And the winner is...

Judging at an award show last year I came to the conclusion that some agencies put more work and imagination into their 90 second promo videos than they put into the work itself.

Seems I wasn't the only one, as this fun video spoof by students from a Brazilian adschool confirms.

Whatever happened to?

A hell of a lot of interesting blogs have come and gone during the almost four years that BrandDNA has been around.

While clearing out my inbox over the weeked a rediscovered one of my old favourites - David & Phoebe's What if?



David & Phobe were an aspiring creative duo in London.

As you can see from the pics they were never short of a great idea.


They managed to snare a gig around two years ago. Following which their blog began to gather dust.

I imagine they've got a few awards on their shelf by now. Probably gathering just as much dust as their old blog.

Click here to sample some more of their brilliant thinking.

Watch, learn, be inspired

Creativity can solve anything

I wrote about the film Art & Copy a few weeks ago.

Sadly I missed at the Melbourne Film Festival. Grrr!

Now I've seen the poster I'm even more desperate to see it.

It's an absolute cracker - don't you think?

Check out the trailer here.

Come join us

Hugh Macleod is well known in social media circles.

His book Ignore Everybody is a must read for anyone who works as a creative.

He is I feel a kindred spirit. But don't take my word for it - read this and you too will want to lay claim to being a crazy deranged fool:

"A CrazyDerangedFool [CDF for short] is, like me, somebody who has the temerity to aspire to work in a way that produces both joy, meaning and contribution for both them and others, while also paying the bills. It's about creativity, it's about finding meaning, but it's also about living in the real world."

What are you up to?

When my wife and I had our first child our parents used to tell us that children liked routines.

As this great blog that Kangus introduced me to shows, creative people seem to thrive on routine too.

What's wrong with adland?

Speaking recently to Contagious renowned creative Patrick Collister, the man behind The Won Report, gave his thoughts on the current state of the advertising industry:

‘There are too many clients....Every meeting is attended by at least six people all of whom have the power to kill an idea and only one (if you're lucky) has the power to buy."

He also had this to say on the global holding companies:

"It is not in shareholder's interests to be 'risky' - i.e. have ideas which no-one can predict will work or not. Thus multi-nationals, run by managers who report in to shareholders, will always be conservative organisations."

Pretty sobering thoughts don't you think?

And yet just days ago the D&AD awarded four of their hen's teeth like Black Pencils. Two of them to Droga5 NY!

Which surely goes to prove that in times of adversity true creativity really is the only way to succeed.

Is advertising creative?

Fast Company has just released its list of the 100 most creative people in business.

There are some very well known names on the list.

Sitting on top at No.1 is Jonathan Ive the designer behind the iPod, iPhone and iMac.

Other people on the list include Stella McCartney, Damien Hirst, Brian Eno and JJ Abrams.

What surprised me was how few advertising people were amongst the 100 most creative people.

The legendary Lee Clow of TBWA is there at No.32.

But there's no sign of David Droga, John Hegarty or Bob Isherwood.

Is this because the ad business is no longer a hotbed of creativity?

Or could it be that what these big name creatives do is not on a par with the thinking of the likes of Eno, Hirst or JJ Abrams?

Inspiration and opportunity

The boys from Junior have put together a great resource for aspiring creative types.

Their website and monthly talks are a terrific source of advice and inspiration.

But as anyone who works as a creative will tell you – jobs are not easy to come by.

Which is why I’m such a fan of the V-Raw program.

It gives young wannabes the chance to secure a foot in the door at all sorts of creative businesses.

The good news is V-Raw will be running again this year.

With internships to be won at the likes of Diesel, Lifelounge and the Glue Society.

As you can imagine competition for these internships is going to be fierce. Really fierce.

But if you think you’ve got what it takes click here and go get involved.

And if you’re looking for some inspiration why not pop down to tonight’s Junior event at Seamstress.

One in a million

Winning an advertising award is never easy.

Take a look at this pic of the print entries at this year's D&AD Awards and I think you'd have to agree.

That pic was taken by Mark Ashley-Wilson from Three Drunk Monkeys who is judging at D&AD as I write.

You can follow his judging diary over at the CB Blog. Which is where I borrowed the picture from.

Quote of the day

"We're not an ad agency, and I don't want to be an ad agency. We're a media-arts company that expresses brands through many forms. It shouldn't be one company does ads, another does PR and another does packaging or architecture." Lee Clow - TBWA