Congratulations Indra Sinha. Although He Didn't Win He Did Bloody Well

Last night, Indra Sinha didn't win the Booker prize (Britain's top literary award) for his novel Animal's People.



But getting shortlisted (he was in the final six) is itself an incredible achievement, and usually the best book doesn't win anyway.

Indra Sinha was one of the top creatives in London a few years ago, working mostly at CDP and mostly on print, before going on to do amazing work for the victims of the Bhopal disaster, and write novels.

I reckon he's the 4th ex-copywriter to be nominated for a Booker, after Fay Weldon, Salman Rushdie and Peter Carey. If you can think of others, do let me know.

Here's the ad commonly considered Indra's best.


This won 3 silvers at D&AD, in 1989.

It is brilliant, and would undoubtedly still work today. In fact... it does. M&C basically nicked the 'could you?' from the headline and made it the endline for the Metropolitan Police's current campaign.

Oddly enough, on his website, Indra states that he doesn't have any of his ads to put up, because after he decided to leave advertising and become a writer, he burnt his portfolio. Sounds like he was quite keen to switch then.

Still, he talks warmly of his advertising days, and the little 'advertising' section on his website is worth a visit, if only to see the poster for sausages... art-directed by Tony Kaye.

We all start somewhere.

Had They Seen Them?

On Monday night, this ad won the top award at Campaign Posters.

Less than two days later, these images whizz around the industry.



For me, this is a much more serious accusation than the Play Doh Bunnies/ LA artists plagiarism debate.

Re-purposing a painting with rabbits in it into a TV ad for colour televisions is an imaginative leap that undeniably requires craft and talent.

But the Heinz poster appears to be nothing more than a direct lift.

It's more like the scandal of the MFI ads on TV in the UK right now, which are a virtual re-make of ads that ran for IKEA in the US.

The question there was - had the UK agency (M&C Saatchi) seen the IKEA work (by Crispin Porter) and ripped it off, or was it just a coincidence?

Until someone squeals, we'll never know.

But in the Heinz case, I'm giving the McCann's creatives the benefit of the doubt. I doubt they'd seen these other ads. I mean, one of them looks like it's from Indonesia or somewhere like that.

Obviously it's deeply wrong that McCanns' should win creative awards (that's not what McCann's is for) but I don't think it's dishonest.

Whatever. The ad's not really that good anyway, is it? It's not even the best ad for Heinz I've seen recently.


This is.

Tuesday Tip No.28 - How To Present Your Work To The Team

Part Two (of three) in a by-request series on "How To Present Your Work" deals this week with presenting to 'The Team' by which I mean Account Handlers, Planners, Engagement Planners... anyone who works on the business.

Now, I don't know how Tom & Walt presented internally. But I like to think it went something like this...

Tom & Walt: "Morning all. Hi! Come on in. Everyone got a seat? Great."

That's right, folks. The selling of your idea begins before the team even sit down.

At this crucial moment, they are scanning (perhaps unconsciously) every sound and gesture that you make, desperate for clues. Are you confident? Do you actually think you've cracked it, or is this a playing-for-time meeting?

Accordingly, if you have cracked it, be confident. Signal it.

Otherwise, sigh a lot and ask questions.

Tom & Walt: "As you'll remember, the brief was all about how Guinness has more substance than lagers do. It's even reputed to have health benefits."

The Team are not like the CD, who (in most cases) hates preamble. The Team actively want one. Creatives who hand over a script and stare at their shoes will not sell as many scripts to the account team. And believe me, it really helps to sell it to the account team, because the more committed they are, the harder they in turn will sell it to the client.

And did you see what they did there? They referred to the brief, while subtly picking out the one aspect of it they actually have addressed (albeit tangentially).

Tom & Walt: "We've come up with this endline - Good Things Come To Those Who Wait."

N.B. they haven't handed over the script yet.

Tom & Walt: "So the campaign's all about waiting. The idea is that a pint of Guinness is substantial and therefore worth waiting for, just as all good things in life are worth waiting for."

It really pays to literally start one sentence with "the idea is..." Creatives are experts at extracting the idea instantly from a script. Many account handlers are too, but not all. But they know how crucial 'the idea' is. So tell them.

Tom & Walt: "I've got to tell you, we're very excited about this. Abbott loves it."

Sell sell sell baby. Tarsem sold cars in LA to fund his way through film school. The least you can do is tell the team you are excited about something you're asking them to commit the next six months of their lives to.

