Is there an echo in here?

"I'm not gonna take a GST hike off the table." "I'm not gonna take a GST hike off the table." "I'm not gonna take a GST hike off the table."

I'm sure you've all heard Ignatieff say this a thousand times by now. From where? Well from every ad the Tories put out this federal election.

My heart kind of wrenches every time one of these commercials comes on. My understanding of political campaigning, which is very little, tells me that parties should be instilling confidence in Canadians so they'll give you their trust and their vote. But it seems like all the Tories and Liberals are doing is trying to knock each other down a peg. They're not trying to one-up each other, promising bigger and better things. They're not trying to make us excited about change or make us realize how things are great the way they are. They're just trying to turn us away from the other.

I'm not saying this isn't an effective tactic. If you can deter someone from voting for a different party, there's a better chance they'll vote for you. But I think if you focus on showing Canadians what you plan to bring to the table and how it's going to be better for the country as a whole, they won't even care about what the other guys are doing.

Basically I just think this game of ad hominem is tacky and doesn't require much effort at all.

So, please remember to go vote this election day and make it count.

If only it were a beauty contest...

A single nod of the head.

A "significant other" and I went to the "Starbs" at Polo Park Shopping Centre to quench our collective thirsts with a refreshing, revitalizing, and red, Tazo® Shaken Iced Passion Tea Lemonade.

I think I need one after that first sentence.

As we were waiting for our kind barista to bring our summery beverages to a full blush and bloom, this caught our eyes:

58 per cent? Pft. You should see my high school transcript. Boing, zing, fawoosh!

Other than the single extraneous apostrophe that found itself between an 'A' and 'S', we both agreed that we really liked what we saw. This simple company procedure makes every chump that spends 4+ bucks on a cup of joe, feel like the company really cares about them. I would say that it's almost beneficial to them that the percentage is so low because this gives them an oppourtunity to show how transparent they are with their customers.

If we would have seen this sign with a 97 per cent instead of a 58, I'm sure we'd have glanced over it and thought nothing of it. In any service industry, good service is expected, so it's not a surprise when people are satisfied. It's when someone says, "Hey, you guys said we suck. Sorry." that it gets your attention.

As far as Starbucks chalk board messages go, I've seen better. This one here sets a bar. A bar that one could say is, 'out of this world'? A bar...abar...

Ackbarista?

No ears for me, thanks.

About two years ago, Mike Tyson went from munching on these:

Even McCoy's thinking about them.

To these:

Apparently carrots have trouble seeing sometimes too...

Level 3 vegan, "Iron Mike", has now teamed up with Last Chance for Animals, an organization that advocates the inhumane act of denying tasty meals to people all over the world, and unveiled a billboard that will probably baffle more people, rather than get them to switch their eating habits.

Uh. And by 'love' you mean...

This is another case where you wonder if a celebrity endorsement really works. According to Tyson, he's been feeling a lot more healthy and in a much more positive state of mind ever since he changed his diet. He said he felt "weighed down" when he ate meat, and that he's only ever felt at 100 per cent after the switch. This is evident by a simple before and after:

Cheese-filled Franks vs. Tofu Dogs

Okay, okay. I know it's not a fair comparison at all, but teeth vs. ear wasn't that evenly matched either. What I'm trying to get at here is that just because you have a well-known face and name to a message, doesn't necessarily mean that message is going to ring any louder or truer than it did before. Again, this isn't always the case though. If the spokesperson is a widely known and respected figure, I'm sure they're going to have some pull...

I'll have what he's having.

Old Spice guy says...

"That's enough, DQ. That's enough."

Thanks, SM (That's what I call Social Media)

For my TV Documentary class I took this past semester, we were given three months-ish to find, film, and edit a 5 to 10 minute documentary. Making any sort of documentary is quite a large task to begin with, but with the time frame given to us, it seemed more than reasonable to do.

Enter procrastination. Two and three quarter months later, there was no documentary.

