Art direction explained

About those bags...

Single use plastic bags were banned in Melbourne a little while ago.

A handful of people kicked up a bit of fuss at the time.

But these days shoppers are used to bringing their own bags.

Apparently this is not the case in Canada.

So Vancouver store East West Market has introduced these cheeky bags to embarress people into not using plastic.

It's a terrific idea. Although I have to confess I'd love to get my hands on some of these bags!

Anything but wallpaper

Box copy

There's a lot of love in Australia for the socially conscious toilet paper brand Who Gives A Crap.

They do great work helping people in developing countries with water and sanitation issues.

Seems they also do so pretty darn good copywriting. Which is definitely to be commended. 

Have a Butchers

How god are these posters?

They're for Honda believe it or not.

So un-corporate you'd never pick it.

And yet the use of red and black clearly signifies Honda.

Click the pic for a better look.

Illustration and lettering by Billy Butcher.

Click here to check out his fabulous folio.

Banking on attitude

The banking industry in Australia (and I'm sure elsewhere) is ripe for disruption.

But when we think disruption these days we tend to think digital.

Not so the case with Bank Australia.

This poster tells me everything I need to know about the big banks and exactly what I need to know about Bank Australia.

If only we could disrupt government in the same way! 

Oh dear...

Friend of mine shared this on Facebook the other day.

I think you know why.

Surely someone must've had second thoughts about that store name?

Jobs on Linkedin

Bit hard to see the detail in this ad so you might wanna click the pic to make it bigger.

I'm pretty sure I've seen something like this before. I just can't remember when and for who.

So how 'bout we put aside my hazy memory and just say this is a nice idea for Linkedin.

Oh and how good to see a tech brand using newspaper advertising.

Everything old is new again I guess. 

Distraction can be good

This is a gorgeous little film about Mónica Hernández.

It shows how procrastination and distraction are part of the creative process.

Something that suits and corporate types just don't understand or appreciate.

To be honest I'm not overly familiar with the VSCO brand but I do love their creator-first philosophy.

Washed up type

How lovely is this typeface?

It's made from a collection of pebbles washed up on the beach.

No idea who did it. It turned up uncredited in my Facebook feed.

Canine classics

Couple of classic fake doggy ads from late 80s publication Canine Quarterly.

A pisstake of Gentleman's Quarterly or GQ as it is better known.

Jack Spaniels really got my tail wagging.

Louder than guns

On average 100 people are killed every day by guns in the USA.

As shocking as that statistic is it doesn't come as a surprise given how often we hear about mass shootings in the US in the news.

So you would imagine that this is a real campaign for shooting insurance.

But it's not.

It was created by the organisation Louder Than Guns who are trying to reduce the gun toll by raising awareness of it.

Click here to learn more about them.

Not impressed

The Women's World Cup. A celebration of power and performance.

Am I being overly sensitive or is this very obviously an ad written by men?

As my mum would say to us as kids in her scolding voice...It's not clever. 

Moo Brew Roulette

Fun idea from the always cheeky Moo Brew down in Tasmania.

The machine has been installed as part of the winter festival run by Moo Brew's parent company MONA.

I've sampled all of their beers and they're all pretty good.

So so are pretty much guaranteed to win at Moolette.

Unless you end up with a can a Fosters. The beer so bad we send it over to the poms. 

Advertising Oasis

I've always had a soft spot for long copy.

Especially on posters in railway stations.

So I thought I was going to enjoy this poster from the London Tube for Oasis.

But I didn't.

It's all a bit try hard. Yet also kind of lazy.

Although given I found the pic on Twitter I guess people are doing what the last line of the ad is instructing them to do!

The obsession with millennials

The always razor sharp McSweeney's has just posted an absolutely brilliant satyrical piece titled:

This is an ad targeted at millennials

It's guaranteed to make you smile - Click here and enjoy.

Specsavers on the ball

Twitter is a channel for opinion and banter. But so many brands just don't get this.

They post links to their blog articles. Links to industry articles.

And information about themselves that is of interest to nobody other than their management.

But every once in a while a brand social team gets permission to engage.

And Specsavers do it better than most.

HP now under construction

Like most people who grew up in England but now live in Australia I have a soft spot for HP Sauce.

Especially on bacon sandwiches.

The HP in the name stands for Houses Of Parliament. The home of Big Ben.

Big Ben is under scaffolding for the next two years for an overdue renovation.

So it seems only fitting that HP has updated the label on their bottle to incorporate scaffolding.

Nice touch. And very on brand. 

Manifesto for disruption

Love this. Can't believe it passed me by last year. Apparently inspired by the pioneering spirit of Jay Chiat, I see nothing other than the pirate philosophy of the great Lee Clow. 

Made me laugh