Which television feature (they could both be called commercials?) does a better job of showing the public what architects do and making them feel like we can help them make a more beautiful world? Which one makes you, as an insider, feel better about our discipline?
AIA's #ilookup campaign and commercial? (which I unabashedly adore):
60 Minutes – More of the same, promoting Starchitecture, about as useful to the profession as a piece on NASCAR....people don't drive race cars either....wife liked it, said he was cute.
Look up (at least the one that ran a few days ago) - finally spoke of the majority of architects and to the majority of clients….particularly the “unchurched”…you can’t get beyond “98% shit” without getting people to “church”.
b3tadine[sutures]
Mar 14, 16 1:31 pm
I don't like the commercial. I find the language stilted and basic beyond belief. We show images of diversity in the professionals, but the decision makers are all white, and the white mom, watching kids and cooking dinner? How 1950 of us, so much for men leaning in.
It has all the feel of a political ad, all using stock video footage from Getty.
Fire the agency.
Josh Mings
Mar 14, 16 9:01 pm
The Bjarke piece on 60 minutes was just a dumbed down fluff piece. It didn't do anything for the profession and only increases his cult of personality, and building diagrams.
Donna Sink
Mar 14, 16 9:14 pm
Josh and Carrera, imagine the Bjarke piece from the point of view of someone who is not an architect, and isn't married to an architect, and hasn't spent years listening to architects complain about how misunderstood we are.
davvid
Mar 14, 16 9:27 pm
The 60 minutes piece is more persuasive. He's able to succinctly explain why W57th Street is shaped the way it is. He provides enough information for a non-architect to recognize that there is logic behind an unusual form. He also demonstrates the role that Bjarke plays as the public face of the firm. He's the spokesperson and he's able to actually get work and deliver results. He comes off as a competent and aware person. Many architects come off as awkward, detached from popular culture, resistant to change, and overly complicated.
Carrera
Mar 14, 16 9:34 pm
^^ Well, it’s all good…but to your suggested audience it all just looks “Big”.
Might mention that my “married to an architect” wife’s #2 comment was, “why did they only hire foreign architects for American memorial projects? We have architects that are just as qualified”. I told her that she was right, but now nobody thinks so.
awaiting_deletion
Mar 14, 16 9:45 pm
Bjarke's interview by a longshot...AIA commercial made me want to slice my wrist...
I'm so deeply embedded with architecture and theory it's hard for me to have a conversation on it with my wife....I'm a bit of a negative asshole, ha....
but when my wife heard the story about Bjarke getting a letter from a firefighters brother about the steps in the WTC tower, she was sold and said "I like this guy."
Now I could of gone off on a theoretical tangent, etc...but to the lay person that is a very good idea and makes sense, and is admirable.
Marc Miller
Mar 14, 16 10:55 pm
It's a very engaging piece, there's a lot of validation from "critics" and developers. All (two- must equal all) of them think he's a great young new spirit in the architecture world, the only key word that was not used was entrepreneurial. But I just can't help getting past this as a piece of well placed marketing spot to rally support around the stadium project in particular. He's cute, he's young, works hard AND he plays hard (although that could have been cheap tequila in that squirt gun). That's the kind of person I want to reinvent a football stadium!
I think the AIA could learn from him to embrace some type cult of personality in architects- but with an emphasis on what we do versus what I have done. One minute with cuts to a different face every five seconds just doesn't get the message across because no one face is allowed to tell a story. It makes me wonder how the I Look Up campaign would look if they used more time to engage all those different faces. Example- it's pledge season on PBS, so why not a series of 30 or 60 spots on prominent and emerging architects talking about design as a profession- instead of the usual rerun of a concert of retired singers. OR Skip Gates researching the family trees of the same architects, "Rem Koolhaas, using DNA we traced your lineage back to Liberia." Ok, maybe not that.
So I think the BIG piece was far more engaging and will generate a lot of I want to do that among the youths, but it's important that the I Look Up campaign stress that there is way more to architecture than hyperbolic paraboloids.
BTW, The court of the courtscraper (2:20 mark)- could that be any safe and home depot picturesque? The stone selection seemed out of place to me. Ok, shook that off.
Josh Mings
Mar 14, 16 10:57 pm
You do have a point Donna, but I wish it went one step above least common denominator, a la something like Cool Spaces.
b3tadine[sutures]
Mar 14, 16 11:09 pm
Marc, spot the fuck on.
