New Technology, Augmented Reality

Rather than creating a whole new world from scratch which is what virtual reality does and we are still a long way away from achieving augmented reality incorporates digitally created, often real-time-controlled interactive elements directly into your view of the real world. The graphic design side of things will create a lot of new jobs as there will be a new market to supply for and if it becomes as popular as say your game consoles now it will help produce thousands of jobs. This could also create a new way to advertise as seen with the pepsi max bus shelter and opens up a whole new world of ideas to play around with.

Breast Cancer Print Ad Campaign

This very clever ad campaign created by the breast cancer foundation of Singapore, these redesigns of popular app logo's are simple yet effective. The logo's of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been redesigned to resemble a pair of breasts with the tagline if only you checked your breast as often. This is very clever but also includes somewhat of a shock factor in it as well. The colour schemes are kept the same making the logos instantly recognisable and the breast cancer foundation are currently asking social media sites if they would temporarily change the logo to help raise awareness, although I think it is very unlikely.

Lobo Advert Mashup

Lobo have managed to condense five decades of iconic ads into a short surreal mash up video to promote the D&AD professional awards. The video is very surreal and has greatly incorporated some of the best adverts over the past 20 years or so. Not only does it include them visually but also tries to include the sound of the adverts so you can reminisce with your eyes closed of your favourites.

50 Most Recognisable Brand Mascots

It is not a coincidence that some of the most iconic brands in the world also have some of the most iconic mascots, in fact some brands are famous due to their mascot(compare the market). These characters instantly connect you to the brand. I came across an infograph that I will post below that shows a visual representation of all the brands as well as giving you an insight into the brand as well

Font of The Week CreativeBloq

A fantastic idea from CreativeBloq and one that I only just recently came across is the idea of sharing their favourite font every day of the week. Each font is unique and different and could potentially help designers across the globe. Here are the Fonts that were included in the final week of November. Although some are free you do have to pay for some, here is a link to this weeks font of the week: Font of The Week November

Google Live Advent Calender App

Google had a great idea for an advertising campaign to raise awareness for their "watch this space" campaign which promotes the value of web media spaces and their invaluable traffic analytics. The campaign was simple, based around the child's game hot or cold in which you try to find objects, Google placed a prize in various places in London and you had to use an app to try to find them. Every day there would be a new prize and the launch would be at 12 every day. 

The app was very successful and the campaign raised had a very good social media reach with a lot of people tweeting about it. Google have shown again how advertising should be done with another very simple yet innovative idea

RL Grime new music video

Daniel Swan and David Rudnick have collaborated to create this amazing music video. There is so much going on in the music video with such attention to detail. The music video is perfectly in sync with the song as well as telling a story of a war creating some exceptional visuals. There's swarms of helicopters, tons of jets and some huge tanks to create an interesting battle scene. It has a really cool interface and looks like it would make an hardcore video game. Swan and Rudnick have shown that they have a lot of skills in their chosen field.

Baptiste Virot - Artist

Baptiste Virot is really coming up in the comic world with his amazing pieces which include aspects of surrealism. He is a master of illustrator, his work is very colourful and he is a very visually appealing. Here is some examples of his work

I really like his style of work because he has a very unique style that I haven't seen before, his work also has hints of Man Ray and Salvador Dalí.

Coca-Cola Christmas Truck

Coca-Cola are sending their iconic Christmas truck up and down the country to celebrate the start of the festive season. Having been to the event first hand where they give out Coca-Cola cans for free and have a choir singing Christmas songs, I can say the general tone of the event is a happy one. The choir continuously push the social media aspects of the campaign by telling you what hash tags to use on instagram and twitter.

Aldi Black Friday Print Ad

Aldi have come up with this clever swipe at other supermarkets doing special deals for black Friday and the tweet has had over a thousand retweets and favourites. A spokesperson had this to say “Aldi customers enjoy consistent everyday low prices, while shoppers elsewhere face confusing and ever-changing discounts and offers. Our commitment to value means we do not need to price match – we price lead.” This is definitely an advertising/marketing win for Aldi.

