Digital Inspiration

Man, today I seem to be coming across great ads everywhere I look, maybe it's the great weather that's bringing them all out. I love the new Toyota Ad from Saatchi & Saatchi in Australia. It probably has more to do with the fact that they made a full size person out of glass, rather than what the ad is actually saying. I mean it's not a particularly new concept or anything, just really cleverly executed.

I saw an odd new Skittles ad that fits in with the ads I've shown on here before. It's just bizarre, and interactive too.

I also came across this clever ambient/digital idea for GranataPet dog food. Not the most amazing idea ever but pretty cool nonetheless.

But the main reason for this post is that I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go to the National Digital Media and Marketing Summit in Croke Park in Dublin today. It's great for us students to get the opportunity to go to those industry events. It's a whole different perspective on the type of work we do every day in college, gives us a small idea of what we can expect once we (hopefully) get jobs in the industry and, most importantly, it's an opportunity to meet people and to 'network' (a phrase which I detest, but that's not for here). It basically makes the whole thing a bit more real for us.

There were some really interesting speakers there but unfortunately I had to leave early because we were recording radio ads in college this afternoon (which was great fun - it's brilliant to see a professional VO bring your words to life) and we couldn't miss that class, so I'm sure there were plenty more fascinating speakers that I missed but the ones I did see showed some great videos to demonstrate various points.

Inma Martinez gave a talk on how to build a digital brand on no budget and as part of it she showed this brilliant ad from a couple of years ago for the Audi Q5. I love everything about it. It was made just after the whole car market collapsed and it's a real back-to-basics idea and is brilliantly executed. The art direction is superb, the music perfectly suited and the idea is stunningly simple yet super effective.



The next video was shown by Jonathan Forrest, who is CEO of Cybercom here in Dublin. His talk was focussed around digital advertising and how it is this generation's "Parsons' Moment", in reference to Charles Parsons' steam turbine and how it was such a defining invention in the history of engineering.

He gave several examples of great digital campaigns (oddly enough they were all from New Zealand) and this one really stood out for me, and for most people I was talking to at the summit. The campaign, done for Coastguard New Zealand by the DDB New Zealand Group is one of the best, if not the absolute best, digital campaigns I've come across. Watch and learn.



There were plenty more great ads and videos shown there today, as well as some really insightful talks and observations, these two just really stood out for me. It's a real pity I didn't get to stay for the whole thing but I guess it was great to at least be a part of some of it. The future is digital so I guess the sooner we can all wrap our heads around it the better!

What's Your Favourite Ad?

Advertising, and creativity in general, is such a subjective thing. There have been plenty of ads that I've absolutely loved and most other people have hated, and vice versa. I'm sure it's the same for everyone. I guess that's what's great about it. It's also what makes it desperately tricky and unpredictable.

Out of curiosity (or is that boredom?) I decided to do an online search to see what the most popular ads are. I decided I'd use the most scientific and rigorous resource I had available to me - Google images. The integrity of my findings is therefore unquestionable.

The following are the first 6 images, in order, that came up when I searched 'best ad ever'. I actually searched 'best ad you've ever seen' first but none of the first 15-odd images were ads, go figure.













I like most of them. Not sure why the Rafa Nadal one is there though.

Note: I'm not an idiot. I know that Google images doesn't rank images by popularity or anything. I'm no expert but I understand how SEO works. This is just a fun way to check out what ads people like or what other people think are the best ads ever.

Making Old Hat New Again

Advertising has a way of latching on to new and innovative ideas and taking ownership of them. Take online virals for example. About 10 years ago the concept of a viral was relatively unknown among most of the general public but through the huge boom in online user numbers and websites like youtube viral videos are now ten-a-penny, and virtually everyone with even a minor understanding of what the internet is knows what they are. Advertisers latched onto virals pretty quickly and some early and incredibly successful examples, Burger King's Subservient Chicken probably being the best known one or BMW's The Hire another very popular one, showed advertisers just how powerful this new tool could be. Nowadays advertisers everywhere are trying to come up with the best new viral video that will catapult their brand to new levels of popularity. In my opinion most fail because people are too familiar with virals now. They used to be new, different and intriguing to customers, now they're just another video in a long list people have seen on any given day. Last year's Old Spice campaign was the only one that's really stood out for me recently. There's also the problem that there are just too many great videos online that aren't related to advertising that people can entertain themselves without having to rely on advertisers input.

(While we're on the topic of virals I disagree with the notion of 'creating a viral' as advertisers try and do. A true viral happens spontaneously and unexpectedly. It's a random video that suddenly becomes massively popular. Maybe that's just semantics though.)

