and greatest technology. Be it the newest smart phone technology or a hyped-up Internet craze, the times they are a changin.

It seems as though technology is dispensable in our digital savvy society where everyone is looking for newest and greatest technology, so I wanted to take sometime to pay tribute to our fallen technological soldiers by counting down the five best/most memorable digital devices and technological crazes plus their 2010 replacements.

In no specific order:
1. Cassette tapes. Okay maybe it is just me but I miss those cute rectangular little buggers that fit so nicely into the boombox I begged my mother for. Not to mention they work great for recording music off of my favorite radio station, little did I know that at age 8 I was committing quite the piracy crime.

Replacement: The MP3, with the ability to surf the Internet for songs you like there is not waiting around while you fast forward through a cassette tape trying to get to just the right place on the tape, or in my case waiting for Kube 93.3 to play your jam.

2. Duck Hunt: a video game for Nintendo in which players use the Zapper to shoot ducks on screen for points.

Replacement:  Duck Hunt was awesome, but so is it’s replacement, the Wii The Wii took the idea of the controller moving with the user to a whole new level.

3. 35mm film: used for photography and in films. editors would take the original film used to shoot the movie or photograph and edit the film directly.

Replacement: It is all about the digital baby, with programs such as Final Cut Pro and Avid available there are a million more possibilities than before.  

4. Home phone lines, pre-caller id: how exciting being able to pick up the phone and have no idea who was on the other line, its like a surprise with every ring.

Replacement: cell phones with caller id: I guess sometimes the element of surprise is not too exciting, as there are some people you do not really care to talk.

5. Napster: was a free file sharing service that became a pay service after some issues with copyright.

Replacement: websites such as Pandora and Grooveshark are a positive alternative that make listening to music more convenient as you can choose a song and form playlists to listen to instantly as many times as you would like.

So here is to you our fallen heroes and to our hot newcomers!

Posted via email from Zooppa

User-Generated: Becoming the Creator not the Consumer

It has become increasingly evident that user-generated content has become the newest  trend in the online media, advertising and marketing, but amongst young creatives via online websites. Thanks to user-generated content and a participative web, business and online media is transforming Internet users from a a nation of consumers to a nation of creators.

So what is user-generated work? It is a simple subject actually,  as I sit here composing this digest I am contributing what we call user-generated content; content that is comprised of various forms of media and creative works that is created and shared by Internet users. Creative works and media can be written, audio, visual, or a combination of the three. Really the possibilities are endless and only limited by ones creativity.

Wikipedia is a perfect example of a company that relies on user-generated work; a series of one page entities that give information about specific areas subject matters based on user submissions and edits. Any user can aid in the collaboration by editing the pages content and adding information/sources.

Though WIkipedia is an outstanding example of user-generated content, it is not the perfect  example of the creative use of user-generated works. Artist Girltalk demonstrates perfectly the use of user-generated content amongst the creative youth. Girltalk works in an office sampling biological data by day and is a musician by night. Well he is a musician of sorts, he creates what are called remixes to restore what may be considered old into something brand new. For example he will take the beat of one track and add lyrics from another, creating a mashup. He then shares his new song on several web/social platforms, and he does so successfully. Girltalk has quite the group of followers and has inspired fellow creatives to join in the remix fun which has taken several forms such as videos, songs, and even re-writing plots to favorite screenplays.

The Internet was made to contribute ideas, and user-generated content helps give Internet users  some control in sharing; the control to be creators rather than corporate consumers.

Girltalk:

Lawrence Lessig Lecture on user-generated content:

http://zooppaus.wordpress.com/

http://zooppa.com/users#latest-topics-2

 

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Ten Handy Tips For Entering Ad Competitions

The advertising industry is getting more difficult  to step  into without any real working experience, or an extensive portfolio.  So what is the inexperienced filmmaker or print artist supposed to do to make their advertising dream come true? what about entering an advertising competition, there are a ton of companies asking for user-generated commercials and print ads for their brands. There is also a lot of money awarded in winning one of the many contests out there.

