Be Observant

 
I'm going to saddle up and get back on my high horse here with some advice I once received mixed in with my own thoughts. As you probably gathered from the title it pertains to being observant (or perhaps you were not able to pick that up in which case you should really take this advice seriously).

As I was driving home yesterday I pulled up to a stop light near my place of residence. There was a homeless person standing there holding a sign, a common site at many busy intersections in Minneapolis. Being the curious natured fellow that I am I tried to read the sign but got frustrated instantly. The sign was probably about 12 X 8 inches and had approximately 30 words on it. 

Now I could lie and say that the first thing I thought of was how sad it was or how I felt compassion or something sappy like that, but I've seen a thousand of these people and these signs and so sue me but I do not get that sort of reaction.

Rather, the first thing that popped into my mind was, "That homeless guy's sign has way too many words on it." This thought progressed to me pondering what I would write on a sign in hopes of getting money should I be standing on the side of the road at an intersection. I thought something to the point and simple would be much more effective like "Please help" or "Homeless" or "Hungry" or even "$". 

From what I gathered this particular guy's sign was claiming he was not a criminal or a drunk or on drugs, etc. I thought to myself even if all that is true and if whatever the rest of the sign says that I didn't get to is true you cannot tell your life story on a small piece of cardboard. The short term goal is to get people to roll down their window and hand you some money or some food. I have no proof that my simplistic signs would be more effective than this guy's lengthy sign but that's not really my point. 

After I drove away and concluded my thoughts on this I realized wow, I am a huge advertising nerd. But at the same time I rationalized it by thinking maybe I am just an observant person. I believe this is critical when working in the field of advertising. As everyone knows people are exposed to thousands of advertisements every single day. Taking in your surroundings and thinking about "why this" or "why is something like that" should be second nature.

In my first semester of my junior year of college I had Marketing 3001 at the Carlson school of business. My professor was deemed by many as arrogant and kind of a jerk. I thought he was a pretty smart dude that had a lot to offer beyond learning about the 4 P's. I remember one day he went off on a tangent about your mindset if you are serious about marketing and advertising. He said things like "you need to live it, breathe it" He said, "it needs to become second nature, when you are walking down the aisles of the grocery store you should be fascinated by all that's around you". 

I really liked that professor, but at that particular time I thought this was kind of dumb. I was more concerned about the score of the Twins game from the night before.

I'm sure you know where this is going but here it is anyways. On a daily basis I find myself noticing things wondering how something got there or what other people think of "that". I don't just mean billboards and other advertisements but all kinds of things. I also find myself reminiscing about that day of class and thinking to myself that crazy old man was on to something.

I know I am being a bit hypocritical by saying you need to be conscious of being more observant and then saying it should be second nature. Perhaps it's something you can consciously do for a while and it can become subconscious naturally. I'm not going to lie and say I have any clue how it really works. Regardless, it's something to keep in mind because in the world of advertising and many other fields it is critical to be aware of the physical world around you, even if you don't always understand it.

I apologize for the lack of cool pictures, videos or links in this post; I did this on purpose (deep, I know).


One love, one heart


Eric McPherson


Twitter: @EricWMcPherson

Wear a Seat Belt

This advertisement encouraging people to wear their seat belts has been getting a lot of positive feedback. One might even say that it is getting a lot of hype (at least in the online world). I really do not have a lot so say other than I could not agree more. Put simply, this is one of the best advertisements I have ever seen. It's also a great example of how emotional connection trumps the "sex sells" type ads, humor, scare tactics, etc. Those forms of advertising certainly have their place, but (watch out here comes the cliche) at the end of the day ads like this have the most impact.

If you plan on watching this and then not wearing a seat belt...don't kid yourself.




One love, one heart


Eric McPherson

Suck on These....Taxes

It has been a while since I went the easy route and expressed my opinion on a commercial I saw on TV. This is where I would normally insert a stupid joke about how I am actually not going to do that and talk about something way more deep an/or abstract but actually I'm just going to talk about a commercial I saw.

My girlfriend and I were watching Community, this season's hit new comedy on NBC, and naturally we were utilizing the DVR to its max potential. Which basically means we recorded it and were fast forwarding through the commercials at three arrow speeds (you show me someone that can accurately fast forward at four arrow speeds and I will show you a liar or a true American prodigy).

Just after Joel McHale was done saying something hilarious the commercials came on and I hit fast forward quicker than Cool Hand Luke, when all of a sudden we both went "Whoa, what was that?" I proceeded to pause and rewind the commercial at one arrow speed in order to ensure precision and accuracy. It was a commercial that featured two of the characters from the show, the Spanish teacher (aka the Chinese guy from the Hangover) and the dean (the small, bald, nerdy guy). We proceeded to watch the commercial discovering that it was for TurboTax. The actors do the commercial in character which you can see below.

Earlier I was unable to find the video footage so I asked you to just imagine this clip is an ad for TurboTax.



As soon as I saw the ad I thought it would be a cool topic to write about. Apparently I was not the only one considering you can find much more qualified analysis here, here or here (or even here....IN THE FAAACE).

