Could this be the future of magazines

Below is a video for an electronic magazine produced by Esquire, it contains electronic ads which I think are quite cute.

The editor of esquire seems to think this is the future but how sustainable is an electronic monthly magazine or am I just not getting it, surely future development of eReaders would be a more viable option.

Enjoy

45 minutes with Sir John Hegarty

On Tuesday 2nd of December I attended the "The importance of Taste in marketing" With Sir John Hegarty hosted by APG (Account Planning Group)

I found this to be a very intresting presentation it wasn't anything like I had expected and although it was set up by APG the presentation wasn't purely based around planning.

So why did I go if I'm not a planner.

The guy is a god people, if he speaks the least we can do is listen. And to be honest I'm a bit of a fan boy and who could blame me, one of the greatest CD's that started 3 of the top 10 agencies in the world is nothing to be sniff at.

Any way I digress. The presentation was about a few things recession, start ups and digital.

I enjoyed the segment about about brand taste and trust, I'll write something about it tommorow as I think it deserves a post on it's own and it's also getting late.

To end a lot of what was said is the basics in our industry but some times we need a reminder about not complicating an idea, execution or strategy and unfortunately we are all guilty of it at one point or another.

Wonder why it need to be said out loud to remind us

How the world hate us so

Pepsi logo evolution

The moral test

There's a very good article in campaign magazine this week about the morality of the advertising business called "Adland's moral maze".

It's basically about work and what if it conflicts with your principles. It's a very interesting article and you should all read it.

MY 2 pence worth on this is that I am here to do the job, no matter what the brand is, my job is to make sure I do good by my client.

So where is your moral stand point

Well nowhere, we are all in a situation of put up and shut up unless you're willing to open your own shop.

"Advertising is a heart and soul business, you've got to have passion for everything you're working on'"
Stephen Woodford, chief executive, DDB London

There's a lot of truth in this quote. So I suppose the key is to find the right company with the right brands, that share your ideals.

For some of you guys this is all crap so what do you do to stay interested?

I'll follow this post up later but for now your thoughts would be good.

The John Lewis Christmas spot

Created by Lowe London

Features the 1963 hit From Me To You, apparently it's the first time a Beetles song has been used for commercial purpose.

Not sure how true this is but it's what I heard

Image of the day

My favourite Obama ads

Obama is president elect and congratulations to him.

He is a great speaker that instils the confidence in a nation which has been lost, he is a powerful character with the personality you want to like. So congratulations Mr President.

But some people want to put him down many of which the arguements don't really make sense, especially the ones with racial conatations. One of the more valid one are that he bought his way into the white house which could be a valid point as he spent double the amount the opposition did (not bad for some one that had no money), but boy did did he do it in class.

Here's a selection of my personal favourites from the campaign

TV/Viral Obama campaigns








CNNBC Video customiser

DipDive documentaries

Here's a generic piece I particularly liked

One word to describe the result - NY Times

Quote from Tequila on the Hamilton hate site

Taken from the Guardian

Yesterday TBWA's corporate website in Spain was still running a page boasting of the success of pinchalaruedadehamilton.com which it said had received almost half a million hits from 139 countries.

The company said the site had been set up to support Alonso.

"It was absolutely necessary to set up a microsite supporting the Spanish champion," the TBWA site said, referring to Alonso. "That is why it has been such a spectacular success."

Sounds like crap to me; this site should've been moderated and any excuse to convince you otherwise is just irresponsible.

What's more is what the hell is the deal singling out Hamilton especially after the problems over the Spanish Grand Prix.

To me all this says is that in order to promote Alonso they need to belittle Hamilton which to be honest is the wrong way to go about promoting anything. It shows weakness and desperation. I hope the PR people for Alonso will think very carefully about new activity as anything they do that's detromental to Hamilton will just give him more public support.

The Spanish are at it again!

Well to say all the Spanish is a bit of a genralisation but I'm not sure how else to put it.

What the Spanish have done this time is to create a site called pinchalaruedadehamilton (burst Hamilton's tyre). It nearly 20,000 comments, many of them derogatory to the McLaren driver.

Fortunately the site has been removed.

So now to tie it back to the industry rather than just a mindless rant about it being wrong.

The domain name is registered by a marketing company called Tequila Spain(naughty slapped wrist will becoming from Omnicom).

A note says the website is not responsible for the comments made on it.

Time for change?

I'm not a big fan of people remaking ads but this one is quite well done.



Courtesy of the Barbour

Be prepared!

I've been a bit busy lately so I haven't had as much time to update the blog as I would've wanted. But if I wasn't then I probably wouldn't have had the idea to write this post in the first place.

Any way, the post is about being prepared for meetings and spending the time justifying you ideas, people in the industry will know at least one account manager/director which asks every question under the sun about your idea. This isn't a bad he/she is just covering all the bases that the client may query.

If you're not prepared to do this then go and become an artist, then you don't need to justify anything apart from to yourself.

I found that coming up with rationales for ideas is a bit of a pain on paper but in a conversational scenario it's a lot easier. Obviously a lot of us tend to choose visual or copy routes based on gut feeling but "I think it looks/sounds good" just isn't going to fly with some clients.

I think what I am getting at is look for the deeper meaning in why you came up with the idea. You know it's great now figure out why (colour, tone, target, etc.), this is what will give your accounts team the confidence to sell your idea if you can't sell it yourself.

what?!

Has Fallon lost the point.

The latest spot for Bravia incorporates the bond theme.



What do you think?

A night at the AdEater - Verdict

So what's my view on last night?

Well very mixed, it started out OK, the opening acts were a bit weird and unnecessary I thought but still a little entertaining.

