There's an A.P. for that.

Take Him Off

2012-02-05T21:29:00.000Z

So on Saturday, I watched the car crash TV show that is Take Me Out. I find it pretty funny and flawed. Imagine if it was 30 blokes and 1 woman instead... would any light ever go off until the final round?

Normally I get my laughs from Adam and Dan's Twitter banter, but this week I didn't need it because of one thing; Damian Merry.

If you missed it, here's the worst thing you can say to a bunch of ladies.

But if that wasn't worth a TV award right there... There's more.

Elle, who I used to work with, tweeted last night:

And erm, the 'fireman' on the homepage happens to be, yes you've guessed it, Damian!

Hmmm, now if I were the owner of Uniform Dating, the first thing I'd be doing this morning is changing that image. Sorry Damian, if you're not a hit with the ladies, the site you're advertising might have some issues too.

Domino's 555 Blippar Ad

2012-01-06T09:58:00.003Z

Hot on the heels of the TV ad, we've ventured into the world of AR with our first Blippar ad.
The six sheet allows you to find your nearest store, view all your local offers, join the Facebook Page and even order your pizza there and then! Oh, and you can salivate over it too.

I've also attached the poster so you can try it out from the comfort of your desk. Just download the app for free and get scanning. Nom, nom, nom.

Domino's 555 TV

2012-01-05T12:39:00.000Z

At the end of last year, we went on our first TV shot for Big, which was my third and Ed's first. And it was a pretty big one; Domino's' January campaign.

Filmed over a cold and wet couple of days at the beginning of December in Palmer's Green, North London we roped in the amazing Matt Losasso to direct our ad 'Do save' to publicise the range of deals they've got this month.

The 30 second ad officially aired last night and there are two 10 second offer ads to spot too. And if you suddenly get the urge to order Domino's, blame Ed and I for doing our job.

And here are just a few behind the scenes snaps of the shoot.

Also, you can even follow the delivery guy on Twitter. As far as I'm aware, he'd never delivered a pizza before but he's a natural if I do say so myself.

"Define an English person"

2011-12-12T10:38:00.000Z

Google can be cruel sometimes.

It also works for the Scots too...

Luckily, the Irish and Welsh are sitting pretty. No stereotyping for them...

Creatives Talk Live: David Droga

2011-11-24T22:09:00.001Z

Facebook is branching out by staging 'Creatives Talk', a series designed to inspire creativity, live on its site.

On Wednesday, November 30th at 7pm, you can listen to David Droga, from Droga5, discuss how social is impacting the advertising industry. He'll be sharing his thoughts on the ingredients of the best social campaigns and be sharing some of his favourite examples.

And after his talk, there'll be a live Q&A with questions from the online audience.

You can go to the event simply by clicking here (and then watching it online, obviously).

P.S. for once, I clicked on a targeted Facebook ad...

Out-rave-ous

2011-11-23T14:50:00.001Z

So everyone wants LBi Rave tickets. We get it.

It'll be the party of the year. We know.

But how desperate are you to go?

Desperate enough to pay for free tickets? Someone is, they're on Ebay!

Granted there'll be free booze, awesome entertainment and half my mates are going. But, would I really pay £100 (or more) for two tickets? I doubt it.

Arriva Bus Complaint

2011-10-21T17:03:00.003+01:00

I’ve seen these before, but never to someone I know.

The background

Josh, the newbie copywriter at Big, went to get a bus after work one night. Unfortunately, the bus driver didn’t see little ol’ Josh stick his hand out and drove past. This upset Josh immensely. So, like any good copywriter should, he used the power of words to fight back.

He emailed Arriva. His argument? "I pay good money for a weekly bus pass and silly Mr Bus Driver doesn’t stop for me. Pffft. And my dinner was cold too." A good argument in my book.

Arriva responded saying they couldn’t offer any compensation, but disciplined the driver – I’m guessing with a traffic offence and 3 points on his license.

Slightly annoyed, Josh accepted this decision. However, only on one condition… if he received a hand drawn picture of a cat wearing a vest and shorts, holding a tennis racket, with a sweatband around his head.

The outcome

A major win if ever you saw one. Nice one Arriva buses.

And you can read Josh’s story in a blow-by-blow email exchange on storify.

Trash Tevez

2011-10-20T16:36:00.003+01:00

Betfair have pulled a great PR move. At this Sunday’s Manchester derby, Betfair branded rubbish skips will be collecting replica shirts with Tevez on the back in exchange for brand new ones.

Each ‘recycling’ skip will be half blue and half red. So it doesn’t matter which team you support, you can still trash Tevez.

Betfair have even estimated that over 75,000 fans are expected to ditch their unwanted Tevez tops – who will then send them to Argentina and handed to local charities.

Nice.

And I'm blogging again.

Charli and Alex might get married

2011-09-27T10:34:00.000+01:00

Meet Charli and Alex.

Charli is German. Alex is American.

They may have boys’ names, but Charli and Alex are girls. Straight girls.

But they love each other, or at least working with each other.

Charli’s visa expires on October 9th and she will have to return to Germany, unless she gets hired or married.

Alex needs a job too and doesn’t want her partner to leave.

Charli and Alex love working together so much that they might have to resort to getting married to do so.

But you can save them years of feigned lesbian interest by hiring them today or by granting them an interview.

Brilliant little idea. They have a USP that very few other people have and so are taking full advantage of it. Though they're looking for a job in America, so if you want to hire them in the UK, Alex will need a visa instead.

I for one, hope they get hired. But they do make a lovely couple...

You can follow their story here.

BBC QR Code

2011-09-09T14:51:00.001+01:00

Last night I saw a QR code on TV. But not a little one added on to an ad that gave you 0.5 seconds to grab your phone, find your QR reader and then load and scan before it's disappeared. This QR code was given warning.

As the end credits rolled, the VO told me to get out my phone and get ready for a QR code. What appeared next was something I wasn't expecting. A full screen one.

As these pictures show, the QR code doesn't move. But the image inside does. It was selling a new program on the BBC. I'd love to tell you what it was for, but I can't scan the code and I was too intrigued by the image to actually listen to what the VO was on about.

It's an interesting concept, but I'm not sure it'll take off.

Opportunities

2011-08-25T09:15:00.004+01:00

I don't usually post poetic meaningful rambles these days, so I thought I'd throw one your way. One about opportunities for grads.

Now I'd like to say I know everything. But even I know I don't. But I have enough hands in enough pies to be able to see things that from all sorts of angles.

1. Free publicity
There are plenty of ways to publicise yourself. For instance Bjorn and Sophie created 'Keep Aaron Cutting'. And Lewis and Alex got their website in the Metro, and you can too. I could reel off plenty more, but I'll let you do the leg work with links. But think of how to get publicity in Campaign, The Drum, Creative Review or the press. There are plenty of ways to go the extra mile for yourself. Find one. And then go nuts.

2. Networking
It's so easy. Yet so easily underestimated. Tweet people in your industry. Email others. Comment on blogs. Send round cool stuff. If you sound interesting, people will want to meet you. The worst thing you can do is overlook social networks, including LinkedIn.

You'll get loads of opportunities through networking. They might pass your folio on to people higher up, take you for drinks to meet other creative folk and getting book crits is easier too. The YCC have a 'Friends Of' section that also has plenty of names and emails on. Use it. That's what it's there for.

3. Reply to emails and quickly
Recently there was an opportunity I was in charge of. There was a call for submissions and then a change in plan. I emailed the 30 or so student teams that had already applied to tell them of the change in plans. And I needed a reply ASAP from them to confirm they were still interested. I got only 18 replies. And then 4 more after the deadline had passed, which meant they weren't considered. So 12 teams lost out on a fantastic opportunity purely on not reading / replying to an email.

4. Not being a knob
There are certain people that get a reputation for certain things. I'd like to think I can have an opinion and express this online without slagging off people. Others on the other hand, can't.

If you're a student / grad and are looking for work, the last thing you need to do is make enemies. The internet is actually a very small place. And word travels fast. Be careful what you say. If people ask others for opinions and they remember you for the wrong reasons, you're stuffed.

5. Not sitting on your arse waiting for 'something to come along'
If you've not got a placement / job yet, it's because you've not been looking hard enough. I run Ad Job Wall because there are lots of jobs out there that you guys should know about. But there are many more I don't put out there. Because I'm not going to them and pestering them. Go visit agencies, have book crits, do stuff that doesn't involve waiting for something to be handed to you on a plate.

6. Going where the work is

I've done this twice. And I know half the fun is going to a random city and trying something new. I started in London, went to Edinburgh because of point 5. Had far too much fun for two years. Headed back to London. Spent six months there and now I'm in Leicester.

I love seeing places and experiencing new things. And with no reason to stay in one place, I can make the most of great opportunities elsewhere. So what if there's a job in Newcastle or Birmingham? If it's your perfect role, go. Permanent doesn't mean a life sentence. Learn and, in time, move on. Follow your head, not your heart.

7. Take a step back

Think, is this really want you want? You don't have to find your dream job first time. In fact, it's probably impossible. But there are plenty of jobs out there that do similar roles but in different areas. I found a mate a PR role because journalism is having a tough time. Granted it's not 'the same' but it's close enough. It won't do her prospects or CV any harm. Whereas being on the dole or working in McDonalds could.

And finally, our new agency in Leicester, BIG Communications, is looking for a junior digital designer and an account exec. Drop me an email if you're interested. I've even just presented two opportunities to you just for simply by reading my blog. I'll say no more.