My point is this. There is a common cliche that the 30 second spot is going to die and there is another common cliche that the 30 second spot is not going to die because advertisers will become more creative. This is a prime example of why I am a member of cliche camp number two. I did not stop and rewind this ad because I work in advertising, I rewound it because I think that guy from The Hangover is hilarious and I didn't want to miss something that might wet my entertainment palette.

Go Vikings

I am with Coco aka Team Conan

One love, one heart


Eric McPherson


Follow me on Twitter @EricWMcPherson

Shameless Holiday Post

Blogger recently came out with a new way to sell out while blogging. Teaming up with Amazon so that bloggers can recommend books or lets see...just about anything ever since that is what Amazon's inventory consists of. One can then put links to these items so that if people decide to buy that item via your link the blogger gets a % of the straight cash.

So rather than talk about how lame this is or how people are going to exploit this or how obnoxious this might be; I decided I am going to fully embrace it and make a post dedicated to recommending a crap load of stuff and see if any of you suckers take the bait.

Without Freddy Ado (I totally stole that line from one of my favorite blog's, Club Trillion ) here are some of my holiday recommendations for things to buy assuming you did not receive all the gifts you wished for and now have some extra cash from Aunt Bernice.

I used to think I was one of the few people who knew about this fantastic show but it has obviously gone main stream. If you have never seen it, I highly recommend getting season 1 and 2 and dedicating yourself to it on a rainy or snowy or might I say Sunny afternoon.

If you have already seen seasons 1 and 2 then get 3 and 4 duh.



Even if you are a true Sunny fan, you may not know that this Always Sunny Christmas special exists because I think they did a pretty poor job promoting it. However I may or may not have watched a perfectly legal version of this at someone else's diggs and think it is worth an hour and a half of your time.














My next recommendation is for what I consider to be the best reality TV shows there are hands down. These shows may appear to be intended for 12 year olds, and maybe they are so get out your old pogs collections and give them a shot (seriously though these shows are hilarious and nothing like the reality TV you are used to)















Now I will step aside from the boob tube and recommend a few reading materials for you intellects out there. I swear I was the first person ever to read Malcolm Gladwell's books and everyone copied me. Nevertheless I still think his books really get you thinking so if you have not yet drank the kool aid grab the laddle and saddle up partner (by the way I started reading his new book, "What the Dog Saw" and it rips)















A few more books I enjoy...

















When I stop kidding myself with books for my brain I turn to St. Paul's own Vince Flynn. If you ever felt like you could have made it as a Navy Seal or an Army Ranger and need to get your fix on some good old fashion ass kicking then I highly recommend the following:
















Alright I am starting to feel absolutely dirty and ridden of shamlessness but yet I just can't stop now...















Ok now I feel gross...I actually like The Hangover but wizards and vampires is where I draw the line so don't click on those.

I promise to never have another post like this again...ok I don't but I won't do it again until at least next year...(see what I did there)


As always

One love, one heart


Eric McPherson



Twitter: @EricWMcPherson

Passing along some advice...not Tiger Woods related

I actually have nothing to say about Tiger Woods right now but figured it would be frowned upon to not somehow include him in this post...."Tiger Woods has a lot of cars...now he has a hole in one" (The Book of Sheibs, p. 24)

With that out of the way I wanted to share a piece of advice I received early on in my young advertising career that has helped me throughout the beginning stages of my metaphorical career journey.

Two summers ago I was an intern at an advertising agency which was also my first job in an office (The Office - Season Five). Needless to say it was quite a transition from wearing steel toed boots and sweet shirts with my name on a patch over my left breast (go ahead and giggle you immature Ikes/Ingrids).

Towards the end of the summer, summer days wasting away, my supervisor gave me some parting wisdom. He told me that whenever your boss or supervisor asks you to do something (so like your job) whether it be a huge, month long project or a quick email, think to yourself...is there anything else I can do while completing this task to make my boss' job easier?

Often times this means doing something or figuring something out that your supervisor did not necessarily tell you directly.

It seems like a pretty simple idea, in fact it is a very simple idea, but I cannot tell you how many times I have thought about that conversation and applied it to the job I have now. Your supervisor may send you a word doc and ask you to print 30 copies of it. Give it a once over and fix any blatant typos. You don't even need to tell him or her you did it, the point is not to do something and then expect a sticker for it like you got 100% on your first grade spelling test (see video below). The point is to get in the habit of making your supervisor's job easier in order to help the agency run a little or lot more efficiently. Maybe someday you will be the supervisor and you will have an intern or junior person that is intuitive to helping you out...then we got a whole Lion King, circle of life thing going on....which rules.



Don't be an idiot and take this too literally to the point of reading through that same document you were asked to print and re-write a paragraph thinking that will really be going above and beyond. Just be smart the next time you are given a task and ask yourself, is there anything else I can do that will make my supervisor's job easier?

One love one heart,

Just be smart,

Eric McPherson


Follow me on twitter @EricWMcPherson (if you are hip and enjoy the Twitter)