Montreal Ad

Found in National Geographic magazine.

Iams Ad idea

Okay we show this photo, then we mention something about superman.
Love it!

 Maybe something like this...

My kitty the superstar!

The HR Motor Cycle Gang

So, I’m laying awake in bed at three in the morning worrying about my phone interview last Thursday. “Did I say the right things; did it sound like I was smiling; could she smell the fear?,” only to come to the conclusion that I never do well with interviews conducted with a company’s Human Resources Department or as I like to call it HR.

HR is like a motorcycle gang in the way between you and a delicious burger. You are walking up to the burger shop confident this is the place for you. You’ve dressed the part, researched the place and attempted a reservation. You already know the burgers are delicious, they were established in 1964, their parent company is Burgers-with-More-Money, they went green in 2007, and they design the best burgers with integrity, accountability, and intelligence. You’re mouth is watering.

But before you can get inside you have to get through a wall of intimidating motorcyclists: The HR Motor Cycle Gang. There are some bikers that will see you and greet you with a warm smile, and others that judge you with their experienced eyes. You walk closer and hit the first line of attack, the young ones. In most cases they are extremely bubbly, and they know all the right answers, but want to hear them from you. You begin with a warm greeting, but they immediately get to the point. You just started talking but the mouth that was once watering is now drooling as you stumble over your first few words. She asked the basics, you’ve answered fairly well but still have to force a smile to calm the eerie mood. She may have seen your efforts to recover, but she is digging into her mind to see if you scored high enough to get her engine moving. She leads you closer to the beef but only so much that you can smell the char-grill smoke. You get excited and start sweating.

Walking passed the shiny bikes you feel your heart beating faster. Will you be able to calm yourself, will the next person see that I’m sweating; do I smell bad? The second line of attack is the defensive line and they look ready. They have been seasoned and know what a bad burger looks like. The questions are harder and you lost your cool when you started sweating. You’re wondering about how you look when you should be worrying about what is coming out of your mouth. But your mind is circling around how to get yourself comfortable in your new surroundings. He asks you a question that is so simple you have no answer, there is a long silence and you give him the deer in the headlights look. You mumble out your words while fighting the “real world answers” in your head versus the positive “interview answers” you should be saying. Are you losing it? What’s happening? Is the smell of buns, beef and warm cheese clogging your thoughts? Doesn’t he know that you are great yet, that you work harder than anyone you know, that you prepped so hard for this moment that you played classical music on the ride here while asking to yourself “common” interview questions you practiced all week that you’re not hearing yet? Wait, what did I just say? I can’t remember. I feel sick, and I’m drooling again.

The Queen Bee, she’s here, she just walked in, and she looks damn nasty. She can smell you for sure. “I love burgers, I love burgers, I mean I love your burgers, yes, your burgers. They are the best in town, they will feed my family, bring joy to my life, and I will find happiness here you if you let me.” “What’s your salary,” asks Queen Bee.  “## thousand,” your voice comes out like a whisper. She makes a face, what is that face? I feel a chill. “Oh…, oh I’m sorry; I didn’t see that in your paperwork, we are not hiring a Senior Burger Enjoyer, the position was for a Junior Burger Enjoyer, I apologize.” WHAT! After all this I asked for too much money? I need a job, I fell in love with your burgers already, I can’t turn back, you have stolen a piece of my heart, and I was so close. I was in the price range per burgerenjoyer.com, Burger Magazine and the department of labor. I just aimed high expecting you to bargain with me, not shoot me down. I don’t know how to play this game…uh, how do I save this? “Am I over qualified?” Queen Bee responds, “No, we were just looking for someone between smaller##thousand to smaller##thousand price range.” “Well that range is definitely workable for me” “So you would take smallest##thousand?” Silence short enough to think, but too long to win Queen Bee’s assurance of approval. “Yes.” 

Uh, so, I leave you here sleepless one now almost seven in the morning. Am I dreaming, or am I lying in bed worrying. “We’ll contact you in a week or two, we have several more interviews to conduct”, she said.

You did your best but a delicious burger will not be in your future anytime soon. The HR bikers have a hundred more folks to rip apart and you barely made it out alive. The good news is you survived; the sad news is that you get to do this all over again and “hopefully” soon. 

Keep your engines vrooming folks, you’re not alone, you may not know it but we’re a gang of our own. There is a lot of us right now, The Unemployed, but don’t let that get you down. You’ll find your place; it’s just going to be hard this time. The road is rocky so put on your helmet and before you know it you’ll be feasting.

______________________

Side Note: This nightmare could  be a good concept for an ad campaign; maybe for a business that helps people with their interviewing skills, with a tag-line like, "Take the fear away from HR" or something like that. See my Photoshop work for this story above.

Book Review: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

The book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is just one of his well known works. He is also the author of The Tipping Point, a book about science and chaos theories and hopefully a book I will be reading in the near future. Yet, Blink is a book written about the power of thinking without thinking. What does that mean you ask? It's about the snap-judgments or slices of thoughts that we make without our control. In my understanding of it, it almost seemed that snap judgments where "learned thoughts" through our environment. It was the stuff we might have learned through a situation, such as, a stressful time, or through the influence of others. Such as manners, racism, and common likes or dislikes. It's our first two seconds of thinking that we have learned so well it hits us in a instant. Other interesting topics within the book include mind-reading, speed dating, and selling cars. Gladwell talks about how we can better understand each other without words and know what to look for in a person’s face or body jesters.

