Forward thinking Frenchman

If there’s one business that Maurice Lévy knows it’s advertising. His company Publicis owns Saatchis, Fallon and Leo Burnett as well as 49% of one of the world’s greatest agencies BBH.

So when Maurice makes a statement about the industry, chances are he knows what he’s talking about. In a just published interview with The Independent he states, “We have entered an era of immediacy."

"In a couple of years most of the information you share, most of the advertising you read, most of the messages you send, most of the music you listen to will transit through your cell phone."

Read the full interview at The Independent. (Subscription)

The future arrived ten years ago

Long before we had TiVo, IQ and other ad avoidance technology people were bypassing ads by simply using the fast forward button on their video machine.

This very smart ad from HHCL in London actually encourages viewers to record and rewind it to get the offer. And it did it a good ten years before any of the far less creative TiVo based ideas seen recently in the US.

Thanks to Gareth at Brand New for the video.

Tasty billboard idea

Found this pic on a Flickr site over the weekend. A huge bar of Cadbury's finest being devoured over the streets of Manhattan.

A creative team probably had dozens of concepts and clever headlines before settling on this nice simple idea

Thanks to James from Mannequin Display for the pic.

Department store branches out

Like most people in Australia I'm struggling to tell the difference between our two best known department stores.

They both do fashion, they both have foodhalls and the endless sale ads are verging on interchangeable.

Perhaps they should take a look at Harrods. It's a great brand and its position in the marketplace is unique. Most importantly they understand their customers.

And many of their customers are pressed for time, so they've opened Harrods-102 the world's most discerning convenience store.

If only all brands could be this smart.

Creative genius captured on film

I’d like to think Big Kev from Saatchis would be happy to agree with me when I say that Frank Gehry is a Lovemark.

Hell if Gehry lived down under old Michael Ball would've had him nominated as a National Living Treasure in no time.

Well folks the creative genius of Frank Gehry has finally been both recognised and celebrated in Sketches Of Frank Gehry a fantastic new doco by Sydney Pollack.

Featuring interviews with the likes of Michael Eisner, Dennis Hopper and Julian Schnabel this film is a must for anyone who calls themselves a creative person.

Trouble around the corner

Can't quite work out if this Ariel idea is an outdoor poster or an ambient piece. Regardless of its category it's still fun and clever.

I just wish the agency folks behind these ambient type things would stop taking photos of someone casually strolling by who has had their interest tweaked by the work.

C'mon guys (and gals). Get real.

Easy to drink - Hard to pour

Had a couple of beers down at the Belgian Beer Café the other day. A mate of mine remarked how the boys behind the bar had turned their inability to pour a beer into an art form simply by slicing the top off it.

We all had a good chuckle at this let me tell you. However when a link turned up in amongst my emails this morning I found out how hard it really is to pour the perfect Stella.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a dab hand with the old tilt ‘n pour, try your luck at the new Stella online game by Lowe Worldwide. Remember though practice makes perfect.

French gets in bed with woman

Singapore's favourite adopted son has obviously been smoking the peace pipe with the ladies. How else to explain him teaming up with a mere female, Barbara Levy, to set up a new advertising award show.

Personally I don't know what's more unexplainable, Neil French working with a woman or the fact that someone felt there was a need for yet another award show.

Mercedes rolls the tape

Tired of seeing BMW break all the new ground when it comes to branded content Mercedes has just launched a series of downloadable Mixtapes.

Can't say as I can see any real connection between hanging out on street corners mixing it up with your boombox and cruising in German engineered comfort.

However there are some interesting tracks available, including a nice one by Kyoto Jazz Massive, and best of all they're free and legal.

You can access the Merc Mixtapes here.

Boony hits D&AD for six

The Boony VB campaign was a big hit when I was judging at the MADC Awards a few weeks back. The boys behind it look certain to pick up some metal at the Awards this Friday.

