Dabitch.net - Everything is so random there must be a pattern

Back in 2006, the University of Texas had a special creativity style blog, founded by David Wen, a Texas Creative senior. David had high ambitions for the blog;  "A place where people can surf to relax after a hard day at work or a week full of stressful tests, where they can see the freshest student thinking, where they can read smart, insightful commentary about life and the advertising industry. A place where students can feel free to post their thoughts, ideas and rough comps for feedback."  David interviewed a lot of advertising people, and eventually there was an interview with Dabitch. It annoyed me that he kept repeating Adland's URL, rather than the name. I recall we discussed this, because the name of Adland was adland, but the url back then was ad-rag.com. Same as "The Ranch" which was called just that but existed at http://txadv.blogspot.com/ before securing the domain theranchblog.com

How do you find all the ads on the site?

They find me. Industry submissions you know. In the beginning I had to beg
friends and colleagues to send their work in, which I still do on occasion
if something really good appears out there and nobody submitted it yet -
but these days there is a steady flow. Don't forget kids, we like your old
commercials too! Send in your reels!

You're Swedish, graduated from Parsons (in NYC), graduated from London School of Communication Arts, and currently live in Copenhagen, Denmark. How have these varied cultures influenced you?

I learnt to hack, sorry understand, cultures quite fast.

This comes in handy when you have to sell cars to grease monkeys, booze to
connoisseurs, fashions to fashion whores. Cultures don't necessarily have
to be from a country. ;)

Which country's culture did you like best?

Can I choose all of the above? I adored New York which taught me how to
cuss, and when I moved to London it took me a good six months to
understand what on earth everyone was on about. "Got a fag?" what?
"See you half ten." What time is that? But when it finally clicked I laughed so
hard at British sitcoms I now carry a permanent smiley dimple. Now I'm
just terribly happy that I can laugh equally hard at both US and UK ads -
you never see Americans or Brits doing that. Same language, but not. I
don't have a favourite - all cultures have good and bad.

You've both freelanced and worked at agencies. What are the pros and cons of each? Which do you think jr. creatives should do?

Jr's should take the plunge - if they get offered freelance, grab it. Pro's of agency work is a steady paycheck and you get to know your workmates well. Cons of agency work is agency politics most of the time, it's hard to find a good match, and will take a few tries. Don't worry, everyone goes through it. The pro's of freelance is flexibility, the con's an equally flexible paycheck. Another con is that in smaller markets you'll never get the "good work" unless you haven't gotten the "good work" at agencies already. And by "good work", I mean international clients, big budgets and perhaps telly. I do believe that all creatives should freelance at least once though. You learn a lot.

What should a good portfolio school or program teach?

How to charge people for your skills. Seriously, schools teach you so much about the craft but forget to tell you how much it is worth and how you send out a bill or create a contract before the project starts. Since so many students will freelance in the future - at least once ;) - this needs to be taught! Also, what your rights to your work are - and how to not sign them away. So many people are terribly confused when it comes to rights, it really should be taught.

How do you become a better AD?

Keep looking. Keep your eyes open and drink it all in. It will help your ideas, and it will help you communicating your ideas through your art direction. No label is too small, no design too obscure, and since the punters are getting their input from the real world rather than the ad world, so should you.

Speaking of small labels, am I the only one who collects rows and rows of those fruit-stickers in my scrap book? I have two pages with "toMAHtos"! Oh yeah, that's the real advice, keep a scrap book. They do come in handy. Stick all things that visually grabbed you in them. Especially the truly ugly stuff.

What advice do you have for Creatives to break into advertising and for staying in advertising?

To break in you need a heavy brick and to stay put you need a lot of
weight.

You've seen a lot of advertising throughout the years. What do you think the future of advertising is?

Whenever this question is asked one is usually expected to name a new
media that will happen. The future of advertising is that people will
finally realize that the message is and always was what is important.
Personally, I hope for less clutter, but I know that brands will tailor
their message to different targets, in different media, with different
ideas and style - unfortunatly creating more clutter. And they'll think
it's the best thing since sliced bread too, even when they miss all their
targets as they jump all over the map with the message.

Campaign for Marcel@Amsterdam tattooing:
At Least Tattoos are permanent.

Marcel wanted to be famous. He had inked famous people, he had inked large areas of bodies, he had inked his way across the world - yet this wasn't enough. Marcel wanted to ink even more.

In the world of throw-away culture and single-serving salt, we pointed out that while trends may come and go, tattoos are more permanent than anything.

As the rain drizzled over Amsterdam in May, graffiti showed up everywhere, on containers, garbage cans, building sites, anywhere. The graffiti would only last a day or two before the rain washed it away.

The graffiti police nearly had heart attacks as anything decaying was sprayed with the red rain-away spray. Containers, construction sites, garbage cans, and boards in front of torn-down buildings.

Two weeks later, three executions of a poster campaign were plastered all across town. The images depicted non-permanent things, and they were printed on heat-sensitive paper.

The posters reacted to the sun rather than rain. As the sun bleached the images away, the only thing that remained was the line.

At least tattoos are permanent.

Marcel was pleased. So pleased he inked the Art Director and framed the Epica award in his tattoo-parlor, next to the flash art and various ink magazines' mention of the campaign.

After a week in the bright light, the images faded away, much like the things they depicted, leaving only the red tagline behind.

These posters are on permanent exhibition in Marcels' tattoo shops in Amsterdam.

Soundscape and Condor Cannes party 1999 - Religion is opium.
Religion, faith and Gods frequent Cannes during each festival, so why not make them feel at home? At the plage du Galion we set up heaven on the beach and invited all faithful to join us.

The guards were dressed as guardian angels with white afro's, silver dresses and pink sunglasses. The faithful served with Holy water that would chase the hangovers away as they left. The drink tickets were edible oblates. The walls showed visuals of heaven and hell.

Party-Sluts 1999, Åsk Wäppling art/vj, Jan Dirk Bouw art, David Bell copy, Hans Brouwer music.

The posters depicted our leaders - Hans of Soundscape and Rob of Condor - the large posters hung outside the party palais entrance to lead believers down the right path. 3D illustrations by Koony at Condor.

Once the party got started, the magical guests appeared courtesy Nepco. You don't have to have delusions to dance with pink elephants.

Even Shiva graced us with an appearance and danced the night away.

As the guests got dizzier on Holy Water, strange entities kept appearing on the dance floor. Two silk kimono clad characters waltzed around until smoked started coming out of their ears.

They moved to the beach, and their heads exploded mid dance. (one of the heads even landed in the lap of someone in the chill-out zone). Motto: don't let your guests get too relaxed. ;-)

It's time for another Cannes party. This time, like the elections later in the year, the party's theme is politics, something every creative who made it to Cannes is intimately familiar with. Decoration ranged from fake Sun-style headlines, thousands of balloons, actual dirty money to buy your drinks with, and a free cigar to everyone who arrived.

The party-slut's arranging the 2000 party are: Jan Dirk Bouw art, David Bell copy, Åsk Wäppling art, Hans Brouwer, music.

On the left side of the entrance to Place Galion, Massive Music's poster advertising their "listening party" abilities.

...and in the other corner of the ring - Condor "the party with a vision"

Our french announcer carried political broadcasts all over Cannes with his golden speakers blaring out marching music, drumming up the political fever we need tonight. To the left is Jan Dirk Bouw and the dress with the balloons on the right is yours truly.

We spent the day decorating the venue, checking the sound, brainstorming with the MC's and coordinating when and where the surprises and acts would appear, not to mention inflating thousands of balloons...

