Everyone was creative once

What a beautiful ad. Shame it's wasted on a boring HP PC. 

It just doesn't fit

I remember working on a genuine parts brief a few years back.

For Nissan I think.

Anyway it was a serious struggle to crack an idea.

Which may explain why love this campaign by Canadian agency Wax so much.

These taste dirty

I used to love Spangles as a kid.

Not sure if they still make them in the UK anymore. But man oh man what a great name for a confectionery product.

However...

Who on earth was the fear mongering genius who decided that "double wrapped to keep the dirt out" was a good proposition?

Most ridiculous product benefit I've ever heard. Ever. 

David & Emily in conversation

Nice chat with David Droga and Emily Anderson from Ogilvy about the creative opportunities offered by online video. Well worth five minutes out of your day. 

In a nutshell

No argument from me

Alicia the badass

Maybe it's because I'm a man but I just don't get the point of this ad.

I know we have issues with female body image and stuff in the media.

But really.

Are women actually gonna run down to the shops and buy a pair of Levis because Alicia Keys say they're badass?

Doubt it.

But then again I'm a man. So what would I know?

Less talking more doing

This venn diagram is three years old. It's still as valid as the day it was created. 

Books & Wes Anderson

Books always feature in Wes Anderson films. And now someone has put together a lovely short film about his use of books. Shame they missed out Life Aquatic though.

Biz cards and telephones

This quote comes from the always funny Meeting Boy.

Struck a chord with me because on Friday I gave my card to someone and had to tell them not to ring the landline number on the card.

Why?

Because in a year and a half it had rung only twice.

So I got IT services to take it off my desk.

Everyone uses my mobile number anyway.

Of course I currently have a large box of biz cards in my drawer and all of them feature the number from the phone I had removed.

Gulp.

Painfully good ads

This campaign by DDB Paris has turned up on a lot of the ad blogs over the last week or so.

I love it. So had to share it too.

I'll never forget the day I took my now grown-up daughter for her first immunisation jab.

I reckon I cried more than she did!

Wish I'd made this!

Anyone got creative credits for this lovely piece of work? 

Picnic posters for Herman

Herman Miller is a name synonymous with great design.

In 1970 a young designer call Steve Frykholm joined the company.

He made a name for himself designing posters for the company picnic.

Many of the posters are now design classics.

This cute little film tells the story. 

Instagram puns are fun

 Accepted wisdom in the advertising creative department is to avid puns.

But done well they are terrific.

And these ones by Singapore based creatives Eunice Ng and Nandini Trivedi are top shelf.

There's heaps more on their very punny Instagram account.

Build a Merc on Instagram

This has been around for a while.

So I'm surprised it never made it to my inbox until last weekend.

Very nice use of Instagram by Mercedes.

Wonder when creative people are going to come up with more Insta ideas that exploit the tech rather than just the photo?

Jump in the back

In Australia the government likes to scaremonger about refugees and illegal immigrants as boat people.

Over in the UK most illegals enter the country by sneaking a ride on trucks crossing the English Channel.

Bookmaker Paddy Power has riffed on this with an illegal imigrants poster on the side of a huge truck.

Yes I know it's tasteless.

And yes I know tonnes of people have complained about it.

But given the the English are a little short on sporting prowess I reckon it's pretty damn funny. 

What is Cannes?

This week my team made a direct mail poster with an augmented reality feature.

When we presented the concept the client team were amazed by the AR.

They'd never seen anything like it.

Not surprising really as these kind of ideas are generally only seen in case study videos at award shows.

Which leads me very nicely to this brilliant but lengthy quote about Cannes Lions by Tom Goodwin from Havas:

"I wonder if it isn’t time to put Cannes in its place — as a source of inspiration and provocation, rather than a celebration of the best work the industry has done for clients in the year gone by. 

I’d liken it to a fashion show. 

No normal people buy the haute couture designs but they nonetheless set trends and influence high street fashion. 

Isn’t it best to see the Cannes winners in the same light? 

To set them on a pedestal and challenge the industry to do more work like this, or which takes inspiration from this, with mainstream budgets in the real world. 

This would be a useful filter for judges too — and might lead to the weeding out of “clever-clever” ideas that aren’t scalable."

Keep it simple

Teeny weeny folio

I'm known for saying that you should be able to put a brief on a post-it note.

I also believe an idea should fit on one too.

Now designer Michael Lester has gone a step further and done what could well be the world's smallest folio.

Pretty cute don't you think?

You can check out more of his work on his website.

Wisdom of Clow

Haven't seen a tweet from Lee Clow's beard for a while.

And then a friend cut 'n pasted this one into an email on the weekend.

Absolute classic! 

Don't let ink run out

Gorgeous campaign in a generally dull category by Ogilvy Colombia.

When you think about it the possibilites for ideas based on colour or lack thereof are infinite.

So how come nobody thought of doing something this fun before?

Back yourself

A word from The Guvnor

Dave Trott. The wise old man of what we fondly refer to as Adland. Here's what he has to say about Cannes:

"Ad festivals prevent creativity. 

You’re not doing advertising for six million people in the street anymore, but for ten people on the jury, and for a few clients. 

You win an award, because then Martin Sorrell will give you a raise, and Martin Sorrell can go and tell Unilever that he won an award, and Unilever will maybe give him another piece of digital business. 

How has that got anything to do with the job we’re supposed to be doing?"