Greggs You cheeky Monkey

When I saw this on my Twitter feed I laughed out loud. I think Greggs by doing this really plays to their strengths, they saw an opportunity to do a cheeky Christmas marketing stunt by flipping around its shop logo to capitalise on the popularity of Fenwick's famous Christmas window display opposite in Newcastle. Stroke of genius and hat tip to them as they have gained a lot of free media from the stunt, all positive I might add. To many brands now are to scared to do stuff like this, responses like; what would the customers think if we put our signage backwards? Where does it fit in with our marketing plan, and our 'brand playbook' we all follow doesn't show our signage flipped.

. Great stuff and might be the best piece of content created all Christmas for a retailer. The original post is here on Twitter with the video.

Trash Isle

Just amazing idea to bring about change

Google My Line

Living on a desert island and having super-fast internet – well that would be the dream! And with Google My Line, I will stay connected to the rest of the world. A beautiful idea using modern and old tech to make the internet more accessible.

Rapid Rescue

This is old but I love this idea, great ideas never die. (pun intended) Like the fact that this idea harnessing trained first aiders already out there, who in effect could respond quicker as they are nearer to the scene.

Insta Depressed

I saw this idea from WWF, called #TooLatergram caught my eye and I thought it was clever way to draw attention we are doing to the World we live in from crystal clear seas, to Alice In Wonderland Coral reefs and snow-topped glaciers covered in snowdrop coloured flowers. Through the lens of travel bloggers they truly look awe inspiring the locations just look like a place we all want to go. There lies the problem, as earth’s natural wonders have disappeared because of people. In this social activation WWF tries to engage millennials to take environmental action. They invited famous travel Instagramers to post images of international beauty spots as if they were paying them a visit. But thousands of followers who gushed over the pics discovered there was a bleak story behind the post. The sites had already been ruined and bloggers responded by posting a picture of the current situation at the same place. #TooLatergram well one thing it did for me is depressed me on what we have done, I clicked on the link at the end and as it was in French, didn't give me the option for English version and the site was pretty slick in interface, but that's it just information on the places and a newsletter sign-up, surely we should be doing something more? Pre-perpared letters to Govs? Protest? Not sure but it just felt a bit design and idea over end output. I go back to feeling miserable after watching this.

Random objects creating a great beat. Word

Maggi Fish Sauce Launch

Some work I was involved in from a Creative Director's perspective, Nestle Maggi new launch of their fish sauce. I was pleased with this piece in the idea and art direction which translated from TV, digital into paid and earned media channels. A complete 360 degree marketing campaign. If you know anything about Vietnam you'll know the Vietnamese love their food and I mean love their food!! Communities are built around food, the sharing of stories, and families still sit around the dinner table. Which is wonderful to see and hear. We played to that human interaction and it became a good way to share our story from Maggi on how they salt and barrel their black anchovies from Phu Quoc this gives its unique premium taste. #HatTip to all the people who we're involved in making this happen, you know who you are, a great project to be involved in.

Draw a gasp of creative delight

Certain things pop in your feed ever so often that grab your attention and stir those creative juices, this is just one. This is a belter and I would love to demo this on my wall at home. Mind you; I'm not how the kids will react considering when they were very small I used to tell them not to draw on the walls but not with standing that this mesmerising gadget can draw any image on a vertical surface - instantly turning walls into art. The Scribit is a small 'writing robot' that is installed using just two nails and a suspending cable. Using a smartphone app, it can then be instructed to draw anything from an elaborate artwork to reproducing Twitter messages. This I would say would be the must have gadget for any artistic geek.

Nike dope ad

Coming from London as the right side of London as in East London, I saw this piece from Nike and just was literally knocked out by it's creativity, a knock out in one hit, bang! I saw it coming as it's from Nike as they always set the creative bar very high, but this still caught me off guard, I tried to duck and dive and cynically gave a dig back, especially when they mentioned anything about Sarf London or as we West Ham fans say, 'Cowboy country' but it was in vein, my heart pumped with pride coming from a city that has produced some of the greatest sports people this country has ever produced. It hit me with how well it was shot, the cast, the writing and the insight itself, one punch is all it took and when I came round, dizzy and confused it dawned on me as I thought; yes they talk of the good old days when advertising was at it's peak around the 80's early 90's; the heavyweight champions as in Dambusters- Carling, Guinness- Surfer and Parklife- Nike, but this one is the real thing and a contender of best of this year. Now I need to get back in there and get training and see if I can match and take it on in terms of creativity and originality. Hat tip Nike and W&K London, stellar work, you gave the ad industry a fat lip, which is a good thing as it really needed it.

Unreal Virtual Reality

HYPER-REALITY from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

Marketing Murmur #7 Mind Boggling Alibaba Stats

Keep saying that all departments from within agencies and companies have to come together as one; yes that includes marketing bods meeting IT geeks. Only then can we really have joined up customer experiences. We need to get that infrastructure in place with people working and talking as one. For many in agencies and even clients, dismiss eCommerce as it doesn't fall under their remit so it then takes a back seat when it comes to any form of connected marketing. It must be at the centre of any comms as it's central to the customer interaction from searching through to buying. Just hearing Alibaba's Single's Day on how much was spent on their platforms, is truly staggering.

If You Want Change Start At The Top

This is #MarketingMurmur 6 vodcast, Some views on the #Shesays event I attended at Karmarama the other night. Hearing the panels horror stories, it struck me how unbelievable rude some clients and agency people behave. Appalling in their demands and bullying emotionally and physically. It's rife in our industry and we do nothing, shame on the management within agencies who allow clients to treat agency staff in this way. Sadly ares holes are at the top regardless of their gender. Most agencies eventually fire clients only when the business is about to leave or they can't make anymore money from it, they then say we did it as they were treating our team badly. The sad truth is; talented people leave the business because of these attitudes. Interested to hear your thoughts and your horror stories and maybe some suggestions on how to change this behaviour.

Art from fabric - Just stunning.Truly.

Just look at this - no words needed apart from inspired fabric sculptor artist Benjamin Shine

The elephant in the room

Marketing Murmur on diversity in our industry and that comment from Justin Tidall

Fidget Phone.

Seen this, I really like it when you combine two things to create something completely new. Welcome to Fidget Phone - I love the fact it has a practical value too. From a marketing perspective I can also see branding and content creation with this. A new media channel. Very impressive and beautifully simple idea.