I had one of those days that  had the potential to spin out of control and crash, but through dumb luck each problem mostly resolved itself before the next one started, and by 10am, everything was peachy. It’s not so often that crises are so considerate with their timing.

===

No coffee…totally my fault.

At 6am, the garage door refused to open.

Torrential rain made the normally light traffic ridiculously heavy. These first two make me late for my first appointment of the day.

(side bar: my passenger side window is half open because it slid off the tracks yesterday)

I hopped on the newly wrapped BigFix shuttle bus (which Rassak designed – photos ) to make sure everything was going smoothly.

As soon as we start moving, I realize I forgot my phone in the car.

Half way across town, I caught a cab back, but didn’t have cash, so I made the cab swing though the drive-up ATM.

As I approach my car door, I can see my phone ringing…major production emergency, but disaster is avoided.

I arrive at the office and realize that since I’ve been driving my wife’s car all week, my office key s on my other key ring. Luckily, my studio-mates are already there.

• Prescott, AZ
• Encinitas/San Diego, CA
• Monterey, CA
• Pasadena, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Denver, CO
• Crystal Lake, IL
• Henderson, NV
• Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

This recognition is especially rewarding, not only because Midwest Airlines is a great company, but because this is one of my absolute favorite pieces of student work.  It is local, timely and fun.  It’s effective advertising that makes you smile; it provides a bit of unexpected fun in the environment and everyone I ever showed it to reacted with “Wow, that’s cool.” 

Thank you AAF. I am glad you enjoyed this work enough to recognize it, because I truly enjoyed making it.

2009 Student Gold Addy Winning Campaign - by Dylan Thomas & Jesse Snyder

It’s been over a year since my last post on this blog. Since then I’ve graduated Miami Ad School, gotten married, gotten promoted, and gotten so busy with client work that almost anything outside of work and family has fallen off to the way-side.

I plan to write more in the future (both here and elsewhere), and if you’d like to keep up with me on a more on-going basis, Twitter is probably you’re best bet.

As always, if you have any questions, or just want to chat, email or call me.  I try my best to make time for those who make time for me.

Thanks for your patience.

–Dylan

http://twitter.com/killerfocus

To help everyone out, what questions would you like answered in this space? Send me an email or, even better, leave a comment on this post.

===

The day before the column ran, two high profile pieces were published on the topic of targeted (or “addressable”) television advertising, focusing on how the cable giants have teamed up and are in a race with Google to develop a system to deliver targetted ads.

• Cable Firms Join Forces to Attract Focused Ads (New York Times, registration required)
• Project Canoe: Cable Companies Paddle to Catch Up To Google in Targeted TV Ads (Techcrunch.com)

This competition is good for viewers, because it will quicken the delivery of targetted, more relevant advertising improving the overall quality of television.

[Update 04-08-2008]
Comcast and its media agency, Starcom MediaVest Group, have released a report on a 16-month targetted, or “addressable.” TV advertising study.

• Households with addressable commercials changed the channel 38% less, and ads were 56% more effective

Read the press release here: http://www.smvgroup.com/news_popup_flash.asp?pr=1663

TV is not going anywhere, so we might as well fix it.

Television has the potential to be the most relevant medium of all. The only question is: How long will we have to wait?

Click here to read it.

If you enjoyed the column, please subscribe to my blog as I have several posts planned that should be of interest.

If you would like to feature my writing on your website, blog, or in your publication, do not hesitate to contact me at dylan.thomas@gmail.com. Also, if you are looking to hire an advertising art director in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out my portfolio and give me a call. I’d love to chat.

The show premieres Friday, February 15th at 7pm/6pm Central on the Oxygen Network, and will be reshown several times. Check you local listings to see if you get Oxygen.

If you can, please support us by watching. Job offers can be emailed to dylan.thomas@gmail.com and shasha.v@gmail.com.

Check out my portfolio at http://dylan.thomas.name

“[That] doesn’t really do you justice. You are like a whole tour bus of Japanese tourists.”

Here are links to the albulms of my first 3 weeks across the pond.
You can find more and poke around at http://dylanthomas.smugmug.com.

London – Week 1

London – Week 2

London – Week 3

The group limit turns out to be 200. I can’t decide if that is too low, or to high.

Myths

Myth #1- “Everything Has Changed”

No it hasn’t. They said the same thing about radio and television. Interactive technology has changed some dynamics, but the fundamentals are the same.
All communications must be engaging, whether they are fables, parables, or, god-forbid, advertising.

“There is no learning without emotion.” -Plato

Myth #2- “The Customer is in Control Now”

They always have been, it was just easier not to listen to them before all of this technology gave them such loud voices. The flip side is that technology has made it easier to engage someone faster, and in greater depth. The best story tellers are always rewarded, and technology is amplifying that in advertising.

Rules

Rule #1- Stay loose, and back winners

Float lots of messages because no one knows what is going to work. Once you see what sticks, put resources behind those ideas.

Rule #2- Use pop culture to create brand moments

The BK King started out as a joke, and exploded.

Rule #3- Fly below the radar

They know you are advertising, get them in on the game and have fun with it.

Rule #4- Use traditional media in untraditional ways

Print campaigns for Molson

Rule #5- Consistency is good, surprise is better

CP+B does a lot of great creative that only runs once or twice, but the surprise of it leaves a much larger impact.

Clip Length

YouTube tacitly acknowledges that clip length is the most important thing in choosing clips. On their site, even when no other information is provided, clip length is ubiquitous.

The embedded player forces me to guess how long a clip is, wasting real-estate and attention:

Whereas if it looked like this:

I could make a better decison to watch now, later, or never.

Driving Engagment Behavior

In the YouTube embedded player, after I watch a clip, I can copy the embed code, copy a link to the video page, or watch another video by clicking one of the thumbnails.

However, if I want to favorite the video, comment on it, or perform any other YouTube function, the experience falls short. These advanced features are not part of the player, and worse, there is no simple way to go directly to the clip’s page on YouTube. (Although sometimes I find that clicking haphazardly all over the player will take me to YouTube.)

Instead of:

Give me:

Conclusion

The YouTube embedded player is a cornerstone of YouTube’s success. With a few minor tweaks, it can provide a more seemless experience, driving more traffic to their website, fostering more community interaction, and demonstrating more respect for their viewers’ attention by mimicking the insights apparent on the YouTube website.

The team behind Harvest, Shawn Liu and Danny Wen, work tirelessly to make it better, always unveiling little gems that make Harvest more functional and more friendly. Whenever I have had contact with them, they have been quick, helpful and always friendly, usually receiving a response in minutes. You can’t beat that for customer service.

Recently, one of my clients moved all its time-tracking and estimating to Harvest. The employees and contractors love it because it’s easy to track their time. The project managers love it because they can keep tabs on their projects, people, and budgets. The accountant loves it because he can cut the reports 100 different ways, or just download all the data and slice it up in excel.

If you have a need to track your time, try out Harvest.
http://www.getharvest.com/features

• book title
• chapter title
• folios (page numbers)
• footnotes
• gutters
• margins
• paragraph spacing
• leading
• header/subhead
• pull-quote
• body text

A constructive critique is collaborative, creative, and directed. When done well, it can be productive and incredibly gratifying, and it requires only the engagement of its participants. In this post, I suggest some simple strategies for engaging in good critique that also serve to jumpstart a lethargic group. Over time, these strategies will increase your critical awareness and improve both the quality and usefulness of any critique you participate in.

