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Always Creative and a new site for Premium Draught

The Houston Egotist — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:06:02 +0000

Local

Two of my favorite things: Beer and good work. Thanks to Always Creative for sending their newest work for Premium Draught (and welcome to The Houston Egotist).

If you haven't been to PD's location in The Heights, then grab your growler and head over. Here's the link to see the work:

http://premiumdraught.com .

Museum of Natural Science is in denial

The Houston Egotist — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:45:49 +0000

Local

I think Oak Interactive does these, but not sure, anyways I've seen them around time and wondered what other people thought. Me? I don't get the whole "OWN IT" or the reason to have it be so bold? I saw one that had as a subhead "not your average pyramid scheme" is there a non-average pyramid scheme out there? This one seems to be an over used pun. Also, is it me or is this a bit wordy for an outdoor board?

Cannes big winner - "Dumb Ways to Die"

The Houston Egotist — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:52:29 +0000

National

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.

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

Temper-Pedic takes on the bear

The Houston Egotist — Wed, 29 May 2013 13:38:30 +0000

National

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.

Love's new spot for Houston Honda Dealers

The Houston Egotist — Tue, 28 May 2013 14:06:47 +0000

Local

Javier Moya joins LN

The Houston Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:46:29 +0000

Local

Lopez Negrete has announced that Javier Moya has joined the agency as their newest senior account executive.

Samsung Evolves TV and Husbands

The Houston Egotist — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:42:15 +0000

National

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.

R/C and a new TV Commercial for Mahindra

The Houston Egotist — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:54:54 +0000

Local

CHI & Partners adds Art Director

The Houston Egotist — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:47:10 +0000

Local

This was in my inbox this morning: "Houston Egotists, Just wanted to send a heads up that we added Kamal Collins from Tribal DDB to our creative team. All of us at CHI&Partners Houston are excited to add his talent, personality and passion to our agency."

Lopez adds to the team

The Houston Egotist — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:37:23 +0000

Local

Lopez Negrete has added Michael Yimmer, senior accountant; and Jonathan Diaz, associate creative director. Can you guess who is who?

@LoveAdv promotes two Account Services people

The Houston Egotist — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:31:49 +0000

Local

AIGA sent us a Portfolio Review update

The Houston Egotist — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:06:14 +0000

Local

On April 18th, 2013, top creatives and recruiters from 30 of Houston's top studios, agencies, and organizations met at the Heights Fire Station in Houston to review portfolios of design students and recent grads. The event, a cornerstone of AIGA Houston's programming since 2000, provides a venue where emerging designers can meet one-on-one with experienced art directors, creative directors and studio principals, to receive frank and candid critiques of their design portfolio.

Video courtesy of Khalil AbuSharekh
http://facebook.com/HakayaArt

AIGA Houston: Portfolio Review 2013 from AIGA Houston on Vimeo.

“No gays please, we’re advertising.”

The London Egotist 2 — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:15:49 +0000

Advertising is a pretty progressive industry. We like to think of ourselves as an enlightened bunch. Some of our best friends are gay. Hell – some people in advertising are actually gay. Seriously. And yet, we all seem reluctant or incapable of portraying same-sex lifestyles in our work.

There are gay creatives, planners, producers, directors, clients and actors. And yet in adland, it seems gays don’t need mortgages, don’t drive cars, brush their teeth, play bingo or use low-fat spreads as part of a calorie-controlled diet.

There’s no question we should include ethnic minorities in our advertising. Who would even dream of digging their heels in to preserve an all-Aryan cast? We’ll feature empowered women. Strong-willed kids. And moonwalking Shetlands. But where’s even the token homosexual? They can’t all be at G.A.Y. screaming for a Kylie encore – or in hiding, surreptitiously unpicking the very fabric of our society.

Did Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s child-catcher change tack and start prowling the streets playing Barbara Streisand from a float pulled by French bulldogs, loaded with rainbows and glitterballs?

Dropping the G-Bomb

Benetton have deliberately courted controversy over the years – some executions playing ‘agent provocateur’ with same-sex relationships as their political football. But why can’t gays feature in ads because they’re normal consumers who just happen not to be heterosexual?

Look, it wouldn’t take much to stand out a mile in the UK straight-acting ad-scene. Feature gays. Leading normal lives. Arguing over dog food, trying out sofas, comparing their car insurance, living out their later years with a private pension.

Ikea ran the first gay commercial ever aired on US television in 1994. It ran for a few weeks until there was a bomb threat at one of their stores and was subsequently pulled. Have we moved on since then?

It must seem alien for gays to see themselves represented in TV shows and films but have their very existence given the cold shoulder when the ad break arrives. The few examples I’ve seen just use homosexuality as the rug-pull, the reveal, the joke. “Oh I get it, she’s actually a lesbian.” Gag, packshot, endline. Cheap.

JC Penney vs One Million Moms

JC Penney in the US used Ellen deGeneres to front their campaign which led to a storm of protest spearheaded by a Christian group calling themselves One Million Moms. They wrote, “By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JC Penney is attempting to gain a new target market and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been faithful to them over all these years.”

