Blogged by TONIC

Most ‘Pop’ Irritating Web ‘Pop’ Banner EVER!

2009-06-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

Don’t you ‘pop’ hate it when ‘pop’ you’re trying ‘pop’ to view a video on ‘pop’ YouTube or chat ‘pop’ to a friend on FaceBook ‘pop’ and your conversation ‘pop’ is interrupted by the most ‘pop’ annoying sound ever ‘pop’.

It’s annoying enough having to look at these crap banners on every page we visit, do we have to listen to them too!

Portfolio Night

2009-06-12T10:03:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, the first ihaveanidea Portfolio Night was held at the Ritz Carlton in Dubai. I was pleasantly surprised to see some very talented young students from around the region. Some of us were even fighting to get the details of an awesome Designer from Iran that would have put even the most senior Designers to shame.

ihaveanidea’s Portfolio Night is the largest simultaneous advertising portfolio review ever held in the world, featuring a uniquely designed portfolio review process in a “speed-dating” setting. The event helps students and aspiring young creatives around the world break into the ad industry by involving the top Creative Directors in each participating city.

For more info go to www.portfolionight.com

The Vendor Client relationship with a twist!

2009-06-03T05:13:00.000-07:00

We came across this video doing the rounds online. It's pretty sad how accurate it is. "We're not the Taco stand" seems to be a good response.

Tonic Branding

2009-05-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Finally we can announce the launch of Tonic Branding. Although they’ve already been open for a few months, we just wanted to see if they could make some real money before saying anything :) Only joking. Seriously though, Stuart Harris and Scott Clephane have already managed to steal substantial business away from the big boys. Not only are these guys wizards at what they do, but they’ve added a new and exciting component to the Tonic Brand. If you really want your brand to stand out and you’re tired of the cookie cutter solutions offered by other agencies, then give Stuart or Scott a call.

Wyeth Shoot Cape Town

2009-05-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

We recently went to Cape Town to shoot our latest spot for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Between having my credit card details stolen, having our Camps Bay villa broken into and being robbed by the security guards hired to watch us, you would think we were shooting an ad for Vaseline. I know, I know, why go all the way to the tip of Africa to shoot an ad. Well, I think the pics speak for themselves. Thomas vowed that he would get a shot of Lawrence “the plumber” Jacomelli’s ummm assets, but he failed dismally. Maybe it’s a good thing.

A big Thank You must go out to Rudi and the guys and gals at Stillking Films for making this a very memorable production and delivering a well-produced spot.

Tonic Rocks

2009-05-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Rock Me Leonardo Guitar Hero design competition.

Although we didn’t quite win (hats off to the Brand Union guys) I have to hand it to Rollan and his team on an awesome effort. The judges said that the Brownmonkeys/Tonic guitar was by far the most colourful and energetic of all the entries! The controller has been hand-painted back and front with this lively and humour-filled design based around a rocking devil. Damn cool if you ask me.

A Moment

2009-03-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

We were up till the early hours of the morning shooting some print ads for Burger King when we came across this sight on our way home. We took this photo from within The Lakes area with the moon setting over the Marina. We all lead pretty fast-paced lives here in Dubai and sometimes it's nice just to stop and enjoy little moments like these.

Eco-Status

2009-03-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

Around the world, being eco-conscious has become a status symbol for consumers, partly replacing traditional status symbols that are now associated with pollution, waste and excess. Two ECO-STATUS developments to watch: ECO-ICONIC (create an eye-catching green brand/product, advertise the hell out of it and make it very recognizable to the masses, which in turn makes it easy for buyers to get respect from strangers) and ECO-STATUS-STORIES (which involves providing buyers of little known/niche eco-brands with conversation starters and story details to make sure they’ll get a status fix from their peers).

www.trendwatching.com

Square Root Day

2009-03-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

Once a month, or pretty much, we get subjected to topical ads. You know mother’s day, pre-summer check-ups, back to school promos... I can’t stand them. I always thought they were a lame excuse for a brand who has nothing to say to its consumers but tries anyway. Now of course it can be done properly. I can't help thinking about how Coke took over Christmas or Hallmark invented Valentine’s Day.

