David Simon, creator of such HBO shows as "The Wire", "The Corner", "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets", and "Generation Kill", was one of our personal guest speakers today.
This is where I get the acronym FTMLTWBTYFI.
He was asked to sum of the meaning of existence in 11 words in Esquire magazine. At first he had the same reaction that I think most of us would have when posed with a question like that, "You guys are assholes." But then, he told us, he started thinking of it as challenge. Could a question that monumental be summed up in 11 words? He ended up coming up with the phrase, "F**k the money leave the world better than you found it".
Brash? Maybe a little. But overall I found it very moving.
He talked to our group about advertising content paired with TV content. He thought that advertising cannot be paired with deep, moving television. For instance, he thought that his show "Homicide" couldn't exist on network television because people who watch the intense, often disturbing content, simply couldn't be bothered after every 12 minutes by ads trying to sell useless household products.
While I do agree with him that consumers couldn't be bothered by terrible advertising, I do not agree that it can't exist all together. I believe that advertising can exist with shows like "Homicide", it just has to be meaningful, highly planned, and targeted advertising. It can't be a crappy spot. The consumer has to be enticed and enthralled just as much as they are while watching his show.
Mr. Simon also went on several rants about the state of our economy and government.
To say he was pessimistic is an understatement.
He seemed to believe that if America were to disappear from the face of the Earth, the only true contribution us as a country would leave is African American music. I understand the logic behind the thought and I agree, BUT, he downplayed democracy. Maybe I'm just more of a patriot but he seemed to think that we really didn't contribute much to this style of government.
At that point I really wanted Thomas Jefferson to come back from the grave and drop kick him to the ground.
I do give a lot of credit to our founding fathers for laying the foundation for democracy as we know it today. I think that's a pretty big contribution to the world.
Anyway, David Simon was inherently smarter than I was so I didn't debate it with him. He was a a pretty hilarious guy too.
We also had two other guest speakers today, both who really blew me away. The first was Jennifer Frommer, the SVP of client-relations branding for Interscope Records. She explained to us that her job was to partner artists with brands, for things like product and album releases. Apparently she gets to interact with all the high profile artists on Interscope's line up. She even taught Michael Jackson how to use a damn computer... I can only imagine what that Masterclass was like. The other speaker we had was Allison Arden, a senior publisher at Ad Age. She gave us some great advice for when we enter the industry. I will definitely take it to heart.
I really wish I could give all of you who aren't here the true experience of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. This has been an absolutely moving experience and I feel more and more privileged every second that goes by.
I indeed <3 Advertising.
No comments:
Post a Comment