Further proof that any publicity is good publicity

Kramer's racist rant seems to be boosting sales of Seinfeld DVDs. I'm not surprised, I think it works the same way as bad advertising - just getting a product in people's heads gets them to think about it a little bit, and at least a small percentage of those people is bound to pull the trigger on Amazon. No doubt we'll soon be reading articles all about the increase of Brittney Spears albums and movies with Danny DeVito.

A shout out to my Asian homies

I've been struggling to write radio spots that don't completely blow ass (at the moment I'm shooting for spots that just blow a little ass) for Sparkasse, a local bank, and I thought of the spot below. It's a rip off of a campaign that is far, far superior to anything I could ever write, and it's kinda racist. But if it makes anyone feel better, all the Asian stereotypes I know were taught to me by my Asian friends while sitting in a Chinese restaurant lovingly dubbed "The Dirty Place". I'm a big winner.

Sparkasse presents: Real clients of genius. Today we salute you, Mr. Cheap Chinese guy. Can't sleep? Maybe that’s because you're using the mattress as your savings account. Who can trust a bank anyway? They’ve only been around for a thousand years. So crack open an ice cold checking account and a Bud Light. And go ahead and spill that beer on the remote - we know it’s covered in plastic, just like the couch.

Sometimes I amuse no one but myself.

Thänksgiving in Hamburg

Thänksgiving in Hamburg, originally uploaded by dpieracci.

My boss Jan was kind enough to invite me to his International Thanksgiving Extravaganza. Okay, it was just dinner at his house, but it was still wonderful, and very sweet of him to invite this expat over for some good ol' 'Merican turkey and cranberry sauce from a can.

There were seven of us total: Annie, the Rexhausen family au pair from New York, Annie's mom, who smuggled in the ingredients and did most of the cooking, two of Annie's friends (I can't remember their names, but they were very nice) and of course Jan and his wife Katherine. Jan and Katherine's kids made a brief appearance, and Wallace the cat was fat and lovable all evening.

And a delicious time was had by all. The house was filled with the scents of the season as we started on squash soup, moved on to turkey, stuffing, yams, green beans and gravy, and finished with two kinds of pie. When the eating was done, I felt fat and happy, both belly and soul full. A home-cooked meal made with love is always healthy.

Slow Friday

Slow Friday
Originally uploaded by dpieracci.

1. After three weeks of crazy insane, this week has been slow as molasses. I've had a few little things to do, but overall, it's been a slog of web browsing and trying not to drink too much coffee (can't really justify the use of an upper when there's nothing to expend enery for). The folks that know have been telling me to enjoy the time while I can since apparently it won't happen too often. Not sure how to do that though... I'm fighting a cold, that's kind of fun I guess.

2. I went to the dentist today! A few weeks ago I was flossing and I must have put a little too much oomph into it (or maybe the floss is to thick) and I pulled a filling right out. Bummer. But my dentist is the sweetest, friendliest, gentlest dentist I've ever met. Fantastich!

3. After the dentist I had got a fallafel dürum (like a Turkish fallafel burrito). It was delicious and precarious, since the upper left side of my face was still numb. I developed an excellent technique to avoid chewing my own lips off that involved a big grin and my left index finger. Lucky for me I could eat in the privacy of my office.

3. It's gray and rainy outside. The sun made a brief appearance, but otherwise it's just gray gray gray. And soggy. Not sure what I'm going to do tonight, but whatever it is, I'm bringing my umbrella.

Werking @ Läst

Tuesday was my seventh day of working; that's one full week of being a real life ad guy, the first week of the rest of my life. Once the stupid work visa went through, I just dove right in... and a week later, I've been able to come up for air and think about stuff. It's a lot like school but a little different.

I've spent my week working with Max, another writer, who I know from school. We've worked on one brief for a big boring German company. But the brief is pretty wide open, so it's not too boring. We've presented to our bosses three or four times, each time whittling it down a bit. We're down to one campaign (it went from four to two to one), and now we're working executions and taglines.

Anyways, I was thinking about work vs. school, and here's what I came up with...


Some things are different:

They give us paper, pens, coffee, water, a desk, a chair, a computer, an office. We've got stock photography and art buyers and planners and a really fast internet connection. You don't really need any of that shit to have an idea, but it helps when it's time to execute.

I sit at the big boys table now. My CDs really are the gate: they decide what lives and dies. If I need them, they're there (when they're not somewhere else). We're making real ads that are really gonna run. Hopefully.

The clients are real, and they're really gonna say NO. A lot.


Some things are remarkably similar:

Phones ring, emails arrive, people chat, the mail comes, the internet beckons, and magazines catch your eye. It's always lunch time, dinner time, meeting time, time to take a break or a smoke or a pee. But if you don't take a few minutes to sit down, shut up, and focus, then concepts stagnate, ideas go unpushed, and suddenly there isn't much to show for your time. The moral of the story is, sometimes you just have to tell life to shut the fuck up so you can get some real work done.

And no one is going to do that work for you. You can ask for advice, show it to anyone and everyone, but you are responsible for your shit. End of story.

If it's just not working, you can only fight it so long. Let go. Move on.

It shouldn't matter what time you arrive in the morning, what time you leave in the evening or how long your lunch break is. But it does matter a little. People see things even when they're not watching.

It's just as chaotic and messy and unorganized. There are more people, but we still seem to be fumbling around and fucking things up all the time. Even though we're a big fancy famous agency.

Here's a brief. And here's another. And another. Have you cracked it yet? How about now? Have a good weekend. See you Saturday. And maybe Sunday.*



* It's not like this yet... but I can tell it's gonna be.