Look, I love being an architect, but our success is, and should be measured by how/what the end user makes of the space. We don't make homes, we make houses, the owner, family makes it a home.
Donna Sink
Mar 15, 16 8:35 am
Well-said, Marc. And davvid I appreciate your breakdown and agree with you. Bjarke is approachable in a way that I hope we, including the AIA, are starting to appreciate.
curtkram
Mar 15, 16 9:27 am
i think the more recent 'i look up' missed the mark more than the first one.
iirc you had said they did a lot of market research, where they found out new and interesting things, such as how people want architects to provide a 'vision' rather than solve a problem.
who are they marketing this to? i would say the 60 minutes piece had silverstein saying he was old and it was time for younger people to step up into positions of responsibility, such as designing new york skyscrapers. that's kind of a big deal, and it speaks to developers and baby boomers, who are people i actually work with on a day to day basis. he aia thing was just a bunch of people's faces, and the dumb soccer mom sticking out like a sore thumb. i'm sure someone who isn't me sees something other than what i see.
Volunteer
Mar 15, 16 9:58 am
The AIA commercial reminded me of the college spots you see during the broadcast of college football games. They have gotten to be a little formulistic. There were so many clichés the 'mom in the kitchen' should hardly be singled out.
I was just happy Morley Safer made it though the Bjork thingy without croaking. It was standard "starchitect" fare otherwise.
I give both 3 out of 5.
archanonymous
Mar 15, 16 10:24 am
I suppose I appreciate the marketing on my behalf since I am an AIA member.
That said, I wish they did more in the way of lobbying/ backroom dealing/ exerting influence. Which, maybe they do but are bad at it so we don't hear about it.
As far as Bjarke, I would much rather have him and the rest of the starchitects be the face of architecture than your typical local firm, who are generally not too inspiring. Also better than those rehashing socialist modernism, and the vast majority of academics.
Marc Miller
Mar 15, 16 10:41 am
As I have been reading the above comments, it dawned on me that the #ilookup campaign assumes that architects or more precisely- licensure will always be a reality. Added to that, the active listening, empathy and negotiation that occurs in practice that isn't present in the current spots. I'm think this explains the semi-detached tone.
What if the campaign was framed with the assumption that architects were no longer needed to produce architecture? How would that change the content and how it is presented?
x-jla
Mar 15, 16 11:48 am
Nothing is real to the public until it's on TV. CSI, House, Law and Order, etc...all increase the popularity of the professions that they portray...imo more so than any advertisement because as Americans we have learned to tune out ads...So the Bjark piece probably has a greater impact on little Timmys dream career. That said, neither will have an impact on the built environment because the public has about as much ability to shape their built environment as a penguin has to shape it's zoo habitat.
b3tadine[sutures]
Mar 15, 16 11:54 am
Say what you want about Bjarke, women love him, and men want to be like him. The essence of selling.
The AIA commercial is what happens when the creators of Mad Men write ad copy about our profession. The essence of pandering.
People don't want pandering, they want to be sold.
archanonymous
Mar 15, 16 12:08 pm
around the office, we were joking about a Chicago Architect show (based on the success of other Chicago-centric shows) unfortunately it would be the most uninspiring thing ever.
Look! Spreadsheets! Zoning Analysis! City Hall Meetings!
Do we design things? Hell no! We let the developers do that.
Why can't my professional organization make a commercial that speaks to this, given that they are spending time writing Facebook posts about it?
Marc Miller
Mar 15, 16 12:57 pm
Spot on B3ta
geezertect
Mar 15, 16 2:23 pm
Both fail
AIA: Sorry to be the resident Babbit, but the purpose of advertising is not to entertain or inspire; it is to sell soap. How much soap is being sold with the AIA's money? The vast majority of people will never ever be in the position of hiring design services for anything. They are design takers, not design makers. What is AIA trying to sell and who are they trying to sell it to? The penguin comment above is spot on.
