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Nike’s new Aina Chukka in Stone/White.  I’m in…

1800 frames per second of awesomeness. Just a fun video to watch by Mike Barzman with a soundtrack that really sets it off.

Pink Terror Hawking from mike barzman on Vimeo.

More of the surreal advertising photography I love.

Ross Brown is a photographer from New Zealand who believes Advertising Photography can be an art form itself. Me too! www.rossbrownphotographer.com

(via flylyf)

While attending GVSU, I was fortunate enough to be taught and mentored for a short period of time by Frank Blossom, who I met through a marketing class on Creativity. Frank is one of those teachers who really gives you that feeling he’s there to help you and make you succeed, not through force or constant pushing, but by his teaching style and the ways he enables his students.

Recently, he was recognized by the American Advertising Federation of West Michigan by honoring him with the Silver Medal Award for lifetime achievement.

The West Michigan Business Journal interviewed him in light of his award and Frank dispensed a few very valuable tidbits to young Ad professionals and students. See below:

Blossom spoke this week with Business Review Associate Editor Mark Sanchez.

What are some of the biggest changes going on in the advertising field today?

Everything’s faster and there isn’t as much reaction time. It’s like “get it good enough to show the client and run with it.” And because of the advances in technology, we can take something from a very rough idea thumbnail to finished in hours. As a result, there’s a rush to get things out faster and business is moving faster.

It makes it tougher for people who can’t keep up with that pace, but in some ways it can be an advantage to young people getting into the business because they’re kind of used to that pace. They’re hungry, they’re willing to work long hours, so they adapt well to that pace.

Creatively, what’s hot right now?

I still believe concept is king. The idea has to be there. But in addition, it has to be adaptable so that it can work in social media, it can work in traditional media, and we’re surrounding the customer with more messaging. It’s what I call 180-degree, surround-sound marketing.

They’re going to get some of it through magazines, radio, television — the traditional media.

But they’re also going to get it on their phone, they’re going to get it on their Web site, they’re going to get it through Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter, so the idea has to work in all those different medias.

At a time when there are so many different media platforms for clients to consider, does the basic rule still apply of having a good media mix?

Yeah. Have a good mix, and have a good idea.

Technology is not an idea. And too often what I see is people go, “Well, we have to have a Facebook page, or we have to have Twitter, or we have to have a digital billboard. We have to have this new technology.” That’s good, but that’s technique, it’s not an idea.

You still have to have a good idea, a good concept. Can you tell the story in a sentence? The good marketers, the good agencies, the good clients are doing that. And then they’re having the ability to translate that idea into all the different media that are available.

So what makes a great ad campaign today?

Great work is still something that is relevant and meaningful to the consumer. It speaks to them. It says there is something in this for them.

One of my theories is that you buy products for one of two reasons: one, to solve a problem, and, two, to make yourself feel better.

There are a lot of products that solve a problem the same way. You’re hungry. A number of things will fix that problem, but you feel better about eating Twinkies, or a steak, or a burger or something like that.

The same way with clothing. Everybody wears blue jeans. Some people pay a thousand dollars for a pair, some people pay $25 for a pair — but they all do the same thing: They cover your legs, but you feel differently about different brands.

A successful product can find a way to connect with you so you feel good about paying $25 or you feel good about paying $1,000.

What’s your favorite ad campaign of all time?

One of them — and I’m a little biased because I worked on it for a while — is the Maytag campaign. They’re not selling washers and dryers. They’re selling dependability and not having to worry about your washer and dryer, and they’ve had that same concept forever. They’ve gone through several different lonely repairmen, but it continues to resonate with people.

For the advertising students finishing up their degree, what’s your best advice right now?
Get all you can out of the classroom, and then get out of the classroom and get experience. Internships are key. Get several internships and get a range. Find out what you like and what you don’t like.

Network your buns off. Meet as many people as you can in the business and build a relationship with them. Look for people that you click with and you can make a connection — they can become mentors, they can introduce you to people.

I think getting a job in the business is 50 percent talent and 50 percent timing — being at the right place at the right time. And one of the ways that you do that is getting your name out there, branding yourself, making sure people are aware of you because more and more jobs are simply referral jobs.

A number of firms today say “we are not posting jobs anymore. We are just asking for referrals and ask around and ask other people in the business.”

How does the younger generation of ad professional today that you work with view the business compared to how you viewed it when you started out?

One, they’re a lot smarter about the business than I ever was. They are exposed to more of it. There are more movies, more television shows about it, and they’ve had more classes.

They are also much more cynical about it. They have seen how it can do good things, they’ve seen how it can do bad things. Advertising people are not really high up on the list of wonderful careers. The liars have been there before and kind of corrupted the image a little.

But I still think it’s a great profession. You get to work with your ideas every day, you never do the same thing twice, and you can work and develop an idea, get it to a pretty good stage, and go out and hire more talented people — photographers, musicians, film directors — and make your idea even better, and, hopefully, do a good job for the client.

I LOVE THIS. For some reason I think these incredibly enhanced depictions of thought are fantastic. Just as painters before them expressed their visions through oils and brushes, digital artists can now do more accurately and intriguingly through digital renderings and motion picture (I know many would argue this point).

This piece is called Nuit Blanche, or “White Night” in French, and was created by SpyFilms.com. The creators explain it as a short film that  “explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection in a hyper real fantasy”.

Also check out “The Making of…” here.

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.