Caffeinated posts from a copywriter/adgrunt. I write about advertising, design, astronomy, cooking, and pretty much anything else that strikes my fancy, including random bits of reference info for work purposes. You may also know me as 'that other gal' who helps run Adland. | make contact | RSS Feed | ATOM
Friday, June 30, 2006
[ :: designy :: ColourLovers ]
+ Colourlovers is an intersting site I stumbled across the other day. Users can rate colors and submit their own, along with color palletes.
[ :: adgruntie :: Get organized ]
+ Earlier in the month I was wondering about organizational tools. Fellow adlister, posted some to her new Burns Auto Parts Blog. Definitely worth a peek.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Quoth the reporter ]
+ More chatter about Cannes but there is one interesting bit at the very end.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
[ :: designy :: Keep British Design Alive ]
+ Keep British Design Alive: Design Council and Creative & Cultural Skills have teamed up to create the Design Skills Advisory Panel which is working to come up with a set of ideas for building a better design industry. And now they want your input.
Monday, June 26, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Would you like a rant? ]
+Advertisers challenged by consumer-created content has these two quotes:
And consumer created content isn't anything new either. It's just now it can be shared more easily without geographic constrants. If you release an ad online you expect only people from Switzerland to see, it can be hard to maintain that geographic exclusivity. People find ways around those barriers that people try to put in place, if they want the content badly enough.
I really do find it interesting how often there are claims of "this is the way" and "we are certain that" in regards to online advertising and marketing. I'm sure there are a few things that have been sussed out in the last, what, 10 or so years that the internet has become what it is today. But quite frankly, if 10 years into the invention and general use of print folks were claiming that they had all the answers, don't you think many people would have thought they were full of shit? The other big issue is that online is constantly in a state of change. New technologies and ways of being able to distribute information come out on a regular basis, making it even hard to state "X" is the way.
[ :: adgruntie :: Online advertising study ]
+ Research done by the Nielsen/Norman Group claims to have results showing that people avoid banner ads more than text ads. It also says that "[it is best] if you can make sure your ad is something simple, text or a recognized logo, and it needs to be relevant to the page."
Sunday, June 25, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: What the...??? ]
+ Mentadent wants to know, Are You Teeth People? Say what? The site features a quiz to see if you are teeth people. What does that mean...I've no idea.
[ :: adgruntie :: Ad Treats ]
+ A fun ad for 3M by Spawn, NZ.
Nice placement of an Economist billboard.
Insperable - A Great Match.com ad directed by Jim Hosking of Partizan.
[ :: adgruntie :: Barbie lacked focus ]
+ Mattel is aiming to rejuvenate the Barbie brand. There's something about this quote from the article I find funny.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Cure for Bachelorism ]
+ According to Match.com, Bachelorism is the silent epidemic.
[ :: media :: Google ads...wherever you go it's gonna go ]
+ After a not so dazzling attempt to get into print advertising, now apparently Google wants to get into radio advertising.
[ :: adgruntie :: Mr. Radio Spot Ad Show Winner ]
+ They won at Cannes (again). They won at many many award shows since the campaign began. If you want, you can download 86 of the Real Men of Genius radio spots in mp3 format. (Via Texturl)
Friday, June 23, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Word ]
+ According to Maurice Saatchi, Grease isn't The Word, unless you're talking about fast food.
[ :: adgruntie :: Rumor mill at Cannes ]
+ People are talking. What are they saying? That Guinness Evolution/noitulovE won. We'll see for certain tomorrow.
[ :: adgruntie :: Cannes Film Shorties ]
+ Shortlist for films is up on the Cannes site. Ladies and gentleman, start your betting....now!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: VW Bernbach ]
+ Because I can see that quite a few folks are coming here looking for this about Bernbach...here it is:
I'm guessing there is a competition going on somewhere on the web or something.
[ :: adgruntie :: It all matters in branding ]
+ Scott Bedbury, the former marketing chief for Nike and Starbucks says everything matters in branding.
