Marketers hit global stage for World Cup

While 32 Nations from around the world battle it out on the pitch in South Africa, a wide-range of advertisers are jumping in on the action. Various brands have launched major campaigns and buzz initiatives in hopes that Rooney, Kaka, and Ronaldo aren’t the only names being talked about this month.

The Good
Although the victor of the World Cup won’t be determined until July 11^th, we already know who has won the advertising game: Nike.  Even though Adidas is an “Official FIFA sponsor”, Nike has completely stolen the show with their “Write The Future” campaign with huge buzz and over 15 million views on YouTube since it was launched just one month ago.  According to Nielson, Nike has an incredible 30.2% share of official and competitor buzz, while Adidas is a distant-second with 14.4%.

Budweiser, who is no stranger to shelling out boatloads of money on advertising, is the Official Beer Sponsor of the World Cup (surprise, surprise).  While their “Kick” ads, are only ok (one man’s opinion), their “Bud House” fully-integrated social media campaign where they have put one fan from each country in the same house and followers vote for who they like best is actually quite interesting and consumer-involved, but has yet to create much buzz.

Carlsberg, on the other hand, has capitalized on their sponsorship of England’s team with their “Team Talk” campaign.  According to Nielson, these spots have created 3.9% share of buzz, which is more than both McDonald’s and Hyundai (which are both Official FIFA Sponsors).  Just goes to show, you don’t have to be a giant to compete; you only need good ideas.

The Bad
Possibly the most talked about brand in the last couple months is BP.  With so much bad press lately regarding their royal screw-up in the Gulf, it would probably be a good idea for them to lay low for a while.  They thought differently.  BP has taken it upon themselves to become the “Official Fuel Sponsor” of the World Cup.  And not only that; they are boasting to “brighten” the games in South Africa in ads and on their Web site.

In fairness to BP, their WC sponsorship was inked years ago, but seeing them trying to promote themselves as a good corporate citizen in South Africa and around the world is just maddening.  Does anyone know the Zulu word for “dick heads”?

The Naked?
I read in an article in AdAge today that if Argentina wins the World Cup, Pepsi plans to follow the example of Argentina’s coach Diego Maradona, who says he’ll celebrate by running around naked in Buenos Aires, by selling their products with no label for a week in Argentina.  It’s a fun idea and one that has already caused major buzz in Argentina and around the world.

Pepsi has already made their mark on the World Cup with their “Oh Africa” campaign featuring soccer studs Didier Drogba, Thierry Henry, and even Argentina’s golden boy, Lionel Messi.  Even though Coca-Cola is an Official FIFA Sponsor, Pepsi has made sure they weren’t left out of the party.

New home in the Second City

“My kind of town,
Chicago is my kind of town,
Chicago is my kind of razzmatazz
And it has all that jazz.”

If you couldn’t tell from the above, I have packed up and moved to the Windy City.  I am now working with Great Lakes Marketing Group in conjunction with the American Sail Training Association (ASTA) to promote and strategically plan the Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge 2010.  The GLU Tall Ships Challenge 2010 is a series of port festivals across the Great Lakes in up to 10 different ports.  There will be 25-30 Tall Ships in the Great Lakes this summer making their rounds the various ports.  Working and living in Chicago, my focus is on the Pepsi Tall Ships Challenge 2010 event that will take place at Navy Pier (downtown Chicago) from August 24th-29th.  It will be a grand event that will start with the “Parade of Sail” on the 24th, where all 20-22 ships will come into to dock with their sails at full mast.  There will be fireworks every night and we are expecting 1-2 million visitors over the course of the event.

I am also working very closely with the Tall Ship Windy and Red Witch (Chicago’s official Tall Ships) to plan and execute their 2010 marketing and advertising plan.  This year, Tall Ship Windy and Red Witch will be brought together under the umbrella “Tall Ship Adventures of Chicago”.  I am working closely with Captain Bruce Randall to initiate a strategic branding campaign. I’ll have a ton of responsibility but it’s going to be fun.

Chi-City!

Aside from work, I am getting use to living life in Chicago.  I’ve never lived in big city before (unless you count Hamburg), so I’m adjusting to the hustle and bustle.  I’m living in very interesting and diverse area of the city.  I live in Lakeview on the edge of Wrigleyville and neighboring Boystown.  There are tons of cool bars, local restaurants, and interesting shops and theaters.  We are in the dead of winter right now (foot of snow the other day), so I am really looking forward to the summer.  It will be nice to be away from Florida’s harsh summers as well, living a block from Lake Michigan will also be very cool.

79 Questions

Well not really, but I had a lot.  Last week, I was in Chicago and I got the opportunity to meet with an awesome planner, AJ Livsey, from Element 79, a mid-sized ad agency.  She is the planner on one of E79’s biggest accounts, Harris Bank.  The agency is located in the AON Center, just a couple floors below ad giant, DDB.  As the elevator doors opened, I walked out into a gold-themed lobby and let the receptionist know I had an appointment.  After sitting there for a 5 or 10 minutes, a guy ran out a said “Hey!  Are you Brian?”  Awkwardly I told him yes, and he had me follow him around the corner.  We came to a group of people doing a video shoot, as AJ was lacing up a pair of 1970’s style roller skates.  Evidently it was part of new business pitch, but it was interesting to get a glimpse of the agency culture at E79.

After AJ finished her roller skating video, she showed me around the agency.  It really wasn’t what I was expected as it looked more like a law office than an ad agency.  AJ informed me that the office was built like that before they moved there so they didn’t have much to work with from the beginning.  However there were flurries of creativity throughout the agency for example in the hallway completely covered with graffiti tags as well as the conference room with chalk boards as walls with colorful, inspired drawings covering it.

After getting Starbucks, we headed to a quiet spot to talk.  She asked me about my projects at MASE and I asked her about her work at E79.   Evidently, there are only 4 planners in the entire agency (not a very strategically minded agency), and she works solely on the Harris Bank account.  She explained how they have branded the bank as “help”, and how she works with the creatives to create campaigns to express the brand.

We had a great talk about planning, getting a job, and advertising in general.  Evidently, she has a roommate that is also a planner who has experience at Wieden as well as Y+R, but has been jobless for the last 7 months.  It was kind of a blow to my optimism, but she gave the advice that a lot of smaller agencies don’t get people from ad schools so maybe that would be a good route to go.

Deer hunting at its finest – Saskatchewan

For my graduation, my Dad and Step mom, Shari, brought me on an amazing deer hunting trip to Saskatchewan, Canada.  I had never been to Canada so for me it was a double-whammy; I got to deer hunt AND I got to travel to a new and exciting place.  We hunted in an area called “Pierceland”, which is in the Western part of the province, right next to Alberta.  As soon as we arrived, I knew it was going to be a great week.

We met our guide, Gary, at the outfitters home and then we followed him into the wilderness to our camp.  I was expecting a small shack or even an old trailer, but to my surprise, we arrived to an awesome camp house located right on a beautiful frozen lake.   The surrounding area was absolutely beautiful.  As a Florida boy, I haven’t seen snow in quite some years, so I was stoked to see the forest landscape with a touch of snow covering the ground.  The weather stayed absolutely perfect as well.  Although it was cold (really cold), there were clear blue skies everyday and it didn’t snow or rain on us once.

Beautiful Frozen Lake

The week went along smoothly as we hunted all day, every day and then went back to the camp at night where we spent it with some real characters.  Shari’s father, Bobby, came as well along with his long-time friend, Cliff, who looks like a “more compact version of Urban Meyer” as my Dad would say.  They are great guys and after they’ve had a few drinks provide the stand-up comedy for the night.  Along with Gary, his wife, Shannon, worked there as well as the cook.  I probably ate more there than I have in the last month.  The other guide was Leon, who is a Cree Indian.  He had some interesting stories of life on the reservation as well living in the woods of Saskatchewan his entire life.

The week went along and on Wednesday came the relative massacre.  My Dad, Shari, and Cliff all killed deer on this day.  My Dad’s was deer was so cool looking!  He had weird knobs and points all over his antlers which gave him tons of character.  Shari arrowed a really nice 9-pointer with her bow, as she taught the men how to do it.  Cliff also shot a really nice older 11-point that anyone would be proud of.  After that, it was just me and Bobby.