Bjarke: Has absolutely no bearing on the reality of the profession, but in fairness doesn't purport to. It might have been a little more descriptive if it had shown the army of grossly underpaid minions killing themselves on charette to make the thing work while the starchitect has all the fun. Just another example of the Lifestyles-of-the-Rich-and-Famous syndrome with the viewer's nose pressed against the window pane drooling over something they'll never be and never have. But, dreams can be pleasant diversions.
awaiting_deletion
Mar 15, 16 5:23 pm
if the AIA say played Alejandro, maybe a snippit, like an intense snippet, a political one, my bet would be more people would pay attention and actually look him up and wonder "he is an architect? thats what architects do?"......in other words, shock value followed by a burning word in the viewers mind "architect" would at least get people thinking.
curtkram
Mar 15, 16 5:44 pm
hard to put actual content in a tv commercial. people who watch tv aren't really paying attention
maybe if they had a kitten chasing a dog to get people to notice the tv, then had alejandro speaking....
Carrera
Mar 15, 16 7:35 pm
Excellent points quo, but good to remember that only 40 years ago firms that had brochures were frowned upon and local AIA chapters disciplined firms that put their phone book listing in bold print... there's never been a declaration that said "OK, go for it!" Architects have never historically promoted themselves, they by and large are a reclusive lot... and then as things ever slowly broke out most crawled out like groundhogs and most (largely because of money) went DIY... hell, I live in a town with about 25 firms and only a handful have websites... because they are afraid and most I know still think they're doctors and customers will just show up sick... and most are fine with it.
The internet has helped enormously because of cost... but still too much DIY going on.
As for PR...our newspaper never mentions architects on projects and the reason is the GC's PR people write the articles... a lot of PR is pay to play with publications showing favor to those who advertise... and is something you need to hire PR types for...who are not only connected, but push you to get out to teach & promote... not unlike running for president... definitely not a DIY thing... back to the money puzzle.
Carrera
Mar 15, 16 7:45 pm
Hasten to add that 90% of the problem is architects worrying about what other architects think about them... here's a news flash - They're all competitors and hate you already! Biggest holdback by far is architects selling to other architects and wringing their hand about what someone will say about what they do & say... they just can't shake it, just too engrained.
Carrera
Mar 15, 16 7:56 pm
Not sure what you mean... but what it is, is - "Let Mikey do it! Everybody already hates Mikey"
Carrera
Mar 15, 16 8:15 pm
......and even Mikey is scared.
Carrera
Mar 15, 16 8:41 pm
We just posted simultaneously quo.... it's watered down because even Mikey is scarred to do it.
We hold each other down because there is not enough work and holding you down will lift me up (we think)... awards are our PR, we need awards... the more you've got the more you get, and the more you get the more work, but where are you going to get those awards if you alienate those who decide who gets them? It's a Catch 22...if you break out you're shunned, if you stay in the fold you never leave the fold... you play by the rules... just too many decades of doing it that way.
A lot of ways to sneak out of camp quietly, but self promotion isn't one of them unless you're already too big to sink. The whole thing is shrouded in "protecting the profession"... but I used to tell people... well, that's fine, but who's protecting my family?
Carrera
Mar 15, 16 9:05 pm
BTW - AIA commercials running quite often on CNN during the returns tonight....I'm out of of the game, but the way I'd look at it is that it isn't hurting you... if you've got a better game then good for you, but for the majority it's better than nothing which about all the majority has.
Donna Sink
Mar 15, 16 9:43 pm
We hold each other down because there is not enough work and holding you down will lift me up
I don't see this in existence at all, not here in Indy and not a decade ago in Philly. Certainly there is competition with other firms, but it's rarely brutal. Generally if the economy is good there's enough work to go around, and if it's bad there no work for *anyone*. That's the only time I see things get really rough, but even so I've never heard of one firm directly and specifically shit-talking a fellow firm to win a project.
It's a tiny community, and of you cut another firm everyone in the community knows it and the karmic payback is huge.
Josh Mings
Mar 15, 16 10:45 pm
A building I worked on while living in New Orleans was in CSI:New Orleans tonight. That's an I look up moment.
Marc Miller
Mar 15, 16 11:09 pm
Josh, you must be proud to make that confession.
Josh Mings
Mar 15, 16 11:23 pm
Haha. I had the TV on in the background and was only halfway paying attention until I saw it. Then I had to watch the rest of the episode to see how many times it showed up. I'm normally not a TV watcher, but every now and then mindless TV is good.
