Kevin Rothermel

No Spoilers.

Brand Strategist
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

No Spoilers.

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Archives for May 2010

Art & Copy & Sour Times

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Krissie and I just finished watching Art and Copy, and while I was hoping to feel excited about advertising after watching it, it left me with a sour taste in my mouth about the business. Ben Malbon posted a similar reaction a few minutes ago on the Twitternets:

 

"Just finished watching 'Art & Copy'; nice film, but left me feeling melancholic vs euphoric. A little bit too much nostalgia." 

 

Some great stories told by great people, but ultimately it sort of felt like a VH-1 Rockumentary about Woodstock. 

 

"We sure did change the world" says a wistful aging rockstar as he stares off into the distance. 

 

Where was the spit and venom about the future? Why was the newest campaign featured nearly 10 years old? 

 

Surely the point was to just tell some great stories about advertising legends, but why do I feel like I've just attended an open casket wake?  

The People Who Make Videogames Are Lying To You

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Gaming companies are notorious for saying ill-advised things during interviews and press conferences. I think it must have something to do with the fact that the people that make the games are geeks and the other people are professional marketing people that often give the impression that they don't care about making games. Replace their company with a cracker factory and they might hardly notice, except that the data would change.  

 

Anyways, IGN has taken some of the most notorious misfires that have come out of the gaming industry and turned them into Soviet propaganda posters. The results are mixed as most of the quotations don't work as propaganda at all, but I enjoyed these three four (whoops): 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pirate Press, Made-By-Hand, No Google Manifesto

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via archinect.com

Archinect is holding a zine workshop this month taught by designer Alex DeArmond. They are taking a very cool, low tech approach to putting these things together. No computers allowed. Research done in the library, cutting and pasting involving paper cuts and actual paste. Seems like a great way to keep people in touch with working with their hands. I wouldn't know how to do a lot of that stuff by hand, but it sounds like it would be fun to learn.