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Wednesday 28 October 2009

When Creativity goes too right

A friend of mine created an application. He did it while watching TV. It was funny. He made it available on the web. It went viral. His company tried to take credit. Look what our boy XXX has made. It succeeded. It reached 120,000 visits. Some people tried the application over 600 times in one visit. The company thought they were on to a good thing. Then there was a complaint. On a political website. They website told its readers my friend's name. But strangely they misread his name and thought he was a girl. They looked at the company's website and found one girl. It must be her. They posted up a picture of her. They told their violent readers where they could find her, they encouraged them to find her. Now she is shitting herself. So is my friend. The police called the company. I don't know what they said.

I was going to write a blog celebrating this viral. But now I can't even mention it. So I guess this is a lesson. Say what you want, push things creatively, stretch the boundaries, but always be aware of where it could take you and be ready for the consequences.

Thursday 22 October 2009

Happy Things

This week and the end of last week has been super stressful and lots of horrible things have happened. So I am gonna write about the things that have cheered me up.

1) UP - by Disney Pixar My favourite line of the film was the little dog "I was hiding under your porch because I love you". Brilliant. Although the first 15 mins had me sobbing so loud the whole row at the cinema could hear me. I'm not good with moments like that. I also think its nice to give old people a starring role in a film. I think it promotes respect. I give "Up" a 10 out of 10. I loved it. especially great in 3D at the Imax.

2) My wonderful Dad who is coming down to London to sort out my life and buy me Christmas Pressies from Spitalfields Market this weekend. Ohhhh could I be more excited?

3) I am going to the Maldives in November and even getting a sea plane! I would have been happy in the speed boat but boyfriend is paying.

4) X Factor. Could John and Edward have been funnier on Saturday night? No. They are TV Gold. Their take of Britney Spears's "Oops I did it again" was awful and wonderful in the same breath. Clad in red PVC suits they even did the camp exchange about the necklace in Titanic. Watching them is like watching the teachers in my school in Wales do the Christmas panto. As one of the X Factor judges said; "It's not right but it's ok". They can't sing, they can't dance. They look like they have forgotten the moves most of the time, either that or they just have no rhythm and timing issues. But boy were they the highlight of my Saturday. I enjoyed them even more than my Lamb Rogan Josh and Keema nan.

Unfortunately all the videos on youtube have embedding disabled (wonder why) but here's the link if you want to experience the terrible brilliance of these boys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KERNNdgzRhQ

Monday 19 October 2009

The Fun Theory

More from the people who brought you the piano staircase.
Here is the website http://thefuntheory.com/
And here is the arcade bottle bank:

Thursday 15 October 2009

My Hero. Rory Sutherland

Rory Sutherland is quite simply a legend in Advertising. Here is his speech at TED on his favourite topic - creating additional worth through merely changing people's perceptions of things. I met him when I was a student and he gave a similar talk about advertising's ability to make people happier. Just use it to make people feel like they have got something good. One of his examples was the NHS. Rory pointed out that the NHS was a great institution, a great thing that suffered from a lack of positive branding and marketing. It is more a problem with perception than reality he said.

Now the British love moaning about the NHS. But as soon as America starts slagging it off then suddenly there are twitter groups and facebook groups springing up all over the place with "We love the NHS" on it. If this was a marking ploy it couldn't have been better. It compares quite well to Rory's example of the spread of the potato.

Even if you're not interested in advertising, Rory is a brilliant talker and thinker and funny to boot. Go on watch it.


Monday 12 October 2009

A star is born (13 years ago)

3 big performances this weekend on Saturday night TV and, in the spirit of Strictly Come Dancing, I will score them out of 10:

On X Factor:
The return of Robbie Williams (dodgy vocals but entertaining as ever, nice suit too) "6"
Bad Boys by X Factor winner Alexandra Burke (brilliant stage show, great singing but use of backing track singing) "8"
On Strictly Come Dancing:
Little 13 year old Dionne Bromfield supported by a modest Amy Winehouse (effortless singing, cute song, no backing track, simple production) "10"

What a surprise is little Dionne. You go girl!


Wednesday 7 October 2009

Get your popcorn out for The Battle of Milkquarious



The latest from the Got Milk team is an epic advert in the form of a Rock Opera. Inspired by the likes of The Rocky Horror Show and Tommy it follows White Gold the Rock God as he tries to beat an evil villain who has stolen the city's Milk supplies and his girlfriend Strawberry.
I bow down to the creatives at Goodby Silverstein & Partners who made this. Brilliant writing and direction. It is 20 minutes long and well worth it. It's zany, weird, funny and milkilicious.

Watch the film for yourself at http://milkquarious.com/#/home

Piano staircase

A totally lovely idea from Volkswagen. To encourage people to take the staircase instead of the escalator, Volkswagen converted a set of steps at the Odenplan subway station in Stockholm into working piano keys. It's part of their "Theory of Fun" campaign which showcases efforts to get people to change by simply making things more fun. What a clever, cheerful idea. More please. I want them everywhere!

Monday 5 October 2009

Winter is here

Rubbish!
Dark evenings. Dark mornings. Lack of vitamin D. Shivering.

Well cheer up coz I have some great songs that I stumbled across on Spotify (and some classics) for you to enjoy. It's like me giving you a mix tape! Ahhh those were the days...

Special shout out to The Storys who hail from my home town and played in the little cafe down my road. Oh my god I fell totally in love with the lead singer. Sexy Welsh disheveled man.

winter songs: http://open.spotify.com/user/welshaims/playlist/3fPmYgf97XX81ZHBwJFrLt

If you want to share a track of your own add it to the winter playlist. Lets help cheer each other up! (Thanks To ejane of "Blogblog du jane jane" fame for adding one already.

Thursday 1 October 2009

Couldn't resist: The Apprentice

I know this is isn't remotely relevant to anything at the moment but its just SO FUNNY and it just popped into my head. Saw it last year when the Apprentice was on. I have never laughed so much at any YouTube video. So for anyone who's a fan, here is Cassetteboy vs The Bloody Apprentice.

It's a fool's game

This little video has done the rounds in my office. It brings to mind a particular client who used to ask her friends, family and dog what they thought of the designs for the packaging we created for her. Admittedly the dog may have had good taste because eventually the packaging won an award. But that is no excuse. Clients! Listen to the experts. Don't attempt to write your own copy, or do your own design. And don't let someone you know have a say just because they chose nice curtains for your living room. There's a reason you do your job, and there's a reason we do ours.