Cats or puppets?

Plain wrong

The walls have ears!!

Saw this at the weekend and thought it was neat. Not sure if it's going to encourage people to drill holes in the exhausts of their WXR's and see if they can get it over a tonne but from the vantage point of the top of the bus I enjoyed watching it in action.

This appears to be a europe wide campaign

The Clik Clik

I saw these guys on Saturday night at The Bloomsbury Bowling lanes. I was really impressed. They're young, with some funky bass lines and great percussion (live and samples). It combines Jamie T with The Gorillaz (for the bass riffs). The girl's (Maya) vocals are a great foil to the lead singer's (Stefan) spoken ghetto vocals.

Anyway enough from me I think Stephen Merchant sums them up pretty well:

'The Clik Clik are Stefan Abingdon, Maya Yianni, Henry Bauckham and Dru Wakely– four teenagers whose infectious combination of classic British songwriting and their own smash and grab DIY production aesthetic has already got tongues wagging in the capital. They are the product of an exciting new, musically diverse Britain. Writing and producing everything, they make music that sound like all your favourite iTunes play lists rolled into one.'

Find out more here: The Clik Clik

Surely clients can see through this?

Image courtesy

I found this on the JWT site today (click on the Ford campaign from the scrolling menu) and I couldn't help but feel it was like the intro to some ridiculous reality TV programme.
‘It'll be disruptive and shocking to people, in a good way', claims one of the vox pops, and I’m thinking to myself, will it? really? I think the only thing that would be shocking was if a client was watching the so called ‘no holds barred’, ‘candid’ films and saw quite how much they were slagged off by the creative teams or maybe how little time is spent on the ideas.

Now I'm not in the habit of slagging off other agencies, JWT have got a good reputation and I'm sure on an account like Ford they pull some very long days making sure they get it right, but seriously, putting together a trailer like this is just teeing yourself up for ridicule. If I was a client with any marketing sense who had a vague idea of the way media is headed (permission marketing, conversations with consumers, etc etc) I would demand this type of honesty from my agency from the outset. The fact they have to put something like this together just screams 'contrived' at me and I would be less inclined to get involved with an agency that feels it has to tout itself in this manner.

Ultimately, it is the work that counts and the results that work should achieve. I couldn't give a toss how what processes/discussions/shocking debates are involved in producing the work, I just want to make sure the people working on my brand understand the brief, maintain good honest communication and produce work that both stimulates and communicates with potential consumers. Don't give me all this dramatic 'Real World' style footage, it's only going to make me think you're all a little bit frayed around the edges or smacked up on Columbia’s finest.

Brand elocution: The Bloggersphere

I've been giving brand/consumer conversations(in particular blogging) a lot of thought recently and I wanted to share my thoughts on where I think we are now and what we should be doing moving forward in this part of the world of 'social' communication.

I've spoken quite a bit previously about how we should go about talking to potential customers and brand advocates using this media and I'm sure by now we've grasped the basics of 'Permission Marketing'.

Therefore I want to talk more specifically about striking up a conversation in the bloggersphere. I think there are three main approaches when attempting to access this arena which take the rules of social interaction to another level but still adhere to the basics.

Firstly there is the brand association route. This involves convincing an author/moderator to have specific content (normally in the form of an editorial plug or display ads) on their site. Quite often bloggers are unaware of the value their readers/commentators present to brands so this can often be a cost effective way of targeting a dedicated audience. I'm seeing more companies cropping up who are capitalising on this niche audience but the results are not concrete as yet so we will have to see. I think the companies that will offer the most to advertisers are those who bring brand awareness and buzz metrics as well as creative display solutions to the party.

The second approach is more of a PR exercise that involves offering established blogs exclusive content that you hope they will run with and advocate. This works best for brands who can offer readers exclusive insights into their products (Electronics, Films, Music etc) and in many ways is a good way of judging public opinion before something is launched. Be careful that it doesn't back fire though.

The third approach is creating something truly memorable that the bloggersphere can't help but talk about it. This doesn't necessarily have to be something main stream but give those who are interested enough information for them to try and fill in the gaps. It's intrigue and specualtion that will get you talk about more than you could ever hope for…

no more sneaky campaigns

no more cloak and dagger

It's all for you...

Artist David Horvitz has produced an inspirational page which gives you the chance to indirectly produce art (by sending David off on little missions) and owning the results!

It's great, I got myself a mail box and a secret!

Earth Hour

do your bit... www.earthhour.org