To document my personal progress towards the holy grail of higher education that is the Tony Cullingham course of creative advertising, and thus be a source of advice for other creatives on the same path as me!
*Inspired by 'The Bits In Between' blog*
adam&eveDDB latest Christmas commercial for John Lewis lacks depth, and I'll tell you why! 1. its cliche, I mean how many times have people paired a rabbit up with a bear, forest critters celebrating Christmas, yes very original... and 2. there is no twist, nothing really jumped out at me in the commercial, perhaps if the bear ate the rabbit for Christmas dinner then I would be like YEP well done adam&eve, but no nothing grabbed me.
The only thing going for this Christmas commercial is execution and reputation, the idea is weak and I think adam&eveDDB are living off their own hype too much, STAY FOCUSED! and listen to what Eddie Murphy had to say about your commercial, credit goes to one of my favourite blogs 'If This Is a Blog Then What's Christmas?' for sourcing this -
Now lets go back 2011 to what I believe is their BEST work for John Lewis, it all builds up to a sweet twist, watch and enjoy, AGHHHH CHRISTMAS IS COMING XD
SATT Syndrome, oh the dreaded SATT Syndrome, the same advert three times, it becomes a curse for a creative without them even knowing it, basically you know your idea is not big enough when it relies on the same execution over and over again but with a slight differ in the visual approach, here is a example I found through one of my favourite blogs 'I Believe in Advertising' -
What is the problem of the SATT Syndrome you might ask? WELL you want to excite your audience, think about it, like watching a movie the best ones have a unexpected twist that makes it soo much more, giving the viewer a treat rather then boring them to death with a obvious ending, OH YES I CAN SEE WHAT IS COMING! but what you want to do is BOOM OHHH YOU DID NOT EXPECT THAT! Not saying that your executions to make a campaign have to all be completely different, but consider this, imagine there triplets all born of the same cloth but different in their ways, each one has its own personality, but there is no hiding that you can clearly notice his brother or sister! Thats the balance you want to gain BUT hey I did say there are no rules, let me repeat that NO RULES to what we do, all I am giving you is advice to avoid boring your audience!
Now I bring this thought up not just to offer you support to your ideas but also to remind me consistently of this terrible disease, for my last campaign part of my challenge of a idea everyday was a mirrored example and I am grateful I noticed it! Its shows I am well aware and not blind to cue myself and produce exciting campaigns, in the ethos of the economist campaign done by the incredible copywriter that is David Abbott! RIP inspiring creative your campaign is still alive and kicking in the hearts of your audience, now thats a example to follow!
Anyway PEACE OUT folks and I hope you take on board what I am saying :)
Now I am not a big fan of word rhymes, I find them a dead art in advertising, something that was used in the past of poetic nature to describe a product, no NO that time of fairy tale bullshit is gone, we live in a age where truth is the creative pull, however you approach it the truth/benefit of the product is your weapon, not some sing along that has no link what so ever, and this is why I find this Tv spot brilliant, done by agency DRAFTFCD for clients Kmart it gained 3.05 million shares in 2013 making it a very effective viral ad, just watch and listen!
I love it when you cleverly play with the explicit to bring the benefit along, its my favourite approach, for example I am planning to use Hitler to describe Diversity in my poster project in Germany! yes I know I am a mad fuck! but I have a clever way around it like how this Kmart ad played ;) Oh there is another example expect its a parody!
HUMOUR is a powerful weapon in advertising and the main reason my new hobby is writing comedy, because through it I can create copy like the first ad, that can make people laugh pulling them in while giving them information at the same time! Its BEAUTIFUL! Like I expressed in my last post I LOVE STIRRING EMOTION its my bread and butter! With that I finish with a weird but bloody funny Tv spot done by agency Fallon London for clients PETA enjoy ;)
The more I research into interactive content, the more I believe it is the future of advertising and even design! I want to be part of that future and I have been in deep research into the digital advertising agency R /AG, spear headed by my new favourite creative Nick Law! who is a pioneer in the art of digital advertising!
So with this study I have uncovered this lovely gem, which I have retouched on illustrator for it to be clear and usable as a guiding diagram to constructing digital/interactive advertising -
Story > Entertainment > Demonstration > PLAY < Enablement < Information < System
AUDIENCE PARTICIPANT USER
My fascination into this new age has made me become more aware of new technology, software , social networks, website errr whatever in this area being released around me! so I regularly update my awareness whenever I can! BUT the question I ask myself over and over again, how can I simplify this all into clear interactive ads in the same essence as the subservient chicken to present to Tony in quick fashion? Well this diagram I spotted in a lecture by Nick Law could be a clear solution in guiding me to those results I beg for! but I must try it out first to find out!
In your spare time please watch this Nick Law lecture, it was a eye opener for me, opened new doors in my thinking! Anyway I want to leave you with this very funny/entertaining app that R/AG produced for clients PESPI?? yes this is the only problem about it, it never flew off the ground with advertising the drink but fuck me did it hit the news! and to me makes a great idea if you can grab the new's eye! and no I am not saying war is a good idea, well harmless war, errr war that dose not involve killing people.. YOU GET THE POINT! PEACE OUT!
Life is too short to be negative, and as Sir John Hegarty explains being cynic kills creativity, what I learnt through self-discovery is I am tooooo nice, at first I thought it was a curse, losing girls left, right and centre, being friend zoned, letting others tease me, lack of respect, being ripped off, basically letting people walk all over me! but I soon realised being nice leads to a positive state of mind that this world is beautiful no matter how many people moan about it! And I am grateful my parents have gave me this feeling of happiness that never dies, bringing me up the right way! BOOYA! Just talking to friends, even getting a smile or laugh in return, makes me happy, I know getting a hippy vibe BUT I can not lie! We live in a exciting generation where we can talk to people on the other side of the world, where diversity is getting bigger and bigger, and I am over the moon to be a Erasmus student and meet another students around the world, writing this post is giving me a buzz and ideas for a poster project themed you know it 'Diversity'.
Now here comes the question from you wonderful people who read my posts, how dose this link to your self-development as a creative towards advertising? Well like I said at the beginning of this post in reference to Sir John Hegarty, a creative I truly admire who is the co-founder and head of if not the top ad agency in Britain in the past decade 'Bartle Bogle Hegarty', being a cynic kills your creativity, basically looking at the world through a negative point of view! Now this piece of advice hit me, made me feel good about myself because I am always positive about life, being optimistic! not letting this reality kick me down, I just get up dust myself off and carry on!
So to all you moaning on Facebook, whatever social network you are ranting on, just STOP! enjoy this world your in, take a walk, I know I do, with no ear phones in, thats a new thing I have done, I always used to listen to music while I was out or in, but I realised I am cutting myself off from the outside world, in my own little bubble.... I POPPED IT... I am a god dam creative I have to take the world in, how the hell am I suppose to produce new ideas, culture is our fuel, sooo always, observation observation observation!!! UPDATE YOURSELF WITH THE NOW!
I feel its been a while since I posted something, so it was the right time to express myself! And thats the point of this blog when I feel I am improving in my adventure to be part of Tony's Gang, I will preach it on here! So I leave you with this advert done by agency "Fallon London' that fits my happiness for this post, produced for client 'Cadbury' a chocolate factory I live by being a brummy lad! THIS IS MY FULL GLASS OF JOY TO YOU! PEACE OUT AND ENJOY THIS WORLD! IF YOUR DEPRESSED, KILL IT QUICKLY, DO SOMETHING YOU ENJOY!