Old Spice vs The Rioters

2011-08-10T23:37:00.001+01:00

"Hello Rioters. Look at your friend, now back to me. Now at your friend, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me, but if he stopped using petrol bombs and started using job centre he could potentially be me. Look down, back up. Where are we? You're at an interview with the man your friend could work for. What's in your hand? Back at me. I have it. It's an application form to that job you need. Look again. The form is now money. Anything is possible when you get a job and stop looting.

Source: unknown.

Whoever rewrote that is a genius. Where's the viral spoof when you need one.

Mudd is Black or White

2011-08-09T21:01:00.000+01:00

Press play:

Skip to about three and a half minutes in.

Now press play on the adverts below.

Hmm. Recognise that? Yeah, thought so.

BIG News

2011-08-05T15:10:00.002+01:00

Ed and I have been hired, again. And we were offered something we felt we couldn't turn down.

After freelancing in London for the last few months, we've taken a permanent role. But not in London. Instead, we're off to Leicester and BIG Communications.

What?!
Yeah I know right.

Who?
They're called BIG Communications. They're in Leicester, which is a city (honest). It's an hour north on the train from London - so I'm not going a million miles away. And they've got some cool clients, won lots of awesome awards and have lots of in house departments that we can make the most of.

Why?
It's an opportunity that we weren't expecting to get. A role where we're hopefully not on the bottom rung, and one where we can work on all their major clients from top to bottom - including TV. The likes of Dominos, WKD and Tuborg sound like a student's wet dream. And there are plenty of smaller brands that we hope to get our teeth in to.

They're also being very considerate around all the other commitments we have in London, showing they're interested in us, not just with filling a job vacancy. And that's the exciting bit.

When?
We're starting on the 15th August, which is a week on Monday. Although we've known about it for a week or two, we wanted to wait until we had the contracts signed before saying anything. Whoop whoop!

Bale out The Sun

2011-07-27T15:17:00.001+01:00

Anyone remember this?

Well now it's turned into this, created by WCRS&co:

Its saving grace? They actually asked the original artist Richard Swarbrick and his studio to produce it.

I must admit, it's a lovely animation style. But creatively, does it not seem a really easy way out? It's almost a carbon copy.

The Eyesight App

2011-07-20T15:21:00.003+01:00

On Friday, I posted a new piece of work that Ed and I had created - the Specsavers Eyesight App.

In essence, the concept would emulate your prescription of your glasses. Using an app and the camera, you can look through your smartphone and see what you'd normally see while wearing glasses, but without them.

I popped this on Twitter and it got a very good response from a lot of you. And many said it should be made, or at least pitched to Specsavers. We were going to approach them, but then I received one tweet from a certain optical brand.

This, I must admit, was very exciting. A few emails back and forth and we'd arranged a conference call for Monday to talk more about our idea, which also had a quick facelift in preparation.

Monday happened. And went VERY well. We're off to Nottingham (hopefully next week) to meet them in person and discuss more. We've already asked an optometrist and a few devs to work out more of the technical specs, so hopefully it might just get off the concept table. Here's hoping all goes well and there's more to come from it. Keep your eyes peeled in the very near future.

The Shelf Awards

2011-07-11T13:18:00.003+01:00

Last week I headed over to the Shelf Awards at IPA's HQ in Belgrave Square - random fact: Mrs Thatcher lives two doors down from them. This swanky venue played host to five teams and a single creative, who were all after one thing. An Argos Shelf. But don't doubt the random award, it's the award for the awards. That is to say you can put the next lot on it.

Mark & Steven from Falmouth, Christoph & Jakob and Lucy Radford from Bucks, James & Mike and Steph & Josh from Lincoln and Charlotte & Sian from Gloucs were the lucky people up for the award. And what's nice about it, is that everyone who turns up chooses the winners.

The creatives get the opportunity to showcase their work and the guests have plenty of time to flick through their portfolios and have a rather informal chat with them. They then rate their work on a scale of 1 to 5 and team with the most points wins, simple.

Having met most of these teams before at New Blood, for me, it was nice to see them all getting stuck in with selling themselves. There were also lots of big names in the building, not to mention a host of recruiters and head hunters. With cards exchanging hands at a rate of knots it seemed everyone was having a good time. And the free food and alcohol definitely aided this!

When the scores had been counted, Gary Sharpen, ex-ECD at WDMP and founder of The Shelf, talked in depth about where he sees these awards going and doing more to support creatives, which is exciting for us too.

Then all that was left to do was announce the top 3. Third was Steph and Josh, second were Mark and Steven, and the winners were... Christoph and Jakob! Big congrats to them, as they had some nice stuff in their book.

Now all they have to do now is work out how to put the shelf up!

Also a big thanks to Char, Caroline, Sue, James (and his flatmates Soph & Keighley) and Gary for the banter.

Owen Hargreaves Fitness Training

2011-07-05T22:51:00.000+01:00

Owen Hargreaves was released as a Manchester United player at the end of the season. I'd the first to say he was a great player, but he was also more injury prone that Darren 'sicknote' Anderton. So in an attempt to find a new club, he's decided to do something brave and clever... Prove his fitness by posting YouTube videos of his training sessions.

So far he's got 20 videos (and counting), all showing him doing weird and wonderful exercises. And I must admit, this is a fantastic pro-active way to show that he can still be a good player.

Some may laugh, but I think we can all take a leaf out of his book. Why just rely on a good CV? Bayern Munich, Man United and England are about as good as it gets. But get creative and people will take a chance on you.

Twitter Job Hustle

2011-07-02T21:49:00.000+01:00

I love, love, love this. This is by far the best use of Twitter I've seen in ages. It's as simple as the Google Job Experiment. And it worked.

Well played.

Their work is pretty damn good too.

Hat tip to CR for the link.

The Bourbon Cream

2011-06-30T10:32:00.001+01:00

Last night on the Apprentice, there was a challenge to create their own biscuit, brand it and then sell it to major retailers. but judging by Twitter, both teams missed a hands down winner.

They wanted a Custard Cream top and a Bourbon Biscuit bottom.

SteJay: I'd have just mashed a bourbon biscuit and a custard cream together and called it 'Bostard' #theapprentice

jamesmadden76: I once invented my own biscuit by merging half a Bourbon cream with half a custard cream. I called it a bustard cream.

Davidthefixer: A biscuit where one half is bourbon and the other half is a custard cream #dream #TheApprentice

themarksmallman: Half bourbon, half custard cream. Biscuit DONE #theapprentice

Spacecable: If I had to create a biscuit I'd make a tripple decker bourbon as big as a dinner plate... maybe I'd cover it in chocolate #apprentice

Now I have no idea if either or both have some kind of licensing/trademark issues, but surely anyone can own the name/mixture? So why has no one made the Bourbon Cream? I'd buy it - and so would a few others!

Plank your way to £100 of free gym credit

2011-06-28T20:57:00.000+01:00

Yep, you read that headline correctly. Planking, the 'new' craze that I knew about years ago - when it was known as the lying down game - is now becoming a competition for Pay As U Gym.

But there's a reason behind it too. Their competition page says there are loads of benefits of Planking, like:

Improved core strength
The ability to maintain a stiff Plank for longer < - I'm not sure that's a benefit
Improved horizontal posture significantly enhances vertical posture

And they even give you a three week plan to become a real Planker! Wait, it gets funnier.

Week 1: Every night before you go to bed lie down and don’t move for 30 seconds. Repeat 5 times per Set for 3 Sets. Make sure you are properly warmed up before attempting this and please ensure you do it at ground level. Focus on staying really still and don’t forget to breathe. Remember “in through the nose, out through the mouth”. Say it out loud if it helps.

Week 2: Continue with the routine from Week 1 but try and extend each Rep to 60 seconds. During the last set try co-contracting your Transversus Abdominis and multifidus (you know the ones...) by sucking your belly in as if you are trying to squeeze through a narrow gap. Feels good right?! This will enhance your core strength which will be required for the longer and more public Planks in Week 3.

Week 3: By now you are probably beginning to see some results so the last week is much more about refining and honing your technique. To do this you will need a friend to ‘spot’ you during your workout, take photos and shout encouragement. Find a photogenic location, assume the Plank position and focus intently on being rigid and not moving. Get your friend to take a photograph so you can check if you were moving – if you did, then try again. Repeat until perfected.

If you follow this plan you should now be a proper Planker and we want to see how you got on!

The best bit is "Please make sure you seek the advice of your GP before commencing any Planking activity." So remember when lying face down in general, to check you're ok to do that...

And if you want to take part, competition entries can be found here.

The YCC at D&AD New Blood

2011-06-24T19:34:00.000+01:00

As an active member of the YCC, we've been putting on more and more events for young creatives. And if our year wasn't going well already, it's now even better. We've got a large presence at the biggest graduate creative get together in the UK, D&AD's New Blood.

We've been lucky enough to secure two stands in the North Space to push our wares. And we've got lots of things going on.

Single Mingle
Think speed dating, but with folios. This is Single Creatives first event, and it's not a bad one. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday you can turn up in the North Space and have have 5 mins at a time with each person. Whether you're looking for a copywriter or art director to team up with, a flatmate to move to the big smoke with or someone to collaborate with on a project, this is the event for you.

Two Minute Tent
Challenge yourself to crack a brief in 120secs. We’ll provide you with the brand and you do the rest. We’ll be posting all the efforts online and decorating our stand with your creativeness. There may even be a prize for the best (possibly a placement), so what have you got to lose? It’ll only take two minutes.

Skype Crits
Over the weekend we’re organising some global folio crits. We’re in talks with people as far away as America, Australia and Thailand in some amazing agencies to give you a unique opinion on your work. If you’re interested in getting your book seen, make yourself known to the YCC during the setup on Wednesday or Thursday and we’ll try and sort a slot for you.

