Marriage....

There comes a time in every young boys life when he has to decide if he should move to the next level or not. That decision in my life has now been made. On Wednesday December 1, I proposed to the girl of my dreams! Some might say it was cheesy or super romantic. I say it was just me! I did the whole routine and acted like it was going to be just another blindfolded date with Greg (It happened more that once that we had a date with a blindfold) but it was more. I took her to a spot on the mountain where we used to sit and talk and play guitar during the summer. When we got there I told her to take off her blind fold and BANG....I did it!! I said "Baby, Will you marry me?" what a great night. Now the wait has begun!!

Tis' The Season

Once again it is that season. The season I am talking about is not the Holiday season. It is the season that is highly dreaded by all. FINALS!! Who looks forward to finals? People look forward to the week after finals or their last day of class, but no one looks forward to finals week. It is the week that you get to take a test for every class and find a way to effectively study for all classes without mixing up the material. The library has extended hours and lacks in places to sit. The season of happiness is preceded by a week of stress and unhappiness, especially when you see that you got a 30% on your calculous test that you studied forever for. I want to suggest a few things to do to make finals week and all the studying leading up to it a little bit better:

1.) Smile! If you find yourself upset or frustrated...Smile!
2.) Set aside some time for yourself. If you study for 6 hours straight you are not going to be happy and you probably won't even remember most of it.
3.) Get off Facebook. If you are on Facebook the whole time you are not going to be focused. Study for an hour then check your Facebook for a few minutes and repeat.
4.) Finally, randomly dance in the library and give people random hugs!!

Just some thoughts. Try them out and see how finals go!

Life and turn signals

Man lately my life has been not enjoying turn signals. I got in a scooter accident because of a turn signal. The turn signal on my truck doesn't work. I almost got in a bus on bus accident because the guy disregarded the turn signal. so what is the point of the turn signal. I am more safe it seems when I don't use my signal. What should I do? I know i should use my signal but man they are annoying me lately. Oh well life is great!!

Attack of the Stache

In my advertising class I had to do a project for Pringles. It was really fun. We have been working on it all semester. We did our research and came up with a creative strategy. Today we had to present it infront of the class. It was fun. I really liked doing this project, which is weird to say because normally I don't enjoy doing projects. Advertising rocks! My favorite part of the project was doing the creative part! Here are some of our ads we came up with! I wish we could actually do this campaign for real!

Harry Potter!!

So I am one of those kids who grew up with Harry Potter. I remember in fifth grade when my teacher said she got a new book she was going to read to us. She would read it everyday and i fell in love! I ended up having my parents buy me the first book to read. I hate reading. I am a slow reader and I get bored easy while reading. Harry Potter helped to change that. I have purchased every book. I even got two of the seventh book because I forgot if I had ordered it already so I ordered it again. I have read them all multiple times and as of recent am reading them again. This time I started with the seventh book then the first... It is amazing how planned out every book must have been. Even the first book has things that are discovered in the seventh. Now I prepare myself for the first part of the last movie! I decided to re-watch all the movies before the seventh one comes out early Friday morning. It has been great!! Go Harry!!

Seth Godin on the tribes we lead

Below is a speech given by Seth Godin. He truly is a mastermind. He is brilliant. Every video I watch of him leaves me with a want to change the world. To do something new. In this speech he talks about the tribes that we form an how 'tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change.'

At the very end of his speech he tells us "how to change everything" the first step is to challenge the status quo. The second this is to build a culture. This is what Apple did. nearly every young adult has some 'i' product whether it be an iPod, iMac, iPad. the third point is to commit. He then tells us to create a movement. Is that not what advertising does. it is a good way to start a movement by the ads we make. Look at what the Church is doing and the movement they are starting! It makes me excited to think that I can be a part of some sort of positive change!

It is a long video but if you have time watch it!!

Concerts

I absolutely love going to concerts! I love music and I love when the bands I like are good live. I have yet to go to a concert and think that the band i went to see sucked live. That is the reason I have never seen Fall Out Boy or Red Jumpsuit Apparatus live. What I have seen, they are not good live! I went to Fork Fest this weekend with Bianca. It was way fun. Seve Vs. Evan, Allred, and Shark Speed all played while we were there. I have always like Seve Vs. Evan and they were pretty good live. the best part was watching the people dance. This one kid was holding a textbook in the air using it as a prop to dance with. Allred rocked like usual!! Shark Speed was different. They had Shark Hunter the video game playing in the background which was cool. In a few weeks, my favorite artist, Allred, is opening for one of my other favorite artists, HE Is We, Who is playing with The Rocket Summer!! It is going to be a fun concert!

2011 Corvette

I saw this ad at the movie theater while i was waiting to see the Facebook movie. I have always love corvettes and have always wanted to buy one. I really like this commercial because it is just put together well. It is targeting those people who want to drive long distance and want to drive fast. I really like how it hits the emotions. It has a rocket ship which every time I see one I just think it is so cool that we go to space and to link it to a car is a nice touch.

