I’ve recently (pretty much) completed a simple site for ehl, a supplier of ingredients based in Manchester. Design, copywriting, photography and code was all cobbled together by me. We still have a few tweeks, a little bit of SEO, and the odd shot to update but all-in-all it is done. It’s all singing and dancing CSS, so should be easily adaptable to ehl’s changing product list. Oh, and it’s green, with leaves on it. Have a gander here.
How did they deduce this? Incredible. Apparently using technology, and in particular the internet, is altering our brains. A neuroscientist at UCLA in California has discovered that a whole generation of “digital natives” can multitask and process vast amounts of information very quickly. But unfortunately this means they can’t speak to people without blushing, or leave their bedrooms. Who would have thought eh? Read the full fantastic revelation here.
Advertising awards. Is there a more self-congratulatory industry? There are hundreds of award schemes worldwide, and thousands and thousands of awards. There is quite a large part of me that believes this actually hinders the industry; that it perpetuates a creative status quo. The same type of ideas winning the awards year after year. Creatives nose-deep in the same old annuals, working to self-imposed, unshifting and restrictive benchmarks. (I have been guilty myself). However, the 2008 Gunn report has softened my view. When judged together, globally, it seems the most award winning week is usually the most original. Most of the work linked from here is fresh and inspiring, especially the interactive and broadcast stuff. Mr W being one of my favourites. Only the press seems a little formulaic, but maybe that’s due to the medium entering its dotage?
Last Friday evening I went along to the DADIs at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Creative Spark and I were nominated for our moving viral. I drove, so I didn’t drink. Design award dos through sober eyes are interesting, I would recommend it - but maybe only once. Anyway, apart from the sobreity the evening went pretty well. The Drum seems to have got awards almost sorted after all these years of coining it in, sorry, I mean organising them. The comic turn before the awards was actually funny, the presentations themselves were paced quickly, and the venue made a nice change from the usual Manchester hotels. It would have been nice to have all the work displayed whilst waiting to be seated, as at print events. And spending Saturday with food poisoning from the strange chicken wasn’t great - but all in all not too bad. Oh yes, we got a commendation. We were pip-ed to the award by a urinating Santa. If I had a pound……….
Obviously I am a complete angel and never smoke. No siree. Never. Uh uh. But if I did I would probably find this wry photographic essay pretty interesting. A collaboration between Stiff Rowlands, photographer Chris Leah, and freelance copywriter Jez Clark - the book takes a tour of some sublime and salubrious smoking shelters throughout the North. You can get a copy here. This well designed book is subtle self-promotion at it’s best. And to think, some agencies and creatives are still promoting themselves with ads eh?
I wonder if associating vivid purple with chocolate would get past today’s melee of focus groups and affinity marketing? The Milka cow, this one spotted in Cologne Airport, has always made me smile, and more importantly made me buy chocolate - guaranteed brand loyalty by bovine. I am working on a couple of foody jobs at the moment, maybe purple is the way to go……….
The results of the 2008 Fresh Creative Awards were announced last week at the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester. The format has changed from previous years - gone are the separate regional events, to be replaced by one big boozy do, like last year’s Grand Prix. This makes the awards harder to win, as each agency must compete with all the other entrants from the UK regions - exactly like the Roses. So congratulations to all the winners. Love added 14 lumps of perspex to their awards trolley, but many other Manchester agencies also took away trophies, including The Chase, who scooped the Big F award for some classic simple thinking (their calender - click the image above). A big well done must also go to Creative Spark for their first Fresh win - may it be the first of many. Right, that’ll do about Fresh, I wouldn’t want to write about stuff which had already been covered by The Drum - oooops, I forgot, they don’t report on award nights that they don’t make money from do they?
A couple of miles down a country lane does seem a strange location for one of the biggest agencies outside London, but that’s where McCanns is. Oops, sorry, McCann Erikson Communications House to give it it’s correct moniker. It’s lawns and not-too-tempting lido are situated deep in Cheshire, county of coiffured hedges and German cars, much too far from South Manchester for me to cycle to. So, to the important question; the only thing that everyone really wants to know - what’s the food in the canteen like? Well, so far, pretty good, and certainly not condusive to maintaining a svelte cyclist’s physique. Perhaps I will have to get on my bike.