Posted in Advertising, Brands, Digital marketing, Ideas on Mar 20th, 2012
But soft, what light through yonder taxi window breaks? This, this light through yonder taxi window breaks. The breaking light is coming from an art installation sun commissioned by Tropicana. When I first heard about this I was impressed. I was impressed because it ain’t easy being a packaged goods brand in digital spaces. If [...]
Posted in Advertising, Ideas, Paid owned earned media on Jan 14th, 2012
My daughter’s physics teacher got her class to wrap eggs in rubber bands then throw them at the wall. It was a sticky lesson in more ways than one. Learning by (sticky) doing meant that the lessons stuck. I only know this story because my daughter was sufficiently engaged and inspired by the lesson to [...]
Posted in Advertising, Brands, Paid owned earned media on Nov 12th, 2011
Newcastle United has changed the name of its famous stadium from St James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena. In the parlance much beloved of digital media planners, the stadium is now “paid media” for Sports Direct. (I am not going to get sidetracked here by the fact that the club’s owner is also the [...]
Posted in Advertising, Digital marketing, Social media on Jul 26th, 2011
Comedy depends on you sharing a set of reference points with your audience and if those are very divergent then they just won’t simply get your jokes. Helena Lewis Hasteley, Assistant Editor, New Statesman on the Radio 4 Today programme, Thursday 21st July 2011. Paul Stokes from The Daily Mash sent me a link to [...]
Posted in Advertising, Brands on Jun 28th, 2011
Disclosure : I used to work on the Coors Light account. So, whilst I’ve tried, I can’t promise that this post is entirely objective. I find myself liking, in a bordering on admiring kind of way, the new Coors Light ad with the frozen-panted Jean Claude Van Damme. The writing, the performance and the message [...]
Posted in Advertising, Digital marketing, Ideas on Apr 28th, 2011
Patrick : All you need is a box. Spongebob : And imagination. It is the oldest parenting cliché in the book that kids play more with boxes than with the toys that came in them. Boxes are more fun because they provide an outlet for imagination. And it’s not just empty boxes. I recently watched [...]
Posted in Advertising, Brands, Ideas on Apr 18th, 2011
T-Mobile has disobeyed its own (flash) mob rules with its royal wedding ad. Last night, on the train home, I jotted down a list of T-Mobile values on the back of a receipt. (Sorry Evernote, I still love you.) These values are my out-take from the brand’s recent flash-mob style ads; the ones that immediately [...]
Posted in Advertising, Ideas on Mar 10th, 2011
Before The Creatives See It is a Facebook page that exposes and “outs” the magpie instincts of advertising creatives by sharing the original content that it predicts will be appropriated into advertising in the near future. A creative director that I used to work with was refreshingly candid about this magpie approach to “originality” and [...]
Posted in Advertising, Ideas on Mar 8th, 2011
Seven words that make your heart sink. The seven words that made Patricia McDonald‘s heart sink in the February post of the month (Planning for participation) were… Then people can upload their own versions. I completely second that emotion. But I’d also add the seven words that make every digital agency wince. The seven words [...]
Posted in Advertising on Feb 22nd, 2011
Advertising effectiveness moves in mysterious ways. One of the unexpected effects of the Country Life Butter campaign featuring ex Sex Pistol John Lydon was that it funded the reformation and American tour of PIL (Public Image Limited). As Jimmy Kimmel says in this interview, he is “fuelled by butter.” Given the attendant risks, I don’t [...]