Sunday morning fantasy...

Our Monday Resident

Heads up readers! As of next Monday, one of the greatest Gonzo planners to be will be bestowing his wisdom on us on a weekly basis! In parallel, he will also be demonstrating (via comparison) what a sh*t writer I am.

He calls himself (cue dramatic music here) Incognit-O!!!

The guy is awesome!

Lets talk about the box for a sec...

The industry clichés, a sign that times a changing but people ain’t…here are my favourite 7

1 “I hope this email finds you well…”.
Yes ‘cause ‘this email’ is attached to a pigeons neck that might p*ss off to a land far far away taking ‘this email’ with it.

2 “Wet the consumer’s appetite…”
You can pretty much be certain that the person who just uttered that sentence is probably going to contribute to your campaign being as noticeable as a fart in a jaccuzzi.

3 “Yeah hi, I just wanted to touch base on…”
Clearly a client with a lot on his plate

4 “Further to our telecommunication…”
A person caught using this should be taken out back and shot.

5 “We need to make it aspirational…”
Genius…pure genius.

6 "I'm just saying anything"
The ultimate dignity protector i.e If you think my idea is good then I'm saying something if not then remember that I was just saying "anything"

7 “Think outside the box”
Yes clearly by uttering that original and unusual proverb you have already thrown the box away…

Many thanks to S' for this posts inspiration.

Now that's what I call outdoor!

"You brought that on yourself!"

Justified or not justified Campaign ME has repeatedly slapped the Middle East ad industry in the face. The spin has become the allegorical Wednesday detention that now makes copy writers think twice before typing on their superfluous Macs. Their awards, though pompous resonated in the industry’s Creatives minds leaving them all plotting next years scheme to become the person whose direction the cheap Champaign glasses are raised in.

So we are slowly but surely getting somewhere with the priority number 1: Creative work, which now brings me to the priority number 2: Brand planning. In a region that is booming with new corporations opening their doors over night and existing corporations having the opportunity to really take off, planning is integral.
Rarely do any local brands think long term. Sure there are a couple of pretty pictures here and there but I have to rack my brains to think of brand ideas that have any staying power…I doubt we’ll see anything remotely close to the BBH’s ‘Keep Walking’ or Chiats “Creative Tools for Creative Minds” in the near future. However, developing an advertising or brand idea to control and propel the overall direction of a campaign might be a good start prior to actually firing out executions.

I know we have the GMR awards but isn’t it time we get some APG, IPA and Effie activity in the region to slap the sh*t out of the industry brand planning as well?

Rebranding the branders...

The Grinch that stole Culture...

So we occasionally roam around universities quietly observing the patterns of the youth, searching for those people who truly do indeed influence majority opinion through adopting the cool rarities of life. The “Cool Counterculture Cat” (CCC) is the guy who first put on a pair of Asics Tigers, or the girl that throws on her ‘sheila’ a little differently, the guy who dared divert from the white earphones and listens to ‘true underground New York Hip Hop’ as opposed to 50 cent on his Ipod or even the girl that decides to drink Oasis water with a colorful straw.
These CCC’s are the people who the planners at TBWA clearly didn’t brush shoulders with when creating the epitome of un-cool TIDA campaign…if the people portrayed in that ad are an even close portrayal of the writers of the ad during their youthful years , then someone needs to give them a hug… I can just see the planner staring at a copy writer he spotted wearing a Von Dutch Tshirt and uttering the words ‘What makth you tho cool?’
Ok I drifted a little, back to the point. ..
These CCC are the people that have been addressed by the likes of Malcolm Gladwell and the innumerable researchers contributing to the ever expanding body of literature dubbed “Cool Hunting’.

As amazing a discipline cool hunting sounds and is, I can’t help but hear that little voice in the back of my head telling me that by finding that precious rarity and exploiting I will eventually destroy it…Imagine taking someone’s favorite artist who through rarity developed a personal connection with i.e. ‘I don’t share Artist X with every TDH listening to the radio’ and playing it on the radio over and over.
The ravages of fad culture will crave, chew, swallow and then sh*t out what was once an artist…

Yes that thing we call a ‘conscience’ would really tear us apart if it wasn’t for that other thing we call ‘evasion’.

THE BRAND BEHIND OUR BRANDS

Interesting insight someone came up with, I really do wish I could take credit for this.

You'd be surprised how many of the slogans we read and create on a daily basis work smashingly for Viagra.

