The Sell! Sell! Blog

It's a Sign

2012-02-02T14:15:00.000Z

Bill Bernbach Said #49

2012-01-31T12:37:00.000Z

“Maybe we’re getting bogged down in too much detail. Maybe our advertising ideas are being ground up in that multi-level American efficiency machine.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Kempfolds

2012-01-30T13:21:00.000Z

Brighten up your Monday with a visit to Kempfolds. A dedicated blog to the art of folding Ross Kemp's face. You can see plenty more here [Thanks for sharing, Rich].

Sell! Sell! Goes On The Road

2012-01-25T17:54:00.001Z

Sell! Sell! operative and man-about-town Ryan spent last Friday on an expedition to the frozen north (well Carlisle) to spread the good word to the students of the Graphic Design and Illustration (GRILLUST) courses at The University of Cumbria (where he was once a student himself dontchaknow). You can read an account from the receiving end, on the GRILLUST blog, here.

What an attractive lot.

"Don't be a dick" - solid career advice.

Bill Bernbach Said #48

2012-01-23T19:37:00.000Z

Number 48 in our Bernbach series...

“Getting a product known isn’t the answer. Getting it WANTED is the answer. Some of the best known product names have failed.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Does Working Longer And Harder Really Lead To Better Work?

2012-01-20T18:38:00.001Z

A theory persists in ad agencies that to do the best work, you have to work longer and harder than other people. So the pressure is often on for creatives to burn the midnight oil, work weekends and generally spend all of their waking hours at the coal face.

It's not the case everywhere, one agency that I worked at for a bit had a definite lean towards not encouraging people to work through lunch or late (and they had a good creative reputation at the time). That said though, they once forced us to go in on a Saturday for no particular reason, which didn't go down well. But there are those places around town that have a reputation for making people work long hours and weekends. And some of these do have good creative reputations. Do the two things go hand-in-hand?

I don't think so. Okay, I do know genuinely good people who are in the habit of working long and hard. But I've also known plenty of people who worked really long hours who never came up with anything great. Then there are the ones who never seem to be around, or working, but who always come up with something great. (We'll ignore the very last category - those who don't work long and hard, and don't come up up with anything good - because they don't last very long anyway.)

I don't see any definite correlation between hours spent and the quality of the work. Over here we take coming up with creative ideas very, very seriously, seriously enough to know not to take it too seriously.

If you push people too hard, too long, it has the opposite to the desired effect. People think differently (not in a good way) when put under too much pressure, or worked too hard. You are more focused on doing something than on allowing yourself to find things. It narrows the mind.

I think you need a freewheeling, uninhibited mind to come up with good stuff. Sometimes you have to really work hard through something, really apply yourself. But equally it can mean allowing yourself the freedom to get away from the desk.

We like to keep it relaxed and fun at Sell! Towers, and we don't want people staying late or working weekends (we've only worked one weekend day in six years). I'd rather a brief was in someone's mind while they were getting on with enjoying and experiencing life, than forcing them to sit in a room all weekend trying to crack it. I'm certain it's not the only way of getting great stuff, but it works out well for us, and I believe in it way more than the battery hen, beating-with-a-stick approach.

I'm interested to know what you think though, dear reader. Does more pressure and longer hours work out better for you? Do you think great work is linked to working longer and harder?

Have a great weekend!

Hydraulic Fracking

2012-01-18T19:32:00.000Z

This use of a long, scrolling website as a moving infographic is really smart. It's aim is to tell the story and highlight the dangers of fracking, which it does in a very simple, clean, easy to use way - all you have to do is scroll. I love the art direction too. The site was designed and coded by Linda Dong. You can see it here.

Hello.

2012-01-18T09:59:00.001Z

It's a miserable, grey morning. This might help brighten it up, a little.

VIA ILOVENEWWORK

Happy Monday

2012-01-16T17:49:00.002Z

Today is, according to a million PR releases, Blue Monday. Supposedly the most depressing day of the year. Oh yeah? Well fuck you Blue Monday, have a piece of this:

And this:

First New Yorker Covers

2012-01-13T11:49:00.000Z

The New Yorker was launched back in 1925. An 87 year track record of creating iconic covers ain't bad. Here are the first five issues off the block. You can feast your eyes on thousands more at this excellent archive at Cover Browser

Peter the Signwriter of Spitalfields

2012-01-12T11:03:00.001Z

There's a cracking 2 part article over on Spitalfields Life, here & here about Peter Hardwicke, one of London's last signwriters. If you've been down Columbia Road or around Brick Lane recently you'll no doubt have seen his work adorning many of the independent shops. It's great to read that there's a real demand for his craft in London at the minute, we can't help but think Britain’s soulless High Streets would be a lot more attractive if they had some of his timeless signwriting to brighten them up.

You can check out more of Peter's work on the flickr.

VIA SPITALFIELDS LIFE

Bill Bernbach Said #47

2012-01-10T11:13:00.001Z

Number 47 in our Bernbach series...

“You cannot sell a man who isn’t listening.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

29 Ways To Stay Creative

2012-01-09T12:31:00.003Z

Good advice from Ed Hall. Original here. (Edit: It was inspired by this poster here)

Eve Arnold 1912-2012

2012-01-06T10:15:00.001Z

The Guardian has collected together some of the late Eve Arnold's most iconic images. Feast your eyes on more here.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T18:28:00.002Z

Happy Cat wishes you a happy new year.

And so do we.

We hope you have a cracking 2012.

May it bring you laughter and success.

Yuletide Seasonal Thingamajigs From Sell! Sell!

2011-12-23T01:06:00.000Z

The holiday season is upon us, so we’re signing off until after new year. Thanks for reading, and sharing your thoughts and opinions on the blog this year - we hope you'll join us again in 2012. It's fair to say that 2011 was particularly kind to us here at Sell! Towers, due in no small part to a lot of hard work. Looking back, it has probably been our best year in terms of creative work (which is, after all, why we do it in the first place) which sets a bar for us to try to exceed next year, at least. A huge thanks to everyone who has helped us and worked with us this year to make it all happen. Have a cracking Christmas, and all the best for 2012. Cheers!