The Sunday before the Thursday it's due arrives, and I wake up feeling quite helpless. The following is how I completed my documentary:

1) Boot up my computer, log onto Facebook.

2) Check the events page, and find this:

(Local? Experimental? Juxtaposition? Cool.)

5) A show was happening that night at the Lo Pub, with a local act, Spirit Children, opening.

6) Documentary subject chosen.

7) Facebook creep the band members and send them a message that can be paraphrased as:
"Hey, I know this is weird, but can I film you for school?"

8) Within fifteen minutes, I received this message:

(Awesome.)

9) I roll over to their jam space to film their rehearsal, pack up, set up and show at the Lo Pub.

10) Monday, I edit the entire documentary in five-ish hours, hand it in and never think about it again.

Without the immediacy and efficiency of Facebook, I wouldn't have ever found out about the gig, nor got in contact with the band so quickly. Most of the time, Facebook uses its power to embarrass and humiliate, but sometimes, it uses its power for good.

Though it seems like I threw in the towel for this assignment, I was actually quite proud of the outcome. I've definitely spent a lot more time on assignments that were worth less, but the amount of effort I put in was just the same. I believe I had good content, and a story with a concise beginning, middle and end. I feel that I represented the band and band members genuinely and showed the process of a up-and-coming local band playing a live show.

But, that's just me. See for yourself and let me know what you think.

Spirit Children from Mike C on Vimeo.

I'm kind of legitimate.

In my third semester of Creative Communications, each advertising major was assigned to create a promotional campaign for the spunky, charismatic, wild-haired Kitty, owner of Berns & Black Salon on Main Street.


My peers came up with some great creative and strategies for the salon, all of which I'd love to share with you, but if I did, this post would simply be just too long.

After sharing our ideas with the class, our instructor ran the plansbooks down the street to the salon and gave them to Kitty and the staff to flip through, read and cut apart. Kitty was given the task to pick five from sixteen, which would decide who would get to pitch to her and her colleagues.

A week later.

Four talented peers and myself get chosen to pitch our campaigns for Kitty. Nervous and excited, we prepared ourselves for the first real client pitch in our professional careers. Looking sharp, and with sweat collecting on our collective brows, we presented our campaigns to our client.

We pretty much killed it.

She loved our work and she grabbed it all to keep to use in the future when the time was right. Luckily for me, she loved the simplest aspect of my campaign and wanted them produced right away.


These loyalty cards are now being handed out to every Berns & Black client that comes in for a style or cut, and they were made by none other than your modest and attractive narrator.

Funny story. A couple weeks down the line, I went in there for a haircut myself and as I was walking away from the register after paying, they stopped me and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Here's your 'stache card".

(Snip, snip. The end.)

I hate my voice. But it's not bad when I yell.

I just realized that in the two years I've had this blog, I've yet to post anything I've produced. This. Changes. NOW.

The following spot was produced for Portage Place Shopping Centre during the 2010 holiday season. During this time, they were trying to promote the Globe Cinema, IMAX and Prairie Theatre Exchange all at the same time, calling it the 'Portage Place Theatre District'.

When talking to the client, she said that she was aware that Portage Place definitely wasn't the first choice for people when they wanted to go shopping, and that they've accepted that fact. Instead, they wanted to market the shopping centre as an entertainment hub where people could see a wide array of movies as well as live theatre. They also wanted people to know about their free validated heated underground parking.

I scripted and produced the spot which was approved by the client, and it aired on KICK-FM in December 2010.

Listen to it here:

Mike Choi - Portage Place by chlngch0ng

Writer/Producer: Mike Choi
Client: Portage Place Shopping Centre
Talent: Albertine Watson/Mike Choi

Bada ba ba, wait what?

When was the last time you played Monopoly? Yeah, that's what I thought.

If you want to start making some ROI again, go open your closet, reach high up for that dusty top shelf and shimmy the Monopoly box from in between Operation (which you stopped playing after it got too easy [only because the battery died]) and Mouse Trap (which you never played because the dumb contraption never worked).

