If you're not having fun You're not doing it right

Musion.

Last week we finished our year at the School of Communication Arts 2.0 and it's been the best experience of any kind of education I've ever had. I've never been that interested in school, I don't have a degree and did pretty badly at everything that wasn't Art or Design related.

The school works completely differently to that of any academic model, Marc understands very well the nature of creative people and has put together a very well structured model, similar to that of an agency and run by mentors currently amongst the zeitgeist, enabling us to learn directly from the people who will be employing us. This makes sense right? Right!

I've come out of this school with a huge amount of confidence, an understanding of how my mind works, and how I generate my ideas. I've had the chance to become good strategically and understand that old cliché saying 'the big idea', I've come up with a few good lines here and there and develop my Art Direction even more. The benefits of studying at the school just go on.

I've also had the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented people and am looking forward to hearing about their success that lays ahead, we've had some fantastic agencies eyeing up the students at portfolio day and I'm itching to know who goes where. As well as learning from the mentors it's been as much about learning from the other students, who have taught me just as much and I could easily say that I've learn't something from every single one.

But now we're not students anymore, we are mentors. And we'll be back to offer what we can, when we can. To help the next lot of students on their intense journey, which is another great thing about the school – being able to learn from the last intake.

And then there's the mentors, the likes of Dave Birss, Steve Henry, Rory Sutherland and John Hegarty. Paul Brazier, Thiago Moreas, Shekhar Deshpande and Patrick Collister. The list would go on and you'd get bored reading names, but you get the picture. All who we owe a massive thanks to for taking the time to drop by and support the school.

Bradesco Car Insurance by Almap BBDO, Sao Paulo.

Cannes Lions 2012 - The Film Categories.

After a week of Lions dished out, I thought I'd reflect on a few categories and look at the work again. Posting the entries that really stood out for me.

The first one above for Canal+ by BETC Paris received the Grand Prix for Film Craft and Gold in Film as well as a load more Lions and you can see why. For me it's a beautiful idea as much as it is a beautiful piece of craft.

The Guardian ad by BBH, London is for me the most intelligent entry. Which picked up a Gold in Film Craft and a Gold in Film. By using a well known fairy tale we can all relate to, promoting the concept of the Guardians open journalism.

Nike Free, I Would Run To You by Wieden+Kennedy, Portland. Amazing! It certainly deserves a mention for it's humor. I was hooked from the start, engrossed by the simple cliches of long distance love that were flicked in.

Don't Fly. Support Team GB.

Amazing! Really loving this new campaign from @bbhlondon for British Airways.

Telling the people of Great Britain not to fly but to stay and support the British Olympic Team. Now that's brilliant!

It's simple and it goes against everything that any other airline is currently running for the olympics which is sure to make BA stand out.

Mariachi Doritos - Add a little Mexican.

It's gotta be fun working on this account, right? Another great ad for Doritos capturing the fun and energy of the tortilla corn chips. Created by AMV BBDO.

They're bringing the party to your party through a TV spot, web videos and a fantastic facebook page which allows users to win a live performance from the Mariachi Doritos. 

Get Ahead of the Games.

I'm loving this campaign at the moment to ease congestion during the London 2012 Olympics, created by M&C Saatchi encompassing outdoor, digital, radio and PR.

Considering these are pieces of communication informing us all of the hell that is about to be unleashed when the spectators arrive, they're quite fun!

I think that's the point and why I like them. A great solution to a problem and the illustration is simply beautiful.

I also like how they pushed one of the executions into reality by recreating the Weightlifters ad (see below) for a bit of PR.

Brutal Simplicity.

Throw me 6 eggs and I can guarantee I'll catch none of them. It's similar to a poster or a print ad. If there's more than one message in there, you can assure yourself It won't be memorable.

I've always admired the work of Paul Arden and his philosophical views on advertising and this ad for Silk Cut is a great one to start with, it's probably one of the best ever examples of Simplicity.

Simple ads create impact.

The problem with creating the problem to advertise the problem.

Sometimes advertising shouts, I'll accept that. But isn't it better when it fits in and becomes part of everyday living. What happened here? Where's the empathy?

In order to make people understand how bad it feels to be hungry, the Food Bank Foundation in Paraguay teamed up with the two biggest pizzerias in Asuncion and decided they would force that hunger feeling amongst it's unlucky pizza lovers.

Bastards.

Where's the sense in that? Wouldn't it be better to find that genuine moment of hunger and act on that rather than inflict the problem onto the people? And aren't those unlucky customers going to be pissed at receiving a cold soggy LATE pizza?

We have a saying at the school 'We sell or we die' and this is our mantra, this is what runs through our veins and this is one of our Black Hat techniques. Something we do with all our work is ask ourselves if this work is actually going to sell something, that's what drives us. It's a mantra that could save us our job or our agency their account. That's why it's so important.

We have an acronym too that we use a lot and I'm sure you've heard of it.

KISS – Keep it simple stupid

This is also just as important and helps with effective communications and helps to reduce complicated messages.

Now a lot of the work I'm seeing at the moment goes against these basic and fundamental principals. I feel surrounded by over complicated work with no insight into the product and why I should buy it. Work that feels like it's done just to please an insane creative quirk or to win an award, I mean come on, you're selling a sausage roll for christ's sake.

I've got a new acronym I'd like to throw into the mix, for the ones that have the 'creative' name badge who aren't doing what they should be doing.

