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.

 

'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.