Dad's big buck

Shari's awesome 9-pointer

Thursday morning came and I just had a feeling that it would be the day.  I got to my stand before daylight and sat quietly for the day to begin.  As the sun crept into my field, I started seeing some does which were looking awfully weary of something just inside the tree line.  A few moments later, I saw a big bodied deer appear in the corner of the field and after looking at it through my binoculars, I knew it was my deer.  I slowly raised my gun, found the big deer in the scope, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger.  The bullet it right in the neck of the woodland beast and it hit the ground with the blink of an eye.  I was so excited, I could barely contain myself.  After waiting awhile, I walked across the field to check out my trophy.

My buck (and my ridiculous beard)

The week finished up and four out of five of us killed really nice deer; Bobby went home empty-handed.  We made the long trip back to Edmonton and jet-set back to the States.  We said our goodbyes and we all went our different ways.  All in all, it was a fantastic trip.  Not only did I get to spend time with my family in one of the most beautiful places on earth, I also got to kill a really nice 10-point buck.  I will always remember this trip and really hope I get to return again in a hunting season soon to come.

Guinness Storehouse re-invents 250 year-old brand

This summer, I spent 12-weeks in Germany for school, but after that I got the chance to backpack through seven countries in Europe.  My last stop before returning to the US, was Dublin, Ireland.  Ever since I was little, I always wanted to go to Ireland for the beautiful countryside, but since I hit college, and got a taste for beer, there became another reason I wanted to go.  When telling people I was going to Dublin (or “Publin” as many Europeans playfully call it), they always said, “Make sure you go to the Guinness Storehouse!”

When I arrived to rainy Dublin, there were many things on my to-do list, but at the top of that list was the Guinness Storehouse.  As I approached the imposing, seven-story brick building in a gritty, industrial part of Dublin, I really didn’t know what to expect except that I would see how the famous “Black Gold” is brewed.  When I stepped inside, I was blown away by the ultra-modern design that awaited me.   As you arrive, you are almost in awe by the sight of the modern glass-and-steel interior which is illuminated by a dramatic combination of natural and artificial light. When you walk in, you climb a short, narrow set of stairs before emerging into a cavernous atrium.  It’s shaped roughly like a pint glass, with a circular pub, the Gravity Bar, at the top that glows white at night (like the suds atop a freshly poured Guinness).  Set into the floor is the contract that Sir Arthur Guinness himself signed for the brewery site — a 9,000-year lease for the price of just 45 Irish punts a year.

The Storehouse Lease

As I was strolling through the Storehouse, I was realizing something.  This isn’t just your average tourist attraction.  This is the personification of the re-invention of the Guinness brand.  After doing some research, I learned I was right.  The Storehouse was built in the year 2000 to breathe life into the aging brand.  While I was in Dublin, Guinness was celebrating its 250 year anniversary, so it’s no surprise the brand is looked at as old and traditional.  So in an essence, the Storehouse is the physical manifestation of a serious marketing challenge: to reconnect Guinness with younger drinkers in Ireland. While the brand has conquered the world (the stout is brewed in 50 countries and sells an estimated 10 million glasses a day), Guinness started to go a bit flat at home. In the second half of 2001, sales of Guinness in Ireland actually fell by 3%. Why the slip? Because Guinness, like so many other well-loved but old-fashioned products, had come to be perceived as the choice of the senior set. Ireland’s younger crowd were switching to lighter drinks: lagers such as Heineken or trendy cocktails.

After dark, the Storehouse also hosts special events that attract both locals and executives: awards ceremonies, concerts, corporate parties, fashion shows, and gallery openings.  The evening events make the Storehouse a kind of community center.  And by bringing people in their twenties and thirties to the brewery, the events help Guinness connect with the brand’s future.

My free pint in the Gravity Bar

In my opinion, the Guinness Storehouse sets the bar for brand experiences.  I feel like Guinness has definitely accomplished their task of re-energizing their brand with Dubliners and tourists alike.  When I was at various pubs in Dublin, everyone (man, woman, young, old, whatever) had a Guinness in their hand.  And I have to admit, since being back in the States, I’ve ordered Guinness a few times and every time thought back on my time at the Storehouse.

What happened to us?

A lot of bad stuff has happened to The United States in the last decade.  To start off the decade, we were attacked during 9/11, which was a terrible tragedy.  But what came from that tragedy was the true American spirit shined again.  Americans hadn’t had that much pride and brotherhood since WW2.  But then it got old, people got tired of Bush starting wars left and right, and then among many other problems, our economy crashed.  In a short 6-7 years, our country went from a prideful, unified nation to bitter, small, and extremely bipartisan.  In the last year after a new President was elected, half of the country was filled with hope of a better tomorrow, but the other half remained bitter and cold, and infected the rest of us like a virus.  Where has all that post 9/11 unity gone?  Where is the hope of change?  Where is the American spirit?

Right now, although things have gotten a little bit better, we are still in a terrible situation.  We are still involved in 2 wars, the economy is barely alive with unemployment numbers in the double digits, and millions of American still live without healthcare (including me).  But we’ll pull through it, right?  Just like after 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, right?  Wrong.  The problem today is we don’t have an enemy to rally against this time.  The enemy is ourselves and the only solution we’ve come up with so far is blame the other guy.

The New Guy

I say it’s time to forget about whose fault it is and just get started on a solution.  Although the government can only do so much, it is up to us to come together again.  If we aren’t unified, then we will stay in this crappy situation forever.  We need to stop listening to the main blamers like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Keith Olbermann and start listening to Dodge.  Yep, that’s right.  Dodge.

Last night, while I was watching the World Series, a new Dodge Ram commercial came out that I had never seen before.  The title of the spot is “Manifesto” and it was done by The Richards Group out of Dallas.  The ad’s theme is “I am Ram” and carries quotes like, “I am fueled by optimism and a can-do spirit”.  Although the commercial is supposed to be selling trucks, it is really selling something that can’t be bought.  The renewed American spirit.

So the time has come.  It’s time to stop bitching and complaining about our current situation.  It’s time to stop sitting around a waiting for someone else to fix it.  It’s time stop blaming everyone but yourself.  The time has come to come together as American people and pull ourselves out of this mess.  I’m proud to be an American but I’m tired of it being a loser.  It’s going to be tough and the road will be long, but my name is Brian, and my tank is full.

Karma always catches up…even in the ad biz

AT&T Wireless (the network provider for the iPhone) is suing Verizon Wireless over its “There’s a map for that” campaign, which compares the density of Verizon’s 3G network on the US map compared to that of AT&T’s (which is much sparser).  AT&T claims the spot is causing the No. 2 wireless carrier to lose “incalculable market share” and “invaluable goodwill.”  Verizon’s ad has gotten many good reviews from consumers who appreciate the humor of making fun at the iPhone’s “There’s an app for that” campaign.

There's a map for that

AT&T is not actually disputing the comparison of their 3G coverage, but they are insisting that Verizon is painting a misleading picture that AT&T offers no coverage at all in the white space on the map, when it’s suppose to indicate where they don’t provide 3G.

This loss of market share comes very unsettling for AT&T and Apple as the holiday season quickly approaches.  According to AdAge.com, this will be the first holiday season since the iPhone released when it’s not the only viable option for a trendy smartphone.  Perhaps the biggest challenger is the new “Droid” by Motorolla, which not only runs off a Google operating system (one of Apple’s biggest competitors), but the network is provided by none other than Verizon.  At this moment, if you are a self-titled “Mac” (the cultish name Apple lovers give themselves) you might start feeling bad for their current woes.

However, I argue that Apple did this to themselves.  Although it is AT&T who is losing market share, it is at the hand iPhone sales and Apple is anything but an innocent party.  How long have we been watching the played-out Mac vs. PC ads that depict PC users as nerdy, awkward and accident proned?

It’s my opinion this is a direct effect of karma.  Karma is defined as “the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person’s deeds in the previous incarnation”.  All of those ads making fun of innocent Bill Gates and his sometimes malfunctioning personal computers has finally caught up to them.  Apple has laughed all the way to the bank and a growing market share over the last few years off the backs of these ads.  But now, when someone does it to them, they throw a fit and sue (The American Way).

