Alec Brownstein Speaks at CPS

Last night Alec Brownstein (http://www.alecbrownstein.com) , creator of the google job experiment and winner of about every award known to man came to speak at CPS. Honestly the guy is a genius. His whole speech really focuses on the fact that you really don't need much beyond a good idea and a group of friends with some know how to produce some great work. Its all about understanding the free resources around you, and more or less having the drive to just get shit done. Alec showed us a number of examples of videos and short clips of very simple and well executed ideas that have gone viral. The common message with the majority of our speakers is that you need to get off your ass and get things done, which I really couldn't agree with more. I am in a rare situation where every day I get to go to a place surrounded by student who just wanna make shit and get noticed, and who have the skills to do so.

On another note, the first week of the quarter is finished and a lot has gone down. First of all the first round of the Royal Rumble is complete. My partners and I got some decent feedback on our idea and how to push forward. We went with a concept of "Personal Comfort" and had an app, some print and bunch of social media in our campaign. The next round of judging is Thursday the 14th so we have a lot of work to do before then.

Also I have a whole new lineup of professors and to be honest they kick some serious ass. Natalie Taylor is my concepts teacher, she is a copywriter at Ogilvy and she literally just refuses to suck. Natalie addressed us at the beginning of class that her job is to make other students and teacher jealous they aren't in our class and that if our best campaign doesn't come from this class than she hasn't done her job. I have Joel Wheat tuesday nights in art direction, Joel has held about every job in the industry and what I like about his class is we are really getting to learn a lot about famous people in pop culture as well as work on producing some past work that we have done. Next wednesday I have David Sieren for typography who has picked up right were last semesters type class ended and seems to have a real passion and knowledge for design in general. Lastly Thursday nights I have Tony Marin who integrated campaigns, Tony is the first teacher I have had that actually went to CPS which is cool to see someone who is very successful and has come from the school. He has allowed us to pair up with one person for the entire semester and I wound up going with copywriter Justin Florio who I have worked with now on a couple different projects, and am definitely looking forward to working with more.

Other than that all thats new is that the One Show nominations have been pushed back to Monday the 11th so fingers are still crossed hoping Marta and I get nominated. This week we have to work on projects for Amazon Kindle, a household cleaner that is enviromentally friendly, and I am just continuing to update my website and work on my resume.. oh ya just going out and "getting shit done."

Switching Gears...Da Bulls

How bout them bulls! 20 years ago Mike, Scottie and a cast of characters landed Chicago their first championship, beating Magic Johnsons Lakers in a 5 game route. The way this season is shaping up I would be shocked to see a re-peat of that same final. The Bulls are hitting full stride right at the right time which in my experience is more important than anything. Look at teams in all sports who have hit it hot at the end of the season, the Rangers last year in the MLB, the Giants and Packers in recent memory in the NFL, the Blackhawks in the NHL, its all about getting hot at the right time and Chicago is on fire. To me the Celtics still pose the biggest test to the Bulls in the Eastern Conference, although Miami is going to be a tough out for anyone in the playoffs I think they are one year and one more piece away from being a true title contender. Boston on the other team has something you can never underestimate according to ex Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, "the heart of a champion." They have the vets who have been there and know how to get it done, but they do lack a big man. My prediction is that the Celtics will meet the Bulls in the conference finals and there lack of size and increasing lack of depth will start to take a toll on the aging veterans, making way and passing the torch if you will to the Bulls. If I am the Lakers I do not want to meet Chicago in the finals, the Bulls have the ability to matchup size on size with Boozer and Noah on Gasol and Bynum. Loul Deng's length makes him a huge to guard Kobe and I would suggest starting Taj on Artest. The biggest factor in this game would be that the Bulls biggest strength is LA's biggest weakness, the point gaurd. Derrick Fischer would stand no chance against soon to be MVP D Rose. We won't have to wait much longer to see how it all plays out but it should be an explosive post season!

One Quarter down 3 to go!

So it is official, I have finished my first quarter in Portfolio School. It went by way to fast but I learned a lot and I'm really looking forward to the following quarters. My quarter review with Directors Jeff Epstein and Maria Scileppi is Thursday and I am interested to hear what they have to say about my production in the quarter as well as the advice they can give me moving forward. My resume is very close to completion which means that my website is getting even closer to going live. I have also gone ahead and uploaded some of the better marker comps that Justin and I came up with for our shoe ads. To remind you we did APL's Concept 1, the first shoe proven to increase your vertical leap. We decided to make an app as well as a number of print ads some of which are interactive. I will update again after my review with Jeff and Maria and will hopefully have some good news to report.

Website and Shoe Comps Update

Good News and Bad news guy... Bad news first the website is not up yet, BUT it is all but finished. Everything is loaded onto the site minus my bio and resume. My bio will be done tonight but I am holding off on the resume because in typography we are actually all re-designing our resumes and I want to make sure that I put my best work to date on the site rather than looking to amateur. As far as the shoes go Justin and I did some really great work together and going off of Justin's suggest we decided to shoes Propulsion Labs Concept 1 basketball shoes for our concept. Concept 1 is the first shoe ever to be banned from the NBA because it gives an unfair competitive advantage proving in a number of test to give athletes up to 3.5 extra inches on their vertical. I am sketching all the comps out now and should have them posted either Thursday or Friday. So again if you have been waiting to see the website, it will be up in another week or so I want to make sure the resume is down pat. Check in the next for days for the shoe comps!

