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Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Sharing is Caring
English comedian Charlton Brooker wrote a great piece in the Guardian this week on sharing. If you haven’t read it go do it now. I’ll still be here when you get back.
He was adding his voice to a debate which is popping up with increasing frequency online about sites like Spotify automatically posting stuff to your Facebook wall without even telling you they’re doing it.
With Netflix having just launched in Ireland us Irish FBers are getting a real taste of this as Netflix plays the same game as Spotify.
I don’t use Spotify and I didn’t use my Facebook account to join Netflix so it hasn’t happened to me (yet) but you can get the gist of why this irks people so here (with a response from Spotify in the comments section).
Stuff like this prompted a friend of mine to go on a little Facebook Status-sized rant recently that went something like this:
I’m paraphrasing, but you get the idea. A lot of people commented their agreement.
I only partially agreed. I actually like finding newspaper articles through the Facebook newspaper apps. Although it has the potential to cause some confusion, like when people started seeing the headline ‘Father Ted Actor Dies’ and thinking something dreadful had happened to Ardal O’Hanlon, only to discover that the headline was attached to a fourteen year old article about the death of Dermot Morgan. Perfect, the system ain’t.
But he does have a point.
And there are two points being raised here:
1. People use social media to share an awful lot of utter nonsense.
2. When did it become cool for third party sites to update my status without telling me they’re doing it?
The first point is patently true (although I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of it at one time or another) but there’s not a lot you can do except grin and bear it, unless you want to start unfollowing and defriending people like the plague just went digital. Alas, it’s the nature of the beast.
The simple answer to the second one is ‘it didn’t.’ The articles I mentioned above sum the situation up perfectly so there’s no need for me to but it’s not cool, not even if you hide a little button away somewhere with which you can unsubscribe from the auto-updates.
These two points may seem a little trifling against the backdrop of the larger debate that’s going on about content sharing online and, well, I guess they are.
If acts like SOPA and PIPA in the US, ACTA in Europe and Sean Sherlock’s Statutory Instrument on Copyright here in Ireland do to the internet what they’re threatening then I’d probably be damn glad to have the chance to tell 150 strangers that I just had a cup of tea that was a little too milky or to have Spotify reveal that I’m indulging in my secret passion of listening to 80’s Eurovision hits.
You’re wondering what my point is here, aren’t you?
Well I guess there are three:
1. The right to share and express ourselves online is a damn important one – don’t let anyone fuck with it.
2. When allowed that right some people with very little worth saying will say a whole lot. Screw ‘em, don’t get your knickers in a twist over it.
3. It’s MY right to share so I’ll choose what to share thanks very much, not you. You may make suggestions, and I may tell you to bugger off or to go for it, but at least do me the courtesy of asking me first. Got that? Great.
Now, if you'll excuse me I believe my Twitter followers are wondering how many Weetabix I had for breakfast this morning.
He was adding his voice to a debate which is popping up with increasing frequency online about sites like Spotify automatically posting stuff to your Facebook wall without even telling you they’re doing it.
With Netflix having just launched in Ireland us Irish FBers are getting a real taste of this as Netflix plays the same game as Spotify.
I don’t use Spotify and I didn’t use my Facebook account to join Netflix so it hasn’t happened to me (yet) but you can get the gist of why this irks people so here (with a response from Spotify in the comments section).
Stuff like this prompted a friend of mine to go on a little Facebook Status-sized rant recently that went something like this:
“Dear God people, I couldn’t give a sweet sticky banana what the hell you’re watching, listening to or reading at the moment. There’s more to life than mickey measuring and I'm-so-cool-ing on Facebook so kindly stop chucking that shit into my timeline.”
I’m paraphrasing, but you get the idea. A lot of people commented their agreement.
I only partially agreed. I actually like finding newspaper articles through the Facebook newspaper apps. Although it has the potential to cause some confusion, like when people started seeing the headline ‘Father Ted Actor Dies’ and thinking something dreadful had happened to Ardal O’Hanlon, only to discover that the headline was attached to a fourteen year old article about the death of Dermot Morgan. Perfect, the system ain’t.
But he does have a point.
And there are two points being raised here:
1. People use social media to share an awful lot of utter nonsense.
2. When did it become cool for third party sites to update my status without telling me they’re doing it?
The first point is patently true (although I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of it at one time or another) but there’s not a lot you can do except grin and bear it, unless you want to start unfollowing and defriending people like the plague just went digital. Alas, it’s the nature of the beast.
The simple answer to the second one is ‘it didn’t.’ The articles I mentioned above sum the situation up perfectly so there’s no need for me to but it’s not cool, not even if you hide a little button away somewhere with which you can unsubscribe from the auto-updates.
These two points may seem a little trifling against the backdrop of the larger debate that’s going on about content sharing online and, well, I guess they are.
If acts like SOPA and PIPA in the US, ACTA in Europe and Sean Sherlock’s Statutory Instrument on Copyright here in Ireland do to the internet what they’re threatening then I’d probably be damn glad to have the chance to tell 150 strangers that I just had a cup of tea that was a little too milky or to have Spotify reveal that I’m indulging in my secret passion of listening to 80’s Eurovision hits.
You’re wondering what my point is here, aren’t you?
Well I guess there are three:
1. The right to share and express ourselves online is a damn important one – don’t let anyone fuck with it.
2. When allowed that right some people with very little worth saying will say a whole lot. Screw ‘em, don’t get your knickers in a twist over it.
3. It’s MY right to share so I’ll choose what to share thanks very much, not you. You may make suggestions, and I may tell you to bugger off or to go for it, but at least do me the courtesy of asking me first. Got that? Great.
Now, if you'll excuse me I believe my Twitter followers are wondering how many Weetabix I had for breakfast this morning.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Choosing the Right Words
As a copywriter I spend a large part of my day thinking about words.
As a human I spend a large part of my day using words.
The difference between the two situations is that in the first I analyse each individual word that I use over and over again whereas in the second I usually use the first word or collection of words that come into my head.
But in advertising we would like to think that our copy sounds more like the second scenario than the first.
We want to write stuff that sounds natural and real, speak to people as we speak to each other.
But it doesn’t always work out that way.
I mean when was the last time you heard an ad on the radio that made you want to punch walls it sounded so ludicrous? Or saw a TV ad with such moronic dialogue that you ended up wanting to throw the remote at the telly, only stopping yourself because it's a fancy new 48inch widescreen HDTV?
I'll take a wild guess and say that it was the last time you listened to the radio or watched TV. Am I right?
As advertising copywriters we spend hours poring over each and every word in a radio commercial or outdoor poster. We let so many people have their say in what word should be used here or how this sentence should be phrased that we often end up removing any hint of naturalness that was there in the first place.
Natural sounding copy should be just that - natural. Dissecting each individual word under a microscope is not conducive to natural sounding writing.
That’s not to say that analysis, editing and revision of what you’re writing is a waste of time. I'm not that brainless.
At the end of the day we’re not writing for the sake of writing, we have a job to do. We have to sell stuff.
So it’s no good writing the most natural sounding copy if people aren’t going to pay a blind bit of attention to it or be motivated to take action.
But it’s also no good editing and overthinking copy to within an inch of its life in the pursuit of natural sounding copy.
People very quickly see through contrived ‘natural’ writing.
And they’re very quick to shut it out and ignore it as well.
The secret to good advertising (he says as if he has decades of experience and it were the easiest thing in the world) is having something good and worthwhile to say. If you have that as your starting point then natural copy should, well, naturally follow.
But just because the writing should be natural doesn’t mean the situations always need to be completely natural.
The latest John Lewis Christmas ad (which I think is great) has been criticised by a lot of people who say that you’d never see a real kid acting like that.
And they’re not wrong.
But when has anything creative been bound to rely on real characters?
Engaging, well developed characters, yes, but real?
Have the characters in every good movie, play or music video you’ve seen acted exactly the way people in the real world do?
No, of course they haven’t.
But if the characters are written well they can still draw you in and feel real and believable in the context in which they appear.
