Great new stuff from Droga 5
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I’m too much on holiday to fanny around with all the YT links, so just read all about it here (thanks, J).
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BMP’s No Nonsense for John Smiths?
I wanted to like it more than I did.
A bottle of dog IS the dog’s bollocks.
It’s shit.
Remove your rose-tinted Droga5 specs for one minute.
Like I said before…
http://www.ben-kay.com/2012/04/new-adidas-ad/#comments
Comment 15.
Sorry, ORH, I completely forgot you’d written that.
I had a geordie uncle who, amidst the incoherent blathering and self righteous chippiness that is so widespread amongst people from that region (or geordie pricks as they are more commonly known), would speak of the brown ale ward in Newcastle general hospital. I’m pretty sure there were people on that ward who didn’t possess any bollocks, and I’m not talking noo-noos
I don’t take it personally, Ben; you’re on holiday after all.
While I applaud the word ‘bollocks’ used in this context, the work just doesn’t feel very fresh, does it?
It’s not so much that the ads are shit (which they are, apart from maybe the first one). It’s not even that it’s been done better by BMP for John Smiths. It’s that ever since I started reading this blog a few years ago, you seem to have lost your sense for good ads Ben.
Back in the day I didn’t mind a post about “xyz’s great new ad!”. When I see a new post with that title now, I prepare myself by lowering my standards to that of expecting to see monkeys flinging around their own feces. And even THEN I’m disappointed! What happened Ben? Are the ads really this crap nowadays that these look like gems to you? Am I so out of touch with advertising that I can only compare the work to better stuff I’ve seen decades ago?
You used to call out the bullshit. You used to write long, entertaining, insightful, interesting rants about why ads are shit. About why they’ll continue to be shit. About why your latte machete made by the new trainee at Starbucks tastes like molten lead with a hint of self loathing in it. You used to be a voice for all that anger and frustration about this business and how it needs to change. Have you given up?
I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. I catch myself sometimes, trying to like an ad more than I actually do. There’s just so much shit around that we have to make due with that poor excuse of a rip-off campaign from Drool 5. I feel you man, I really do.
Wonder if the client rejected:
Chalice?
Chalice??
Who the f*ck says chalice???
I’m sure Mr Studzinski must know this is John Smiths? Naughteee Naughteee Vewy Naughteeeee!
I think I just liked the word bollocks.
I do try to see the good in stuff, but I have to confess I didn’t really look through this stuff before I posted it.
That’s because I woke up in this very pleasant hotel in France with a lovely breakfast to eat, a hot bath to draw and a copy of Rolling Stone to read. I thought I’d just chuck something on the blog to pass some time. Quality control a little amiss, I’ll admit.
But yeah, ads are generally so shit these days that I can’t muster the vitriol to the same extent as I did back in 2009. I mean, how can I be expected to chuck out a thousand words on how this 3/10 ad is slightly worse than that 4/10 ad for the 300th time?
And I’ve covered most subjects several times over. Whenever I see myself starting a post with ‘I know I’ve already said this a few times but…’ I just press delete and look elsewhere.
Maybe I should just crack out a final word on the subject and retire to bed until things change enough to inspire some fresher writing.
For the record, I’ll just say that since Gorilla, UK advertising hasn’t produced anything properly great. Nothing, zip, zilch. And that’s in any medium, by the way, so don’t get smug if you’re some digi-numpty.
I’ve already said this a few times, but the UK industry is still sliding onwards to shittier and more pathetic depths. All the talented people I know have either left the country or the industry, or are doing what they can to shout against the hurricane – although in most cases the effect is more of a whisper.
Quite a shame, particularly if you’re writing a blog like mine. Repetition is not a very likeable trait in a blog, but then neither is insincerity. I’m probably barking up the wrong tree, but people still like to pop by and waste a bit of time being the cunt I can’t quite bring myself to be.
Anyway, my wife is peeling the prawns and I’ve got a nice glass of champagne on the go.
Over and out.
I sense a Scampesque ending.
Your last comment would be a nice way to go out on, Ben.
I think when you start to question your own methods then it’s time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b26BD5KjH0
John, I could get the distinct impression you want me to fuck off.
It’s a beer ad. It’s irreverent. It’s funny.
It will resonate with a particular type of 25-35 year old male, none of whom have likely ever seen, let alone heard of John Smiths. Fuck knows I haven’t.
Also, they convinced a client to put bollocks on a poster.
Pull your heads out of your arses.
Don’t go Ben. You provide a valuable service to dozens of grumpy, frustrated 40-year-old creatives who remember when advertising was about ambition and sales, not outsourcing and ‘likes’.
And I miss Scamp.
Ben, I thought you had.
