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.