Tom & Walt: "Now, we've got this script about a group of guys - they're surfers - and they're waiting for the perfect wave. See what you think."

And only now do they hand the script over! That's right. A full 2.5 minutes of preamble. Come on, that's not too much to ask, is it?

Even better, read the script out, if you're the sort of person that can. If it's print, talk them through the imagery.

So to sum up, it's really no big deal (although a lot of young creatives seem to be terrified of doing it) you just explain what the idea is, and why it's on brief, before you hand it over.

But don't wang on.

Oh, and show reference if possible.

Next week - Presenting to Client.


Tip No.27 - Presenting Your Work To The Creative Director
Tip No.26 - How To Deal With Rejection
Tip No.25 - Look Creative
Tip No.24 - Don't Be Afraid To Ask
Tip No.23 - Your Idea Has To Be 120%
Tip No.22 - Read Iain's Tips
Tip No.21 - Don't Behave
Tip No.20 - How To Discuss Ideas
Tip No.19 - Read Hugh's Tips
Tip No.18 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part IV - How To Turn A Placement Into A Job
Tip No.17 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part III - How To Approach Agencies (re-print of Tip No. 7)
Tip No.16 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part II - How To Put A Book Together
Tip No. 15 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part I - FAQ
Tip No. 14 - Make Friends With Traffic
Tip No. 13 - Get Reference
Tip No. 12 - Don't Stop Too Soon
Tip No.11 - Be Very
Tip No.10 - Breaking Up
Tip No.9 - Working Well With Your Partner
Tip No.8 - Finding The Right Partner
Tip No.7 - How To Approach Agencies
Tip No.6 - Never-Seen-Before Footage
Tip No.5 - Dicketts' Finger
Tip No.4 - Two Blokes In The Pub
Tip No.3 - Play Family Fortunes
Tip No.2 - Should You Take A Bad Job?
Tip No.1 - Don't Overpolish

Post About A Poster For A Poster Company That I Think Will Do Well At Campaign Posters

(click on the image if you need to make it bigger)
The nice people at Dave Dye's new/newish agency sent me this last night - it's another execution in their Posterscope campaign. By putting it up on Scamp, I have technically become their PR whore. But I don't care. I love a good poster and this is one.

Fight For Kisses

This has been around for a while, but I've only just discovered it.

Very nice piece of work by JWT France, especially when you consider how staid the category is.

And I'm loving the Freudian subtext.

Breaking The Fourth Wall

Saw this on the tube last night. It's an old strategy (if you're reading this, then so are your clients!!), but it got me. Maybe because not many ads are this clean. A few words - in a nice modern typeface - and a web address. It's a simple game, people.

Should Planners Be In The Edit Suite?

Richard Huntington says they should. He calls it "Continuity Planning".

I was going to leave this alone, but sadly I find I can't.

Here's 3 reasons why it's soooooooo wrong.

1) Currently in suite: Editor, Director, Creatives, Agency Producer, Production Company Producer; sometimes Creative Director, Production Company Executive Producer, Agency Production Assistant... yes a Planner might have a useful comment but you've got to draw the line somewhere. We wouldn't want to run out of sushi in there.

2) Do you want Creatives poring over TGI data? No. Account Handlers writing TV scripts? No. So do you want Planners in the Edit Suite? No. And this isn't 'demarcation', it's just common sense - have people do what they're best at. (I've railed against the evils of creative generalism before; this is a similar point).

3) If Planners are going to spend say 5% of their time assisting in the edit suite, then an agency with 20 Planners now needs 21. That costs money. And I'm all about the Benjamins, baby.

Richard Huntington
A good guy (I've met him, he's cool) but has he gone too far this time?

Ten New Cocks (and She-Cocks) in Advertising

Yes, Charlie Brooker is back.

via the excellent Serendipity Book.

Tuesday Tip No.27 - How To Present Your Work

Powerpoint!

Just kidding.

Seriously, there's actually nothing wrong with Powerpoint. Russell did an amazing post about cool stuff you can do with it.

But if a creative tried to... he would probably be carted off to the loonie bin. Why, I don't know. At the end of the day, it's just words and pictures, right? Nevertheless, use of powerpoint in creative circles is considered to be actively evil. So if you are a creative, do not use it. If you have for some reason learned how to use it, unlearn it. Fast.

The way a creative presents his or her work depends on which of the 3 possible audiences he is presenting to: creative director, team (account handlers, planners etc) or client.

Basically, the rule is, that the further up this list you go, the more fluff & preamble you should use.

Presenting to CD

For your CD, no preamble at all. I mean it. Nada.

Maybe remind him which brief you've come to show work on when you walk in, just to focus his mind, but that's it. I've learned this from a few bits and pieces that I've CD'ed in the last couple of years, so it's a fact. All a CD wants to see is the work. Nothing else.

What about reference? Only if a piece of reference is essential for understanding the idea, or a music track is fundamental to the idea or even is the idea (e.g. the use of 'Mad World' on that Gears Of War ad) then present the reference or the music. Otherwise, don't.

Next week - Presenting to Team.


Tip No.26 - How To Deal With Rejection
Tip No.25 - Look Creative
Tip No.24 - Don't Be Afraid To Ask
Tip No.23 - Your Idea Has To Be 120%
Tip No.22 - Read Iain's Tips
Tip No.21 - Don't Behave
Tip No.20 - How To Discuss Ideas
Tip No.19 - Read Hugh's Tips
Tip No.18 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part IV - How To Turn A Placement Into A Job
Tip No.17 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part III - How To Approach Agencies (re-print of Tip No. 7)
Tip No.16 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part II - How To Put A Book Together
Tip No. 15 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part I - FAQ
Tip No. 14 - Make Friends With Traffic
Tip No. 13 - Get Reference
Tip No. 12 - Don't Stop Too Soon
Tip No.11 - Be Very
Tip No.10 - Breaking Up
Tip No.9 - Working Well With Your Partner
Tip No.8 - Finding The Right Partner
Tip No.7 - How To Approach Agencies
Tip No.6 - Never-Seen-Before Footage
Tip No.5 - Dicketts' Finger
Tip No.4 - Two Blokes In The Pub
Tip No.3 - Play Family Fortunes
Tip No.2 - Should You Take A Bad Job?
Tip No.1 - Don't Overpolish

How Many Times Do I Have To Say This?

So we didn't have to wait long for reports claiming that Play-Doh Bunnies is "ripped-off" from an artist's work.



A 'wave of bunnies' by the same artist may even explain why there's a wave in the ad.


Now, I don't think the ad's that great.

But these accusations are just ridiculous.

For the last time - originality is not a moral issue, it's an effectiveness issue. The more original a piece of work is, the more effective it is, because it feels fresher. Just like how a joke is always funniest the first time you hear it. Now, as very very few people in the world have seen this artist's work, the idea absolutely feels fresh; there is NO problem here.

(N.B. there's one exception to this rule. You can rip off a short film, you can rip off a pop promo, but you don't rip off another man's ad. That is rude. Even if it did only run in Malaysia, in about 1974).

It's Here, But It's Not That Good

Maybe there was never a chance it could live up to the hype. Maybe it was actually harmed by the release of all that teaser material, which leaves you feeling like you've already seen the ad, really.

But the fact is that the new Sony Bravia ad with the Play-Doh bunnies is probably the weakest installment of the trilogy.

I did like the bit where the little bunny waited to cross the road. And it was very cool when the whale-tail turned into a giant rabbit.

But the waves and cubes didn't do much for me. Why take it beyond bunnies? One surreal twist is fine, but don't lay loads of them on me, because I get lost.

Also, the music is way too on the nose. It feels like they've done groups which told them 'consumers aren't getting that the ads are supposed to be about colour' so they've gone and found a 'colour song'.

Plus, I found that the people moving in stop-motion - in addition to the bunnies - was very distracting and somewhat lame. Shoulda rubbed them out in post, in my view.

Then again, what do I know? All I've done was a thing with watches falling from the sky, and people complained that was both irrelevant and dangerous. At least bunnies never hurt anyone.

How Much Difference Does A Good Director Make?

A lot.

That's what occurred to me, looking at the three new pieces of work that kindly readers and PR companies have forwarded to me today.

Have you seen the new Ladbrokes ad (below)? The strategy's not bad - "got an opinion on football? put your money where your mouth is" - though arguably a little convoluted, and the script is pretty fresh, with a cracking twist at the end. But the direction is excellent - the banter between the professional footballers feels amazingly natural, and that's what makes the spot.



Then there's this charming website for Virgin Trains. Everyone's jumping on the environmental bandwagon nowadays, and the idea of Britain's flora and fauna getting together to write a letter extolling the benefits of trains could have been hectoring and/or naff. However, the direction of the film is both deft and daft, and so the whole thing just works.

