Matt of E+F, Laryssa and Gabe of Lil Dragon, and the author (behind camera) get their creative juices flowing.

At E+F, we work with an outfit out of Nashville called Lil Dragon Entertainment. Gabe and his cohorts help us translate our ideas onto video, mostly for television commercials. He’s been busy lately, and so have we, on a number of projects: WKU Football commercial, Web-only ad for WKU Alumni Association, new Bowling Green Athletic Club commercials, and a coming trip to Auburn to do Auburn’s men/women basketball commercials. The first and last are to be dramatic, the middle ones humorous.

That said, here are my memories of our meeting over Spencer’s fare yesterday:

“So let’s talk first about the Alumni Association.”

“Can I get bacon on that sandwich?”

“Yeah sure. So anyway, this thing looks like a disaster so far.”

“Um, well …”

“It’s too long –”

“– the coach is just awful –”

“– well he’s not as bad as the ‘grandma.’”

“Agreed. Grandma is just terrible.”

“They do know, right, that we’re aiming to make it look really bad?”

“Hmm. I don’t think they really get the whole concept.”

“I’m going to order my sandwich.”

“Okay… no wait. What’s with the squiggly lines on that first shot anyway?”

“It’s supposed to look like VHS.”

“But it doesn’t.”

“Well of course not. But it’s supposed to look like it.”

“Right… I’m just saying, it just looks all messed up.”

“Yeah, that’s what VHS looks like. Get it?”

“Not really…”

“Well it’s not done yet.”

“But we have to fix it before it’s ‘done’.”

“Right.”

“I don’t understand why the guy’s on a treadmill.”

“You mean BAC?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s riding a bicycle on a treadmill! It’s funny!”

“Why is that funny?”

“Well see, it’s like he could be at BAC, on their high-tech stationaries. But instead he’s at his house, on his bike, on a treadmill.”

“But who would do that?”

“Nobody! That’s why it’s funny.”

“No, it’s not funny. It’s just weird.”

“What if he was in a tae-bo class, but when the camera zooms out we see he’s really fighting a ninja?”

“For a workout?”

“I don’t know. It’s kinda funny.”

“But it doesn’t make sense.”

“Right.”

“Is that the new Macbook?”

“Yeah.”

“You like it?”

“I guess so…”

“What if the guy had set up an obstacle course in his house, and he’s riding his bike around it –”

“What’s with you and the bike?”

“I don’t know. I like bikes.”

“Too many actors. Do you know what the budget is on this?”

“No. Do you?”

“Oh great. We don’t know the budget either, huh?”

“Well, the girl getting the towel snapped on her arse is pretty funny.”

“We can’t do that!”

“Why?”

“I don’t know! It just doesn’t seem right.”

“It’s funny!”

(Everyone laughing, but not because the idea is funny)

“These ideas all suck. When are they supposed to be presented?”

“On Tuesday.”

(Collective groan)

“OK: What if the guy is in a workout class, and when we zoom out we see he’s working out with a bunch of senior citizens?”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. He’s in workout class with his mom at the nursing home?”

“No old people. They’re too hard to work with.”

“What if it was a mom, and we see she’s working out with her four kids?”

“No kids. They’re too hard to work with.”

“What if it was a fat guy –”

“No no no! I don’t like that angle; it makes fun of fat people.”

“But everybody makes fun of fat people.”

“So?”

“So you’re saying we can basically film 20-something people who are in good shape.”

“Yes.”

“But those people don’t need to go to the gym.”

“Right…”

“What if they were homeless –”

“–too many costumes.”

“Hippies?”

“No.”

“Thugs?”

“Too urban.”

“Sex addicts!”

“Dude. Don’t make fun of his mom!”

“Your mom.”

“That’s what she said!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“So?”

“So?”

“So… well, we have no ideas and four ads to finish and no budget.”

“Right.”

(Silence)

“Are the milkshakes good?”

“Of course. They’re delicious.”

So far, I’ve worked on a “creative exploration” for a growing bank in the region; rewritten a direct-mail piece I thought was “done” months ago; drafted new copy for an ad touting a certain industrial complex’s “green” features (which, honestly, are few); filled out tax forms; perused eBay for a power source, which is lacking from the otherwise fine Apple display on my desk.

I’ve also wondered whether or not I have a truly original, truly interesting “campaign” in me… and, if I do, will any of our relatively conservative clients go for it?

A glimpse at the interior of my new career... the old newsroom has no windows! But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I didn’t even know what a copy editor did, but soon I was in charge of the thing, overseeing a revolving staff of 0-2 people in the proofreading of stories. I did a stint as opinion editor, where I really crafted my writing style, but soon took a part-time job at the town’s actual newspaper, the Bowling Green Daily News.

A few months later, part-time became full-time; a few months after that, I got promoted to weekend editor: basically, the guy who runs the show when no one else wants to because they have lives outside the office. Here I added to my knowledge, learning page design and news judgment and some management skills.

A couple years later, burnt out from all that jazz, I bought a coffeeshop. (Note, I had not — and still have not — returned to college). Which I still have, and which is cool, but it doesn’t quite “pay the bills” for a married dad of two kiddos, one of whom is special-needs. So I headed back to the newspaper, got my old job back, and kept the coffeeshop… thus making me a “beancounting journalist,” to paraphrase my friend Nathan’s astute observation, which links back to a Kurt Vonnegut quote.

Well, late last night the beancounting journalist made yet another stark departure: I accepted an offer to become the Creative Director of Earnhart+Friends, a boutique (read: small but good) marketing firm based here in Bowling Green.

It’s truly a blessing, for a number of reasons. The schedule is more flexible (this helps my family and my business), the job is more creative and less cyclical (new projects every day, few if any “rules” that have to be followed), and — let’s face it — journalism isn’t the field anyone wants to find him/herself stuck in these days. (It’s not a terrible gig, but an escape plan is a must.) A close friend of mine is the Art Director, which means he and I will essentially be the firm’s top-tier tag team (underneath the owner, of course). And to find a job like this in a town like this is a dream come true… I am certain it is the only one of its kind in a 90-mile radius, at least.

In the previous few months I’ve taken part in writing TV scripts, rebranding a widely available retail milk, conceptualizing a new restaurant, crafting a new direction for the company itself — and all freelance, while keeping the other flaming clubs of my life going up and down in this juggling routine. Come July, however, my days as a muckraker are over — at least for now. What the future holds, I can’t tell. But the present is looking pretty good.

Oh! And the millions of you reading this will be glad to know that I’ll probably be able to get a bit more blogging done too.

Today, I’m announcing yet another angle: Marketing.

No, I won’t be talking about how to sell better or ranking the best Web strategies. What I do intend to do is note perceived instances of “guerilla marketing,” and comment on the ethics and challenges of commercial communication. This is spawned from some freelance work I’ve been doing — Job No. 3, for anonymity’s sake — and I don’t expect to be posting any more frequently than I have recently. I’m wracking up 80-hour workweeks like it’s old hat, and trying to find time for the family as well. But sometimes I’ll have thoughts, and I’ll still put them here.

What that ultimately means is that, now, this blog is mine, and limited only by my own mental boundaries. My focus is on those things mentioned above, but I won’t hold back from writing the occasional “random” bit about whatever it is that strikes me. But, who cares? I get about 10 hits a day at this point.

I highly suggest you add me to your RSS feed (click the coffee cup at the top right), and please come and comment any time something strikes you.