Relay Walk This Way

As I come closer and closer to finishing my college career, I can't help but think about my first graduation, that moment when I received my High School diploma (and out of order, as somehow our Senior class of 500+ failed to learn how the alphabet works).

Sadly, one of the most prominent memories of that time was a lack of attendance by my grandparents, as both passed away earlier in the year. My grandmother did not survive her battle with cancer.

I am not alone in being affected by cancer's hold on loved ones, which makes supporting the efforts of Relay for Life that much more important a mission. Being able to focus on how to spread the message about such a positive and rewarding campaign rocked.

No, really.

I was thrilled when my suggestion of Rockin' Relay was chosen from the themes tossed around during our mock advertising agency's brainstorming session. As a member of the print group, I was able to come up with some concepts for potential posters should the theme be picked up by Relay for Life in the future.

One of the first ideas to come to me was the idea of "blue suede shoes" to play off the walking done at the relay and the famous Elvis Presley song.

I am extremely satisfied with the result, as I do think the image of shoes on the pavement is an eye-catching and fun way to promote relay related events.

However, after reading more about Public Service Advertising, I do think there are some ways this poster could be improved. For example, Relay for Life is quite frequently represented by the color purple. There is little to no purple in the blue suede shoes poster, and though the Relay for Life logo is clearly present, it could be taken as an after thought. Because purple was present in the other Rockin' Relay posters I created (2 more, plus a pin), a splash more purple could bring this poster in with the rest of the campaign and make it more recognizable. Perhaps the chalk writing could have been a light purple rather than a white color. Subtle, but it could really make the difference.

As a member of the print group, I was not only able to create my own posters, but I was also given the opportunity to help other members of the team learn new Photoshop tricks. There was nothing better than having the magic wand tool feel magical again!

Give Me a Sign

Signifier: Steel-Green Background
Signified: Envy, Money, Natural, Power

Signifier: Hair
Signified: Duality, Versatility, Balance

Signifier: Black Clothing
Signified: Career Success, Sophistication, Mystery

Signifier: Target
Signified: Bull's eye, Goal, Desire

Signifier: Position of Lower Arm
Signified: Display, Vanna White, Cradling, Feminine

be different.

Creating an advertising campaign for cellphones targeted toward tweens should have been easy enough to manage. In theory, the magic equation would be --

1 boy with a Bieber haircut + 1 girl in an iCarly t-shirt - any sense of financial obligation = SUCCESS!

When two of those options are taken away... then what do you do? CURSE YOU, COPYRIGHT!
Luckily, with a great partner, a little imagination, and hours spent surfing Creative Commons -- an ad campaign was born!

BE _____. Keeping the slogan simple and tying it to both the image used and the idea of the phone skins seemed to really work out for us.  We had a playful font for the phone name and an easy to read font for the rest of the text. Each ad was bright and eye-catching, but not too busy. 

What could have been improved? There were a number of simple changes that might have made this campaign stronger. Adding a website address to find out more info about the phone might have been useful considering the lack of information given in the actual ads. Maybe making the ad targeted toward preteen boys brighter to match the other two ads would have helped make the campaign a cohesive whole.                                                                                                                                                                                   We could have used more animal-themed skins for our peacock feathers. There was also the mention of the phone 'floating' in the third ad, so there might have been a way to use the phone on the page that would have suited all three ads instead of just the first two.

Overall, the ad campaign seemed to be successful in theme and execution. I had a blast seeing what ideas the other teams came up with for this project! The assignment was certainly challenging, but I loved getting a chance to flex some Photoshop skills and think outside the box.

An Exception to the Rule

I was a preteen girl back when one of the best things about the music industry was the excitement of a new music video release. I'd rush home from school to make sure I didn't miss TRL, a music video Top 10 program on MTV, and cheered on my favorite bands for the number one spot. I never realized how many degrading images of women I was absorbing in a mere hour's time.

Seeing video after video I recognized in the Dreamworlds 3 documentary really opened my eyes to what I'd either missed or forgotten. Suddenly I remembered how disappointed I was when Jewel was suddenly shaking her hips in a skimpy outfit instead of playing guitar just because she was now endorsed by a brand of razor. I thought--

 "Oh yeah! When I was young, you either had to be Jennifer Love Hewitt lusted after by all of LFO, or... Jennifer Love Hewitt saved by Enrique Iglesias in the desert!"

miss_rogue @ flickr

I remembered this monstrosity. Not only did the video for "Dontcha" fall right into the pattern of objectifying women, it wanted the men to pay attention. It asked them to fantasize and to use the women in the video as objects because they were better than the reality of any girlfriend.

