30 years of Apple

England's glory

Obviously England aren't very competitive when it comes to the World Cup.

But when it come to bidding to host the World Cup they're in a class of their own.

This iconic image of Bobby Moore has been created from the names of every football club in England.

It's a poster from the England bid.

You can get a closer look at the poster detail in the pic below. Brilliant!


Hat tip to Kirsty for the pics.

The celebrity trap

The celebrity endorsement is a strange beast.

Each time a brand aligns itself with a celebrity they run the risk of being overshadowed by them.

And given the cost of getting a celebrity I imagine it takes a long time for a brand to see some genuine ROI.

If I was thinking about using a celebrity. And I was looking to advertise a cockroach trap. I'm pretty sure I'd struggle to find a celebrity to do it.

Which begs the question - How on earth did an agency manage to convince none other than Muhammad Ali to endorse d-Con roach traps?

Picturing history

If there was one digital trend I really didn't get in the early days it was mapping.

I just couldn't see how maps on the internet were going to be of use to me.

Boy was I wrong. Especially with the arrival of the iPhone!

Of course geotagging has also been a big part of the growth of digital mapping.

And Historypin takes it one step further. Click here to get involved.

England's finest

No shortage of great viral ideas during the knockout stage of the World Cup.

As you would imagine most of them have involved vuvuzelas.

I've seen a couple of nice Maradona ones too.

But this one of the Engand team as a bunch of Muppets is definitely the best of the bunch.

I'm Comic Sans, asshole

For the rest of this wonderful imagined McSweeneys monologue click here

Oops!

World Cup or Cannes Gold?

This week I've received two emails from art directors either looking for a job or wanting to show me their folio.

One of them was a boring email asking about employment opportunities.

Dull as dishwater. So I deleted it.

The other was even worse.

Both of these art directors could learn a lot from Bruce Doscher.

I've never met Bruce. Probably never will.

But I'd like to as he has put together a very tasty promo for his folio.

That's a screenshot of it in the picture.

The World Cup or a Gold Cannes Lion?

You really need to click here and give it a go.

Word Cup Twitter

Fantastic data visualisation of tweets during World Cup games by The Guardian.

I remember when I was working in London that The Guardian lead the way in taking their newspaper online.

Seems like they're still leading the way.

Click here to go check it out.

Not so easy rider

I wonder what Dennis Hopper would think of this ad?

Call to action

As someone who has been involved in a lot of what's generally known as direct marketing I love a good call to action. And this billboard at the Sydney airport has a very good one. I wonder how well it works?

Great news Draper fans

Wankology on 2 wheels

Those who know me know that I’m a fan of Puma. Although like most sports brands these days they seem to be trying a little too hard to be fashionable.

However I was particularly excited to hear they were working on a bicycle line. Especially when I found out that Biomega were involved.

The bikes are kinda interesting. Check them out here.

What isn’t interesting though is the way they describe them. Their website features some of the worst corporate try hard branding wankology I have ever seen.

And I do mean ever.

According to their website, “The urban commuter required a new typology of bikes - the PUMA bikes provide that.”

Typology?

But wait there’s more:

“The bike line combines the European design and the US riding styles, resulting in a completely new Trans-Atlantic bike paradigm.”

Yes you read that right - Trans-Atlantic bike paradigm!

Honestly who writes this crap?

Obviously the sort of people who like, “Finding new solutions and design to help everyday annoyances from riding in the urban environment has been and is the goal.”

Belated Blogosphere

A combination of ill health and a massive pitch meant I forgot to post my most recent Around the Blogosphere column from Marketing magazine. Click here to go take a look and please feel free to chip in with a comment.

Bernbach the husband

Learning about Bill Bernbach, his agency and their Volkswagen work is an essential part of an advertising education. For some reason they never mention this VW ad though.

Ronal D'oh!

This is obviously not a great quality photo. But it is a lovely t-shirt produced for the Nike World Cup campaign. As I've said before I'm not a fan of the TV ad. But I love this t-shirt.

Shopping in the future

"Technology will drive all sorts of changes, especially in our industry. We have to develop the right channels for customers to shop when they want, how they want and where they want. Think about giving everyone with a mobile device the platform and the information to buy the exact product they want at the absolute best price anywhere in the world."

Mike Duke, CEO Wal-Mart

Uniqlo lucky switch

Is there any brand doing digital better than Uniqlo?