After reading the below have a think about the slogans your agency have come up with...yes it will get ya thinking...

A compilation:

"Spark life" Oasis Blu
"We bring good things to life" GE
"Nothing is Impossible" Saatchi & Saatchi
"Space Wanted" Tida
"We try harder" Avis
"Rock solid Chevrolet": TrailbalzeR
"Where’s the beef?" Wendy’s
"Impossible is nothing" Adidas
"Keep discovering" Emirates
"Break through” Cadillac
"The Best a man can get" Gillete
"Yahoo"
"Breakfast of champions" Wheaties
"When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight." Fed Ex
"I'm lovin it" McD



hmmm...

The Existential...

In the ever changing world, where the 30 seconds we once lived for has a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball. Where agency networks are facing equally as intense competition as the brands they are assigned to promote. Where agency's have realized that they don't in fact have a monopoly on ideas and that malarkey about ideas coming from anywhere actually turned out to be true...Agency's have every right to feel insecure about their identity and purpose in life...

We are (or want to be)

Ideas people...
Campaign Managers
Client Servicing
Account Handlers
Business Consultants
Communication professionals
Brand Guardians
Brand Analysts
Communication Consultants
Brand Stewards

We create (or believe in)

Ideas that inspire
Breakthrough Ideas
Ideas that act as a catalyst for building Businesses
Creative Business Ideas
Ideas for life
Great brand ideas
Disruptive Ideas
Fortune Changing Ideas
Ideas & Ideas

How brilliant we are at rebranding others and how truly sh*it we are at rebranding and repositioning ourselves...

someone call a planner...

Suck it dry...

Many of us have placed our lips around one panting and sucked it dry swallowing every last drop...The Gatorade bottle has become synonymous with Mike, sneak squeaks, mesh jerseys, sweat and other sports related aspects.
However the blog Basketbawful has shed light on a completely new approach of looking at the bottle. Be it fiction or reality reading this post will forever change that thought right before you slip the bottle into your mouth...forever

Snapshot of Our world

Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time. Over the course of days, months, and years, 10x10 leaves a trail of these hourly statements which, stitched together side by side, form a continuous patchwork tapestry of human life.

The most luxurious, exclusivly spectacular landscaped lifestyle landmark in the GALAXY.

When advertising the intangible, imagery and language are vital.
In the most saturated category in the UAE why is it that properties stick to using exactly the same language as one another.
Browse through any property developer’s web site and I’m pretty sure you’ll find the words.
Luxury
Landscape
Exclusive
Spectacular
Lifestyle
Landmark

Yes…product differentiation in its purest form.

Ok, everyone stop clapping for a second...

Ok guys, now seriously the campaign by Face2Face has received much praise but amidst the cheering and desperate ads for delegate attention has no one recognized the resemblance between the Tango and Rani Float advertising idea and in some cases executions?
Sub the men dressed like orange semen for real fruit...and you've got a Tango Campaign.
I mean just have a look at the damn Tango Can and compare them to the awarded outdoor execution!!!!
Go to Clemmow Hornby Inge to view the real deal.

BEWARE OF THE GAME KILLERS

Article: 'This is the latest campaign from Axe, which seems targetted at the 'typical' young adult male who amongst others watches MTV and plays videogames. The name of the campaign: 'GameKillers'.
I saw an interesting 'roll-over' banner on a game website and it took me to the GameKillers site, which is self-contained but also mentions the MTV Overdrive site, so I went there as well.
I find the approach interesting: the characters they created, the one-hour 'dating special' show they ran on MTV featuring all those characters and stories, the name of the campaign and how they treated the situations like 'games', the 'how to keep your cool' tips that change depending on the character you are having to deal with, linking the characters to myspace.com, the interactive aspects such as watching the show again on MTV's website or the self-contained GameKillers site, the pleasant navigation of the sites (given this campaign heavy emphasis on online, itself the consequence of this campaign's target audience), and obviously the humor and insights that relate to the benefit of the product.
Also, how they extra-miled this campaign with desktop background, ring tones, printouts, allowing you to send obituaries to your friends, and even having a spokesperson tour campuses in the US to give conferences about 'how to sharpen your game'…
This is a great example of taking a campaign to the next level with a not-so-gargantuan media budget.
Here are the sites, you should at least check out the films: http://www.gamekillers.com/ http://www.mtv.com/onair/dyn/gamekillers/series.jhtml '