Biggest Ever Product Shot Competition

Well, here's my entry. How on earth did the account team manage to sell this one? (Taken outside Paddington Station, London)

Response To Andrew

Andrew said...
Good luck to both of you. What are the things a creative wants to know about their new office by the way?
4:58 AM

1. Where is my chair
2. Coffee machine, toilet
3. My computer isn't working. what's the number for I.T.?
4. What can we put in to block out the glass wall so i can pick my nose in peace?
5.What time does everyone arrive and leave? Need to arrive 10 minutes earlier and leave 10 minutes later than the convention. Well, for the first month at least.
6. Where the hell is that guy from I.T.?
7. Where is nearest Pret A Manger
8. Nothing. Don't care at all (this contribution from my partner)
9. Where are the lined pads? And a pen?
10. OK, so let me speak to the head of I.T.

So Vain

Had my photo in Campaign last week, in connection with our move. Sadly, I looked as friendly as the average serial killer. Nevertheless, getting your photo in Campaign is a must for the ego-driven-monster types like me who work in advertising.

My pet hate is when a creative team moves and Campaign publishes a photo of... the creative directors who hired them.

<-----This is a particularly bad example from a few months ago. The guys in the pic are not poor old Chiappe and Saunby, but the TBWA CD's (now ex CD's) Brooke-Taylor and McTear.

Resignation Letter

Our creative department has a little tradition of witty resignation letters.

The CD puts them up on his wall.

No pressure.

So I turn to the web. Of course, there's a website now called i-resign.com

Nothing good there though.

<----This was Nixon's.

In the end, ours just said "Yes, we're whores."

I Resign

Yes, my partner and I are making a huge leap - from one multinational ad agency with three letters in its name to another multinational ad agency with three letters in its name.

Our creative director was kind enough to ask if there was anything he could do to make us stay, but there wasn't really. It's been 7 years. Seven happy years. But it was just time for new challenges.

So perhaps over the next few days I will be blogging about what it's like to leave somewhere and start anew...

You Know You're A Creative When...

1. You have no idea where everyone else in the agency sits
2. You don't know how to use the internet (except me and Copyranter. where the hell is everyone else?)
3. You have no idea how to book a taxi. Or a bike. In fact you are paralysed without a TV producer to plan your every movement and gesture
4. You constantly have to listen to people who have never had an idea in their lives criticise your ideas
5. The account handler asks you to change your script so the client will like it more, the planner asks you to change your script so consumers will like it more, the creative director asks you to change your script so awards juries will like it more. And the client asks you to change your script so it has a longer product sequence at the end. And in the middle. And the beginning. Actually, can we just have the product all the way through. Big. Put a spotlight on it. Some highlights. In fact, why don't we just make it dance? What do you mean yoghurts can't dance?

Dr Oetker You Are A Fraud, Sir!

This is a frozen pizza from the Dr Oetker 'Bistro' range.

The TV ad, which I've put a link to here, concerns a couple who wave away a beret-clad accordion player from their table, on the grounds that their frozen pizza is already French enough.

It includes lines such as "served on a typical French baguette", "so very French", and "Bistro is French enough for me".

Guess what? A super then comes up which says "Made in Germany."

I would have simply sent the brief back.

It's Bad Ad Time Again

An ad is supposed to persuade. Get you nodding along in agreement. With insights that chime, because they're true.

There's not much point constructing an argument out of things that aren't true and which nobody agrees with.

"So much for British generosity." What? Whoever said the British were generous? There are a lot of things commonly said about the British. I've never heard 'generous'.

"They've given us a sport nobody understands." You mean the most popular sport in India, right?

"Trains that don't run." Of course! The famous Indian trains that don't run. Not the ones I've seen running - indeed packed - in tons of films and TV programmes.

Nice Bus

Here's a fun bus-side I saw in San Francisco.

Incidentally, the bus is actually two buses joined by a bendy bit in the middle - which makes it even more appropriate.

Impressions of the U.S.

Couldn't blog much from the U.S. because United sent my luggage to Tokyo so I couldn't use my laptop.

But now that I'm back, here's a few thoughts on differences between the US and UK ad scenes. Feel free to add your own.

1. Interactive advertising is huge over there. It grew 38% year on year. Seems to be second only to TV in importance to agencies now. We are way behind in the UK but it can only go the same way.

2. They don't have separate interactive creatives. Makes sense. I mean, we don't have separate creatives doing posters, for example.

3. All the creatives over there use a Mac for their print layouts. There are no 'scamps'. Not a layout pad to be found. This surely is a mistake. It means creatives are spending time on making something look good, time which they could use to have better ideas. And secondly, when something is presented to the client already 'finished...' it leaves less room for the photographer or illustrator to add their input.

4. The Top 20 UK agencies are all in London. So if you move agencies, you don't have to move house. But of the top 20 US agencies, quite a few are in New York, but others are spread around in LA, San Fancisco, Miami, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland etc. So getting a new job most likely means uprooting yourself (and your family if you have one). Despite this, people in the U.S. move jobs a lot more often!!

5. A lot of creatives work on just one account. The reason is obvious - accounts over there are huge. But is it a good thing? On the plus side, you'll get to know that business well. But on the downside, I worry it could get dull...

Lots Of TV Ads Here

Well, that's my first and totally unoriginal observation about US TV advertising. There's rather a lot of it. And it cuts straight into the programmes. No little pause or flash-frame ident. Straight in. Each ad follows straight into the next one too. Again, no pause. It's an all-out assault of Saving Private Ryan proportions. But I suppose you get used to it.

