The Austin Egotist RSS Feed

Two Thousand and Thirteen Stripes

The Austin Egotist Too — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:29:13 +0000

National

Austin design entrepreneurs UnderConsideration have a new initiative they are calling UC.Prints. The first run of posters commemorates American Independence Day 2013 with a clever puzzle involving the flag.

See images here, and get one while they last here.

Creative Work Wanted for New Build at Austin Airport

The Austin Egotist Too — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:14:31 +0000

National

Attention creative people. According to Culture Map, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is expanding, and Art in Public Places (AIPP) is looking to keep the new section weird with designs and artwork.

They are placing a national call to commission a professional. This is not a small time pro-bono project. This is a chance to make a mark and earn some well deserved recognition.

AIPP is hosting an information session for anyone interested. The meeting will be at 2:30pm on Monday, June 17, and will be simulcast as an interactive webinar. Check in with AIPP during their office hours for assistance.

Check out the Culture Map article here.

BBQ Sauce Typography

The Austin Egotist Too — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:32:58 +0000

Local

This is a little late, but great nonetheless. The lettering on the cover of the current Texas Monthly BBQ issue is hand painted from the top joint's (Aaron Franklin's) BBQ sauce. Why don't they do this every year?

Check out the video here.

Playing with Barbecue Sauce from Texas Monthly on Vimeo.

Freed Motion Looking for Help with Business Development, Marketing

The Austin Egotist Too — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:48:24 +0000

National

Here's an opportunity to work remotely for a quickly growing business.

Check it out in the recent jobs.

The Integer Group, Assembling: Creative Group Lead

The Austin Egotist Too — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:41:40 +0000

National

The Integer Group® ISN’T hiring. According to this job posting, they’re assembling the best collection of talent imaginable to create brilliant marketing solutions for our global clients.

Check it out in the jobs board.

When Brand Building Becomes Personal

The Austin Egotist — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 17:38:02 +0000

Jared Dunten is a lot of things. Copywriter. Artist. Father. Husband. Paraplegic. Fighter. That last one probably should have come first.

In 2000, Jared dove into the Rio Grande, on the Texas/Mexico border. He woke up days later in a hospital 400 miles away. He’d broken his neck and injured his spinal cord.

Doctors said he’d be lucky to breathe on his own again. Walking? Best to forget about that. But the doctors underestimated him.

In the 13 years since the accident, Jared has been fighting his way back, starting with breathing on his own. Then months of rehabilitation. He returned to Austin, resumed his job as a copywriter at GSD&M. Became an accomplished painter using only his mouth. Got married. Had twins.

All the while he’s been fighting paralysis, and fighting the notion that he and others with spinal chord injuries will never walk again.

He’s become an advocate and activist by doing what he knows best – building brands – taking the skills he learned in the advertising world and applying them to his fight. He started with Will Walk www.willwalk.org, a foundation which uses art and film to create awareness about paralysis.

And he’s not doing it alone. He’s pulling in people from other areas of the industry to help him create and promote this “brand.” The Butler Bros., Marty and Adam, are longtime friends of Jared. They both had large-agency gigs but left ten years ago to explore more innovative ways to tell brand stories. www.thebutlerbros.com

They’ve applied their unique approach to a film that uses Jared’s story to encourage people to be more vocal about spinal injury research. See the trailer here: http://bbros.co/willwalk

No Rubbernecking. Avoid the Marketing Technology Collision.

Tue, 28 May 2013 15:59:59 +0000

There is a constant collision happening every day in marketing. It's the collision between marketing and corporate IT.

And those constant collisions create a bottleneck for innovation, speed to market and adaptive marketing.

Today's marketing is more than just strategy and creative. It also involves technology and the utilization of technology to deliver a marketing message. It's not just about being innovative, but leveraging innovation as an early adopter or first-mover.

And that's where the tension happens.

Think about the tension points: marketing is about agility. IT is about consistency. Marketing is about innovating and taking risks. IT is about stability and mitigating risks. Marketing is about shifting and adapting. IT is about consistency and policy.

A bigger question to ask is who owns marketing innovation via technology within a company today? If you ask, many will answer the final decision lies within the IT team.

And that is where the problem lies. Marketing technology decisions should not just be made by IT, as it should be a collaborative business decision that is led and driven by the CMO.

With growth and progression comes change. And a change in the decision making process is what's needed. Today's innovative marketing campaigns should no longer be limited by current-to-outdated IT policies and procedures. And with today's technology of APIs, web services, SaaS, PaaS, and open-source social, web and ecommerce platforms, they no longer have to be.

