It's not often I want to write up about an ad that I like. Mainly because there haven't been many recently. Of course I could bore you with my opinions on the highly anticipated Christmas ads from John Lewis (made me cry) or Sainsbury's (it's just a cat fucking up Christmas), but then I'm not sharing anything new or valuable with you. I saw this trailer for Channel 4's 'Meet The Superhumans' - spine-tingling stuff. (Click to watch) You may remember the original SuperHumans ad for the 2012 Paralympics. If you haven't, here it is - an extremely powerful video that I personally find emotionally overwhelming and highly gripping. (Click to watch) Channel 4 are bringing back the idea for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, The original idea for 'Superhumans' came because the Paralympics never had as much worldwide coverage or air-time as the Olympic Games (the Para's opening ceremony had 11 million views, whereas the O...

There are many places I don't mind being advertised to, in fact there are many places I expect to be advertised to. Everywhere from my work, to my home, to my deathbed. However, I don't enjoy being advertised to on Instagram.  Instagram is a very personal app. Users are selective about who they follow, and weigh up whether they really want to commit to having certain content be part of their news-feed. Instagram is one of those rare social media sites where people are looking to discover; to search out their passions and be inspired. Users care about the content they are seeing; they will check their news-feed when they can dedicate the time to appreciate the content, and they will most likely scroll down until they reach the last photo they viewed, so as not to miss anything. Unlike Facebook, users won't put up an album of photos, they'll choose that one special one which sums up the whole night. Unlike Twitter, they won't post every time they ha...

Consumers create much more (and often better) content for your brand than you do. A bold statement maybe, but a quick sweep of social channels and consumers are there; using, sharing, living your brand. Take GoPro's consumers for example: Or perhaps Lego's Or Nutella's... Consumers are using brands in the most genuine, real way, every day. But I'll come back to this in a minute. Today I attended ISBA's 'Good Brief Week' event, which was about how brands should do real-time, reactive marketing. I feel this is one of those topics I know a lot about because I actually have some common sense, and I know that a beer brand shouldn't be tweeting about the birth of the royal baby because it's got fuck all to do with them. Jon Burkhart opened the presentation with the overrated, outdated, Oreo - Dunk In The Dark example... " Ugh, here we go ".  But no, before I was about to ram my pen into my jugular, he brought...

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...