Read My Lips - Part 1

I am very much a fan of agencies and brands trying something new, taking risks to make their communications work. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when a major London agency and a major drinks brand invited me to spend some time at their latest ad shoot.

Getting bloggers involved is always risky for a brand, we tend to say what we feel instead of what's on the press release; which made it more surprising that the first example of this I have seen was from a big client/agency pairing.

Whilst (in this country at least) Baileys is seen as a ladies drink, it's still one that I occasionally enjoy (especially the mint and caramel varieties). So when their PR people (my blogging faves Immediate Future) asked me if I wanted to head down to London for the shoot, I was happy to say yes.

Now I have to confess (as I did to the client!) that I wasn't a huge fan of the first outing of the Listen to Your Lips idea. It was a nice thought that got a bit lost in the execution; so my initial expectations weren't that high.

Happily, the new ad looks like it will make much better use of the idea; and is based around moments that I for one am all too familiar with...

More to follow!

Blog Of The Week - No2 - Almost Always Thinking

Hi folks, here is a very very late Blog of The Week!

One of my favourite non-London bloggers is Gemma, who writes about planning but doesn't neglect to point out the randomness of everyday life.

I've been reading it for ages and ages, and you should too...

Almost Always Thinking

Selected Interesting Posts:

A day in the reality checked life

Thanks to facebook, you now get papped at parties

To blog or not to blog

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Blog of the Week No 1 - CST Advertising

Make Time For Yorkshire

I feel like I should hate the latest ad for Yorkshire Tea (the best tea in the world I might add). As much as I love the idea of John Shuttleworth I've never quite got into it as an act.

But there is something quite lovely about the idea of Yorkshire as a place where teatime has a value and importance.

So let us brew a cup of Yorkshire Tea and ponder the details of communications with a nice biscuit.

via Northern

See You Slater...

I think it is only fair considering how much I hate their previous ads, to give credit to M+C Saatchi and PC World for their latest campaign.

Gone is the terrible hard sell feature list and poor salesperson dialogue; and in comes Hollywood actors and a bit of budget.

What we now have isn't earth shattering, but it at least focuses the brand on people, their uses and needs for their computers. It shows PC World to be helpful, friendly and part of that transition of the PC from grey box with Doom to a multimedia hub with Doom. Suddenly it feels like there is a reason to go there, we all know its cheaper to buy PC stuff online, but now there is a glimpse that the experience and advice makes it worth that premium.

Whether they have fixed instore to live up to it is another thing...

But whether this is client or agency raising their game it is to be commended. Dragging away from hard sell tactics is a difficult choice to make in times like these; and to go head first into a product-less branding piece from where they were is excellent.

This isn't going to get any pencils, but hopefully it puts the brand onto a road where they can keep improving their communications for years to come.

New PC World ad at Campaign

Next Generation Talent

This kid is a fucking star.



A great video here for the Next Generation Talent contest from YCN and Panasonic. A great competition for up and coming creatives, with a well sponsored brief. Spolied only by calling a video a "viral video". It's only viral if it spreads folks...

This video is over the top but definitely rooted in reality (or at least the perception of reality)...
The lines "Netballs for fucks sake, does it really matter?" and "It's so now it's next Wednesday" are pure genius.

Watch the vid and go to the site, they deserve it for a good idea backed by something this funny.

And Finally (for today)

If you haven't yet sponsored me for my charity cycle day on Saturday, I would love it if you could! Everything counts, and its for a great cause.

I have only been on a bike once in 12 years, so I will be working hard for my sponsors!

Just Giving - Soft Power Education Charity

Planning in a box

Check out the brilliance of Two Planners In a Room.
Graeme and Paul from W+K battle to write an APG paper in 24 hours, and stream it live...

500 - Five Hundred - Wow

Hard to believe it but this is my 500th post.
Yes I have been talking about advertising and marketing for half a k.

Thanks for following! Hope you continue until at least my next arbitrary number based celebration!

Not In Defence of Traditional Advertising

Don't get me wrong, I think the calls that TV is dead are completely and utterly rubbish made up by people with headlines to generate and space to sell. But I did read a comment this week that I felt needed putting right.

It started with a comment in Edge that (summised) said "Sony and Microsoft have gone after being cool and infiltrating under the surface, yet the Nintendo Wii has been amazingly successful using traditional ads."

Well not really, the ads have simply helped bolster success that happened for two very good reasons. And it is these things that are entirely responsible for the Wii being where it is now.

1. R&D that truly considered the audience, not just what to sell. A controller shaped like a remote so non-gamers would be encouraged to pick it up. Small design to stop mums disliking it being in the living room, backwards compatibility so mums could get rid of the kid's Gamecube and reduce clutter.

Nintendo went against ALL convential product wisdom with Wii. They didn't increase the graphical power, they scrapped standard controls, and gave it a name that invoked months of ridicule.

2. The brilliant R&D meant people wanted to try it, people who owned it wanted to show it off. Which brings to absolutely the success story:

Word of mouth.

I know for an absolute fact that at least 3 people bought a Wii because they tried mine. Times this by thousands of early buyers, and then keep that chain going. Everyone I know who bought a Wii in the first year spent months constantly introducing people to it.

Great R&D x Customer Insight x Effective Communication with Core Customers = Phenomenal Word of Mouth Success

The ads worked because effectively they were videos showing what this crazy machine could do. Identical to the promo materal Nintendo used to show everyone could enjoy the Wii. But you could have had a media budget of practically zero and the machine would still be market leader; and if that isn't reason enough to improve your R&D...

Sigh School Musical

Aka - Just because you acknowledge being terrible doesn't make it good Part 2



Pot in the name of all that HHCL ever made is this piece of shit? Taking the piss out of High School Musical isn't hard; it's just waiting to be dragged down the streets by its ears and given a good kicking. Which frankly is just what I'd like to do to the Pot Noodle guys.

How on earth do you sign off a one minute long parody without a single decent gag? Well, I'll be fair, I bet a couple of those lines sounded good on paper... but they just do not work AT ALL here.

Pot Noodle is a licence to make exciting ads, but what we have right now feels like an agency struggling too hard to match the past instead of looking forward. We know they can do better (indeed they have recently).

I think frankly it's largely down to casting, those guys just do not seem funny; like you could give them the best scripts in the world and it would still be bad.

The old Pot Noodle ads worked because yes, they were cheap and tacky, and yes they were stupid and silly, but they were witty, and had a dark edge that kept everything in check.

This is Disaster Movie to Airplane. I hate it. More than I hate High School Musical, and that is one hell of a lot.