Young, and Spiky

Remember how I've always been complaining about work lately? And remember how, when you read me complaining, you might have this question deeeeep inside your tiny little heart: "enough talking, you wuzz, stand up and quit already!?"

Well. The answer is simple: I feel like I still need to prove myself.

Yea, it's about me and my own ambition. C'mon, spare me a little, I'm young, and I want to sharpen my spikes! I want to make my brands matter -lol bullshyt?- I want to win more pitch so I can decorate my portfolio with even prettier stuff -well now it's a genuine one- and, I want awards.

So this year, after making it to Top 10 last year in Daun Muda, I got into another award competition. This time it's a bit more international.

Young Spikes Award.

Well, alright alright, it's my boss again. He dragged me into this, once again. It wasn't my intention at the first place but after some considerations, I felt like I had to redeem for not making it into Top 3 last year so there I was, once again 'trapped' in the rollercoaster advertising award ride.

The process was basically the same. We worked in a group of two, received the brief, spent weekend at the office to crack the idea, and just wait in vein. Only this time, the deadline was only 24 hours -which oh for God's sake, was much better than 48 hours because SPENDING THE WHOLE WEEKEND AT THE OFFICE IS SO STRESSFUL! and, I had a new partner.

Remember about my old squad at the office? Well yea most of them are gone now, but as time went by and I moved on -lol wth- I found myself in yet another awesome circle. The boss is still the same, but my playmates are new. A girl and a guy, and let's call them Masha and The Bear. And all three of us, Masha, The Bear, and me, we were kinda forced by our boss to join Young Spikes.

I was partnered with The Bear. Oh God. Lol did I make it sound like I can't stand The Bear? Nooo, we're good. Too good in fact, that we tend to mock each other and jape a lot. Way too lot.

But then the 24 hours we spent at the office was quiet effective and fruitful, though the new big boss kinda questioned our idea, but then, just the next day, when we were expected to wait for a phone call should our idea proceeded to the presentation stage, well,

WE GOT THAT CALL!

I couldn't believe it. AT. ALL. Two years in a row, in two different, but equally prestigious advertising award event, I made it into the shortlist! This time was Top 7, a slightly much MUCH better result, which it alone got me all proud of myself already!

We got to present our idea the next day. God, I don't need to explain how nervous we were for that. Plus, this was The Bear's first time making it through as a finalist after joining the competitions for some years so, it's a big thing for us!

The presentation went smooth, though we were the last one to present. The idea was clever, the slides were on-point and not full of words, the speaking was clear, the answers to the unexpected questions were unexpectedly delivered in a very very satisfying quality. So then came the announcement and

We lost.

Lol do you expect this to turn out to be a super sweet dreams-do-come-true blog post where I won the award and that's why I posted it? No, I lost. They said that our presentation was top notch, and the judges were having a difficulty in deciding whether it should be us or the other team to win, so yea they claimed that if there were a second place, it should be us, but no. No second place, and no, we weren't the winner no matter what.

Still I'm writing about this as a token of appreciation to myself, and, most importantly, as a reminder that I could do anything and go as far as I wish if I want.

I started working at this industry knowing nothing -but stories from our lecturers back at the university, lacking of skills, having no experiences, needing times and times to grow and up my level, even several weeks prior me doing the competition, a stupid Malay expat at my office made fun of me and told me that I couldn't go far -well she was drunk, so she probably didn't mean it but wait, alcohol usually make someone talk what they really think of, no? and look at me now: it took me only 24 hours to show that I am worthy of a brilliant ad man, for the second consecutive year.

No, of course I'm not doing this award to show that woman that I can achieve something. She's not worth the back of my mind.

This is totally my way to show that I'm capable of doing anything I want.

I'm young, full of spikes

Ready to pop your balloon

Campus Last Blow

Remember the time, when I was about to turn 20,

And I freaked out like a retarded chicken?

Well, it was last year.

And now I'm 21 already.

Haha gatau kenapa giliran mau masuk umur 21, gue ga ada panik-paniknya sama sekali. Yaiyyyallaah!! Umur 21 gitu! Batas umur antara si kecil dan si dewasa secara hukum. Which means? I'm Legally Legal!

