Blog neglect

I can only appologise for my serious neglect of blogging activity over the last month...if it makes you feel happier, I have not been on holiday, in fact I have been on placement at TBWA in Manchester. This meant relocating to a shared house with no internet facilities for four whole weeks!

How on earth did I ever manage without the internet? I honestly believe I was suffering from some sort of withdrawal, like I had lost a limb. Does this make me a sad internet geek that needs to get a grip on reality and think about possibly getting a life? I hope not.

Anyway, I now reside back in sunny Wales with a relatively fast (as fast as the valleys will allow) internet connection and will resume normal blogging duties. In fact with my lack of internet I have resorted to jotting lots of ideas/rants in my journal and will update my blog with any content deemed interesting/entertaining very shortly.

Racist milk (yep, its as stupid as it sounds!)

I do sometimes wonder what kind of person it takes to make the time and effort to complain (ridiculously) about an ad. Don't get me wrong, some ads do overstep the mark and are rightly banned. I can also understand why some react so passionately about shock type ads concerning sensitive issues...what I CAN'T understand is why on earth someone would seriously make a complaint about a milk ad for apparently being racist! The adverts message is made clear enough...purification, i.e. the milk is filtered. The cow is not symbollic of a person and they are not suggesting that to be pure you have to be white...seriously! Mountain, molehill?!

Thank goodness the ASA recognised the ludicrousy of the complaint and have cleared the ad of breaching any codes. I suggest that the complainants in question find a hobby...attend a yoga class...

I absolutely love this ad but probably more because I am a bird/animal enthusiast rather than its groundbreaking strategy. You can't fault the creative idea, its so simple and brilliant. I didn't think that the execution fitted all that well with the concept/campaign line though...'squash made from naturally sourced ingredients, be natural', I suppose you could make the link that the squash is so natural that even a bird wants to drink it, but I still think this is a bit weak. Its such a shame because this could have been a really great ad, instead it just feels like some team has had a great creative idea and then tried to make it fit the strategy instead of the idea coming from the strategy.

Probably the best ever...

This is the stuff of dreams surely...a hotel room that is in fact a restored boeing 727 placed amidst the treetops in the Costa Verde National Park in Costa Rica.

The plane was salvaged from San Jose airport, where it had been left in state of disrepair after years of service for South Africa Air and a Colombian airline called Avianca Airlines. Five trucks were used to transport the aircraft piece-by piece to the depths of the Jungles of Manuel Antonio where it was then transformed into the luxury two bedroom suite.

Sod staying in a treehouse in Turkey...I want to stay in a plane up in the trees in Costa Rica!

I wondered how long it would take for someone to rip off flight of the conchords in an ad...

...absolute sacrilege!

Dave Trott on present state of creativity.

I think he gets to the real crux of the argument at the end of the interview where he highlights that it is in fact the public and the audience who are best able to determine the effectiveness of ads and not an industry judging panel. Its clear to see that so many campaigns are produced today specifically to win awards which, forgive me if I'm wrong, but is not the actual aim of advertising. Advertising is marketing, the general purpose is to increase roi/market share/awareness, not to win awards that most consumers have no idea even exist.

The age old question...What is a brand?

On my quest to bag my first job in advertising I have lost count of the amount of times I have been asked, "so, in your opinion, what is a brand?", and even though I do think I have a firm grasp on the logistics of a brand in my mind, for some reason I always seem to struggle getting this across coherently in words and generally end up fumbling around the issue like an idiot!

Anyway, I came across this presentation on the Digital Buzz blog and thought it offered some nice insights into brands and brand building...and I am totally going to steal their definition as I can say it without sounding like I am regurgitating a marketing dictionary!

The Brand Gap

View more presentations from antisubliminal.