Advertising Blog | The Creative Ham

Agency Spotlight: Plan B

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:09:00 -0400

When we asked Plan B to participate in our Agency Spotlight series, we had something special in mind for them. Something no agency had done before. They sent us the below response:

Dear Creative Ham,

Thank you for your offer. We agree that it would be an “eye-catching” way to profile a “transparency” minded agency such as ours. We’re flattered. Truly.

However, we feel that a “tastefully produced fully nude gallery” featuring our creative department may not be the best way to showcase Plan B.

We discussed your proposal as an agency and decided it would be in everyone’s best interest to stick to a more traditional agency profile. We hope this is okay. The anticipated flood of fan mail notwithstanding, taking a day away from client work to accommodate such a shoot would be antithetical to our philosophy of being an efficient, on-demand creative partner. I’m sure you understand.

Plus, we’re far too modest for that. It probably stems from the work ethic instilled in us by the agency partners: three Indiana boys who ground their teeth at a number of the “big” Chicago agencies before figuring out they could do it better themselves. That was over 15 years ago, so they must’ve figured right.

So, if it’s okay with you, we’d feel more comfortable if this post simply featured a few facts and photos about us instead of our full monty. Our innovative 4D approach to marketing may not generate the same buzz, and our core values of efficiency and transparency won’t likely drive the same traffic, but we do feel it’s a little more appropriate.

So, thanks again. Really, truly flattered. But we’ve got a lot more to offer here than our hot bods.

Sincerely,
The Plan B Team

You can’t win them all. Without further ado — meet Plan B:

Plan B was forged in 1998, out of a pragmatic frustration with the ‘big agency’ approach to advertising, with its straightjacket branding processes and debilitating dependence on big-budget broadcast media. Read more…

Agency: Plan B
Location: Chicago, IL
Website: thisisplanb.com

Interview With Maria Scileppi, Director Of 72U

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:35:56 -0400

If you’re looking to break into the advertising industry, you should look into 72U, a new program hosted by 72andSunny in Los Angeles.

Deadline for applications is April 5th, 2013, after which point they’ll be taking rolling applications for their October session. Learn more about the program at www.72u.org.

Maria, director of 72U, was kind enough to answer a couple of questions about the new program below.

What is 72U — and how is it different from a typical ad agency internship?

72U is not a portfolio school and it’s not an internship. It’s more like a strategic art school for the maker. We’ll be fully integrated into the agency; participants of 72U will be dispersed among the agency, people from 72andSunny will be tapped to come in and speak on specific topics or lead a workshop and each 72Uer will have two mentors from the agency (one junior type person and one senior type person). Every Friday we will put our work “on the wall” for the agency to see/weigh in on/write comments. The Wall is a big part of 72andSunny’s culture. The philosophy is, “When it’s on your computer it’s yours, when it’s on the wall it’s ours”. Anyone can take a look and suggest how to make something better.

Even though 72U will be fully integrated into the agency we’ll also be doing our own thing. About 80% of the stuff we’ll make will not be advertising. It will be social experiments and projects that explore creative self expression, culture and story telling. We’ll be making things in all different mediums; websites, videos, art, events, new platforms.

Who can apply? What do you look for in candidates?

Anyone can apply. We do not require a college degree but we do require the person has a talent and some life/work experience. We’re looking for makers – people who are just compelled to make stuff. People who don’t wait to be told or wait to be paid to put something out into the world. We’re looking to build an interdisciplinary team of 6 so we’re looking to have as many skill sets covered within the 6. Each person should have their own domain of expertise that they can bring to the group. On our dream list of talents is an artist who works in code or a coder who wants to make conceptual stuff.

Learn more at www.72u.org.

Ace Hardware

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:06:00 -0500

Student work by Maxwell Billings and Rick Hickey:

With the emergence of big hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s, smaller stores like Ace Hardware are being overlooked. This campaign strategy is based on the greatest asset Ace Hardware has: experience.

Check out the full campaign here.

Lifeproof Phone Cases

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:14:00 -0500

Student work by Erika Kent and Leighanne Steckbeck:

LifeProof phone cases are built to military standards and undergo rigorous testing, but what they really have to withstand are real life scenarios.

