I visited the BioRhythm exhibition in the Science Gallery on Saturday. A hugely entertaining and interactive show on how the body and the brain react to music. You can see the graph below of how my body subconsciously reacted to different types of music. Journey was obviously doing it for me!
Have a look at www.sciencegallery.com/biorhythm
If anyone is a golf fanatic, you will have enjoyed watching your favourites at the 3 Irish Open in Killarney over the long weekend. Orlaith and I were lucky enough to join our client in Killarney and we were not going to refuse with the promise of stunning views of Killarney lakes, fantastic weather and seeing the pros in action. We were treated to a fantastic day along with the other 18,000+ visitors and enjoyed a private Q & A session with Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Justin Rose - led by none other than Mr. Bill O’Herlihy. I must admit, I was more star struck by Bill than the Pros as my cheesy grin shows! Congratulations to this year’s champion Ross Fisher and thank you to 3 for a superb tournament and day out.
Above: Orlaith and I with Bill O’Herlihy at the 3 Irish Open.
FUSE Interiors are developing a range of lights that make use of recycled Baked Beans and Soup cans. Mouth-wateringly simple. Check them out at fuseinteriors.ie
There is an argument that the advent of the iPad will make magazines in their traditional format an outdated medium. A visit to Minizine, the new magazine shop which has recently opened at Indigo & Cloth on Dublin’s South William Street, puts paid to that notion. This store within a store celebrates the magazine in all of its weighty and tactile beauty. Stocking a range of titles unavailable anywhere else in Ireland, Garrett Pitcher has put together an unrivalled collection of material for anyone with a passion for photography, art or fashion.
It is a beautifully curated collection of magazines, zines and art books encompassing titles such as Self-Service (a Paris-based fashion and culture biannual), Dossier (a bi-annual arts and culture journal incorporating fashion, photography, creative writing, art, music and culinary pursuits) and Inventory (a curation of ideas in product, craft and culture). I defy anyone who goes in not to lose track of time while browsing through the collection.
Garrett intends to use the space he has created for Minizine for brand collaborations and other collections in the future. It is nice to see someone stepping out of the mainstream and embracing new retail and cultural trends. Dublin needs more choice and inspiration so I hope Minizine will prove to be a success.
Since I was a young child I have always felt a sense of unease in the presence of clowns. This is hardly unique. With their oversized feet and undersized cars they flippantly toy with the rules of proportion, and as an Art Director I find this particularly disturbing. They also waste perfectly good pie. Unforgivable.
Their self appointed leader, a certain R. McDonald Esq., has always freaked me out. Admit it – there’s always been something really Stephen-King-novel-waiting-to-happen about that one. So imagine my delight when the thin mask of sanity finally slipped from his large featured face to reveal the psychotic tendencies beneath.
Check out this Oscar winning proof from directing team H5.
The Chip Shop Awards was set-up to reward spec and unsanctioned ideas. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and makes fun of D&AD, but it does have proper international judges and there are some serious catagories among the daft ones like ‘Best politically incorrect’. They like to refer to the spec or scam ads as ‘Creativity with no limits’.
I’m sure it will continue to grow at a tremendous rate and become more and more recognised as the other major awards clamp down on unsanctioned work. We were nominated in the ambient category for our idea for Eurosport HD. The idea is to turn a soccer pitch into a giant TV, complete with Eurosport HD logo to dramatize the quality of HD sports footage.
As the ad hasn’t yet been made we’d happily progress it for any TV manufacturer or sports channel that was interested.
This morning everyone in the country has a special place in their heart for Mexico, after their 2-0 defeat over France last night. It seems Karma has caught up with the French in the form of green jerseys, hampering their chances of staying in the world cup. It is an example of how, overnight, consumers can focus on a person, place or theme formally of little importance to them. This is something that clever brands can use to their advantage. Pablo Picante Californian Burrito Bar held a screening of the match in the Sugar Club last night with free entry in for anyone wearing green. The event was a great success, with a superb atmosphere for the match and a full capacity crowd enjoying the event.
The show of support for the Mexican football team re-enforces the brands authentic credentials in all things Mexican as well as benefiting from the good will the whole country feels towards the other boys in green.
Something we are sadly lacking in this market is positivity in messaging, especially in categories that have received huge amounts of (justified) public anger, such as financial services.
While the country is digesting the errors that were made, we will have to put our toe back in the water eventually and at that point, hope and optimism - coupled with hard work - is what will be needed. An institution that can champion this hope and optimism and its importance in stimulating the economy would find itself differentiated from its competitors.
We found a great example of this in the US market. South Umpqua State Bank was formed in 1953 in Canyonville, Oregon with six employees. Now the bank employs a store type model and a relatively flat administrative hierarchy, with one central manager. The reason for this is to remove the ”that’s not my department” thinking of employees and allowing all of them the ability to work in all areas of a traditionally specialized banking industry.
