Wednesday, 8 December 2010
The Alphabet of Buildings
German photographer, Lisa Rienermann has spent months photographing the skyline created by buildings. She has created the entire alphabet by taking pictures of the space in-between buildings in Barcelona...
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Facebook Cartoon Campaign
This week Facebook seems to have transformed into a social network for 80s and 90s cartoon characters. Apparently, I am now friends with The Powerpuff girls, Hey Arnold, Sonic, Penny Crayon and Yogi Bear.
According to many a 'copy & pasted' status update...
"Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday there should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is in support for stopping violence against children."
Many people believe the campaign was started by the NSPCC to support their fight against cruelty to children. However, the NSPCC denies any involvement with the Facebook group. Although, it welcomes the new focus on the work the charity performs.
The instigator of this phenomenon sweeping Facebook has not yet come forward and many people are beginning to wonder how changing your profile picture is really helping children. Although it certainly draws focus to children's charities, perhaps it would have been better to encourage a donation, before you changed your photo? With 90,000 followers in the largest Facebook group (and there are many more), donating a pound a photo could have raised a lot of funds so far...
This is not the first time a charity's cause has gone viral on Facebook. Most recently, Facebook users changed their statuses to suggestive slogans such as "I like it on the table" or "I like it on the floor" to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. These phrases predictably raised a few eyebrows on the site. But little did they know that women were actually referring to wear they keep their handbag.
According to many a 'copy & pasted' status update...
"Change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday there should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is in support for stopping violence against children."
Many people believe the campaign was started by the NSPCC to support their fight against cruelty to children. However, the NSPCC denies any involvement with the Facebook group. Although, it welcomes the new focus on the work the charity performs.
The instigator of this phenomenon sweeping Facebook has not yet come forward and many people are beginning to wonder how changing your profile picture is really helping children. Although it certainly draws focus to children's charities, perhaps it would have been better to encourage a donation, before you changed your photo? With 90,000 followers in the largest Facebook group (and there are many more), donating a pound a photo could have raised a lot of funds so far...
This is not the first time a charity's cause has gone viral on Facebook. Most recently, Facebook users changed their statuses to suggestive slogans such as "I like it on the table" or "I like it on the floor" to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. These phrases predictably raised a few eyebrows on the site. But little did they know that women were actually referring to wear they keep their handbag.
Monday, 29 November 2010
My Favourite Virals
Hello,
This week I have gathered my top 10 viral ads for your viewing pleasure. In no particular order, let us begin:
This ad was revealed to be a viral for Microsoft after many people believed it was genuinely the biggest waterslide on earth.
The classic Old Spice, "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" it also created some great spoofs by The Sun and Sesame Street
The LED Sheep, apparently an advert for Samsung
One of the best uses of Chatroulette that I've seen, plugging the film The Last Exorcism
A simple and creative AIDS awareness ad from the TBWA Paris
An award-winning seatbelt campaign from Sussex
A funny one from Durex
An oldie but a goodie. 'Will It Blend?' just gets better and better. I don't know why it is so satisfying watching someone blend an iPad, it just is.
The ad that can't go without a mention is this from Tip-Ex, great use of YouTube and clearly show the product truth
And the final classic, John West Salmon. Enjoy!
This week I have gathered my top 10 viral ads for your viewing pleasure. In no particular order, let us begin:
This ad was revealed to be a viral for Microsoft after many people believed it was genuinely the biggest waterslide on earth.
The classic Old Spice, "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" it also created some great spoofs by The Sun and Sesame Street
The LED Sheep, apparently an advert for Samsung
One of the best uses of Chatroulette that I've seen, plugging the film The Last Exorcism
A simple and creative AIDS awareness ad from the TBWA Paris
An award-winning seatbelt campaign from Sussex
A funny one from Durex
An oldie but a goodie. 'Will It Blend?' just gets better and better. I don't know why it is so satisfying watching someone blend an iPad, it just is.
The ad that can't go without a mention is this from Tip-Ex, great use of YouTube and clearly show the product truth
And the final classic, John West Salmon. Enjoy!
Monday, 22 November 2010
The Unbelievable Art of Li Wei
Li Wei is a Chinese artist who seems to defy gravity in his photography. Using only wires and optical illusion he creates amazing images that look professionally photoshopped rather than staged in reality. Wei uses a mixture of performance art and photography to capture these hair-raising images...
Wei has displayed his work all over the world where it has always gained astonishment.
He specialises in creating the illusion of a 'dangerous reality' and is often putting himself in real danger to get a great shot. It scares me just looking at these photos !
www.liweiart.com
Wei has displayed his work all over the world where it has always gained astonishment.
