Displaying 217 - 252 of 3252 results
Back in the eighties, I worked for a radio station which ran a campaign for a double glazing firm. This campaign never actually ended. Like those sofa sales, it just continued year in, year out. The ads were very straightforward, consisting of little...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Renowned media company Martini announced yesterday that they ended the 4th quarter of 2013 with almost 40% of their overall revenue driven by premium programmatic brand advertising. They expect this growth to continue throughout 2014 to over 50%, and...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Though it might have been overtaken by Google as the most visible name in online industry many years ago, AOL (America Online) is still going strong and has recently posted 4th quarter figures for 2013 that point to its most successful year in over a...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Years ago, I wrote a piece for Creativepool suggesting the confused.com logo was a prime example of branding designed by a client. Looking for all the world like the worst clip-art available from the briefest Google image search, it featured a stick...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Saturday afternoon was spent lazing about underneath a tree on Hampstead Heath, me and my friends slowly working our way through a gigantic picnic. Whilst doing a bit of cloud watching, we spotted a helicopter pulling a gigantic PKR Poker banner...
Posted by: Creativepool
I'm always impressed by people who plan their career. Or rather people who plan their career and realise those plans. Planning stuff is easy, making it happen is something else - particularly in this business. Let's say, on your first day in the ad...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Whether you consider it a good idea or not, thanks to the coalition government, it seems the increased involvement of private companies in the NHS is a racing certainty. And what could possibly go wrong? Just look how affordable and reliable the...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
If you read my column earlier this week, you'll know I'm in America. If you didn't, I'm in America. In fact, I'm now in America's oldest town, St. Augustine - on Florida's Atlantic coast. And despite the temperature being in the low eighties (which...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
I'm in the USA - in a beautiful city called Charlestown on the Atlantic coast of South Carolina. But I'm travelling, so last night I was in Cherokee which, although it sounds romantic, is actually a rather tacky casino town 300 miles north. The...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
'Share the love!' says a one and half foot, massive headed, dead-eyed creature in a white jump-suit. Ordinarily the shock of this vision would wake you from your nightmare. You'd slope off for a wee and crawl back into bed. But this isn't a bad...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
You know 'Mozilla', don't you? The people who make the Firefox web browser? Well, it turns out they also make a thing called 'AdBlock Plus'. And, if you're using it, you're getting right up the noses of some advertising big-wigs. For the...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Do I moan a bit in my Creativepool columns? Don't answer that. As a fully paid-up, grumpy old copywriter, I know I probably do. But you can relax, because today I'm discussing something I really, really like. And handily, it's an...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Last week saw the much publicised divorce of Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi. The first the world at large knew of the situation was following the release of “that photo” - the one where Saatchi was snapped grabbing Lawson by the neck...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
Disruption has always been key to the advertising model. Very few people opt to be exposed to marketing messages, therefore effective advertising has traditionally intruded into the content the audience has chosen to consume - a TV show, a magazine...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
When it comes to voicing an opinion, I don't tend towards coyness (regular readers may not be surprised to learn this). For instance, I more than happy to reveal that my political views broadly fall into the left-of-centre, liberal camp . Although,...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
The Huffington Post reports that Khloe Kardashian (who?) is now being paid as much as $13,000 per tweet. The fee doesn't cover profound wisdom like "Remember sweat is fat crying" - it's for equally useful posts wherein she names brands and includes...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Last week I wrote a piece for Creativepool, suggesting the role of the copywriter had become sidelined to the extent that designers were now the 'creatives'. I also wondered whether this wasn't just an attack of paranoia. Well, it wasn't. The column...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Defining an era is always a tricky, and possibly flawed, business. The eighties were only a festival of wealth, champagne and yuppiedom for a privileged few; while the sixties cultural revolution and endless cool applied only to a narrow...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Blinkx has announced that its revenue has increased by 73% to $198m. Share price has been on a roller coaster following the company's failure to match analysts' early hope, however it has since more than doubled in the last year. The Blinkx report...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw. Watching telly a few days ago, I saw Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony at The White House. I was delighted, because had Romney won, I wouldn't be watching the TV, I'd be trying to arrange for a rocket to take me to another planet....