[Thanks to Delicious Industries for the Christmas image]

Thierry Le Gouès

2011-12-20T10:26:00.000Z

Photographer Thierry Le Gouès has a great collection of work.

We particularly like the high contract, dark & moody 'Soul' set below.

George Fucking Lois At Offset

2011-12-16T12:03:00.001Z

George Lois is fucking great isn't he? He makes me want to fucking swear in every fucking sentence for a fucking start. If the ad business had more fucking people like George in it these fucking days, rather than being run by fucking suits and accountants, it would be in less of a fucking state. This is a fucking brilliant lecture he gave at fucking Offset. Normally I fucking hate these conference/festival/talk-a-thon bullshit things. But. George is fucking great. Have a fucking great fucking Friday. George, we fucking love you.

Water Water Everywhere

2011-12-15T16:05:00.006Z

Ben Kay has made this ad for his campaign against bottle water, with help from various talented and generous-spirited people. It's a great example of proper advertising craft putting across a simple message. The kind of work that's under-celebrated and underrated, in favour of the look at me creadivvidee that is popular these days. Anyway, watch it, then go to the website. I makes me need to pee though. Just saying.

A Taste Of The Extraordinary: Our First Work For Drambuie

2011-12-10T01:11:00.002Z

A couple of months ago we started working with Drambuie. The aim - to introduce a new generation of people to this unique drink. For a lot of people, Drambuie is a vague memory that lives at the back of their parents' (or grandparents') drinks cabinet, brought out once a year at Christmas. Or worse still, they haven't heard of it at all.

The new campaign will be rolling out across Drambuie's markets around the world next year, but London is getting a bit of a sneak preview over the next few weeks with this new print work.

The idea behind A Taste Of The Extraordinary is to bring to life the thing that makes Drambuie unique - its taste. It's still made to a secret recipe, taking a selection of malt whiskies from Speyside and the Highlands and blending them with spices, heather honey and herbs. But obviously with this being the world of premium alcoholic drinks, it's about much more than pure tangible product points - imbuing it with a sense of mystery and desirability is vital to get people to even consider it.

There are so many pragmatic and logical campaigns out there these days, so we wanted to make A Taste Of The Extraordinary a little more esoteric, explain a little less and intrigue a little more. Inspired by the vast history of surreal art, photography and film, we set out to create images that reflect Drambuie's taste.

To bring the ideas to life, we went to photographer John Ross, famous for his iconic record covers for Spiritualized, The Pet Shop Boys and Manic Street Preachers (among others) and known for his technical skill and creativity.

To achieve the timeless quality we wanted in the images, we decided to shoot on large format film rather than digital. It was quite difficult for John's team to even locate enough film for the shoot - it's amazing to think of the extent to which the world has completely moved over to digital, especially over the last couple of years.

The sets for the shots were built by model-maker. The black and white parquet floor alone took seven days to build from 6000 pieces hardwood. The walls were cast in white concrete, deliberately left with an imperfect finish.

To create the atmospheric feel, and the amazing shadows with the light cast of the liquid running through, each shot was taken four different ways. Once for the bottle itself, once for the black part of the shadow, then to create the light cast, and finally set up for the right effect on the white wall and floor.

The man in the images was shot (again on film) with lighting to match the sets, in John's second studio. Then the bottles and glasses were shot separately on matching film, with the same light effects, but with added light from the behind them, to create the perfect, luminous colour of the liquid.

The work was painstaking, but necessary to create the right effect. We also shot everything digitally as we went along, for reference to check that the film elements would combine in the right way when printed. The different versions of the images were expertly scanned and blended together by very clever post guys. Again, it required a lot of expert and time-consuming work to pull though the right parts of each shot to create the finished effect.

A huge thanks to Helen, John, Tony, Shin, Yumi, Juliet and Lesley for all their help and hard work and for going the extra mile to make it happen, and to the guys at Drambuie for seeing the potential in the idea in the first place, and for matching our ambition for the realisation of it.

RGB Transition

2011-12-08T10:28:00.000Z

A video image consists of three primary components - red, green and blue. For this work each component channel was fed a differently timed sequence of 50 common video transitions. As the three components recombine to create a video image; constantly changing forms and colours are revealed.

Made by Timothy Evans in collaboration with Daniel Eatock

Swiped via Rubbishcorp.

Old School Computer Remixes

2011-12-07T13:14:00.000Z

These are great, classic tunes played using old pieces of technology. Via Ye Olde Rubbishcorp.

Constructivist Film Posters

2011-12-07T12:07:00.001Z

Fantastic graphic film posters. Found over on Art-O-Mart.

New Work For Fentimans

2011-12-06T12:45:00.001Z

Things have been pretty busy around here for the past few months, so we haven't kept the blog updated with new work as much as we'd like. Over the next few days we're going to post up some of the things that have been keeping us busy. Starting with Fentimans.

If you're our regular reader, you've probably seen most of our previous work for Fentimans, the smashing, family-owned botanical brewers (and our longest standing client). Over the last few months we've been doing a series of small space print advertisements for them, in the signature irreverent Fentimans style. As always, trying to make a little go a long way in terms of bang for their buck. Here are a couple of examples:

We also produced this ad specifically to go the back page of The Chap:

And this new Furtling beer mat for Fentimans Dandelion & Burdock, illustrated by Steve Noble:

Bill Bernbach Said #46

2011-12-05T14:44:00.000Z

Number 46 in our Bernbach series...

“Word of mouth is the best medium of all.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Fifty Years Of Progress In Advertising

2011-12-02T15:49:00.000Z

Possibly The Most Dense Email We’ve Ever Received

2011-12-01T12:58:00.001Z

It's up against some stiff competition, but this email makes the "I'm an African Prince looking to deposit 5m US Dollars into your account" type emails look like small gems of genius.

Bill Bernbach Said #45

2011-12-01T12:38:00.000Z

Number 45 in our Bernbach series...