I doubt it.

So much of what they do isn't really all that clever.

But at the same time it's always really clever.

I have no idea at all how the creative people came up with this idea but I wish I did.

Because I'm sick and tired of so called digital creatives who seem to think that designing a bloody website is a big digital idea.

Facebook favourites

According to the social media monitor FameCount the top five brands on Facebook are:

Starbucks
Coca Cola
Skittles
Oreo
Red Bull

Starbucks is way out in front with over seven and a half million fans.

Which sounds like a pretty big number. But it's around a million less than Lady GaGa.

And really pales when compared to Texas Hold 'em Poker which has close to twenty million fans.

To come back to the top five brands, I'm wondering why there are no auto or fashion brands.

All of the top five could be loosely classed as junk food.

Which kinda somes up the the whole Facebook experience I guess.

Do something

I've been doing a lot of work on green energy and particularly solar these last few days.

And I can't for the life of me understand why solar isn't more popular in Australia.

I was thinking perhaps it was because it was a relatively new technology but then I came across this pic.

It's the legendary Charles Eames demonstrating his Do Nothing Machine.

An experimental solar powered toy that he created in 1958.

That's over 50 years ago!

Which brings me back to my question - Why isn't solar more popular?

I'm no longer a Mac

First broadcast back in 2006 the "I'm a Mac" campaign has now been retired by Apple. Which I find a little sad as it has been a constant source of smiles for me. This lovely video collates some of the best moments from the campaign. Enjoy!

Bigger than expected

If there's one brief I hate yet secretly love it's the low budget DM brief.

The kind of brief where you have enough money for a postcard or letter and that's about it.

The challenge to produce something noteworthy with a brief of this type is huge.

Which is why I hate them yet love them.

This campaign for Nissan Tiida by TBWA Dusseldorf is a great example of how to do more with a simple letter and envelope.

The proposition was essentially that the Tiida was a lot bigger inside than it looked from the outside.

It's a bit hard to see how nice this idea is as the photo isn't great, but essentially what looks like a standard A4 letter folds out way beyond that.

The letter reads when folded and cleverly incorporates new copy as it unfolds.

Shame we couldn't get a better look at it.

Faster than a Ninja. Honest!

JJust got this in an email. Had to share it. Surely the best car ad ever!

Origins of the iPad

Interesting interview with Steve Jobs talking about the origins of the iPad. Hard to believe that the idea for the iPad predates the iPhone.

Legal smokescreen

Graphic anti smoking advertising is part and parcel of everyday life here in Australia.

This is obviously not the case in America where big tobacco companies have filed suit against the New York City anti-smoking campaign.

The tobacco companies claim the images of cancer ravaged lungs, a rotten tooth and a stroke affected brain violate the First Amendment.

The lawsuit filed last week claims that the ads "do not describe the risks of smoking in purely factual terms".

Now I'm no expert on the First Ammendment or the accuracy of the images used in the ad but I'd have thought they were pretty representative of what can eventually happen to you if you smoke.

Someday soon

Handle with care

See that blank pad?

Every day for as long as I can remember I've sat down in front of one just like it in the hope that I will have something to put on it.

It is the scariest part of my job.

And it is also the most exciting.

Just how ideas happen is one of life's great mysteries.

Sure there are techniques and so called methodologies for having ideas.

But when you're under pressure with a deadline looming that blank pad has a tendency to sit on your desk and taunt you.

It dares you to doodle. Screams at you to scribble.

Sadly way too many people in the advertising/marketing/comms business do not appreciate just how daunting a task it is to overcome that blank page and start writing/drawing/thinking on it.

Which is a pity.

Because if they did perhaps they'd treat those precious ideas a little better.

Ideas aplenty

Shades of the much missed David & Phoebe in the fun new idea-blog from Jon Kubik of Droga5. And as you'd expect from a Droga alumnus there's no shortage of big thinking on show.

Hotel of colours

I knew I'd made it in the ad biz when I was given my very own set of Pantone swatch books.

I've been mad about Pantone ever since.

Hell I even drink my coffee out of a Pantone mug.

So if I ever find myself in Brussels you can be sure that I'll be staying at the Pantone Hotel.

The self described 'hotel of colours' features all the mod cons you'd expect in a modern hotel.

But best of all it features rooms designed around the Pantone colours 478C, 200C, 137C and many more.

Click here to find out more.