Hand lettered logos

There's been a massive resurgence of interest in hand lettering of late. Which really makes me happy.

Over in England designer Seb Lester has been building a lovely collection of timelapse videos of him hand lettering well known logos.

I'd share some of Seb's videos here, but Instagram video is damn tricky to resize. So they look ridiculous on my blog.

So here's a link.

After the Kodak moment

Pretty much everyone knows that Kodak came up with the idea of digital photography but chose not to pursue it as they thought it would canibalise sales of film.

Which has since given us the wisdom of it being better to canabilise your own products through innovation than to allow someone else to do it.

Live and learn. I guess. Or should I say hope?

Kids lose their glasses

Gorgeous little spot for Specsavers. It's also a nice change of pace from their usual strategy. 

A billion views!

Red Bull just celebrated one billion views on their YouTube channel. So they made this video to commemorate the occasion. Enjoy! 

Kid stuff

Love this campaign for the Museum of Childhood.

Really taps in to the way kids think.

If only we could find a way for people to retain this way of thinking/seeing.

Oh well...

Did I mention the campaign is by AMV BBDO in London?

Love your work guys!

Half 'n half

Mate of mine sent me this pic. Had to share! 

One of the greats of early DDB

Mr Len Sirowitz.

Hired by Bernbach in the fifties.

Ran VW in the sixties.

Set up his own shop in the seventies.

Now in his eighties.

One of the finest Art Directors ever.

Great interview with him here.

And a lovely piece of his work below.

Lost type rediscovered

If you're a type lover like me you'll love this five minute film about the rediscovery of a long lost typeface.

And if you're not... Watch it anyway because it's a great story.

Oops!

You, Don & the carousel

The Kodak Carousel scene is one of the greatest moments in MadMen.

A show full of great moments.

Nothing portrays the power of great advertising (and Draper in full flight) quite like that carousel scene.

To celebrate the last handful of MadMen episodes the makers of MadMen have released an app that put your photos into the carousel.

Click here to go check it out. 

Oreos ageing gracefully

For a brand that's a hundred years old Oreo is remarkably youthful.

I mean how fresh do these ads look?

There from a series of ten created by artists commissioned by the Martin Agency.

Nothing new in the idea of commissioning artists. But damn these ads look fresh.

Nice one Snickers

The Jeremy Clarkson incident was all over the news and social media late last week.

So kudos to the team from Snickers who spotted the opportunity and grabbed it.

Although I'm now hearing this was photoshopped not real.

Either way it's definitely a nice bit of carpe diem.

Marketers take note

Back in the day

I bought my first video machine way back in 1982.

It was a VHS. Obviously.

Back then it cost (I think) about $800 at a time when I as a young fella was earning $250 a week.

That was three times my weekly salary!

And what kind of special features did I get for that kind of money?

A remote control. That's what!

A remote control connected to the machine by a three metre cable.

Good times. 

FYI I'm a graphic designer

When I was young I used to think that advertising was a job that only people in sitcoms did.

This was probably because I'd never met anyone who worked in advertising.

In fact pretty much ever second show on TV back then had someone in it working in advertising.

Not graphic design though. 

Some good stuff at SXSW

If you're fortunate enough to be heading to SXSW later this week this handy guide from Poke in London is sure to come in handy. 

The ideal client

I gave a talk to a group of creative people the other day where I tried to impress upon them the important of client relationships in doing great work.

In person rather than email. Listening rather than just talking. And ultimately building trust.

If I'd known about this video with Neil Christie from W+K London I could've saved myself a lot of time making a powerpoint and simply played it to the audience instead. 

Facebook and friends

Facebook have put out quite a few tv spots in the last week or two. I'm particularly fond of the one about the record store owner.

This new ad however is all about friends. The whole reason that Facebook actually exists. It's directed by none other than Mike Mills and I reckon it's pretty damn sweet.

Plus it's another example of quality advertising done in-house rather than with an agency. Nice one Facebook! 

Nike vs Facebook

Last week I went to a talk at the Melbourne Social Media Club.

I'd been a regular at these sort of nights a few years back but not so much recently.

What attracted me to the talk in question was that the social media manager from Nike was talking.

During her talk she aired her frustration that Facebook and Instagram owned the communities Nike had built on their platforms.

And so Nike was looking to build their own social platform. Which at first glance sounds like the smart thing to do.

But surely what we love about Facebook and other social platforms is the way they connect people with diverse interests.

Which enables content to be shared far beyond its intended demographic or audience.

Going viral I believe the popular term is!

Anyway what I was wondering is how this can happen if Nike build contained platforms. Places where only sports fans go rather than all your friends.

Seems a bit limiting and narrow focused to me. Guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Marcia to Danny in NYC

For me it was the Steve Buscemi cameo that made the Superbowl Snickers ad great. Not the somewhat obvious Marcia sketch. Still made me smile though.

As did this little case study video showing how BBDO transformed Marcia into Danny Trejo on a billboard in New York. 

The creative dept

Great quote from Luke Sullivan the author of one of the best adland books I've ever read - Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This.

Fat finger typing

As someone who often has to write emails on the go I can't tell you how much I love the look of the TextBlade.

Obviously there's nothing new about a fold up or portable keyboard. But I've never seen one as slick as this.