“It took millions of years for man’s instincts to develop. It will take millions more for them to even vary. It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man, with his obsessive drive to survive, to be admired, to succeed, to love, to take care of his own.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

The Quiet Persuader

2011-11-28T12:00:00.002Z

BBC4 All America is a showcase of BBC archive programmes exploring society in the US. As part of the collection they've uploaded the series 'Inside America' profiling 13 American citizens & their professions. One of which is a cracking half hour programme looking at New York Ad executive Steve Frankfurt working at Y&R around 1965. It's a fascinating look into the life of a real Mad Man, who could've been Don Draper.

You can read up on Steve's career over at the Art Directors Club.

Old Jews Telling Jokes

2011-11-25T15:14:00.004Z

Brilliant idea, superbly executed, and very funny. See loads more here. Thank you world for this.

Bill Bernbach Said #44

2011-11-25T11:45:00.000Z

Number 44 in our Bernbach series...

“More and more I have come to the conclusion that a principle isn’t a principle until it costs you money.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Advertising 2011

2011-11-23T12:02:00.000Z

Advertising Works: A Case Study

2011-11-22T14:01:00.001Z

What? Lasagne Poster Campaign. When? This lunchtime. Result? Man immediately goes to buy lasagne. Call the IPA effectiveness awards.

New Barnardo's Ad

2011-11-22T10:32:00.000Z

I'm not normally a fan of Barnardo's advertising. Their previous work has tended to be unremittingly bleak and always seemed more concerned with generating column inches and troubling awards juries.
This new spot, however, is excellent and made me think differently about Barnardo's and the role they play in helping vulnerable children. It completely stood out like a sore thumb in the break that I was watching and stopped me in my tracks.
They have managed to sensitively incorporate a positive message of hope and transformation into this commercial without losing an edge or making it sentimental or unbelievable. It's brilliantly cast, very well acted and directed, tightly edited and the end result is that you come out thinking that Barnardo's really does make a difference and helps children to turn their lives around. This sort of creative approach could have been a disaster in the wrong hands but cloth caps doffed to everyone involved for pulling out all the stops with the execution. Hope it really does the business for them.

Bill Bernbach Said #43

2011-11-21T13:41:00.002Z

Number 43 in our Bernbach series...

“The difference between the forgettable and the endurable is artistry.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

NASA Time Lapse View of Earth From Space

2011-11-17T11:14:00.001Z

Amazing time lapse film of Earth as seen from space.

1000km

2011-11-15T11:36:00.000Z

A selection of motor racing shots taken by Atelier Olschinsky for Nevertheless Magazine of the 1000KM Red Bull Ring race circuit. The lighting on them gives them a lovely feel, takes us back to another age of motor racing. There's a few more over on there behance folio as well.

A Distant Church Bell Tolls...

2011-11-10T10:17:00.004Z

Wind whistles though long grass. A lonely tumbleweed skitters across the road. Or something like that. Yep it's been awfully quiet on the Sell! Sell! Blog for the last few days, hasn't it? Well, as one of our clients observed a couple of weeks ago, Sell! Sell! is like the proverbial swan; on the surface - serene, underneath, all hell is breaking loose. Or in our case, we've been deep in the business end of production and development of some interesting projects. We hope to share them with you sometime soon.

WARHOL IS HERE at The De La Warr

2011-11-01T11:17:00.002Z

At the weekend I popped along to the fantastic De La Warr Pavillion at Bexhill on Sea to have a look at the Warhol exhibition they're holding. They've pulled together an impressive collection of his work, from his early drawings and prints, through to some of his most iconic and best-known pieces. A full set of Chairman Maos across one wall was great, as was the room full of his posters and commercial work. Being an ad-bastard, the giant print of his Absolut ad artwork was good to see in there. Upstairs is a whole gallery papered in his cow print, with huge prints of his camouflage and the dollar sign (below) (it's hard to tell from the grainy camera phone photo, but that print is six feet tall). All in all, well worth the visit, and in a beautiful building too.

Private Eye at the V&A

2011-10-28T12:27:00.000+01:00

I'm a huge fan of Private Eye. I like pretty much everything about it, its daring attitude, two fingers to the establishment. The fact that no one is sacred or untouchable. And I love that it's all still packaged in quite a lo-fi sort of way. I really like the way the Private Eye covers are put together - always very funny or pithy or bluntly to the point, but always very simply - a photo with a speech bubble or a quick and dirty photo comp. I think that visceral, very bare way of putting across points or thoughts of jokes is something that advertising people sometimes forget to do. Everything is so slickly put together or crafted to within an inch of its life. Sometimes that squeezes the energy out of the original thought.

Anyway, not surprisingly, when I heard they were having an exhibition at the V&A to celebrate the 50th birthday of the magazine, I had to pop along to see for myself. If you're a fan of the Eye it's well worth a visit, just to see the collection of classic covers chosen by Ian Hislop. But also there's also a fantastic display of original cartoon and illustration artwork by the likes of Willie Rushton, Ralph Steadman and Gerald Scarfe. It's really great to see them in the flesh, with all of their corrections and redraws. Also there's a mock-up of the old production table with original paste-up artwork, and a recreation of the editor's office.

Thyme on your hands?

2011-10-25T12:11:00.000+01:00

Trips to the supermarket are never going to be the same again.
Lots more naughty words over here.

'Engagement' Dissected

2011-10-20T10:29:00.000+01:00

Engagement has become one of those fashionable bullshit terms that people spout to try to sound current or interesting. Often these same halfwits proclaim the end of interruptive advertising as an effective way of marketing. 'Engagement': Fashionable Yet Bankrupt by Martin Weigel, Head of Planning at Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam is the most thorough and well-researched and dissection of the claims of the engagement bullshitters that I've read. Well worth a read if you are so inclined.

Found via Bob.

Confessions of a (Thoroughly) Mad Man

2011-10-19T17:04:00.000+01:00

One of my moany old complaints about the current ad business is that it seems so damn safe, corporate and vanilla for a so-called creative industry. Where are the mavericks willing to stick their necks out, or the companies daring to be a bit different? No doubt edged out by the normal Nigels who are just desperate to climb the corporate ladder, or to do the right work to win the right award.

This is one of the reasons why I enjoyed George Parker’s new book Confessions of a Mad Man. In it George tells us the story of his career in this God-forsaken business, punctuated by boozed-filled anecdotes and funny asides. It’s a window back into a time when the advertising business seemed to have more characters, and on the surface of it, more fun. Whilst in the middle of it all - doing work that had more of a point to it. Maybe that's because it was a less grown-up business back then? Who knows? Not me.

Anyway, if you haven’t read it yet, it’s well worth it – you can get it here. And if you don't already read George’s piss and vinegar blog Adscam, it’s right here.

Bill Bernbach Said #42

2011-10-17T16:36:00.000+01:00

Number 42 in our Bernbach series...

“To keep your ads fresh you’ve got to keep yourself fresh. Live in the current idiom and you will create in it. If you follow and enjoy and are excited by the new trails in art, in writing, in industry, in personal relationships ... whatever you do will naturally be of today.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

New York in 1941

2011-10-14T15:35:00.000+01:00

A small selection of shots from the Charles W. Cushman Photograph collection. These are all from New York, some from the 1940s and some from the 1960s. It's an amazing collection of photography, theres some great shots of London in the 60s as well.

Here's To The Crazy Ones

2011-10-07T11:12:00.001+01:00

Bob Hoffman On Postcoherent Advertising

2011-10-05T11:00:00.001+01:00

Have a read of this great post from Bob Hoffman. A small snippet to whet your appetite: “The primary characteristics of postcoherent advertising is that it assumes... we already know what the product is, or what it's for, or how it works, or why it's better, or why we need it”.

Wacky Packaging. It's Wackaging.

2011-09-30T12:35:00.005+01:00

Our good friend Jim sent us a link to this blog, Wackaging. It's dedicated to sharing those increasingly lame attempts by some companies to be cute and wacky on their packaging. Of course, having a tone of voice for your brand is important, and communicating things in engaging, funny, human ways can be lovely. But there's fine line between that and just being a bit annoying, and clearly the people behind the blog are finding a lot of it to be the latter. But, if it was easy to get right, no one would need good copywriters, right? To be fair, I think that Innocent tend to get it spot on, it's the host of me-too brands trying to jump on the happy-clappy bandwagon that probably are making it feel a bit tedious. Have a look and see what you think.

Article from yesterday's Times T2

Coffee Made Me Do It

2011-09-27T12:24:00.000+01:00

Beautiful hand lettering from Simon Ålander.

Bill Bernbach Said #41

2011-09-26T16:31:00.000+01:00

Number 41 Bernbach series...

“To succeed an ad (or a person or product for that matter) must establish its own unique personality, or it will never be noticed.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Iconatomy by George Chamoun

2011-09-22T12:00:00.001+01:00

Iconatomy is an interesting project by George Chamoun, who takes photographs of contemporary movie stars, and splices them together with photographs of movie stars from the past. From George: The pictures are not morphed in any way. What you see is a collage of two different people in each picture. Did it take me a long time to find the right pictures? Hell yes it did!

Scarlett Johansson / Marilyn Monroe

George Clooney / Cary Grant

Natalie Portman / Audrey Hepburn

Robert Pattinson / James Dean

Angelina Jolie / Elizabeth Taylor

Mania Of The Geek?

2011-09-21T15:43:00.001+01:00

Our old friend Nathan (aka Rubbishcorp) is doing this Creative Social thing over at Mother in a couple of weeks. Despite the the fact that the literature (below) contains the very pinnacle of the latest uber-wank words; Social and Curated, we reckon it'll be very good. Not least because Nathan has always been obsessed with computer games. More information and a link to get tickets here. I am so convinced that I've already bought a ticket. Which means that if you get one too, we can hurl abuse at each other in person, rather than through the comments section of this blog. Happy days!

Alaska Airlines Compilation

2011-09-16T17:15:00.002+01:00

Here at Sell! Sell! we're big fans of long running advertising campaigns that manage to stay fresh over time. As we've said many a time before, it's simultaneously mind-boggling and depressing how often agencies and clients get bored with an idea long before the public ever do.

I think the original Alaska Airlines stuff came out in the early '80's and I think the great Joe Sedelmaier was involved in the early days. Here's just a tip of the iceberg selection of ads from yesteryear and yesterdecade that prove the point that as long as you've got something interesting and differentiating to say about the product you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you come to write a new ad.

At the heart of it all is a brutally simple proposition of a low fares airlines focused on great customer service. And all done in a charming, irreverent and entertaining way.

Fashion Is Power - Stylist Covers

2011-09-15T17:29:00.002+01:00

This weeks special edition Stylist covers are great. We love strong editorial design and cover design, but it seems that the art of the magazine cover generally has fallen victim to commercial pressures and a by-the-numbers approach. You still see good work on niche publications, but it's fantastic to see a magazine as mass as Stylist doing these really strong, graphic covers. Stylist have always had very strong design and photography, I wonder if it's partly because they don't have the pressure of selling off the shelf that paid-for magazines have? Hats-off to them regardless. Shot by Jonty Davies and styled by Alexandra Fullerton, the model is (obviously) Alek Wek, the photography director was Tom Gormer. Images via Coverjunkie.

Sinking Furniture by Alexander Kent

2011-09-14T14:18:00.001+01:00

Alexander Kent produces strong, crisp still lifes and bold studio shots. Like this fun sinking furniture series...

We Are Here...

2011-09-09T14:48:00.001+01:00

Somehow Campaign managed to miss The Advertising Industry’s Naughty Stepchild (that's us, by the way) off their map of Silicon Roundabout in this weeks issue. I know! How did that happen you're asking yourself? I blame the printers myself. No harm done, we’ve simply provided an updated map with Sell! Towers included for your pleasure. Our life-sized Andy Palmer action figure marks the spot...

