Autonomy Mastery Purpose

I once worked with a Creative Director who was a micro-manager. In a briefing they would start having ideas. When you presented concepts they would start riffing on them. Etc etc etc. If you work with or manage creative people this video of Dan Pink is a must watch. 

Unapologetic Advertising

The beauty product market.

It's cluttered. And it's boring. Except this work for Il Makiage by Huge.

Sassy. Sexy. And unapologetic.

Seriously how can you not love this stuff?

Terrific photography by Tony Kelly too.

Click the pics for a much better look.

The Creative Brief

Why is it only creative people that truly understand the importance of a good creative brief? To be honest I don't know the answer. But what I do know is this 30 minute film makes a strong argument for why a brief is way more important than many people realise. 

I'm confused

Took a tram into the city on the weekend to see a film.

The signage at the onboard 'tap-on' machine was easy to see and written in very simple language.

Which is great.

But boy oh boy it carried anything but a simple message.

Seriously I have no idea how tourists an migrants manage to use public transport without getting a fine!

Going Down

This pic turned up in my Twitter feed the other day.

Begs the question do the people who plan and purchase media ever look at the ads they place or where in fact they are going to place them?

Of course they don't. The work involved would be extremely time consuming.

Dare I suggest this is a job for Artificial Intelligence? 

Sonic Branding

Sonic mnemonics have been around for ages. Think Intel, HBO etc. But taking them offscreen and out into real world usage situations is definitely new. Keen to see if this is a trend or just a novelty. Only time will tell I guess.

The Disrupters

Does the world really need yet another podcast?

Truth be told probably not.

But hey. This is a good one which is why I'm recommending you give it a listen.

Click here to check it out.

The Feud

Hot on the heels of the Aviation Gin ad I posted a few weeks back comes this very cute spot. Reynolds vs Jackman. The two nice guys of Hollywood. In a feud. Enjoy!

A sweet welcome

I have literally no idea how many hotels I've stayed in in my life but I've never seen a personal welcome note quite like this one from the Ovolo in Melbourne.

I"m a big fan of QT but as of today if any Sydney friends travelling to Melbs ask me for recommendations on where to stay the Ovolo is now at the top of my list.

KFC meets Brexit

Look a good topical ad. We really don't see that many of them these days.

Which is surprising considering the amount of opportunities that arise.

Anyway kudos to Mother London for have a clever little dig at Theresa May and her inability to get a deal done. 

Failure to take off

There's one helluva star studded cast in the 100th birthday ad for British Airways. And yet it is cloying and wooden.

On paper this ad had the opportunity to be the sort of big budget blockbuster ad the Brits used to be famous for.

But it's not. Running it in the climate of Brexit is interesting too.

Big tick for whoever managed to get the Bowie cameo in. And the UK Garage line is sweet too.

But otherwise...I'll stick with boring but safe Qantas. 

Ready for Valentines Day?

The man who named Blackberry

Mile High Club?

I kinda like the cheekiness of these inflight napkins handed out on Delta Airlines flights in the US.

Sadly a lot of passengers didn't.

Some brands can pull this sort of thing off. Some can't.

And sadly whilst everyone (including) aspires to be edgy like Virgin, only Virgin can get away with this sort of tongue in cheek naughtiness. 

Alexa & Pringles

VOICE is the topic du-jour in Adland circles at the moment. And while creatives and strategy types have been racking their brains for ideas they can hack with an Alexa, the team at Grey New York simply popped open a tube of Pringles and had a damn cute idea. 

Make it with Idris

Spike Jonze has just made an ad for Squarespace featuring Idris Alba. Click here to watch it.

To be honest I'm not a fan. The music treatment really grates.

What I am quite fond of though is the accompanying short film that Jonze also shot.

British comedian Lolly Adefope plays Idris' assistant. And she practically steals every scene she's in.

Well worth a few minutes of your time. 

Live a creative life

Click here for everything you need to know. A brilliant list.

Bank for good

Banks are on the nose here in Australia. Especially since the Royal Commission into the banking industry.

Bank Australia is a new bank (to me) and based on this ad I have to say I like the look of it.

The use of stock footage etc makes the ad look much lower budget than the typical banking ad.

Which I'm sure was intentionial. As this is not a bank that wants to look like it's spending ridiculous amounts of money on big budget brand ads.

Shit car show

Hashtags are a tool in every marketer's arsenal these days. Hell Insta would fall over without them. Only problem with hashtags is they cannot include an apostrophe. Doh!

Bus-stop weigh-in

My gym membership is currently on hiatus while I procrastinate other whether to switch to a gym closer to where i work.

In the mean time my pants are getting tighter.

Perhaps if I sat at this FitnessFirst bus-stop and had my weight shown to me in big red numerals I'd get over my gym malaise.

But sadly I have yet to see this campaign in the wild. And so my gym indecision continues...