John Alabaszowski - MacLaren McCann - October 21 2011

John Alabaszowski, Group Creative Director, Maclaren McCann

JOHN'S CAREER PATH

John's LinkedIn Page

 

• Worked at NuRun as a designer for a about a year when it was a much larger company - approximately 200 people  
• He went to over to Infinet Communications as a Senior Designer for two years. 
• John decided to go out on his own and do some freelance work for about two and a half years. Worked with Alliance Atlantis as an art director for it's television brands including History Television, Food Network, Showcase, BBC Kids.  
• He was offered a job at MacLaren McCann and wasn't sure about giving up his job as a freelancer. He decided to do it for just a summer and seven years later he couldn't be happier with his job. He's had quite a few promotions and they are very flexible allowing him to switch jobs around the company when he feels he needs a change.

MacLAREN McCANN
MacLaren McCann Website

"Truth Well Told"

"For our work to ultimately be deemed successful, it must first be based on a human truth and that truth be well told with an honest and compelling story. It must be able to live beyond a specific channel. It must interrupt. It must create a dialogue direct to the brand and, more importantly, cause talk between consumers. It must drive the desired action. It must be infectious within a company. It must act as both guide and voice for how the brand talks and acts. It must be exceptionally crafted in thought and design. It must be enduring. It must, above all else, live in the hearts & minds of our customers."

The company is split into two sectors, one that deals with television, print and radio, and the other is the RM side that is linked with online, mobile and digital. 

MacLAREN McCANN WORK - THE COOL SH*T

Platform based media
New Car Releases - Three different approaches for three different cars
GM Webpage

ORLANDO
Orlando Microsite

• The "soccer mom" car — the design of the website was secondary to the message
• Because mom's hang out online so much they catered to their habits online
• They video taped mom's using the cars and basically were relying on third party users to generate content via twitter and news feeds.
• It was kind of a risky move, they had to confident that their product was a good one, otherwise the whole strategy could have gone really bad, but it turned out very successfully in the end.

SONIC
Sonic Microsite

• Youth oriented site
• Utilized traditional web design advertisement approach
• This site was also designed to be used in Facebook
• Less about driving people to just this one site anymore, it's about re-directing them to various places
• Side Note — this ad just popped up in my Grooveshark online music application after I visited and left the site, very appropriate placing (screen grab below)

 

VOLT
Volt Microsite

• Built for a completely different market - people that are concerned about their carbon footprint. They are an entirely new market, that are willing to pay more to do their part for the environment.
• They had to make a whole new kind of website for these consumers.
• Built a webpage using Google maps - highly interactive and intuitive
• You can plot your route and it will calculate how far you can go on the battery charge.

GMC TRUCK OWNERS NETWORK
GMC Truck Owners Network Site

• Their audience is not very tech savvy so their approach has to involve actual events with more traditional approaches such as press and play videos and nothing too complicated to use.

MASTERCARD #INTERNS WANTED CAMPAIGN
Matercard Interns Wanted Campaign Pilot

• The brief asked for a poster advertising Mastercard's call for interns. 
• This is one of those times working for a large company is great because McClaren told the client "You need more than a poster, student's are online, they don't look at posters anymore" so MacLaren McCann created an entire social media platform for them.
• Mastercard used Twitter, Facebook and QR codes for the entire application process and to test the applicants web intuition.

GEARS OF WAR 3
Gears of War Campaign Pilot

• Recruited gamers using hidden codes they had to unlock in the game. 
• Created a guerilla-style scavenger hunt where gamers were given mysterious codes, which when decoded directed them to Craigslists posts where they had to put together a puzzle of information which eventually led them to a butcher shop in Toronto and Vancouver.
• They then picked up a fake piece of alien meat with their VIP ticket to the game's opening event.