Surely the real talking point here is Original Richard H’s use of a semicolon in comment #7? That would get pick of the week from me.
Oh, and what about Campaign being too cosy with the industry they are supposed to report on? The output and behaviour of agencies is in steep decline, yet to read campaign you’d think all was rosy in the garden of advertising. Reporters and editors are hungrily suckling at the teat of expensive expense account lunches with their favourite agencies; the very same agencies who’s lame, fear ridden outputs and unprincipled behaviour lead the decline.
Written about that several times 🙁
Why do we kill the good guys?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMUiwTubYu0
Happy Easter, Ben.
if you do call it a day.
can you leave your blog running. i lazily use it to link through to dave trotts blog.
Don’t go Ben. There are loads of people who always enjoy your blog. Fcuk the haters.
Oh for those french prawns – get yourself a good bottle of Limoux tonight.
The haters don’t bother me. I just wonder if this blog is dribbling off to the end of its current incarnation.
Perhaps it’ll emerge Dr Who like in a new form.
I like the Friday links. I’ll keep that. Then maybe I won’t bother writing about ads so much. Maybe people won’t stop by so much, but then it’s at least a year since I looked at my stats, so number of visitors doesn’t bother me.
Let’s just see what happens, eh?
And John, I love that Bill Hicks thing. Of ccourse I’m like Lennon and JFK.
@Some Old Guy: sorry about my semi.
Well, with great work you just acknowledge that it’s great work. With good and okay work, there’s at least the discussion why it’s meh or soso. But with bad work, or work that tries to be good, man, that’s where it gets interesting, there’s so much to rant and talk about. Or do it like the redlettermedia guys who basically only review schlock movies. It’s great fun.
@ORH I quite enjoyed your semi, as it happens.
I’m not a hater. Quite the contrary. I just miss the voice of truth.
In the end, all we have to go by is history, because the future hasn’t happened yet. If we ignore all history, then we are all just sticking our fingers in the air and hoping.
Ben, if you are going to go, far better go out with a bang rather than a wimper, wouldn’t you say?
Anyway, you haven’t done a best of compilation yet? In the meantime…is that one finger or two?
I wasn’t quite sure if I should respond to #15, but after two pints I made up my mind.
Your attitude is a prime example of why this industry is going down the shitter. The target audience may have never seen the original John Smiths ads (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpHShPqF-uY) but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
The people who made the Newcastle ads SHOULD BE aware of it, since they’re getting paid to know (to some extent) what has or hasn’t been done. If they honestly never heard of it, it just shows how clueless they are. If they knew about it and did it nonetheless (going with your logic) then they’re lazy fucks and don’t deserve to work in any creative field. They’re damaging the agency’s and their own reputation in the process, which is bad business for both parties involved.
They convinced the client to put a dirty word on a poster? Stop the presses everyone, this is unheard of! To me it seems like you’ve never really cared too much about advertising in the first place and have no knowledge of what has or hasn’t been done. Much like Drool 5 in this case. Have you ever read the headline “Australians wouldn’t give a XXXX for any other lager.”? Probably not. I’m not even going to try and explain to you what the writer did there…You see he’s implying the F word there without even writing it down, instead using the brand name. That’s way beyond the second grade humour of “bollocks”.
It may sound like I’m an arrogant codger who’s angry with the world. Maybe I am. But I’m sick and tired of airheads who have no clue what they are talking about using words like “irreverent” and explain to us how it’s a beer ad and it’s meant to be funny. Well done Captain Obvious.
It’s still not a great campaign, besides being done already by BMP. Everybody has a different sense of humour, but these ads just don’t work too well. They’re trying just hard enough for it to capsize at the worst moment, making it awkwardly funny. You know, much like when I try to tell a joke at the pub after 6 pints.
Now let the adults have a proper discussion and go back to your Facetube and Youbook you obtuse child.
I’m with Sir Michael (#29).
Let’s see what comes out the other end…of the holidays that is.
Hoppy Easter everyone.
You are one of three bloggers who I credit with keeping me sane enough to keep sloshing along in this industry without blowing my fuXXing brains out! And not just you, but the most interesting people on earth who come here every day to comment and share. Like it or not, you,sir, have become an institution. To not continue would be a crime. And I’ll bet I’m older and a lot more pissed off than the lot of you!
Oh, I think I’ll carry on writing something or other.
If people still want to read it, great. If not, no probs.
“And I’ll bet I’m older and a lot more pissed off than the lot of you!”
Maybe older. But not more pissed off. We should have a staring contest!
michaelknight. You said you weren’t going to explain what the writer did…then you did. You lied to us
@Michael: Next time I’m in London, you’re on!
D5 should have taken this opportunity to introduce the US to the surreal world of Newcastle. Teach them Novacastrian.