He specialises in creating the illusion of a 'dangerous reality' and is often putting himself in real danger to get a great shot. It scares me just looking at these photos !
www.liweiart.com
Friday, 12 November 2010
Drawing The Internet
To coincide with Internet Week Europe, ad agency Saint is pitting the creative industry against a load of 10 year old kids to find out who is the most creative. An interesting project with some very interesting designs. Here are some of my favourites:
And here is my own humble offering, completed during my lunch break yesterday over a bowl of Covent Garden Winter Veg soup....
The voting hasn't begun yet, but hopefully it will do well.
And here is my own humble offering, completed during my lunch break yesterday over a bowl of Covent Garden Winter Veg soup....
The voting hasn't begun yet, but hopefully it will do well.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Michael Fish Could Win £££'s
After reading an excellent blog post about The Big Kick's most recent promotion I have decide to create my own bloggy tribute.
Everytime you buy a promotional pack of Walkers crisps you can play 'Walkers Rainy Days'. Simply choose a square on a map of the UK, a date and a time of day when you think it is most likely to rain. If it does, you've won £10!
A really simple mechanic, and very well executed too.
Walkers crisps are made from British potatoes. British potatoes love the rain. Job done.
Also, if you fail to win a tenner. You can use your pack code to earn you discounts on things like bowling and pub food - great things to do on a rainy day!
In conclusion, well done The Big Kick for such an innovative marketing idea!
P.S.
AMV did a nice job on their T.V. ad for the promotion too, love a bit of Footloose.
Check out all the details on www.walkers.co.uk
P.P.S.
I have just realised that I have completely overused the exclamation mark throughout this report... !
Everytime you buy a promotional pack of Walkers crisps you can play 'Walkers Rainy Days'. Simply choose a square on a map of the UK, a date and a time of day when you think it is most likely to rain. If it does, you've won £10!
A really simple mechanic, and very well executed too.
Walkers crisps are made from British potatoes. British potatoes love the rain. Job done.
Also, if you fail to win a tenner. You can use your pack code to earn you discounts on things like bowling and pub food - great things to do on a rainy day!
In conclusion, well done The Big Kick for such an innovative marketing idea!
P.S.
AMV did a nice job on their T.V. ad for the promotion too, love a bit of Footloose.
Check out all the details on www.walkers.co.uk
P.P.S.
I have just realised that I have completely overused the exclamation mark throughout this report... !
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Doodles by Darren
Back in August I was asked at work (The Big Kick) to find an illustrator for an interesting commission. We needed them to doodle on our boardroom table...
After going through all my Facebook friends in search of an appropriate artist I found Darren Luchmun, We used to work together in Borders and I remembered he had always been great at drawing and had recently completed a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration at Herts Uni.
To cut a long story short, this is what he came up with:
As you can imagine we were all very impressed with the work and he managed to come up with it in record time!
For more info:
Darren's work -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28646055@N04/
Darren's blog -
http://comfortindarren.blogspot.com/
After going through all my Facebook friends in search of an appropriate artist I found Darren Luchmun, We used to work together in Borders and I remembered he had always been great at drawing and had recently completed a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration at Herts Uni.
To cut a long story short, this is what he came up with:
As you can imagine we were all very impressed with the work and he managed to come up with it in record time!
For more info:
Darren's work -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28646055@N04/
Darren's blog -
http://comfortindarren.blogspot.com/
Thursday, 14 October 2010
My 'Footphobia'
Otherwise known as 'Podophobia', I suffer from an irrational fear of feet. I can deal with shoes and socks, but when it comes to bare feet, they make me want to throw up a little bit. My reaction to feet is somewhat like this...
My friends have never really taken this condition seriously, particularly a certain somebody (you know who you are) who actually put their foot so close to my face it hit me in the eye.
Obviously I just have to deal with it at certain times of the year when flip flops are rife (eurgh). I also avoid touching/looking at my own feet. Not because they're a bad pair of feet - but because all feet are unacceptable.
My friends have never really taken this condition seriously, particularly a certain somebody (you know who you are) who actually put their foot so close to my face it hit me in the eye.
Obviously I just have to deal with it at certain times of the year when flip flops are rife (eurgh). I also avoid touching/looking at my own feet. Not because they're a bad pair of feet - but because all feet are unacceptable.
Millie The Greyhound
I visited home last Friday to discover that my parents had gone and adopted a greyhound. My mother has been threatening this course of action for many years. She has always said, "If dogs look like they're owners, then I should get a greyhound so I can be just as slim and graceful". I don't think she really thought that logic through, but it's too late now as there is a greyhound living in my house.
Her name is Millie, she is 5 years old and she is a retired racing greyhound from Ireland.
Here she is:
Her strange body shape reminds me of a really leggy alien, or perhaps a stick insect.
