Lacoste puppy

Done well there's a lot to love about brand Vines.

And I really love this one from Lacoste.

No idea why.

Other than that it's kinda cute and has a dog!

Fashion or Porn

From the early days of Calvin Klein to American Apparel the use of sexually suggestive imagery is commonplace.

And every time a suggestive campaign breaks there is always an outcry from one consumer group or another.

Now some clever character has created Fashion Or Porn.

A fun interactive game where you determine whether an image is taken from porn or advertising.

Click here to go play.

Fear not

If you don't make mistakes you're not trying hard enough.

Don't know who said that but I do know that it's true.

Life as a freelancer

Swap out the word artist for creative and this comic sums up life as a freelancer.

I learnt a lot from my last stint.

In fact I used the experience to create this Survival Guide.

Mad Men vs Mavens

Much as I admire beautiful long copy ads, I have to confess I don't have the stamina to read them.

We don't see much of that kind of advertising these days.

And to be honest great advertising writing takes many forms today. Not just print.

This video gathers great writers young and old to share and discuss their thoughts on copywriting.

Sadly it doesn't put them together.

Although I hear a second film where this happens is in the works.

It's well worth a few minutes of your time. 

Almost Halloween

I don't know if this is a real press ad or a scam but I do know it made me smile.

Which is a good thing on a Friday morning. Right? 

Fact or Fiction?

I can't believe the amount of media coverage garnered by the recent story about Apple and Facebook incentivising female employees to freeze their eggs.

Actually that's not completely true.

I can believe it.

People are outraged. As they should be.

But I can't help thinking this is some sort of ad agency viral stunt type thing.

Of course I can't prove this.

But if an egg freezing video picks up a bunch of awards at Cannes next year please come back and leave an "I told you so' comment. 

Bonny Beckham in the highlands

Guy Ritchie behind the camera. David Beckham in front of it. Plus a soundtrack by Alt-J.

Yet all this ad left me wanting to do was go to Scotland.

I went to Edinburgh once. It was lovely.

But the landscapes featured in this film for Haig Club are nothing short of ravishing. 

Make me wanna buy

I was helping judge the end of year folios from a creative course the other day.

I was surprised that not a single student had done a piece of work that I'd consider to be offensive.

Bad yes. Poor taste absolutely. But nothing offensive.

Which made me kinda happy to be honest.

Why?

Because I've seen more than my fair share of student folios with ads designed to shock.

Ads that a good creative director would kill off at concept stage.

Which makes me think that the creative people who are generously giving their time to help young wannabes are instilling in them a good sense of what a great idea really is. 

Keep your awards to yourself

Recently I went to visit an agency that has won a veritable truckload of awards in recent times.

As the lift doors open and I walk in to the agency reception all I can see is an impressive (and imposing) collection of trophies.

Not one or two. Dozens.

All of them displayed behind glass throughout reception.

To be honest I found it a tad desperate.

I believe in awards and award shows. And I also believe an agency should be proud of their achievements.

But this just reeked of arrogance.

I was telling a friend who worked there about the first time I went to the Campaign Palace as a young creative.

At the time it was the greatest agency in the country and easily one of the best in the world.

Did they have awards festooned all over their reception?

No.

They were all dumped in a wheelbarrow that was sitting below the spiral stairway that led up to the upper floor of the agency.

That dismissive acknowledgement of the importance of awards to a multi-award winning agency thrilled me as a young man.

As a grey haired industry veteran the ostentatious display I saw last week most definitely did not.

Pic via

Red Bull's lack of wings

I heard the other day that Red Bull had been done for misleading advertising.

To be honest I simply rolled my eyes when I heard.

But last night I found out why.

Because it doesn't give you wings.

Seriously?

What a joke.

Sure the wings in question are metaphorical?

Good job the people who complained weren't around when Coke had the tagline Coke Is It.

Typographic jokes

 Typography is not a joke. But it does make for good jokes though!

A good idea

Not sure I totally agree with this cheeky piece of inspiration from Y&R Dubai.

But I do know there's no feeling that comes close to the feeling you get when an idea happens.

Google camel cam

We've all heard or read about the camera car Google uses to capture imagery for Street View.

But I bet you didn't know they use a four legged camera when it comes to mapping the deserts of the middle east?

Take creative control

Upgrade to Pocket Plus

My wife came home with an iPhone 6+ on the day it was launched.

She loves it. But I reckon it's way too big.

In fact when I put it in the pocket of my pants I had trouble fitting it in.

Dutch telco KPN thought they'd have a bit of fun with the size of the new jumbo iPhone.

And I have to say I like it.

The pocket plus idea that is. Not the phone! 

Advice from Lena Dunham

Great advice from Lena Dunham for all you writers out there feeling a little insecure.

Which let's be honest is pretty much anyone who earns a living as a writer.

Myself included.

This video is one of a dozen Lena has created to promote the release of her book Not That Kind Of Girl.

You can watch the full set here.

The way to stand out

Have you checked social?

 I thought this was a nice campaign when I saw the headlines and made the connection to popular social media channels.

Then I looked a little closer and spotted the hand detail within the social network logos.

Clever. Very clever in fact.

Kudos to DDB Singapore. Here's hoping it get's noticed by women there.

50 pence challenge

I'm sure this monumental muck up came across your desktop last week.

It's an internal sales motivation poster for Sainsburys that somehow ended being posted in the window of a store.

Where it obviously caused a lot of discontent.

Kudos to the team at low cost supermarket Lidl who quickly responded with their own slightly nicer variation.

Cheers to this message

This cute little truck message is a good companion piece for the bottle message I posted yesterday.

As an Aussie I'm not familiar with the wines of the Allegro Winery in Pennsylvania.

But I reckon they probably make a fun easy drinking drop.

Driving & drinking

Now this is clever.

Obviously wouldn't work in a pub or bar as they serve beers without the lid.

But for six packs and drinks at home I reckon this is a cracker.

Love to see one of our Aussie beer brands pioneer something like this.

Volkswagen advertising

Lovely bit of vintage advertising I stumbled across on the weekend.

Beetleboards.

They were the creation of Charles Bird a youth marketing specialist in the early '70s.

As a youth marketer he was a regular visitor to college campuses where he noticed the popularity of VW Beetles amongst students.

So he decided to turn them into mobile billboards.

Students we put on contract and paid $20 a month to drive them.

Nothing new or exciting about all this sort of stuff these days.

But back in 1970 it most certainly was.