In all I thought the format was good but it was let down by by a couple of idiots throwing stuff at the screen and blowing party whistles. I expected it to be a bit more of a serious event celebrating the best our industry had to offer but it ended up being a complete joke.

It reminded me of being at a children's party with no organiser. It didn't help that the opening act encouraged people to be rowdy.

The whole event was a farce, I wont be attending another.

Not the best ad placement ever.

This poster was spotted in Stockwell station a few days ago, it promotes the movie "Righteous kill" with the strap line "there's nothing wrong with a little shooting as long as the right people gets shot".

Not the smartest placement considering the Jean Charles de Menezes incident at the tube station.

W+K WTF!!!!!!!

I don't know why I'm so annoyed when I watch this ad, may be it's because I expected more from the likes of W+K.



What the hell were they thinking!

The wonders of tilt shift photography

I don't know an awful lot about tilt shift to be honest but I know it looks cool, below is a time lapse video of the effect, thanks to GalvoGalvo for the link.

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

It's fun right? After having watched that video I looked in to how I could achieve the same type of thing but with out a tilt shift lens then low and behold I get an email with an answer.

So with out further a do, here is my photoshop attempt at tilt shift.

Thanks to Simone for being psychic. Click here to have a look at the guide.

Table service with a difference

Inamo, a London restaurant is giving their customers the full digital experience, they have provided fully interactive table tops for their customers to use, of course this isn't anything new seeing as Microsoft surface is just around the corner but this application is just something a bit special.

Some of the things this system can do is, order food, preview food (projects the meal on to you plate, access local services (not sure what exactly) and it has a funky screen saver.

I just made my reservation for next week so hopefully I'll write about if it's practical but in theory it's a great use of interactive flair.

See some more pictures here

Agency accountability

Talk of late has been that budgets are shifting more toward digital due to economic down turn, mostly due to accountability.

Why is this important?

Well seeing ads no longer work apparently, so as a result we as agencies need to be held more accountable for more tangible results, none of this emotive crap even works any more because it can't be measured.

I find this insane, essentially this model means we treat every brief like a direct response piece. If this is the case we'll see a lot of "failing" campaigns in the coming year.

Got a nice quote here from a well respected media source.

Performance marketing, or plain old Direct Response in old parlance, is nothing without awareness activity creating a conversion funnel in the first place. It's not always a chicken or egg scenario - Branding and Awareness do really come first, then it's a question of catching the buggers...
Mike Jarvis, Director of media, Banner

Am I talking crap or do I make sense ? Answers on a comment

Quite possibly one of the best iPhone apps

Tonchidot has developed an app called the Sekai Camera ("World Camera" in Japanese).

It's quite simply the most impressive application I have seen, it has a new way to view content through your iPhone camera.

The potential in this is immense if it every gets built properly for the rest of the world.

So go see it, go now!!!

Time called on CDP

CDP (Collett Dickenson Pearce) will be rebranded to Dentsu London in the new year in a bid to boost the Japanese company's profile in Europe.

Once one of the jewels of advertising, CDP created some amazing ads for the likes of Hovis, Hamlet cigars, Heineken and Fiat.

There was a recent documentary on the BBC celebrating CDP's acheivements call "Men from the agency", you should all go and watch it if you're not familiar with the exploits of the once great agency.

The agency have produced some of the biggest ad men in the industry, take a look here.

Here are some personal favourites enjoy.



Hovis


Hamlet cigars


Cinzano

Everyone wants to do music videos

This is an oldie from 2005



Quite an impressive credit list, notice how the 3 customers are the same character.

Directed by Adam Smith.

Mini Ramsey

Caterer.com have released a series of viral videos to promote their job site specialising in hospitality.

Below is part one of a 3 part series



Not sure how comfortable with this campaign but it did get an initial giggle.


Go to Caterer.com to see the follow ups.

Recession, has it effected you?

Has the recession hit your work yet?

For the past month or so the market ha been quiet on many fronts, clients are reducing spend and news from the freelance world is that contracts are either drying up to none existent.

For me I've been very busy at work with a few clients but I have noticed a few account handlers at the agency scrambling to find recession proof clients to bring in (is there such a thing?).

But news from the WPP god father Martin Sorrell predicts that our industry wont feel the worst of it till Jan 09. I'm not sure how much worse it can get, with redundancies happening every where at the moment (LOWE, Publicis, Tequila to name a few) the outlook looks bleaker than ever.

So is there any good news?

Not really, usually in dark times such as these freelancers and smaller boutiques get loads of business as it's more bang for their buck for clients but so far this hasn't even come close to materialising.

My only advice to a lot of you that are worried about redundancies is to be heard and to be seen doing something pro-active otherwise as Ed morris once said "out of sight out of mind, out of mind no job.

I'd love to hear how the global financial market has effected you if at all, have you noticed any worried people about or are you concerned about another part of this chain?

Second installment of the Microsoft Ad

I'll be honest, I still don't really get it, it's mildly entertaining though and by that I mean it doesn't make me want to rip my eyes out of my sockets.



Enjoy.

ATOM smash!!!! Hey haven't I seen you somewhere before?

So this week announced the historic activation of the "Large Hadron Collider"

The collider thing (It's expensive)

It looks familiar though, where have I seen it before?

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm



Thanks to John Daziel for pointing it out :P

Wireframes why we need them and why some of us hate them.

So here's one for all you interactive bods.

Wire frames, love them or hate them we do need them in the world of online, it gives us an idea of what content needs to be on the page at any time but what happens when this isn't the case.

Welcome to the post "When wire frames go bad!"

How do wire frames go bad? Well there are a couple of ways this could happen.

