Future?

As first semester of senior year is winding down, the question on my mind is always: "What next?" The response is always a large sigh and a shrug, because I have absolutely no idea what my future is going to entail. Basically the only thing I know for certain is that I want to work in the advertising field. Doing what, who knows? I am not sure whether to go into the account side, or media, or research, or creative. I don't even know if I want to work in an actual agency or do in-house things for certain companies.

However, I do know one other thing: I'm very interested in the field of hospitality. When I was studying abroad in Australia, I took a hospitality course that taught me the basics of the food and beverage as well as the accommodation industries, and that sparked an interest for me. I also love to travel and have been thinking about possibly pursuing a career involving advertising and travel agencies, or something similar.

An ad agency that I recently discovered in Chicago, called Two by Four, is a place where I can see myself working. The website is very welcoming and also easy to navigate. The section describing the workers of the agency is creative and funny, which shows that the people have a good sense of humor. Two by Four is also affiliated with other agencies like SPLNTR, a design and interactive agency, which shows that Two by Four is keeping up with the trends.

For one of their clients, Four Winds Casino Resort, the agency made a wide variety of different advertisements, including TV spots, radio ads, print ads, billboards, banner ads, interactive ads, and even rewards cards. I like how they didn't stick with just one medium.



I really like this ad because it uses the combination technique to display the multiple qualities that the Casino Resort has. Not only is it a great place to socialize (displayed by the drinking wine aspect) and stay, but it is also a great place to gamble! The copy is friendly and conversational, and also very convincing. If I lived in the Midwest, I wouldn't feel obligated to travel to Las Vegas after seeing this campaign. I would want to stay and go to Four Winds. The contrast between the red and the white is very effective and mind-grabbing, and I like that the background is blurry. It demonstrates the fact that Four Winds is a really fun place because the blurry-ness is filled with people talking (or at least that's what I see). I like this print ad and I think it would definitely catch my attention as I was flipping through the pages of a magazine.



This is an interesting concept because I think that the agency created a rewards program for Four Winds Casino Resort. I believe that this is a pamphlet explaining the program. The images used are very enticing, and I really like the tagline "The game has changed." It is saying that you don't need to spend so much money to go to Las Vegas to gamble and have fun. Four Winds offers everything that a Las Vegas hotel and casino offer, but even better, because it is a "lucky" place to be. A lot of people win big- so why can't you too? The game has changed because you no longer have to spend so much money in order to try to win big. Just come to Four Winds and try yourself!

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So where will I be in 7 months? 1 year? 5 years? I'm not sure. I don't think I'll know until the time arrives. All I know is that I want to be extremely happy with what I do and I want to wake up every morning excited to go to work. I want to be engulfed in the business and happy that I'm apart of it.

If anyone has any insights on how to narrow down my likes/dislikes/future goals, I'd be more than willing to listen!

Cheers,
Jen