The little things about big cities

I love cities. I love the hustle and bustle, the constant motion, and the uninhibited sense of freedom that everyone seems to possess. But some of my favorite aspects of cities are the small, arbitrary things that usually remain overlooked.

Graffiti I saw while in Manhattan

I love being in surrounded by art. The way every visible post or pole shows traces of sticker bombing, the way artists pass out their demos, claiming them to be the "next best thing", and the way building facades are tagged with elaborate and sometimes thought-provoking messages. It's like everyone's trying to leave traces behind, as to make their mark in a place where they would otherwise go unnoticed.

Random sticker slapping on scaffolding in Chelsea (and my cousin in the background!)

There's an unrelenting sense of determination that everyone wants and needs to be heard. No matter how big of a message or how it gets across, the point is--- it gets across. Quite frankly, I think that if someone has the guts to lay a piece of his mind out on the table, to be dissected and picked apart by thousands of critical eyes; then he deserves to be recognized, or at least acknowledged for doing something that so many will never have the courage to step up and do.

In need of new study jams?

With the end of Thanksgiving Break peeking around the corner, I am slowly starting to realize that with the amount of work I have to do over the next two weeks, I should probably get a move on. However, being that it is a holiday, there has been a spike in the amount of activity going on in our house. From the constant coming-and-going of friends and family members, to the never ending commentary of football or hockey echoing throughout the entire house, it's hard to find a peaceful place to get things done. Fortunately for me, when I'm done stuffing my face with homemade food (a luxury I have taken full advantage of the past few days) I can retreat to my room, shut the door, and enjoy some much needed solidarity.

I, for one, know that it is nearly impossible to get anything accomplished unless my music selection is perfect. I guess it makes me an anal person, but it's crazy the way one song can throw off my entire study groove. Thankfully, I've finally come across an album that appears to be sent directly to me from the Study Gods themselves. Kaskade has been one of my favorite artists for a while now, so the release of his new album Fire and Ice on October 24th was like an early Christmas present.

The album is comprised of two discs Fire and Ice. The first disc, Fire is everything you would expect from Kaskade; ten catchy progressive house tracks, with awesome vocals and collaborators. Each song is so distinct, yet still maintain the deep-house signature style Kaskade is known for. What's awesome about this album is the way the second disc Ice mirrors Fire. This disc contains the same ten tracks, but they are deconstructed to give them more of a chill, lounge-esque vibe.

When I find myself in need of music that will not only keep me awake, but also help steady my focus, I turn to this album. The way the two discs seamlessly flow together keeps me from having to constantly scroll through my jumbled iTunes library to find a new song to play.

The music video for Kaskade's "Eyes", one of the hit singles off Fire & Ice.

My personal favorites from the Fire disc include the popular single "Eyes" (featuring Mindy Gledhill), "Llove" (featuring Haley Gibby who frequently collabs with Kaskade. Check out "Dynasty" and "Move for Me" to hear more their work together), and "Turn it Down" (featuring Rebecca & Fiona).

Although everything from Ice is amazing, I'd suggest listening to "Lick It" (featuring Skrillex), "Room for Happiness" (featuring Skylar Gray), and again "Turn it Down" (the reduced BPMs and touch of dubstep juxtapose really well with its Fire counterpart)

So whether you need to get work done, start getting work done, or just feel like chilling out, I'd highly recommend buying this cd to help you do so.

Mayhem is everywhere!

Have you met Mayhem? Many of us are all to familiar with Allstate's latest campaign featuring the sadistic perpetrator in situations which show the importance of investing in Allstate's insurance. When I first saw the ads, I thought they were hilarious (My personal favorite is Mayhem as the GPS). In my Research Methods in Advertising/PR class, we're doing a semester-long group research project on a different brand or company. My group chose to base our research question around Allstate's Mayhem campaign, asking whether or not humor is an effective tool in advertising.

We are going to create a survey which includes video links to ads from both the light-hearted, humorous Mayhem campaign, and the more serious "You're In Good Hands" Dennis Haysbert campaign. Following each ad, we will pose a series of questions meaning to gauge the memorable, informative, engaging, and convincing nature of the ads.

Allstate's latest Mayhem ad: super fan

Our group is going to start designing our survey soon and then we can finally start reeling in some data that will (hopefully) bring us a step closer to answering our research question.

I read an interesting article on the New York Times website that talked about Mayhem, and how Allstate has adopted the new strategy of creating a villain to portray the product (or in this case, company) as the hero. By doing this, Allstate is able to establish a positive brand image. Another thing I like about the Mayhem campaign is how they still include the Dennis Haysbert voiceover at the end of the ads, almost like they're tying the two campaigns together or maintaining some sort of congruity within their marketing.


This has definitely been an in-depth undertaking but I've definitely learned a lot about marketing research throughout the process. And what a process it has been. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product (and the finish line for that matter!)

Ad Project: Milwaukee Power Tools

For my creative strategies advertising class, one of our projects was to create two ads for an assigned "client", who in this case, was Milwaukee Power Tools. After working on the project for several weeks and putting the finishing touches on our Strategic Action Plans, our professor told us that suddenly "our client changed their mind" and wanted to go in a new direction with the campaign: comparing aspects of the tools to nature. We were told to scrap our past ideas and start from scratch; however, we were to keep our SAP the same. Our final ads along with SAP were to be turned in the next day.

Panic ensued.

The rationale behind the last-minute change-up was that our professor wanted us to focus less on using Photoshop and InDesign and more on creating good body copy. Stressed under the time-constraint and tired after what seemed like an endless back-and-forth email conversation, my partner and I managed to pull together two decent ads.

Our final two ads for Milwaukee Power Tools

In our original SAP, my partner and I had targeted the product to middle aged, white-collar male homeowners with families. We felt that our original slogan, "Build your own memories" could still be relevant with the new theme, so we didn't change it. The most difficult part of this project was deciding which two images to use for the new concept and developing creative headlines that could relate the images to our audience and the product.

Hopefully what we lacked in creative graphic outflux, we made up for in copywriting!