1. Account handlers take them as a layout
2. Project managers take them as a layout
3. Client takes them as a layout

To be honest any one that does in my opinion is an idiot but you can get all sorts in this industry, but bar this problem wire frames are very important they give visual references to sections of a website that functional specifications just wont give (and it's a slightly less dull.... slightly).

So for all people that are looking to go into online your creative development is just about to get a little bit more complicated.

Why?

Well as previous posts have pointed out; online has to work a lot harder. It has relies on more than just a good idea, as for this post we will see how wire frames effect the creative process.

When building most things that are online based a good idea of the content is always good, I suppose some might say that this is the interactive version of initial scamps.

So by creating a wire frame you now know roughly what type of functionality and experience you are going to get.

Pssst don't forget the first part of the post, always manage expectation and let people know it's a "wire frame/scamp".

Back in the day

So link of the day today is Yearbook yourself, it's a nice little app that places your face on pictures from different (American style) college guys or gals.

Check it out

Here are a few of myself

70's Chee

Afro Chee

Wonderful street art

Wooster is a site that celebrates street ar, it doesn't matter what style or what the location.

Check it out at http://www.woostercollective.com/

My Personal favourite

Cadbury's Gorilla and Trucks

Fallon have re-released the Gorilla and trucks ad with new tracks so without further a do here they are





What do you think?

Personally I prefer the originals.

Microsoft and Seinfeld

So Microsoft have signed Seinfeld to do some ads, here's the first one in the series.

Initial thoughts are.............. WTF!!!.

Attention all Interactive/Digital Art Directors

It's been a rather hectic month for me, been very busy with an online gaming idea but don't dispair, for the next week or two I will be posting a favourite link of mine per day.

For today it's business guys on business, I found this quite amusing, coming from a more digital background I can relate to this.

New KFC ad

This made me laugh

Martin Sorrell on the Olympics and media

So for all you marketers out there, here's an interview with Sir Martin Sorrell.

He discusses the Olympics and online/offline media, both may be important words to the accounts and certain creatives.

Click here to see the video.

Does online have a shorter shelf life than it's counter parts

In my view online is a bit hit and miss when it comes to shelf life, I do believe that in order for online work to have a better shelf life you need to make it work a lot harder for you.

What do I mean?

Well with and offline material you will have the users undivided attention (how ever long that may be) and it's at points where they can't really escape. With online you need to direct and entertain your user whilst not boring them, they want to see motion, they want sound and they want to be told.

Why is this the case?

This is the entertainment age we all want to see and hear something astounding, the message is clear it requires less effort for the user and to keep it fresh you need to be able the generate content.

So how does this relate back to the question. Simple. You have 20 seconds of my time, your job is to keep me interested past 20 seconds. What do you do?

So the olympics are over.

But why should the fun stop, here are a few of my favorite ads from the event.

Building wrap

Coke branding

Mini rick shaw

Samsung viewing pods (not sure I'd stick my head in it there though)

How to deal with a client - For freelancers

Well it's been a quiet month for me, summers now arrived and a lot of clients are on holiday.

So that gives me time to write a bit about dealing with clients direct if you're freelancing.

As some of you are freelancing I am guessing from time to time you'll get clients approaching you directly. Well the usual courteous mannerisms are required, try to be very formal remember you're not on ground in which you can start making jokes that's not to say you shouldn't reciprocate if he does.

Insist on meeting, it's very important to put a face to the phone call for both yourself and the client, this will give the client more confidence that he's not dealing with a cowboy and also clients like to be serviced.

You should use the meeting to ask as many questions as you can about the brief or take the brief. A lot of things aren't done very well over the phone; briefing is one of them (probably a creative thing only).

Don't act like a poor man, offer your knowledge to your client, remember you're dealing with the client direct now and as such you need to need to be on side and offer him advice even if it's a 30 minute phone call. Chances are that if he likes your advice he'll give you the job any way.

Don't be optimistic with time lines, this is a big mistake I once made with the client. Dealing with the client is very different than dealing with agencies, agencies have people that are in charge of dealing with time lines clients and budgets. If you're new to the game give yourself as much time to do the work as possible, try and factor in at least a couple of days buffer just incase the client throws a curve ball at you and if you deliver a day early then the client will love you for it.

That's it for now, your next instalment on this will be either new business or servicing the client. It really depends on how I feel unless somebody comments on how they really wants to read a particular title of course.

It's a weird ad for a weird product

Xbox have released a game called Viva Pinata, it's got some thing to do with Pinata's and I'm not 100% sure what the point is but here is the tv ad.

Not so natural history exhibition

There's a nice exhibition going on at the natural history museum in Basel, Switzerland.

It shows the skeletal features of well known cartoon characters, click here to see some examples.

what's up, Doc?

Does it offend you?

Today I want to discuss ads that have recently been banned or discussed due to how offensive it is.

First of all I want to ask a question, how many of you are guilty of laughing at something you really shouldn't have.

Second is how many of you base your conduct on societies reaction of you.

What has annoyed me is peoples reaction to these ads, all of them are supposed to be in jest. Of course it's easy to find the problems but are they really a problem?

I am going to talk about the 3 latest ads to come under fire:

Heinz Deli Ad
So this ad got pulled because of the homosexual content. Lets talk about the scene in question, a guy kisses another guy in which one guy is playing the wife. Why did this offend you?

Is it because there are 2 same sex people kissing, perhaps it's because you feel it's taking the piss or promoting gay marriages, may be it just makes you feel awkward.

But is it any of the above?

Would you be offended by the rocky horror show, may be Lily Savage or Eddie Izzard how about if you had a crossing child playing role play?

Snickers Ad
So Mr. T decides that speed walkers are a disgrace to the man race and all of a sudden we all decide that the ad is attacking gay people.

