Worse than Comic Sans?

If you take your typography as seriously as I do you'll know that whilst this is a fun cheeky protest sign it's also wrong.

Nothing is worse than Comic Sans. Nothing.  

LNDR beats Nike!

Nike's LDNR campaign from earlier this year is one of my fave campaigns from recent times.

Super fresh and packed with energy.

Doesn't take itself too seriously either.

Sadly for Nike the tagline came true this week when British activewear brand LNDR successfully challenged Nike's use of LDNR in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court.

The judge said that Nike's "LDNR was similar to LNDR: the former is identical to the latter save that the middle two letters are transposed."

Obviously Nike thought they could get away with this sort of stuff simply because of their size.

But not this time.

So the sportswear David toppled Goliath. And the Nike LDNR campaign is no more.

Fit Buns

This packaging for a high protein bread made me smile.

Which is not something bread usually makes me do.

Although at a quick glance the 'six pack' could easily be mistaken for a bum.

Which is kinda fun anyway!

Hand assisted search

If I had a dollar for every person who's told me the future of search is voice I'd have a fair sized pile of cash sitting in my bank account.

Sadly I don't.

Anyway if voice is the future what about those who use sign language?

How do they say 'Hey Alexa' or 'Hey Siri' using their hands?

Enter a smart young fella called Abhishek Singh...

Weird is good eventually

Love this quote by James Victore. So true.

At least for me anyway.

And like all good statements you can also get it on a t-shirt.

Believe as one

A team of stars or a star team?

That's the philosophy at the heart of every great team.

And that sort of thinking works in agencies as much as it does with sport.

So start believing in your co-workers.

Because together you can achieve so much more than you can on your own. 

Neymar Typography

The recent World Cup saw Neymar go from a seriously gifted footballer to a source of endless very funny memes.

His diving and feigning of injury were totally out of control. Much of it yellow card worthy behaviour.

While we were all laughing at the memes Brazilian art-directorr Luciano Jacob turned the endless series of shapes thrown by Neymar into a typeface.

You can download it for free here.

Four or Six?

When I was a young copywriter we had a Head Of Copy at the agency.

It was not a job I aspired to as I was more interested in ideas than wordplay.

Suffice to say no Head Of Copy looked at this ad.

In fact I'm wondering if a copywriter actually wrote it.

Why?

Oh come on!

Everyone (including my mum) knows that if you hit the ball over the boundary in cricket you score six runs.

Which of course you couldn't do if there were no boundaries in cricket.

Bloody Influencers!

Be sure and click the pic to savour every moment of this nauseating piece of Influencer Marketing.

I mean really. Who the hell would go buy a jar of Nescafé after seeing this on Instagram?

Tech changes - people don't

You may need to click the pic to read the copy.

But believe me it's definitely worth it.

This is a beautiful ad for Y&R.

Created many years ago yet still 100% relevant today. 

Behind the scenes of FCK

This is a terrific insight into the relationship (and trust) between a great client and their agency.

Love seeing the ECD and CMO talking about FCK together on camera.

I wonder how common relationships this strong are these days?

Taking Pride to Russia

The World Cup is over for another four years.

And it has to be said it's been a great celebration of football.

But beneath the veneer our freedom and football in Russia lies legislation oppressing gay rights.

So a group of activists donned football jumpers in the colours that make up the rainbow.

And cleverly infiltrated the World Cup.

Genius don't you think?

Coffee vs Beer

It is said that great advertising is built on a simple human truth.

Often this truth is not to be found in the creative brief.

It is uncovered during a factory visit or off the record chat.

I suspect the coffee truth in this ad is a case in case.

Let's face it. This ad won't trouble any award juries.

But it is built on a truth. and an interesting one at that.

Ikea World Cup

Yes I know the headlines are a bit hard to see.

But isn't it nice to see ads riffing on the World Cup that are actually half decent?

Kudos to Åkestam Holst of Stockholm for these.

Said no one ever!

My friend Lucio shared these memes (and a couple more) on his Linkedin over the weekend.

He shared them with the caveat that they may be a little silly by Linkedin standards.

And he's right.

But that's what makes them so damn good.

Far to many people drinking the digital evangelist Kool-aid on Linkedin these days.

Far too many.

Influence my arse!

This piece of street art in Los Angeles is pretty cute don't you think?

I can't imagine how many people will post pictures of themselves in front of it.

Except they won't.

Why?

Take a look at the A-frame notice in the pic below.

Now I love Instagram as much as the next guy. Hell I even run a film festival on it at work.

But Instagram influencers!? Well they can go and kiss my arse.

One Word - Data

A cup of coffee read

Fake news advertising

With most 'established' brands flocking to digital advertising, it's great to see the big tech brands recognising the value of old fashioned media like print and outdoor.

Apple is big on TV and outdoor. Google too.

And now Facebook have joined them.

Their reasons for advertising are very very different though.

Facebook isn't looking to sell. Far from it.

It's not looking to apologise either.

So why is it advertising?

Because it did the one thing 'established' brands are often accused of.

Sitting back and focusing on the money rolling in.

No matter where it comes from.

4th of July

Given it's July 4th I thought I'd post a USA tourism ad on BrandDNA today.

I found this one. It's from 2012.

Believe it or not it's the first TV campaign ever created to sell the good old US of A to the world.

Seriously.

Rumour has it tourism numbers were in decline post 9/11. So this campaign was created to entice visitors back to the US.

The song (if you were wondering) is by Rosanne Cash. Daughter on the man in black Mr Johnny Cash.

Are you a free man?

This turned up in my Twitter feed the other day.

I put the url in my browser and it came up site under maintenance.

Geez I hope it's real.

Although I have a very strong suspicion that it isn't. 

Type is not a joke

Picture = 1,000 Words