#adcritic

Michael Jordan - Nike commercial (failure)

By NATHAN ARCHAMBAULT   Stop it. Just stop.   If you’re reading this, you’re probably paid to be in advertising. You probably come up with ideas and execute them for a living.   And you need to stop it.   I don’t mean quit your job. I mean change your state of mind. Stop living and breathing advertising. Stop the daily visits to AdCritic and AdFreak and AdAge and AgencySpy. Stop hanging out with your coworkers who talk all about about ads – and nothing but ads. Stop blogging about advertising, tweeting about advertising or going to events about advertising.   Instead, when you’re off the clock, get into something else. Physics. Robots. Medicine. Anthropology. Diving. Technology. Psychology.    And then figure out how you can combine your new hobby with your day job.   Look at it this way: There’s a conference going on – like Creative Week – and you have the choice between a panel called The Idea Matters…Still – put on by your peers – or one called Success On Broadway: The Un-Broadway Way – put on by a bunch of people who live and breathe theater.   Now ask yourself: Which of these panels will cover stuff you already know and reinforce stuff you already believe?   Which one will take you out of your comfort zone and force you to think about things in a new way?   I thought so.   I have no interest in making it on Broadway, but I'm interested in alternative and unexpected approaches to solving problems. At the Broadway session, they talked about establishing an emotional connection when you write, appreciating the difference between an idea and an activity, and collaboration as the act of talking things into existence.   These topics may only be indirectly related to the advertising industry, but they're directly related to what we do in advertising. The advice of people who have made it on Broadway can help us think about our jobs in new ways.   Another example: At SXSW, the best talk I saw was by Cyborg Anthropologist Amber Case. I didn’t know such a profession existed. But the points she made went beyond her profession – they touched on human truths. Like how human behavior and technology have become intertwined to the point of no return. So thinking of people and technology as separate entities is the wrong way of looking at things.   Again: It's a topic that’s indirectly related to the advertising industry. But directly related to what we do in advertising.   The truth is, all ideas are a combination of previously existing ideas. You don’t invent a “Big Idea” out of thin air – you discover one. Like Kirby Ferguson says, everything is a remix. When you stop living and breathing advertising, you find inspiration in more interesting places. You bring a fresh perspective to projects. You solve problems in more unexpected ways. You discover more interesting ideas. When you learn how other industries solve problems, you make better advertising. And that is what being in advertising is all about.

At any rate, here are a couple ads (video and print) from PERT Plus that we like, followed by a Google Chrome video ad that's pretty exciting.