The story starts many, many years ago when the first caveman invented the wheel. Let's call him Bob. So, one day Bob was carving his stone and suddenly he had an amazing idea, why not create a round object? Once he had created the round object he tested it, made sure it did what he wanted and then went and told his neighbour. Soon word spread of Bob's invention and everybody was using it, one to one interaction had communicated the message. Essentially advertising was born.



Skip forward a few years (well more than a few) and along comes Henry Ford. His way of reaching the masses is to use mass advertising, send one message out to everyone. Famously he said "you can have any colour as long as it's black." This was the same approach he took to communication, everyone got the same message, some took notice and responded whilst a lot didn't therefore a lot of waste.


Let’s skip again, this time to the present. Mass marketing has died, marketers have learnt to segment their audiences, select which communication portal they wish to use etc. However again, it doesn't please everyone; a lot of time is wasted. Suddenly, digital arrives on the scene. We can now contact people specifically and individually through emails, through social media and through digital word of mouth (online reviews, recommendations from peers etc.)


So from looking at this what does it show? It shows communication has took a big round circle and we are back to where we started, having the ability to talk to people on a one to one basis, as humans. As advertisers we have to seize this opportunity by creating a dialogue with people, and being transparent. I love companies who are using twitter to solve customer service problems, to interact with their customers and above all make the customers feel valued. This is the future (and the past I guess). People are more likely to engage with a brand through another human being, not through TV ads, pieces of paper or flashy logo’s. It’s time for companies to go back to the basic way of communicating, one to one. Well done Bob.

|

Saw this today whilst getting my dinner...obviously not the best when you can't even spell Staffordshire right! Pretty much the worst place you could make a mistake: the first line and your supposed claim to fame. Unlucky City Cabs.

|

We've been working as an ad agency for just under two weeks now. Here's a few snaps from our cosy office.

Mine's the the messy desk, with the PC! it's is nice office, we are working with in punching distance of each other and the jukebox is always playing good music. Can't compain, especially when we aren't paying anything for it ;)

And I don't know why I'm under "not cool" on the cool wall, damn creative's!!

|

Recently whilst working at my mundane part time job I noticed a t-shirt a child was wearing, it had the above print on it.

Following the rules is something we are taught from an early age. If we break rules we will lose, if we break rules we will be punished. Once you start working in the big bad world you soon learn you have been lied to.

Rule breaking is what creates the next big thing; it’s what separates brand A from brand B. Rules are there to be pushed, broken and rewritten. This doesn’t just apply to the work we create, it’s not simply about being outlandish with a piece of communication but about pushing a brand to make decisions that will harness creativity & innovation. Of course, embracing and encouraging innovation should be a part of any brands long term strategy. However from my own experiences I have found you often have to nudge clients into taking risks and breaking rules in order to find the perfect solution to their problems, the sooner they see that rules ARE for fools the sooner they will taste success.

I am now looking for this t-shirt, so if anyone knows where I can get one, drop me a message ;)

|

I saw this recently on the one size fits one blog by Anjali Ramachandran. It immediately struck a chord with me so I thought I would share it.

|

It's being buzzing around a lot of blogs recently and on TV as the tour de France has been going on. Just thought I would share it in case you haven't seen it. It's a robot that chalks a message onto the ground along the route that the cyclists will be taking. The message can be anything. Users can submit their message via the net or sms and then they will be emailed a link showing their message if it is chalked by the robot. It's a great example of online and offline media integration, great idea, well executed and something that creates a lot of publicity for the brand. The only way this could have been improved is if you could get the image from your message printed on a t-shirt too. Maybe you can do this too and I simply haven't seen it.

Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more online/offline integration in the near future from lots of brands, well done to the people who come up with this idea, brilliant!

|

I've seen this outdoor ad (well something really similar to it) around a lot recently. It doesn’t work at all in my eyes. The copy is very weak and doesn't evoke any emotions. The call to action on the actual print points you online which I doubt many people are going to do. Being a charity ad you will assume that once you go online you are going to be asked to depart with your money. Which let’s face it, less people are willing to do at a time like this. The pull factor isn't there for the average Jo, when people are curbing their own spending, buying less, down grading, the last thing they are likely to think about is giving money to charity. Definitely the wrong approach.

|

Right, just thought I'd give an update on what I've been doing since I graduated 2 weeks ago (seems so long ago). I'm in talks with a few agencies, a few people in different agencies too but it seems a long process in terms of getting a job so in the meantime I have begun working at:

wwww.3monkeysnobanana.co.uk

What is this you ask? It is a graduate agency started up and run by myself, Adam & Dan. They recently won best new blood for their great advertising portfolio at DNAD new blood. It's a mean of income, experience and pro-activity. We are currently working with a few companies and charities, creating advertising and doing bits of brand strategy too. So far it's going down well, work is coming in and we are having a good time in our own little office, the only bad thing being I'm stuck with a PC whilst they rock the Mac's!

My role is account management/account planning/new business. It's experience with real clients, real budgets and real briefs. Something that is invaluable when going into industry.

You can follow us via twitter: http://twitter.com/3MonkeyNoBanana

That's all for now :)

|

Maybe it's the tiredness talking as I type this blog post but Lucozade energy is the best drink in the world. Lets think about it:

- it does exactly what it says on the bottle - gives you energy!
- it tastes damn good!
- you can buy it for 89p everywhere!!
- It stops me from falling asleep

Not forgetting it has got me through so much at university and it's still powering me now, i've just done a week's work in around 6 hours, (will explain on my next post the reason why I had to do it in 6 hours) my hat comes off to Locozade energy, a brand that will alwaya be very dear to me :)

|

If you read my previous post's regarding D&AD new blood you will know I met Jon Sayers, a genius copywriter at Publicis. Amongst the many interesting things I learnt in his workshop I felt this is one of the best one's to share: the 9 needs of customers. In every piece of communication one of these needs has to be covered, this is the only way the customer will take notice, and of course the more needs covered the better!

1. Make money

2. Save money

3. Save time/effort

4. Help the family

5. Feel secure

6. Impress others

7. Gain pleasure

8. Self improvement

9. Sense of belonging/belong to a group

I will definitely be checking against these points in the future when producing any work and you should too!

|

One of my favourite comedians without a doubt is Omid Djalili. I was watching this clip earlier and it made me think...whatever we create in advertising it can always be interpreted in a different way, maybe positively or negatively. It's always important we consider every meaning, zoom out and ask others for their view point before finalising anything...

|

Right, I'm back from new blood and in all it was a rather good experience!

Day two was busy, busy, busy! Plenty of agency folk, students and general interesting people floating around...I managed to make some good contacts and chat to some great creative teams. The work on show was great; some of the ideas where well thought out and really shows the quality of graduates coming out of university.

The highlight for me was beating Falmouth uni in the "advertising face off" hosted by shellsuit zombie. I pitched our idea to a crowd of about 50 students, it was received very well. This shows the quality of the course I have just finished, even though we are BA and they are an MA our idea was much stronger and won the face off...much to our delight!!




Leading on from this, everyone I talked to was amazed by our "cutting edge" course, the advertising & brand management course is structured in the same way agencies run. We work in bigger teams, often having an account manager, planner and two creative’s, something that no other course does. This gives us great strategic thinking and creative flair to....something that not many graduates can say they have. Just to give my case more backing, Adam & Dan (two creative’s I have worked with heavily) won the best blood award for having the strongest portfolio at the whole event! Well done to them guys and well done to our tutors for creating such a great course!



I also got to meet a rather interesting gentleman by the name of Jon Sayers...industry people may well know Jon very well. He has achieved a great deal during his writing career and now works at Publicis as a copywriter. We talked for hours, exchanged contact details and he invited me to Publicis to meet some planners and creative’s....watch this space for updates!

So overall a good experience, if anyone else attended, met me or wants to find out more about anything mentioned above, leave your comments below!

|