Living at Sea

Our home for 1/2 a month was the MS Zaandam, a vessel belonging to the Holland America Cruise Line. (How ironic that we started and ended with a big Holland experience?) We were generously given this voyage as a gift from Alicia’s mom for graduating MAS. Literally 2 weeks after finishing up school, we were off on another adventure that took us 1/2 way back to Australia!
Imagine your only view for 10 days being 360 degrees of oceanic horizon, and the occasional flying fish. While hitting up the gym one morning (true AdverBarbie style) we saw from a distance, a pod of 300+ dolphins heading straight for the ship. They swam right up next to us, and it was like out of a dream to see so many blue-gray dolphins leaping from the water. Needless to say, we now have a small idea of what it was like for Mr. Magellan back in the day.

After all that time, we obviously made good friends with all the staff... shoutouts to Ashari aka ‘I’m Sorry’, Nico, and Iman and all of the other Indonesian crew members. lol.

THE BIG CANUCK POST.

Coming in close contact with AdverBarbie may make you susceptible to a contagious virus, aka the “travel bug.”

Michelle’s brother is only 19 and he had to begin a little world tour of his own, enrolling at Simon Frasier University in Vancouver, Canada. Could you imagine going to college not only out-of-state, but out-of-country? He wants to be a naturopathic doctor, so that he can cure people without the use of side-effect laden pharmaceutical drugs. How good is that?!

Check out some of the things we did, and pics we took while visiting our northern neighboring nation.

What feels better than Christmas morning?

It’s the morning after you graduate MAS! You should have seen us packing up our 5th apartment: giddy as can be, while running on pure muscle memory, because we’ve done it so many times! Even though it was a little weird trying to explain to people what the heck we were up to these past 2 years (“No, its not a masters program.” “No, its just fake advertising for real companies...ect”), it was well worth it. Just thinking about it gives me vague feelings of vertigo.

Here’s a list of the top 10 things we learned these past 2 years:
It is possible to arrive to your first day of work, homeless and hungry, and still make a good impression.
Brain food WORKS. Always eat something approximately 30 minutes before concepting.
Always bring a pen. You’ll look more prepared than the guy who didn’t.
Never underestimate the time it takes to render a project out (usually quadruple it).
Never EVER wear shiny jewelry in Rio de Janeiro.
If you work in advertising, you must be ready to drink alcohol at any moment.
Different day, different judge. Submit, and re-submit your work to award shows.
It’s perfectly normal to get food shipped in from Whole Foods from across the planet.
The cloud ceiling looks like it’s 10x higher up in Australia than the USA. Very distracting.
We work well under pressure. Really, its the only time we actually work.
A better you=A better planet :)

Are you tearing up right now because you think that the World Tour is over? THINK AGAIN. As far as we’re concerned its only half-time folks. Check out what we’ve got in store. First, we are going to Vancouver. Hitting up some autumn activities, hiking mountains, eating pumpkins, you know, whatever they do in Canada. Then, thanks to Alicia’s Mom and Hans, we are blowing out on a huge graduation cruise! We shall embark on a 15 day journey, crossing the Pacific, all the way to Hawaii! Last port of call is San Diego, California, and literally, it’s the last port of call for AdverBarbie as well. Can someone say, Hallelujah! The goal is to land a job in LA, so if you know anyone in the industry out there, ...send them our link www.adverbarbie.com or have them email us adverbarbie@gmail.com.

Thanks guys for reading along through our journey! And prepare thyselves for the big “Canuck Post” coming soon!

Check out our FINAL Reel, this is what we presented to everyone at Graduation...enjoy :0

2010 AdverBarbie Reel from AdverBarbie on Vimeo.

This photo compliments of Paola Lleneza




This photo compliments of Paola Lleneza (AdverBarbie with some of our fav. guys from MAS Miami)


(Our book would not be where it is today without all the help we got from Martin, our portfolio teacher. Thanks again for all your time and help!)

The MOTHERSHIP

You’ve officially been abducted into the world of AdverBarbie! Whether you’re a die hard Barbie fan, or hate her plastic guts, this post is guaranteed to conjure up those old childhood sentiments.