What stands out about the company is its open and simple optimism and the fact that it deals with negative economic environment head-on and with hope. We know this kind of optimism would be welcome in the capital of doom and gloom. We love the tone of their communications.
Randy Slecta spoke this morning at the RDS to IAPI Members. Randy is the President of Leadership Management® International, and is a pioneer in the fields of leadership, management, and professional development. Roisin Joyce is a trainer for Leadership Management International in Ireland. The talk was set up by Tim Griffiths at OMD in conjunction with IAPI, and it was an excellent talk. It was a shame more people didn’t hop out of bed early to be there for the 8.30am kick off. Chemistry, QMP Publicis, Cybercom, Cawley Nea TBWA, Agency.com and Visualise were amongst the companies who showed up. I am sure like me, they are glad they did.
Managing a business in turbulent times is tough and I believe we need all the help and inspiration we can get from experts. Having an inspiring business plan based on a well thought through and articulated strategy, with an engaged team are just some of the building blocks. The best question of the morning was from Clare Herbert at Agency.com – can everyone be a leader? The resounding answer from Randy was yes, we all have leadership potential. We all lead. We lead ourselves, our families, clubs we are members of, teams at work. We all have a part to play in a world where the defining feature of successful businesses is engaged and motivated teams of people, at every level.
Ever notice how important music is to ads? A good song can make an ad and in the same way an ad can make a song or a band. Record labels are now concentrating on getting music into ads because of the publicity it brings. We are always looking for the next undiscovered hit that will draw more people’s attention to an ad. Some ads use covers of hits and some use obscure originals either way pick the right song and your ad will be remembered.
Here’s a track I discovered recently and I instantly fell in love with it and her! Alela Diane is a singer songwriter from Nevada City. Surprisingly she is only 27. This track is taken from the album of the same name ‘The Pirates Gospel’. Enjoy.
There were some extremely interesting points raised by Rory Sutherland in the area of behavioural economics during this morning’s IAPI seminar. For agencies it was a welcome articulation of the fact that pure logic based solutions to consumer problems do not properly account for the often seemingly illogical nature of people. The context in which people make decisions can create a situation where oblique thinking can have the most effective outcome for businesses.
One of the many points made which I found extremely interesting was in an area that Rory termed disproportionality. By this he meant the fact that relatively small details and initiatives can have a disproportionate effect on a person’s perception of a branded product or experience. A small, relatively low cost detail that is refreshing, different or innovative can be remembered and valued by consumers for much longer than costly, heavy weight activity coming from an obvious angle.
Such details can even out-weight negative associations. I recently ran a half-marathon in Limerick, which although very successful as an event, had some small practical errors based on the fact that it is a brand new event.
The roads were not closed, runners were given cups instead of bottles to drink from (almost impossible while running) and the distance of the 10k event had been miscalculated. However, despite these teething problems in the inaugural event, what many runners were focusing on was the fact that the first names of runners were printed above their displayed race numbers, instantly making the race more personal. This small detail, easily arranged through registration information, was hugely impactful and was focused on more than any practical details. It allowed supporters to urge people on by name and seemed the main topic of discussion after the event. Small details based on the right insight can have a huge impact. The breakfast seminar from IAPI was a really useful and held great insights for agencies.
Recreate your favourite football moments with our online M&M’s campaign at www.mmsfootballfun.ie - a homepage takeover on YouTube.com launches the campaign today, check it out to join in the fun and win!
Like all super-heroes, I lead two very different lives. During the day I’m a suit, looking after advertising campaigns and meeting client demands. But at night I fight off the evil spread of pop music and skinny-jeaned bands with GHD’d hair, by spreading the music of one of Ireland’s leading up and coming rock bands - LadyDoll. Yes Goddamn it, I’m their manager.
LadyDoll are an all out rock band who Hotpress described as ‘eerily brilliant’. They just won the much sought after Jack Daniel’s JD Set, beating off stiff competition from some of the best bands around. The title gets them recording time in the world famous Grouse Lodge, a CD insert in the next issue of Hotpress, a PR campaign as well as advice from Tim Burgess of The Charlatans. As Ladydoll’s caped crusader, I do everything in my power to get people listening to them, and hopefully one day we’ll rid this city of the evil Mr. Pop music.
LadyDoll will be releasing their second single ‘Good Times’ on the 14th of May, taken from their debut album ‘The Knife Thrower and His Wife’, both of which are available on iTunes.
Advertising bloggers have been debating whether the John Lewis ad is actually a rip off of an Italian ad, see link below. To be honest, the John Lewis ad is a far superior commercial and if they hadn’t used the same track, a connection would probably never have been made. Interesting though, what do you think?
I visited the BioRhythm exhibition in the Science Gallery on Saturday. A hugely entertaining and interactive show on how the body and the brain react to music. You can see the graph below of how my body subconsciously reacted to different types of music. Journey was obviously doing it for me!
