IPA Copy Test...is live!

Cracks fingers. Log on. Go!

Open to all students to win a month's word smithery from the IPA.

The rules are simple:

• You'll be asked to answer 6 randomly selected questions in one hour. Do the test at a time when you won't be interrupted.
  
• You'll have the opportunity to revisit and edit your answers, but once you have submitted your response, that's it.
  
• Use your imagination. Think laterally. But don't be glib or try to be too clever, unless you really are being clever.
  
• Watch your word count and keep an eye on the clock. You can hide the clock if you wish but during the final 5 minutes you will see an indicator automatically.
  
• You can only take the Copy Test once.
  

Eeep. Do I embarrass myself now, or later.

Take the test here

Morph uncensored

Morph is amazing, but unfortunately I have just ruined his clean image...

I can't embed the file/download it then upload it so here's the link.

But I can screen grab... so here is Morph's wand in playdoh on 50 seconds

I'm sorry Morph. But I do love the brush dog with an elastic band as a collar. 

This is better than BGT

The distinct lack of alternative talent has sent me running for the internet. I've found this, really nicely shot and sometimes things are made to look so effortless. Damn him. Enjoy.

Jib Jab starring you

Ok so I've stolen this off a mate's Facebook but I don't have the time just yet to mess around with this. A low tech bit of fun, but I reckon this could be a clever way to mess around on an ad...
Imagine the Obama and Brown spin-offs.

The blonde is Nat and the Brunette is Hayley.

From Jib Jab

I make no apologies for the womanly love... but in real life they are straight incase you wondered.

Brainy Cap

I love Atypyk, I just wish that they had a proper UK stockist. Here's my fave on their new collection.

A brainy swimming cap. Simple, effective and rather cool.

Attention all creatives

How on earth do you sell a product like this... less of Sweet Sue more Sweet Jesus! Suggestions very welcome! Someone kindly made a flickr page too... (WARNING THESE WERE THE TAME PHOTOS)
Yum...

Google is taking our jobs

Google has launched a tv ad maker... we'll all screwed, thankfully just not quite yet!

Coke Portaloo

A shit way to sell Coke... (pardon the pun) courtesy of FailBlog

Graphicdesignblog

Stumbled across the graphicdesignblog.org today and an article on clever logo designs. Now we've just had to make a few logos in recent weeks and you always know how bad certain logos look, many have aged badly or have no meaning with what they should be selling and it does annoy me far too often if we have to deal with them on a design brief. So here's a couple of great ones on this blog to get you started.
The Australia shape created by her leg and arm.
The arrow in the E and X.

His article is more explanatory.

High School Irn Bru Ad

High School Musical is taking over the world, I think this is cheesey as hell, but the fact they all really Scottish is hilarious! Thought it needed showing because as I'm assuming it's just a Scottish ad. Good stuff.

Blank CD PR for Danger Mouse

Hip-hop producer Danger Mouse is to release a blank CD, after record label EMI reportedly cancelled his new album.

Having already created tracks he will release them online but a "legal dispute" with EMI derailed the project.Danger Mouse, who is half of pop group Gnarls Barkley, said the album, which comes with a limited edition, "100+ page book" of David Lynch photographs inspired by the music "will now come with a blank, recordable CD-R". "All copies will be clearly labelled: 'For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'"

Interesting approach, its funny but, makes a point. It also helps if he has the funds to be able to release a blank and book in the hope he earns enough royalties from this stunt to make his point justified.

Are you the greatest?

David Ogilvy wanted to know if you were the greatest creative director by posing 37 questions in which you had to honestly answer yes to every single one.

30-years on, should will still be answering ‘yes’ to all of his questions

ARE YOU THE GREATEST?

