A nice surprise this morning... Our website made the Creative Review Graduate Guide!
We had no idea we were meant to be in it and it came as a huge shock that we got the massive picture to accompany Scamp's book article. (Click the picture to make it bigger.)
It says: Chris Rush (left) and Andy Peel are the men behind the creative team CRAP, and a rather nice online portfolio of work. More at wearecrap.co.uk
Can't complain one bit about the coverage we're getting. Even more reason why Chris should update the website more often. New PDF on the way after this.
This week there's been quite a few adverts for the BBC on Spotify and online (via Google Adwords). They're trying to get people to head over to the Radio 1 website to watch the highlights of Radio 1's Big Weekend in Bangor.
Now I'm all for having great content like this and for the Beeb to putting it out there. But, when BBC are renowned for not 'making ads' as such, I feel less attracted to them.
Granted I know they sell their programs, but they do it via only the BBC networks and not using outside mediums. It just feels weird to me. Even if they don't spend my license fee (thanks Ed) on creating these, a non-ad network making ads to drive you there seems a new and slightly odd move.
Having watched England vs Mexico on Monday night I saw a great idea at Wembley I wanted to find out about more about it.
So what was it? 90,000 t-shirts that looked like this
And the idea: A t-shirt on every one of Wembley's seats to create two huge St George Cross's, lasting not just the 90 seconds of 'God Save the Queen' but the entire 90 minutes of the game.
I absolutely loved the idea created by an initiative called 'Raise The Flag". Here's just a couple of pictures, but you can find the whole set here.
Incidentally, they did this back in 2006, at Old Trafford, at England's last home game before the World Cup, but just used plastic pieces. It's amazing what a difference a t-shirt makes.
I came back from Greggs (yes, I know) and this was on the door at Leith. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there when I left. So within five minutes the flyer fairy had been and delivered this.
I quite liked it's simplicity. It's a shame it's missing a few key details. Like a website (eventually found it), and maybe a bit of info or what's being showcased but what the heck. It got my attention for being better than a mass email invite or a postcard sent to the HR department.
Two things though. I'm a junior, so was it targeted at me? And two, would the Creative Director have noticed it? Afterall, I popped out for a very late lunch and was probably the only person to see it... Unless he reads my blog of course.
Yes, you did read that right. The (technically free) bet to win one-hundred million dollars. Got your attention? What's the catch? Well, you have to predict EVERY World Cup result correctly. That's 64 games of, in my opinion, complete fluke. Titan Bet say if more than one participant correctly predicts all 64 results, Titan Bet will divide the $100,000,000 credit equally among the Winners.
In the event that no participant correctly predicts all 64 results, Titan Bet guarantees a share of $1,000,000 to the participant/s with the most correct predictions.
I'm not going to even work out the possibilities. And, the chance of anyone getting any where near 64 correct score lines is, erm, 0. Nice bit of PR though.
Scamp's book finally arrived yesterday. As previously mentioned, we were made aware that our website would appear in it. A quick flick through, and bingo. There it was, page 16, top left.
We're in the "what you do at college" section and it says:
Here's three examples of 3 different landing pages of three very different online portfolios. A digital portfolio shouldn't just showcase your work but also your personality.
It may only be a small picture, but who cares. We're forever immortalised as 19 and 20 year olds - scary stuff. We're in good company too. The other two websites on the page are full awards and great ads.
Adam Chiappe and Matt Saunby work at AMV/BBDO and have bucket load of high profile clients and a portfolio longer than both pairs of arms put together. And, Mike Bond and Bernard Hunter have worked across the globe in New York, Paris and now London.
Hopefully we might follow in their footsteps one day.
It's advertising, in theory everything should be understandable. That kind of summed it up for me... unfortunately less of the fantastic. Honestly I was disappointed.
Nothing seemed to work with each other, it all seemed a mis-mash of work and lots of people had the same products on capper-board. Nothing jumped out, which was a shame. And, there wasn't a single portfolio or a business card nearby.
I'll not single anything out, but for a MSc year intensive course I thought it would be better. I was also disappointed that nobody in the room decided to talk anything through with me. They did in other rooms and good on them.
I'll take nothing away from some of the other stuff I saw, some nice graphics, a lot of lovely photography and the interior architecture course took me eye. You can pop along until Friday at the Napier campus on Colinton Road, Edinburgh to have a peak for yourselves.
It was a good laugh, met a few cool people and saw a lot of great ideas.
Anabo I thought was brilliant. This is how to make housing cool when everything else is moving with the times. And, home styles aren't.