Whether it's in advertising or another creative discipline choosing the right words to put in the mouths of your characters can make you. But trying too hard to choose the right words will definitely break you.
As a human I spend a large part of my day using words.
The difference between the two situations is that in the first I analyse each individual word that I use over and over again whereas in the second I usually use the first word or collection of words that come into my head.
But in advertising we would like to think that our copy sounds more like the second scenario than the first.
We want to write stuff that sounds natural and real, speak to people as we speak to each other.
But it doesn’t always work out that way.
I mean when was the last time you heard an ad on the radio that made you want to punch walls it sounded so ludicrous? Or saw a TV ad with such moronic dialogue that you ended up wanting to throw the remote at the telly, only stopping yourself because it's a fancy new 48inch widescreen HDTV?
I'll take a wild guess and say that it was the last time you listened to the radio or watched TV. Am I right?
As advertising copywriters we spend hours poring over each and every word in a radio commercial or outdoor poster. We let so many people have their say in what word should be used here or how this sentence should be phrased that we often end up removing any hint of naturalness that was there in the first place.
Natural sounding copy should be just that - natural. Dissecting each individual word under a microscope is not conducive to natural sounding writing.
That’s not to say that analysis, editing and revision of what you’re writing is a waste of time. I'm not that brainless.
At the end of the day we’re not writing for the sake of writing, we have a job to do. We have to sell stuff.
So it’s no good writing the most natural sounding copy if people aren’t going to pay a blind bit of attention to it or be motivated to take action.
But it’s also no good editing and overthinking copy to within an inch of its life in the pursuit of natural sounding copy.
People very quickly see through contrived ‘natural’ writing.
And they’re very quick to shut it out and ignore it as well.
The secret to good advertising (he says as if he has decades of experience and it were the easiest thing in the world) is having something good and worthwhile to say. If you have that as your starting point then natural copy should, well, naturally follow.
But just because the writing should be natural doesn’t mean the situations always need to be completely natural.
The latest John Lewis Christmas ad (which I think is great) has been criticised by a lot of people who say that you’d never see a real kid acting like that.
And they’re not wrong.
But when has anything creative been bound to rely on real characters?
Engaging, well developed characters, yes, but real?
Have the characters in every good movie, play or music video you’ve seen acted exactly the way people in the real world do?
No, of course they haven’t.
But if the characters are written well they can still draw you in and feel real and believable in the context in which they appear.
Whether it's in advertising or another creative discipline choosing the right words to put in the mouths of your characters can make you. But trying too hard to choose the right words will definitely break you.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
An Interesting Concept
I’ve never been a particular Metallica fan. That’s not to say I dislike them. They have a bunch of great tunes - you'd have to be musically numb not to want to rock out to 'Enter Sandman' or 'Master of Puppets', and 'Nothing Else Matters' is one of the best tunes from the past 20 years, particularly when it's performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, but that's about as far as it goes for me when it comes to their music.
The same can be said for Lou Reed - who doesn't automatically think of 'Perfect Day' when they hear a mention of something that happened back in 1997? But again, I'm no hardcore Lou Reed lover.
And for me these two acts have always been in completely separate musical spheres, travelling on different orbits, never even threatening to collide.
I’m sure I’m not unique in thinking that.
That’s why my ears pricked up when I heard that Lou Reed had invited Metallica to collaborate on a concept album inspired by 2 plays by German playwright Frank Wedekind.
On first appearances it’s not exactly a musical combination crafted by the hands of the great Apollo himself.
I’ve been dipping in and out of the album for most of today and my initial reaction is, well, I don’t quite know what my initial reaction is.
Concept albums themselves can be dodgy territory. Sometimes they’re sensational, groundbreaking, era defining albums. Sometimes they’re annoying, musical wankery, full of their own self worth. Other times they’re just pure musical sludge.
Where Lulu falls I’m really not sure. Apologies for planting my arse so firmly on the fence on this one but all I can say for now is that, for me, it sits somewhere in the triangle of those three extremes. It’s exact position in that triangle? I’m currently undecided.
Lou Reed supposedly claims it’s the greatest thing he’s ever done. Album sales would beg to differ (it sold only 15,000 copies in its first week on sale).
Reviews can't seem to find a consensus. Some say it's 'excellent', while others claim it's the 'worst piece of junk to be produced in album form in the last 20 years.'
Luckily for us recovering students and people with security codes on our wallets we don't need to fork out hard-earned cash to figure out who we agree with because Lou, James, Lars, Kirk and Robert have kindly put it all online here, for free. Why, I don't know.
If you're not bothered listening to the whole thing here's one of the tracks, 'The View', for your aural pleasure:
Now, to go find someone I can pitch that Leonard Cohen/Slipknot duet album to.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
There's a War on. See Twitter for Updates
I’m a big fan of Twitter. I've written before about why I think it's so great and some of the incredible things people have done using Twitter as their foundation.
Well lately I’ve come across a great new account that's my latest obsession: @RealTimeWWII
It’s a fantastic idea. Someone (my guess is that it's a group of people) started tweeting on September 1st, the day in 1939 when the Germans invaded Gdansk in Poland and World War 2 began, real time updates as if we were back in 1939 and the war were taking place.
Something similar was done through Facebook a while back (you can see a jpeg of it here) and while it was impressive and well done, it wasn’t nearly as detailed or as engaging as this Twitter account.
This guy (or these guys) tweet several updates a day including quotes, pictures and videos. The amount of information and the level of detail is astonishing. We get tweets about the famous speeches and actions of Hitler at the major Nazi rallies as well as quotes and pictures from individuals you've never heard of who were living in the ghettos or concentration camps. It literally covers the whole spectrum, from the major turning points in the war to the daily lives of those suffering through it.
Here's just a small sample of some of the tweets:
Aside from being a really interesting account of the events of World War II it also gets you thinking; we’re so used to instant updates on major world events through Twitter, what would it have been like had Twitter been around for other historical events? Would it have shaped their progress and outcome, as Twitter has done with major events like the current ‘Occupy Protests’ or the political movements in the Middle East over the past few months?
Wouldn’t it be great to see similar accounts for other historical events – the Irish Civil War, Columbus’ voyage to America, the Spanish Inquisition.
Of course the thing about WWII is that it was in the very recent past so there are lots of video, photographic and documentary footage and resources available, that’s why this one works so well.
To say that something is ‘brought to life’ is a bit of a cliché but it definitely presents the events of the war in a way that hasn't been done before and a way that is really engaging and captivating.
There's also huge potential here to use Twitter as an educational tool. I reckon social media is going to be used more and more in education in the future and this is a great example of how it can be done.
So go and check out RealWorldWWII and if you know of any other Twitter accounts doing somehing similar involving different events from history please let me know.
Well lately I’ve come across a great new account that's my latest obsession: @RealTimeWWII
It’s a fantastic idea. Someone (my guess is that it's a group of people) started tweeting on September 1st, the day in 1939 when the Germans invaded Gdansk in Poland and World War 2 began, real time updates as if we were back in 1939 and the war were taking place.
Something similar was done through Facebook a while back (you can see a jpeg of it here) and while it was impressive and well done, it wasn’t nearly as detailed or as engaging as this Twitter account.
This guy (or these guys) tweet several updates a day including quotes, pictures and videos. The amount of information and the level of detail is astonishing. We get tweets about the famous speeches and actions of Hitler at the major Nazi rallies as well as quotes and pictures from individuals you've never heard of who were living in the ghettos or concentration camps. It literally covers the whole spectrum, from the major turning points in the war to the daily lives of those suffering through it.
Here's just a small sample of some of the tweets:
Aside from being a really interesting account of the events of World War II it also gets you thinking; we’re so used to instant updates on major world events through Twitter, what would it have been like had Twitter been around for other historical events? Would it have shaped their progress and outcome, as Twitter has done with major events like the current ‘Occupy Protests’ or the political movements in the Middle East over the past few months?
Wouldn’t it be great to see similar accounts for other historical events – the Irish Civil War, Columbus’ voyage to America, the Spanish Inquisition.
Of course the thing about WWII is that it was in the very recent past so there are lots of video, photographic and documentary footage and resources available, that’s why this one works so well.
To say that something is ‘brought to life’ is a bit of a cliché but it definitely presents the events of the war in a way that hasn't been done before and a way that is really engaging and captivating.
There's also huge potential here to use Twitter as an educational tool. I reckon social media is going to be used more and more in education in the future and this is a great example of how it can be done.
So go and check out RealWorldWWII and if you know of any other Twitter accounts doing somehing similar involving different events from history please let me know.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Facebook - You're off the Christmas Card List
Here, Facebook, Zuckerberg, listen up.
I’m angry. And it’s your fault.
I know how this game works. I sign up. You collect as much data on me as you can possibly get your money-filled hands on and then use that to sell access to me and my mates to advertisers.
Then you give me the option to choose exactly what updates I see from each of my friends so it seems like it's actually for my benefit that you're making all these changes.
I get that. Welcome to 21st Century internet, please leave your privacy at the door. I’m not totally cool with it but I don’t lose sleep over it.
And I’m still a Facebook user so I obviously don’t have too much of a problem with it.
But where I do have a problem, Mr. Zee, is when you make me miss out on cool shit. Cool shit like this:
I don't understand exactly how you’re doing it but you’re only showing me the things YOU think I’LL be interested in.
How do you know what I’m interested in? All your delicious data tells you everything you need to know about what I like, doesn't it?
Sure it does.
My brother posted that video by funny Ozzie Tim Minchin to Facebook a few days ago. It didn’t appear in my timeline because I’m automatically subscribed to most of his updates instead of all of them. Facebook decided that this was one I wouldn’t like so it kept it hidden from me (or maybe they decided I’d be offended by the repeated use of the most vulgar of words – boobies). When my brother asked had I seen it I went to find it on his page – no sign of it. So I signed out, my brother signed in and lo and behold the video was there.
Back the truck up a bit. Now you’re not even showing me everything on someone’s own profile page? What the hell is going on here? What's the point in posting anything if you get to decide who sees it and who doesn't? Are you only showing me what you think I’ll like or are you only showing me what you want me to like?
The thing is Mark (do you mind if I call you Mark? Mr. Zuckerberg is so formal), you can gather all the data you want on someone but it’s very bloody difficult to predict what they’re gonna like and not like. Start doing that and you might start pissing people off. Sometimes we only know what we do or don't like after we've seen it.
If I'm friends with someone I generally have something in common with them and want to see what they share. If I don't like it I'll unfriend them or else I'll comment and tell them that their tastes are far inferior to mine could they please stop wasting my time with mindless links and updates.
I don't need you to do it for me.
I know, I know. I can go and change the settings for each of my friends so that I see ALL of their updates instead of just MOST, but why make it so complicated? How about you just let me choose who to be friends with and who not to?
The thing is, you're hiding genuinely funny and interesting content from me (there were about four other posts on my brother's wall that were hidden to me) but I'm still seeing all those stupid posts about how someone had cold beans for dinner or how someone’s cat just winked at their frog and the frog smiled back.
You're doing a job I don't want you to do and you're not even doing it well.
Jeez, I’m a hard man to please, eh?
I’m angry. And it’s your fault.
I know how this game works. I sign up. You collect as much data on me as you can possibly get your money-filled hands on and then use that to sell access to me and my mates to advertisers.
Then you give me the option to choose exactly what updates I see from each of my friends so it seems like it's actually for my benefit that you're making all these changes.
I get that. Welcome to 21st Century internet, please leave your privacy at the door. I’m not totally cool with it but I don’t lose sleep over it.
And I’m still a Facebook user so I obviously don’t have too much of a problem with it.
But where I do have a problem, Mr. Zee, is when you make me miss out on cool shit. Cool shit like this:
I don't understand exactly how you’re doing it but you’re only showing me the things YOU think I’LL be interested in.
How do you know what I’m interested in? All your delicious data tells you everything you need to know about what I like, doesn't it?
Sure it does.
My brother posted that video by funny Ozzie Tim Minchin to Facebook a few days ago. It didn’t appear in my timeline because I’m automatically subscribed to most of his updates instead of all of them. Facebook decided that this was one I wouldn’t like so it kept it hidden from me (or maybe they decided I’d be offended by the repeated use of the most vulgar of words – boobies). When my brother asked had I seen it I went to find it on his page – no sign of it. So I signed out, my brother signed in and lo and behold the video was there.
Back the truck up a bit. Now you’re not even showing me everything on someone’s own profile page? What the hell is going on here? What's the point in posting anything if you get to decide who sees it and who doesn't? Are you only showing me what you think I’ll like or are you only showing me what you want me to like?
The thing is Mark (do you mind if I call you Mark? Mr. Zuckerberg is so formal), you can gather all the data you want on someone but it’s very bloody difficult to predict what they’re gonna like and not like. Start doing that and you might start pissing people off. Sometimes we only know what we do or don't like after we've seen it.
If I'm friends with someone I generally have something in common with them and want to see what they share. If I don't like it I'll unfriend them or else I'll comment and tell them that their tastes are far inferior to mine could they please stop wasting my time with mindless links and updates.
I don't need you to do it for me.
I know, I know. I can go and change the settings for each of my friends so that I see ALL of their updates instead of just MOST, but why make it so complicated? How about you just let me choose who to be friends with and who not to?
The thing is, you're hiding genuinely funny and interesting content from me (there were about four other posts on my brother's wall that were hidden to me) but I'm still seeing all those stupid posts about how someone had cold beans for dinner or how someone’s cat just winked at their frog and the frog smiled back.
You're doing a job I don't want you to do and you're not even doing it well.
Jeez, I’m a hard man to please, eh?
Monday, September 12, 2011
All Aboard the Bandwagon
Yes I’m jumping on the bandwagon.
The bandwagon whose name I won’t mention because that’s what they want me to do. But you all know the one I’m talking about. The one with women playing sports and eating crisps.
I’m jumping aboard because it pisses me off.
Not because it’s offensive to women or anything like that.
But because it’s just stupid, and cheap, and easy, and it gives advertising a bad name.
And God knows it already has a bad enough name as it is.
Advertising is exploitative, manipulative, lowest common denominator stuff.
Or that’s what people tell me anyway.
But it doesn’t have to be.
When it’s done properly, when it’s genuinely creative and engaging, advertising can come up with some of the most powerful and impressive stuff you’ll see.
Sure, the objective is to sell stuff. But at the end of the day we’re all trying to sell something.
It’s a bit like in school when it’s always ‘a few of the bad kids that ruin it for everyone else.’ Easy, cheap and crap advertising like this just perpetuates the bad image that advertising has.
Sure the advertising world is populated by twits and tossers just out to make as much dough as possible, but you get people like that in all walks of life.
It’s also full of genuinely creative and ambitious people who want to make something new, worthy and interesting. Guys who want to do amazing stuff like the spectacular ‘1984’ ad to launch the Apple Macintosh, Bing’s brilliant Decode Jay-Z campaign from last year or the Voyeur Project from HBO in 2007, stuff that’s about much more than just encouraging people to put their hands in their pockets and splash out on your latest moneyspinner.
I’d like to think that most people get into advertising to be a part of really cool things like these. Using a hot model with digitally enlarged knockers to sell crisps just makes it harder for everyone else to get some credit and respect for the great work they do.
Selfish gits.
But what do I know eh? I’m just a noob. This whole business could chew me up and spit me out before I’ve had a chance to use sex to sell anything. All I'll have then are my naive ambitions and a packet of crisps (come on, I had to buy the crisps, did you see that girl's chest?).
The bandwagon whose name I won’t mention because that’s what they want me to do. But you all know the one I’m talking about. The one with women playing sports and eating crisps.
I’m jumping aboard because it pisses me off.
Not because it’s offensive to women or anything like that.
But because it’s just stupid, and cheap, and easy, and it gives advertising a bad name.
And God knows it already has a bad enough name as it is.
Advertising is exploitative, manipulative, lowest common denominator stuff.
Or that’s what people tell me anyway.
But it doesn’t have to be.
When it’s done properly, when it’s genuinely creative and engaging, advertising can come up with some of the most powerful and impressive stuff you’ll see.
Sure, the objective is to sell stuff. But at the end of the day we’re all trying to sell something.
It’s a bit like in school when it’s always ‘a few of the bad kids that ruin it for everyone else.’ Easy, cheap and crap advertising like this just perpetuates the bad image that advertising has.
Sure the advertising world is populated by twits and tossers just out to make as much dough as possible, but you get people like that in all walks of life.
It’s also full of genuinely creative and ambitious people who want to make something new, worthy and interesting. Guys who want to do amazing stuff like the spectacular ‘1984’ ad to launch the Apple Macintosh, Bing’s brilliant Decode Jay-Z campaign from last year or the Voyeur Project from HBO in 2007, stuff that’s about much more than just encouraging people to put their hands in their pockets and splash out on your latest moneyspinner.
I’d like to think that most people get into advertising to be a part of really cool things like these. Using a hot model with digitally enlarged knockers to sell crisps just makes it harder for everyone else to get some credit and respect for the great work they do.
Selfish gits.
But what do I know eh? I’m just a noob. This whole business could chew me up and spit me out before I’ve had a chance to use sex to sell anything. All I'll have then are my naive ambitions and a packet of crisps (come on, I had to buy the crisps, did you see that girl's chest?).
Friday, September 2, 2011
Touch, Pause...Engage: It's Rugby World Cup Time
September is just beginning and for the rugby fanatics among us that means that the long awaited Rugby World Cup is almost here. At last.
A month ago I was bursting with excitement in anticipation of this competition but after spending August watching Ireland splutter and fumble their way through four frustrating warm up losses my excitement has been slightly dampened.
But I’m not here to vent and rage about dropped passes and knock-ons. And anyway, no-one cares what a guy who gave up playing rugby when he was 13 because training clashed with Eastenders (No, I’m not proud) has to say.
But I am here to talk about ads and with a global audience of over 4 billion people advertisers are wetting themselves with excitement, not at the thought of watching six weeks of scintillating rugby, but at the opportunity to capitalise on people’s passion for the sport and its premier showpiece.
So over the past few weeks we’ve seen more and more rugger related ads grace our screens. And if you couldn’t give two hoots about 30 men putting their heads between each other’s legs and chasing an egg shaped ball around a field for 80 minutes then unfortunately September is only going to get worse for you.
So what kind of ads are people putting out there?
Well, the New Zealand company Telecom, who sponsor the All Blacks, put their heads together and came up with a foolproof plan to encourage people to get behind the competition and their team – they asked people to abstain from sex to show their support.
No really, I’m serious.
It won’t come as much of a surprise to discover that the campaign was cancelled before it even launched. What, you mean New Zealanders found the idea of abstaining from sex to support their national rugby team to be stupid and embarrassing? What’s wrong with these people?
Across the water O2 and our auld enemy England have come up with a nice little idea to encourage people to get over the early kick-off times and get behind their team – free breakfasts.
Now I actually quite like this ad and the free breakfasts idea. Sure it’s nothing special and it won’t have awards juries picking their jaws up out of their Cornflakes or grinning from ear to ear, but it’s a nice idea and it’s well done, even seeing the big happy heads on Martin Johnson and Chris Ashton doesn’t make my blood boil too much.
My only qualm would be the line ‘Get up for England.’ Maybe I’m being childish and juvenile but it just feels like there’s more than one way to interpret it, and one of those interpretations is the complete opposite to what the folks down in New Zealand were being asked to do.
Or do I just need to grow up?
Over here O2 have enlisted the help of a few of the players for their RWC campaign too and have offered fans the chance to play them next.
I’m not really sure when or where you get to play them but if you do then it’s quite a nice idea to get people involved. People always like seeing their sporting heroes in contexts other than on the pitch and of course plenty of people would sell their granny’s false teeth for a chance of a kickabout with Messrs O’Driscoll, O’Connell and Sexton.
Possibly the best ones I’ve come across are from Sky TV in New Zealand. Unlike Telecom they’ve managed to have a bit of a larf without making complete tools of themselves in the process.
No need to reinvent the wheel when you’re trying to be funny. Just take a bit of a sideways look at things and you’ll usually be onto something. There’s another one of these here.
We could go on and on here folks. Everyone wants to join the party. Mastercard have done a series of short videos celebrating rugby traditions in Samoa, New Zealand and South Africa. Quite nice they are too if you’re a rugby fan. Probably just more noise if you’re not.
Toshiba have covered your walls in crayon and colouring pencil but don’t worry, they’ve much better drawing skills than your little 4 year old terror. Powerade and Heineken have gone down the passion route. Fine, if that’s what you’re into.
And of course it wouldn’t be a global tournament without Coca Cola getting in on the act.
I’m sure there are tonnes of other RWC ads out there so feel free to share any others you find.
In the meantime I’ve got to go catch up on recordings of Eastend…eh…Britain’s Toughest Gangs. Yeah, I only watch the manly stuff me. Innit!
A month ago I was bursting with excitement in anticipation of this competition but after spending August watching Ireland splutter and fumble their way through four frustrating warm up losses my excitement has been slightly dampened.
But I’m not here to vent and rage about dropped passes and knock-ons. And anyway, no-one cares what a guy who gave up playing rugby when he was 13 because training clashed with Eastenders (No, I’m not proud) has to say.
But I am here to talk about ads and with a global audience of over 4 billion people advertisers are wetting themselves with excitement, not at the thought of watching six weeks of scintillating rugby, but at the opportunity to capitalise on people’s passion for the sport and its premier showpiece.
So over the past few weeks we’ve seen more and more rugger related ads grace our screens. And if you couldn’t give two hoots about 30 men putting their heads between each other’s legs and chasing an egg shaped ball around a field for 80 minutes then unfortunately September is only going to get worse for you.
So what kind of ads are people putting out there?
Well, the New Zealand company Telecom, who sponsor the All Blacks, put their heads together and came up with a foolproof plan to encourage people to get behind the competition and their team – they asked people to abstain from sex to show their support.
No really, I’m serious.
It won’t come as much of a surprise to discover that the campaign was cancelled before it even launched. What, you mean New Zealanders found the idea of abstaining from sex to support their national rugby team to be stupid and embarrassing? What’s wrong with these people?
Across the water O2 and our auld enemy England have come up with a nice little idea to encourage people to get over the early kick-off times and get behind their team – free breakfasts.
Now I actually quite like this ad and the free breakfasts idea. Sure it’s nothing special and it won’t have awards juries picking their jaws up out of their Cornflakes or grinning from ear to ear, but it’s a nice idea and it’s well done, even seeing the big happy heads on Martin Johnson and Chris Ashton doesn’t make my blood boil too much.
My only qualm would be the line ‘Get up for England.’ Maybe I’m being childish and juvenile but it just feels like there’s more than one way to interpret it, and one of those interpretations is the complete opposite to what the folks down in New Zealand were being asked to do.
Or do I just need to grow up?
Over here O2 have enlisted the help of a few of the players for their RWC campaign too and have offered fans the chance to play them next.
I’m not really sure when or where you get to play them but if you do then it’s quite a nice idea to get people involved. People always like seeing their sporting heroes in contexts other than on the pitch and of course plenty of people would sell their granny’s false teeth for a chance of a kickabout with Messrs O’Driscoll, O’Connell and Sexton.
Possibly the best ones I’ve come across are from Sky TV in New Zealand. Unlike Telecom they’ve managed to have a bit of a larf without making complete tools of themselves in the process.
No need to reinvent the wheel when you’re trying to be funny. Just take a bit of a sideways look at things and you’ll usually be onto something. There’s another one of these here.
