apt hunting is a bitch

but i think i found a GEM today. going to rush over on Friday to see it.
As Rob would say, "I am SO pumped right now"


















was definitely lucky with this one. i miss it!

i watched Hitch today. damn it.

this song is absolutely beautiful. it's one of those so romantic it sort-of-hurts songs. if i find an adequate translation (you don't want to hear mine) i'll add it. the video, however, is fucking idiotic. it does the song absolutely no justice. way to go d-list bollywood director.

i have no idea what to do. no preference, no instinct, not even a gut feeling. i'm completely on the fence about what path to take on this one. and more and more it feels like i have to decide, now.

the namesake

I've got a postcard with an old address,
A picture of Houston in a creased-up mess.
Just to remind me that it all went wrong,
Just to beat me up, just to turn me on.

Cigarettes in the glove box, with the classified ads
Ashes and silver worn in to your hands.
"I've got to see you" on a bar napkin,
Gas station quarters, I've got to see you again.

Somewhere there's a letter, that I never sent.
It used to read pretty, now it's empty as
That night in the headlights with the blankets pressed.
Was it something to you baby? Or was it always just

Stray paper
Stray paper
Stray paper...burning in my hands.


-tift merritt
album: tambourine
quite possibly my favorite song.

you go girlfriend....branding superstars

Sharpie...write out loud!

company: Newell-Rubbermaid
agency: McCann-Erickson, New York
-was down in '02, after introducing new campaign in combination with new products and streamlined retailing, sales spiked.


Kashi. 7 whole grains, on a mission.

company: Kellogg's
agency: EVB, San Francisco (Omnicom)
-double-digit sales growth since 2006. woah.


these guys get positioning. and teamwork. and working towards the same goal.
creative advertising and marketing strategy have clashed since the beginning of time. when you think about it, it seems so counter intuitive that we even have agencies. if advertising just occurred in house, advertisers and brand managers would actually work together, having the same level of ownership in the success of the same brand. then again, in-house advertisers are usually not the most clever or specialized bunch. it's a double-edged sword, and very few client-ad teams can pull it off well. i've seen both sides of the insanity, and it's always so excruciatingly tough to get what you want, for both parties involved.

for the agencies, it's like pulling teeth to get more money out of the client. to get some flexibility, leeway, the freedom to take risks. the client wants you to accomplish the impossible without wasting their money or being too "out there." you just want to yell and say LET ME DO MY JOB, I GOT THIS.

for the execs it's like, hello, fact: advertising alone does not and cannot accomplish sales. advertising=awareness & perception, but the rest of the marketing mix: pricing, promotion, distribution, product specifications and needs fulfilled by the product, ensure consumers actually buy the damn thing. So when a brand manager hands a positioning brief and budget to an agency, there is no leeway in it because there are 500 other things involved. it's not what you think it should be, how you perceive it, what potential you think it has. no, as of right now, this is what the consumer wants, we know this, and this is what you have to deliver. and it sucks being an advertiser with so many great ideas for a product, that just happen to not work for that product at the moment. it's restricting, annoying and frustrating.

the biggest mistake any marketer can make, regardless of whether he or she is on the client side or the advertising side, is assuming that he or she understands the mind of the consumer. time and time again market research has pointed out the HUGE discrepancy between what consumers say they want, or feel they need, and their ACTUAL purchasing behavior. actions speak louder than words, and therfore, analytics are gold. brand managers should take the numbers very seriously, and agencies in turn have to respect and utilize the subsequent positioning in order to create the most solid campaign for the product at that given time.

Kashi and Sharpie have got this down. Now Sharpie is an older brand. It has always had the highest market cap in the category, but this was mostly due to a first-movers' advantage, and the brand recognition that comes with that. But since 2003 and Write Out Loud, they've really nailed the essence of their positioning--a rebirth for the brand.
Kashi is a newbie, but a superstar. Talk about excellent market research. After being acquired by Kellogg's in '00, it's seen incredible growth, and the tag SO embodies the positioning it's absurd. Advertising doesn't have to be extremely clever or witty to get the point across. the position that Kashi has in the mind of the consumer is so solid, it will be impossible to knock it for years to come.

so, here's a branding "you go girlfriend" to kashi and sharpie. you guys aren't going anywhere.

so over it...ponte HYPER

annoyed. and not the most coherent.