[ :: adgruntie :: OAC ASIA up ]
+ OACAsia Award winners are up. Lots of outdoor and a few that won at Cannes today.I just wish that some of the images were slightly bigger. It's very hard to make out copy on things when the images are too small. Cannes seems to have that issue too with some of the work they've posted this week.
[ :: adgruntie :: Snickers site ]
+ Snickers Satisfies mircosite. Says to check back tomorrow for more. Not sure if that means there will be a new flash file or if there will be more content. [hint: click and hold down to launch canonballs, the longer you hold your click the farther it will go]
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Cleaning out the inbox ]
+ The Future of Advertising is Now. A very long but good article on the state of advertising. I'm still working my way through it.
Funny shop names. (Via lburns)
Arby's Chicken Naturals microsite has the TV spots for the campaign. A bit disturbing. I had seen the Joan Rivers one but not the Hulk Hogan spot. It's pretty good considering the target audience is probably the same as BK and Crispin are trying to pull into their stores. Speaking of which, the idea behind the Huckin Chicken microsite is great. As more visitors come through the site, it unlocks more videos. Nice.
Animator vs. Animation
5 words never to use in an ad: Quality, Value, Service, Caring, and Integrity.
How to kill creativity
Anti-spec article at Design Observer.
Brawny Academy - strange thing on this is that they decided not to stay with the fella from the dog and cake ad.
Panasonic has no bunny love - they want you to NeuterYourBunny.
[ :: adgruntie :: Worth a try? ]
+ A 3 day shoot in LA. Over 60 extras. Hollywood pyrotechnics. $1 million budget. That's right it's a PSA. Wow.
[ :: COJ :: Nomination ]
+ Sweet! I got a nomination for MarketingSherpa Reader's Choice Blog & Podcasting Awards 2006. Up against some tough competition like Adland, Adfreak, and Adverblog. (Yes, I realize they are all "a" sites...figures I'd pick those to single out.) Quite honestly, since the other blog I write for is in the same category, perhaps it's better for all 10 of my staunch visitors to go vote for Adland instead of this blog. Although you never know. I could be the "dark horse" in the race! hahahahah!
Guess this means that work be damned, I better keep on posting regularly! ;-)
[ :: adgruntie :: Virtual Gardener ]
+ Growing for Life Game lets you become a virutal gardener. Created for Growing for Life, a group with the aim to bring people and plants together. (via HumptyDumpty)
[ :: adgruntie :: Rooney Nike ad ]
+ Ad by W+K for Nike regarding Rooney playing in the World Cup. (via The Blurber)
[ :: adgruntie :: Cannes ]
+ Cannes is up and running. Awards are already being handed out. I was wondering why this award show isn't in February or March though when lots of places are still in the midst of dreary winter weather. You'd think it would be a greater incentive to all the ad folk to get some sunshine when their local areas are still grey and cold. *shrug*
Anyhoo...here are some articles popping up around on the subject.
Cannes Lions Diary: Search under scrutiny
U.S. agency steps up with Grand Prix win
Marketers aim for 'engaged' consumers
The Hard Sell in Cannes
Cannes Lions winners - Lions direct 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: MarketingSherpa Reader's Choice ]
+ MarketingSherpa's Reader's Choice Blog & Podcasting Awards 2006 were supposed to be up at noon. Not up yet 2 hours later (unless my cache is playing tricks on me). Either way, voting time is near.
[ :: adgruntie :: Torture a spammer ]
+ Torture a Spammer game. Unfortunately not quite as gruesome as I'd like.
Friday, June 16, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Brand issues for AOL ]
+ Good god...AOL won't let you cancel your account. Customer service at AOL blows chunks. Seriously it would be funnier if I hadn't had to go through this process myself. (link via Coudal).
Perhaps if they actually cared about their customers they wouldn't put people through this torture. Let's just say that after having gone through a process like this where you get interrogated for wanting to cancel service, I cannot imagine that they have a very high rate of customers who return to them. It's one excellent way to ensure that you will never get those customers back.
From a business perspective, it's really rather stupid.
[ :: adgruntie :: Say Oui Oui to Creativity ]
+ An article on France's Creative Revolution.
