I will no longer publish my personal writings on this particular blog.  Currently, I am in the process of transferring my personal writing to a more private forum.  If you subscribe or read my personal prose, please let me know so I can provide you with the link and necessary information to gain continued access.

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Best,

Jen

Myriad of Heavens, #43

A word says what it can
In the way that an inch
Says it’s on a path
to the sun.

- Tim Scannell

———————————–

my logical mind
of no value
among the red leaves

- Michael Fessler

———————————–

that
romance
of

a
single
room

- John Martone

The last poem is an especial favorite. Wit in stylin’. I like.

In regards to the former, I told her about my dream (which are not to be confused with vision) and the roadblocks that have presented themselves. She, sympathetic but optimistic, still has not figured out what she wants to try. Instead, she is more concerned with the immediate: Where do I want to live? And I think she’s right – I should think about that too, and probably before I get stuck in this career warpath.

Having just moved to Austin, Texas, a few months ago, my friend liked the place, but I could tell that nothing in particular enthralled her. After a few minutes of typing and no real messages being sent over the interwebs, we both started throwing out names: Portland, Chicago… New York.

Of the three, we were both the most excited about Portland and Chicago. Our parents (and our friends’ parents) have expressed distaste (and even disdain) whenever we bring this up: “But Chicago! It’s so provincial!” “Portland? But Jen, you already bitch about the Whole Foods crowd we find here. And you know how serious they are about that in Portland!”

All I know is that it would be nice to live somewhere and work somewhere where the people are not obsessed with the superficial. Even though I grew up in Los Angeles and actually thrived, I have never really given thought to how shallow and truly provincial this town is. Or rather, it has never annoyed me to the point of waspishness until now.

I have a feeling it’s in Chicago or Portland. But not now. I rather like not having to stream KCRW via podcast on my commutes.

Is the campaign too much like Chuck Norris? Perhaps, but for a lot of the 18-25 crowd (aka, those who consume cheap beer), Chuck Norris is a red-faced, red-bearded dude who sells exercise equipment when ads for Girls Gone Wild isn’t looping on cable channels.

They don’t remember Chuck Norris or his former glory.  Few are aware of the parallels between Chuck Norris and “The Most Interesting Man In the World.”

Back to the topic – I think the ads are brilliant because they are perfectly curated by medium. In particular, I find the radio ads rather ingenious. Car commercials are meant to be calls to actions, reminders and all other sorts of triteness. They usually are formulaic in content and brash in its delivery (I would personally like to pay $1,000 to sock some of the voice actors in the trachea). Since they are relatively cheap, they are very (very, very, very) repetitive.

But what gets lost in this jumble is the fact that people listen to live radio when they absolutely have no other choice. In other words – when they are driving sans iPod or satellite radio. Commuters are not interested in being heckled. They want to be entertained; a joke to lighten the load of a stressful day and an even more frustrating commute is a rare gem. Hence the genius behind Dos Equis.

Speaking from my own experience, I prefer to listen to the radio during commutes because it gets awfully lonely sitting in a car for an hour. Each way. Sometimes, putting on the iPod is out the question since playing the music that is so representative of my personality just reinforces the fact that I am sitting in my car. Alone and bored! It is for this reason that I would rather listen to the radio, which allows me to learn what the rest of the world has been up to. Or, at the very least, what the rest of the world is listening to (but will never make it onto my iPod).

But the ads! UGH! This brings me to the title of this post: Fresh & Easy. I counted 5 Fresh & Easy spots on the drive home. 45 minutes / 5 ads = approximately 1 Fresh & Easy ad every 9 minutes. Repetition would not be an issue if the ads paid heed to the fact that radio listeners are in dire need of entertainment, some distraction from the tailgaters.

By all means, it is not a bad ad, but it is not clever, amusing or different.

The one point of differentiation – “We use real customers, not celebrities, in our ads so that we can pass the savings onto you” – falls short. First, the customer testimonials and deliveries sound extremely canned. The older commercials (from maybe a year ago) were a touch more authentic (but still by no means good ads). Now, they are run-of-the-mill. And since when did grocery markets start using celebrities in their ads? Call me contrary, but I think the best ads should be based on some truth. And amusing, because honestly – humor is the easiest emotion to toy with.

But yeah – Fresh & Easy, stop it! Your strategy is showing, and it ain’t good. In this particular case, Showing strategy : ad campaign :: Splenda : Cookies. We can taste the fake and we don’t like it ’cause we know what good cookies are supposed to taste like.

