ignorance is bliss - nspcc

A harrowing spec commercial for the NSPCC shot by director Ben Treston for production company TLMH in London. This commercial went onto the finals of the Cannes YDA 2006.

new nspcc click advert

New advert by the NSPCC to get people to visit the website, nice to see a NSPCC advert which doesnt use all the horrific situations and shock tactics to get you to donate money.

marks and spencers 1950 style christmas ad

You definityl know its nearly christmas when the new M&S christmas tv advert appears. This new idea is in the style of the 1950s and it immediatly reminded me of the 'back to the future' brief by Futurebrand.

breast cancer awareness viral advert

Currently looking at ads already done for breast cancer awareness as im researching for the d&ad advertising brief. Personally i was quite disturbed by this ad, clearly aimed at shocking people but i feel its actually distasteful is not the right way to broach this sensitive subject.

votes are power campaign

This short film won a competition launched by the electoral campaign to find the best creative expression of the statement 'votes are power'. Aged 21, Christopher Tuck, impressed the judges with this advert. The film is designed to make people think about the real significance of voting. Too many indiiduals think that their voice is insognificant and will make no difference. It makes the concept clear that the power lies with YOU! I think this delivers a clear message.

oxfam unwrapped new campaign

I saw this the other day on tv, a new campaign called oxfam unrapped which is like many other charity campaigns, celebrity endorsed. It encourages people to give unwanted and gifts to those who will recieve nothing this christmas whilst using a bit of humour.

cutting edge public sculpture

This public sculpture was produced for the city of Sheffield by Chris Knight who forged a fascinating career as a silversmith and metal sculpture, creating distincitve public art sculptures. This sculpture can be found outside the railway station as a greeting to visitors to the city. The long metal sculpture actually reflects the cities sky line in it and at night it looks stunning lit up.

rock the vote campaign

A celebrity endorsed campaign which featured in the USA to encourage the youth of america to vote in the elections. The campaign covers issues such as education, jobs, the environment, global warming, iraq and human rights.

sperm commercial

quite a humerous television advert advertising Oslo gay festival.

yorkshire airlines

Whilst researching for the elmwood brief i thought it would be appropriate to look at the steriotypes of yorkshire people as my chosen city is Sheffield.

mastercard intercom ad

Another hilarious advert for mastercard - priceless.

ladbrokes cafe banter ad

For anyone doing the 'william hill betting' brief maybe something to look at?

kill the gun cinema ad

This ad shows the aftermath of gun crime in an explosive way, the idea is really interesting and it really puts things in perspective when you see what objects literally being shattered apart by a bullet. Then when the childs face appears at the end it shocks you and you hope the same thing isn't about to happen to him as what has happened to the other objects. A really powerful ad.

wilkinson sword 'fight for kisses' ad

Check out the cute baby and his karate/matrix moves. A funny ad which advertises a mundame object but instead of the standard man shaving and admiring himself in the mirror ad, it adds humour for a change.

new york city blackout ad

I came across this cinema ad when i was researching for the 'celebrate electricty' brief. I found it really interesting to see a city without electricity and how people come together and help each other out. The concept of 'somethings need to switch off for people to switch on' refers to turning your mobile phone off in the cinema, but it is executed really well by the real life story in the advert showing people coming together to help each other in desperate situations. It makes people realise that electricity isnt the 'be all and end all', and we do take it for granted, after-all people survived without it years ago.

web talent competition

found this and thought id let fellow web designers know...

Design events collective BD4D is inviting up and coming Web designers to create ‘a piece of highly creative, playful and engaging interactive Flash’.

BD4D is partnering the Wellcome Collection and Ico design group to run its first annual design competition. Entrants will choose words from a ‘word soup’ to create content that encourages viewers to explore medicine and art.

BD4D says, ‘The competition is a great opportunity for students and people new to the industry to have their work showcased at the Wellcome Collection, as well as on the BD4D website.’

The winner will be awarded a 2GHz Apple MacPro computer with a 20-inch flatscreen monitor, while second prize is a 2.16 GHz MacBook Pro laptop. Five runners up will each receive a 2GB iPod Nano.

To enter the competition visit http://www.bd4d.com/wellcome.

pudsey bear make over

reading in design week, i came across this article that the famous pudsey bear mascot has had a make over just in time for this years launch on friday 16th november.