Her name is Millie, she is 5 years old and she is a retired racing greyhound from Ireland.
Here she is:
Her strange body shape reminds me of a really leggy alien, or perhaps a stick insect.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
I love Lovefilm
I spoke to a man who worked for Lovefilm and he persauded me to sign up by giving me a code for 2 months free rentals. It was the incentive I needed to finally give it a go and I'm very glad I did. I used to spend a fortune on DVDs as well as going to the cinema and now I can just stay home and watch a DVD for FREE!
They have every title you could ever want and you can even watch some films and TV episode off of their website for free as part of your rental package.
You can also set the level of priority on your rental list to let them know if you really really want to see Shutter Island and think you could wait a couple of weeks before you see Madagascar.
I know this sounds like the biggest product plug ever, but it really is fantastic !
The end of an egg era
After completing a month on placement at Muirhoward, I have been asked to return to The Big Kick. Unfortunately I have been asked to return alone.
I have decided to take this opportunity for many reasons, which I won't go into now but obviously it means an end to mine and Vicky's creative partnership.
Vicky is to continue on placement with a different copywriter at Muirhoward (probably until the end of November) and I have the highest confidence that she will continue to dazzle them with her ideas.
I start back at The Big Kick on Monday 11th, where I will be helping out on well-known brands such as Walkers crisps, Becks beer and Nestle Kit Kats. After my experience there in the summer I have definately developed a love for marketing and I can't wait to get stuck in there again.
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Ozzy
Oska was my cat for 14 years. He was born in a shed at the bottom of a garden behind the house of my school dinner lady, Marge. Marge already had many cats and didn't have space for another, so we adopted him.
As a kitten he was very badly behaved and often stupid. He did not understand that glass doors were still solid objects and had a love of chewing through fairy lights at Christmas.
Oska has inspired many artworks of mine including a typographic series entitled "Affection for food" and many photographic works. Here are some of the finer examples:
I have many fond memories of Ozzy... He used to chase the neighbours' dog, he enjoyed drinking from the bathroom tap, he attacked your ankles if you lingered too long on the bottom step of the stairs...
Although he had avoided death once before, Ozzy's colourful life was cut short by cancer of the stomach - a cruel blow for an animal that had so enjoyed his food. As a younger cat he was shot three times with an air rifle (we reckon it was our crazy next-door neighbour)and not only survived, but carried on with the pellets in his bum. He was indeed the 'Fiddy Cent' of the cat world.
He will never be forgotten, not only because I'll have the cat-scratch scars to remember him by, but because he was GREAT.
As a kitten he was very badly behaved and often stupid. He did not understand that glass doors were still solid objects and had a love of chewing through fairy lights at Christmas.
Oska has inspired many artworks of mine including a typographic series entitled "Affection for food" and many photographic works. Here are some of the finer examples:
I have many fond memories of Ozzy... He used to chase the neighbours' dog, he enjoyed drinking from the bathroom tap, he attacked your ankles if you lingered too long on the bottom step of the stairs...
Although he had avoided death once before, Ozzy's colourful life was cut short by cancer of the stomach - a cruel blow for an animal that had so enjoyed his food. As a younger cat he was shot three times with an air rifle (we reckon it was our crazy next-door neighbour)and not only survived, but carried on with the pellets in his bum. He was indeed the 'Fiddy Cent' of the cat world.
He will never be forgotten, not only because I'll have the cat-scratch scars to remember him by, but because he was GREAT.
The YCN Awards
Last Tuesday Vicky and I finished our days work at Muirhoward and got the tube over to Shoreditch. We met our guests for the night, Emma and Josie and entered Shoreditch Town Hall for the YCN student awards ceremony.
We were greeted by an array of free Becks bottles, kindly provided by YCN. Strangely enough I had seen the limited edition Beck labels before, at The Big Kick. I had assisted one of the Becks account handlers stick on the very same stickers (to Becks bottles) to be delivered to a photo shoot at YCN. So it was a bit of a coincidence to see them at the awards ceremony. Keep a look out for them, they're promoting the album Wolfgang Amadeus.
After bumping into a few (loads) of familiar faces from Lincoln we were led into the main hall and seated at tables according to the brief we entered. We were shown short films by many interesting special guests including; Jean Jullien, Tomas Klassnik and Inventory Studio before they announced the commendations a brief at a time.
Vicky and I both recieved a lovely gold framed 'A' for award certificate...
(Photo from Amy)
From left to right: Me, Vicky, Amy, Pieter, Pete, Ollie, A man from P&O Ferries!
As you can see we all look pretty smug. It was a great night and many thanks to YCN for putting together such a fun evening!
P.S.
Sorry for the lack of posts, been very busy but more to follow!
