Adalert

Erik Vervroegan and Philippe Meunier

2009-02-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

This post was originally supposed to be about the "4 Creative Personalities", but unfortunately because of time constraints it will have to wait til the next post.

So instead, I thought I'd share a video interview (with Erik Vervroegan and Philippe Meunier) that Ihaveanidea.org released last week. In case you don't know, Erik Vervroegan is the former ECD of TBWA Paris and Philippe Meunier is one of the co founders of Sid Lee.

The guys on IHAI invited people to submit questions for the interview with the two 'superstar creatives', and I was lucky enough to get two of mine forwarded. The first one was directed at Erik and was a response to an interview he had done ages ago, where he said that the secret to his success as a creative was/is;

"money and power are not appealing to me" and "I think the secret is to always stay fresh and to not be bothered by things that have nothing to do with your job like money or internal politics."

The second question was for Philippe, whom I basically asked;

"What do you think of digital agencies, and how do you think they will effect the future of our industry?"

So if you've not yet seen the interview click through here, or copy/paste http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=304541868 in your browser.

Cheers!

bare with me...

2009-02-13T15:53:00.000-08:00

For the past week I've been really busy working so unfortunately I've not had time to update the blog, but things have finally cooled down a bit, so stay alert, the next post is coming later tonight!

Cheers

And the winner is....

2009-02-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

Daniel Chetian from Art Center in California

From BRIEF

Finally we have the winner of the 'Nail-Clipper' brief! This was a very tough one, so I'd like to say thanks to everyone who had a stab at it. Especially Daniel Chetian!

All the 'judges' were in agreement and believed that Daniel's execution was the most successful as it demonstrated a very simple and self explanatory product in a unique, simple and humorous way. Also, having read my brief they all felt that the idea was bang on(literally), which is another reason why they chose it as the winning idea!

I'd also like to mention that although briefs/ideas like this are good additions to your book, they should not be the main focus of you portfolio as they may not be very plausible, but they're great for showing your own unique way of thinking. CD's/Senior Creatives love to see great ideas that are not necessarily 'conventional' ads or advertising related at all. This is something I believe all students should try to do.

Well done Daniel! And again, thanks for all those who entered their ideas!

Also, watch out for the next brief, it's a really good one, and not as 'creatively restrictive' as nail-clippers.

Cheers,
Adalert

PS. I'm working on getting some sort of reward for the winners, placements are the most likely at the moment, but might prove to be difficult considering we had ideas coming in from all over the world. But like I said, I'm working on it!

Busy busy bee...

2009-02-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

From Adalert

I've been meaning to write something for the past few days but, unfortunately, I have been really busy! The main thing that has taken up a lot of my time is the freelance gig I've been doing since last week. But also the 'nail-clipper' competition, catching up on some TV (UFC94, BSG, Master Chef =]) and preparing for a meeting with a potentially great future partner!

To be completely honest though, I've also had a tough time deciding between two topics for the next post! Those two being a: How important are Power, Money and Internal Politics for Creatives and b: The 4 "Creative" Personalities.

So if you have the time (or interest), please write a quick comment on which you would be most interested to read!

Cheerio!

BRIEF01 - Can you sell nail clippers?

2009-01-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

From Adalert

In the past month I've been seeing a lot of young creatives and students upload work on Ads of The World for critique. And what I've noticed is that the products that most people chose are not always the best for what they're trying to achieve, which is to build amazing portfolios that show their 'creative genius'. In most cases, the products have very unique selling points or something that really differentiates them from other products, hence the work tends to be very obvious and unfortunately it doesn't always show the true talent!

So I thought to myself, It would be great to set some briefs that will challenge creative minds in the right way. And if this project proves to be successful, I'll make a feature out of it!

The first brief is the result of picking the brains of some old friends and colleagues that are currently working in Ogilvy and JWT London. If people show some interest, I'll try to get the next brief from an ATL CD.

The brief
1. The brief is very simple, create ideas for a standard off the shelf nail-clipper (none of the fancy stuff). There's no criteria so your work does not necessarily have to be an ad (although it's preferred), it can be anything as long as it shows your creativity and how you think.

2. A single file/execution (.jpg, .pdf) is to be submitted by Wednesday 4th of Feb to brief@rocketmail.com . Please remember to also submit your name and where you're from. (YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE ANY REPLIES FROM THIS ACCOUNT)

The Winner
The winners will be chosen by a random group of creatives working in London.
And as for the prize, whoever wins will not receive anything other than a sense of accomplishment and a great piece of work they can stick in their portfolio. But you will have your work critiqued by industry professionals so you might learn something. Also, I'm working on getting the next brief some sort of recognition but it all depends on the success of this round!