Shake Shack Clever Marketing Technique

Shake Shack is a burger bar in the heart of London's Covent Garden but originally started off in America having several shops over there before opening shop in London. They have a very unique selling point one that I have never seen before in that they give you a device that will start to shake once your food is ready. This is a great way to get customers talking and get more customers through word of mouth. This is the device that shakes and it is an experience for the customer rather than just sitting down and having a meal they are experiencing something and this is essential in advertising and marketing as people want to talk about stuff they have experienced

The Apprentice Advertising Task

I am an avid watcher of The Apprentice and have been for many years and was excited to see them given an advertising brief for a soft drink in New York. The task was to come up with a brand name, logo, digital ad and TV advert all based around a soft drink they had created. 

One team came up with the brand name Big Dawg and the brand logo which is shown below. I think the name and logo match together as it is very outlandish and shows a strong brand identity as a exciting new energy drink and would definitely catch people's attention in the supermarket. The only thing I think they failed on is the advert the advert was boring and involved someone standing talking about the drink, almost like a news bulletin. It wasn't energetic and failed to convey the brands identity as an out there bold new energy drink.

The second team came up with the name aqua fusion an idea of mixing water with fruit to create a health drink, which if the american market is anything like ours i'm sure Americans have seen something similar many a time. The branding, shown above, on the drink is poor it doesn't stand out and you can barely read the writing at the bottom. It looks like something straight out of a kids show from the 90's and in my opinion as aimed at a much lower target market maybe between the ages of 3-16. The advert on the other hand was a success as it told a story and had some real feeling and emotion behind it, a very stereotypical story but a story none the less which helped consumers engage more with the product.

In the end Sir Alan Sugar went with the Big Dawg and so would I as although it had a poor advert it had a strong brand identity where as the other product aqua fusion had a good advert but nothing else to back it up. What's the point of a good advert if you don't have a strong brand to advertise?

Human Body's With Animal Heads (interesting art)

I was unable to find the name of this artist but it is very unusual and very visually appeasing. All of the photo's look similar so this would suggest it is all done by the same artist, I am very interested in surrealist art and this definitely comes under that category. Surrealism is my favorite type of art because for me it is the most thought provoking and within its category has some of the most influential artists of our time such as Salvador Dali, Man Ray, Hans Bellmer and Paul Eluard.

"a juxtaposition of two more or less distant realities. The more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be -- the greater its emotional power and poetic reality." -Pierre Reverdy (Poet)

Apple Watch Launch

Time and time again apple come on top when it comes to design and their new Apple watch is no exception. With the new trend of smart watches Apple have made sure that they are leading the market with this state of the art smart watch that they recently released the designs for. "The new apple watch is not a single object, but a whole range of products enabling millions of unique designs and unparalled personalization, both in appearance and capability." This in my opinion is their biggest launch since the iPad came out and their reveal video has some stunning images to stimulate the brain showing in detail the amount you can personalize this device. Set to come out in March 2015 I'm sure Apple will have no problem selling this.

Volkswagen Mates Rates Campaign

A very unusual marketing campaign to say the least but it has definitely caught my attention. Volkswagen have taken it a step further this year with their annual spring sale in partnership with curumbin wildlife sanctuary and decided that they will continue their sale until two koalas called Trevor and Irene(part of the curumbin wildlife sanctuary) make a family, or until November 30th arrives.

The video is funny, short, snappy and definitely catches your attention. It also makes the consumer more engaged as you are intrigued to find out when they do start the family and is a clever way to hook the customer into being involved with the campaign, especially for animal lovers.

PhoneBloks Social Media Reach Campaign

PhoneBloks is a concept idea that when a part of your phone breaks, like for example your camera, rather than having to buy a whole new phone and produce a lot of electrical waste why not simply replace the camera on the phone. PhoneBlok created this video to explain their idea further

This video was very successful as the Youtube video has 20million views and the campaign had a recorded social media reach of 388 million people. This made phone company's aware and now PhoneBloks is in partnership with Google and Sennheiser. It goes to show that a company's social reach is valued very highly now a days, because this campaign had a great social reach the idea is now becoming a reality. What started off as a promo video has now become a multi-million pound idea that is sweeping the nation and this is all due to people sharing the video via social media outlets. In todays age having a large social reach can earn you money.