Paul Antonio Do-Shop
Fresh from his amazing Weekly Score, we’ve enlisted the world famous calligrapher Paul Antonio to run an hour’s workshop on Sunday from 12-1pm. He’ll be letting you get involved and teaching you some tricks of the trade. It’s also a great opportunity to see how he works and ask him some probing questions.

Portfolio Surgery
On Friday there’s a portfolio surgery. And we’ve got a team there too. Emily and Cate are in charge of inputting their wisdom to your folio on behalf of the YCC. So if you see them around, say hi!

Y
You may have noticed on our Facebook Page we’ve started a project to create all sorts of Ys. At New Blood we’re taking this in to overdrive. Pop by our stand with your Y inspired picture and it’ll take pride of place on our stand. And we’ll add it to the collection online. There’s plenty of downtime at New Blood, so if you’ve got nothing to do, Y not have a go (sorry).

New Blood in Brief
Every day we’ll be doing a round up of what’s gone down at New Blood. From agency talks and industry interviews to a flick through work and what’s happen at our stand, we’ll tell you everything we’ve seen. And in a bite size format. We’ll also be Facebooking, Tweeting #YCCatNB, Instagramming and wandering around. So if you want to catch any of us, we’re just a shout away.

One final thing
If you've read all the way down to the bottom, well done. But also, Ad Job Wall will hoping to get the odd scoop during New Blood. So keep your eyes peeled.

Kodak Facebook Poll

2011-06-17T19:16:00.000+01:00

Picture this, Kodak wanted to capture the thoughts its Facebook fans about Father's Day. So it created a poll. Unfortunately, they also missed the little tick box that stops people from adding their own suggestions.

Ah, oh.

So from a few nice ones, they started getting some rather interesting additions, including "A new Kodak Community Manager who doesn't leave the Poll options wide up".

Oops.

The Chip Shop Awards

2011-06-10T15:39:00.004+01:00

Are they taking the piss?*

On Wednesday the winners were announced in the not-so-swanky 93 Feet East. Maybe it's because it's classed as the alternative awards, but when you spend a few quid (or £70) for a ticket, sometimes you sort of expect more.

On show is meant to be creativity with no limits. And some of it was. But I can't help but think it was limited. Especially by the £100 entry fee for professionals and £50 for students. It certainly put me off.

I'd love to take the piss, have lots of fun and try and win a Chip. But any award I win, I want it to mean something more. Chips are usually given to things that no client would ever buy that ad. So what does that say to any potential employer? We can think up stuff that's actually no good for your creative problem. However there were a couple of exceptions, including this clever little number by @LailaMilborrow and @PRPearson.

But on the whole, as one Tweeter mentioned: "They're about as useful to your career as boy scout badges." And I'd completely agree. Is the Chip Shop Awards as worthy, funny or even as good as it used to be?

I mean, it's not like the awards cost thousands either...

If you're interested, all the winners can be found here. Congrats to all. It's not you lot I have a problem with.

*The picture below is actually one from the awards do. Lovely.

School of Communication Arts

2011-06-07T09:00:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, I popped by the SCA studio in Vauxhall to do a bit of mentoring. Now I've done uni visits before. And I'm assuming I'll do plenty more in the future, but the SCA is a little different. You could even say it's the equivalent of a university advertising course 2.0.

Run by the energetic Marc Lewis, I arrived at 9am sharp where I was greeted by 20/30 students ready for their WIP meeting. Three or four projects were well underway, with another two set at the end of the day. The workload is frenetic. But in a good way. Some live briefs, some spec. And a great mix of clients to get your teeth in to.

The 'studio' is an old church hall. Spacious, open plan and very 2.0. And I started off by a flick through some of their latest ideas. Conveniently, you can too. Right here.

I got talking to a few of them. Oli and Mar are definitely heading in the right direction. Lots of nice digital stuff that's nearly in the realms of awesome. And by the looks of their website, they've seen plenty of useful people.

Alex and Lewis look like they have the makings of a good team too. A bit of direction and they're off talking weird and wonderful things. If they could commit more of their ideas to paper and let someone else pull the cherry from the pile, they'd be great.

And here's a little plug for Victoria Trow as well. I'll never be able to look at a Channel 4 brief in quite the same light - I now know the inner workings of 'Made in Chelsea' and 'The Only Way Is Essex'... She wasn't half bad either and she's looking to team up with a graduate digital art director if anyone's interested.

It's odd how there were 30 or so, and yet I seemed to spend all day popping back and forth to these guys and girls. Though I'm guessing that's where the other mentors come in handy!

Remembering this is a 12 month intensive course and then looking back at what most people learn in three years at uni. This place can knock the socks off them. Not to say that Lincoln, Sunderland, Staffs or Bucks (to name a few) are bad places to learn. It's just that this course is flexible enough to meet the demands of what an advertising course should be.

Brief. Scamp. Review. Repeat. 5 days a week. From 9 to 5 (or later). This place feels like work, not uni. And in my eyes, there needa to be more places like this.

Watford, I'd start looking over your shoulder... these guys are coming for you. And I'll be heading back to SCA soon.

New Folio Site

2011-06-03T12:26:00.002+01:00

Today Ed and I launched our joint portfolio site: digitalcreativeteam.com

Yes, believe it or not, no one has even thought about buying a fairly obvious URL. We've even got our SEO in mind - we're always thinking digitally you see...

As with every folio site, it's a work in progress. But we've got plenty of stuff in the pipeline so keep your eyes peeled for some even newer stuff in the next week. So feel free to have a flick through our stuff. And, if you like what you see, drop us an email.

Make me their next top model

2011-06-02T13:24:00.002+01:00

Next have launched a campaign to find themselves a new star of their clothing line.

The trouble is, us public like a little laugh and a joke too. So let me introduce you to the current leader of the competition at moment, Roland.

He looks a nice bloke, but do you think next will be cacking themselves ever so slightly if he does win? They're used to slim, toned and generic looking models. Not Jo Public. Well, unless that's their new marketing strategy. UPDATE: He even has a Facebook Page dedicated to him.

And while you're at it, my former boss at rehabstudio has also entered the competition. A classy look I'm sure you'll agree. So please vote for him too. I'm sure next would love you for it. Honest.

UPDATE: It's getting weirder. Can we all vote for Skye please? Thanks muchly.

The Wanted Ads Promo

2011-06-02T11:53:00.000+01:00

Comedy entrance of the year goes to Ben for the genius at the end. Paul on the other hand needs to work on his sad face. But his three-legged dog gets my vote. A nice X Factor pisstake from the wanted ads. It just needs phone numbers on the end.

Foursquare Rapture Bonus

2011-05-25T13:56:00.000+01:00

I'm surprised more brands didn't make the most of people worrying about the impending rapture. But Foursquare did. Woo, "The world didn't end!" +2 points. Get in.

Roll on 21st May 2012 (when they say it may happen again). Brands, be prepared.

#KittenCamp

2011-05-25T09:53:00.000+01:00

On Monday, I went to #kittencamp - a monthly meeting of memes, a few guest speakers and a good ol’ laugh and joke.

Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, the banter, catching up, and all for free (minus the beers we bought). But the memes (supposedly the main draw) were annoyingly a tad too expected.

We’re an industry that lives on YouTube, and loves discovering new stuff every day. So showing a video that’s over a week old, is usually pretty pointless. Not because it’s rubbish, it’s just that it’s probably been bounced around on Twitter already.

I see tons of stuff every day. And if I get linked to a video a second time, rarely do I even press play. If I’ve seen it, I kinda don’t need to see it again. Well, for at least for a good few months anyway.

I’ve also often skimmed videos too. Anything above a couple of minutes and it’s hard for me to quantify watching the whole thing. And I’m sure there are others like me out there. I need content fast, and the punch line faster. I just get impatient otherwise.

Though I can’t moan too much. I guess it’s probably the hardest job to find memes that people haven’t already seen, but sometimes it feels like the kitten should be scouring the depths of the interwebz for the real LOL moments.

The LOL printout out was a nice added extra last night, but it almost needed a WTF?! on the back. Or a skip paddle.

The speakers from Dare, Sneaky Zebra and Urgent Genius were cool.

Urgent Genius has popped by before to push their wares. And I’d encourage you to get involved. They do some funny stuff.

Dare talked about their work with the National Trust, which took 2 years to fully implement. Apparently they’re looking for 10,000 participants for the year, and they’d already got thousands signed up without needing a lot of seeding. I asked if it was actually going to make the National Trust money as technically it can sell the farms produce. And they said it would be pumped back into the project or given to charity instead. So that was cool.

Finally, Sneaky Zebra came from nowhere and pitched us their wares. They make YouTube videos for fun. And usually upload something every other week. It was a great insight into how YouTube partner with film makers and in a round about way, pay them for content. Although, when pressed, it’s definitely not a full-time job. Between the three of them, they generate less than £10,000 a year from the work they produce. Oh.

If you have an attention span like I do, then you’ve skipped the big text heavy bit in the middle and ended up down here faster than the scroll bar let you. But to sum up, if you’ve never been. Go. It’s great excuse to meet up with everyone, drink and even have the occasional LOL moment. After all, even I hadn’t seen this before.

Trainline Online Ad

2011-05-23T13:24:00.000+01:00

This sky has been following me all day. And it's been annoying me as well. They only had three frames to work with, so surely someone should've noticed the last frame doesn't look right... or left? Unless she's just very flexible. But I have my doubts.

His favourites on Flickr

2011-05-20T17:04:00.000+01:00

Hmm...wondering if this guy (who just fav'd two photos of my wife and a friend) is building himself a wank list says @patrick_h_lauke. And you know what? I think he has a point.

