More crazy Japanese stuff

No idea what this ad is about. But ya gotta love the crazy ideas that Japanese agencies are able to get their clients to approve.

Put them away Pammy

When I see ads like this I have to pinch myself to ensure that I haven't gone back in time.

Honestly what on earth were the people from Crazy Domains thinking!?

And as much as I am a defender of freedom of speech I am more than happy to hear that the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau has banned this ad from our televisions.

Although I suspect it will now spread like wildfire across the internet.

As you can imagine the boss of Crazy Domains can't understand all the fuss and has pointed an accusatory finger at ‘feminist bloggers’. Classic!

Bonds Hipsters turn 10

I'm not exactly sure what my idea of a dream job would be, but going on this shoot would certainly be up there.

Get what's yours!!!

We get more than our fair share of dodgy "Car City" meets "Fussy Furniture" style ads on Australian TV. But I don't think we have anything quite like Berger & Green. I'm surprised they don't have a tagline that says Explosions-R-Us.

Watch, learn, be inspired

Dolphins are people too

Ever posted an anonymous blog comment?

Ever written a tweet that takes the piss out of someone?

Ever written a blog post that has a go at someone?

Then click here. Now!

Thanx Mona.

Wisdom of Wieden

I've never owned anything Nike in my life. Mostly because I've always been an Adidas man. But that doesn't prevent me from acknowledging the genius of the Just do it tagline. Here Dan Wieden gives us an insight into where it came from.

Thanx to Jason for the tip.

Nippon nuttiness

As those of you who know me know I love Japan. I'd live there if I could. It's just such an amazing place for so many reasons. Sadly TV advertising isn't one of them.

Tarrantino in Japan

Two great yet totally mental ads posted in the same day.

First up the jazz playing hamsters.

Now this one. It's got Tarrantino a talking dog and it's Japanese.

What's not to love?

Get drenched

Bottled water. Hamsters. And swinging jazz. What's not to love?

Classic ad of the month

I know cigarettes are bad for you but how beautiful is this ad?

Great music. Wonderful art direction.

Classic creative thinking from the legendary CDP in London.

Hard to believe it's 30 years old!

Tenacity, tenacity & tenacity

Laura Davies & Mark Lees are a young creative team who recently graduated from college. They did a 2 week placement at Wunderman London. Which is where they made this movie. It is jam packed with pearls of wisdom from my colleagues in Camden.

Happy Anniversary George

It's the 75th anniversary of the agency everyone in Aussie adland knows as Patts. George Patterson Y&R.

75 years in business is a long time. But 75 years in the ad business is a seriously long time. Especially in Australia.

It makes Patts older than US agencies like Ogilvy and DDB.

To celebrate their anniversary the team at Patts have put their Top 20 ads on YouTube.

If you grew up in Australia you're sure to recognise many of them. It's a brilliant body of work.

The 'Memories' ad above is a certified classic and was the first Aussie ad to win a Grand Prix at Cannes.

Here's a couple more of my personal favorites.





To see the rest of the Top 20 click here.

Farewell Freeman

Just heard one of my favourite little US agencies is shutting its doors. After more than 20 years Cliff Freeman & Partners has fallen victim to the GFC. They leave behind a body a charmingly clever work including this wonderful TV spot for Little Caesers.

I'ma let you finish

Yo, internet memes! I'm real happy for ya, and I'ma let you finish, but theez 2009 internet memes are da best internet memes of all time!

Born to rock

It's long. Way too long in fact. But this is a beautiful little video vignette.

There are just so many clever little details. From the baby giving the devil's horns hand gesture tthrough to the the guy turning the lights on and off in the jamming scene at the end.

Rock on AMV London!

Google Wave - Pulp Fiction

Life is about living young

People who know me well know how much I love Paul Smith.

He's a Nottingham born boy just like me.

This video was made to promote the bottle he has designed for Evian.

But it's about so much more than a bottle of water.

If you consider yourself to be a creative person you really must watch this video.

It is genuinely inspirational. Much like Paul himself.

Going viral ain't easy

If there's one expression the social media gurus love to sprout it's 'you can't create a viral video.'

Of course we all know that. At least I think we do!

Well according to recents stats released by YouTube it's harder than you might think to get a video to actually go viral.

Which should not come as a surprise given 20 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute.

Look at these stats:

A video has a 3.1% chance of getting over 1000 views.

0.3 percent chance of getting over 10,000 views.

And 0.001% of getting over 100,000 views.

Of course agencies that create videos that they wish to go viral use seeding and social tools to get people to watch and share their video.

But based on the stats above you'd have to say that the chances of getting a video to go truly viral must be getting harder and harder.

Google Street View

I love seeing clever technology being explained in a completely unexpected way. Which is why I really like this charming video from Google Japan. It demonstrates, as only the Japanese can, exactly how Google captures the imagery for their Street View.