Run run run

Every once in a while I come across an idea that makes me think wish I'd thought of that. This is one of those ideas. It's for Nike. Obviously.

Wes Anderson for Prada

I've always been slightly baffled by perfume ads.

In fact I'm secretly glad a brief for one has never landed on my desk.

Now if anyone can make something interesting for perfume surely Wes Anderson is that man.

Whether or not he has remains to be seen.

Love to hear what you think.

Not for publication

What is it with agency creatives and their fascination with scam ads?

Latest example of this pathetic trend is the idiots at JWT in India who mocked up some Ford concepts and got them posted onto a prominent industry creative showcase.

What might have seemed like a clever idea to whoever did this has backfired big time.

In fact it was covered in the UK newspaper the Daily Mail. I'm sure it'll have been picked up by several more by the time you read this.

Given WPP has since issued a public apology I suspect the people who did this may already be walking the streets with their folio under their arm.

And if they're not they certainly should be.

It's never easy

For the last half hour I've been staring at a client debrief full of baffling suggestions and changes.

I swear it'll take me longer to work out what to do than actually do it.

So I took a 5 minute internet break and stumbled on this pic on Swiss Miss.

Sums up my situation beautifully.

Oh well. Better get back to work now. 

Creamy goodness

This landed in my inbox this morning.

It's genuine I think.

At least I hope it is!

Please leave a comment if you know who created it.

I'm confused...

Good call Twitter!

I'm not sure this is a world first but I've been told it is so I guess it must be.

AFL club Geelong are tapping into the power of twitter by letting fans decide whether the captain calls heads or tails in the pre-game coin toss.

Club captain Joel Selwood (that's him in the pic) says he's more of a heads than a tails man when it comes to the toss but is definitely open to the idea.

The idea was first mooted last year by US NFL club the New York Giants but was rejected by their football department.

What a guarantee

I saw this and did a double take.

Sure it sounds like a great offer.

But if the brakes fail what are the chances of you still being alive to take up the guarantee?

Surprised someone from legal didn't get them to put an asterisk on it.

Work with Mother

There's a lot to love about the agency Mother.

I particularly like that every person that works there has a picture of their mum on the back of their business card.

The London office was recently visited by Prince Andrew or the Duke of York as he is sometimes known.

Anyway regardless of his title everyone knows that his mum is the Queen.

So the agency gave him a set of Mother business cards as a souvenir of his visit.

And suffice to say they had a lovely picture of his mum on the back!

Shazam or scam?

A PR piece by Shazam has been doing the rounds of the advertising trade press this week.

It features usage stats that are seriously impressive.

But for me they look a bit too impressive.

For instance they're saying that there are 7 million users in Australia.

Really?

That seems awfully high for a country with a population of 22 million.

In fact that would mean one in three Australians is a Shazam user.

Call me a cynic. Call me a skeptic. But I'm calling bullshit on that figure.

Smartphone penetration in Australia is predicted to hit 50% of the population by the end of this year.

Based on that let's say there's around 10 million smartphones in Australia.

Which means (according to the Shazam stats) that 70% of Australian smartphone owners are Shazam users.

Sorry but I just don't believe it.

I'd like to. But it just doesn't seem feasible.

Doodles for Google

Got an email from a friend today about a very cute little booklet by Google in Germany.

I instantly recognised the style of the illustrations.

So cute. And so damn familiar.

So a did a bit of digging (Googling actually) and discovered the illustrations are by none other than Marc Johns.

Marc's work seems to be everywhere these days.

Which pleases me no end.

Pretty cute don't you think?

Visit Marc's website. 

If music turns you on

Yah gotta love the good old days.

Great product name.

Oh so cheeky clue dropping copy at the top.

It's almost the perfect ad.

I would've loved to have seen the dudes turning up at the Pasadena post office to empty their PO Box! 

Rebellion into money

Back in '77 (or was it '78) The Clash sang about 'turning rebellion into money' in their song White Man at Hammersmith Palais.

Fast forward 35 or so years and corporate sponsorship had become an integral part of the music industry.

I'm all for some of this stuff it it helps a band or artist. Well most of the time anyway.

This ad for washing powder however is the finest (or should that be worst) example of turning rebellion into money I have seen.

Truly awful.

Great product demo though! 

Hand crafted type

When I was a kid I used to love the hustle and bustle of markets and shopping arcades.

I have very strong memories of the beautifully hand written price tags in the fruit 'n veg and meat stalls.

Most of that sort of stuff today is either churned out in a factory in China or scribbled out with a thick Sharpie by the stall owner.

It wasn't always this way.

Londoner Roy Gardner created much of the signage I saw as a kid.

Not for him the letraset or computer. He did it all by hand.

Now that my friends is typography.

The shop where he sold his wares is still going to this day.

It's in Spitalfields in East London and it's now run by his son Paul.

As you can see there's a timeless beauty about Gardner's work.

Which is quite surprising really when you consider its contemporary equivalent.

Anyway if you'd like to see more of Roy Gardner's work click here and visit Spitalfields Life.

Or if you're in London why not drop by Gardner's shop in Commercial St and say hello.

Be sure and tell 'em Stan sent you!

SEO humour

I used this joke in a talk I gave to a group of SEO people today and it got such a good response I thought I'd share it with you. 

Difference of opinion

A couple of days ago I started seeing people sharing stuff about a dancing pony on my Facebook.

Many of these people also found a way to incorporate the phrase "keep on internetting" in their status update.

It didn't take me long to see that W&K London had created a campaign that was going viral.

A bona fide success.

Then for some reason or other it turned up on the Campaign Brief Blog.

The Blog as we Oz creatives call it is often criticised for it vitriolic and generally negative comments.

Most of them anonymous.

So what did commenters on The Blog think of what was now a viral success story?

Well here's a sample:

"Gangnam style also topped the viral video chart. It doesn't mean it's good."

"Wiedens London ain't that great anymore."

"It's amazing how this low-grade comedy works on people. Then again may be the people giving this web-hits are all 10 years old. Or have the brains of ten year olds."

So there you have it.

Either ordinary punters are idiots or the commenters on The Blog are.

I know whose judgement I trust.

Ogilvy in the eighties

Promo for Ogilvy New York circa 1980/81. If this wasn't enough to put kids off a career as a future Don Draper I don't know what would.

Says it all really

Beer brand advocacy

I've always wanted to do a beer campaign that celebrated one of the great beer drinking rituals - 'relieving the pressure" of a long session.

Of course I'm realistic to know that no brand would ever bankroll a campaign like that.

Luckily for me someone has set up a Tumblr celebrating it.

It's called Peevertising and you can check it out here.

Marketing is full of fluff

Nuff said really.