Pokoknya sedari pagi, sampai malam, bahkan sampai keesokan harinya, semuanya bikin nyenengin. Mulai dari pagi pagi pas mau browsing ngerjain tugas, trus gak sengaja ngeliat Google doodle hari itu yang gambarnya kue ulangtaun. Gue pun membatin, "Hah siapa nih yang ulangtaunnya sama kayak gue? Keren dong gue tanggalnya mirip sama orang terkenal." dan pas gue scroll pointernya untuk mencari tahu, ternyata...

Sumpah ya, it made my morning haha. Padahal cuma gitu doang tapi gimana ya, seneng aja gitu. Trus agak siangan gue jalan ke tukang cukur. Ketika melintasi seorang anak TK dan mboknya, ternyata mereka lagi nyanyi "Happy Birthday" fufu sounds pathetic gasih? Tapi gue seneng gimana dong. Semacam pertanda aja gitu kalo hari ulangtaun ini masih panjang.

Dan bener aja. Di kampus gue dikasih surprise lagi cem taun lalu. Lagi duduk lucu di takor eh tiba-tiba pada nyanyi trus Pus muncul dengan kue hasil patungan anak-anak iklan. Sedih gak sih? :'( Gue udah sok-sok tegar aja gitu sok-sok gak tertarik buat nutupin rasa haru yang tak terbendung ini.

Abis potong kue, beranjaklah kita ke kelas. Di tengah jalan, you know, those freaking people wouldn't let me pass my day for granted, dijejelin lah muka gue pake kue. Tangan pun dikekang biar gak bisa kabur, segala materi berbentuk tisu dan kain lap diumpetin biar gue gak bersihin muka.

Lalu gue diarak sampe kelas kayak penganten sunat. Sampe kelas pun gue dikurung, Bu. Gaboleh keluar gaboleh bersih bersih sampe akhirnya si dosen dateng, gue berhasil melipir keluar tanpa hambatan. Untung tubuh gue selangsing kijang.

Pulangnya, gue dicegat lagi nih. Kali ini mereka punya chant, "Ma~ndi dulu! Ma~ndi dulu!" maksudnya gue mau dicemplungin ke kolam takor gitu. Etapi kan udah malem kan ya, lagian gue juga buru buru nih mau pergi kan skejul masih padet tuh, nah jadinya secara diam-diam gue lenyap bagai debu.

Tapi nih ya, pas lagi ditarik gitu, pas gue lagi berontak gitu, seseorang membujuk gue supaya mau dimandiin karena,

"Ini kan taun terakhir lo ulangtaun di kampus Vick, ayolah..."

Sumpah, itu jadi bikin gue rela digotong ke kolam. Ini taun terakhir gue ulangtaun di kampus. Taun depan gue bakal ngerayain ulangtaun gue sama temen kantor yang, yaa gatau sih, tapi gue rasa feel nya bakal beda aja. Cuman yang pasti sih gabakal ada lagi maskeran kue, ga ada cemplang cemplung, ceplak ceplok dan segala kelakuan imbisil idiotic lainnya.

Well, umm, well we'll see about that.

With all these super, amusing, crazy friends of mine,

No matter how separated we are, how busy we'll be later,

Eventually we'll celebrate our birthday, our 30th birthday, our wedding day

Together :)

P.S. : Thank you, AdPle Par 2010, thank you so much

Madison Avenue Future Men

Me and my classmates, we call ourselves Adple.

It's the short form of Advertising People.

Me myself, I consider us as a group of mad people.

Cause term 'mad' is somehow suitable for us.

And um, well... things around us.

Especially after yesterday.

Gotta tell ya, things were all mad.

Mad Lecturer

Jadi kemaren ada company visit ke Yahoo! Indonesia di Senayan. Karena satu dan lain hal kita ngaret satu jam dari rencana berangkat, dan muter-muter ga karuan karena salah jalan. Alhasil, kita telat satu setengah jam dari jadwal janjian sama orang Yahoo! nya. Marah? Jelas...

