Courage

Decades from now, I hope that Nike’s “Courage” commercial that will be remembered the way Volkswagen’s “Think Small,” Wendys’ “Where’s the beef?” and Apple’s “1984” commercials are thought of now. Though not as “breakthrough” in terms of edginess and novelty, it creates timeless universality among viewers.

This television spot, produced by Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, was first broadcasted on national TV networks before the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The beauty of this advertisement is its appeal to all demographics- men and women, young and old of all races- brought together by sport.

The feelings evoked in this ad through competition and athleticism are not just found in sports- they are found in our every day lives. Dozens of images are shown in the ad. Scenes of power like Vasily Alexseyev, the “world’s strongest man,” is juxtaposed later by a scene of Derek Redmond, who tore his hamstring, unable to finish his race had it been for his father breaking through security to help him. Perhaps the most famous scenes of courage are those of Lance Armstrong during chemotherapy and later winning one of his seven Tour de Frances. You do not have to be an athlete for this to appeal to one’s sense of Pathos.

So what exactly is this TV spot promoting? There is no particular tangible product offered, nor is there a specific service shown to be paid for. The abstract service that this commercial is promoting is “courage,” and reminding people that when it is time for someone to “Just Do It,” Nike will be there. Whether “it” is your first marathon or your child’s first day of school, whether you’re an Olympic athlete or just a fan, Nike wants to be the brand in your mind when it comes down to accomplishing your goal with courage.


If you're interested in the other scenes from the commercial, visit www.nike.com/courage where it's broken down almost frame by frame.

"My City's Filthy"

Though I don't follow as closely as I did back in high school, I've always tried to keep up with Seattle's music scene. It’s been a couple years since I’ve even been to a show, actually, but I still make sure to buy the albums and support these local artists. One of which is Macklemore, who I've followed since he dropped his first album, The Language of My World, back in 2005 and have been waiting and wanting another one ever since. He recently released The Unplanned Mixtape and The Vs. EP as of late, which I enjoy. Also, I have been impressed with the use of social media as a way of promoting oneself. Thinking back, didn’t MySpace start out just for musicians?

I am continuously impressed by the creativity of Macklemore but his genius extends far beyond himself and his music. Zia Mohajerjasbi, who has also produced Blue Scholars and Common Market music videos, did an incredible job of using blogs/twitter/vimeo/youtube to promote the music video for Macklemore’s The Town. I like to dabble in the world of video editing, so I was very appreciative of Zia to post videos about the process of its creation. Not only was this informative, but it definitely built up a lot of anticipation for the final product. I would literally check daily to see if it was posted yet. The end result was extraordinary. Not only was the song great to start out with, but the cinematography itself really added to the experience. Kudos.


Also, Macklemore’s producer, Ryan Lewis is talented. The video Fake Empire is constructed wonderfully. Apparently, it was “shot entirely on regular SLR cameras (Canon 5D, Nikon D3, etc.), batch-edited in Photoshop and produced in Final Cut Pro.” I cannot believe the amount of meticulous work that went into the editing. Again, Kudos. I really urge everyone to take a look at these videos and the rest of their music. (Note Macklemore riding bikes along Alki Beach in Fake Empire- That's my 'hood!)

New York As An Ad Platform

I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in weeks. The week before last was my excursion to three markets for GoMobile, then I had a week of late nights playing catch up/studying for my final exams that were to take place the following week, Monday through Wednesday. My final on Wednesday finished at 10:00am, after which I proceeded to run home, hop in a car, and speed to the airport to catch my flight to NYC for phase 2 of the Duvel Green campaign. No rest for the weary, right? I’m currently on a plane to Dallas where I have to stay the night, due to snow delays on the east coast.

Upon my arrival in the Big Apple for the third time in five months, I started to wonder why it was such a big deal to have a strong campaign here in the City. New York is easily the most advertising induced city in the nation, maybe the world, but why is this? Studies vary in results, telling us that we experience between 1,000 to 6,000 ad impressions every day. I think it would be safe to say that a day in New York City would double that number. It’s everywhere: inside the subway trains, in the taxis, on the walls of almost every building, spoken to you by salespeople on the sidewalk- everywhere.

