I have an Ad Design degree from Syracuse University, admittedly much more so because I was convinced by my father that I needed a stable job coming out of college than out of any incessant love for crafting adverts. Illustration was my passion as an adolescent — political cartooning to be precise — but she wasn’t too stable of a pursuit, so I caved early on.
Even before I matriculated, I knew I was never going to use my degree in its proper setting. I had no desire to become a Jr. Art Director, slaving away on terribly boring, listless campaigns at a big agency named after a long dead, old, white male copy writer. But many of the skills that I developed in the VPA program — creative brainstorming, rolling with constructive criticism, putting my feet in the shoes of a person with need, etc. — I find myself using to this day on supply-side projects from time to time, though I do try to do so with positive intent and not simply add to the noise of the media ecosystem.
Doc Searls is a demand-side advocate, and I completely agree with his position on the false construct of our system that attempts to connect markets to product via the boisterous shouting of offers into the wind. Maybe his VRM work will begin to flip the script on that paradigm, maybe not.
In any case, Bill Hicks is genius.