'Advertising agency Fallon was approached to create a ‘fresh new look’ for the marque. As part of the redesign, the agency was tasked with creating something that was ‘exciting and accessible enough to make people want to get involved.’

'A digital illustration style for Pudsey has been devised, so he could work on-line and in animated sequences. He now possesses a wider range of poses and expressions. A broader palette of colours has also been used in the design, the spots on his bandage are now multicoloured, and a new font gives the logo a more ‘modern and friendly appearance’.'

plain white t's - hey there deliah

love this new song. for the video (as above) the screen is split in to sections, with different things going on it each section, not quite sure the reason behhind it, but its interesting.

place your bets

check out this virgin viral campaign, thougth it was quite quirky! click on the link and choose from balloons, chicken, spoons or a chopper, then play along.

/www.leanmeanfightingmachine.co.uk/virginbets2/

'Virgin Bets is a betting site for people who get put off by the complexity and seriousness of the high street bookies.
We had to get people to bet on Big Brother. The idea was based around 'live' bets where the outcome happened then and there.
To be topical each ad was written, filmed, produced and trafficked within 24hrs.'

new cadburys tv advert

I saw this new tv ad for cadburys the other day and thought it was great. It is good to see that cadburys has moved on from the previous tv ads of cheesy families sitting round a tv eating cadburys chocolate or the milk chocolate people seen at the beginning of coranation street.

benetton toybox website

www.benettonplay.com

I recently came across Benetton's online multiplayer games site. It's for anyone who wants to put their creative skills in animation, graphics or music to the test and share their work with an online community.

Benettonplay has been created by a young team of international designers and artists at Fabrica, the Benetton communication research centre in Italy. The site features four games, and new games will be added on a regular basis.

FLIPBOOK
Animation as a form of communication. Using their mouse, players trace an image sequence to build, figure by figure, little animated loops. The player can save the animation to the gallery and share it, vote on other animations or send them to friends to build up a creative community of countless little stories. Flipbook was recently awarded the Japanese Media Arts Festival Grand Prix for Entertainment in Tokyo.

ODD ONE OUT
A memory-boosting game requiring fast reflexes, Odd One Out is a seriously addictive experience. Players are challenged to pick out the non-identical element in a series of images in the shortest time possible. The aim is to beat all the other online players and make it to the top of the high score table.

DOODLE
Doodle is a collaborative graphical chat space. The player has a white square to draw in, just like the notepad that gets filled with doodles during a business meeting. Once your doodle is finished you place it on the page with all the other doodles from around the world. Doodles can be published in a grid updated in real time, creating an instant group of images. Players can also modify other players’ doodles, sharing little snapshots of creativity.

ORBIT
A musical game. The player chooses one of ten backing tracks, from pop to classical music, and an instrument, ranging from piano to sax and even recorded voices. Using the keyboard, players compose a piece which can be saved to the gallery and shared with other players or sent to a friend. A musical community that explores and shares music, creating a world-wide, real-time dialogue.

provokateur website

I came across this campaign, communications and brand company and thought their website was quite interesting with all the options as book titles. Take a look at www.provokateur.com

gas guzzler

This ad by greenpeace also combines a serious argument with humour and suprise (similar characteristics as the ad below.) which has created a more good natured controversy. These campaigns have also gone viral, a product of youtube where the public help to get the message out via forwarded emails.

guns for sale

Shock adverising is fairly one dimensional but when combined with humour and intrigue and when the viewer is left wanting more rather than turning a blind eye thats when charities suceed in getting people thinking. I found this ad on youtube whilst researching for my dissertation it displays what i mentioned above. The ad is by amnesty international, see what you think.

dumped

You've probably seen this advertised on channel four but i think this programme looks really interesting, also the heading reminded me of the typography project we did in the first year.

The story behind the programme is that 'eleven unsuspecting volunteers are left marooned on one of Britain's biggest landfill sites for three weeks. Their challenge? To survive off the rubbish the rest of us have thrown out.

The participants have willingly agreed to take part in a testing eco-challenge but they don't know where. Most have assumed that they will be dropped into a pristine natural environment like the Amazonian Rain Forest or the Arctic. How will they react when they are delivered to a huge, smelly British landfill site where they are forced to make a home from other people's waste?