I've worked alongside some amazing IT teams over the years and found the common factor each team had was the ability to adapt their policies and procedures to implement and support new marketing innovations and technologies. Rather than just providing marketing teams and external agency/development partners with a list of functional requirements, they instead partnered with the marketing teams to help provide immediate solutions.

It's no coincidence these companies have become leaders in the use of marketing technology and have increased market share in their given categories.

But not all companies have this advantage. And marketers have to understand their culpability by advancing their expertise in understanding technology. Develop a passion for understanding software development. Understand how to lead, drive and push the IT group when it comes to marketing technology and innovation. And understand how technical platform decisions affect not just their marketing business, but their overall business when it comes to omni-channel revenue, ROI and a multi-device consumer experience.

Marketing technology can no longer be a decision made by a separate team within the organization. Marketing technology now has a direct impact on the success of your marketing programs, your consumer experience, and your brand itself.

Gene Paek is the principal of Ideate Digital, a digital collaboration service that partners with marketing agencies and companies to lead them in the digital marketing space by unifying strategy, creative and technology together. Connect with him: gpaek@ideatedigital.com or Twitter @gpaek.

The Integer Group is hiring an Art Director

The Austin Egotist Too — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:34:55 +0000

National

Check the jobs board for details here.

Dear Jr Creative, Earn Your Place. You’ll Be Better For It.

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:32:43 +0000

Dear Jr Creative,

I’m a firm believer in earning your keep, starting from the bottom, doing the less than desirable well, before moving up.

Prove yourself on what seemingly matters little, and people will notice. I promise.

At the very least, I promise I’ll notice. Because it’s the unorthodox grind of a route I took.

I was a rich kid from the suburbs. I was embarrassed by it. I hated it. It was a 90’s thing.

In High School, and in Gen-X “rebellion” against my white collar family, I worked for the Las Vegas Water District doing underground construction.

I dug ditches and changed water lines during the Vegas Summer for 8 dollars an hour. Not desirable work. And the guys I worked with could smell the rich kid on me. They busted my balls mercilessly for it.

I dug the shit out of those ditches. I loved it. I used my hands. I used heavy machinery and pneumatic tools—I drove a dump truck (which is awesome by the way).

All I wanted was the respect of these old guys changing water lines in the desert. Dudes that worked so fucking hard. For so fucking little. To feed their families; their addictions; their gambling debts.

Eventually, I’d earned a bit of respect.

I worked hard…”for a skinny rich kid.”

One day I mentioned to the crew lead: “Fuck it. I like this. Why not full time?”.

He pulled the truck over to the shoulder of a mountain road, heading North towards Mt. Charleston, looked deep into my face, “Every single one of us would give the world NOT to be here. Stop your blue collar charade. Go to school like you’re supposed to. Get out of this shit.”

So I did.

That was my last of three summers working for the water district.

I went to school for business. Marketing & Advertising to be exact. Which, aside from teaching me some business basics, really just help develop my aptness for bullshit.

Luckily for me, somewhere along the line, I learned a real skill and about this thing called the “Internet.” It was a place I could upload the photos I was taking (and developing in a darkroom, btw). I learned some Photoshop and HTML skills because of it. Eventually, I started freelancing: horrible graphic design and web work. Whatever I could get—fucking rave fliers, man. I just wanted to learn. The beer money was the gravy on top.

My first “real” job out of college was resizing graphics for an eCommerce company. I showed up for the interview on my skateboard, handed the HR lady my resume and said, “I’ll take anything. I know Photoshop. Here’s my book.” I didn’t even know what a “designer” was. But that’s why I was there. And by no means was I a designer; Photoshop monkey…maybe.

Ninety people had been laid off a month prior to me being brought on. I was the first hire after those layoffs and in the eyes of everybody…I was “that guy…”

I was at the bottom of the totem pole. Where I belonged.

The only thing I had going for me was a fear of “sucking.” And for the record, I sucked. (Certainly compared to the kids I see today).

“…good enough to resize graphics” was what I overheard the Creative Director say, just around the corner.

So I resized graphics. I resized the shit out of graphics, learning to code HTML along the way. I unlearned what I learned in business school. And learned…business. I developed site and page concepts for fun. Always showing my boss. Wanting critique. Always trying to get better. People noticed. He noticed. I gained more and more responsibility and more importantly, trust. Never begging for more money. Just wanting to do more work, better work.

To not suck.

