A Delectable New Passion

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve found a new love through my work here at EMG—writing menu copy.

It’s just another addition to the multitude of reasons why I would never suffer an eating disorder. Others on this increasingly expansive list (in case you were wondering) include dark beer, processed cheese, Cracklin’ Oat Bran cereal and guacamole flavored potato chips.

It’s proved to a troublesome project-- every time I read my own writing; I manage to make myself hungry, which surely can’t be good for my waistline.

I suppose that’s a fairly good indication of success… Mmmm!

I know this isn't me but...

I was browsing le Monde website today (French news, which, if you can read French, is a great site: http://www.lemonde.fr/) and they have a box dedicated to marriages, anniversaries, celebrations, etc. and this picture happened to catch my eye:

Besides the fact that they're a sickenly adorable couple, it's a strikingly similar image of a photo I took (minus the people, of course):

I suppose it's a popular spot!

The Importance of Being Ernest

Sadly, I can’t think of a good way to actually draw from the Oscar Wilde classic save in name alone, because I am expressing my extreme dissatisfaction with what passes for most ‘reality television.’

While TV always seems to receive the brunt of the blame for corrupting kids and teenagers irreparably, this scripted ‘reality’ depicts a life of continual privilege and leisure at the expense of a mysterious third party.

Through encouraging the general public to believe that it’s acceptable to live outside their means and settle for a substandard work ethic in order to achieve that sense of ‘faux’ satisfaction, these shows have become a detriment to all people who waste their time tuning in.

It’s of little wonder, with these sorts of worthless influencers polluting the airwaves, that so many people conduct their lives with an undeserving air of entitlement.

3/24

Since I didn't think to take any pictures this weekend, I'll have to draw from some previous adventures. Here's a beautiful sunny day in Munich! Apparently I couldn't get far enough away to squeeze in the entire building, but angles add dimension...right?

3/20

Happy first day of spring! A church in Santorini, Greece. A little blurry, but look at that amazing color of blue. Think warm thoughts!

Some Levity

Since there isn't really anything exciting to take pictures of save the flood waters that are rapidly closing in on the tri-state area, I thought I'd share what I think is the funniest clip from the show The Office:

The Issue at Hand

I do believe that participating in a professional organization truly has the potential to develop cogent, well-versed industry leaders. This statement, however, is contingent on the ability of the organization’s leaders to provide insightful presentations that are both educational and relevant to the industry at hand.

While I will be the first to congratulate colleagues and celebrate in their successes (of which I am honored to be in a field and organization that boasts a membership of many, many accomplished professionals,) a meeting that requires a dedication of valuable time and considerable money is not necessarily the place to display your self-love.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m young, and can’t yet boast of extensive large-scale accomplishments, but showing a group of like-minded professionals that you did a good job of doing what you have been commissioned to do without providing any insight or takeaways is useless and fails to advance the people you were asked to help.

Just a thought...

3/13

I've strayed from my photo-of-the-day ways! In an attempt to return, here is a photo from atop the Eiffel Tower. Salut!

PR Envy

While green is not a very becoming color, this week blue and yellow have far surpassed the need to keep my envy under wraps (and in no way am I referring to or would ever find myself envious of anything related to the University of Michigan.)

I’m talking about the new IKEA that has opened in Cincinnati. The store that I’m positive will still exist tomorrow, but has managed to attract enough of an audience to effectively cause traffic problems during the morning commute in honor of their grand opening.

No, I’m not envious of the attractive, reasonably-priced Scandinavian furniture, the authentic Swedish meatballs they serve, or anything about the physical store itself. In fact, having toured IKEA stores around Europe, I can confidently say they’re quite enjoyable.

My envy lies in the simple fact that the home furnishing establishment’s pending arrival has blanketed area airwaves and publications with updates and coveted features on a weekly basis.
Surely sending a field reporter to give us footage of the inside of an empty warehouse in October wasn’t necessary, and subsequent updates of each shelving unit installed every other week following were just irritating...

So while others have been camped out for days for the long awaited opening, I’m also saying to myself: it’s about damn time!

Commercial Love

I have a new favorite commercial! And all of you film buffs should appreciate this one as well. For once, all those cinema classes I took in college have paid off!

The latest Visa Check Card commercial references famous movies in just about every shot (yes, I’ve watched it about that many times):


Most notably, and my favorite part of the commercial is the blatant reference to the 1925 classic battleship Potemkin (the carriage rolling down the steps amidst chaos:)


More recently, this imagery was used in The Untouchables and later parodied in Naked Gun 33 ½, but for all intents and purposes, the originator of this idea was Sergei Eisenstein in Battleship Potemkin.

That being said, there are also references to other movies (Spiderman, Indiana Jones, and you can even catch the tail end of Jaws if you look closely enough.) It’s pretty cool the number of ideas people can squeeze into one brief ad.

Discoveries like this make commercial breaks that much more fun!

You Just Can't Please Everyone

If you’re all things to all people, you’re not anything special. Just as focus groups round off the sometimes abrasive edges of creative genius, executives who want nothing more than to cover their asses take the fun out of advertising.

If you want to tell people that your product has ‘quality’ and ‘value’ (things that absolutely every manufacturer wants you to believe,) you’d better have a blow your mind statistic to back it up. Otherwise, save your money and write a white paper (or better yet, focus on your PR!) Ads are for your creative outlet. Show your colors!

Case in point: Wendy’s and Kia. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of the guys in red wigs, the Flashdance tribute, or most surprisingly controversial, the President Fillmore soap on a rope spot, but creative heads rolled for the unconventional thinking that did get our attention (like it or not.)

Stay true to your target and your brand, and make it interesting. If it weren’t for the genuinely unique and entertaining ads, we would be subjected to the same message repeatedly during each commercial break.

Say Cheese!

Sharon Alt and Rodger posing in front of the senior prom-esque backdrop at the Indy AHU meeting.