Advertising, Eh?

I always see Advertising as a complicated field. For a Photoshop amateur like me, it’s certainly a field I would―and should―rather not think about. Although there’s something in it which I find so interesting, I almost always end up enumerating several reasons to be rightly discouraged.

Because I considered myself as incapable in the field, I find myself so amazed every time I see and hear about people who truly shine in the Advertising world. One of which is THE David Guerrero.

After hearing his success story, I have proven a lot of things about Advertising. It’s more than just promotions; it’s more than just making videos and posters and commercials. It’s a field where you aim for profit, yes, but still places high regard on the people’s psyche. It’s not there simply to attract people to subscribe to a certain product or service or idea; it’s not there to fool the people. It’s there to help create a well-informed market, a well-notified group of consumers, in a creative manner.

Seeing Mr. Guerrero’s feat, I wish I had the same flair and the same habit to extract all my creative juices, to dare think outside the box. I suddenly remembered my Marketing class and my struggle to come up with a feasible and very nice service proposal. It was a tough thing to do, maybe because I don’t think outside the box as effectively as others do. I guess I just have to practice, and give myself a little more push so that I can exercise this sleeping creativity in me.

I also figured out that one can still be successful in the field of Advertising even without superb skills in Photoshop and the like. Yes, it is an advantage, but with a creative mind and a passionate heart, you’ll be fine. My interest got stirred up a little, and I find myself relating Advertising to my beloved Marketing. And guess what, they may involve different tasks and duties, but they have some things in common too. Both of them require creativity―which I think I have to continuously work on. Both of them intend to constantly win the consumer’s heart―which I am really interested in doing in the near future. Both of them demand a pretty good knowledge and deep understanding of the consumers―which I really find so challenging yet at the same time exciting.

Mr. Guerrero didn’t just leave us with amazement; he brought us all inspiration. I never imagined Advertising to be a spring of life’s inspiring and encouraging lessons. I learned that advertising is not really about how good you are, but about how good you want to be. I may not be currently skillful in Advertising, or even in Marketing, but I know for sure I wanted to be good at it. The drive is important, and the desire to continuously learn is very, very important. As Mr. Guerrero puts it, “Your vision is your greatest asset.” True, for without a goal, without a target to aim at, one can’t definitely score.

He left us with this statement, “If you want to succeed in Advertising, you’ve got to do three things: work, work and work.” Most of us got scared, who wants to get stressed in the future anyway? But honestly speaking, I fear the same thing. I suddenly realized that I’ve been always looking at life’s shortcuts―I always desire for an easy way out. I don’t want to be stressed; I don’t want to get tired in my future career, yet here I am, wishing to get to the top someday. But life’s not like that, you know (well, not unless you have ‘the connections’). For an ordinary dreamer like me, I definitely have to have the willingness to commit to something. “If you want to succeed in it, you’ve really got to commit to it.”

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Another Reflection Paper for Marketing 101 Class!

Speaker: THE David Guerrero. Awesome.