One downside to having a profile that isn't blocked, is that everyone can see what you're up to. Which, normally isn't an issue. But when you start favouriting lots of women in a limited amount of clothing, people start to notice!

If you fancy making up your own mind, then all you have to do is click here. All I hope is that you're not one of his favourites.

Cheers to @_luckyyou for the tip-off.

M&S Advertising Sells

2011-05-16T14:24:00.001+01:00

I love this ad. Why? Because it takes the piss out of every supermarket chef that says making great dinners is quick, easy and simple.

Not only do they make the food look great, they also make the recipe so complicated that I 'have' to buy the ravioli from M&S, instead of making it myself.

When will I go to the effort of buying semolina, nutmeg or parmesan? Or wait long enough for the dough to rise? And I really can't gently roll the pasta, set out the fillings and carefully seal. *

Sometimes you just have to realise that pre-made stuff is easier. And this ad does just that.

* I can actually cook some things though - beans on toast, spaghetti hoops... things like that.

The YCC Weekly Score

2011-05-07T23:10:00.002+01:00

My first Weekly Score for the YCC went out this week. And I got the awesome illustrator Johanna Basford. If you're a fan of pens and paper, it's definitely worth a read. Plus, there's some great advice for students and great work on view too. Check out her interview.

Cadbury's 'Charity Shop'

2011-05-07T22:55:00.002+01:00

I really like Cadbury's new advert 'Charity Shop'… but not for the idea, that's obvious - it's about the enjoyment. I love it's production instead.

Why? Because this ad has quirky little touches hidden everywhere. They've not opted to do any blue screen malarky and remove people's heads and arms from the clothes. Oh no, instead they've made each outfit massive. And hidden people inside them.

Shots like the one below show this off well. It's like a person zipped into a sleeping bag and told to crawl across the floor. A great bit of added humour.

This approach also means the scale of the shoot is actually huge. You can see two sets of feet inside the jacket, which puts into perspective the height of the drawers. They're huge. Even if they're kids bouncing around underneath.

The jacket was also built to be versatile. Not only can you get two people inside the chest of the jacket. But also one person in each sleeve!

It's these things that make the ad more likeable. They didn't cheat the production. They had fun shooting the ad. And it's nice to watch. So isn't that a win-win campaign idea then?

Nice one Fallon.

Unite III

2011-05-05T22:56:00.000+01:00

Wednesday was my first taste of a YCC event where I've had a hands-on role. Unite III is an informal portfolio night where we had picked 25 teams / singles and let them display their wares to industry professionals. And all set in a pub.

On the night there was a mix of talents, styles and approaches to work. All of which we chose to appeal to the broad range of agencies that were turning up. The likes of W&K, Saatchi & Saatchi, Work Club, Weapon7, Hello-X, Digital and Direct, Soup, Inferno, VCCP, Crayon and Dare to recruiters and industry bodies all made the effort to head to Cargo in East London.

The night was a great success, but we as members of the YCC, will always strive to make it bigger and better next time.

There have been lots of interesting feedback from Andy Sandoz at Work Club, Louis Clement at Soup and Laura and Mandy at JWT. And we're currently compiling a list of findings from the night, which will be published soon.

All we can say is that placements have been won (for some it was their first) and that we've opened a lot more doors to future events. Not bad for 15 of us that do it in our spare time. And with no budget.

I can't wait to get stuck into the next event, of which there are now many on the table. So keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook, Twitter or our website for details. And if you're a business that would like to help us out, either with our next project or with sponsorship at events, drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you.

Unite III Judging

2011-04-27T18:02:00.001+01:00

Last night I got to enjoy one of the perks of being in The YCC. The judging for who made it into Unite III - our portfolio/networking/industry get together.

As many of the Monkeys that were available joined in the heated discussions. With just 25 portfolio positions available and 65 applications, we had a hard time deciding who to choose.

We're about creating opportunities and helping people progress. And not always about picking the cream of the crop, strangely, Cream does that.

So this year we've got a mix of grads, third years and even a first year team who we felt were worthy enough to make the cut. Their invites hit their inboxes at lunch, and they'll all be showing off their work at Cargo (83 Rivington Street, London) next Wednesday (4/4/11).

If you're an industry professional and fancy popping down for a few beers, a flick through some exciting books and some banter, drop us an email and we'll pop you on the guest list. We've got some great names from the likes of LBi, Y&R, Dare, JWT and a quite a few CDs... so it should be a great night.

We've also produced a few findings about the many ‘folios we saw.

Choice of products. Really important, there were lots of the same product in people’s folios. So if you didn’t have lastminute.com, Tuborg, a charity ad or Warbutons, you’re work was more of a talking point. And if you did, we ended up comparing teams.

We saw some briefs had been designed to be narrow. But anyone that took an ambient idea and made a campaign out of it got a big thumbs up from us.

Strategies. Make sure it’s very obvious what yours are. Anything that had a strong call to action, a product insight or a big idea grabbed us. Keeping that at the heart of every piece communication was key too.

A title page for each of your products and your insight / strategy (in 10 words or less) on it makes things really easy for us.

Keep explanations simple. And. To. The. Point. For uni you may have to say what the brief was, the idea, and the insight. But for portfolios, it’s not necessary.

When explaining how your app / microsite / product / invention works, keep it simple. Less is more. We know you have to log on etc, so tell us why it’s different and clever. That’s the cool bit.

On a TV advert, anyone that summed their idea up at the top of the page scored highly. Keep dialogue to a minimum. And stretch the boundaries. The bigger and crazier the better. Remember, you don’t have budgets.

Be ruthless. We felt at times, there was too much stuff for certain campaigns. Does your idea really need packaging, DM or a Facebook Page? Show us your strongest bits in each campaign. It may not even be TV or press. Just pick your strongest bits to show your idea off.

Show us cool shit. Anything that was creative, but not advertising was liked. It could be a revolutionary cheese grater you’ve invented. Or a game show you’d like to film. Anything. Just make sure it’s awesome. And different.

iPhone Tracker Open Source Software

2011-04-21T14:21:00.000+01:00

The iPhone tracking news story appeared yesterday. Apparently they're following us. Well I do leave my GPS on so I can use it to benefit me when necessary. But then Chris pointed me in the direction of an open source iPhone tracker application.

I really don't like the look of what it's easily got hold of. It knows, time, dates and the points are pretty damn accurate. Nice app, not nice Apple - never thought I'd say that.

URL win

2011-04-19T11:09:00.001+01:00

Who'd have thought The Independent could have a funny side?!

Here's a harmless story about a jelly bean that's expected to fetch £500, just because it sort of has Kate Middleton's face on it.

And here's the link: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/kate-middleton-jelly-bean-expected-to-fetch-500-2269573.html

But here's the same story with a different URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/utter-PR-fiction-but-people-love-this-shit-so-fuck-it-lets-just-print-it-2269573.html

Genius. Maybe the writer just wants to work for The Sun. This has their front page news written all over it.

UPDATE:

Someone has spotted that you can change any Indy URL so long as you keep the story number. In this case 2269573 and where it's indexed on the site. So I can create http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/youre-clinking-on-a-link-i-created-to-prove-this-can-be-done-2269573.html

You can read more here.

Possibly the best Ebay ad ever

2011-04-18T14:36:00.001+01:00

On writing this post, this advert had received 229,885 views (and counting).

I'd quote it all, but it's just tooooo long to do it justice. So please click this way and enjoy.

But I can confirm that the petrol low light works, it just came on...

Crunchy Nut

2011-04-18T12:11:00.003+01:00

My flatmate and I were watching the box over the weekend and this ad came on:

I didn't think anything of it until he said:

"You know that bit at the end of the song? Well, I thought they'd sing take my bowl away."

And he has a point. Now I can only watch that ad and change the ending. They either missed a trick or Berlin's copyright prevented them from doing that.

Just watch it again and add that line and you'll see his point. It's pretty funny.

Best friends who have a major height difference

2011-04-17T21:06:00.000+01:00

A Facebook Page that does exactly what it says on the tin. It's pretty funny. And 854,443 people agree with me. Go enjoy.

Talent Fail

2011-04-17T10:45:00.001+01:00

I was watching Britain's Got Talent on Saturday night (I'm cool, honest) and they advertised the fact that you could download the app for the show. So for a laugh I thought I'd check it out. Oh but wait, it wasn't available. Instead, all I got was this:

Ah. Oh. It's now Monday and I still no signs of the app. So who's in for a bollocking?

"Nude female web coders wanted"

2011-04-12T12:15:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not asking. But this guy is...

I couldn't believe it either. It's a very niche role. Or a very sick man. If the link still works, check it out here.

Clever Chrome

2011-04-07T10:07:00.000+01:00

Have you ever tried to do sums in your browser? Usually you have to press enter. Well, in Google Chrome, it'll do it for you in its url search bar. What a clever little thing.

Hat tip to Ed for the spot.

Not so fooled by the Google April Fool

2011-04-01T11:49:00.004+01:00

Today if you type into Google "helvetica" then this happens:

And if you type "comic sans" in the search bar, you get this:

But what happens if you type in "impact"? Well, you get this:

And if you're feeling funky, type in "zapf dingbats", and you'll get this.

Actually, the last two I've done myself...

How? Because I've been able to tweak Google's font, or any other site for that matter, for ages. And all with a simple piece of jQuery code.

Just drag IMPACT THAT into your bookmark bar and you can turn any webpage into Impact. Or drag ZAPF THAT to make it Zapf Dingbats. All you have to do is go a text based page of your choice and then click on the bookmark. It's that simple.

Oh, and if you love Comic Sans too much, you can always use this one.

Want to complain? Complain on Twitter

2011-03-25T14:36:00.000Z

In the last month I've seen three blog posts about complaining on Twitter because of substandard service or problems.