Eventually, I took over as Creative Lead. I redesigned both KBToys.com and eToys.com. Enterprise level eCommerce stuff. Real businesses, making real money. I thought the designs were pretty damn good for the early 00’s. Some of the first .com’s to switch to 1024x768. We won some eCom industry awards. It moved product. I thought I was hot shit.

I was far from it.

Fast forward a decade and I’m blown away by the level of talent that’s out there. Kids today come out of school with so much fucking skill it’s crazy. But with all of that skill, in so many, there is equal-to-more parts hubris. An entitled attitude that seems to expect everything for nothing.

Somewhere, along the lines, we (everyone) got sensitive. We started giving trophies for last place. People forgot how to take criticism. We started (and continue) to want to spare people from the realities of what it really takes. Close counts. Thanks for trying. Better luck next time—even worse—Fail Harder.

I hate this phrase more than anything.

“Fail Harder” is a manifesto for the delusional, the lazy—the lotto dreamer.

Celebrating failure is a cop out. Be pissed that you fucked up—when you lose. And know why.

Fail “Smarter” maybe. But failing hard is for losers.

Industry-wise, we covet the idea. Not its realization, it’s viability.

“I want to be an AD. But I don’t write and I don’t design. I’m an idea guy”

“No, no, no, i’m a UX guy. I don’t do wires and I don’t do finished design. I just explore interaction concepts.”

“I want to be a CD. But I don’t like talking with clients.”

“My new Web 3.0 business concept doesn’t have a revenue model—it’s like Instagram but with animated gifs of kittens.”

Ideation in a clientless vacuum; devoid the realities of real life (inside an agency or any company for that matter). Feasibility. Budgets. Client bureaucracies. The fact is that big ideas take time to sell. They die. They have to be reborn. And that it’s your role to breath the life back in. But only if you really give a shit.

The “idea” is the tip of a gigantic, shit stained iceberg of work. And if you aren’t ready for what it takes, or worse, you think “that it’s someone else’s job” to push your idea from ether to reality—reconsider your profession.

My advice is simple: don’t be the entitled kid. The kid who over indexes in ambition but lacks any real passion—any real drive other than a new title at a new agency.

Be the kid who wants to learn even when he doesn’t have to—the designer who wants to learn to write, to code, to understand business because it makes the design better.

Don’t be an industry douche. They call themselves ninjas or gurus…even evangelists. They’re the ones who will tell you, to your face, that they are smarter than the other guy. They’re the ones who have stopped reading by now.

Don’t be the kid who hops around. Don’t be the kid, who, when given the chance, will opt for the bare minimum. Who scoffs at perspective. The kid who will jeopardize the team to spare his fragile ego. The kid, who, when faced with a situation that gets difficult, says “I’m too good for this kind of work. I deserve better.”

Nobody deserves shit. Until you do. And even then, never admit it.

I’m now the old guy. I get it…

I’m not saying you need to go out and work construction. But it’s good to know where you don’t want to be. And understand why.

I know I don’t want to resize graphics anymore. Why? Well…because it sucks.

But I’ll still dig the shit out of a ditch.

- Dave

I should note, that my teen “rebellion” against my Father was laughably ironic. My dad was blue collar. A cowboy who changed tires on big rigs before finishing college and becoming who he is today.

Behind my teen angst, unbeknownst to me all that time, I was trying to be just like him.

What a silly little rich kid.

David Snyder is Executive Creative Director at Firstborn. Living in Brooklyn. He likes progressive thought, design and technology. He eats and libates well. This editorial original posted on Medium.

He's Destined for a Commercial

The Denver Egotist — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:04:53 +0000

National

Grab him up.

Subway Riders Get a Demo of Just How Fast Fastweb's Internet Service Is

The Denver Egotist — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:07:30 +0000

National

Get on in Milan. Get off in Tokyo, Japan — or a place designed to resemble it. Really like how far they took the details.

An Ad for Docs that Can Only Be Heard Through a Stethoscope

The Denver Egotist — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:22:09 +0000

National

Africa Health Placements sent a direct mail package out to foreign doctors to recruit them to work in Africa. But rather than a brochure that could easily be thrown away, they found an innovative advertisement strategy that would only be heard by doctors. In order to hear the ad, you need a stethoscope. Really nice idea.

Via

Good New VW Spots from Deutsch LA

The Denver Egotist — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:09:28 +0000

National

Really like what these guys are doing. Hope it's selling cars.