We could go on and on here folks. Everyone wants to join the party. Mastercard have done a series of short videos celebrating rugby traditions in Samoa, New Zealand and South Africa. Quite nice they are too if you’re a rugby fan. Probably just more noise if you’re not.
Toshiba have covered your walls in crayon and colouring pencil but don’t worry, they’ve much better drawing skills than your little 4 year old terror. Powerade and Heineken have gone down the passion route. Fine, if that’s what you’re into.
And of course it wouldn’t be a global tournament without Coca Cola getting in on the act.
I’m sure there are tonnes of other RWC ads out there so feel free to share any others you find.
In the meantime I’ve got to go catch up on recordings of Eastend…eh…Britain’s Toughest Gangs. Yeah, I only watch the manly stuff me. Innit!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Moving House
In my case I’m moving because my better half has gotten a new job across the other side of the city and doesn’t fancy a 2 hour, 2 bus commute to and from work each day. Seeing as I work in the city centre I theoretically have an easy commute from anywhere.
So we’re packing our whole lives into boxes and moving into a smaller, more expensive apartment in a ‘cooler’ part of town, whatever the hell that is.
Packing can be quite a demoralising exercise when you realise that you’re filling box after box with clothes that no longer fit you and photos and memorabilia from your J1 trip back in ’06. I find myself wondering what the hell I’ve been doing for the past 5 years, aside from eating too many Oreo Double Creams and staring at my brand new runners sitting, lonely and unused, by the door.
For sure there’s something exciting about moving house. Getting the keys to your place and beginning the process of making it home.
“Where’ll we hang this picture, the only one we have in seven years of dating where we’re both looking at the camera, eyes open, nice smiles, not looking like something that’s just been dragged through a bush backwards?”
“Yes I want to keep that oversized cardboard guitar I snuck out of the Irish bar in San Fran. We’ll find room for it somewhere. Sure isn’t it signed by yer man who was nearly the guitarist for The Strokes, we can’t throw it out.”
“Oh and make sure you leave room in the press for the smoothie maker I got for Christmas two years ago and have only used once, I’m definitely gonna start using it again once we’ve settled in.”
It’s also a big massive pain in the arse! I was happy where we were, I knew the whole setup. Rent was due the day after wages landed in my account – sweet. I knew the neighbours. OK they didn’t really speak any English and there were what seemed like 18 of them in a two-bed apartment, but at least I knew they weren’t crazies and they did give us a jug of milk that time we ran out so they must be sound.
And the recycling. Oh God, I’ll have to get used to a whole new recycling system. At least in the old place I knew that drinks cans could go with plastic bottles but food cans had to go in a separate bin. And paper always went in its own bin. What if it’s different in the new gaff? What if I end up inadvertently mixing dry recyclables and, well, not dry ones? Jeez, I could be making enemies of the bin men before I’ve even had a chance to mumble an awkward hello as I pass them in the morning – and they’re pretty menacing looking guys.
Then there’s parking. This new place only has on-street parking and, ashamed as I am to admit it, I never learned to parallel park. I’ll probably end up using a car park in town and getting a bus out to the apartment. Sod the expense, it’s easier than having a queue of angry drivers beeping at me as I try for the fifth time to reverse my little Corsa into a space the size of a village in Kerry.
OK my panic levels are beginning to get a little too high. Time to take a deep breath, lie down and maybe watch some telly to relax.
GODDAMMIT! This couch doesn’t have my groove in it and I haven’t a clue how to work this bloody remote.
Call the old landlord, tell him we’ve had a change of heart.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Social Media After You Die
I came across this interesting TED talk about what happens your social media profiles after you die recently.
It's something not a lot of people ever really think about but if you died tomorrow how long would your Facebook or Twitter profiles last and what kind of lasting memory would it leave of you?
I remember a few years ago when Bebo was still king I knew of a few people who died tragically young and I remember seeing all the messages left on their page in awful txt speak and it just didn't seem right. The setting and style of the messages just didn't seem appropriate.
On the other side of the coin a friend of mine passed away a little over a year ago. He was in his early thirties and was an extremely popular guy. In the few days after he died his Facebook profile turned into a collection of stories and memories people had about him. They were all really nice, funny and fond memories of the guy and I'm sure it would have been nice for his family to read, given that they probably hadn't heard a lot of them before.
Adam Ostrow looks at it from a slightly different but still rather interesting perspective in this Ted Talk.
It's something that we'll start to think about and discuss more and more as a generation of people who grew up on social networks begin the long walk towards the light.
It's something not a lot of people ever really think about but if you died tomorrow how long would your Facebook or Twitter profiles last and what kind of lasting memory would it leave of you?
I remember a few years ago when Bebo was still king I knew of a few people who died tragically young and I remember seeing all the messages left on their page in awful txt speak and it just didn't seem right. The setting and style of the messages just didn't seem appropriate.
On the other side of the coin a friend of mine passed away a little over a year ago. He was in his early thirties and was an extremely popular guy. In the few days after he died his Facebook profile turned into a collection of stories and memories people had about him. They were all really nice, funny and fond memories of the guy and I'm sure it would have been nice for his family to read, given that they probably hadn't heard a lot of them before.
Adam Ostrow looks at it from a slightly different but still rather interesting perspective in this Ted Talk.
It's something that we'll start to think about and discuss more and more as a generation of people who grew up on social networks begin the long walk towards the light.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Give Brando a Sweet
Brando, the agency I'm currently interning at, are running this really clever and fun project via Twitter. It's called Tweet Sweets and it makes going into work even more fun than it was before.
Some of you will probably have seen an awful lot of #imjusttestingthisatbrando and then, more recently, #tweetsweets appearing in my Twitter feed. Apologies for clogging up your feeds with annoying hashtags for a while, things should go back to normal now.
'But what the hell is going on?' you're wondering?
Well, the clever kids a Brando have hooked a gumball machine up to Twitter so that whenever someone sends a tweet to @Brando_Digital containing the hastag #tweetsweets.
There's a live webcam set up so when you tweet us a sweet you can watch us collect and eat the sweet. We also get up to all kinds of silliness and crazy antics just to entertain our tweeters (and to avoid having to do any real work).
I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing in the photo above but on Friday I made a fool of myself on camera by doing the Hucklebuck, the David Brent dance, playing Rocky and Harry Potter, among other things.
It's great fun and a great way of having conversations with people.
We've had an unbelievable amount of sweets tweeted in so far, the collective weight of everyone in the office has probably risen by several stone in the two days it's been live, I shudder to think how many sweets we'll all have eaten by the end of next week.
The magic gumball machine is resting for the weekend so it's ready to pump out sweets again come Monday morning.
Be sure to pop over to the Tweet Sweets Website on Monday, send us a sweet and make us do something silly.
Some of you will probably have seen an awful lot of #imjusttestingthisatbrando and then, more recently, #tweetsweets appearing in my Twitter feed. Apologies for clogging up your feeds with annoying hashtags for a while, things should go back to normal now.
'But what the hell is going on?' you're wondering?
Well, the clever kids a Brando have hooked a gumball machine up to Twitter so that whenever someone sends a tweet to @Brando_Digital containing the hastag #tweetsweets.
There's a live webcam set up so when you tweet us a sweet you can watch us collect and eat the sweet. We also get up to all kinds of silliness and crazy antics just to entertain our tweeters (and to avoid having to do any real work).
I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing in the photo above but on Friday I made a fool of myself on camera by doing the Hucklebuck, the David Brent dance, playing Rocky and Harry Potter, among other things.
It's great fun and a great way of having conversations with people.
We've had an unbelievable amount of sweets tweeted in so far, the collective weight of everyone in the office has probably risen by several stone in the two days it's been live, I shudder to think how many sweets we'll all have eaten by the end of next week.
The magic gumball machine is resting for the weekend so it's ready to pump out sweets again come Monday morning.
Be sure to pop over to the Tweet Sweets Website on Monday, send us a sweet and make us do something silly.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Are you a Plank or an Owl?
Me, I'm neither. And never will be. I should hope you're the same.
Everyone's seen this new 'craze' sweeping the globe and clogging up my twitter stream - Planking and Owling.