The first saw Kate at Rabbit complain to Pret about something not quite right with her lunch. And the second and third saw Mike at Inferno complain about a mishap by Pret and TFL. All of which had their problem dealt with (pretty) quickly and effectively.

So when Eon sent me a final bill of 29p from my last flat I jumped on to Twitter. Why? Well technically I'd given my final reading before my new final bill. And secondly, Eon won't let you pay a bill of less than £5 online.

A stamp for a cheque costed more than my bill and I didn't fancy ringing a premium rate number to get a response. In my head, this was about the principal rather than the cost involved.

I found Eon on Twitter but it was in French, so I used their @eonenergyfit username to contact them.

Granted I wasn't as polite as possible, but you need a reaction right?

And I got a response shortly after. So I DM'd them my Eon account details and waited for a call.

9 days later, nothing.

Slightly annoyed, I dropped them another DM. And then, within the hour, I got a phone call and my 29p was wiped off the system. Awesome. Plus, it didn't cost me a penny and they did all the leg work. Win-win.

So my new rule is... If you need to complain, use Twitter.

Hired!

2011-03-19T10:46:00.001Z

Thursday morning: We submitted both our portfolios to a recruiter.

Thursday afternoon: We had two interviews at great agencies for the next day.

Friday morning: Interview one.

Friday afternoon: Interview two.

Friday evening: ... Two job offers.

The winner, Rehab Studio.

And we're chuffed to bits. Right up our street, an amazing set of clients and one of the funniest interviews possible.

Hurrah!

From Edinburgh to Ed

2011-03-18T23:52:00.002Z

When I moved from Leith, and Edinburgh, I left the comfort of a creative team and headed to London as a single creative. And I've found going solo isn't easy.

In every meeting I've been in they've said they want a team, no matter how many skills you can offer them. I'd had enough of four weeks doing bits and bobs with no end in sight, so I went looking for someone to team up with...

So here's me introducing my new creative sidekick, Ed.

We don't have a clever name. I got E.BAP, but I'm not sure it's that catchy to be honest. However, that doesn't matter. He breathes digital, almost more than me. He's a shit hot coder, a self-confessed geek and (half) Mexican.

And that's all for starters.

Graduating from Bucks he's been at plenty of places in London plying his trade. After which he too split from his partner and he's been freelancing in the digital domain since. With Cream and a Roses' award under his belt, he has more honours to his name than I do. And a pretty impressive book. I could almost say I'm batting above my average.

Check his site out. Or add him on Twitter. But don't ask him if he owns a donkey... he doesn't.

Oh, and how did we find each other? Twitter.

Screen Hacking Technology

2011-03-17T16:17:00.004Z

This has had over a million hits in a few days on YouTube.

Whether it's real or fake remains to be seen. But if this technology exists, then I want in. The ability to make stunts, protests or just have a bit of fun... this tech could have endless possibilities. Slightly illegal mind, but shush.

What annoys me is that he's actually pushing a pill / new film called "Limitless" in his "updated version" of the video, which leads me thinking it's fake. But even so, it's still a great viral.

Via @adlandcreative

More Facebook changes

2011-03-16T20:15:00.002Z

See what I did there? It's been hiding in the new "groups" section for a while, but now the press enter to comment has reached your main feed. And it's already got haters. The GET RID of "Press enter to post your comment" and Bring back the Button page is already growing.

I personally don't mind it. But without hitting shift+enter to make a new paragraph I'm sure I'll end up with lots of unfinished comments.

Here are a few people's thoughts on the change. Many think it's turning into Twitter... and I for one, hope it doesn't.

Also, has anyone noticed that the photos section has started regurgitating photo albums from four years ago? As you can see below, there are two photo albums I've highlighted that are more than four years old. Why are they in my photo feed?

There's also a "Memorable Status Updates" section in there. Now I'm all for reliving the past. But I want a way to see what's happening now. Not years ago. I'll do that when I'm old and grey thanks.

It just seems Facebook is trying to do something clever and it's failing. My personal opinion is that they need to sort their iPhone App out. Because all the new features on Pages and Groups don't work on the move. And I'd see that as a bigger issue than making minor tweaks.

I'm feeling charitable

2011-03-14T01:00:00.007Z

Still available for Thursday and Friday. Any takers? Drop me an email.

Red Nob Day

2011-03-13T09:54:00.000Z

It's Red Nose Day on Friday. But Saturday is where it's at. Why? Well, it's Red Nob Day of course.

The plan? To raise awareness of testicular and prostate cancer by jumping on the back of the biggest charity event of the year. Except you know every penny will go to a very manly cause. And you don't even have to watch Olly Murs walk across a desert.

The hopeful end result? To raise £10,000.

How? By publicising it on Facebook, Twitter and at rednobday.com, they're hoping you can spare a few quid and add it to this growing pot.

It's a bit of fun for a good cause. And it's full of puns. Perfect.

Bang Bang Briefs by the YCC

2011-03-11T15:27:00.004Z

Last night saw the first of the #BangBangBriefs from the Young Creative Council at Pentagram in London.

The concept is simple. Bring together creative individuals to crack a brief together in just 2 hours. And then pitch your idea to a panel of judges.

40 young creatives ranging from photographers, copywriters, art directors, graphic designers and a mix of first, second and third year students were paired off into eight groups of five. These teams were then head up by a member of the YCC and someone from the client's side. With people from Innocent, Universal, Urban Outfitters, Sainsbury's, Art Against Knives, YH World, Image Source and HelloYouCreatives offering up their services.

The brief was an open one. But with a clear goal in mind. It was set by Do The Green Thing - an organisation that wants to do interesting things that will make a difference to the environment, but in a non-preachy way. It wanted people to eat less meat. Not condone them for eating it or force them to stop altogether, just consume less.

My team, which was made up of Lauren, Steve, Dan, Callum, Rachel, Turlough and myself spent the first hour throwing plenty of thoughts about. Our group was the perfect mix of veggies and meat eaters, so we got lots of different perspectives on how each other perceives eating, buying and consuming meat.

With 30 minutes left, we settled on the best route and set about fine tuning it.

_________________________________

Our idea:

Problem
Persuading people to eat less meat.

Idea
Meat a Veg. A dating website that pairs up single veggies with single meat eaters.

What's in it for the meat eaters?
- The chance to increase their menu choices
- Free food... because the veggies will show off how to cook better meals
- Possible naked time

What's in it for the veggies?

- Vegucation, vegucation, vegucation. The chance to educate a meat eater about the alternatives to meat.

- They're making people eat less meat (answering the brief)

- Possible naked time

How do we do this?

Using the Do The Green Thing website, Twitter and Facebook, we create the "Meat Market". And encourage meaties to browse the profiles of the veggies in their area. You can also add great vegetarian restaurants to the personalised Google Maps page using a Twitter hashtag and geotagging.

How would this solve the problem?

The veggies would cook meals for the meat eaters, which would usually involve them not cooking any meat at the same time. This reduces the consumption of meat but we're not actually applying any pressure on them. This is done by the other half.

_________________________________

Our idea was then give a five minute slot to pitch to the panel of judges. Given the fact everyone had only two hours to brainstorm and present, the calibre of work was pretty high. Plus, nearly all had less than a two years experience in the industry.

The judges deliberated and eventually chose our 'Meat a Veg' and another team's 'Give veg a chance' routes as their favourites. Go team! What happens next is up to Do The Green Thing and we'll keep our fingers crossed veggie dating becomes a reality.

Overall though, the YCC did a great job organising a fantastic event. A great client, great judges, free beer, an awesome goodie bag and a great mix of inspiring minds. All I can say is the next one will be something everyone should apply for.

Pictures from @YCCLondon

Google and the Japanese Earthquake

2011-03-11T12:25:00.000Z

This morning, in the wake of the Japanese earthquake, google.co.uk added the following to their website:

"Tsunami Alert for New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, and others. Waves expected over the next few hours, caused by 8.9 earthquake in Japan."

I thought this was very useful. But then I thought I'd see if every other Google had done this.

Of the ones I checked, only the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Russia versions of Google had this message.

Japan had an emergency webpage to be directed to. And the rest? France, Germany, Indonesia, the Philippines and the others all had nothing. Very strange.

I'd love to know why the UK gets this message but not the rest of Europe. Do we care more? Are there more Japanese people here so we feel it's important to show our support? I don't know. It just seems odd that some Googles have displayed this message, and others haven't.

Some evidence:

There's an A.P. for that

2011-03-03T17:46:00.001Z

I have a new portfolio site: theresanapforthat.co.uk

The Facebook one was temporary. And now they're moving to iFrames, I thought I'd run a mile and build my own from scratch. Having battled CSS and jQuery before, it was fairly pain free.

The idea?

Well, if you need an app for that...there's only one A.P. you need. Yes it's a pun. But it has a point. And aren't they too good to turn down?

So while I keep working on my portfolio, have meetings and wait around for something to appear, feel free to have a look around theresanapforthat.co.uk and see if there's something that takes you fancy.

Oh and personally I think it works best on an iPhone. Maybe that was just a coincidence...

Ad Job Wall

2011-02-28T14:17:00.002Z

Has had a little makeover. A new logo and hopefully in the near future, a new website.

I'm looking to give it a massive makeover. And turn it into something a lot bigger than it currently is. But there's a downside. It needs a lot of ground work doing by people that have a business head and I also need a web developer for a custom build. Both require money or funding, which I'm currently in short supply of.

Since it launched in November, Ad Job Wall has grow to having over 500+ eyeballs on Twitter and Facebook. Not bad, when you think how many ad students there are in the country.