One Show Submission and New Ads!

Finally Finally after myself and my amazing copywriter Marta Malko put a good 30-40 hours in brainstorming, sketching and producing our submission for The One Show's student competition WE ARE FINISHED! I have uploaded a video that explains the entire concept of our project but to sum it up we created a video game as a means to promote awareness and boost donations for City Harvest in NYC. City Harvest is an organization that helps to "rescue" food in New York while collecting food and monetary donations from restaurants, corporations and individuals. Marta and I really thought hard on how we could make the game not only something that had the potential to go viral and make people want to come back for more, but how could City Harvest, the participating donating restaurants and the participants themselves all benefit from the game. It is an awesome feeling to finish a project all the way to end and just see how the whole process from your thoughts to pen and paper to the computer and then in this case into a video. All of the finalist for the show will be notified mid April and invited to NYC for the actual award show, so keep your fingers crossed I think we have a great idea that is very well executed, hopefully the judges will feel the same way.

On another note I have loaded some photos from our vodka campaign. I chose to use Nemiroff Honey-Pepper vodka and really focus on the spiciness of it, I went for some literal solutions such as substituting the bottle for a pepper shaker and others were more witty such as suggesting blue cheese and celery as a relief afterwards. They were mostly visually driven mainly because I thought these brand led itself to more of a aesthetically pleasing solution. we actually have the opportunity to continue building these ads out in class for next week along with the gym ads I posted last time. Im excited to really push both of these especially the Powerhouse Gym ads, I have some really great thoughts for ambient advertising for both and think they could become nice finished pieces.

Also up for next week I will be working with copywriter Justin Florio ( twitter.com/iamjflo ) on a shoe company of our choice. We are meeting today to discuss but are both interested in choosing something really unique. I have not yet worked with Justin but I am looking forward to it, in knowing him for the past few months I can tell you that he is about as creative as they come and does a great job at translating shock value and comedy in his ads, so I am sure we will have some good stuff to post.

Should have my new website up by the end of the weekend if not very early next week!Keep your fingers crossed about the One Show for me and check in for some updates

throughout the week.....

Home Depot Marker Comps and Update

I went ahead and uploaded some of my favorite marker comps from the Home Depot assignment. The two main concepts for the comps was one for the website and how helpful it is, the concept is basically "It's like were there with you." The imagery shows someone doing a common household task with what looks like the assistance of a home depot employee. The other is a play on the fact that home depot is fun, it is executed through the use of a toy box/tool box and the line "toys for big boys", really an even bigger concept that I am going to play with is marketing Home Depot as a toy store for adults. On top of those I added some outdoor Plus 10 ads that I think would be very successful for Home Depot. They would allow people to interact with the brand particularly the park bench level, which would encourage people to balance out the bench and get it level, as well as the Public Trans seat belt/tool belt which is using a captive audience to get the message across. Lastly, the in store bag and the buildable gift card were both attempts as quick ways to get across the look and feel of the store and the idea that you should always be building something or that you can "be your own handy man."

Up next for me is still the vodka ads which I will have uploaded next week when they are completed, I have not decided yet which brand to go with. What I am really excited about though is my submission along with copywriter Marta Malko to the One Show's student competition. All I will say for now is that the brief is about a NYC Charity Organization City Harvest and that we went the mobile gaming route in our solution. I am very satisfied with how the work is coming out and think it has a real shot to be a winner.

Power House Gym Comps

This past week I worked on some marker comps for Powerhouse Gym. For those who don't know what Powerhouse is, its basically a gym specifically for bodybuilders and those aspiring to be bodybuilders. Had a few basic concepts during the process, "build your masterpiece", "get bigger", "alpha male" and "the everyday meathead". I like the way that a few of them are going and I am anxious to get to the computer and tighten everything up... ill be posting some Home Depot Marker comps soon and next up is a Vodka company of my choosing.

Filming Begins Monday!

What's up world! Its been a crazy week or so out here in the Chi. The work load at school has been growing as we get deeper into first quarter. I like the fact that we are getting projects at really ever angle of the ad industry and getting some useful feed back from all the professors. This week we have to do 20 marker comps for Tempur-Pedic, 30 for Home Depot and another 20 sketches for the movie of our choice (one that is coming out at least 6-8 months from now). The big news this week though is that as a quarter we have decided to start a side project and begin filming the rest of the quarter with the hopes of producing the clips in to mini webisodes. The idea came to us when speaker Kevin Lynch dropped in and shared with us a number of side projects he is currently working on and has done through his years in the industry. Kevin continued to drive home the point that we should always have something on the side, and after seeing some examples of what he had done we knew there was no time like the present to get after our own work. The goal of the project is not only to get some buzz about ourselves and the school but to start to build some chemistry within the group, and begin learning first hand about handling side projects along with our regular workloads. As you will see in the coming episodes we have a few other tricks up our sleeves that will be unveiled in the near future. Look forward to hearing feed back from all you guys. Feel free to post any suggestions or things you would love to see more of after each episode... Check back soon for more!