London Bus Tour

2011-09-08T08:30:00.000+01:00

Great little video of London shot entirely from a bus by Moritz Oberholzer

My Favourite Writing #8: George Parker

2011-09-06T13:25:00.000+01:00

As our regular reader will know, it’s our belief that regardless of strategy, creativity and the creative crafts ultimately make the difference between great advertising and not-so-great advertising. And none more so than great writing. Regardless of media or technology, great writing is still the most powerful tool available to the marketer and advertiser. So we've been asking people whose opinions we respect to tell us their favourite three pieces of advertising writing. And thankfully most of them didn't tell us to fuck off. We’re running them as an irregular series. Today's is number eight, with selections from the inimitable ad-man, mad-mad and author of books George Parker (George has a new book out, more on that at the bottom of the post)...

“Having been around since Genghis Kahn invented the USP, I’ve worked on both sides of the pond on thousands of accounts at hundreds of BDA’s, and fortunately a couple of little, tasty ones. Consequently, I’ve seen millions of ads. The vast majority were shit. Here are three that truly stand out.

1 — Johnny Walker. The Man Who Walked Around the World.
I’ve always been a believer that great advertising grows out of the product. This film (No, it’s not a 30 sec spot, but if I say it’s an ad, it’s a fucking ad) nearly six minutes in a single take, with the incomparable Robert Carlisle, IS the product. The history, the character, the ambience. It’s enough to make me almost give up gin.

2 — Nokia. Gulp.
The ad is shot WITH the product… A bloody phone. Brilliant. Talk about a product demo. Beats the shit out of housewives scrubbing floors. What’s really clever is if you watch “The Making of Gulp.” (HERE) You realize that W+K got the entire student population of Britain working for fuck all. Neil Christie is a genius. Then as soon as it was made. The client fired them. That’s why advertising is the world’s dumbest fucking business.

3 — Volkswagen “Snow Plough.”
When you ask people what’s the best commercial ever made, they all say 1984. No, I say… That was the most famous spot ever made. In fact it was written by my good mate Steve Haydon, and it made Ridley Scott enough money to hire David Putnam as a tea boy. But in my humble opinion… This DDB classic from the sixties, sums up what great communication in advertising is all about.

Ads like this make the light bulb go on in the viewers head. In comparison, all the car stuff out there now is shit, because in spite of the millions spent on it… It’s still shit.

THAT'S IT”

Thanks George. Now go and read George's new book Confessions of a Mad Man (you can buy it here on Amazon). I've been reading it for the last few days, it's an entertaining look back at a time when advertising was a lot more rock and roll, from a guy who was actually there (which begs the obvious question how does he remember?). I'll post up more when I've finished it, but in the meantime, as I'm sure George would say himself: just fucking buy it.

Past MFWs:
My Favourite Writing #1: Mark Denton
My Favourite Writing #2: Drayton Bird
My Favourite Writing #3: Ben Kay
My Favourite Writing #4: Dave Trott
My Favourite Writing #5: Vinny Warren
My Favourite Writing #6: John Allison
My Favourite Writing #7: Stuart Harkness

The Butterfield Diet

2011-09-06T11:12:00.000+01:00

Classic Serafinowicz.
Everyone at Sell! Sell! is now on this diet after watching this [Thanks for the link, Rich].

More Friday Classics

2011-09-02T12:56:00.000+01:00

More advertising from a time when advertising was about selling stuff. What? Oh...

The Family - Jocelyn Bain Hogg

2011-09-01T12:41:00.003+01:00

Jocelyn Bain Hogg's new project The Family is being featured at the Visa Pour l’Image photojournalism festival. Jocelyn has documented the British underworld for years with his stunning candid photographs. There’s a good write up here on the New York Times Lens blog.

A few years back we were lucky enough to work with Jocelyn, he shot a campaign with us to promote the first Scottish Ikea store opening in Glasgow - shooting genuine Glaswegian hard-men...

Bill Bernbach Said #40

2011-08-31T17:42:00.002+01:00

Our Bernbach series is forty. You will find it in a bar wondering where the last decade went, whilst browsing auto trader for a used sports car...

“There are few things more destructive than an unsound idea persuasively expressed.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Facebook... From The Seventies

2011-08-30T12:36:00.003+01:00

Vic & Bob do Facebook in the 70s...

Friday Classics

2011-08-26T14:59:00.001+01:00

Some TV commercials of yore, when ads actually attempted to impart something of consequence to their potential customer...

Please Use The Seats As A Footrest

2011-08-25T10:13:00.002+01:00

A good pictogram should clearly communicate its meaning if the viewer can't read the text that goes with it. Not like this.

Bill Bernbach Said #39

2011-08-22T18:43:00.000+01:00

Number 39 in our Bernbach series...

“Be provocative. But be sure your provocativeness stems from your product. You are NOT right if in your ad you stand a man on his head JUST to get attention. You ARE right if you have him on his head to show how your product keeps things from falling out of his pockets.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

One Minute Physics: Dark Matter

2011-08-18T18:22:00.000+01:00

These Minute Physics films are a great idea. But my head is still spinning after most of them. Try this one on for size, it's about dark matter...

Advertising Greatness #3: ABSOLUT

2011-08-17T19:38:00.001+01:00

We haven’t done one of these for a while, so we thought we'd make it a good one. Absolut. An iconic campaign that did that rare thing: it stopped being just an ad campaign and became a part of culture.

In a similar way that The Economist did with the billboard poster, the Absolut campaign devoted itself to being brilliant in one media. In this case, print. That single-mindedness is something that you rarely see today. Maybe that's one reason why we rarely see the utterly brilliant these days? Too many campaigns trying to be too many different things in too many media?

Images from Absolutad.com, where you can see a massive collection of Absolut ads.

The New Copy Book. The D&AD Done Good.

2011-08-16T11:41:00.001+01:00

I give the D&AD a fair amount of stick, for what I think are the right reasons (Branding 2.0? Rilly?). But this post is to praise them heartily for something. The new Copy Book.

I remember poring over the original one for hours and hours on end in previous agencies, and I've been trying to get hold of a copy for Sell! Towers for quite a while.

It has a great cover design by Paul Belford and This Is Real Art, and contains the most comprehensive collection of great advertising writing that you'll find anywhere. For all writers, a must. For young writers, especially so. And for anyone who is involved in the commissioning or creating of advertising it really is worthy of your time.

