Displaying 7201 - 7236 of 7372 results
Recently, I've been hosting some copywriting seminars. And I'm delighted to say the participants have all been attentive, smart and enthusiastic.That's not always the case, however. So, if you're due to deliver a pitch, presentation or training...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Haven't you heard? Online advertising doesn't work. All those banners, buttons and MPUs? Waste of time. Those pre-play spots on YouTube, and those Facebook campaigns? Completely useless. Google Adwords and sponsored tweets? Utterly worthless. Sorry,...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
That which was designed to save us, is spoiling our lives. Which is a fancy way of saying that passwords have become a terrible pain in the elbow. About fifteen years ago, when most of us began our connection to the sprawling internet beast, we only...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Following a lengthy process and an awful lot of money, we now know Andy Coulson is guilty of conspiring to intercept voice-mail messages; he is also to be retried on the remaining charges. Rebekah Brooks has been acquitted though - and this is not...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Recently it was announced that Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra would be shedding a cross section of their DJs. Controller Ben Cooper has handed Mike Davies, Jen Long, Ally McCrae, CJ Beatz, Crissy Criss and Robbo Ranx their cards, and his actions are blamed...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
By way of distraction from the work I was supposed to be doing today, I clicked on a link to a piece of writing on a reputable music website. About a paragraph into the article an unexpected thing happened. The webpage was suddenly obscured by a...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
It may have taken a few months... but we have finished tackling one of the hardest subjects in the workplace, the paycheck. We have exposed the elephant in the room by asking tough questions, collecting data, and analysing opinions. Inside you will...
Posted by: Alexandra Schott
Since an art director colleague introduced me to Banksy many years ago, I’ve enjoyed his stuff enormously. In that time he has painted throughout the world, from Sydney to Camden, LA to Palestine. The art critics bemoan him - too obvious, too...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Nobody likes being patronised. Even small infants boil with fury when some dough-faced adult leers into their pushchair and makes 'woo-woo' noises at them. Probably. I think being patronised takes us back to school, when we were bound by the...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Events like the World Cup prove that packaging is much more than protection. It’s a vessel and a vehicle for celebration. Limited edition event-orientated packaging doesn’t just ride the hype, it generates it. The brands that associate...
Posted by: bluemarlin
How much would you pay for a copy of Nik Kershaw’s album ‘The Riddle’? Should you wish to add it to your iTunes collection via Apple’s store, it would cost you about £5.50. On Amazon’s marketplace, you could pick up...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Oreo is an untouchable part of the American brandscape. There’s no doubt that if innocent-looking Oreo ever had any competition, it would squash it. How is this 102-year-old cookie such a powerhouse brand? 1. That emotional hook “The...
Posted by: bluemarlin
On page one of 'The Bumper Book Of Branding' (which doesn't exist), we're told that a successful brand starts with a successful name. Y'know, something memorable, something that resonates with the audience. Crack the name and half the battle is won....
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
As you may have noticed, there's an election on the way. It's not one of those important ones, where we get to choose a bunch of be-suited clowns to spend five years making a wholesale mess of everything. It's one of those other ones, where we get to...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
In a joint statement released yesterday, the global advertising holding groups Publicis and Omnicom officially announced that they had terminated their proposed $35 million merger, following weeks of speculation. The agreement was mutual, and came...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Here’s an odd thing about rock music: the more frightening it tries to be, the more hilariously ludicrous it becomes. Ozzy can bark at the moon till the end of time, but he’ll still be more golden retriever than werewolf. Ronnie James Dio...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
I don't know whether it's because I'm a writer, but when I watch a movie, the script and screenplay always take my attention. A great concept with a terrible script can really spoil things; likewise a thumping good screenplay can lift an average...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Manchester-based digital marketing and technology consultancy, Amaze, has announced the appointment of two senior digital commerce specialists to help boost that area of its business. Jodie Stapleton joins as head of commerce and Kami Boyer Kris as...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
AKQA has developed a unique online campaign to promote Ubisoft's upcoming multi-platform, open-world action adventure game, Watch Dogs. The campaign aims to explore how technology can expose data by creating a digital footprint from public (and yet...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
In my own naïve way, when wandering around art galleries, I've often stood with hands clasped behind my back, looking up at some impressive bronze statue or other and thought... “What if the sculptor made a mistake?” That's more or...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
The BBC notwithstanding, and a peppering of community outfits aside, there aren’t really any independent radio stations left in the UK. It’s all ‘networks’ - which is a rather overexcited way of saying a large corporation...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Is there anything wrong with a writer reviewing a logo? After all, very few of us know our way around Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, and I've never met a writer who went to design school. If then, you do think we have no business sounding off about...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
On 11 December 2008, Project Canvas was announced. A joint venture between the BBC, BT and ITV, it replaced the failed Project Kangaroo, a proposed video-on-demand service which was refused a licence on competition grounds and ended up as the SeeSaw...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Though world renowned weight loss brand Weight Watchers have been with McCann Erickson New York for seven years now, it was announced late last week that their advertising business will now be covered by Widen + Kennedy, the independently owned,...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
When it comes to the minutiae of modern life, I'm prone to getting things wrong. Go to the shop, come back with the wrong size batteries; turn up for an event on the wrong day; forget to put the clocks back - all that sort of thing, hopeless. But on...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Getting an advertisement completely and utterly wrong is quite an art. For starters, it takes two parties who at least profess to know what they're doing: the client and the agency. Then the brief must wildly misunderstand the nature of the audience...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
The Guardian have been delving into the amazing world of Google Street View of late, and have been coming up with some clever uses for the world's most detailed map. Last month they placed famous artworks from around the world back in their original...
Posted by: Jessica Hazel
To capitalise on this year's Easter buzz, VCCP have introduced a new mascot for supermarket brand Asda, in the shape of a (quite literally) 'funky chick' with a few rather audacious moves up his sleeves (or lack thereof). The latest iteration of the...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
It was announced yesterday that Leo Burnett London has promoted group marketing manager Katie Lee, to the position of managing director. The MD position has been left vacant for the past three years, since Paul Lawson was promoted to chief executive...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
When the dreadful story of the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 dawned on the world, it was notable how many people pontificated ‘Surely all those satellites and things can track a plane anywhere.’ Some hotheads even went as far...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
In the UK, we have the odd instance of a fringe school pressing for the right to teach archaic or arcane ideas to children. This is usually the desire to include creationism, or other religious notions, in their science classes. In the USA it's a...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
So ridiculous, it would have been rejected as a plotline in 'The Thick Of It'. That's not (or not necessarily) my opinion, it comes from the creators of 'The Thick Of It' and it refers to the 'advertisement' placed on Twitter by Grant Shapps,...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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
Right now, the SXSW music festival is in full flow in Austin Texas. What's more, I believe Creativepool's glorious leader Mike Tomes is there, doing his funky thing. Anyway, following the event on Twitter, I noticed someone reporting a bearded fellow...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
On the whole, we don't tend to turn to The Sun for medical advice. Insensitive headlines about torpedoed foreign ships and prurient trivia about the borderline famous - yes, absolutely. But practical guidance on cancer prevention? Not quite so...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
'Merry Christmas' - that's how it began. On 3 December 1992, Neil Papworth from Sema Group, used his PC to send this written seasonal greeting to the phone of a Vodaphone executive. By 2010, 6.1 trillion SMS text messages were sent annually. That is...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
