I AM out of ideas

Nikon have signed up Jamie Oliver to front their new advertising campaign for some new fangled camera that looks a bit like their other cameras. It's going to be called the 'I Am Nikon' campaign.

I don't know who came up with this idea but isn't that line totally un-original. 'I AM A PC' was done by Microsoft, and I think it is still being used by them, which is saying something because they change their slogans every time the wind changes direction. It's even not even like it's old enough for people to have forgotten it, at least not ad industry types who would know these things.

Didn't anyone in the room at the time say... "We can't use that. It's sounds like we're Microsoft". They must have done, surely. But then maybe some high level suit came back with "No you idiot... We use the word Nikon instead of Microsoft. I want that creative fired."

What kind of advertising slogans can we look forward to in 2011?

The new Ford KA. I AM CAR.

British Rail. I AM WAITING.

Fosters Lager. I AM DRUNK.

Small town advertising

Why is it that good advertising rarely comes out of small town advertising agencies?


I used to think that small town agencies didn't usually have the talent to create good work. I still believe this to be the case in most instances.

Good people usually gravitate towards the good money in the big cities. But this isn't always the case. Good creatives can have their reasons for working in small towns. There isn't the long journey home through traffic and you can actually play with your kids for a good while before they go to bed.

So what happens when a small town agency creates some good work and then shows it to the small town client? Getting the idea made then relies on the client being ad-aware. And this is a rare quality in small town clients, most of who seem to think an advertising idea is defined by what medium they want to use. "We've had a great new idea for a campaign... To use local radio".

Funky Can Man

I don't know what drink is in it but it did remind me of some of my old moves from back in the 80s.

Mood Boards - Arrrgh!

If I have to watch another presentation where someone brings out a Mood Board I think I'll do one of the following.

1. Ask the speaker if they think I don't have a basic grasp of my native language. Like I'm not sure what is meant by 'youth', 'innovative' or 'aspiration'.
2. Announce to everyone else in the room that my kids did something like it at school recently which was much more creative as it didn't regurgitate the same old imagery to depict youth, innovation or aspiration.
3. Sit quietly and be very grateful that I chose to work in advertising and not PR where Mood Boards are brought out at every opportunity. I never go for a beer with anyone who works in PR for fear of them bringing out a Mood Board to describe what they feel like drinking.

It's not always the case but in my experience Mood Boards are used by people who think that cutting up pictures from a magazine and sticking them on a board, is somehow really insightful. To me it's just a banal waste of everyone's time, good magazines and glue.