You can create (for £80k or £120k a fully customisable home. It's effectively a box where you can put the walls where you want, add the fixtures and fittings you like and even decide right down to even the tree you fancy most. It's genius. I want one.
The next thing that caught my eye was TalesOfThings.com. A simple way to tag your belongings and give everything a story.
I particularly liked the iPhone App they're developing using Google Maps. It shows what used to be there, from any period (ish) within time.
Another nice thing was all-sorts.org - the linguistic experiment. A place where you can collect nouns.
All Sorts is a collection of collective nouns that may or may not have found their way into the Oxford English Dictionary. Basically better words than a ‘bunch’ or ‘flock’ to describe things.
Some of my faves are:
a seemingly empty room of ninjas
a _____ of mime artists
a block of writers
a handful of muppets
You get the picture, there's loads. Have a flick incase I've missed any. And, you can also submit your suggestion via Twitter using the hashtag #collectivenouns
And finally, here's just a few snaps from PechaKucha last Friday.
With the release of Scamp's book, I wondered how people thinking outside the box get hired. And, not always in advertising. Yes, there's always the portfolio, CV or interviews to back up a great stunt. But, what's been done, and does it pay to think differently?
I can think of a few stunts that have caught my eye, some work, some don't. Here's all the ones I can think of.
Alec Brownstein
Alec Brownstein used Google Adwords. Brilliantly simple, and by watching this video, very effective. So much so, it earned him a Gold Pencil and a Clio award. The simple fact of getting Creative Directors to Google themselves is also quite amusing.
Michael Checkoway
Headhunters and agencies work on a commission, but what if the general public did too? We all know most companies offer a finder's fee if you get someone you know hired. But what if you recommended a random stranger, and then they paid you in gifts (on top on your company's bonus)... sound good?
"All you have to do is provide me with good, qualified leads and referrals, and if one of those leads gets me a job, you'll have your choice from a number of exciting prizes including vacations and cash. The better the job I get, the greater the reward for you. And if you hire me yourself, then you can cash in on the rewards."
Of course he dropped a few legals on about working for a certain number of days, where he worked and what he was intending to gift you with. But, that's all the simple stuff.
Fabian Berglund and Ida Gronblom
Back in 2006, Fab and Ida stuck life-sized images of themselves pressed against the glass of Wieden & Kennedy, with a sign reading "still trying to get in". Having successfully navigated a book crit and a short placement, they were hired.
Since then they've worked across many of Wieden and Kennedy's accounts and picked up numerous awards. Early this year, they swapped the East end of London for the sunnier climbs of R/GA New York.
Hollie Belton and Amy Jackson
These two girls decided to put themselves up for auction on Ebay in an attempt to land a job.
Their ad said: "Two young creatives, conjoined in body and soul are selling their wares for one lucky creative director."
When bidding finished, they'd managed to get a year's salary of £30,050 each. Sadly though the mystery bidder happened to not be a Creative Director and on writing this they're still on the hunt for for that elusive job offer.
David Rowe
Over five days roaming the streets of London wearing a sandwich board David Rowe, a history graduate, attracted widespread media coverage and generated 250 enquiries from interested employers. All this before JCDecaux hired him.
He was spotted in Fleet Street by the managing director, Spencer Berwin, and hired him as a junior sales co-ordinator, working in the billboards (see the link there?), street furniture and StreetTalk phone boxes team.
Berwin said: "I was very impressed by David turning himself into a human billboard -- he's displayed a natural talent for outdoor advertising.
Funny that.
If you can think of any more, let me know and I'll add them.
As usual Twitter goes a bit mental when something a little extra ordinary goes on. And, if you're unaware, Twitter is great for blurting out some great one liners. So, while watching the news I decided to grab a few of my faves starting in chronological order:
I love it. Probably a glitch by the BBC (link no longer works), but here's the screen grab to prove that when I looked, Brown had officially achieved nothing. No wonder he's stepping down.
I really like this ad. It's simple and plays completely into it's target market.
The first time I saw it I actually hit the rewind button to find out what the girl was called. Unfortunately her name eludes me and to reveal her name would defeat the object of you having a go too.
P.S. I don't rate the acting of Jessica Jane Clements.
For those who don't know about PechaKucha Night, here's a quick overview.
It was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
Since then, it's turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of conversation ("chit chat"), it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.
So, if you're in Edinburgh this Friday, you'll find myself standing in front of an audience talking about our work and things that inspire me.
I'm not sure why I decided to put my name forward, but, I thought it would be a good laugh. And, a great way to learn how to present to a bigger audience.
