Holiday Time at BrandDNA

It's Christmastime.

And as usual my wife loves to complain that it's too hot and really doesn't feel like Christmas.

Thing is she's Jewish. So how the hell would she know what Christmas feels like?

Anyway I'm taking a break for a few days and so is BrandDNA.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by this year and big love to everyone who left a comment - even the spammers.

See you in 2013.

Best...Stan x

The Obama Geek Squad

Nice little insight into the geek squad behind the Obama election campaign. What surprised me most was how goddamn young they all are! 

The Instagram of video?

With all the far from positive publicity surrounding the terms and conditions of Instagram the launch of what could well be the Instagram of video has gone largely unheralded.

I'm talking about Capture. A new seriously slick and easy to use video camera app from YouTube.

Now if anyone has the knowledge to create the Instagram of video then it surely has to be YouTube.

I've just downloaded it.

I'll let you know how it goes once I give it a try over Xmas.

Click here to download.

Big fat pipes

Pardon my ego but this lovely campaign reminds me so much of a rambling longish copy campaign I tried to get up for Origin Energy.

Rather unsurprisingly they chose not to run it and settled instead on a far more formulaic approach.

I see a lot of this 'clever copy' led advertising coming out of Wieden & Kennedy London.

Love to know how they get it approved!

Click the pics for a bigger better look.

What women want

Ain't no one more politically incorrect than me.

But seriously who on earth thought this Santa Hoover ad was a good idea?

Yes I know it comes from a long time ago and things were different then but still...

A Hoover? For Christmas?

I reckon my wife would rather get a bag of coal. 

The horror - The horror

FCB in Melbourne recently closed their doors costing a couple of my friends their jobs.

As sad as that was I bet they're bloody glad they're not working at FCB now that this video is in the public arena.

Seriously does FCB in SA not have a Creative Director?

Most Contagious

This my friends is the only 2012 review you need.

Click here to download the pdf. 

Brand power

Yes I know it's an ad for Lego but for me it isn't.

I see this as an ad for the power of brands.

Something so powerful yet for many people impossible to understand.

Things change

Best seat in the house

This Audi ad arrived in my inbox just moments after I'd finished a seriously stressful five or so minutes on the Ticketek website securing tickets to Bruce Springsteen.

Click the pic for a bigger better look. 

Born into it

Sports network ESPN has been running their "It's not crazy it's sport" campaign for around two years.

Every ad I've seen taps beautifully into what it means to love a team or sport.

This new ad about the red and blue halves of Manchester is an absolute cracker.

Of course being a Liverpool fan since I was in short trousers I can tell you that no wonder what half of Manchester you're from you're still a muppet.

Except of course for Tony Wilson.

Although on second thoughts he was a bit of a muppet too.

What really made me laugh about this ad though was a comment I saw on YouTube - Fake. The United fan has a Manchester accent!

Attention to detail

This ad is one of a campaign for the Turkish CNBC Network.

The campaign made me smile when I first came across it.

But something about this particular ad troubled me.

And then I realised why.

The headline's wrong!

Can someone please let the people at Rafineri in Istanbul know.

Excellent advice

Tweets on the toilet

My wife is always nagging me for spending time tweeting on the toilet.

I thought I was the only person that did it.

Seems I'm not.

A recent Neilsen survey has found that more than a third of young adults access social media on their phone on the toilet.

I know I'm far from a young adult. But it's great to know I'm not the only one doing it!

Life lessons

You may or may not know that I am the senior at Junior.

We put on regular Junior  talks where established creative people give their Top Ten Tips on being creative to a crowd of young wannabes.

Our last talk for the year was by Jason Deacon, Associate CD at DT Digital, who opened his talk with the slide above.

It really hit a chord with me.

In fact I'm envious that at just 26 years of age Deacon has already worked out what it's taken me a lifetime to learn - that ideas don't come easy and that you spend an inordinate amount of time feeling like shit because the ideas aren't flowing.

When I say learn that's not actually true. I already know this I just find it hard to accept.

Anyway just wanted to thank Jason for sharing his wisdom.

You can see all his Junior slides here. 

2013 social media wrap-up

This is the first end of year wrap-up 'n stats video I've seen. I suspect it won't be the last. Well worth a few minutes of your time though.

A message to you

How cute is this little experiential piece for Jamaican beer Red Stripe?

Definitely get's my vote for the best way to kickstart a Monday!