Ideas are like maps

I'm not sure who this quote belongs to but it is a damn good piece of advice.

Over my career I've spent a lot of time pursuing dead ends and roads to nowhere.

It can be frustrating. Especially at the time.

But they're always worth exploring. Just in case.  

Twitter wipeout

This is a tale of two twitters.

Well one twitter actually.

Argentinian footballer Burrito Martinez wiped his entire 92,112 person following.

His aim being to win back all of his followers back game by game like a first year player would.

He currently at just under 43,000 followers.

So either he's playing some incredible football or a hell of a lot of fans missed having him in their twitter feed.

On your bike

This little guy landed in my inbox this morning.

It's not exactly setting the world on fire.

But you know what - I love it.

Great illustration. And an interesting selection of gift ideas.

Not sure I'd buy anything for my dad.

But I've got plenty of Deus stuff in my wardrobe. 

You do the math

Disconnecting old technology

At the end of this year the government will turn off the analog TV signal here in Melbourne.

Something I actually thought they would've done a couple of years.

I guess they extended it for a while to allow the less well off time to buy a digital box.

Anyway over in UK British Telecom has just announced that they will be shutting down the dial up internet service.

Now that is something I definitely thought would've been shut down by now.

I did a bit of digging and it turns out the cheapest broadband service in the UK is almost half the price of dial up.

So why are people still using it?

Shop but don't shop

This has to be the most bamboozling advertising message I've seen in ages.

Why buy a shirt when you can create one?

Actually make that why create one when you still have to buy it.

And why would you buy it when it's better to create than shop.

Mental I tell ya. Utterly mental. 

Worth downloading?

I can't quite work out if the Yellow Pages people are trying to make QR Codes seem difficult in order to get you to download their app, or if the person who wrote that copy has no bloody idea at all how to sell people on the idea of QR Codes. Either way it is an overly complicated mess.

Animated beer gifs

Two of my favourite thing together at last.

Animated GIFs and beer.

Hats off to Trevor Carmick who makes these magical creations in his spare time.

Can't believe no beer brand has ever done this sort of thing.

Although now Trevor's work has hit the internet it can only be a matter of time before some lazy ad agency creatives steal it.

Fun run

I'm not sure when I became a dog person.

But I am.

So hot on the heels of last week's pug on a plinth come this beauty by BBH London.

Even without the French Bulldog in the background it would've been good.

But with it. Bellissima! 

Attention to detail

I think if you're going to name your brand Apostrophe then you should probably know when and how to use one.

Obviously the British sandwich chain Apostrophe doesn't worry about that sort of stuff.

Or maybe the person who wrote their tagline went to Monash University here in Melbourne where they can't even tell the difference between a then and a than.

KitKat Mobile

Came across this cute KitKat ad today.

Apparently it's from about 12 months ago.

I've not seen it before. Nor do I know who did.

Anyone?

Pug on a plinth!

It's a pug on a plinth. What's not to love? More magical randomness from the ever reliable W&K London. 

Who writes Facebook ads?

Obviously the title of this post is a rhetorical question.

In fact I wrote a handful of Facebook ads myself just last week.

But what I want to know is who writes ads like the one above.

Depression is a serious issue.

And I very much doubt a sufferer would benefit from clicking on a Facebook ad to join a clinical trial.

A clinical trial for what? And with whom?

I'd like to hope Facebook monitor this sort of stuff.

But somehow I doubt it...

Absolut Amber

This is what happens when you brief an artist to interpret the effects of oak cask ageing on Absolut vodka. No idea what it all means but I could stare at it for ages. 

Never stop trying

The wife and I have been on a Mad Men binge this weekend.

In one of the episodes we watched last night a young copywriter is out on a date with a girl who is the daughter of his father’s friend.

Over a burger and shake she asks him about his job.

It’s just a job he tells her.

She responds by asking how proud he must feel when he sees his work on a huge billboard.

He rolls his eyes and says how much he hates seeing his work because by the time it’s finished it’s no longer his work.

I know exactly how he feels. I think we all do.

But no reason to stop trying to do great stuff.

Have some fun

Marmite neglect

Given it's a distant relative of Vegemite it's to be expected that Marmite would share one or two of its traits.

Which of course it does.

In particular the fact that many people have an unfinished jar lurking in the back of a cupboard.

How these jars end up like this is anyone's guess but it's obviously a problem as this new TV spot by Adam&Eve-DDB clearly shows.

Bizarrely this ad has resulted in more than 250 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK.

That's a lot of pissed off people. 

Ribbon Revolution?

When the link to the 3M Ribbon Revolution landed in my inbox I had every intention of deleting it.

After all how interesting can something from a sticky tape and cable manufacturer be?

Well a little more interesting than I thought actually.

I love this psychedelic sixties poster pastiche with good use of the classic Shepard Fairey colour pallette.

To be brutally frank I think the whole revolution concept is drawing a bow like no campaign I've seen before.

But...

It's pretty fresh for 3M. And the animation of the poster is top notch.

Click here to go take a look. 

Love every mouthful

There is nothing really earth shattering about this new outdoor campaign for Tesco by W&K London.

But so what.

It's eye catching. Charming. And very nicely art directed.

Is that enough?

Maybe not in many categories. But it certainly is for a supermarket.

Brands vs Bands

Used to be that rock 'n roll was about railing against 'The Man' man. Not any more. Truth be told this video would be even funnier if was so damn rooted in reality. 

Why oh why Charles?

Oh how the mighty fall.

A lifesize red faced pastiche of Charles Saatchi is currently on show in an East End gallery in London.

It's created as much controversy as you would imagine its creator intended it to do.

Charles Saatchi.

Writer of ads that are still studied by students 40 years later.

Spotter of talent who hired John Hegarty for his consultancy CramerSaatchi.

Mastermind (along with his brother) of Saatchi & Saatchi one of the world's greatest agencies.

The man who gave us the infamous 'Labour isn't working poster'.

And how will he be remembered?

As the man who manhandled Nigella Lawson.

What a waste of a legacy.

Wisdom of Wieden

Terrific talk by Dan Wieden at a recent conference for small agencies made all the more relevant after this weeks announcement of the Publicis Omnicom merger. Be sure and keep your ears open for his brilliant comment about the global agencies 'wobbling like drunkards'.