Ten years ago there was a great big kerfuffle about the lack of copy in press ads.

For four years running the best ad at the Campaign Press Awards (by the way, is it just me or did those awards seem worth winning back in the day? Nowadays we have the strange smorgasbord of the BIG Awards and its expensive hardback annual that no one really wants, and of the ones who want it no one can really be arsed to read through it all. Not like the old Press Awards pamphlet which, like the Poster Awards and BTAAs, arrived with your Campaign the next day and told you quite clearly who all the winners were. Now no one knows and even fewer people care) was won by an ad with not a single word beyond the name of the client. This led to much prediction of the end of the written word in advertising and was capped off by Trevor Beattie christening this thing the ‘proster’.

It also inspired Robin Wight to write this article.

In those days there was a definite formula to winning at Cannes and it involved using as few words as possible to appeal to jurors from lots of countries who might not appreciate the intricacies of the English language. It also showed a reductive elegance, getting a message across with as few elements as possible to show Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means. 

But if you look at the press and poster winners this year there are words all over the place. Perhaps not loads of headline-visual-body copy executions, but certainly something more complex than the old proster. Is this a trend or was the proster not so much a trend as a little blip or coincidence?

Perhaps it all goes to prove the answer to that great riddle: what four words can make a sad man happy and a happy man sad? 

First one to get the right answer gets the satisfaction of doing so.

RIP James Gandolfini, and RIP Tony Soprano: an in-depth analysis of why he died at the end of the series (thanks, J).

Non-drummer drums; non-pianist plays piano (thanks, G):

Gunplay supercut:

Fighting supercut (thanks, G):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fZzxMZ9hLU

All about plot holes.

A history of protest.

I think that was done by Richard Curtis. Here’s the flipside of him (thanks, W):

Movie locations as holiday destinations (thanks, G).

George Carlin on snitches:

Make things do stuff (thanks, V).

Peter Jackson answers Stephen Colbert’s fan question (thanks, G):

Jackie Chan fought with Bruce Lee (thanks, G):

David Cameron shouldn’t check his Twitter feed.

A Cheers outline.

Troy MacLure supercut (thanks, G):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYNZ1PMdO1M

When the Harlem Shake goes wrong:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlNwyyijHF4&feature=player_embedded

How a Brazilian tribe converted a missionary to Atheism (thanks, G):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr3q6Cid1po

Cool bike shit:

The Press Grand Prix was won by Media Arts Lab, OMD and Apple.

When I first saw that work I said it was the best press campaign I’d seen in years.

I love it as a customer and as a MAL CD.

Congratulations to the many people involved.

Comments disabled.

You know I can’t put them up, but check the GP and Golds here.

I could be wrong, but I’d call bullshit on Sharpie, Stihl, L’Oreal, the printer ink thing and Schtick.

But I love those Swiss Life ads, and Bancolombia (although they also look like scam).

What do you think?

These are the words I type so I have something to stick the hyperlink on.

And while you’re here, this is an article that is more relevant to Monday’s post, but I know you’re already over that:

Joss Whedon on Getting It Done.

Beautifully shot, makes sense and is, as far as I know, original.

That’s a great combination.

Hi Ben,

This being the week of Cannes, many creative people are on the continent who would not otherwise be.

Last week I caught up with a couple of good friends who are now Aussie CDs. Coincidentally both of them did the same thing that I found odd’n’interesting: the work they mentioned having been part of or impressed by was the kind of thing that you would only have seen if you found the time to watch case study films.

I won’t use the real names (combination of anonymity and can’t quite remember the details and don’t want to get them wrong), but as they said, ‘Have you seen Persil Island?’ or ‘He did Smarties House Party’, I looked a little blank. This is not in any way to denigrate these fine achievements, but it’s an interesting illustration of how diverse and award-centric these conversations have now become.

Back in the day you would see a TV ad, or maybe a poster, in real life, then when someone mentioned it you could have a chat about its merits.

Then both scam advertising (no way you’d see that on real TV) and the rise of international work (ditto) meant that you’d have to seek out the work in Lürzer’s or wait for the D&AD annual/One Show to come out (and there were still no case study films to watch). But the number of ads you ‘should’ have seen was still manageable.

Then blogs (such as this one) showed the best ads in the world as soon as they became available. In fact, part of the PR machine for ads feeling big and known deliberately includes these channels, so you might well see the award-y work well before it actually wins anything.

But now we have the rise of the case study film, where so many award schemes require the two-minute explanation of the campaign for it to be successful in any way. Several categories (Branded Innovation etc.) need such films, while categories that never used to (Outdoor) now routinely give explanations about posters that power villages or elaborate stunts that take over a Danish square with old ladies dressed as bikers.

All well and good, but when do you watch them? I assume other ad blogs etc. show these films, but I never really come across them (nor am I particularly keen to do so), except over the next fortnight, when I’ll watch the absolute best on the Cannes website. Then that’s it for another year, and I will be condemned to offer further blank expressions when told about Nike: Project Frottage or Uniqlo Tramp Wank Week.

Apologies in advance.

A couple of days ago an author friend emailed to ask how I make time to write. This was my reply:

I write a fair bit after I’ve gone to bed (11-12:15). 

Then I read this interesting blog post on the subject.

To be a little more complete than the above I’d add that I don’t watch a great deal of TV (I think Fashion Police is literally the only programme I refuse to miss, and I do a box set every month or two, but that’s it). Yes, my job is demanding, particularly at the end of the day, but there’s always a bit of time between when I get home (and hopefully put the kids to bed) and when I go to sleep. I try to use it to write because the bottom line is this:

There is no other way to create a novel (or short film, or Lego representation of Yoda).

You have to find the time, and it’s right there, waiting for you to use it.

Of course, the majority of people don’t use their spare time for that purpose, or for anything ‘constructive’, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The point I’m making is to promote one thing only: workability. If you want to do x, be that writing a book, playing with your kids or making dinner, you have to make the time to do it, otherwise it won’t happen.

And that might be stating the obvious, but unfortunately obviousness doesn’t correlate with likelihood.

Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park for the duration of Jurassic Park (thanks, J).

What people are Googling in real time (thanks, G).

Bask in this wonderful guitar playing (thanks, T):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXq4GlHgROQ&feature=share

This site, gangsta slanged (thanks, C).

Best movie phone conversation (thanks, G):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hroUeu4IvpE

Desk safari (thanks, J).

The construction of Disneyland:

Ghost stations of the London Underground (thanks, J).

Amazing Mortal Kombat flick book (thanks, S):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDNjIEU0lFk

And another fine Mortal Kombat link (thanks, A. Another flip book here):

Kinetic type: Conan O’Brien.

Alf from Home and Away, not quite as I remember him (thanks, A):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eykUVPuDmys

Letterman asks about drums (thanks, O):

Kim Dotcom, the raid (thanks, G):