So it's not that a man mincing and swinging his hips side to side is bloody disgusting, Noooo!

We have automatically deduced that a Man > speed walking > mincing = gotta be gay.

For me; complaints on this ad has just based on a whole lot of assumption based on innuendo.

Spanish Olympic Basketball Ad
Well this one is more obviously offensive but what I don't like is the amount of fuss it's been kicking up. First of all they have almost used this ad as an excuse to bring up more of a reason to hate the Spanish.

Sure it's a misjudged ad but it's not aimed to alienate the Chinese.

I suppose what I'm getting at with all these ads is that we aren't really offended by these ads, in fact I think that we are offended because we are worried about how people see us and that society says we should but behind closed doors we are secretly having a giggle with your close mates.

Am I wrong?

Leave a comment and tell me why I am.

Spanish olympic ad

So some of you may have seen the Olympic ad from the Spanish basketball team, if you haven't its below

There's been a lot of outrage about this ad and I can understand why, although I'm sure it's been done in jest; it's evident that the rest of the world doesn't think so.

The Spanish Olympic association have obviously jump to the defense of the players but you have to think who did sign this off and who actually thought this would be a good idea.

Obviously Spanish advertising doesn't really take much notice of research but to screw up on such a big stage I'm sure some one's head is going to roll over this. Already people are comparing this to other sporting incidents i.e. Lewis Hamilton and Theirry Henry.

I'm not sure this can be classed on the same scale as those incidents are quite malicious and this is supposed to "promote" the games. I'm sure this incident will blow over in no time but keep you eyes on sponsorship deal being dropped when some of the player return to the states.

So what do you all think?

Are we being to over protected?

How many of you feel you are overly protected by your agency?

Examples are:

• No client contact without the accounts team
  
• No taking a brief without a project manager
• No conference calls with out a "suit" present

Not that I think these are bad things but it does feel like I have a baby sitter looking after me all the while.

What do you guys think about this, do you have an opinion or does your company do things differently?

Guinness ad, real or fake. Who cares!

A lot of publicity has been given to the new Guinness ad lately.

Here it is



Guinness are trying frantically to pull this ad off any where it appears and have denied making it at all.

Whether they did or not it looks very well done regardless.

Ever wondered why some watches are so expensive?

Montblanc have released an amazing website showcasing their latest collection of watches.

From showing how the watches are made to showing off the latest collection, this is a masterpiece in 3D, the animations are so detailed and so well rendered that you have to think how long it took them to render the final piece.

See it here.

Elastoplast Viral by TBWA

TBWA have released a viral campaign for Elastoplast, I'm not sure it has been done as well as it could have been.

The client asked for TBWA to create an ad which re branded the product as a badge of an exciting life, rather than a painful story. The result was a giraffe escaping from a zoo with the story produced using Elastoplast and ink pen.

After watching the video I think it takes far too long to get to the point and the content is not engaging. I honestly hope this isn't the only activity driving traffic to the site.

Moving on to the microsite it's hugely dull and uninspiring, and it doesn't really appeal to either adult or child. the following quote was taken from Jo Blundell, managing director of network business at TBWA\London

"Kids love the excitement of creating their own stories and the emotive insight behind every bump your little one gets is that there's a exciting beginning, not painful end.

It sounds very good saying it but this isn't and execution that reflects this statement and it wouldn't get my kids logging on. I'm assuming that this was a brand building exercise and in my opinion they have fallen very short of their audience, it's very corporate and just executed very badly.

So in short this is what I would address:

• Long copy - kids don't read long copy and the tone is not very friendly
• Look and feel - It has a very corporate frame work and style, it reminds me of being in school, it certainly looks as dull as school
• Competition - this feels very bolted on with not much thought, it certainly doesn't feel like it's appealing to children

I am disappointed in this piece only because I had always thought that working in a bigger agency meant you had the resource to create amazing work. This isn't to say the idea was bad it's just not followed through as well as I think it should have.

The campaign can be seen here.

Olympics video follow up

Well as a follow up to my post about the BBC identity for the Olympic games; Campaign has done a vox pops research video about what people think.

Basically alot of people agreed with my initial opinion about the video i.e. Chinese story > China > Olympics > What? Looks great though.

Have a look at the video here.

Celebrating 20 years of NIKE and W+K

This ad have been around for about a month now but I've only just got round to write about it.

It's to celebrate 20 years of "Just do it". It's a great piece of work that goes down memory lane as much as it's celebrating the campaign I love the celebration of sport and acheivements in general.

The sound track goes so well with the video too.



If any of you want a more info on the sports celebrities in the ad then click here. Nike have done a nice little widget to go with the video.

Orangina, you're wrong and brilliant at the same time

So I've just been flicking around channels when I saw this add on Paramount.




This is the French version but the line used in the UK version is "shake it to wake it", I actually saw this ad at the start of the year in archive but I always assumed it would never run over her due to the content but I'm glad it did.

It's both the best animated sequence I have seen in a TV ad in a while and is hilarious.

Simply brilliant but so very very wrong. Humor makes up for it though, well unless you are in to that type of thing, if that's the case then........... well good for you :S

Love the ad though.

Pastures new - part 2

This is a follow up post to why people up root an move else where for their profession in advertising, today it's Simon Gut he's at HMX media in Soho.

A bit of background, Simon moved over from South Africa with his wife where he previously ran a successful online creative boutique called Mojo, he then decided to sell up and come over to the UK with his wife Simone.

Now that's out of the way, let's begin

Why did you move to London
After selling our boutique agency and looking for a new adventure I decided to move to London.

It was a tossup with Dubai (which seemed like better money at the time), however I expected to gain better experience in London, since most of the UAE agencies are run by ex pats from around the globe anyway.