CAMP OOCHIGEAS - Camp for kids with cancer
Camp Oochigeas Work

Camp Oochigeas Site

• Private donations fund the camp - no government funding
• Because of the distance to Camp Oochigeas most kids that get elected to go to the camp cannot attend.
• They wanted to have an Evening of Summer Dreams, bringing "camp" to the city.
• They created a journey of 3 owls to follow until the fundraising event night.
• MacLaren McCann donated their time and bought all the paper for printing to create this campaign for Camp Ooch.
• Their microsite had a ton of hits, they created a Facebook and Twitter site to follow the owls journey which were highly successful.
• The paper invite has glow in the dark printing so when you turn off the light it reveals the three owls.
• Throughout the event they had the owls everywhere, even giant ones flying overhead.

HOW DO YOU GET TO WORK ON COOL SH*T?
 

WHAT DO THEY LOOK FOR?

• Go after the kind of work you want to do, don't settle for whatever just falls into you lap.
• At small shops you will be jack of all trades, but a larger shop you will get to work on larger accounts. It's up to you which you would prefer.

PORTFOLIO - HAVE ONE!

•  Make sure it's your very best work
• Show off your design skills and layout skills because those are transferable to different media
• Have some other work, work you do on your own time
• Keep it organized, no one wants to sit through your disorganization

INTERVIEW

• Be organized
• Don't drink before your interview, bad idea!
• Think of ways to stand out i.e. Tie guy example - the guy wore a tie and a t-shirt and everyone remembered him as tie guy
• Know the company and their clients
• Ask for feedback - everyone loves talking about what they are good at
• Be sure to show you are actively listening, take notes
• Take some things with a grain of salt, you will encounter people that are just assholes and will tell you awful things, not everyone is an asshole just make sure you don't lose your confidence because of one person

YOUR JOB - What are you expected to do?

• Do what your told, then do more
• Be noticed, put your hand up for work
• Develop a thick skin, you can't take criticism personally, it's the nature of the business
• Go into an interview or client presentation ninja style: expect to get killed, because most of your ideas and designs will get killed

ADVICE FROM MacCLAREN McCANN INTERNS

• Don't be drunker than your boss
• Spend the first couple weeks feeling things out, find your place
• Participate in social events

FINAL PIECE OF ADVICE FROM JOHN

• Don't take yourself to seriously. Enjoy your life. 
• This is your career and day job, love it, do your work well, but don't forget there is life outside of work, make sure to take advantage.
• His "ah-ha" moment was when his son was born when he thought to himself "Screw making websites, I make people!"

HOW TO CONTACT JOHN

• Twitter is the best way: @johnala
• Email is okay, but you might get lost in the shuffle: John.alabaszowski@maclaren.com

Fall Interactive Tour

FALL INTERACTIVE TOUR 2011



Ditching Class

Friday September 14th we ditched morning AND afternoon class and went to the Fall Interactive Studio Tour, hosted by Oddly Studios. Technically, it's not really ditching if your teachers go with you.
FTI Tour page
Oddly Facebook Page



Oddly Presentation

 
We gathered at 9AM at the Spadina Underground Cinema for a debriefing from Oddly Studios about how our day was going to play out. We got a little swag bag and a binder with some paper and pens. I was part of the Orange group where I met a bunch of great people in similar programs, some undergrads and a few people from industry. While other groups left for their tours our group stayed in the theatre where Tim, founder of Oddly Studios spoke a bit about his career path and how it led him to founding Oddly Studios.



Oddly Studios
Oddly Studio Website

About 30 minutes later we were whisked away to Oddly Studios for an early lunch and a presentation about some of the work that get's done around the studio. They showed us some fun stuff they do on the side and some promotional games they had made for clients. 