Nice one D&AD.

More on great ad writing:
My Favourite Writing
Simple Is Good
We're Not Poets, We Are Salesmen
Wisdom On Writing By The Great Drayton Bird
This Is The Truth About Advertising Blog Readers

Bill Bernbach Said #38

2011-08-15T18:14:00.000+01:00

For a very special someone out there (you know who you are): number 38 in our Bernbach series...

“Today’s smartest advertising style is tomorrow’s corn.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

How Much Can You Trust A Man With A Beard?

2011-08-08T12:57:00.002+01:00

With the wearing of facial hair returning to popularity, is it enough to get by on the old adage never trust a man with a beard? This infographic by Matt McInerney might help (see the full piece here).

Bill Bernbach Said #37

2011-08-05T12:23:00.000+01:00

Number 37 in our Bernbach series...

“We are so busy measuring public opinion that we forget we can mold it. We are so busy listening to statistics we forget we can create them.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

My Favourite Writing #7: Stuart Harkness

2011-08-03T11:24:00.001+01:00

2 – Sunday Sport – Hide and Seek Champ Found Dead in Cupboard.
Newspapers are the original headline writers. Selling their grubby wares from the shelves. Grabbing your eye. Listening to your voicemails. The infamous Sunday Sport sought to carve its own bizarre niche with far-fetched yarns splashed across the front page. WW2 Bomber Found On Moon is the probably the most noted example but the World Hide and Seek Champ Found Dead in Cupboard line still tickles me. I used to have it pinned up on the wall of my old office and whenever got work shredded had a quick squizz. Never failed to bring a smile to my face. Yes, it’s absurd. Totally inane. But that’s why I love it. Plus again it paints a picture. Of a man counting to his death in an airtight wardrobe. Brilliant.

3 – PlayStation and The Big Issue

I started out working at TBWA years ago when the place was banging out brilliant press and telly. The Double Life PlayStation spot written by Ed and James is driven by a great set of words. I still get goose bumps watching it.

Nigel and Paul were also resident at the time. And set the bar in terms of both writing and art direction. Roberts’ work on the Big Issue is a great example of powerful copy that pulls no punches. Yes it’s long. But fuck it’s tight.

4 – Nike - There is no Finish Line

Running sucks when you’re six foot six and weigh seventeen stone. Give me a football and I’ll play for 90 minutes. But the thought of pounding paving slabs brings me out in shin splints. Yet this makes me want to take to the streets like Rocky in Philly. To run up steps. And scream at the top of my voice. It is the challenge attached? Or the eternal nature of it? Forward facing. Perpetual. Amid a state of solace. Constantly pushing yourself to do better. A bit like writing ads if you still believe in craft. I sometimes look at the writing our Portland office has output over the years on Nike and feel inspired. Those pesky Yanks can write the tube socks off stuff. I doff my invisible baseball cap.

5 – Dos Equis – The Most Interesting Man in the World

On the theme of great writing from across the pond the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man In The World Campaign is a well crafted sum of its parts. ‘His charm is so contagious vaccines have been created for it.’ ‘His organ donor card also lists his beard’ ‘He once had an awkward moment just to see how it feels.’ Amazing. Even if it is a bit Chuck Norris. The thing is you can tell someone is clearly enjoying coming up with these. Pissing their pants as they put pen to paper. Not in an incontinent manner. But cracking up reading lines out in a suitably pompous voice. Finding the funny vein and then draining comedy gold out of every single artery. ‘Stay Thirsty My Friends.’”

Thanks Stuart.

My Favourite Writing #1: Mark Denton
My Favourite Writing #2: Drayton Bird
My Favourite Writing #3: Ben Kay
My Favourite Writing #4: Dave Trott
My Favourite Writing #5: Vinny Warren
My Favourite Writing #6: John Allison

Essential Accessories For The Discerning Chap

2011-07-29T12:21:00.008+01:00

Our latest ad for Fentimans, written specifically to run in The Chap magazine unearths some of the more interesting accoutrements available to the turn-of-the-century gentleman.

Neon Film Posters

2011-07-27T17:38:00.002+01:00

Mr. Whaite makes neon film posters. And we love 'em. Here's a few faves.

Indigo

2011-07-26T10:21:00.000+01:00

A 60 second experiment with the colour Indigo by Paul Octavious.

Simple, but beautiful.

Sesame Street Breaks It Down

2011-07-21T22:10:00.000+01:00

What's not to like?

THANKS, HAYES

Do you have a goofy boy's name?

2011-07-21T15:06:00.001+01:00

This classic George Carlin clip will help you decide.

Bill Bernbach Said #36

2011-07-20T16:52:00.000+01:00

Number 36 in our Bernbach series...

“A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get more people to know it’s bad.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Smoothing-Off Jack Daniels

2011-07-19T12:04:00.003+01:00

Earlier this year, Jack Daniels announced that they were updating their label design for their bottles.

I always get a little twinge of anxiety when I hear that classic brands are doing things like this. It's rare see something that looks an improvement on the classic that preceded it. I know there are always reasons within businesses that we on the outside don't get to know about. But mostly these refinements don't seem to serve any purpose other than vanity on the part of those currently in charge.

Also, it's worth remembering that what we consider to be classic designs tend to have always evolved over time (as the advert below illustrates, in the the case of Jack Daniels). So why should we stop evolving them now?

The problems come when the evolution starts to lose what we have come to know as the character of the brand. Part of what gave Jack Daniels its character was the overly wordy label, and the almost unnecessary level of detail. That style is a relic of another time compared to most modern brands and labels.

Before the latest redesign

These days, most packaging is stripped back and refined. Modern branding is smoothed-off and slick. You could argue that it has become quite samey in that way, and devoid of character. JD’s packaging was a reminder that this is a product that preceded the invented brand and modern marketing communications.

The new label

The redesign isn’t a massive departure from where they were, and I'm sure that whoever did it (and those who has commissioned it) will assert that it retaines the character of the original. But I'm not so sure. The texture and sheer quantity of information was part of the character, not just the style and colour.