[ :: adgruntie :: Cannes Private View Via Tribal DDB and Campaign Mag ]
+ The folks at Tribal DDB sent this tip in: Campaign magazine is launching a mobile text alerts service (produced by Tribal DDB) for the Cannes festival, along with a competition over the whole of next week where we are asking delegates at Cannes to send in MMS photos from the festival. Visitors can then add captions to the pictures and upload them to the site. Photographs are organised by agency, so that you can see what the great and the good are up to, and prick their god-like egos with your cruel satirical wit. The best picture and caption as judged by site visitors will win airline tickets to Cannes and party invitations provided by DDB and Tribal DDB (airline tickets for UK residents only unfortunately). [ed: Dammit!]
Log on to CannesPrivateView to find out more.
There's also a short promotional film that's going to run next week in advertising. You can see it
here.
(Thanks for the tip!!)
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Wake up to freakiness ]
+ Holy shit...Folgers new ad is freaky! Microsite for it at Tolerate Mornings. If I had people singing at me like that first thing in the morning, I'd be throwing any heavy objects within arms reach (lamp, alarm clock, etc) at them to make them go away.
[ :: designy :: Design Observer Redesign ]
+ Design Observer has redesigned. I like it. Lighter feeling without the black/grey background going on. Only negative comment/observation (if you can call it that) is the new Obvserved section is a lot like Coudal's Fresh Signals.
[ :: adgruntie :: How to have a $100K wedding? Sponsorships. ]
+ Feel like vomitting? Read this.
[ :: adgruntie :: Horrid wording, bad concept ]
+ What the hell? I don't know. The copy on this goes like this:
"Do you keep them guessing? You can with Crest Whitestrips Renewal! Whatever your age, having a whiter, brighter smile is a great way to look younger and fight aging. So try new Crest Whitestrips Renewal. It can remove up to 20 years of stains from your smile. That way, when people wonder about your age, you can keep them guessing."
1) A whiter smile can fight aging?? Really?
2) I get what they are trying to say about "removing up to 20 years of stains from your smile"...but it doesn't really make a lot of sense. A smile is more than just teeth. All those stains on your lips get removed too? Gums? ;)
3) No matter how white your teeth, people are never going to think you are "up to 20 years" younger than you actually are. Please.
Jumping on the anti-aging bandwagon might not be the strongest approach for this particular product. Hell on the box it even claims the product to be "age-defying strips". Curious how strips can age-defy. ;)
Sunday, June 11, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Art-fart ]
+ Making art using Excel...interesting idea.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Links from the blog ]
+ In an effort to get back into checking out the stuff on in my links over there on the right, I've decided that every once in a while I will just run through them and post some thought-provoking, interesting and etc stuff I see from those sites. So, here we go:
How to Kill Creativity (via Creative Generalist)
John Grant, planner and co-founder of the agency St. Luke's has a new blog, BrandTarot (via Hidden Persuader)
Russell Davies gives us the top 10 lies planners tell (via Brand New)
According to the Guardian, only one on eight of the 4000 people interviewed by ITV believes TV commercials. (via the blurber)
Bus shelter turned into footie/soccer net and Diet Coke T-shirt. (via Twenty Four)
WeFeelFine.org - Site brings together the way people are feeling on the web and displays it in various ways. It's mission - " hope it makes the world seem a little smaller, and we hope it helps people see beauty in the everyday ups and downs of life." (via i like)
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: And so it goes ]
+ Geez...nearly a week without a post...scary. Busy. Working like crazy. But it's a good thing. There really doesn't seem to be any "hard hitting" (read: interesting) ad news lately. Loads of award shows though...Thursday is the ADC Awards and the Mercury Awards and 3 more next week...followed by Cannes.
Someday I'd like to go to Cannes - at least once. Just to see it and experience it. I'm sure there are a lot of inflated egos, but then again, those same folks can be found anywhere (and in any profession).
Since I freelance, I've been trying to find some tools online to help with all the duties typically doled out to our trafficking friends to achieve a state of organization that I'm happy with. Google calendar seems to work pretty well. Nicely integrates with iCal (not that I use that all that much). Problem is that with an online doohicky, it requires putting in the info, and that I will admit I'm rather crap at. Anyone got any tips, tricks or preferences?
