Here are this year’s ten.
I liked Chipotle a great deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aMfSGt6rHos
And while we’re on the subject of TED, here’s Ridley Scott’s TED talk from 2023 (which is directed by Luke Scott and comes from this site):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7YK2uKxil8&feature=player_embedded
(I haven’t watched it yet, but it looks pretty interesting.)
Yesterday I received the following email:
Hi Ben,
Nice one, Emily. If you can help, or you’d like to get Emily to do something very clever for you, click on her link and get in touch with her.
While I’m here I’ll just remind you that the Landmark Forum introduction for media peeps that I mentioned a few weeks back is tonight. I’ll be there, so do pop along, if only to tell me how well my blog passes the crucial moments between the first coffee of the day and the decision to make stool.
The advent of the internet has given us many great things, and yes, some of them have even been ads.
But since BMW films showed us that web-only advertising meant that you could dispense with rules and regulations there have not been enough corporate messages that have really pushed the boundaries.
Well, the K-Swiss Kenny Powers work has really taken things to the next level.
Swearing, violence and plenty of product.
It’s what a sports shoe ad should be.
Let’s face it, most of us don’t really get the full benefit of an Adidas trainer vs one from Nike or Asics. They’re all pretty good, so the purchase decision just comes down to which brand you like best. Before the Kenny Powers campaign I thought of K-Swiss as the lowest of the low: dreadful name, awful design, terrible advertising. But in one fell swoop they have jumped to the front of mind when it comes to trainer choice (I must admit I still haven’t bought a pair, but that’s mainly because they look like shit) and as far as I’m concerned that’s advertising job done.
And this latest spot is just another great addition to a great campaign.
*It’s just coincidence that the last two ads I’ve really loved have featured loads of senseless violence.
Ol’ Dirty Bastard is funny (thanks, J):
Star Trek’s Worf being denied for fifteen minutes (thanks, P):
Nice movie poster tumblr (thanks, M).
Antique Store Home doc (thanks, P):
Brilliant messing around with model cars (thanks, V):
Time measured in fast food (thanks, P):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTu6EsLg_B0&feature=youtu.be
The best title sequence in many years (if you’re lucky/unlucky enough to be an art director, set it to full screen and top volume).
A bunch of pictures that brilliantly sum up the Nineties (thanks, J).
Tom’s Diner/Taxi Driver mashup (thanks, P):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElM9u4AbL7A&feature=youtu.be
Cassette Boy vs The News:
My friend (and TBWA creative) Paul Pateman’s new illustration site. Maybe hire him or something.
hristopher Walken reads ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ (thanks, J):
Do you ever notice how Martin Sorrell’s predictions always get quoted in the press despite being utterly crapulent?
Every few months he comes along and predicts recessions to be certain shapes (‘L’, ‘V’, ‘Bath’, ‘Dog’, ‘Fanny’ etc.), then we watch as at least one of the several possibilities comes true. It’s like aiming at a target with a shotgun: only a complete idiot could fail to hit the bullseye.
But, y’know, he’s Sir Martin Sorrell, and people have to fill media sections of newspapers with something, so they keep on quoting the guy who can see the future about as well as Stevie Wonder can see his socks.
This time he’s telling us how much advertisers and readers will be looking forward to a Sun on Sunday.
I guess he’s right. It will indeed sell quite a few copies to the many people who miss reading that newspaper that listened in on the voicemails of a murdered teenager and printed the diary of a bereaved mother without her permission just to make some more money for a billionaire. But then I could have predicted that. In fact that’s what I just did a couple of sentences ago, because it’s completely fucking obvious.
And yes: advertisers will also be looking forward to placing their messages somewhere that lots of people will read them. The SoS will be an extension of The Sun, so if compamies don’t have a problem advertising there on Thursday then they’re unlikely to have a problem advertising there on Sunday.
Unlike Dickhead (see the comments section of the ‘Brand of the Free’ post below), I don’t have a problem with him ‘abusing his knighthood’. I find knighthoods quite funny because they have little or no actual value: a bunch of people think you did something good or owed you a favour and decided to give you some letters to go before or after your name. Nothing else changes. You get no more power. Many, many, questionable people have been given them and some people use the award as an excuse to behave like giant bells. So where’s the merit in that?
Anyway, back to Sir Martin of Sorrell: of course the diminutive tycoon wants to promote the Sun on Sunday. It means that WPP’s clients will be spending more media and production cash through his agencies, lining his pockets still further AND giving him the opportunity to slurp Murdoch’s bunghole again.
What could possibly be wrong with that?
I’ve often wondered how some countries become world famous while others remain completely anonymous (I should stress here that ‘famous’ means ‘famous’ in my limited, Western European perception).
For instance, both Ireland and Jamaica are known throughout the planet despite being relatively small and poor.