Finally, this ad promoting the Vancouver Film Festival. Admittedly, it's a great strategy - 'after 16 days of films, nothing will faze you' - but the direction (from the Perlorian brothers) is truly outstanding. Casting, performance, special effects, wardrobe, make-up... all the 'production' bits.... are first-class, and together they raise the work to another level.

That's what a good director can add.

The New Dove Ad

Okay, maybe not quite as good as Evolution. But very good nonetheless.

Some people are saying that Dove are hypocritical to slag off the beauty industry, and then sell... beauty products. I say that's rubbish. There's nothing wrong with moisturising creams and deodorants. But there's plenty wrong with the manipulation & lies some companies employ in selling them. All Dove are doing is pointing that out. Fair play to them.

How To Sell A Free Magazine

I don't know if where you live is the same, but London has recently been swamped by people thrusting free newspapers and magazines at me. The guy in this film is the MD of one such, and this film showcases his utterly toe-curling instructions to their 'agents' (mag-thrusters). Make sure you read the YouTube comments. They're priceless.

The Ad Blog Charts For September 2007

Here are the world's most popular ad blogs, as measured by traffic rankings from Alexa.

Top 25 Ad Blogs		(world
		ranking)
1     (1)	AdRants	30,171
2     (2)	Advertising/Design Goodness	53,828
3     (6)	Duncan's TV Ad Land	62,958	↑
4     (4)	Adverblog	69,591
5     (5)	AdFreak	75,466
6     (3)	Adverbox	83,833	↓
7   (10)	Copyranter	126,746
8     (7)	Ad Punch	129,038
9     (9)	Adland	132,908
10   (8)	Logic + Emotion	138,399
11   (11)	AdPulp	149,156
12   (12)	Coloribus	171,437
13   (17)	Experience Curve	248,130	↑
14   (13)	Jaffe Juice	270,084	↓
15   (14)	Twenty Four	285,642
16   (new)	Agency Spy	360,055
17   (16)	AdScam	385,524
18   (19)	BrandFlakes for Breakfast	426,704
19   (18)	Make The Logo Bigger	450,425
20   (22)	Advertising For Peanuts	466,269
21   (21)	Hee-Haw Marketing	466,418
22   (20)	AdArena	492,901	↓
23   (23)	American Copywriter	515,733
24   (15)	How Advertising Spoiled Me	526,330	↓
25   (24)	Beyond Madison Avenue	588,231

The rise of the 'ranter continues. Copyranter is now up to No.7. Done a shit ad? Find your flak jacket.

There are no UK blogs in the Top 25 at the moment. Sniff.

An ↑ means a blog's traffic has gone up by 15% or more in the past month, and a ↓ means it's gone down 15%.

Top 10 UK Ad Blogs		(world
		ranking)
1   (5)	Crackunit	591,486
2   (2)	Adliterate	630,419
3   (1)	Welcome To Optimism	637,916
4   (3)	Scamp	685,128
5   (6)	Faris	955,125	↓
6   (7)	Northern Planner	1.0m
7   (4)	FishNChimps	1.2m	↓
8   (9)	TV's Worst Adverts	1.4m
9   (10)	Living Brands	1.5m
10   (8)	Serendipity Book	1.6m

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new Number 1. After a 3-month reign at the top, the W&K London blog Welcome To Optimism has been unseated by Iain Tait's Crackunit. Where does Iain find all the amazing stuff he features? I don't know, but I'm glad that he does.

In other chart news, Daniel Mejia over at AdStructure has put together a useful ranking of the Top 27 ad bloggers aged 27 and under. Nice work, Daniel.

UK means UK-based. Ad blog means ad blogs not marketing blogs, so that excludes Gapingvoid. Although Paul Colman is now a planner at W&K, he doesn't class the wildly popular Life In The Middle as an ad blog and Russell Davies no longer blogs about advertising. He just writes about it in Campaign. Also, I'm only counting English language blogs.

If I've missed anyone out, please tell me and I'll put them in next month.

Lesbians Of Arizona - Bite Me

Internet dude Faris reports he is now top of the Google search results for the word 'Faris'.

Well, a year ago, I wasn't even on the first page of the Google results for 'Scamp'. In fact there were eleven other Scamp-themed websites ahead of me, including one for lesbians in Arizona.


Anyway, Faris inspired me to check again, and I was delighted to see I have now moved ahead of the sunbelt lady-lovers, and am up to fifth place.

The top-ranked Scamp is a site offering "A new frontier in communication for people with disabilities." I like to think mine does much the same.