The Hop Farmers, Our Heroes

The Denver Egotist — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:57:06 +0000

National

How to Spend $275 Million in 48 Minutes: Three Super Bowl Ad Trends for 2013

joshhogan — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:54:20 +0000

Want to watch $275 Million get spent in 48 minutes? Just tune into CBS at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday to see one of America's greatest primetime displays of violence, debauchery and poor impulse control. And I'm not talking about the Super Bowl…

I'm talking about the Super Bowl ads.

In all seriousness, these days it's no surprise that independent research year after year continues to show that over half of U.S adult viewers plan to watch the Super Bowl as much, or more, for the ads than for the game itself. In fact, social listening measurement findings suggested that in 2012 64% of respondents said that half or more of their conversations online with respect to the Super Bowl were about the commercials themselves.

With the average investment of $4 Million on the line for a 30-second spot, it's no wonder why the CMOs of many of these advertisers are looking to squeeze their investment for every penny.

There are three standout trends that have continued to proliferate the Super Bowl ad space for the last several years (and by all accounts will continue even more in 2013).

01. Online Ad Preview and Teasers

Online Ad Previews and Teasers are becoming more of the norm. VW made the most famous splash last year with its Star Wars parodies that received over 56 Million hits after allwas said and done, largely in part to the pre-release of the spotson YouTube.

This year's early winner goes to the Kate Upton Mercedes spot, which in one week gained over 5 Million views (and counting).

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Humbling news as, by this author's account, this is one of the more ridiculously off-brand spots I've ever seen. Given the fact that the CLA won't even be available for the next 7 months, the brand needs lasting impression and awareness. Regardless of the substance, it's clear that Mercedes knows the value of online traction and will do whatever it takes, no matter how low-brow, to get an early lead among its rivals.

Regarding the idea of Super Bowl teasers, the concept is simple,but the debate still rages on about whether or not the big reveal should be saved for the big game. While we don't promote a "one size fits all" approach to advertising, and I'm sure there are errors to the rule, it's hard to argue with the facts. Mashable reports, "According to YouTube's research, ads that ran online before the Super Bowl last year got 9 Million views, on average. Those that waited? 1.3 Million." With, on average, three times as many views online over broadcast, many could argue that the real winner in all of this is actually YouTube.

02. Ads for Social Democracy

Ads by social democracy are becoming more common in 2013. While Doritos pioneered the concept with their user-generated ads in the past few years, this year we are seeing a greater variety of the concept. For instance, one of the biggest brands in the world, Budweiser, has finally launched a Twitter account in its name. The brand, which had a little more than 600 followers Monday morning, is using the account to promote its upcoming Super Bowl ad, which will feature a Clydesdale foal via their Twitter hashtag campaign. Pepsi is also using their site and Twitterto recruit some of their fans to strike a pose with their can before their half-time show.

But, the big pre-game winners in 2013 seem to be the "choose your own adventure" style ads from Audi and Coke. In what Audi says is a Super Bowl first, they recorded separate endings for their "Prom Night"commercial, and are compiling social votes where the audience chooses the ending. Coke created cokechase.comto tease their spots by highlighting three different sets of teams who are all racing to win a giant coke in the desert. The team with the most votes online will get their spot aired right after the game.

03. Second Screen

This year, more viewers than ever will be watching on a second screen. Now in real-time, technology allows brands to engage with the viewing public on their mobile phone or tablet during the event. For instance, Yahoo's Into_Now pioneered app technology that augments the second screen experience by using the unique audio digital signature in a television show topickup, and serve up, content directly related to that show. CBS estimates ad revenue alone from their second screen engagement to be between $10-$12 Million. Being able to interact with stats,player bios, team formations, highlights and social aspects is an essential part of any second screen approach for the sports enthusiast.

Regardless of all of the hype, a few certainties remain. The Super Bowl represents one of the highest risk: reward ratios in advertising. Because of this, marketers are getting smarter by using not only the right tools, but also the right content to get the consumer's attention. Disintermediation is taking effect and the consumer is finally starting to see large-scale control of and connection with their favorite brands. As our society gets more social and mobile, so does the advertising.

Needless to say, as an advertiser, I am thankful for the Super Bowl. If not for any other time during the year - the Super Bowl gives us an annual magnified window into the progress of advertising. With so much attention to the commercials, it almost makes me feel sorry for the guys on the field.

Almost.

Originally posted on the Rodgers Townsend blog.