In the mean time everyones favourite nuggety Tasmanian has gone and knocked the Poms out of the park, picking up a Yellow Pencil at this year's D&AD.

Apparently people from Patts were on hand to pick up the Pencil. Rumours that they broke Boony's London to Melbourne drinking record are as yet unfounded.

Make some room on your bookshelf

Co-founder of the legendary St Lukes, and one of the sharpest minds in adland, John Grant has just given us all another reason to peruse the pages of Amazon.

The man behind The New Marketing Manifesto has put together what he loosely terms a creative scrapbook.

With the understated title The Brand Innovation Manifesto this book promises to be way more than that.

Click here to enjoy more of Grant's wisdom and ramblings.

Bus now worth waiting for

Two Fonzie thumbs up to Deutch in NY for some lovely (and useful) ambient ideas for Ikea.

Thinking outside the envelope

Proving that even with the current proliferation of urban spam too much advertising is never enough, the US Postal Service is now letting brands advertise on stamps.

As a result birthday cards from your Nanna will now look like junk mail. So you’ll probably throw them out unopened and miss out on the five bucks she’s enclosed.

Visa using graffiti. Priceless.

I don't know anyone who has a bad word to say about the eternally charming Mastercard priceless campaign.

This has obviously irked the powers that be at Visa who have tried a variety of campaign ideas to trump Mastercard.

I reckon they've really hit rock bottom by using graffiti artists in a misguided attempt to get some borrowed interest cool.

It's anything but priceless if you ask me. Pic courtesy adrants

Thanks for that door bitch

Don't know who came up with this cracking idea, but it sure beats putting road safety messages on the jumpers of football teams.

A cab company has done a deal with popular nightspots to put their message and phone number on the rubber stamp used for proof of entry at clubs.

Now how clever is that?

Half decent World Cup tie-in shock!

Ask anyone who grew up in England in the 70s about ads and chances are they'll bring up the mighty PG Tips chimps.

Well the chimps are long gone, but it looks like PG Tips are still knocking out fun ad stuff.

Their World Cup tie-in is way better than any of those borrowed interest brands with TM at the end of their taglines.

Join in all the fun at Half Time Games.

Not your average coupon

Here's a fun twist on the Stella reasuringly expensive campaign from Lowe in New York.

This is new school direct marketing at its finest. Great to see it recognised with Gold at One Show recently.

Droga takes on the world

He was a key player with Omon. Put Saatchis Singapore on the map. Then gave Saatchi London a serious jump start.

Now everyone’s favourite Oz adman has really upped the ante with the launch of his new venture Droga5 and he’s started with a bang.

It’s been revealed David Droga was behind the Mark Ecko publicity stunt where Air Force was reportedly tagged by a couple of graffiti artists.

Apparently the Air Force One viral was uploaded to 3,500 different sites after just 2 days and by the weeks end the client's website had 23 million hits.

What next for Droga5? Stay tuned.

Adidas give public a blank canvas

There has been much hype and ballyhoo surrounding the recent Adicolor launch by Adidas.

In Melbourne we've seen artists spray painting in store windows. Marker pens given away with shoes. And several large scale murals.

These plain white Adidas branded billboards in Germany capture the essense of self expression so much better don't you think?

Kiwis rubbish Starbucks

As any seasoned traveller knows, if there's one things Americans don't do well it's coffee. Which is why the global expansion of Starbucks has always had me mystified.

Trust the Kiwis to fight back against the evil skinny mocha latte with a twist empire.

Draft NZ wrapped rubbish bins across the street from a new Starbucks to look like a takeaway cup complete with stirring stick.

The cup carried the message Coffee Taste Like Crap? along with subtle branding directing passers by to nearby Cafe Brazil.

Thanks to screenhead for the pic.

Detox with Evian

A highly innovative use of the online medium by none other than Evian.

The top shelf water brand has sponsored a detox of popular New York blog gawker.com for today only.

Site users simply click the detox with Evian button and they get to enjoy an ad free version of the Gawker site.