We wanted to create some print ads for AdverBarbie, and what better place to pick up our subject matter, than from the Mothership. Two of the greatest toy stores in the galaxy, FAO Schwartz and Toys R Us NYC have absolutely awesome Barbie sections. You can immerse yourself in a hot-pink oblivion, and marvel at one of the greatest in-store displays a brand has ever created.
If you get the chance to develop a POS experience; keep this example in mind. These stores sell more barbie product than anywhere in the world. Invite the consumer to slow down and experience the essence of the brand. They won’t be able to leave without taking a piece of the experience home.

Wanna Race with Tri-AdverBarbie?

Out of all the things we’ve done, here is one of the craziest. Sunday was the Staten Island Triathlon, and we competed in full force. Not many can pull off such a rigorous training schedule while also traveling, working, and schooling. But low and behold we did it, and we even placed in the top 5 in our age group (18-24), with Michelle getting 3rd, and Alicia getting 4th! In addition, Alicia was the first female to complete the swimming portion for the entire race.

If you want motivation, and something to work towards, you should definitely do a triathlon! Foot races are cool and all, but there is no contest when it comes to being a well rounded individual, and excelling in multiple endeavors. Balance is one of the key lessons we’ve learned, and this triathlon proves our dedication to maintaining the body portion of the mind, body, and soul trifecta of life. Ok, enough preaching, time strap on your shoes, jump on your bike, and feel the wind in your hair. Life is happening, and you are a participant.

Masters of Resourcefulness

Always looking for a new challenge, we signed up for a triathlon while we were back in Brazil. Now all of a sudden its this weekend. Since we have no gym membership, we’ve had to put our resourcefulness into high gear and figure out how we were going to cross train on zero budget. Thank god New York City has a renowned public park system. In Central Park there is an Olympic sized pool so we can practice swimming for free. Then along the “coast” of Manhattan is a bike route which serves as running track. Bike rentals for $10 an hour...you get the picture

Being resourceful in a new city is an awesome skill to develop. Here are some tips on how to hone in on yours:

1. ) Online Coupons. Where ever you are going always check for online discounts. If you can’t print out coupons, just show people them on the screen of your mobile phone, and it works out.
2.) Public Domain. Just go hit up anything that is free and public. Not only is it adventurous, but you can also find get linked up to more free stuff to do once you are there.
3.) Street flyers. Accept those pamphlets boys and girls, and you might just find out the coolest restaurant in your neighborhood, free yoga, or 2 for 1 cocktails
4.) Libraries for Movies. The DVD selection is amazing, you just have to dig. We have seen some of the best films of our lives ever since we got our New York Public Library Card.
5.) Eat Dinner Early. Many restaurants have lunch specials that go till 5:30 pm. You can literally get the same thing for 50% off. So have that pre-dinner snack...post-dinner instead!

The AdverBarbie “Reusable Book Piece Challenge”

After our expansive travels, we realized that we have a huge desire to help all people and places that stand for positive change in the world. Why not flaunt ad skills for our book, while to reaching out to our community? Meet Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, the only organic rooftop veggie garden in NYC. Located in Greenpoint Brooklyn, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm is around 6,000 square feet and categorized as a greenroof because it uses compost and recycled shale as the beds for the crops. This is right up our alley! We plan on creating an ad campaign for Eagle Street, which we will then donate to them to use as they wish. Hopefully, we can drive more interest towards Eagle Street and organic urban farming. Thanks to our teacher, Martin from Grey NY, for giving us this awesome client to work on!

To fellow Students and Teachers: In a time where global consciousness is rising, why not create or assign a campaign that could be donated to a local cause? We are doing these things for free anyways, so might as well be helping. A successful, real-life piece, (maybe with some green-flare) would be a perfect topic to discuss with CD’s in a job interview. Doesn’t get more mainstream and pop-culture than that!

I LOVE NYC

AdverBarbie is back in the USA, and the world capital of advertising, New York City. Its been an incredible journey thus far, and we couldn’t think of a better way to integrate back into American culture than returning to the mecca of fast living and fabulous shopping. Bright lights, big city, and of course Miami Ad School, Brooklyn. The Brooklyn location boasts full views of downtown Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. We found an apartment in East Village, (while we were in all the way down in Brazil) and moved in the day before classes started.

This quarter we are not interning at an agency, but rather, we are taking the quarter to focus on our books. Dubbed “portfolio quarter,” we will be focusing on book, and building our network to land our first real job. After working full-time and moving around the world, we’re glad to be back in the classroom. Hopefully, we won’t get too distracted by this awesome city. From the pictures below, its going to be tough!
















Tremendez Photography