Click here for Oddly's portfolio page



NuRun Inc.
NuRun Inc. Homepage

We walked to the NuRun Inc. office at 96 Spadina Avenue, on the 9th floor. Did I mention 9th floor! It was tiring to walk up 9 flights of stairs, but definitely worth it. They delivered a great presentation about what their company does and went a little in depth about their process which was great to hear. We also got to sit in really neat space chair stools, at least I was impressed by the interior design elements, it was quite an impressive office. We visited both floors, the 9th floor being more design and accounts people and the bottom was where the big server lived in it's own room, and the developers had a great open concept office area (including a ping pong table in the kitchen).  We then had a 10 minute networking session with the staff of NuRun where they provided cute Halloween inspired treats. I spoke a bit about internship opportunities and just like that it was over and we had to go. They do take interns so send resumes and portfolios to: intern.toronto@nurun.com

Click here for NuRun's Blog


Boost Agents
Click here for Boost Agents Homepage
Click here for Boost Agents LinkedIn page

After our NuRun Inc. studio tour we headed back to the Underground Cinema for a presentation from Trina Boos founder of Boost Agents and Ad Lounge. They are a recruitment company specializing in creative, digital and marketing industries. Ad Lounge was something Trina started when she was attending the Sheridan advertising program about 10 years ago, before facebook and social media sites really took off. She wanted to unite the advertising class because they had all been slit up into groups and never got to socialize or get to know one another. She realized they were all eventually going to end up being colleagues and competing for the same jobs and thought why not start up with website for her class so they can all help each other out with job opportunities and like minded things. The next year something strange happened. People from all different programs across Toronto in similar industries started signing up for this group and the whole thing took off from there, now it's a local networking hub for advertising professionals.

Trina a lot spoke about do's and don'ts meeting industry folks and about their new event "The Dinner Series" where many young professionals apply to have dinner with CEO's and highly ranked advertising professionals. The whole point is to get the selected candidates networked with important people and comfortable speaking to people higher up on the food chain.

Trina emphasized the importance of having a life outside of work. Having hobbies and taking initiatives to start groups is very important. Be passionate about the work you do, and also be really passionate about things outside of work. Twitter and LinkedIn is also very important to maintain and update, goes a long way to show you are serious about your career. She was a great speaker and it was obvious she really loves what she does for a living, so all in all a great speech.

Check out the Ad Lounge site and Twitter feed below:

Click here for Ad Lounge's Homepage

Follow Ad Lounge on Twitter


JUNIPER PARK
Click here for Juniper Park's Homepage

At this point our group was running late so we speed-walked over to the Juniper Park headquarters, who have moved into Organic's old office space. We did not get the tour of the office, but apparently it's massive. I did notice their front reception area has an entire chalkboard wall, illustrated with all sorts of great cartoony things, I'm assuming done by staff members. Very cool touch, definitely on par in the coolness factor with the space chairs at NuRun!

Juniper Park really focuses on strategy and then how design and advertising come together after that. They did not show us any of their work in their presentation but rather spoke about why they do what they do. The presentation was very quick and fast paced, but I did learn they are hiring digital designers and send your resumes and portfolios to: iwantajob@juniperpark.com

Click here for Juniper Park's Portfolio



HENDERSON BAS KOHN
Click here for HBK's Website

We were rushed out of Juniper Park and practically ran over to Henderson Bas Kohn. We were led through their beautiful rustic office, almost entirely constructed of hardwood. This place was a little different from all the rest of the studios, they almost had their own little culture. Friday's are drinking days, they have patio parties in the summer, they bring their dogs into work and they work really, really, really hard. They also gave us Halloween candy which really went a long way to keep our energy up.

They showed us a lot of their work which was really insightful. They spoke about the iCoke Site, the Tim Horton's Facebook page, which I didn't know is SUPER popular (number 1 in Canada)! I actually just "Liked" it so I can see what they are doing to make it so interesting. They actually commented that they hardly had to go out of their way and ask people for content, everyone was just so happy to share their Tim Horton's experiences. Obviously they are doing something right!

Follow HBK on Twitter

We toured their office which was very neat and then walked next door for our next tour.



TAXI
Click here for Taxi's Webpage

At Taxi we all gathered in their kitchen with their huge flat screen TV to watch a great presentation. We were shown a bunch of their work they had done for Mini, Viagra, Canadian Tire, Boston Pizza, and a video put together from their Amsterdam office.

