Everyone's Invited to Swim

Only the great will make it to the other side.

The annual D&AD Student Awards competition is in full-swing. The British Design and Art Design Award is one of the most coveted and challenging student awards across the pond and around the world.

There's no limit of entries, but they had better be incredible. The best of the best will be grading them. Each entry needs to be signed by your tutor/professor, or you can't enter. Can a 30 year-old grad student enter? You betcha. (Coincidentally, that's the same age as this award.)

Winners receive an oversize pencil whose tree's growth must have been stunted due to the greenhouse effect. But this little stump can be used as a pedestal to reach the next level, or a doorstop to save yourself from having a crushed foot.

The categories are: Advertising, Animation, Furniture Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Integrated Communication, Music Videos, Open Briefs, Photography, Product Design, Social Design, and What Else Do You Do? Description for the last onereads, "Having already entered one of more of the briefs this year, you are now entitled to now submit an additional piece of work that has nothing to do with this or any other competition..."

Because this blog is about advertising, I will only list the endless possibilities for the Advertising category.

Postcard
Breastfeeding, Sponsored by Best Beginnings
Press Advertising
Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Sponsored by Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Outdoor
HSBC, Sponsored by ClearChannel
Viral
Nando's, Sponsored by Nando's
Ambient
London Fashion Week, Sponsored by Grazia
Writing
If Only I'd Listened More Carefully, Sponsored by Ogilvy
Direct and Online
The Army, Sponsored by TEQUILA\
Poster
The Royal Opera House, Sponsored by This Is Real Art
TV
Belu, Sponsored by Weilands

You can't literally drown if you don't win; you only fill your metaphorical lungs up with water and have to be resuscitated by determination. Or you could change majors (quitter). Before you enter, read this. Did you read it? Okay, the briefs are here.

D&AD will accept entries from students from Jan. 14 – March 20, 2008. The grading takes place in May, and the awards ceremony is in June. All of the 'A' work is accessible in June.

Good luck!

(Do It) For the Glory of Love

In the latest issue of Communication Arts magazine, Ernie Shenck encourages us to appreciate every day, whether it's the day you get laid off or the day your agency lands an account with your favorite brand. The article is called 'Is There a Shoeless Joe in You?', referencing the baseball player, Shoeless Joe Jackson. Do what you do because you love it unconditionally.

Here's an excerpt of the motivational column. I encourage you to subscribe to CA. If you don't, at least get this issue for Ernie's uplifting words.

"I hope you love it all. Embrace it all. Suck it all in and let it shape and form you into something amazing, something with depth and breadth and subtle variations in texture and color, the likes of which we've never seen. Love what you do. Love the highs and the lows and weave it all into what you are to become. Be blindly in love. Be Shoeless Joe. Hold the bat up to your face. Look at the grain. Feel it on your cheek. Smell the varnish. You'll be better for it. We all will."

Here's a great example.

Mailing Maelstrom

Junk mail is everywhere, attacking your mailbox like a tempest. About 44% of it is thrown back without reading, and after it's read, there's a 95% chance you'll throw it into the Neverending Pit of Garbage. You can fight it and sign up for "do-not-mail" lists, but most likely, the sea of mail will keep surging.

Why not invite them onto your boat by encouraging them to use other means of communication? Like e-mails you receive with an "unsubscribe" option, businesses could include an "unsubscribe" envelope -- guaranteeing no more mail from them if you send it back. Using this, they could reach their target audience better. (Hopefully they have one.)

If junk mail was reduced, it would leave a much smaller carbon footprint. "The average American household receives unsolicited junk mail equal to 1.5 trees every year—more than 100 million trees for all U.S. households combined" (About.com). And that's what this is all about, right? As much as we would like to think businesses care more about Mother Earth's green than your green, it's usually quite the opposite.

Targeting the right audience is a major dilemma for companies.



This week, I received an invitation to a retirement planning seminar. A complimentary meal for myself and three adults is included. There is no mention of anything free in the letter, besides the toll free number I am supposed to call for reservations. But I am not retiring anytime soon. I'm still in college, as a matter of fact. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2000, 14.3% of citizens in the city I reside in are 65 years and older. This makes me curious as to how many young people like myself received this letter. It's only one piece of paper, an envelope and a stamp. But it costs them more money than they should be spending. They're spending it in the wrong place. If I went to the lunch or dinner seminar with three guests who are not close to the age of retirement, that company is losing four possible clients and an innumerable amount of money.



But there can be a calm in the storm. Procter & Gamble's Gillette does it right. Soon after I turned 18, I got a free Mach3 razor. After my sister turned 18, she got a free Venus razor. We use the product and become familiar with the brand we become dependent on -- for our hygienic and cosmetic needs. When corporations, small businesses and the like spend money on targeting the right audience, there's more chance the consumer will develop a relationship with their brand, which is much more valuable than a "catch of the day" to the business.