Then I thought about the demographic of New York City. It’s obviously historically diverse with Ellis Island as the portal into our country for millions of immigrants. But New York’s diverse composition hasn’t by any means slowed down. People still come from all corners of the globe to try and make it in the Big Apple. And those people are bound to share their experiences with not only those who they live with, but with those who still reside at their hometown. In a day where word of mouth and viral advertising are so prominent, a market like New York can be vital. Controlling the buzz that goes on in such a city can be tremendously powerful.

Even though most large cities are heterogeneous in composition, none are on the same level as New York. Few New Yorkers have actually lived there their whole lives, which is why I can see why making a single strong impression in the City is worth multiple impacts anywhere else. How handy it must be to have so many of the huge agency headquarters located on Madison Avenue in Manhattan!

Three cities + five days + zero sleep = Duvel Green

At the end of November I was presented with a pretty remarkable opportunity. At GoMobile, where I am currently an intern, our ad campaign for Duvel Green, an exclusive Belgian beer releasing a new line of draft to select markets, started to go underway. I approached Ryan, our marketing director, if there was any way I could become more involved in the implementation of the campaign. After talking with Sam, the AE in charge of the campaign, they came up with a proposition. What if me and the other intern were to fly to the three markets that the campaign was taking place in, New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco, and put up all of the posters for each of the featured bars? This would be taking place from November 30th through December 5th, which happens to be the week before “dead week,” the week before finals week, at the University of Washington. I was very leery to take almost an entire week off from school at the end of the quarter. It turned out that the other intern was not able to go, due to his school schedule, so I was left to bring one of my close college friends, Mats.

Before I knew it, we were both on a red eye flight to New York City Monday night. We got in with almost all of Tuesday to ourselves. I had spent a week in Manhattan the previous summer, so I felt relatively comfortable enough to show Mats around, who had never been to “The Big Apple.” We stayed right in Times Square at the Econolodge where for $150 per night, you get a 10’ x 10’ box, with optional room to breathe.

So first, naturally, we walked around Times Square and marveled at the hubbub and ridiculous displays. Later, we met up with my godparents who happen to be New Yorkers for a quick lunch at the Playwright. Afterwards we walked across by Rockefeller Plaza, watched the people ice-skating, and then headed up Fifth Avenue.Turns out that we had missed out on the Tree Lighting ceremony by about 5 hours. After stopping by the Apple store we took a stroll through the magnificent Central Park, which I am still blown away by. It’s pretty incredible that such a park can exist within such a metropolis. I remember how back in the summer there would be pickup softball games being played while businessmen watched as they took their lunch breaks.
We then met up with Mats’ uncle who previously worked for Ogilvy & Mather, and currently works for Charlie Company. He and I chatted ad careers and the direction of the industry, while he and Mats caught up on family and career business as well. After getting a cheap dinner at a pizzeria on the side of the street, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for our night.

Starting at about 9:00pm, we had 25 bars in New York to visit (two were in Brooklyn, the rest in Manhattan) and put up posters promoting the Duvel Green as the first wave of the campaign. These “wild postings” were to be put within a couple blocks of each bar on buildings that were easily visible by foot traffic and unlikely to be taken down. Ideal buildings were well kept but vacant storefronts within a close vicinity of the bar. All in all, we visited 25 bars from 9pm to 6:30am, utilizing every mean of transportation- subway, bus, taxi and a lot of walking. A lot of walking. All down the mid- to lower Eastside and all the way up the Westside. Once we finished, we got about a four-hour nap before we had to get up and head to JFK for our flight to Chicago.

Now I had never been to Chicago and had always heard great things about the city, so I was pretty excited to go. As of now, I am hoping to spend my upcoming summer interning somewhere relatively far from Seattle. Chicago had been one of the places I was considering due to its industry opportunities and quality of life. The first thing we realized when we got it, was that it really was the Windy City. And it was cold. It had been cold in New York, but this was like night and day. On our way back from dinner that night, it started to snow, which I was partially excited for (I love the holiday season and everything that goes along with it) yet very unexcited due to us having to be out all night in the snow. We started our night putting posters up along the Magnificent Mile. Unfortunately once the snow stopped, rain took its place. Just our luck. Putting up posters in the rain and strong wind is a perfect recipe for disaster and frustration. Luckily we persevered and got all eleven locations complete. Due to how much they were spread out, we actually ended up taking taxis from location to location. We ended up finding a super cool cabbie after we posted by Brasserie Jo, who took us to our next three or four locations. He was a sociable Ghanaian who really got into it with us, point out good locations and acting as our watchman for police and hecklers.

