Edinburgh Baby!

We’re off to work at Union in Edinburgh for 3 months. Hurrah finally a break! It’s such a cool place I can’t wait to get started. We went to Newhaven, Union and Leith in the hope they might like our work and offer us something, and the gamble paid off. We might even stay longer as Newhaven offered a placement while Realise (can’t explain why) and Leith want to keep tabs on us.

So people might say Edinburgh isn’t London, well I know that. But its been 6 weeks since we finished at Amp and we’ve been bouncing off the walls. 3 months gives us a chance to progress, get better and work our blooming socks off. If/when we get work out, it should be vastly better than most things we’ve got out in London, and it’ll give us chance to work on television, radio and more print.

The aim is, and always has been London, but with opportunities few and far between, this is our chance. We want to work, not just get a month at wiedens or leos etc. We want a job. We love what we do, so why shouldn’t we just go work anywhere.

Chin up people, you’ll find your opportunity.

Edinburgh Adventure

We're off to Edinburgh, this is anything but a holiday. WIth work drying up in London due to the good ol' recession, we've decided to try our luck in Scotland. With a few placements under our belt and a book that has just got another at VCCP, we're optimistic that if there is anything available up north, we have a decent chance of finding it.

The weird thing about these 3 meetings we are going to is that when presented with a day, they all offered exactly the same time. 3pm on Thursday - we can't be in 3 places at once. So what do they do at 3pm everyday? Is it a siesta or a late lunch/early dinner time? Is it national see portfolio time?

So as I'm sitting on the train (note: people getting abused by the train guard for a slight miss calculation on tickets) this will be a fun adventure, Whether we are successful or not, we will soon see how Edinburgh differs to London. We know what the likes of Wiedens and Fallon look for, also what JWT and Ogilvy look for in a book. WIth Scotland, it's a whole new outlook. By the looks of the work on their websites, each seem to do bits of everything, which is a good start. But we never know, I hope they like what we have to offer, but if not, the London adventure starts all over again on Monday.

Oh and I'm sure we'll be tourists as well. A 2 day roundtrip has to include a photo session on the side.

Raise your eyebrows to Cadbury

The tune is Don't Stop the Rock by Freestyle, which is a good start. Followed but what only can be described as weird and funny, and then an added ballon adds the wonderful finishing touch!

Apparently:

"Over at Glass and a Half Full Productions we noticed the wriggly potential of eyebrows and thought we would have a bit of fun with them," said the Cadbury marketing director, Phil Rumbol.

"Like the other productions 'Eyebrows' is all about losing yourself and embracing that moment of joy ... after all, everybody remembers pulling a silly face or getting up to no good as a child when backs were turned."

What is a bit far fetched, would love it to take off but it needs facebook, myspace and bebo to be blitzed quickly is that Cadbury has renamed February as "Febrowary" in a bid to "pay its dues to some of the finest eyebrows ever sported". I haven't found a site yet for it, but movember and fanuary started the month naming tradition, lets see if Cadbury's can out do them!

The list so far sees Sean Connery top the poll, with Brooke Shields second.

The full list is as follows:
1. Sean Connery
2. Brooke Shields
3. Count von Count from Sesame Street
4. Alistair Darling
5. Brains from Thunderbirds
6. Noel Gallagher
7. Des Lynam
8. Frida Kahlo
9. Liam Gallagher
10. Vanilla Ice

Also Cadbury reckons that only 35% of the British public can move their eyebrows independently, and within this group just 18% are "fully eyebrow ambidextrous".

I can't, can yoooou?

T-Mobile Freeze Frenzy

Finally someone has stolen this idea! We used used it for House of Fraser as book work but T-mobile have now used this idea so clearly it was half decent.

Taking a whole ad break is starting to become a common occurrence, but if it is something like this or Honda's skydiving advert I would say keep them coming. Like how they utilised Liverpool Street Station as it has plenty of vantage points to watch the mayhem unfold. 

Get it on

So this is what it has come down to, balloons having sex. Dare I say it, awesome. It seems so innocent when it starts. Then doggy style kicks in and it all gets a bit sordid! The squeaks and creaks of the balloons moving together is very well done and the fact a 3rd wants to get in on the act shows that Durex has a fun side. The look of the balloons on 18 seconds is magic. It cracks me up as it shows a real innocence to the whole act that is going on in front of your very eyes. The crowning glory would be one exploding at the end, back I guess that would just send out the wrong message now wouldn't it.