I'm not going to soil this blog by posting pictures of either activity here - I'd rather post pictures of a certain female former minister for health dressed in her birthday suit - but if you don't know what they are a quick google image search will show you everything you need to know about this moronic activity.
Seriously, is this what we've become? I just don't get it. How or when did this become accepted as something that we not only tolerate but that we actually encourage people to do, and then look at their stupid photos afterwards?
We are (supposedly) an incredibly advanced race, capable of amazing and wondrous things. We've been to outer space and to the bottom of oceans. We've created the internet, a mindblowingly powerful communication tool.
And what do we use it for? To post photos of people lying on random objects and squatting as if they're about to poop on top of a chair/table/person/wherever the hell you think it's funny.
I despair, I really do.
Thankfully karma can be a bitch, and has a great way of righting some of the wrongs that these planks and owls have inflicted upon us.
I have no sympathy for this girl. But I do owe her a huge thanks, she made me laugh almost as much as the weird clown girl dancing to Beyonce.
Please be sure to share and more videos of spectacular planking fails.
Apologies for the amount of anger and vitriol in this post but it's Monday, I'll cheer up soon, I promise.
Right, I'm off to curl up in a ball and lie on a lit barbecue, I think it could catch on.
Everyone's seen this new 'craze' sweeping the globe and clogging up my twitter stream - Planking and Owling.
I'm not going to soil this blog by posting pictures of either activity here - I'd rather post pictures of a certain female former minister for health dressed in her birthday suit - but if you don't know what they are a quick google image search will show you everything you need to know about this moronic activity.
Seriously, is this what we've become? I just don't get it. How or when did this become accepted as something that we not only tolerate but that we actually encourage people to do, and then look at their stupid photos afterwards?
We are (supposedly) an incredibly advanced race, capable of amazing and wondrous things. We've been to outer space and to the bottom of oceans. We've created the internet, a mindblowingly powerful communication tool.
And what do we use it for? To post photos of people lying on random objects and squatting as if they're about to poop on top of a chair/table/person/wherever the hell you think it's funny.
I despair, I really do.
Thankfully karma can be a bitch, and has a great way of righting some of the wrongs that these planks and owls have inflicted upon us.
I have no sympathy for this girl. But I do owe her a huge thanks, she made me laugh almost as much as the weird clown girl dancing to Beyonce.
Please be sure to share and more videos of spectacular planking fails.
Apologies for the amount of anger and vitriol in this post but it's Monday, I'll cheer up soon, I promise.
Right, I'm off to curl up in a ball and lie on a lit barbecue, I think it could catch on.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Ireland in Bitesize
I really enjoyed this video with some interesting and 100% accurate observations about Ireland from the brilliant Colm O'Regan.
Colm is playing at Whelan's tonight tonight (and I'll be there, not performing, possibly heckling) and you can find more info about his upcoming shows and read some of his previous articles he's written for The Cork News I suggest that you pencil in a free afternoon for these because once you've read one or two you'll want to read the whole back catalogue) at his website.
Now, time to go enjoy a bit of this rare sunny afternoon.
Colm is playing at Whelan's tonight tonight (and I'll be there, not performing, possibly heckling) and you can find more info about his upcoming shows and read some of his previous articles he's written for The Cork News I suggest that you pencil in a free afternoon for these because once you've read one or two you'll want to read the whole back catalogue) at his website.
Now, time to go enjoy a bit of this rare sunny afternoon.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Er, Keep Your Bits In Luv
So circumstances* conspired against me recently, which resulted in this blog being cast aside like an old mattress when you've just bought a fancy new memory-foam one. Well fear not old mattress fans, I have returned, sans memory foam.
So I know this is a few days old now but I just wanted to throw my 2 cents into the ring on the ad that's making a few waves in the Irish advertising scene at the moment - the new Club Orange ad.
To be honest I don't find it offensive, obnoxious or rude, although I can see why other people may react that way to it. I just find it a bit stupid. I know, I know, the whole point of it is to be controversial, get people talking about it, generate word-of-mouth, get as many mentions on blogs and social media as possible, yadda yadda yadda. I get that that's how ads like these work I just think it's the easy option.
We all know that sex sells. We all know that controversy generates word-of-mouth and that there's no such thing as bad publicity. But it's easy to put those ingredients together and come up with something like the ad above. What's much more difficult is coming up with a clever and engaging way of selling your product, a way that will grab people's attention because of it's creativity or it's uniqueness. Just throwing a few hot women in bikinis in your ad is talking down to people and treating them like morons, it's not trying to speak to people on their level in a way that's never been done before. I'm sure this ad will be pretty successful but for me successful advertising doesn't necessarily mean good advertising (Let's leave aside the discussion on what is 'successful' and what defines 'good advertising', that's for another day).
So fair play to Club Orange, I'm sure this ad is doing exactly what they had hoped it would but in my opinion they've taken the lazy man's approach to advertising.
I really enjoyed this blog from Una Mullally over on The Anti Room about it and there's a good debate going on in the comments there too, well worth a gander.
Anyway, I've given the suits at Club Orange exactly what they wanted, a few extra views of the ad and a bit more discussion around it. I'm just another cog in the machine.
*In reality I was completely snowed under with college work in the final build up to the industry presentation, which went really well, thanks for asking. After that I was getting stuck into job hunting, which I'm happy to say was successful as I've somehow managed to land myself an internship at Brando, an awesome digital agency in Dublin. Wish me luck
So I know this is a few days old now but I just wanted to throw my 2 cents into the ring on the ad that's making a few waves in the Irish advertising scene at the moment - the new Club Orange ad.
To be honest I don't find it offensive, obnoxious or rude, although I can see why other people may react that way to it. I just find it a bit stupid. I know, I know, the whole point of it is to be controversial, get people talking about it, generate word-of-mouth, get as many mentions on blogs and social media as possible, yadda yadda yadda. I get that that's how ads like these work I just think it's the easy option.
We all know that sex sells. We all know that controversy generates word-of-mouth and that there's no such thing as bad publicity. But it's easy to put those ingredients together and come up with something like the ad above. What's much more difficult is coming up with a clever and engaging way of selling your product, a way that will grab people's attention because of it's creativity or it's uniqueness. Just throwing a few hot women in bikinis in your ad is talking down to people and treating them like morons, it's not trying to speak to people on their level in a way that's never been done before. I'm sure this ad will be pretty successful but for me successful advertising doesn't necessarily mean good advertising (Let's leave aside the discussion on what is 'successful' and what defines 'good advertising', that's for another day).
So fair play to Club Orange, I'm sure this ad is doing exactly what they had hoped it would but in my opinion they've taken the lazy man's approach to advertising.
I really enjoyed this blog from Una Mullally over on The Anti Room about it and there's a good debate going on in the comments there too, well worth a gander.
Anyway, I've given the suits at Club Orange exactly what they wanted, a few extra views of the ad and a bit more discussion around it. I'm just another cog in the machine.
*In reality I was completely snowed under with college work in the final build up to the industry presentation, which went really well, thanks for asking. After that I was getting stuck into job hunting, which I'm happy to say was successful as I've somehow managed to land myself an internship at Brando, an awesome digital agency in Dublin. Wish me luck
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
IKEA Goodies
Seeing as IKEA was recently named as Advertiser of the Year at Cannes I decided I'd drag myself away from tweaking my portfolio in preparation for Portfolio Night 9 in two days time to root out a few of my favourite IKEA ads. There are an awful lot of great ones to choose from as in general IKEA have produced some outstanding advertising over the years. This could turn in to a very long post so for the sake of brevity I've limited myself to three ads and only allowed myself to choose one from any given medium - no easy task.
First up is this brilliant ambient piece from Frankfurt in Germany:
When it comes to TV it's so hard to choose. I went for their recent 'Kitchen Party' ad. The music is as if it were written for the ad (although it wasn't) and the design of the set is simply brilliant. I could just as easily have gone for the ad directed by Spike Jonze or the Cats commercial either.
