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.

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?

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.

But here’s the bad news. My portfolio wasn’t ready. I know, it’s stupid not to have my portfolio ready, but I simply didn’t have the time. Taking 7 classes and running the ad club may sound easy - but it’s not really. But to be honest, my experience at the event gave me new insights about my self.

See, here’s a weakness of mine. When I am determined to do one thing, I am totally committed to it. Yeah, maybe it’s not a weakness, but here’s the thing - I love copywriting but I’ve never been able to test my skills as a copywriter. And at the same time, I’ve been ignoring other areas of advertising. I know I’m good at coming up with crazy concepts, but I’ve realized that wasn’t the one thing I had to pursue. So I regret, not having had much internship experiences at ad agencies. So now, I’m really open to any positions in the ad agencies, just so that I can get a better view of how things work in those crazy places. How ideas are born, how they are executed and implemented, all of those things I should have seen. And so now, I’ve decided to open up my views instead of having a parochial mindset of what I want to do.

But yet again, I’ve had some great leads and networks with many agencies. I mean, I would have never even thought about meeting anyone at such great agencies. And so I’m developing more strategies to get my name and works out there… I’m still working on them, but starting with my new website and portfolio is the first step. I’m a believer in change. And I will change. And thus, I am hopeful.

I got back home last night from a long day. I’ve been sick since my arrival from the Bahamas, with school work and activities threatening to kill me everywhere I go. And so I came home, checking my e-mail just before heading off to bed to cool off the rising fever.

“Congratulations.” I receive an e-mail saying I’m a finalist of the 2008 Most Promising Minority Students program sponsored and awarded by the American Advertising Federation. The American Advertising Federation is the oldest professional advertising organization in America, with over 50,000 members across the country. I am actually the Chapter President of it at my school - The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Wow! I mean, I got a kick-ass recommendation from my instructor Ms. Fisher, kick-ass academic accomplishments, and a corny statement and self-promoting tagline and a terrible dress-up photo. But I was actually chosen, as one of the 50 students chosen in the United States of America. OK. I was no longer sick. I jumped around like a kangaroo who just got his toe stepped on by a tow truck. I was like a kid who just had his first experience with plain wasabi.

So what next you ask? I’ll be heading on to the 3 day seminar in the Mosaic Multicultural Center in New York (yeah baby NYC), and participate in a program where I get to learn many things. The main event: the recruiting session with the world’s top ad agencies. Oh yeah, all of them that are on my list.

So watch me in USA Today or Ad Age when I participate in the event from Feb 5 - Feb 8, 2008. As I am most likely the only non-citizen or green card holder, this means that now I have to be the best amongst the 50 finalists.

So if you’re a student who’s willing to put something more to your resume, or, willing to do something more to get you an ad agency job, check out the many opportunities available at the AAF website. You’ll be surprised at what you’re missing out on.

And if you’re a recruiter or a creative professional willing to hire me, please give me just a couple more months when I’m ready to show you some of my talents.

Thank you everyone who has helped, and I will always do my best to make you all proud. Thank you AAF for choosing me.

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.

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.

The world is flat, says Thomas Friedman. That’s technology doing its trick. The important thing is, even when the world has no boundaries, that’s only for machines - not us humans.

Have you ever had a customer service call and found it hard dealing with outsourced calls from India? They call themselves John or Chris, but really, they don’t sound like one. It’s becoming more of an issue these days, because unhappy customers in the U.S. want to speak to someone who knows the product, and more importantly, someone who can understand and speak in the customer’s tongue. Unhappy as a customer is, the customer doesn’t want to have to keep saying “I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

Yes, technology has allowed for a superhighway of communications across the globe. But seriously, we as humans, find it hard to really understand one another. I mean, it’s hard to communicate even with our husband or wife. So now that we have a wider platform for communication, a flatter world where selling and buying of goods have become so free, the focus is now on having a more quality communication. “Know thy customer,” has become a wiser wisdom, because without it, the customers can simply switch to your competitor from the other side of the planet.

