Brand DNA is on hols

Time for a much needed break from work 'n stuff.

I'll be around on Twitter if you need me.

Otherwise I'll see you in a couple of weeks. 

Optical illusion?

This shitty little banner ad definitely falls in the so bad it's good category.

At least I think it does.

It's certainly an idea I don't think I could've come up with that's for sure!

Wow - Just Wow

Personality Clash

This poster from the current Spotify campaign really struck a chord (pardon the pun) with me.

I often wonder what the teenage punk rock me would think of the middle aged me.

Because I certainly spend more than my fair share of time on con-calls!

Cats takeover Clapham

This is absolutely brilliant.

Every ad in a Tube station in London replaced with a picture of a cat.

It's not a catfood promo. It's the work of the Citizens Advertising Takeover Service.

Totally crowd funded. Brilliant huh!?

Late night Maccas

McDonalds is open late. Very late.

I think we all know that.

But this new campaign from TBWA Paris tells it in a way that is just so damn evocative.

Now I'm feeling a little peckish.

Naughty Naughty

This pamphlet has been sent to every school in Australia.

Good to see some diverse faces in the cover photo.

But...

Check out the young fella on the right sneakily giving the finger.

Cannot believe nobody noticed it! 

Good idea or bad taste?

Is this insurance ad from Droga5 in the UK clever or tasteless?

I'm torn.

Yes it made me smile. Offbeat tongue in cheek Brit humour usually does.

But people in my hometown have been killed and/or badly injured by falling trees quite recently.

Which kinda takes the shine off the humour. 

Apple in full colour

This Apple store pic popped up in my Twitter feed the other day.

It's under construction in New York I think.

Have to say I love the rainbow of colours. Although I'm not sure they're totally on brand.

Apparently the store isn't finished yet. Can't wait to see pix of the interior once it's done. 

Dome wearing a bra

I am not a woman but even I know this understated ad by Leo Burnett totally taps in to how many women feel.

Especially after a long day at work.

It got the thumbs up from my wife and daughter too.

And bonus points from me for the Toots & The Maytals track.

Not a bad pun

Great work sells

Jon Harrison from One Black Bear shared this on Twitter recently.

It's a house ad for Papert Koenig Lois in the 1965 D&AD award annual.

Brilliantly simple thinking.

So simple in fact I doubt an agency would run anything like it today. Sadly.

Feeling sorry

I'm rarely critical of locally produced work. I figure there's more than enough naysayers on industry blogs. But I'm prepared to make an exception for this ad for SA Tourism. Seriously who on earth thought this was gonna get people booking their tickets to Adelaide? 

What's wrong this with?

This poster came up in my Linkedin feed the other day.

It's a beautiful example of the copywriter's art.

There were no credits supplied so I can't tell you who created it.

But what I can tell you is it'd never get approved today.

Because back in the day driving home tipsy was something you took a risk at doing.

Whereas today you just wouldn't even think about it because the blood alcohol limit is simply accepted practice.

Still a cracking poster though!

Equality in sport

Powerful stuff for the New York Times via Droga5. 

Advertising works, eventually

Big love to Praveen for sharing this.

There are several brands I bought as an adult because I was inspired by them as a youngster with no money.

Here's just a handful of them:

Adidas. Puma. Ben Sherman. Fred Perry.

Those names are easily accessible and commonplace these days.

But to a kid from the poor side of town they were brands I could only dream of. 

Let the song play

This is a lovely little spot for Spotify. But...

It's way too generic for my liking.

They're advertising the power of music and that music could be on the radio, your phone, a CD, hell even a cassette.

Like I said. Lovely ad. But not working hard enough for the brand. 

Finger licking good

Seems like every year a creative team has an x-ray idea.

Hell I did one myself when I was young.

Picked up an award for it too.

Anyway this is a nice example of x-ray advertising. Don't you think?

Dirtiest porn ever

NOTE: It appears YouTube have removed the video above. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hopefully reading this post about the dirtiest porn ever at work won't get you in to trouble. Because it has an important environmental message.

The film is in fact safe for work but there's a far raunchier version sitting on a campaign microsite.

For every view of the raunchy (uncensored) film Pornhub will make a donation to Ocean Polymers, a non-profit working to clean up plastic waste.

Looks great, but...

The attention grabbing visual makes this a damn good example of how to do a print ad or poster.

But...

The ad is not an ad for Heinz Ketchup. It's for Vantage.

But stop anyone in the street and they'll tell you it's for Heinz.

Which is a problem if you ask me. 

Dreamy McMuffin

A little while back Matthieu Braccini created a series of charming animated gifs for the McDonalalds Egg McMuffin. Now he's edited them all together into a mesmerising little film he's called the Director's Cut. Click here to check out the original gifs plus sketches etc.