Go Beyond the Cover

Where can I buy this concealer? Perfect demonstration of the product's benefits.

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... !

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.

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.

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...

Whopper Freakout

B Cards

Here are some of our final business cards:




This card is inside the little gift envelope!

The cards and us will be at New Blood tomorrow from 2 - 4pm!

I don't know why I keep exclaiming ! !

We've also been to a few more book crits so there are more updates to follow...

Business Cards

Vicky and I have had to come up with some new business cards in time for our stint at D&AD New Blood. Therefore we've been researching for some creative inspiration - here are some of my favourites...

Durex

AKQA have had this great idea for a Durex iPhone app that you can use to 'impregnate' someone's phone with! You have to look after a baby by rocking your phone and 'feeding' it and you can't get rid of it until you have bought a pack of Durex condoms and scanned the code on the box. Great idea, and definately something that would get passed around.

How to con friends and influence people

There was a really interesting article in the Sunday Times Mag on the 4th about new forms of marketing entitled, 'How to con friends and influence people'. It described how advertising agencies are hiring actors to talk about their products in public places. For example, two actors were hired to sit and read the same book on a tube train and then start loudly discussing how great the book was. This sort of stunt is called Stealth Marketing.

Some readers may know that a new film is about to premier called 'The Joneses'. Demi Moore and David Duchovny star in this dark comedy about a seemingly perfect family that turn out to be paid actors, subtly advertising and promoting products to their friends, co-workers and neighbours. I can definately see this sort of situation happening for real in the near future. Its not much a progression from paying people to talk about your product on a train...

Here is a great example from Work Club for the Nokia N-Gage...

n-gage girlfriend from Alasdair Monk on Vimeo.