Just a little bit of light writing from me on this sunny evening, as I have come across several things recently which have brought me great comical pleasure. First off, Marks and Spencer's want to put their D in your bread. Yes, I know I'm late to the party with this one. I blame the fact I went on holiday at the time this came out, and hadn't heard/seen it until my return. I know a few people who've never heard the term 'The D', so perhaps M&S copywriter could be forgiven, but surely someone out of all the hands it passed through to go live had heard of the expression? Next, Marketoonist.  As someone who wasn't from a marketing background, I started my career very aware of how all marketers talked, acted and bullshitted in the exact same fantastic way. Despite now being fully integrated in the marketing world, I can still mentally step out and appreciate how ridiculous it can sometimes be. And how aware of life can you r...

I won't go on about our new Lucozade Energy 'Find Your Flow' campaign because not only have you most likely seen it around, but you can read about it in many online articles, such as Adweek, where our new ad was hailed Ad Of The Day . *smug faces all round* (Click to watch) Lucozade Energy isn't the heart-racing, sky-diving, Red Bull-twitching kind of energy - it's a more sustainable feeling of energy, The kind you need so that you can get on with all the awesome shit life throws at you. So you can still have a productive day despite the heavy night before. So you can work, play, and still have it in you to iron the shirt you'll wear tomorrow before bed. In a world where people want to be busy, where they want to get the most out of their lives, Lucozade Energy is an ally - enabling this generation of 'strivers' to find their rhythm, and keep it. "Flow" is that feeling you get when you're doing it all, and you're doing it wel...

Gone are the days where you can get consumers to buy into your brand long-term just by showing them a funny ad, pulling a great PR stunt, or having your tweet go viral. People are fast becoming more self-aware: they look after themselves better, eat clean, train dirty, prioritise, sacrifice, budget, experience, live, travel, learn... they want a full, meaningful existence. They know what's important to them, so it's easy to block out the constant noise of brands who aren't relevant to their lifestyle. Too many brands complicate our lives and it can cause people to "shut down" in the face of too many options. "Brits would not care if 94% of brands disappeared... and people believe only 3% of brands improve their quality of life." - Havas Media: Meaningful Brands Index So your brand jumps on relevant events - great! But is your brand actually relevant to consumers' lives? No? Then who gives a shit. You've risen awareness, but h...

I first saw this ad on Wednesday. My initial thought process went like: ' Oooh honest... Mildly amusing... Doesn't make me thirsty...Lazy... Annoying... Who is that even aimed at? Would that sell Oasis?' , I immediately sent it to marketing colleagues and ad friends to get their opinions.  The general consensus from marketers was, ' Is that funny for the consumer? Who is the consumer? Why would they buy Oasis from that? Seems lazy.' My ad friends were slightly more accepting; '' Honesty is a refreshing concept...it's got us talking about it so job done in terms of awareness... love it, it's different. " Typical - marketers think consumer first, advertisers think attention-grabbing first. My main bugbear with this ad is the visual. You're trying to trigger thirst for consumers, so why would you go for a cartoon image over something like this? Regardless of whether you would drink any of the above, you...

Sometimes I catch the reflection of my fat face in the TV screen during a Jeremy Kyle ad break and wonder what the fuck I'm doing with my life. Today has not been one of those days for several reasons, and I'll tell you why. Today was my two year work-nniversary at Lucozade. This made me realise and remember how far I have come, not just in my career, but how I have grown as a person. Also, I had a good chuckle at how I used to link out videos from YouTube instead of embedding directly to Facebook (LOL. Was I ever that young?) I voted today. This may surprise people seeing as I never talk about politics or ram my views down other people's throats. I feel maybe I have made a change, however small. I have also done something to hopefully make a change in someone else's life. My dear friend's dad has been sadly diagnosed with Lymphoma, and only a bone marrow transplant can save his life. Due to him having very rare tissue type which isn't matched in the U...

This post can go one of two ways. 1. I can delve into the complexities of targeted ads; educating you all on the history of how marketers used to target their audiences, and then blowing your mind with some impressive, yet scary, facts about how advanced and "Big Brother" it's all become. How we can now target by age, gender, ethnicity, location, job, interests, hobbies, relationship status, political views, income, mobile behaviours, shopping habits, words you hashtag, etc.... 2. Or I can just tell you about the new Spotify targeting feature. Well seeing as yesterday's gin is still sloshing around inside my suffering body, slowly being absorbed by the remnants of a McDonalds Big Tasty, I'll go with the latter. Not sure why I used cutlery. We all enjoy a good Spotify playlist until those annoying, repetitive ads come on. Someone shouting at you to buy something shit. Who cares? So now Spotify have created a new feature for all the savvy marketers ou...

In 1991, Sealand whale trainer Keltie Byrne, fell into a pool with 3 of her killer whales and they attacked her, dragging her down under the water and killing her. After that, one of the more aggressive whales in the attack, Tilikum, who had been kept in abusive captivity since 1983, was shipped off to Seaworld. In 1999, a Seaworld trespasser was found dead, draped over Tilikum's back, covered in wounds and abrasions. In 2010, during a live show with his long-term trainer, Dawn Brancheau, Tilikum leapt out of the pool and grabbed her hair with his teeth, pulling her underwater and holding her under until she died. This was the most aggressive attack given that he had completely scalped her and ate her arm. Dawn with Tilikum Unfortunately for SeaWorld, the story and background into Tilikum and how killer whales were treated in captivity by them, was made into a documentary and in 2013, 'Blackfish' was released at the Sundance Festival, quickly picked up by Magno...

Funny how back when the internet took off, digital futurists all panicked and said that technology would take over and require less use for humans. When actually, thanks to the above info, it's been proven that that's far from the case. Many people worry now that the younger generation, or 'digital natives' as they are better known, will grow up anti-social and too reliant on technology having been brought up to swipe before they can write, Technology gives us the chance to be even more connected, social and informed than ever before. Many people assume and fear it will stunt our growth in the future and make us detached from the "real world", but in reality we should have more faith in the human race. We've clearly managed to advance dramatically in technology, yet as we can see, the most successful tools are still driven by basic human ethics: showing a passion for community, breeding creativity and supporting others.