brand dna

Copy lives outdoors

2009-12-09T04:14:00.000+11:00

Love a good long copy print ad.

This is not one though.

A print ad that is.

It's one of a series of posters that run in the London Underground.

Click pic to read.

Great stuff from M&C Saatchi.

Tarrantino in Japan

2009-12-08T22:56:00.003+11:00

Two great yet totally mental ads posted in the same day.

First up the jazz playing hamsters.

Now this one. It's got Tarrantino a talking dog and it's Japanese.

What's not to love?

Get drenched

2009-12-08T15:00:00.003+11:00

Bottled water. Hamsters. And swinging jazz. What's not to love?

Ranting in the Blogosphere

2009-12-07T12:08:00.004+11:00

My column in last month's Marketing magazine seemed to upset a few people. Click here to go see what all the fuss was about. Love to hear your opinion so feel free to leave a comment.

Social media habits

2009-12-04T02:19:00.002+11:00

My social media habits seem pretty stable. Yet on closer examination they are constantly changing.

Each time I adopt a new social media tool it impacts on the others.

Some amount to no more than a passing fad. Others have impacted heavily on my media consumption as well as my day to day life.

I was an early adopter of Flickr and still have a Flickr widget on this blog. Yet I haven’t posted a photo there in close to 2 years.

Why?

At first it was because I could not see the value in paying a yearly fee to put my photos online.

But once I got involved with Facebook I started posting photos there instead.

I was sceptical of Facebook at first but quickly became a convert. After just a few weeks it became part of my daily routine.

When Twitter came along I resisted that too.

After a breakfast chat in Sydney with Julian Cole and Gavin Heaton I decided to give Twitter a go.

Suffice to say this also impacted on my social media habits.

In fact you could say it consumed them.

The more I used Twitter the less I looked at Facebook. Apparently this is common behaviour.

However because of Twitter I also found myself reading fewer blogs than I used too. I was also commenting on blogs a lot less.

Over the last few months my habits have started to change again.

I now have connections with such a large number of people on Twitter that it has almost become a broadcast medium for me.

Meanwhile my long neglected Facebook account has been rediscovered anew.

And the new kid on the block – Google Wave – sits unused and unloved because I just can’t find a way to fit it into my social media regime.

28 Cameras

2009-12-03T23:07:00.002+11:00

How beautiful is this picture?

It's called 28 Camera Drawings and it's by Christine Berrie.

Click the pic for a better look.

You can even get your own limited edition copy for your home or office.

Click here to find out more.

Future focus

2009-12-03T04:14:00.003+11:00

In just four weeks it will be 2010.

The internet has long since shifted from being the information superhighway to an easily accessible tool on our mobile phone.

Prime time is no longer just evening TV. It also includes daytime internet use on popular media properties.

The advertising landscape is almost unrecognisable from when I first decided to toss in my career as a Weights & Measures Inspector and try my luck as a Copywriter.

So why oh why am I still hearing or reading the following terms on an almost daily basis?

Above the line

Mainstream campaign

Digital agency

Is it because people who use the term above the line think what they do is more important?

Is it because people who use the term mainstream don’t realise that what they consider the mainstream is now just one channel among many?

Is it because agencies that don’t get digital think it is a specialisation or is it because agencies who only do digital think it is a specialisation?

Regardless of the answers the question remains – As we approach 2010 why are terms that should have faded from use in our industry still being used?

Good but not that good

2009-12-02T09:07:00.002+11:00

We sold a car on the weekend. It all ran pretty smoothly. But was it really such a good experience that we needed to fill in five questionnaires?

On brand or off?

2009-12-02T02:53:00.000+11:00

I was involved in a very interesting discussion today about whether or not particular pieces of work in a creative review session were off brand.

Technically they were. But I argued that the question of whether or not they were off brand needed clarification.

Why?

Because an agency’s definition of on brand is often very different to the client definition.

And if you drill down further the definition will probably vary between suits and creatives at an agency. As well as between clients in marketing and the people working in the client legal department.

For a creative person the brand is communicated through so much more than just a bunch of mandatories attached to the back of the brief.

A creative believes that a brand is expressed through tone of voice, emotion, expression and relevance to the consumer.

Agency suits may also follow this belief but if pushed will also say that use of a designated font or stylistic device makes something on brand.

Clients tend to follow the same definition as agency suits but with a strong focus on fonts logo treatments etc.

When I began my career it wasn’t like this. Well not always.

It used to be that agencies, their creative people and clients were all pursuing a similar goal. To connect and communicate with the consumer.

So what’s changed and why is the definition of on brand so variable?

The legal department.

Their primary aim is to ensure that nobody can possibly take offence and to protect intellectual property.

This stifles creativity. It also stifles communication.

Body copy and headlines riddled with asterisks, registration marks and the ubiquitous TM is not conducive to communication or conversation.

But legal people demand it. Clients comply with it. And agency creatives have to give in to it or find ways to work around it.

Which is why a headline that I believe is on brand is deemed off brand.

Not because it’s actually off brand but because some guy whose expertise is law not marketing or communications says so.

Oops!

2009-12-01T02:12:00.000+11:00

Hat tip to Y2.

Early urban spam

2009-11-30T09:14:00.000+11:00

I always thought that ambient advertising and urban spam were relativly recent ideas.

By recent I mean the last 20 years.

Turns out advertising has been invading public spaces for a lot longer than I realised.

Back in 1930 a Barcelona wine merchant used a rolling drum and stencil to advertise his wares on the pavement.

