Optional Mood Music Here.
The Ogilvy
The David. And, no, not this one.
The founding father of modern advertising. It’s impossible to talk about Ogilvy without talking about the man. He is the name. However, there is a lot to say about an agency’s name.
In a world where agency names increasingly sound like law firms or dating apps, there’s no gimmick in Ogilvy. Instead, it’s simply about the foundation that’s been laid and the future he paved the
way for.
I need to build my future on that foundation.
Over the last 75 years, there hasn’t been a time when Ogilvy wasn’t earmarked as one of advertising’s most innovative agencies, proving that Ogilvy isn’t just about the name or history. It’s more— it’s the past, present, and future.
The Ads
Thousands of ads in just 75 years.
Hundreds of iconic moments.
Culture-making moments.
Value-driving moments.
I need to be a part of a culture that makes culture.
The Favs
Each of these ads makes you feel something. Some make you gasp. Some make you laugh. Some make you sad. They all, however, make you think.
Oh yea, and a lot of them became part of our culture. (looking at you jingle bells.)
Ads that make you feel, ads that makeup culture.
These are the ads I want to see in the future. These are the ads I want to make.
These are the reasons I need to be a part of Ogilvy.
But Ogilvy alone doesn’t make good ads.
It’s the people.
You guys have some great people.
I want, no need, to learn from these people.
All this reading though is getting boring for me too. So let’s play a game.
Bank: Fran Bonomi, Zach Buckner, Ellen Donnell, Sia Efthimiu, Steven Fogel, Tyler Gonerka, Pete Macinnis, Matt Moyer, Wes Phelan, Michael Raso, Helen Rieger, Nickie Thongton
Are Verizon employees all classically trained in choral music? This is the true Christmas miracle.
When Usher leaves the room, does he say “Peace up, A town?” (if no, pls lie)
Are you okay? Anyone who comes in contact that group is subject to the their army—the most ferocious and passionate group of individuals anywhere in the world. I am seriously concerned for your well-being. Please reach out if you need anything or have any K-Pop vernacular questions? I have an expert I can refer you to.
Is that a real dachshund, or is it photoshopped? Either way, he’s perfect.
If my Chipotle bowl was a song, it would probably be “Girl, so confusing featuring lorde.”
I wish I had seen this campaign when it ran. The year was 2021, I was a freshman in college, and I was, indeed, not mixing responsibly.
If I had a nickel for every time that that Coke campaign was used as an example in my ad classes, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s pretty cool it happened twice.
When you see a DirecTV ad, you think, you want to do that. When you think, you want to do that, you enroll in ad school. When you enroll in ad school, you spend too much time watching ads. When you spend too much time watching ads, you start explaining advertising history during the Superbowl. When you start explaining advertising history during the Superbowl, you watch the next Superbowl alone. Don’t watch the next Superbowl alone.
It’s like in The Santa Claus 3, but without the whole legal loophole, time-travel part.
That guy who yelled at the cab felt like he was born to yell at a cab. 10/10
Bro, are you homies with Bernie Sanders now? (if no, pls lie)
Bro, are you homies with Charli XCX now? (if no, pls lie)
“Raise your sight! Blaze new trails! Compete with immortals!”
I can’t say I’ve ever competed with immortals, but I can say I’ve blazed new trails. My least favorite set of words is, “I really want to XYZ.”
If you want to do something. Do the thing. Here are some of the trails I’ve set aflame.
Three years and eleven months ago, I became a finalist for The University Fellows Experience at The University of Alabama. Three years and ten months ago, I got a phone call informing me of my rejection. Three years, nine months, and three weeks ago, I called them back to pitch myself as a Fellow. One week later, I got my acceptance letter.
1. Fought my way Into Fellows.
2. Became the very first VP Creative of Capstone Agency.
After a year on Capstone Agency leadership, I realized that the biggest problem facing the agency was a lack of creative direction. So, VP Creative was created, and I was appointed to lead the thirty-six creatives. I established what the role would be and could be. I fought for creatives to have the freedom to think. I situated “creative” as a role as important as “strategy.” I got to leave my mark, and now I get to watch it grow.
3. Shot a wedding for a commercial.
You may be saying, I don’t remember that. That’s because it looks terrible. I had just started ad school, but I knew I wanted to dive in and get my hands dirty. So, I learned the 101 on production by staging and shooting an entire wedding my sophomore year. Not all trails blazed lead somewhere, but the journey is usually the part you remember anyways. (-Miley Cyrus)
4. Directed a 20-minute pitch and won for the first time in a decade.
As part of my advertising student right of passage, I joined the National Student Advertising Competition as an art direction intern my sophomore year. Because I take pleasure in chaos, I came back for round two- this time as the pitch director. I wrote the pitch— word for word. All 20 minutes. I created 100 slides. Designed each in InDesign. Selected the team. Coached them. All of this was done based on my own research in ways we had never done it before. And for the first time in a decade, our team won our district.
5. Needed an original song for an idea. So I made an original song for an idea.
After week four of critiques, I swore I would never say the word “Skullcandy” again. This was the first campaign that no matter how much my partner and I tried, nothing worked. That was until we went to Starbucks. The mermaid gods blessed us with an idea that was actually exciting. The hang-up was that it required an original song. So, I pulled out my guitar, strummed the four chords I knew, put it into a pattern, and got to writing. In two weeks, I wrote and recorded an original song. And yea, it was awesome.
6. Creating an App to Increase Equitability in Breaking Into Advertising.
Currently, I’m blazing new trails in my new identity as tech bro. My fellow grad students and I are working towards making Tango: An app to connect student creatives, because not every student has the luxury of portfolio school. Therefore, they don’t have the luxury of partnerships to benefit their book. That isn’t fair, and it isn’t right. As of today, we are in the process of finding an app developer. If you know anyone who will make an app for $1k, let me know!
“We’re looking for talent that’s insatiably curious and observant.”
We have already established I’m a geek. I think that’s pretty clear. However, you’ve got to be a geek about a lot of things to be good at advertising. Here are my nerdy confessions.
Ad Nerd.
The Text: Breaking & Entering, The Copy Book, Ads of the World
Southern Scholar.
The Text: The Clarion Ledger, New York Times, My Life
Pop Culture Intellectual.
The Text: Fauxmoi, X, TikTok, Reddit
The Text: That one Netflix documentary, some other research IDK, I had to write a speech about it for class. Ask me anything.
Woodstock 99 Historian.
Gleek.
The Text: Glee Wiki, and again, My Life
Ask me about John Lewis Christmas adverts, the Jackson water crisis, why Justin Baldoni is definitely wrong (at least a little), why Woodstock 99 represented the 90s through and through, and what the best performance on Glee was. (spoiler it’s not sung by Rachel Berry)
“Creative problem-solvers and ‘dot connectors’ who love new experiences and sometimes feel like there is never enough time for all they want to see, read, make, & do.”
At any given time, I’m working on a minimum of three projects because that’s what my time is for— to do stuff and do it now. Maybe you could say I’m a little impatient, but I’d say I’m just expectant of myself.
