Volcano: My Personal Brand

My logo.

For my Advertising class in the Red River College of Applied Arts, Science and Technology Creative Communications program, we have been assigned to create personal brands for ourselves.  As you can see, I had to design a logo for this project.  I created a moniker called "Volcano".

Why "Volcano"? Why not just "Zach Samborski"? Well, I figured it would be good to create a concept that stood out.  In many ways, I am like a volcano.  Before it erupts, a volcano is simply just a form of mass rock.  When the volcano erupts, it stands out above everything else.

I am like a volcano in that I am as conservative as the rocks that surround me from time to time.  But on the odd occasion, I'll erupt -- not in anger, but rather in terms of projecting things like major creative ideas, opinions, and humor.  Some people have their own concepts.  For Hunter S. Thompson, there was Raoul Duke.  For me, there is The Volcano.

Like the volcano that erupts, I make my ideas known and my opinions clear when the time calls for them.  I will not be afraid to speak my mind on a given subject.  In my Journalism class, I spoke with anger when discussing parking meter increases.  I noticed I had the attention of almost the entire room.  In The Writer's Craft class, I was doing crazy song and dance routines that also had the attention of the entire room.

Like a volcano, I am unpredictable, and when I erupt with ideas, I seem to unleash them all at once.  I believe in the dramatic and the conceptual, and I try to incorporate the conceptual into almost anything, including the logo above.

Like a volcano, I make the strongest statement.  Like the volcano's eruption, I form strong opinions.  I am rarely apathetic.  I believe in a world where the unjust are rightly punished, where kindness is rewarded.  And I believe that collective thought should never take precedence over individual creativity.

And once I exit this Creative Communications program, I hope to leave my conceptual mark in the real world.  As someone who is hoping to major in Public Relations, I want to create campaigns of intrigue and memorability.  I want to take complicated messages and simplify them into memorable logos or one-word statements.  I want to create things that cannot go unnoticed.

It is necessary to blend in with all other rocks for awhile and then erupt with ideas at the precise moments.  Eruptions are not memorable if they are never-ending.  Eruptions are only memorable because they take people by surprise.  Sooner or later, I want to be known as someone who took the world by surprise.





"Viewing" Audiences

I consider myself to be a highly analytical person.  And whenever I hear about a television show getting big, I try to picture the audience watching that particular show.

Take the show True Blood, for example (or just about any other show on HBO).  I have never seen a single episode of True Blood, but I have seen video clips and images.  I have also seen some of the marketing campaigns for that show (and the DVD covers).  After seeing these videos and images, I sort of have a picture of the typical True Blood viewer.  All of the actors and actresses on the show are in their mid 20s to early 40s, and I picture the audience to be in that same age range.

The True Blood viewer probably lives in an apartment or condominium, and is likely female.  She probably listens to Adele and goes to Starbucks every day.  I'm guessing she may read some Nicholas Sparks novels from time to time.  She probably likes to talk about Ryan Gosling or whoever you find in PEOPLE.

It may sound stupid to say you know who the typical True Blood viewer is.  But if you look at how the show is marketed, you can see there are subliminal messages intended for specific demographics.

Just take a look at this picture of the cast:

 

(source: sciencefiction.com)

 



Look at how they are dressed.  Look at their facial expressions.  Look at how they pose.  If you're in your late twenties, you can relate to this depiction.  You can relate to the sexual undertones and the depictions of youth.

 

You cannot create a successful television show if you invent characters out of thin air.  You need to know what people are wearing, what kind of alcohol people are drinking, and what fascinated people.  The most successful television shows are ones with characters that mirror their audiences.  People in their late twenties and early thirties obssess over this show because they can relate to the characters. 

 

In many ways, it is our narcissism that dicates our viewing habits.  We want to be told that we are important.  If we get that message, then we will listen.  People do not watch True Blood because it is about vampires.  People watch True Blood because it's a show about twenty-something and thirty-something yuppies who encounter what we call "first-world problems".  Vampirism is just the hyperbole.  Cosmopolitanism is the main message, and that is why I picture a cosmopolitan audience watching True Blood.  The "vampires" on the show act the way cosmopolitan young adults are supposed to act.

 

 

 





The allure of international brands

The Winnipeg Free Press reported today that Marshalls, an American retail store that specializes in clothing, will be opening its first Winnipeg store sometime next year.

This probably would not make headlines in the United States.  But whenever a store from another country expands into Canada, people take notice.  Famous Dave's, Target, Best Buy, Forever 21, and Victoria's Secret all got considerable media attention when they expanded into Winnipeg.  So did Walmart when it purchased Woolco back in the early 1990s.

Remember Woolco?

(source: saclifeforce.com)

Sure, Americans are brand-savvy.  But because there are so many brands in the United States, many chains simply fade into the background.  If Target or Walmart opens up in a small city, it really is no big deal.  But in Canada, it is a big deal.  American chains are always at the forefront of Canadian consumer consciousness.  People line up for blocks when this new, exciting store opens.

But why is it such a big deal? Why do international brands garner so much attention in Canada? 

Because in this country, there seems to be a collective sense of feeling small.  As Canadians, we value our independence, but we admit that our influence on the world stage pales in comparison to that of the United States.  We are attracted to American brands because the influence of American culture is strong enough to "suck" us in.  But we are also attracted to American brands because, in many ways, we value being connected to the rest of the world.  Culture is now globalized, and so is our shopping mentality.  

In matters like politics, Canadians may resist the influence of the United States.  But consumer culture transcends political barriers and divisions.  We also marvel at brands from other countries.  IKEA (Sweden) is now the talk of the town in Winnipeg, and many of us also drive Japanese cars.  

What we are witnessing is not the Americanization of our culture and identity.  What we are witnessing instead is the breaking down of cultural barriers. 





Everywhere Is A Foreign Country

I only started going to socials and get-togethers this year (most of them are related to Creative Communications).  After years of not going to such events, I wanted to get out and experience what others had been doing for so many years.

This may sound ridiculous to some, but when I went to the Creative Communications Marker Social this September, I felt like I was in a foreign country, and I am not kidding about that.  I am not usually the kind of person you will find around strobe lights and DJs.  My concept of leisure has always been a trip to the buffet, casino, bookstore, library, public pool, and movie theatre; I have stayed away from bars a great deal.

It should not surprise you, then, that I was viewing the world through the eyes of a child when I was at the Marker Social.  Actually, I would describe it as an out-of-body experience.  I was dancing along with many other people, but in some respect, I didn't feel like I was "there".

What I learned from that experience is this: if you give your money and devote your time to the same old institutions, you create a world for yourself.  Once you go to other institutions like bars and nightclubs, the world you create becomes more complex, more complicated.

I will argue there are two kinds of worlds: the world you experience and the world as is.  The food you eat and the places you go to help create the former.  If tastes can change and if interests can change, then your world can change as well.  Seeing things from a different perspective helps create that world, and it is up to you to keep it as is or tear it down and start from scratch.