McDonald's Canada ran a promotion last October for their age-old Monopoly game where customers in BC and Alberta could bring in their worthless, faded Monopoly money and trade it in for an order of large fries. Though the bills weren't worth their face value, customers benefited regardless.

People always give Mickey D's a hard time because they think the company isn't concerned about people's health and well-being. Also, there is probably a super-sized amount of people that think MacDougall's advertising towards children is slimy, deceptive and wrong. But I don't think you should connect company morals and values with an agency's.

Cossette has been delivering some great creative for Ronnie's Playhouse over the years and, believe it or not, the creative has been successful because it's been, well, creative. There hasn't been any top secret brainwash strategies put forth, or some youth-oriented marketing campaign where they said eating their food gets you better grades and makes your pimples go away.

People are going to McDonald's because tactics like iPhone apps, installations, and experiential marketing make it fun for them and give them something interesting to go in for, not just for the gross drippy "food".

And with that, here's this:


(Must eat McDonald's. Must eat McDonald's.)

Cool Ink, Bro.

There are some people who get tattoos to commemorate a family member or friend who has passed away. Some get inked to mark a milestone or chapter in their life. And then there are people who get tattoos to save $2.50 on their next purchase.

(Branded. Literally.)

Marc Ecko is offering his customers a 20 per cent discount for the rest of their lives if they have the cojones to roll up their sleeves and put a needle to their skin. Er...to get a tattoo. Fans can either get the Ecko rhino or the Cut & Sew shears, both clothing lines owned by Ecko.

While this lifelong promotion is redefining the terms 'branding' and 'customer loyalty', I think the most peculiar part about this is whole ordeal are the people who are actually getting these tattoos. Look at it this way:

1) Tatts cost hundreds of dollars, and most parlours have a $100 or so minimum that you must spend.
2) Ecko is definitely not a bargain line, so it can be safe to assume that someone who shops at Ecko might spend somewhere near $80-$120 per visit; an average of $20 in savings.

So, you throw down $100 to get the smallest, simplest tattoo you can get, but then you'll have to spend an additional $500 at an Ecko store to break even on that cost. So, it's not until you spend an initial $600 until you can start "saving" money. Now you have to start thinking how much/long it would take if you got a more elaborate tattoo with colours and intricate designs to go along with the logo (you can redesign that tattoo whichever way you want, s'long as the logo stay intact), that will cost another couple hundred, which delays this saving process even more.

If the financial aspect isn't a concern to you, I hope people realize that they'll have a logo tattooed to to their body. No cool story or special meaning behind it. Those who give up their skin are basically converting themselves into living, breathing ad space and a meaty mobile coupon.

To me, it's just not worth it. But I guess this promo is for the more audacious, seat-of-one's-pants individual. At least it's not as embarrassing as this:

(Ouch.)

Show us your butts!

Around this time last year, the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada came out with a fantastic campaign to get people to take off their pants, and show people their butts.

(Is it weird that people with no pants can be frequently seen on my bus?)

While some agencies choose to show skin based on the fact that it will make people turn their heads, this campaign idea for the CCAC makes showing people's "cabooses" relevant. Along with the advertising, which ranged from print, TV, out of home and online, a micro site and Facebook page were created encouraging people to post photocopies of their "seat cushions" to spread awareness about this disease.

Whether people actually sent in photocopies of their "ba-donka-donks" or not, this "cheeky" (I'm sorry if someone's made this joke before, ugh) concept that Ogilvy Montreal developed was refreshingly creative and a step in the right direction to get younger audiences to listen to what the CCAC had to say.

But, with colorectal cancer affecting people when they start creeping around the age of 50, one could ask if this is an effective campaign for the older audience that this disease directly affects. I say yes. Some may say that older people would be put off by this youthful campaign of exhibitionism, but I think it makes a serious topic less intimidating to approach. Even if some business executive didn't put his "rucksack of cottage cheese" on the glass to share with the world, I'm sure he appreciated the friendly reminder. And that's my final rebuttal.