And lastly I like this press ad, also from Germany. It's nothing astounding or groundbreaking, just a funny idea, well executed to make a simple point.
In college recently we worked on a brief for IKEA and some of the work was pretty outstanding, even compared to some of the stuff above (I'm not talking about my own campaign here, but some of my classmates') so if any IKEA bigwigs happen to randomly fall across this site then you could do a whole lot worse than drop over to www.adgrad.ie (our shiny new class website) and check out some of the burgeoning talent we have among our ranks.
Right, that's it, time to get back to this blasted portfolio. Wish me and my fellow adgraders luck for Thursday night.
First up is this brilliant ambient piece from Frankfurt in Germany:
When it comes to TV it's so hard to choose. I went for their recent 'Kitchen Party' ad. The music is as if it were written for the ad (although it wasn't) and the design of the set is simply brilliant. I could just as easily have gone for the ad directed by Spike Jonze or the Cats commercial either.
And lastly I like this press ad, also from Germany. It's nothing astounding or groundbreaking, just a funny idea, well executed to make a simple point.
In college recently we worked on a brief for IKEA and some of the work was pretty outstanding, even compared to some of the stuff above (I'm not talking about my own campaign here, but some of my classmates') so if any IKEA bigwigs happen to randomly fall across this site then you could do a whole lot worse than drop over to www.adgrad.ie (our shiny new class website) and check out some of the burgeoning talent we have among our ranks.
Right, that's it, time to get back to this blasted portfolio. Wish me and my fellow adgraders luck for Thursday night.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
I wrote a few weeks ago about some cool new projects that are being made possible thanks to new social media like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube (How long do these have to be around before we stop calling them 'new'? They've all been around for a good few years now. Or is it just me that's still calling them new?). I'd forgotten about this one at the time but it's another brilliant example.
Eric Whitacre is a young grammy nominated composer from the states who used Youtube to put together a 'virtual choir' to perform a number of his compositions. I won't go into too much detail about it because he explains everything you need to know in this talk from Ted 2011. The video is about 15 mins long and even if classical music isn't really your thing it's still well worth a look. The sheer volume of work that must have gone into a project like this is in itself pretty astounding.
Personally I prefer the music of Lux Aurumque but I love the artwork on Sleep, it's really clever and does a great job at visually demonstrating how the whole thing was as much about connecting people as it was about the music. The full version of Sleep is available on youtube here, Lux Aurumque is here, and if all this stuff has really got your juices flowing then Eric's personal website is positively brimming with information.
As is said on Eric's own site, this project is another example of 'the power of the internet to connect people of all backgrounds and abilities and create something beautiful across time and space.'
Eric Whitacre is a young grammy nominated composer from the states who used Youtube to put together a 'virtual choir' to perform a number of his compositions. I won't go into too much detail about it because he explains everything you need to know in this talk from Ted 2011. The video is about 15 mins long and even if classical music isn't really your thing it's still well worth a look. The sheer volume of work that must have gone into a project like this is in itself pretty astounding.
Personally I prefer the music of Lux Aurumque but I love the artwork on Sleep, it's really clever and does a great job at visually demonstrating how the whole thing was as much about connecting people as it was about the music. The full version of Sleep is available on youtube here, Lux Aurumque is here, and if all this stuff has really got your juices flowing then Eric's personal website is positively brimming with information.
As is said on Eric's own site, this project is another example of 'the power of the internet to connect people of all backgrounds and abilities and create something beautiful across time and space.'
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Ads From Your Childhood #3
Time for another blast from the past.
Remember this ad for Rolo? While my opinions have obviously changed since I first saw this I remember at the time thinking that it was the funniest thing I had seen in my life. I also remember that it very quickly became common practice whenever you had a packet of Rolos to offer one to a friend, quickly withdraw the offer and laugh at them while singing the 'na na na na na' line at them. It became a bit of a catchphrase in my school playground at least.
I had intended on making this an all confectionery blast from the past and showing a classic Milkybar ad as well but they are surprisingly difficult to find. Anything I could find was either too recent, from abroad, or too old. If anyone comes across a Milkybar ad from the UK or Ireland from the late 80s or early 90s be sure to share it.
So I'll have to deviate from confectionary a bit but we won't stray too far, we'll stick in the food category at least. For years the Pat the Baker jingle was probably the best known jingle on Irish TV. I've never actually tried Pat the Baker bread (haven't a clue why) but hearing this song and seeing this ad always makes me think "OK, I'm definitely gonna buy some next time I'm shopping." I always forget about it though. Still, it's a great ad.
I had a bit of fun with an older brother of mine a couple of months ago recording cheesy jingles like this one. I was on drums and he was on guitar and vocals. We spent the best part of a day recording the likes of Pat the Baker, Saved by the Bell, Toys'R'Us, Postman Pat and a bunch of others. We videoed them too but I think it's probably best if they remain hidden, the world's not ready to see some of it's favourite jingles butchered beyond recognition.
Remember this ad for Rolo? While my opinions have obviously changed since I first saw this I remember at the time thinking that it was the funniest thing I had seen in my life. I also remember that it very quickly became common practice whenever you had a packet of Rolos to offer one to a friend, quickly withdraw the offer and laugh at them while singing the 'na na na na na' line at them. It became a bit of a catchphrase in my school playground at least.
I had intended on making this an all confectionery blast from the past and showing a classic Milkybar ad as well but they are surprisingly difficult to find. Anything I could find was either too recent, from abroad, or too old. If anyone comes across a Milkybar ad from the UK or Ireland from the late 80s or early 90s be sure to share it.
So I'll have to deviate from confectionary a bit but we won't stray too far, we'll stick in the food category at least. For years the Pat the Baker jingle was probably the best known jingle on Irish TV. I've never actually tried Pat the Baker bread (haven't a clue why) but hearing this song and seeing this ad always makes me think "OK, I'm definitely gonna buy some next time I'm shopping." I always forget about it though. Still, it's a great ad.
I had a bit of fun with an older brother of mine a couple of months ago recording cheesy jingles like this one. I was on drums and he was on guitar and vocals. We spent the best part of a day recording the likes of Pat the Baker, Saved by the Bell, Toys'R'Us, Postman Pat and a bunch of others. We videoed them too but I think it's probably best if they remain hidden, the world's not ready to see some of it's favourite jingles butchered beyond recognition.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Stunning ISPCC Ad
I was shown this in college earlier today and I've since seen it on a few blogs, where it's making quite an impact. It's not hard to see why.
What an ad, almost leaves you speechless. A combination of exquisite copy and an astonishingly good young actor, it's pretty rare to see child abuse tackled in such a head-on and in-your-face manner. Hats off to Ogilvy here in Dublin who created it. You can be damn sure that this will get a lot of attention over the next days and weeks and will definitely get people talking. I'd expect a similar reaction to a lot of the road safety ads I was discussing previously. I doubt that was the reaction that Ogilvy or the ISPCC were looking for but it could work out quite well for them. Hopefully it will encourage people to donate to such a worthy cause.
What an ad, almost leaves you speechless. A combination of exquisite copy and an astonishingly good young actor, it's pretty rare to see child abuse tackled in such a head-on and in-your-face manner. Hats off to Ogilvy here in Dublin who created it. You can be damn sure that this will get a lot of attention over the next days and weeks and will definitely get people talking. I'd expect a similar reaction to a lot of the road safety ads I was discussing previously. I doubt that was the reaction that Ogilvy or the ISPCC were looking for but it could work out quite well for them. Hopefully it will encourage people to donate to such a worthy cause.
Monday, May 9, 2011
So This is Research? That's Cool With Me
So it's all systems go over here in DIT. The Big Project, as it is commonly referred to, is in full swing. A lot of the fun stuff like choosing a name for our agency has been done and now it's time to get stuck into the nitty gritty of the details of the project. First on the agenda: Research - Is that a mighty cheer I hear rumbling in the distance?