I loved listening to their Viagra campaign, which is not shown on their site, I imagine because the broadcasting law's kept changing because of the nature of their ads. It was interesting to hear how they found many loopholes and stretched their limits on how to get around saying all the side effects Viagra might cause - a mandatory requirement when advertising prescription drugs on television. Their presentation was really entertaining and really displayed how they really do embody their motto to "Doubt the conventional".

Follow Taxi's blog

CLOSING PRESENTATION

After Taxi's presentation we headed back to the Underground Cinema for a closing speech from Tim. There was a re-iteration that when it all comes down to it, it's your personality, drive and passion that matters. Be real, don't be phoney and pushy, just do what you love and do it well.

At this point I was in love with the idea of food so a bunch of our Sheridan group went out for dinner up the street. We had a great time sharing all our different experiences, it was great to catch up with everybody when it was over. We've been so busy and seem to be split up for the majority of our classes it was nice to spend time outside of the classroom to get to know everyone a little better. Even though the day was long and tiring the tours and presentations were very valuable and incredibly interesting. It's always great to see companies and established professionals helping us newbies out! Cheers!

Dwayne Grech - Momentum – September 7th 2011

 Dwayne Grech - caught without his sunglasses

Dwayne Grech and his iconic beard came to talk to us about interactive design and what to expect after school. Dwayne is an Interactive Designer at Momentum Advanced Solutions and also is the Owner/Designer at Sultan of Beard. 

ABOUT DWAYNE 

• Dwayne is the owner/founder and lead design at his company "Sultan of Beard". 
• Check out his webpage here: http://dwaynegrech.com
• Dwayne shoots films/video - specifically music videos
• He also loves tactile design, and builds sculptures out of foam
• He went to Seneca College for graphic design, graduated in 2004
• Couple years later he attended the Sheridan Web Design program and graduated in 2009 just in time for the recession to take full effect
• His first job right out of school was at Organic Online Media where he worked on projects for Jeep, Dodge & Crystler.
• He moved onto work at Young & Rubicam as a flash designer working on a project for the Ford Flex.
• Next he moved onto The Marketing Store - a print based shop that just opened up a digital branch
• Worked on the user interface for Sirius Satellite Radio, worked a lot with the IT team on building it. Was so interested in this area this really launched is UI career 
• Now teaches UI classes at the Sheridan Brampton campus to developers

INTERESTING FACTS

•  Backpacked through Australia for a year 
•  Speaks Japanese
  
•  Started Facebook Group - The Toronto Surf Club - they surf from October to January...brrrr

MOMENTUM 
www.momentum.com

• They are a digital agency - part of OnX 
• They do a lot of banner ads, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds - any content from the client that touches the web goes through them
• They do work for Jeep, Crystler, Dodge, Ram, Fiat
• They develop mobile applications for Mercedes
• c.mercedes-benz.ca
• Online support for Mazda & Foresters online support 
• Online loyalty support for AMEX - trying to increase online supporters
  
• They are rated Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies

MOMENTUM WORK


CRYSTLER 

• They're banner ads get updated every moth for new campaigns 
• Hired Swayd out of Windsor to do the 3D to build then

KOKANEE - CRANKWORX & JEEP RANGLER
    dwaynegrech.com 

• Jeep was a sponsor of Kokanee Crankworx event, Momentum made their microsite
• Crankworx is a downhill biking competition - takes about 11 hours to walk up the mountain and takes these guys about 7 minutes to get down 
• At the bottom of the mountain they had a Jeep to test drive

LIFE AFTER SHERIDAN - WHAT TO EXPECT

1) It will not be easy. Toronto is the center for design in Canada and there is a lot of competition.

2) Lack of sleep. Last minute projects will be your responsibility, you will be the "new guy" and you have to pay your dues to get ahead.

