RC Cola campaign

For one of my classes, we were given the assignment of creating an ad campaign for a packaged good using public figures to sell it.

I took the stance that RC Cola isn't likely to ever beat out Coke or Pepsi, so they should embrace their position as an offbeat brand and completely reshape their image.

Here are my three print ads from the campaign. (Keep in mind I am two and a half months into my program, so this isn't portfolio level work.)

Roller coaster of love is a song

Our teachers frequently stress to us that advertising isn't a business for the faint of heart; you have to be able to deal with rejection. And while that's something I'm accustomed to in my personal life (*rim shot*), it's been weird to experience it day in, day out at school.

One day a teacher tells you they like a campaign you've done and you feel like you know exactly what you're doing, the next they say something as simple as "I don't get it" and then you feel like you're wasting a year of your time and thousands of dollars training for the wrong career path.

Then you have another good day and refuse to believe that you could ever fail again.

Royal Crown

I'm working on a campaign for RC Cola right now, and in researching the brand I stumbled upon this gem of a commercial:

Vancouver still thinks it can host the Olympics

I just came across this article on the CBC's website about a Vancouver couple who are trying to rent out their home for the 2010 Olympics. The story goes on to to say that thousands of people want to rent their houses but are finding no takers. Essentially, Vancouverites are asking for too much money.

I lived in Vancouver for over 4 years, and I have lost count of the amount of people who used to rag on Toronto for it being full of rude, arrogant, greedy people who are always in a hurry. (I should also like to add that a number of these complainers had never actually been to Toronto.)

While I won't argue that some Torontonians are greedy I will say that if we were to host the Olympics, we would not be clamoring to rent out our homes. We would be too busy telling people to stay the fuck out of our city.

"That's a nice thought"

I've been spending the majority of my time thinking over the past week or so, trying to get out of what one of our instructors, Jane, calls "the 10 hour garbage can" for a number of different campaigns.

Normally I just like to pretend that means I can spend 10 hours thinking up very dirty ideas.

One thing that a few of my teachers are really stressing to us is the importance of immersing yourself in culture. I'm hoping that watching Mad Men and looking at a lot of photography websites is good enough.

Speaking of the latter, Tim Barber has relaunched his Haas-recommended website Tiny Vices.

Sometimes it feels like strategizing is akin to plotting

I think it's a sign that I'm headed down the right career path when I am working on creating on an in depth creative work plan for an ad campaign for my class, when only the ad campaign itself was assigned.

Our teachers do tell us to write a strategy anyway, but I'm not sure the expect a 4 pager every time. I find getting into the heads of consumers pretty interesting. I guess all those years of talking to myself are finally going to pay off.