Thursday, 31 March 2011
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Hipster Crayolas
Been Done Black
Ironic Orange
Pabst Ribbon Blue
Jaded Green
Pink? Please.
Saffron, Before It Was Popular
Whatever Red
Organic Fair Trade Brown
“Purple” in Air Quotes
So Cadmium Yellow
White? Seriously?
Found these Crayolas here.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Facebook Question
Why oh why have Facebook introduced their polling feature Question?
And for that matter how come it just appeared one day?
I guess like many of the changes that happen with Facebook they aren't that interested in what I think.
Or what you think either.
Regardless of that I'll be interested to see how long Facebook Question lasts.
Monday, 28 March 2011
Brands going nowhere
Ever since the word advertising was first coined consumers have asked one simple question - what's in it for me?
Nowhere is this question more prevalent that in the world of the Facebook like.
When people click on that like button they are entitled to ask what is in it for them.
And if the answer is nothing more than an occasional status update that's fine by me.
But...
If this is all brands are going to give people in return for a like then the least they can do is get someone who knows what they are doing to look after the status updates.
Far too often I see status updates from brands with html links that don't go anywhere.
Check out this. Here's our latest. Look what's new. All of these calls to action do their job but sadly many of the links included with them do not.
So if you are involved with a brand that has a Facebook presence please do me (and yourself) a favour and double check links before including them in a status update.
Otherwise I may just have to unlike you.
Friday, 25 March 2011
Earth or award?
Earth Hour is almost upon us and I haven't seen a single ad or promo piece.
Not one!
Yet I can guarantee you that in a couple of months from now dozens of Earth Hour case study videos will start turning up at award shows.
Sorry to be cynical. I really am.
But I'm so over Earth Hour.
Not the Hour itself obviously. Or the idea for that matter.
I'm just sick and tired of people coming up with Earth Hour ideas not to help the earth but to win an award.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Wills 'n Kate
I reckon only a dummy would need a book like this to be honest.
But what would I know?
Click here to get your FREE copy.
And click here if you'd prefer the Royal Wedding fridge. Seriously!
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Roof rack or fording?
I'm bicycle crazy at the moment.
So as you can imagine this VW ad caught my eye.
It's for the 4WD Toureg. And it's by an agency called Kaffeine.
I live near the most popular cycling road in the world (apparently) so the sight of a bike on a car roof rack is quite common.
Which is what I thought was going on in this ad.
With the takeout being that Toureg can handle driving through any obstacle even a flood or river.
Seems that's not the case.
Click to enarge the ad and you'll see that the tagline is; 580mm of fording depth.
Hmmm!?
I think I liked my interpretation better.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Twitter turns five
Happy 5th birthday Twitter.
I could be wrong but I very much doubt that when Jack Dorsey posted that very first tweet that he imagined there would be a billion tweets a week just five years later.
That's impressive growth no matter how you look at it.
When it launched Twitter employed 8 people. Now it around 400.
For me though one big question remains unanswered - how on earth they make enough money to pay those 400 hundred people?
Monday, 21 March 2011
SXSW by numbers
The South by Southwest festival seems to get bigger and bigger every year.
Yet in adland it is still a minnow compared to Cannes.
I wonder if that situation will be reversed one day?
Friday, 18 March 2011
Greatest movie ever sold
Morgan Spurlock the man behind the award winning film Supersize Me has a new film about to launch.
The greatest movie ever sold.
It looks at the burgeoning world of product placement.
If Spurlock's previous work is anything to go by it should be a cracker.
Anyway this week he screened the film at South by South West.
The video is of a very entertaining Q&A session conducted after the screening.
Well worth a few minutes of your time.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Helping Japan
Regular readers of DNA will know of my love for Japan and all things Japanese.
So you can imagine how the current events there are breaking my heart.
Here are two very cool ways to help.
The poster above was created by Max Erdenberger of W+K studio.
And the print below was created by Zac Neulieb.
100% of monies from sales of both posters will go to Japanese disaster relief.
