I’m a second year graduate student at the VCU Brandcenter and about 14 weeks from freedom…I mean graduation. I’ve spent the last 60 weeks of my collegiate career mastering the art of speaking to people in a way that moves them. And to that point, I’ve also mastered the ability to scarf down a box of lo mein noodles at 2 am. Officially I’m studying to become a strategist but my curiosity has helped me to also become a bit of a brand manager, art director,copywriter and cultural anthropologist. At the end of the day I’m a smorgasbord of all of these disciplines and so I like to think of myself more as a Creative Strategist.
But truth be told, I’m a planner at heart. I have a deep curiosity for the world and question everything. For instance, I’m still wrestling with why people in the south call all carbonated beverages a Coke? Honestly, I think a good planner is more than just the consumer representative for the agency and has evolved into more of a jack-of-all trades. A planner, researcher, anthropologist, manager, and anything else relevant to the agency. I am by no means a creative director but I do have a passion for design and smart creative work, for I know as a planner it’s my insights that help to bring the campaigns to life. I like to think of it as being the Agent 99 to their Maxwell Smart, you know the lovable sidekick who cooks up the plans to save the day and then steps to the side to let the hero work their magic!
I don’t think advertising is dead, its just given birth to a more relevant and complex form of communication called Branding. Advertising has always been an industry where only the relevant survive and as it progresses forward marketers will have to become more than just spokespersons but rather catylast for co-creation. I believe brands have the power to move and inspire people when they establish smart, innovative, and interactive communication relationships.
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Brands can sometimes be like running into old friends. Some of them you desperately want to reconnect with and others your just happy to see have endured the test of time. Here are a couple of my long time companions of the last 25 years!