App Makes the Physical Newspaper Relevant to Children in Tokyo

The Denver Egotist — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:00:56 +0000

National

The Tokyo Newspaper, aka Tokyo Shimbun, and Dentsu Tokyo have created an augmented reality app that "translates" stories from the newspaper into a child-friendly format. Replete with cartoon-character commentary on stories, headlines (pop-ups) and child-friendly text, the app makes it easier for children to understand what's on the printed page. Nice way to make things relevant to the new generation — and breathe new life into old media.

Via

Cyberpunk 2077 Game Debut Trailer

The Denver Egotist — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:46:40 +0000

National

Video game makers sure know how to get video game players to drool.

Subaru Demos Their New Collision Avoidance System in the Cutest Way Possible

The Denver Egotist — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:24:07 +0000

National

Subaru's ‘EyeSight’ technology — basically a collision avoidance system powered by tiny depth sensitive cameras — was outfitted on a host of mini electric cars, along with sfx. Then they put them to work in a giant warehouse. Love this.

Via

Gameboy retro tunes are making a comeback

The Austin Egotist — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:46:43 +0000

National

There is now a subculture of the techno music world that is based around the 8 bit tunes of our childhood handheld obsessions. The phenomenon is called 'Chip Music' and the video below is a trailer for a documentary about this genre called 'Europe in 8 Bits' by Javier Polo. Imagine jamming out in some basement bar to the Pokemon theme and you will have a better understanding of this interesting music.

'Europe in 8 Bits' Javier Polo

"Internet Explorer Sucks Less" says Internet Explorer

The Austin Egotist — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:38:34 +0000

National

In the wake of Internet Explorer's dubstep 'wannabe' face-melting campaign the brand has begun to respond to all the haters out there. The message here is that progress doesn't happen overnight and that the company is working hard to improve. A pretty good idea, but will it make people switch from chrome...probs not.

Axe is doubling up on their babe dimensions

The Austin Egotist — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:03:24 +0000

National

Axe's newest effort from Buenos Aires allows you to choose the sexy lady you experience by implementing stereoscopic technology. Close one eye and you get a youthful girl next door. Close the other and you watch a "mature" sultry female (who is still pretty young.) Try it!

Social Media is scary big

The Austin Egotist — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:42:53 +0000

National

This video is pretty nuts and makes me really sad to be one of the men making up the 3% on pinterest. Also for all you hipsters out there, it is ironically generating traditional media, aka Books.

Thanks to local agency McGarrah Jessee for the tweet
Equalman Productions

The school of life.

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 21:38:29 +0000

Yesterday a reader asked us "how do you get into advertising?", our knee jerk reaction was to ship them off to the nearest ad school for a year or so.

Then they told us more about their experiences to date and what a fascinating life they had lived. And as all of us forget from time to time, education is just a base foundation, life is what moulds you into an interesting creative person, ultimately making you more employable than the next guy or gal.

This trending video from Mondo Endruo below seemed an appropriate fit for this editorial.

George Takei covers Aerosmith for Old Navy, Oh My.

The Austin Egotist — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:12:03 +0000

National

Old Navy's star studded campaign rolls on with one of our favorite all around people and internet guru George Takei. Taking a page out of Michael Bay's travesty, Armageddon, George is promoting deals at Old Navy that rival Steve Buscemi's 'space dimensia' in madness. Good stuff from CP+B.

The Nerdery Launches The Nerd Drive: A Recruiting Campaign to Hire 100 Nerds in 100 Days

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:44:35 +0000

National

The Nerdery has its headquarters in Minnesota, where the unemployment rate is two percent below the national average — but the jobless rate is miniscule everywhere among skilled web professionals. Bottom line: The Nerdery needs more Nerds — and eventually, maybe all of them. For now, The Nerdery is rallying the community at-large to support its Nerd Drive to hire 100 Nerds in 100 days.

Anyone referring a nerd they know will earn $100 if their referral gets an interview — and their referral bonus grows to $500 after their nerd has worked 90 days for The Nerdery. Much like a PBS member drive, thank-you gifts for supporters will escalate in value. Anyone who simply refers a nerd will be sent an “I Love Nerds” pocket protector; they’ll be rewarded with a mug if their referral follows through and applies for a Nerdery job.

With offices in Minneapolis, Chicago and Kansas City, The Nerdery has made Inc. magazine’s list of fastest growing private companies in its first five years of eligibility, and has roughly doubled its staff and revenue almost every year since its founding by three programmers in 2003.

We do indeed love our Nerds locally, but this seems like a genuine opportunity for Nerd bliss — or at least for you to get some shiny swag out of referring a Nerd The Nerdy's way. Give it a look.