Last night I set out on a quest to find a video that defied the odds, because more disheartening to me than the treatment of women in men's entertainment was the seeming compliance of female performers. It was in this search that I stumbled upon a pattern. Women who played instruments - guitar and piano most common - were the ones most often allowed to tell a story from their own point of view. 

Maybe it was already believed that women would be the target audiences for this genre of music, or maybe the fact that a story was built into the song itself spared them from falling into the 'lack of creativity' that other videos show. Either way, it was something to get hopeful about, something that showed that there is a light at the end of a loooooong tunnel of booty shaking babes.

Here was one exception I thoroughly enjoyed. A woman telling a story about her own exception, and keeping her clothes on in the process.

If only she were a natural redhead too!

What Could Have Been A Berry Successful Campaign

When looking through the Forbes.Com Article about Social Media campaigns, I was shocked to discover that a good number of those considered the 'best' were things I hadn't seen before. This is likely a side effect of infrequent use of sites like Facebook and Twitter, which are quickly becoming the sole form of communication for my age group.

And yet... I do have accounts, I do fall victim to popular youtube videos, and to suggest that I've never seen the Old Spice commercials with Isaiah Mustafa would be an outright lie.

What is it that makes social media such a successful outlet for product placement? I think the main factor is the fact that advertisements have found a way to become interactive, and the best way to get a person on board with your brand? Make them feel as if they have a say in it! Like stockholders, but without any monetary benefit.

I know that when Mountain Dew recently placed three new flavors in stores and asked consumers to vote, I was determined to try every single one. When a store didn't have one of the new three flavors in stock? I'd just buy the original. At the time I didn't even think of how easily they'd hooked me.

Thinking over this topic reminded me of what could have been a successful social media campaign and fell somewhat flat. When a commercial featuring a man in a funny outfit doing a dance and singing a tune aired on television for Starbursts - Berries and Cream flavor, all of my friends were talking about it. Whether they felt the commercial was hilarious, or just plain silly, it had captured their attention. Soon after, a video hit youtube showing exactly how to do the dance featured in the commercial.




If only they'd found some way to connect this with flash animation! Then we'd all be able to do the 'Little Lad Dance' without stepping away from our computers. Unfortunately, the campaign failed to recognize the main appeal of social media - tell everyone you know with the click of a button, not a flap of the tongue.

Vintage French Ads

I hate cats.

Not only do I have a severe allergic reaction whenever one is near, but it seems that if you have any sort of interest in blogging at all, someone who follows your writing (and perhaps you follow in return) will want to speak to you in depth about what their cat is doing at any given time.

I might not care that Princess Fluffybutt  looks cute when sunbathing, but I listen anyway. This is incredibly similar to how I feel about old French advertisements.

design by Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen

When people think of vintage ads, or display any in their home, they tend to be full of cats. The classic Le Chat Noir to be more specific. But unlike the aforementioned Princess Fluffybutt, Le Chat Noir is iconic. It's about atmosphere and design aesthetic, history and culture.

While I wouldn't want to change my friends (cat-lovers and all), I can change my choice of wall hanging, and while Le Chat Noir is incredibly popular, vintage ads have a variety of products to sell - including bicycles, chocolate, and lots and lots of alcohol.

I have incredibly fond memories of chocolate. As a woman, I feel compelled to make fond memories of chocolate at least once a month... but even as a child, growing up in a city with a Nestle chocolate factory assured that waking up in the morning smelled amazing.

Didn't hurt to have the right connections either. Crunch bars with pictures of Pocahontas and John Smith on them will forever be one of my favorite freebies.

design by Firmin Bouisset

A Chocolat Menier poster will forever be one of my favorite advertisements.

There's something incredibly charming about the little girl in the ad. Maybe it's the double braid (that I could never pull off without being called Pippi), or the sense of mischief in writing on a wall, which most of us were never supposed to do with Mom's lipstick. I could have been intrigued by the closed umbrella or the bright, bold colors with yellow and blue when chocolate always pops into mind as a rich brown.

Whatever the initial attraction, I've always wanted to see advertisements return to the uniqueness of these older designs. It might seem unwise for a company to advertise a product without capturing the exact look of the object using specific lighting techniques and a powerful photo lens, but there is something to be said about the way advertisement is often linked to art and design. Photography can be a beautiful medium, and I would never turn my back on a good PS image, but it couldn't hurt to employ a few artists to an advertising job and make good use of the printing press, could it?

Just don't look to me for the first design, unless you're attempting to sell stick figures.

Oh, and to my friends Circe and Luna - I owe you each a chocolate bar. You'll know why (nyan).