So what should YOU do? Think in terms of understanding - not talking. You may have been raised in Los Angeles, went to college in Urbana-Champaign, and took your first job in New York City while taking vacations in Orlando and in The Bahamas, your customer may have lived in Shanghai most of his life. And although you may have eaten many Combination Lo Meins, that doesn’t mean you know all about Chinese culture. Did you think they eat Lo Mein every day?

Now let’s think in terms of advertising. You know that your client’s customers aren’t all American. I mean, what is American? So when developing a creative campaign, you must NEVER ASSUME that all women hope to become successful businesswomen or that all Africans don’t have electricity. Even when you think of the most fundamental values, that’s really your own value, and not the value of all people who buy your client’s products.

So dont’ just eat Lo Mein, learn how to cook it. Don’t rely on sayings that the world is flat, because the world is really big. And you knew it since you were born. Get back in your diapers in your crib, and see how everything looks big.

Well, I did cuddle a baby lion once in a safari.

The truth is, South Africa is not much different than anywhere else in the world. Think of Europe, think of the United States, and think of all those cultures in a land far, far away from the rest of the world. That’s South Africa. A true multi-culture in a beatiful foreign land.

I love South Africa. Anyone who’s been there will fall in love. It’s really hard to explain why… Kind of like asking why you love your mother. Same concept, but South Africa never grows old - young and beautiful as it was before. And the people? You think violence in that country makes them ugly? Oh no, they are the nicest people on earth.

South Africa has a really unique culture. They have had people coming in from Europe, Asia, and of course, the natives in Africa. But what makes it so unique is that this eclectic population has brought about its own culture. Very different to the U.S. In the U.S., you’re an Asian even if you’ve lived here your entire life. You’re somebody, even though you are not. In South Africa, everyone in South Africa is South African. Yeah, you might say, that discrimination has been the worldwide issue there, but no South African separates themselves.

There’s really no need to write any more about this beautiful country, because I’d highly recommend that you visit this place at least once in your life time. You’ll know when you arrive at the airport, and smell the richness of the earth against an African sunset.

True, statistics show that the ad industry’s minority professionals stayed relatively low, perhaps not much different from about 20 years ago. And that is why the ad industry has been at risk, and recent efforts to have a more inclusive industry have been doing pretty well. Well, the truth is, it’s doing pretty well from a statistical point of view.

You see, even when it comes to advertising - where creatives and number crunchers perform together to please its clients - when it becomes a matter of saving a whole industry, it simply loses all creativity and solely relies on numbers. That’s what the current ad industry seeks - to create higher percentages of minorities in the industry.

Some may say, that’s all that the ad industry needs. Well, I don’t think so. The fundamental value and image of the ad industry is that it understands what the people need, whereby they use creativity based on factual statistics to achieve results. What’s funny is that the ad industry tries to incorporate more minorities based on the fact that minorities will be able to understand the different cultures that are amongst the American population. Yes, most customers in the U.S. aren’t American-American. In fact, what is American-American?

Here’s the big problem. The U.S. ad industry only seeks minorities who are raised in America. Yes, it helps, but how does it help achieve the solution to more diverse perspectives in advertising? I mean, any one of any race who was raised in America probably drank Coke and have shopped at Wal-Mart and have watched Oprah and watched the Super Bowl. If everybody loves the same thing, does the same thing, and eats the same thing, how different can one approach when it comes to looking for creative solutions?

Here’s my solution. Don’t look for minorities because they just raise the diversity numbers. Look down to the personal level - “what truly makes them diverse?” Look at me, I’ve lived across so many cultures - South Africa, Tunisia, Argentina, Korea, Romania, and the United States. But as a student, there’s hardly any internships or awards that I can enter - even those that are meant to “increase diversity.” Why? Because I have to be a U.S. Citizen or a Resident Alient to be eligible (of course, I’m an alient from outta space just happening to spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to be called a non-eligible alien).

Yes! The ad industry needs diversity! And yes! Having more minorities is important! But is the ad industry trying to do it simply to look good or to create more good? If the ad industry truly wants to create a diverse environment for better perspectives, I think it is time to consider digging deeper into the meaning of the word - diversity. After all, it’s the ad industry’s role to understand the people. Why not understand the people who will create the ads for all this?