Displaying 973 - 1008 of 1329 results
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
Yesterday, AKQA received perhaps the highest accolade that it's possible for a UK business to receive; The Queen's Award for Enterprise. AKQA, a digital company with over 1500 employees and offices across the world (in Europe, the Americas and Asia)...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Easter, eh? Not as big as Christmas, and yet more substantial than Pancake Day. Still, a very good time to slow down and kick back. Here's what you'll need: some high-quality family members or friends, and small amounts of chocolate crafted to look...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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
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
AKQA is hosting the Future Lions competition for the ninth year in a row, in partnership with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The competition (which counts Google amongst its partners) challenges young minds in the creative...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
In the advertising business, there's only one thing worse than the most prestigious account on the planet going horribly sour - and that's the most prestigious account on the planet going horribly sour and it all leaking out across the web. So spare...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Leo Burnett London have used the world famous Piccadilly Circus to give “Power to the people” in an ambitious new marketing stunt for McDonald's. The globally popular fast food brand is giving Londoners and tourists alike the chance to...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
WCRS has been incredibly busy of late, with a slew of campaigns dropping this weekend and a sizeable new account win. The first TV spot concerns their first work for DIY retail company B&Q since they won the brands account earlier this year,...
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
Last week saw Sir John Heggarty proclaiming most modern advertising to be sh*t. Perhaps there's something in the bracing Spring air, because this week ITV's commercial boss Simon Daglish has warned brands that '90% of content is crap'. Some livewires...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
“If you look at the UK, we are suffering because we are not putting the time into the idea and there’s empirical evidence to say that the quality of our output has gone down. It’s not my opinion. Empirical evidence from the audience...
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
After hundreds of thousands of pitches, to hundreds of thousands of clients, you'd the think the creative industry would have the process off pat. Sheer statistics would suggest pitching has now reached critical mass, a point whereby every...
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
Digital advertising agencies Moxie and Engauge Marketing LLC announced yesterday that they intend to unite their brands under the 'Moxie' name, forming a fully integrated advertising and digital company in the process. Engauge became part of the...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
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
Santander recently launched their largest scale campaign to date. The 'Simple, Personal, Fair' campaign marks a notable change in the bank, as it positions itself as a more direct and less convoluted alternative to its closest rivals. The campaign...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Recently, I spotted something of interest on the site of a firm of creative recruitment consultants. Clicking through to their 'contact us' page, I was pleased to notice a statement declaring their belief in common courtesy, backed with a promise to...
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
Do you remember Cait Reilly? She was the graduate who brought a legal case against the government after she was forced to abandon her voluntary work with a museum, and replace it with unpaid 'work experience' at Poundland. Both situations allowed her...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
You may not have noticed, but they held the Brit Awards last night. You may not have noticed because the TV coverage attracted fewer viewers than any Brits this century. Whether this is a failure of broadcasting, marketing or pop music will remain a...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Firing a client is an unusual notion - counterintuitive even. Business norms suggest an enterprise will always welcome the presence of as many paying customers as possible. So why would anyone ever sack a client? Actually, although it would be a...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Depending on your point of view, this is the point in the year when you make a special effort to show your affection and appreciation for the significant person in your life; or a cynical exercise in consumerism, carried...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Yesterday was 'Internet Safety Day'. Which pretty much proves the pointlessness of things having days dedicated to them. Unless the internet was substantially and provably safer for the entirety of 11th February 2014, or yesterday marked the point...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
UK cancer statistics are frightful and frightening. For every three people who read this article, one will acquire some sort of cancer in their lifetime. The disease doesn't discriminate, striking the very young and the very old, the rich, the poor...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Most days, I take time to read the work of other writers online - and today was no exception. Prompted by a link on Twitter, I visited an article which several users were recommending. They were right - in terms of subject matter and content, it was...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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
In 1999 a website called Napster appeared on the internet. With little in the way of its own content, and certainly no means nor intention of producing or releasing music, it set a ball rolling that in 2013 tumbled most of HMV’s high street...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
27th and 28th January 2014 @Rich Mix (35 - 47 Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch, London, E1 6LA) In need of direction, inspiration, and a kick-start this New Year? Looking to start or further a creative business but need advice? A budding artist? Or...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
'The Creative Industries' - it's a phrase we hear all the time, isn't it? But what exactly does it mean? Well, if you're a government statistician, it refers to : public relations and communication activities; advertising agencies ; and media...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw