Winning the inner creative battle

I've just ordered a copy of this book.

I'm not sure why given I've been winning my inner creative battles for some time.

Or have I?

To be honest I have no idea.

But anything I can do to make me more creative is definitely worthwhile.

Underworld + Volkswagen

A young lad who worked for me when I was in London is the creative director on fascinating idea.

Of course he's no longer a young lad. Nor are the boys from Underworld.

Age is not a barrier to creativity.

Ask Picasso who was still painting at 92.

Sadly many agencies disagree.

I'd love to know why.

Not so ultimate

It's easy in these obviously more enlightened times to laugh at ads like this one.

But I just can't imagine any woman thinking of a razor as the ultimate gift.

I do love the 'benefit' in the copy though;

"a feature of good dressing and good grooming is to keep the underarm white and smooth."

Become a better writer

Pug on a sled

A couple of months ago I shared the launch ad for the Mabel the pug campaign.

It was one of the most random ads I'd seen. Still is to be honest.

At least it was until I saw this new Christmas one.

Classic! 

Designers touching their faces

I can't imagine how much of my day is spent touching my face.

But I suspect it's a lot.

I also suspect I'm not the only person who does it.

As this Tumblr site proves - Designers Touching Their Faces.

Sexpo in St Kilda

This stunt happened just down the street from where I spend much of my working day.

Yes it's tacky.

Yes it's corny.

And yes it's a huge dick on the back of a truck parked at the permanently open mouth of Luna Park.

But it's for Sexpo. So I guess that it's all okay.

Hamster behind the wheel

So much talk around the Volvo Trucks road test with Jean-Claude Van Damme this weekend.

As there should be because it's brilliant.

But before there was Van Damme there was a hamster.

Yes a hamster.

Oh dear...

And this my friends is how not to do social media.

Strategy made easy

My wife has said for years that I should've been a strategy planner.

I do find it an interesting field but to be honest I'd much rather have an ideas than be the guy behind them.

It also looks like hard work if truth be told.

If I did pursue it however I'd definitely be downloading the Strategy Deck app.

Get yours here.

Common sense and Kellog's

This Kellogg's tweet from last week has been justifiably vilified in both traditional and social media.

Yet I can understand why the people behind it thought it was a good idea.

Get people to retweet and vulnerable kids get a free brekky. How can it go wrong?

Easy.

Many people don't take the time to consider how their ideas will be interpreted by the general public.

I'm not talking about research or testing of ideas.

I'm talking common sense.

And sadly in many agencies and marketing departments common sense isn't all that common.

You're right Ma'am

I was one of those people who queued at six in the morning to get my hands on the very first iPhone.

And every two years I upgrade to the just released new model.

Over the course of my life as an iPhone owner I've had to make an appointment at the Genius Bar for every one of my phone.

All of those phones were replaced with a new one.

No tinkering. No repairs. No waiting. Nothing.

Disposable technology with a built in self destruct date.

Bit sad really. 

Whatever happened to...

Bill Bernbach is one of the most revered figures in the history of advertising.

He's held in high regard for putting writers and art directors together, making Volkswagen a household name, and of course for the agency that carries his name - Doyle Dayne Bernbach.

What I wanna know is what the hell happened to the other two guys?

Bernbach = Household name. Well almost.

But Doyle and Dayne? Not so much.

In fact I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about either of them during the twenty or so years I've been in the business.

Anyone know? 

You can't eat a role

I'm not sure which one of these appalling mistakes is worse:

"a hunger to grow into a property management roll"

or

"will possess a sponge for knowledge"

And even though this company claims to "take an extreme pride in managing properties" it obviously has no idea how to string a decent sentence together. 

Headphones are bad

Been arguing this for years. And it's gotten worse with the growth of digital for some reason.

So if you buggers won't listen to me at least listen to Mr Hegarty. Pleeease. 

Ads on Twitter

I noticed this week that Twitter had started showing half size photos in tweets rather than a link to a pic.

To be honest I didn't like it.

I prefer my tweets to be the basic 140 characters and nothing else.

Plus the half a pic thing is just plain annoying.

Today I worked out why Twitter has done this.

Advertising.

Yes folks it would appear that yet again the solution to making money on the web is good old interruptive advertising.

When is it going to stop?

Sony Bravia is back

The original Sony Bravia 'Balls' commercial seems like a lifetime ago now.

And even though they've done several variations of it in the years since none of them have come close the the mesmerising beauty of the original.

Until now.

A volcano in Venezuela can't have been an easy shoot. So kudos to McCann London for pulling this one off.

Boy is it gorgeous to watch. 

Got a better headline?

I worked on Guinness many years ago when I was in London.

One of my favourite brands.

Over the years I've always looked forward to new Guinness ads.

No matter where they come from they're generally pretty good.

I love the visual in this one from Grey in Canada.

Not so sure about that headline though.

A definite missed opportunity if ever I've seen one.

10 tips to improve your Google results

Hardly a day goes by that I don't see a tweet with a link to a blog post about how to improve your Google search results or your page ranking or something or other.

It's like the internet is populated by two types of people;

Idiots and experts in SEO.

I am neither. Nor are you I suspect.

So I don't have 10 tips to improve your Google results.

I have one. Be interesting.

Simple as that.