Can Gold

Who awarded this?

Apparently this is what passes for award winning advertising these days.

At Cannes anyway.

It's from the usually reliable Brazilian agency AlmapBBDO.

Low rent frat boy humour with just a hint of misogyny thrown in for good measure.

Seriously who the hell gave this a Bronze Lion? 

#ManBoobs4Boobs

This clever idea won the Health Grand Prix at Cannes last week. A very cheeky FU to the prudes at Facebook. 

Us vs Them

Brits out of Europe. Trump building walls. Australia stopping boats.

Seems like everyone is falling foul of 'Beware the refugee' scare campaigns.

Which is odd considering the Brits conquered about 2/3 of the planet in their day.

And Trump probably employs a large immigrant labour force.

These ads by New York agency WING shine a light on the other side of the problem.

Doubt they'll solve the problem. But they certainly do a good job of raising awareness of it.

Are you a storyteller?

Get a real job

I've lost count of the number of times I've said to colleagues at work that advertising sure beats having a real job.

I know this to be true because I've had real jobs.

Which may well explain why this campaign by Jung Von Matt struck such a chord with me.

Japanese ad for President Trump

The prospect of Donald Trump as US President frightens the life out of me. The guy seems to get more than a little crazier with each passing week.

Video editor extraordinaire Mike Diva shows us what a Trump presidency would look like. Japanese style!

Utterly crazy. But probably not as crazy as the man himself. Trump that is not Mike Diva!

Scandinavian minimalism

It's damn hard to see the logo or read the copy on any of these ads.

But man oh man how beautiful are they?

I can't imagine how long it must've taken to set up these photos.

In case your eyesight is as poor as mine they're by Hasan & Partners in Finland for Metsa Wood.

Click the pics for a better look.

#Predatorwatch

One of my kids emailed me this video on the weekend.

I was ready to switch it off after a few seconds as I thought it was yet another dull agency case study.

Fortunately I didn't as it turned out to be a very clever idea.

Creative by Canadian agency Crossette. 

Ad block this!

I often use the expression the headline is doing the heavy lifting.

This Danish bus-panel is a great example of what I mean.

Or is it?

Put this headline on a banner ad and it doesn't work.

Which means it must be the use of a bus-panel that's doing all the work.

Or is it, as is so often the case, a connection of two unrelated things.

Ad blocking is happening online.

So they chose to highlight the problem offline. On a bus.

Bingo!

Cute and clever

Cheeky marketing

This very clever piece of advertising point-of-sale was probably whipped up by some smartarse working in the store.

Isn't it amazing how creative we can be when no marketers, strategists, art directors or copywriters are involved?

It Ran - Or did it?

Scam ads. Scourge of the ad industry.

So a couple of canny creatives came up with an idea to (semi) legitimise them.

It Ran.

A magazine filled from front to back cover with nothing but ads.

To be honest it's not that different to running scams in local newspapers.

Although the cost of running the ad does go to charity.

Weighty ideas

I remember when I was a young fella hawking my folio around, being told that anyone could come up with a great idea, but that what creative directors were really interested in were campaignable ideas.

This Weight Watchers ad I saw on an ad blog made me laugh. A lot.

But let's be honest it is pretty much a one-off idea rather than a campaignable thought. Still fun though!

Do what Seth says!

"Other than writing a daily blog (a practice that's free, and priceless), reading more blogs is one of the best ways to become smarter, more effective and more engaged in what's going on. The last great online bargain. 

Good blogs aren't focused on the vapid race for clicks that other forms of social media encourage. Instead, they patiently inform and challenge, using your time with respect."

Seth Godin 

Beware of the blind

Baileys soap opera

Baileys the well known 'Irish Creme' is about to create an unlikely cocktail.

One part soap opera. And one part social media.

Yes you guessed right. Baileys is launching a social media soap opera.

On Instagram no less.

It's ideas like this that make me long for the days when a campaign was nothing more than print, poster and television.

Apparently Mother London are behind it. So it should turn out ok.

But seriously. An Instagram soap opera? 

What's the number?

Classic direct response technique with a strong call to action in the headline and prominent use of the phone number. Seriously what's not to love? 

Ali Bomaye!

2016 is turning out to be a pretty bad year for my childhood heroes.

Hard for people today to appreciate just how big a figure Muhammad Ali was in the 60s and 70s.

He truly was the greatest. And he always will be to me.

This amazing tribute by Mos Def and calligraffitist Niels Shoe Meulman was made by Ogilvy Paris about 4 years ago.

The words are Ali's. They will echo down the ages.

Passion & Persistence

Talent is important. It's what gets you noticed.

But passion and persistence are what make you successful.

Now get back to work! 

The dogs are watching

Dog lovers everywhere know that look. So there's every chance the creative team at DM9-DDB who dreamed this up are dog owners. In fact I'd bet my house on it. 

Algorithms and intended bias

The more value we place on Google search results, the more biased they become.

Been arguing this for years.

This snippet from a New York Times article argues just that.

Great to know I'm not alone!