How do know an ad or campaign is effective? This weekend I had the chance to help out a bit and go to hear Stephanie Nielson share her life changing story. BYU Women's Services put on a night for her to come and speak about recapturing beauty and the beauty that is inside each of us (it was focused toward women, but i felt it was great for men too.) Effective advertising brought a big result. An expected 1600 people quickly turned into 2000+ and the cops being called in order to enforce fire code. Women's services did a good job at catching peoples attention because they provided something that so many people are in search for....help! If you look around campus you will see ads everywhere about recapturing beauty and all though they are not very detailed they create a want to know more and act. Advertising is nothing but a call to action.

I think it is important to remember that advertising is not always about making money and huge campaigns and lots of money spent, but it is about finding the strengths in what you are promoting and advertising that. Whether it be the caramel inside or the beauty within us all, if the ad will get to the heart of the issues, wants and concerns of the consumers, then it can be effective.




Looks like it was effective!!

Summer is gone!

Summer is gone and it's time to move on to my favorite time of the year! Winter is near and then I can say that I truly am happy again! I can't wait for snow because it makes everything white. I can't wait to step into my snowboard and hit the slopes! I can't wait to not be hot and wear sweats all the time. I love to eat snow and build snowmen and snow forts. Most people get sad when it's dark and cold all the time, but for me it just makes me smile!!

Emotional Ads That Work

What is it that makes an Ad good? For me the Ad has to entice me to continue watching. It has to make me feel something that I wasn't feeling already. This Ad is of a little boy who is with his mom in a busy place. Next thing you know the mom is gone and the boy is alone and starts to cry. This is an Ad against smoking and I think it is great because it connects to everyone. I would bet that nearly everyone when they were a child was left alone or couldn't see their mom or dad and felt that they were lost. This Ad portrays the feelings that we have all felt and don't want to feel. It brings us back to reality that people are losing their parents all the time to smoking and they are left all alone.




This Ad in my opinion plays on all six effects of the Facets model. It makes you think about the consequences of smoking. It makes you feel what the little boy felt, being alone. It has a call to action to quit smoking. It makes aware of the major problem that smoking is having in our communities. It is credible because everyone these days knows that smoking is bad for you. It connects us to a type of brand "13Quit". This one is the weakest in my opinion of the six effects. I think this is a great Ad and for a smoker or someone thinking about smoking it hits right at home.

When life is in all red

I absolutely love music. If I could I would quit my job and just play my guitar and drums and piano all the time and I would go to as many concerts as possible. Throughout my life I have liked many different bands and study them and learn about them, but there is only one band that just gets me down to the core...ALLRED! In the past year and a bit that I have followed him and the band I have been to nearly ten concerts and have had many conversations with him. He is an inspiration to me as a musician and his music Rocks!
Last saturday he had a CD release that I had planned on going to for 4 months. Unfortunetly something came up and I went to St. George instead (Which was awesome!). Luckily my girlfriend Bianca is awesome and contacted John Allred and had him bring me a free cd to the concert in Provo Friday night!! It was like Christmas morning. It's all I listen to. I is my life. If you want to get to know the real me....get to know ALLRED!!

What is that smell?


Have you ever had someone walk by and even after they have passed you can still smell them? Do you savor that moment of your day and breathe in the sweet freshness? This wonderful experienced happened to me yesterday when Jason Bagley, Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy and Creator Director of the Cannes Lion Grand Prix for the Old Spice campaign, walked by me. He may be a man of small stature and have a goofy face, so he says, but in the advertising world some might say he is a genius or even a god. As I took in the sweet scent of his miraculous smell of success and of course Old Spice, I hoped that one day I could be a somebody with a great smell. The smell of wild daisies mixed with the morning air of an exotic utopia. After my moment of taking in his smell, I decided from that point on to step back and enjoy the smells and even the stenches that life throws my way.

Life is short savor its smells!

Ten Things I Hate About School!

1. Having to find parking

2. Homework

3. Waking up early

4. People who think they are the only one in class and won't stop asking questions.

5. The Rush of people

6. The Testing Center

7. Buying text books

8. Bikes

9. Arrogant teachers

10. Hot buildings

Tis the season to be Jolly... or not. On the first day of school people have various looks on their faces. Happy, because they just saw their long lost friend who they really don't care too much about but have them as a Facebook friend so that they can every once in a while stalk them. Scared/confused, because they graduated high school in June and still don't know how to make their own lunches or tie their shoes, let alone find their first class or even the building to that class...what does JFSB stand for? Determined, because they have one year left and they can't wait to be done with school and move on to the easy life of raising kids and having to support your family and working for the next 40 years of their life. Last but not least, Mad, because the days of sitting by the pool and doing nothing are now filled with homework, class, and at BYU finding and marrying your wife before another semester ends.