H I R E D

I recently got a job as a Creative at TBWA\London.

I should have updated this a little while ago really and posted more over the last few months, but as it happens i didn't.

No doubt i will continue to neglect this here blog. But one day, I may post regularly. That remains the dream.

Stuck in the Bottle.

Love how this is directed,


 it's hard to hold attention when talking about drink, 


this makes it worth sticking with.

An Ad but not an Ad but like an Ad but not.

Nicolas Roope, founder and creative director of POKE London, explains at the German Webby Night what people really want to do online: "The Internet hates ads, we want to do THINGS!"

A Brief History of Everything.

This was a guy's art project. It took three weeks to make. YouTube hits; 586,735

How Cravendale use twitter.

Recently i noticed Cravendale are on twitter. I like the Cravendale ad's so decided to follow them and see what they had to offer. What i've found so far is uninteresting and unsuprising.


After seeing their TV ad's you'd think they would have a bit of a quirky personality, maybe use the characters they've established in the ads? Include some humour? Atleast talk in the same tone of voice?

What i actually found was very uninspiring. It feels like a marketing guy is sitting there. It's definatly not a pirate, cow or cyclist. One of the things they've decided to do is come up with these 'catchy' ways of making Cravendale 'interesting'.

Perhaps it's just me but this seems self-indulgent, off the point and frankly pretty boring. It feels like an ad, it feels like they're trying to sell you. Trying to convince you of something. When in actual fact, if you're reading their tweets, It means you went online, searched for Cravendale and then actually spent time following them or atleast looking at their profile. So you have given them that much attention already, now you've done that you need to be rewarded. Unfortunetly it doesn't really feel like their doing that.


Feels like a missed opportunity. I'm not talking about doing things to 'Dell' proportions or the success that Ford have found by using twitter, milk is a low interest catagory after all. But adding something that makes you feel good about them is all they need, rather than feeling like you took a punt on something and didn't get much back in return. 


Because next time i see a bottle in the supermarket this is what i'll remember.

Advertising Doesn't Work

There's nothing better than some nice bread. But what butter do you put on it?

I recently had to get a job to earn some extra cash. Unfortunately that place would be Tesco.

So it's boring, it's mid numbing and all the rest of it. But i thought since I'm here putting peoples shopping through the till i might as well do some research. 

So i've started to notice what kind of butter people buy. And it's actually quite surprising. 

I've always bought Lurpak, however it's not particularly popular with people I serve.

The most popular is Tesco English butter, okay that's not really surpising.

Except Anchor butter is only 3p more expensive than Tesco English butter.

Now i quite like Anchor ad's and i've been tempted to try it.

But the pattern that i've seen emerging out of my crude 'research' is that..

Advertising doesn't work.

Now of course, it does to a certain degree but there is far more to it.

To make your TV/Print/Poster/Digital ad's work, you need a follow through.

This isn't something you really think about when creating ad's for your book but it seems really quite important when you think about it. 

Whenever the latest Lurpak ad's break on TV, the posters follow on outdoor media, then shelf promotions begin in supermarkets like Tesco and the price of the product drops, it's on offer, it's BOGOF. It's cheaper and that's always tempting.

And that is how advertising really works. 

You need follow through, promotions and displays to catch the attention of your audience, not just a big 90' Second TV ad and some 48 Sheets.

On my rough estimation Country Life & Kerrygold butter, alongside Tesco English are the best selling.  They're not the cheapest or the most advertised (Tesco English aside)

Now work that one out?

Advertising Does Work

                     

So with it being a new year, you'd think it'd be right to make some resolutions. This year i haven't really done that but what i have done is started buying Innocent Smoothies. This being for a number of reasons.

I always liked the idea of Innocent smoothies as eating fruit just doesn't appeal to me (just when would you actually choose to eat it?) Anyway i never really bought these smoothies because i thought they were too expensive.

However.

Since they started advertising them as 2 of your 5 a day, something changed.

I've bought a big carton pretty much every week. I don't think they're as expensive because they now have a real value to me rather than just something to have when i want a drink.

Positioning it as a health essential in my case. Making me actually feel good about buying it, rather than feeling like it's a waste of money or too expensive. 

This was backed up by their new campaign. The one with the Rabbits.

Personally i think they are just the old ad's with a Rabbit in them. The scripts are poor and the closing frame should show all the flavours they do. 

But since seeing the ad's & following them on Twitter i actually went out and bought the product and have continued to do so. 

Tomorrow; Why advertising doesn't work.

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