We Brits are a nation of greedy consumers. Most of us have some idea that we waste too much and don't recycle enough, but we tend not to think about what happens to our rubbish once it has left our homes. So, how will our volunteers cope when bought face to face with the sheer scale of the typical British landfill?

Can they turn the grime and pong of 1000 tonnes of rubbish into a precious resource? Will they manage to eek out a living? Will they be surprised at the quality of life they can carve out of unwanted waste? And will their experience make them think about their own lifestyles?'

clothing detergent advertising

I found these images intriguing as it took me a while to work out what the images in the photograph were made up of. The campaign won gold award at the for the outdoor advertising category at the 2007 cannes awards.

Advertiser/Client: PROCTER & GAMBLE
Product/Service: ULTRA TIDE CLOTHING DETERGENT
Advertising Agency, City: SAATCHI & SAATCHI, New York
Country: USA
Executive Creative Director: Tony Granger/Jan Jacobs/Leo Premutico
Creative Director: Audrey Heffenreuter
Copywriter: Jake Benjamin
Art Director: Mark Voehringer
Illustrator: Simon Danaher

colourful iron

This is a great invention i think... The Russell Hobbs Thermocolour Iron shows how it intelligently changes colour when it's at the right temperature to iron different types of fabrics safely.

Reading more into the research behind the product and research for the new tv ad i found that 'At the outset they conducted a series of research that exposed a lack of consumer understanding about the product/consumer benefit as there had been little marketing activity at launch. To iron out the creases in our consumers' minds, it was clear the proposition behind the product was strong but the consumer benefit needed to be explained. A large pile of concepts were then put into research and the 'Blindfold' idea really struck a chord with the ironing fraternity.'

The tv ad 'blindfold' idea shows the following... 'The blindfolded woman who is identifying a variety of fabrics on a table by touch. She correctly identifies the different items of clothing by fabric, removes her blindfold then irons the different items using the Thermocolour iron's correct settings. This shows that even if you know the different fabrics of your clothes inside out, with the Thermocolour Iron you can see when it's ready to iron the correct fabric immediately.'

dress me up, dress me down

Hundreds of SHOWstudio viewers participated in an interactive photo shoot starring Liberty Ross on Tuesday 28, Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 June 2005. Competing for slots in a live chatroom where they posted their ideas for potential outfits, forty 'virtual stylists' earned the opportunity to dress the model, live on SHOWstudio.

Stylist Jonathan Kaye chose clothing from the Autumn/Winter '05-6 collections in advance of the shoot, from which viewers could make their selections. These can be viewed in the Wardrobe section, which is organized into the nine core themes of BIKER, ECCLESIASTICAL, VEILED, VOLUME, FRINGED, SILHOUETTED, TOMBOY and VICTORIAN highlighted in the Looks section. Once a good selection of viewer's looks were achieved for each theme, a winning outfit was then selected to be 'visually deconstructed' as Nick Knight photographed Liberty as she undressed on a rotating turntable.

Footage of these nine final stages has been developed by multimedia artist Daniel Brown into nine striking interactives that allow a multi-layered deconstruction of the outfit and image. This part interested me as the site gets you to participate in undressing the women and it was the actual digital aspect behind the idea that intrigued me.

www.showstudio.com/projects/dressmeupdressmedown/

unloved by peter roche

"This story begins and ends with a photograph taken when I was two years old. Finding it was like discovering that I really did exist after all. It was as if someone was saying, 'No, it wasn't all in your imagination, that childhood really did happen and it happened to you'."

They say every picture tells a story: the photograph above was taken by Lord Snowdon in 1965 and used by the NSPCC in a publicity campaign, and as the cover image of the Sunday Times Magazine to accompany a feature about child poverty. It is a picture that has become famous around the world. It is a picture of Peter Roche, aged two.

Brought up in south London in conditions of extreme squalor and brutality Peter's childhood was so horrendous that even 30 years later a psychiatrist told him he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. In the Roche family starvation and beatings were the order of the day, "to ask for help, to be needy, was to ask for a beating that would leave you bleeding and battered and numb from the terror of not knowing when it would stop". Horrors included: the punishment for missing school was being made to stand in a bowl as his mother poured the contents of a kettle of boiling water on his feet; another frequent punishment was to force him to wear urine-soaked clothes to school and he was frequently lashed with his mother's 'Sally', a three foot long bush branch including the one occasion he ever asked for school trip money.

