the city of beards.

this is a little side project my partner [mr.wheeler preddy.] and i did at Crispin.

basically we were inspired by the amount of beards here in boulder [seriously, it's ridiculous. even half the women have them. ok maybe not.] and decided to make this interactive poster to hang at CP&B with a disposable camera and see what happens.

join the beardom of boulder, the city of beards. i'll post the camera photos once the experiment is over. for now, here are some pictures from the making of.

the instructions. hard to read on the real pictures.
going to kinkos for the third time to print the poster.
waiting for the poster at kinkos.
cutting and pasting precision.

midnight posting at CP&B on their news board.
the final product.bad ass partner.
i'm thinking about growing a real one.
the makers of.

wow i have been a blogging slacker.

i'm currently working on a campaign about being lazy. i think it's rubbing off...

first boulder post.

so i know it's been awhile. i've made it to boulder, finally settled in and getting started on my last quarter of miami ad school. with that said, everyone in this industry is values their weight in awards. this youtube video is absolutely hilarious and i think sort of represents how the rest of the world [outside of the advertising community] views our awards.

the future of advertising.

i met with someone to review my book last night for the first time. with only three months of ad school left i knew this time would come and it was inevitable. the first is always the hardest and i think it went quite well. but one question she asked me was: what do you want to do? traditional or digital?

i knew this question was coming. its one of the main things they ask new people in the business. however, i still wasnt sure of what my answer to the question is. however, today i am. i want to do effective advertising. if i'm targeting to teens, then i want to do digital. if i'm targeting wallstreet big wigs, i want to do print, and if i'm targeting the average joe on his commute home, i want to do outdoor. maybe its just my ideal, not yet jaded, fresh out of ad school attitude, and that'll soon change, but i want to work on good creative solutions. whatever media that may be in.

however that is leaning more towards digital and interactive solutions. i think this is absolutely hilarious. to normal people, it might not be funny, but to anyone in the ad business, it's right on the money. and freakin hilarious.

karma.

this morning i read a really good blog from a leading female copywriter. she was talking about karma in the advertising sense. i've never thought about it too much but i think its something interesting.

today has been a terrible day. i woke up late, not much sleep. then coming to work my ankle gave out and i fell in the street. a car almost hit me, then it started to rain. it couldnt have been scripted better in a movie, except they forgot to write in the part where matthew mcconaughey runs out and saves me. because he didnt. instead i stand up, bloody knees, scrapped hands and bruised pride, umbrellaless and continued to work. it pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day.

just now i walked down to pret to get a cup of coffee. a deal i've made with myself is i can get coffee if i pack lunch. oh the life of a frugal student who is paying to work. but i smiled and said hi, just the coffee the nice girl behind the counter smiled and said "don't worry about it." i'm not sure why she did, maybe she was too lazy to ring up just a coffee or maybe she was one of the 1,000 new yorkers who saw my little show this morning, but it made my day. somehow, i feel like its a little bit of karma. because damn it, i've done a lot of things that deserve a free coffee every now and then.

a NY update.

NY has definitely been amazing so far. it's finally getting nice out and we've had a chance to get out and do a lot of stuff despite working a lot. [i work on the train wherever i go so i don't feel as guilty]

i also went to boulder, co last weekend for memorial day and to see old friends. it was totally amazing and i fell in love, which is a good thing because friday i received confirmation that i will be spending my next and FINAL quarter of miami ad school in boulder. :) i can not wait. however, i'm going to be extremely sad to leave NY.

here are two albums of what i've been up to including a visit from sab, boulder, and a beautiful beautiful day in coney island:

album 1
album 2

profession of the day: bike messenger

i mean, can't we see the resemblance already? despite this being NYC trend, i think it could be an awesome job.

pros:
-forced to exercise.
-low stress [minus the chance of dying by dodging car]
-chance of dying dodging cars is exciting.
-spend all day outside.
-don't sit in an office all day [especially large perk on days like today when i'm hungover.]
-you can legitimately use the phrase 'don't kill the messenger.'

cons:
-forced to exercise.
-monetary compensation is not quite what i'd hope for.
-rain. [i'm sure i can only call in sick a few time before they realize it's because it's raining.]
-chance of unknowingly participating in illegal activities. [i at least want to know about it.]

overall, i think it could be a good time.

what i would do if i didn't do advertising.

so there are few people i know in this business, especially still in school, who haven't questioned their loyalty to this profession. unfortunately i'm way too devoted to actually do anything else, but fantasizing about it makes me quite happy. i'm considering starting a new blog purely listing all the new professions i'd like to try other than advertising. but until i'm fully committed, or have more than 5 minutes of free time daily, i'll post them here.

today's profession:
selling caipirinha's on the beach in brasil.

this could be me. except slightly smaller melons.

positives:
-you're everyone's favorite person. [at least the guy incessently selling them to me was my favorite person in camburi. then again, i was confused why it was daylight at 5pm.]
-spend all day on the beach. all day in the sun.
-easy access to booze.
-relatively stress-free. [relatively in the sense that dealing with drunk people is never completely stress-free.]
-it's a lot less physical work than the guys walking up and down the beach carrying things.
-minimal expenses on clothing. uniform is bikini.

