Just shove a VO' on it!

Every once in a while you see an Ad you really like. It makes you stop what you're doing and look. Then it ends and you carry on.

This ad for the RAC made me do that recently. Great shots, great direction, great music. 

Job done so i thought.

Until the other day, i saw the same ad on TV. 

This time it had a voiceover. (Can't find it on YouTube)

Telling you how the RAC can help you, be there first and do all the things you need to get you back on the road. 

It always interests me to see this happen.

The ad gets made.

The figures don't change.

The ad gets scrutinized.

Put a voiceover on it.

Put the ad out again. 

Then what?

Who knows if it now works. They are lucky that a voiceover can be so easily put over the top of this ad, there will be many more out there that simply can't be changed all that much and that adds up to a lot of wasted cash & time.

If the world were a village of 100.

Love these little posters, so simple but perfectly designed and executed.

More here

Beanz Meanz Branstonz

According to an article in the paper, Branston are Britain's favourite.

Heinz Beanz came out 5th favourite after a shock taste survey among supermarket shoppers, conducted my Which?.

The standings are;

1. Branston

2. Aldi

3. Asda.

4. Morrisons

5. Heinz

I always buy Heinz because it's what i've always had. I've tried Branston but i never switched. Maybe the recession has caused the public to rethink their bean buying.

(p.s I don't know why this writing is orange!)

Ad Truths.

So it seems everyone hated this Warburton's ad last year, with the guy seeing Warburtons everywhere.

I have to say, i wasn't particularly keen on it either (their bread tastes of cardboard too)

However over the last two months, my opinion has been slightly warped. I keep seeing Warburtons lorries every day, when i say everyday, i mean every single day, whenever i'm driving around, driving home at night, just whenever. I see them CONSTANTLY. (Perhaps because i live in Newcastle & the Ad was shot there..) (Maybe not.)

So maybe it isn't all 'adland' and is actually a truth?

Impact Communication Persuasion

Dave Trott on GMTV

Internet Vices

Click to enlarge

@music

being a catalogue of my relationships with music by age

0-10  This sound makes me go bouncy and I can shout it.

10-13  This music is good for dancing and singing and it reminds me of telly.

13-15  What music do my friends like? I must like the same music.

15-17  If I like the right music then girls will like me.

17-25  Nothing is more important in the world than [insert band] and only I and Paul Morley understand their significance. I don't care that girls don't like me.

25-30  What is it with [insert band]? They are ridiculous, strutting sell-outs. Music is just a rip-off man.

30-35  There's more to music than pop you know. This jazz stuff is fascinating, and there's music from round the world and have you heard some of those blues guys and John Cage and everything.

35-40  I'm still very much aware of today's music, there are a lot of incredible bands out there, even these days. I'll never get caught in some retro trap.

40-45  I only really listen to the music I liked when I was 17.

From the excellent Russell Davies

Christmas Barrel

Welcome to the Christmas Barrel

Christmas is just around the corner.

So i will be stepping up the posts and making sure this blog ends the year looking healthy and sounding sober.

Note my sterling attempts @ Christmas'ing up the blog.

The Great Ad Melting Pot

Strength in numbers.

Weetabix, Drench & now Vittel.

The Highest Point in the World

from this nice blog by Blake

Hello. I'm here to be Polarized.

It seems that brands want to be loved. Thats a fair assumption. 

But wanting to be loved isn't very good, when they have no intention of making it happen.

You watch TV and see Ad after Ad that could be for anything, no real style or feel.

It's all wallpaper, until you get a nice little animation which splits it up. You take notice.

Brands have to polarize. they have to be the 1 out of 6 ad's that you actually see in a tv break. 

The circle not the square.

But it seems like they just expect to be loved.

How about actually doing something non conventional? Doing something for people. Make them laugh. Help them with a problem. Do these things and you can still make money. Infact you can make more money. 

Essentially, what i'm talking about is Marmite.

Marmite. You either love it or you hate it.

Around 40 consumers have been invited to join the ‘Marmarati' secret society. To create a new variant product using Marmite. People actually want to do that. Why? Who knows. Who cares? They want to be involved, so let them.

Say people hate your brand and talk about it on facebook and twitter. The thing to remember is they still talk about it. You're in the discussion. You're there and now you're in there you can change peoples minds. Be news worthy, be interesting.

There is nothing worse than being ignored. 

The Machine Trundles on

Yeah, yeah everyone is talking about X Factor and ofcourse about Jedward. 

They're still there, they're still getting the votes.

But with all their popularity it's suprising a brand hasn't latched onto the huge internet potential they have.

Ofcourse maybe they have and i haven't seen it yet?

Anyway. why don't Brylcreem get onto it. There's all this sort of stuff floating around.

 

Jedward Country

It's ready made for this Social Media thingy

That Social Media Thingy

I went to a talk by Steve Davies in Newcastle recently about Social Media and how brands can use it successfully. I've heard plenty stories from Ford to Dell of how to use it and how not to use it. But it's an interesting subject and something worth refreshing on as it gains momentum in marketing budgets.

Social Media Marketing

View more presentations from Stephen Davies.

What happens in a Lift?

People, in real life. Normal people. 

Short film. Interesting.

Some real posts will be coming shortly. 

With words and thoughts. But this is good enough for now.