I think unemployment is decreasing my attention span. I never learned iMovie yesterday because I kept getting distracted by great TV spots rather than watching the tutorials. I also forgot to write a chronicle. I know this kind of stuff happens as you age, but for Pete's sake, I'm only 24.

Anyways, some of the commercials, like the ones below, were pretty inspirational. I guess you could say it was quasi-productive. Watching great creative always gets my creative adrenaline flowing. That can't be terrible, right?

Hopefully, I’ll get around to iMovie soon. Or better yet, a job.

#HireTodd

You know, world, today wasn’t that awful. It was actually quite productive compared to most jobless days.

I came across some new job openings that I promptly applied to.

I gained some new contacts, which at the very least will be able to provide some advice on how to jumpstart this career.

But the best thing of all was that I created a masterpiece of pure genius: turkey on a breakfast sandwich. While bacon, ham, and sausage are all fabulous, turkey, egg, and cheese has definitely stolen the morning spotlight. When Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks pick this up, I’m making sure I get some credit. 

If you can’t tell, even the simplest things are starting to seem extraordinary.

So, hopefully an opportunity will pop up soon. I’m not sure how much more Xbox I can play before I want to chuck the thing out the window in a boredom-induced rage.

Tomorrow’s task is teaching myself how to use iMovie so I can mock up some cool TV spot ideas I’ve been working on. Wish me luck.

#HireTodd 

I was standing in the shower. I was so brain dead from spending the morning trying to make my book better that I thought the water hitting my head was actually going to pierce my skull.

I’ve suffered through 54 days of unemployment, and I’m going crazy. Will the madness ever stop?

But then it hit me. And I don’t mean the water. Why not record my struggles of job hunting? Maybe I can make it sound interesting enough that someone will actually like reading it. Or maybe someone will just have pity on my poor soul.

So here goes nothing.

Days 1 – 53 of unemployment can be recapped with two simple words: it sucks.

I’ve sent hundreds of emails. I’ve made phone calls. I’ve done informational interviews

I’ve filled out numerous online applications, most of which require 2-5 years experience. How does one get experience in advertising when nobody is willing to give it to him?

Glassdoor thinks I am qualified to be a military police officer for the Army, and Monster.com thinks I can be a creative director at Mullen (I wish).

I’ve worked on several new ideas for my book, but they’re just on paper. Any rock star art director that would like to help me produce them would be great.

So hopefully day 54 will be the start of something good. It might capture the eye of a creative director looking for some fresh, new talent. And if it doesn’t work, at least I’ll have fun writing.

Tonight will consist of more creative brainstorming, homemade turkey burgers with a side of baby corn, and some college basketball. Let’s hope somebody really screwed up today and got fired, or that an agency won a huge account. The latter is probably best. But until that happens, we’ll just keep our eyes and ears open for jobs.

#HireTodd

As an avid sports fan and an advertising guy, Super Bowl Sunday is probably my favorite day of the year. I get to experience the best of both worlds, a great game between the top two football teams and the highest echelon of television commercials.

Unless you’re a Seattle Seahawks fan, the football aspect of Super Bowl XLVIII wasn’t too exciting. It was a blowout from the start and wasn’t very interesting. I’m assuming you hoped to find solace with some great advertising spots. And unfortunately, the commercials were just as much of a buzzkill as the game.

This has been a trend in recent years. The commercials on the past few Super Bowl Sundays have been disappointing to say the least. While there have been a couple bright spots like Chrysler’s "Halftime in America" and Dodge’s "Farmer," the overall quality of ads hasn’t lived up to the hype. And it’s quite a shame.

There is certain criterion that makes a Super Bowl ad great. It needs to be something totally original, unique, and display out-of-the-box thinking. It needs to inspire people and make them excited about the brand. And most importantly, a great Super Bowl ad needs to be something that everyone will always remember. Quite frankly, we did not get any great ads last night.

Now don’t get me wrong, not every spot last night was bad. I enjoyed spots from Wonderful Pistachios (see below), Heinz Ketchup, CarMax, and believe it or not, GoDaddy. But these ads were good for a snowy Monday afternoon in February, not for the greatness that is Super Bowl Sunday. Maybe I’m just a harsh critic, but most of the ads seemed to lack originality and were mundane and predictable.

So in the end, I would say there was no winner of the Brand Bowl because there wasn’t a truly great ad. Nothing blew me away, which is what I expect from every Super Bowl spot. If you held a gun to my head and forced me to pick a winner, I’d probably say Stephen Colbert stole the show with Wonderful Pistachios. It started out as a bust with Part 1, and then Part 2 came in to save the spot. Colbert was pretty funny and I loved seeing an eagle in a vest and tie. But in all honesty, the spots would’ve been more stellar if they aired last Sunday during the Grammy Awards.

Hopefully, we’ll see an improvement next year. Let’s pray the football game is more captivating and entertaining. And for advertising’s sake, let’s pray the spots are original, awe-striking, enthralling, and the best commercials we’ve ever seen in one night. If I have to put up with another Budweiser Clydesdale being sad about losing a friend, I might lose my mind.