Michi and me this morning

I was very surprised to see about 150 or so people had braved a very wintery Melbourne morning to join Chloe from Michi Girl and myself for the Design On Toast breakfast seminar.

We had a very interesting chat about brands, branding and where brands fit into society.

Chloe mentioned Nike a couple of times during the discussion. And not always in a positive light.

Whilst I, of course, managed to squeeze a couple of Bill Bernbach mentions into the conversation.

Would have been good to have this great quote from Bernbach to hand this morning, as it seems quite pertinent:

“All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgerise that society. We can brutalise it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.”

Special thanx to Kate & Alice from the National Design Centre for putting the whole thing together.

Too single minded

I know it's an unfair way of looking at it, but it's hard to get this very clever ad when it's seen at this size.

Click it to enlarge if you wish.

If you do you'll see the word waterproof sitting below the brand name.

Waterproof shoes made from umbrellas. Get it!

As I said before, it's very clever. But...

Is this ad too single minded?

So focussed on the waterproof proposition that it fails to communicate anything else?

I think it is.

It's not the only press ad like this out there either.

Award shows are full of them. Ads with such a strong focus on the proposition that the brand seems to fall by the wayside.

Whilst it's great to strive for single mindedness, should we be sacrificing communication of the brand to do so?

Creative by APEX BBDO - El Salvador

Through the eyes of Eames

With not one but two design festivals currently running in Melbourne, there's no shortage of interesting things to see or do in town at the moment.

Yesterday I hopped on the tram to Richmond to go and see The Gifted Eye Of Charles Eames.

This is a wonderful collections of Charles Eames' personal photography, collated for exhibition to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The show is running in the Living Edge furniture showroom, which means you get to wander amongst the furniture and design of Ray and Charles Eames whilst looking at the photos.

It's on till next Sunday and is well worth a look. Only downside was the lack of poster, catalogue or chance to buy a print.

Inspiration for a viral video

Thanks to Indexed for the loan of the index card.

Come join Michi and me

Melbournian readers of this blog who are up early this coming Wednesday might want to drop into the BMW-Edge theatre in Federation Sq, where I'm taking part in the Design on Toast breakfast seminar.

It's part of the Melbourne International Design Festival.

To be honest I have no idea what I'm supposed to be talking about, but my fellow panelist is the lovely Chloe Quigley from Michi Girl.

I used to work with Chloe at JWT once upon a time. I haven't seen her for about ten years, so it should make for some interesting conversation.

Entry is free. Click here for info and bookings.

Disposable mobile phone

Brand extensions are quite commonplace these days.

Even so, who would have though that Bic, makers of ballpoint pens and disposable razors, would introduce a mobile phone?

Certainly not me that's for sure.

Then again, who could have foreseen Apple getting into the phone market either?

Playing with fire

The huge Catholic shindig Word Youth Day has seen Sydney swamped by christian kids.

Even the Pope is attending.

Local agency BWM has capitalised on this with a campaign for their favourite watering hole the Australian Youth Hotel.

The ads are guaranteed to cause a fuss and get people talking.

Or maybe that should be blaspheming and arguing?

The priests ad above is my favourite from the campaign.

Click the pic to enlarge.

Play nicely boys

A spat appears to have broken out between two agencies here in sleepy old Melbourne town.

Seems one of the agencies involved has been running a Google adwords campaign using the names of other agencies as a search term.

Sounds like a pretty obvious thing to do to me. In fact I reckon agencies everywhere are probably doing it.

Quite why this spat has bubbled to the surface in the Oz advertising arena is anybody's guess.

As my Mum used to always say - play nicely boys.

Beautiful billboards

Billboards have never looked as beautiful as they do in the photography of Branislav Kropiak.

The man really has an amazing eye.

Click here to see more of his great work with outdoor ad spaces.

In need of an idea?

One of my creative mentors once told me not to be overly protective of my ideas.

The more you give away, he said, the more great ideas you'll have over time.

Of course some people don't want to give away their thinking.

Although they're more than happy to very cleverly sell it via a machine for 50c a piece.

Click here if you're in urgent need of an idea.

It's electrifying!

When I was a kid back in the seventies there we two things that every hot blooded young lad lusted for; a Raleigh Chopper and a Ford Capri.

This ad is for the early eighties model of the Capri and I suspect it may well have been influenced by the John Travolta song Greased Lightning from the movie Grease.

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