For my Computers in Communication class, we had to choose a “green” client on which to base all of our assignments throughout the entire semester. I chose First Act Guitars for their Bambusa guitar (made from bamboo and no wood at all). As part of the project, we had to create a PDF handout, a video, and then present a PowerPoint presentation to the class.

So last week, I borrowed a camera from BU College of Communication and actually headed down to the First Act Guitar Studio in Boston to film my fictional 30-second web spot promoting the guitar.

Here’s the finished product:

And here’s the handout I created:

Everyone was really courteous and accommodating. And of course, I couldn’t leave there without a new guitar (not a Bambusa though.) Snagged a First Act CE-140 on sale for $100 plus student discount. It’s a great guitar (not just for the money, but in general), I’ll probably keep it for a long time.

First Act Lola CE-140

Special thanks to Store Manager Jay Richardson and Guitar Specialist Tim Choate.

And of course, a link to the Bambusa product page.

Day 1 Day 2

A random note to start off this recap:
At some point I noticed that I was hoarding all the bottles of water that the agencies gave us. And what struck me as extremely apt was the fact that Publicis, CDM and BBDO each gave us different brands of bottled water. Here’s the breakdown:

There’s never a missed opportunity to create brand awareness, right? Of course, Publicis has worked with Coca-Cola internationally (which manufactures Dasani) and BBDO works with Pepsi, which owns Aquafina. Just an interesting point. Now onto Day 3!

Kaplan Thaler Group

Clients You’d Know: Aflac, Champion, Dawn, Trojan, AdCouncil

First impressions: We were in a standard conference room. Nothing too fancy, but they gave us Snapple. We watched a very personalized reel (the same one they use to bid for clients) followed by a lot of Q&A with Creatives and Acct/PR people. We even had Linda Kaplan Thaler herself speak to us for a few minutes.

What I took away from it:
·The impression I got from some of their creatives was that traditional is still King. Sure, they’ve moved onto the web, but traditional still makes up a large percentage of their business.
·Creating a PR stir (as they did with their banned Trojan pig ad) whether intentionally or unintentionally will generally lead to good things for the company and the client.
·Regarding Creative interviews: focus on getting across who you are. The book already got you the interview, so after the weeding process is done, the interviewee just wants to know the person behind the book.
·BU kids are all spoiled brats with trust funds. (OK, that one’s a joke, even if I got the impression that one of the Creatives didn’t think so)

Final impression: Linda Kaplan Thaler is the shining star of the agency (which is not to say all other aspects are subpar). She definitely believed in what she was preaching and made us believe in it too (the mark of a good Advertiser). She also graciously gave each of us the two books she had written with Robin Koval- “The Power of Nice” and “The Power of Small.” The creatives were pretty straightforward with us and seemed surprised at how accomplished individuals in our group already were prior to graduating. We also toured the agency afterward and the offices were really nice.

TBWA\Chiat\Day

Clients You’d Know: Snickers, Absolut, Jameson, Skittles

First impressions: The place was really yellow! Also, the view of St. Patrick’s Cathedral from the area where we had our meeting was pretty cool. We had five to six speakers from different sectors tell us about what they do and they allowed us to prod them in a pretty intensive Q&A session.

Onto the key points:
·DISRUPTION is the big idea. Find conventions within the category and then disrupt them.
·The retention rate at TBWA is pretty high. People love working there and they stay.
·Personal chemistry, work and attention to detail will get you far.
·TBWA has recently gotten new clients…

Final impression: This was the last agency tour we had, and it definitely helped round out the theme of duality. Each day, we visited two agencies that were completely different from each other. TBWA has some huge clients and is the big dog of the yard, so to speak. As such, it was clear to me that their employees knew exactly what to expect and how to deal with everything (which may be related to the high retention rate).

(Tequila is a Worldwide agency involved in a recent merger with TBWA)

Well that’s that.

Six agencies in three days. Now I have to write a ton of Thank-You notes. Super-Special thanks to BU COM Professors Berkovitz and Cakebread, as well as COM Event Coordinator Lauren Glaser.

Day 1

Tons of initials for Day 2. I forgot to mention that Day 1 ended with a social event with tons of BU alumni meeting with us (as well as with the BU COM PR trip people). I met a lot of interesting people who were all very helpful and imparted much wisdom about how the real world is.

Anyway, onto a review of Day 2!

CDM- Cline Davis & Mann

Clients You’d Know Viagra (D2P only)

First impressions: CDM provided by far the most professional setting for our visit, which makes sense since it’s primarily a pharmaceutical advertising firm. We entered a conference room with individual place settings consisting of a bottle of Poland Spring water, a CDM keychain and a mini-book portfolio of the company’s work. We watched a reel, then took a tour, and when we got back to the conference room there was a complete panel of speakers representing all aspects of the agency. We had an extensive Q&A with them, from which I learned a ton.