Carrera
Mar 15, 16 11:24 pm
Donna, Referring to advertising, PR, breaking away from the norm with completely new marketing paradigms... everyone is expected to run together in that part of practice... it's not direct or overt in front of "the community".... lived at first in a community the same size as yours... just try doing a TV commercial and see what happens.... we had special private "firm owner" meetings about phonebook listings for God sake... the shot doesn't have to hit the hull just over the bow... plenty of closed door sit downs with people... just think you haven't practiced at a level to see that.... to break away from the pack with promotion you either need to be too big to break or too small to care.
Wilma Buttfit
Mar 16, 16 2:56 pm
I have these words bouncing in my head this week -- the city is not already built, we are building it. Was something like that said in one of those videos? I vote for that one. I'm inspired by that.
Marc Miller
Mar 16, 16 3:01 pm
I think that was the podcast (and Bjarke)?
My favorite version of that is from Homi Bhabha who said something like
"It is at the same time too early and too late to reflect upon the city."
,,,,
Mar 16, 16 4:26 pm
IMO the AIA commercial seems to me to be a self congratulatory message whose target audience is architects. The purpose of this commercial seems to be to increase AIA membership.
I stopped watching the 60 Minutes video at the point of the chimney smoke ring. I believe it only reinforces preconceived opinions the general public has about architects.
Wilma Buttfit
Mar 16, 16 4:32 pm
It was at that exact moment, the smoke ring, that my significant other said something about architecture being fun and something to engage with.
Thank you, Marc.
vado retro
Mar 16, 16 4:37 pm
Haven't seen 60 Minutes in a while. Is Andy Rooney still funny?
Donna Sink
Mar 16, 16 5:33 pm
I believe it only reinforces preconceived opinions the general public has about architects.
Reinforces? Does the general public have to opinion that architects are fun and smart and concerned about the global climate?
geezertect
Mar 16, 16 5:49 pm
^^ Andy's sense of humor went away after he died.
The opinion is that we are a bunch of silly kids who never quite grew up, and now have our giggles with other people's money.
,,,,
Mar 16, 16 6:05 pm
^ Exactly.
^^Concerned about the global climate? That was a climate change denier joke like "killer trees" or that politician with a snowball.
makingspace
Mar 16, 16 6:10 pm
Usually when I drive by a job site I see everyone's name on it but the architect. Is that out of shame or is it tacky?
Either way, I'm all for some direct mailing and newspaper ads. Also, contracting a PR person to do some marketing and someone to consult occasionally on how to run a business seem like good investments.
SHoP seems like the only office in the game who understands how to make money fwiw.
awaiting_deletion
Mar 16, 16 7:02 pm
many architects told me they do not put info on sight because they do not want to be sued too quicky or get complaint calls....then there was that time Peter Eisenman I think put a billboard size image of himself at a site and i think the AIA got cranky........i nyc I see more and more signs by architects, usually not rhe big fish but smaller firms probably wanting exposure.
Carrera
Mar 16, 16 9:29 pm
+++SHoP, new paradigm.
Job sign’s used to be SOP in specs, until owners started asking “what’s this, who’s paying for this?” Unless it’s a big public project they are almost always pay-to-play…everyone kicks-in for sign space. Rarely see private work with job signs unless it’s a “Coming Soon” with the players excluded….contractors have taken to big job trailers or storage trailers with emblazoned logos and opt out of joint signs…the other problem is they usually get in the way on job sites…it’s kind of turned into everyman-for-himself…have seen some architects do their own very successfully, but it gets expensive to move them around. See a lot of real estate scale architect signs in recent times…I considered job signs it a must.
bluesidd
Mar 17, 16 11:17 am
The 'look up campaign' doesn't really speak to home/property owners - it speaks to the existing/potential membership base of the AIA.
The BIG interview is clear (and somewhat complicit with the assumptions of the AIA campaign) that exciting/interesting/beautiful/worthwhile design only an exclusive, big city, rich people thing.
-
Why can't the AIA spend some money getting people to 'look around' at their "low-brow, uninspired, pedestrian everyday" world and see the designers behind that who want to do creative, interesting and even beautiful work.
I've tried to refer property owners/home owners to the AIA in various states as a resource for architects (looking around) and not one of those chapters has been helpful at all. Is the AIA more than a clearing house for its membership dues?
