Has it really been that long?

Paul Samuels
Art Director

The other morning I woke up to a rather startling realization, I realized that I had now officially been an Art Director for ten years. Now I’m not usually the most lucid person in the morning and more often than not first thoughts of the day have disappeared from my head in the time it takes me to get out of bed and walk the seven or eight short steps to the bathroom. This one, however, stayed with me and got me thinking.

It got me thinking about how - even in a space of time that has, from my perspective, flown by in a blur – things are really quite different to when I first started.

Way back in good old 2000, when we were briefed on a new campaign we’d be required to produce an ad that would feature in all sorts of journals, a mailer series that would, in all likelihood, end up in a dustbin, a detail aid and perhaps a quirky leavepiece or two. If we were lucky, we might get a bit of TV or radio thrown in as a treat.

Now we can enhance these ideas by going ‘all digital’. I know everyone’s saying it, and everyone’s trying to do it too, but that’s because it’s so worthwhile and it’s where the world is taking us.

New forms of websites where we can connect to vast audiences way beyond a mailing list, where we can be inclusive of all kinds of people and not just tell them what we think they should be told but actually ask them what they want to be told and what they need. We’re producing eDetails rather than just printed ones that allow our story to come to life beyond the printed page. Viral videos, email blasts, mobile phone applications and updatable tweets are all ways we are enhancing our more traditional creative thinking.

And it’s great. I’m no expert in this field so while I’m doing it I’m learning and that’s a great feeling. I mean look at me right now, I’m blogging for crying out loud! And even if it is a somewhat poor attempt, at least I’m giving it a go because, well, why wouldn’t you, this our world now so lets get involved and embrace it. Besides, I may be ten years as an Art Director but I never claimed to be any sort of writer.

Of course I still use all those familiar tools available to me – the still wonderful Photoshop for instance – but now I can enhance my visuals (or actually my ideas) by bringing them to life in After Effects. It’s pretty simple too, all it requires is a couple of highly skilled and willing accomplices within the studio – much gratitude fellas, you know who you are.

When I got my first job in advertising I went into the interview with nothing but an A3 portfolio and my enthusiasm. Who knows, maybe for my next one – not that I’m looking – all I’ll need is mobile phone. Or maybe an iPad. Do I like those yet? Not sure, think I might be coming around though.

PaulS

Like a kid in a candy store

Klara Kallis
Copywriter

The other morning, something special happened. Picking up the post I noticed a small envelope. Across its centre: my name, handwritten.

Ignoring furious pleas from my husband who couldn’t find his towel and was planting big soggy footprints on our stairs, I sat down to relish every tactile reading moment.

Did it matter that the content was less impactful than the gesture?

It didn’t to me. It was good enough.

And so I couldn’t help thinking, sitting on the tube between two kids texting each other, ‘there’s a time and a place for everything’.

In a digital age, there is still merit in the printed page.

The printed page encourages immersion in a single narrative. Even if you could view YouTube on the underground, you may feel aggrieved if your copy of the Metro was rudely snatched away from you.

A well-targeted piece of printed communication has a personal touch which is enhanced by its now-increasing rarity.

It’s all about choice. Having choices. And making the right one.

BT understand. And they play on it. They know they can’t get into the ring with their mobile competitors. No-one’s going to change the world – or even their social plans – from their landline. But they sure can have a relaxed conversation, bringing pleasure to their loved ones (And I’m not saying I like the ad, but I do like the thinking).

As for the laughing mobile providers, could they be losing out to instant messaging? Why chat when you can ‘chat’?

I love words. But I also love my Art Director… because information recall is increased by 40% with the help of visual aids. Add sound and you’ll reach even more people. Take video marketing. Everyone enjoys watching videos, whether they’re more a ‘You’ve been framed’ type or a ‘Jack Ass’ follower. What’s really fascinating though about video marketing is the ability to track exactly what someone clicked onto the very second they stopped watching your film. Clever stuff, but I still smile when my favourite ad comes on the telly.

Mail vs. email, blog vs. print, phone vs. chat, TV vs. video…

I feel like a 5 year old in a sweet shop.