TITS – Think it through stupid

Is the work going to act like a window leading the deepest depths of a product truth or say something new and different that will engage someone enough for even slight consideration of action, and probably the most important question of them all...

The True Origins of Pizza.

This clever and unusual web video made by Gumshoe Pictures for Mr Pizza begins as if it were a documentary getting to the bottom of the disputed origins of Pizza.

The story begins with a protester outside a pizza joint in Brooklyn with a placard. The visual on the placard being Marco Polo. This leads you to a website where they find conspiracy theories and accusations around the pizza scam. The Italian traveller Marco Polo stole pizza from Korea. 

After tracking down the creator of the site the short film is taken to Korea where we hear of evidence from an academic history dropout, a more senior professor and a speaker from the Korean Culinary Center. We then hear from Dr Luca Randazzo, Vice President of the Italian Culture Center who finds the whole idea completely ridiculous. 

Then comes the magical marketing part, the narrator asks 'Is there anyone from the region still making pizza the orginal way?' Oh, and it just so happens they found Woo-Hyun Jung, the CEO of Mr Pizza who explains how they've always been making original pizza through his family lineage.

Then comes various evidence displayed in the 'documentary' style to confirm the history of pizza in Korea including ancient drawings and a statue of a Buddha with a pizza box on his head. But wait! For years people have speculated about the meaning of the second box and research has led them to believe that this was the first 'buy one get one free garlic bread promotion of the time' Yes, Korea also invented garlic bread.

The video ends as the narrator wonders if pizza could really have originally come from Korea.

There were more humorous videos with suggested evidence on the Gumshoe Pictures YouTube channel which people could view if they needed convincing further or just wanted to view more humorous content.

The unexpected video created controversy within the Korean community receiving negative and positive feedback and much online debate setting it apart from most advertising campaigns inside the country which tended to stay away from mixing national subjects with comic intent.

D&AD Professional Judging / Digital Advertising 2012.

I was lucky enough to have been chosen to join the Judges in the Digital Category at the D&AD Professional Awards this Tuesday. I wasn't involved in any judging, just invited to observe the process and learn about what makes award-winning work.

The morning session involved a talk by Andrew Cracknell on his life in the world of advertising and also about his new book 'The Real Mad Men'. I've heard it all before as he's a mentor at the School of Communication Arts but I could easily sit though his talks at least another 20 times and enjoy every word about his exciting life and the examples of work he talks about that revolutionised the industry.

After the talk we were taken on a tour of the awards, walking through thousands of stunning entries. Out of all of them, the category that excited me the most was 'Outdoor' - filled with some seriously awesome art direction. God only knows how the judges whittle it down to the winners. The annual will certainly be on my shopping list so that I can spend a little longer analysing the ads in more detail. I like the ads that really catch your eye and stop you in your tracks - like a fish's head poking out of a pair of glossy lips, yeah that'll do it.

It was then time for us to be introduced to our category judges. I'd been assigned to 'Digital Advertising' which was very cool. Being an area I'm extremely interested in but also an area that intrigues me as it can grow and change every day. There were 17 judges in total all sat round a telly; some of the most influential people in advertising, viewing the entries and having a look at the work online. There were some fantastic campaigns being viewed including the K-Swiss Kenny Powers work which I could easily watch over and over again and laugh every time. There was also a totally unexpected web video for Dirt Devil which I've embedded below:

And then there was this emotional project by ­Invisible Children, The LRA Crisis Tracker, which involves a data collection system created to bring information about the atrocious activities of the Lord's Resistance Army to humanitarian organisations, governments and policymakers. It's these world changing ideas that really deserve some credit and I find inspiring.

The Asics Technical Tests

These short shoe demonstrations are brilliant, showing you the technical capabilities of the new Asics range. Created by Vitro San Diego/New York and displayed online at StopAtNever.com

By being entertaining and fun as well as agile, they've made these shoes actually seem pretty cool, and have given Asics a new personality different to how I had previously conceived.

Edding - Wall of Fame

A campaign to mark Edding's 50th anniversary based purely on user generated content picking up four Lions at Cannes consisting of more than 180,000 illustrations and continues to grow, including works by international artists.

The interactive live drawing board allows users to leave comments and has great sharing options to help spread the campaign through social media.

Print and outdoor ads were then created using the unique content created from around the globe and live projections allowed the featured artists work to be followed in the real world.

Bringing two things together in an unexpected way.

One of the greatest things about creativity is the art of bringing two unrelated worlds together, whether it be objects, sounds, people, actions, whatever! As long as these two are combined in an unexpected way, truly powerful advertising can be achieved.

Just like this ad for Levy's created by DDB in the 60's. It features a Native American holding up a sandwich made of Levy's Jewish Rye Bread. By bringing two unexpected elements together DDB created a very powerful visual with humour and created a whole new personality for the brand.

Coca-Cola's Friendship Machine

To celebrate International Friendship day Coca-Cola installed massive vending machines in seven countries around Latin America aimed at bringing people together.

Designed to be used by two people to reach the heights of the coin slot and button to dispense. Then rewarding the friends by spitting out two bottles for the price of one.

Dollar Shave Club .com

A great example of an ingenious business idea wrapped up in a fantastic marketing strategy. Full of humour and quirky detail and more than anything it's chiselled out a position in the market.

Me personally, I'm sick of these gimmicky ads from Gillette and Wilkinson Sword who seem to release a new turbo edition with an extra blade each month, or vibrating handles, all that shit and I'm certain it's not just me. the Dollar Shave Club is something for us guys who've had enough of it all.