Welcome

Welcome to the student produced blog ADdiction415.com

We have a simple mission: to give advertising and design students a resource outside of classes that will provide them with insight and inspiration. We work to provide you with student work, book recommendations, links to helpful and insightful websites, articles written by students, a calender of events, and noteworthy industry work. If you would like to comment or contribute, please feel free to do so. We are always accepting work, links, book recommendations, and suggestions to make our site better for you.

Thanks for stopping by and we hope to hear from you soon.                                   Contact Submit Work/Link/Book/Suggestion

- Kyle Wilkinson and the ADdiction415.com team

2 years ago  /  0 notes  /  Comments

Award Winners

Recently a few of our advertising students won awards at the ADDYs here in SF. The following is the work that they won with. Enjoy.

Nicole Lauren Berke Titleist Golf Balls Campaign

Nicole Lauren Berke USDA Campaign

copy: Fact: Fresh oranges and fresh squeezed orange juice contain vitamin and nutrient compounds whose effectiveness is unmatched by nutrient supplements. Oranges provide protection against Cardiovascular Disease, contain Liminoids that help to fight cancer, are a strong source of fiber and contain unique compounds that can lower cholesterol as effectively as Statin pharmaceutical Drugs.

Nicole Lauren Berke Taxi Wine Bottle Design

Nicole is currently working as a freelancer in NY. http://nicoleberke.com/ When asked about living and working outside of school Nicole had this to say: “The real world is nothing like school. I can’t stress enough how important it is to make contacts with people who are already in agencies (not people who are new or low level, either - people who can hire you) since most of them don’t use Craigslist or Monster or Coroflot or any of that, but rather have creative recruiters who call on people they know as a resource.”  Thanks Nicole, and good luck!

Camille Calichon Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Campaign

Simantha Fox Beta Menu Design

Simantha Fox Wine Bottle and Invitations Design

Amanda Marshall Ikea Outdoor Campaign

2 years ago  /  0 notes  /  Comments

That’s Contagious

Written by Kivalani McMurrin
With our iPods turning into phones, and our phones turning into computers, it’s not even a question for our generation as to why the push for online media has become essential.  We can spend hours making flashy web banners or coming up with the next hot iPhone app, but in our planning there is always that glimmer of hope for a majestic Viral Video.  A viral video is a mythical creature roaming the plains of Jupiter.  It has transparent wings, it squirts out creepy babies and large pants from its extra large mouth and… wait what?  That’s not what a viral video is?  Well then what the what is a viral video?  It is somewhat of a magical beast, but that is only because it continues to escape perfect definition.
      Viral videos started out as just that, viral videos.  No, you didn’t pass them around by sneezing, but close.  They were just videos that your hip aunt Mildred thought were funny, so she would email them to you and the whole family.  And you thought they were funny too so you would send them out to your whole family.  They began as just a little zombie mispronouncing turtle or a Mobile, Alabama, news channel doing a piece on a leprechaun (“I want da gold!”, Anyone?  Anyone?) .  We’ll call this the ape stage in the evolution of the viral video.  Then the apes began to wear human clothing.
      The corporate world and the ad industry caught on to how great these viral videos were.  They found videos like Jumping into Pants, where a bunch of 20 something guys do awesome and dangerous stunts to get into their pants, and once it had already become somewhat of a hit Levi’s bought it up for what was most likely a fraction of the cost of producing an ad, just so they could stick their logo at the end of it.  It was very subtle and at the infant stages of being an ad.  The same happened with a video called Extreme Sheep LED Art.  A bunch of intense shepherds took a ton of lights and a lot of choreographing to make a “home produced” looking video with a sheep load of sheep doing such cool things you don’t notice the end screen of Samsung electronics or the fact that this is, in a way, an ad.
      In the next stage of our viral evolution, our videos are nearly humans walking almost perfectly up right. These are viral videos that are, in their purest forms, ads.  These videos were dreamed up by a few creatives in an advertising agency.  They were crafted to act as viral videos but they had intention behind them from their infant stages.  A prime example of this is Evian, with their roller skating hip hop babies.  This is clearly an ad, it’s an ad from the beginning to the end, despite the fact that it never aired on American television.  Being an ad and all, it’s still managed to keep its spot atop Ad Age’s Viral Video Chart, and accumulated over 18 million views.  Eighteen million times these computer generated little weirdoes have gotten to perform their Evian dance.  It’s novelty, strangeness, and humor have kept it viral, but what’s keeping it an ad?  When I am thirsty and go to the corner store for a bottled water do I buy Evian now? Honestly, no.  I may see the bottle and think “Nice try creepy babies, nice try” but as I’m leaving the store that bottle with the light blue cap is not the one in my hand.  Now seeing as I’m not Danish I know for a fact that I’m not the target market for this ad, but I can still respect what it has done.
      Then there are the humans that have been humans from the beginning but are just trying to fit in with all the apelings.  These are ads.  Plain and simple these are ads, they were made to be shown on TV, they were first seen on TV, and then someone saw it and found it online so they could watch it again and share it with their friends.  While this is the least impressive in the realm of Viral Video, it still shares something that makes it special.
      Ah yes, that something special.  Who could have thought that their crazy idea for a water spot would have become such a hit around the world?  Nobody.  And that’s what has kept such an alluring disguise around viral videos; there isn’t an exact formula for what will make something so contagious.  Perhaps it’s funny, perhaps it’s just weird but in an intriguing way.  Maybe it makes you cry, or maybe it’s just so mind blowing it gives you goose bumps and leaves you in awe.  Even if we can’t pull an Einstein and E=mc2 our way out of this problem there is still much to learn.  Shit, I probably won’t ever come up with an idea for a viral ad, I may not ever even get to work on one, but I can still take away much wisdom from the growth of viral videos, we all can.  That little something that causes ads and videos to be spread by consumers is something that should be infused into all ads we create.

Kivalani McMurrin is a senior at AICA-SF working towards her BS in Advertising. Kivalani’s portfolio kgm371.aisites.com

2 years ago  /  0 notes  /  Comments

Just Say Hello. The Etiquette of Networking.

Written By Korin Sanchez

For twelve years I was an only child, now I know that sounds funny to say, but it forced to make friends. Due to my super outgoing personality I took it to the extreme.  It didn’t matter where we were; grocery store, park, state fair, the mall or simply sitting at a stop light, I was talking to people up all around me. It was a simple hello that got the ball rolling, at the age of 7 I was a networking master. In fact my mom had to have the “don’t talk to strangers” talk so many times, she starting getting nervous that I would just walk off with someone. The art of networking starts with just saying hello.
Saying Hello
I know it sounds so simple, but its truly the most important start.  It’s how a relationship starts.  And it can start anywhere.  Think about the places you go in your daily routine, coffee shops, restaurants, school, work or even people who stand in the line with you while waiting for that bus or train.  Simply saying hello opens up a world of communication, and that’s exactly what networking is.
Ask a question
For example, how was your weekend?  Did you watch the game? Where do you work?  Basically any kind of small talk is going to work. People like to know that you are genuinely interested, and it doesn’t have to be a time consuming thing, you ask your simple question, they answer, you respond, and we go on.
Follow Through
Now this might be the hardest thing to do for people, but its what really solidifies the relationship, and that is to learn something new about the person.  The next time you come into contact with that person, ask them a simple “get to know you question”, like, What is your major? Or it could be something as juvenile as, “Do you have a pet?” because that could lead to…. Oh, do you know of a job opening there? The point is that these connections can and will lead you new and hopefully prosperous places.

Korin Sanchez is a senior at AICA-SF working for her BS in Advertising.

2 years ago  /  0 notes  /  Comments