1. Are you creating the most remarkable advertising in your country?
2. Is this generally recognised, inside and outside your agency?
3. Can you show new-business prospects at least four campaigns which will electrify them?
4. Have you stopped over-loading commercials?
5. Have you stopped singing the sales-pitch?
6. Do all your commercials start with a visual grabber?
7. Have you stopped using cartoon characters when selling to adults?
8. Do you show at least six Magic Lanterns to everyone who joins your staff?
9. If they don’t understand English, have you had all the Lanterns translated into their language?
10. Do you repeat the brand-name several times in every commercial?
11. Have you stopped using celebrity testimonials in television commercials?
12. Have you got a list of red-hot creative people in other agencies, ready for the day you can afford to hire them?
13. Do all your campaigns execute an agreed positioning?
14. Do they promise a benefit- which has been tested?
15. Do you always super the promise at least twice in every commercial?
16. Have you had at least three Big Ideas in the last six months?
17. Do you always make the product the hero?
18. Are you going to win more creative awards than any other agency this year?
19. Do you use problem-solution, humour, relevant characters, slice-of-life?
20. Do you eschew life-style commercials?
21. Do your people gladly work nights and weekends?
22. Are you good at injecting news into your campaign?
23. Do you always show the product in use?
24. Does your house-reel include some commercials with irresistible charm?
25. Do you always show the package at the end?
26. Have you stopped using visual clichés—like sunsets and happy families at a dinner table? Do you use lots of visual surprises?
27. Do the illustrations in your print advertisements contain story-appeal?
28. Are you phasing out addy layouts and moving to editorial layouts?
29. Do you sometimes use visualised contrast?
30. Do all your headlines contain the brand name and the promise?
31. Are all your illustrations photographs?
32. Have you stopped setting copy ragged left and right?
33. Have you stopped using more than 40 characters in a line of copy?
34. Have you stopped setting copy smaller than 10-point and bigger than 12-point?
35. Do you always paste advertisements into magazines or newspapers before you OK them?
36. Have you stopped setting body-copy in sans-serif?
37. Have you stopped beating your wife?

• If you have answered YES to all these questions, you are the greatest creative director on earth.

Erm thats a huge list and if you stay that rigid, technically could you ever become the greatest CD? I'm not sure, granted he's a legend, and I won't bash him for anything he's done, but as like Bernbach with creating teams etc. Is this world we live in now more fluid and exciting than rigid and predictable?

I like chance, not knowing and going with the flow.

Blackpool is now Paris

Apologies, a while back when I saw the Southern Trains adverts for Brighton, the new Barcelona (link) which also had Portsmouth and Bogner Regis, I said Blackpool could be Amsterdam, but I was wrong... what with the tower, it is now Paris!



In an attempt to boost holidaymaker numbers. The aim of the film is to attract visitors who may have traditionally felt that Blackpool was not for them. But as 'the town is currently undergoing major redevelopment, including the £220m Talbot Gateway project.New hotels, shops and restaurants are planned as well as offices, a supermarket and cafes on a site near Blackpool North train station.' they created this film. Titled Blackpool Je t'aime, Helen France, director of tourism for Blackpool Council, thought: "we often get French visitors - they like to do London, Stratford and Edinburgh and often drop off at a seaside town on the way, and we hope that this will encourage them to come to Blackpool."

Zut alors!

Facebook glitch

Quick a weird facebook thing!

Click anywhere in the white area on the left of your Facebook page and then:
Press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, b, a, Enter,
Then click on the screen or type anywhere.

Weird circles appear....spoooooky

BBC Music Cube

BBC music cube has been around awhile, you know the type of music player that can sit on a webpage, a myspace, facebook etc and play any old thing while you surf that specific page.

Well today it we were reminded of it and so I thought I would share. You fill your cube with whatever music you like and it'll play for as long as you like.

So go have a lookies, it's pretty swish and is a great way for BBC to extend brand loyalty across other peoples pages.

Go straight there by clicking here, here or here

Happy playing

IPA Copy Test...is back!

Good news... or... bad. The copy test is being reintroduced. The IPA is planning to make it part of the entry criteria for its summer school competition in which candidates can win agency work placements. Hmm shall I embarrass myself now... or later?

Neil Francis, a member of the IPA's creative forum, said: "In recent years the copy test has faded away, deemed unnecessary in a world of advertising degrees and media studies courses."

This I agree is very true, at Sunderland it was always ideas, ideas and more ideas. Very little went into the idea of a long copy ad. The only agency that actually picked on the lack of long copy was Weidens when we took our book around.

IPA executives are concerned that very few colleges treat copywriting as a specialism with student teams encouraged to think almost entirely conceptually.

"It’s little wonder that we’re not finding the writing skillsets we’d all like to see in our graduate intakes," Francis commented.

Ooops, I think I'll enter to see if I'm any good and get creating that masterpiece using the english language.

Robinsons Be Natural

I'm not sure why it's a bird but its funny, I had no idea what it was talking about at the end, and I'm still not sure, but I'm as intrigued by weirdness like that as something that is really funny. So thumbs up for confusing me!

What's with all the apologising adverts

First Evening Standard say sorry, now it is Marks and Spencer.

London Ad school

Craig Kind at Inferno and Graham Painter (Miami Ad School) have created a short term ad school in London and want you to be 1 of their first students.

Craig- who has worked at London's leading independent fully integrated agency, Inferno, for almost four years. ALong with his partner Paul Nowikowski, they have won a bunch of awards including One show, Clio, Cannes & DMA. They run the Young Creative Council on facebook and recently sold their portfolio on ebay for £360. Their specialties lie in purely integrated, non-traditional thinking.

While Graham graduated from and is now a teacher of the Miami Ad School (both here in London and Stateside). His former students have found jobs in top agencies all over the world. In addition to teaching, Graham has worked at agencies such as Grey, BMB, Euro, Weapon7 and Cunning. He has also worked in New York, Bucharest and Houston.

The course goes as follows:

You will be taking three classes a week for four weeks. A final session will be held the following week in which top industry creatives/ creative directors will judge your final books (and party with you). Classes will be taught by Graham, Craig and other guest teachers from agencies and production companies such as JWT, Karmarama, TBWA and Kessels Kramer. We will assign you briefs and help you in all aspects of concepting. If you already have a partner - great. If not, think of this as a dating service. If nothing else, we fucking promise you this:

- A book of campaigns that will clearly define and differentiate you from every team in London
- Contacts to major agencies and teams all over The Smoke
- Guest speakers and lectures from prominent creatives, directors and photographers once a week

Courses cost £75 a person and will start the week commencing, 18th of May. Think seriously about it... it won't be easy, but it'll definitely be worth it. These are hard times, but we promise, if you're serious about this business, we can help you change it.

If you're interested let them know ASAP (all questions welcome) Limited space available.

email craig.k@inferno-group.co.uk

Or visit the YCC Facebook page here

I am Beaker

This is me apparently. Beaker is his name. I've almost shamefully never watched the Muppets but I made the noise he made today and Ashley next to me said I sounded a lot like him.

So for your ears only, here's my rendition of Danny Boy. There's so an ad in this! Haha.

Tetley Redbush

How many sexual innuendos can you get in one advert?

Really harsh, but it made me laugh far too much

Cheers Rach for finding this video! I know, it's very childish but it continues the football theme of these 2 days.

Why can't Fletcher appeal his red card

The ref (me) did some research as I was gutted to find out why Fletcher can't appeal his ban... to cut to the chase, scroll down to the end of the post.

Article 44 Reasons for protest 
1 A protest is directed against the validity of a match result. It is based on a player's eligibility to play, a decisive breach of the regulations by the referee, or any other major incident influencing the match result. 

2 Protests concerning the state of the field of play must be submitted to the referee in writing by the relevant official before the match. If the state of the field of play becomes questionable in the course of the match, the team captain must inform the referee, as well as the captain of the opposing team, orally and without delay. 

3 Protests may not be lodged against factual decisions taken by the referee. 

4 A protest against a caution is admissible only if the referee's error was to mistake 
the identity of the player. 

The only way he could appeal was if Fletcher appealed under Article 14 or 15, which unfortunately he doesn't.

Article 46 Decision 
1 The Control and Disciplinary Body decides on: 
a) the halting of proceedings, 
b) acquittals, 
c) convictions, 
d) the dismissal or acceptance of protests. 

2 Those concerned are notified of decisions by the disciplinary office in writing. Disciplinary measures against individuals are communicated only to the member association or club concerned. 

3 If measures are pronounced pursuant to Articles 14 and 15 of the present regulations, the notification shall contain a brief summary of the grounds, as well as the verdict and notice of the right to appeal. The notification is issued by fax. 