It targets only the intern, placement and junior job market, which I guess puts it in a niche market. And I'm not looking to be like the traditional recruitment agencies that take a large cut when they place people in employment. I have an idea to make it different but also offer the agencies the best possible choice of applicants. But I can't do it all myself.

So, what am I looking for?

More agencies, a clever person or another industry organisation (along with the lovely folk from the YCC) to jump onboard to help boost and build on the profile that Ad Job Wall is gaining. Is that much to ask?

Interested? Drop me email.

Joe Jordan

2011-02-16T00:49:00.001Z

Gennaro 'Rhino' Gattuso head butted Joe Jordan.

Harry Redknapp said: "Gattuso had a flare-up with Joe Jordan. I don't know why. He obviously hadn't done his homework. He could've picked a fight with somebody else. Putting his head into Joe's face, it was crazy. He lost his head."

And Twitter said:

daveraybould: Giraffes were created when Joe Jordan uppercutted a horse. #joejordanfacts

Bentleysbird: Superman wears Joe Jordan pyjamas #JoeJordanFacts

tottenblog: In a living room there are 257 things joe jordan can kill you with, including the room itself #joejordanfacts

AndiLap: There is no such thing as evolution, just a list of animals Joe Jordan allows to live #joejordanfacts

TheGirobabies: Chuck Norris has poster of Joe Jordan on his wall #joejordanfacts

Phleanix: When batman is in trouble, gotham city put-up the the Joe jordan signal #joejordanfacts

GavinDRitchie: Joe Jordan can win connect 4 in 3 moves. #joejordanfacts

LaborneRacing: Joe Jordan tells the sun when to rise and when to set #joejordanfacts

bigwillyking: Joe Jordan once walked the London Marathon in 17 seconds. #JoeJordanFacts

chrismaddy84: Death once had a near Joe Jordan experience #joejordanfacts

TheMassacre2001: In the beginning, Joe Jordan turned on the light. The rest is history. #joejordanfacts

JezOfDeath: Joe Jordan doesn't need Twitter... He is already following you. #joejordanfacts

And for many more, just click here.

Day V Lately

2011-02-14T12:38:00.001Z

Now everyone can find Day V Lately's track. And they don't even have to use Yell to find it. It's on iTunes (in the charts), YouTube and there's even a 10 minute remix on SoundCloud.

And I found out J R Hartley's book is worth a few quid too. But I did all that without using Yell, is that a good or a bad thing?

Creative portfolios

2011-02-11T13:00:00.000Z

What do people look for in a portfolio?

The other week, this question was posed by @YCCLondon to a numbers of creatives. And they brought up some interesting answers.

@infernoagency: good ideas in interesting channels. Don't do headline/picture/logo approach.yawn. And don't worry if it's a bit rough.

@polliecreatives: Strategic thinking. Crazy shit. Personality. Lots of all 3.

@Sergethew: I'd say dip it in some PVA, then in some glitter, make it shiny! It's well known Creative Directors are descended from Magpies.

@emily_churches: YOU make a good portfolio. People buy into the person before they even consider the idea. Be likable.

@LBiLondon: one that blows the wind up your skirt!

@lendmeyoureyes: you only need two words: good ideas.

@andymarkpeel: Raw ideas, energy, a grasp of how things work and lots of weird shit that's not necessarily adverts.

@Wheres_My_Owl: I would say consistency an confidence. But equally make an impression being creative isn't all about advertising!

@Hellocreatives: Be selective, show the kind of work you want to do, don't just throw in everything from Uni. And 90% of any job is personality.

@Floheiss: ideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasideasidea

@sophielovestea: I think being interesting, talented and enthusiastic is all that matters in the end?

@dbedwood: show you can write a good poster, show you can write in many tones of voice, show you try not to copy, show your balls.

@W2Optimism: Original, engaging ideas. Fresh thinking. Craft, story-telling and intelligence.

@Creative_Boom: Showcasing most recent work with clear navigation of About and Contact pages. Nothing too fussy! Let the content do the talking

@tommyjames: The question is flawed. What you're really asking is “How can I make my portfolio look more like everyone else’s, more like what’s expected?”

So ask the question, get the advice...and then do the complete opposite.

But the best point was:

@iamwilf: it's different for everyone, for me it's simplicity in the ideas and a bit of utility in there to boot!

It's amazing how many people mentioned 'you' being the difference. Very few said your book should look good. Nearly everyone wanted ideas, because they can teach you craft but not how to think.

Isaacs on Twitter

2011-02-10T14:48:00.002Z

You're actually kidding right?

Isaacs, a hotel based in Cork decided it would publicise its lovely cheap B&B offers in the same post as offering their condolences for the plane crash at Cork Airport.

Not cool.

Social Media Loyalty Card

2011-02-10T12:37:00.001Z

This is the future. Fact.

Snap for Business has created a loyalty card that rewards you for telling people your purchases you've just made via your social networks.

This 'patent pending' platform enables businesses to automatically reward customers with points, badges, discounts and more for simply socially sharing your in-store activity on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. It's that simple.

The diagram below shows how it works.

If you'd like to form an orderly queue this way please.

Real work vs Spec work

2011-02-10T11:00:00.000Z

I came to London with a book of ads that have run. And a few things that have never made it past the top drawer.

But now, after two weeks having meetings, my book has completely changed. Why? Because everyone wants to see how creative you are. Not how you fare with client restrictions or budgets.

I wouldn’t have three years experience if I couldn’t make an ad. So instead, I’m now creating spec work with big ideas that go beyond anything a brief could ever let me create.

At my stage, I always thought showing off work I’ve done was the best idea, which it would be if I’d created the meerkat or the latest Nike ad. But I haven’t.

So after seeking advice in the form of three very well respected and highly creative people, I’ve come to terms that my book of ads isn’t want creatives want. And that spec work was, and still is, the way forward.

The down side is though, now I know how to make an ad, a nice strap and clever visual just won’t do. These need to be bigger ideas. Ones that have a clear goal in mind. It’s like I’m the planner and creative on the job. But I don’t mind that, it just means it takes twice as long to find that little gem hidden away. And then make it.

Dribbble promotion

2011-02-10T00:51:00.000Z

On the current theme of selling yourself better than others... I introduce to you Harry Roberts, a 20 year old web developer who's looking for freelance work. And by the looks of things, he's pretty good at what he does.

He runs csswizardry.com, which look slick and has gained himself a few thousand Twitter followers off the back of it. But, what impresses me more, is his dribbble page.

Plus, when you roll over each image, it gives you a nice bit of copy to read.

What's nice about this is that he's chosen a site that designers use on a daily basis. And where he can also showcase some of his work, which is pretty much his target market.

The good ol' fashioned A4 paper resumé may soon be a thing of the past by creativity's standards. Watch this space.

CVs

2011-02-09T16:29:00.000Z

I’ve been having to write a CV recently. Usually my portfolio is my ticket to an interview, a meeting or a placement. So this is a new territory to me. And one that I’ve realised there’s a world of opportunity.

My CV has a fairly standard look about it. A brief summary about what I’ve done, where I’ve been and what I’m about. Then the technical stuff appears, which is all neatly designed. Nothing special I might add, but enough to show I care about design and that a plain word doc just won’t do.

Well, some designers have decided to take a different approach. There are a few creative CVs I’ve seen in the last few years that have caught my attention. And three of them were very recently.

First there was Ed Hamilton who decided to make his CV in Google maps. One useful thing was that he’s travelled the world, meaning the pins look rather impressive before even being clicked on.

Everything from places of work to education, it’s all on there. And all neatly adapted to the medium.

Graeme Anthony decided to create his CV on YouTube. The perfect way to get your CV to go viral. And it helps that it's very well done. I also love the idea of techies or film makers creating a fantastic looking CV in AfterEffects and letting their skills speak for themselves.

But the most recent interesting CVs have taken the form of infographics. The great thing about these are that they’re very visual, which is very useful if, like these two, you’re a graphic designer.

What’s also nice about these is that they look completely different to each other. They’ve put their own mark creatively on their CV meaning I’m almost not looking at their CV, I want to see their work.

But that’s not all...

Ways of getting your CV out there are taking on a whole new level too. From using Google Adwords to Facebook adverts, the clever people are trying different ways to get noticed.

Of course you need to back up the seeding with some solid facts, but they’re thinking has them ahead of anyone sending in just a standard CV on spec.

For me, I use Twitter, my blog and every other social network you can (nearly) think of to feed out my content. And to me, this are my living and breathing CV. Everything I’ve done, said or thought about is in here somewhere. You just have to go looking.

Pink Pony Birthday Party

2011-02-09T10:59:00.000Z

What happens when you task an advertising agency (in this case John St.) to organise a kids' birthday party.

I love the piss-take sentiment, it hits the nail on the head.

Link via @conradrobson

Please Donate

2011-02-08T14:09:00.001Z

No, I'm not asking you for money. But Rafael Rozendaal is.

He's an online artist. Basically meaning he thinks up something, builds it, then sells you the domain name and all of the stuff on it.

Though I'm guessing he won't be selling his pleasedonate.biz site. I love the idea. So simple. And probably quite effective!

To demonstrate how well he's doing, take this site for instance.

It's called pleaselike.com and it's as simple as a Facebook button on a page. It's currently got 9,037 'likes'. Not bad for a blank page. But I guess that's art for you. A talking point.

Rapier's website

2011-02-08T00:44:00.002Z

On Sunday night, the new Rapier website went live. None of this smashing champagne against the battleship lark. But instead, it's quietly caught the eye of a few people, including me.

I love agencies that try something different with their website. After all, it shows off their own creativity when there are no boundaries, limitations or rules. Either it's dull, old, broken, quirky, continually updated with content or down right clever. And all should have some, or all, of the last three in them.