No point arguing that ‘Print advertising is dead’ or that ‘Facebook is the future’. Why not just revel in the fact that we have an amazing array of avenues through which to reach our audience?

World Cup fever

Posted By Matt Ross
You can’t miss it can you? Even if you wanted to. It’s coming at you from every angle. Even my Nan’s Agatha Christie’s Poirot cannot escape the World Cup themed adverts.


Outside our offices we have the largest ever billboard towering over the West Cromwell Road (picture). A Mount Rushmore pastiche, featuring the faces of Rooney, Milner, Walcott and Ferdinand staring down the passing traffic. The headline: Play to be Remembered. Write the future. (The people who chose the players probably wished they could.) Needless to say these were going up before the World Cup teams were chosen, and those in the know mused about the wisdom of committing to idolise players who may not be selected. Still, this aside, the idea of freezing those decisive moments and immortalising them in stone and bronze symbolises everything about the idolisation today’s footballers experience.

Nike has a relevant product to promote, and does so with a grandiose three minute special T.V. ad (notice how there is no shame in using competitors' branded kit throughout). The idea of writing history today may not be new, but the execution of these printed variations on the theme show how effectively an idea can cross both channels and oceans.


The campaign developed in Amsterdam by Wieden+Kennedy will no doubt go on to win many awards, and let's hope that Rooney does become Sir Wayne (although personally I’d rather call my boy Frank) as England move on to triumph also.

But you also have the bad. Peter Crouch isn’t persuading me to buy any more Pringles El Tel’s crooning makes me less likely to buy the Sun. John Barnes embarrassingly rapping in the park for Mars . But webuyanycar.com wins my vote for the most brazen, unashamedly pointless use of a football in an advert ever.

And finally, here is proof that not all gems have to be big and brash to be effective. The strength of an idea can still be relatively cheap to pursue. Like this offering from the Times.



Humorous (when you consider the fragility of our footballers), playful and flexible. Letting you know exactly where they want to meet you for a conversation. I’ll be picking up my copy of the Times each morning. I love it! Post your own ideas of the good, bad and downright ugly World Cup ads below.

Free range talent

The Free Range graduate art & design is running over the next few months. The show is a platform for graduate art and design students to showcase their work to both public and industry. Featuring more than 100 university courses from across the UK it's a brilliant way to see up and coming talent. Shows rotate weekly over the 8 week season by discipline including design, graphics, photography, art and interiors.

Walking through the 10th annual Free Range Art & Design Show, held in the Old Truman Brewery over the weekend gave me a chance to reflect on the better part of a decade that lies between where I sit today and my own days as a student of design.

Some of the work by the students displayed at the show quite impressed me. Skill and creativity – although not always mutually exclusive – are impressive to see in such a fresh crop.

It also highlighted some of the differences there are between studying in the creative industries and actually working in them. The biggest of these being time. Namely, deadlines. I remember university assignments being somewhat more relaxed as far as the time constraints of submitting creative. Real world client demands tend to mean that a university deadline of weeks or even months gets reduced to the more realistic, days... and sometimes hours!

This pressure is part and parcel of the industry and in-fact sometimes precisely what we as designers and copywriters need to spur us on to deliver the best we possibly can. I find there, truth in the somewhat corny saying, “...oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds form under great pressure”

I find it exciting that the same journey I traveled and grew along is now facing these newcomers. There is much to learn and the road is not always as well paved as we hope, but the rewards for finally arriving... make it all worthwhile.

SalB

Email is yesterday's news!

Whilst trying to round up a cricket team on the weekend I was reliably informed that "email is dead" and if I want to get hold of any of the guys under the age of 19 then I'd better start team selections on Facebook!

This got me thinking so I asked the under 15's, under 18's and Seniors how they'd like to be called up to play? The result - text and Facebook were the outright winners, email was nowhere!

Looking around the teams, most have blackberrys or iphones (especially the under 15's) and for the younger teams, they have no email at all. When asked why, they tell me that it's too slow, only does one thing and doesn't go everywhere with them.

With the development of cloud computing networks and the move away from locally stored information, it seems a group of lads at a cricket club are positioning themselves nicely to be early adopters, leaving us email junkies way behind. Is this the definition of getting old?

NickB