A bit of a hiatus

We’ll be taking a bit of a hiatus for New Years and the Fiesta Bowl (Go Frogs!), but we’ll be back January 11, 2010. Have a safe and Happy New Year!

The future starts now?

Christmas has come and gone, so now it’s time to take our focus off Santa and Christmas lights and turn it towards confetti and falling disco balls.

However this December 31^st, we will welcome in not only a new year, but a new decade — anyone who tells me the new decade doesn’t start until 2011 needs to be welcomed to the real world. This got me wondering how close are we to the future we have seen in the movies – more specifically, in regards to advertising. Filmmakers have given us plenty of examples of how they view the future of advertising, but how close are they? Lets take a look.

1) Back to the Future Part II – Jaws 19 holograph

You couldn’t possibly expect me to write about the future without including Marty McFly’s trip to 2015. In this future full of hoverboards, power laces and yet to be discovered Elijah Woods, Marty stumbles upon an interactive ad for Jaws 19. The shark rises from the marquee, music and all, and takes a harmless swipe at McFly (to his horror).

While I love this bit, I don’t see this trend really catching on. Movie marketing is using the Internet and guerilla tactics to set themselves apart today. Plus the holographic route seems a little 1980’s to me.

2) A.I. Artificial Intelligence/Children of Men – Motion billboards

The audience only gets a quick glimpse of the future of ads; you really have to look for it but I promise it’s there. The outdoor ads in these movies stood out to me because none of them were static. Billboards, bus wraps, you name it, it’s going to be moving.

This is actually not a far-fetched idea at all. With more billboards going digital and the introduction of “electric ink” that can move, it seems only a matter of time before moving ads are a reality.

3) Minority Report – Interactive and Customized ads

In order to make the movie more realistic, director Steven Spielberg brought together a “think-tank” comprised of MIT students and asked them to imagine what advertising would be like in 2054. Furthering the whole “people from MIT are smart” theory, the group was able to produce some very good ideas.

The ads in Minority Report would either be able to recognize you personally and identify your consumer patterns or they had the ability to be manipulated by the user. We are actually seeing this from cell phone newcomer Droid, which set up an interactive ad that can be controlled by anyone who has the ability to touch a screen. Overall, I think this movie did the best job in seeing the trend of marketing to the individual a good five years before it really took off.

4) Lots of movies – Using TV spots

Be it Robocop’s attempt to sell Sunblock 5000 or I, Robot’s commercial for the new robot models, apparently TV is still the best route to take as far as advertising goes in the future.

While it still holds sway, TV is definitely NOT getting more popular as an advertising medium. For a perfect example, take a look at Pepsi. They just recently announced they will not feature an ad in the upcoming Super Bowl– to put a little context on that, they have ran Super Bowl ads for the last 23 years . If that’s not a trend, I don’t know what is.

A reflection on graduation and preparing yourself for the future

Graduation was sort of a bittersweet moment for me.  Sure it’s great to be done with school and to celebrate with your family, but isn’t it disheartening to think that you won’t be going back to school next week, or even next semester?  The sense of finality really hits you when you least expect it.

The real question is what do you do now?  Find a job? Apply for grad school? Take a break? Travel?

While I was sitting in a sea of purple last Saturday waiting for my turn to walk the stage, I thought about what I did right and wrong throughout my time at TCU.  I am thankful that I am going to have a job fresh out of college, but some are not so fortunate. Here are some things you can do to future-proof yourself.

Networking: As much as I hate to do this, it actually does work.  Meeting as many people related to your industry increases your chances of being recognized for a position. Meeting people, however, is half the battle — you have to present yourself as if you are interviewing for a job, because  you never know what’s going to happen; the person you are speaking to could be considering you for a job, or knows someone who might.

Do your best in the classroom: Students, take notice of who is doing the best work in your classes.   A good work ethic and reputation can take you a long way.  Kelsey, the director here at Zag, was a colleague of mine  before my time here and decided to bring me on because she knew the type of work I could produce.  People are always watching and your reputation is on the line, so do your best — no matter what you’re doing.

