Almost exactly 7 years today, I created this blog in the hope that it would help me get a career in advertising. With no degree or experience in that field, a blog seemed a good starting point; somewhere to share my thoughts, work and progress with potential employers to at least show passionate I was. I remember debating whether or not to bother start a blog - " At 24, I am too late for a career change?" ...... .......... My first post was about one of the many ad grad schemes I applied to and, honestly, the amount of effort and thought I put into them was stellar. But after a while, I started a career client side and I'd basically accepted the closest I'd get to ads were briefing them into agencies. Funnily enough, it was this blog which took me down that different path, yet it's still resulted in what I originally wanted to do. How neat. So, 7 years later, (sorry for the wait guys...), here I am, finally writing a post about my first nationwi...

So I recently saw the Diet Coke ad and my eyes rolled so far into the back of my head that I feared a future of blindness. Click to watch Yet another brand telling me to "do me".... " Do you, boo! " " Live your best life! ", " If you wanna do something, do it! " Oh wow ok thanks I wasn't sure if I could do things like have a diet coke or run a marathon but thanks so much for letting me know I can coca cola. We've got Missguided telling girls to " Make Your Mark " where they let us know we CAN get our cellulite out - at last!!!!! We've got a car brand, telling us to " Go Your Own Way ", letting us know we CAN express ourselves creatively - thank you toyota!!!! Brands are all scrambling around, trying to appeal to the younger generation with a higher purpose. "Hey we aren't just toilet paper, we also believe you should live a life free of oppression!!" The only pr...

The other day, I was updating my dad on my life & it escalated into a discussion around advertising which, if you know me, is my absolute FAVE subject. For those who don't know what I do, I'm part of the in-house agency at LRS ; working with the brand teams to plan and develop creative & digital strategies for their marketing communications, which my team then produce.  I've always been very passionate about the industry I'm in and ALWAYS want to talk about what I'm working on; even cornering people when drunk, babbling ideas at them. Anyway, this chat with my dad led us on to talk about his dad, Richard Cripps, who worked in advertising around the 50's. As you can imagine, I got hyped that he was a real life "Mad Men", so this is a little post around him and a couple of notable things he worked on. He said he could only work with a cigarette and yellow paper In 1947, a few years after serving in the RAF during the war, Gr...

Some people get highly emotional around, what I believe to be, trivial things such as Uber changing their logo, Brangelina breaking up, or in this case, programmes moving to other channels. This is why Great British Bake Off's new trailer ad has been met with some mixed reviews; because passionate BBC-apostles are outraged that the show will be on Channel 4 and not feature the beloved Mary Berry, Mel nor Sue. But I LOVE IT. Click to Watch I'm not usually into twee, overly cute or British things, but this ad has just enough edge to win me over..... A doughnut vomiting jam on a tart? Love it. Haunted? This is literally a dream for me. Here are some fun facts about this ad: - This is the first time an entire ad has animated out of baked goods. - 335 baked character were created for the ad - 500 eggs were used - 28kg of sugar - 50kg of flour A nice short and sweet post from me tonight, because really just an opportunity to show off ON...

As Britney Spears once sang;  "There's only two types of people in the world; the ones that entertain, and the ones that observe" It's not often I start a post quoting such a highly reputable source, yet she brings up an interesting point. It is quite common for people to assume one of two personality roles: The creative person or the logical person. Either you are artistic or you are scientific... A dreamer or grounded... Right-brained or left-brained. Here is a humorously awful pic which demonstrates what it's like to be right and left-brained. Basically you are either grey and boring, or you are kooky and potentially unhinged. AKA: The Geek in IT vs. the Twat in Marketing Now, I'm not 100% sure, but I think, I THINK , I have a rep for being right-brained. Here are the comments I received from my colleagues when asked what my strengths were... but guys, I have so much more to give Most of the time in my job, I...

If you're a woman and you've used dating apps such as Tinder, you'll know that dating in 2017 has gotten weird. Tinder is not for the faint-hearted. Most heterosexual women who've attempted it, have most likely experienced one of the following from a guy: - a horrific pick up line - an unrequested penis pic - a hostile response when rejected Luckily for me I've experienced all three. What a time to be alive. Tinder is now probably best known as the app if you want something quick and easy. According to a study last year, a third of men said they "casually like most profiles", treating it like a game; seeing who they match with for a quick ego boost with no intention of following it up. Whereas 93% of women said they only match with guys who they are actually attracted to and want to date. So in summary, dating apps were looking pretty bleak for women; leaving them with low confidence, feeling harassed or unfulfilled. In 2013...

Just a quick one from me tonight. Every year, The Grocer releases the Top 100 socially savvy brands , and I'm pleased to say that Lucozade Energy UK was ranked high at #16, pipping big global brands such as Doritos (#17), Cadburys (#46) and Coca-Cola (#67) to the post. Ranked by brands' content engagement rates across both Facebook & Twitter. Brands that may have smaller followings are outstripping the performance of their large global competitors because they’re keeping content localised and contextual. To quote Doyle from The Social Retail agency  “They’re connecting with their fans in a true and very honest way”. We don't have a massive following on social compared to some of our global competitors, however we are big on contextual messaging and targeting; understanding our audience, creating content bespoke for them, and being relevant to them at the right time, with a relatable message.  A unsurprising learning from the list; brands are now using...