Why So Serious? Case study microsite

Here’s a handy case-study microsite of my favourite integrated campaign from 2008 by 42 Entertainment to promote the Dark Knight.

Intriguing and immersive websites, email and snail-mail campaigns, scavenger hunts involving mobile phones hidden in cakes, exclusive film teasers, page take-overs, virtual elections, real world fan conventions, flash-mobs and events, competitions, posters and unique collectables; all combined to make [...]

Inspiring Books: Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy

I first read Confessions when I was applying for Ogilvy’s grad scheme in 2004. I can remember at the time being struck by the volume of invaluable best practice principles it outlined, which seemed to be just as useful to a current wannabe ad man, as they would have been to someone first reading it in 1963.  Confessions is less a book about how to write a successful [...]

Thinkbox on the Box

I was intrigued by this new TV ad for Thinkbox.

I think it’s probably the first TV ad I’ve seen about TV ads (at least, it’s the first I noticed and the first that I can remember, which is always a good start). It does a nice job of highlighting the potency and endurance of certain campaigns (and [...]

Top Ogilvy-isms

Some David Ogilvy quotes to inspire - useful for Client presentations, essays and blogs…
Ogilvy on Brands:

Every advertisement is part of the long-term investment in the personality of the brand.
The image of any brand has been created over a long period of years. It is the result of many different factors - advertising and pricing, and the [...]

JC Penny - Beware of the Doghouse

I enjoyed this viral film that one of my colleagues shared with me last week. It’s a few months old now, but I thought it was worth noting, as apart from the fact that it had quite a few of us in stitches with its comic timing and nice one-liners (”it’s the best vacuum cleaner you’ll [...]

Scrabble - The Beautiful Word

There’s a really nice thought behind the intriguing art direction of this campaign for Mattel’s iconic Scrabble game, developed by Ogilvy Paris.
It seems to do a very good job of injecting some life into the 60-year-old brand, whilst intelligently dramatising a well-observed truth about the enjoyment of playing the game. I imagine cut-through will also [...]

Philips Carousel

Here’s an impressive new online film from Tribal DDB Amsterdam and Stink,  which cleverly manages to demonstrate the benefit of the new Philips Aurea TV’s high definition picture quality, using a type of media that probably wouldn’t normally be considered for that sort of task.
Eerie and immersive, the film takes you into the heart of an epic [...]

WWF “Lungs” Print

Following the ‘green’ theme of my last post, here’s the latest WWF print offering from TBWA/Paris.

Headline: “Before it’s too late”
I’ve often been impressed at the visual immediacy of WWF’s campaigns. The plight of the environment is obviously a rich and emotive visual territory in its own right (so they’ve arguably got a bit of a head start on [...]

April Fools 2009

Thought I might start with something light to kick off my new Blog….
 
Here’s a quick round up of some April fools pranks from various brands, starting with the latest of BMW’s famous press ads:

The ad describes a new ‘Magnetic Tow Technology’ – with the headline, “For once, we’re happy to be behind the competition.”
The copy [...]