Click here to purchase Max's or click here to purchase Zac's.
Thanx to Swiss Miss.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Mobile's on the move
I'm currently working on a project aimed at people under the age of 25.
As part of our creative recommendations we have put a big focus on mobile.
It's an obvious thing to do I know. But so few brands do mobile well.
Today I came across some stats that reinforce our approach.
I thought I'd share them with you:
40% of tweets are made from a mobile.
That's up 20% from last year.
And people accessing social networks from their phone is predicted to increase by 20% year on year till 2015.
So if you're not thinking mobile perhaps it's time to ask yourself why.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Around the Blogosphere
I seem to be getting more and more disorganised when it comes to sharing my Around The Blogosphere column with you.
Seems like ages since I posted one.
Anyway here's last month's fresh from the pages of Marketing magazine. It questions the still used but surely redundant term of digital agency.
Click here to go take a look.
If it gets you thinking be sure and join the conversation with a comment.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Health & Safety
Love these wonderful Soviet era workplace health and safety posters.
Thanx to Mona for alerting me to them.
Can you imagine these kind of posters if the images were photos rather than illustration?
I can and it fills me with dread.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
QR Gravestone
Where else but in Japan would they come up with the idea of putting a QR code on a gravestone.
Seems kinda tacky to be honest.
But when you stop and think about it for a minute it's actually kinda cool.
Just imagine if they'd had this technology years ago.
You'd be able to experience and learn so much about the person buried in a grave.
As opposed to the traditional gravestone where all you have to go on is just a handful of info but nothing truly personal about the person.
Of course like most modern technology the QR code will probably be old hat within five years or so.
Still a nice idea though.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Listen up kids
I've been following the thoughts of Dave Birrs for some time now.
He's a smart man. Ex CD at Poke and Ogilvy.
Now he's started a podcast where he chats with industry figures.
The frst ssue is now ready for your listening pleasure and includes a great interview with the legendary Mr Dave Trott.
Click here to download it.
Monday, 7 March 2011
All you need is cash
The Beatles. Four lads from Liverpool who made a bunch of great music and broke up over 40 years ago.
Two of the four have passed away. One of them as long as 30 years ago.
So lets face it - in the eyes of the kids they're what the punk generation would have called dinosaurs.
Yesterday's heroes.
Which is why I can't get my head around these sneakers.
They carry the Beatles logotype and the Apple that their company was named after.
But what do a pair of white canvas sneakers have to do with the Beatles?
Turns out these are a brand of sneakers that John Lennon used to wear.
And that's it.
Although it's apparently enough for the people at Comme Des Garcons to consider it worthy of commemorating 40 years after the break up of the band!
Talk about barrel bottom scraping.
Best (or should that be worst) of all these babies retail for a mere $295.
Me thinks anyone considering a pair should first take a listen to this song.
Then donate the $295 to a charity of their choice.
Friday, 4 March 2011
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Graphic design decor
How cute is this little pixel pillow?
It's a cushion actually but pillow just seemed to work better with the word pixel.
Regardless it's a nice graphic design inspired decorative piece.
You can get yours from CB2 where you can also get another lovely graphic design inspired piece - the letterpress rug.
Gorgeous!
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Gimme a ginger
Last Friday my trusty art director Matt and I spent the afternoon working offsite on a brief for an alcohol client.
It was a lovely late summer's afternoon so Section 8 seemed the ideal spot.
While we were at the counter waiting to get served I noticed some bottles of ginger beer.
Matt and I were both tempted so we ordered two.
And as we sat back pondering the brief in the warm sunshine the ginger beer went down a treat.
So much so that I couldn't help wondering why it wasn't more popular.
In fact I can't recollect ever seeing someone in a bar order it.
Two or three years ago you would have said the same thing about cider.
Now it's everywhere.
So perhaps after Matt and I have cracked our brief I'll have a word to our client about alcoholic ginger beer.
Who knows - it could be the new cider. Well I reckon it could!