So far, so predictable. But two silver linings emerged:

1: One Million turned to be a tiny fraction of that figure.
2: The backlash spawned its own backlash. The #StandUpForEllen campaign gained 50,000 signatures almost overnight and helped prompt JC Penney to er… ‘come out’ and say Ellen was their perfect brand ambassador.

In that distant land called real life, gay marriage is here. The Prime Minister – a Tory – is pushing for more rights for gays. And who’s to say he’s wrong?

Guinness made an infamous commercial portraying a gay couple back in 1995. It was ready to run, word got out, people were up in arms, the world was clearly going to end and the client lost their nerve. And in so doing, they compounded the very problem they set out to address.

Is it time for another try?

Papas and Papas

One recent exception is a Mamas and Papas campaign in the UK for their Urbo buggies, featuring heterosexual mums and dads, single-parents and a genuine gay couple and their little boy, Blu.

The press release states, “How We Roll celebrates the diversity and individualism that forms the makeup of the modern family, for whom parenting has simply become a positive extension of their current lifestyle.”

There have been mixed reactions. On Netmums, some are highly supportive – “The world is changing and it’s about time all loving parents are catered for in adverts” – while others chime in with not wanting to have this sort of thing “shoved in my face.” Freud would have a field day.

Even the gay community was sceptical. Were they being used simply as a PR stunt? Were the ads really running? It seems there are pitfalls and suspicion whatever your intentions.

Creatives want to create. We want to invent brand new stuff, never before seen. And yet there’s this vast expanse of unexplored territory: overlooked at best, taboo at worst.

It’s a rich, emotive area, surely. Love against all odds. Unconventional is cool, right? Overcoming prejudice, defying conventions, being true to yourself. You could have this space all to yourself. Column inches galore and plaudits for being progressive and well… real.

It doesn’t have to be gratuitous. No need to shock. In a way, the most shocking thing is that one of the most enlightened industries in the land is lagging so far behind the real world.

This post originally appeared on the DLKW Lowe blog >

AIGA Portfolio Review Tonight @AIGAHouston

The Houston Egotist — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:23:01 +0000

Local

AIGA Houston's PORTFOLIO REVIEW 2013 is an event where aspiring junior creatives sit down with the biggest names in Houston's design world for constructive, honest feedback about their portfolio and resume. This is the perfect opportunity to improve your work, refine your interview skills, and get the priceless advice you need to jump-start your career. This event is open to students and recent grads alike.

FEATURED REVIEWERS:
Marisa Avelar — Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (mfah.org)
Jennifer Blanco — Spindletop Design (spindletopdesign.com)
Robert Campbell – 808, Inc. (808inc.com)
Gayl Carlberg – Richards Carlberg (richardscarlberg.com)
Arick Chikiamco — Adcetera (adcetera.com)
Will Cunningham — BrandExtract (brandextract.com)
Dawn Diamond — DG Studio (dg-studios.com)
Roby Fitzhenry – Always Creative (alwayscreative.net)
Thomas Guerrero – Love Advertising (loveadv.com)
Daren Guillory — Tangelo Ideas (tangeloideas.com)
April Guzik — Keystone Resources (keystoneresources.com)
Amanda Hayes-Valentine – PH Design (phdesignshop.com)
Chris Hill — HILL (hillonline.com)
Stephanie Hood — Clearpoint Creative (clearpointco.com)
Sara Kilsby – Unleaded Communications (ulcomm.com)
Brandi Lalanne – MMI (mmiagency.com)
Chris Lockwood – Herring Design (herringdesign.com)
John Luu – Axiom (axiom.us.com)
Heston Miles – Hearst Media Services (imovedots.com)
Craig Minor – Minor Design (minordesign.com)
Kristin Moses – Deuce Creative (deucecreative.com)
Jim Mousner – Origin (originaction.com)
Michael Strickland – Michael Strickland Design (michaelstrickland.com)
Shane Strudwick – CHI & Partners Houston (chiandpartnershouston.com)
Kirsten Ufer – The Houston Zoo (houstonzoo.org)
Grace Rodriguez – Culture Pilot (culturepilot.com)
Chris Valdez – Primer Grey (primergrey.com)
Aimee Woodall – Black Sheep (theblacksheepagency.com)

Design At Work redesigns their website

The Houston Egotist — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:45:58 +0000

Local

http://www.designatwork.com

Inspiration vs Appropriation

The Houston Egotist — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:38:47 +0000

National

Nice rip off.

http://www.adamncompany.com/inspiration-vs-appropriation/

Lindsey Lichty joins CHI & Partners

The Houston Egotist — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:26:46 +0000

Local

This was sent in to us this morning: "We at CHI&Partners are excited to welcome Lindsey Lichty to the team as our newest Senior Account Manager. She brings a ton of talent and passion to the agency, and we look forward to adding more amazing people like her soon." Ms. Lichty was previously at FKM (thanks LinkedIn).

If your agency/firm/group has any news of note send it our way:
houston@theegotist.com

Did the client pay for this banner ad?

The Houston Egotist — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:43:52 +0000

Local

R/C wins Wingstop Agency of the Year

The Houston Egotist — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:23:29 +0000

Local

Congrats.

I'd shop here

The Houston Egotist — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 15:37:15 +0000

National