INSPIRING QUOTE .18

I've recently been doing some freelance work in this agency in Perth and someone put a poster up with the copy below, which I walk past everyday and I started liking it more and more.

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MY AD OF THE WEEK .49

This week it goes to the children's charity 'Kids Company', who have set up 3D printers in a pop-up toy shop in London, in which the public text to donate and one of the printers will print a toy for one of 4,000 kids who don't get anything for Christmas. It's a lovely window display and if you can't make it there, you can watch it from a live stream on there website. The money donated will help provide Christmas lunch, presents and food vouchers to all the vulnerable kids and adults on Christmas Day.

THE QR CODE PUZZLE

I wanted to show how QR codes can be used in more of a creative way in this self promotion piece I've just created for Christmas called 'The QR Code Puzzle', based within Google +. You'll need to change the size of the browser window and use the zoom out feature to reveal the completed puzzle (below is what it looks like at the start). Check it out

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .48

Since last Thursday when Nelson Mandela passed away, AMV BBDO have created this lovely interactive site for The Economist. It starts with a video, where you see people walking into a field and creating his face on the ground. Then it lets you zoom in to any date, to discover the life that made him a man with links to articles from years ago on The Economist's site.

Visit the site

MY AD OF THE WEEK .47

The word of the year is 'Selfie' and Turkish Airlines have used that to their advantage in this spot featuring Messi and Kobe Bryant, taking some of the best selfies ever (it even features a photobomb). I think it's a nice way to get in all the locations they fly to with two big stars fronting the campaign, which will help the ad get more views.

Watch it in YouTube

MY AD OF THE WEEK .46

As it's the start of December on Sunday, I thought it was ok to share a Christmas ad (they are everywhere anyway).
I really wanted to share the new ad for Harvey Nichols by Adam&Eve/DDB with a slightly different approach encouraging customers to be selfish and spend less on their family or partners and more on themselves with the great line 'Sorry I spent it on myself'. The reactions to the gifts are very well acted and the unconventional gifts are actually going to be sold in store from today too.

Watch it in YouTube

MY AD OF THE WEEK .45

This week I really wanted to share the Epic Split stunt for Volvo Trucks by Van Damme, but I thought as every creative newsletter/website has featured it, I'd share something else (here it is if you've missed it).

So I really love my tech and in a claimed world first campaign from British Airways, they have created this super cool interactive billboard in Piccadilly Circus, London. Basically all the planes from Heathrow that fly past it, trigger real-time data, featuring the flight number, destination and a weather feed too. With the line 'More flights to more destinations'.

Watch it in YouTube

So if you have a friend flying from Heathrow and you're in London, keep your eyes out for them.

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MY AD OF THE WEEK .44

Sorry I missed posting last week's ad of the week, I've been away in Sydney, but I'm back now. I still feel it's too early to share a Christmas ad in November. Do you agree?

I instead wanted to share these 3D billboards done for PETA in China, created out of needles to show the pain animals go though to make a fur coats, jackets and shoes. A really strong campaign by Ogilvy China.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .43 HALLOWEEN EDITION

"How do you like Halloween without candy?"

Well this is what Oral-B and Crest toothpaste have done, swapping candy with healthy sweets for a group of kid in this quite mean but funny spot. Some of the kids reactions are priceless. Happy Halloween everyone.

Watch it in YouTube

MY AD OF THE WEEK .42

If you've missed this very simple and powerfully press campaign (which came out at the start of this week), here it is for you. It's been shared so many times and I've seen it on many of my creative newsletter subscriptions that it had to be this weeks 'My ad of the week'.

The ads for UN Women use real suggested search items in Google's autocomplete feature, which doesn't look great for Google really. I love how simple it is just having the search bar over the women's mouths.

I also read today that it's been the most shared article on 'Adweek.com' all year. Well done Ogilvy Dubai.

INSPIRING QUOTE .17

I just watched a video on Fast Co Create by Ricky Gervais. He tells his story about how he learned to write and this quote (which the video was focused around) was a really strong take away.

Watch the video yourself

MY AD OF THE WEEK .41

In Iceland they have just celebrated their Cancer Awareness month and what a better way to celebrate it, but to show off the famous pink ribbon by painting it onto a looping highway junction. I haven't seen this space being used like this before, have you? I'll never look at highway junctions the same again.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .40

This week it goes to 'Ron Burgundy' as he stars in a huge campaign for the Dodge Durango. They have snapped up the idiotic pitchman at his best before the release of the long anticipated, Anchorman 2.

There are going to be 70 videos overall and I've selected these 2 as my favourite. The ballroom spot was shown in the ad break of 'Dancing with the stars', which is great media buying and I really like ads that have been tailored to the show the viewers are watching.

They have also just started doing response videos to peoples tweets too. Check it out.

Watch it in YouTube

Watch it in YouTube

YOUNG GUNS AWARDS 2013. 20GUNS

For the second year running the Young Guns Awards (an awards for creatives under 30) have created an additional award section called 20Guns. The winner is decided by a public vote and it would be fantastic if you could vote for my work (see below) and please get as many people as you know too. I would really appreciate it and don't worry there is no signing up page.