We were greeted by an array of free Becks bottles, kindly provided by YCN. Strangely enough I had seen the limited edition Beck labels before, at The Big Kick. I had assisted one of the Becks account handlers stick on the very same stickers (to Becks bottles) to be delivered to a photo shoot at YCN. So it was a bit of a coincidence to see them at the awards ceremony. Keep a look out for them, they're promoting the album Wolfgang Amadeus.
After bumping into a few (loads) of familiar faces from Lincoln we were led into the main hall and seated at tables according to the brief we entered. We were shown short films by many interesting special guests including; Jean Jullien, Tomas Klassnik and Inventory Studio before they announced the commendations a brief at a time.
Vicky and I both recieved a lovely gold framed 'A' for award certificate...
(Photo from Amy)
From left to right: Me, Vicky, Amy, Pieter, Pete, Ollie, A man from P&O Ferries!
As you can see we all look pretty smug. It was a great night and many thanks to YCN for putting together such a fun evening!
P.S.
Sorry for the lack of posts, been very busy but more to follow!
Monday, 20 September 2010
Friday, 17 September 2010
Our First Placement
Week one of our placement at Muirhoward is now complete. We've managed to get a few of our Deloitte ideas picked for the next campaign, not sure whether the client likes them yet but will continue to update you all.
Here is some of Muirhoward's past work on Deloitte:
We've been working mainly on financial/banking type briefs, which aren't the most exciting products to advertise but are nonetheless, live briefs.
We are conveniently situated between some of the finest sandwich establishments in Farringdon. This is not good for our finances and definately not good for our health.
After just four days of our two week placement we have been asked to stay on for a further two months! That means they want us here until the end of November!
We may have to get ourselves some Ben's Cookies in celebration.
Here is some of Muirhoward's past work on Deloitte:
We've been working mainly on financial/banking type briefs, which aren't the most exciting products to advertise but are nonetheless, live briefs.
We are conveniently situated between some of the finest sandwich establishments in Farringdon. This is not good for our finances and definately not good for our health.
After just four days of our two week placement we have been asked to stay on for a further two months! That means they want us here until the end of November!
We may have to get ourselves some Ben's Cookies in celebration.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Long Copy Ads
Thursday, 2 September 2010
"Literally the best cookie I've ever had"
Vicky and I were united again this week to visit and revisit a few agencies. We were fairly confident about our book this time because it had earned us a placement at Muirhoward. However, as always, people had very different opinions to each other. In one agency a campaign was our best work and in another, it had to be taken out of our book.
Its nice to go back and see familiar faces in an agency, especially when the team you're meeting are some sort of comedy double act. Unfortunately it also makes it even more frustrating when you know for sure that you'd really like to work in a place...
We also took some time out to see Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. It was possibly the oddest film I've ever seen. Is it a computer game turned into a film? Or a film turned into a computer game? Although it was weird, it was enjoyable and even funny in places. For those Lincolnites who see it - check out the young Gyles Lingwood playing Gideon (the villain).
A highlight of our London excursions has to be the discovery of Ben's Cookies. If you haven't been I suggest you get down there ASAP. They look so hard and crispy but they literally melt in your mouth. I had a white chocolate and macadamia nut beauty, there are no words to describe.....
THEY DO MAIL ORDER COOKIES!
Its nice to go back and see familiar faces in an agency, especially when the team you're meeting are some sort of comedy double act. Unfortunately it also makes it even more frustrating when you know for sure that you'd really like to work in a place...
We also took some time out to see Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. It was possibly the oddest film I've ever seen. Is it a computer game turned into a film? Or a film turned into a computer game? Although it was weird, it was enjoyable and even funny in places. For those Lincolnites who see it - check out the young Gyles Lingwood playing Gideon (the villain).
A highlight of our London excursions has to be the discovery of Ben's Cookies. If you haven't been I suggest you get down there ASAP. They look so hard and crispy but they literally melt in your mouth. I had a white chocolate and macadamia nut beauty, there are no words to describe.....
THEY DO MAIL ORDER COOKIES!
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Future/Past/Present Ads
Moma Propaganda have recently released the following ads as part of an 'Everything Ages Fast' campaign. They show how social media will age quickly and might appear dated in the future...
"The sublime, mighty community with just 140 letters!"
"The fabulous voice system able to put your family together"
"Striking, miraculous social team-up!"
"Your films will last forever on YOU TUBE, the champion address on the internet!"
I love these ads, they're topical and a bit funny. They really make me wonder what the next big social devices after Facebook and Twitter will be... Maybe we'll all have a computereised commentator constantly updates others on our mood and actions. I can really see privacy going out the window...
"The sublime, mighty community with just 140 letters!"
"The fabulous voice system able to put your family together"
"Striking, miraculous social team-up!"
