A Big Fat Waste of Time

Advertising Week: the reluctant report

In the immortal words of Michael Corleone, just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in. Against my better judgement, I was coerced by my visiting friend from Leo Burnett in Chicago to attend the YoungGuns Award party last night. YoungGuns is the international advertising award show for creatives under the age of 30. And while, unfortunately, I was completely right about Advertising Week--very few creatives actually attended the event, it was more of a schmoozefest for vendors and even they seemed miserable to be there--there was one kick ass thing at last night's YoungGuns Awards party and that was the call-for-entries poster for next year's YoungGuns show, written by Leo Burnett. My good buddy and egomaniac David Schermer wrote the copy on the back which really should be on the YoungGuns website , but isn't. So, I will treat you to it now:

Hey kids! Do you want everyone to stop calling you kids? Then start having sex. Loud outdoor sex. And stop saying "no" to drugs all the time. That's rude and childish and booooooooooring.

Why not suck in your goddamn immaturity and write and art direct some award winning ads. Enter them in YougGuns International Advertising Award. Get your work chosen as the best piece of advertising from thousands of young creatives around the globe, by a jury of some of the world's top creatives and creative directors.

And there you have it. Hello scary adult world of taxes, food additives and for the lucky few, fame, fortune and plasma tvs. Because winning the YoungGuns Award will put you at the table where the cocaine isn't just powdered sugar.

That's the kind of truth in advertising that I find refreshing. I wish Scherm had been there when I was in ad school. Oh wait, he was. He was just too busy having loud, outdoor sex with pork bracciole.

p.s. Schermer finds this post inferior to my usual ones.

Also, this just made me laugh

From T-shirt Hell

Cool Ray Charles tribute today on the Google page

Grand Central, my muse

One of the great things about my new advertising job is that I am really near Grand Central. When I tire of breathing the canned air in my windowless office, I can take a walk around midtown to get some inspiration. Since midtown is hideous, I invariably end up at Grand Central Station which, for some reason, is my new favorite church. My poor eyes, though, when I found I could not escape the horrible tentacles of the ad industry as I ran smack into an Advertising Week self-back-patting exhibit in the hallway.

I knew Grand Central couldn't let me down, though, so I backed AWAY from the Advertising exhibit and turned a corner and there it was. The coolest project I've heard about in a long time: Story Corps.
Story Corps is a non-profit, oral-history project that enables people to interview the most important people in their lives, and to take home a broadcast-quality CD. Basically, you make an appointment, show up with someone you want to know more about and interview them in this recording booth located in Grand Central Station.

Every Story Corps recording is placed in the archive at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. Selected interviews may be broadcast on public radio or featured on their web site.

Story Corps will expand nationwide next year, but for now, the only place to participate is in Grand Central Terminal.

Make an appointment at StoryCorps.net