Keynote Presentation

Last night a crowd gathered in the historic Gerlinger Lounge to observe the EIR Keynote Presentation.  Simon Mainwaring and Rishad Tobaccowala presented together for the first time, and it was powerful stuff.

They shared their visions of what the world of advertising once was, what the world of advertising is becoming, and how we as students can begin to brace ourselves for impact with the real world.   The presentations were personal and gave everyone in attendance great insights to the way Simon and Rishad think.

The presentations had a general air of uncertainty about the future of advertising that was both exciting and terrifying at the same time.  Despite their best efforts to terrify us, Rishad left me with one takeaway I’ll never forget.

Rishad Discusses the Past and Future With J 460

Rishad started Harsha’s Interactive Media class off by asking each student to go around the room and say their name and what question he or she wanted him to answer. Within 30 seconds Rishad had grouped each question into eight general categories, including: what his past experiences are, how to stand out in the industry, what is the future of advertising, what new media tactics are emerging, what is the future of in-game advertising, what his insights on social media are, international advertising, how do you make a personal brand and what is the key to happiness?

He confessed he began the class by asking us questions  to show that learning how to listen is the most important asset you can have in a communication career.

While answering all of the student’s questions Rishad left me with some key take-away moments.

The future of advertising + three big trends:

1. Globalization. Anything that is posted to the Internet like Twitter, Facebook, and personal websites becomes global and never really goes away.

2. Digitization. Television, Internet, print and newspapers are digital. Everything is digital.

3. Consumers are god. We are now marketing to god-like humans. With a touch of a button on an iphone a consumer can browse the internet, purchase a hotel room, get GPS directions, and read product reviews from an Amazon app. Consumers are God because there is no longer a limit to time and space.

Within these three big trends lie three smaller themes:

1.     Social

2.     Real time

3.     Mobile.

The three big trends and three smaller themes are all linked together between communication.

Future Media

Rishad believes future media for advertising is going to be amazing combinations of already great media, like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. For example, right now gaming is intersecting with social media like Farmville on Facebook. New media will be based from two or three forms of already existing media.

How to build a personal brand:

Write down three words about yourself before and after mind-altering substances:

1. Your niche: What do you stand for?

2. Your voice: Who are you?

3. Your story: What do you believe in?

Rishad’s Brand:

1. Niche: future, change and innovation.

2. Voice: authentic, inspired and provocative.

3. Story: mongrel, talent and reinventing.

Rishad said his personal brand boiled down to these three words: future, provocative and reinventing.

He left the class with some wonderful words of advice:

“The opposite is also the truth.”

“The core of existence is new experiences.”

“Don’t go anywhere too far in any direction.”

“Make yourself valuable by making yourself rare.”

Written by Jenny Jensen

Simon Speaks.

This morning I had the privilege of sitting in on Kim Sheehan’s Principles of Advertising class to listen to Simon Mainwaring explain the ins and outs of the advertising industry from his personal experience.

I want to start this all by saying I’m extremely jealous of this fresh batch of ad students because Simon answered all the questions I had going into my Principles class last Spring.  Simon shared personal stories, experiences, and gave an illuminating visual walk-through of the campaign process (which is something that I still struggle with on a semi-regular basis.)

Simon started by showing everyone this video about what went into the newest ads for the 3rd Generation Toyota Prius.

The video on its own should serve as an inspirational takeaway for every creative, but he didn’t stop there.  Simon explained the importance of relevance in a concept, and walked us right into the heart of the idea of “Harmony,” and how man, nature, and machine all work together in this ad.  Simon showed us rough executions of one beautiful idea for the campaign that never came to be.  He showed a PDF outline of the brand manifesto, and clicked through pages and pages of content for briefs and objectives just to illustrate everything that goes into campaign planning.

Then, we got to something that I personally found quite inspiring.  It was the creative pitch from Mr. Hide at The Sweet Shop.  It communicated everything that the “Harmony” ad ultimately became, both in written word and in illustration.  He had detailed executions side by side with Mr. Hide’s original sketches.  It was incredible to see the rough sketches that this inventive advertisement was born from.