Inside My Brain

A couple weeks ago on my way to get some food at the Erb Memorial Union on the University of Oregon campus, I noticed a booth that offered students a hands-on testing for a tablet using Windows 7 software. The people called me over to get “free stuff” and to “try out their product”. I was in no rush so the free part is what really pulled me in. The first thing I noticed was the age group of the people at the booth. They all seemed to be in their early to mid twenties, just like myself. Going off this thought alone I knew they were trying to target college students, hence being on a college campus. Also by having younger looking people advertise for Windows 7, I could deduce that Windows 7 is going with the whole younger correlates to new tactic. In order to get a free beanie, gym bag and sunglasses I filled out a survey on the device that they were advertising for. This forced me to engage with the product and the survey asked me how much I liked the user interface and other questions. Unfortunately, I deem University of Oregon to be a very Mac heavy campus so this campaign probably did not have much of an effect, although they probably gathered very useful data. The free stuff they gave out was branded with the words “Windows 7”, which furthers their promotion for their company and products. I am a sucker for free stuff so despite how cynical I am about wearing consumer branded things, I took the free stuff and was on my way.

In today’s world most commercials go way beyond the call of duty to be politically correct to avoid any conflict with government and or mediators of television. It is getting to the point where advertisements are not even properly displaying what they are trying to sell. I feel the the best policy is honesty. To really connect with the viewer you have to be real with them and hide all the bologna. In a new campaign for a tampon product by Kotex, the strategy was to poke fun at how fake and unrealistic all current tampon ads are. The Ad can be seen here. This ad exhibits great intuition on behalf of the advertising team who put it together. They were able to really stand out from the rest of the competitors by being as real as you could be. They did this by exposing current tampon ads like those by Tampax that make periods seem like a blissful experience.  I hope to see more realistic advertising campaigns in the future.

Have you ever seen a video advertisement for Old Spice within the past year or two? Of course you have unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past two years. The ads of old spice are really changing the standard of what it takes to be a successful modern commercial. Old Spice has decided to undergo the campaign of having a severely ridiculously muscular celebrities talk in a deep manly voice as they slide through many weird and random scenarios. This can be seen in the following Ad:

Old Spice Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-m6Ua9Iqkg

The feel and style that this commercial gives somehow really appeals to modern culture. Many companies are starting to follow this random and absurd style of commercial that is exhibited by Old Spice. Brands such as Cheetoes & Doritos are adopting traits of Old Spice commercials into their own. Looking at new commercials as a whole, I can see that Old Spice has made a profound and large impact on the industry. An ad that has adopted this Old Spice technique can be seen in the following ad:

Direct TV Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0fa_BaljjQ

Today I would like to blog about observations I have made in my life recently. I have always loved attending live music shows no matter the genre. My first concert was a Snow Patrol concert that I went to with my mom in Los Angeles after she got diagnosed with breast cancer. It was such a positive and uplifting show with a great loving audience. After that, my dad took me to many string orchestras at UCLA. As a child with a heavy case of ADHD, the orchestra somehow really spoke to me and smoothed me out and I didn’t have to get out of my seat every five minutes. By this time, I was really into the electronic music scene and would listen to it whenever I could. In high school, I met several friends who also really loved electronic music. Eventually one thing lead to another and I ended up going to electronic music shows with these friends. Often times these shows were quite disgusting with trash everywhere and with too many teenagers doped up on who knows what. I simply attended these shows for the great music that I could enjoy with good friends, nothing more and nothing less. The biggest electronic show I went to was the Electric Daisy Carnival the last year it was in Los Angeles. The large number of deejays outweighed all the negatives I addressed earlier. I then moved to college in Oregon and I still wanted to see live music but there weren’t as many electronic music shows as I had anticipated. After attending a couple hip hop, bluegrass and electronic dance concerts I began to notice how much better the audience is in Oregon compared to back home in southern California. The concert-goers in Oregon exhibit a more profound mutual respect for one another. They come to the show for the music, not the drug scene.