20 minutes until party time. Dave here will be one of the MC's of this evening political razmatazz, announcing acts, directing attention to the free booze and the fake cocaine piles. He might improvise nearly every night with Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, but tonight at midnight he
will announce the greatest political leader in the U.S today in hyped up techno trance as a giant dick dances up on the stage and eventually sprays shaving cream all over the dance floor, which we must say is a highlight in his improv career. Both Boom Chicago MC's made the event outrageously funny together with the Penis-dancer, which was Nepco performers.

Our Marilyn - this little lady (she's less than a meter tall) performed as Marilyn singing "happy birthday Mr President" filling the stage with the more seductive side of politics, glittering in the spotlight just like Marilyn did. She needn't had been so nervous as her performance was big hit.
Later she walked her poodles around the party and shared champagne with the guests. I'm not sure who is in which poodle outfit - but the performers are all Nepco.

Kristina Olsson writes:

"In Svenska Dagbladet, political editor P.J. Anders Linder has started the first 'management blog', and Swedish Åsk Wäppling runs the internet's largest blog about advertising Adland from Copenhagen, and has 30,000 visitors to the blog daily."

In Danish_: "På Svenska dagbladet har den politiske chefredaktør P.J. Anders Linder startet den første 'lederblogg', och svenske Åsk Wäppling driver internettets største blogg om reklame Adland från København, og har 30.000 besøgende på bloggen dagligt. ."_

"5 professional blogs" the headline reads, as IDG magazine rates the top five. Adland is one of them.

"Adland is the worlds first advertising blog. It began as a website in 1996 and became a blog in 2000. A legendary community blog written in English which is run by the Swede Åsk Wäppling. If you want to watch commercials, you've found home."

"Adland är den första reklambloggen i världen. Startade som sajt i 1996 och blev en blogg 2000. En legendarisk communityblogg på engelska som drivs av svenskan Åsk Wäppling. Vill du se reklamfilm så har du hittat hem."

Plötsligt slog det mig att jag borde titta upp från tangentbordet, jag ser mig om och inser att det är höst. Var det verkligen sommar? Närdå? Jag måste ha tryckt på framåtspolning.

Små barn börjar ettan och större barn börjar Bergs, Beckmans, Konstfack, Forsmans och Lumpen. Kunde inte låta bli att sjunka in i en nostalgi tripp efter det och prata med alla jag mötte om skolan, den där man började sin reklambana.

"Gjorde man nånting bra i skolan eller gjorde man bara skräp?" frågar jag min landsman över bordet.

-Jag? Jag var alldeles för upptagen med att gömma var jag kom ifrån, svarade han, flyttade till Stockholm, måste upprätthålla min image. Jag hade nog med problem med att välja strumpor på morgonen! Sedan slutade jag plugget och fick jobb utomlands. Nu kan man ju slappna av och kreera.

Jag ställer samma fråga till regissören. "Usch vad vi larvade oss. Vi gick igenom nån fas då vi var konstant konceptuella, och tryckte T-tröjor med texten "Same to you fella" och "...and your dog" på som svar på förolämpningar vi ännu inte hade fått. Det mesta var bara fånigt, men skoj.

När jag kommer hem frågar jag sambon samma sak och han blänger bara på mig som svar, han glömmer inte i första taget att jag inte la märke till honom hela det året vi pluggade i samma klass.

Senare gräver vi båda fram de äldsta sakerna vi har gjort och skrattar åt dem tillsammans medans vi berättar historierna om hur de kom till. De är så naiva verk, vare sig om det är reklam, en teckning, en målning, eller en uppsats, att vi trollbinds av dem. Sedan börjar vi båda muttra den berömda fasen.. "Men vänta, här har vi nåt.." och skissar plötsligt vidare på våra gamla ideer under glada tillrop och fniss.

Nästa dag springer vi och våra kollegor omkring i fina T-tröjor med hypotetiska avgångsår från framtidens skolor. Det är "Miami Bad School" med Don Johnsson i bakgrunden och "University for Socities Leeches - Admen" i UCLA's typsnitt.