And on a purely selfish level, the new design just looks just that little bit less interesting and characterful on the shelf.

Edited to ad: We quite like the new bottle shape (on the right, below), so it just goes to show, not all change is bad. Probably because it is more idiosyncratic and different to competitors than the old one , which in our opinion is a good thing. And of course, it is the exact opposite of smoothing-off.

Work In Progress

2011-07-18T16:23:00.001+01:00

Some behind-the-scenes pics from our shoot last week...

Bill Bernbach Said #35

2011-07-18T16:05:00.002+01:00

Number 35 in our Bernbach series...

“Our job is to bring the dead facts to life.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Dear Photograph

2011-07-15T14:27:00.002+01:00

A lovely idea for a photo blog “Take a picture of a picture from the past in the present”. Find it here.

Found via the excellent Recuperate.

My Favourite Writing #6: John Allison

2011-07-14T11:47:00.002+01:00

2 – The Bovril poster

My creative partner’s surname is Bovill but that’s not the reason why this is in the list, although he does look like a big lovely hairy bovine anthropomorphised creature.

This didn’t ambush me like the Alien poster but it had a lasting effect nonetheless. I first saw this while deciding whether or not to take up advertising as a possible profession and it’s leftfield approach has stayed with me ever since.

It serves as a reminder that we’re not as clever or brave as we think we are. I can’t imagine any meat-based brands today openly reminding consumers that their product comes from bloody slaughtered beasts, but surely what you want from your beef drink is dead cow in a cup.

Its just a really odd bit of writing that made me laugh. Its surreal and silly and very British. The cod-Shakespearian language coming from a mournful cow is very Pythonesque, even though the term “Pythonesque” wasn’t to be coined for another 50 years or so. I love the tear for his fallen comrade. Such pathos.

It’s so simple and fresh that it could still run 100 years later.

3 – Wall and Peace
So this brings my score of non-advertising copy in a list of best advertising copy to two out of three. Sorry.

‘Saying what you aren’t’ can be more revealing than saying what you are. I love the classic negative-quotation-as-headline ad approach such as “I never read the Economist” but this takes it to the next level.

Here, the establishment itself has been tricked into providing a quote against it’s will. Its by far the cleverest thing in the book and it says more about the miserable Bristolian public school boy than any glowing gushing back of the book quote could ever say.

Anyway, who cares if its not an ad, getting one over on the ol’ tit-heads is always fun.

Shortlisted
More copy (some of it actually advertising) that tickles me.

The 2001 Space odyssey zero gravity toilet instructions
It only appears for a few frames but someone spent the time to create a plausible set of instructions on how to go for a dump whilst floating in space. The absolute commitment to detail is the reason nerds are still geeking out over it decades later. Read them here http://tinyurl.com/63djr23

American TV spot endlines from the last decade
America gave birth to some ridiculous endlines that just on paper made me laugh.
Fox Sports. Beware of things made in October.
Combos Chips. What your mum would feed you if your mum was a man.
Burger King. Eat like snake.

Damien Hirst artwork titles
Half the time he’s taking the piss, but then he’s also the UK’s richest living artist so he’s doing something right. You can’t argue with a title like Beautiful Revolving Sphincter, Oops Brown or The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.

Screw you Ian.”

Thanks John.

My Favourite Writing #1: Mark Denton
My Favourite Writing #2: Drayton Bird
My Favourite Writing #3: Ben Kay
My Favourite Writing #4: Dave Trott
My Favourite Writing #5: Vinny Warren

Steve McClaren Does Tour De France Commentary?

2011-07-11T11:50:00.001+01:00

That horrible Tour De France crash from over the weekend. Surely the most important job of the camera car driver is to not drive into the cyclists?

Anyway, more importantly - why is Steve McClaren doing the commentary?

For reference...

Get On Up, Like An, Er, Miso Soup

2011-07-07T11:36:00.001+01:00

Bizarre/genius Japanese commercial featuring the Godfather of Soul flogging miso soup. I don't think anything else need be said.

Simple Is Good

2011-07-05T17:49:00.005+01:00

As long time readers will know, we are of the belief that too much of advertising is overcomplicated and convoluted. Complicated and over-clever processes tend to lead to complicated and over-clever advertising.

Many in advertising and marketing have forgotten the real power of the mediums that we have at our disposal. This is probably because they are too fixated on the details of their over-complicated advertising, and forget how powerful good, simple advertising can be.

Every now and again we are reminded of the power of the mediums we use, and the amazing power of words and ideas. I just read this story about this poster in Australia...

It has caused outrage/quite a stir/lots of gnashing of teeth. Not surprising. Now, obviously I know we are talking about religion here, and that is a subject with massive power to cause emotion. But what I find interesting is the simplicity of what has been put out there.

Had this been produced by a modern-day corporate marketing department, and an ad agency, do you think it would have come out so simple and direct? I very much doubt it.

People in the business seem to be losing the ability to boil things down into simple solutions. Or at least, are maybe losing the will to do so (after all, sometimes the simplest solutions look so simple that it's hard to justify all that time on the time-sheet, isn't it?).

Plus, people don't like to choose. You can have this - or this in it, not both. These days, people demand to have both, or they go to someone who will drop their pants and give them everything they want.

Which is a shame really. Because advertising is at it's very best, most powerful, and most effective when it's simple.

And it can be.

You Can Call Me Al

2011-07-05T16:39:00.001+01:00

Just because it's a classic. Two chairs, an empty room, some instruments. Simple, fun, good.

Buttery biscuit base.

2011-07-05T10:21:00.000+01:00

We do like a buttery biscuit base.

Bill Bernbach Said #34

2011-07-04T17:29:00.000+01:00

Number 34 in our Bernbach series...

“There will be a time when no headline is proper; there will be a time when a headline is proper. There will be a time when a logo is good and there will be a time when using a logo is the worst thing in the world that you can do.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

Blast From The Past - Evil Beaver

2011-07-01T12:29:00.001+01:00

I remember when this first came out. It was before the internets and yootoobe, you had to wait for Director's reels to come in. Crowded round a TV with a load of creatives, TV people and our very own Mr Palmer, laughing at all the really great little touches in it - and at just how bonkers it was. Those things are still true today.

