Foot Mark vs Apostrophe

Know what I hate?

Foot marks.

No not foot prints. Foot marks.

That's one in the screengrab above.

Looks a bit like an apostrophe. But it's not.

Foot marks are used with imperial measurement.

They are not apostrophes.

Never have been. Never will be.

A good typographer or an old school art director would never allow an ad with foot marks out of the building.

Yet it is quite common today. Especially in digital work.

No idea why. Wish I did.

If you're not sure about the difference here's a handy reference to print out and sticky tape onto your computer.

Women in advertising

Made me smile!

Ted Horton said...

For a lot of the younger people in Aussie adland Ted Horton is seen as “the old bloke who makes those appalling supermarkets ads.”

Which goes to show that we are obviously not educating our aspiring creatives very well in the history of our industry.

When I was a youngster hawking around my homemade folio everyone I showed it to spoke with great reverence about Ted.

This was mostly because like me he had come late to his highly awarded adland career.

So as you can imagine I listened with great intent when he took our class at the now sadly defunct Copyschool.

That was 20 years ago. Doesn’t seem like it but it was.

And to this day I still quote on a regular basis the very first thing that Ted said to our class;

“This business is easy. You simply take the proposition and find a more interesting way of saying it.”

Of course it’s generally a damn sight harder than Ted made it sound. But it is true.

And if you don’t agree then you’re obviously over thinking it. A lot!

Answering the call

Australian army recruitment ad from the first world war.

Anzac Day. Lest we forget.

A toast to timesheets

I'm no fan of timesheets as everyone knows. So this idea from JWT Brazil really made me smile. A lot. 

Milk's favourite Cookie

This very cute but undeniably cheeky Oreo ad has been causing quite a lot of fuss of late.

Kraft Foods the makers of Oreos have said that the ad was never supposed to have gone public.

Apparently it was allowed to be used once only in an advertising forum.

Yet stories circulating suggest the image has appeared several times in South Korean ads.

A spokesperson for Kraft said, "It has never run in Korea or any other markets."

Guess we'll never know.

Stilly kinda cute though. Don't you think?

Three handed dad

Is this what's referred to as a visual typo?

I think it might be.

Click the pic for a better look.

An Open Field

Love this idea from The Royals here in Melbourne town.

Open Field - a new publication created for iPad with all sorts of interesting content.

All of it created by women.

It's well worth a visit to the iTunes store.

Plus all money raised from the sale of Open Field goes to female focussed programs via the charity CARE.

Everyone involved worked for free and The Royals are not affiliated with CARE.

They simply wanted to do something to support their work.

And you should too so click here to get your copy.

Mobile marketing

Dog of an ad

Came across this shocker on Instagram today.

So bad I just don't know where to start.

Appalling punny headline.

Ridiculous bloke in a dog suit.

Plus shocking line breaks in the headline.

Oh and don't forget the randomly placed QR code.

Unbelievably it's an ad to recruit people to become swimming teachers.

Yes swimming teachers.

Click here if you don't believe me.

Hard to love

"Microsoft is a good example of a brand that's never told its story well. It's a huge consumer product software platform, a mega conglomerate, and there's no love there. There's no emotional story to rally around." ~ Stanley Hainsworth

Joan & Peggy & Betty

The women of MadMen meet The Supremes. Honestly what's not to love?

Ad of the week

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that I hate this ad.

It's ugly. Lacking in finesse. And misleading.

Why?

Because when you click the download button it doesn't download anything.

It takes you to a website where some bloke craps on in a video about giving them your email address.

Now whilst I'm sure many of the tips in their free pdf are helpful, adding your email to their database is probably not.

And anyway isn't doing dodgy banners even worse than cold calling?

After all the average click thru rate on a banner is a paltry 0.01%.

Valley Girls meets Mr WPP

Obviously I'm not a regular viewer of Valley Girl TV.

And I suspect Martin Sorrell is your typical Valley Girl interviewee either.

This video is definitely worth a few minutes of your time though.

Great to see Sorrell kicking back in a pink chair and commenting on the set as being "a bit Barbie-ish".

Tail wagging the dog

This ad for Purina dog food made me smile.

A lot.

It's by Publicis in Montreal.

My final Marketing column

After four fun years my days as a columnist for Marketing magazine have come to an end. My final column was inspired by a friend's Linkedin update. Click here to go check it out.

My favourite font

I fell in love with Futura after attending a retrospective of the Bauhaus at the Design Museum in London many years ago. It's my go to font for docs and presentations.

Must try harder

How to write

David Ogilvy sent the memo below to his staff in 1982.

Fast forward 30 years and it's as relevant as ever.

Especially given the way so many people use email rather than talk to each other.

The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather.

People who think well, write well.

Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches.

Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.

2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.

3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.

5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.

6. Check your quotations.

7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.

8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.

9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.

10. If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

David

Social media propaganda

Love these wartime propaganda social media posters. They're by Just One Scarf Design and if you like them too you can click here and buy them.

An internet minute examined

As you would expect a hell of a lot happens in a minute on the internet. Click the pic for a bigger better look..

A seriously good ad

This ad ran the week after IBM entered the home computer market.

You can probably read the copy if you squint. If not click the pic to enlarge.

All it takes is one read to know that this ad would never get past our learned friends in the legal department these days.

In fact I could rant on for days about how 'risk adverse' legal people are slowly but surely sucking the life out of advertising.

But I'll save that for another day.

In the mean time enjoy this timeless ad that helped bring "American technology to the world".

April Fools email

This just landed in my inbox courtesy of ASOS.

Made me smile.

As did the genuine offer included in the email which came with the password APRILFOOL.

Nice.