I've decided that Rapier's site, definitely falls into the quirky category.

So what have they done? Well, the website is hosted using six webcams, each with a different piece of information on it. On the homepage you're greeted with the idea. It's a live website. Literally.

These six webcams are moved on a daily basis so that you can discover another part of the building. But if you actually want to check out their work, you'll have to follow their links away from the site to either Flickr or YouTube.

I love the idea, by practicality wise, the TV ads section isn't the best. And I'm sure if the site it decided to spend a day in Johnny and Angus' office, they my mute the sound after a while!

What is a nice touch though, is the date and time. A simple wrist watch and a torn bit of newspaper. Can I get away with the word 'charming' to describe that?

Oh, and for all the sceptics about iPhone compatibility, they thought of that too.

Good work.

Job hunting/moving (multi-tasking)

2011-02-07T22:53:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of blogging over the last week. It appears trying to find work, have interviews, work on my book, update Ad Job Wall, move south AND find things to share isn't as easy as I thought.

I'm now officially a Londoner again. I'm still looking for that full-time role. I'm currently freelancing on a couple of jobs, which are pretty cool. And, I've come to realise a few things over the last week that have been invaluable to me, which I'll pass on in due course.

But for now...

Read the post above. I've found something interesting.

Old Spice - I'm back

2011-01-26T17:33:00.000Z

A few things.

1: Notice the lack of product in the ad. Has he become so iconic that he doesn't need a pack shot?

2: It says "This video is unlisted. Only those with the link can see it."

Old spice, what are you up to? I also noticed the embed code was different to the usual. Hmmm.

Working in regional agencies

2011-01-26T15:50:00.001Z

It's our final week at Leith for Chris and I. Ending not only a great Edinburgh adventure, but the partnership of CR and AP.

It's been two years (almost to the day) since we first moved up here. And I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

As I've found Scotland or agencies outside of London can offer young teams so much more.

Why?

Because you get thrown in the deep end.

In London you'll usually get eased into life. Feeding on scraps. Or working with two or three teams that are more senior than you, which means their ideas will more often than not get chosen over yours.

In our six month stint in London, we did a few press ads and a piece of DM. In six weeks up here, we'd done probably twice that. And since then, we've worked on numerous TV, radio, online and DM projects. Not to mention the odd pitch or two.

My skill set has increased. Purely with creative departments being more dependent on you knowing the software. No longer to do I fumble around CS3 and I've even learnt how to code (slowly). I'm not scared of writing 1,000 words. Or even having 10 or more briefs on my desk.

We've got to work on big clients. STV (Scotland's ITV), Historic Scotland, IRN-BRU, ScotRail and First Group to name a few. And had decent budgets to work with too.

We've been nominated for awards, had plenty of Fridays in the pub and even met a few celebs. It all happens. You don't have to be in London to get all that.

So when you have your sights set on London, be it now or when you graduate, see what's closer to home. You never know what great agencies are on your doorstep. Or in our case, the other end of the country. Even if it's just short term. It could have a great long-term effect on your career.

I've learnt so much up here. I've grown up. And then some. But I feel the time is right to start my new adventure in ad land, which starts on Monday... in London.

FaceTop

2011-01-20T18:12:00.000Z

I can trawl through the new Apple App Store for hours. What I love about it is that there are all sorts of tricks on my Mac that I'd never even considered. Take this bizarre app for instance. Why bother checking your Facebook online, when it can be your transparent auto-updating desktop background? It'll even let you chat on it. Oh yeah, it's clever stuff.

I half think why, but then I think, why not?! It gives you one reason to keep that desktop tidy and makes that Facebook addiction a tad bit closer.

Relax, do nothing for 2 minutes

2011-01-20T11:00:00.001Z

A very simple idea. Just have a break, but not a kitkat.

Click here to see if you can last a whole 2 minutes of doing nothing. I struggled.

YouTube's Nonprofit Program

2011-01-18T16:07:00.001Z

One thing I noticed today is that YouTube have a Nonprofit Program. If you look carefully under this video, you'll notice that there's a "donate to this organisation" button.

I like this idea. So I did a bit more digging and found that it's not just your usual "save this and that" or "the fight against doing something bad" that are using it. Companies like the Anaheim Ballet are taking advantage of this donation box too.

You can find out more about YouTube's donation scheme here.

Banksy's Identity on Ebay

2011-01-18T12:01:00.000Z

Somebody is selling the real name of Banksy on Ebay. Apparently If you win this auction they "will mail you a piece of paper revealing the true identity of Banksy" on it.

How have they found out who they mysterious man is? Well, they've "uncovered his identity by matching up the prices of his sold pieces to corresponding tax records."

What's more is that currently someone is willing to pay $999,999 for a "piece of paper [that] will say his name, nothing more."

But for that hefty sum they give you "100% assurance that it is most certainly the full name of the street artist known as "Banksy"."

Right...

CR.AP

2011-01-17T13:25:00.000Z

There have been some developments over the job front since the start of the year.

You may have seen our big push at the end of last year with our site takeover, which worked perfectly. Apart from one thing. Chris and I wanted different things. He wanted to stay up here in Scotland. And I wanted to head back to London.

Having exhausted all the possible opportunities up here, which for a team is currently non-existent, we've reluctantly decided that we're going our separate ways.

After teaming up at uni over four years ago, doing three years of work in agencies AND living together for two years, this wasn't the easiest of decisions to make. But, we both feel we're in strong positions to move onwards and (hopefully) upwards after the work we've done and experience we've gained.

As of writing this post, Chris has got some work in Edinburgh as a designer/art director at a digital agency. And I'm currently looking at opportunities in London. I have a couple of interviews lined up as a copywriter/digital creative, but I'm keeping my options open.

My heart lies in digital and being creative, but I want to see what's out there before committing to anything. So feel free to contact me if you've an interesting position available.

As for the name of the blog, it'll eventually swap over to something else, but fear not. The AP of (formally) CR.AP will still be pumping out more posts of weird and wonderful things on a near daily basis.

Having spent the last week getting a new portfolio together, as well as building a new site. I now feel I'm in a position to share it with the world. You'll find my work at andymarkpeel.com

Hopefully you'll like what you see.
Cheers.

Bieber.ly was short lived

2011-01-16T14:13:00.001Z

Apparently Justin Bieber's lawyers don't like a little bit of harmless fun.

Bieber.ly arrived on the scene on Thursday. And, by Saturday evening, it was dead and buried. Maybe because it was going to be bigger than Bieber himself (I wish).

Nice one to the five guys that came up with it. Please do more of these kind of things.

Justin Bieber gets his own URL shortener

2011-01-13T11:04:00.001Z

The Justin Bieber phenomenon continues. He's now got his very own URL shortener. I'm sure Bieber.ly will soon sweep the world was his infectious mop top of mini links. And, I reckon Google might get tired of ranking anything other than Bieber and Gaga soon.

I wonder if it does real time stats?

And, I've found the creators. Can't decide if I should say well done or not.

Using Quora to find a job

2011-01-10T11:10:00.001Z

This morning, I finally joined the masses on Quora. I won't go into the ins-and-outs (because you'll probably be aware of them already), but I did notice one nice thing about the site.

It's a great place to find a job.

Now I'm thinking you'll have to get in early, because I can soon see this becoming a Yahoo Questions type thing that'll all get very similar. But as the two shots I've taken show, both have some very good answers.

You never know, you could find a great job... just by asking.

P.S. I still need one. Thanks.
P.P.S. This popped up shortly after I posted this.

Buy and Sell your Facebook Pages

2010-12-28T14:59:00.000Z

If you are a Facebook Page owner with more than 100,000 Likes then you could be on your way to a mini pay day. Currently, MasterCom want to buy Facebook Pages and are willing to pay a premium (if they think necessary).

All you have to do is contact them with your Facebook Page url and your price. I'd never really thought of making successful Pages and selling them on.

More Facebook Fun

2010-12-15T13:11:00.000Z

This is great. Fraser Nicholas had an idea to leave little messages in his mates' photos rather than on their wall.

He's called it the "Alpha-twat". The idea is simple. Just tag a friend with any (up to five) letter word you wish so that it appears in bright lights at the top of their profile.

Just remember to tag it in reverse order.

This basic fun can be found here (I hope).

New Sour Music Video

2010-12-15T10:04:00.001Z

Sour, the Japanese band, have a habit of creating weird and wonderful videos. The one below caught my eye a year ago.

And now they have a new one out, which doesn't disappoint. They use everything you can with browser windows and prominent sites like Google Maps, Facebook and Twitter. You can even let them log into your accounts so that you appear during the video. I've just screengrabbed a few of my favourite bits.

But I won't spoil it all, watch their new video here (takes a while to load).

New Facebook Layout

2010-12-14T12:19:00.001Z

The new tweaks to Facebook's layout has found a few people experimenting with what they can do. On Sunday HelloYouCreatives showed me this:

And today, Skive found this beauty:

Technically it's the same thing, but 'Tim G' threw in a Youtube video to top the one before.

I love it when people take something that's functional and turn it into something creative.

Our book launch

2010-12-10T15:32:00.001Z

Well, it's not actually a written one. More of our portfolio launch.

This week has been a bit mental. Since launching the new feature on our site (plus the new portfolio), we've had over 1,200 views of it. And, have had plenty of good publicity from all sorts of places.

As well as a few iffy ones (you don't want to see the link for the first one!):

We've also been featured on the Creative Boom website.

And, have a couple of meetings set up for next week. Not bad compared we've emailed about three people so far! Hopefully something might come out of those, but there's still time to throw your hat into the ring too. Just drop us an email with something tempting. I'll keep you posted as always.