Advertising gazumping. Who'd have thought?

Thanks to adrants for the pic.

Cut the coupon

Sweet little banner ad for Picture magazine by the gang at George Patts.

Click here and try it out for yourself.

The future looks bright, kinda

Thanks to cheap digicams, increasing broadband penetration and the likes of YouTube, consumer generated advertising is this week's hottest adland trend.

Now a bunch of dotcom entrepeneurial types have deciding to cash in on the trend with the launch of ViTrue, an agency dedicated to consumer generated ads.

If the following quote taken from the ViTrue website is anything to go by, I can't imagine these guys have totally grasped adland concepts like insight and empathy.

"ViTrue enables Brands and Consumers to engage in meaningful interactions through our world-class technology solutions."

Hmmm!?

Oh woe is me

Read the full story @ Blog-Boy!

Cracker idea for a perfume

Don't know about you but the last thing I want a women to smell like is a block of smelly cheese. Not so in bath averse Britain, where the makers of Stilton have gone and launched their own perfume.

The Telegraph reports that a Manchester woman has trialled Eau de Stilton and that none of the men at her office had complained. Hardly a product recommendation though is it?

Dogs have feelings you know

What dog couldn't resist a dog food scented floor sticker?

I admit it's clever but surely the people at Pedigree must know that dogs have feelings too.

Bit of a cruel idea me thinks and I don't even like dogs.

Truth in advertising

Never has the expression "the truth hurts" been more nicely dramatised than in this very witty ambient idea for German newspaper Bild.

Set up as a one off for a German advertising award show, angled mirrors were installed above the urinals in the men's toilets.

The mirror gives a great reflection of a man's manhood, with the punchine on the mirror reading Nothing's Harder Than The Truth.

Stone rolled by Kiwis

You can't beat a clever bit of topical advertising and this one by 42 Below is no exception. Nice ad, but I really feel I need to dock it a couple of points for tardiness.

It obviously it took the crew at Consortium in Auckland a bit of time before they realized Keef was holed up in a local hospital after falling out of a palm tree.

More double Dutch stuff

Can't believe I've stumbled onto two double Dutch websites in the same week.

This little beauty for Sloggi isn't even remotely in the same class as the Heineken site I posted about a few days ago, but what the hell.

Who wouldn't love to see a cardboard cutout of lifesize very scantily clad women being wheeled out onto the pitch during the World Cup?

The whole site is totally bewildering. Could be because it's all in Dutch, but I doubt it some how.

Bravia gets Tango'd

Am I the only person in the world you didn't swoon over the Sony Bravia ad from last year? Just took itself a tad too seriously I reckon.

Now if there's one brand that never takes it self seriously it's Brit soft drink Tango who obviously had a lot of fun with the Bravia balls in their new spot by CHI in London. It's an absolute classic.

Show me the money shot

Don't ya just hate being a grown up sometimes? Toy maker Hasbro has just launched the Oozinator, a seriously fun pump action weapon.

Problem is sneaking up on people and hitting them with a surprise Oozinator bio-ooze attack looks suspiciously like a Ron Jeremy money shot.

Hasbro, less than impressed with all the pearl necklace gags, have since removed the launch ad from their website. This hasn't stopped it doing the rounds of the internet of course.

Heineken hits the spot

If there's one brand that's done more than their fair share of great advertising it Heineken. And their new online idea really hits the spot.

Next time you fancy a drink head on over to the Dutch Heineken website and check out the insired madness that you can inflict on unsuspecting beach goers.

It's fun, it's stupid and it's in Dutch, no make that double Dutch. Very refreshing.

Just what the world needs...

Game developer Blizzard Entertainment has announced plans for a movie based on their ever popular Warcraft computer game.

There's no denying the popularity of Warcraft and its spin offs with over six million subcribers to the online version of the game.

However if the Warcraft movie turns out to be as good as all the other game derived movies I'd recommend giving it a a extremely wide berth.

