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Dishing the dirt on Advertising

Well well. Hello! It's been quite a while since I wrote anything here that didn't have to do with contests or just sharing content.


I've been drowning submerged in work. Very much so.

Shit doesn't seem to stop hitting the fan. No sire. Not in advertising. We are still the losers at nearly the bottom of the food chain.

What do people outside the advertising industry think of what's really going on?

It's not glamourous.
Well, not beyond the few moments after someone goes "oh wow you're in advertising!".

Is it rewarding?
That's up for discussion. Do you expect your clients to thank you? They hardly ever do. In fact, its sucky but here's what the shittest of the lot do. They make you do their work (i.e.: set marketing directions) and then they take your ideas and go present it to their bosses claiming it as their own. The shittier ones even make you do the presentation deck for them to use.

If their bosses like it, the agency gets the job but the client takes the credit. If their bosses don't like it, guess who's gonne get the blame for it?

Most of us who keep going at it for 5... 10... 15 years... are at it for the sickly passion that drives us everyday. Without the passion for the work we do, there's no way one can survive.

Is it big money in advertising?
You ever been to chaktuchak in Bangkok? Yes. There's bargaining. The worse of them all? They make you discount on things that are already damn cheap and then make you work doubly fast for it.

$50 discount also happy.

The late nights?
The only thing positive from this is, you become very good friends with your colleagues. And your clients - well, the okay ones. But otherwise? You'll just have dark eye rings, oily face, smudged makeup, mussed hair, backaches, tired eyes, painful ass... where does glamourous come in?

And the fast food that we order in sometimes for dinner? Definitely a one way street to obesity.

The rumoured parties and drinking sessions?
Not everywhere. There are definitely a lot more humour and creative, fun weridos in a relatively relaxed working environment as compared to other more corporate industries. Is that what people define as glamourous/fun?

Dress code
I suppose this is one that most people from other industries are most envious about. We can wear jeans and bermudas to work. Pretty much anything as long as we're not meeting clients on that day.

Bermudas could be glamourous I guess? Yea we could wear shades to work as well.

The blame game
If there is 0.000000000001% of fault that could possibly lie with the agency, then it's all the agency's fault. And if you're the one who is managing the account (i.e.: the bridge between the client and the agency) - may I just politely say you're fucked?

Hello, here's the brief. Deadline is over
But but... but what? Well go start work on it! I need to see first draft by today. (Time check at time of brief? 5pm)

Hello, we have a new job coming up.
Can I just check how long is your turnaround time for such a job? 10 days? Oh ok, I need it in 2 days.

Thank you very much.

I told the client!
Did you email it to him/her and cc'ed their bosses in black and white? No? Then we're in a very grey area. What does "very grey" mean? It means there is a 0.0000001% that it's your fault so that means, you're fucked.

Do your job well, and watch your back
We cannot forget the politics. Multi-task my friend. Watch your front AND back.

Ok, maybe the advertising industry is not all bleak, doom gloom, dead deadlines... but this is the dirt. There's more but hey, its 1.30am on Friday morning and I am still in office. Gimme a break.

Tagged as: , 6 comments
Posted by Ju Ann at Friday, October 23, 2009
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One for the Stove

You've all probably heard of this upcoming and very charming movie starring Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia!) and Amy Adams - Julie & Julia.

Meryl Streep plays Julia Child. Her character is no-nonsence and full of self confidence - definitely very well portrayed by Meryl. Truly a pleasure to watch.



This reminds me of my most favourite cooking experience of all time - making Tiramisu!



Tiramisu used to and still does sound exquisite and complicated to me. Only because it looks so delicate with all those soft layers and is almost never too creamy or "gelat". Did I say it's yummy too? :)

So okay, I admit, before making my very first Tiramisu, I don't remember ever tasting Tiramisu. I'm always scrapping the cream off cakes because I find them too sinful to put in my mouth and Tiramisu looked like the entire thing was made of cream.

Actually, the desire to learn how to make Tiramisu was because of a reason as stupid as feeling less of a woman when a guy friend told me he'll ask his GF to make Tiramisu for some upcoming potluck party.

And he kept saying it's really good.

So I decided, I can make it too - exactly 1 year ago on the 17th of October 2008. :P

Then I went online and went to numerous websites and gathered quite a few recipes for Tiramisu. I combined a few and made up the final recipe to follow.

The process was extremely nerve-wrecking. Will it work? Will it taste nice? Please don't tell me I poured too much Bailey's!

I also kept opening my fridge to look in and see if it's done. Wondered if it'll taste okay... The process of waiting took 8 painful hours.

And the result? It was fantastic. I became an instant fan of Tiramisu. I have since made many Tiramisus since the first one and I'm happy to have received great feedback on it.



In fact, now that I'm at the end of this blog entry, it sounds like a great time to make a Tiramisu!

Julia would say, Bon appétit!

P.s.: Here's my recipe!

Tagged as: , , , 6 comments
Posted by Ju Ann at Saturday, October 17, 2009
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A challenging time

I expected times like this - but I never thought they'd be so bad, so long and so frequent.


I think I'll crawl out of this soon enough. I hope. 

That's my life at this point right now.

Did I ask for it? Can I really do it and survive it? Will there never be clear skies? Will trouble keep recreating itself? 

P.s.: I read this post with great interest. Please give it 5 mins of your time. 

Tagged as: , 6 comments
Posted by Ju Ann at Friday, October 02, 2009
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