I think this instance should set an example to the rest of the advertising world.  It’s like my mother always told me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”.  It will catch up to you in the end…it’s the rule of the Universe.  Maybe TBWA/Chiat Day (Apple’s Ad Agency) and the people at Apple will now think twice before slinging mud since now they know it’s not too fun to get it in your eyes.

The Perfect Day

Most of the week was pretty uneventful, so I won’t bore you all the details like I usually do.  We worked most of the week getting ready for our presentation to Old El Paso, which went pretty well.  After that, Jon and I celebrated by making delicious Old El Paso Chicken Enchiladas and that was really the highlight of the week.  On Friday night, we all went out to Zoe’s (again) and to a couple other bars.  I planned to sleep at Justin’s Friday night so we could hang out the next day, but when we went home, Justin lost his keys and Matt was completely passed out and didn’t wake up to us banging on the door for 30 minutes so we slept at our friend, Uli’s flat.

The Perfect Day
Justin and I woke up around 10 and left Uli’s but as we walked out of her room, her roommate walked by and gave us the most awkward look ever.  We didn’t realize how bad it would look for Uli to have 2 guys walk out of her room on a Saturday morning.  Justin and I laughed about it all the way to the train station.  We headed to Justin’s, picked up Matt and headed to the harbor for Red Bull Cliff Diving.  Red Bull was sponsoring a high diving competition where all these divers jump from the top of one the ships doing all kinds of crazy maneuvers.  Needless to say, it was awesome!

Red Bull Cliff Diving

After the Red Bull thing, Matt headed to school to do a project and Justin and I met up with Emmet, Jon and his girlfriend, Denise.  Justin wanted to take us to a curry wurst place he found so we wandered the streets of St. Pauli until we came across it.  I have to say, although I haven’t had it very much, but it was the best curry wurst I’ve ever had.

From there, Denise led us to this area of the city where artists come from all around Hamburg to contribute to this public art space.  It’s really just an alley in the middle of a bunch of old buildings covered with art.  Some of the stuff was really cool and the whole idea of public art was really cool to me.   Although really cool, Denise was telling me developers want to destroy the buildings and build new office buildings and condos, but the city and artists are fighting to keep it what it is.  I really hope this area stays preserved for a long time to come.

Hidden Art Street

As the day went on, we wandered along the streets, going into shops, taking pictures of the city and we came across Alster fest.  It was this little carnival going on with live music, games, and all kinds of great smelling treats.  After that, we stopped at this burger joint called “Jim’s Block”.  Jon had been talking about it all day so we had to check it out.  It wasn’t as good as the curry wurst but still pretty tasty.  Then we decided to all buy movie tickets to “Inglourious Basterds”, the new movie by Quentin Tarantino with Brad Pitt that is all about killing Nazis.  The movie wasn’t for a couple of hours, so Jon and Emmet went home to relax, but Justin and I decided to hang around and check out some bars.

Tasty treats at Alster fest

We went this place called “American Bar” at Happy Hour so we decided to order the coolest sounding drink on the menu, which was called a “Harvey Wallbanger”, which also became the inside joke of the night.  After a few cocktails, we stumbled into this medieval times style shop down the street.  They had these awesome toy swords and axes, along with a full assortment of armor and chain mail…so of course we had to try it all out.  After almost getting kicked out, I bought a hilarious, giant novelty pen, we met up with Decker and went into the movie.

Getting Harvey Wallbanged

The movie was incredible!  Classic Tarantino and one of Brad Pitt’s best acting jobs.  We thought it would be really awkward to watch it in a theatre full of Germans, but it was only weird when we were all laughing at certain parts when the rest of the theatre was silent.  As the climatic final scene was going on, we started hearing explosions going on outside.  As we got out the movie, we were greeted by an amazing firework display over the Alster lake right in front of us!

Fireworks!!!

After all of this excitement, we decided to finish up at Zoe’s where a group of Miami Ad School kids were.  So we went, had a few “bangers” (term we gave every drink thanks to our inside joke), and Justin and I headed out.  We split a kebab, then I got on the train, watched an episode of “East Bound and Down” (one of my new favorite shows) on my computer and fell asleep.

Ending at Zoe's with Justin and Decker

It was pretty much a perfect day; probably the most fun day I’ve spent in Hamburg.  Great people and a great city is really all you need.  I’ve always said, the best days are the ones you don’t plan and you just kinda go with the flow, and this day was the perfect example.

Long time, no blog

On my last blog entry I wrote that most of my part with McDonalds was over.  Boy, was I wrong.  This Monday through Thursday was the busiest days I’ve spent here in Hamburg.  I was matched up with probably the worst “creative” team in the school.  I used the term “creative” very loosely while at this school.  A little background: Art Directors and Copy Writers (the people that make the actual ads) are called “creatives”.  I simply call them designers and producers until they actually prove they are indeed creative.  Anyway, I was matched up with 6 kids (5 of them, I’m very sure will never be able to hold a real job).  They would never show up and when they did, they contributed nothing.  For the most part, it was me and my friend, Decker, who had to do all the work.  So we spent every night from Monday up to presentation on Thursday working, getting 1-3 hours a sleep a night, living off caffeine and fast food.  Obviously, it was not great on my body.

But, we finished it up on Thursday morning, 3-4 hours before the presentation.  And to no relief, it was the hottest day in Hamburg for the year, with a high of 94 degrees.  We presented in a room, with the whole school packed in, while the school doesn’t have AC.  It was probably 100 degrees in the room (Lourenco was sitting next to me and I thought he was going to pass out, and he’s Brazilian!).  We got the presentation over with, it went as good as it could have gone, considering the circumstances and we got the hell out of there.  Pretty much half the school had a celebratory beer at the nearby bar “Cocktrails” (it’s right by the train station, clever right?).  Then I went home and got a much needed full night of sleep.

Class on Friday was pretty light as our teacher knew we were all working on McDonalds all week.  Friday night came along and it was time to let loose!  We all started at the Miami Ad School main hangout, Zoe’s and then continued on to a few other bars.  It was maybe the most fun night here thus far, just because pretty much everyone came out and everyone was so happy to be done with McDonalds.  I finally got home around 6 or 7am.

On Saturday, pretty much the whole school was still recovering, so it was pretty slow day.  Justin, Matt, and I went to the park, played Frisbee, got a few beers, and watched the movie “Beerfest” and I headed home.  I had to get ready for Sunday which was the much anticipated soccer or “football” game with a bunch of the guys from school.

Justin and I were the first to arrive to the park and we figured maybe 5-6 more guys would actually show.  But, to our surprise, there were about 15-16 of us!  It was a lot of fun!  We played Europe vs. The Americas (the Americans and Brazilians) but we lost in a dramatic 10-9 game.  After that, a few of us went to Jim Burritos (one of my favorite places here) and then headed home.  On the way home, Justin and I decided to stop at the “Hamburger DOM” which is the biggest festival in Northern Germany for one last ride as it was the last night for the summer.  So now I have you all caught up, hopefully this week won’t be as stressful!

No rest for the weary

Ahhh….That’s the sound of me catching my breath.  This last week or so has been crazy busy but also crazy fun.  I’ve been doing school work almost non-stop during the day, but also taking the time to go out and have some fun…I mean, I am in Europe.  I’ve been working on multiple projects throughout the quarter, but right now pretty much all of my time has been focused on our McDonald’s project.  Our presentation is this Thursday and we are not even close to finished.  However, lucky for me, most of my work (the strategic planning part) is pretty much done; I just need to wait for the designers to finish the actual executions so I can put it all together in a presentation.

When I wasn’t working I have been spending my time enjoying being young and the fact that I’m in Hamburg.  Thursday night was really cool.  I got home from school before 9 (the first time in a week) so I decided to reward myself by going to have a beer before I started doing some homework.  I went to this corner bar across the street from my flat called the “Dorotheen Eck”.  I have no idea what the name means but it’s a cool little local bar that supposedly is over 100 years old and has been owned by the same family the whole time.  I had my one beer, went to pay for it, and as the German couple next to me noticed my terrible attempt at speaking German to the bartender, started talking to me and then offered to buy me a drink.