There is a general problem with 'architecture marketing' and its that the profession largely rests on word of mouth/reputation for jobs proliferation - which makes sense given the conspiratorial nature of design with the inherent nature of architecture as part of asset development. People want vetted people to take a huge part of their wealth and turn it into more wealth, most commonly, or at least a safe place to shelter in, at the most basic. It requires huge amounts of trust.
x-jla
Mar 17, 16 4:48 pm
^ I am the busiest I have ever been. I serve residential clients of all budgets (landscape design). My clients are 50% referrals from the contractors that I work with, 10% Internet, and 40% direct mail...people laugh at me for doing direct mail, but to reach a certain untapped market it works really well. I am getting about a 20:1 ROI and have gotten some cool and fun projects. The LAs in the area do zero advertisement and rarely touch projects under 100k. The design build guys (aka contractors who draw on loose leaf or hire commission based designers) do tons of advertisement and get probably 99% of the residential jobs over Design only firms (LAs and LDs). It's a no brainier and I'm glad some people think that they are too cool for it.
Carrera
Mar 17, 16 5:24 pm
^ Smart, always do what others don’t, direct mail was gold for us. Why lament about what “the profession” should be doing, or “approves” of….they’re not the ones paying the bills.
One 85 cent postcard (including postage) yielded a $14 million university library…never looked back.
Which television feature (they could both be called commercials?) does a better job of showing the public what architects do and making them feel like we can help them make a more beautiful world? Which one makes you, as an insider, feel better about our discipline?
AIA's #ilookup campaign and commercial? (which I unabashedly adore):
I Look Up
----OR----
60 Minutes feature on the NYC work of BIG and Bjarke Ingels (whom I unabashedly adore)?
60 Minutes
60 Minutes – More of the same, promoting Starchitecture, about as useful to the profession as a piece on NASCAR....people don't drive race cars either....wife liked it, said he was cute.
Look up (at least the one that ran a few days ago) - finally spoke of the majority of architects and to the majority of clients….particularly the “unchurched”…you can’t get beyond “98% shit” without getting people to “church”.
I don't like the commercial. I find the language stilted and basic beyond belief. We show images of diversity in the professionals, but the decision makers are all white, and the white mom, watching kids and cooking dinner? How 1950 of us, so much for men leaning in.
It has all the feel of a political ad, all using stock video footage from Getty.
Fire the agency.
The Bjarke piece on 60 minutes was just a dumbed down fluff piece. It didn't do anything for the profession and only increases his cult of personality, and building diagrams.
Josh and Carrera, imagine the Bjarke piece from the point of view of someone who is not an architect, and isn't married to an architect, and hasn't spent years listening to architects complain about how misunderstood we are.
The 60 minutes piece is more persuasive. He's able to succinctly explain why W57th Street is shaped the way it is. He provides enough information for a non-architect to recognize that there is logic behind an unusual form. He also demonstrates the role that Bjarke plays as the public face of the firm. He's the spokesperson and he's able to actually get work and deliver results. He comes off as a competent and aware person. Many architects come off as awkward, detached from popular culture, resistant to change, and overly complicated.
^^ Well, it’s all good…but to your suggested audience it all just looks “Big”.
Might mention that my “married to an architect” wife’s #2 comment was, “why did they only hire foreign architects for American memorial projects? We have architects that are just as qualified”. I told her that she was right, but now nobody thinks so.
Bjarke's interview by a longshot...AIA commercial made me want to slice my wrist...
I'm so deeply embedded with architecture and theory it's hard for me to have a conversation on it with my wife....I'm a bit of a negative asshole, ha....
but when my wife heard the story about Bjarke getting a letter from a firefighters brother about the steps in the WTC tower, she was sold and said "I like this guy."
Now I could of gone off on a theoretical tangent, etc...but to the lay person that is a very good idea and makes sense, and is admirable.
It's a very engaging piece, there's a lot of validation from "critics" and developers. All (two- must equal all) of them think he's a great young new spirit in the architecture world, the only key word that was not used was entrepreneurial. But I just can't help getting past this as a piece of well placed marketing spot to rally support around the stadium project in particular. He's cute, he's young, works hard AND he plays hard (although that could have been cheap tequila in that squirt gun). That's the kind of person I want to reinvent a football stadium!
