People of the Now 6: Marlon.

Me: Marlon?
Marlon: Yeah mate. Like I said, I'm not a salesman, I'm a creative. What you see here? It's what you get. It's what we all get. What you gotta remember, blud, is what's actual is factual, and what you can see is what you feel, inside. I'm not selling you a t-shirt, right? Well I am selling you a t-shirt, but really I'm selling you an eye-den-ti-tee, right? This is the philosophy of my label. Ages 9-39. All you gotta do is place an order with me now, cash, upfront, and then I will call you and shi' is goin' daaahn. Be part of something big. The most important thing is, don't believe my hype.
Me: Gotcha.

You I Know I Love You Really, Dude

The master of causing controversy, as usual :)

Nike Be Transformed

How great are these? I wish I was a girl. And lived in the asia-pacific economic region.



Statement from Nike:
For women wanting to experience their own transformation Nikewomen.com also offers a unique training program- the Nike Training Club. With Nike Training Club, customizable training programs can be created to target key areas and maximize dynamic training such as core, strength and cardio. The customizable program can be shared and downloaded to an iPhone/iPod touch®.
That'll be Nike+, then.



An enabling message combined with arresting, imaginative visuals is alright by me, thanks. And it beats the UK comms' obsession with football...

(thanks AKQA)

Beating a dead meme How-To

No

Yes

You wouldn't perform an AWESOMELY SWEET BANK ROBBERY...

Really really sorry for the lack of updates, everyone (mum), but it's been a busy time at work and it turns out moving to Lambeth takes a lot more effort than I thought.

But I still had time to notice this on an old DVD I got for christmas:



There aren't many adverts that actually the binary opposite of what they're intended to do, but here is one. How did this happen?

Ring, ring.

Hello, Federation Against Copyright Theft, how may I help you?
O hai this is ur agency. You want an advert abt d0wnloading and haxx0ring amirite?
That's right. I don't really understand the magic of advertising but I suppose you'll want to highlight the problems of downloading and de-emphasise the benefits?
Lol! No. Ya know what wld be 100% sw33t?
Is it, "achieving the purpose of our comms"?
We could have liek fast-cut camera shots, whip pans, and a kickin' rad Matrix soundtrack so that everyone knows that downloading is like being in Snatch. Totally kewl.
Um...
...except even better cause you can't be hurt! And if we don't show the faces of the peeps who get stolen from then it looks like a victimless crime!
Yes, but that isn't...
Oh oh AND then cut to a girl downloading something, and the download bar is filling up in abt 5 seconds even though she's torrented about 3 gigs of Heroes. We can make illegal downloading look not just danger-free, but rly rly quick and easy!
O rly?
Ya rly. And then BAM! The strapline... wait for it... Piracy. It's a crime.
Wow. That is totally mindblowing. My mind is, like, blown. Thankyou, agency, have some more money! :D

I'm firing up bittorrent tonight, just out of spite.

Make us a good advert, please

Found this in a bin in Soho.

This is how you generate buzz, mate

Take a bow, Tourism Queensland. Fuck. You know the idea's special when you don't realise the damn thing's been sold to you until after you've bought it.

They're advertising for someone to take on 'the best job in the world'. They contend that this would consist of dicking about with the fishies and coral and generally having a good time around the Great Barrier Reef. Oh, but you do have to document it. A bit. Benefits include a million-quid beach house and respectable wage, to say the least.

"Hold on!" you cry, "this sounds like a prize, not a job!". Well, yeah, now that I read it back. But I didn't when I first saw it. I took it at face value (to my shame), because it was pitched so earnestly and well-toned. In the Vacancies section of the Metro. It's only when it reappeared as articles that I reconsidered.

Most people will have had more brains and spotted it for what it was, but there's still plenty going for this campaign:

-Its job angle seems strangely resonant considering the current employment situation.

-The idea that you actually do give something back to them adds a weight and sincerity to the proposition. It recognises the reality of the exchange - it is them who are looking for something from you.

-The uniqueness has allowed all the major press sites to pick up on it without feeling like they're prociding free publicity. Except that they are.

-It's a prize that pretty much anyone would want - and The Best Job In The World is pretty memorable. Punchy and confident.

I think this $1.7m campaign has the potential to work. It's based on a few sound insights and some cunning twists in the prize formula.

Apply at the sexual-practice-like http://www.islandreefjob.com/, and this could be your office.

Mate.

Well? Do ya?

So the 'Advanced Medical Institute' is ignoring the ASA's ruling that it must pull out early, with regard to the Longer Lasting Sex poster campaign. And this on the same week that Virgin Atlantic is applauded by others for its testostofest 25th anniversary campaign. Why is sex seen as a bit of harmless fun in some cases, degrading to our fragile minds in others? If anything, Virgin has offered a more graphic treatment of sex, while it is the AMI that have resorted to the abstraction of language:

The ASA is, in fact, slamming the ad for promoting a prescription product, which is undisputedly against guidelines. But can we believe that this has absolutely nothing to do with the 450 complaints received on grounds of taste? Personally, well done them for capturing attention (though using the word 'sex' is a bit of a gimmie), shame its a miss-sell. The controversy, if it can be fanned into a scandal, might generate even more notice. Whether you think that's a job well done is probably down to what you think advertising is for.

People of the Now 5 - Uno

On the train home yesterday, there is a man reading a book entitled Plane Flight, a couple of seats away. I put down my copy of American Psycho and look up...

Me: Can you... fly planes?

Uno: Mmhmm. Small ones only. You need a special license for each size though.

M: That's... so cool. Living out a childhood dream.

U: Well, and I'm an engineering student so I have that to fall back on.

M: Wow... I just do marketing and ads and stuff. I kinda wanted to be a journalist at one point.

U: You seem a bit like a paparazzi!

M: If only. Being a pap would be pretty good. I was told when I was very young that getting into journalism was next to impossible, so...

U: Ah but that was other people's experience. If you only rely on other people's experience you can never know if you were able to do it. Abraham Lincoln said, "Failure is not a signal to give up. It is a signal to try again".

M: Right on! You never know, huh? I might be a paparazzi one day yet.

U: It's funny you should say that. You know Alexandra from the last Big Brother?

M: Uhm. Yes?

U: I got through to the end.. but my police check didn't come through in time. She was my stand-in.

M: Oh what?

U: Yeah well, you know. I'm gonna apply next year.

M: Can they... fast-track you or something?

U: They said not.

M: Bastards. Don't give up.

[heavily edited]

Well, shut my mouth.

Ignore the below post, just go to http://smallbears.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-we-wish-to-start-2009.html

Humbled.