I figured “What the hell?” so I sat down next this nice old couple and enjoyed my free beer.  Well we kept talking and talking and they kept ordering us all drinks.  I must add these people we at least 65-70 years old.  By the end of the night, they had ordered me 2 liters of beer and 5-6 shots and I was terrified to see my bill.  But when I asked the bartender, she said the couple already covered it.  It had to be at least 30 Euro worth of drinks.  I was so grateful!  Hamburg definitely has some of the friendliest locals I’ve ever met.

On Friday and Saturday night (both days were spent completely at school), we all went out to a few bars, ended up at Zoe’s both nights, and had a really good time.  I can honestly say there isn’t one person I’ve met here that I didn’t like.  Everyone is a lot of fun and super interesting as all of the school is international.   Tonight (Sunday), I got home around 9 from school and finally got a chance to relax.  Now I need to rest up as this week is going to ridiculously busy with the McDonald’s fiasco going on and it’s also Justin’s birthday this week so I’m sure there are some fun times to be had.

One month(+) of comparisons…

Since my last post, I haven’t done too much that’s too exciting.  I’ve been doing a lot of school work, did my laundry the other day, and went out to dinner tonight with the guys at a delicious Tex-Mex restaurant near the harbor, nothing too interesting that you would like to read about.  So, since I’ve gotten here, I’ve been somewhat keeping track of the differences between my life in Hamburg and my life in the States.  So here’s what I came up with:

-Everything about food is different…almost everything.  For one, people don’t mind paying a premium for a smaller amount of food here.  The cheapest meal you will get here is about 6-7 Euro which is close to $10.  Also, if you don’t finish your food, it goes in the trash, there are no leftovers.  I think this is the number one reason why Europeans are “skinnier” than Americans.  Hey, I’ve lost 3 kilograms since I got here (that’s about 7 pounds).

Traditional German Brats

-Although beer drinking here is prevalent, people drink much more casually.  From my (college) experiences, we drink fast.  And we drink to get drunk.  Here, people drink slowly and have long conversations with anyone who will listen, including perfect strangers.  Also, you can drink anywhere (not an exaggeration).  It’s perfectly legal to drink on the train, on the bus, riding a bike, you name it.  They even sell beer at McDonald’s.  However, there are NO American beers and NO “light” beers.

I wish all German girls looked like this...

-Speed is not as important to Germans as it is in the States.  People seem not to mind waiting long to get their meals, grocery store cashiers take forrrreeeevvvvveeeeeerrrrrr, and people do not mind using public transportation, walking or biking although it’s much faster to drive.

-Public transportation is awesome here!  I take the train everyday to school and to the party areas on the weekends.  There are also rental bike stations throughout the city so on nice days you can go and check out a bike and as long as you check it back in near your destination within 30 minutes, it’s free.  The bus is also great, although it usually smells like serious body odor.

Hamburg's main form of transportation

-Everyone here drives a BMW, Audi, Porsche, or Volkswagen.  No one wears flip-flops (I am obviously the easiest American to spot rocking my flops on the coldest, rainiest days).  People drink carbonated water over regular water (yuck!).  Clubs play electronic/techno music (NO exceptions).  A Turkish Doner (Kebab) is the German version of late-night drunk food aka Taco Bell.  Smoking is extremely prevalent (A group of 5 of us was asked for a lighter by a guy on the street and when no one had one, he thought we were lying).  No one J-walks.  And advertisements are not censored (boobies!).

Hope you enjoyed these comparisons.  I’m sure there are plenty to come as I notice new things everyday.  There are things I love about this place, but there are also things that are quite annoying (prices and the weather).  But I think that goes along with everywhere in the world.  Nothing is perfect but everywhere in the world is different from the next place, which is why I am loving this experience and love traveling in general.

Work hard. Play hard.

On Wednesday, we made our second trip to Bremen to do more consumer research for our big project, the GAK.  Last time we went was not very successful; we got lost, interviewed 2 people and got stuck in traffic on the way back.  This time it went much better.  We got to Bremen in the morning and interviewed 24 people!  We got some really good feedback and found a really cool area of Bremen in the process.  All in all, it was a great, but tiring research day.

Hanging out in Bremen

Collage of our interviews

On Thursday, we were in school all day getting ready for our creative briefing.  The briefing is basically where you take all of your research and create an overall theme or position for the campaign and put it all on one sheet of paper.  Then you present it to a team of designers so they can come up with visual representations to go along with your main message.  We were at school pretty late, so Tobias and I decided to reward ourselves with Jim Burrito’s where we met up with Matt.

After dinner, I got a call from Justin that his little brother (17 yrs old) was in town and we had to show him the wild side of Hamburg….so of course, we HAD to take him to the Reeperbahn.  This kid had no idea what to do with all the drinking and almost naked women.  We hit a few bars, strolled down the red-light district and by the end of the night he was already thinking about the next time he could come back.  In the process, I had gotten pretty hammered so I crashed at Justin’s place for a few hours before I made it back home to get ready for the big briefing.

We had the briefing on Friday morning and it went really well!  The designers all really like the ideas we had and were excited to work on it, which is all you can really hope for.  From what I heard from other groups, their briefings didn’t go as well so it made Tobias and I feel really good about our work thus far.

On Friday evening, Joe and his roommate/landlord threw a cookout/party at their flat since they have a little backyard area.  It was a great time and I got to meet some cool people and eat some interesting German food.  The party got broken up by police so a group of about 15 of us decided to move the party down to St. Pauli.  The area was packed!  You couldn’t walk without having to push through crowds of people.  We went to a few bars and clubs that were all about 100 degrees inside (it’s really hot in Hamburg right now and no one here has AC).  Joe and I decided to leave the scene around 3ish, got a delicious Turkish pizza, and got on the train.  Little did we know our rail was closed for some reason so we had to take a quite pricy and dangerous taxi ride.  When I got home, I finally got to get some decent sleep and I hibernated for about 10 hours.  Then later on Saturday night, I went out again and did it all over again…Oh, Hamburg, you are so fun, but terrible for my liver.

The day that almost didn’t happen

As I mentioned in my last post, I was planning on going out on Friday to celebrate the end of a long and exhausting week.  Well I went out, and I may have partied a little too hard.  We went to Jon’s to do some pre-partying and then to the park, followed by Zoe’s.  I finally got home around 4am fully aware that I had to be at Matt’s flat the next day to start our city tour with Detmar.  Unfortuanately, it didn’t work out like that.  I woke up at 12:05 and by the time I got to Matt’s, they had already left.  I was completely bummed!  I decided to make the most out of it so I started walking down to the harbor to take pictures with my fully-charged camera.  As I was crossing the street, a car honked its horn at me and I realized it was Detmar with Joe and Matt!  It was completely random…probably 1 in a million chance I would see them.  I think the universe really wanted me to go on the trip.

We started at the harbor and got on a boat that is part of the metro, so we didn’t have to pay.  It sailed down the River Elbe as Detmar pointed out all the cool office buildings and expensive houses up on the hill.  We stopped for lunch and then headed back to the harbor to check out other parts of the city.

Detmar!!!

Famous Hamburg Fischmarkt

When we got back on dry land, we walked to a part of Hamburg called “Hafen City”, which means “New City”.  It is the largest urban development projects going on in all of Germany at the moment.  There are dozens of really cool office and apartment buildings right along the water.  They are also building a Phil Harmonic (don’t know if that’s spelled right) that is going to be massive!  Hafen City is already pretty large, but there is much more being built now and planned to be built in the future.

My fave building in Hafen City

Made me miss REAL sports

You can stick your head in a model of the phil harmonic

After walking around Hafen City for a while, we walked to the very historic area of Hamburg near the harbor.  There are these really old warehouses that were “No-Tax” warehouses back in the day so the ships would come down the canals and unload their cargo directly into the window.  On the other side of the warehouses was a back alley with houses that survived the major fire of 1842 that destroyed half of Hamburg as well as the Allied bombings in WW2.  These houses were around 300 years old.  We sat on a floating bar, had a beer and admired the beautiful buildings.