We went back and slept in until about ten in the morning. We could’ve slept in, but we had almost a whole day to experience a city we had never been to! Our flight to San Francisco didn’t take off until 9:00 that night.

First we walked from the North end of Lincoln Park, South down by the water and then on to the Magnificent Mile. Between Lincoln Park and where the Magnificent Mile starts, however, was a small neighborhood of houses that I was completely blown away by. They were so old, elegant and well kept. One was actually for sale so Mats, never one to be shy, called them up to inquire. We guessed upwards of millions, but unfortunately the agent wasn’t available.


We then did some window-shopping and came across a street team doing a sidewalk promotion outside of the Gap, for the Gap. It attracted a lot of passersby, including the attention of the police who had to ask them to make more room for pedestrians. It kind of reminded me of some of the stuff that GoMobile has done and continues to offer its clients, including Duvel. Our goal for our escapade was to find ourselves a local Chicago-style pizzeria. We stumbled upon Pizzeria Uno, which was exactly what we were looking for. A great pizza place/bar with local drafts on tap and the deepest pizza I had ever eaten. The pizza pan’s lip was at least two inches tall! And it sure was delicious. After gorging ourselves it was time to visit the previous night’s bars to get some daytime footage of the postings, including pictures and video. We actually had bought a Flip Video recorder just for the trip, which proved to work quite well.

We then headed back to O’Hare for our flight to San Francisco, which got in at about 11:30pm. Good thing it didn’t get delayed since we were lucky enough to take the last BART Train up to where we were staying. The plan was to start posting immediately upon our arrival to our hotel. Now I had been to San Francisco multiple times, but I was still kind of unsure of any area besides Downtown/North Beach/Fisherman’s wharf (yes, all the touristy parts). We got off the BART at the 16th & Mission station, which, when traveled by foot at 12:30 am, can tend to be a pretty sketchy area. We hurried to our hotel, checked in, and hit the streets. Since we were starting so late in San Francisco, we would divide the 15 locations up between two nights, which was a relief.

The next day we decided we decided to visit one of the bars and do some investigating to see whether this niche, “beer connoisseur” market really exists. At Toronado, we had a chat with the bartended who had worked there for the past 20 years of the bar’s 22 year existence. He told us that the beer had been selling pretty well. He informed us that the bottled original Duvel was actually better, “more bubbly and higher alcohol percentage.” Then, a picture perfect coincidence occurred. Two young 25-30 year old women walked up and sat next to us at the bar. Without any hesitation, one requested “two Duvel Greens, please.” I couldn’t believe our luck. We start talking to them to see what they know about the product. She proceeds to inform me, “You know, it’s only sold at fifteen of the bars here in the city.” Who would have thought we would run into someone so well informed! I was so surprised. Upon leaving, we asked if we could keep one of the signature glasses, but unfortunately they only had four left due to “about five breaking every Friday night.”

After this little encounter, we decide to go downtown. We ended up taking a cable car, which I had wanted to do for quite some time. We walked around Union Square, down through Chinatown, and had lunch in Little Italy. Mats ordered pizza for the third time this trip; only this time, it was quite Italian. In fact, it even had a fried egg in the center of it, which made him somewhat unsure of how to go about eating it. After showing him Lombard street, (the world’s most curvy street) and Fisherman’s wharf, it was time to head back to the hotel to prepare for the night.