Maybe this year, they should play off of this:

Terribly Fowl

As I was lounging away the afternoon at a friend's house this weekend, I flipped though a home improvement magazine that was lying around. Within said magazine, I found this gem:

Brutal.

But the point of this post isn't to show you an awful ad. I'm actually showing this to you because I empathize with the sorry sap that had to make this. With everyone waiting for the account that'll give them the opportunity to create the campaign that'll make them famous, it's always a bummer when your boss tosses you a brief for a product like this instead.

It'd probably be hard to stay sane if all you did was write ad after ad, each one as insipid and uninspiring as the last. I imagine whoever wrote this ad was feeling a bit cheeky and decided to hand this off to proof, thinking it wouldn't even make it past the person sitting over at the next desk. But, to their surprise, the client approved it and it went to print.

That might have been the case, or it could simply just have been a bad ad, written by a bad copywriter. Either way, there's still an attempt at creativity there, however effective or ineffective it is.

When working as a creative, there's a possibility that you won't be doing anything that requires much creativity at all. I think this is something that people should consider, especially when you're about to take your first step into the ad world like my classmates and I will be doing in a couple months. But you have to start somewhere, right?

So, I say do the work of a peon and do it without complaint, but when you get an opportunity to be creative, take advantage of it and create something fun, different and will make people stop and look, no matter how fowl it may be.

Quack.

The real world.

You may have been wondering where I've been for the past month or so, other than at the bottom of your blog rolls. For the first three weeks of January, I was at Velocity Branding for my work practicum.

Velocity is a local advertising agency that's made up of three account executives, three designers, and one writer. Jarrett Moffatt, a former CreComm who was in my position last year, took me under his wing since he knew exactly where I was coming from. You could say that I was like his son for a month.

(I thought this would be funny but now I realize it's just creepy.)

At my placement, I got to see the entire process that an agency goes through, from first meeting a client, to sending them proofs of their work. Luckily for me, I was able to dabble in a bit of everything. From those client meetings, I was able to write up creative briefs, conducted some research, and give Dad (Jarrett) something to start off on. As for writing, I had the opportunity to write copy for sell sheets, newspaper ads, in-store flyers, as well as radio spots.

One of the best things about my placement at Velocity was seeing the interaction and relationship between designer and writer. To see how closely they work together made me realize how important it is to start fostering this relationship as soon as humanly possible, and only reinforced my belief that CreComms and Graphic Design students should be working on projects together, right from the get-go.

On that note, I found that a lot of Velocity’s work was design based. Their designers were always click-clack-clackitting away on their computers working on websites, print materials or iPhone apps. Seeing the sheer amount of work that was always coming in and going out made me wish that I was a better designer because I can see how much more of an advantage you would have if you were able to both write and design.

Something else that I noticed, was that there was no suit vs. creative hippie separation. Now I'm not saying that they were all hippies or all suits, but rather everyone there treated each other equally. With ad agencies, there's always the stigma of mean business-type account execs looking down on and stifling the freedom of creative teams, at least that's how it seems like it is in the books I've read. At Velocity, there was always a fun, positive vibe in the office, which may or may not have been caused by the 90's hip hop that was blasting some days.

As for how this placement affected my career plans, I still would like to try my hand at being a writer for an agency. Though I realize now how small the Manitoba market is and how hard it is to try and convince people to take risks here, I foresee some sort of mini revolution in Winnipeg's ad/marketing world. At least I'm hoping for one.

Though I may not have come out of my work placement with a lot to put into a portfolio like some of my other peers, I found this to be a great learning opportunity. During my three weeks, I got to see the ups and downs of an agency. I got to witness the blood, sweat and tears that a team must shed to come up with a successful campaign. I got to see the real thing.

Thank you (in no particular order, and because I'm a gentleman, ladies first) Jarrett, Karla, Colette, Olga, Lee, and Chris x2!

Cheers and thanks for having me on board!