Dongkwan’s Advertising World

Since young, I’ve always heard that hard work pays off in the end.
Someone who’s been shining shoes their entire life, waking up at 4AM to go for a 2 hour train ride to the inner city, shining shoes after shoes while trying to use more polish to prevent the stinking foot odor from conquering his brain, while worrying about his 3 children who are in school knowing from the customers’ newspaper headlines that school shootings are prevalent everywhere. He works until 7PM at his shop in the train station, and only arrives home at 9PM to see his children ready to fall asleep. Happy that he had more customers today than yesterday, he brings home a bag of grocery so that his children can have a hearty meal for lunch at school tomorrow… After 23 years of this, he wins the $200 million lottery.

I don’t know much about the Yin and Yang, but this is how it’s supposed to be - says mom. I work hard at college, and I’ll end up getting my dream job, people say. But what I’ve realized is that it’s not just about working hard - it’s about how efficiently you work towards achieving your end-goal in a strategic manner. So if you’re a student reading this by randomness while trying to research more about the ad industry - well, you’re off to a great start. But the real important thing is just knowing much about the ad industry won’t get you any where - it’s about what you build to get that great job. So start building, as CareerBuilder suggests.

It’s very ironic that I’m a student in advertising and don’t even have an identity.
Advertising is all about brand awareness - letting others know that there is such a brand. But I’ve been ignorant of this, because I couldn’t even show the world that I, Dongkwan Kim, am a brand. I have no logo, no presenece anywhere.

Despite my terrible graphical skills, I’ve decided to make an identity for myself… via a business card.

Yes, now I work for my name.

Check it out, I just received it in the mail:

Just as a note, it looks a little bit better with the real thing, because I have “rounded corners” with U/V polish. Neat ain’t it?

Wow. I’ve actually had a press release for the first time in my life. I don’t know if they were covered in any of the local or major publications, but at least I’m on my school’s website. Yes, and my name was also mentioned in AdAge… but can’t find it on the online version.

Here’s a copy of the Press Release that my school’s PR Officer was kind enough to interview me on:

ART INSTITUTE OF PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL STUDENT
 EARNS PRESTIGIOUS OPPORTUNITIES AS THE 2008
“MOST PROMISING MINORITY STUDENT”

PITTSBURGH — February 5 —- Dongkwan Kim travels to New York City this week as one of the 2008 national finalists recognized in the Most Promising Minority Students program by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Dongkwan is an international student from Korea and will earn his Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh this June.
 
The AAF’s Most Promising Minority Students program connects the advertising industry with the nation’s top minority college seniors. This premier event provides opportunities to recruit fresh talent, to further prepare advertising’s best young prospects and to help the industry’s workforce better reflect the multiculturalism of today’s society. The program not only honors the student recipients, but enhances their knowledge and understanding of the advertising industry by offering networking, interviewing and industry immersion opportunities with industry professionals.
 
Dongkwan will join students from the nation’s top colleges and universities in the all-expenses paid experience in New York City February 5 through 8.  The agenda includes a luncheon at MTV Networks, professional development workshops hosted by Interpublic Group, ABC-TV, The New York Times, ESPN, McCann Erickson, and a variety of lectures, panel discussions and networking receptions. The event is sponsored by the above listed companies, as well as Walt Disney, Google, Pepsi, American Airlines, Advertising Age, The Publicis Group, Verizon, Young and Rubicam Brands, USA Today, Saatchi & Saatchi and BBDO.

Art Institute faculty member Jackie Fisher submitted Dongkwan’s nomination for the award and will attend this week’s events with Dongkwan courtesy of the AAF and on behalf of the Art Institute’s Advertising Program. “Dongkwan is an inspiration to me, and to his fellow students at The Art Institute, because of his natural talent, business acumen and the standards he holds for himself,” said Ms. Fisher. “But most impressive is Dongkwan’s career aspiration to become an advertising copy writer and the obstacles he has had to overcome as a non-native speaker.”
 
“It is a challenge for me to pursue a career in advertising because English is not my first language,” said Dongkwan. “This award, this opportunity is an honor beyond my imagination and I am grateful that I will be a few steps closer to my goals.”
 
Dongkwan is Korean-born and lived in Argentina and South Africa before moving to Pittsburgh to attend college at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Dongkwan averages 18 credits per term and is currently taking 23 course credits consistently earning a 3.9 or 4.0 GPA. He is president of the college chapter of the Ad Club, a member of the college’s student chapter of the AAF and a member of the National Scholar’s Honor Society, and has interned with Pittsburgh advertising agencies. Upon returning from New York, he will lead fellow students in preparing to enter two additional national advertising competitions.
 