negatives:
-minimal expenses on clothing. uniform is a bikini. [potential danger to business.]
-skin cancer. [which let's be honest, anyone who knows me and how much i loathe sunscreen knows i probably have it already.]
-must learn portuguese. [i learned this was critical when i ordered a chicken caiprinha instead of a strawberry one. frango instead of morango. which are very similar words to a drunk gringa. however, i dont think the locals are a fan of meat and cachaça.]
-little to no pay. [who cares? i spend everyday on the beach in brasil.]

the list could go on and on. unfortunately, my five minutes is up.

future lions submission.

so i know it's been awhile [sorry aunt kath] but ny has been so crazy busy. i never thought anything could be busier than london. i was wrong. i promise to update with my adventures and more pictures soon, but until then, i threw together a little website to highlight my book. i'm still working out some kinks but i wanted to get feed back. let me know your thoughts.

Carren O'Keefe Portfolio

enjoy!

carren in avatar form.

cute website compliments of tara. this is my creation of self-avatar.
make your own.

my new idol.

Inspiration

happy easter AIG

EASTER AIG HUNT from ABOVE on Vimeo.

first day.

so we're officially at our first day at Y&R. and any rational adult can assume that we aren't busy yet considering i'm blogging. i've come to the conclusion that i hate first days. in college they were amazing. go, get your syllabus and it's see ya next class.

it's a little different in the real world. first of all, no syllabus. thus far we are still clueless as to what we will be doing. i'm really hoping there's not pop quizzes scheduled. and second, regardless of your lack of things to do, you have to stay. so we're sitting here. devon of course is being productive, looking through source images and creative websites. i, on the other hand, have been on twitter and facebook approximately 40 times each and it's not even lunch yet.

however we met with our coordinator, got the grand tour, and gorged on some free monday bagels. but now we wait. and it's always awkward. you don't know people. but they know your the new kids. so you do the introductions and you'll remember about two of the twenty names you got. you want a cup of coffee but youre afraid youll have to talk to someone and sound like an idiot. you kind of stick out like a sore thumb with a huge sign over your head that says 'clueless new intern.' [or at least you feel like you do.]

i'm really excited and i think this is going to be an amazing opportunity once we get started. but until then, i'll be the awkward girl on facebook sitting on floor 7 without coffee.

first weekend.

so i'm officially in NY. and while i haven't blogged, and one would assume i was busy over break, i actually spent it sitting on my couch at home, drinking coffee and watching morning shows. it was quite amazing.

but i'm finally in NY and i'm loving it. for the first time on quarter away, i feel like i'm living somewhere. the victor house is perfect. even though i'm sharing a room we have plenty of room and gigantic vanities help when youre a girl.

my room:

without needing a period of adjustment like in brazil and london, ive actually done and seen quite a bit of the city in the first few days. saturday we went downtown to the pillow fight on wall street.



after that we went to ground zero and walked around lower manhattan. then we made our way to chelsea and headed to the chelsea brewery. there we took a free tour of the brewery and samplled all of their microbrews. finally we ended the night by heading to an amazing karaoke bar in the east village complete with eye of the tiger and r.kelly remix to ignition.

today i met up with tara downtown for lunch at a cute little french place. then after a few glasses of wine we wandered down to rockefeller center. we walked all over manhattan, went to the trump towers for coffee and up to central park. i also acquired my first fake handbag. i'd say all and all it was a very successful day.

later london.

so i've officially been back in the states for four days now. i was extremely sad to leave london. while brazil i was ready to come home, i wanted to stay in london forever. in fact, i may try to go back there after graduating. but we'll see. but the last few weeks were an exciting whirlwind. between the last week and people sleeping in the agency along with sab coming, it proved for many pictures. five albums worth to be exact. so instead of posting a few, ill just post the albums.

album 1
album 2
album 3
album 4
album 5

so far being home has been exactly what i'd hoped it'd be. lots of laziness and seeing the fam. although i'm hoping some of that is jetlag that will soon be worn off. i needed this recoup before heading to the concrete jungle they call ny. here's to a good quarter and hopefully the start of another.

london is winding down.

so i havent updated for awhile, mostly because things have been so crazy. in fact, i dont really have time to update now so i just thought id post a few pics from the last few weeks. its our final work week here and everyone is going crazy. sab comes on tuesday which will be amazing and stressful at the same time. i promise many pictures and proper commentary after the madness is through.

hello new york.

so the verdict is in and next quarter i'm going to: NEW YORK.

i have to say, i'm more excited about this than the past two. mostly because i pretty much knew for sure i would get brazil and london, but this one had a lot of steep competition. i'm also relieved because most people haven't heard yet. we were one of the first teams. so thank good.

i also have to say, i'm ready to come home for a little. traveling around is exciting and all, and ive heard so many times how people are jealous, but honestly it wears on you. i'm ready to be done and settle down in one city and actually have a home to go to, not some flat with bunk beds and 9 other roommates. thank goodness NY has its own housing. at least i know that is already set and secured. all i have to do is get there early so i can get my own room. not to mention, the housing is free. i dont think too many people in their life have a chance to live in NY for free. so i'm definitely excited about that. plus i have a friend who lives in astoria, where the house is, and she loves it. i'm driving up to PA so i'll have my car there, which even if i don't use it, makes me feel a little more at home and in control of my life.

