The well read charger

If you've seen one iPhone charger you've pretty much seen them all.

The colour white definitely springs to mind.

Which is why I love the look of these book chargers by Rich Neeley Designs.

Old novels converted into iPhone chargers.

Simple. Stylish. And very understated.

Come on - What's not to love!?


Get yours here.

Tomorrow never comes

This ad has 70's written all over it.

Just look at that cool spacesuit head-dress thingy she's wearing.

Spacesuit chic!

Sadly forty years or so after that ad was created the future looks pretty much the same as the 70's.

Sure we've got internet and mobile phones 'n stuff but cars and houses etc really haven't changed at all.

And as for Lestoil - I have n idea what it is. Nor whether they still make it.

Regardless of that I just wanna know when the future we were promised as kids in the 70's is going to arrive?

Adland perceptions

Bit hard to read at this size so give the pic a click and make it bigger. Trust me it's so worth it!

The year ahead via Soap

I'm not really one for predictions lists but this one by Soap is kinda fun. It's got me thinking too!

Take my name off the door

I'd like to dedicate this video to all the number crunchers, bag carriers, meeting callers and useless "where's your timesheet" chasers.

Where and how did our industry go so wrong?

Award entry videos

Hate to be cynical (I really do) but every time I see an award entry case study video of late I hark back to my days as a teenage punk rocker singing along to Garageland by The Clash.

If you're not familiar with the song the opening line is;

"Back in the garage with my bullshit detector"

And that's exactly what springs to mind when I see those videos.

Bullshit.

Not all of them obviously. But some of them.

Why?

Because it often looks like the budget for the video was bigger than the budget for the job.

And the results they quote are often not real hard facts but things like page views and brand impressions.

Far be it from me to even suggest that judges are often swayed by the video rather than the work.

But I can't help thinking that we'd give out a lot less advertising awards if the work had to stand on its own two feet.

And that ain't ever gonna happen. So here's The Clash.

Ogilvy on grammar

Time is money people!

Meetings.

If you're anything like me I'm sure you abhor them.

But sometimes they're important.

Not always. But sometimes.

Thing is even the most important meetings can drag on too long.

And as for the pointless meetings - the less said the better.

I wrote a few weeks back about how much time is wasted at work due to meetings.

Well now there's an app for that!


COMA - The cost of meeting app.

Here's how it works:

* Enter number of people and their average hourly rate
* Choose your currency
* Then sit back and watch the agency burn through money

Given most agencies answer to cost cutting is to cull the Creative Dept this app might not help put an end to time wasting meetings where you work.

But maybe it will. Stranger things have happened!

Click here for more info.

Apple v Microsoft

Looks like the stylistic and design differences between Microsoft and Apple were there pretty much from the beginning.

Books as art

I had a great idea for a client last year that was centred around a sculpture made from books.

At the time I was very excited as I was hoping to commission Nicholas Jones to make the sculpture.

I'd never met Jones before but had seen many of his book based artworks.

Sadly the idea never happened.

To be honest with you I'd completely forgotten all about it.

Until today. When I stumbled on this lovely little film about Nicholas Jones.

It offers a nice insight into his arts practice and working life.

And makes Melbourne look pretty cool too.

Where's Daddy?

This has been doing the rounds on the web for a couple of days now.

How can I not share it?

Classic!

Although somewhat unfortunate. Obviously.

Click the pic for a better look.

Happy birthday Muhammad

The Champ is a personal hero of mine.

A man who knew how to build and grow a personal brand long before the term had been invented.

It's his 70th birthday today. I hope he has a good one.

Still just doing it

As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I've never purchased anything by Nike.

It's a personal thing. Although I've always been a big fan of their advertising.


The new Nike UK campaign for the London Olympics is a beauty.

Just simple photography and headlines courtesy of the talent.

How easy is that!?

Not very if truth be told.

Although having Adam Hinton behind the camera must certainly help.



Lovely work by W&K London.

Here's hoping the Brit athletes can live up to the poster lines.

Mad Men and Newsweek

2011 was a year of ups and downs.

I know it sounds a little "first world" but no MadMen on TV last year was definitely one of the downs.

Good news is it'll be back on our screens this year and to celebrate Newsweek magazine is producing a 60's style retro edition.

Back in the day Newsweek was at the forefront of news coverage with stories on civil rights, Vietnam and more.

I suspect this special edition will become something of a collector's edition and may well be the first of many special edition mags we see.

After all, with circulation on the decrease, publishers have to do something to bump up sales figures.

And maybe going back to the future is just what they need.

Any plans tonight?

Some very nice work out of Manchester by the city council's in-house agency.

They're part of the council's "Any plans tonight" campaign to boost condom use and reduce STDs.


I'm sure there are no shortage of curmudgeonly types in Manchester who'll be writing to the local paper about these posters.

But if they stop just one intoxicated teen from getting pregnant then they've done their job as far as I'm concerned.

The joy of books

You can probably fit all the books in this gorgeous little film on a Kindle. But I bet you couldn't make a film about one. And even if you could why on earth would you want to?

Work vs Waste

Recently I've been working concurrently on two projects with two different art directors.

Like most independent contractors and consultants we often get together in cafes to work.

An hour here. And an hour there.

Plus of course the occasional hour at each other's home or workspace.

What's fascinated me about working like this is just how productive we are.

Which in turn has made me realise just how much time is wasted in agencies.

In fact I'd say that the average creative spends around 5 hours out of every working day doing something other than creative.

Meetings are a necessary evil. But agency folk seem to have far to many of them.

Most of them are to review work, complain about work, get a progress update on work, or generally talk about the work.

Such a waste of time.

Weird thing is it's taking me a while to get used to not having endless work meetings.

But I will. Don't you worry about that.

Now that's a sale!

Now that my friends is how you do a sale poster.

Only in Japan!

Interview with Jim Coudal

Over the last couple of years Jim Coudal has managed to make his way into my consciousness.

If only for the fact that he was so fed up with clients that he transformed his agency into an agency without clients.

He talks about this and more in this cosy chat on the ironically titled Interview Show.

Murdoch and Twitter

Rupert Murdoch jumping on to Twitter has been all over the internet these last few days.

Unbelievably old Rupert has racked up close to 100,000 followers already.

That's up there with Ashton Kucher and Oprah in the uptake stakes.

But does he have anything to say?

And if he does is it worth listening to?

I'd say yes and no at the moment.

To be honest with you I'm just glad he signed up for Twitter not bought it.

Because we all know what happened to the last big thing in digital he purchased!

Picturing an idea

Milton Glaser's "I ♥ NY" logo is up there with Coke and McDonalds as one of the most iconic visual devices of all time.

And all three date from a time when there were no computers or design software.

This is the original sketch for Glaser's idea.


Doesn't look like much does it?

But sometimes you just have to suspend your normal way of seeing and try to imagine.

Failing that I guess you simply have to trust that creative people know what they're doing.

Which ain't easy. As any client will testify.

But sometimes as this design classic shows it pays off.

Sometimes.

Oh dear...

Satruday?

Seriously?

Is this a Lovemark?

I reckon this idiot is taking the Lovemarks idea just a step too far.

Not sure the people at Louis Vuitton would be that pleased about it either.

But it definitely poses a question I've pondered for years:

How do luxury brands maintain their luxury status when they're so often worn by people without an ounce of taste or style?

New Year - Old ad

This ad dates from 1965.

It is as fresh today as it was 47 years ago.

Wonder if we'll be able to say the same thing about the ads that pick up trophies at Cannes this year?

I suspect not. But hey what would I know!?