"Your films will last forever on YOU TUBE, the champion address on the internet!"
I love these ads, they're topical and a bit funny. They really make me wonder what the next big social devices after Facebook and Twitter will be... Maybe we'll all have a computereised commentator constantly updates others on our mood and actions. I can really see privacy going out the window...
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Cheap Flights
Wonderful song by 'Fascinating Aida' inspired by the stresses of booking a cheap flight to Ireland...
Advertising the benefits of stable and clearly priced flights, take note airlines.
Advertising the benefits of stable and clearly priced flights, take note airlines.
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
A little update
I (Charlotte) am still guarding reception at The Big Kick in Hatfield. However, I seem to be picking up more and more interesting tasks. For example, today I'm creating a moodboard for a pitch (can't tell you who) we have next week. Not the most creative task I could be doing, but still a bit more exciting than answering a phone.
I've also been ordering fun things like novelty phones and fancy light boxes for the creative department. If I wasn't so set on following the path to advertising creativity I could definately be persuaded to do this kind of job permanently
Also managed to get our portfolio looked at by one of the two Creative Directors who said something along the lines of, "Your book is really nice and simple, I'm probably going to steal that Robinsons idea". So that's positive. I'm still trying to corner the other Creative Director as everyone is so busy for the upcoming pitch (still not telling who the client).
In other news we have reworked our book a wee bit and given it in to The Cream Awards 2010 at The Talent Business, so fingers crossed for that. As far as I'm aware, the chosen few are given the chance to take part in a New Bloodesque show that is seen by industry types.
I also won a t-shirt from the wonderful Hello You Creatives. This was after a pun competition. My winning entry was:
Two peanuts walk into a bar. One was a salted.
Here is the offending article. It is very comfortable and so far I have been wearing it to watch telly and play Angry Birds. If you're not already following HYC on Facebook or Twitter then I suggest you do so. They're always posting interesting portfolios and opportunities.
And now for the exciting news:
Vicky and I have been selected for a 2 week work placement at Muirhoward. This was fantastic news as we really liked the Creative Director and loved some of Muirhoward's previous work. We don't start until the 13th of September, so the excitement will gradually become unbearable while we wait a whole month.
I've also been ordering fun things like novelty phones and fancy light boxes for the creative department. If I wasn't so set on following the path to advertising creativity I could definately be persuaded to do this kind of job permanently
Also managed to get our portfolio looked at by one of the two Creative Directors who said something along the lines of, "Your book is really nice and simple, I'm probably going to steal that Robinsons idea". So that's positive. I'm still trying to corner the other Creative Director as everyone is so busy for the upcoming pitch (still not telling who the client).
In other news we have reworked our book a wee bit and given it in to The Cream Awards 2010 at The Talent Business, so fingers crossed for that. As far as I'm aware, the chosen few are given the chance to take part in a New Bloodesque show that is seen by industry types.
I also won a t-shirt from the wonderful Hello You Creatives. This was after a pun competition. My winning entry was:
Two peanuts walk into a bar. One was a salted.
Here is the offending article. It is very comfortable and so far I have been wearing it to watch telly and play Angry Birds. If you're not already following HYC on Facebook or Twitter then I suggest you do so. They're always posting interesting portfolios and opportunities.
And now for the exciting news:
Vicky and I have been selected for a 2 week work placement at Muirhoward. This was fantastic news as we really liked the Creative Director and loved some of Muirhoward's previous work. We don't start until the 13th of September, so the excitement will gradually become unbearable while we wait a whole month.
Spamalot
Here is another classic piece of Spam for us all to enjoy:
MR JOHN SFIZO
THE CHIEF AUDITOR (F.N.B).
JHB R.S.A.
SOUTH AFRICA
Telephone; +27 76 047 6608.
contact E-mail: johnsfizo@gmail.com
Dear Sir/Madam,
I know that this massage will come as a surprise to you since we don't know each other, but for the purpose of introduction, I am Mr John Sfizo,THE CHIEF AUDITOR of First National Bank of South Africa (F.N.B). There is an account opened in this bank in 1998 and since 2004, nobody has operated on this account again. After going through some files in the records, I discovered that if I do not remit this money urgently, it would be returned to the treasury.
The owner of the account is Mr. Smith Andreas, a foreigner and miner at Kruger Gold Co., a geologist by profession and he died. Since 2003, no other person knows about this account or anything concerning it. The account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me as well that his company does not know anything about this account and the amount involved is US$18,500,000.00 (Eighteen million, five hundred thousand united states dollars).
I am only contacting you as a foreigner because the money cannot be approved to a local bank here but can only be approved to any foreign account because the money is in United States dollars and the former owner of the account Mr. Smith Andreas also a foreigner.
