this is going to be a long post!
wow! this past week has been some serious amounts of crazy. it was toronto ad week, and us cabas were there in the midst of all the action. on tuesday, we went to the sony arts centre to listen to a speech by gene simmons, of kiss fame. he seemed to be a very down to earth, knowledgeable guy. i wish i could just sit down and have a chat with him about the world of marketing and communications. one thing i really took away from his lecture was that you are your own brand, and to use your name as how you brand yourself. i think that is a big part of what we have to do in this industry when we are just starting and looking for jobs. sophiehebert.ca hmm hmm??
gene came into the audience to answer questions, and that's when it started getting a little out of hand. it was all fine and good at the beginning. a young lad gave gene a demo cd of his music, which is cool as gene simmons has a canadian record label who is dedicated to signing canadian bands. awesome! then a girl gave him a pillow with his face on it from her company 'sleeping with famous people' which i admit is pretty witty, and she asked him legit business questions. then a lady who was probably about 60 years old came up to gene and asked him to invest in her tv concept. about a family of butts. BUMS! like really?! she wanted to have a gene simmons butt on her tv show, and then proceeded to sing a rap for him about the show. the audience didn't know how to react. i, of course, burst into laughter, as did many of the students in the rows surrounding me. what a hoot! it basically went downhill from there, with people tugging at genes shirt like little lost puppies asking him to give them money. he remained calm and collected as he "bargained" with them about how much of the company he would own. the lecture had already gone past it's time, and so with a quick send off, it was over. we pondered the idea of going to shake his hand and say thank-you, but he was surrounded by a group of men and women with money signs in their eyes and drunk off celebrity, with memories of a kiss show from their youth flashing in their minds. we got the hell outta there.
by the time we got home, it was about 9:30. we had little time to shower and get everything ready for the next day. the day we had been looking forward to for months, next generation day.
we woke up at 5:00am, super early for us, as most of our weekly classes don't start until at least 2:00. we all met up at kipling station, and headed for the ROM. once we got there, we signed in, dropped our coats off and grabbed some coffee (yay!) we settled in the auditorium for a panel of speakers and a screening of art©. the panel was awesome, offering some great insights into agency life and breaking into the industry. there were speakers from due north, publicis, baby robot, and the agency i went to, Hunter Straker. i admit, at first i was nervous because i had never heard of them, and they were a design/visual branding agency. i'm a copywriter. some of my classmates were going to agencies like tbwa, leo burnett, and ddb. jealous. but i was with a bunch of other cabas and we were ready to go!
we hopped in matthew diamond's (partner at hunter straker) car and drove to the agency. we stopped off for lunch at southside burger (who thankfully had a veggie option!) for lunch and then headed to the agency. they work with clients such as wrigley's and clorox, and this year are celebrating their 50th anniversary. in the car, we chatted with matthew about the changing era of advertising, how digital was revolutionizing the way we got our messages to our target and how it was now so much easier to target exactly who we wanted through digital channels. it was an awesome discussion, and i think he was impressed by our points.
we regrouped with everyone once at the office, and while we had lunch, we talked about the project we were going to be working on. i can't really talk about it, but we basically had to name a product, come up with packaging, and the promotional/launch aspect of it. it was so weird because it's not usually what we do in school, we just do the ads. after lunch we got a tour and got to meet the team. everyone was really nice and answered all the questions we had.
we broke off into two teams and got to work. it was very interesting to work with people who were in business school, commerce degrees and the like, because they had such a different way of thinking than those of us in the creative stream. in the end, we pitched our product to the office, "apprentice style", and we ended up being the "winners" although both teams did a great job :) it was time for the next phase of our day, so after some thank yous and the great business card exchange, we hit the taxis and headed to marben.
as soon as i walked into marben, i knew i would like it. vampire weekend flooded through the air, mixed with the steady buzz of conversation. and i was handed a drink ticket. lovely! we put our coats away and looked around for the other cabas. we grabbed some food and started talking to people. it was cool to see students from so many different schools and programs. there were a lot of people from business programs at universities talking about how they wanted to be in client services. as we got talking, i was a bit concerned, as many of them didn't even know what a brief was! it made me pretty grateful for the stuff i am learning at humber. we stayed there and mingled for a bit, until it was time to go to our next event - agency wars 2.
agency wars was really intense. the boxers had been training for about 6 months i think, and you could totally tell. they were kicking ass! blood was spilled, eyes were puffy and people were showing their team colours and cheering loudly. overall it was a great time. the three of us went out for a drink after, and by the time we got home at 1am, pretty much fell into bed.
overall, i had an amazing day. i learned a hell of a lot, and it was so much fun! ad week 2011 was a success. can't wait till next year! thanks to the ICA, all the agencies, and everyone who organized next gen day. it was a great learning experience for us all!
now, back to the real world, i have homework to do!
sophie