Credits: Agency: Fallon. Creatives: the swedes. Dir: Traktor

NASL Logos

2011-06-29T16:21:00.000+01:00

Here's a bit of nostalgia for a Wednesday afternoon. A great collection of North American Soccer League logos & badges from the 70's and 80's.

IPA and News International Fast Strategy App

2011-06-27T17:22:00.000+01:00

I was interested to learn that the IPA and News International have launched the industry's first iPad and iPhone app for planning and strategising types to help them "move forward when they are staring at a blank page or drowning in data".

Given the involvement of News International, I was surprised to find out that "hack into the phones of all the key players in your market and intercept their voicemail to find out anything that might give you a competitive edge" wasn't included as a useful tip.

I'm not denying the value of the app, especially for those who are wet behind the ears [or those who don't have anything in between their ears] but my overall impression is that alongside some genuinely helpful pieces of advice there's quite a lot of platitudes masquerading as wisdom.

In my opinion the compilation of these tips and hints could have done with much better quality control. And more creative people should have been quoted too.

If anyone knows how to move forward when staring at a blank page it's that lot.

Anyway, you can download it here and judge for yourself. Let us know if it works.

Hooky hook.

2011-06-24T11:11:00.058+01:00

We spotted the Radox for men ad with the hairy-backed Bollybloke on the telly the other night, and were looking for it on the Interweb. Then we spotted it's Japanese cousin, it's 'tensai-teki' as the Nihonjin would say. A top commercial proclaiming a genuine product benefit. I mean, how did us man-folk ever store our man-gel before the advent of the super awesome hooky hook?

Anyway, it makes me feel good about Radox. But don't get me wrong, I'll still be nicking the missus' 'Champney's spa, exotic retreat shower cream' in the morning.

Who Is Right?

2011-06-23T11:31:00.000+01:00

Building brands and making companies successful.

The branding specialist asserts that great branding is the answer.

The packaging specialist asserts that great packaging is the answer.

The digital specialist asserts that great digital experiences or utilities are the answer.

The social media specialist asserts that social media conversation is the answer.

The comms planning specialist asserts that great comms ideas are the answer.

The advertising specialist asserts that great advertising is the answer.

Who's right?

My Favourite Writing #5: Vinny Warren

2011-06-22T14:04:00.000+01:00

Honda Grrr has to be one of the freshest things ever done in advertising. Think about it. They’re selling diesel engines. How sexy does that sound? And then they go and produce that?

And it’s a song. And Garrison Keillor is no George Michael.

And it’s a hundred and twenty seconds of trippy animation. Which had to be a monstrous pain in the arse to produce.

My imaginary hat is well and truly off to WK London for that one.

Berries and Cream. How can you not love this idea?

I’d love to say that I would have instantly approved this idea but I’m not so sure. Which is why I love it. It’s just daft.

Hundreds of millions of lives were slightly brightened by watching this piece of branded silliness.

And they had the balls to take the most uncool thing in the world - a fucking jingle - and make it cool.”

Thanks Vinny.

My Favourite Writing #1: Mark Denton
My Favourite Writing #2: Drayton Bird
My Favourite Writing #3: Ben Kay
My Favourite Writing #4: Dave Trott

GE Research Labs.

2011-06-20T10:35:00.000+01:00

Ever fancied having a peek inside General Electric's manufacturing plant?

The GE WattStation

The dielectric barrier discharge actuator

1880's Edison generator

Well, here you go. Using the wonderful tumblr combined with the instagram app they have set up a tumblog showcasing photos of stuff inside their labs, as well as some archive shots. If all that sounds a bit like gobbledegook, just go here & have a look. It's good, more companies should be doing things like this.

Creatives And Selling

2011-06-17T15:19:00.007+01:00

I recently heard an aspiring creative talking about some project or other, saying something along the lines of "I'm not bothered about selling, I leave that to someone else". This made feel a little bit sad. A little sad for that person, and for the ad business.

The ad business needs ad creatives to be wild, cynical, skeptical, anti and idealistic.

But it also needs them to embrace the fact that they are selling products and brands. That view is probably unfashionable these days, but I still think it's true.

It seems like the modern way is for someone else to work out all the hard stuff, then pass the brief to creatives, who then get creatidivv. Creadivvs then just worry about technique and creadivv stuff.

I think it's crazy for a business of selling that it's now filled with people who don't really see that as their job, or responsibility. I think it's sad for those creatives too - destined for a career of frustration and of self-questioning.

Is it because the creatives don't care about or aren't interesting in the selling, or because the industry doesn't want them, or encourage them to care? I don't know. I think maybe a bit of both.

But ultimately the best advertising is done by creatives who embrace business problems head on, and solve them directly with their ideas. And the ad business itself is driven on by creatives who embrace the fact that they use their ideas, energy and wit to help their clients and build businesses. These are the people on who's shoulders advertising excellence has been build - and on who's shoulders the whole industry has been built. Bernbach, Ogilvy, Reeves, Abbott, Hegarty, Lois, Saatchi, Chiat, Ally, Rubicam and the rest.

A lot of people say that advertising isn't what it once was, or words to that effect. And I tend to agree in the main. The theories for why are usually to do with less daring clients, or the economy. But I think advertising probably needs to look inwards for the main reason.

Advertising is an industry built on great creative people who knew exactly what their creativity was for. I don't see that many any more.

Bill Bernbach Said #33

2011-06-16T18:24:00.003+01:00

Number 33 in our Bernbach series...

“No matter how skillful you are, you can’t invent a product advantage that doesn’t exist. And if you do, and it’s just a gimmick, it’s going to fall apart anyway.”

Read all of the previous Bernbach Said posts here.

What a load of arty bollocks.

2011-06-15T10:39:00.000+01:00

The Arty Bollocks Generator. Create your own very convincing artist statement. It's so realistic we think it may been used to write actual art theory books.