A Night at the ADCC Awards

So a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Advertising and Design Club of Canada's awards show and after party. I apologize that I didn't blog about this sooner, I've just been extremely busy. School has just ramped up several notches, so it's been hard to get too much else done.

I also thought I would try out an app that I downloaded recently from the Android Marketplace which is some cool retro camera app. That's why the picture looks so interesting.

I wasn't allowed to take any pictures during the show, but I thought I would post some of the swag that you got if you were able to attend. Notice the really well designed book and posters with a common theme. Pretty awesome. The contents of the annual are really good too, of course.

So, on to the awards. It was an interesting ceremony to to say the least. Some really great stuff was honoured, some it design, and some of it advertising. Wow, I'm good at stating the obvious sometimes.

The speeches had to be the best part. They were the shortest speeches that I've ever heard. I guess I'm just used to the ones that you hear during things like the Academy Awards. The designers didn't say anything, and the ad people pretty much just thanked the client. The speech of the night went to a writer who had to accept an award on behalf of the agency for best cinematography in an ad. This is what she said:
"I'm accepting this award on behalf of the agency, because clearly, as a writer, I had a lot to do with the cinematography of this commercial."
I kid you not. It was pure awesome, and completely hilarious.

It was a pretty short awards show. Quite a few awards were given out, but I think the whole show lasted around an hour. The big winners were Rethink and Leo Burnett Toronto. They cleaned up. Leo Burnett Toronto also won agency of the year.

Overall, it was a fun night, with a lot of great Canadian work in the advertising and design fields being honoured. I would like to congratulate all of the winners, even though it's a little late.

That's all for now!

Book Review: The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy

Book: The Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy
Author: Tom Monahan

Read this book. Seriously. If you are serious about going into creative advertising, or any job that involves some sort of problem solving, then you need to read this book.

This is essentially a brainstorming book, with all kinds of different ways you can brainstorm, either individually, or in a group. The names of some of the techniques are wacky, and will entice you to the point that you don't read the book in order.

You shouldn't read this book in order anyway. Read any section that you want at any time. It makes it much more fun. You will find yourself referring back to this book quite often, especially when you realize that these brainstorming techniques actually work.

Besides all of the brainstorming techniques, Monahan also introduces you to the idea of talent vs. creativity. I won't spoil it for you, but I know a lot of people will breathe a sigh of relief when they read that section.

Also intertwined throughout the book are little quotes from famous creative people and testimonials from people who took Monahan's course in brainstorming. This makes for great breaks in the action, and throws you some curve balls that make you think. Sometimes, no matter how great a book can be, you can almost get lulled to sleep by the act of reading (at least, that happens to me sometimes). But with all these little breaks that Monahan puts in, that will not happen  and your eyes will end up moving all over the page.

My favourite feature that this book has are what Monahan calls Cheat Notes. They summarize the chapter that you just read, so if you forget something and don't want to read the whole chapter again, you can just read the Cheat notes instead of skim.

I found myself using some of the techniques that Monahan described in my own work, wither in a group, or individually. They were very helpful and made for some good fun. A few pretty good ideas came of those sessions too.

I highly recommend this book. If you are in any job where you have to problem solve all the time, then this book is for you. This isn't just an advertising book, this is a Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter for even more insights into what it's like being an advertising student. That's all for now!