What makes this ad so brilliant?

1. It is touching;
2. The message on the importance of details is matched by the ad’s own attention toward details (i.e., yellow tint);
3. Details are fatally overlooked because many are so simple; and
4. The ad is very simple.

Now, give me a moment to explain. In the world of marketing, we are constantly trying to put ourselves in the consumer’s shoes. Is the consumer male or female? How old is s/he? Educational background? The list goes on and on. Since the 1940s, especially with the reliance on the Gallup poll and more scientifically-oriented marketing techniques, a large portion of the industry is dedicated to predicting what will be the next trend.

In regards to the visual sense, consumers are aware of the latest fashion trends, interior and web design trends, etc. due to lists compiled by various publications and/or authorities. In particular, fashion is slave to Conde Nast. Recently, however, I have seen evidence that bloggers and microbloggers have increasingly more influence. For interior design, 2010 was the Year of White Interiors, Scandinavia, and Shabby Chic (gag).

And – of course – the Top 40s dictate much of the auditory stimuli we encounter. (Great comeback Eminem, but next time leave the Whiny Mosquito named Rihanna out of your albums, thanks so much!)

So what of the olfactory system? Is 2010 the year of gourmand scents? Florals? Or is vetiver making a comeback?

I ask this because I am an avid fan and collector of fragrances. It is the perfect combination of my grandmother’s influence (She used to let me play with her perfume collection) and my mother’s obsessive love for flowers (She used to leave us at the school playground for hours so she can spend more time with her damn hydrangeas. Her father was also an eminent horticulturalist).

Simply smelling the scents that have been released in 2010, notably those by Prada, Hermes and Emilio Pucci, tells me nothing. They run the entire spectrum from fruity to floral to spicy/oriental, and then there are the woodsy ones (Burberry, please try something new!).

Why? Why is scent seemingly the exception to “trends”?

One answer: scent is incredibly personal, and thereby powerful. I hate amber-heavy scents, but my aunt prefers them. No two women are alike, and chances are neither are their perfumes. It would be difficult to create or map olfactory trends because preferences change very little. In my experience (and from speaking to “noses”), people rarely change tastes. If a woman prefers sugary scents, then chances are all her perfume purchases will be sugary in foundation. Likewise with men, the vast majority of whom prefer green scents, such as ivy and pine. Therefore, trends change very slowly and over a long time horizon. (Compare your grandmother’s perfume to yours, that’s how long dramatic changes take)

In the States, scent is especially overlooked. Children and even teens are not introduced to perfumes and colognes because scent carries sexual connotations. The Christian lore of Mary Magdalen bathing Christ’s feet with perfume and her hair did not give the Puritans any reason to view scent as beneficial to the theocracy they sought to create. Rather than view scent as an art form or a receptacle for memory, Americans tend to treat scent as an extension of the Sexual Body.

Europeans, however, view scent differently. I remember lallygagging in gardens and cafes around France and Luxembourg, watching children play with their mothers’ scarves and asking their mothers what scent combinations composed the perfumes they smelled on the silk.

It is a shame that children in America must rely on the smell of Pond’s cold cream or the scent of their mothers’ favorite fabric softener to recall their mothers’ love years later. It is so uncouth, and incredibly sad that children grow up without knowing that their mothers smelled of XYZ perfume. The ability to name the source of the scent will play a crucial role for those who seek to recall their mothers after they have passed. There is nothing more romantic and touching than to walk into a Saks or Bloomingdale’s, and to ask the respective perfumeries for a bottle or sample of one’s mother’s or grandmother’s favorite perfume (that you dumped into the toilet because you were four, and grandmother should have known better than to give you the whole bottle).

My grandmother has not passed. And I dread the smell of Nina Ricci and Chanel No. 5, regardless to how celebrated these scents may be. But I know that when I am in my thirties or forties, a waft of either of those two perfumes in an elevator or at the theatre will touch me to tears.

So – What are your favorite scents?

“Your sprinklers are broken. Indeed, the sound of wasted water spilling onto the pavement is similar to torrents of fall rain. Please fix your sprinklers or make necessary adjustments to your irrigation rituals. I am leaving word of this issue, which has persisted for months, due to the fact that our state is struggling with a long drought and the hottest summer in recent history.

- A concerned neighbor (12:36 a.m.)”

And yes, I would do this again. In a heartbeat.