“Beyond my academic studies, it is my hobby to research the industry I am preparing to enter,” said Dongkwan. “I encourage my fellow students to become aware of what’s happening because the more aware you are, the more you fall in love with the profession, and the more likely you will be to achieve your goals.”
 
The Advertising Bachelor of Science degree program at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania offers courses in the business of advertising and design. Graduates are qualified for entry level career positions in the advertising industry including: account service, public relations, brand management, corporate marketing, human relations and marketing research.
 
The Advertising Program’s Advisory Board members are ad agency presidents and business owners, marketing consultants and multimedia designers, nonprofit managers and executive directors, assisting in curriculum development and planning, as well as identifying prospective faculty, and providing internship and career opportunities.
 
Interviews and photos are available by request.

I hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving. I gotta say, I’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving before. But this Thanksgiving I did, and it a was a special one.

As I landed on the Freeport International Airport in the Grand Bahamas Island of the hundreds of Bahamiam islands, the first thing I recognized was the tall palm trees. Oh yes, I felt I was somewhere else. The last time I ever interacted with palm trees was back when I was in Tunisia. It’s been what… 15 years?

Soon I realized I saw myself becoming a child, back to my Tunisian days. The palm trees, the air breeze, and the hot tropical heat all made sense - I was alive. Yes, I had survived the years of complexity, where every day I lived to succeed tomorrow, and lived in buildings, with man made air-conditioners to kill off the nature’s warmth. But I realized that the city man I was, I’ve been living with the wrong habits. For once, I was able to return to a child, building castles in the sands, and enjoying the world of freedom where watching the sunset against the horizon was no longer an event. Ah, you should have been there.

So I get back, after a 2 year reunion with my mother and my aunt. As I left the international airport seeing my mother in tears, I realized something else. I’ve been too focused on my life not knowing how much my family missed me. And to my greater surprise was that I never had the closest thing to dropping a tear. I mean, did all that air-conditioner freeze up my 98% water-content in my body?

If you think you’re been too much a city-person, this winter, take your self to the beaches of the Bahamas. Take a week, and you’ll be rejuvenated with emotion, where you can be human again. Alive, in this world of complex matters.

P.S. One thing had me crying - all my pictures I took were lost due to a malfunction of my 8 month old digital camera. I’ll post ‘em when I fix ‘em.

In programming language, the first thing you learn is how to have your screen show “Hello World!”
How exciting!
Even more exciting is when you get to type “Goodbye World!”
Oh yeah, I’ll be leaving this world for a few days, as I’ve been called upon a mission.

Where to? In The Bahamas!

Unfortunately, it’s no romantic getaway. It’s my reunification with my mother, and my aunt who is currently being treated for cancer. Yeah, I haven’t seen them for quite a while, but that’s not why I’m going there.

I’m going there to say farewell to the world for a while.
I’ve been stuck under a fog of cigarettes day and night, with ink and pencil lead constantly pricking my nose. I’ve been seeing my grades go down the drain, hearing the imminence of my failure in landing a copywriting job. How good a vision can I get in such environments?

So I’m off, to get a better vision of creating cooler ads. Yes, await me my fellow readers (if there are any) - I’ll be back stuck under a fog of sand castles, with palm leaves and coconuts pricking my nose. I’ll be seeing dolphins go down the waves, hearing the imminence of my failure in landing a mediocre perspective.

So I said I’m going to the Bahamas. If you don’t see another post by me in the future, you know where to look for me. I’ll be the guy inscribing my name on your next romantic getaway beachfront.

I tell ya, this was totally unexpected, and I bet something unexpectedly exciting can happen to you this Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And save some leftovers for me. Goodbye World! - for a couple of days.

Whew. At last I open up my blogworld.

Let me see… the last time I wrote a diary was… when my 3rd grade teacher made me. And she graded me on its content.

Oh wait. I wrote again when I was I was a junior in highschool. Oh yeah. Only to find out later that my mother kept a gradebook for it.

So this isn’t that new to me. I mean, I’m used to people reading up what I think are personal or heavily opinionated. But surprisingly, the world is loving it! And the world loves iPods, youtubes, myspace, and 2nd life. So my conclusion: so should I!

But here’s the thing. I’m alone. No one’s heard of my name. No one can even say my name properly. But perhaps, one will find me. One will feel alone as I, or will tell me that I’m not alone. And just maybe, one will tell me that I shouldn’t be alone - that I belong with the others. Who are those ‘others’ you ask? That would be among the other copywriters - in one of those coooooool ad agencies. Oh yes, turn me into a professional copywriter. Please.

On the bright side, I’m not alone, at least - I have a last name that 30 million other Koreans have.

Welcome, people. And bots.