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Features

Happy 100th birthday to Ladybird books

Today, one of the great British brands is celebrating its 100th birthday: Ladybird, publishers of children's books with an instantly recognisable format and feel, and - during the Second World War - absolutely identical in terms of number of...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Workshop

Top five to-do items for the freelance 2015 list

Hello and happy new diet to you. No? Happy new gym membership, maybe. Not that either? Happy new I’m-only-drinking-alcohol-at-the-weekend. Getting warmer? Or perhaps the number one aim in the Land of You is get a happy new job. If so, good...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

So long, farewell… The most pointless ad campaign in history?

This week has been one big, fat customer relations fail in the life of Creativepool’s grumpiest blogger. That’s me, by the way, and it’s a title I’m rather proud of. Oh, and before you go all grammar guru on me, and tell me...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

A Right Honourable Christmas? When design meets politics

There are few things more cringe-worthy than politicians trying to be any of the following: hip, funny, down with da yoof, normal, John Travolta. I had to add number five because I'm still haunted by images of John "Two Jags" Prescott bopping away at...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

Sainsbury's Christmas ad: the bad taste of festive chocolate?

Ah, advent! The gateway to Christmas! Today is the day when millions of children all over the country are opening the first window on their advent calendars and devouring that first overpriced and possibly over-wrapped square of chocolate - assuming...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Inspiration

The Paddington Trail: please look out for this bear, thank you...

by Ashley Morrison This Friday sees the eagerly anticipated release of the Paddington movie. I'm a colossal fan of the marmalade sandwich-loving young gentleman bear - and not only of the original five-minute animated episodes narrated by Michael...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

This Week In Advertising

When Creativepool went looking for a fine fellow to write a column called ‘The Week In Advertising’, it made very good sense to search for a writer with a calm perspective and a measured, balanced approach. Well, they were all busy, so...

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Workshop

Blogging: what are the rules? Are there any?

by Ashley Morrison The other day, I was at a party and talking to someone who wrote for a technical magazine. Personally, I'm a generalist; unlike him, I don't have one particular area of expertise. So that means, as a freelance copywriter, I've...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Fair game? The ugly world of trolling

By virtue of the fact that you're reading this blog, you almost certainly know what trolling is. For those of you that don't, it's when people with absolutely no penis (and whatever the female equivalent is) leave nasty comments on blogs, online...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Inspiration

Christ on a bike! No, Jesus in a marathon

Today I’m on a bit of a high. And not just because I have a rare day off. No, it’s because yesterday I completed my second marathon this year - the 41st BMW Berlin Marathon. For a while there, I didn’t fancy my chances. About six...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

Thank you, U2...for giving us something to moan about on Twitter

Looking down my Twitter feed, it seems to me that the 140-character-loving public has forgotten something. They've forgotten how to be interesting. That includes me, incidentally, before you go and tweet something rude @Ashley_Morrison in response. I...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

The ALS ice bucket challenge – brilliant or annoying?

If you have a Facebook account, which most of you probably do, you can't have failed to notice your friends and family lobbing buckets of ice water over their heads for the past few weeks. Maybe you've taken part in the stunt yourself, much to the...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

'A five-year-old could have done that!' Do artists have it easy?

Regular readers of the Creativepool blog will know that, although I am no artist, I like nothing more than to spend several hours at an exhibition, having a good moan. True, I don't need to be in an exhibition to do that; Ed Reardon lives - he's 42...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

What does working with John Hurt have to do with copywriting?

John Hurt, Sir Neville Marriner and I walked into a bar... No, that isn't the opening of a joke; it actually happened on Saturday. (Yes, it really did.) Luckily, there was no rerun of any alien-bursting-out-of-the-stomach scene. Always a bonus. So,...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Workshop

The art of emailing disguised as the art of waffling

I'm going to let you into a secret. Not a massive one, like I know that Pop Idol was fixed back in 2002 and Gareth Gates should have beaten Will Young into second place. No, I'm talking about something really, really insignificant. My minimum word...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

Reality television – I'm not a moron, get me out of here

Recently I’ve been catching up on a lot of DVDs. All those TV shows that people told me I had to watch but I just never found the time for them: 24, The Wire, The Killing. Lots of death - lovely. Part of the reason for this is that I am pretty...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

Coca-Cola – bringing cross-border smiles to India and Pakistan

I recently read that if the average person was lucky enough to be granted three wishes by a genie, the number one choice was actually “world peace” rather than “a massive amount of money”. Presumably “an infinite number...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

What does Creativepool's Salary Guide have to do with Wimbledon?

Today sees the start of my favourite time of year: Wimbledon fortnight. And with Andy Murray defending his title and the intrigue surrounding his appointment of 2006 Ladies Champion, Amélie Mauresmo, there's a lot to be excited about. What does...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

Design masters: Happy 40th birthday to Rubik's Cube

"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
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Features

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a Clarkson...and let him go?

Last week, Jeremy Clarkson was forced to apologise for having said a bad thing. A very bad thing. It is the only word in the whole English language that I can think of that is 100%, totally and utterly off limits. The word is “n****r”....

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

Watch and comment: John Lewis’ 150th anniversary commercial

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
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Features

Bucket list: the incredible Weston Sand Sculpture Festival 2014

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
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Features

The London Marathon: Batman, blisters and PR campaigns

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
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Features

A Great British Design Classic: the telephone box

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
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Features

Martin, Paltrow and ‘Conscious Uncoupling’. Another easy target?

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
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Features

Im a expret and a gruu. It says so on my websight.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll belong to quite a lot of LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your area of work. For me, a lot of these are copywriting-specific groups, but I also belong to others to do with subjects like SEO, social...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Inspiration

The car ad without the car: Land Rover #Hibernot

I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but hasn’t the weather been glorious over the past few days? Warm enough to potter around the garden in a t-shirt, I even slapped on some factor 10 sun cream, being the pasty ginge that I am. And...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

There’s a new villain in town… #GoodToBeBad

‘Have you ever noticed how, in Hollywood movies, all the villains are played by Brits?’ asks a dinner-jacketed Sir Ben Kingsley in the commercial for the new Jaguar F-Type Coupe. Entitled ‘Rendezvous’ and aired at the Super...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

What do apostrophes make? Prizes! The day John Lewis bagged my loyalty

Contrary to popular urban myth, I am not a member of the Apostrophe Protection Society. Yes, I did write a blog about Waterstone’s and the decision from their powers that be to get rid of the apostrophe in 2012. My blog did, incidentally,...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

Speak when you're spoken to, dear. Or put the kettle on.

Call me naïve, but I think we in the UK are pretty inclusive; more so than other nations. Granted, discrimination in the workplace does still exist on various levels - and much more in some industries than others. Banking, I hear, is one of...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

Content isn’t king – timing is everything

This weekend, I learned a valuable lesson. Content isn’t king. Or at least, to be more accurate, content isn’t always king. Copy does have to be top-notch to have an impact and to inspire people to buy, sell, share, offer, sign up,...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison

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