Please reply urgently so that I can inform you of the process and procedure to actualize this transaction. Send also your private phone numbers, email address including details of the account to be used for the deposit. I want us to meet face to face or sign a binding agreement to bind us together so that you can receive this money into a foreign account or any account of your choice where the funds will be safe. I will fly to your country for withdrawal and sharing and other investments. I need your full co-operation to make this project succeed because the management is ready to approve this payment to any foreigner who has correct information of this account, which I will give to you later immediately if you are capable and willing to handle such amount in strict confidence and trust according to my instructions and advice for our mutual benefit because this opportunity may never come again in my life. I need a truthful person in this business because I don't want to make mistakes. I need your strong assurance.
With my position now in my office, I will get the necessary approvals for the transfer of this money to any reliable account that you can provide with assurance that this money will be intact pending my physical arrival in your country for sharing. Transfer will be completed through a corresponding bank and I will destroy all documents of transaction immediately we receive this money leaving no trace to any place. You can also come to discuss with me face to face after which I will make this remittance in your presence and two of us will fly to your country at least two days ahead of the money going into your account.
I will apply for annual leave to get visa immediately I hear from you that you are ready to receive this fund in your account. I will use my position and influence to effect legal approvals and onward transfer of this money to your account via a coresponding bank with appropriate clearance forms of the ministries and foreign exchange departments. At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 25% of the total amount, 70% will be for me while 5% will be for expenses that will be incurred during the process of transferring. I look forward to your earliest reply through my e-mail address:
CHIEF AUDITOR
Mr John Sfizo
Telephone; +27 76 047 6608.
How very lucky that I should be selected to share in these millions...
Here's another funny one:
Hi, I am a "FOREX GENIUS", and I would like to show you how I work for just a minutes per day and let my robots make me thousands of dollars per year while I do whatever I want.
It's so amazing, and simple....I am SHOCKED that not everyone is doing what I am doing...there really is no competition, and everyone could be rich if they want to be. It's crazy that I just have to work a few minutes per day.
Press here and I'll show you how my robot makes me rich:
I wish I had robots that made me rich...
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Meechan & Taylor
One of The Big Kick's creative directors recieved a rather amusing postcard today:
What a good idea for a creative team mailer. I asked Danny if I could put a picture of it up on the blog and he revealed a stash of other great letters from the same team (Meechan & Taylor). Here are a few of my faves:
The text at the bottome simply reads:
"Fingers worn to the bone
Names of consultants: Meechan & Taylor
Caution: Frequent exposure to long hours can damage you digits. Seek freelance creative help if symptoms persist. Call for an imediate appointment"
This fake Kit Kat reads "Break - When did you last have one?"
And on the reverse:
"Your holiday's booked but so is the pitch. Your creative team's off but the client presentation is on. Now's the time to have a fast, knowledgeable and expierenced team on your side..."
And here are a couple from their Flickr page:
Really creative ideas, only wish they had a website I could oggle. Although they do have some nice ideas on their Flickr page.
What a good idea for a creative team mailer. I asked Danny if I could put a picture of it up on the blog and he revealed a stash of other great letters from the same team (Meechan & Taylor). Here are a few of my faves:
The text at the bottome simply reads:
"Fingers worn to the bone
Names of consultants: Meechan & Taylor
Caution: Frequent exposure to long hours can damage you digits. Seek freelance creative help if symptoms persist. Call for an imediate appointment"
This fake Kit Kat reads "Break - When did you last have one?"
And on the reverse:
"Your holiday's booked but so is the pitch. Your creative team's off but the client presentation is on. Now's the time to have a fast, knowledgeable and expierenced team on your side..."
And here are a couple from their Flickr page:
Really creative ideas, only wish they had a website I could oggle. Although they do have some nice ideas on their Flickr page.
Monday, 2 August 2010
Spam
Here is a couple of funny spam emails I've collected:
Hi,
We would like to show you why you may be "fat" and why you're unable to lose weight no matter how hard you try.
First off, please always know that it's not your fault...
Press here to see why you're fat:...
And here's another:
Melissa has a message to give you.....
Hi there, my name is Melissa and I'm a 31 year old married woman. My friends at The Married Wives Affairs Club wanted me to send a personal message to a few people who have visited dating communities in the past, and we understand that you have. I hope that I am not bothering you in any way, and I'm POSITIVE that you are going to LOVE what I have to say!!!
Before I start, I want to tell you that married women like me are not sluts, we love our husbands, but you only live once, and we have needs and want to have fun.
Okay, I'm a little nervous, but here I go...
I have been a member of the The Married Wives Affairs Club for almost 1 year now, and I must admit that I am addicted to this site. I love my husband, but he travels A LOT for work, and I have needs that I just can't control. I'm not looking for love, just for no strings attached love making with men that I will only see one or two times in my life.