So what were your expectations at the time?
Cutting edge advertising – its part of the BIG3: London / New York / Paris - guess I was mistaken. Don’t get me wrong - the quality of work being produced in London is good - but only if a ton of money is spent. Exorbitant sums of advertising fees are accrued before the concepts are even briefed. Processes seem to dominate the creative industries and I’m yet to see great creative work that is produced on low budgets. They seem to be far and few between, but when they do appear they shine.

Were the realities drastically different?
O’h yes. Peoples roles and responsibilities seemed to be quite pigeon holed. But not to say it’s all bad… I guess it allows me to do what I do best.

What's your view on the local market as it stands?
I think the quality of online material from the smaller digital agencies seems to be much better than that of the larger marketing giants. Far too many of the larger agencies sell themselves as media neutral and integrated specialists. It seems to be cheap talk, which many clients/brands are catching onto. What the hell is media neutral? What were they before they were media neutral. And just because you have a web-designer – it doesn’t make you a digital specialist. I guess it’s bound to happen the more ad spend shifts to online.

Any regrets on moving over?
Not really – it’s been an interesting experience. I would like to attempt the same move to New York at least once in my career to compare notes.

Did you come over here to cause a change or to learn?
Not really, the decision was based on an adventure – and it’s been one. Learning comes naturally when you’re having fun – and yes I’m having fun.

Top tips to survive?

· As a foreigner, make sure you acquire many recognisable British brands in your portfolio as soon as possible. Many agencies seem to require this regardless of the fact that you have international brands. How is Microsoft not a recognisable brand – go figure. I guess the requirement should definitely apply if you are applying to agencies working with FMCG brands.

· Make sure you find a decent agent to represent you. They seem to be far and few between.

· Never stop updating your portfolio – what’s great today seems crap tomorrow.

· Don’t be afraid to network. Keep yourself informed of all industry events, whether showcases, speaker events or just general get-togethers. I meet up with a group of folks from different agencies every Thursday evening for drinks. It’s a great way to meet other creative’s and learn about their latest achievements and their companies.

Top places that you have found whilst out there?
This is advertising – I don’t believe that there is such a thing as a good or bad company. There is however good and bad creative.

Some great creative to surface out of London in the last while seems to be from the folks at Glue London, Goodtechnology, Lowe London. There’s plenty more but we all know who they are.

Predictions for the market.
If you are working within an online environment - good for you. Ad spend is definitely heading your way. Especially with the gloom on an English recession, marketers will gain greater reach online at lower costs, with the reassurance of measurable ROI. Consideration for the future of digital is film experience as the IPTV arena is growing rapidly, an area many above the line agencies will try and cash in on if not already.

Well thats the end, I'd like to tank Simon and I hope you've enjoyed this post, you can see Simons wares at www.bootleg.co.za

It's time for an edition or good idea, bought idea

As you've all gathered this post is about ideas, who does what, who says what and who sells what

So what are good ideas?

Are good ideas the ones the creative thinks best serve the purpose or is it the accounts team.

Then after this argument who's in the right? The agency, the client? We all know he saying the customer is always right but how true is that. Is it the agencies job to lead the way on ideas or the clients seeing as he's paying?

People in the industry will have witnessed some howlers of advertising suicide with shoddy campaigns etc. and I'm sure in the process heads have rolled in the passed but who is essentially responsible? You? Me? The client?

And how do we make sure that the good ideas run. I suppose what it boils down to is; are we working for good ideas, or ideas that can be bought.

We also need to bear in mind that we can be too precious about work, David Ogilvy said "You can't critique your own work" this isn't to say what we come up with will be wrong but just be prepared to face tough criticism to meet a greater good.

So have a think about it next time you are cursing the client, account team, creative and let know what you come up with.

How to not conduct yourself in the work place

He's is a list of things that you should NOT do when you come into work as a freelancer.

DON'T

• come in late (over 1 hour)
• come in high
• stare at a blank screen and tell me you don't understand what needs to be done (turn on the damn computer!)
• tell me how your wife hates Chinese people (I'm Chinese)
• tell me how much you think I'm a nice guy, I don't care bout how you think your a great judge of character
• Don't show up the following day after being told not to come back
  

As you can tell I've had some what of a bad day.

Client, friend or foe?

Clients, we either love them or hate them but why?

As creatives we may get frustrated that they don't pick the idea that we feel works the best for the parameters that have set, it could be they want to shoe horn two very different ideas into one or perhaps half way through they completely change their mind and re-write the brief or worse still can the project.

From a universal stand point it could be the strangle hold on the budget, we all know that clients always like something for nothing these days but it's getting more and more common to get good work for the budgets that's available.

Like it or hate it this is the most common struggle that happens in agencies these days.

But should this be the way?

Why do we hate clients, is it because we're now an industry of 9-5 people so we are not putting in the effort with clients or is it because we coming against a new style of client. Without being in account management I don't know but it's hard to fathom that clients have changed a great deal may be some of you can tell me something different.

The other question is should creatives fraternize with clients. I'm not sure if this is a good use of this term but "it's always good to know your enemy" but does that in turn mean your creating your ideas for the individual or does it just help you get a better understanding for the project?

I've been in my fair share of client meetings and selling in the creative has never really been that hard. Striking up a relationship with the client always helps, socialising and adding the personal touch has never gone down badly in my experience it also helps that the client feels like he's putting his two pence worth of course sometimes it's never used but at least there is more of an understanding between the client and the creative.

So basically nearing the end of this post I have mostly posted problems to do with clients but to be truthful I have been lucky in the sense that communication between myself and the client are good enough for me not to have the problems above.

