Ogilvy + Kardashian

I lost interest in Cannes as an advertising festival about five years ago.

Not exactly sure why.

Probably a combination of ridiculously exorbitant entry fees and inane social media coverage during the event itself.

But it was when I saw Ogilvy tweeting Kim Kardashian quotes last week that I knew my love for Cannes was well and truly over.

Seriously. Kim Kardashian!?

Damn good advice

Chef vs Creative Director

     

Fascinating talk by David Chang from the restaurant Momofuku.

So many of the points he makes resonated with me as a creative director.

Compromise. Sacrifice. Failure. And every now and again feeling like you wanna be sick.

The similarities are uncanny.
    

Have you got an ad-blocker?

A new survey by Reuters has found that almost 40% of people in the UK use an internet ad blocker.

And who can blame them?

Ads on the internet are bloody annoying.

M-recs. Leaderboards. Standard banners. Skyscrapers. Buttons. Homepage takeovers.

Bloody ads are bloody everywhere on the internet.

I work in advertising and yet I have an ad-blocker installed.

Says it all really.

A QR code worth scanning

There's a lot of coverage these last few days on the story of the man in Germany who scanned the QR code on a bottle of Heinz ketchup that took him to a porn site rather than the promo site.

If you've heard about the story (and you probably have) you'll know that the domain for the Heinz promo had been allowed to expire and the porno site had taken it over.

What's fascinating me about this story isn't the link to the porn site. Or that Heinz let the url expire.

Nope. What's fascinating me is the fact that someone actually scanned a QR code.

And it was a worthwhile experience! 

Attention hacking

I've been reading about and enjoying the work (and life) of Faris for what must surely be about ten years now.

Fingers crossed I'll get to actually meet him one day.

Anyway this brief talk he recently gave for PSFK is a cracker.

So grab a coffee and prepare to have your attention hacked.

Consuming media

Zenith Optimedia have just released their Media Consumption report.

According to the report the average person will spend 492 minutes a day consuming media.

That's in excess of eight hours!

A primary driver for this, obviously, is the increase in media consumed via the internet.

From 2010 to 1014 the amount of time spent on the internet practically doubled from just under and hour a day to almost 110 minutes a day.

What's most startling about these stats to me is that the amount of time spent consuming media is pretty similar to the amount of time in an average working day.

No wonder we're all so damn tired! 

Ain't that the truth

The tweeting pothole

I once damaged the suspension of my car after hitting a huge crater of a pothole.

So obviously I love this idea.

Makes me wonder what else we could use these 'auto-tweet' type ideas for.

Hmm!? 

Oops!

I love an unfortunate ad placement as much as the next guy. And this one is definitely worth sharing. 

Use your head and hands

This pic came up on my Twitter stream the other day.

Took me back to my early days at JWT.

We'd hired a kid straight out of college who proudly stated that he never used a pen and paper.

Back then we hadn't heard of the term Digital Native but he was definitely one of them.

Eventually he grew to understand the importance of tools like the Pentel and A3 Bank.

He grew up to be quite an art-director.

I doubt he would've if he'd stuck to his guns. 

French for yummy

This new spot for Yoplait is sure to get your week started with a smile.

Beautifully art directed in what can only be described as a Wes Anderson style.

And the silly Frenchiness of it all takes me back to the golden age of Yoplait advertising in Australia.

Which kinda makes me woner why they never used the old Aussie tagline of 'It's French for yum!"

Live young with Evian

 Cutest campaign I've seen this week. Anyone know who created it?

Dots before my eyes

Love that someone somewhere can be bothered to do this.

I'm a Stabilo man myself.

Although I've also been know to use a Pentel.

What I never use however is any colour other than black.

Click the pic if you'd like a better look. 

Legal gone mad!

My friend Bernie in New York snapped this pic.

Believe it or not it's a bus shelter ad.

And no that's not long copy you can see. It's terms and conditions and seemingly endless legal disclaimers.

Seriously. WTF!? 

$400,000 company vehicle?

Not sure this ad will attract career focussed young folk to become bus drivers in New Zealand.

But what the hell. It sure caught my eye.

And it made me laugh. 

Kerning is important

People regularly share badly kerned signage on my Twitter and Facebook.

They're generally pretty funny.

This one's not.

But of course it is.

And yet it's not... 

Wieden & Kennedy in a cab

Interviews in a Black Cab. Now there's a fun idea.

Bet Uber are kicking themselves that they never thought of it.

Anyway this one is with Neil Christie the creative director of W+K London.

Grab yourself a cuppa and sit back enjoy. 

Music of the people

I have no idea who created this poster.

Nor when and where it was done.

But it is a thing of beauty that I found on a Tumblr this morning that I just had to share.

Click on the pic for a better look. 

From painful to Post-It

My computer and my desk are covered in Post-It notes.

I can't imagine life without them to be honest.

Which may explain why I like this cheeky idea from Proximity Russia so much.

Of course I can't help questioning the effectiveness of it all.

But what the hell. I love Post-Its! 

Talking spanglish

An agency in Spain. Making an ad that relies on English language wordplay to work. We must be coming up to Cannes season folks! 

Easier to say than do

Advertising is a confidence business.

Why?

Because anyone can have an idea. They're free.

But convincing people to love and support your idea. Well that's a whole 'nother ball game.

And the best way to garner that support is to act with confidence.

Total confidence.