The one kind person Peter remembered vaguely from his childhood was Miss Zils 'the NSPCC lady'. As an adult he began to ponder on why if the NSPCC knew about his family when he was 2 why had the children continued to suffer so badly all their childhood. With persistence he rang the NSPCC and eventually tracked down Miss Zils who asked him to come and visit her where the first thing he saw on her wall was the picture above, 'The expression on the toddler's face made my stomach turn over and my eyes filled with tears' and he learnt the story of how he was the child in the photo. The photographer had been Lord Snowdon who had taken the photo at the Roche's filthy flat. Yet that photo had changed nothing for Peter Roche whose life remained as wretched as ever and later descended into petty crime and living on the street.

As a legacy of his childhood Peter has suffered throughout his adult life from anxiety and depression heightened when his first wife left him and their children (for his own brother) and the fact that he has never held down a job long-term, 'I now have the ambitions I lacked when I was a teenager. They are very simple. When I grow up, I want to be able to live without being pursued from moment to moment by depression and anxiety. I want to go to work like everyone else. And that's it'.

Yet he had the tenacity and grit to track down the truth about this photo, to find a publisher for UNLOVED and to achieve a happy marriage second time round with a wife and children, of whom he poignantly says 'you have taught me what family means'.

charity advertising

This mailing came in an envelope that showed a close up of the eys of a child of African origin on one side and the eyes of a Asian child on the other. The purpose of the mailing was to educate recipients of the number of children dying in poor countries. The suggestion was that the would have an early death because they had brown eyes was seen to be a concern as children may suffer fear from reading this mail ad.
























This mailing was sent in the form of a child birthday card by the nspcc which highlighted the issue of paedophiles preying on young children. The inside of the card stated ' jamie's abuser never once forgot his birthday' The trouble with this mail piece was that it wasn't immediately appartent that this was a piece of marketing and recipients who had been abused as a child may find it distressing to just receive this piece in the post with no nspcc logo or other informationon at all. But this obviously was the point of the mail ad, and clearly it shocked, which is what the nspcc set out to achieve.

























This magazine and press ad by the british heart foundation was found to irresponsible as it may encourage children to copy and do the same. The publication should not have been visible where children could view it. The message says ' i've got heart failure and this is what it feels like every morning ' . The imagary communicates the message effectively along side the copy about the amount of distress that heart failure can cause.

another bloomin' designer

I love this business card instead of keeping it in your wallet or pinned on a notice board like most business cards end up this needs to be kept in the open and visible at all time, like on a table, just what u need to get maximum attention. Its like a minature house plant which grows cress when simply dipped in water. Probably quite cheap to produce as cress seeds are inexpensive but with the strapline and the concept together its exciting.

vertical soccer

This advert for adidas shows just how to break it to a busy exhausted market - do something completly different thats bound to grab attention.

what's mine is yours

This website www.whatsmineisyours.com is taking off a storm, similar to ebay but with no auctions, time limits or hidden costs. The site is free to register and you can swap those items that u never wear, are too big or too small for you for ones you will wear and want. You can swap allsorts of items from shoes, clothing, vintage items, bags, jewellry etc. All it asks is for £2.50 per swap which i think is reasonable as most items you never wear will probably be too old to take back to shops now to get a refund for. Also by buying recycled clothing you are doing good for the environment and being eco-friendly.

with full consent

This exhibition by Jill Magid explores the relationship between people positions in society, invisability and authority. She works with cctv footage, with the police and the forensic identification teams. Her exhibition features work linked by investigating the emotional and philosophical relationship between identity and 'protective' institutions.

An example is Lincoln Ocean Victor Eddy, a large-scale multimedia project initiated upon the artist's return home after living abroad for five years. When an announcement over the subway PA informed everyone that any passenger may be subject to a search "for security reasons" Magid responded by approaching a police officer and asking him to search her. He refused, but she persisted. Ultimately she infiltrated his world – to a degree – Lincoln Ocean Victor Eddy: police code for "love."

