'Deadline Manager' vacancy

Do you know what a deadline is and what the word means? Then you could be just the person we're looking for. The in-house advertising department of a well-known brand has informed us that their marketing department is in dire need of a 'Deadline' professional who knows a thing or two about timings.

A good understanding of months of the year and days of the week would be a major requirement in your application, and any additional knowledge of hours, minutes and seconds would be a distinct advantage.
Priority will be given to applicants who can demonstrate real-life examples of them having adhered to a deadline at least three times in their career.

Lucozade - Long Shit

This poster has been outside Sainbury's for a few weeks now. It's probably one of the worst ads I've seen for some time. It bugs me on so many levels. The first time I saw it, I couldn't help but being reminded of going to the toilet to do a lengthly number 2. At least that's how I interpreted the words on first glance, and every subsequent viewing since. It seems so obvious that I can't help but wonder if an Art Director was actually involved in its creation. Or if there was, perhaps he was having a bit of a laugh before sticking two fingers up to the agency and going off to spend a year in Tibet. Another thing that really bugs me about this ad is the bad combo factor. You can work this out using the equation Combo Factor=CxB+CDx(AD+Y). The equation is a bit complicated to explain here but to summarise... The ad is so blatantly contrived, I mean where do you ever see a sign saying 'Long Shift'? Now I can suspend my sense of reality if the result is worth it. But this ad is rubbish. Why oh why go to the effort of creating an extreemly contrived scenario only to make a poster that makes me think of... "Shit"

Get out of advertising while you still can

How many people in advertising are starting to worry about the future of advertising? I say advertising, but what I really mean is good advertising, the kind of stuff that made students trawl the street of London for days, looking for an agency placement. If if you were lucky enough to be offered one, you worked at the agency believing that it was really possible to get good work out, because that's what people wanted.

Advertising has changed a lot since then, when I started, some 15 years ago. It was a great job. You did it, not for the money, but for the creative challenge. But people aren't interested in good creative now, it's all about churn, getting things out of the door. I'm not even sure if most account men or clients even know what a good ad is anymore, at least not until it's been verified by some sales figures three months down the line.

When I finally came to the realisation that my opportunities to be creative in the advertising work place were being eaten away I knew that it would't be long before I left the industry, which is what I did. So I moved back up north and got a job. It's not in advertising but it does use some of the same skills. The work I do now is interesting, but doesn't leave me mentally exhausted and I am away from my desk at 5pm everyday. I'm home in time to have tea with my children and still have time to enjoy some time doing something creative.

I met a marketing director

I recently met the marketing director of a very big chain of pubs. He's got a bit of a stutter, so when he said the following during our chat I thought it was quite profound.
"Any pub publicity is good pub publicity"