Ads: My first professional gig

-
My first paid ad was for a place called “Computer Center”, located in Central Plaza in Fort Dodge and I got the gig as a creative contest winner while in college. Their business was computer training and troubleshooting. Their goal was clear; they wanted walk-in business prospects. The spec was for a 15-second ad:
(SFX: Downward sweep to bass chord)

“Computer Center will train you. Computer Center will troubleshoot. Computer Center. Computer Center for today's competitive business. Central Plaza. Fort Dodge.”

(SFX: upward sounder)

The strengths of the ad were bullet-point branding and memorable audio punctuation. Unfortunately they vacated the campaign in short order and failed altogether by the following year.

Popular posts from this blog

Used car shopping

-
Most people buy a used car at some point in their lives, but how many do a little investigation before buying?  You should know what you're buying before laying down the cash -- or worse yet, financing.  Many dealers will now show you a CarFax data sheet.  They punch in the Vehicle Identification Number (or VIN) and the computer spits out all it knows about that particular car.  A VIN is unique to each car and can tell a lot about the car, including make, model, body style, manufacturing plant, etc.  Try this out.  Go to your car and carefully write down your VIN, then enter it in one of the boxes below.  You may be surprised at what you can learn. AnalogX Vin Decoder VIN: CarFax Vin Decoder VIN: AutoCheck Vin Decoder VIN: Model years 1981 and later have 17-digit vehicle identification numbers (VIN).  Anyone can decode them with a few basics. Dig...
Read more

Perhaps too green

-
Hard not to notice an emerald tint on the media, but not everyone's happy someone named "Liv Greene" has popped up on their AOL/Gmail buddy list; people think it's all gone too far. This blogger's viewpoint isn't an isolated one. Stephen Foskett says, "AOL seems to have invented a whole new way to annoy us all with advertisements: injected AIM buddy bots! Yes, it’s another way that social networking companies are annoying the very users they (supposedly) covet! Well, today my (gtalk) buddy list was invaded by 'Liv Greene', a shill for the web site, Greenopolis. And check out the astroturf-with-a-hammer campaign on AOL’s bot page! Way to get your bot ranked number one! I’m so sick of this. Note to all social network providers: Never inject a new “friend” into my network without my consent."
Read more

More than just "early adopters" Podcasting

-
This is clearly not a small thing. Podcasting has unquestionably hit the maintream -- repeatedly. And they're not just 2-5 minute 'casts; I frequently see mainstream media producing 20 to 60-minute shows, some longer. Podcasts are largely free, although some big names, like Rush Limbaugh, have managed to collect a fee from their fanbase in exchange for their exclusive content. For those that stumbled across this post accidentally, Podcasting is an audio (and video, in some cases) form of "blogging", using a communications protocol known as RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, which enables anyone to automatically receive feeds to which they subscribe, similar to email. Wired News: Tracking Rita: Interactive
Read more