For the project 'Evidence Locker' as seen above in the image, she developed a close relationship with Citywatch (Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council), whose function is a citywide video surveillance. The videos in this project were staged and edited by the artist but filmed by the police using the public CCTV cameras. Wearing a bright red trench coat, Magid called the police on duty and asked them to film her, or even guide her through the city with her eyes closed, as seen in the video Trust. Footage obtained from the system is stored for 31 days before being erased. For access, Magid submitted the necessary legal documents completed as letters to a lover. They are collected as One Cycle of Memory in the City of L.

stab proof hoodies for teens

Watching the news today i was intrigued when it came to my attention that there was now stab proof hoodies available and they could soon be part of school uniforms. I found out that they have come from a company who make protective clothing for the police and the armed forces. They are lined with kevlar which is a light but strong synthetic fibre.

I can not believe that it has actually come to this, but i do believe that it is needed considering how many school stabbings have happened recently.

new barnardos campaign 'believe in children'

This new campaign from barnardos which launched on the 26th of june 2007 is to promote the organistaions re-brand and to inspire poeple to believe in children. It aims to challenge the public perceptions and to demonstrate that barnardos has practical solutions to problems children face also to inspire people to support the charity.

The ad shown above titled 'would you judge a boy by the cover' is a tube advertisements and touches upon the subject about judging people for what they wear especially hoodies, as many people now have preconseptions about people especially boys wearing hoodies and that they are just out to cause trouble, a strange association i think.

The other ad is a newspaper ad telling a story that he has told everyone in his life to f**k off, but when he told barnardos to f**k off, they didn't and still haven't and it shows their great commitment to children of all ages, races, disabilities etc and they are determined to stick by young people until they het their lives back on track.

John Ayling, the chairman of John Ayling & Associates who helped to create and launch the campaign said ' we wanted to showcase the provocative creative in the most impactful was. A multi platform approach was essential to maximise awareness .' He also quoted ' barnardos has consistently brought intrusive, edgy and creative advertising that is extremly effective in the charity market.'

I enjoyed this new campaign as its a bit different, it shows the commitment of barnardos to young children yet it gets people talking especially through the use of swearing in the campaign, its a great way to get the campaign to be carried through word of mouth.

dulux website

Whilst browsing the agency.com website i came across a client of theirs website, dulux. I visited the website and thought it delievered its strategy well, which was to 'Redesign the site for “her.” To inspire her and help her solidify her vision. To give her tools to create her desired look. To drive purchases by delivering swatches. We considered what the site would need to offer in order to give these customers confidence in their decorating ideas. Then we structured the site to get customers ready to paint – and turn their dreams into reality.' source: www.agency.com

It allows many colour adventures to take place on the website and even lets you paint a virtual room using colours collected in a 'scrap book' and calculate quantites of paint needed from room measurments. It allows users to visualize their rooms using swatches and colour schemes, mixing colours and testing.

It was named site of the week in 2004 by NMA Site Inspection. Read the article in full at
www.agency.com
and visit the dulux website at
www.dulux.co.uk

collection box

This campaign was to fight against the private ownership and misuse of firearms. This vending machine was placed next to drinks machines in shopping centres and universities in south africa. It acted as a collection box and donations went towards the Gun Control Allience. Its a great example of using familiar objects to attract attention in a provocative way.

new perspectives

This campaign for the recruitment agency 'carerbuilder' wanted to make people think about their careers by advertising on top of buses to potential 'jumpers' from high buildings. It reminded me that new perspectives always need to be considered to provide new advertising opportunities. On top of something, underneath things, infront, outside or inside?

more time for children

I was intrigued when i came across this german charity called ' more time for children' conveyed by an escalator. photos of children were fixed to the risers in order to get the message across that 'children don't simply disappear like this' and 'if you worry about them soon enough, then it won't be too late.' the idea of using an escalator so the images will disappear as the escalator rises and the steps fold in to each other is a great use for the campaign and is another great example of how the world is one big advertising stage.

other bloggers

i came across another blogger whose work interested me as he did some copywriting and entered a new website concept in to this years YCN (youth creative networks) for the nspcc which i am currently researching. he uses the blog as a portfolio and the blog homes a wide range of his own work; from photography, illustration, copywriting to websites.

take a look at http://danieljamesevans.blogspot.com

colour virals

You've all probably seen the tv ad with the million of bouncy balls bouncing down the street for bravo televisions, then there was the advert with the exploding colours on a block of flats well this is a viral ad of a spoof of the colours advert, i thougt it was quite humerous with its tongue in cheek comedy.