I recently read an article in the LA Times that discussed the dynamics behind professional NBA players as icons for companies and their products. Two NBA teams have two stars that advertise for companies: The Miami Heat and The LA Clippers. Miami heat has LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. LeBron James has been known to do ads for bubblegum as well as the galaxy cell phone series. Before this year, the LA Clippers were always in the shadows of the Lakers as they share the same home court and city. With help from awesome new players and a larger winning percentage from 60% wins to 70% wins, the Clippers are finally getting the respect and attention they deserve. The Clippers have two stars that are frequently seen on TV outside of sports television, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. Chris Paul does ads for State Farm Insurance and Blake Griffin does ads for Kia automobiles and GameFly video game renting service. However, one must ask if it is wise to have a professional athlete or a celebrity as the face to their product. We can see the possible mayhem behind this with Michael Phelps and Subway as well as Keloggs. After Phelps was caught smoking marijuana and it became viral, all sponsors dropped him immediately and the companies that sponsored him probably really regretted it as well as lost many possible sales. Professional athletes in advertising gigs have what is called a Q rating. The Q rating measures name recognition and the public’s perception of a particular person. Blake Griffin had an awareness rating of 55% and a positive likeability rating(Q rating) of 18. This is a smart business and PR tactic to see if companies are investing in the right person to be the face for a company, but still something is unsettling about putting a number rating to a human being. Companies are treating these professional atheltes as pure objects or robots with sets of data behind them. I conclude with the fact that since Griffin and Paul are on television a lot more often than the average NBA player, they are increasing the number of viewers that watch the Clippers games.

After seeing Star Slinger at Sasquatch! Music Festival 2012, I fell in love with his style of electronic dance music. It is funky fresh and perfectly reflects the direction of modern culture. The reason his music is so unique is that he has bridged the gap between hip hop and electronic dance music. Star Slinger is from the United Kingdom and does not have too much prestige in the electronic scene in the United States. Although I know if he continues to produce that he will be at the top of the charts in no time. Being at his show was probably one of the best moments of my life. It is very hard to classify Star Slinger’s style of electronic music, I classify it as new disco. His music collective is on his soundcloud which is: https://soundcloud.com/starslingeruk

My Favorite Tracks:

Cold War Remix

Beezwax Remix

I would be deadmau5.. Deadmau5 is in the top 10 electronic deejays of all time to this date. The man started an entire empire of electronic music off simple beats, a simple yet absurdly random symbol and a catchy name. The man is a genius pure and simple. Deadmau5 is a huge video game connoisseur, and this can be deduced from looking at all his tattoos which consist of old arcade game symbols such as pacman, space invaders and others. I read an interview between a Rolling Stones interviewer and deadmau5. In it deadmau5 called the majority of current DJ’s simple “button pressers” in that they go on stage, press the play button and then act like they are actually playing live. The man has spunk and talent and is not afraid to show it off by any means. If I could be any celebrity, I would be deadmau5.

As of the 2013 school year, University of Oregon has made it illegal for anyone to smoke tobacco on campus grounds. Now, if someone was to pull out a cigarette during school hours with an abundant number of students about, the smoker would be looked at as if he/she were completely crazy. This transition seems very drastic and I am quite against it. Even though I like my clean air as much as the next guy, being an adult in college gives you the right to smoke a cigarette where ever you please as long as you are outdoors. I feel that this new rule has completely changed the culture of campus life for the worse. Now, smokers are forced to the outskirts of campus, treating them like aliens of some sort. Smoking is a form of stress release and college is packed full of stress. An article about the change can be seen here.

Taking 16 credits a term and having a part time job takes a toll on my body and mind. Fortunately, I discovered a magical place where I can forget about these stresses and just take in the crispest breath of air in the world. This place is the summit of Spencer’s Butte. Typically I try to go once every week when it is sunny out to avoid the large mud puddles and slippery slopes, I don’t mind being wet from the rain. I try to go around 4pm so I can be at the summit by around 5pm for sunset. Being with close friends on the top of this peaceful place looking over a serene pink sky is what keeps me moving and gives more meaning to life. I am so grateful for this natural geological masterpiece that is right in my backyard. I feel that having your own escape from urban life and all the stress it burdens us with is key to living a happy and successful life.

Heroes of Newerth (HoN) is an online, multi-player, computer strategy game. This type of game is called a MOBA, which stands for multiplayer online battle arena. I have been playing mirrors of HoN for the past seven years. When I say mirror I am referring to DotA which is exactly the same game as HoN, except that HoN is a newer version of the game created and updated and slightly twisted by another gaming company called S2 Gaming. I have been playing HoN for the past three years and I love it. The game is quite simple to understand, yet it has deep and very complex dynamics. Each round is a match that lasts between 15 minutes to an hour or even more. There are two teams competing against each other, each having five players. Each palyer selects one hero from a total of over 100 heroes and you control this hero for the duration of the game until one team beats the other. The objective is to team up with your teammates and strategically outsmart the other team and defeat them in various battles. There are many spells and items in this game which makes it very hard to comprehend at first. This game requires ambition and critical thinking as well as being a team player. I feel that this game has taught me how to operate and communicate effectively and efficiently within a team in time-crunched situations. The game has recently become free to play and can be downloaded here.

HoN Gameplay Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGtG8W25Q7E