If you’re already used to concepting, storyboarding, organizing, shooting and editing, then why not throw your hat in the ring for some of these advertising competitions? It can be a great way to make some side money- to fund more extensive projects, to purchase equipment, or just to fund your lifestyle. Who knows? Maybe you’ll decide you dig advertising.

Josh Barnes of Zooppa.com, a people -powered brand energy  site shared with me some tips for when it comes to entering advertising contests.

First, select your contest wisely.
1) Money. You want to make it worth your while if you win, but too muchmoney can mean steep competition. See about balancing these interests against your confidence as an ad maker.

2) Time frame. Simple. How much time is left in the contest? How much time will it take you to make a finished product?

3) Prize types. This could easily be it’s own post. Jury prizes require high quality film making. For prizes based on views or votes, while quality is still important, it is equally important to be a good promoter.

4) What’s it about? Can you immediately get ideas? It’s not necessarily a bad thing if you can’t, because maybe nobody else can, either. What’s the flavor of the submissions so far? Do people seem to be riffing on the same theme? Can you think of an idea that will really shake things up?

Concepting
READ THE BRIEF. STUDY THE BRIEF.
People/companies are putting on these competitions for a purpose. In general, advertising contest sponsors are looking for two things

A) Creative that they can use (for broadcast, closed caption, trade shows, online, etc.)

B) Viral exposure

An entry that succeeds in furthering the first type may not work so well for thesecond, and vice versa.

If they’re looking for creative they can use, then you should try to do somethingmore polished and conventional. If they’re looking for the second, you can go more lo-fi, and push the boundaries of taste more.

Study the requirements. Advertising contests can be very specific with their requirements. To make sure you don’t doom your submission from the start,

check for these:

5) Is there a time length requirement for the videos?

6) What visual elements do you need to include? Do you have to
have a product shot? Do you need to show a dog? A mother?

7) Is there a general point of view or perspective you’re supposed to follow? Is it supposed to be a public service announcement, or is it supposed to look like a game show?

8) Many times they will require you to include specific branding elements
– Do you need to include a logo? Is there a tagline that needs to be
included? A specific call to action?

On Advertising in General
Think about who the client is trying to appeal to with this ad: who is the target market? What kinds of themes would resonate with that target audience?

How does the client want the product or brand positioned versus its competition? This is something you’ll have to try to glean from the creative brief. Levis wants to be seen as rugged, yet urban and sexy. McDonalds wants to be regarded as fun and youthful. Mountain Dew wants to be seen as alternative or counterculture. The homiest of home runs in advertising is the creation of a franchise advertising theme. If you come up with an idea, a situation, a setup, that can be extrapolated across many different ads, you’re gold. Think of the Energizer Bunny. DDB Chicago came up with that little gem in 1989. How many commercials have been
made featuring that stupid little bunny? Every time one of those commercials gets aired, the creator of that bunny gets paid. If you can come up with a repeatable theme like that, you can live the rest of your life on the residuals. Because of this, you may want to find out:

9) Who will own the content you upload?
When you upload to a contest, you may be giving up the rights to your work. Check into the term & conditions of the contest to find this out.

10)Finally, I want to leave you with this thought. In advertising contests you have 15 seconds, 30 seconds or one minute, usually. You have time for one theme. One joke. Don’t over complicate it. Keep it simple.

Good luck, and I hope to see you competing!

http://zooppaus.wordpress.com/

http://zooppa.com/users#latest-topics-2

 

Posted via email from Zooppa

REmix, It is beneficial to share ideas

RIP: Remix Manifesto is a documentary about remixing and participating in culture. It expresses the desire to create with what we are given rather than just being the consumers.

The Convergence Culture

"Define media...on the first, a medium is a technology that enables communication; on the second, a medium is a set of associated "protocols" or social and cultural practices that have grown up around that technology." Jenkins, Convergence Culture

As a young adult with my eyes set on becoming a productive member of the creative society I understand that we have entered a new phase within the creative circle, participation. Especially in the digital realm we see more and more young creatives expressing their imagination through the convergence of different media types; taking the old and making it new once again, participating.

The new social "protocol" in digital media is the remix. Taking a brand or video and putting your own spin on it. Lawrence Lessig, author and professor, gives a TED talk on remixing and the laws that choke creativity.