Displaying 2197 - 2232 of 2613 results
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
In much the same way as cinemas now use the lure of movies to sell popcorn at vast profit, so the World Cup can be seen as deploying football games as a lure to sell enormous quantities of advertising. Which is absolutely fine by me as I find...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Last week, I wrote a blog post entitled, Why on earth do I need a copywriter? I speak English and own a computer. As I'd hoped, the blog caught the attention of a lot of you - but not just copywriters, as it turned out. From designers to marketing...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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
I'm busy. Very busy. And that's a good thing in the world of any freelancer. If there's one part of the “job” I find arduous, it's the touting for work. I don't mind the networking, as long as there's a nice finger buffet and a reasonable...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
From Cicero to Aubrey Beardsley, human beings have never had to look too far for individuals touched by the hand of creative genius. But finding intellects so inspired, profound and insightful they actually manage to predict the future, is more of a...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
It's 'No Tobacco Day 2014'. Hooray. It is often said there are too many 'days' dedicated to this that and the other. And I think this rather proves the point. Not because the World Health Organisation (who are behind the event) shouldn't have an...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
Above is a photograph by Steven Meisel. For many years, in my head, this was also the front cover of Madonna’s second LP, ‘Like A Virgin’. If your memory is better than mine, you’ll already know it’s the image which...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
‘Nobody knows anything’. So goes the famous quote from screenwriter William Goldman, suggesting that it’s impossible to predict public taste. It’s a theory that would certainly be supported by the haphazard history of the...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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
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
"Oh that's shit, that's shit!" No, not a line from a rap song or a complaint from some disaffected yoof that they're misunderstood...or even Charlie Brooker commenting on something or other that actually does demand a bit of snorty ridicule. No, the...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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
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
Taking a primetime advertising spot last Saturday night during Britain’s Got Talent, the new television commercial celebrating John Lewis’ 150th anniversary was revealed. Created by Adam & Eve/DDB, the ad is called Never Standing Still,...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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
Late last year, a picture of Cheryl Cole appeared on the internet and in various newspapers. Nothing particularly odd about that; Ms. Cole is a constant media fixture. Only this picture, which she had released herself, was of her backside, newly...
Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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
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
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
I may be preaching to the converted here, but you’ve gotta love London. A lot of people - and certainly the majority of Creativepoolers - would say it’s the centre of the creative industry, and not just in the UK. But even leaving the...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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
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
Yet another reality show came to an end last week, with Jermain Jackman being crowned king on The Voice. But these public competitions - from singing to cooking to interior designing to baking to skating - are nothing new. Did you know, for instance,...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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
Naming their children Apple and Moses would be reason enough for a lot of people to mock Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin: a slightly bizarre melange of Hollywood new age tree hugger and artiste-who-takes-himself-a-bit-too-seriously. As if those same...
Posted by: Ashley Morrison
“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
Saatchi Art has announced that Jonathan Gabb had won the record-breaking 'In Glorious Colour' showdown, which was presented in partnership with Winsor & Newton and the Saatchi Gallery. The prize attracted a staggering 6440 entries over just 12 days,...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been partly responsible for the 'best yet' year at M&C Saatchi, who have enjoyed a record year in both revenue and profit. CEO David Kershaw thanked huge contract wins such as coffee firm Douwe Egberts and...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
Leo Burnett India has just recently announced that they will be handling all forthcoming advertising work for the Adlabs Imagica theme park brand after a huge multi-agency pitch earlier this week. As well looking after as the account of India's first...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
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
It was announced yesterday by TBWA Worldwide (an Omnicom Group advertising network) that they had acquired Mood, a successful young advertising agency in Brazil after taking majority shares. The agency is headed by Augusto Cruz Neto, who (as part of...
Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns