Last month, I was in Richmond, Virginia for the recruiting session at the VCU Brandcenter. I saw a ton of books - copywriters, art directors, and creative technologists. I continue to be amazed by the Maker Generation. When I graduated VCU forever ago, I left with a suitcase-shaped black portfolio full of double-page magazine spec ads that had been trimmed with an X-acto blade and spray mounted to black mounting boards. But today, if students have an idea, they go make it. Here are three examples from the VCU Brandcenter recruiting session that stuck with me (shown with permission).
banethatcher.com
After Margaret Thatcher died, Maddison Bradley and Jon Robbins were listening to some of her quotes and thought, "These sound like the kind of things Bane would say." So they created banethatcher.com. I don't know British Conservative politics of the mid-1980's well enough to comment, but I'm amazed that they pulled this together in a couple of days.
Harry Potter Ipsum
When Olivia Abtahi and Christina Chern needed some lorem ipsum, they thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if this weren't just gibberish, but Harry Potter gibberish?" So they created Harry Potter Ipsum. Feel free to accio your own text on their joint Most Auspicious.
Dragon Grips
Sam Cantor, Nick Marx, and Hunter Pechin didn't just go to portfolio school to make spec ads. They came up with Dragon Grips, an actual, functioning product. (That just happens to be surrounded with some well-thought-out marketing.)"People's Choice Award" Winner: DragonGrips from Nick on Vimeo.