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw. Last year I wrote a piece about Professor Stephen Hawking and his remarkable, personal brand. Now the professor has lent his profile to Go Compare for the next instalment of their 'Saving The Nation' campaign. This may well be very...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Ashley Morrison. It seems clear to me that adverts are getting cleverer. Gone are the days of naive wonder with small children pondering how Mummy gets the dishes so clean, or young teenagers dancing around in waistcoats while sucking on their...
Posted by: Creativepool
Watching the ridiculously good 'Homeland' last week, I was struck by how absorbed and tense I was - transfixed as Carrie ducked and hid to avoid her pursuers in the alleyways of Beirut. The aroma of exotic spices, heat and sandy dust almost filled my...
Posted by: Creativepool
1. 79 A.D. Billboards in Pompeii Ah! The glory of the ancient Roman empire. Olive skinned, muscular men striding the avenues, clad in togas, debating the great issues of the day. Beautiful, raven-haired maidens bearing baskets laden with the...
Posted by: Creativepool
Mobile advertising has grown 132% in the first half of the year. The progression in the popularity of smartphones has led to mobile advertising revenues almost hitting £500 million in 2012. In the first 6 months of this year mobile advertising...
Posted by: Creativepool
Welcome to the CP Soapbox! Speaker's Corner is an opportunity for industry boffins to take centre-stage and put the (creative) world to rights. But we don't want to stop there! We want comments from 'the floor' so if you've got something you want...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw As I write this Andy Coulson, Neville Thurlbeck, Stuart Kuttner and Glenn Mulcaire are appearing in court facing charges relating to the phone hacking scandal. And quite right too. There is little doubt the interception of voice...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw For the advertising sector The Olympic Games are less about running, jumping and cycling - and more about the infamous copyright clampdown on certain words and branding devices. Those tussles have been well-covered on Creativepool and...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw When a kitchen is infested with cockroaches, the little beasts do their unpalatable work quite happily while the room is dark.But turn on a light and they scatter chaotically in all directions, scared and confused. There are many...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw Earlier today I had a phone call. When you're a freelance working from home, these are exciting moments. Unfortunately it was a sales call, which took much of the excitement out of this specific moment. But I hadn't spoken to anyone...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw For a jet propulsion lab brochure: "What we do isn't rocket science. Oh, hang on ...". For Sainsbury's: "We say 'hello' to good buyers". A recruitment ad for security guards: "Who says you can't have a successful career after the...
Posted by: Creativepool
by Magnus Shaw When looking for the best and worst in the creative field, at least TV advertising saves time and effort. Simply pick a show, ensure it's on a commercial channel and wait for the break. In those few, short minutes you're more or less...
Posted by: Creativepool
Mobile advertising has grown 132% in the first half of the year. The progression in the popularity of smartphones has led to mobile advertising revenues almost hitting £500 million in 2012. In the first 6 months of this year mobile advertising...
Posted by: Creativepool
From YouTube, some of the finest female minds in the creative business provide us with a bit of insight into their working lives. Rosie Arnold It's all about enthusiasm and charm rather than being a tough...
Posted by: Creativepool
Jeremy You know the Honey Monster? Big, funny, cuddly, kooky old rug? Cold-blooded, careerist vampire more like. Because those of us in our forties know he usurped Jeremy Bear, casting him out of his proud role as the face of Sugar Puffs; condemning...
Posted by: Creativepool
For decades brand marketeers have worked hard to draw a direct link between a product and the possibility of success with the opposite sex (they’ve rarely been brave enough to suggest a connection with same sex relationships outside specialist...
Posted by: Creativepool