Youtube's Richest Stars

Since the introduction of adverts to the Youtube videos we watch (even if it is very annoying) there have been numerous Youtube "stars" that have made a killing from the advertisements at the beginning of their videos. The Youtube channel owners get a percentage of all adverts played through their channel (usually around 55%). Here are 3 of the most popular Youtubers and their estimated yearly income according to business insider for the year 2013.

1. PewDiePie

Youtube Screenshot

$825,000-$8.47 million estimated yearly income after YouTube's 45% cut.

23.9 million total subscribers.

3.69 billion total views.

2. BluCollection

$660,000-$6.38 million estimated yearly income after YouTube's 45% cut.

628,000 total subscribers.

1.38 billion total views.

3. DisneyCollectorBR

$505,000-$5.06 million estimated yearly income after YouTube's 45% cut.

1.05 million total subscribers.

1.51 billion total views.

Having a Social reach is something that big company's now find desirable as the more people that can be reached through social media the more people will view the advert.

Moments of Warmth Duracell Ambient Advertising Campaign

Winter in Canada can reach up to -30° C which is why Duracell thought it would be the perfect place to launch their moments of warmth ambient campaign. Their campaign included a bus shelter with heaters in them that only turned on when commuters completed a circuit between the positive and negative symbols on either side of the transit shelter. This creates a very warm and touching moment that many people would want to share via social media helping the advertising campaign reach out to more people making it more likely to go viral. This makes the brand look really good in the eyes of the consumer as it is a nice gesture and is a change from your standard print ad. To add to this Duracell have said every time a circuit was completed they would donate $1 to Habitat for Humanity Canada.

North Face Never Stop Exploring Campaign

Filmed in a pop up store in Seoul, North Korea, North Face have come up with a brilliant way to get customers to interact and feel engaged with this amazing stunt. The floor would disappear with the walls being able to climb, a North Face jacket would fall down and a message would say you have 30 seconds to grab the jacket and the time would start. This is a very unique way to engage with customers and is certainly something that would stick with the consumer. Great piece of advertising really promoting the "never stop exploring" message, which they have based their new advertising campaign on.

Social Media's Dominance In Our Lives

Social Media is coming more and more apart of our life and here are some interesting facts to prove that:

- Facebook tops google for weekly traffic in the U.S
- Facebook had over 200million users in a year where as the TV took 13 years
- If Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd largest
- Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears have more twitter followers than the entire population of the following countries Sweeden, Israel, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway and Panama

Social Media is apart of every day life which is why advertising companies are now increasingly targeting online adverts and often have an online collection of their work

Shepard Fairey Artist

Reeling off his success for his recently launched OBEY work, which in his own words "has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker", Shepard has had a piece of artwork go viral. 

The artwork went viral and was widely described as an iconic representation of the Obama campaign. This was one of the first artworks to go viral globally. The poster was inspired by social realism and by october 2008, Fairey claimed to have printed 300,00 posters this is not including the individuals who had printed them off as he put a digital copy on his website.

Samuel Silva Artist

Samuel Silva is an artist that re-creates images using just a ball point pen. The pictures look so realistic that it is very difficult to tell the difference between them and real photo's. Here is one he drew of a lion I think the fur looks amazing and very realistic, the glint in his eye is also very convincing. 

Samuel Silva has numerous pieces of art like this which are all listed on his deviant art: http://vianaarts.deviantart.com/ or his facebook https://www.facebook.com/VianaArts

Here are some more examples of his work:

Paddy Power Banned Adverts

This advert pushes the boundaries and you can see why this advert was the most complained about advert in 2002 in the UK. This advert was banned although in doing so helped it go viral which might not be seen as bad in Paddy Powers eyes.

Keeping to brand values of pushing the boundaries they also managed to get the most complained about advert of  2010 as well with this advert. They have a strong brand identity which involves a dark sense of humour and I am sure they will continue this in the future and we will see more banned adverts.

Specsavers Goal Line Technology Print Ad

Another great topical advert that Specsavers created came out shortly after Frank Lampard's goal (when England lost 4-1 to Germany) was disallowed. Keeping to Specsavers values in including humour in their Ads (as seen with the parody of lynx's billion advert) they have continued to show a strong brand identify that comes alive in their adverts. In advertising there are many opportunities for topical adverts and Specsavers are a company that time and time again capitalize as their adverts often go viral

Samsung Print Ad

Advertising works a lot better in my opinion when the adverts are topical. After the release of the iPhone 6 and it came out that these in fact bend in your pocket, the advertising team at Samsung jumped on this and made this print ad. The advertising team at Samsung didn't have long to create this advert to make it topical so did a great job in this. Its funny, simple and catches the consumers eye and has a good on-line presence because loads of websites have shared it because of its humour.

John Lewis Christmas Penguin Advert

Although I personally prefer the Sainsbury's Christmas Ad as I have far more in common with a soldier wanting to call a truce with the Germans on Christmas than to get involved with my imaginary pet penguins love life, I still think that John Lewis' advert is very heart warming and is certainly the advert i'd imagine more kids find interesting and being the main target audience of Christmas I believe John Lewis may have got one over on Sainsbury's this year.

The slogan at the end of the John Lewis advert is very clever as it encourages you to buy everything your kid has been asking for this Christmas. When talking about giving "someone" the Christmas they've been dreaming of John Lewis are mainly talking about kids and this is reinforced with the picture of the kid playing with his two penguins as John Lewis know as well as we all do that the majority of money spent on Christmas is spent on kids. The advert also has a very clever twist at the end again reinforcing kids being the centre of attention as something as simple as a toy penguin that you buy for your kid can be turned into something magical (through the use of some CGI special effects of course). The song is very catchy and using the #MontyThePenguin they have created a great online presence.

Sainsbury's Christmas Advert

After John Lewis' Christmas advert had hit 15 million views in just under 2 weeks, Sainsbury's knew they had a lot of competition this year. Although the Sainsbury's Christmas advert has caused a great deal of controversy receiving up to 250 complaints in the 2 days it has been online, due to using a snapshot of war to increase sales, it also manages to catch the emotion of the Christmas spirit and those who were trapped in the trenches on Christmas in 1914 through great use of camera work and choice of music. It is also a story that the vast majority can resonate with as who would really want to be shooting at the enemy in a time which is solely based on the good nature of humanity? The advert has clearly been successful and influenced what the consumers are buying as Sainsbury's started selling the same chocolate bar featured in the advert and are reporting sales of around 5000 an hour. This is a great story for an advert and what better time to tell this story than around christmas, I think think the advert works brilliantly and the proof is in the pudding as sales have rocketed, I also think the publicity causd by the complaints that were made might not be all bad as any publicity is good publicity

Volkswagen Think Small Campaign

At a time when cars were a fashion statement and the VW beetle (having been so immensely tied up to Hitler and Nazi Germany during world war 2) was considered a slow, ugly some may even argue un-american car, Helmut Krone had a huge task on his hands for the DDB to create an advertising campaign to convince Americans to buy this car.

 Krone was very bold in his attempt to do this, as soon as you see the ad and how much white space there is surrounding the car it automatically draws your attention to it. Surely the person advertising this car would like to show you as much as possible and not a bunch of white space? Krone has already got you hooked with the visuals and your curiosity makes you want to read on. The advert continues with its bold and edgy angle by actually starting to mock its car saying how it is't streamlined like other fastbacks, nor will it go past 72mph. But once its got you reeled in it continues to tell you how it is not like other cars as unlike other cars you will not have to continuously stop at gas stations, tire stores or repair shops. This is where the user starts to feel like this is a car unlike any other and at a time where cars were a fashion statement by buying this car they to could be as audacious and edgy as the advert. The slogan behind the campaign "think small", works perfectly as it is encouraging Americans to stop going for the massive muscle cars that were seen so often in the 1960's, it created a trend for more smart and reliable cars rather than the gas guzzling speed monsters of the past. Krone played a key part in the VW Beetle becoming one of the most iconic cars in history as he changed the opinions of millions of Americans, from an ugly, slow car associated with Nazi Germany to one that was idolized by millions in America. Bernbach would of been a huge influence in his work as he was qouted saying “Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula.” and this advert certainly did not emerge from a formula

World first TV advert

The world first TV advert aired in the US on July 1, 1941. It was around 10 seconds long, it shows a watch with Bulova written inside of it placed on top of the american map with a guy narrating "america runs on Bulova time" a catchphrase that had been heard by many on the radio as well as read by thousands in newspapers. Bulova has been a pioneer in adverts as they were also the first company to broadcast a national radio commercial in 1926 which was seen by millions, their TV advert however was not as successful only reaching a couple thousand as at the time radio was a more common household item than the television. When asked why they did it a spokesperson for Bulova was quoted saying "As to why we did it, I suppose that's because we took pride in being a pioneer in marketing," Bulova will forever be remembered as the first advert ever to air on live television and spark the beginning of a multi billion dollar industry.

Bar Marketing Campaign

http://www.theladbible.com/articles/a-strip-club-start-weird-marketing-move-to-get-more-people-in

This is a very audacious stunt pulled off by a bar who I hope agreed to do this with the strip club.
They have inserted a spyhole in the urinals into the strip club next door. This is a very unique selling point and would certainly attract some new customers. From what I know it is the first of its kind and definitely helps the customer feel like their having an exclusive experience separate from people at other bars. This is something that I would definitely take a picture of and people have the same mentality as me as it has created an online presence

Nike find your greatness print Ad

Nike have got a very difficult task in delivering a personal message to such a wide target audience and yet time and time again they deliver. Just like their previous ad campaign just do it which inspired a generation I truly believe this is something that will do the same. This advert can resonate with everyone, its not asking you to find greatness, its asking you to find your personal greatness. You don't need to be Muhammed Ali or David Beckham, its asking you to achieve your goals and find greatness within your self. A very positive message with the picture of a fat kid (excuse my political in correctness) to reinforce this. The picture is portraying that if this kid can find greatness within himself then there is no excuse as to why you can't. What better way to achieve your goals and find greatness than with Nike helping you every step of the way?

Mums Demand Action Print Ad

This advert is very clear cut and gives out a very specific and visible message. For me the kid holding the gun automatically draws your attention to the poster, your first thought is why is that kid holding a gun? This helps to engage the viewer, as well as asking you "guess which one" it is a very powerful message that makes you question which one is legal. It makes you question yourself as you would assume it is the gun that is illegal, I mean if you looked up the statistics for number of kinder egg related deaths compared to the number of guns I'd like to think as an intelligent human being I know which would come out on top. This makes the advert very engaging and because of its sense of surprise, when you find out it is in fact the kinder eggs that are illegal you start questioning yourself and the governments priorities. This advert also works well because it is something you would talk about with friends, for example its something that could easily be slipped into a casual conversation "can you believe that kinder eggs are banned in america but guns aren't" its an advert that for the most part will get people talking. I think their choice of comparison is excellent as they could of gone with a number of things that are banned in america, but choose something that is made directly for children and has a sense of innocence to it. They have done very well to take such a controversial subject and create such an emotion/thought provoking advert, whether or not this advert would actually make someone take action I am not sure but it definitely helps to raise awareness.

3D Dinosaur Panasonic Advert

This advert is funny, innovative and has great use of CGI. The lighting instantly draws you to the centre of the photo where the woman is pointing for the dinosaur to go back into the TV. It is an advert for everybody I believe it is a real people pleaser from young to old. The use of colours is good its not to in your face and nothing distracts you from the adverts message. This is a very clever way of getting the message across that our 3D TV is the best in the business and you won't be able to tell the difference between real life and objects coming out of the 3D TV. The Dinosaur looking like its sighing (how they've made it seem like the dinosaur is sighing I do not know as no one has ever seen one sigh but there you go)  and the plant pot on the floor really ads to the satirical humour shown in this print ad. I really like the advert as its something a lot of people can identify with as well as being funny and getting its message across well.