Let me know if you have some good client stories or nightmares.

The olympics are less than a week away.

And the BBC Olympic identity was launched last week. I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand it's very well done and I have always liked the gorillaz style of illustration.

On the other hand I find that it stereotypes the Chinese in the sense it's a Chinese story. Actually come to think about it what does it have to do with the Olympics? It's not like the Olympics are coming to the west, it's going to the east!

Anyone that knows me know I am not so offended by these types of stereotypes but I can understand how some Chinese people can be slight iffy with this route because of the link. Hey I know what will be a good idea let's use Jackie Chan to commentate it whilst were on the subject of weak links.

Ahh well, here it is. Let me know if I'm being overly critical about this.

Presenting, who should do it?

The question is presenting, who should present creative work?

There are plenty of mixed views about this scamp believes that no creative should present. Where as Yutaro (DYR) and Ivy (Dentsu) both believe that creatives should present the work.

Here's argument for presenting to the client. As a creative you are pretty much resigned to the fact the client always has to add his 2 pence worth to your creative no matter how solid you may feel it is. Presenting to the client is my way to get first hand what the client wants.

I think the reason creatives aren't allowed to present is the fear that account handlers have of us questioning or trying to get reasons for amends from the client. Perhaps it's more of a trust thing (I suppose acting like creative never wins you any points on the mature meter), but regardless of this the questions that need to be asked are still valid as it may effect the integrity of the overall creative.

There is also the arguement a client will find it hard to feed back on creative he/she doesn't like as the creative is the one presenting it. In my opinion that's bollocks, this is a business; if your client doesn't have the balls to communicate feedback properly then it would be a surprise you could get anywork done on time with all the work that get un-signed.

The polar opposite of this is that worry that the creative will not take rejection very well. This could be true in the case of juniors or graduates but lets be honest people that have been in the game for 5+ years would've been shot down by account guys, creative directers etc. If you're a sensitive creative then I would simply tell you to grow some balls and deal with it.

Simply for me I prefer to present my own work, it's more of a trust issue for me. I don't trust account handlers to present my work as they may not understand the thinking behind it, I also don't belive they will answer the correct questions to get the feedback I require.

This is not true of all account handlers but we can't all work in a business where you have a team that is 100% top grade account men in the agency (or can we?).

The final thing I would say on this matter is also 'confidence' , if you're not confident at presenting then don't, you'll only make it worse for yourself and the agency.

The client wants it red

How online advertising should be done - part 5

Part 5 - The follow through

So you've sold in your idea and now it's time to farm it out to designers and developers, so what do you do?

Be part of the process, it's more hard work I'm sure and yes I'm sure you're busy like the rest of us but lets take the point of view of the people that work around you. For everyone else it's just taking something and making it pretty.

I've been a designer and developer and it's frustrating, when all is said and done they are working to make you or the company look good so involve them, get people as excited as you are and make them work for you.

This seems like a very patronising statement but it does depend on how you look at it. You want the designers and developers to understand your idea and like how you would direct a TV ad or an animation you would work with the director and show them how you want the end user to react to your 'master piece'.

Let's be honest here a good designer will be able to make a master piece out of anything but I suppose what I am getting at is transferring the passion you have to the designer so that he/she knows what to do.

The same goes for developers, whether it is lines of code or user experience. I didn’t want to use this term but ‘any one can build a website’ but not everyone can build a website to engage a user. Developers know the latest and greatest in accessibility and user involvement on a site, describe the journey and direct them.

Well not sure what the next"How online advertising should be done" post will be. If any one would like any insight into the world of interactive leave me a comment.

The fine line between jobs

Today we'll discuss what you think your job is. It's not just about your duties it's about more than that, I suppose what I am getting at is 'do you see yourself doing more than what you currently do'.

I ask this question to see if you as either a creative, planner, programmer, art worker etc. see yourself doing anybody else's job. I bring this up because I previously always admired the fact the agencies were would take initiative in learning other departments traits and using them to their advantage.

What saddens me now though is that agencies don't really do that anymore, company structures are alot more modular and it's based on more of a production line. It's not like I am asking creatives to start programming and planner to art work as that would purely be impractical (obvious point) but the point I am trying to get is why don't we take time to do a bit of understanding.

What is there to understand?

Here's a good example for you, as a creative I'm not particularly technical by any means but I recieve a brief for adpating a print ad into a microsite, now we all know what a microsite looks like, so I decide I will build a microsite that's copy heavy that will communicate everything that the original print campaign didn't contain. Then present to client and slip it off to production and Bang! Presto!

ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKIN MIND!?!?

What's wrong with all of you! These people that all work in the company have their own expertise in their field, they know what's hot and what's not, they know the technology, strategy, stunt, media placements etc. and how it can help you for the greater good of your campaign.

Now I'm not sure when we became:

1. arrogant enough to ignore talent and expertise
2. so reliant on process and standing in a straight line that the final product didn't really matter

But I'm pretty sure we should all be ashamed of ourselves if we are or trying to fall into what I can only describe as a dark place for creativity.

Look around your agency, see the people around you. Ask peoples opinions, push your project that little bit further with the talent that's around you and be resourceful and most importantly don't be afraid to ask. Ask questions, for opinions, for direction.

You won't find anymore crap ads there

Right I have my rant hat on today.

How many of you think the new T-mobile camping is crap. I do and I'll tell you exactly why.

1. They don't make sense
2. They have awful visuals and scripts

Here are some examples:







Let me know your thoughts on these ads as if you think I'm wrong I would like to hear your thoughts are on this topic.

Now you may also argue that because I am talking about it then it surely it's doing its job.

I disagree.