Thursday, June 01, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Put your design pants on ]
+ First...Happy Birtday Will.
Second.......you could be the one to design Michigan's new license plate! oooh boy!
Top 10 Stock Photography Cliches - pass this on to your clients if you dare! (via the good folks at beadesigngroup.com.)
10,000 sheep created by online workers.
Ohio State University's Paul Nini has compiled nearly 15 years of his writings. Check out the pdf...interesting points not only for designers but those in the communication business overall.
(two previous links via the fabulous folks at DesignObserver)
David Byrne's journal.
[ :: designy :: ColourLovers ]
+ Colourlovers is an intersting site I stumbled across the other day. Users can rate colors and submit their own, along with color palletes.
[ :: adgruntie :: Get organized ]
+ Earlier in the month I was wondering about organizational tools. Fellow adlister, posted some to her new Burns Auto Parts Blog. Definitely worth a peek.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Quoth the reporter ]
+ More chatter about Cannes but there is one interesting bit at the very end.
One of the issues which didn't get enough debate this year was that even traditional advertising, when it's really good, can hold its own for public attention. If advertisers spent half the energy they're now putting into new media on developing ripper messages in traditional formats, they'd remain engaging for a long time to come. But we can only hope.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
[ :: designy :: Keep British Design Alive ]
+ Keep British Design Alive: Design Council and Creative & Cultural Skills have teamed up to create the Design Skills Advisory Panel which is working to come up with a set of ideas for building a better design industry. And now they want your input.
Monday, June 26, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Would you like a rant? ]
+Advertisers challenged by consumer-created content has these two quotes:
Chris Dobson, vice president of international ad sales for Microsoft Corp.’s online business group: "The power of the consumer being in control is scary if you come from a traditional marketing world … There is a risk for brands. There is nowhere to hide online now."I guess I'm alone in struggling to grasp how that much different things are now than "back then". Yes, the internet does make it easier for consumers to interact with brands and spread the word (good or bad) about a brand, but, people were doing that before the internet. It just wasn't done at the same level. Marketers didn't have their hands on the reins quite as much as they believed.
Mark Tutssel, chief creative officer for Leo Burnett: "Marketers must learn to let go of the control they think they have over their brand … Once consumers have interacted with brands they will not go back to being shouted at marketers."
And consumer created content isn't anything new either. It's just now it can be shared more easily without geographic constrants. If you release an ad online you expect only people from Switzerland to see, it can be hard to maintain that geographic exclusivity. People find ways around those barriers that people try to put in place, if they want the content badly enough.
I really do find it interesting how often there are claims of "this is the way" and "we are certain that" in regards to online advertising and marketing. I'm sure there are a few things that have been sussed out in the last, what, 10 or so years that the internet has become what it is today. But quite frankly, if 10 years into the invention and general use of print folks were claiming that they had all the answers, don't you think many people would have thought they were full of shit? The other big issue is that online is constantly in a state of change. New technologies and ways of being able to distribute information come out on a regular basis, making it even hard to state "X" is the way.
[ :: adgruntie :: Online advertising study ]
+ Research done by the Nielsen/Norman Group claims to have results showing that people avoid banner ads more than text ads. It also says that "[it is best] if you can make sure your ad is something simple, text or a recognized logo, and it needs to be relevant to the page."
The researchers also found that people read Web pages in an F-pattern, narrowing their focus as they scroll down a page of content. Pernice Coyne said readers fixate or focus on the content at the top of a page, read a little bit further down, then give up and go back to the beginning of the same or subsequent page.
Images that appear in the middle of the page, a spot for advertisements, are considered "obstacles" and annoying.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: What the...??? ]
+ Mentadent wants to know, Are You Teeth People? Say what? The site features a quiz to see if you are teeth people. What does that mean...I've no idea.
[ :: adgruntie :: Ad Treats ]
+ A fun ad for 3M by Spawn, NZ.
Nice placement of an Economist billboard.
