Knives Down Bikes Up

Knife violence in London is a problem that even the authorities are struggling to find an answer to.

The community of riders featured in this beautifully shot short film are not claiming to be solving the issue.

They’re simply trying to provide a sense of community for some of the kids who may be swayed by bad influences or violence.

Knives Down / Bikes Up was created as a part of The Barbican's Art Of Change film festival.

Cardboard Box Marketing

Every time I see an announcement about some new form of advertising or media opportunity I grimace.

I'd much rather there were less ads than more.

Yes I know I'm an adman. But seriously. There are far too many ads and most of them are pretty shit.

Anyway I digress...

A friend sent me the pic above the other day. It's hardly an out of the box idea.

But selling space for ads on cardboard boxes most certainly is.

At least until the novelty wears off. 

Truth is worth it - Resolve

Under funded. Under valued. And to a certain extent unloved.

Quality journalism sure ain't what it used to be.

So isn't it good know that the likes of the New York Times is still doing the hard yards despite seemingly unsurmountable pressure not to? 

Nice one Kraft

I have a lot of fond memories from my time working on the Kraft brand as a young copywriter at JWT.

So it filled my heart with joy to see Kraft doing something good for the community during the recent US Govt shutdown.

We hear so much about brand's with purpose these days. How 'bout rather than purpose, brands just focus on giving back to the people that keep them in business in the first place.

I can't be that hard. Can it?

Seppelt's sex charges

I was at a drinks thing last night when someone commented on the bottle of Seppelts wine we were drinking.

Not the actual wine. The brand.

Unbeknownst to me Peter Seppelt from the legendary Australian wine making Seppelt family had been charged with child sexual abuse.

A little shocked I typed his name into Google on my phone.

Before I could even read about Seppelt's antics I was served not one but two ads for Seppelt's wine.

Oh dear...

The ads are from wine retailer Dan Murphy not Seppelts. But still. Hardly ideal ad placement.

Getty watermarks

I completely understand why stock libraries need to watermark their images.

So when I came across the brief film about that exact topic I thought it'd be worth watch.

Sadly it wasn't.

Yes the new style of Getty watermark is better than the old style. But not enough to warrant a bloody film.

Honesty in Advertising

Via

Aviation Gin | The Process

This is just brilliant. It's obvious the people behind it have had it up to here with hipsters, craft beer enthusiasts, bearded baristas and whisky wankers. Like I said...just brilliant.

Flick it!

The pic above taken at a Bunnings hardware store went viral last week.

Take a look at what's written above the price and you'll quickly see why.

Yep. Kerning is also important when it comes to handwriting.

The thing is the product is called Flip not Flick.

Which means all embarrassment could've been avoided if the person who wrote the price sign had actually paid attention to the product name. 

Wisdom of Bowie

"Always go a little further into the water than you feel you're capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth and when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you're just about in the right place to do something exciting." ~ David Bowie

Like a Bosch

Live life like a Bosch. An idea so silly yet utterly brilliant.

I'd love to meet the client who signed off on this. I really would.

Shame they couldn't help squeezing in this corny line towards the end: 'With many connectivity solutions for a smarter future'

Hand Lettering

The people of Melbourne have been waiting for two years or so for the much loved beachside pub The Espy to re-open after a major renovation.

I popped in for a look around (and a beer of course) last week. The team behind the project have done a terrific job.

One thing that really caught my eye was the beautifully hand lettered signage around the place.

A bit of dig around revealed it to be the work of the oddly named Do It Baby.

It gave me such a thrill to discover craftsmanship of this kind is still alive and well in the digital age.

Cars Cars Cars

I don't even live in America but I know all about the pay rates of workers at Walmart.

So I've often wondered what the company does with all the money it saves by paying its workers low wages.

Now I know.

They spent it on this brilliant ad featuring pretty much every famous movie car you can think of.

Plus Gary Numan's song Cars for the soundtrack.

Money well spent if you ask me. ;-)

What happens in Vegas

The USA's annual gadget-a-thon CES took place in Vegas last week.

And apart from a robotic bread maker most of the hype was around devices working with Alexa and Google Home.

Now even if you slept most of last year I'm sure you still heard about security and privacy issues with both of those voice assistants.

No such problems for Apple apparently, who ran the poster above in Vegas.

What's I really like about the poster though isn't the poster. It's that Apple doesn't exhibit at CES.

But I can guarantee that their poster sure got a lot of people pondering the security of their devices.

Advice for the year ahead

Scary or silly?

Australia's second most complained about TV spot for 2018 is just as silly as the Sportsbet one I posted the other day.

Here are some of the reasons people complained:

Some said the woman had a 'murderous' look on her face.

Others said that this ad showed the 'wrong message' given concerns about domestic violence.

Both of the above complaints are very obviously true. But seriously...

Hotel tea and coffee

I drink the same brand of tea every day. Mostly get my coffee from the same place every day too.

But when you go on holiday you need to step out of your caffeine routine.

Especially when it comes to the tea and coffee sachets found in hotel rooms.

Hardly a topic for deep thought but definitely something I was pondering while on my summer holiday.

And then I saw this lovely collection of tea bag tags turn up on Twitter via Present + Correct.

Yet again a totally utilitarian household item that someone somewhere designed.

Design is everywhere. Even a tea bag tag.

Sexy or silly?

Sports betting advertising is at an all time high in Australia.

In fact it's not an exaggeration to say it's becoming a problem.

But putting that aside for a moment I want you to ponder Australia's most complained about TV ad for 2018.

I don't know about you but I just can't see the fuss?

Over 800 people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority. Here's what some of them had to say:

'Degrading' 'Inappropriate' and 'Gross and creepy'

'This ad sends a false message to young males that gambling will improve their sexual appeal'

I'm back for 2019

One of the great things about Australia is Christmas is in the summertime.

So you can combine time off at Christmas with your summer hols.

Over the last few days sitting on the beach I've been looking back on 2018 and pondering the year ahead.

I've been doing BrandDNA for 15 years this year. That's a helluva long time in blog years!

And like last summer and the summer before that I'm thinking the blog has run its course.

Maybe it has. Maybe it hasn't.

I mainly do it out of habit if truth be told.

Anyway I'm back for 2019. For a while at least.

If you stop by regularly thank you.