10/3/’09
I’ve just returned home from an oh-so-normal day at campus. However, one particular moment in my IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication) class bugged me continually, even when I was already sitting on the bus, somewhat enjoying the rattles, shakes, and up and downs of the Ragunan-Kuningan Busway, while gazing perversely at the tanned thighs of the female tennis player who sat in front of me. That being said, maybe it wasn’t really oh-so-normal after all.
It was a small and insignificant moment, seriously. Not even worth talking about by a country mile. Problem is, I seem to contemplate a lot on these minute minutes, even when they seem to bear no ramifications.
It was simple. But let’s delve into the disclaimers beforehand: 1) my mind was, in a split-second, somewhere else 2) I was innocently drawing faces of people that don’t exist.
Spare a bit of your precious time, will you?
Building H, Room 20-forgot. Second session of IMC, the subject is something about consumer analysis. Until the end of the first session, I was still taking notes, but leisurely and in the awareness that mid-term exams loom next week. Delve back into the disclaimers, because that was what I was indulging in. The lecturer suddenly asks a question:
“blabla…new consumers blabla old consumers..”
My mind absurdly goes to the importance of relationship marketing over targeted marketing, and that too, is shrouded by an aura of forgetfulness. Like an idiot I say:
“Because old consumers will come back and back again” (shitty answer, I know)
The lecturer just looks at me and says:
“I expected more from someone like you”
I go all jerky and let it out that I wasn’t in the mood (lame excuse, but truthful in some ways)
She then passes the question to the bright pal beside me, who answers with aplomb.
“I’ll guess this one out. It has something to do with awareness. Getting new consumers requires the marketer to gain their awareness. This makes it harder than retaining old consumers” (This may even be fallacious misquotation of what he said, but who cares?)
The lecturer: Correcto Mundo
No, I’m not envious of the dude for profiting on my spoils. As a matter of fact, I was already half-way drawing a set of pointless characters representing feelings, like anger, loneliness, happiness, etc.
It was when I went downstairs, where the “Lae” of the dude who answered the question said, “Not in the mood, ey?”
I smiled, but something irked me. Come on, I thought. I can’t really use disinterestedness as an excuse, the fact had been written: I simply couldn’t answer the question, and that’s that.
But that was only a footnote, it was still remotely trivial. That was until my mind linked the preconditions of his answer to my own personal ghosts.
Let’s put it this way, the fellow who answered the question isn’t majoring in advertising, so he had not academically studied marketing before. Secondly, he didn’t take any notes during the session. And most importantly, he answered instantly, as if he pulled out a rabbit out of the hat.
Some might attribute these qualities to the sharpness of intelligence, but of my own accord, I’d register them as creativity. Why, you may ask? It’s down to the fact that he wasn’t as used to the subject as much as I was supposed to be. To be able to see how concepts align with each other at a glance and invent a logical assumption that in turn, answers a question you’re not familiar with, that’s definitely creativity. Don’t be fooled by the insertion of the word ‘logical’ in the explanation, because I’m referring to both sides of the brain working reciprocally to result in this burst of creativity.
And it is this concept, ‘Creativity’, that has been, for the past two years, my personal ghost.
I wondered where it had gone.
Let me pull out the bragging rights. I was always involved in creative-associated projects since as long as I can remember. As I kid I loved to draw all day, I was always influential in almost every significant creative project during high school, and I cheekily gained admission to the two arguably most creative majors in the country. A renowned art school in Bandung, and the highest-ranked communication program in the country. I chose the latter because it was, technically, an offer I couldn’t refuse
Like I said, those were bragging rights, in some way pointing out that, I like to brag. Yes, but not explicitly. I like to weasel myself to receive verbal accolades, position myself to gain a certain impression, self-depreciate myself to gain some appreciation (which is probably what I’m attempting now).
And so I entered Depok with a gleam of cockiness in my eyes. Things rolled out smoothly. A few favors here and there, and my abovementioned trifecta of bragging attempts were on the run. The branding was going as planned. Another four years of being praised as a creative individual, I thought.
But here I am one and a half years later, ranting about how creativity has become my personal ghost since then. Reason why? I’ll use the words of ‘Ada Apa Dengan Cinta’ screenwriter Prima Rusdi during her guest lecture (insightful for movie-geeks like me) to explain.
End of ’08, Creative Thinking Class, Building H, Room Also Forgot.
Prima Rusdi: How do you measure creativity in a professional environment?
Class: (silent, but most of them probably already knew the answer)
Rana: Their consistency?
Prima Rusdi: Bingo, In other words, their performance. The amount of creative end-product a scriptwriter, a copywriter, a director, anybody working as a creative, can come up with, week in, week out.
Her words made me reflect. How was my creative performance? I kept thinking about it for the following weeks. It kind of diminished any pride I had previously amassed from my boasting.
The list of personal creative failing for me contains many projects since I went to University.
-Comm Weekend: Never realized to its fullest potential. Although, I can take it, because of the circumstances
-Drug Prevention Program for the Social Department: Stuck on coming up with a story, didn’t really contribute in its conceptions. Presently messing up the storyboards.
-TV AFS Documentary Project: Stuck on episode 2, no creative gale whatsoever.
In regular life.
-Pretending to be a sort of ringleader that reflects and collects ideas from all over the board during a creative discussion, especially academic. This is actually down to the fact that I’m afraid to be stuck in the idea-building process.
-Posing as a movie know-it-all, conveniently positioning myself as a budding director. All you have to do is spent 60% of your time on wiki, imdb, aintitcool. comingsoon, and joblo. It’s that easy.
The list goes on, capitulating in that insignificant moment in IMC class.
Have I regressed creatively during my time as a university student?
I think the evidence is crystal clear.
Like my bright friend, please invent an answer to that, my friends
Wait…
Hold on a sec…
Having ranted all that, maybe there is still a bit of spark left in me.
I’d need that to write this post anyway, wouldn’t I?
Oops, I guessed that just spoiled the bragging attempt :)
-R
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