Gladwell's Blink had a very interesting chapter, Chapter 5: Kenna's Dilemma: The Right - and Wrong- Way to Ask People What They Want. Throughout the chapter he talked about, Kenna, a musician that couldn't seem to get a solid record deal  because he could not get enough fans in "x" amount of time. And throughout the chapter Gladwall branches into the subject of Coke versus Pepsi and how Pepsi is the better soda at the first sip and not by the glass. The idea is that it takes time to make decisions about products and peoples actions, like 10 minutes or so to realize that you're being tricked or scammed. And sometimes we still don't even know what we want. In Gladwell's TED video I remember listening to a talk about marketing tests for spaghetti sauces. The tests would ask "Did you like a thin sauce or a thick sauce" and the results were all over the map. Because people made snap judgments about how their sauce should look versus its taste or texture. Many Italians like the sauce thin to coat the noodles at the bottom, because that was the traditional way sauce was made; even though the thick sauce was better favored. It wasn't until the company thought people just needed something difference altogether and added meat. People didn't know that they should like meat sauce or not by Ragu showed them the way.

Thoughts no matter how quick they come to us have been learned. It’s our way of protecting ourselves when we have little time to think- it’s or Fight or Flight mechanism. Although this book at first seemed to start telling the same storyline over and over, each story had great points that can be used to better understand product design, research statistics, and marketing/advertising; which is why I would recommend Blink by Malcolm Gladwell to any designer looking for answers and better results.

Custom Advertising

Check out this magazine ad in my Real Simple magazine; it has a little personal note just for me. In the left-hand corner it writes," Dear Real Simple reader, relieve (and help prevent) dry, irritated skin this winter with Curil. Sensitive skin remedy lotion." Do you see that the text is a little smudged, that's because its a second printing on the advertisement. I need to know more about this, I haven't seen this before inside a magazine. How is this done?

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Local Baby Carrots

Just got off the Midler exit off the 690 E and saw my first baby carrots billboard advertisement. If you turn right on Burnet Ave there is another one. Great ads, they make me so happy.

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QR codes : The future of Advertising and Communications

QR code for my website amandaroberts.info

Have you been seeing these square code like images? I've seen them on magazine covers and posters but thought they were a new version of a barcode or a safety device from keeping people from walking out the door with items. But it isn't either. Its called a QR code. A QR code is a image code, much like our usual bar code that can be placed on printed media, to bring people to digital media, such as a website. How you ask, via a smart phone.

QR stands for "quick response" and was first invented in Japan in 1990's. These QR codes were invented by Denso Corp. of Japan to first track automobile parts. But this technology, was soon used on Billboards and JumboTrons to as a communication device. Japan has had smart phones years before us and their audience was ready for this type of technology.

The great thing about QR codes is it can be read vertically or horizontally. And there is so much potential here. Just imagine your new product getting promoted on a JumboTron and watching an audience of people point their camera phones at your ad, scan it, and take them to your site. In seconds you could be watching them surf to your website and read, learn, and buy your product instantly.

Currently the downside to this technology is I don't have a smart phone with internet, and I only have an iPod with no camera. So, as of today I can't play with this technology. But you can if you have an iPhone, Android, or Blackberry phone with a working camera, QR reader, and internet. Other smart phones can carry this technology so check with your provider and see this website for more ways to can get a QR reader on your smart devices.

Also if you what to be techie yourself and get your own personal QR code ready for your future promotion I found this QR code generator site where you can type in a URL, Text, SMS, or phone number to generate your QR code and get networking. P.S., to check to see if your QR code works, if you don't have a smart phone, go here.

Pepsi QR advertisements

Free to Be... You and Me

I am happy to see the new commercial from Target; they used the title track from the Emmy winning TV special Free to Be... You and Me. If your not familiar with Free to Be... You and Me, it is a project from the Ms. Foundation for Women, back in the in the 1970's. It was a collection of songs, stories, and poems that taught children to keep an open mind about stereotypes, tradition, sexuality, and individuality. Celebrities of the day made appearances in Free to Be... You and Me such as Marlo Thomas, a young Micheal Jackson, Mel Brooks, Diana Ross and others. Below are some video samples from the traditional TV Special.

Here is my twin sister's favorite the story of Atalanta; its co-narrated by Marlo Thomas and Alan Alda, and its the retelling of an ancient Greek legend speaking about the gender stereotypes of women and if they could be athletes or be unmarried.




My absolute favorite clip is the Boys Meets Girl, on the subject of sexuality, I remember laughing at how cute these puppets were when I was a little girl. But also understanding that boys could grow up to be what ever they wanted no matter what sex they were.





Here's Michael Jackson's appearance...Singing about how you don't have to change at all, and just be the person you are.



Here is the well known "William's Doll", based upon Charlotte Zolotow's story about a boy who wants a doll.




Target's angle for the commercial was to portray that a person could be an individual with their choice of colors and clothing. Its designed well, its very cute, and a smart way to speak to the once children of the 70's and 80's who are currently back to school shopping for their children today. Seeing this commercial with a tune from my childhood in a style of Wes Anderson, makes me extremely happy. And makes me love Target a little more.

If you're looking to find more about Free to Be... You and Me I recently I have found a book of the series, in Target last winter, and I have seen it in a play at a local artists school. There is also an album. See the foundation website at freetobefoundation.org to get your book, album, or DVD copy direct.

One more note, I would love to see someone create a new set of stories speaking about the popular hates and discrimination of the world today, maybe talking about race, environment, greed, weight and other subjects. Anybody up the challenge?