It has turned into Creme Egg Goo... They have outtakes! This is fun now.. congrats Fitzgerald+CO and produced by Superfad New York.
Outtake 1


Outtake 2


Outtake 3


Robert Rugan, creative director at Superfad, said: "When you get the chance to create 'karma-balloon-animal-sutra', everyone involved gets really stoked about pushing the boundaries as much as possible.

"Not only did the agency give us the opportunity to do that; they encouraged it. Oh, and the conference calls were some of the funniest I've ever been on."

The best comment I've seen so far for this ad is, "hit the mute button and there is your next KY Jelly advert".

All I'm saying is wait for the spoofs...

Apple concepts

So it has been a while since Apple brought us something so ridiculously cool that we have to have it, the new style of the MacBook and MacBook Pro both look the same, but that is about it.

But now Apple have released a few new prototypes. The first is the LMac, a fully customisable Mini Mac that you can create from Lego. Can't decide its target market to be honest, nerds, women or 5 year olds. This one might not get off the ground.

Here we have the ModBook Pro, a laptop/palm book that is touchscreen and is amazing. This is actually more of the real thing than the others in this list, so expect to see this in every Mac household in a years time!
Finally the most genius and absurd idea going. The Tri Mac, a MacBook Pro with three screens. Now this is getting seriously cool. I want one, I don't know why, and I guess that is why Apple is so good at what it does, but with three screens you could...could... erm... look cool?!? Exactly, Apple knows what they are doing and long may the cool prototypes exist.   

And if you are wondering what could be next, this is a great post...Think Apple, think Braun 1960 perhaps? 

Monster Raving Looney Dance!

This is brilliant, rediscovered for your enjoyment, I saw it while at D&AD Awards, but this needs more air time than any other 30 second ad I have ever seen.

The King of Burgers

Stealing this from W+K blog, this is by far the best facebook app so far.

Install, delete 10 'friends', yeah you know the ones, the ones you briefly met in 98 and have never spoken to since, then receive a free whopper.

It's amazing, the best use of a january spring clean for ages. I couldn't care less that the application notifies the other person that you have be sacrificed for a burger, must of the people I wouldn't talk to anyway!

Unfortunately it only works in the USA...for now.
Get your american burger a http://www.whoppersacrifice.com

I'd have given half my left arm for that idea to be in my book.

It's Crunch Time

So, we're out of work, and like most still searching hard for that next break. You'd think if you're grads that work might be slightly easier to find than this. I'm studying all the blogs carefully and any murmurs that pop up about jobs/work available then I'm straight there searching for the best person to contact. But with this financial mire that is upon us, will we see the end of some of the 'great' agencies? Great in terms of history not output nowadays. The list of troubled agencies gets longer by the day but surely this is just scare tactics? The likes of TBWA, Ogilvy, Publicis and Leo Burnett have all been mentioned. 

I'm currently writing my dissertation on 360º media and the way it affects agencies and have had to do a lot of research on some of the above. Ogilvy are a vast network of agencies, I agree with many others, that the work coming out has deteriorated, but they still have interesting ads for Ford in my opinion, but surely an agency structured as they are cannot but in that much trouble...or have they bitten off more than they can chew?

CDP, Lowe and Leagas Delaney could disappear along with the newer breed of Mustoes and St Lukes. And with the rumour mill in full swing the likes of Euro RSCG, Grey, Hooper Galton and even The Red Brick Road have been mentioned, the final two being places we have been in, but I'll keep my cards close to my chest on that one.

As for these 'rumours', this is where holding companies tighten their belts and flex their muscles. When they are doing well it's and advantage being part of them, when they are not, you risk being Craik Jones and Proximity and being turned into a more economical single agency.

Anyone fancy a merger? Or are you fighting this one by yourself. As for a job and the dissertation, they will both get sorted, neither are as easy as you think right now.

NYE 2008/09

Standing for 3 hours in the cold for 11 minutes of fireworks should not be worth it, but it is!