My husband is also very conservative when it comes to making love, so the guys that I meet at the The Married Wives Affairs Club have to want to pleasure me everywhere, and when I say "everywhere", I mean in every spot.
Here's what I want to do, I want to invite you to check out this AMAZING affairs community...please check it out, you will see very beautiful married women that are lonely, and you can be the one to make them feel so much better...and the LOVE MAKING that you will have may be the BEST of your entire life!
Come on...you know you're a little curious right?
If i get anymore funnys I'll post them up.
Monday, 26 July 2010
It's book crit time again...
Last week Vicky visited St Albans again for a few days so we could go through our book, compare the work we'd done and go to a couple of book crits in London.
I thought it would be a lot more difficult to work seperately and talk over the phone but I think we're coping quite well. Obviously it would be much easier if we could meet up every week, but neither of us has any money booooooooo.
When Vicky arrives we always have a little show and tell, showing all the drawn up ideas we've been emaiing, texting and calling about for weeks and telling each other what we think. It's a tight squeeze to sleep two people in my bedroom, and probably a fairly boring trip for Vicky (I don't have a T.V. signal in my room), but the hard work and sacrifice will pay off eventually.
Last week we spent day one on Tottenham Court Road, firstly going to see the new Twilight film - Eclipse. I am an unashamed fan of the books and I have to say the film was OK, and probably good for the people who don't read the books. Personally I think it lacked some of the humour that was in the book, for those who know them well, I'm referring to that tent scene.
Later on we dropped into Saatchi & Saatchi to see a team. We had our book crit out in the large reception area. I've always dreaded having such an exposed crit but it was actually a lot more relaxed and gave us a lot more to look at while they were going through our work. We had some really constructive comments as always and got feedback along the lines of "your ideas are great but you're just not pushing them far enough". We shall be revisiting Saatchi's (hopefully) in about a month, so until then we will be "pushing" everything as far as we can go.
The next day we went to see our mate Brittony - Check out her blog
she has moved into a house in Tottenham with some of the Dutch guys from our course. We were pleasantly suprised by the house and the area, in fact we were probably a little bit jealous of all their Ikea goodies.
Later on we went to Farringdon to visit an agency called Muirhoward, who are a relatively small agency that are responsible for those great HSBC "world's bank" ads:
We saw the creative director who was a really inspiring guy and obviously lives for advertising. He seemed really enthusiatic about all our work and offered some great ideas of his own. After showing him the portfolio he went and brought us some of the work he had worked on and we had an interesting chat about Crystal Palace and Ikea. Vicky and I both feel like he was on the same 'wavelength' as us and would love to get offered some work there! He said he'd get back to us so fingers crossed.
I thought it would be a lot more difficult to work seperately and talk over the phone but I think we're coping quite well. Obviously it would be much easier if we could meet up every week, but neither of us has any money booooooooo.
When Vicky arrives we always have a little show and tell, showing all the drawn up ideas we've been emaiing, texting and calling about for weeks and telling each other what we think. It's a tight squeeze to sleep two people in my bedroom, and probably a fairly boring trip for Vicky (I don't have a T.V. signal in my room), but the hard work and sacrifice will pay off eventually.
Last week we spent day one on Tottenham Court Road, firstly going to see the new Twilight film - Eclipse. I am an unashamed fan of the books and I have to say the film was OK, and probably good for the people who don't read the books. Personally I think it lacked some of the humour that was in the book, for those who know them well, I'm referring to that tent scene.
Later on we dropped into Saatchi & Saatchi to see a team. We had our book crit out in the large reception area. I've always dreaded having such an exposed crit but it was actually a lot more relaxed and gave us a lot more to look at while they were going through our work. We had some really constructive comments as always and got feedback along the lines of "your ideas are great but you're just not pushing them far enough". We shall be revisiting Saatchi's (hopefully) in about a month, so until then we will be "pushing" everything as far as we can go.
The next day we went to see our mate Brittony - Check out her blog
she has moved into a house in Tottenham with some of the Dutch guys from our course. We were pleasantly suprised by the house and the area, in fact we were probably a little bit jealous of all their Ikea goodies.
Later on we went to Farringdon to visit an agency called Muirhoward, who are a relatively small agency that are responsible for those great HSBC "world's bank" ads:
HSBC 30sec TV AD - Power of 8 from muirhoward on Vimeo.
We saw the creative director who was a really inspiring guy and obviously lives for advertising. He seemed really enthusiatic about all our work and offered some great ideas of his own. After showing him the portfolio he went and brought us some of the work he had worked on and we had an interesting chat about Crystal Palace and Ikea. Vicky and I both feel like he was on the same 'wavelength' as us and would love to get offered some work there! He said he'd get back to us so fingers crossed.