We finished that night successfully as well. And after another morning nap, we were off to the San Francisco Airport to head back to my beloved Seattle. Something that I had really noticed, however, was San Francisco’s homelessness. Being exposed to it my whole life, I am more than aware of Seattle’s problem, especially around Pioneer Square and other parts of downtown, and I thought we had it bad. But San Francisco made our homeless issue look trivial in comparison. I wondered why exactly this is. I know that San Fran has an incredibly diverse, eclectic history, as does Seattle, but taking New York City into comparison; you would think that NYC would have it much worse off. I am, however aware of New York City’s programs offered to those on the streets. My godparents once informed me that all the people who sweep, clean, etc. the streets of New York, were all once homeless, but are then almost forced to get these jobs to work for a place to stay. Homelessness just isn’t tolerated there- it’s the city’s mindset.

Anyways- I digress from time to time. Looking back, this trip was very successful for the campaign, which is still underway, and for myself as a student eager to travel. I had quite a bit of make up work to do upon my return, but I completed it all successfully. In fact, I just finished my last final exam this morning which brings me to where I am now: on a Boeing 737 on my way to New York City again, to help implement phase two of the Duvel Green campaign. Only this time we won’t be putting up posters throughout the entire night. Instead, we will be attending a few meetings and monitoring the street teams, flash mobs, and making sure we get good photo and video footage for ourselves and the client. Hopefully I’ll have some time to do some shopping because there’s 8 days until Christmas and I haven’t bought a single gift yet! I was surprised I was asked by GoMobile to come along for round two, but it certainly was a pleasant surprise- I am really beginning to see why New Yorkers love the city for what it really is, not just a tourist’s perspective. And yes, it’s true that I cannot get Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind out of my head.

Let's all love to be soccer/social

Today was a huge day for me in the sporting world. France had to play one more game, the second leg, against Ireland, to qualify for the World Cup. Since they won the first leg away, 1-0, all they had to do was tie to move on. Unfortunately, they lost in regulation time, bringing it to overtime due to the aggregate scoring system. The unfortunate fact was that I was unable to watch this game, due to class at the same time! Now, I'm naturally a very attentive student, but being left in the dark was killing me! Since I rarely bring my laptop to class, it was iPhone to the rescue! The combination of the ESPN app's live game cast and reading what people were tweeting via Twitterrific, I was able to keep updated on the score and what people were saying about the game they were watching. In the end, France ended up winning off of a controversial goal, prompting angry, explicit tweets from Irish and the anti-French alike. I digress.

Once out of class, I immediately pulled out my iPhone yet again to youtube the controversial goal, no more than an hour of it actually happening. After viewing the clip it hit me- what a wireless, connected world we live in. Over the past months at my current internship, I have really learned to value and utilize today's social media and wirelessness in the advertising realm. I'm constantly reading articles about how we're being affected by it, but rarely do I stop and analyze myself and how my own actions are affected by something so abstract.

To some, being proficient in social media is a symbol to show that they are up to date and contemporary. To others it's a simply a useful tool. I was ending eighth grade when I started my MySpace account. Back then, it was nothing more than a place to basically write public notes and prove that you really were "friends" for every one to see. After all, I was only 14, and all you could do was have 8 pictures, comment on walls, and change the HTML of your page- something I was better at back then than I am now. Besides MySpace being surpassed by Facebook back in 2008, look at the changes that have occurred in just six years. Who would have thought that you would be able to manage ALL of your social networks, order food, or buy movies all from your phone, no wi-fi required. Taking it a step further, the cross-product integration is amazing. Take the app, "Shazam," for example. When a song comes on that sounds familiar, but you can't quite remember the title, or who sings it, "tag" it. Shazam will then find the title, artist and album for you. Not only that, but you're then presented with the options to buy it via the iTunes store, view the artist's discography, tweet about it, post it to your Facebook wall, view it on YouTube or send it as a "postcard" via email.

The affect social media has on the advertising industry is immense. The average American is said to experience over 3,000 impressions every day. For avid Facebook users, the social networking site may contribute a substantial portion to this. Every page you load has a new set of advertisements chosen specifically for you, based on what you have on your page. Even though they all have the same placement and are somewhat uniform, my attention is still grabbed when I see an ad for tickets to the MLS Cup that's being played in Seattle on Sunday (I already have tickets, suckers). The amount of information stored via sites like Facebook is incredible. However, there are others who think outside of the box, when it comes to advertising on Facebook. Ikea did an excellent job in Sweden. Definitely check it out on AdAge's Creativity website.