I think the AIA could learn from him to embrace some type cult of personality in architects- but with an emphasis on what we do versus what I have done. One minute with cuts to a different face every five seconds just doesn't get the message across because no one face is allowed to tell a story. It makes me wonder how the I Look Up campaign would look if they used more time to engage all those different faces. Example- it's pledge season on PBS, so why not a series of 30 or 60 spots on prominent and emerging architects talking about design as a profession- instead of the usual rerun of a concert of retired singers. OR Skip Gates researching the family trees of the same architects, "Rem Koolhaas, using DNA we traced your lineage back to Liberia." Ok, maybe not that.
So I think the BIG piece was far more engaging and will generate a lot of I want to do that among the youths, but it's important that the I Look Up campaign stress that there is way more to architecture than hyperbolic paraboloids.
BTW, The court of the courtscraper (2:20 mark)- could that be any safe and home depot picturesque? The stone selection seemed out of place to me. Ok, shook that off.
You do have a point Donna, but I wish it went one step above least common denominator, a la something like Cool Spaces.
Marc, spot the fuck on.
Look, I love being an architect, but our success is, and should be measured by how/what the end user makes of the space. We don't make homes, we make houses, the owner, family makes it a home.
Well-said, Marc. And davvid I appreciate your breakdown and agree with you. Bjarke is approachable in a way that I hope we, including the AIA, are starting to appreciate.
i think the more recent 'i look up' missed the mark more than the first one.
iirc you had said they did a lot of market research, where they found out new and interesting things, such as how people want architects to provide a 'vision' rather than solve a problem.
who are they marketing this to? i would say the 60 minutes piece had silverstein saying he was old and it was time for younger people to step up into positions of responsibility, such as designing new york skyscrapers. that's kind of a big deal, and it speaks to developers and baby boomers, who are people i actually work with on a day to day basis. he aia thing was just a bunch of people's faces, and the dumb soccer mom sticking out like a sore thumb. i'm sure someone who isn't me sees something other than what i see.
The AIA commercial reminded me of the college spots you see during the broadcast of college football games. They have gotten to be a little formulistic. There were so many clichés the 'mom in the kitchen' should hardly be singled out.
I was just happy Morley Safer made it though the Bjork thingy without croaking. It was standard "starchitect" fare otherwise.
I give both 3 out of 5.
I suppose I appreciate the marketing on my behalf since I am an AIA member.
That said, I wish they did more in the way of lobbying/ backroom dealing/ exerting influence. Which, maybe they do but are bad at it so we don't hear about it.
As far as Bjarke, I would much rather have him and the rest of the starchitects be the face of architecture than your typical local firm, who are generally not too inspiring. Also better than those rehashing socialist modernism, and the vast majority of academics.
As I have been reading the above comments, it dawned on me that the #ilookup campaign assumes that architects or more precisely- licensure will always be a reality. Added to that, the active listening, empathy and negotiation that occurs in practice that isn't present in the current spots. I'm think this explains the semi-detached tone.
What if the campaign was framed with the assumption that architects were no longer needed to produce architecture? How would that change the content and how it is presented?
Nothing is real to the public until it's on TV. CSI, House, Law and Order, etc...all increase the popularity of the professions that they portray...imo more so than any advertisement because as Americans we have learned to tune out ads...So the Bjark piece probably has a greater impact on little Timmys dream career. That said, neither will have an impact on the built environment because the public has about as much ability to shape their built environment as a penguin has to shape it's zoo habitat.
Say what you want about Bjarke, women love him, and men want to be like him. The essence of selling.
The AIA commercial is what happens when the creators of Mad Men write ad copy about our profession. The essence of pandering.
People don't want pandering, they want to be sold.
around the office, we were joking about a Chicago Architect show (based on the success of other Chicago-centric shows) unfortunately it would be the most uninspiring thing ever.
Look! Spreadsheets! Zoning Analysis! City Hall Meetings!
Do we design things? Hell no! We let the developers do that.
https://www.facebook.com/AIANational/posts/10153584091164200
Why can't my professional organization make a commercial that speaks to this, given that they are spending time writing Facebook posts about it?
Spot on B3ta
Both fail
AIA: Sorry to be the resident Babbit, but the purpose of advertising is not to entertain or inspire; it is to sell soap. How much soap is being sold with the AIA's money? The vast majority of people will never ever be in the position of hiring design services for anything. They are design takers, not design makers. What is AIA trying to sell and who are they trying to sell it to? The penguin comment above is spot on.