Canals with old warehouses on the right

The old houses from the 17th century

After this, the tour was over, but Detmar offered to take us around again some time.  He is really a great guy.  After getting home and taking a shower, I met up with Jon and his roommate, Emmitt, and we went to a urban art gallery in St. Pauli, followed by a couple bars including a cool beach bar that reminded me of home.

Sunday and Monday were much more low key than Saturday.  I did laundry, did lots of school work, you know that really exciting stuff you leave out of your blog.  However, last night was pretty fun…I got dinner with Jon, Matt, Justin, and Decker followed by a few beers.  It was a good time.  But I have a creative brief due on Friday that’s not ready and I am going back to Bremen tomorrow to do some more research.

Maybe I was wrong about her…

Wednesday came and went.  We had class with our GAK project tutor, Nina, in the morning and then a quite boring research lesson from two women from an agency in Berlin.  After class, I didn’t feel like going home so I stayed at school and caught up on Entourage (one of my favorite shows).  I also had the privilege of skyping with not only my regular skype buddies (Mom and Lauren), but Geo!  It was nice to hear from him and catch up with what’s going on in the Gainesville world.  When I got home, my landlady, Mrs. Deeken, asked me to come out to the balcony to talk to her…I was scared.

She had me sit down, poured me a glass of orange juice and started asking me about my life back home.  We ended up talking for close to 2 hours about our lives, our travels, and our families.  It was so nice!  She told me about when she was a little girl and she had to escape the Russians in Eastern Germany as she fled to Berlin.  Her family was then transported by Allied forces to a small town in Western Germany where her and her family lived on a farm.  Her father was actually a Nazi soldier, but was extremely against the Nazi agenda.  After the war, he led small revolts against the Russians in their hometown and when it became too much, they made the decision to flee.  She moved to Hamburg in her late 20’s and lived in this very house with her husband and daughter.  It was really nice to connect with her on a personal level and I’m so glad we did because it will make the next 2 months so much easier.

On Thursday, we had another boring research lesson (but we will not have those teachers again for the rest of the semester…thank god).  After class, I worked on the GAK project with Tobias and Sam until later in the night when we all went out for dinner at Jim Burrito’s (my stand-in Moe’s) had a beer at this couch bar named “Zoe’s”.  I thought that was it, but we ended up meeting up with Jon and a German girl he knows, Ninja (pronounced Neen-ya…but would be way cooler if pronounced Ninja), and two of her friends.  One of the guys has actually been AND fished in Tampa Bay so it was really cool to get to know them.  We stayed out pretty late and visited a bunch of new bars.  All in all, it was a great Thursday night.

Today we had class all day but now it’s finally the weekend!  I decided to do something nice on my way home, so I bought Mrs. Deeken some flowers, which she loved.  Tonight I am meeting up with some fellow students to go to a few bars and see where the night takes us.  In the morning, Matt, Joe and I are going to ride around Hamburg with an old man we met in a bar named Demtar.  Matt and I met him our first day in Hamburg and he told us, he knows more about Hamburg then anyone else we will meet.  So naturally, we have to take advantage of this (don’t worry, Erin.  My camera is fully charged and ready to go!).  It could be a great time or it could be really weird…only one way to find out.  That’s it for now; I’m about to cook up some delicious soup Mom so thoughtfully sent me (thanks Mom) and get ready for tonight’s adventures.

A Change in the Weather

When I awoke from my hibernation on Sunday, it was still raining.  However the weather started to clear up as the day went on so I had to take advantage of it.  I met up with Jon and Johan for dinner and we went to this place called “Kleine Pause”.  It’s a burger place in St. Pauli that serves burgers bigger than most places in the states…I was quite surprised.  After dinner, I called Justin and he was kicking the soccer ball around with his neighbor, a really cool German guy named Ollie.  They were playing in the Platen un Blomen, which is right in St. Pauli so we headed over there to try to work off our burgers.  We ended up playing 4-on-4 soccer with some local kids and I actually scored the only two goals…who would have known Americans don’t suck at soccer…we’re just too cool for it J  After we finished up with soccer, we decided to go to the bar and have a beer which turned into 2 or 3 and then we headed home for the night.

On Monday, my group was supposed to go the Bremen again to do more research, but when we got to the train station, we realized the tickets were way too expensive, so we decided to go another day with more people and get a group rate.  I went to school to do some work and write some emails when I realized how beautiful it was outside.  I immediately packed up my stuff and headed to the park.  I actually bought new batteries for my camera, but they were the cheap, European kind and they only took 3 pictures and died.  I sat in the park for a couple hours, doing homework, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  For those Floridians, if you leave Florida, you will realize we really take sunny days for granted.  I won’t make that mistake while I’m here.

Creek at Platen un Blomen

Some kind of WW2 Memorial at the Park

After a couple phone calls from Samentha and Jon, we decided to meet up at the other park by my house and have some beers.  Johan came along as well and we all sat in the beer garden in the middle of the park and had a good time.  We also walked around the park and played on all the playground stuff including an awesome zip-line!  We need those at every playground in the States.  We ended up at Johan and Sam’s place and called it a night after that.

Weissbier es gut!!!

Tuesday morning has been quite dreaded throughout our class ever since we got the schedules.  We had a 8-hour class scheduled from a guy that’s from an agency no one has ever heard of.  Well, it actually went really great.  His name is George Shepherd and he’s a planning consultant based out of the UK and he taught us a lot of new approaches to planning.  We worked on our GAK project and really made some progress.  All in all, it was a very productive day. However, now I’m exhausted so I’m going to wrap this one up early.  More to come soon!

A familiar face

Simon arrived into Hamburg late Tuesday night and it was great to see him.  For those of you who don’t know who Simon is, we met last year while volunteering in Kenya.  We went through a lot of stuff and experienced a lot together.  When he left back to Austria and I left to the States, we promised we would see each other again.  So enough of the “bromance”…

My Austrian P.I.C.

Anyway, from reading my last post you would think we would have to check him into a hostel right away, but I had a plan.  I would let him meet “ze Nazi” and he would sweet talk her in German into letting him stay there and it worked!  Well, kinda…she ended up charging us when he left but it was half as cheap as a hostel so it worked out ok.

On Wednesday morning, I had to meet at a German ad agency here in Hamburg for a tour of the agency.  The agency is “Jung Von Matt” and if you’re German, this would be a big deal.  However, I was less than impressed.  There were over 400 employees at this agency but only 13 planners….so that kinda shows their commitment to good strategy.  However they do have one interesting thing where they took one of their offices and re-designed it to be the average German living room so that they stay in touch with consumers.  It’s a great idea but we found out later it wasn’t even their idea.  They stole it from an ad agency out of London called “Mother”.

When I got home, I wanted to show Simon “Stadtpark” (the giant park next to my house), but as soon as we got there it started POURING! Thanks Hamburg weather!  After the rain stopped we went down to Sternschanze for dinner and then met up with Justin and Decker and few other MAS kids.  We had a few drinks, had a few other things (cough), and went out to a local bar and played some darts.  It was a great time but I had early class so had to get home.

After class on Thursday, I met Simon by the harbor to go on a boat tour, but guess what! It was raining…again!  So we went home, watched a movie, and headed back downtown to eat dinner and meet up with Matt.  We ventured out of our comfort zone to a new neighborhood called “Dammtor” and found a really cool bar located in an old silo.  After meeting up with Justin for drinks in St. Pauli, Simon and I had to run to the train so we could make it before it ended for the night.

Friday’s class was awesome!  We had class with Gerrit Kleinfield (that super-talented award-winner I spoke about previously) and got a new client, DMAX TV, which is like Discovery Channel but more manly.  So we came up with new concepts and I came up with one that really sparked everyone’s creativity – “Escape to Manland”.  I was pretty proud of it.  Now we have to come up with executions for it.

When I got back home, guess what! It was raining…AGAIN!  Simon and I said “fuck it!” and went downtown to do a bus tour.  It was pretty cool except it was hard to see stuff because it was raining.  But now at least I know where to go when it’s not raining to take pictures and such.  After to tour we met up with Justin and Joe for dinner, then headed to Jon’s to meet up with more MAS kids.  I finally remembered my camera this time, but the batteries died after an hour…But anyway, we all headed to the “Hamburger DOM” which has 3 festivals a year.  Right now is summer fest and it’s the biggest festival in Northern Germany!  We rode a couple crazy rides and then headed to a popular MAS hangout, Zoe’s.  Everyone started heading home, but Simon and I decided to hang out and have some more drinks.

