The Other Side

I read this really interesting article tonight from AdAge.com in which the writer asks the question of new grads, which side of marketing do you want to be on? Agency or Client?

You can read the article here, but the part I want to talk about is the two lists at the end where the writer describes what he believes to be the main characteristics of the two sides:

Agency Side:

• Multi-faceted clients and assignments — work on many brands, with many personalities.
• Structure, but not too much.
• Where casual dress began.
• Fast-pace. Deadline-driven.
• It’s all about the people.
• Often more unique décor.
• Service culture — it’s all about the clients.
• Right Lobe — rush of excitement from big ideas energize the hallways.

Client Side:

• Work on one brand.
• More disciplined corporate environment.
• Pace is slow compared to most agencies.
• Power — as the client, you call the shots,
• Often a more formal dress code.
• Left Lobe — working among peers who are as good with math as they are with ideas.
• Compensation — it’s usually better on this side.

As a recent grad working on the client-side, I can appreciate the truth in that list.  And I know people who I graduated with working on the agency side, and I can see the differences in our day-to-day; however, I think a more relevant question isn’t where do you think you’ll “fit in” but rather, where can you learn the most, and what’s more important to you.  Although the perks of an agency setting are attractive (except casual dress – what can I say, I look good in business attire) ultimately, I think skills are transferable between the two sides, and people (especially recent grads) shouldn’t pigeon-hole themselves into thinking they belong on one side or another.  Although I’m very comfortable in the client / corporate setting, I could also see myself working in an agency too.

Advertising & Marketing really boil down one thing: creative problem solving.  Whether you’re doing it as part of an agency for a client, or for your own brand, you need to understand (or at least appreciate) the value in both sides.

A bad neighbour is as great a misfortune as a good one is a great blessing

I’ve always been a big supporter of the notion that you can create positive work environments and create positive group dynamics in teams.

Luckily for me, I’ve managed to get a job where these things already exist.

Very lucky.

write things worth reading or do things worth writing

I took one creative writing class, one time.

I was a sophomore in high school, and technically, I shouldn’t have taken it.  It was for seniors, but I wanted to and the deciders of these things gave me the o.k.

It was a bad idea really.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I think creative writing calls for a degree of self-awareness, or conversely the awareness that you have no idea who this “self” is supposed to be, that I just didn’t have as a sixteen year old.  I was the worst kind – the sixteen year old who thinks she’s self aware, but actually has no idea what’s going on just yet.    It wasn’t working for me.  This, tied with the fact that it was a class of seniors who I didn’t know, made me very self conscious.  I wasn’t comfortable with other people reading my work, therefore my work was no bueno.

I wish I had taken some creative writing classes in college.   I think I would have had alot of fun with it.

I feel like if I were to sit down and write something that isn’t something i’ve been trained in writing, I’d do it “wrong.”  Which doesn’t make any sense really.  That’s what eighteen years of formal education will do to someone I guess.    Also the fact that my best friend is currently working on her MFA in Creative Writing from one of the most highly regarded schools in the country makes me think there’s at least a little formal training needed.  Just a little.

I just called my mother and told her this.

“I wish I had taken a creative writing class in college.”

“Min, you did alot.  Almost everything you’re interested in you’ve studied.  Just give it a rest already.”

touche, salesman.

“I hate puzzles!”

This week I’ve been helping my good pal Christina move in to her new apartment.  Earlier, I assembled a coffee table, and tonight I assembled a bed frame.  Both from Ikea.

I did this for two reasons:

1. I love Christina.

2. She is easily frustrated by furniture assembly.

My father is also infuriated by furniture assembly.

I understand that it’s tricky sometimes and you have to be very patient with aspects of it -  pieces have to line up perfectly and there’s a whole mess of screws to figure out, but I actually kind of like putting furniture together.  It’s like a puzzle.  But it’s a puzzle you can put your coffee cup on or you can put your new fun mattress on once it’s done.

I’m just wondering now though – am I the strange one for enjoying this, or is it just coincidence that the people I surround myself with loathe putting together furniture?

I also really liked playing with Lego as a kid.  Maybe there’s a tie in with this too.

eight years and going strong

I spent some time today going through my desk drawers throwing things out that I don’t need anymore, and I stumbled upon an old flash drive.  I put it in to see what was on it, and it was my old online journal which I had downloaded when the service shut down (teenopendiary.com – RIP).  Reading through it, I realized a few things:

1.  All teenagers are ridiculously self-absorbed.

2.  I don’t think I ever really liked the guy I crushed on through the entirety of high school.

3.  It makes perfect sense that I became an Advertising major, the signs were everywhere:

• “I wish all my projects were group projects.”
• “I hate that I can’t draw anything.  Oh well, at least I know what I would draw.”
• “The presentation was so fun!”

4.  I’ve always been a nerd.

5. When I moved to New Haven, Connecticut from Sydney, Australia – the transition was much easier than I thought it would be.

6.  My mother has consistently given me really good advice.

I kept that first journal for three years, then moved over to another service, then blogger, then WordPress and now WordPress & Tumblr (which I’ve been updating more often than this blog).  So, technically I’ve been “blogging” since 2000.   I don’t think when I was fourteen I even knew what blogging was, but it’s so great to have this running track record of my life and thoughts between the ages of fourteen and twenty two.

I absolutely neglected blogging (and sleeping) during finals week, but now that it’s over I’ll be writing more frequently and enjoying having a little time off.

Pretty psyched.

Think For Yourself

I’ve spent the entire day doing work.

