Creative Mix up...

The last week and a half has been a bit strange, we've been racking our brains over the last few months on a variety of Vodka campaigns, and churning out work on various sub-brands and on a variety of briefs. Well, as of last Monday we were hit with a new brief. The ECD felt we needed a new angle and that people might need refreshing... no, I know what you might be thinking... a big agency social... not quite, this was the result...

A Creative mix up. All of the creatives, employed, freelance and placement teams were integrated with a new partner for the new brief. From senior to junior everyone was shifted around. I ended up working with another art director, Sergio. Phil as the copywriter ended up working with Andy - another art director.

Both Phil and I are gathering knowledge from working with people who possess a great deal more experience that either of us do, picking up some useful things along the way. The last week has been intense, but highly productive on the whole. 

It's was only for the short term, but imagine that, shifting round the whole department for a new inspiration, it certainly caught us off guard. It's not all been 100% plain sailing, it takes a bit of getting used to, working with someone new, especially when you're set in your ways of working with your usual partner. 

Well the time is up as we move on to a new brief altogether, it's gone well on the whole, both have bits of working through to the client, we'll find out next week what's going forward.

**Image via tanktheory

All Red wants to do is stuff his face...

In a moment of flashbacks as to what I was interested in on TV as a kid, whether it be cartoons like The Real Ghostbusters, Biker Mice from Mars, Turtles, Defenders of the Earth or shows such as Rawhide, Man from U.N.C.L.E. and a strange fascination for everything Hulk Hogan, (bad film after bad film looking back at it).... 

I assure you the list could have gone on forever... I began to think about how many I could remember and it's often the ones with catchy intro songs and thus it led me to the point of this post.

What adverts could I remember from childhood, so here we go....

Number One on my list....

And now in no particular order Number Two...

And Three, four, five and more...

Now, if I'm not right, then correct me, but I think the reason I recall these particular is that, not only was I of an impressionable age, but they all had wonderfully catchy jingles/ songs/ themes etc. The most spectacular in my opinion, is the Milkyway ad. An ad I will never forget.

I can't think of any ads right now that use this effectively, not that stick in my head at least. 

Perhaps times and changed and new trends have emerged, I know we are living in a highly visual age and jingles aren't necessarily the best way to go, but I know the words have stuck in my head for nearly 20 years, and they could have shown me practically anything and I am under the impression I would still know the words. That's an impressive feat, just for thinking they were cool songs. 

The Blue car might have won in the end but the Red car was still pretty cool. 

I hope I've rekindled some memories, feel free to add any ads i've missed that are of that era and sing the sweet tune of advertising jingles!

P.S. the baby in the Hulk Hogan outfit is NOT me.....**Added Club...Not sure how I could have missed that one... I'll do another post later if there's enough suggestions.

Will it make D&AD?

Possibly one of the most successful campaigns of the year... but will it make D&AD or One Show next year?  

Iris Potential...

Thursday was a change to the norm, as we headed over early, to 185 Park Street to for the Iris potential workshop.

For those of you who don't know, Iris run a graduate program much like that of the industries recruitment for the account side. The short of it, Phil and I entered a competition earlier in the year around April, and received confirmation to say we were through to the next round.

With something near on 120 entries and only 12 places we were pretty chuffed to have got to this stage. The outcome: A days workshop at the agency, working on a live brief alongside a few creative group heads and a chance to battle it out against some fellow creatives. 

In all honesty we were spoilt rotten, muffins and pastries for breakfast feast, extravagant sandwiches and a constant flow of Tea & Coffee all day - along with some jolly nice people, and some good conversations. Anyone who came on their own were teamed up and those of us who were already in teams worked together.

There was plenty of space for us to spread out in, after all,  the place is enormous, we chose to work in the 'Orange Room'. Nice and cosy - where everything was orange funnily enough. 

I'll respect the privacy asked of us, and not give away too much on the brief we worked on, but from the critique session at the end of the day, everyone came away with something positive with a huge range of unique ideas. We presented three routes, and after some intriguing questions and a few giggles, the feedback was extremely positive. We'll have to hold our breath for a couple of weeks when we find out the results. After the day flew on by, we finished up at a local bar with some drinks courtesy of Iris. Big hello to everyone who went especially Nick & Kira and Emily for mentioning us in her blog! 

As usual I was pretty rubbish in sparing a few minutes to take pictures - this will be my resolution come the new year. So apologies on that one.

Because reading after burning would be silly...

Well a post for this should have come Thursday or even Friday, but it's here now!

I am currently feeling particularly unwell, and as a result, I have turned towards the blog in order pass on some of the more trivial day-to-day acts of Mike & Phil.

It's been a funny ole week, at least for me anyway, after repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall on the latest brief, I decided, on the recommendation of a few people - including Liam - and after seeing the Saul bass-esque posters lying around

To go see this...

With an awesome line up, and possibly an Oscar winning performance by Brad Pitt, I had high expectations which soon materialized.

The flick was far funnier than I originally thought, although there was some unexpected moments and a completely different story line to what I imagined; The filming was brilliant, although I am still yet to figure out whether it was the old school cinema I went to - or an intentional filming style. Nether the less Liam wasn't wrong. Definitely the best film I have seen in months. 

Don't Hesitate, Don't Even Blink...

Here's a little bit of Genius straight out of Dentsu, Tokyo

More of a short film than an ad and in my opinion, definitely one of the best ads of late.

A little bit of useful help on the side, you can sign up to Adforum 

for a free weekly email newsletter, just updates you with the 

latest ads coming out of ad agencies around the world. 

It's a pretty useful ad site for other bits and bobs aswell.

Keeping Alzhimer's at bay...

Working on your book is something that will never, ever completely finish... unless you retire.

But every piece of advice we've received across all levels is to keep busy, stay creative. The minute you stop working is the minute you cease to have flare and potential. As David Abbot once said, "You're only as good as your last piece of work". So if you're not working on your book take photos, sketch, paint, go to exhibitions, meet your mates for a social, either way you're learning the way of the creative individual and keeping the alzheimer's at bay. 

I'd like to think in this dreamy reality that everyone on the ad scene is constantly working on their book, and for the most part, i'd agree, especially amongst the Junior ranks and those wishing to switch jobs. I'd like to know how much Creative Directors work on their 'folios if they even have them? Time is tight when you're working and the last thing you want to do when you've had a tough, long day at work is to come home and knock up some speculative ads, but you do because you hope that one day it will pay off. 

If it's something you enjoy then clearly it's not something that will fall to the wayside. Once you get into advertising, things change. Not in the small sense either. The way you approach things, the way you see things, and the way you think about things. There is not a day that has gone by where I haven't thought about an ad, made a comment about one, or jotted down some new ones, this is where a pocket sized notebook comes in handy for those bottom draw ideas. 

And no - bottom drawer ideas are not bad, tasteless, sexual innuendoes; but those that aren't fully fledged and ready to leave the nest ideas, just thoughts, observations that might come in to play at a later date - but possibly not.