Unlike today's interuptive advertisers he didn't use paint.

He used water!

Which meant that after a while his messaging disappeared.

Environmentally sensitive advertising. In the 1930s.

Who'd have thought?

Headline of the week

2009-11-29T12:07:00.003+11:00

Obviously this ad predates the war on terror. Then again maybe the client just had a warped sense of humour. Who knows!

Not waving, drowning

2009-11-27T01:41:00.000+11:00

Well folks it had to happen eventually. I'm surfing the Google Wave.

At least I would be if I knew what the hell to do with it.

I feel a bit like a pommy backpacker at a surf school in Bondi staring at the Wave but with no idea how to ride it.

If you're already on the Wave get it touch. My username is branddna.johnson

Another design dies

2009-11-26T05:34:00.001+11:00

The much delayed myki public transport ticketing system will be launching shortly in Melbourne.

Once it takes hold we'll probably be saying goodbye to travelcards and tickets.

Another little piece of Australia lost forever.

Yeah I know it's dumb to get nostalgic about tram tickets but someone somewhere spent time designing them you know.

And as Paul Smith says, you can find inspiration in everything. Even bus and tram tickets!

If you don't believe me click here and check this wonderful collection of ticketing memories.

Play with Penguin

2009-11-25T02:33:00.001+11:00

I think you'd have agree that it's almost impossible not to love the classic styling of Penguin books.

So you can imagine how keen I am to get my hands on The Great Penguin Bookchase.

That's bookchase by the way not bookcase.

And guess what - It's a boardgame!

Pretty clever huh?

Click here to learn more and order one for yourself.

Watch me!

2009-11-24T01:58:00.000+11:00

Somehow, don't ask me how, this blog has managed to scrape into the Top 50 marketing blogs to watch in 2010 list.

There are some big names on the list too including the likes of Chris Brogan, Seth Godin and Drew McLellan.

Click here to go take a look.

Where's the good stuff?

2009-11-23T02:49:00.004+11:00

I went up to Sydney for an award show last week.

As usual many of the winners had me feeling a little envious.

But the next day, as I sat waiting 5 1/2 hours for my delayed flight home, I got to thinking;

Why are award shows the only place to see great work?

Sure we get the occasional moment of brilliance in our media, but for every great piece there are 100 duds.

Actually make that more than 100 duds.

So what do we as an industry need to do to improve the quality of our work?

Even just a little bit.

Seriously shake proof

2009-11-22T12:28:00.003+11:00

Anyone who's ever travelled in Asia is sure to be familiar with these ramshackle three wheeler taxis.

Sure they might look cute in photos but they're a pretty bumpy ride.

Which is why putting an ad for a seriously steady camera on top of them is such a good idea.

If you can get a great shot from the back of one of these babies you can get a great shot just about anywhere.

Top stuff from Saatchi's Jakarta.

Nice tagline too - Seriously shake proof.

Classic ad of the month

2009-11-19T06:58:00.000+11:00

I know cigarettes are bad for you but how beautiful is this ad?

Great music. Wonderful art direction.

Classic creative thinking from the legendary CDP in London.

Hard to believe it's 30 years old!

Are you in good company?

2009-11-18T07:16:00.003+11:00

One of the things that bugs me about Twitter is the way they are constantly tweaking it.

I'm a big believer in not fixing things if they aren't broken.

One of their most recent initiatives was the introduction of Lists.

I have no idea why. I really don't.

Seems I might be in the minority though if MustExist is correct.

According to their site I appear in a whole bunch of Twitter Lists.

No idea why. But I was very interested in seeing who else was in some of the lists I appear in.

If you're on Twitter click here to give it a try.

Become a DoGooder

2009-11-17T14:46:00.005+11:00

I've been thinking a lot about green initiatives lately for one of our clients. So you can imagine how excited I was when stumbled across the DoGooder.

It's an ingenious plug-in that enables you to support green initiatives and charities simply by surfing the web.

How's it work? Glad you asked.

Once installed the DoGooder replaces the banner ads you're supposed to see with green, charity or cheeky DoGooder messages like those shown in the NY Times above.

Pretty clever huh?

According to the DoGooder website their plugin doesn't actually block the original banner ads. And any click related revenue agreement is unaffected.

To learn more about this very clever idea click here.

Tenacity, tenacity & tenacity

2009-11-16T12:02:00.003+11:00

Laura Davies & Mark Lees are a young creative team who recently graduated from college. They did a 2 week placement at Wunderman London. Which is where they made this movie. It is jam packed with pearls of wisdom from my colleagues in Camden.

Did God approve this?

2009-11-13T01:41:00.000+11:00

Stumbled across this less than classic ad today. Proof that even Apple was daggy when they were young.

Sanity prevails

2009-11-12T08:08:00.000+11:00

Saw this ad on a website some time ago and It made me smile.

Totally random headline. Not that I have any idea what it means.

Which is perhaps why it made me smile.

Sadly a bunch of people with nothing better to do complained to the British Advertising Standards Authority about it.

Reckoned it suggested oral sex with a bull.

Luckily sanity prevailed and the ASA dismissed the complaints saying that although some people may interpret suck a bull's udder in a sexual way young children and other 'innocent' viewers would not.

Yes, but...

2009-11-11T08:31:00.000+11:00

The day you stop asking why is the day you stop learning. And the day you stop learning is the day you die. So keep your mind fresh and visit the wonderful Learn Something Everyday.