today is the last day of 2009

2009 is winding down in a mere 12 hours. it's safe to say this has been one year of adventure, heartbreak, growing up, dreaming big, regressing and maturing. i've thought a lot about my future, and what it holds. and what it won't hold and how my dreams have changed. some things have changed dramatically, and some have slightly veered off into something new.

it's a new year, a new decade. i'm not going to be a "new me", i've already become the person i need to be. but i will make sure i never grow up and stay forever young.

i have some resolutions. and i think as we get older they become more practical and attainable. i plan on making mine a reality. and i can't wait.

so here is to you, and here is to me. let's make memories.

HSBC wants to be your friend.

HSBC has recently launched a campaign in New York. And I am not sure if it is global, or has reached other parts of the nation, but it seems to be a huge rebranding campaign. I remember them filming "soap box" in madison square park in the middle of july, asking everyone to choose a topic and state what they think about it.

an example would be bottle water. is it good? bad? apathetic? the individual could just rant or throw accolades depending on their views.

the tagline for the campaign is something along the lines of how they can't continue until they understand everyone. different values make us all different. my words are not as fine tuned as theirs, and i am having a hard time finding the actual ad for them.

side note, it seems in all the google searches i am finding different versions, so i think we were being tested. i could be wrong.

moving on, anyway. HSBC basically took the entire platform of advertising, and created a campaign using our very foundation! we try to understand people. and we interview people and try to find a consensus about them. we also try to figure out how they view things differently and then we create ads around them. but we don't expressly state that in ads. HSBC basically did that. like, could you imagine that board meeting?

"we need to understand our consumers. who are they? what do they think?"
"what a great campaign idea. we need to understand our consumers. use that. let's go."

it's like they went halfway, stopped and ran with it.

and it's annoying. i wish they could have come around and done something different. especially since they are taking these attributes that are not associated with banking and giving them this personality.

this is one example of the ad:

i understand a bank is trying to humanize themselves into a more friendly bank. but i think they should have just focused on banking. and worries about the future. not the bottle water or a shaved head.

what are your thoughts? am i wrong in this whole thing?

ps, this isn't against their banking or anything like that. just the advertising.

the start of something new

i am currently in my parents house in texas. the house that i called home for a small part of my childhood/adulthood. i say small because we upgraded into our new (which is now current) house during my freshman year of college.

while i would visit in college, it was home. my stuff was still here. i left my crap around without a care. i treated it as my own. it wasn't a vacation coming home, but just a normal visit. i think living in a college town that is 2.5 hours away didn't really cause a problem in what was home and "home". both norman and dallas were home.

living in new york though, i purchased my first plane ticket, with my own money, to come home for a visit. and not just to visit my parents, but to visit college friends who i have not seen in over a year. a real vacation.

so i find it odd, but also mildly exciting, to be part of this journey where i am growing up. and being in a place where a vacation is going to dallas. and not just for a holiday. sure, i have my room. but, it's not my room. i don't have these exciting memories anymore in that room. they are all in my bedroom in new york city.

and i find myself being a little more careful with the house. i see myself more as a guest. maybe because i don't breathe in the house anymore. or come home at 4 in the morning. but i do see how far i've grown. and how much more i will grow.

i am alive

i have so much to catch up on. birthday's. more birthday's. holy hot summer. my upcoming birthday.

so until then, you will have to hold tight. more of an update, grander and better, to come.

texting is no fun.

today, i received this little gem in my text message inbox:

"hello jill this is coach robinson for young women 1st sorry 4 text you but im at work n cant talk im texting about ticket for aug.1st if you can about 15 call u"

i have no idea who this person is. i have no idea exactly what they are trying to say. and more importantly, my name is not jill.

but it brought me to an idea, typing in today's society. have we really moved into a culture that beats and abuses the english language in such a way where 'u' really is a substitute for 'you'?

my personal writing style doesn't include things such as capitalization and whatnot. but that is my style. i at least know how to spell out words and form coherent sentences.

i find it rather vile for people to relegate words to mere letters. i seriously wonder what is going to happen to our future, and our language, when it becomes acceptable for someone to type and use words like this professionally. plus the sentence structure of that message just makes me want to beat someone with a dictionary and the ap style guide.

maybe it's because i have a love of words, but i can't bring myself to just throw away all my years of schooling because it is just "easier" to type 'n' in the form of 'and'. it's not really easier. and it really makes the other person seem like a complete fool.

published.

since i am only beginning what i believe will be a long, fruitful career in advertising, i still have tons to learn. in fact, i will never stop learning when it comes to advertising.

last night, i was reading "rolling stone" trying to catch up on my music, when i came across an ad for speed stick. which probably won't matter to a vast majority of anyone reading this, but i honestly had to do a double take. it was the exact same campaign i had worked on last summer when i was interning for my agency!

the last few weeks of my internship were completely dedicated to the campaign. we went through all the phases of creating a campaign. we also went through client specifications: small budget, mostly print, and nothing ultra crazy.

but there it was, neatly tucked between a regina spektor article and an allman brothers piece, the campaign i helped develop, staring at me.

it's weird to look at something and realize you don't completely love it. not that i expect to love everything that comes out of my head, or have ever written - but life goes on. and to look at something, and touch it, no matter how you felt about it at the time, makes you nostalgic.

which is then quickly followed by rage because you can't believe they thought this was the best creative, and you really wish you could have stayed to see how it all went down.

and to see it in a magazine, that people read, is just crazy. i wish i could show it to everyone, to show them how my summer played out, and to at least get some sort of recognition. so i think that is what i have to learn. the recognition might never come. but that doesn't mean i should stop trying, or doing, or wanting, or loving. i love this industry. i want to grab it by the balls and squeeze.

ps, i don't have a copy of the actual ad, since i left it at home. but you can click to the site here

i don't really feel like writing a huge narrative of my weekend, but i will give you bullet points.

the fourth was this past weekend, and i must say, it was the best weekend i have had in terms of fireworks, friends, food and drinks.

my mom comes in about 6 days, and i can't wait to let her see me be an adult.

i moved into my first real adult apartment last week. my joy should be felt and heard for months to come.

that is all for now.