El Gaffney

NASCAR For Dummies

Yesterday I watched my first NASCAR race ever. I personally know quite a few people whom are baffled by the interest in this sport. If you live in the U.S. you probably have an opinion, and you’ve also probably heard (if not said) the following:

How do people enjoy watching cars go around and around in a circle?

Well, given it’s part of my job to understand not just the rules of NASCAR but also the fans, I spent a significant part of my yesterday (over 5 hours all in – including pre-race and a bit of post) watching the Super Bowl of the sport, The Daytona 500. (Yes, it is unlike any sport I can think of in that it starts out with its biggest event.) I watched with a couple of work friends—one in particular (Michael) who is an avid fan of racing and driver Jeff Gordon and thus was able to answer all my stupid questions.

If you have any interest in learning a bit about NASCAR and what my viewing experience was like, check out my twitter. Go back a couple of pages to see the start (picking up Bud heavy). Overall, I had a great time—as noted by Mike, “the beer helps”—though I don’t think I’d have the stamina (read as: time) to watch all 200 laps in the future. Hopefully I’ll get to attend one of the other Sprint Cup races in person this year. I hear that helps you more fully appreciate NASCAR. Until the next race, I’ll be looking for some Target car #41 gear!

Tags: daytona500, nascar, planning

Do Day: First Weak

I’m still working on getting this going and I don’t want to put up any half-assed conversations up there and pawn them off as interviews because it’s not fair to the doers or you readers. Neither are run-on sentences.

One thing I came across in this category last week was an image posted by Russell Davies. I found it profound and applicable to the ad industry (which I’m sure is why he put it up on his blog in the first place). I believe the next set of planners are going to be more like producers. I believe a lot of them already are. I believe it’s something I want to become more like. Like seriously! (Please send me to Africa, MTV.)

So with that said, I know this is weak but I wanted to get in the habit of doing this weekly post. I’m a huge believer in the importance of gaining momentum in getting things done (and done better). Just think about any new business pitch in which you’ve been involved. How incredible are some of the things you create in a matter of weeks? How incredible would it be if you could build and sustain that energy in your office every day? (And let people go home and sleep.)

Lastly, in an attempt to hold myself to doing, I’m pledging to set up my Nike + and go for a run by the end of the week. Hollister.

Tags: action, planning

Working at Wieden

I never made a formal announcement because I told the 15 of you who read this at least somewhat regularly in-person. However, given that every once in a while Google Analytics shows me that someone from another part of the globe drops in (on?), it behooves me (yes, behooves—I’m always jealous when other people get to use that word , so even if there’s a better verb here, I’m going with behooves) to post to the world that:

(1) I now work at Wieden + Kennedy. (Day 12)
(2a) The nonsense expressed here is all me baby.
(2b) Neither Wieden nor Kennedy know I have a blog. (But a few AE’s do)
(3) Just rounding the list out with a number 3, so it looks prettier and officialier.

I’m working mostly on ESPN. You’ve probably already realized a bit of an increase in sports-related posts. And this trend will likely continue as the job requirement to “be even more of a sports fan” is one I’ve been gladly fulfilling.

Finally, for the many of you who aren’t in the industry, definitely go check out the agency’s site. But let me highlight a few things of the things (in addition to the kick ass work on ESPN – I’m saying that as a pre-job fan) that drew and now continue to draw me to this place:

Coca-Cola and Nike and Honda. London’s blog and holiday card (well actually it’s not PC in that regard; it’s a Christmas card). Portland’s school, and the fact that they get involved with things like Ignite Portland, the premise of which is this: “If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds?” (You can see videos of the presentations here)

But just like any place, it’s all about the people. They are some of the most creative people I know and have done some of the work I admire, yet they’re all approachable and importantly not territorial. In 13 days, I’ve concepted with a writer, brainstormed with digital media, written briefs, and played pipeball (more on that See for yourself below where I’ve embedded a video of some of the guys I work with (in our offices at the start):

Be hooves.

Tags: jobs, planning, wk

Design Based On Insight

As I sit on my couch multi-tasking (watching World Series of Poker, writing a brief, eating dinner, and making my way through my feeds), something clicks (pun intended). My coffee table is pretty bare (with feng shui in mind but mostly for aesthetic purpose). I’ve got a candle and a couple books and magazines that make me look interesting and well-rounded. Oh yeah, and my Time Warner Cable remote. Necessary ugly. (“Uglies” for the many people who don’t have the universal remote and are still working with one TV remote for the power ON and OFF, one for the channels, a remote for the stereo, another for the DVD player, and who knows what else.) Necessary ugly – or so I thought.

I came across this link from Russell Davies’ delicious feeds. The choose to use design to solve the problem of remotes getting lost. So they made a remote that’s really fragile, so you won’t toss it around/you’ll take better care of it and thus not lose it. The brief could easily have been: Remotes ruin the living room look.

It reminds me of Method’s insight into cleaning: People squeeze cleaning in between doing other things, so having to go into cabinets and search for cleaning products wastes time and is a part of the annoying process. So they designed their soaps, etc. to look nice so that people would keep them on their kitchen counters/out next to their sinks. Just a reminder of how design is a powerful tool for building insight in products.

Tags: design, home, planning, remote

Back From The Whale’s…

Surprisingly I did not have any desire to bust out those lines these past few days at the AAAA Planning Conference in San Diego. What I have been doing is catching up with old friends and meeting virtual friends, people I read and respect, and some other mofos without blogs.

Highlights other than taking home a silver Jay Chiat award for Bahamavention (well, not quite home since Fallon took the actual hardware) include:

Speeches by Eric Ryan, Method and Sir Kens A Lot (can you mess with a knight’s name like that? oops – Ken Robinson
Breakout sessions led by Scott Lukas of Dosage and Mark Earls (linked above) of Herd Consulting and book
Dinners with peeps at our LA office

I’ve been blogging in a private space for Deutsch (yes, we’re a little late to the conversation, but taking the right step in testing out/getting comfortable before jumping in), so will transfer some of my posts from there and I twittered (twitter link) Day 2.

As a tease to more comprehensive and detailed posting, I kick it off with the same video that opened the conference on Creating Possibilities. After watching, is there any question that we are emotional beings first?

Tags: bahamas, deutsch, fallon, Friends, planning, sandiego