Thursday, November 01, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Friday, October 05, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Toyota fastest pained website
Working on a new brief today, was reminded of this great piece for Toyota:
The Lift
beautiful, funny, sad, hopeful, depressing... this short film has it all, the story of a lift in a council block
Friday, September 07, 2012
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Whatever's comfortable
I love this Southern Comfort TVC from W+K NY... such a departure from the usual whisky advertising...
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Desperados beer youtube takeover
This is a bit old now... however it delivers on an engaging experience
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Pinterest used to spread the word for Kony charity appeal
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
In a a galaxy far far away...
...I imagine a dole queue (probably next door to that bar in Mos Eisley)... a dole queue that is largely populated by the entire cast of Star Wars...
R2D2 and C3PO are there, their shiny metallic bodies a bit rusty, C3PO with a bit of a flabby overhang round the middle. I wonder what the android name for a beer belly is? R2D2, cigarette hanging out of an unused disk drive. Mistily looking back on better times, falling down the celebrity rankings... Dark times have beset our heroes.
Enter C3PO and R2D2: Good day sir, are there any new opportunities for us today?
Job centre official: "Well there's a job representing Curry's, a white goods store on planet Earth. They're looking for a double act at the moment, any good?"
C3PO: Oh, not to be impolite sir, but that does sound... well pretty bad doesn't it? "
R2D2: beep, woop, beeeeeep, burrrrrp
Job centre official: Yeah well, whaddyagonna do, heh, you ain't exactly in demand at the moment?!
C3PO and R2D2: Ok, ok... we'll try out for the audition"
Job centre official: "Next!"
In waddles Yoda, even by his own standards he looks haggard (rumours of a pescription drug problem have been circulating)
Yoda: Auditions, you have?
Agent: Well, it's a tough market out there at the moment, what with the recession... let me see.. oh yes some phone company on Earth wants some old school religious nut to help create awareness around the new function of a phone?
Yoda: Hummmm, come to this it has. Accept I must.
So what is it with all the ads using Star Wars characters?
When the Curry's ads came out, I thought damn that's pretty cool, what a coup for them, Curry's is dump of a store, with terrible customer service, well the one nearest me in Brixton is. (For those who remember, during the recent London riots a girl was arrested outside Curry's carrying a boxed microwave. To make matters worse she was still wearing her Curry's uniform)... anyway the ads were beautifully shot, particularly the cross tracks and they really brought together two entities seemingly galaxies apart (tee hee).
And then along came the VW ad with the little boy dressed in his Darth Vader outfit and his Dad gives him a helping hand with the force. Cute and charming (although a bit twee for my liking), but at least it was clever and didn't feature the actual Darth Vader.
And next thing you know Yoda starts making an appearance for Vodafone talking about how long it takes to port your number across form one handset to another... again beautifully shot but hardly warrants use of the force, and ultimately a dull message.
And then the worst of the lot - VW have brought out an ad to follow the first one with a load of dogs and we end up in the bar of Moss Eisly. What a shameless bolt on!
I can only assume that the global recession has spread further than our humble planet, maybe it should be renamed the 'galactic recession'
So, not wishing to piss off any creative folk here, the scripts are witty and charming and the art direction beautifully shot but where has our creativity gone? Where has the desire for originality gone? Once Curry's had done their ads surely there has to be a cooling off period before you can start using the Star Wars characters again? But no, it seems everyone wants in on the action, and sadly George Lucas only seems too happy to oblige.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Two small actions by supermarkets, Sainsbury's and Waitrose with completely different outcomes
Just by coincidence I saw two posts this week on Facebook that featured leading retailers Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
In the case of Sainsbury’s a heart warming response to a letter received by their customer services department. I’d like to think that this was a spontaneous act and that Sainsbury’s employees are inspired and empowered enough by head office that they can respond in this way. Because when they do, the positive feeling created is huge.
In contrast, take a look at the Waitrose picture ... Look what they’ve gone and done (tee, hee!). Although a simple enough mistake to make, the results are comically disastrous.
In the case of Sainsbury’s, this relatively small gesture by just one employee has catapulted them into the social conscience with a saintly appearance – I am now experiencing feelings of warmth and tenderness towards a business I had no attachment to beyond the price of avacados. The top brass at Sainsbury’s must be rubbing their hands together in delight at their cheapest and possibly biggest PR coup this year. I hope they are giving a hearty pat on the back to Chris King (aged 27 1/3)!
In the case of Sainsbury’s, this relatively small gesture by just one employee has catapulted them into the social conscience with a saintly appearance – I am now experiencing feelings of warmth and tenderness towards a business I had no attachment to beyond the price of avacados. The top brass at Sainsbury’s must be rubbing their hands together in delight at their cheapest and possibly biggest PR coup this year. I hope they are giving a hearty pat on the back to Chris King (aged 27 1/3)!
On the flipside, the folks at Waitrose must be more red faced than a child who’s wet their pants in school assembly.
So, beyond the heart warming efforts of one Sainsbury’s employee and the gaff made by the people who dress the Waitrose stores there is the unavoidable observation here that the power of social media here is massive. Good and bad messages about brands can be distributed across social media channels at breathtaking speeds and can be viewed by thousands, sometimes millions. Seemingly small actions can be transformed to make big waves once the consumer gets hold of them.
I would love to see how or even if Waitrose respond to this?
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Cute little VW ad on the ipad - good use of the touchscreen interface to make an effective message...
Volkswagen - Tiguan - Park Assist II (ENG) from AlmapBBDO Internet on Vimeo.
Friday, January 06, 2012
A town called panic
I watched this surreal, funny, French film over Christmas... now I know where those Cravendale ads came from!
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