3) How do you stand out in an ultra-competitive market? Go to networking events and parties. In the end it comes down to your personality, have a good one!

4) This a small industry, everybody knows everybody. Do NOT burn bridges. Never throw fellow designers under the bus, never leave halfway through a project. Be mindful of first impressions, gossip will travel.

5) There will always be CRAZY office politics anywhere you go. Learn to take criticism, this is a cut-throat business and there is no time for hurt feelings and egos, learn to let go.

6) Toronto has heaps of agencies to choose from. Large agencies will work you to the bone where smaller agencies are a little more gentle, but you do get a lot more responsibility.


DWAYNE'S LIFE LESSONS - INTERPRETED COMMANDMENT STYLE 

1) Thou shalt not burn bridges.

2) Thou shalt attend all holy networking events.

3) Honour thy brain, never stop learning.

4) Thou shalt have no other Gods besides: www.theFWA.com

5) Thou shalt sacrifice many weekends.

6) Our Saviour is Red Bull, hallow'd be thy name, drink away.

7) Thou shalt be kind, pay it forward.

8) Thou shalt honour thyself, love your work, always.

9) Spirits are no sin.

10) Thou shalt Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, forever and ever.   


CONTACT DWAYNE

dwayne.grech@momentum.com
twitter:@sultanofbeard

Catherine Baird - Dashboard - September 30th 2011

Catherine Baird

Catherine Baird - Sheridan Grad - Associate Creative Director from Dashboard visited us September 30th and gave a really inspiring presentation about what it is to be an interactive designer. Catherine has an amazing breadth of experience and has obviously worked very hard to get where she is now (and she has the project awards to prove it!) It was really enjoyable listening to her speak about what kind of company Dashboard is and her career path since graduating from the program.

 

DASHBOARD
www.dashboard.ca

• Dashboard is run and owned by two people
• There are 35 employees that think of each other as good friends
• They push each other, brainstorm, build ideas, share recipes, play video games, play volleyball, have legendary parties, have very high standards and they just do great work
• Dashboard is not just a website development company, they are strategists. They do print work, branding, stunts, social media work and pretty much cover everything a client could ask for!

   
 

JUST SOME OF DASHBOARDS CREATIVE WORK

ING DIRECT

• Dashboard does a lot of work for ING Direct who are incredibly supportive of new ways to push traditional bank advertising strategies.
• Check out their stunts and brand awareness projects here:
• http://www.dashboard.ca/work/ing-direct-canada/thrivetastic/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/53017215@N08/4904040777/in/photostream/
• http://www.dashboard.ca/work/ing-direct-canada/thrive/

• They also have a great flash video project to make handling your money simple which I love love love! Check out the intro video here:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpWebzgm3vo

                
THE GRID

• Eye Weekly went through a monster re-brand to become what we now know as The Grid
• The Grid is quickly becoming a powerful political voice in Toronto
• They came to Dashboard a few weeks before their site was supposed to launch after losing all confidence in their previous web development team, and asked Dashboard if they can help them out, and they was more than happy to comply
• In three weeks they worked with the print and branding designer at The Grid and successfully launched a clever site
• They wanted the site to be hyper-local so they categorized Toronto into specific neighbourhoods, because let's face it, everyone really wants to read what's going on in their neighbourhood
• Check out the site here:
• http://www.thegridto.com/

THE SANTA CLAUSE PARADE

• In 2010 they really wanted to something special for the Santa Clause Parade, because they had a look at the work that was being done for them (the parade is funded solely on donations and sponsors) and it was just shameful.
• So with no budget, only their time and Dashboard's sponsorship, they set off to make a website for the parade to make it easier for sponsors to donate and people to volunteer
• What they intended to be only a website, turned into much more. They knew they needed more than a website to really set things off for the parade - and honestly no one else would have gone to these lengths
• They went out and did their research and found the main reason people go to the parade is so their children can have great memories of Christmas in Toronto - and *ping* the lights went on and the creative started flowing
• They created an illustrative map of the parade for bus stop posters, iphone apps of jingle bells, and a website that really incorporated UGC where everyone shared their Santa Clause Parade memories
• Check out the great website here:
• http://www.thesantaclausparade.ca/

