the purpose of art

This is something that snuck up on me. I was listening to an interview on NPR with a famous architect who is currently working on a project with a major museum. He described the purpose of art and culture as being "to put a light in your eye." How beautiful. In seven small words he managed to sum it up.

I must admit that I've always been of the mindset of "art for art's sake." I intrinsically see value in art and culture, so it never occurred to me to question its purpose. So when this man started to talk about that, the entire concept pushed me onto the edge of my seat. I thought, "How can one person possibly put something so large, esoteric, and varied into words?" And moments later I was flabbergasted when he gave an answer so simple, perceptive and inclusive that it followed me around as I went through my week. I don't remember the name of this architect or even what project he was working on, but he clearly made an impression.

Put a light in your eye to gain perspective.

Put a light in your eye when news of the recession weighs too heavily on your routine.

Put a light in your eye to see the world differently.

Assignment Print Ad

One of my assignments this semester was to create an ad that showcases Aggreko's relationship with the 2010 Olympics. They provide the majority of power and much of the construction for the Olympics. This ad is geared toward industry trade magazines so that Aggreko can show off it's role in the Olympics. I believe that less is more so I did not include the website, because when you're designing for business to business, people who want to know about your company already have the website. The website matters when designing ads more for consumers.

Here it is:

When Good PR Goes Bad

Awhile back Old Spice sponsored a brand-relevant contest: people sent in essays about the art of manliness and readers voted on the winner who received a cash prize. However, the man the viewers picked was controversial to say the least. Most of the press has been about his wife is the founder of a group named "Ladies Against Feminism," which discourages women from voting.

Now I don't think this particular brand of masculinity is consistent with Old Spice's image but they sponsored the contest before the winner was chosen. And there's something to be said for giving readers total freedom. It's interesting that a contest about the art of manliness became so closely connected with a group about feminism, and one that is most certain to stir strong feelings.

One solution would be for Old Spice to have reviewed the essays and chosen finalists and then allowed people to vote. I'm not certain if this happened or not, but I question the wisdom that allowed such a controversial winner. I'm curious to see if they repeat this contest and if the winner is markedly different.

Good and Bad humor

So I wanted to explore the concept of humor in television advertising advertising a bit more. Here are two commercials for Mountain Dew that both use humor. Same product, same target market and even the same creative voice. They're both brand consistent, but one of them misses the mark in my opinion.



Why do I find this spot effective? The message is fairly clear: Mountain Dew is so good it's worth battling a Ram. The product is mentioned at the very start of the spot and featured nicely at the end. It's funny and clear.



The clarity is problematic for me. Yes, the commercial is odd and funny but the message just doesn't click. It seems like a stretch to go from being surprised that Lincoln liked wrestling, to the wrestling at the debate (which really is hillarious) to Diet Dew's extreme flavor. The idea of connecting Diet Mountain Dew to an extreme masculine funny scenario is great, but it doesn't have to be such a great leap. Also, I'm not sure relying on text is such a great idea and I'm not personally a fan of waiting till the very end to tell the audience what the commercial is really about.

Vitamin Water 10- Making humor work

So there's an understandable debate about using humor in commercials. If it makes everyone laugh but fails to reach the audience in the appropriate way, it's just a really fast and expensive way for companies to entertain us between shows.



I think this works well because the concept is compelling. The idea of Mother Nature herself being concerned because water has been improved so much that she can no longer compete is entertaining and whimsical. There's actually a series of these commercials and they make me laugh out loud each time I see them.

That brings me to the next reason I think the humor approach works in this instance: repetition. The first few times I saw it, I didn't associate it with the product: Vitamin Water 10. But they've played fairly regularly and I started to listen to the entire spot because they were familiar to me. Not only do I find them amusing, but many others clearly do too. High ratings and views on youtube for a commercial.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I'm totally smitten by the very idea of a beautiful bulldog contest. Most people lean one way or the other about these wrinkled beauties. I adore them. One of my new life goals may just be to judge a bulldog beauty contest.

http://www.drake.edu/news/db/official/archive.php?article=4236

Seriously, this is an awesome, fun promotion put on by Drake University that reaches out both to the local community and animal saps like me. It's such a warm, simple idea there really isn't much more to say.

Crestwood Court is becoming a Purple Cow!

I'm sure many people have read Seth Godin's Purple Cow, which is about making your company stand out. Crestwood Court is doing an excellent job of doing just that with an incredible vision about being a different kind of mall.

Crestwood Mall was not doing well and as the anchors stores left, many smaller ones followed. However, it seems that new ownership has come in with some new ideas that just might be crazy enough to work. Competing with other malls such as West County and Chesterfield Mall was not going well. So they're not going to be like other malls any more.

The new owners of the rebranded Crestwood Court have decided to open some of their spaces to local artists. Partnering with the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, they plan to transform their persona into a cultural center.



The rumors I've heard around town are that within 2-5 years it will be turned into an open air mall with apartments over the shops. I can't verify that, but I think that 5 years is a good time-frame. I think this is such an amazing idea because it's outside the box and there is nothing like this anywhere in St. Louis. They've chosen to give up some revenue for the artists' spaces, but with the possibility of making it open air and adding apartments could potentially make up for it.

If you read about the grand opening, there's a lot of great PR ideas in there too. I'm very excited to see where this goes. My biggest concern is that the project won't be given enough time or capitol to succeed. That seems to be the most likely reason for something this excellent to fail. Only time will tell.

Using commercials to reposition someone else

One of the best commercials I've seen lately was this ad for the Nuva Ring.




Why do I like this commercial? Because the makers of Nuva Ring realized that despite medical breakthroughs, the pill was still considered the standard for contraception. New medications sometimes seem scary so rather than talk about the newness of the Nuva Ring, they used amazing references and graphics to make the pill look old and out dated.

Note that the overhead view of the pool of swimmers looks strikingly like the packaging for birth control pills. The music is not unpleasant sounding, but definitely gets old fast, just like taking the pill every day. The repetitive nature of the music reinforces the negative attributes of the pill.

I think the use of swimmers in old-fashioned caps and vintage-style bathing suits was brilliant. After all, what says "feminine yet outdated" like the art of synchronized swimming? By putting the name of the calendar on the middle of the suit, they're really driving home the point that women no longer have to take a pill at the same time every day to have effective birth control. And by casting off that practice, they're suddenly modern hip women in bikinis.

This all highlights the major benefit of the Nuva Ring: freedom. It takes less effort to have the kind of life you want. The feature of the Nuva Ring is that it's less cumbersome to use, but the benefit is more freedom in your every day life.