After Personal Growth today I took a minute to speak to Doc Cat. I looked at her and bluntly said, "You're very deceptive." She looked surprised and when she asked me why I thought that, I let her know that I was dismayed at first over how she presented the class as a "blow-off", but the deceptive part is that the class is actually hard, that you have to do the work. I told her about the crying session after the "putting it down" exercise and how much it helped me. I don't think she really counted on the fact that people would actually DO the work...but I gave her props and thanked her, because with her help, I am getting through things a bit better.
The only downside I'm facing at the moment is that my anxiety has gone up quite a bit. I think it's normal because I think my brain is trying to make rational sense of it all after being compartmentalized and carried without being dealt with. So, now we're on to the dealing with it, and sorry to say, it's filled with lots of anxiety. Right around now I'm grateful I live alone so I don't put anyone else through what is going on in my head.
After finishing up with Doc Cat, I headed for my car. On the way, I turned on my Blackberry's music section and listened to KT Tunstall's "Someday Soon" which actually fit the moment perfectly because as I walked, the sun shone through the trees, and the dappled light bathed my face in warmth. It was one of those moments where you value the peace you can find and there's a little glimmer in the back of your mind that says everything's going to be ok.
Then it was off to my parents for lunch. I told my parents stories from school and just got to spend time visiting with them while we ate outside on the patio. I'm glad Vegas only has two months of winter...it allows for beautiful moments in the sun before it becomes blisteringly hot. It was a pleasant afternoon all around with no stress to be found.
After lunch, I had to buzz home. IMC waits for no one as I had to quickly assemble research for our "Situational Analysis" rough draft. Situational analysis is exactly what it says: you have to find out what's going on in the marketplace for your particular type of product. Sales volumes, market shares, all sorts of stuff that I really have little interest in, but is extremely necessary to understand how to build a strategy. To be honest, research and strategy have never been my strong suits. I'm not really in love with doing research. I'm a creative. Creatives take the data and we come up with something extraordinary...case in point, the little kid in the Darth Vader costume in Sunday's VW ad. See what I mean about VW? They're just so good.
BUT, my favorite of all of the Superbowl Ads was the Motorola commercial for it's new tablet. Ok, let's take a really fast trip back in time to 1984. David Lynch directed this ad for Apple's introduction of the Macintosh, or what you now know as a Mac...
The point is, back then, Apple was accusing IBM of being this Orwell-esque machine that robbed individuals of their individuality...
Fast forward to 2011...
I believe it was Helmut Krone who said, "Until you have enough experience to have a great idea of your own, you copy." It's not bad advice either. You go with what works.
BUT it is a stroke of genius when you take (outside of the Lemon Ad of course) one of the greatest ads of all time and turn it back on its creator:
Motorola took the groundbreaking 1984 ad and turned it back at Apple because now THEY have become the oppressive machine. When was the last time you saw someone without a pair of earbuds in or listening to their iPods or playing with their iPhones or working on their Mac's? Ah yes, we few PC users left understand full well the evil empire that is Apple and for Motorola to run this ad...it was like shoving a stick clean up Apple's wazoo. I cheered. I flipped out and screamed "Yeeeeeessssss!" Because yeah, it's a copy, but the execution of it is just gorgeous. Helmut Krone would be proud.
Anyhow, after all of that fun stuff, I was wiped out...I passed out on my couch at around 4 p.m. I woke up at 10 p.m. After a round of e-mails of our Situational Analysis in my little mini-agency group for IMC, I sat down to write...
Now, I'm going back to bed. I don't know what it was about today, but I just crashed and burned...and as the albatross I am, I shall crash again...
For you, a bit of relaxing tuneage from KT Tunstall...
No comments:
Post a Comment