View the full campaign here.

2013 Young Ones Competition

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 20:24:00 -0500

From theyoungones.org:

We are excited to release the 2013 Young Ones Competition briefs!

This year’s competition offers students a choice of two briefs aimed at creating solutions for social change. The first, Pencils for Promises, gives students the opportunity to shed light on the global education crisis affecting millions of students across the globe. The second, Justice By Design, provides students with the opportunity to tackle human rights issues by using design to communicate data for the sake of social justice.

Learn more and download the briefs at theyoungones.org.

Paramount Pictures

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:12:00 -0500

Student work by Matt Bush, John Potter, and Stephen Patterson:

Our team was asked to save the movies. What better way than giving them two hours back? With an edgy tone Paramount admits their mistakes for some of the bad movies while reminding you that they still make great award winning movies.

Check out the full campaign here.

Ad Kicks

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:02:00 -0500

Ad Kicks is a project by Art Director Illi Ferandez, who graduated from Chicago Portfolio School and is currently interning at AKQA in San Francisco. Check out her work here.

Xbox Dance Central 3

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 12:53:00 -0500

New commercial for Xbox Dance Central 3 by twofifteenmccann.

Agency: twofifteenmccann
Creative Director: James Robinson/Mat Bunnell
Art Director: Ivan Djayaptura, Lauren Stracka
Copywriter: Chip Waters

Agency Spotlight: Moosylvania

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 23:46:00 -0400

Moosylvania was established as an independent creative agency in 2003 and has quickly become a full-service agency. Our philosophy from the start has been to build a creative home that fosters collaboration across all disciplines and open-dialogue between all people. Read more…

Agency: Moosylvania
Location: St. Louis, MO
Clients: Alamo, Sapporo, Bacardi, Capital One, Dean’s, Balance Bar, and more.
Website: Moosylvania.com

Creative Circus High School '12

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:38:10 -0400

Creative Circus High School '12:

A fun concept by recent Creative Circus grads. Created by Eric Jurkovic, Rick Morrison, Jaysn Kim, Eric Lowery, Justin Bannister.

Charmin

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:40:00 -0400

Student work by Newt Cox.

An Interview With Agency Proofreader Gail Marie

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:24:00 -0400

Gail Marie is a proofreader at McKinney and was gracious enough to grant us a quick interview. If you have a moment to spare, vote for her SXSW panel proposal and follow her on Twitter and Tumblr. Many thanks to Gail!

Between Twitter, Facebook, and text messages, it seems like most people nowadays adopt a pretty casual attitude towards grammar. Do you think it’s still important to use proper grammar in this day and age — or is it it sufficient just to get your message across?

Yes, many people have adopted a casual attitude toward grammar in their tweets, posts and texts, preferring to focus on the message instead of its form. According to a Wall Street Journal article by Sue Shellenbarger, this is especially true of writers in their 20s and 30s. Most brands, on the other hand, are still being careful enough to at least infer that they know how to spell and punctuate.

Here’s the thing: I was taught to write to your intended readers. If your readers are expecting complete sentences, “utilize” instead of “use” and parallel bullet points, write that way. If your readers are expecting abbreviations, slang, fragments and unwieldy punctuation, use them. The wrinkle is that your online reader could be anyone. Though a brand may be targeting a segment that doesn’t flinch at “its” instead of “it’s” and “totes” instead of “totally,” writing this way may damage your credibility with other readers.

Is this worth the risk? I am not convinced it is. Not yet.

Every day I read articles about how English is “declining,” about how hiring managers won’t consider an applicant whose resume has a typo and about misspellings in headlines. The concept of “error” remains strong. Therefore, I think brands and individuals should follow most of the rules most of the time.

Working at an ad agency, I imagine the stakes can be pretty high when you’re proofreading copy that’s going to be seen/heard by the masses. I’ve always wondered: how do proofreaders minimize the chances of any grammatical mistakes slipping through the cracks? Any tips/tricks you can share?

