VCU Brandcenter prof makes a mark on students | Richmond Times-Dispatch

VCU Brandcenter prof makes a mark on students | Richmond Times-Dispatch

This is an awesome article. A homage to one of the toughest and one of the best professors/teachers I've ever had in my life: Donald Ray Just. One of the more memorable quotes from the article which perfectly epitomizes the expectations of Don Just of his students in his Business of Branding class at the Brandcenter was from another of my fave professors at the Brandcenter Kelly O'Keefe who said, "Don Just was a formidable competitor who didn't just intend to win, he wanted to crush you,".

Read up my imaginary followers. Read up.....

When social media goes wrong...

Wow. The things people will tweet about. I hope none of my imaginary followers are followers of this lady....

It's been a while.....

and I'm still recovering from the semester. This semester was brutal. I definitely learned a lot which is always good but sleep was hard to come by. Now I know I said I was going to post something at least once a month and my last post was in Septmeber but I was definitely blind sided by all that has happened this semester. I did an opportunity to showcase my acting skills. First as the headliner in the modern day blaxploitation film, Delicious Aloicious which can be viewed here:

DELICIOUS ALOICIOUS from Chris Stephens on Vimeo.

I shaved shirtless for a Gillette Foamy spot for a couple of my classmates which got rave reviews from the ladies. Then most recently I got to be the dude from the Cracker Barrel logo, which my group and I decided to name Rockin Willie. I acted out the dialogue, actions, and mannerisms of Rockin Willie in our final presentations for our brand revival project which was a lot of fun and actually got Rick Boyko, the head man at the Brandcenter, to notice me.

Yeah I found out a lot about myself this pass semester and my ability to be a pretty decent actor was definitely a surprise to me.

Well till next time my imaginary followers....

Its nice to be needed but.....

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=114173

Article on the importance of Creative Technologists in the creative process. Its cool that Beth Lawrence believes that Creative Technologists essential but it would have been better if a more accurate description of what we do was provided.

Let me know what you think my imaginary followers......

I was wondering how long it would be before one of these things would show up....

One week in......

...and I'm back in the swing of things at the Brandcenter. All my professors have given me an ample amount of work on the first days of each class. All and all I havent really done much yet nor do I feel really overworked so its been a really smooth start to the semester.

Since there's nothing exciting to talk about pertaining to school I do want to talk about my glorious East Coast Tour the 2 weeks prior to starting school. In one weekend I went from New York to Maryland by bus, then Maryland down to Richmond (Virginia) by car to take a hot August afternoon to move my stuff out of my old place and into my new place, and back up to Maryland from Richmond on the same day, and then back to New York from Maryland on the next day by bus. After taking a one week break from my tour to go to work at my internship and move out of my place in Brooklyn, I went over to my Uncle's house in Long Island to enjoy a small one day vacation in the suburbs, then the next day I drove back down to Maryland, and the day after that I drove down to Richmond again to begin my second year at the Brandcenter.

Wow what a tour!!

Till next time my imaginary followers!!

Check out the length of the tour right here:

View Larger Map

So yeah I really suck at blogging....

So I was right to start my last post with "So apparently I suck at blogging...." because its been a month since that last post. This is probably why I have such a large audience of imaginary followers on this blog.

Anywho, today is the last day of my internship with G2 in New York City. Overall it was great experience. I learned a lot and I got to work on really cool brands like Dos Equis, Heineken, M&Ms, V8, and even Covergirl. I think splitting my time between G2 Branding & Design in the beginning of the summer and G2 Interactive at the second half really helped in making this summer be a very great experience for me. I have yet to work with copywriter and this is the second time I've worked as an Art Director at an Ad Agency but seeing as how I'm probably not going the traditional creative route anyway with me studying Creative Technology at the Brandcenter it probably doesn't matter. The people here were great to work with and coupled with all the other stuff I think G2 would definitely be in my mind when next Spring I start thinking about getting a job and working for the man again.

Last week the G2 interns presented our intern projects. We got split into 2 groups and we were tasked with marketing G2 to college grads and entry level applicants. Since we were split into 2 groups and both groups were working on the same project I took it that we were competing against each other. I had no problem in making sure that our presentation was more professional, more plausible in the real world, and better in every way possible than the other groups project. I wanted to destroy the other group. I definitely felt like we succeeded in doing those things. Not only were more questions asked after our presentation but people left during the other group's presentation.  Granted the other group went second, they decided a 10+ minute video was all the presentation they needed. Man we destroyed them. 