The Stereotypical Creative

Make The Logo Bigger found this hilarious spot.

It mercilessly rips into a stereotypical Spanish ad creative, whose biggest nightmare is the cleaning lady wearing his trainers.

He also journeys to a mythical forest where adland's stereotypical characters live, including 'Smooth Shave Guy' and 'Three Mates On A Sofa'.

If you can stay the course to the end (it is in Spanish) you will even see an appearance from adland's most famous butler...

Tuesday Tip No.26 - Reject Rejection

A Creative Director was asked to train some Account Handlers. He had them spend the morning making a model airplane. Then at lunchtime he reviewed their work. He took each plane in his hand and crushed it to pieces. "That," he said, "is what it feels like to be a Creative."

This story probably isn't true, but it does illustrate one of the harder aspects of our job - daily rejection of our work.

There is no way around this problem, only better ways of dealing with it.

Here are 10 tips you might try. If one of them works for you, great. None of them work for me. I still get pissed as hell.

1. Our work is often autobiographical, so we take rejection of our work as rejection of ourselves. But this is bullshit. The team/client have no clue of your autobiographical inspiration, they're purely rejecting the pieces of paper they see in front of them. You're a valid person! It's just the work they have a problem with.

2. After each negative meeting or review, ensure you have some time alone with your partner to curse the account team/ client/ creative director to high heaven. Don't feel bad about doing this. It's essential.

3. After the slagging-off session, do not be tempted to begin a sulking session. Slagging-off clears your head. Like a sorbet. But sulking is bad, because you can get sucked down into a negative spiral. So don't sulk. Rant, clear your head, then get back to work. If you sulk, the terrorists win.

4. Okay, so they've said no to your idea. Bring it back later, when they're desperate...

5. Okay, so they've said no to your idea. But did they reject the whole thing, or is there one bit of it you can salvage?

6. Tell a trusted friend the idea. If the friend doesn't think it's much cop, then you realise you haven't lost much anyway. If the friend thinks it was brilliant, then you will get a lot of sympathy from him.

7. Focus on what you've learned from the rejection. So your CD was once bitten by an orang-utang and will not countenance any primate-based TV ads. That's a good learning.

8. It was a shit brief anyway. Now your work has been rejected they'll put another team on it. Great news! You're off the hook.

9. Remember, you can only be happy if the world recognises your genius. An ad that doesn't get bought, can never be recognised as genius. You need an ad that DOES get bought. Only that can make you happy. Or a little less unhappy, at least. So stop snivelling and get back to the layout pad.

10. Put your rejected work in the bottom drawer. A good idea never dies. It just sits there in limbo, like a soul waiting for the right body.


Tip No.25 - Look Creative
Tip No.24 - Don't Be Afraid To Ask
Tip No.23 - Your Idea Has To Be 120%
Tip No.22 - Read Iain's Tips
Tip No.21 - Don't Behave
Tip No.20 - How To Discuss Ideas
Tip No.19 - Read Hugh's Tips
Tip No.18 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part IV - How To Turn A Placement Into A Job
Tip No.17 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part III - How To Approach Agencies (re-print of Tip No. 7)
Tip No.16 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part II - How To Put A Book Together
Tip No. 15 - How To Get A Job In Advertising Part I - FAQ
Tip No. 14 - Make Friends With Traffic
Tip No. 13 - Get Reference
Tip No. 12 - Don't Stop Too Soon
Tip No.11 - Be Very
Tip No.10 - Breaking Up
Tip No.9 - Working Well With Your Partner
Tip No.8 - Finding The Right Partner
Tip No.7 - How To Approach Agencies
Tip No.6 - Never-Seen-Before Footage
Tip No.5 - Dicketts' Finger
Tip No.4 - Two Blokes In The Pub
Tip No.3 - Play Family Fortunes
Tip No.2 - Should You Take A Bad Job?
Tip No.1 - Don't Overpolish

Clip-Art Ad Men

Where's My Jetpack? has started a clip-art cartoon strip about agency life. This one made me laugh, in a self-pitying kind of way... (click on the image if you need to make it bigger)

Dude. What’s With The Girl Sitting On Your Lap?

This clip was posted on a wonderfully scrabulous site I've just discovered (thanks Paul) called Agency Spy.

It's an interview with one Harry Bernstein - aka Harry B - a Senior Art Director at Berlin Cameron United in New York. Watch it and find out why it elicited comments including: "What a douche", "Punkassbitch... way too old to be wearing his hat like dat", and "This guy is a triple douche."