Joe and Justin

Cool graffiti of the DOM

Long story short, he had to go home Saturday morning to get home for his girlfriend’s birthday so we just decided to stay up all night til his train left around 7.  After planning my trip to Vienna after the program, we said goodbye and I went home and slept all day which was ok because guess what!  It rained all day anyway…

Crazy old lady!!

Beware: This post is mostly me ranting about my living situation.

I must preface this post by stating I have never really had a bad living situation.  I’ve had landlords try to screw me financially but I have always had a good time and been comfortable everywhere I have lived.  Maybe this is karma for my past roommate luck.

So I live with this crazy old lady that I have recently started calling “ze Nazi” (not to her face, of course).  I was uneasy about her from day 1 when during my tour of the flat, she introduced me to her cat like it was a person.  Since then, many situations have come and gone with me just shrugging it off, but now I must rant to the world (or the 2-3 people who read this).  My first problem with her was that she banged on my door one morning while I was getting dressed to tell me I got her towels wet in the bathroom.  This may be a valid annoyance, BUT, the damn lady has shelves in her bathtub area with her towels on them.  In order to not get them wet, you either have to sit down, or shower in the corner which I have started doing (which isn’t fun).  Also, she likes to go on midnight walks through the apartment.  It’s an old apartment with creaky, wooden floors and it sounds like she just walks up and down the hallway to get tired…or maybe she keeps forgetting something…I don’t know, but it’s weird!

Last night really bothered me.  Simon is coming tomorrow night and I’m really looking forward to it; I told him he could sleep on the sofa in my room because I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal.  When I ran it by her, she said she wouldn’t feel comfortable and I said “OK” (but I was really annoyed).  Since then she’s been acting really weird.  Today when I left she asked me to keep my curtains open in my room (she has never asked me this before…maybe she wants to look in from outside to make sure no one is in there…I don’t know) and now I have just come home to see that the 3 or 4 sets of spare keys that are usually by the door are all gone…this woman is sooo paranoid and crazy!  Maybe she doesn’t trust Americans since WW2, but whatever it is, it’s annoying!

Ugghh!  Well enough of that, back to talking about the good parts of Hamburg.  On Saturday night, I met up with Justin and Matt and we went over the Jon’s to meet up with some other Miami Ad School kids.  From there we went to a bar that was doing a charity event.  It was 5 Euro and it was full of urban art that was all pretty cool.  I forgot to bring my camera (which is becoming a common problem for me) so no pics this time.  There were also a few DJ’s playing throughout the night and it was a really great time.

Sunday morning was rainy and cold outside so I stayed in bed and watched “Taken” on my computer and it was awesome!  Great movie but probably not the best movie to watch while you’re in Europe.  After that I went to do my laundry (which costs an arm and a leg btw) then met up with Joe for dinner.  We went to this burrito place in the Schanze.  For those familiar with my Chipotle/Moe’s obsession, this was the perfect “home-sick” remedy for me.  These burritos are bigger than “Home Wreckers” from Moe’s and spicier than the spiciest hot sauce at Tijuana Flats, but sooo good.  I had to drink 2 beers just to get through the spiciness.

Today I had class and group meetings pretty much all day and then we had a guest speaker from “Spotify.com” (http://www.spotify.com/en/).  It’s this really cool music streaming site that puts Pandora, Rhapsody, and the rest to shame.  Unfortunately, it’s only available in certain countries in Europe, so I will only get to use it for a couple months.  AND, we have class tomorrow at 8:30 AM (that’s 2:30am for readers across the pond), so I need to wrap this up and go to bed.  I feel like as time goes on, I will be spending more and more time at school so I won’t have to deal with “ze Nazi” (which is ok because I really like it there) but still.

Bremen was lame…BUT Soil and Pimp Sessions was awesome!

If you read my last post, you would see that I was super excited about going to Bremen.  Things change.  We got up early, eager to tackle Bremen and our client, the GAK.  Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as planned.  First off, Tobias and I rode with Samentha because she has a car here and it would be cheaper than the train.  She has a GPS but she accidentally put the name of the street in the city field.  SO, long story short, we ended up two hours later in a small farm town in Northern Germany.  Definitely an adventure, to say the least.

We were really lost...

After we got on the right track, we finally got to Bremen around lunch time.  First we checked out the urban art museum next door because they were letting us in for free for a short time only.  I’m not really into art, but this one had some really cool stuff…take a look:

After visiting the urban art museum, we went next door the see the GAK.  First off, it’s very small and there is very little in there and what is in there is pretty weird.  It’s definitely not for me, but it is for someone, we just have to find them.

After getting back to Hamburg, I met Joe in the Altona district and we went to a concert of a speed, ska, jazz, jam type band he had been telling me about.  Their name is “Soil and Pimp Sessions”.  At first I was a little skeptical, but they were sooo good! One of the better concerts I’ve been to.  Check them out:

Thursday after class, I met with Jon, Tobias, Johan, and Lourenco at the “Platen un Blomen” which is a massive park in Hamburg and had a few beers.  The park is absolutely beautiful with tons of flower arrangements and gardens.  I forgot my camera but I will definitely be going back to take pictures.

After leaving the park, we went to go eat dinner at these German girls flat.  The food was excellent and the scenery wasn’t bad either.  On the way home, Johan was a little drunk so he started free-styling on the train which was a little embarrassing but hilarious.

Friday morning, we had class with Gerrit Kleinfield.  If you knew anything about German advertising, you would think it is a huge deal.  He was won over 50 awards as a creative director including multiple Gold Lions at Cannes.  Class was awesome.  We will have him every Friday and I think that will be my favorite class by far.

And last night I met up with all the guys and we went to a party at this popular bar called Zoe’s close to Sternschanze.  There were a lot of Miami Ad School kids there so it was a great time!

Doing the tourist thing

Monday morning started with getting right to work at school with Tobias and Sam.  We created a list of questions that we’ll be asking people in Bremen to get a feel for the town and how people feel about the GAK (our client).  When class started, we were greeted with a new teacher named Ralph Poser, who is the Chief Strategic Officer for Ogilvy and Mather in Frankfurt.  In other words, he is a BFD in the world of German advertising.  I was really excited to learn from him.  He’s done some very impressive work and seemed to really know his stuff.  Monday’s class was all about learning various brand models used in the industry.  A brand model is basically an exercise to find the core or essence of a brand.  According to Ralph, there are 66 models in use in advertising but we would only be learning 5.  Class went well and we developed brand models for various global brands and then I went to dinner in the Schanze with Jon, Tobias, and Johan.  Johan is from Sweden and is a really cool (and very intelligent) guy.  We got some Thai food from a little whole in the wall but it was quite tasty.

On Tuesday morning we had class with Ralph again and we delved deeper into brand models.  He gave me some good criticism that I am too rational with my approaches and I need to be more emotional.  I’m definitely open to criticism from a guy with his credentials and that’s what I’m here for.  Class got out at noon and I decided to take my camera down to the Altstadt area which is the very historical, touristy area of Hamburg.  Joe and Jon decided to come along and so did Lourenco (another really cool guy) who is from Brazil.

As soon as you step off the train you are greeted with the massive Rathaus, which is where both city and state governments convene.  It was built between 1886 and 1897 and somehow wasn’t destroyed in either world war.  We joked it must have been British forces that came to Hamburg because Americans are more accurate than that (maybe we shouldn’t joke about such things).

The Rathaus from right off the train

Backside of the Rathaus

From the Rathaus, I finally saw the Alster!  The Alster is the massive lake that makes up the central point for the whole city of Hamburg.  Evidently you see it everywhere you go, but I haven’t been so lucky.

Part of the Alster Lake

After checking out the Alster, we walked down Monckebergstrasse which is Hamburg’s fanciest shopping zone lined with dozens of designer stores.  Two massive churches make up the end points for the street.  These aren’t your ordinary churches…these churches are massive and you can see them from many parts of Hamburg.  The first we went to was St. Petrikirche, which is the oldest church in Hamburg that dates back to the year 1195.