Seriously, does the world really need another Doom, Tomb Raider or Final Fantasy? Don't think so.

Is this the year advertising really goes mobile?

Simon Andrews and the team at Big Picture Advertising have always pushed new and innovative ways of reaching the consumer. Now they're sharing some of their thinking with iPod users everywhere with the launch of their first podcast.

Click here to download the podcast which features Simon and Mobile Marketing Association Chairman Nick Wiggin discussing the future of mobile phones as an advertising medium.

It's an informative half hour to say least, which covers many areas of interest and namechecks brands such as Nike, Adidas, 3, Google and more.

Film fights back at Kodak

With the digital camera now verging on ubiquitous, Kodak has chosen to fight back by promoting film as the definitive way to capture images for High Definition broadcast. Check out the newly launched Get Noticed site which is targeted directly at ad agency creatives.

Turn that bloody thing off!

If ever the AFL was looking was for a reason to not hold the Grand Final at night it would have to be the latest in blimp advertising technology.

Now I love a big fat blimp as much as the next guy but not when it comes equipped with a 30m wide LED screen.

Thank goodness they can shut the roof at the Telstra Dome. Pic courtesy gizmodo

She's well fit

Anyone who has ever travelled to France knows the French are not averse to the odd bit of gratuitous nudity in their advertising.

Well now it looks like the Brits are trying to get in on the act, with the launch of a new outdoor campaign for LA Fitness featuring women “enjoying” their bodies.

If the creative team behind the ads was looking to get their work noticed, they’ve certainly succeeded.

The Advertising Standards Authority received 15 complaints before the glue on the posters had even dried. An investigation is pending apparently.

Is content really King?

Content has been a buzzword in advertising and marketing circles for some time now.

Seems not everyone has the same idea of what exactly content is, especially when it comes to magazines.

Now I love a good ad as much as the next guy. After all advertising is putting my daughter through high school.

But who doesn’t get sick of flicking through page after page of ads just to get to the contents page in mags like GQ?

If your idea if content is great pics and quality writing head over to Are You Generic, download and print their pdf flyer and start slipping it into content light mags at your newsagent.

New Cruise vehicle bombs

Just got an email about what should have been a pretty nifty ambient guerilla type thing for Tomkat’s latest Mission Impossible installment.

Whenever an unsuspecting punter took a copy of the LA Times out of a paper vending machine the machine would fire up the Mission Impossible theme.

Problem was one of the musical gizmos came loose. Someone saw it thought it was a bomb and dialed the terrorism hotline.

Bomb squad arrived and, taking no chances, went and blew up the vending machine!

Like just get a Mac dude

Apple have launched a very interesting ad campaign promoting the benefits of Mac over PC.

There are six ads in total and all of them feature a cool Apple dude who looks like he just stepped off the set of the OC getting one over on a boring middle aged PC stalwart.

You can see all six ads at the Apple site.

Golden thinking from Sweden

Winners of Sweden's Golden Egg awards have just been announced.

To see some fantastic Scandinavian thinking click here and check out the awards website.

My particular favourite was this crop circle inspired standout in the alternative media category for airline SJ by the King agency.

Words to the wise

Some very funny and wise words for anyone currently out on the job hunt by agency exiles Exit3a at the Adland site.

If the Creative Director utters something like, "We really want to turn the work around. We feel we're poised to do just that. We're just a key player or two from making this happen. The clients are on board, too," immediately terminate the interview.

Sounds like the Exit3a guys probably worked at some of the agencies I once did. Thanx to Adland for the quote.

Anything but a Mini idea

If there's one brand that seems to pop up regularly at award shows it's Mini and the recent Andy Awards was no exception.

Crispin Porter & Bogusky who handle the Mini account in the US had five pieces of work for the iconic car in the awards.

As you would expect from Bogusky and co every one of their Andy winners was an absolute gem. My favourite though was the finest vending machine this side of Harajuku, which picked up a bronze.