Please vote for my work

MY AD OF THE WEEK .39

Intel launches its 'Look inside' campaign with this powerfully film honouring 16-year-old Jack Andraka. He won the grand prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, for his role in developing a new method to detect pancreatic cancer. A very inspiring watch.

Watch it in YouTube

NEW WORK

I've recently been busy networking and meeting Creative Directors since arriving in Perth. It was sometimes difficult to get meetings with them, add to that only knowing one person here at first. I had to make my arrival known. So before I left for Australia I bodley sprayed onto pieces of astroturf, the line 'Now on your turf' with handwritten messages on the back of each one, introducing myself to them. It has since got me quite a few meetings and it's been a great talking point.

TWO BRONZES WON AT THE FRESH AWARDS 2013

I had shared last month that three pieces of my work had been made finalists at the Fresh Awards 2013 and I heard over the weekend that I won two bronzes for my work in the ambient and charity categories (see the work below).

Bronze - Best ambient idea

Bronze - Best charity ad

Listen to the radio

Palmer Hargreaves in total won seven bronzes, which is fantastic achievement for the agency. Well done everyone.

GOOD LUCK FREMANTLE DOCKERS

Tomorrow is the Australian Football League Grand Final (AFL), which is absolutely massive for those of you reading this from the UK. It's the first time ever that the Fremantle Dockers have played in it. The whole city of Perth has turned purple and is buzzing with excitement. I'm heading into the centre of Fremantle tommorow to watch the game and to show my support, my website has now hit purple fever pitch too.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .38

Who needs famous actors? When you have chickens. That's exactly what Mercedes-Benz have done to demonstrate the stability of it's suspension system by Jung von Matt/Neckar Stuttgatt.

They have enrolled dancing chickens who's bodies are moved around to funky music by gloved hands, whilst their heads stay still throughout. According to the agency no CGI was used, I read this quote from them saying "all the credits go to the chickens, which are just naturally able to keep their head steady". Imagine what the auditions where like.

Watch it in YouTube

MY AD OF THE WEEK .37

Paddy Power (who are normally getting in trouble with some stunt) have created this great campaign getting behind gay footballers in the UK. It wants to tackle homophobia in football by getting players to wear rainbow-coloured laces on the weekend fixtures of the 21st of September, showing their support with the simple message 'Right Behind Gay Footballers'.

They say their are over 5,000 professional footballers in the UK, none of them are openly gay, because they are too worried about the impact on their lives and careers. Joey Barton has already shown his support a week early (very keen).

I'll be keeping my eye out for the football highlights from the weekend of the 21st to see how many players show their support. Let me know how many players you spot wearing them too.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .36

This week it goes to a lovely animated video for Chipotle. After last year's successful film that picked up two Cannes Grand Prix it was hard to follow it up, but they have done really well and it's great to follow it on with the same animation style too, that really works. As well as releasing an app (only for iO7 currently) which looks pretty fun, I'm actually off to download it now.

Watch it in YouTube

MY WORK SHOWCASED IN PAUL SMITH'S NEW STORE

A few months ago I entered a competition to have my work displayed in the new Paul Smith shop in Beak Street, London (see blog post) and I just found out that I'm one of the lucky ones with my piece being selected. There it is top left with the fashion design legend Sir Paul Smith himself. 

Here's my piece that I entered.

If you nearby, pop in, it would be great if you could take some more photographs for me. As it's quite far for me to come, now I'm in Perth.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .35

I bet the Guinness advertising account is fantastic to work on, but the very high calibre of past work, must make it difficult, as it's always going to be compared to their award winning work. I actually spent most of my time when I visited the Guinness factory in Dublin earlier this year, watching their vast portfolio of impressive work.

But well done BBDO New York, who have created this one, showing a group of disabled men playing wheelchair basketball, with a very surprising twist at the end. Great track selection too.

Watch it in YouTube

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15 WELL-COMPOSED BUSINESS CARDS

My business cards which I shared a couple of months ago, have been picked up by a few more design sites. One of them being Printaholic (an American based printers review website), who have emailed me today saying they have selected my business cards (below) on their '15 Well-Composed Business Cards' list.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .34

This week it goes to a simple press ad for the new Audi RS 6 Avant by BBH London, who have created this lovely line 'Power from a less obvious place'. The press ad shows the actor Christopher Reeve, the most famous Superman as Clark Kent (the alter ego of Superman). The TV from BBH shows Tony Weeks (a boxing referee) controlling a match between two fighters, it's worth a watch.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .33

I just missed last week, sorry for it being a day late. I arrived in Perth late last week after a day of traveling and at first I had to remind myself what day it was, losing a day to traveling.

I was so tempted to share the new Nike ad (if you haven't seen it, watch it here) as it is fantastic and the budget, wow. But I thought as it's on every other website. So last week's ad of the week involves Vine. Airbnb are asking for your help to make the first ever Vine film. First follow @airbnb on Twitter to discover your shot list, you'll then need to vine/film what the tweet is and at the end of it all, Airbnb will make a film which will premiere on the Sundance Channel. It reminds me of the crowdsourced 'Life in a Day' film using clips from YouTube. But this limits you to 6 seconds, which I think will help, as you don't really have an excuse not to do it, as it's only 6 seconds.