Mad Bus

Nah buat transport bolak-balik kampus-kantor nya, kita disewain bis kuning. Tapi tunggu dulu. Bikun yang ini bukan bikun sebagaimana sejatinya. Yang satu ini semi-rongsok, karat dimana-mana, kursi jebol sana-sini, sistem pendingin alami. Bahkan ada yang nyeletuk kalo bis ini lolos kerusuhan '98 karena kaca depannya retak... Tapi overall gue seneng-seneng aja sih selama naikin itu bis.

Mad Passengers

Di perjalanan pulang sebelum turun dari bis, bikunnya kan ngelewatin beberapa halte sebelum akhirnya nyampe halte FISIP. Nah ketika itu ada yang ngusulin supaya pintunya dibuka pas bikunnya udah deket halte, biar orang-orang yang lagi nunggu pada siap-siap. Berubung gue yang ada di deket pintu, yaudah gue kerjain apa yang sudah direquest fufu kocak juga kan kalo dipikir-pikir. Dan bener aja, di halte Psikologi, pas bikunnya udah deket, banyak banget yang udah berdiri ngarep bisa naik eh ternyata bisnya cuma numpang lewat HAHA ya Tuhan dosa banget sih sebenernya.

Mad Friend

Udah gak dipengenin, udah sedemikian rupa diusir, dicengin, dikacangin dan pas di bis semua orang sengaja duduk rapet-rapetan biar dia gak duduk di sebelah kita, teteup aje doi berkeliaran tanpa dosa.

Mad Creative Director

Ternyata bukan cuma mahasiswa yang dekil otaknya. Jadi setelah ke Yahoo! sorenya kita ada company visit lagi ke Iris Worldwide. Nah disana ada satu sesi sharing sama CD setempat. Dia sempet nanya gitu kan siapa yang minat jadi creative dan pas gue angkat tangan, dia justru bilang supaya gue jangan jadi copywriter soalnya gajinya sedikit. Sumpah ya gue udah jiper sebenernya. Tapi usut punya usut, ternyata dia cuma berusaha menakut-nakuti diriku supaya gue gak jadi masuk creative department dan posisi dirinya sebagai CD pun tidak terancam. Bisa ye masnye.

Mad Duck

Sepulang Iris, beberapa dari kami makan di restoran bebek di Margonda yang gue lupa namanya apa. Karena udah skip dan capek, yang ada disitu ngomongnya udah pada ngelantur semua. Ada lah lawakan karena kebanyakan makan bebek trus pas cegukan bunyinya 'kwek', ada lah yang ngebayangin ada bebek di depannya pas lagi makan, ada lah yang nyeletuk abis ini ada nugget bebek, hadeeehh bocah. Tapi yang paling gila disitu mah sambelnya. Ih Tuhan, gue cuma makan seiprit tapi besoknya mules-mules ga karuan...

Mad... Us?

After all, the main reason why things were going mad around us was because of ourselves. Everything seems  a whole lot funnier, wilder and dumber when we're placed together.

So that's that. Our marvelous experience.

Marvelous day we ever had so far.

Marvelous Advertising Men.

Mad Men, I call us

Outside In, Insight Out

Gue udah beberapa kali ngepost soal UTS sama UAS kampus. Gimana hebohnya belajar, nyiapin presentasi, bikin makalah, bla bla bla ya whatever dibandingin sama UTS gue yang baru aja gue lewatin ini, yang dulu dulu itu gak ada upil upilnya.

Oke. Delapan mata kuliah. Empat sit in, empat take home. Yang sit in sih yaudah lah yaa, belajar beberapa jam sebelum masuk kelas pun insya Allah siap lahir batin. Nah yang take home ini. Tiga diantaranya pure mata kuliah iklan. Dan tiga tiganya PURE ngegojlok otak gue sama temen temen gue.

Bayangin aja nih ibu ibu bapak bapak, dalam waktu seminggu kami disuruh bikin tiga campaign, gali tiga insight, nyari tiga big idea! Oke IMC nya Mba Nad masih mantep, soalnya otak masih seger. Media Planning nya Mas Arya udah mulai sumpek, soalnya diganggu sama UTS yang lain. Nah yang terakhir nih pas ngerjain Creative Brief dari dosen praktisi gue yang goddess abis, Mba Ruby... Nangis nangis gue nyari idenya.