Insperable - A Great Match.com ad directed by Jim Hosking of Partizan.
[ :: adgruntie :: Barbie lacked focus ]
+ Mattel is aiming to rejuvenate the Barbie brand. There's something about this quote from the article I find funny.
"Barbie lacked focus, lacked vision - even a true, cohesive advertising campaign," Friedman said in his first interview about his plans since becoming president of Mattel Brands in mid-October. "It was pretty obvious that there wasn't any excitement there. There was no wow. Barbie should always have a wow."
Saturday, June 24, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Cure for Bachelorism ]
+ According to Match.com, Bachelorism is the silent epidemic.
[ :: media :: Google ads...wherever you go it's gonna go ]
+ After a not so dazzling attempt to get into print advertising, now apparently Google wants to get into radio advertising.
Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, believes that when he is listening to the radio in his car, radio ads should personally address him about his needs. For example, while driving past a clothing store, a radio ad should remind Eric that he needs a pair of pants and instruct him to turn left at the upcoming clothing store.
Schmidt shared his vision for GPS location-based delivery of highly targeted and personalized advertising via in-car radios at a luncheon with a group of publishing executives in New York City yesterday.
[ :: adgruntie :: Mr. Radio Spot Ad Show Winner ]
+ They won at Cannes (again). They won at many many award shows since the campaign began. If you want, you can download 86 of the Real Men of Genius radio spots in mp3 format. (Via Texturl)
Friday, June 23, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Word ]
+ According to Maurice Saatchi, Grease isn't The Word, unless you're talking about fast food.
[ :: adgruntie :: Rumor mill at Cannes ]
+ People are talking. What are they saying? That Guinness Evolution/noitulovE won. We'll see for certain tomorrow.
[ :: adgruntie :: Cannes Film Shorties ]
+ Shortlist for films is up on the Cannes site. Ladies and gentleman, start your betting....now!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: VW Bernbach ]
+ Because I can see that quite a few folks are coming here looking for this about Bernbach...here it is:
I'm guessing there is a competition going on somewhere on the web or something.
[ :: adgruntie :: It all matters in branding ]
+ Scott Bedbury, the former marketing chief for Nike and Starbucks says everything matters in branding.
Addressing the audience, Bedbury explained: "I don't know what kind of business you are in, but I suggest you remember that you are in the people business. The most important decisions you make are usually emotionally driven.
"If your brand is a retail brand, you have employees out in the public eye: anyone who touches or sells your brand is either going to be an asset or a liability to you. Optimise every touch point.
[ :: adgruntie :: OAC ASIA up ]
+ OACAsia Award winners are up. Lots of outdoor and a few that won at Cannes today.I just wish that some of the images were slightly bigger. It's very hard to make out copy on things when the images are too small. Cannes seems to have that issue too with some of the work they've posted this week.
[ :: adgruntie :: Snickers site ]
+ Snickers Satisfies mircosite. Says to check back tomorrow for more. Not sure if that means there will be a new flash file or if there will be more content. [hint: click and hold down to launch canonballs, the longer you hold your click the farther it will go]
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Cleaning out the inbox ]
+ The Future of Advertising is Now. A very long but good article on the state of advertising. I'm still working my way through it.
Funny shop names. (Via lburns)
Arby's Chicken Naturals microsite has the TV spots for the campaign. A bit disturbing. I had seen the Joan Rivers one but not the Hulk Hogan spot. It's pretty good considering the target audience is probably the same as BK and Crispin are trying to pull into their stores. Speaking of which, the idea behind the Huckin Chicken microsite is great. As more visitors come through the site, it unlocks more videos. Nice.
Animator vs. Animation
5 words never to use in an ad: Quality, Value, Service, Caring, and Integrity.
How to kill creativity
Anti-spec article at Design Observer.
Brawny Academy - strange thing on this is that they decided not to stay with the fella from the dog and cake ad.
Panasonic has no bunny love - they want you to NeuterYourBunny.
[ :: adgruntie :: Worth a try? ]
+ A 3 day shoot in LA. Over 60 extras. Hollywood pyrotechnics. $1 million budget. That's right it's a PSA. Wow.