Seriously.  I mean hours and hours of research, reading, and writing.  It’s funny how little work I feel like I accomplished though – because so much of it was just processing and making sense of everything.

It’s ok, because I know ultimately that having spent so much time on this will be worth it in the long run.  I just wish there was a way to make thinking tangible.

And tell you of my dreaming

It’s past 2am and I can’t sleep.  This is awful, because I’m very sleepy.  There’s been construction going on here, and I no longer have a roof.  It’s so loud, and jarring.  It’s without a doubt the most unpleasant noise I’ve ever woken up to.  It sounds like people are legit bowling above my room.  Not even people…they sound more like, minotaurs or something. Construction starts every day around 7:30am, which is earlier than my normal waking time of 9ish…total nightmare

Anyway, can’t sleep.  Lately though, when I have been sleeping, I’ve had several recurring dreams.

In one dream, I’m in one of the neighborhoods I grew up in back in Australia.  It’s not a street I grew up on, but I vaguely recognize the area.  I’m leaving someone’s house, and they ask me, “Do you know how to get home?”

“Yes” I lie, then hop on my bike and ride off.  I ride up a hill for a while, then when I reach the summit, I look down and I realize I have absolutely no idea where I am.

Because it’s past my bed time and I’m not asleep, I’m instead going to interpret my dreams with the help of the internet. Although I don’t really buy it, I think it’s interesting.  Then again, pretty much anything is interesting at 2:18AM (Infomercials…)

Apparently, the bike in my dream means that I need to devote time to leisurely pursuits and recreation. I also need to balance work and pleasure in order to succeed in my current undertakings. I don’t hate the sounds of that.

Now, on to getting lost. According to the omnipotent internet, I’ve lost my direction in life or lost sight of my goals.  I’m worried and insecure about the path I’m taking in life.  Or, may be trying to adjust an d get accustomed to a new situation.  The later is more likely. I’m feeling pretty OK with direction.

I also keep having dreams where I’m balding.  This is strange, because in fact, I’m not balding.  The internet told me that this could represent that I’m concerned about my health.  But, I’d say (terrible sleep schedule aside) I feel healthier now than I have in a long time.  Another website told me that I could have concerns about personal power and beauty.  So, that’s interesting.

I feel like these are such a generic descriptions.  Like how a fortune cookie always tells you something really vague that is applicable to pretty much everyone.  Or horoscopes.  I feel the same way about those too.

2:28am.  I need to go to sleep.

Have you ever had a recurring dream, and if so, do you think it meant something?

But you probably need them to read

At the beginning of the semester, my computer battery & adaptor boycotted my continuing education and stopped working. 

I haven’t been without my own computer since I was eighteen years old.  So, naturally – this threw me off quite a bit.  The whole idea of productivity came into play as I’d have to squeeze in all my work into certain blocks of time where my schedule overlapped with the schedule of the computer lab on campus.  I had to make the most of the few hours I’d have available to work at a computer, so I basically had to figure out ways to streamline my ridiculous amounts of work into a set time frame.  What this meant was hand writing outlines, organizing all my research to make it more manageable, and adding the english-to-spanish bot on my gtalk (Shhh).    

Even though I didn’t like it at the time, it was probably a good thing. See, I’m starting to see physical side effects from spending so much time on computers.  My eyesight isn’t what it used to be,  and my wrists hurt – especially my right one.  Unfortunately, the whole advertising-major & working in web-development thing really makes life without a computer next to impossible, but cutting back is definitely possible.   

I haven’t updated my blog for a while on account of this – both not having a computer available to me, not having time to do it, or really even feeling the need to.  Every now and then I think I should, and make a mental note – I’ve even gone so far as to write a few drafts that I got to sleepy to finish.    Even now, it’s 1am, and I have to go to the gym tomorrow morning before class.   

At least I’ve been updating my twitter?

No Bugs, No Hassles

Every time I see a pest control truck, I think back to last semester when I was the project manager for a Yellow Pages campaign through the YPA Collegiate Advertising Competition, and our client was Terminix.  I’m reminded of the absurd amount of research that we all did in the making of our campaigns, and of the fact that I know waaay more about pest control than is neccesary in the life of a twenty two year old kid (junior) adult.  

This morning on the way to work, I drove by a Terminix truck and I realized that this very thing is what I like best about having majored in advertising: learning about all sorts of different things, all the time, even if it’s something as random as Terminix.

I Even Liked “Hard Times” by Dickens.

I went out for dinner last night (Temple Grill in Downtown New Haven. Nice place, sit outside if you can) and was talking to the girl I was with about books. 

(That’s sort of a go-to conversation for me by the way.)

When she asked what I’ve been reading this summer I rattled off a bunch of books, and ended each description with, “It was really good.” 

Since then, I’ve realized it’s not that I enjoy every book I read, I just enjoy reading.  Sure, I have my favorite books of all time, but I’ll also suggest whatever I’m reading at the time to anyone else.   You’d think, given that I’m a writer myself and read an awful lot, I’d be more picky.  But this is not the case.  

My new favorite book is generally whatever I just finished reading. 

(Bright Lights, Big City currently)

Maybe I’m just easy to please.  Maybe I just don’t put enough thought into it.  Even in high school I liked most of my assigned reading, and in college even more so.  Basically what I’m saying is don’t expect a stellar book recommendation from me, because I like everything.  I’ll gladly accept your book recommendations, I’m almost guaranteed to enjoy it, and I need something to read.

(And I really enjoyed dinner last night, too.)