Testicular Breakdancing

Marc shared this funny little dance number he saw on Adverbox.



It's an independent effort from writer/director Mark Pallis. The dancers are Dan Burns and Shay Lee.

There's only one problem, and that's the "Mo" theme. Movember has a focus on prostate cancer, while the dancers are demonstrating self-screening for testicular cancer. (Although the UK group includes other male-specific cancers.)

Oh well, I guess we should be happy that the breakdancers aren't checking their prostates. That would be much more awkward.

Admen "growing their 'staches to save ther asses"

When it comes to doing great work for an important cause, even an adman's competitive nature can get a temporary reprieve. And that's why I'm going to use today's blog to give props to a local rival, McMillan, for their absolutely hilarious Moustaches! The Men of McMillan 2010 fundraising calendar.

As a spontaneous outgrowth of their hairy efforts for prostate cancer research last Movember (regular readers may recall my caterpillar lip from the time) the lads decided to dress up as 1970s stereotypes, do a photoshoot, and publish a joyfully retro man-a-month calendar to raise even more money for the cause.

Here's an example, starring my good friend (and onetime boss) Creative Director Jake Volt:



The 'staches are outrageous, the outfits absurd, and the copywriting epically ironic.

You can buy your very own Moustaches! The Men of McMillan 2010 calendar for $10 — or just donate to the cause — at this link. I'm told that all materials and services were donated, so every cent goes to the cause.

Great work, guys! And thanks for inspiring us all to be at our best when what we're doing is something that really matters.

Mo Bro No Mo

It's been a good month. Thanks to generous donations from friends and family, my moustache and I were able to raise $437.24 for Prostate Cancer Canada as part of Movember.

Along with me, Mike, James and Christopher sported dashing 'staches for the month.

Moustaches have a long and proud history at Acart Communications. For most of the company's history, Al Albania's Italian classic was as much a part of our brand as the Pegasus. (He shaved it last year, just for a change.)



Today, facial hair still abounds across the generations, championed by our bearded VP Client Serices, John Westbrook, and our moustached Senior Creative Director, John Staresinic.

But it's just not me. I had fun, to be sure, rocking the 'stache around town and seeing how people reacted differently to me. Teenagers were more likely to call me "sir". Store clerks treated me with a little more deference. My neighbours in Vanier treated me like one of their own. I even got some bona fide compliments from a few men and women alike.

But enough's enough. I promised my wife the whiskers would go, so off they went early this morning.


























There are more pics at my MoSpace page: http://ca.movember.com/mospace/348858

Thanks to all my supporters from Canada, as well as the United States, Spain and Australia: Marylil Megginson (you can always count on Mom!), Mary Jo Megginson, Lyle Fairfield, Jill Relyea, Rachel Playfair, Paul Notman, Bonnie Robinson, Raf Khan, Paul Megginson, Doug Robinson, Jason Hamilton, Kerry Cavlovic, Chantal Vallerand, David Megginson, Luther Caverly, Richard Lefroy, Ann Lefroy, Art Brion, Mary Beth Wolicky, Daryn Wantuck, Tim Wantuck, Meeta Chawla and Jesse Perrin.

And a big Mo Bro shout out to the competition at McMillan, where their 13-man "Stachinistas" team cranked out $2,660 in donations.

When we gang up to kick cancer's ass, everyone wins.

"What does a Creative Director do?"

A few months ago, I was getting ready for a meeting while an A/V guy was setting up our new system. We got to chatting, and immediately recognized each other as fellow smartasses. He was asking me about my job, and it came down to "so you just sit around and tell everyone else what to do, eh?"

Turned out he had to keep working through our meeting, which was a large creative brainstorm on a new brand for a government program. I ran the meeting, solicited ideas, gave direction, pushed people for more thought, and bent, spindled and mutilated the results until we had three strong conceptual approaches.

The meeting ended and I asked the guy, "now do you get what I do?" He did.

I know there are a lot of advertising students reading this blog now, so this post is for them. I get a lot of people calling me and telling me they're interested in Creative Direction. I often get the impression that they think it's just like this:



Besides the fact that there's a lot less smoking, infidelity and on-the-job drinking in the real world than on TV (well, less smoking and infidelity anyway...) Creative Direction in a 45-person Ottawa agency bears little resemblance to the glamour of the golden age.

