A brand like me...

In addition to posts about creative ideas and advertisements that strike a creative nerve with me, I will also post projects from time to time; projects that I am completing for classes.

This is one such post...The assignment is entitled "What Brand Am I?"

The objective is to find a brand that exudes my personality.
One brand immediately strikes me: Kenneth Cole.

Kenneth Cole, or Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (I'll explain the "Productions" portion of the name a little later), is a brand that has attracted me since I was in the 7th grade.

I bought my first pair of Kenneth Cole shoes in 7th grade; a pair of black, square toed flats. They were the most comfortable shoes and for me, being the tallest girl in my class, the perfect dress shoe.

I have been loyal to the brand ever since. But this assignment is not about brand loyalty or my favorite shoe company. The assignment is about the brand that is me, the brand that personifies me.



UNIQUE ~ Setting itself apart from the rest of the competition has turned Kenneth Cole into a world-renown brand.
I have always tried to set myself apart of the pack; in terms of not following the crowd, being a leader. Being a tall young woman has allowed me to have a unique advantage in life. I have used this to do good for others, just as Kenneth Cole has.




SOPHISTICATED - Kenneth Cole has grown into a brand that screams sophistication. The company designs its clothes for clients who are in positions where sophistication and leadership is important. The lines of the dresses, the soles of the shoes, the fashion is about power and commitment.
I have shown a commitment to my education and to living a full life. These are elements of sophistication. I have held myself to standards that others can follow and learn from. Being sophisticated also means being responsible for yourself and for the well-being of those around you.




INNOVATIVE - The brand name of Kenneth Cole is actually Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. It is because when the company first started 20 years ago, Kenneth Cole, the designer, wanted to obtain a permit to park a tractor trailer in Mid-Town Manhattan.The only way he could do that was to change the name of the company to a productions company and film a movie, while selling shoes. This story just shoes how far the brand has come and how the founder was willing to get creative to fulfill his dreams. I have always found that great ideas can be found when one thinks outside the box and is willing to go with the flow. I named this blog "Stay in the Moment," because by doing that I am able to experience new things everyday and open up doors to opportunities I never thought I could have.

*Pictures from kennethcole.com

Looking for Inspiration

I have not posted yet for last week, as I had events going on every night
for one of the organizations that I am involved with.

This morning I knew I had to get back on track with my entries on here
and started to brainstorm about what I wanted to write about that had intrigued me.

That's when I looked up..

I was driving back into the icebox we call Milwaukee this morning
from my hometown of Chicago.

I searched my memory of the past 12 hours, thinking about what people had said or what I had seen. About 5 minutes outside of downtown Milwaukee, I looked up and saw a billboard that was completely bare, except for this sentence: "Tall, outdoorsy type, seeking a relationship."

That was it. There was no name, no picture, just the sentence.
I then looked into the corner of the sign and saw the word "LAMERS" and a phone number.
I had seen the LAMERS brand before on other area billboards,
so I thought they were just showing their ownership of the board.

That was when it hit me; the sentence was an advertisement seeking businesses to post their ads on the billboard and the number was for LAMERS.

How creative!

Following the lead of matchmaking websites, the creators of this advertisement for LAMERS definitely caught my attention and were able to create something that made consumers stop and think about what they were reading. Isn't that the goal for all advertisements?

New Direction for posting

I have completed my first week of classes for the new spring semester...wow! That went fast!

With the new set of classes, I have decided to expand on what I post on this blog. My original purpose in setting up this blog was to give myself an outlet when I needed to just talk about PR stories that intrigued me or how certain life experiences reminded me to "stay in the moment."

But this semester, partly due to a class requirement, I am going to use this blog as a way to write about moments throughout my day or my week when I saw or heard something that could inspire an ad campaign or a pr campaign. This is my "creative outlet."

I have not ever been the artsy type, nor have I ever been able to really draw more than misshapen figures that vaguely resemble people. But I have always been able to come up with ideas and plans that attract public interest.

Two days ago, I was sitting with a friend of mine at a meeting and she took out a cup of applesauce, like the to-go cups that moms throw into their kids' brown bag lunches. She was sitting there and realized that she didn't have a spoon. Well, she had two choices in my mind: either slurp the applesauce out of the little container and risk disrupting the meeting, or do what I would do: get creative and use the foil lid from the applesauce as a spoon..Ah Ha!

That was it..a great campaign idea for any applesauce company: an ad that shows kids using the foil lids of their applesauce containers as spoons, either because their moms were in a hurry and forgot to give them one or they were somewhere that did not have utensils near-by...it is one of those things that a lot of people can relate to because they have done it at one point or another.

As my friend folded her foil lid in half and began to scoop the applesauce, a look came over her face that just said, "I am a genius!"