LITTLE BIT ABOUT CATHERINE

• Graduated from U of T with an art and art history degree in 2000
• It was very hard to find a job, but she just knew that the internet was going to be huge, even though everyone said it was going to die
• She saw or maybe I should say experienced a flash type video on the internet made by Arnaud Mercier (http://www.area17.com/people/arnaud-mercier) - and immediately knew that is what she wanted to do
• He was such a huge inspiration for her, she really took it upon herself to learn video and signed up for the Interactive course at Sheridan.
• Area 17 has always been a huge inspiration for her throughout her entire career. Check it out - they did work for Good Magazine! (http://www.area17.com/work/good-website) my personal favorite site!
• She really was adamant that being an interactive designer shouldn't just be about getting a job, it should be an inspiration and a passion
• Catherine got her first got at Ecentricarts Inc. which was a company really focused on arts and culture. She loved it there and loved the team, but knew if she was really going to make it she had to break into the advertising biz.
• From there she went to Henderson Bas as a Co-Creative Lead and worked really hard there on some great projects. After a while she felt she needed a change from 70 hour weeks and picked up and moved to France to a new studio.
• In France she slowly realized how hard it was to collaborate with a language barrier and quickly returned to Toronto
• Catherine did some freelance work for Draft (a large agency) a while then went to Dashboard
• She loves Dashboard because she says it's like working with family. Everyone is a really tight knit group. Dashboard is nimble and keeps up to speed with the industry, whereas the larger companies are not as flexible.
• Most of her work involved a lot of really sexy Flash work but now that Facebook took off it really changed everything. Most of the projects involve Facebook pages.

5 STEPS TO SUCCESS

1) Don't forget to be a really REALLY good designer

• Even when your overwhelmed with technology, you are first and foremost a designer and you will be getting applying for a design job
• Creative directors don't look at your coding, they look at your designs and your variation

   
2) You have to understand (and LOVE) technology

• Even if it's hard to understand, just push through and you will be a better designer in the end
• Be giddy about your upcoming projects!
• It's not ever JUST about web design, it's about interactivity

3) Learn for yourself: video, flash animation and how to properly design for social media

• Spend some time looking at how advertising campaigns are being extended through social media
• Know how to make Facebook pages look good and work properly

4) Understand UX & IA

• User Experience and Information Architecture
• The most important aspect of interactive design is designing for the user - having optimal user experience
• So before picking your colours and textures and styles, make sure it works!

5) Work hard, be flexible and keep up

• You don't get ahead by going home early every night
• It's really about proving yourself worthy and competent
• Be excited about the fact that your job is going to changing all the time

HANDY TIPS AND TRICKS

• If you don't get any response from a creative director - it might just mean they are too busy and missed your file. Follow up. Be persistent. Don't be crazy and stalk.

• Even if they don't think you are a candidate for the job, sincerely ask if you can have a portfolio review.

• Have your business cards, portfolio and resume on hand at the grad show to really stand out.

• Mood boards: Always do them! They are an important step to really get the client involved in what they want their website look and feel to be. Be sure to explain exactly what a mood board is supposed to be, some people just don't get it. Go ahead and keep them in your portfolio, they are great pieces of creative.

• Don't tell your client "No, you can't do that or have that" you will lose their trust. Having a client's trust is key to a successful project.

RECOMMENDATIONS

BOOK

• "Reality is Broken" Jane McGonigal. Turning gaming and user experience into something rewarding. The power of UGC and reward programs. Here's the amazon link: http://www.amazon.ca/Reality-Broken-Games-Better-Change/dp/1594202850

• UX Companies - Normative: http://normativedesign.com/

Catherine's contact and web pages:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinebaird

http://www.catherinebaird.com/