yoga promotion

This piece of promotion was for a yoga school in hong kong. The promotion was extremly cost effective as straws are fairly cheap, the use of the bendy part of the straw is genious. It turned out that the promtion was extremly sucessful as enrollment figures rose after the promotion.

hot coffee

Folgers coffee used printed tops of coffee cups and covered manholes in new york to promote their coffee. Holes in the image allowed the steam from the manholes to come oout appearing like the coffee was steaming hot. The text reads 'hey, city that never sleeps, wake up.'

try before you buy

An advertising stunt by jung von matt/alster for a watch making company. It allowed bus travellers to try before they buy in berlin, germany.

lego

Two out my favourite images for a magazine advertising campaign from lego. A simple idea showing how children use their immagination to create items from lego bricks.

Blaltner Brunner.

carlsberg ad

For some carlsberg advertising they dropped £10 and £20 notes totalling £5000 around the streets of London with a removable sticker as shown above. Some more great ideas from saatchi and saatchi, london office.

airbrushing - right or wrong?

This cover of GQ magazine has sparked a debate over magazines airbrushing to 'improve' the appearance of images. GQ admitted to digitally altering the photograph and without consulting kate winslet beforehand. Kate who likes her curves and is comfortable with herself physically claimed to be angry with the magazine as she wanted to show off her curves to show not all women need to stick thin. But the airbrushing slimmed her down to appear thinner with smaller hips and thinner legs.

In my opinion when it comes to airbrushing changing the lighting, skin tone etc is fine but why change body shape and make people appear thinner, its just not right. Kate was trying to set an example fighting against size 0 models and here she just looks like she's following others and slimming down.

unicef gurrilla advertising

To promote a campaign by unicef to rasie awareness of the issue that if infants aren't registered at birth then they may be easy victims of child abuse agency akestam.holst left a number of empty prams in the streets on stockholm. As people passed by it triggered the sound of a baby crying which when they looked over sounded a voice over calling for support for a child registration campaign.

It created a powerful metaphor of non-existant children but only lasted a few days as police then collected the prams off the streets. This could also be a idea to for a child abuse campaign along the lines of recognition for neglected children.

Client: UNICEF Sweden

the advertising handbook

I purchased this book to use as a source of research for my dissertation and it is a great wealth of information. The book is excellent for case studies including high profile campaigns such as barnados and benetton, gives useful websites and online resources and information about ad agencies. Each chapter ranges from techniques, persuasion, language used, effectiveness and general advertising. A definite read for those doing dissertation research on advertising.

enduring love

This compelling novel by ian mcewan is a real page turner. I was sceptical at first with a slow start but by the end of the first chapter i was hooked. The story of one mans love for another grows and explodes in many directions destroying lives and relationships, a true conflict between religion and love. The obsessive behaviour of the male is creepy and distructive and the stalker brings anxiety to each page wondering what lengths he will go to claiming 'if i can't have you, no one will'.

cartoon boy tv ad

Whilst researching for my dissertation i came across the nspcc's cartoon boy ad which was voted the best charity ad in the world in 2004 and won gold at cannes and the one show and a silver d&ad award.

The aim was to encouage more action to help the hidden victims of child cruelty. It shows a tom and jerry style cartoon child in a real life home setting 'bouncing back' from several attacks by its father. After the final act of abuse the character becomes a real child lying motionless on the floor saying 'real children don't bounce back'. The ad was extremly sucessful with the methods used and had a massive impact as calls to the helpline doubled during the ad's airing.

grime of the city graffiti

Graffiti artist Moose uses detergent rather than paint to reveal shapes on dirty walls, fences or pavements. For an ariel washing detergent campaign, saatchi and saatchi asked Moose to stencil shapes of clothing to appear as washing drying on a line on walls around north london to show just how ariel cleans away dirt and grime. This is a good appropraite use of media which is very adventurous and clever.

smoking areas

In singapore designated smoking areas often appear as yellow boxes coffin shaped outside buildings, to remind smokers of the deadly effects of their habit. A simple idea but with great impact, especially as the yellow is so visable as a warning sign/colour .Now that smoking is banned in public places in england perhaps we should get some painted outside pubs and bars.

drink driving

This powerful drink driving campaign is from saatchi and saatchi, australia. Black skid marks lead from the road up on to pavements and straight in to bus shelters, walls and park benches with the words 'drink driving ends here'. It has been proved extremly effective in australia with the roads becoming much safer. Perhaps they need to bring the campaign to england?

promoting security glass

To promote a security glass canadian agency Rethink treated a bus shelter with a shatter resistand coating and filled it with over the value of 3 million dollars of banknotes. The reaction was extraordinary and almost everyone who walked up to the shelter ended up kicking or punshing it or running up to it all caught ot cctv.

