Safe blood

Click the pic for a better look at this ad.

Pretty clever don't you think?

Nice work from DDB Jo'burg.

Taco Bell blackout

The team at Digitas LBI got a tad over excited when they put this case study together.

But what the hell.

Ya gotta love the idea of getting attention by disappearing.

Hell it's almost like an adland version of George Costanza's Opposite Day. 

Worst job in town

I know that feelin'

Sanders & America

American politics is a mystery to many of us outside of the US of A.

Weirdest thing about it for me is the head-to-head battles between candidates from the exact same party to get the nomination to run for President.

Like I said. Weird.

But what's even weirder for me is this ad for Bernie Sanders.

Not weird in a the traditional sense of the word.

Weird because it's an upbeat and positive political ad.

Can't remember seeing one for some time.

Great use of a great tune too.

In fact I'm surprised it's never been used before. 

15 secs of fame

15 seconds is all it takes:

To make me laugh.

To make me smile.

To do a product demonstration without actually doing one.

And to make me wonder why this cute spot by DDB California hasn't come across my radar till now.

Finger lickin' BBQ

A rather tasty series of ads from Crispin Porter.

Not sure if it's a new campaign or not.

But it's definitely all kinds of charming. Don't you think?

Seth says...

Agency type

I think we've all worked with people like these. Haven't we?

Inside Pantone colour factory

Ever wondered about Pantone colour swatches? Wonder no more...

So what do you do?

When I started my career in advertising I was given a Saatchi&Saatchi booklet that humorously explained what each of the departments in an agency did.

Toronto agency Zulu Alpha Kilo just took that book a lot lot further with their what do people in agencies do coffee cups.

So popular I hear they're now offering them for sale.

Last year in Japan...

It's been absolutely ages since I featured any crazy Japanese advertising on DNA. So to make up for it here's a ten minute compilation of some of 2015's finest. Enjoy!

Time to 50 million

These type of media uptake stats have been popping regularly since the internet went mainstream.

So I guess much of the above is old news.

But man oh man the uptake of things sure is faster today than it's ever been.

Thanks in no small part to the proliferation/ubquity of the internet.

Kinda makes me wonder what the next big thing will be. How 'bout you?

Hong Kong clean-up

I have no idea how bad the rubbish problem is in Hong Kong but if this lovely campaign by Ogilvy is anything to go by it must be huge.

In which case let's hope the ads were effective!

Tribute to Lemmy

When I first heard about this Lemmy ad I thought it was a 'too soon' cash in.

Turns out it's a charming tribute to a true original courtesy of Valio milk and Hassan & Partners.

Here's the story behind it:

"This is offered in celebration of the life of a lovely, exceptional man – a man who celebrated life so vibrantly himself. 

We were first shooting a remake of an iconic Finnish milk ad. The tone of this ad that was shot a month ago was changed to make it a heartfelt tribute, however modest. 

A take that came late in the shoot was selected – one of Lemmy’s brilliant improv moments that was never in the script. 

This was our magical encounter with a great man – and we’re honoured to share it with the world. 

Thank you Lemmy."

It's Miss, actually

I generally can't be bothered with over-hyped utterly ridiculous fragrances ads.

But I'm making an exception for this one.

Love Natalie Portman.

Love director Anton Corbjin.

And don't mind the Janis Joplin track on the soundtrack either.

Typeface your face

I read about this idea over the holidays.

Kinda surprised it had passed me by to be honest. Especially as I'm a huge type nut.

Anyway in new news to me...

Last year W+K Tokyo teamed up with online retailer Oh My Glasses to create a range of glasses based on typefaces.

Genius. Don't you think?

Of course Helvetica is my favourite.

Click here to see what other fonts they have.

Darklight

The days of content being the low budget cousin of advertising are well and truly over.

Well almost.

It would appear that no expense was spared on this lovely piece for Philips and Specialized.

It's perhaps a tad too long. But mesmerising viewing none the less. 

Savage or Sausage?

The Johnny Depp fragrance tv spot is one of the most pretentious of them all.

Which may explain why this ever so sightly tweeked poster made me laugh so much.

Brilliant. Don't you think? 

Do #BallLivesMatter ?

First post for 2016 and it's one of those 'Oh my God what were they thinking?' type posts.

The Black Lives Matter hashtag has been prominent on social media this year.

Especially in the final week of last year.

So who on earth thought it was a good idea to riff on it for a bit of fun must be a total moron.

I mean really. How else can you explain it?

Perhaps we should ask the people behind this much talked about (for the wrong reasons) campaign from last year?