Ok, it's father's day, and i was a bad daughter today cause i didn't do anything with/for my dad. so i really have no right to be disappointed in others. but i'm more than slightly annoyed right now, and need to vent.

besides, i did redeem myself a bit by making my dad lunch. so i wasn't a complete failure.

sorry, to the point: recently a few of the people i consider very close, if not best friends, have been flaky, disappointing and therefore annoying. when you say you're going to call, CALL. when we make plans way in advance to hang out, don't blow me off at the last minute. not only are you taking our friendship for granted, but you're making it clear that our friendship isn't a priority, cause other things can just 'come up' and easily push our plans to the backseat. i'm not an anal person. i wouldn't usually consider this a big deal. but the friends in question a) don't make any effort to catch up with me on a regular basis in the first place, and b) this is not the first or second offence, we're talking strikes 4, 5....8.

while i was turning this whole situation around in my mind, something clicked. somewhere in the folds of my brain, there is a hierarchical categorization of my relationships, and it suddenly occurred to me that my lump category of "best friends" (how middle school, right?) is actually two very distinct categories. i realized the difference between a truly good friend and someone you just happen to get along with really well.

yes there are the friends you just click with. you can talk for hours, and have no qualms asking for their advice on your most personal problems. you have a great time partying and grabbing meals together, you have at least a thousand inside jokes, and if it's been a while, it's easy to pick up where you left off, as if you just talked to them yesterday.

but with good friends, you DID talk to them yesterday. and the day before. because they call you and you call them without reason. "sorry i didn't have time" is non-existent. friendship takes effort, and good friends make that effort. but the thing is, it doesn't feel like work cause it's just second nature. it's not something you have to plan in advance or add to your to-do list. and every time you talk, you don't have to explain "the whole story" to them because they already know it. you can count on them to drop everything and rush to your side whenever you need them. AND they're damn fun to be around.

there's a level of intimacy, comfort, and loyalty in the knowledge that you're a priority to someone, and that he or she truly has your best interest at heart. one of my best friends does not mind if i'm so busy that i can't touch bases with her until 3,4 at night. she actually makes me call her in the middle of the night to talk rather than wait till the next time we're both free, cause we know that time will never come. it's very selfless and touching when you think about it, and i'm so blessed to have friends like that in my life. currently my two bests are both hundreds of miles away, but we talk nearly every day. to think of them, and how much i value their friendship makes the whole annoyance at the other friends vanish.

it's late, this was long, and believe it or not, i have more to say on friendship. well, comparing friendship with relationships. it's been a think-y weekend. next time.

i love you aep and ocm.

you make me smile, by really getting into the swing

my dog and I used to dance around the kitchen to this song.

i miss her immensely.

my birthday is coming up

anyone want to buy me this?

dress: YSL, Spring 2007 Collection i believe

price: so outrageous no one will publish it

Paulo Coelho, get out of my head.

she thought she would feel happy because she was going home, but she wasn't.
she thought she would feel sad because she was leaving a city that had treated her so well, but she didn't.
the only thing she could do now was to shed a few tears, feeling rather afraid of herself, an intelligent young woman, who had everything going for her, but who tended to make the wrong decisions.
she just hoped that this time, she was right.

-p.c., eleven minutes.

your mom blogs.

so here it is, i'm doing the blog thing.
i'm trying to chalk it up to the fact that i'm entering a completely new stage of my life. that adulthood, and all that comes with it, should provide plenty worth commenting on. real life, new people, blah blah blah.

truth is, however, that for the first time in my life, i'm not a student and i'm not working. i'm bored. so why not divert the time that i spend watching "the hills" re-runs to a better, if not more intellectual, interesting, and hopefully creative cause?

but i'm not making any promises. i very well may come here and start writing deep intellectual commentary on rob & big's methods of mini-horse rearing. feel free to leave then.

but for now, bienvenidos.