A great way to show just how strong the glass was and i think the footage from the cctv would have been hilarious and would have made a great tv advert i think!

compliment machine

If your feeling unloved or down when take a walk on 14thstreet in washington. This bright red and white stripped box sits on a platform of bricks and gives out compliments to passers-by. The artist Tom Greaves is a visual artist and this is part of a public art collection which runs from street P and V on 14thstreet. The box speaks in a reasurring voice and gives out compliments such as 'you help create a brighter future'.

spot the bull

When looking on the creative showcase website i came across this months winner which intrigued me. The story behind the competition was that orange had several pairs of glastonbury tickets to give away and they effectively wanted to do it by word of mouth. Therefore as glastonbury is rural and pastoral they chose a bull, fitted the bull with GPS positioning equipment at let it rome around a field. Competition entrants had to guess in what coordinates the bull would be standing at 3pm each day to be in with a chance to win tickets. The competition ran for a month and had thousands of hits.

This is unique idea made me think that anything is possible and the more crazy and out-there ideas tend to be the more successful when it comes to website hits.

fashion and sport

The V&A museam in south kensington houses an exhibition exploring the relationship between fashion and sport.

Recent developments have seen fashion designers engaging actively with sportswear brands and vice versa including using celebrities such as david beckham in their campaigns. The exhibition examines contempory issues such as the link to fame, the obsession with the perfect body and the challenge of designing for physical movement.
Exhibition dates from 5th august to 23 novemeber 2008

racy ads

In an internet ad for the new bmw mini one shoppers are encouraged to 'floor it' by clicking on a graphic accelerator. They then see the drivers' face contorted with G force. Complaints that the ad breached safety rules by encouraging speeding were upheld by the ASA. But many have branded them irresponsible over the high speed advert for the new car. I have tried to find the ad but have had no luck, any one seen it?

skinny water

at 99p a bottle who could go wrong??? this water claims to have appetite suppressants in it which turns fat to energy. convinced? or just another expensive bottle of water containing many harmful minerals?

It is meant to reduce sugar cravings and improve the bodies ability to burn fat, check it out at www.skinnywater.co.uk

works of bart

www.simpsonizeme.com


The Sun newspaper celebrated the release of the new simpsons movie by using some of britains best known faces and given them a simpsons makeover.

The website www.simpsonizeme.com, run by burger king, allows users to see what they would look like if they were a simspons character. You simply upload a digital photo of yourself and you will see how you'd appear as a character.

Another way to pursuade kinds to eat fast food through the interent such as burger kings??

lego da vinci

Italien artist Marco Pece has recreated some of Leonardo Da Vinci's greatest works of art using lego. He has recreated the Mona Lisa and the scene of The Last Supper. He has also tackled movie scenes such as The Blues Brothers and The Graduate.

how we are photographing britain

For anyone with an interest in photography there is currently an exhibition on at the tate modern exhibiting a journey of british photography. It is currently running and ends on the 2nd of september. The exhibition has work displayed by many famous names including william henry fox talbot and david bailey also there is work by many photographers from different cultural backgrounds. It has had some excellent reviews so its well worth a look for any keen photographers out there. I'll be heading down next week so ill post a review when im back.

2012 london olympic bid logo

Looking on the website http://www.foundation33.com i found a logo bid for the 2012 olympics to be held in london. The logo sums up every aspect of london and the olympics well. The 5 rings symbolise each of the 5 continents and the logo looks similar to a target which is supposed to symbolise aspiration. The logo is modern and contempory which associates with london, as a city, well. The logo is neat and compact and shows london, in the centre, showing that it will be the centre of attention. Altogether for me a simple yet sucessful logo.

environmental concerns with packaging waste

For anyone researching environmental concerns in design for their dissertation this article may be of use to you.