Flash mobs are another interesting phenomenon onto whose bandwagon advertisers gleefully jumped. Similar to virals flash mobs started to become popular about a decade ago and since then there have been countless examples of famous and successful campaigns built around flash mobs (you've surely seen T-Mobile or The Black Eyed Peas on Oprah by now) that it's almost an overused medium. They're just not surprising for people any more.

Well this video shows that flash mobs aren't completely redundant yet, you just need to turn the whole idea on its head.

60 things in 60 seconds

Don't have time to write a longer post right now as I'm in the middle of a mindblowingly awesome campaign to advertise IKEA's most recent catalogue but I just saw this over on the Creative Criminals blog (which is a great blog that I highly recommend checking out if you don't know it already) and I had to post it here.

It's a pretty straightforward idea but I just think it's really cleverly written.

Enjoy

Slow Down Everything

Public Service Advertising is a tricky kind of area. Road safety ads, anti-drugs ads, alcohol awareness ads and all other public service ads are often accused of being ineffective or talking down to audiences or a whole host of other things. The truth is it's really difficult area to advertise. It's hard not to talk down to people when you're trying to encourage them to change their long-term habits. You're also trying to convince people that you, or more specifically the government, knows better than they do. Who likes being told that they don't know what's best for themselves? Of course there are excellent and successful public service ads out there but so many ads try to communicate to people on their own level but fail miserably.

This ad from the State Government of Perth, created by 303 in Perth, takes a very simple and straightforward approach to advertising road safety and I think they've done a great job:



You could argue that this one is just as ineffective, and maybe you'll be right, but I'd have to disagree. I like the way they've taken a very rational, level-headed approach. It's beautifully shot and the music is just perfect and I think it's a really really good way of getting people to at least think about the way they drive. It doesn't talk down to people or treat them like morons. It doesn't need to shock and disturb people. It just speaks simply to people in a non-patronising way. Even if you ignore the message about slowing down on the roads it promotes a nice way to go about your daily life, something which most of us don't really take the time to think about. Bravo I say, bravo.

Who are the Blackberry Boys?

So if you've been listening to a radio or watching a TV for even just a few minutes recently you'll have come across Vodafone's new ad for the Blackberry Smartphone. It's impossible to avoid it as it's being played non-stop. I haven't seen any posters or press ads for it, which I'm honestly quite thankful for. The bombardment from radio and TV are just about bearable.

I just don't get the ad. What's the point of it? Obviously I understand the message that the Blackberry is more than just a business phone, it's got something for everybody, so everyone can be a blackberry boy (I guess it's tough luck if you happen to be a girl and fancy owning a Blackberry). I think it seems like the creators of the ad thought that they were being clever and creating a jingle that would be different to other ad jingles, almost like they were making fun of ad jingles. Well if that was the intention then I think they've failed. Of course I could be wrong. Maybe they decided to shamelessly use a jingle to promote their new offering. If that was the intention then fair enough, but they've ended up with a lousy ad either way (in my humble opinion, of course).

Regardless of my opinion the ad seems to be very popular. It's creating quite a lot of discussion online and I've lost count of the number of times people have asked me "Have you seen that Blackberry Boys ad?" So I guess the people at Vodafone and Ogilvy and Mather Mumbai will be happy.

Anyway, here's the ad. What do you think?

Advertising - the Root of all Evil?

I'm very aware that I'm embarking upon a career in an industry that deeply divides public opinion and towards which quite a lot of people feel a considerable amount of hatred. Bill Hicks has a really funny piece about advertising and marketing, and it is guaranteed to make you laugh, but deep down you can tell he really fucking hates advertising, everyone who is associated with it and everything it stands for. And he's not alone.

This is something I've thought about a lot and I've often questioned whether or not I'm doing the right thing by getting into advertising. I don't disagree with a lot of the reasons people have for disliking the advertising industry. I'm not in this to sell greasy burgers to overweight kids. I'm not interested in making a living out of conning people into thinking that 'light' cigarettes aren't as harmful as regular ones. I don't care for using pseudo-science to convince people that they need to guzzle expensive yogurty drinks everyday just to keep their gut happy.

But I also don't buy into the notion that we don't need advertising, and that the world would be better off without it. I think there is an important role for advertising that is honest and up-front with people (I nearly typed 'consumers' instead of people there but I hate the way that word labels people and strips them of a personality). Advertising appeals to our emotions, and so it should. We are, by nature, emotional beings. How often do we rule with our hearts rather than our heads? As long as advertising doesn't take advantage of that then I see no problem. Whether or not that's possible is something I'm still trying to figure out. At the moment I think it is.