Cheers!

Dun dun dun!!

2009-01-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

I came across this clip earlier today and thought I'd share it! Make sure you play it at least 2-3 times, it get's so much better! Also thought it would serve as a nice break between the last posts and the upcoming one. Keep an eye out, I'll try to post it tonight or tomorrow night

Cheerio folks! And leave some comments!

Obama - The brand.

2009-01-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

From Adalert

What a successful campaign it was, the whole world seems engulfed in optimism and hope for things to finally change since Barack Obama won the presidential election in America. And I get it, it's a major triumph for Americans in terms of ethnic equality/rights. But for US politics and the world as a whole, it really makes no difference that the president of the single most powerful nation is of African descent. So I'm puzzled at all the hype that's been surrounding this issue all over the world. In London people where stopping whatever they were doing to watch the inauguration. Even the water cooler gossip seems to be focused on President Obama and people who generally have the political knowledge/interest of a 5 year old, seem to have an opinion on the positive effects this will have for world politics. The truth is, President Obama's politics and cabinet aren't that revolutionary, it's pretty much the same people (with the same ideas) who have always been behind the scenes in Washington.

What I'm trying to get to is that it's amazing how well advertising can work and that with a few clever ideas and a bit of 're-branding' we can sell people any old idea/thing that they have always had. And they'll buy into it with a big smile on their gullible faces. The Obama brand, is in my opinion the most successful piece of branding/strategy since "Just Do It!".

What exactly is a Digital Agency?

2009-01-21T11:41:00.000-08:00

These days everywhere you look you see a digital agency, and to be honest with you, they really piss me off!
The reason I say this, is mainly because when looking for jobs it's becoming more common to see ads that call for 'digital experience'. And suddenly, a whole new breed of creatives have emerged as a result of this demand.

I also want to say that I understand why digital media has become so popular, clients get very low prices for massive audiences (in comparison to TV/Press or outdoor even), which is fair enough. But this does not justify the need for media specific agencies. We don't have them for any other media (not in this scale anyway)!

As for the 'digital creatives', what kind of experience do they actually have? I doubt it very much that they are especially knowledgeable about the technologies behind their ads, clearly they have programmers/designers/developers producing their concepts. Most creatives know very little about Filming, Photography or Printing techniques, yet this does not stop them conceptualizing amazing ideas. Of course it's always great to stay in the loop with new production techniques as it may help you understand what's possible or even push your ideas in a new direction, but as a creative you don't need to understand them.

Finally, I just want to say that I hope creatives take a bigger interest in the way our industry is evolving, we're the ones who shape it's future! Advertising is more than pretty pictures and clever lines.

Return to the golden age of Advertising?

2009-01-19T01:23:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'm reading too much into this...

Coca-Cola anounced a few days ago that they have cut the number of agencies (in Europe) working on their gigantic £100m a year account from 20 to just 4! Those four being Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam, Mother London, McCann Erickson Spain and Sra. Rushmore Madrid

But what does this really mean? Coca-Cola claim that the idea behind this new strategy is to create more efficient "marketing campaigns". Which of course is completely logical, it ensures that the quality of work produced is always the same and the branding more consistent and strong (maybe not something that Coke needs, but generally speaking).

What does this means for us (the people who work in the industry)? This might be the part I'm getting carried away with... To me, logically, this means that we're heading back to the days of private jets & champagne, well maybe not exactly but the financial implications are undeniable! As a result of this, agencies will surely need more man power to work on the 'smaller stuff' (which is great for young creatives) and as for the top dogs, they will proabably be getting fatter checks (which is equally great)!

It makes perfect sense.
From a client point of view, it's completely ridiculous to have 20 different agencies working on everything from direct mail to TV/PRESS and the very obscure new digital media (Will be discussing this in the next post). Why pay so many different agency fees for work that more often than not, comes from the strategy of one agency?

From an agency point of view, I can understand that it might be perceived as a logistic nightmare to handle so many different aspects of a brand, but in the end the pro's outweigh the con's. It makes no sense at all to give up so much business, just hire more people! And the big boys needn't worry, it's not like the green's distributed equally. There are ton's of talented junior creatives and account-folk (whatever they're called) that would be more than happy to work for scraps.

More money means better work!

Brilliant viral for Durex!

2009-01-17T11:28:00.001-08:00

I just saw this viral on CR, and I had to post it! I love these kind of ideas, they're so obvious that you're amazed that no one has thought of them before (to my knowledge). But then again, brilliant/simple ideas always seem obvious when someone else has already done them!

In case you're wondering, the whole thing is CGI and it's done by a studio called Superfad for the Atlanta agency Fitzgerald + Co.

//Koush