So, for all those keeners who have asked me what being a CD is like, here are my "to do" lists from this week:


Monday

- Studio Managers' meeting: planning for the week's expected workload. By noon, everything will have been changed, delayed or have had its deadlines greatly accelerated.
- TV concept presentation to federal clients.
- Brief on client Xmas e-card.
- Blog about our foster parenting campaign

Tuesday

- Internal meeting on new transit campaign.
- Prepare pitch materials on another campaign.
- Review updated banner ads.
- Meet again on Xmas card.
- Write partnership prospecting letter for client.
- Secure freelance francophone Creative partner for another project.
- Review brochure copy.
- Review super treatment for TV ad.
- Review more banner revisions.
- Review voices for TV voiceover re-record.
- Blog about Facebook ads.

Wednesday

- Get interviewed by Ryerson Student Radio on Social Marketing
- Brief on new social media opportunity
- Re-present TV concepts to federal clients' boss. Major changes required.
- Direct voiceover re-record for another TV ad, over-the-phone, to Montreal studio

.
Thursday

- Provide last-minute creative direction for Xmas card
- Check in with French creative partner
- Drive to Kingston for campaign wrap-up-lunch with St. Lawrence College (note: if you're ever in Kingston, I highly recommend Chez Piggy.)
- Drive back to Ottawa.
- Deal with several major crises that developed while I was away.
- Review and approve new voiceover for one TV offline, and new music for that one and another.
- Overnight: review and rewrite presentation for Friday pitch.

Friday

- Review, direct French creative.
- Direct English adaptation of same.
- Develop social media plan for new prospect.
- Finalize pitch deck.
- Blog about this. (How meta!)
- Rehearse pitch.
- Do pitch.
- Present new French creative (and English adaptation) to client.
- Present Xmas card to client.
- Go home for pizza & wine with the fam.

I've barely touched on evening and weekend work, or the fact that last week included four 12-hour TV shoot and post-production days in Montreal.

So, my keen young CD wannabes, I present to you the awesome reality of the job:



By the way, the moustache will be gone by next Tuesday. So if you want to help me kick cancer's ass, please donate to my Movember page at http://ca.movember.com/mospace/348858

F*ck you, Cancer!

This is my kind of cause marketing campaign: It's meaningful, street-level, message-driven, and has kickass attitude:



It's part of the Canadian Cancer Society's "Fight Back" campaign. I haven't been able to track down the ad agency responsible, [update: a commenter tells me it's DDB Canada] but I wish I had done this campaign. It's been up around town for several weeks now, yet it keeps getting my attention.



The reason I'm so keen on the tone is that, like many Canadians, I have lost loved ones to cancer. Both my maternal Grandparents succumbed to it, too young, and it eventually got the best of my paternal Grandmother — even though she lived strong with thyroid cancer to the age of 98.

I find that people who deal with the spectre of cancer in the family tend to react in one of two ways: Either in hushed tones, as a taboo subject, or with righteous anger.

I am one of the latter group. It may seem irrational to anthropomorphize a cellular disease, but even misplaced anger is a great motivation. My mother tells me the story of how my uncle, a family doctor, was prone to fits of rage against inanimate objects when he realized he could not save their mother's life. But he remained a vigilant and committed fighter against the disease for the rest of his career. I imagine many researchers are driven by the same fire.





















Through activities like Movember or our Breast Aware Day last month, I've participated in some of the goofier consciousness-raising efforts. But for me it's a particularly vengeful form of satire.

Beneath my cheesy, sparsely-sprouting moustache, you should be able to hear me muttering:

"Fuck you, Cancer!"

Adding a little Mo to the cause

I'm off to a late start, but inspired by Facebook friends like Jake and Dave O., I've joined the whiskers brigade for Movember.

According to their Web site, "Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues - specifically prostate cancer."

Participants are invited to grow a moustache all month to raise awareness and donations towards prostate cancer research. I'm doing it. How could I not?

Acart Communications has a long association with the moustache. Al Albania, our President, was long famous for his Italian classic until he recently shaved it off for a change. John Staresinic, our Senior Creative Director, still rocks his. These are the two men I report to, so a little flattery through imitation can't hurt, right?

That said, I've never been a facial hair guy. My sideburns occasionally get a little '70s copshowesque, but I declined the whole goatee trend, and I've never had more than a week's beard. But I'm up for this. If I can wear an enormous pink bra to client meetings for women's health, the least I can do is grow a hair for my own gender.

So please donate! The movement has an excellent online donation tool. My page is http://ca.movember.com/mospace/348858.