Maybe I'm naive, I probably am, but for me advertising is ultimately about creativity. Sure, there's a whole load of crap that goes along with, but is there any industry, or any aspect of modern life that can claim to be completely bullshit-free? I don't think so. I love telling stories, I love creating new ideas and I love how people interpret, use and re-invent those ideas in their own unique ways. Advertising does all that, and working in advertising allows me to do all that too.

Rory Sutherland has been in advertising an awful lot longer than I have. I doubt he has all the answers, but I like what he had to say at TEDGlobal 2009. He also makes me excited about working in advertising, which makes the long, difficult hours of study a little easier.



When it comes to morals and ethics there are ultimately more questions than answers. I haven't even come close to answering all of my own questions about the advertising and marketing industries and this blog isn't an attempt to change the minds of people who abhor advertising and everything it stands for - if I can't even make up my own mind how can I begin to make up the minds of others? But I really do think there is a middle ground between a utopic world free from advertising, where all decisions are made based on rational analysis of facts, and the world of greedy, capitalist, exploitative marketers. I guess I'm just trying to find that middle ground and, hopefully, build a career on it.

Now that's how you do digital!

We're always hearing that digital is the way forward and that the future of the advertising industry lies in digital, almost to the point that other media are beginning their slow trudge towards oblivion. Of course that last bit is an exaggeration but what the hell do people mean when they say 'You have to do digital'? I'm not sure most people know what they mean and certainly for me, as a student, trying to get my head around the whole digital thing is proving more than a little difficult.

Clearly I'm no expert, and most of the time I really haven't a clue what I'm talking about, but I do know that 'going digital' is about far more than creating a branded Facebook profile and Twitter account(although they certainly can be beneficial and productive activities) or getting people to tag themselves in photos featuring your brand. It's about coming up with new, unique, clever and creative ideas like this one:



This really blew me away. It's so simple but it illustrates the selling points of the car perfectly. It's also quirky enough to grab people's attention and it shows that the traditional media aren't as terminally ill as originally diagnosed. Bravo Volkswagen.

Theses and Fleas - The Perfect Combination

Yes it's that word that strikes fear into the hearts of students worldwide, that brings even the most studious and diligent of academics out in a cold sweat - it's time to start thinking about my thesis.

Busy and difficult as this semester has been, and boy has it been busy at times, it has, for the most part, been quite fun. We're actually getting to work on campaigns right now. We're doing what we came here to do - write and devise ad campaigns. No more long evenings in the library reading article after article on the benefits of IMC, or late nights at home writing essays on whether sales promotions are a strategic or a tactical tool. Everything we're doing now us purely practical based. And that's the way I like it. Sure, I've gotten bad feedback on an ad of which I was truly proud. And of course there have been times when I've felt like tearing my eyeballs out just to avoid having to stare at that blindingly white page that just won't go away. But that's all part of the learning process.

But that's all about to change. Today I had my first meeting with my thesis supervisor. I can feel all those academic articles creeping up behind me, just waiting to pounce and wrestle me to the ground. Over the past month or two I've become so used to college life without the essay writing and the article reading that I almost dread the thought of having to get back into it. But I guess it must be done.

On the plus side I'm researching a topic I really enjoy -viral advertising (although while we're on the topic I have to say that I disagree with the terminology used to describe this kind of advertising - a viral is not something you can plan. A viral happens spontaneously and unexpectedly. Viral advertising is neither spontaneous nor unexpected. But perhaps that's just semantics). I think I'm going to get on well with my supervisor too (even if I have to trek all the way out to Sandyford to see him). He's not an academic, he runs his own communications company, so his attitude towards the whole process is quite different than someone who works in a university. I think this will really suit me but I'm also a bit worried that he might be too laid back. Sometimes I need someone who's going to give me definite deadlines and make me stick to them, otherwise I just get lazy and put stuff off as long as possible.

I guess it's good just to be started on the thesis anyway, the longer I put it off the more work I was leaving myself to do later on. Let's just wait and see how it all goes.

Anyway, time for an interesting ad. I found this one online a few days ago. It's a really clever ambient piece for Frontline Flea & Tick Spray. It's from Saatchi & Saatchi, Jakarta and I think it was done in 2009.

Ambient advertising can be so impressive and there are some great examples out there. I'm trying to come up with some for a campaign I'm working on in college and it can be so difficult. It's so hard to come up with something that's genuinely interesting and engaging. For now I'll just enjoy this one:

More Skittles Madness & Pancakes, Everyone Loves Pancakes

Here's another great one from the folks at Skittles. Sometimes you wonder what goes through people's minds when they come up with stuff like this! I guess it doesn't really matter as long as they keep doing it!