Luckily for me I'm a copywriter so instead of trawling through business reports and lengthy transcripts of interviews and focus groups a lot of my research involves doing something I spend a lot of my time doing already - looking at ads. Oh what a troubled life I lead. You could spend days on end looking at road safety ads from around the world and only see a small percentage of them. There are so many ads out there that are trying to convince people to drive carefully on the roads and quite a range of techniques are employed in order to get the message across. Unsurprisingly, attempting to shock audiences is the most common one, although not always the best.
As with all advertising there are some truly inspiring road safety ads out there, then there are some decent enough campaigns and of course there are some absolute shockers. An honorable mention in this last category has to go to the 'Don't be a Dickhead' campaign from the Transport Accident Commission in Victoria, Australia (there are a series of ads there if you fancy torturing yourself). I like the angle they've taken and I think being slightly abusive and derogatory towards people who drive dangerously or do stupid things when driving is a tactic that could be used more often but in this case they've taken a decent idea and done everything in their power to make sure it results in a truly awful series of ads. That takes a lot of work so fair play to them, they should be proud.
But now, for some road safety ads that I did like. I've already posted Enjoy The Ride from the Safety Countil of Western Australia before so I won't take up precious blog space with it but I think it's a beautiful ad, everything about it just works.
Then there's this little beauty from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership in the UK which proves that you don't have to shock and disturb your audience to create an incredibly impactful ad.
I also love this one from the Transport Accident Commission in Victoria (so they CAN make good ads). To be honest if watching this doesn't force you to think about your driving habits then I don't know what will.
This last one is from Brazil and while it's not the most amazing idea ever it is a really simple and clever idea used to make a very simple point: Never drink and drive.
I could go on and on here but I'll leave it at that. What's really interesting is to see how advertisers are using new technologies as part of road safety campaigns. There are a whole bunch of great new apps and digital campaigns using unique and clever techniques to encourage people to slow down on the roads or not use mobile phones while driving or whatever the particular issue may be. This is an excellent example from OVK in Belgium.
The challenge for us in DIT is to create ads that will be just as meaningful and impressive as these and that will ultimately change the way people act when on the road. No problem at all.
Now make sure you drive safe y'all.
As a little aside: Over the next few weeks I've got Portfolio Night on 26th May and the presentation for this project on 9th June so I hope to be meeting various creative directors and general ad-people from Dublin who will be just bursting to give me (and my classmates) a job. To remind them that they want to hire me (as if they would forget) I've gone and kitted myself out with some fancy business cards - a pretty unimportant and dull issue for most people but I've never had my own business cards before so allow me to feel important for just a few moments. Anyway, being a copywriter my design skills are, well, limited at best, so I got some (I say some, I mean a lot) help with the design from Curious Design who are a great new design company here in Dublin. They were so so helpful and even though it was a tiny project for them they really paid attention to detail and helped me to get a design that I was happy with. Why not pop over to their site, see the kind of things they do and have a read of their blog while you're there?
Luckily for me I'm a copywriter so instead of trawling through business reports and lengthy transcripts of interviews and focus groups a lot of my research involves doing something I spend a lot of my time doing already - looking at ads. Oh what a troubled life I lead. You could spend days on end looking at road safety ads from around the world and only see a small percentage of them. There are so many ads out there that are trying to convince people to drive carefully on the roads and quite a range of techniques are employed in order to get the message across. Unsurprisingly, attempting to shock audiences is the most common one, although not always the best.
As with all advertising there are some truly inspiring road safety ads out there, then there are some decent enough campaigns and of course there are some absolute shockers. An honorable mention in this last category has to go to the 'Don't be a Dickhead' campaign from the Transport Accident Commission in Victoria, Australia (there are a series of ads there if you fancy torturing yourself). I like the angle they've taken and I think being slightly abusive and derogatory towards people who drive dangerously or do stupid things when driving is a tactic that could be used more often but in this case they've taken a decent idea and done everything in their power to make sure it results in a truly awful series of ads. That takes a lot of work so fair play to them, they should be proud.
But now, for some road safety ads that I did like. I've already posted Enjoy The Ride from the Safety Countil of Western Australia before so I won't take up precious blog space with it but I think it's a beautiful ad, everything about it just works.
Then there's this little beauty from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership in the UK which proves that you don't have to shock and disturb your audience to create an incredibly impactful ad.
I also love this one from the Transport Accident Commission in Victoria (so they CAN make good ads). To be honest if watching this doesn't force you to think about your driving habits then I don't know what will.
This last one is from Brazil and while it's not the most amazing idea ever it is a really simple and clever idea used to make a very simple point: Never drink and drive.
I could go on and on here but I'll leave it at that. What's really interesting is to see how advertisers are using new technologies as part of road safety campaigns. There are a whole bunch of great new apps and digital campaigns using unique and clever techniques to encourage people to slow down on the roads or not use mobile phones while driving or whatever the particular issue may be. This is an excellent example from OVK in Belgium.
The challenge for us in DIT is to create ads that will be just as meaningful and impressive as these and that will ultimately change the way people act when on the road. No problem at all.
Now make sure you drive safe y'all.
As a little aside: Over the next few weeks I've got Portfolio Night on 26th May and the presentation for this project on 9th June so I hope to be meeting various creative directors and general ad-people from Dublin who will be just bursting to give me (and my classmates) a job. To remind them that they want to hire me (as if they would forget) I've gone and kitted myself out with some fancy business cards - a pretty unimportant and dull issue for most people but I've never had my own business cards before so allow me to feel important for just a few moments. Anyway, being a copywriter my design skills are, well, limited at best, so I got some (I say some, I mean a lot) help with the design from Curious Design who are a great new design company here in Dublin. They were so so helpful and even though it was a tiny project for them they really paid attention to detail and helped me to get a design that I was happy with. Why not pop over to their site, see the kind of things they do and have a read of their blog while you're there?
Saturday, May 7, 2011
No Free Beer For You, You Greedy Lot
Last week I was quite excited about Budweiser's new Ice Cold Index app. Well it appears that an awful lot of other people were too because Budweiser apparently hadn't expected the app to be so popular and have temporarily pulled it. If you visit www.icecoldindex.ie now you're greeted with this message:
(Sorry about the poor quality image. Visit the site to get a clearer image)
So Budweiser are claiming that the unexpectedly large number of downloads crashed the servers I have heard that there are other reasons for removing the app but I haven't been able to find much else online about it so maybe I shouldn't add fuel to the fire. If you were that way inclined, though, you certainly could take a very cynical approach to the whole thing.
I have to say that despite my initial excitement I wasn't really impressed with the app in the few days that I did get to use it. Most days the temperatures the app gave were completely different to the actual temperatures. I had a look at the terms and conditions and saw that they take their readings at 12 noon each day - hardly the hottest time of the day and most likely a completely different temperature to pretty much any time during the afternoon or evening. I suppose they have to take the temperatures at some stage and can't really monitor or change them throughout the day but this is beginning to look more and more like a poor marketing gimmick rather than a genuinely creative and clever way of getting people to drink your beer.
Unless they can rescue it soon then it will ultimately have been a failed poor marketing gimmick, just one more in a long line.
(Sorry about the poor quality image. Visit the site to get a clearer image)
So Budweiser are claiming that the unexpectedly large number of downloads crashed the servers I have heard that there are other reasons for removing the app but I haven't been able to find much else online about it so maybe I shouldn't add fuel to the fire. If you were that way inclined, though, you certainly could take a very cynical approach to the whole thing.
I have to say that despite my initial excitement I wasn't really impressed with the app in the few days that I did get to use it. Most days the temperatures the app gave were completely different to the actual temperatures. I had a look at the terms and conditions and saw that they take their readings at 12 noon each day - hardly the hottest time of the day and most likely a completely different temperature to pretty much any time during the afternoon or evening. I suppose they have to take the temperatures at some stage and can't really monitor or change them throughout the day but this is beginning to look more and more like a poor marketing gimmick rather than a genuinely creative and clever way of getting people to drink your beer.
Unless they can rescue it soon then it will ultimately have been a failed poor marketing gimmick, just one more in a long line.
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