Feed My Ego

Being the youngest person to win 6 Boston Music Awards, A silver Chiat Planning Award, and World's Best Husband was quite a feat. It took a lot of determination, courage, and will power to achieve these accolades. Okay I am being very sarcastic to prove a point that its got to take a huge ego to write a book about yourself. I just finished two fantastic books The Perfect Pitch by Jon Steel, one of the best Strategic Planners out there, and White Heat by English chef Marco Pierre White. (I promise to give it back Gareth)
Both books are chalked full of self adulation as page by page they list their awesomeness in all its glory. Jon Steel's book isn't necessarily only about himself, but he details the lengths he goes to win new business and spends much of the book talking about all his accomplishments. Marco Pierre White talks over and over about his three Michelin stars to the point where I started laughing every time he mentioned it. I think many of us dream of writing a book someday, but I think it takes balls to put it all out there in the non fiction realm. You have to really be confident in yourself and the message to go on for 300 pages. I really admire both of these gentlemen, and hope to one day have the courage to talk about myself in long form. (I know my wife thinks I can, I think she's learned to tune me out.)

Chicken Fingers "The Series"

In the past I have considered starting a Chicken finger Blog dedicated to the greatest food on the planet. I honestly love them so much that my wife thinks I have problems. It's something my brother and I always had as a kid and their must be a soft spot in my heart because of it. Instead of a blog I think I will just have an ongoing series dedicated to this food of the gods. Today's edition is dedicated to the greatest Chicken Finger establishment in the United States. It is a small little take out place in Hamburg, NY called "The Now" Pizzeria. I make a pilgrimage there every time I visit my family. The secret to their version isn't even the chicken....They make their own Hot Buffalo dipping sauce which is unlike anything I've had anywhere else. I have asked for the recipe and gotten nothing but cold stares. My brother actually bought me a tub of it for christmas out of the back of the joint. It has some toxic chemicals in it I'm sure, but its flavor is magical. Who serves your favorite chicken finger?

Strategic Planning and Pooping Dogs

Sometimes I have to laugh at how ridiculous a job as a Strategic Planner is. There are plenty things in the job you have to learn, like the language of bullshit and the art of razzle dazzle. Overall our main job is to make sure the clients problem and our creative solution are aligned. I read all the planners blogs, and sometimes I just want to give it all up and start making artisan cheese or something.

Where is the internet going, social media trends for 2008, engagement and user participation, brands that do, brands that don't. I really need to remind myself to step away from the computer and live life. All this stuff is incredibly important, but in the end the advertising that works is as simple as making compelling communication. There are a millions channels to broadcast this message, but the goal is to make stuff thats cool.

If you read too much you start to think that planners are these great thinkers on par with Aristotle and Einstein, but I feel more like Monty Hall. Hey creatives do you want what's behind door number one? Here is a picture of Michael Jackson and Tito and check out this link of a dog dropping a deuce.

Maybe I'm not a good planner because I think the whole thing is a big comedy routine. I think sometimes all you need to be successful in advertising is the confidence and the loudest voice in the room. Ok enough of a ramble for today I think I'm going to write an esoteric think piece about bands and brands. I won't forget to include the references to Apple, Nike, and Coldplay.

Oh, here's a dog pooping on ice!!!!

There Will Be Blood

We are still trying to get adjusted here in Antwerp. The wife is not having much luck finding work, and she is hustling. Our life pretty much consists of incredible dinners with a bottle of wine and maybe a beer or two. We put the kid to bed and then we watch whatever Video Podcasts I can find on Itunes. It's a lot of Countdown with Keith Oberman who I find annoying even though he shares the same political leanings. It's too over the top and MSNBC is starting to feel like Liberal Fox..I just planned a trip back to Boston at the end of September for some Dear Leader shows, a quick family visit, and definitely some bad American TV.

A Magazine I Can Almost Hold

Today I stumbled upon the coolest site I've seen in a while called ISSUU. It is a place where people upload those arty magazines that cost $20 at the book store. You know the ones with hot topless girls, an interview with DJ Spooky, and some cool graphic design. The amazing thing about the site though is the interface when looking at the magazines. It allows you to flip really fast, but also to enlarge and look at it almost like its a real magazine. It really begs the question of how long the print medium can last? If more of these kind of sites pop up I'm thinking not too much longer.

Tonight's the night we'll make History

Living in Antwerp has definitely put a damper on my Sports intake, and the fact that I'm missing all the Celtics magic is killing me. The games don't start until 3am and I have a strict rule that I can't watch sports unless its live. Thankfully Jon and Will from Dear Leader sent me a care package with the essential Celtics shirt, Chicken Finger Kit, Pretzels, and bad US Gossip Magazines. I may not be able to watch the game, but at least I can pretend.

McCain reacts to being be rickrolled

Vedett Beer

One of the cooler beers in Belgium is Vedett. Its a blond Stella Artois type lager and I guess it was the worst selling beer for the brewers of the famous Duvel. It was re-branded by someone and now its a hipster beer like PBR in the states if I've ever seen one. Vedett lets you submit a photo to be on the their bottles. If they choose you it appears on 10,000 bottles. The cool part is its not that hard to be featured and they will sell you a case with your picture on it regardless. Below is my submission which I call "Greetings from Belgium"

What's the Wordle

One of the clients I work on is the Schweppes brand. There is an amazing website called www.brandtags.net that lets the community write one word that comes to mind on various brands. It's a great tool to see where the state of your brand is at. Another cool site I discovered is a word visualization site called Wordle that places text into cool looking clouds. Here I combined the two sites and created a better visualization of the Schweppes brand.

Help me hank!

In Boston there is a segment on the news called help me hank ( a women no less) where she rights the wrongs of the consumer. Today in Belgium I am having a difficult day to say the least. Banking issues, Visa Issues, Cellphone issues. Everyone here needs 20 types of paperwork officiated by different offices. It takes a whole day to do something simple like get some euros out of the bank.
We apparently need to get some weird stamp on our birth certificate in order to be able to get our visa. Also they said some law changed today to make it extra difficult. Without the visa my bank won't unlock my account. Its impossible to hold a job and do all this logistical bullshit.No wonder everyone drinks heavily here.