Hand Sanitizer Print Ad

This advert evokes a lot of emotion because of the dirty and grimy feel it has to it. Your first reaction is "that looks disgusting", they very smartly used dull and grungy looking colours to give this advert a real sense of unpleasantness. It catches the users eye but for all the wrong reasons, it looks revolting and maybe because of this some of the viewers may not give it a second look. However I do think it gets its message across very clearly, as even if I did not buy this particular brand of hand sanitizer it would almost definitely make me want to use one throughout the day. Although I think it is a very thought provoking advert, I don't think it is an advert that will sit well with a lot of people. Personally I think its the type of advert you would remember but it wouldn't necessarily make you want to buy the product.

Play Doh Print Ads

This advert is very clear cut and centralised. It isn't very busy which allows the viewer to focus on the message it is trying to portray. Unless you lived under a rock for your entire childhood you would have definitely heard of or owned Play-Doh and Hasbro are playing on this fact. Hasbro are letting your imagination run wild, after seeing this advert it will leave you thinking about all the things you made your Play-Doh turn into and how much fun you had doing it. It may also leave you thinking about the endless possibilities that you didn't create, now is that something that you want your kid missing out on? I think this advert works really well because essentially like the advert, Play-Doh is what you make of it. 

Guiness Basketball Advert

I really admire this advert because it has a very heartwarming twist towards the end. It gives the impression that the type of people who drink Guinness are a more kind and caring breed of people. The quote "the choices we make reveal the true nature of our character" makes you want to buy it more as it entices you to make a conscious decision about what you drink. Do you want to go for the average joe of beers or are you going to strive for better and drink our Guinness. It works really well with other advertising campaigns that they have done, this whole idea that Guinness isn't just your ordinary beer but something that you as a better person should be aspiring towards. They get the message across very well that the type of people who drink Guinness have a very distinct character and an acquired taste. I think the sound track goes really well with the advert as it is very calm and soothing. I also feel the intensity of the first 30 seconds or so hooks you into watching the rest of the advert.

#ShipMyPants Video advert

This advert is short to the point and also has a comedy factor to it. They say ship my pants 9 times in just over 30 seconds, in the hope that repeating the slogan would make it stick in the consumers mind. They try to get the viewers involved with the #shipmypants this is a very clever way of getting some free advertising online as if the hashtag starts to trend people will be intrigued as to what ship my pants is and also will want to feel apart of the trend. The choice of actors I think is also adequate as they have tried to involve as many different people as possible, from kids to elderly people as well as including a whole range of ethnicitys to try not to make people feel left out.

Panda Video Advert

These adverts are short sweet and show great consistency and is very recognisable in the first 10 seconds. As soon as the first 10 seconds come on it makes you want to watch more, as if you have seen one of these adverts before you know some things about to go down. The series of adverts all last around 30 seconds long, all play the same song and all bar one have a guy in a panda suit smashing something up. As an advert it's everything you could want, it sticks in the consumers head and is instantly recognisable. Its suitable for all ages and in my opinion very funny. I also think it works well because you can watch it no matter what country your from, it is'nt a nation specific advert.

Weight Watchers Print Advert

When going to weight watchers your ideal goal is to lose weight. This advert shows what weight watchers do in a nutshell, if you join weight watchers you will leave your weight at the door. Its very to the point but could also provoke a lot of emotion as getting through a door could be a problem that you as a fat person have faced once or twice in your life, it is saying very bluntly if you join us we guarantee that by the end of your journey with us you will be able to walk through any door you want with ease. The advert is straight forward and self explanatory, because there isn't a lot going on in the advert your attention is immediately drawn to the weight watchers logo and the message that they are trying to get across to you. My only problem with the advert is it is very bland and boring and perhaps sends out a little bit of a psychological message without knowing that this may be a very long and monotonous process, perhaps lacking in the excitement that is needed to motivate somebody to lose weight.

Durex Print Advert

I like this advert as there is not a lot going on in it, its something that is simple yet effective. The idea of having to pay $217 for a car seat or any item that that would be needed for the coming of a baby compared to the small price tag of $2.50 for a packet of condoms would convince even the most feebleminded to go out and buy their product. The only criticism I have about this advert is the placing of the Durex logo and its size, at a quick glance on a tube or a bus someone may miss the Durex logo. Other than that I think it gets its message across instantly and in a humorous fashion although I don't think its one that will stay in people's head.