Holey Moley

I came across this site over the weekend it's a collective of over 2,300 photos of Moleskine sketchbooks that are participating in The Sketchbook Project, WOW! I love to see people's work and talent, especially when it's all in the one location. I was only just casually surfing and I ended up being on the site for nearly two hours, 'just one page' I kept saying to myself. The work was great and everyone had their own unique style from pen and ink to watecolour. I did wonder though that the project should have encouraged a lot more conversation between the viewer and the site itself, for example; an ability to rate drawings would be useful or even have a sketch face off between artists, sketch and upload your drawing then another artist has to follow on from there, you could have a whole Moleskine collection of sketch books that could be reprinted and sold. Ahhhh the trusted Moleskine sketchbook unlike my Visa card at the moment 'I never leave home without it' and not only that, everyone knows carrying a Moleskine sketchbook around also has that air of coolness, not that anyone says that but we all know baby.

Research but not as we know it Jim

Came across this the other day, Sodahead which I thought was really good way to reach real people in a way that is against the more traditional and sterile way ideas are judged, the dreaded 6 house wife's from Slough method where you sit behind a two way mirror and see if they like your idea or in most cases not all. They yabber on while sipping free cheap wine all supplied by the research house, don’t get me wrong I love gaining knowledge and understanding what people think but I found this site a better a gauge on what people really think regarding everything from their health to what they think of a particular brand, I’m hooked on this site, reading the responses is shall we say...very insightful.

Happy Valentine's Day

Sex and animals you can't go wrong really.Client: Wellington Zoos

Icons come to life

I came across this which I just had to share, I love the concept of when something that is so recognizable and iconic as a pedestrian sign ‘man or woman’ comes to life. This project was created by New York artist and costume designer Yvette Helin called the Pedestrian Project which consists of performers wearing entirely black custom- made costumes they’re then put in everyday real situations like shopping or waiting for a bus, the fact they are real and on the street they have a very surreal feel about them, a great simple idea that has a lot of impact. I always knew growing up those signs were watching me as I crossed the road.

Therapy blogging

Yes I think that’s what it is or could it be more, ‘venting your spleen?’ I’ve noticed so many creative’s out in blog-sphere who are really not happy bunnies, moaning about clients, doing ‘shit work’ there’s open warfare between ATL and BTL yes more adland acronyms but for those who don’t know it means: ‘Above The Line’ and ‘Below The Line’ the first been TV and the latter been all the crap that gets shoved through your door (Where digital sits I’m not sure but most of the digital creative guys and gals are commenting on how sad it is to hear about Steve Jobs health but apart from that everything else is so wonderful in TwitterLand.

But reading some of these blogs I do reckon it’s a great way to let of steam and get like minded creative people to agree and fuel the fire that’s raging in their heads, I suppose it's better than the old fashion way of smacking the suit. (Is there an online game for 'Smack the suit' who doesn't sell an idea?) oh it’s so wonderful that we are all sharing the love apart from the ATL and BTL mob but look at what Crispin Porter have gone and done, 'Dump 10 of your mates from Facebook for a BK Whopper', even they’re trying to get the digital scene to turn nasty, right who wants a fight?

AIMIA finalist

I find it amazing what can happen in a day, the up's and down's of modern life, it's a bit like running in Sydney, I've just found out that work we did at Bullseye has been shortlisted at AMIA which is great news the bad news for me is; I had my mountain bike stolen this morning. So it looks like I'll be doing a few my Blackmores challenges on my feet rather than on the bike for a while. I was also at a cracking conference over the last two day's with the Bullseye team which was hosted by Bruce Rasmussen but more on that later.

Marketing tricks

We all know the marketing tricks as marketing directors and advertising agencies but in this day and age so does our customers! for some marketeers this can be a good thing for others it's definitely a bad thing. A casing in point; in this weekend’s news I read Coles getting in hot water on their ‘tick’ for their ‘Smart Buy’ campaign you'll notice if you shop in Coles they have this plastered all over their own label brands, no bad thing you may say but their products are bad as in full of rubbish, their 'tick' mirrored the tick of approval from The Heart Foundation, so in effect giving the impression its product was improved by the Heart Foundation, sneaky and look at the backlash Coles are now getting from health groups and their customers, maybe the campaign should now be called ‘Not a Smart Move’ campaign?

Which gets me onto cars, the principles remain the same, here’s a product truth I’ve found as a customer visiting the microsite from Toyota Yaris 'It’s clever enough to be almost anything' is the line well not quite, your site is broken!! the interior tab freezes each time I roll over so what does that say to me about the car?

Over promising or not fulfilling your level of service after you’ve bought the car or looking for a car, is something that as a customer can really make you angry and now with the digital channel you can vent that anger via FaceBook and Co.
Product truths in advertising which is executed in a creative way that really hammers home the message is still the key, take for instance a campaign I did for VW in the UK:
They built their customer loyalty around ‘Reliability’ I knew this truth from working on the account and I owed one.
I knew it was reliable from starting first time in those cold winter nights and their customer service was exceptional (They once gave my then girlfriend a spare VW while her old Ford Escort was getting repaired).
So I was never disappointed and guess what? the following year I had two VW’s, a new one for the wife and with me still driving the same reliable VW.
One thing can be guaranteed as a customer I won't be buying a Toyota Yaris or shopping in Coles if that's their customer experience.