Get off your Ass and Do Something!

So today I feel like writing about something that has been bothering me lately. I keep hearing from people day after day how one day they will do this or they wish they could do that or wouldn't it be cool if. Enough of the what ifs! Sometimes you need to GET OFF YOUR ASS AND MAKE IT HAPPEN. Life is too short to sit around and hope that Fate knocks on your door, sure luck can play a role along the way but if you want something you have to get up and grab it by the ears beat it senseless and bring it home! Now that might be a bit graphic but you get the point, too many people sit back and wait for life to come to them because all we think about are the what ifs, what if I can't get a job, what if I don't make friends, what if I hate it... you can't live like that.. if there is a life you want to live or something your dying to do... Just do It! At the very least give it a shot. Last point on the issue I promise but if you do finally decide to take action and go after the life you want for yourself or what have you.. go at it 100% don't leave any doubt in your mind that you could have given more... sometimes in life we only get one chance, so embrace every opportunity as if it was your last, you may be surprised at the things you can accomplish...

Movie Poster

So I figured I'd throw the first project that i have actually completed in school to date...its a remake of the move poster for the Hangover. I made the baby completely out of typography, first in black and white and then spent the rest of the project adding color.. comments more than welcome!

No Rest for the Wicked

So a few days into week 3 of Portfolio school and a few general rules of thumb I can definitely say that I have learn. First of all the line "I work better under pressure" is more or less bullshit. Now some of you may be saying no no honestly it makes me work harder, I was one of these people but the truth of the matter is you feel like your working harder because your under the gun. Lets be honest most anyone can produce much better work when given more time than someone who is trying to do it "under the gun" barring a few miracles. That being said sometimes even with proper planning there is just to much work to be done to allow too long for any singular project or task you may have; this is where the skill of working under pressure transitions into an art form. An art form which I am slowly starting to master. The workload at school is beginning to get heavier as the weeks go on and I welcome the challenge, this project schedule really forces all of us to produce our best work in much less time then we may be given in a real world situation. The benefit of this is the fact that we can be more efficient when in these real world situations, and also in the occasion that work is thrown at us last minute we will be prepared for anything that comes our way, which why to me the workload is something I am going after head on....

On another note the thought of construction an idea or developing a concept is something that has been brought up quite often. Different proffesors have offered the own unique opinions on the subject but all in all the general thought process in a whole is becoming more clear to me by the day, making my assignments and the general direction in which I go on them reveal themselves quicker and quicker. Being only 3 weeks into the program this is the biggest change I have seen so far as far as my develop mental skill set goes.

Oh and Patriot fans... don't think I was going to let you off the hook. Yes Yes I know my New York Giants were out of the playoffs before they began and that is a whole different story for a later time. BUT it gives me great joy and satisfaction to see the most passively arrogant team in the NFL get there asses handed to them for the 2nd season in a row in front an equally arrogant Gillette Stadium crowd. As I had said all year the Patriots lack the 2 key elements it takes to win and sustain a long run in the playoffs; a run game and a strong dominate defense. It was only a matter of time before they faced a team that could keep the ball out of Tom Brady's hands with a strong ground game and minimize what the Patriots could do on offense with a brilliant hard-nose defensive presence. I would like to officially welcome all New England Fans to the " Theres Always Next Year Club."

Thats all I got for today...

-T

Ps: Can't wait to hear the backlash for the last paragraph from all you Massholes I know and love.

Post Numero Uno (thats number one in English)

Well this is it! First post on the blog... A lot to talk about so far. I am actually just finishing up my second week at Chicago Portfolio School and so far I have to say I am impressed. The professors are awesome and the students in my quarter are about as nutty as they come so needless to say we never have a dull moment. On Thursday we had our annual "freshman mixer" and the other quarters decided to prank us telling us that the theme of the party was our favorite animal and we had to dress up in costume to promote the theme. As im sure u guessed no one else was dressed up nor had this ever been a ritual in the past as we were told, regardless we rocked it. Most of us chose to use a play on words for the theme as I was a Gym Rat, some others dressed up as a Holy Cow, a mall rat, Party Animal, etc. Been learning alot about the idea of construction a concept or idea so far and the strategy of targeting individuals, I can tell already just two weeks in that huge improvements will be coming in the way I think about and build campaigns. As far as the city transition goes, I have now been living in the Chi for almost 4 months after a 6 year stint in Beantown (Boston for those of us living under a rock for the last 20 years) and I have to say it was a much easier transition than I had expected. Chicago is an amazing city, great food, some much history and culture and extremely friendly. I have managed to land a few part time jobs out here working the door at a Whiskey Bar in Lincoln Park called Faith and Whiskey, and personal training at Worlds Gym in the West Loop. No complaints for now!