If he fell under here

Article 14 Disciplinary measures against member associations and clubs  

1 The following disciplinary measures may be imposed against member associations and clubs in accordance with Article 53 of the UEFA Statutes: 

a) warning, 

b) reprimand, 

c) fine, 

d) annulment of the result of a match, 

e) order that a match be replayed, 

f) deduction of points, 

g) awarding of a match by default, 

h) playing of a match behind closed doors, 

i) stadium closure, 

j) playing of a match in a third country, 

k) disqualification from competitions in progress and/or exclusion from future competitions, 

l) withdrawal of a title or award, 

m) withdrawal of a licence. 

 

A fine shall be no less than EUR 100 and no more than EUR 1,000,000. 

Article 14bis Awarding of a match by default 

1  Any team against which a match is awarded by default shall be deemed to have lost the match 3-0 (5-0 in Futsal competitions). If the actual result is less favourable to the association / club at fault, it will stand. 

2  Where matches are played according to the cup (knock-out) system, away goals awarded by default do not count double. 

3 In all other cases, the disciplinary body shall decide based on the circumstances, taking into account actual goals scored and goals awarded by default.  

4 A default result may be awarded against a team that fields an ineligible player only if the opposing team files a protest, unless the player in question has violated a disciplinary body decision or directive. 

or here, he could appeal

Article 15 Disciplinary measures against individuals 

1 The following disciplinary measures may be imposed against individuals in accordance with Article 54 of the UEFA Statutes: 

a) warning, 

b) reprimand, 

c) fine, 

d) suspension for a specified number of matches or for a specified or unspecified period, 

e) suspension from carrying out a function for a specified number of matches or for a specified or unspecified period, 

f) ban on exercising any football-related activity, 

g) withdrawal of a title or award. 

2 The competent disciplinary body may impose community football service in addition to the penalties listed in paragraph 1.  

3 A fine shall be no less than EUR 100 and no more than EUR 100,000. 

Article 15bis   Suspended sanction 

1 All disciplinary sanctions may be suspended except for: 

a) warnings, 

b) reprimands, 

c) bans on all football-related activities; 

2 The probationary period shall be a minimum of one year and a maximum of five. This period may be suspended if the person penalised temporarily leaves UEFA’s area of jurisdiction. 

3 If a further offence is committed during the probationary period, the competent disciplinary body may order the original sanction to be executed, in addition to disciplinary sanctions for the second offence.  

But

Article 20 Disciplinary scope of decisions taken by the referee, consequential sanctions  

1  Decisions taken by the referee on the field of play are final and may not be reviewed by the UEFA disciplinary bodies.  

2  Only the legal consequences of a disciplinary decision taken by the referee may be reviewed by the disciplinary bodies in cases where such a decision has involved an obvious error, such as mistaking the identity of the person penalised.  

3 The provisions of the present regulations apply to protests against match results affected by a referee’s decision that was in breach of the regulations.  

So there we go...more can be found here, but basically unless UEFA change their legislation, he's out of the final. The only hope is that Article 20 point 2 is vague enough for an appeal, but I sadly doubt it...opinions people?

NABS talk

On Thursday 14th May 2009 NABS will be hosting an event in association with the History of Advertising Trust (HAT).

President Sir John Hegarty will chair the discussion on the good, the bad and the ugly of British advertising over the last 30 years and encourage a debate on what they think might happen in advertising over the next 30 years.

It also happens to have:
Daniel Kleinman, Commercials Director at Rattling Stick
Tony Davidson, ECD at Wieden & Kennedy
Ben Priest, Creative Founding Partner, Adam & Eve
Nick Gill, ECD at BBH

Sounds good, but as a student, £20 seems a bit steep, even though being in a room with those guys is worth more than a few pennies each.

The event takes place on Thursday 14th May 2009 from 6.30pm at the London College of Fashion. Tickets cost £45 per person and £20 for students.

More info here
To book tickets click here

And to leave a comment, click below, sod the link on this occasion.

BMW Billboard

BMW genius, THAT is how you sell a car over rivals.

Let me Google that for you

I have no idea of its real use but I stumbled across 'Let me Google that for you' today. It's a great answering url machine for a question as it pretends to be you and Google's your question.

There could be loads of ways to disturb people.

Question: Help, am I pregnant!?

Answer: Click here

Simples.

Go nuts.