A quick note on groups:

It can be hard to overcome the inertia of silence. Group members can be lazy, distracted, or self-conscious of their opinions. In this situation, a substantive critique is unlikely. Fortunately, it only takes one person really engaging with the material to put everyone on the right track. Take control. By making it a point to speak when others will not, you single-handedly overcome the inertia of silence, and if you say something useful, provide points of reference for others to launch from. Someone who disagrees with your assessment, or who feels validated by it, will feel more comfortable chiming in once the discussion has already begun. Once jumpstarted, critiques tend to feed on themselves and continue until they’ve run their course. More times than I can count, a single speaker, with one or two good comments, transformed a silent room into a cyclone of activity.

But what should I say?

You’re stumped. What now?

First of all, what is your initial reaction?

This is important, because this first impression is the closest you will get to how a consumer would experience the work.
Do you like it? Do you dislike it? Are you indifferent? Can you articulate why?

If you like it, say so immediately and, if possible, elaborate on why. You can take your time with the “why” and don’t be afraid to change your mind, but talk it out.
If you don’t like it, hold off speaking until you have something specific, and constructive to say. You can always come back to the piece later which demonstrates continued thinking on the subject.
If you’re indifferent, say nothing and try another strategy.

Find something good. Even if you hate the overall work. Even if you think the person is an idiot.

This will force you to look beyond your first impression, to be more thorough. Believe there is something good about it. Keep looking until you find it. It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be good. “I like the color palette,” or “Your choice of illustration style really sets the tone that you are going for,” are sufficient.

Anyone can find something they don’t like. When unqualified by solutions or positive feedback, it becomes a demoralizing negative spiral. If you can find something legitimately good in everything, people will value all of your opinions more, and it softens the blow when you have to deliver the really bad news. Additionally, positive comments tend to garner solutions, while negative comments breed more negative comments.

Ask a leading question?

Any piece of work is the result of countless decisions. If you are curious about something, ask about it. Even if you are not particularly curious, asking a question is a good way to get somewhere else.

• What made you choose that typeface?
• How did you decide on your color palette?
• What attracted you to that style of illustration?

Try to avoid questions that start out with, “Did you think about…” because not only are they yes/no questions, too often people use the construct just to say anything or to make the presenter look stupid. If you find yourself about to pose a question like this, try to rephrase it. You’ll likely get a better response.

What is the one thing you would change?

Ask yourself, if you were to take over production from here, what would you do, and why. Try to present your ideas not as suggestions or judgments, but as “feelings.” They should act as a transient jumping off point for discussion, not as point to be argued.
Some quick examples:

• The ad needs a hero. The visual is great, but the headline competes so strongly with it that I end up bouncing back and forth.
• It doesn’t seem gritty enough for what you want. Maybe color photography isn’t the right solution.

If you’re stuck, ask yourself:

• Is the photography/illustration/type best suited for this message?
• Does the execution fit the stated strategy?
• Is it eye catching?
• Which is stronger, the words or the imagery?
• Is the strategy/execution appropriate for the client/campaign?
• Does the ad says to you what they intended, or is there a disconnect?
• Is there something in the execution that takes away from the message?

What do you think about the:

• typography
• font choice
• relative type size
• color palette
• use of negative space
• tone
• contrast
• copy
• headline
• layout
• placement/size of the logo

My roommate Jay is a very talented individual. Aside from his art director-related pursuits, he plays several instruments and is the guitarist and lead singer for Paid Pilots, a Chicago-based indie rock band (or Indian rock band, as we like tease him).

Since he’s always headed to Chicago for either practice or a gig, the Quarter Away Kids tagged along the last weekend in October and were treated to a concert at the Elbo Room and a local’s tour of Chi-Town.

See the photo album here (use journal view to see all the captions):
http://dylanthomas.smugmug.com/gallery/3740030/1/214909744

Check out the band here:
http://myspace.com/paidpilots

And a quick clip, taken with my digital camera:

Paid Pilots @ the Elbo Room, Chicago from Dylan Thomas on Vimeo.