Inside the Church (and Joe's head)

After St. Petri, we walked to St. Jakobikiriche, which is apparently known for 17^th-century organ with over 1,000 pipes.  Unfortunately, no one was playing it when we went but it was still really cool to see.

Right outside...the tower is massive

The day went on and I got dinner with Johan and Teo (she is from Romania) at this pretty trendy Italian restaurant in the Schanze.  It was just alright, could have gotten more for our money somewhere else…but you live and learn.  Now, I’ve just returned from a little walk in Winterhude (neighborhood I live in) and it was quite beautiful and peaceful.  But now I got to get some sleep for my trip to Bremen tomorrow!  I think I’m the only one excited because we’ve heard it’s kind of a boring town but I’m just looking forward to seeing my 2^nd European city!

Couldn’t think of a title

So after waking up around 2ish again, I went for a walk in the Marketplace and did a few errands.  Got some brunch, bought some fruit from some outside stand and did a little homework.  Around dinner time, I was feeling lazy so I didn’t want to walk anywhere.  There is this really fancy Italian restaurant right across the street from my flat that I have always stayed away from because it looks super expensive.  But I went anyway and decided to eat the cheapest thing on the menu (and have a half liter of beer) which was the “Pizza Margarita” for 5.50 Euros.  I thought it would just be a slice but it was the entire pizza and it was incredible! Maybe one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had and it was in Germany…strange.

After dinner, I headed down to Matt and Justin’s apartment and I went with them and Joe to see “Bruno”.  First off, one of the previews was for “Inglorious Bastards” with Brad Pitt which is a bloody, action movie about killing Nazis in the most violent ways possible.  Needless to say it was a little awkward to watch this trailer in a German movie theater.  “Bruno” was terribly offensive but still kind of funny.  AND you can drink beer in German theatres!  They don’t sell soda or popcorn, just beer and pretzels.

From the theatre we walked down to the Reeperbahn yet again.  It was even crazier than usual.  There was a 60’s music festival in St. Pauli during the day so all of the drunkards just spilled onto the Reeperbahn.  We went to a few bars, had a few too many beers and met some very interesting people including a sweaty, fat 46 year-old woman that ended up kissing me and making out with Justin…quite uncomfortable.  The night ended in daylight, and I finally made my way home.

Today (Sunday), I’ve just been hanging out, doing some work.  It’s been a really nasty day outside, cold and rainy.  I heard this week is supposed to get nice again so hopefully we’ll get a break from the constant cold and drizzle.  I got to skype with Mom and Lauren today so that was nice (those reading that don’t have Skype…get on it!).  Tonight I’ll probably take it easy for a change and rest up for the upcoming week.

Cool city, Cooler people

The morning after the Atmosphere concert, I came into class still a little drunk and with very little sleep, but I perked right up when I found out we were getting briefed on our client!  For those of you that listened to me talked about my campaigns class, this semester-long project is quite similar.  We were broken up into 3 teams of 3; I was grouped with Tobias (from Denmark) and Samentha (from Germany) (two very cool people that I like a lot).  Our client is the “Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst” or “The GAK” for short (http://www.gak-bremen.de/).  Translated, it means “Society for Contemporary Art”.  It is a very small exhibition hall in Bremen, Germany (the home of Beck’s beer) with almost no members/visitors and therefore almost no marketing budget.  Our mission is to create a strategic advertising plan that will increase visitors, memberships, and donations.  It will definitely be a challenge due to the poor state they are in and this kind of client is very much out of my element.  BUT, I’m really looking forward to the challenge.  We’re going to Bremen next Wednesday to do some research.

After class, I was completely exhausted from not sleeping the night before.  A few fellow planners were going out to dinner, but I fell asleep on the train so I figured I just needed to go to sleep…which I did for like 12 hours J

On Friday, our class got canceled because our teacher was sick, which was kind of a bummer because we had heard great things about him.  Oh well.  I spent most of the day hanging out, doing errands, and meeting with Tobias and Samentha to talk about our project.  At night, was the “Welcome Party” for all new Miami Ad School students at this bar in the Schanze (same place as the riot).  Before the party, I met up with Jon and we went to Matt and Justin’s apartment and had a little pre-party with some people from school.  We then went to the party and guess what!  There was ANOTHER RIOT going on!  This city is crazy!  Why is the youth so angry?  Luckily, this riot was much smaller and much more confined so we were able to get to the bar without too much trouble.

The bar was a place called Haus 73 and it was kind of a dive bar but I had a great time!  I met a ton of really cool people from all over the world and everyone was super nice.  We were at the bar til about 2 or 3 and I had been hanging out with a bunch of kids from Copenhagen, Denmark, who were all really cool.  Justin and I followed the Danish kids to another bar and had a great time learning about their hometown…I really have to go one of these weekends!

Justin and I left the bar to get some food and we watched the sunrise while enjoying a “Doner”?  In English, they call it a Turkish pizza but it’s basically a wrap with that shaved meat that comes off the big pole with vegetables and this crazy good, hot sauce.  I finally got home around 5 or 6 this morning and hibernated until about 2pm.  I woke up this morning and had brunch across the street at this café and noticed that there is an unlocked router in one of the apartments above the café!!!  SO, I will probably be more available for Skype and responding to emails and what not so that’s good news.  I think we are probably going out again tonight so I will have start resting up.

Atmosphere Concert!

Last night was the best night I’ve had in Hamburg so far!  We were in school all day until about 6pm and then I took some of the other people in my program to go have a few beers with Matt, Joe, Justin and I.  Earlier in the day, we had heard that a pretty popular underground rapper, Atmosphere, would be performing in St. Pauli.  I had never even seen him the States so I jumped at the chance to go.  It was me, Justin, Matt and another American guy, Decker who went to the show.

Atmosphere!

The show was amazing!  He played for almost 2 hours, all great songs.  I was really surprised to see how many people were there as most Americans have never heard of Atmosphere, I wouldn’t think many Germans would know him, but they did.  After the show, we started walking down to the Reeperbahn (the scandalous part of Hamburg).  I thought I had walked down the red-light district the other night but I was wrong.  It’s like a gated-off street with women sitting in windows trying to get you to pay for their services.  All of these prostitutes were super hot, but it was so weird to see a human being in a window like a puppy or something.

Me and Atmosphere (yes, I look like a dork)

After we got away from the Reeperbahn, we went to a few bars in St. Pauli.  Needless to say I was pretty sloshed.  I stumbled into bed early this morning and have been struggling through the day every since.  Hopefully I’ll get some sleep tonight but I kinda doubt it.

Getting into European shape

Today I was up bright and early for class at 9am but it was worth it.  We were doing this exercise when the teacher brought in a bunch of “Bionade” for us all.  It’s this organic, trendy European drink that I personally think tastes like ass.  All of a sudden she said to stop what we were doing and to create an intuitive planning brief for the product if it was entering Poland and she wanted it in 30 minutes.  At first I almost crapped my pants but it turned out to be a really cool exercise and practice at what I would be doing in the actual industry.  This is something I never did at UF.  I’m really thinking I’m going to like this program because it is all hands-on practice for the actual job as opposed to a lot of memorization and theory that was most of the UF curriculum (except for Campaigns).

After class let out early around 12:30, I went to eat lunch with some people from the class at this Turkish restaurant.  There were five of us, all from different backgrounds internationally which was really cool.  Lunch was pretty darn delicious and after finishing some school work up I headed home.

Shortly after getting home I realized if I’m going to be in Europe for 3+ months, I should start acting like one.  I went to the park near my house and ran as far as I could before I gave out…I’ve really gotten out of shape.  The American lifestyle of drinking beer all night and eating fast food everyday has caught up to me.  BUT, I’m realizing why Americans are “fatter” than Europeans….and it’s actually really simple.  It’s not because we are lazy or we have an aversion to exercise; it’s simply because it would be way too expensive to get fat in Europe.  The food here is RIDICOUSLY expensive.  For example, I went to Subway the other day and got a six inch turkey with a small drink…in America it would be $4…at the most.  Here it was almost 7 Euros or almost $10!!!  No wonder Europeans are skinny…they have to choose between living inside and eating!