Some of you may be disappointed, saying to yourselves, "Come on, Laurent- we knew all of this already!" But it's something I think most are conscious of nowdays, but rarely realize how it is actually influencing our actions. I read a recent AdWeek article, which stated that according to Deloitte’s 24th annual Holiday Survey, "seventeen percent of U.S. consumers plan to leverage social media sites to assist in their holiday shopping this year. The majority (60 percent) will do so to seek discounts and sales." Social media for Christmas shopping?! Only a few years ago, this statement would seem ridiculous, but it's becoming the norm. I'll be real- the only reason I didn't do this entire blog from my phone is that my thumbs get tired easily... maybe there's a thumb strengthening app?

Change Happens, But Embrace The Positives That Don't

Though I may be young, I have lived my entire life here in Seattle, and have developed quite a knack for being able to tell when the city has changed. It’s even easier to tell when parts of West Seattle, the neighborhood I grew up in, have changed. Though I go to school 15 minutes away from home, I really don’t go home that often. However, I did last Friday, and within five minutes of being across the bridge, I already notice new things like the new QFC that has opened up in the Alaska Junction where mom and pop’s “Crazy Mike’s Video” used to be. A “Zeek’s Pizza” had taken over one of the local bars in the Morgan Junction as well. After seeing this, I took a drive along Beach Drive, Alki Avenue and Harbor Avenue and documented some of the most memorable places I’ve spent time.

I stopped at one of my favorite restaurants of all time, La Rustica. It has such a great atmosphere on the inside and outside. The park across the street is great as well. I was fortunate enough to catch the owner, Giulio Pelligrini, for a quick chat. He said that even through the recession has been affecting a lot of neighboring businesses, they hadn't seen a decline in business.


Next I stopped at the park next to the 3717 condos right as the sun was setting. I would love to own one of those one day- what a beautiful view. I heard that after they were built, an ordinance was made to where no more condos in the area could be built in the same matter to a certain extent. I cannot remember who told me that, so I cannot vouch for its validity.











It went on and on all along Beach Drive, Alki, and Harbor Ave. I checked out the new Pegasus Pizza and its old, vacant location next door. Across the street and down a bit is the newly renovated Statue of Liberty area which looks much, much better. Pepperdock's burgers were calling my name but I was strong and stayed clear since I had just eaten. Sometimes I take living in such a beautiful place for granted, but it's times like these that make me realize how fortunate I am.

Happy Sounders Day?

So according to Mayor Nickels, October 29th is now Seattle Sounders FC day according to his proclamation. He did bring up some good points for which I'm very proud of our Sounders for, and especially proud of our fans. At Qwest Field, we had an average attendance of over 30,000 people, which is apparently the best in MLS history. I was proud to be apart of it all. Having season tickets, I only missed two games.

As for their first playoff game itself, I was very impressed with our performance. Most notably, Nate Jaqua had a tremendous game, coming close to scoring multiple times. Ljungberg stepped up and created some excellent opportunities. It was too bad Marshall wasn't able to play- I enjoy seeing him running the back line. Am I the only one who thinks the officiating was inconsistent from both ends? Ending with a draw sure was painful though, especially playing at home. I sure have faith for them in Houston this Sunday. Unforunately the only channel it's being televised on, (through DirecTV, at least) is Fútbol MLS #408, which I doubt I get. I guess I will just watch the gamecast on ESPN.com. I'll leave you with one of my favorite commercials ever, by 72andSunny. Check it out- very entertaining and creative, even if you aren't a soccer fan.

P.S. Happy Halloween

Hello, World!

Starting a blog can be an intimidating thing to do. Especially when you feel like you’re the only one who doesn’t have one. At the beginning of my sophomore year I only had a Facebook account. Then I made the stretch to Twitter. I know it's kind of a "faux pas" to do this, but I'm primarily an observer, rather than a contributor. But what a great way of staying connected, right? I was prompted to start this blog after meeting with Larry Asher of the School of Visual Concepts here in Seattle to get advice on my advertising endeavors. Trying to reach out over almost every web network sure can be demanding! More to come soon!