From what I have heard, little, if any work gets produced. You refine marker comps like crazy. Then you do them again. Then again. Then again. You come back with a binder of killer ads, vetted and waiting for production. While this bothers a lot of people, it doesn’t bother me a bit because I’m going to London to develop conceptually, and production takes time and focus away from that. It also means that when I get back, I can choose only my best work to produce.

This production-focused attitude is unfortunate, and all-to-common among students eager to have pieces to show. By focusing on producing an ad early, the concept often doesn’t have time to fully bake. If you produce before you’re sure it’s a winner, to quote an industry adage, “You’re just polishing turds.” Although sometimes you get lucky.

Unrelated to advertising, the huge downside of going to London is that I’ll be 6,000 miles away from my fiancee for 10 weeks, missing both Valentine’s Day and our 4 year anniversary. Between the distance and the time change, it’s going to be really hard, and I am extremely thankful she’s willing to make this sacrifice for me. That’s just one of the reasons I’m the luckiest guy in the world. Hopefully I will make it worth both our whiles in the long run.

After your first 4 quarters, you are eligible for Quarter Away, and can spend some or all of your next 4 quarters away from your “home” campus.

For internships, housing (or a stipend) and a scholarship are provided. At some school locations, housing is available. Currently I am living in the Minneapolis student housing, conveniently located one floor above the school in Downtown Minneapolis.

Learn Flash Elsewhere.
It’s a dirty little secret that you will be under-worked 1st Quarter. Use this time wisely to start learning Flash. Your options include books, websites, community college, adult education classes, and computer training companies like LearnIT in San Francisco. For books, you can’t go wrong with Adobe’s Classroom in a Book Series.
As always, check the public library. They have lots of resources for free.

In addition to working on perhaps the most in-demand and lacking skill for art directors, you will save yourself time and money. You won’t need “Intro to Flash” taking up your time and tuition in later quarters when you’d rather be making stuff.

Follow these 3 simple pieces of advice and you will be miles ahead of your 1st Quarter Art Director brethren.

Q: How much money will I make when I get out of school?

A: It depends. Somewhere between $12K and $70K depending on your location, your awesomeness, how likable you are, how much they need you, and a million other factors. On average, you can expect to make ~$35K in your first job. A wise advertising guy once told me:

For the first half of your career, you will be grossly underpaid. For the second half, you’ll be grossly overpaid.

Q: What if I’m offered an amount of money that I cannot live on?
(not to be confused with being underpaid, see above.)

A: It’s up to you. No one else can make this decision for you, but my advice is to find another job. It’s an ethical issue. To perform in a job, you need to be able to eat. Anywhere that does not support that is not someplace you, or anyone, should be working.

Q: How many pieces should I put in my portfolio?

A: This is usually asked by two types of people: the green, and the graduating.

For the newbies, it doesn’t matter at this point, focus on getting great work done, then read the below.

For grads, the questions is only valid if you are interviewing with the actual person you are asking the question. If you ask 10 creative directors (and I’ve seen it) they will vacillate and give you 3 answers a piece. I’ve heard of people getting hired with with riveting 600 (and 10) page portfolios.

They don’t really care, it just has to be awesome.

Q: What kind of stuff should I put in my portfolio?

A: A follow-up to the previous question. Again, it depends. If you are going to a shop that specializes in print, you want to have alot of print. At an online agency you’ll have to have banner ads and microsites. You will want to tailor your book for each interview, if possible.

A Few Points:

• You sure as hell better have a website.
  Don’t plan on getting hired without one. Doesn’t have to be fancy.
• The more interactive the better.
  It’s still rare in student books. More advertising is moving there, and agencies need people who can think that way.
• No one reads radio.
  Produce it and put it on a CD and on your website.
• Television storyboards never read very well.
  Produce it and put it on a CD and on your website.

Q: Is there more I need to know?

A: Yep, but this is a good start. Take control of your career. Be a student of the industry and how it works, not just what it makes, and you’ll be fine.