I think the context in which we're talking about it will have a negative effect on the brand, the reason I don't think this ad works is because of the confusion it brings to people, it's not actually doing anything as a spot. Some of you may recall the "mega" ads for Cadbury's that don't make sense but it did in a very subliminal way. It's sold you happiness/joy.

Why?

It's sold you an experience of enjoyment, which was bought to you by Cadbury's. T-mobile on the other hand don't, it annoys me, I have no idea what the props have to do with the minutes it keeps going on about.

Amazingly enough I found out that Saatchi & Saatchi UK did this which disappoints me as I quite highly regards Saatchi's as an agency but when they're out putting this drivel then maybe I need to re-evaluate my opinions.

Pastures new - part 1

I've recently discovered a great site, which tells the story of a creative from Hong Kong, she was already quite accomplished as an art director in Hong Kong but she decided to come to the UK to find pastures new.

She's called Gwen Yip and her blog is called WORKING Holiday in London it is a very interesting blog that really tells of frustrations and joys of her journey.

Gwen is not the only person I know of that has come this side to work, I have been told various reasons but the one I like the most is that they rate the UK as one of the most creative places in the world, which is nice when it's from people from all around the world.

If you have a dream to work somewhere else it would be interesting to hear from you.

Finding the right partner - part2

Well after you've found your potential match you need to find a way forward.

I have been told that working on mock briefs would be a good start but after a few meetings I am a bit perplexed about how they will be received from potentials.

One of the key concerns I have about showing mock work is intellectual rights. We all have this issue to be honest when showing our wares but I don't have an answer may be a few of you can suggest how you deal with it. Second of all is how you explain to potentials that its mock work.

I want to explain my last point in a bit more details as I have an example of this very same situation I have been put in previously. As potential employers they would like to see your that has either a. won pitches b. work that's actually run. This is a bit of a bummer for me as some of my best work is pitch stuff that hasn't run, this is due procurement and nothing to do with the level of creativity before you all comment.

My biggest thing is how to move this forward, am I seeing the wrong people, are there companies out there that will look beyond the political part of a job and purely see the creative for what it's worth?

I'll write up more about this journey as I go along.

Finding the right partner - part1

As written before, I am looking for a copy-writing partner, in this post I thought I would tell you my experiences of finding the "perfect match".

Well first of all to most of you creative types would've just teamed up in university or college or what not. Unfortunately for me I have been running with out a permanent partner for the last 6 years, only to be thrusted into concepting session with an unknown copywriter.

Well the last 2 years I have been working with Simon another Art director and it has been an absolute blast and as much as we work well together etc. the time finally came where we had to part company, as it turns out people aren't as interested in two people that can do the same job even if it is coming up with the big idea.

Anyway point of the matter is I needed a new partner my problem was that now that I needed one where do I find one, is there a classifieds paper for creative’s?

I had already met a few copywriters up to this point but nothing really came of it.

Lucky for me Shelly at Roome Consulting was on the case, she introduced me to 2 copywriters, prior to meeting them I was awfully nervous like it was some kind of blind date, lucky for me the they were also the same.

Long story short I hopefully have found my "match". My advice to you would be look further than just being mates when meeting a potential partner. Run mock ideas in a passing conversation or perhaps even have a debate/argument.

Obviously if it all goes well even after being argumentative chances are you've bagged a good un.

To be continued on Monday

Lovely photo blog

Time to step back a bit from advertising.

I found this site yesterday called Da Cafe, it's a photo blog site of a family in Japan since the birth of their second child.

Now this may not seem so interesting to some of you but to me it's a very sweet way of telling a story. Also the pictures in the blog are stunning.

So come on what are you waiting for go to Da Cafe.

Uninspired?

Today I think I'll write about one of my experiences as a creative, the topic is inspiration.

I'm sure most of you have one time or another felt this strain. When I talk about uninspired I don't mean coming up against a block where you can't come up with an idea, what I mean is when you wake up and you've lost that spark that gets you into work.

Well I have two techniques to get out of that:

• Change your job
  Chances are you're probably used to the surroundings and nothing seems like a challenge anymore.
  
  An observation I have made is that some agencies have a set style, if you've fallen into that style an you're constantly doing work for that style then your not going to be pushed, find somewhere that will push you creatively and don't be afraid to do the work you want to do, if you want to do it.
• Get involved
  Ed Morris once wrote "your not here to join the club, there isn't one" this is true but there is never any harm mingling with your colleagues. The reason for this is to grow your understanding of your industry.
  
  Learn what each department does in the process:
  
  • Accounts - Learn more about the client, alot of the time there may be something about a client (quirks, likes etc), it might be insignificant but these are the guys that'll know how far you can push the boundaries.
  • Traffic - Always the people to know, they control the work. You want the good projects? Get to know traffic
  • IT - the guys everyone curses but why? Doesn't really effect every one on a day to day basis but when trouble comes and you don't have a mac. IT could be the difference between a half arsed scamped and a beautiful mac up.
  • Accounts - they pay your wages so be nice
  • Media (if you are lucky to have one) - These guys know where prime locations are to place your ads on TV, press, poster, online well just about everywhere. Also they will know what new formats are out, utilise this knowledge and be the first to use it.

Well this is my take. If you have different ways please post them up.

The strategy for "push the brief 2008"

So as promised before, here is our solution to our "push the brief 2008" arrange by Ashley Brown.