'Packaging waste is a major concern for consumers in the UK at the moment. People are highly critical of excessive packaging and are frustrated that much packaging is not recyclable. They believe that manufacturers and retailers are not doing enough to reduce packaging waste. This concern is not yet resulting in mass rejection of current packaging formats, but it is leading to consumer frustration and irritation with brands at the point of disposal. On the other hand, minor innovations in packaging, communicated strongly, are eliciting disproportionate results in terms of approval for brands.'

Read the article in full at:
http://www.designweek.co.uk/Articles/135403/Under+the+skin.html

new olympic identity

The five rings of the olympic identity must be up there in the top five most well known and recognisable logos, so why does it only occupy a small percentage of the new logo? Did the designers think about how it will look on promotional material at a small scale? Hardly visable I think! Personally I feel that the weighting is completly wrong and the logo just doesn't reflect the values of the brand.

apparently 'no digital talent at d&ad awards' this year

Whilst browsing the design week website i came across this article which had been written by an attendant of the d&ad awards from design week. Just wondered to those that attended what they think of this review?

16.07.2007
New Blood stream dries up at the digital frontier
Source: Magazine
Publication date: 05 July 2007

Last week, I took some of our team to the D&AD New Blood event in London. This event is supposed to showcase the best creative talent from across the UK higher education system.

If you are a student creative, this is the place to be seen and try for that elusive first job. We arrived just before 8pm and then spent over 30 minutes queuing to get in - even though we had private invitations.

When we did get in, we were informed that all the beer had been consumed within the first hour. I was offered warm white wine or a coffee. No thanks.

Fed up with queuing, we decided to hit the task at hand, until the size of the task became apparent.

The event has grown to cover three floors. How are you supposed to be able to see everything in a few hours, with no air con, no cold drinks, serious heat, and after a 35-minute queue?

We split up, looking for someone with a flair for creativity and digital work. I can count the number of websites I actually saw on screen on one hand, and some of these did not even work.

This is a serious issue. When we have such a shortage of on-line skills, colleges are vomiting out thousands of students who know nothing about digital and have not been made aware of it.

Why is digital treated as the bastard brother to traditional creative? Why is the system churning out print designers when there are hardly any pure print jobs left?

Look on any creative job page and you will see that most jobs expect experience or an understanding of digital. These kids have none.

Digital is the future, so why are our future generations so unprepared for it?

Benn Achilleas, Managing director, Neoco, London WC2

life is a laugh

'Life is a laugh' is the largest commission yet by London Underground for its Platform of Art Scheme. This 70m long mock stage that will depict 'inspiring' scenes and uses recovered items such as a pandas' head, half a caravan, bicycles and tyres. This large than life display is currently at Londons Gloucester Road Underground Station and it is Brian Griffiths' largest ever public installation.

skoda cake car

From first viewing the skoda cake car ad, to me it posed many questions, so when reading this months issue of creative review my questions were answered as i came across an article with an interview on the baking of the skoda advert cake car. It astounded me that the advert was shot in only four days with not even any time for a research phase! The team was made up of people who were willing 'to lay their professional reputations on the line and take a gamble'.

I also found intersting the part that explained what happened to the cake car after the advert had been shot...
'originally the cake car was meant to be cut up and sent to local charities, schools and hospitals but as the car had been under hot studio lights it posed a health and safety risk so the ended up being composted and used by the residents of Clapton, East London, to fertilise thier gardens and allotments.'

To me this ad shows just how much can be done in so little time!

This article can be found on page 20 of creative review in the july 2007 edition.

virtual advertising agency

Top advertising agency Bartle Bogel Hegarty has opened a virtual advertising agency. BBH's move is a virtual creative department within Second Life, to bring together its agency creatives from around the world.

Second Life is different from other online social networks because it is a 3d virtual reality world that mixes gaming with commerce. Subscribers create their own virtual alter egos to live an alternative life. Activites start from making friends to clubbing, shopping and purchasing. They use their own virtual currency which is contervable into dollars, just another money making scheme? Interest of this virtual world is growing as it currently stands at a massive 7,982,631 residents.

Visit the website to start living as your alter ego in your own virtual world at http://www.secondlife.com

Also check out advertising agency BBH's website at http://www.bartleboglehegarty.com, clients include audi, warbutons, lynx, barnados, google, vodafone and levis.