[ :: COJ :: Nomination ]
+ Sweet! I got a nomination for MarketingSherpa Reader's Choice Blog & Podcasting Awards 2006. Up against some tough competition like Adland, Adfreak, and Adverblog. (Yes, I realize they are all "a" sites...figures I'd pick those to single out.) Quite honestly, since the other blog I write for is in the same category, perhaps it's better for all 10 of my staunch visitors to go vote for Adland instead of this blog. Although you never know. I could be the "dark horse" in the race! hahahahah!
Guess this means that work be damned, I better keep on posting regularly! ;-)
[ :: adgruntie :: Virtual Gardener ]
+ Growing for Life Game lets you become a virutal gardener. Created for Growing for Life, a group with the aim to bring people and plants together. (via HumptyDumpty)
[ :: adgruntie :: Rooney Nike ad ]
+ Ad by W+K for Nike regarding Rooney playing in the World Cup. (via The Blurber)
[ :: adgruntie :: Cannes ]
+ Cannes is up and running. Awards are already being handed out. I was wondering why this award show isn't in February or March though when lots of places are still in the midst of dreary winter weather. You'd think it would be a greater incentive to all the ad folk to get some sunshine when their local areas are still grey and cold. *shrug*
Anyhoo...here are some articles popping up around on the subject.
Cannes Lions Diary: Search under scrutiny
U.S. agency steps up with Grand Prix win
Marketers aim for 'engaged' consumers
The Hard Sell in Cannes
Cannes Lions winners - Lions direct 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: MarketingSherpa Reader's Choice ]
+ MarketingSherpa's Reader's Choice Blog & Podcasting Awards 2006 were supposed to be up at noon. Not up yet 2 hours later (unless my cache is playing tricks on me). Either way, voting time is near.
[ :: adgruntie :: Torture a spammer ]
+ Torture a Spammer game. Unfortunately not quite as gruesome as I'd like.
Friday, June 16, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Brand issues for AOL ]
+ Good god...AOL won't let you cancel your account. Customer service at AOL blows chunks. Seriously it would be funnier if I hadn't had to go through this process myself. (link via Coudal).
Perhaps if they actually cared about their customers they wouldn't put people through this torture. Let's just say that after having gone through a process like this where you get interrogated for wanting to cancel service, I cannot imagine that they have a very high rate of customers who return to them. It's one excellent way to ensure that you will never get those customers back.
From a business perspective, it's really rather stupid.
[ :: adgruntie :: Say Oui Oui to Creativity ]
+ An article on France's Creative Revolution.
TBWA\France's recent creative performance has helped it pull in the awards, its Sony PlayStation work in particular. 'We prefer to enter international awards because advertising is an international business,' Marie-Catherine Dupuy, the agency's vice-chairman and chief creative officer, comments. Aside from having confidence that her own agency will perform well at Cannes, she reckons BETC Euro RSCG stands a good chance in the awards stakes for its 'La marche de l'empereur' ('the march of the penguins') for the TV channel Canal+. The ad won the cinema and TV gold in the recent Club des Directeurs Artistique Awards (the French equivalent of D&AD), and also picked up the Grand Prix at the Meribel French Advertising Festival. It draws on Canal+'s cinematic heritage and makes a play on the word 'empereur', which means both 'emperor' and 'penguin'.
[ :: adgruntie :: Cannes Private View Via Tribal DDB and Campaign Mag ]
+ The folks at Tribal DDB sent this tip in: Campaign magazine is launching a mobile text alerts service (produced by Tribal DDB) for the Cannes festival, along with a competition over the whole of next week where we are asking delegates at Cannes to send in MMS photos from the festival. Visitors can then add captions to the pictures and upload them to the site. Photographs are organised by agency, so that you can see what the great and the good are up to, and prick their god-like egos with your cruel satirical wit. The best picture and caption as judged by site visitors will win airline tickets to Cannes and party invitations provided by DDB and Tribal DDB (airline tickets for UK residents only unfortunately). [ed: Dammit!]
Log on to CannesPrivateView to find out more.