Background:
The brief was to try and get more 16-25 year olds to volunteer to:

• Reduce obesity
  
• Reduce crime
• Engaged conversation with older people

Solution:

Core Theme: Connect Nationally, Impact Locally

Insight: There are numerous hurdles preventing 16-25yr olds from volunteering. One is a perception that volunteering doesn’t connect with the issues that are keenly important to the individual. It doesn’t impact their immediate peer group, family or, most importantly, the area in which they live. Creating the opportunity to visibly contribute to their neighbourhood is paramount. Additionally if their efforts can be recognised and even rewarded, volunteering inertia and apprehension will diminish. Additionally, by attaching no value judgement to the degree of volunteering, youths can understand that even their smallest efforts are as valuable and beneficial as the grandest ones. There really is no such thing as “bad” volunteering.

Strategy: Drive volunteer sign-up and ongoing participation through a two-pronged approach of

1. Contribution
2. Recognition

Tactics – Contribution
An online forum that allows youths to;

• Enter their profile stating postal code or neighbourhood in which they live and additionally set profile filters like : hours I can contribute, issues that mean the most to me, I am willing to: network/mentor/lead/just participate. In essence, the profile allows youth to define the areas they are most engaged with and to set their own parameters. This could use the basic structure of networking sites like LinkedIn’s Q&A section.

• The forum should also aggregate information from like-minded groups and provide tools & tips to maximize these efforts: For example, tips from the police on dealing with explosive situations/race relations, from church groups on mobilizing communities and, most importantly, from peer groups in similar neighbourhoods who the volunteers may be more attuned to.

• Leveraging REAL police statistics by neighborhood also addresses a core principle which is this campaign should be about dispelling media hype and being firmly ground in the truth - truth in the numbers, truth in the realities of the neighborhoods the volunteers live in and truth about the effects they are having.

• Using common Facebook apps to create a multiplier effect for example; allowing volunteers to post anecdotes, share volunteering experiences via photos or videos, attract friends and peers through invitations to participate or to attend an event.

• Maximize efforts by providing realistic goals and providing hints. Taking a leaf from the New York “broken windows” philosophy about focusing volunteering efforts on initiatives that have a disproportionate effort-to-reward. For example, clearing out derelict cars and garbage might heighten the neighbourhood perception of making a difference than the (harder) initiative to end knife crime. Also might decrease the (understandable) perception that some issues are too big for one person to make a difference. Realistic goals, which could be aided by the aggregated info section, could definitely address this.

• Maximum local impact is a core credo so galvanize that by allowing volunteers or the public to upload requests for assistance to the site. Example upload a pic from your mobile phone that shows the local issue you’d most like to deal with – the broken windows in #17 or the graffiti at the local Tube stop. This allows the neighborhood to set the priorities and biggest peeves that volunteers could address. Then use the multiplier effect to hone the efforts of the neighbor clique of volunteers. Volunteers could also be encouraged to become roving reporters feeding v-blogs to the site with anecdotes and success stories. Increase the community feeling by getting the v-bloggers to interview other members of the community - the nanna in #25, the store owner of the corner shop...give those other community members a chance to contribute their emotions, pet peeves, successes...let the volunteers become a visible/rewarded force for change.

Tactics – Recognition
These tactics involve both digital and off-line components. The existing infrastructure outlined in the brief suggests that co-op and contra media deals are feasible (depending on merit) so media costs are assumed to fall under a contra or partner arrangement.

• Forum recognition on the same site where volunteers sign-up and contribute. This could involve simple mechanics like tagging before&after photos ala Facebook with the names and profiles of volunteers who contributed.
• Peer recognition based on a simple voting mechanism. Issues/anecdotes/success stories could be posted and the community could vote on the "impact" of that initiative. Initiatives that are successfully completed could have those votes added to their profile. This may run counter to "even the smallest contribution is valuable" but the community voting does allow the most deserving volunteers rise to the top.
• Use digital media to highlight success made in the neighbourhood. Signage on car parks could read "last year 250 cars were stolen from here, this year we've reduced that by 50%" Celebrate these wins. Use the digital signs as a means of driving Contribution - "To play your part Txt 123456 or join at ImpactLocal.co.uk"
• Use OOH in the same fashion with standard boards that are hyper-local...placed on school playgrounds, previously desolate houses...anywhere in the community where volunteer efforts have paid off. Use the creative to tell the story of the issue or to celebrate the local volunteers who addressed it. Hyper-local placement is paramount to this tactic paying off.
• Videoblogs and the before&after photos could be seeded in local media to highlight real efforts being made in the community by local volunteers.
• On a grander scale, the BBC could run a series of "Neighbourhoods in Transition" over the course of the year. The roving volunteer reporters (who are also contributors remember) could be recognized and their content re-used on the BBC. By the same token any youth channels could be seeded with this available content with "minimal" repurposing - MTV, NickKids etc, etc.

Tone and Feel
We are adamant that this campaign should never stray from two basic tenants;

1. This should be about Honesty & Truth - not media hype, marketing and hyperbole. Facts are more authentic
   
2. It should be written in the language of the audience and feel that it is "by volunteers for volunteers"

So this is the solution, many thanks to Hilton Barbour that did the write up and we look forward to the next Push the brief event.

Copywriter needed

I am in need of a copywriter partner, my current partner has decided to leave me and go and do directing.

So if anyone has any suggestion or if any one would like to get in contact with me just ping me a comment or and email.

How online advertising should be done - part 4

Never underestimate the importance of a good strategy, as creative's we tend to pass this responsibility over to planners or to media buyer to roll out (mediums).

DON'T.

Nobody knows your idea better than you, put the leg work into your ideas and run journeys (campaign) through your mind this will help you cover all bases.

Now this won't work for every creative director either, most see the strategy as garnish and a sign of a weak idea.

Me? Well regardless of this I would stick by this process, any one that believes that strategy is not part of the creative process is naive sure people have planners for a reason but to completely discount it in the thinking process is lazy and irresponsible.

I will post our strategy that got us second in "push the brief" on the next post.