Vi skrattar gott åt de förbipasserande vi lyckas ge bort de sista tröjorna till under lunchen. Regissören tar åter upp historien om de T-tröjor han gjorde under sin skoltid, och vips surrar hela bordet av nostalgihistorier, även från de som gick ut bara förra året. Så till alla er som just börjar vidareutbilda er i höst vill jag bara ge ett råd: Ta med er en kamera, om tio år sitter ni och vill trycka på bakåtspolning.

_* notera: Publicerades i Resumé September 2000 - och en gång i tiden låg den på Adland under ' adrants' men nu när jag har byggt om tycker jag att det som jag skrev på svenska borde ligga här. _

Luftslott höjt till skyarna. Mitt i natten satt jag hos Guldkalvsbyrån som höjs till skyarna om dom så bara nyser, och funderade på vad jag har gett mig in på. Projektet jag hjälpte till med hette do-tv.com, en sajt som var uppe i 24 timmar med olika kanaler där man kunde chatta och debattera om TV'ns framtid. Det lät ju som en kul idé, med kända "gästchattare" som skulle vara med, men tolv timmar senare började jag undra.

Allt oftare blev människorna i chatkanalerna ilskna, de fräste om buggig javakod och saknade streamad video eller åtminstone lite QT filmer på en sajt som trots allt skulle handla om TV.

De tystades snabbt ned av övervakare från byrån som förklarade att de ville ha en så low-tech sajt som möjligt så att alla kunde komma in oavsett bandbredd och webbläsare.

Jag himlade med ögonen, jag hade just hört från vänner på Weiden & Kennedy att deras Maccar inte tålde Javan.

Byrån fick besökarsiffrorna en gång i timmen och undrade varför tiotusen hits på förstasidan bara hade resulterat i tvåtusen besökare inne på sajten. Var det inte javan, så förvirrade förstasidans länklösa TVtestbild många tillräckligt för att de skulle ge upp. Fler ilskna röster hördes, "är DOtv ännu ett projekt där vi hittar på allt och byrån får all ära för våra idÈer" undrade någon, som raskt försvann från skärmen. Allt som sades sparades, så att guldbyrån kan göra en bok av det, så visst hade han rätt. "Var är Lee Clow?" undrade en annan. Lee clow dök inte upp på utsatt tid, han dök inte upp alls, ingen visste varför. Någonstans i L.A. satt Tony Kaye och hamrade febrilt på en bärbar dator, ett helt filmset väntade på att han skulle återgå till arbetet, utan att komma in på sajten.

Någon från byrån såg på min skärm at jag befann mig där Tony borde ha varit. "Hur kom du in dit??"
-"Jag skrev www2 innan adressen", svarade jag, som naivt trodde att de ansvariga hade nån slags lista med viktig information som denna.
Tydligen inte.

Sista timmen av jippot skulle Paul Meijer komma in och chatta, jag hade många frågor att ställa honom. När han väl dök upp, klev hela byrån in i chatten och skrek och vrålade tills de enda tre riktiga besökarna gav upp och gick. Så även Paul.

Någon barnrumpa dök upp med Pauls användarnamn och spottade ur sig floskler, nya besökare trodde att det var Paul och ställde intelligenta frågor som drunknade i larmet av guldbyrågossarna.

De sista tio minuterna var en kakafoni av jidder. När sajten väl stängdes skålade guldgossarna i champagne. "Ge er själva en stor applåd för att ni gjorde DOtv till en sån success" sa de.

På vägen hem plockade jag åt mig morgontidningen där en stor artikel höjde Do-tv till skyarna. Är det bara jag som ser att kejsaren inte har några kläder?

* notera: Dessa artiklar har publicerats i Resumé typ 1999 och en gång i tiden låg de på Adland under 'adrants' men nu när jag har byggt om tycker jag att det som jag skrev på svenska borde ligga här.