the internship is at Y&R. i have two friends who already work there so that's good. i can't wait. it's on madison avenue. i guess i'll get a real taste of what it's like to live and work in NY, which is good in case i decide to stay there post-graduation. another thing i'm so excited about is having so many friends living in the philly/NY area. it'll be nice to finally have people around that i know.

so on that note, i'm going to celebrate tonight by seeing Wicked. supposedly one of the best shows on broadway right now. i'm going by myself, working on my independent womanhood. i can't wait. i'm actually pretty excited about going by myself. all is well in the london world. three weeks of the internship left, sab will be here in two weeks. and i'll be home in PA for two weeks before heading to NY.

cheers. :)

ads of the world.

some of my work got picked to be on ads of the world. check it out.

The campaign is for goobers peanut butter and jelly.

Classic Pairs:
Lucy and Desi
Lennon and Yoko Ono
JFK and Jackie Onassas
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

advertising is harsh. at least a few comments are good, and they got picked.

cabin fever set it.

so yet another glorious week has come and gone in the queen's country. [proof is in the pay phones.] we are entering our 7th week this week and only have about a month left, which is crazy. so things are really starting to pick up. last weekend we spent fri, sat and sun in the office everyday until at least 11pm. so i began to feel a little stir crazy and realized i only have a month left and i really havent done that much so far here. so this week, while we did our work. we had to get out.

[we are going crazy spending too much time in the basement]
tuesday night devon and i went to see quidam, the cirque du soleil show. it was absolutely amazing. it was its final week and london and we happened to catch it. its just absolutely mind boggling what these people are capable of doing. the music, the acrobats, the entire show was just amazing.


and no, there are zero saftey nets and harnesses. a large part of the show was acts done very high in the air with the performers on ropes, hoops, etc.
this is the view of the shrine outside the theatre.
this is royal albert hall where the show was.

luckily, we were in the cheap seats very high up, so everything was right in front of us.
then on friday, a bunch of us from school went to see avenue q. the puppet show for adults. the show is about everything from internet porn to racism and it is so so good. the soundtrack is amazingly hilarious, so if you get a chance check it out.


then for valentines day, devon bought my rose petal tea and soap. everyone decided to go to an anti-valentines day comedy show at barcode [a gay bar]. it was absolutely hilarious and we had the best time. then we all went out to drown our sorrows of being single.


devon and i also went to camden market on saturday morning. it is by far the best open air market i've ever been too. it's located on the camden locks so its also beautiful. the range of stuff is astonishing and its huge. you need about 8hrs to really go through and look at absolutely everything. i forgot my camera that day, but i'm sure ill be back. we had some mulled wine and called it a day. amazing week. glad i finally did many of the things i wanted to do including simple things like walking through hyde park. i'm even more in love with london and unfortunately i'm an addict. sorry dad, but i've taken theatre crack and i'm addicted. london is definitely the place to go for theatre. you can get decent seats for cheap. hopefully before i leave i want to see wicked, the lion king and phantom of the opera. so we'll see. i'm giving up drinking and spending all of my money on theatre. [ha if only that were true.] amazing week. hopefully the next will be just as good.

oh advertising.

weekend rendezvous in paris.

so i went to visit alyssa in paris this weekend and it was absolutely amazing. not only was is so nice to be around a good friend and someone whose known me for longer than a month, paris is all its cracked up to be. its an absolutely beautiful and amazing city. i took about 170 pictures while i was there. but here are a few of them:

escargot and wine for my first meal in paris. not bad.
the eiffel tower twinkling every night on the hour. absolutely amazing from far away, absolutely amazing from the top.

one of the best things about paris is how local everything is. alyssa lived beside a bakery, a crepe place, a fruit stand, wine shop, and cheese shop. the camanbert was to die for.
this is why i want to live in paris. baguettes, cheese, and croissants.
the hotel de ville. beautiful building at night.
we took a touristy boat cruise up and down the siene. it was beautiful seeing paris from the perspective of the river, and a fast way to see most of the sights.
picture off the back of the boat.
we went to the louvre and saw the mona lisa.
notre dame. unfortunately we didnt go in, but its size and detail are so impressive.
of course we drank plenty of wine the entire weekend. but when it was freezing out side we had vin chaud. [hot wine.]
in front of the main triangle outside of the louvre.
the back part of the louvre. just the outside of the building is absolutely amazing. not to mention the fact that it houses 35,000 pieces of artwork.
but then london decided to get the most snow its had in a decade. paris had a few inches as well. this in turn, led to me being stranded and spending an extra day in paris.
BBC just kept reporting about "The snow came and the UK stopped"
See all of the pictures on my facebook albums:
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3

so paris is the new love of my life although i have to say i'm glad to be back in London. i will definitely be visiting paris again though, and hopefully at a warmer time of year.