Bjarke: Has absolutely no bearing on the reality of the profession, but in fairness doesn't purport to. It might have been a little more descriptive if it had shown the army of grossly underpaid minions killing themselves on charette to make the thing work while the starchitect has all the fun. Just another example of the Lifestyles-of-the-Rich-and-Famous syndrome with the viewer's nose pressed against the window pane drooling over something they'll never be and never have. But, dreams can be pleasant diversions.
if the AIA say played Alejandro, maybe a snippit, like an intense snippet, a political one, my bet would be more people would pay attention and actually look him up and wonder "he is an architect? thats what architects do?"......in other words, shock value followed by a burning word in the viewers mind "architect" would at least get people thinking.
hard to put actual content in a tv commercial. people who watch tv aren't really paying attention
maybe if they had a kitten chasing a dog to get people to notice the tv, then had alejandro speaking....
Excellent points quo, but good to remember that only 40 years ago firms that had brochures were frowned upon and local AIA chapters disciplined firms that put their phone book listing in bold print... there's never been a declaration that said "OK, go for it!" Architects have never historically promoted themselves, they by and large are a reclusive lot... and then as things ever slowly broke out most crawled out like groundhogs and most (largely because of money) went DIY... hell, I live in a town with about 25 firms and only a handful have websites... because they are afraid and most I know still think they're doctors and customers will just show up sick... and most are fine with it.
The internet has helped enormously because of cost... but still too much DIY going on.
As for PR...our newspaper never mentions architects on projects and the reason is the GC's PR people write the articles... a lot of PR is pay to play with publications showing favor to those who advertise... and is something you need to hire PR types for...who are not only connected, but push you to get out to teach & promote... not unlike running for president... definitely not a DIY thing... back to the money puzzle.
Hasten to add that 90% of the problem is architects worrying about what other architects think about them... here's a news flash - They're all competitors and hate you already! Biggest holdback by far is architects selling to other architects and wringing their hand about what someone will say about what they do & say... they just can't shake it, just too engrained.
Not sure what you mean... but what it is, is - "Let Mikey do it! Everybody already hates Mikey"
......and even Mikey is scared.
We just posted simultaneously quo.... it's watered down because even Mikey is scarred to do it.
We hold each other down because there is not enough work and holding you down will lift me up (we think)... awards are our PR, we need awards... the more you've got the more you get, and the more you get the more work, but where are you going to get those awards if you alienate those who decide who gets them? It's a Catch 22...if you break out you're shunned, if you stay in the fold you never leave the fold... you play by the rules... just too many decades of doing it that way.
A lot of ways to sneak out of camp quietly, but self promotion isn't one of them unless you're already too big to sink. The whole thing is shrouded in "protecting the profession"... but I used to tell people... well, that's fine, but who's protecting my family?
BTW - AIA commercials running quite often on CNN during the returns tonight....I'm out of of the game, but the way I'd look at it is that it isn't hurting you... if you've got a better game then good for you, but for the majority it's better than nothing which about all the majority has.
We hold each other down because there is not enough work and holding you down will lift me up
I don't see this in existence at all, not here in Indy and not a decade ago in Philly. Certainly there is competition with other firms, but it's rarely brutal. Generally if the economy is good there's enough work to go around, and if it's bad there no work for *anyone*. That's the only time I see things get really rough, but even so I've never heard of one firm directly and specifically shit-talking a fellow firm to win a project.
It's a tiny community, and of you cut another firm everyone in the community knows it and the karmic payback is huge.
A building I worked on while living in New Orleans was in CSI:New Orleans tonight. That's an I look up moment.
Josh, you must be proud to make that confession.
Haha. I had the TV on in the background and was only halfway paying attention until I saw it. Then I had to watch the rest of the episode to see how many times it showed up. I'm normally not a TV watcher, but every now and then mindless TV is good.
Donna, Referring to advertising, PR, breaking away from the norm with completely new marketing paradigms... everyone is expected to run together in that part of practice... it's not direct or overt in front of "the community".... lived at first in a community the same size as yours... just try doing a TV commercial and see what happens.... we had special private "firm owner" meetings about phonebook listings for God sake... the shot doesn't have to hit the hull just over the bow... plenty of closed door sit downs with people... just think you haven't practiced at a level to see that.... to break away from the pack with promotion you either need to be too big to break or too small to care.
