Agency jobs on Pinterest

Proving once and for all that Pinterest is definitely flavour of the month London agency Work Club are using it to find a new Creative Director.

Click here to take a look at the Work Club's Creative Director board.

I'm sure you'll agree this is a fun approach.

But then again what else would you expect from an agency based in the rather amusingly named Axe & Bottle Court.

Banksy on advertising

Nice little rant on the advertising biz from Banksy.

Rumour has it he's a graphic designer by trade.

So it could be a case of the pot calling the kettle.

Regardless of that he makes a fair point.

Interesting thing is the trademarks, copyright and intellectual property he talks about don't belong to agencies.

Nor do they belong to the creative people who originated the ideas.

No. They belong to the brands and the companies that own them.

Which means the person who coined Have a break, have a Kit Kat back in the sixties has never ever received any royalties.

Now that's a real problem in my eyes!

Thanx to Mona for the pic

Fighting the good fight

Found these on Pinterest.

Really made me smile.

Complaining on Twitter

via

US Army pinners

Interest in Pinterest is hitting fever pitch at the moment.

In fact it's going to go mainstream any day now.

Even the US Army is into it.

Advertising vs Poetry

Scottish artist Robert Montgomery is one of those people who likes to sneak out in the middle of the night and have fun with advertising billboards.

Unlike most of those sort of people who doesn't alter or deface billboard. He takes them over.

With poetry.

I quite like the example above.

Although it does break the six words or less headline rule for good billboards.

He currently has an exhibition in the UK. You can read about it here.

Never become an expert

This was my closing slide from the talk I gave at Geek Night last night.

It really got people talking.

Someone even mentioned it in the same breath as Sir Ken Robinson!

It's something I've been banging on about for years.

I really do hate it when people call themselves experts.

Here's the spiel that went along with the slide:

As soon as you become an expert you know it all.

And if you know it all you can’t make mistakes.

And if you don’t make mistakes then you won’t create anything interesting.

Ultimate guide to Pinterest

I'm not sure this is the 'ultimate' guide to Pinterest. But it does give a damn good overview and would be perfect for anyone looking to get their clients interested in it.

Rockers sell out

Vintage ads of rock 'n rollers.

Not much else to say really.

Rock on!

The stray apostrophe

Lady & The Tramp

Seriously. Could you come up with a better ad for the dvd special edition of Lady & The Tramp.

Yes I'm sure you could.

But I doubt I'd like your idea as much as I love this.

Plus the Tramp bears a startling resemblance to my old dog Eno as well.

A bit too digital

How many times can you use the word 'digital' in an ad for something digital? Based on the above example I'd say quite a lot.

Office Cupid

I'm sure there must of been others but this is the only agency Valentine idea I saw today.

It's from the clever folks at R/GA.

And it's pretty damn cute too.

Nice to see people using Twitter in an interesting way.

I've been waiting for a twist on Twitter to come along for ages.

If it's still Valentines Day where you are click here and give it a try.

Simplifying sign ups

If there's one thing that really bugs me on the internet it's those annoying 'Captcha' verification things.

Sometimes those squiggly words are so hard to figure out I have to increase the font size a couple of times.

Unlike the lovely little verification device above.

It's from the CoLunching sign up page.

Pretty clever don't you think?

And so much easier than a couple of annoying squiggly words!

Ideas for the Chip Shop

I love the idea of the Chip Shop Awards from the UK.

They're a great opportunity for frustrated creatives to get those unloved ideas out of the bottom drawer and into an award show.

Without resorting to scam advertising!

This campaign for childhood obesity is an entrant in this year's Chip Shops.

Pretty good don't you think?


Apart from highlighting the issue of childhood obesity it also does a great job of highlighting the issues around scam ads.

Anyone can have an idea.

But not everyone can have an idea that is done to a brief and approved by the client.

There's no way this campaign could ever have run. So it is judged purely on the idea.

Which is why it's unfair to put scams up against real ads in award shows.

And therein endeth this month's rail against scams.

Sinful behaviour

Holding ideas to ransom

When I first saw this I thought it was a piece of student work.

No disrespect to the kids but pretty much every student has the ransom note idea.

But I never thought I'd see the day an agency stooped this low.

Sadly the Argentinian agency Woonky thinks holding ideas to ransom is a great way to impress potential clients.

Maybe it is. I've met some not so smart clients during my career.

But somehow I suspect it's not.

Wish you were here?

Great use of a very common digital motif. Don't you think?

Golden age of sexism

Ah the good old days.

When men were in charge and always took the time to let women know about it.


No wonder David Ogilvy was moved to decry; "The consumer isn't a moron. She is your wife."

What is and what isn't?

I am a middle aged white male living in a seriously middle class suburb in Melbourne.

So why am not not bothered in the least by MIA giving the finger at the Superbowl?

I mean really. Have these people not got anything better to get all hot 'n bothered about?

Like Madonna lip synching her entire performance for instance.

Anyway back to MIA and her finger.

Click on the pic above to enlarge it and then you tell me what is and what isn't immoral behaviour.

I know what I think. And I suspect you'll agree.

Good old radiation safety

Given I did an apprenticeship and worked a trade long before I became a copywriter it's no surprise I have a fascination for health & safety posters.

The one that always intrigued me when I was young was the radiation sign that was commonly seen above the workplace microwave.

No wonder I've avoided microwaves most of my life!


Last night I came across these gorgeous old radiation safety posters.

They from the late 1940's I think.

Weird thing is they're so cute I wonder if anyone actually took any notice of them back then.

Guess we'll never know.

New ideas

Still made from beer

Saw this on a drive into the city recently.

Made me smile.

Yet another piece of quality tongue-in-cheek work for Carlton Draught from the team at Clemenger Melbs.

Promises promises

Stamp of approval for Roald Dahl

One of the best things about being a parent is getting your kids into the books of Roald Dahl.

Seems like every generation has a soft spot for him.

Now he's being celebrated with a set of stamps in the UK.


I wonder if there are a handful of special 'golden stamps' in circulation?

Somehow I doubt it.

But how cool would it be if there was!?

Vintage ads from Japan

I love love love Japanese advertising.

it's just so...unexpected.

So you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled on a brilliant Flickr set of vintage ads from Japan.

Check it out here. Trust me it's worth it!