Today however I heard on the radio something that topped ‘em all. Square Root day... Think... yes we are 3/3/09. Which means, as it occurs nine times per century we should all celebrate the fact that the day x the month = the year! Bath in the glory of Square root day and thank God it will not happen again until 4/4/16! Don’t forget your root beer for appropriate celebrations!

Burger King Open Late, Beware!

2009-02-25T00:36:00.000-08:00

Our latest offering to Burger King, comes in the form of these press and outdoor ads. We were asked to communicate that Burger King stays open until the wee hours of the morning. Thomas and Kris came up with the following campaign showing the villains of the night that we know all to well, enjoying their favourite meal after a umm night out. The ads were shot in South Africa and Dubai by French photographer Ben Dauchez and retouched by Thomas himself. A job well done! The series comprises of four ads which will run in press and outdoor.

Creative Director: Vincent Raffray
Art Director: Thomas Derouault
Copywriter: Kris Richardson
Photographer: Ben Dauchez

Nando’s Bus-ted by CID

2009-02-23T03:39:00.000-08:00

In the early hours of yesterday morning the police mistakenly confused the Nando’s Staff bus for an Israeli tank and promptly impounded it. It’s the military style design that seems to have upset them even though we received full RTA permission for the design to be used on the bus. Unfortunately the Nando’s staff, aka the Nando’s Commandos, will have to find their way to work using ordinary civilian vehicles.

Kill The Red With Croma Eye Drops

2009-02-18T04:37:00.000-08:00

Our latest campaign comes in the form of these three lovely little print ads (if I don’t say so myself :) for Croma Eye Drops. Communication for pharmaceutical products has never been easy due to the fact that there are so many restrictions attached and so many levels of approval to get through. It doesn’t mean that the work has to be boring.

Client: Croma Eye Drops
Creative Director: Vincent Raffray
Art Directors: Valerio Battagli And Thomas Derouault
Copywriter: Dario De Albuquerque
Photographer: Tejal Patni
Illustrator: Amin Faramarzian

Tonic Cairo - An Office With A View

2009-02-17T23:29:00.000-08:00

This could soon be the view from our new office in Cairo. OK, I admit it's been through a few Photoshop filters to remove the smog, but you know... Let's hope the Nile brings us the same creative energy we've had here in Dubai over the years. If you're keen to come up with award winning ideas while staring out the window at this view, then call Khaled now and all of this could be yours :)

Burger King Ambient Stamp

2009-02-16T03:34:00.000-08:00

Burger King wanted to communicate that they are open until 4am. We wanted to target those that were up that late – the partygoers. To do this, we simply modified the entrance stamps that partygoers usually get when entering a club. This was our attempt to jog the inebriated memories of those looking for a late night snack. Not only did we suggest Burger King as a possible destination, since they are open until 4am, but we also gave partygoers simple directions to follow (or to mumble/show to a taxi driver)

Dubai’s main traffic artery is Sheikh Zayed Road. Six lanes in both directions (with the Sea on one side and a desert on the other) that are broken down into 7 major intersections (Int 1, Int 2, etc). When you give directions in Dubai, you must give the closest intersection to exit or you will be unable to find your way. On our stamp, we’ve given the locations of the Burger King Restaurants located directly off of the individual intersections that were closest in proximity to the bar selected.

Good Stuff For Your Ears

2009-02-15T04:37:00.001-08:00

We’ve always been great admires of the guys at BKP and we use them regularly for the production of our radio ads. We were recently ask to come up with some ads for them and in true Tonic style, we created the following campaign. Art Directed by Thomas Derouault and photographed by Thomas Derouault and French photographer Ben Dauchez this campaign simply cannot be ignored.

Instead of using models, we used BKP's target audience - normal agency folk like you and I, not that there's anything normal about these people :) The following three ads are running in print and the last three will be used as posters.

Happy ummm Valentines Day

2009-02-15T04:16:00.000-08:00

Our anti-Valentine cherub is at it again (guess who didn’t get any roses this year :) If you remember we shared some of her Valentine cards on this blog last year. This year Renata sent the agency this image – her latest creation against the conformists.

Burger King Mural

2009-02-12T00:50:00.000-08:00

This is the new "Have It Your Way" Burger King digital mural. It's a towering 2.7m height x 8.4m length installed in the food area at the biggest mall in the world, Dubai Mall. It's a massive print sandwiched in acrylic panels.

We pushed the idea of pop art into functional visual communication, attracting new set of customers, fun and outgoing, preaching the "have it your way message." Lines like I cannot imagine myself without onions, I'm an extra cheese kind of guy.

The mural was designed by our resident Brownmonkey, Rollen AKA Dogboy

The Italian Stallion strikes again

2009-02-04T01:12:00.001-08:00

Some compromising photos of our resident Italian Stallion – Valerio have surfaced. It seems like Valerio was having a great time at last years Campaign party. Now we know who was responsible for opening all those poofs.

Panty Fetish

2009-02-04T00:46:00.001-08:00

There’s a rumor that one of our Art Directors who we cannot name… ah what the hell, it’s Valerio :) has been spotted around town collecting women’s underwear. We usually turn a blind eye to our employees strange little fetishes, but when he started bringing his umm habit to work, we had to say something. It turns out, that Valerio was actually working on a secret project that will be unveiled in all it’s glory in the days to come… so he says…

Spot the difference

2009-02-04T00:03:00.000-08:00

The Tribe (next door to us) recently came up with a really nice ad for themselves. The ad implies that because we're right next door to them, we steal their ideas. Please, we use the old award annuals for that :)

Anyway, this was our response a day later. See if you can spot the difference.

Gulf Finance Win

2009-02-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Starting the year with a new piece of business is always a good thing especially if that year happens to be 2009. The pitch was for Gulf Finance and after sprinkling a little Tonic magic, we were appointed to manage their strategic corporate communication, all re-branding aspects and corporate PR.

New Campaigns

2009-02-03T23:44:00.001-08:00

While some companies have been moping around because of the financial crisis, we’ve been pretty busy in the past few weeks. Yes we’ve seen some budget cuts and have had some clients “disappear” over night, but that hasn’t stopped us coming up with ideas that were pretty inexpensive to produce thanks to the skills of our Designers and Art Directors. The first set of ads is for the Kids Park Zoo in Abu Dhabi created by the Rio Brothers Valerio and Dario. These simple executions show us that you can keep costs down and still create a memorable campaign that kids will love and remember.

We’ve used illustrations in the past for Burger King with our BK Joe campaign and it worked wonders. There’s a lot of freedom with illustrations that you don’t necessarily have with traditional photography and here is another example. These illustrations were beautifully created by Renata Giovannoni and the stories written by Kris Richardson. Full of fun, full of drama and perfect for the product on offer – the deliciously indulgent Burger King Chocolate Soufflé.

The new face of Tonic

2009-02-03T23:40:00.000-08:00

While everyone is retrenching staff left right and centre, we decided to do the same so that we could afford to hire this guy – Thomas Derouault. He has the style and grace of a giraffe and the personality of a rock star and he’s French (we can’t all be perfect) and last but not least, he’s a brilliant Art Director who has already worked his magic amongst our ranks. Thomas joins our Obama lookalike Copywriter Kris Richardson.

Gone, but not forgotten

2009-02-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

First of all, apologies for the state of our blog. A few weeks ago every image that was posted mysteriously vanished into thin air and it’s taken weeks to find most of them. We’re still missing quite a few and I fear to say that we may never get them back. But that’s ok, there’s no use dwelling in the past because it’s today and tomorrow the future that is important. Here’s to the new posts that will grace these electronic pages and may the fleas of a thousand camels infect the crotch of the person responsible for taking away our precious memories :)

Little Teo

2008-11-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, Arnaud managed to clone himself and this was the result, a healthy bundle of joy :) Little Teo was born just two days ago and we'd like to wish Arnaud and Lavinia all the best with their second child.