What I took away:
·The holding company of CDM is SSCG, which stands for Substance, Style, Conviction, Grace.
·SSCGU is a semi-in-house ‘school’ that provides courses for all employees, ranging from biology courses (to better familiarize oneself with terminology) to creative courses (if one were considering switching career paths). They even entertain suggestions for new classes.
·Each position has Career Paths, which are like levels you complete, that provide a guideline for promotions, etc. but are by no means set in stone.

Lasting impression: Visiting CDM was a different experience. I loved the idea of their SSCGU program and would definitely enroll in classes if I were to work at CDM (or their sister agencies Lab9 and AgencyRx). My impression was that CDM really cares about their employees and wants them to achieve their full potential while still working in the agency.

Also, they gave us complimentary children’s books created through employee collaboration (written, illustrated and generally put together). It was titled “The Little Girl Who Found Her Heart” and proceeds for the book went to charity. That made me sit up and say “Wow! I’ve never seen that before.” Either Advertising is transcending mediums like never before, or Advertisers can also be people who care. What a concept!

There was also a Tibet march/protest down the block when we left (literally a sea of people as far as the eye could see). It was unreal how many people were involved. Pictures do not do it justice, but here’s an attempt anyway:

BBDO

Clients You’d Know: FedEx, ATT, HBO, M&Ms, Monster.com, Pepsi/MTN Dew

First impressions: Along with CDM, BBDO was another agency that really felt like it was housed in an office building. Also, it must be stressed that BBDO is BIG! They’re now worldwide and also have their own digital agency (Atmosphere Proximity). One of the professors who was leading the tour said that you can really determine what companies will treat you right by looking at where they have meetings. BBDO accommodated us in a conference room full of sofas and armchairs. It was by far the most comfortable meeting, and we were also offered Aquafina water, M&Ms and Gillette shaving gel.

Takeaways:
·Digital, Digital, DIGITAL! If you want to stay on top of things, you must go interactive. There is NO excuse not to have an online presence.
·We had a very eccentric speaker (he had complete control of the room) who spoke to us about his unique job at BBDO (NY). He was the Creative Engineer and his duties were to figure out if an idea would be possible to execute and determine how to do it. I had never heard of such a position before, and was quite intrigued by it. Hopefully I’ll be in contact with him soon (side note: I’ve been purposely leaving out names for privacy sake; I hope it hasn’t been misconstrued as a sign of disrespect!).
·BBDO has an in-house bar! It’s called Central Filing and we were all guests there. The best part was when our guide told us that we didn’t have to pay for drinks!

Lasting impression: BBDO was a little more buttoned-up than the places we visited on Day 1, but at the end of the workday, they sure knew how to party. We even met the supreme head honcho of the company (“Ozzy”) and had a drink with him between rounds of Guitar Hero. It was such a fine duality between business and pleasure. Also, as their in-house lawyer mentioned, one of the downsides to having such a large company is that not everyone gets to know each other. But overall, I respected BBDO for its decorum and like it for its prestige.

Our Boston University School of Communications Spring Break Advertising Trip began at the offices of Publicis USA. Then we had lunch, and then headed downtown to Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners.

Publicis

Clients You’d Know: Citi, Oral B, BMW, Maytag, Charmin

First impressions: We were in a Penthouse-type meeting room with a nice view. They provided some coffee, water, fruit and some finger foods. We had six or seven speakers, about half of whom were BU alumni. According to my notes, we had an Acct Director, two AEs, two HR people, a planner and a Copywriter.

They were all informative and friendly. But here are the takeaway points:
·Understand the brand!
·Integrated Creative over different mediums is important.
·New business= new jobs!

Also, their bathroom was super nice:

(Yes, that’s a shower!)

Lasting impression: Publicis is very people-based, and build their accounts around the people instead of finding people to fit rigid slots. Their offices were modern and looked really comfortable, and I could definitely see myself working there.

Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners

Clients You’d Know: Kenneth Cole, Panasonic, Wendy’s, Mohegan Sun

First impressions: We were in a conference room with stainless steel tables (reminded me of working in food service). The walls were frosted glass with light pouring in from the hallways. We started with a reel (that was really more like a short film with several cameo appearances), had three to four speakers, and then a special treat- Jon Bond himself spoke to us personally.

Here are some key points from Mr. Bond:
·Radical is good. Be different and take the less obvious approach (pretty much KB+P’s mantra)
·Multimedia campaigns are the way to go- solve problems using different mediums.
·(answer to my question: how do you know where the envelope is so you can push it?) It depends on where you think the brand can go and if its believable. As a corollary, know the brand!

Lasting impression: KB+P tries to break boundaries in everything they do (just look at their Kenneth Cole campaigns), and the personalities of their workers reflect that. By their account, they created what we know as reality TV (with their Snapple Lady commercials). KB+P seemed to be more creative-driven (we even had a Creative volunteer to stay afterward and review our work). The higher-ups definitely know where they want brands to go, and it’s up to the creatives to figure out the means. And that’s how wacky ideas come about.

I do some freelance graphic design on the side. It doesn’t pay the bills and is inconsistent, but it keeps me busy and with pocket money.

So seeing stuff like this breaks my heart a little bit: Twitter Paid Designer $6 For Its Icon

Thanks to James for the link.