Brand You

The first big-ish assignment in portfolio this semester is called Brand You. Charlie paired everybody up. We have to learn about the other person - everything about them. likes, dislikes, values, what makes them tick, what makes them laugh, what they eat, etc. Next month, we have to give a presentation about our partner, as if they were a brand.

My partner- Kevin. I don't know him well, and that's what Charlie's aim was. We went to lunch last week, and it was awesome. We have so much in common and I had no idea. The biggest similarity I noticed was how we feel about Adcenter and planning. We get frustrated to hear that some people are here because it "sounded fun." We bleed strategic planning every day, feel like we've won the lottery, always look around, thinking we'll be "found out," because we think it's so fun and amazing. Like we're cheating, or something. The idea of a Groundhog Day "career" TERRIFIES us.

We asked each other a lot of questions. I am going to suggest we watch Lost in Translation together, because he asked to borrow it, and it's my favorite movie.

There is a segment in Blink about finding out about certain aspects of a person's character and personality by looking through their living space. One study showed that this - as opposed to spending lots of time with the person - can be more telling, in some instances. So we're going to snoop through each other's apartments. I'm going to make note of what he keeps in his fridge. how he organizes his movies. whether his bed is made. the colors he uses. I already know he has a collection of old Russian communist posters. I'll have to ask him about those.

What else... oh we'll be looking through each other's Adcenter applications. It'll be great to see how we responded to the questions /assignments differently. It'll give me a peek into how his mind works, a little.

I already know that we have identical communications styles (feeler /intuitor, then intuitor /feeler under stress).

I'm excited. What a cool and effective assignment. Maybe I can put his branding of me into my portfolio. We should go to ColdStone, so I can see how he deals when there are a million choices of something. I know he likes ice cream, too. Maybe I'll write a Kevin creative brief, get a team to do an ad or something, or get an art director friend to design a logo for him.

I'm excited.