Some agencies have two proofreaders look at every piece, and I can’t think of a better way to minimize the chances of grammatical mistakes slipping through the cracks. If you, like me, don’t have someone to double-check your work, I offer this advice:

• Avoid the martini lunch.

• Read text once for overall comprehension and clarity; read it again for spelling, punctuation and sentence structure.

• Point to your screen (or page) and read each word aloud when proofreading text you’ve written or text you’ve read multiple times in other versions. Basically, if you’re familiar with it, go extra slowly.

• Curse the writer (or art director) and then focus on each letter in each word if the text is written in all capital letters. Because each letter is the same height, capital letters are much harder to read than lowercase letters; I have missed some pretty blatant errors in all-cap text. Try to spell the words as you read them. (Again, avoid the martini lunch.)

• Become intimately familiar with merriam-webster.com. Here’s my favorite tip: Search for words with common prefixes by typing just the prefix. Say you know “postlaunch” is one word, no hyphen, but you need to prove it to an art director who insists on a hyphen. Type “post-” into the merriam-webster.com search bar, scroll down under the search bar to “post- (prefix)” and scroll down again in the definition until you see “post•launch.” You’re golden! And then the art director will use the hyphen anyway because it really does look better in the layout, but, whatever. You did your job.

• Pay for access to online style guides like the AP Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style. They are easier to search (and more frequently updated) than their paperbound counterparts.

What’s the most common grammatical mistake you come across on a daily basis?

The most common mistakes I see are the same mistakes I make when I’m in a hurry and am focusing on my message instead of its form: errant apostrophes, heterograph misspellings (“their” instead of “there”) and extra spaces between words or sentences.

So, Oxford comma or no Oxford comma?

Oh, hell no (unless it affects the meaning of the sentence, of course).

I have now proofread my questions several times. Despite my efforts, have I made any grammatical mistakes in this interview?

Well, yes. But your own writing is the hardest to proofread, so don’t be too upset.

QUESTION 1

• The AP Stylebook prefers “toward,” not “towards.”

• After the em dash there are two its: “…or is it it sufficient…”

QUESTION 2

• “Working at an ad agency” is a dangling modifier, since it modifies the following “I,” and I assume you didn’t mean you but me … unless you also work at an ad agency, and then that question is even more confusing. I suggest rewriting it this way: “Because you work at an ad agency, I imagine the stakes can be pretty high…”

• The complete sentence following the colon should begin with a capital letter (“How do proofreaders minimize…”). This is another AP Stylebook guideline.

Comma splices and sentence fragments abound, but in casual, friendly sounding text they are acceptable. In my answers I used both with relish (not the pickled kind).

Recycle Poster

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:14:02 -0400

Designed to marry type and image in an unexpected way, the word recycle directly speaks to consumers through visual metamorphosis. The transition from sunglasses to bottle shows a surprising reincarnation of one useful object into another. The basic concept that matter doesn’t disappear, it only changes form, is strongly reinforced through the unique approach of a commonly used word like recycle.

Student work by Kelly Clawson. Follow her on Twitter @kellyclaws.

Awesome or Awful? A Self-Critique Tool For Young Creatives

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:50:35 -0400

Awesome or Awful? A Self-Critique Tool For Young Creatives

Mother Recommends

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:57:37 -0400

Ever wonder what would happen if your mother could write you a Linkedin recommendation? Well, you no longer have to wonder, thanks to Mother Recommends. Follow @Mum_Recommends on Twitter.

Screamer Co. in Austin, Texas is throwing a party next week!...

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 00:44:51 -0400

Screamer Co. in Austin, Texas is throwing a party next week! Check out the sweet poster above for details.

Agency Deer Heads: lookthinkmake

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:05:20 -0400

lookthinkmake in Austin, TX

Stately Sandwiches: The California Powerhouse

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:25:31 -0400

From Stately Sandwiches, a project by Kelly Pratt, a recent Chicago Portfolio School grad.

Captain D's

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:23:00 -0400

TM Advertising in Dallas recently won the Captain D’s account – the two spots below are from their new rebranding campaign.

Agency: TM Advertising, Dallas

Go Art Director, Go!

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:13:47 -0400

Go Art Director, Go!