exciting

When someone rises to the challenges brought by the digital media and is able to come up with a simple, well thought through, no-bullshit, relevant solution.

I have posted about Pleon's work before, but here is an update, and a PDF file explaining exactly how it works. I am sure in 10 years from now, if they market it smartly, we will speak of Gianni and his crew as the guys who reinvented PR. Kudos.

disproportion

Hilarious flyer handed out by the police (yes, the police! :) ) last night in the streets of Soho.

I am impressed

With Orange's work (created by agency Poke).



Not only I like how they execute the concept of Unlimited. I also like how easy they make it for people to borrow pieces of content and disseminate them out there. Consumers become co-authors to the brand: that's something a 30 sec tv commercial can not do in a million years. Hats off! (and thanks to Scamp for making me find this)

pop art portraits

Went to see this exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery this afternoon. I am trying to take advantage of being a student with a lot of spare time while it lasts (it won't last).

I was taken back into the age of 'mass consumer culture' for an hour or so, and it was really interesting. I was tempted to look for dissimilarities between that age, and this one now, in which we all strive to find and offer as much customisation as possible. But I couldn't really.


(Andy Warhol, Double Elvis, 1963)


(Mel Ramos, Hunt for the Best, 1965)


(Andy Warhol, Self-portrait, 1964)

whooooo-hooooo!!!!??!!!

Is there anybody out there? who are you people who read this blog? Greek man: what's your name? you seem to come here often. Swiss guy? Swedish chick? is there anybody out there? C'mon, at least you American old lady ... leave a comment.

Or are you all just robots?

London therapy

If you ever are a bit stressed in London, jump on the bus. Go upstairs, sit in the front row and let the city roll past. Very calming. It cleared up my head from all the tension of interviewing.

shallow post about a fundamental issue in branding and the digital age

My respect for this guy is growing, although I am sure he doesn't need it.

He wrote an article in last week's campaign magazine which I think illustrates a very interesting point about advertising and branding in this 'digital age'. (and for the love of God, I can not find the article anywhere online).

In short, it is about two Unilever brands, Axe and Dove, which stand for two radically opposite concepts of beauty. Axe stands for seduction (i.e. the more you spray, the more you'll get laid), Dove stands for real beauty (i.e. real beauty is within, and every woman is beautiful).

The point made in the article is that consumers are beginning to raise legitimate questions about Unilever's integrity, as a parent company. Thanks to the internet they are able to voice their question: where does Unilever stand in terms of beauty?

For me, the interesting thought is that whilst agencies and brand owners are trying to figure out how to exploit the digital medium from an advertising perspective, consumers are one step ahead, and they are using the digital technology to ask more fundamental questions about branding and business models. How will Unilever react?

--
UPDATE 01/11: Russell kindly posted the article in comments: http://russelldavies.typepad.com/advertising_practitioner/2007/10/dove-lynx-incon.html have a read.

I'm back

Moved houses. No phone, no email and no telly for a while. been watching Woody Allen movies on DVD. :)

Lynx - Getting Dressed

I was looking through some linx ads. This one for me is kinda where the big idea begun. I remember goosebumps when it came out. Some more are available on bbh.co.uk

I am writing an article. Comments appreciated.

I am currently writing an article to support my own job search in advertising.

In it I argue that an MBA education is very valuable for people who want to work in the advertising industry, because advertising ultimately deals with business problems.

Normally i wouldn't need to write an article to find a job (my cv would be enough). Trouble is that the advertising industry is not used to dealing with MBA candidates, so a bit of explaining is necessary.

The article is currently in draft version, so any comment is appreciated. Have a look.