Sampe udah nginep di rumah Ridho pun, dijamu pake seabreg makanan pun, ceng cengan satu sama lain, inkubasi nyari ide, gitaran di balkon, nonton bok--eh, nonton siraman rohani pun... Kelompok gue masih keseok seok nyari ide.

Tapi ternyata emang anak iklan identik sama deadline kali yah. Jam 11 siang, hari Jumat tanggal 13 April 2012, delapan jam sebelum batas akhir pengumpulan brief, barulah ide ide cemerlang nan mumpuni keluar. Pelan pelan semua pertanyaan terjawab, ilustrasi tercipta, kata kata terungkap...

Ah gile pokoknya UTS kali ini jawara jaya raya.

Gue tau sih ini gak seberapanya hidup gue di agency nanti.

Jadi jangan ngeluh dulu ya Mas Piki dan teman temannya...

Something trickier lies ahead

When Coffee Chose Us Over Others

Something bizarre yet exciting happened today.

Jadi tadi gue kuliah Perencanaan dan Pembelian Media Periklanan (Media Planning and Buying). Dosennya namanya mas Arya, doi masih muda gitu deh jadi asik ngajarnya. Nah beberapa hari lalu kita dikasih tugas buat nyari insight orang-orang di sekitar kita.

Basically I belonged to Ridho's group along with Olip, Nanda and Indra. Tapi tadi tiba-tiba gue baru tau kalo Yabes juga ternyata sekelompok. Dan secara mengejutkannya mas Arya bilang kalo satu kelompok ada yang empat orang, ada yang lima orang. Hening kan nih kelompok gue. Trus dengan sukarelanya gue melepaskan tubuh gue dari belenggu kelompok jejaka itu dan gabung ke kelompok Kinta sama Cika, karena mereka baru bertiga sama Fierda, dan Fierda nya lagi sakit.

Yang lebih mengejutkan lagi, ternyata ini bocah dua masih belom fix sama insight yang mau mereka presentasiin. Muka gue udah nanar nih, kelompok gue sebelumnya tuh udah hampir siap maju malah. Si Cika ngidein soal anak-anak kosan, tapi gue agak cemas dan kurang setuju.

Sampe akhirnya kelompok kita dipanggil, gue sama Cika masih aja berdebat. Kinta udah nyerah, maju tuh doi. Setelah basa-basi yang diperlambat dan diulur-ulur itu, akhirnya tiba juga ke inti presentasi.

Yaudah akhirnya secara alami semua setuju kalo kita jadinya ngomongin soal anak-anak kosan. Berubung kita bertiga ngekos dan tau banget gimana merananya jadi anak kosan, presentasi itu pun beralih fungsi jadi sesi curhat. Segala unek-unek -terutama soal uang- diumbar semua dimari. Awalnya sih garing gue akuin, tapi lama-lama jadi kebawa suasana haha.

Selesai selesai selesai, kita pun duduk. Bodo amet dah gimana nilainya, yang penting udah maju dan kesannya udah kayak ngerjain tugas.

Ketika tiba saatnya pengumuman kelompok teroke, gue bertiga sih udah ongkang-ongkang kaki aja. Yakalleee kelompok yang baru aja nentuin insight lima menit sebelum disuruh maju ini bisa menang.

Tapi pas mas Arya bilang, "ini bukan karena saya kasian..." sesuatu di dalam hati gue berbisik, "selamat vick, lo menang :)"

Dan bener aja, kelompok manusia-melarat-muka-sayu-anak-anak-kosan gue pun keluar sebagai juara. Sontak kita bertiga meliar, teriak-teriak macem menang undian naik haji, lari-larian ke depan buat nyalamin si masnya, trus nerima 4 voucher Starbucks sebagai hadiah.

Norak yak? Iya sih, gue juga setuju. Tapi yaudah lah yaa, selebrasi kemenangan tuuuhh, mohon dimaklumi

Hhh ngaco emang ini kelompok.

So spontaneous but damn spectacular.

But wait, there's a thing that still bugs me

How come we won?

P.S. : Pas lagi panik-paniknya nentuin nama kelompok, si Cika muncul dengan ide STADIUM, dimana esensinya adalah "karena kita selalu berpikir kritis sampai pada STADIUM keempat." sadissss... emang ya ide sensasional itu selalu muncul dalam keadaan tertekan :')