News reaches my eyes of the interesting genesis of an ad (it’s quite old news, so bear with me if you’ve already heard it):

The guy who did the cool Steve Jobs memorial version of the Apple logo also did the Cannes Grand Prix-winning Coke poster.

That is interesting in itself, but what’s more noteworthy is how it happened: the Steve Jobs visual was done by a Hong Kong student. Graham Fink, ECD of Ogilvy China (Coke’s ad agency), was so impressed with it that he flew down to meet the guy to ask if he’d work on the odd project for him. He then gave him the Coke brief, and here we are.

Nice one, Graham. Few CDs would be so proactive, and look how it paid off.

The same thing happened again recently when design student Ricky Richards sent Finky an idea for a chair made from Coke bottles. That didn’t happen, but the Santa ad you can see in his portfolio did, and is now up for Clio and One Show honours.

Lesson: proactivity works just as well for CDs as it does for students.

In fact, it works well for everyone.

Ever since I’ve worked in advertising I’ve thought that art directors have one massive advantage over copywriters: they can make their job seem to be a series of arcane, impenetrable mysteries in a way that copywriters cannot.

‘I think the greens look a little cold over there.’

‘The balance of the composition just isn’t strong enough.’

‘I think we need to revisit the contrast on that shot.’

Of course, those are entirely reasonable things for an AD to say, and they might well need the suggested attention, but whether they are right or wrong, they will undoubtedly make all the non-ADs in the room shut the fuck up for fear of seeming stupid or tasteless.

Whereas the poor copywriters have to contend with every man and his dog mentally waving that GCSE English Grade B in the face of any line that vaguely troubles them. It’s far easier for them to say, ‘Does that have to be a semi colon?’ than ‘Shouldn’t we up the cyan on that image?’. Unless they’re a professional AD they’re going to be pretty concerned about hearing the response, ‘The cyan? There is no cyan. That’s entirely magenta. Did you mean magenta?’ But place some English in front of anyone and they’ll be able to reach back to those ten great emails they wrote, their teenage diary or a tasty keynote presentation from 2008, and offer a verbal adjustment.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re wrong (or right); English often comes down to taste and opinion (particularly advertising English, which regularly sacrifices correctness for accessibility) and that vagueness can lead to a wider range of arguments. Many’s the time I’ve had a chat about whether or not we should end a sentence with a full stop, trade a highfalutin’ colon for a run-of-the-mill comma, or use bullet points instead of proper sentences. There is a correct answer, but it can make people uncomfortable enough to change it. They have enough confidence to say what is right or wrong but not enough to believe in the answer which is not their own.

If this sounds copywriter-whingey, it’s not intended to be. I’m just trying to point out that whatever you arm someone with, they will be inclined to use. In art direction most people couldn’t punch their way out of a wet paper bag, but in writing many people at least have a baseball bat.

Coincidentally, it often feels as if that is the very tool they are using.

Google ‘zerg rush’.

Beautiful abandoned places.

Changing the pitch on Daft Punk makes them sound like Michael Jackson (thanks, G):

Beautiful record stores.

The 50 best author-to-author disses.

How far are you from a rat? 10 urban myths debunked (thanks, T).

The remarkable Brushy One String (thanks, G):

The secret lives of inanimate objects (thanks, W).

The evolution of music (thanks, L):

Films about LA.

Have fun with the Tokyo City Symphony (thanks, L).

Brilliant historical photos (thanks, G).

And the obligatory Louis CK link: Louis on Howard Stern. Seriously, if you want to learn about life, career progression, happiness, satisfaction and how to be a brilliant human being, watch this from beginning to end. It’s a great pleasure just listening to these guys chat, but there is so much to inspire (thanks, J):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F493-IjBr58

I’d love to post the images but as regular readers know, I can’t.

Have a look here instead.

Putting a strong twist into a print ad is really difficult, but this one does it brilliantly.

It just won a D&AD Silver.

And, as the cliché goes, I wish I’d come up with it.

You might have noticed that Dame Margaret Thatcher died a couple of weeks ago.

Since then those of us who swim in the waters of social media, read newspapers or converse with human beings might well have been subjected to a variety of opinions about the old girl and whether or not she was a ‘saint’ or a ‘cunt’. Well, dear reader of ITIABTWC, I don’t want you to feel left out.

Let’s talk Maggie.

For me, her legacy (by the way, I loathe people discussing how something might affect their legacy. YOU’LL BE DEAD, YOU DAFT TWAT! ‘Oooooh! How will people think about me after I’m gone? I’d better alter what I was going to do for that reason alone. Never mind being kind to people or making the world a friendlier place, I want people to remember me as a strong and decisive leader WHEN I’M BEING EATEN BY FUCKING WORMS.’) was shaped by a single fact: she did barely anything at all that appeared to be driven by love or compassion. That’s not to say she was good or bad, right or wrong (regular readers of this blog might recall that I don’t believe in such things); it just means that people tend not to think that she was motivated by kindness.

But that fact has set off many opinions that then masquerade as fact: She smashed the unions out of some iron-booted need to show them who was boss, or some desire to drag the economy out of the doldrums, or she wanted to establish her authority as a female PM. She closed the mines because she prized economic viability over the lives of the people who lived in the mining communities, or she believed in a small government that should not prop up failing businesses for the sake of it, or she was an evil bitch. She invaded the Falklands to win the 1983 general election, or she was a massive patriot who would not stand by and see part of the British Isles invaded, or she was a barmy, war-mongering psycho who needed to fire missiles on retreating ships.

Any or all of the above might or might not be true, but all have been presented as the truth in the last week. I wouldn’t pretend to know what was going on in her head, but I do know why she divided the country, and that was because of the lack of compassion suggested by her actions. On Thursday I was sent an infographic that showed how Atlee brought in many pieces of legislation that improved the health and education of British people. It then compared that to Thatcher whose only original piece of legislation was the right to buy your council house (but good luck paying your mortgage when you do it). So if we’re going to talk legacy, Thatcher’s is that of someone who seemed unfeeling, uncaring and inclined to prize money and efficiency above the happiness and wellbeing of people. That pisses off people who think they care about people, but it impresses those who see that a degree of pain is/was necessary for the country to function and compete.

As I said, there’s no right or wrong to either side, just what you think is better or worse. But Maggie appeared to many people to be mean and uncaring and that is why she was hated by millions.

My friend and fellow creative person, Dan Hubert, has created an app for your parking pleasure.

As someone who has conceived and created an app, I can say that doing so is a bit of an arse to say the least.

So hats off to Dan for making parking your car a hell of a lot easier.

You can thank him by downloading his little bundle of joy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCGfgnU18yk

(Thanks, D.)

Boring brief made memorable and hilarious.

Hats off.

Louis CK insults his fans (thanks, J).

And while we’re here, the best routine from his recent tour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkjmzEEQUlE&feature=player_embedded

Distance to Mars.

Patton Oswalt’s Star Wars filibuster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE7MqKuYkXE

Captain Kirk’s guide to fighting (thanks, G).

Epic porn acting (funny, but NSFW):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrekqhVNghY&feature=player_embedded

Logo fails (thanks, J).

Soho then and now (thanks, J).

Louis CK (again. Sorry) chats to Donald Rumsfeld and asks him if he’s a lizard lots of times (thanks, G):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK8Y2nO_8TM

Documentary on the history of film credits (thanks, G):

Has Photoshop gone too far? (Thanks, J.)

It’s simple, clever and makes a good point very well.

Alas, I just can’t imagine any pro-gun people giving the first shit about it.

They’re more likely to suggest arming the fuck out of everyone in the office so they can all have a nice big massacre.

Twats.