Plan it out: Many people don’t like to look into the future, but you kind of have to when college is starting to wind down.  Go to job or graduate school fairs — anything that has to do with the next step. Don’t stress yourself though; if the job market just isn’t cutting it to you, there is always grad school.  In some instances grad school is a better option than entering the real world, especially with the state of our economy.  Two years down the road, the job market might turn around and you would be making a lot more than if you would have entered the workforce straight out of college. There are always options, so plan accordingly.

Either way, don’t wait until the last minute to plan your next move.  Most graduates have loans to pay and that grace period can come and go faster than you think.

The key is being prepared, knowing that you have options and doing your best.  If you do this, you can’t go wrong.  Congratulations to the Class of 2009!

Be a smart shopper this season

It wouldn’t be the holidays without family, lights, gifts, and of course, massive sales.  The second that Halloween and Thanksgiving are over, we are bombarded by an unbelievable amount of specials — just look at Black Friday. Retailers know that consumers are on a mission to do most of their shopping during the month of December, so they will flash as many signs and ads as needed to lure you into their store.

Once you’re in, it’s going to be difficult to walk past the “2-for-1” or “75% off” signage without grabbing something — no matter how trivial it may seem. Through this process, are we really saving money? The answer is, most likely, no.

Holiday sales give us the illusion of saving and we end up overspending on items we don’t need. The trick is not to get into the competitive shopping mode; that’s where you would sidekick anyone who is in the way of those boots you already have in black, but since they are on sale, it would only be fair to get them in gray.

The point is to always be a smart shopper. No matter what sale is going on you have to ask yourself  “Do I really need this, or can it wait?” If you really are honest with yourself, you’ll find that you can live another day without the boots, or that fabulous new jacket that just got marked down.

Although you’ll leave that store empty-handed and thinking to yourself “I would look so good if I had that right now,” you’ll soon feel proud of the money you saved. In these tough economic times — though they are looking brighter everyday — saving a few dollars here and there can make a big difference.

The holidays — a time for the timeless

For the company holiday card, I was posed the question, “What is your favorite thing about the season?” That’s like asking me what my favorite song or movie is, and that provokes two tiny problems. There’s either the fact that the list of holiday traditions is seemingly endless or that I really didn’t have a tradition growing up — my family is from Vietnam, it’s a surprise we even celebrate the holidays.

Though my familial traditions are suffering, there are quite a few things that make the holidays unique to me. For one, I will only watch the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve — I simply refuse to watch it any other day of the year. Another piece of the season that I absolutely adore is the timeless nature of certain brands. Like we always say at X.Y.Zag, we can make advertising pertinent to almost anything (except for maybe the CIA, or the Patriot Act — you can never talk about that, unless you’re prepared for the consequences).

My favorite example of a brand’s Christmas campaign that holds its own year after year is Coca-Cola. The brand definitely has some things going for them (i.e. nostalgia and its pinpoint execution of, for lack of a better term, holiday goodness).

What I find interesting is that Coca-Cola had three distinct holiday campaigns when I was growing up, each carrying a different time period and overlapping one another. In the end though, whenever someone thinks about a sensory-overload inducing Christmas caravan or fun loving, CGI polar bears, they think Coke.

First there is, “The Holidays are Coming” campaign. Long been a tradition for Coke, the campaign disappeared in 2001. It was later replaced by the cuddly CGI polar bears, and, strangely enough revived in 2007 when Coca-Cola cited numerous phone calls from customers saying the campaign marks the beginning of the season for many.

Next, here are the aforementioned polar bears. Back when the campaign was introduced, it was truly state-of-the-art.

And finally, there are the nostalgic print advertisements that feature Santa. I absolutely love these because I am a fan of advertising in the 50s and 60s, where illustrations ruled.

To me, these advertisements really do epitomize the holiday season. And because of Coke’s perverse awareness throughout the world, it’s easy to assume that these ads really do enforce the brand name.