Where will cr.ap end up?

2010-12-06T10:00:00.009Z

We've made a little add-on to our website. The idea came a while ago, but I've finally managed to teach myself the ins and outs of css and php.

Basically, you can take us wherever you want by putting in any url you choose after ours. It's a bit of fun with a serious note. We're looking for a new place to work (click to see our portfolio). Drop us a line if you like what you see.

Within two days, it's been seen by nearly 1000 people. Not bad considering it's pretty much been a Twitter only push.

If you fancy playing around a bit, have a go and then take a screen grab and link us to the screen grab. We'll start you at Google and go from there. Go on, do your worst.

24 briefs in 24 hours

2010-12-05T21:40:00.001Z

I know plenty of people that moan when they get no time at all to work on a brief. Especially if it's something completely new and they know nothing about the product.

Well, one plucky student decided to do 24 of these non-stop, over 24 hours. One brief an hour.

Christopher Ross-Kellam, from Leeds College of Art, set it upon himself to ask Twitter for a brief every hour, which he was to complete, scamp and then move onto the next one. All of this had a purpose of course. To attract attention of the creative industry to secure a placement.

From his website, onedayinnovember.com he set up a live stream for the 24 hours. With lots of briefs flooding in from Twitter, the stunt was going well. But once the 24 hours was up, the work went up and the networking began.

@1dayinnovember's feed was full of plugs to all the right people in the industry. And, this morning it took off.

Dave Trott saw what had gone on and took matters into his own hands. With a fantastic outcome.

And other offers of a different kind have appeared too.

There's so much to be said for social media nowadays. This kind of stuff didn't exist a few years ago. And this is the reason why if you're not on it, you should be. This is the kind of exposure you can't buy.

Great stuff Christopher. Nice to see students being creative in every sense.

Apple ads with HTML5

2010-12-02T11:47:00.001Z

So Apple decide they hate Flash? But what about web ads? They'll have to use Flash then right? Wrong, very wrong.

I saw this on Sky Sports today and it's made with HTML5. And, you know what? It's amazing. If that's just the start of HTML5 ads, then I can't wait to see what else you can play with in terms of coding.

The .wwf file format

2010-12-02T11:27:00.000Z

How do the World Wildlife Fund try and save the world one tree at time?
By stopping people from wasting paper.

How do you stop people from wasting paper?
By stopping them printing out unnecessary files.

How do you stop them print files?
Well, you make a new file format. And, it's called a .wwf file.

SAVE AS WWF, SAVE A TREE.

It's the new green file format. It's easy to install and use. And, it's technically very similar to the PDF format, with the key exception that in WWF documents the print option is completely blocked. It’s a simple way to save trees and help the environment.

The WWF software will install a “SAVE AS WWF” option in the print menu. Then, when you want to save it as a .wwf, just select this option and the document is saved.

Absolute genius. No idea how many people will use this feature but something that lets you choose to save the world one page at a time is ace.

Download your .wwf software for Mac here.

George Sampson on TwitCam

2010-11-28T23:06:00.001Z

I wasn't exactly looking for it, but when someone in your feed puts up their phone number and it has after it (@georgesampson live on http://twitcam.com/2u2kx) I knew it could only end badly.

Breakdancing George, remember him? Well, he looked mightily impressed by the amount of numbers that were flooding his way. When I went to investigate, he was phoning a girl at random that wanted to fling themselves at him.

The only downside is that everyone on Twitter or watching that stream could see everyone else's number. Not the best idea when your loyal fan club is under 16...

And I thought Bieber bad.

St. John Ambulance film

2010-11-26T14:53:00.000Z

Love this. It only works once before it becomes an online video, but I think that's the point. Great idea from BBH.

Merton and T-Mobile

2010-11-25T16:58:00.000Z

Anyone remember Merton off the Chatroulette improv videos? Of course you do. Well, now he's been paid by T-Mobile to continue his improv-ness and sing to people arriving into Gatwick Airport's South Terminal.

At 1:39 mins it could be a lot longer, and sadly a lot funnier. I don't think this has quite captured the best of Merton. Whether that was due to the people coming through the arrivals gate or some form of client censorship, I don't know. But what I can say is it's still on brand and would brighten up anyone's day after a long flight. It was also filmed yesterday and on the web today. Talk about life's for sharing (fast).

Live Twitter hiring

2010-11-25T12:41:00.002Z

The geekiest way to get hired. Well done @aislondon and @polliecreatives. And, definitely the best way to spread good news fast. Were they ever going to say no?

Nice one lads.

Amazon targets spelling mistakes

2010-11-25T10:31:00.002Z

As Black Friday approaches, Amazon is looking to steal a march on its competitors. One of the simplest and easiest ways to drive traffic from unusual sources is to play on human error.

To do this, Amazon have bought the url www.ebqy.com, which is just one teeny tiny key away from www.ebay.com when you're typing quickly. So, instead of heading off to your favourite auction site, you get sent to Amazon's Black Friday deals page instead.

Underhand tactics are always good.

Nice find by @carlmartin

Online mash up music

2010-11-23T14:24:00.001Z

Girl Talk have created a mash up sample album titled 'All Day'. And, it's bloomin' awesome. It's so well done. Especially the website. The interface is slick and simple. The code behind it isn't.

Hit tip to @hellokinsella for the find.

Oh, and I found the album to download on Soundcloud. Enjoy.

Kinect Shadow Puppets

2010-11-22T14:24:00.002Z

Microsoft have made their Kinect software available via open source, which means there should be lots more cool stuff like this appearing.

It's early stages, but I'm just waiting for a giant projection on a building that's along the lines of 'Hand From Above' and 'Laser Tag'. Or, for someone to make a bit of ambient... I'm thinking Batman, against a night sky.

There's also a bucket load more here. Not bad for a being a week old!

All I'm saying is that programming geeks are cool.

Yeo Valley Rap on iTunes

2010-11-16T12:50:00.002Z

There's loads of Facebook groups that want to get a random song to Christmas Number 1. Here's my suggestion, why doesn't everyone buy the Yeo Valley rap song?

It's available on iTunes for a mere 79p. Bargain.

Nice to see Yeo Valley/BBH trying to make some money out of the creative. Maybe it's contributing to paying for the extortionate airtime costs during the final of X Factor.

It would definitely be up there with Mr Blobby in terms of best Christmas song ever. Unless that is...Wagner wins.

Who's with me?

Denim Diapers

2010-11-15T22:50:00.000Z

What the... how have I never seen this?

Nice use of the word "chhhhic" instead of "shit" too.

Early Learning Centre Ad

2010-11-15T14:20:00.003Z

It's been out three weeks apparently, which means I'm behind the times. But I sure this ad for the Early Learning Centre over the weekend and thought it was lovely. Yes, I said the word lovely.

Perfect target audience, very apt humour, and it reminds me of so many things. Yet, it's still found a little gap in the market to spread its light hearted goodness on. Enjoy.

Pick up an award

2010-11-15T10:11:00.000Z

Friday saw the last day of Internet Week Europe. I was lucky enough to enjoy two events that took place during the day. Each one will get a lovely blog post.

The first I went to was Breakfast with Mother. Throughout the week they've been holding coffee mornings with different themes, today's theme was "Pick up an award from Mother". Quite a simple concept, turn up, chat to fellow creative types, enjoy a bacon sarnie or muffin with a drink... oh and then help yourself to one of these awards on the table. No joke.

I was talking Jane Lucas, the co-organiser, and she claimed these were just awards that technically no longer meant anything. A good, and bad way to look at it I thought.

After all, they were roughly 10 years old, weren't golds or the biggest awards out there, weren't attached to a specific team and one wasn't even theirs!

They don't display their awards for all to see and (probably) just clog up some storage centre somewhere, so why not give them away as a good will gesture? They had to pay the entry fee, so what they do with the award it up to them.

While I was there, I met up with Dani and Paul from back in the day and finally put a few names to faces, which was awesome. As well as being let into the select club of the YCC, which if you don't know about, you should.

Plus, Mike Coulter also bribed Mark Waites in to giving us a mini tour of the building.

And, we even invaded the boardroom for a few snaps.

For more frolics from Breakfast with Mother, check out their Flickr page.

The Apprentice Advertising Challenge

2010-11-11T08:00:00.002Z

Last night saw the ad industry's favourite task. Lord Sugar's wanted both teams to create, design and then advertise a cleaning product.

One team came up with Germ-o-nator. A cleaning product that kills e.coli and influenza in gravy. And, uses a small child to sell the squeezy Bovril coloured spray. Germ-o-nator's endline was Hasta la vista...gravy. Get it?

The other team went for Octo-Kleen. A childish looking bottle with an octopus on it. With the endline. 8 hands are better than 2. Though as spotted by @scott_tweeddale, where 8 hands are better than 2, but we only 5 on the logo.

This task really brought out some of the best on Twitter. And, really showed how everyone else perceives advertising.

One team leader thought, "sex sells everything" but as @AdamAndDan pointed out, Dr Pepper wouldn't say so. And, thanks to @akacreatives for; "when it comes to pleasuring your on-screen wife, 8 hands are DEFINITELY better than 2."

By the time they'd both made the shockingly clichéd ads we got an "octopus porn route or poisonous gravy route. Wowza."(@AdamAndDan)

At the pitch stage, we had them throwing in buzz words and @dirktherabbit put it quite nicely; "what do cleaning products have to do with MP3 players and search engines?"

But, the winner tonight was @ScottTsukuru's beauty. "Barry Scott is spinning in his grave". Perfect.

If you'd like a better round up, watch this video below. And, like e.coli and influenza, this is going viral.

All I'm saying is bring back Mr Pants man.