My favorites are Lite Beer and Carling Black Label. What are yours?
- Christian
Found on Prostituted Thoughts and Lovely Packaging.
Great ideas are just that. They’re just great ideas. They’re not real. They don’t exist in the real world. And great ideas are scary. They’re tough to sell. Because they’re different. They’re stuff people haven’t seen before.
Sometimes, they’re actually unsellable. And that’s where the difference is made. When people do it themselves. They take them from being ideas to being tangible things in the real world.
It’s easy to give up. It’s easy to outsource a task to someone else and then just give up when they can’t figure out how to do it. But chances are that when you get a proxy to do something, they won’t have the same level of passion that you do. They’re just looking answer the question “Can it be done?” with a “Yes” or “No”. They’re not trying to answer “How can this be done?”
In advertising, there are two types of creatives. There are those that come up with a concept and then farm it off to the production department to figure out how it gets done. This happens most of the time. And it does produce great work. But most of the time, it’s prone to hitting roadblocks. And dying a slow death of a thousand paper cuts until someone eventually gives up and produces something mediocre.
Then there are those that have an irrational passion for producing their ideas. And they’ll do anything to get it done. They’ll cast their friends and family to bring their concept to life. They’ll buy an HD camcorder from BestBuy and return it after they shoot stuff with it. They’ll cut the videos themselves in iMovie. Who do you think gets the best work done?
If you want something to get done, do it yourself. Because the only person you can count on to have the level of passion required to get it done is you.
- Christian
Image found on I Can Read.
Some people make plans.
Some people make excuses.
I make mistakes.
It’s fucking awesome.
- Christian
It’s been 30 days without television … and counting. I’ve heard about the no-TV experiment before. One of my friends decided to do it for two weeks, just to see how it impacted her life. I’m doing the same thing. Except not by choice.
I recently moved apartments and have yet to get the cable hooked up. Laziness has prevented me from indulging in our culture’s most popular vice. So for the past month I’ve been living my life without television.
Here’s what I’ve noticed:
I work longer hours.
I exercise more.
I’m reading books again.
I get bored more easily.
I spend time learning things on the internet.
For the TV shows that I care about, I watch them online.
I build shit.
I sleep more.
My Spanish vocabulary has tripled (it’s now 9 words).
So, all-in-all I’m more productive. But I’m not going to lie. The extra time has also highlighted some vices. I’m spending more money going out for drinks and buying clothes. I have to keep myself entertained somehow.
But there is something to be said about the time that we waste in front of the TV every night. Time that could be spent improving yourself.
Imagine if you had an extra 5 or 10 hours a week of free time. What would you do with it? You could:
Catch up on sleep.
Learn to cook.
Work to advance your career.
Write a screenplay.
Go on dates.
Practice Muay Thai.
Write letters instead of emails.
We all have that time. But we spend it watching instead of doing.
- Christian
Alice: I simply must get through!
Doorknob: Sorry, you’re much too big. Simply impassible.
Alice: You mean impossible?
Doorknob: No, impassible. Nothing’s impossible.
- Christian
That’s right. I said it. The world need more fights. More bare knuckle brawling. More punches to the face. Why? Because compromise kills ideas.
We live in a world where people are too willing to play nice. Nobody wants to offend the other person. And what suffers is ideas. In order to get a concept sold through the proper hierarchy, you make compromises. They’re just small changes, gradually pulling your idea back in the realm of the familiar. And the concept dies a slow death as a result of a thousand little paper cuts. The idea that had the potential to be great and earth-shattering suddenly looks a lot like a lot of the other stuff out there. But just a little bit different.
People need to stand fiercely behind their ideas, concepts or principles. If you’re willing to punch someone in the face for something, I respect you and your idea that much more. It shows passion. It show commitment. It shows you’re not a pussy.
And when you know you’re going to have to throw down, you show up a lot more confident, researched and prepared. Because nobody wants to get knocked out in the first round.
- Christian
Inspired by this post.
I don’t normally self-promote, but this is cool. We made a video. It’s for Old Style Pilsner – a gnarly beer from Western Canada. They’re having a Bush Bash and wanted us to make a quick video to explain it. It’s random. It’s weird. Enjoy ….
If you can’t see the video, click here.
So the general idea is based on the fact that people love Old Style Pilsner because of it’s crazy label. (See below.)
It’s got some crazy shit on it. Bunnies. Planes. Teepees. Monks drinking beer. A sweet Pilsner flag. Basically, all of the random crap that’s in a crazy artist’s brain in 1926 when he’s a had a few too many Pilly’s and decides to design the label. So, we decided to make a video that existed in a 3D model of that label.
How We Did It
1. We made a huge 6′x6′ model of the beer label (aka “Pil Country”) in some guy’s garage. It took a lot of time and effort. Lots of looking at the label. Looking at a huge piece of blank plywood. Looking at the label. Trying not to drink the beer. Putting a tree somewhere. Etc.
For the “Making Of” gallery on Flickr, click here.
2. We got some light, a camera and started shooting. Eight people piled into this guy’s garage. It got sweaty. It got personal. I got to play with bunnies, sparklers and miniature 24′s of beer. Best day of my life.
3. Some editing and stuff. Then … ta-da! A video.
So if you’re lucky enough to live out in Western Canada, I highly recommend going out and picking up a case of Pil. We don’t get it out here and I had to wrangle some people to try and ship me some. It’s a wicked beer with a wicked label. And maybe you’ll win some tickets to a crazy Pilsner Bush Bash. After all … that’s why we made the video.
- Christian
I’m not sure if it’s the season, but I’ve seen a lot of good ads lately that evoke a lot of emotion. Like these:
Tropicana’s Artic Sun
Click here if you can’t view the video.
Tim Hortons’ Welcome Home
Click here if you can’t view the video.
So often in advertising, people think that being funny is the way to build your brand. But there are other emotions besides entertainment and humour.
Joy.
Happiness.
Fear.
Love.
Discovery.
Surprise
And all it takes to bring out these emotions is a good story. And the best story is a true story.
- Christian