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school and it went really well.  It started with an orientation with Niklas, the school headmaster and then we went right into Account Planning work with a woman named Alison Segar of “Segar Planning” who is currently working with companies like Hyundai, Coca-Cola, and Naked (popular fruit juice).  She is really cool and very smart.  We had class from about 11am to about 5pm with a few breaks in between.  After that we had a tech-orientation thing and I realized I was the only one in the program without an Apple computer…whatever, I’m different and being different in advertising is cool.

The library at MASE (Miami Ad School Europe)

After school, I went to dinner with Matt, Joe, Justin and a few other people from school to this really good (and cheap) Thai restaurant.  We then went to the Internet Café, had a beer and headed home which is when I decided to start this blog and I am now up to date…Yay!

Lazy Sunday

So evidently everything closes in the city of Hamburg on Sundays.  I woke up around 2 and had a walk around my neighborhood to find nothing open.  Later in the day, I met up with Joe and Matt and we went to St. Pauli to look at Matt’s new flat as well as meet up with another MAS student, Justin.  We had a couple beers and hung out with Matt’s flat mates, Gunnar and Leah.  They are both ex-Ad school students living in Hamburg and really cool people.

WWII looms over Germany everywhere you look; here you see a modern restaurant overshadowed by an old bomb shelter/bunker type thing

We all went to dinner at this Greek restaurant in St. Pauli and I’ve never really had Greek food before but it was soooo good! I had lamb and pork and some potato things washed down by a few beers and some free Greek liquor shots the owner brought us.  After that I rushed home before the train stopped for the night and got ready for my first day of school.

The Park and the Riot

I woke up early this day and decided to explore my part of town and it’s actually a really beautiful area of Hamburg.  There are many nice café’s, bars, and shops.  Around noon, I met Matt at the train station and we met up with another Miami Ad School student, Joe, and we all went to the giant park near my apartment.  It’s actually 150 hectares (or 375 acres for all you non-metric folks).  There was a giant planetarium, lake, a few theatres and about 2-3 beer gardens throughout the park.  It was really nice.  After the park, Joe, Matt, and I decided to go to Sternshanze or the “Shanze” for short which means the “blade” for a night out on the town.  It was actually our program director that recommended the place.

Part of the Park

As soon as we got off the train, we realized something was off.  The whole previous 2 days we hadn’t seen more than 5 “polizei” or police.  As we were leaving the station, we noticed there were cops everywhere around us.  After having a beer and some weird brat/curry/burrito thing I bought from a street vendor, we noticed there was a lot of commotion a couple blocks away.  Naturally we wanted to see what it was all about so we started walking into the crowd.  We soon noticed that about 40-50 police in full riot gear were shortly behind us.  Evidently this area of town is very alternative and full of punk rock kids.  They hate big business and even more, cops.  Recently a McDonalds as well as a few other big German businesses had moved into the area and were greeted with tons of vandalism from the punks.  Hamburg soon made the area a police state and the tension finally boiled over.

As we reached the excitement we realized something was on fire so we asked someone what was going on and evidently the rioters flipped a cop car (a BMW, of course) and lit it on fire.  Soon we started hearing what sounded like gun shots and a herd of people came running at us.  The gun shots were cops firing tear gas into the crowd.  Once we thought we were far enough away, I turned around and was hit with a little tear gas that was caught in the breeze.  Soon fire trucks showed up and were spraying everyone back with fire hoses.  The night continued with dozens of broken windows, 1 more flipped cop car, thousands of beer bottles pelted at police and fire trucks, and 67 people arrested.

After the riot was pretty much under control, we headed the “Reeperbahn” which is famously known as Hamburg’s red-light district.  We walked down the street checking out all the sex shops, strip clubs, and peep shows from the outside (Yes, the outside).  We were also stopped by at least 20 prostitutes, none of them pretty.  I finally got back to my flat around 4-5 in the morning.

My first day in Hamburg/Germany/Europe!

The beginning of my trip started shaky just like my last international trip to Kenya.  When I arrived to Kenya I was taken down the worst streets with houses on fire, people carrying AK’s, and others lying in the street (I’m not exaggerating).  When I got to Hamburg, it definitely wasn’t as extreme as Kenya (not even close) but I was instantly hit with an uneasy feeling.

I arrived to my apartment that I thought I would sharing with 3 other people my age but it turned out it is just me with a little old lady, Ms. Deeken and her cat, Leo.  After I unpacked my stuff, I planned on walking down to the school to see how far it was as well as see some of the sights.  It turned out it was pretty far and when I finally reached the school after 45 minutes of walking in 85 degree weather (one of the hottest days of the year in Hamburg), there was no one there.  That’s when I was hit with the hopeless feeling.  I knew no one in the country and I couldn’t use my phone or the Internet because my apartment doesn’t have it.  My only option was to go to the Internet café closest to school and figure out something to do with the next three days.

My Room

View from my window; the garden

As I was finishing up my emails and facebook messages letting everyone know I was alive, I heard a friendly American sounding voice asking the clerk, “Sprecken ze English?”  The guy sat down next to me and I asked him if he was American.  He was and he actually would be attending my school and he was in the same situation with not knowing anyone in the country.  His name is Matt and he’s a copywriter.  We hung out all day and I helped him look for a place to live as he was currently homeless.  I passed out around 9pm that night as I had been up for over 36 hours (and it was still light out…it doesn’t get dark here til around 11pm which I am still getting used to)

Like deja vu all over again…

As the sad news of Manny Ramirez getting caught for using steroids scrolled across Sportscenter this morning, it brought a sad reminder of all the great baseball players who were once my heroes, but are now nothing more than cheaters. The list goes on and on: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and most recently A-Rod. Although Manny was somewhat hated around Tampa Bay for many years as the Rays and Red Sox were such rivals, he still brought a great personality to the game. He brought laughter and smiles, even when his team was going through the toughest of times.

While I reflected on this story, I thought of how great it must of been to be alive when the game was pure, before the time of steroids. I was thinking about great personalities of the old days and the first person that stood out in my mind was Yogi Berra. Yogi was similar to Manny as he was always cracking jokes and bringing laughter to his team. I found that writing about Yogi was especially relevant to this blog as this blog is about new ways to communicate and Yogi definitely spoke his own language

Yogi spoke in a way that was almost never grammatically correct nor did it really make sense, but people still understood what he was talking about. He had his own way of getting his point across and the fact that it was unusual or different from everyone else, made him stand out. I love reading Yogi’s quotes because it really proves how many ways there are to communicate.

Social Media Frenzy!

Lately I have really gotten involved in the world of social networking sites.  I have always used Facebook but that was about the extent of it.  However in the past month or so, I have completely immersed myself into the bottomless pit of social media.  

Bottomless Pit of Social Networks

Now, not only do I have a Facebook account, but I also upload my videos to youtube (I have over 40 now), tweet everyday on twitter, and for the more professional media, I created a linkedin account, which may or may not help me find a job one day.  Also this very blog is a form of social media.  So what does this all mean?  Well for the individual and marketers, it means very different things.

For the individual, a social network is a way to express ideas, communicate, and stay in touch with people.  It can be complete strangers or your very close friend or relative.  The world is moving online.  Even friendships have gone online.   They can be a hobby for some (like me) or just a quick distraction from work for others (like me as well).  

However, for the marketer, they mean a completely different thing: a great, FREE opportunity to reach hundreds and thousands of people with their advertising message.  It is a way to get people interested about your company and a way for word-of-mouth to spread about you.  The problem is, most companies don’t know how to harness the power of social media and it just becomes a headache for them.  Companies that are out of touch sometimes make a facebook or myspace page and think they’ve done enough.  Social networking is a very ACTIVE field of marketing that you have to keep up with in order for it to be successful.

According to AdAge, the most social brands of 2008 were the iPhone (by far), followed by CNN, Apple, Disney, and Xbox to round out the top five.  These brands were mentioned the most on a giant index of social networking sites.  I don’t know what it all means.  Social networking is extremely valuable and I think the reason companies get frustrated with it is that it is very difficult to measure the results.  No matter the results, that is where the industry is going and companies need to jump on while they still can or they will get left far behind, especially in such a competitive economy like the one we are faced with today.