Its been a great summer. I just wished I spent more time enjoying myself and less time working like a dog. Classes start again next week. Sigh. I definitely wished I spent more time enjoying myself.....

Till next time imaginary followers and I promise that next time will be much sooner.

Yeah, its been that long....

So apparantly I suck at blogging periodically. The last time I posted something Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, and Steve McNair were alive. 

Right now I'm writing to you from my internship at G2 in New York City. I have been here working as an Art Director since the second week of June. I was working on the Branding and Design team on the Heineken promotional marketing account for the first half of the summer and since yesterday I have moved over to G2 Interactive to work on their Gold Fish and Pepperidge Farm interactive accounts. 

This internship experience has been really cool because I'm getting 2 different internships experience in summer and in one building. Its been really cool to flex my design and user experience muscle. So far unlike my internship back in 2005, I really feel comfortable doing any of the work they have given me. I had a chance while working with G2 Branding and Design to show my skills in photoshop and overall design skills as well while with G2 Interactive I feel like I'll be able to showcase what I have learned in my Creative Technology course work. I was kinda weird that at first when they told me that they were gonna share me between the 2 departments or branches (not sure what to call them) but now I'm really glad they did. This definitely keeps this internship fresh and new even 6 weeks-in.

So why did it take me long to tell you this. I've been really busy. Sure it would have sucked if I just constantly had nothing to do all day but a day here and there where I have nothing to do would be really great.

Well whatever. The Brandcenter has prepared me well for times like this..

Till nexttime, my followers who don't exist....

Wow my Strategic Branding group won...

Wow. So my Strategic Branding Group has been working on Audi pitch all semester and we FREAKIN WON!!!!!! Definitely a great feeling. Definitely felt 2 weeks before we presented that we were gonna win. Definitely felt halfway through the presentation that we were gonna win. Winning is awesome. Winning on something that you put your all in for the past 2 months is freakin awesome.

So what did we get you ask? Well nothing really but the 2 winning teams from the 2 Strategic Branding classes will be heading to Audi Corporate tomorrow to present to the CMO of Audi. So thats something. We also get a chance to see what the other winning team presented and we'll be able to see who the best of the best is.....

Wow, I won an award

Its been a while since I last published a post to my blog. Apparently I seem to suck with that. Thats probably the reason why I'll never catch on to things like Twitter. BTW when in the hell did the whole world get on Twitter. Shaq is "Tweeting" of all people. Actually tweeting rules are starting to be passed. Anywho I've driven down a long tangent and now I'm making U-turn back to the point of this post. Now then, I graduated from Syracuse 4 years ago and I'm proud to say I have won my first award for work that I've produced. Last month I won an award for a logo I designed while at my last job at Equals Three Communications. It was Silver Addy in the 2009 DC Addys. Unfortunately the Brandcenter doesn't allow for stopping and basking in the glow of your past work. The BC is very much on a think, make, modify, finish, and move frame of mind. I guess thats the type of mind frame this advertising/marketing industry is in. If you take time to stop and smell the roses you that you've been sawing off your right leg off for the past month you're gonna get ran over by the train full of new projects on the new project track. Wow that was lot of imagery..... The logo I designed is below.

Crotch Pong: One reason why VCU Brandcenter is the best advertising school on the planet

The above video is of a couple of my first year mates using their creativeness to embark in a game of CROTCH PONG!!! As ridiculous as this video may look one thing you have to note is that they were a study break while at the Brandcenter on a late SATURDAY NIGHT!!! Sometimes we need time to do things other than be creative geniuses. 

BYE BYE W!!!!!!!

Out of all the anticipated scenes and moments from Tuesday's historic Inauguration this was I the moment that I have been waiting for since 2004 when Bush got elected as President for the first time. Yeah I said 2004 was the first time he got elected. I still remember all those "1/20/09" bumper stickers I would see periodically and it always seemed to be the something that would bring a smile to my face. It wasn't that I hated or disliked W. but he was obviously not the right choice for President of the United States. Sure he gave idiots a reason to believe that they can be anything but idiots are not fit to lead. Enjoy ya ranch George. Your leadership will not be missed.

I like Billionaire Geeks

I'm always a sucker for this funny stuff.....

I'm always a sucker for a funny video link. In a way you could say the growing popularity of these hilarious video links is the reason why there is a Creative Technology track at the VCU Brandcenter. Good thing the world likes funny. Although a good dirty laugh has always brought the masses together. Links like this getting tossed around from person to person, email to email, computer to computer is just another example of how powerful "WE THE PEOPLE" are as a medium.