And the quality? Generally very low. If you think about it, the UK and the US tend to do roughly equally well at award shows around the world. But the US produces about eight times as much advertising. So that means the average quality is...

A lot of the low quality I think is a product of the advertiser trying to say too much. Each ad is trying to put across a brand message and several product messages at the same time, and then finish with a 'deal' or special offer at the end.

Simple stuff like the Mac ads (latest one above) stand out a mile.

England Is Siberia

Love this Lynx/Axe ad with Ben Affleck. Saw it again on TV here in LA last night.

Except it didn't have Ben Affleck in it.

That's right. A different guy. They obviously filmed the whole thing twice, shot-for-shot, with a different actor.

I can just imagine the conversation between Ben and his agent.

AGENT: "Ben, they want you to do a commercial for Axe. It's two million dollars."

BEN: "Nah, I don't want to do commercials."

AGENT: "It's international only. So it won't be seen by anyone who matters. It will only air in places like, you know, England."

BEN: "Oh, okay. Fine."

Scamp Is Off To California Tomorrow

It's partly a family holiday, but I'm also having a couple of interviews - one in L.A. and one in San Francisco.

If anyone has worked in both the U.S. and the U.K., I'd love to know how agency life compares.

What makes a good CD?

Hi everyone. Today I'm turning my blog over to "Guest Suit." This person is an Account Handler of my acquaintance, who is going to give us a POV from behind enemy lines, every now and then.

Please feel free to post any abuse or questions.

GUEST SUIT WRITES: So, Steve Henry started at TBWA last week, as the new executive creative director. The hiring has been universally praised. The sentiment is that he may well be capable of filling the shoes of ad land’s most high-profile creative, Trevor Beattie. But why? What is it that makes a great creative director?

Before I begin, I want to tell a story about how one of the top consultants (consultants: AAR and the like), once told me that, when it comes to new business, really the CD is the star of the show. That wherever clients go, they’ll meet charming and charismatic account men, and clever planners, but it’s the CD that sets the distinct impression of an agency. They’re the ‘X-Factor’.

So, what divides the good from the great, I think, is this:

1. They should be high profile – both to attract attention, and so that their POV holds weight;
2. They should have a strong and (ideally) profound point of view;
3. They should have stage-presence – an ability to command the attention of a roomful of people with their conviction and confidence.
4. They should have the respect of both creatives and account teams.
5. They should know when the brief’s wrong but an idea’s right.

So that’s what makes a good CD according to an Account Man. And why’s an account man’s opinion important? Well, let’s not forget who actually hires these CD’s...

OTS Is A Lie

Rob over at The Ad-Pit mentions how annoyed he is by the Vauxhall adverts. You know, the ones with the kids behaving like adults.

As he says, the ads are actually quite good. But they have been aired so much, they are now irritating.

I totally agree. Those ads are irritating.

Surely this OTS (Opportunities To See) statistic that media people talk about is wack?

They normally tell you that the OTS for an ad is 3.4 or something. Yet although I don't watch much TV, I seem to see every single ad about 100 times...

You're Fired!

J****, an account director at our agency, was in a meeting last week when the client nipped out and called our agency's chairman to say: "I want this guy off my business. Today."

The chairman sent his PA into that meeting and pulled the account director out, and then fired him.

Within 10 minutes of the client's call, J**** had left the building.

To think I joined this business 'cos I heard it was fun...

Blogclash

I've promised Russell Davies that me and my creative buddies are going to whip the world's planners into shape.

The topic is simple: "Six Things Planners Need To Know About Creatives".

(If you're a planner, then by all means contribute to "Six Things Creatives Need To Know About Planners" over on Russell's blog.)

Breakfast With Blogmeister

Had breakfast this morning with blog guru, genius planner and (as it turns out) extremely down-to-earth nice guy Rusell Davies.

As many of you will know, Russell has a keen interest in egg, bacon, chips and beans. I hope he liked the fare at Raffles.

The idea was to plan a 'Blogclash', a mooted joint-hosting in which planners and creatives would joust across the blogosphere.

But Russell has enough ideas to fill 100 hours (or indeed 100 posts), so we got pleasantly distracted and didn't get around to cracking the format for this blogclash. I suspect this is partly also because I am bursting with a Larry David-esque exasperation about planning, and Russell is just a lot more laidback and doesn't feel at all vitriolic towards creatives.

His theory is that creatives suffer so much rejection on a daily basis, they need to take it out on someone and that someone tends to be planners! Very neat. Give me a few days, I will think of a snappy come-back.

Cool Ad, Cool Placement

I love this spoof teleshopping ad, by Mother for Amnesty International, which supposedly advertises AK-47's.

And where did I see it? Sitting at home, before Lord Of War on DVD.

(Trivia: Lord Of War director Andrew Niccol, who also wrote The Truman Show and Gattaca, is a former creative at BBDO London).

So It's All Over

Well, England's participation is. And yet the advertising goes on. I've never quite managed to make my mind up about the Budweiser World Cup idents.

The EDF ones are clearly shit, but some of the Bud ones are okay, despite the central flaw in their "You do the football, we'll do the beer premise." After all, if they're not into football, why are they sponsoring it?

(Incidentally, the ad above is a spoof... here are the real ones.)