Gotta love the creative critics that you meet sometimes...

Beep beep boop.

Apparently, a computer can now do my job. For a long time, we have feared that robots will someday replace us - whether in job (think Wall-E) or in life (think iRobot).



Well... apparently creatives can now be replaced by A.I. when creating mediocre ads thanks to a team at EuroRSCG Paris. Is this good? No. Am I actually worried? Hell no! Nothing can replace the human (or in some cases, monkey) brain in terms of creativity and ideas.

The software is called CAI, pronounced Kay, for Creative Artificial Intelligence.

CAI can be programmed to produce ads by selecting a product category (say, soft drinks) and type of product (for instance, coffee, energy drinks, fruit juice, milk, tea or water).

Next up are questions about objectives. Do you want to generate awareness? Create loyalty? Increase purchase? Introduce a product? Recruit customers? CAI then wants to know the demographic target for the ad by sex and age.

Last come questions on the intended benefits of the product. For milk, for example, qualities like fresh, healthy and organic are offered. CAI ponders all those requirements, then produces three possible ads that meets them.

CAI can randomly generate an estimated 200,000 ads. In a recent demonstration, the software brought forth bland and formulaic — but perfectly acceptable — ads that could run in magazines or newspapers, as banners on Web sites or on billboards.

Crazy cool? Yes. A fun, new innovation? Kind of. I'm not worried for my job either way. CAI produces mediocre ads at best, and I'm striving to create great ads. Maybe we can create one of these just for pharma ads. I'd be all for that. Heh. I'm sure med legal would really love that.

(via The New York Times)

Redefining the online shopping experience

There was a brilliant article that I came across today on Nordstrom.com. Mind you, I can't find one in NYC to save my life (do they even exist here?), but I still love the place. I've been going to Nordstrom stores since I was in a stroller. I never bought anything when I was little, of course; I was my mom's hang-everything-up girl in the dressing room... and if I was really good, I was allowed to get a happy meal from the McD's in the mall. Too bad I wasn't the best behaved child. Heh.

Anyways, Nordstrom is usually portrayed as a higher end department store (as opposed to Macy's, JC Penny, etc). In their economical fight, they haven't taken the usual route of lowering prices or hosting perpetual sales. Instead, they've redesigned their e-commerce site to include up-to-the-minute inventory of their online AND physical stores. This means that you can buy that jacket that you love online and pick it up the same day in the store (or have it shipped to you).

The change works this way: Say that a shopper was looking at a blue Marc Jacobs handbag at Nordstrom.com. She could see where it was available at nearby stores, and reserve it for pickup the same day.

More significant, if the Web warehouse was out of that bag, it did not matter. Inventory from Nordstrom’s 115 regular stores is also included. Maybe there was just one handbag left in the entire company, sitting forlornly in the back of the Roosevelt Field store — it would be displayed online and store employees would ship it to the Web customer.

What Nordstrom did on its Web site — displaying stock from both the Web warehouse and its stores all at once, was unusual. And that, said Jamie Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Direct, drove "some pretty meaningful results."

There are other stores that do something similar, but no department stores that I'm aware of. Borders Bookstores offer the ability to reserve your book or DVD online and have it waiting for you at the cashier's stand. Electronics stores like Circuit City and Best Buy have also provided similar services.

(via New York Times)

Clients

Client ego vs Client expectation. You're stuck in the middle.

I'm a terrible blogger

Clearly, I #FAIL at blogging.I will attempt to start again soon. In theory. Okay... who are we kidding? I prefer Tweeting. In fact, I enjoy Tweeting so much, I have two public Twitter accounts. One for advertising and design and another dedicated to my favorite pastime - eating.

A lot has happened since last December's post. I was fortunate enough to fly back to San Diego last spring to attend the San Diego ADDYs Gala 2010 and reconnect with mentors and peers. I'm sure glad that I did, because I ended up with a Student Gold ADDY for my Sudafed campaign. It also took home the Student Best In Show! I was in shock.


Things have been busy at work. Most recently, I've been spending a lot of time on perfecting a website that we're trying to get out the door. *crosses fingers* I've also been helping out a lot with one of the first iPhone Apps that I've ever worked on designing - a business app for OfficeMax. It's amazing how fluidly you can design for an iPhone with all of Apple's guidelines. I think that I really like designing for Apple products.

I didn't work on it, but the agency website got a makeover. Look closely in the right place, and you can see my tongue!