Stanley's Globe...

Just before we first moved into our shiny new offices in Covent Garden, I nipped over to Stanley's Post (Post production company, full of lovely people), and they gave me this fine t-shirt.

Disregard the photo pose, naturally I didn't take it.

Then shortly after they sent the crew at Inferno some lovely little welcome gifts soon after. (And my oh my, I LOVE freebies).

...and now I'm getting to my point.

The Jam Jar Snow Globe Competition.

A DIY snow globe kit with lots of little goodies to glue, stick, mould, mix, oh and a little added Glycerin, to thicken the water (I always thought this was something explosive... Nitro Glycerine? Perhaps?) I even added some white-tac as snow ball as seen in the work in progress design above.

Without further adieu, here's mine:

The distortion on the glass ruined my perfectly positioned Santa & Xmas Tree, so naturally I added a Panda from a colleagues desk, and made it a lovely little box, of the same said wrapping paper that I keep banging on about and Voila! It might not win, but it looks good on a desk.

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs...

So here's my design for the competition TEED are running (my Sunday morning in the office)...

Any thoughts? (Click img for detail).

Chip Shop Awards...

I've entered for the last two years on the trot.

Fortunately, I've been lucky & landed a chip in my first year for an iPhone App design for FHM & runner up in my category last year to the drink brand 'Responsibly', which I believe went on to win overall, so I was satisfied with a second place as I think that was my favourite entry of the whole competition... and still is.

As it stands Rapier (the agency behind Responsibly) teamed up with Brew Dog (the guys who made taxidermy beer bottle holders) and produced a limited batch, I'm lucky enough to have one sitting on my mantlepiece at home.

Anyway so I've entered again this year, with an idea that a friend, Nick & I created just before the end of last year. It's a couple of mins, which is a bit long ideally but be good to hear what you think.


Zoo York - Unclaimed Space from Mike Cuthell on Vimeo.


I have a real beef with the competition though, it's a personal one rather than a whole blown out issue to be honest. I generally think there are some standout ideas, I've included my favourite below. Genuinely interesting and clever creative. Forgive me though, there's a lot of cr*p on the site. I couldn't give a rats ass about the Politically Incorrect, Bad Taste & Shocking Copy categories. It's fun, and does push the boundaries of what's acceptable, but with an entry cost of £60 for students & £100+ for industry bods - It really does seem like a waste of money to enter anything other than something you're proud of. Each to their own I suppose.

I've included what I think is good, some are a little tongue-in-cheek & it's totally subjective, of course.
And for what it's worth, I think the first one doesn't need the top of the numbers... should have been cropped closer.

Notable mention to Mister Castro for his Saatchi entry... it's pretty clever in the grand scheme of things. Hats off, this is what the competition should be about.

Young Team of the Year...

Here's a little something that you may want to sink your teeth into...

A chance to take part in the Newspaper Society's 'Young Team of the Year' competition.

It's a developing competition, I attended last year (more here), the work by all means could have been improved, but if you win the London competition, you get to represent the UK in Belgium... expenses paid - which is never a bad thing.

If all goes well I hope to be there, it's a good chance to meet people from Uni/ grads up to 3 years into an agency see how you fit in...

For a summary go here

To apply go here

For some interesting directions go here

I've been informed there are still places, but they are limited - So go get on the e-mail if you fancy a shot.

Oh, and it's FREE, Bonus.

The Chip Shop Awards...

...were interesting. haha.

The evening was held at Fabric Night Club around Farringdon way, it certainly wasn't quite what we imagined. We had made up some flyers in preparation, it seemed like a good opportunity to chuck around our names... designing and printing them in only a couple of hours was a bit tight but they seemed to do the job. We'll just wait and see if anyone actually picked one up... It was pretty dark so I'm surprised anyone saw anything!

The promise of a packet of chips was offered although the portions left a lot to be desired... The night began with a Canadian comedian - he took a couple of minutes to warm up, but once he got going he was actually quite funny - in a weird, aggressive & slightly deranged way... he certainly got the crowd going.

After an introductory speech by the Founder of the Chip Shop Awards & The Editor (?) of The Drum magazine, we got down to the nominations. There were a few categories, some being awarded 'Chips' others 'Vinegars' and some categories - both awards. He explained that due to the nature of the awards the 'CSA' are often sued by various commercial companies, perhaps this explains the small portions of chips?

It took a while but our category was practically last, but we were successful, both entries in our category received 'Chip' awards. One thing that made me laugh was that, although the D&AD pencil is certainly coveted - if you ever get to pick one up - they are practically weightless... the Chip is solid as a rock. 

The Grand Prix was selected from all the Chip winners and was awarded to an incredibly funny viral for Specsavers (a spoof of the Barclaycard flume ad) It can be found as one of the video entries here

We followed the awards with a few celebratory beers and a quick chat with Mike McKenna for some wise words of wisdom. We saw John Jessup was floating around but we didn't get a chance to chat with him...

The final nominations, vinegars & chip can be found here

The Chip:

We're not due to start Wieden's until July now - so some real time to be cracking on with the book - say hello if you see us at NABS :)

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.

Sh! Design Awards 2008

The summer is clearly the time for good news...

Phil and I entered the Sh! Design Awards back at the end of May and have received confirmation that we made it to the second round of judging! We can't believe it. Completely stunned in fact!  

The SH! Design Awards are run by Brahm - One of the leading independent communications agencies in the UK with over 200 creative and marketing specialists on one site in Headingley, Leeds. The awards were set up in memory of Stuart Hocknell, a talent young designer who tragically lost his life to Meningitis back in 2002, aged just 28.

The award scheme provides a leg-up for talented young designers into the industry. Up for grabs are cash prizes & the possibility of a placement!

The deadline has obviously passed but if you want some more info take a look here

Mike.

Good News!

A couple bits of good news we'd like to share with you this week

We have received a Commendation for our Doritos entry into the YCN Awards 2007/2008.

Young Creatives Network

There is likely to be a bit of event towards the end of the summer  and our work will appear in the YCN annual to be released later on in the year but we'll keep you updated on that one.

You can find out more about YCN here

Secondly, we secured our placement at...

As a result of Portfolio Night 6, JWTs Executive Creative Director, Russell Ramsey either took pity on us, or felt that we actually had a chance a creating some good work and has offered us a placement.

The placement begins later in June - if we have time we'll keep you informed on here!

Mike.