Friday, 23 July 2010
Putting the Sans in Comic Sans
I have just read a very interesting article on the BBC news website, entitles, 'Do typefaces really matter?'
It gives some great examples of how fonts can subliminally influence the reader. For example, in logos for more traditional establishments your font needs to reinforce a sense of stability and safety.
There is also a reference to the uproar that the film Avatar recently caused. I don't know whether you would of noticed, but the first thing that struck me when watching the film was the strange choice of subtitle font. Only after reading this article have a realised I was not the only one to dislike it. Apparently there was some sort of anti-Papyrus uproar (Papyrus is the name of the font)on the internet.
This also made me think about other fonts that are laughed at by the design community. For example, the notorious Comic Sans. I found this amusing Hitler short on YouTube:
There is even an anti-Comic Sans website: www.bancomicsans.com which claimes to put the 'sans' in Comic Sans.
The font is even quoted as one of Time Magazine's 50 worst inventions of all time:
"Imagine a whole operating system designed around Clippy, and you get the crux of Microsoft Bob. Designed to be an easier interface for Windows 95 users, Bob envisioned your computer as his house — with you as a guest. Ever so accommodating, he'd even supply cartoon sidekicks to guide you through simple tasks. The software was expensive and overly cutesy, and it failed to compete with Apple's Macintosh, the user-friendly standard. And though Bob is long gone, he left one enduring blight on the Web: Comic Sans, perhaps the worst font of all time, was created exclusively for Bob."
It gives some great examples of how fonts can subliminally influence the reader. For example, in logos for more traditional establishments your font needs to reinforce a sense of stability and safety.
There is also a reference to the uproar that the film Avatar recently caused. I don't know whether you would of noticed, but the first thing that struck me when watching the film was the strange choice of subtitle font. Only after reading this article have a realised I was not the only one to dislike it. Apparently there was some sort of anti-Papyrus uproar (Papyrus is the name of the font)on the internet.
This also made me think about other fonts that are laughed at by the design community. For example, the notorious Comic Sans. I found this amusing Hitler short on YouTube:
There is even an anti-Comic Sans website: www.bancomicsans.com which claimes to put the 'sans' in Comic Sans.
The font is even quoted as one of Time Magazine's 50 worst inventions of all time:
"Imagine a whole operating system designed around Clippy, and you get the crux of Microsoft Bob. Designed to be an easier interface for Windows 95 users, Bob envisioned your computer as his house — with you as a guest. Ever so accommodating, he'd even supply cartoon sidekicks to guide you through simple tasks. The software was expensive and overly cutesy, and it failed to compete with Apple's Macintosh, the user-friendly standard. And though Bob is long gone, he left one enduring blight on the Web: Comic Sans, perhaps the worst font of all time, was created exclusively for Bob."
The Big Kick
I have finally found some employment!
A lovely and local marketing and communications agency has let me man their reception for a few weeks. They're called The Big Kick (www.thebigkick.com) and they produce lots of promotional marketing for brands like Walkers crisps, Nestle, Branstons etc...
They also have a very picturesque location - in the grounds of Hatfield House. This is the view if you drive in:
They also have a fantastic blog.
It is only temporary, but everyone is really friendly and it sort of gives me some industry experience. They're also really flexible about me going off for book crits, some of which took place this week (blog post to follow). My main duties include, answering the phones and responding to emails, but I also get to do a bit of PA type things, like booking people train tickets (exciting, I know). I'm hoping that someone will run in to reception saying something like "Help, this pitch is tomorrow and we just don't have any good ideas yet, oh where can we find a great creative at such short notice?!?!"...I think you can see where this is going. I imagine myself to be somewhat of a Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting character, or like those shoe-elves that come in during the night, etc...
A lovely and local marketing and communications agency has let me man their reception for a few weeks. They're called The Big Kick (www.thebigkick.com) and they produce lots of promotional marketing for brands like Walkers crisps, Nestle, Branstons etc...
They also have a very picturesque location - in the grounds of Hatfield House. This is the view if you drive in:
They also have a fantastic blog.
It is only temporary, but everyone is really friendly and it sort of gives me some industry experience. They're also really flexible about me going off for book crits, some of which took place this week (blog post to follow). My main duties include, answering the phones and responding to emails, but I also get to do a bit of PA type things, like booking people train tickets (exciting, I know). I'm hoping that someone will run in to reception saying something like "Help, this pitch is tomorrow and we just don't have any good ideas yet, oh where can we find a great creative at such short notice?!?!"...I think you can see where this is going. I imagine myself to be somewhat of a Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting character, or like those shoe-elves that come in during the night, etc...
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