I've had to write this post from a horizontal position as I've just consumed dangerous amounts of pancakes. And speaking of pancakes, like any good pancake enthusiast I decided that it would be remiss of me to allow Pancake Tuesday to pass without google-ing pancakes. This utterly bizarre video was one of the first videos to turn up. The mind boggles!

Looking to the Future

So today in college we had a very interesting talk from the lovely Claire Corbett and Alan Kelly from Rothco. It's always interesting when we get outsiders and industry people in to talk to us, particularly if they're past students of the course, as Claire is. In general the teaching staff on the course are of a very high standard and I really feel like I'm learning a lot about the way the industry is structured and how it works, but to a certain extent, as students, we're rather cocooned and protected from the big bad world. There's a certain safety about being a masters student (even if it can be a stressful experience, in terms of workload, time pressures and financial difficulties). That's why it's nice to get more of an insight into the actual day-to-day workings of the industry from guest speakers.

Today Claire and Alan were talking about how to go about getting a job in the industry and it kind of put the fear into me. It's not a good time to be looking for a job in any industry or sector of the economy and this is true of advertising too. But it's not as if there aren't jobs out there. There are, but there are fewer of them so you have to try ten times as hard and you have to be damn good to get one. That's fine by me. It's the way things are and I'm willing to put in the work. It's just a bit of a daunting process that I've kind of been avoiding up until now. Getting together my portfolio and getting the work up to presentation standard just seems a little intimidating. I want work in there that will blow potential employers away but how do I know if my work is good enough? And I'm competing with 14 other extremely talented creatives in my course, never mind people in other courses or creatives who are already established in the industry and are looking for work.

It's something that's got to be done, and a challenge I plan on facing head on. But that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be anxious about it, right? On the positive side everyone I've spoken to is sure that there are jobs out there for us, we'll just have to try a bit harder and be a bit more patient than in previous years. I'm sure I can manage that.

Anyway, I'd like to share a video that has nothing to do with advertising but that I really enjoyed over the weekend. It's a video from a bunch of students from Colaiste Lurgan, an independant Irish college based in Galway. The type of music they're singing isn't generally my kind of music but I think for a bunch of young people they've done a great job on it. There's a real shine off both the video and the song. It's the type of thing I would have loved to have had the opportunity to do at that age. Cé nach bhfuil Gaeilge íontach agam tá grá mór agam don teanga. Is rud íontach é nuair a feicfidh tú daoine óga ag baint úsáid as an teanga. Taispeánann é sin go bhfuil todhchaí do Ghaeilge.



I showed the video to my brother, who is a musician and a fellow Gaeilge-lover. I thought he'd like but I was mistaken. He can't stand the chord progression and directed me towards this song. Maybe you know it already?



Slán libh!

The Power of Wind

This ad for the wind energy company Epuron is a few years old now so it's quite likely most people with an interest in advertising have already seen it. If you haven't then prepare to be rather impressed. It's one of those really simple ideas that just works. There's nothing flash or fancy about it. It's just a brilliantly written character which has been casted perfectly. It's got great pace and is shot beautifully. For me, still being an advertising student, it's a good example of how to use a simple idea effectively and not try and blow it out of the park by pushing it's creative boundaries.

It was created by the Nordpol+ agency in Hamburg and won the Golden Lion at Cannes in 2007. Quite deservedly so in my opinion.

Enjoy!

The McDonalds Question

Here's a very short piece I wrote a while ago which I found on my laptop recently. Make of it what you will.


So, having worked on a McDonalds brief for college recently and read several articles, from both within and outside the marketing/advertising world, about McDonalds, all equally negative in their tone, I got to wondering about what exactly it is that has made McDonalds such a success. Like it or not McDonalds is one of the most successful brands in the world. At the same time it’s one of the most hated. If you stopped 10 people in the street randomly I reckon 8 of them would give you a negative opinion on McDonalds. I also reckon that 7 of those 8 people will also eat in the place from time to time. It’s one of those weird anomalies. We all agree that McDonalds are a corporate, capitalist, greedy corporation who are slowly killing our kids and destroying our natural environment and not apologising for doing so, but go into any McDonalds restaurant in any city in the world and you’ll see several queues of people just dying to get stuck into the Big Mac they’re about to order. How do you explain that? I sure as hell can’t!

Just as a little aside, maybe a completely irrelevant one, but when typing this up (using Microsoft Office Word 2007) if I typed ‘McDonalds’ then the spell-checker left me alone but if I typed ‘Mcdonalds’ I got an angry red squiggly line telling me I’d made a mistake. I thought that was interesting but maybe I’ve just had too many beers!