Watch it in YouTube

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MY AD OF THE WEEK .32

This week it's not a press ad, TV ad or even digital campaign. But something totally different by Paddy Power, who have helped out Farnborough FC, who are deep in administration. By giving them a dream line up of players such as Beckham, Messi and Maradona. But lucky for the components of Farnborough FC, it's the same team as last season, as their players have all changed their names by deed poll (even their manager is now Jose Mourinho). It's going to be great watching soccer saturday when any of these players score and wouldn't it be great if the two Jose's met in the FA cup this season.

I like how a huge bookmaker has helped out a struggling team to survive. It's a great PR story for Paddy Power and Farnborough FC.

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MY AD OF THE WEEK .31

This week it goes to an ad which has caused a few hundred complaints. It's the new Marmite ad, which spoof's animal rescue documentaries carrying on the Love it, hate it work. ASA have received complaints saying it's poor taste and deeply offensive. I think it's a lovely idea and people do neglate their Marmite at the back of their cupboards (I do). It is done in a light hearted way, but I don't find it offensive at all, let along picking up the phone to complain. What do you think?

But well done to Marmite for donating £18,000 to RSPCA following the complaints.

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MY AD OF THE WEEK .30

I saw these ads in a creative newsletter this week and they really stood out for me, how visually simple they are. Well done DDB Sydney.

FRESH AWARDS 2013

This morning I found out that three pieces of my work have been made finalists in four categories at the Fresh Awards 2013. The awards night is a couple of months away and with Palmer Hargreaves getting 12 pieces shortlisted overall, it will hopefully be a good night. Shame I'll be missing it, due to being in Perth.

Best self promotion and Best ambient idea - PH 10 commandments carpet

Best media innovation - Isuzu D-Max

Best charity ad - Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

WEBSITE RELAUNCH

I've been working on relaunching my website for a while now. I wanted you to have a better user experience and it's now bigger and better than its ever been. It now has:

My advertising portfolio,

Even more illustrations

Faster loading work pages,

Larger images of my work,

Embedded videos,

Skype call me feature,

Email newsletters and much more.

Go and take a look for yourself now. Here are some screenshots to excite you.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .29 ROYAL EDITION

We now know the name, sex, time it was born and it's weight and I couldn't have been further off in the works sweepstake. But anyway, there has been a lot of royal baby ads from all sorts of brands appearing and I've found a lot of them quite average. But when I spotted this one (below), it stood above the rest for me. A great copy ad with a strong insight behind it. Well done Game.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .28

I watched the TV ad and liked it, then someone sent me the game, which swayed me. 'Be More Dog' is the new campaign by O2, supporting the new brands positioning of opening the possibilities of technology to all, encouraging people to embrace and get excited by everything that technology can offer. Here's the TV ad if you haven't seen it yet.

Watch it in YouTube

And here is the online game I mentioned, where you can play frisbee with the cat. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. Play it now. Instead of just clicking to throw the frisbee, you throw it from your phone (linked to your desktop via wifi). It's a nice use of technology that's been used by Google already and I can see even more brands using it in upcoming campaigns.

THE 20 TEAM RULE

About three and a half years ago I was doing this creative course called 'The Playground' run by Craig Kind (who works at AKQA) and Graham Painter (Saatchi and Saatchi). I learned a lot from them both and I wanted to share this rule they shared with me:

'If you had 20 creative teams, how many of them would come up with that same idea' 

It's good to hold yourself to this when reviewing your own work before you show your Creative Director. I bet the winning entries to D&AD and Cannes, didn't have a creative team that came up with an idea another 20 teams would have created, they would't be there otherwise.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .27

As I'm moving to Perth, Australia in just over a months time, I wanted to share an ad related to Australia and what better but this Land Rover ad by Y&R, for the Lions series win last week. I like clever timed ads, that are a real one off.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .26

Thanks to Creative Review for bringing this to my attention. As you know Black Sabbath are releasing a come back album after a decade away and what better way to raise awareness of this, but by cutting away the layers of old posters to reveal that they are back. Very simple and effective.

MY AD OF THE WEEK .25

It's been a busy few weeks in the world of advertising with D&AD, then Cannes last week. There's been so much fantastic work floating around, it's worth checking out all the winners. But I wanted to give this weeks 'Ad of the week' to the future lion winners (an annual competition for students run by AKQA).

First I have to say all 5 ideas where fantastic and worthy winners. I wanted to share 'Pebble - Sense Danger'. The one entry that would save a persons life (a deaf person in this case). It's a watch that links fire alarms, home alarms over wifi to it and if there is a danger it sends vibrations to alert the user, waking them up. I know how much this could impact on a deaf person, having worked on campaigns for the deaf. Just imagine next time your smoke alarm is going off, not hearing it and what could the consequences could be.

Watch the case study.