I have these words bouncing in my head this week -- the city is not already built, we are building it. Was something like that said in one of those videos? I vote for that one. I'm inspired by that.
I think that was the podcast (and Bjarke)?
My favorite version of that is from Homi Bhabha who said something like
"It is at the same time too early and too late to reflect upon the city."
IMO the AIA commercial seems to me to be a self congratulatory message whose target audience is architects. The purpose of this commercial seems to be to increase AIA membership.
I stopped watching the 60 Minutes video at the point of the chimney smoke ring. I believe it only reinforces preconceived opinions the general public has about architects.
It was at that exact moment, the smoke ring, that my significant other said something about architecture being fun and something to engage with.
Thank you, Marc.
Haven't seen 60 Minutes in a while. Is Andy Rooney still funny?
I believe it only reinforces preconceived opinions the general public has about architects.
Reinforces? Does the general public have to opinion that architects are fun and smart and concerned about the global climate?
^^ Andy's sense of humor went away after he died.
The opinion is that we are a bunch of silly kids who never quite grew up, and now have our giggles with other people's money.
^ Exactly.
^^Concerned about the global climate? That was a climate change denier joke like "killer trees" or that politician with a snowball.
Usually when I drive by a job site I see everyone's name on it but the architect. Is that out of shame or is it tacky?
Either way, I'm all for some direct mailing and newspaper ads. Also, contracting a PR person to do some marketing and someone to consult occasionally on how to run a business seem like good investments.
SHoP seems like the only office in the game who understands how to make money fwiw.
many architects told me they do not put info on sight because they do not want to be sued too quicky or get complaint calls....then there was that time Peter Eisenman I think put a billboard size image of himself at a site and i think the AIA got cranky........i nyc I see more and more signs by architects, usually not rhe big fish but smaller firms probably wanting exposure.
+++SHoP, new paradigm.
Job sign’s used to be SOP in specs, until owners started asking “what’s this, who’s paying for this?” Unless it’s a big public project they are almost always pay-to-play…everyone kicks-in for sign space. Rarely see private work with job signs unless it’s a “Coming Soon” with the players excluded….contractors have taken to big job trailers or storage trailers with emblazoned logos and opt out of joint signs…the other problem is they usually get in the way on job sites…it’s kind of turned into everyman-for-himself…have seen some architects do their own very successfully, but it gets expensive to move them around. See a lot of real estate scale architect signs in recent times…I considered job signs it a must.
The 'look up campaign' doesn't really speak to home/property owners - it speaks to the existing/potential membership base of the AIA.
The BIG interview is clear (and somewhat complicit with the assumptions of the AIA campaign) that exciting/interesting/beautiful/worthwhile design only an exclusive, big city, rich people thing.
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Why can't the AIA spend some money getting people to 'look around' at their "low-brow, uninspired, pedestrian everyday" world and see the designers behind that who want to do creative, interesting and even beautiful work.
I've tried to refer property owners/home owners to the AIA in various states as a resource for architects (looking around) and not one of those chapters has been helpful at all. Is the AIA more than a clearing house for its membership dues?
There is a general problem with 'architecture marketing' and its that the profession largely rests on word of mouth/reputation for jobs proliferation - which makes sense given the conspiratorial nature of design with the inherent nature of architecture as part of asset development. People want vetted people to take a huge part of their wealth and turn it into more wealth, most commonly, or at least a safe place to shelter in, at the most basic. It requires huge amounts of trust.
^ I am the busiest I have ever been. I serve residential clients of all budgets (landscape design). My clients are 50% referrals from the contractors that I work with, 10% Internet, and 40% direct mail...people laugh at me for doing direct mail, but to reach a certain untapped market it works really well. I am getting about a 20:1 ROI and have gotten some cool and fun projects. The LAs in the area do zero advertisement and rarely touch projects under 100k. The design build guys (aka contractors who draw on loose leaf or hire commission based designers) do tons of advertisement and get probably 99% of the residential jobs over Design only firms (LAs and LDs). It's a no brainier and I'm glad some people think that they are too cool for it.
^ Smart, always do what others don’t, direct mail was gold for us. Why lament about what “the profession” should be doing, or “approves” of….they’re not the ones paying the bills.
One 85 cent postcard (including postage) yielded a $14 million university library…never looked back.