Every small town in Europe seems to have an Irish bar, and whenever you’re abroad you always seem to bump into someone from the Emerald Isle. While the music and culture of Jamaica is something you can find everywhere from Dutch tea towels to American movies.
So why is it that they punch above their economic weight while Turkmenistan and Equatorial Guinea just fade into the background?
My totally unscientific theory places the blame/thanks squarely at the door of branding.
Ireland owns green, which denotes its landscape and lets you know immediately whenever you see something Irish anywhere in the world. This suggests an admirable attitude of exploration, which is then backed up with little extras like Guinness (loved around the world) and the gift of the gab/great literature (also loved around the world).
Jamaica owns red, gold and green, but it also owns the spirit of being laid back through its music and its reputation for having natives who like to smoke da ganja. We’d all love to be swinging happily in a hammock listening to Bob Marley as the waves lap on the golden sands nearby, so we all love the idea of being Jamaican.
Both countries have accidentally created fantastic brands that sell themselves 24 hours a day, and that serves them well.
But then there’s the daddy of them all: the USA.
You could hardly suggest a country of endless wealth (or debt) and 300 million people was punching above its weight, but American culture rules the world to an extent that far surpasses every other country in the world combined.
Movies, music, TV and literature are four ways in which the Land of the Free bestrides the world like a colossus, but if you go to the States you’ll also see that its design and attitude often brings forth an admiration and/or affection that you just can’t put your finger on.
For example their broken down old diners evoke a million familiar emotions, even if you’ve never been in one; their used car lots have the kind of signage that makes them seem cool in a way that ‘Mick’s Second Hand Cars’ just can’t compete with, but beyond that they seem to have a brilliant knack of making things seem way bigger and better than they actually are by branding them in a way that grabs some part of your head or your heart.
Even things which mean nothing much to the rest of the world, like the Department of Homeland Security, The Supreme Court, the Iowa Caucus, Twentieth Century Fox, the Tri-State area, Hall Of Fame, Independence Day, Inland Empire, Triple Doubles etc…
They just know how to squeeze something out of nothing until you give a shit and want it despite yourself.
And it translates into trillions of dollars a year for them.
And much as you’d like to deny it, I’d bet that there’s something American that just plays your insides like a piano.
And this is its soundtrack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0uplUvP_Qg&feature=related
Remember this classic?
Of course you do. It’s still cited as one of the best ads of the past decade or two, and rightly so.
Sony seems to agree, and have now bestowed upon us this too-similar-to-be-an-accident, much worse retread:
It’s funny, isn’t it? Even when it’s quite clear what the charm of Double Life is (its lack of supersized budget, its intrigue, its strange and wonderful cast of characters etc.), the people responsible for the remake have decided to jettison every single aspect of what made it good in favour of the kind of tiresome shite you’ll forget even as you’re watching it.
I’ve had many, many briefs since Double Life that have asked for a ‘Double Life’ (by that I think the client and account dudes mean that they want to have the kind of massive success they don’t have the balls to make) but never one that asked for the Double Life.
It’s a peculiar kind of laziness that again shows the client side of the industry just what we’re made of: ‘Stand on the shoulders of giants? Hmmm… That’s a bit of an ask. How about we look at what the giants did and just urinate on it while lying in a hammock?’
Sold.
(So much good shit, mainly thanks to Peggy.)
The alphabet of film (thanks, P):
Typo of the year (thanks, P).
You awake to find yourself in a DARK ROOM (thanks, S):
The first minute of all the Bond films (thanks, P):
I don’t know why anyone would want all the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue pics, but here they are (thanks, P).
The trailers of all the Oscar nominated movies in one convenient place (thanks, P).
Charlie Brooker’s brilliant Sun poem.
Boy loses prize in gang sign furore; doesn’t take it very well:
Everything is a Remix, Episode 4 (thanks, P):
http://vimeo.com/36881035
LED surfer (thanks, S).
Movie’s rap 99 Problems (thanks, P):
http://vimeo.com/36667856
Interview with someone who left advertising and is happy.
The Evolution of Louis CK (thanks, P):
You may not have noticed, but this year London will be hosting a sporting event called The Olympic Games.
People will run, jump and throw things in an attempt to do so to a greater extent than their opponents.
It’ll be amazing, particularly the canoeing.
You might also be surprised to know that accompanying this event will be an enormous amount of advertising related to the event. Many large corporations (and, I fancy, your local snack bar) will be proclaiming their…um…connection to the Games in some manner which will be in no way contrived. Each communication will thread together the relationship between corporation and sport so seamlessly that you will wonder how you never spotted such a thing till now.
Exhibit A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-9-6ULjHY
So there you have it. I hope you liked that; you’re going to see an awful lot more of them in the next six months.
(By the way, seeing that reminded me of this brilliant short film from 1978:
How do I close those brackets?) Oh, like that.