Paper & Pen

I once worked with a young punk art director who said he only worked on a Mac. Never paper.

As you can imagine I rewired his thinking once he started working under me.

That was twenty or so years ago. But the same logic applies today.

The best way to generate ideas is with a pad and pen.

Don't believe me?

Here's a great article to change your mind.

Compton Cowboys

Content gets a bad rap. As it should 'cause most of it is a very average.

This piece from Guinness however is next level.

A beautiful piece of filmmaking from AMV London.

Choose fonts carefully

James Blunt on Tinder

Other than his big hit Beautiful I have no idea what the rest of James Blunt's music sounds like.

Well I do have an idea. But I've not listened to it if you know what I mean.

Anyway. What I do know is he's a very funny guy.

And the perfect front man for this fun new campaign for Tinder. 

Negative to Positive

In the age of social media everyone has an opinion and is prepared to wield it via the internet.

So kudos to Snowbird Snow Resort for taking negative reviews and turning them into breathtaking print ads and posters.

Excellent advice

If your eyes are as useless as mine click the pic to enlarge. 

Girl Power

Even Stranger Things

I think one of the reasons Stranger Things proved so popular last year was because it came quite literally out of nowhere.

No hype. No teaser campaign. Just great TV that got people talking.

Which is why I'm worried that Season-2 will fail to live up to our expectations.

It is being hyped to the max.

Anyway guess we'll see next month when it premieres.

In the meantime enjoy this set of homage posters from Netflix.

In case you don't recognise them the classics referenced in the posters in ascending order are Stand By Me, Nightmare On Elm St, Alien and Drew Barrymore's cult film Firestarter.

Generic Millenial Ad

         

I normally ignore a lot of videos that turn up being over-shared on social media.

Which I fortunately didn't do with this one as it's brilliant.

I honestly can't believe how many cliches you can squeeze into such a short time frame.

Kudos to all involved. And a huge 'lift your game' to any marketer or agency type who thinks like this. 

Apple Cookies

Stories are emerging from Apple HQ that the new version of the popular Safari browser will have some sort of Cookie blocker built in.

Now i don't know about you but I love the sound of this. It's the next step up from ad blocking.

Yes I know i work in advertising. But retargeting and tracking has gotten out of hand in my opinion.

Suffice to say the big advertisers are up in arms. As you would expect.

But as I said a couple of years ago in a piece on Linkedin - Advertising has reneged on its handshake deal to engage and entertain consumers.

You can read that piece here.

Waiting for inspiration...

*NOTE: Beer Drinking can be substituted for Binge Eating if required. 

Missed opportunity

As a teen I always coveted a Lonsdale sweatshirt.

Why?

Because Muhammad Ali and Paul Weller from The Jam were regularly photographed wearing them.

The Lonsdale logo was very distinctive.

The US boxing brand Everlast has a logo so similar in design to Lonsdale it's hard to know who influenced who.

But what I do know is neither of those great brands came up with this laundry bag.

Which is most definitely a missed opportunity.

Turn the volume down

How sweet is this package design for earplugs by 3M?

The volume control on the lid is so so clever.

Love to know who designed it.

#PleasureIsDiverse

Never thought I'd see the day a mainstream brand put their money where their mouth is and back same sex marriage.

Of course the cynic in me questions the use of two females rather than men. But so what.

This is beautifully made ad with a very beautiful message of love and tolerance.

Be sure and share the video and hashtag #PleasureIsDiverse with your friends. 

Sky writing

As I say to all my creatives always look for the opportunity in the brief.

Now I very much doubt the people at Icelandair even had a brief for their inflight menu.

But it sure didn't stop a witty wordsmith having their way with words.

This Pringle one is particularly nice.

Words are powerful

       
This is brilliant. In fact I'd say it's a copywriter's dream ad. Kudos to Adam+Eve DDB London.

Thought for the day

Please be quiet Adidas

Hey I know I'm not down with the kids 'n shit but seriously what the hell is this?

Obviously a (loose) tie in to the US Open in New York. But this pretentious waffle meets wannabe street cred does absolutely nothing for me.

Except annoy me. Obviously. 

Talking customers

Yours truly chatting all things customer experience with the very lovely Pip Stocks from Brandhook. 

Tradesman suncreen

I could be wrong but I reckon most tradies and building workers in Australia would use sunscreen when woking outdoors.

But in the UK it's highly unlikely.

Which is why hardware chain Wickes has come up with the idea of trades-sunscreen packaged in pots styled on pain sample pots.

They come is classic tradie colours too - Brickie’s Bronze, Plasterer’s Pink and Apprentice White.

Classic Nike attitude