Graduation

I'm done! Yes it's True. 19 new account planners graduated from the Miami Ad School last night. It was pretty uneventful...they called our name, we walked up through the crowd and were knighted with dog-tags that had our name on them.

Erin Middleton, Account Planner
Miami Ad School

I was not voted Top Dog but the girl who was is really great: Julie Zukof from New York. I'm excited to keep in touch with her as she learns new things and makes contacts in the ad world. She'll be great. Amy Squires from Ontario, CA was the top finalist. She already has a job offer to be a partner. Congratulations to her too.

I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone here and watching them grow in the real-ad world. We're all super lucky to be here. New York with these peeps will be a blast.

Thank you MAS for providing a great program.

winding down...

This is a picture of my fantastic OfficeMax team: Farida, Me, Elisabeth and Desi.

I'm in the process of putting together my book: an artsy summary of the projects I feel most confident about that I did here at MAS. We will have a one on one interview to discuss the book, get a grade and ask any remaining questions about the future.

What lies ahead is an unknown. Aside from going to New York, I will be putting a lot of energy into contacting agencies and sending out a more refined job-hunting book to ones I'm interested in. The school has assured us all that we're first in line when job opportunities come up, and there's an email listserve we're all hooked into. So I'll be checking my mail often.

One of my original goals coming here was to network on the East coast. I've done a good job of that. A lot of the teachers that came are from the midwest or east. And then there was a lot of name-dropping going on so I have a list to inquire about. I need to get my Top 10 established and then 10-20 more that will round out my chances of actually getting a job. :)

going to do a bit of that research now...

check the time

no image...

it's late, I need to go to sleep. i just worked on a project piece to send to my two creative gals. we give our BIG presentation this Thursday at 7:30 for OfficeMax. We are doing a branding campaign that emphasizes the positive side of doing what you love and having an entrepreneurial mindset. you people need office supplies. why not go to a store that understands this drive? there's no good reason.

our presentation is 25 minutes long, i think this is the longest I've ever had. right now, i need to get to sleep, my partner and i will be practicing our set-up speech for the creative tomorrow at 11:30.

this has been a great experience in discipline, working hard, understanding teamwork and listening. I think I've changed somewhat since I've been here. i think i listen more and talk less, unless i have something crazy-important to say. i'm a lot more positive because i like to feel confident in a direction. i also listen to feedback and pay attention to it when it comes to my ideas.

thanks miami ad school for teaching me (a lot).

Another Celeb Siting in SoBe

I can't be 100% positive because I've only seen her in Enrique's MTV video, but I'm pretty sure Anna Kournikova was sweating bullets on the treadmill at Gold's today.

Not much else to say besides I SAW A CELEBRITY. And now I'm going to back to work. I've sold my soul to the work devil until March 20th. I graduate the 22nd: just an FYI. Two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah, it's coming up fast.

Helping Hand

A freelance Creative person from Amsterdam came to speak to our school about 2 weeks ago. After a couple introductory images or statements, she posed the question: Why is advertising so shit? I don't know. She proceeded to show us some ads from Time magazine, some advertised vehicles, others advertised watches, and so on...none of them were "cool" or engaging, and surely, none of them persuaded the reader to get more information. BAD ADVERTISING!

At the Miami Ad School, these ads are our worst enemy. They teach the general public to not expect much from advertising and do not lend to what I want advertising to be: a dialogue with the reader/viewer/consumer. Students here are taught to push their limits and get new creative material out into the world so we can start changing the face of what you see now. Communications can go anywhere, as Planners were partly responsible for defining where they can go and how they'll be great. I hope to produce some good advertising in my days, but I'm sure the bad will be lumped in there.

Just keep me sane people, if you see bad after bad after bad, don't let me become jaded. I need to see the bad for what it is. Case in point above: Office Depot's Helping Hand in response to Staples' Easy Button. We're all working on OfficeMax right now and you can bet ALL your money, that we're not going to come up with some gadget/widget/freaky object to encapsulate our brand and bring in new customers.

dum dee dum

Dar! Ugh! Argh! Bleh! Blah! Um! No! AWWWWW! Help.

I'm having a major Stink with Ink. I'm trying to crack the code with ink...why is it so darn frustrating when you're out? Because it interrupts your "process of productivity?" Do you just not think about ink until you're out and then you get mad at yourself for not thinking about it earlier? Is ink hard to figure out? It's a thing inside of another thing. Bring the ink out, right? Show me the ink! Love the ink. Be the ink.

I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. Just thought I'd share some idea-storming frustration.

Celebrity siting in SoBe

I got to work out with The Hulk today. It's funny, some classmates have seen Bill Murray, Nich Lachet, Lindsay Lohan, etc. and I was jealous but didn't care that much. I don't know what I'd do if I saw one....

And the good ol' working out that I try to do resulted in lifting weights next to Hulk Hogan in Gold's Gym. I was grunting right along with him as he lifted his 70lb single-arm back rows and I did my 10lb military presses. Go me! After a couple sets, I had to say something, "So, do you work out every day?" Well, here it is: "Yeah, I try to, but I just had knee surgery..." Simple, to the point, on with the workout.

I told him he looked good. He showed me his gurdle. At least he's smart about working out.