There's also a short promotional film that's going to run next week in advertising. You can see it
here.
(Thanks for the tip!!)
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Wake up to freakiness ]
+ Holy shit...Folgers new ad is freaky! Microsite for it at Tolerate Mornings. If I had people singing at me like that first thing in the morning, I'd be throwing any heavy objects within arms reach (lamp, alarm clock, etc) at them to make them go away.
[ :: designy :: Design Observer Redesign ]
+ Design Observer has redesigned. I like it. Lighter feeling without the black/grey background going on. Only negative comment/observation (if you can call it that) is the new Obvserved section is a lot like Coudal's Fresh Signals.
[ :: adgruntie :: How to have a $100K wedding? Sponsorships. ]
+ Feel like vomitting? Read this.
[ :: adgruntie :: Horrid wording, bad concept ]
+ What the hell? I don't know. The copy on this goes like this:
"Do you keep them guessing? You can with Crest Whitestrips Renewal! Whatever your age, having a whiter, brighter smile is a great way to look younger and fight aging. So try new Crest Whitestrips Renewal. It can remove up to 20 years of stains from your smile. That way, when people wonder about your age, you can keep them guessing."
1) A whiter smile can fight aging?? Really?
2) I get what they are trying to say about "removing up to 20 years of stains from your smile"...but it doesn't really make a lot of sense. A smile is more than just teeth. All those stains on your lips get removed too? Gums? ;)
3) No matter how white your teeth, people are never going to think you are "up to 20 years" younger than you actually are. Please.
Jumping on the anti-aging bandwagon might not be the strongest approach for this particular product. Hell on the box it even claims the product to be "age-defying strips". Curious how strips can age-defy. ;)
Sunday, June 11, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Art-fart ]
+ Making art using Excel...interesting idea.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Links from the blog ]
+ In an effort to get back into checking out the stuff on in my links over there on the right, I've decided that every once in a while I will just run through them and post some thought-provoking, interesting and etc stuff I see from those sites. So, here we go:
How to Kill Creativity (via Creative Generalist)
John Grant, planner and co-founder of the agency St. Luke's has a new blog, BrandTarot (via Hidden Persuader)
Russell Davies gives us the top 10 lies planners tell (via Brand New)
According to the Guardian, only one on eight of the 4000 people interviewed by ITV believes TV commercials. (via the blurber)
Bus shelter turned into footie/soccer net and Diet Coke T-shirt. (via Twenty Four)
WeFeelFine.org - Site brings together the way people are feeling on the web and displays it in various ways. It's mission - " hope it makes the world seem a little smaller, and we hope it helps people see beauty in the everyday ups and downs of life." (via i like)
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: And so it goes ]
+ Geez...nearly a week without a post...scary. Busy. Working like crazy. But it's a good thing. There really doesn't seem to be any "hard hitting" (read: interesting) ad news lately. Loads of award shows though...Thursday is the ADC Awards and the Mercury Awards and 3 more next week...followed by Cannes.
Someday I'd like to go to Cannes - at least once. Just to see it and experience it. I'm sure there are a lot of inflated egos, but then again, those same folks can be found anywhere (and in any profession).
Since I freelance, I've been trying to find some tools online to help with all the duties typically doled out to our trafficking friends to achieve a state of organization that I'm happy with. Google calendar seems to work pretty well. Nicely integrates with iCal (not that I use that all that much). Problem is that with an online doohicky, it requires putting in the info, and that I will admit I'm rather crap at. Anyone got any tips, tricks or preferences?
Thursday, June 01, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Put your design pants on ]
+ First...Happy Birtday Will.
Second.......you could be the one to design Michigan's new license plate! oooh boy!
Top 10 Stock Photography Cliches - pass this on to your clients if you dare! (via the good folks at beadesigngroup.com.)
10,000 sheep created by online workers.
Ohio State University's Paul Nini has compiled nearly 15 years of his writings. Check out the pdf...interesting points not only for designers but those in the communication business overall.
(two previous links via the fabulous folks at DesignObserver)
David Byrne's journal.
Cup of Java © 2002-2009
keep on using that brain.