Top Brands

We have to think of ten brands which will eventually go to 6 or 7 for our portfolio. Here are our suggestions so far... What shall we not touch with a barge stick and what shall we tenderley love for 6 months? Or if anyone has any other suggestions for brands/services/products etc let me know!

We have already had advice that we are choosing too many luxurious brand names. We need a good mix to show strength in all areas and some brands already have great creative work that would be hard to top. What do you think?


1. Oxford English Dictionary ( which we re developing from my first press ads)
2. BMI Baby service aeroplane
3. Yakult
4. Pie minister, see http://www.pieminister.co.uk
5. Aston Martin
6. A Band- Maybe advertise an up and coming band as a brand
7. Crayola
8. Corona Beer
9. RSPB
10. Science Museum
11. Schuh ( shoe shop)
12. Bourjous (women's make up, french brand in UK)
13. Royal Bank of Scotland
14. Skype (internet phone service)
15. Virgin Radio
16. Canderel
17. Gu puddings
18. Jacob's Crackers
19. Piz Buin (sun care lotion)
20. Green and Blacks Choc

Guidance

Firstly, i have a team!

Secondly, I have been emailing agencies today for guidance or useful contact to mentor my work. Give feedback etc. Not looking for placements but just someone to send regular scamps to and tell us to scrap it or develop it.


So, if any one ever reads this that is in the industry and has any useful emails or contacts or knows anyone that wouldnt mind a few emails a month saying "what do you think" then please email me.

I would post all my work on here but from reading other blogs I'm not sure its a great idea, i think i should remain fresh and anonymous... what's everyones thoughts on this?

First day back

Books

I need a blumin good book to read as i have just finished The Green Manifesto by John Grant. I actually enjoyed it, good case studies which brought the theory to life. So... Any suggestions?

Iris

I received some good news yesterday... I have been chosen to attend the next workshop stage at Iris, who hold a graduate placement scheme! Wooo. Check out the link to know more of exactly what I am on about!

http://www.iris-global.com/irispotential/

Im so green with envy

I'm very annoyed that i cannot attend any of the dates above for greengaged series of lecures at the London design festival! Dammit,part time work! But if anyone goes. Can you please take lots of pics and tell me lots of green design information.


kind regards.

Electronica Portfoliola

i'm starting my own digital portfolio. I thought it was about time i started learning dreamweaver and flash. I have an idea for a interactive portfolio, but as you might be able to tell, it may take a while for me to complete this project! But iam determined to have a sparkly website by christmas!

But what do we think... Is the digital portfolio the way to go? Or is it like post vs email scenario? You just can't beat a good parcel!

Hello.. Is it me your looking for?

On my quest for a partner, i have been confronted with maybe a dilema. Shall i go for a girl or a guy?? I know it may sound trivial, but which is the best combo? The advertising industry seems to be dominated by males and a strong female team might be the most employable approach. But then, we all know what girls are like, they let politics get in the way of work. Where as an all boy team might be more desirable as they have that blokey attitude and things seem like less of a constant dog fight. Or is the mixed team the best, a bit from both worlds being able to contribute to briefs from both genders views.

However, i am sure there will be those that argue, talent comes first, but i cant help thinking, that the team structure is probably one of the very first impressions you can give to an agency. Is there a current trend in combinations?? In your experience who make the best teams?

But for now, let Lionell entertain you....

Here's a top tip, twist it and it won't stick

Does anyone else love the Jamie, Sainsburys ads? Not for sheer creative concepts, or cutting edge art direction, but just because he's acting like a complete twat. Add Jamie, wave a fiver in your face,then hijack a car/bus, tell you how to cook, harrass your family add a "top tip" mix with a lisp and you have a craking ad.
oooh jamie... tut tut. It just confirms, I'm definitely a Ramsey Girl.

Tonight Matthew, Iam going to be...

Whilst blog stalking I came across this guy... Tom Fishburne. Brilliant drawings linked to marketing and consequently has a few books. I particularly liked his “which creative are you” drawings. I'm not sure which one I would come under... maybe genius/wannabe

"Man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard"

As you may have read in a previous post I’m researching into environmentally sustainable advertising. Mainly for my diss but also to integrate into a portfolio idea. I have been questioning if there is such a thing as advertising that has minimal impact on the environment? I came across this quote from David Ogilivy " I have a passion for Landscape, and i have never seen one improved by a billboard. Where every prospect pleases, man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard." And i think he's right, they are a blot in the landscape and don’t really offer anything back to the world, except being huge communication devises.


Then i started thinking about possible practical ways advertising could improve the landscape. I thought of bio-degradable billboards, of which i soon googled and found a company already making these. http://www.biobanner.co.uk/. It's a great idea, especially good for direct mail. However a tree is a tree and despite what we do to try and create minimal environmental impact, or try to offset our actions and therefor i think digital is still probably the future of sustainability.


One last shot... provided by http://www.inventorspot.com/ I love the simple idea and message it communicates. One more tear... now thats three trees you have killed!







I will keep you posted on my environmentally sustainable advertising ideas.

Getting my name out

I'm currently in a dilema to whether sending out a self promo pack to agencies is the best way of contacting them and getting noticed, or if a simple email and attached PDF is the way to go. We even did a module on self promotion, of which mine looking back at, is slighting on the embarrassing side. I think maybe if you get a great concept to show your creativity, personality, art direction skills, then its a much more appetising way to sell yourself.

But with thousands of graduates sending out useless bits of junk, do many agencies want to just see your book and not gimmicks. I remember seeing on WK's blog how Ida and Fabian got noticed,which is shown in a previous blog of mine.....Attaching a massive poster of themselves looking into the agency, which ultimately got them a placement and job. I have also been told of one team actually stalking a CD for a month, bit creepy.

So let me know of any good promo stories and example work, or if i should just to stick to my good old pdf's and phone calls.

Visualising

Whilst browsing the net i found this really interesting visual, not really because of its athestics but what it's representing. Its a visual of how the internet would look. Pretty much like a ball of mess but in some shape. It got me thinking i wonder if you could visualise the advertising industry, and how its all linked. just a thought....

GRT Awards

I attended the GRT book crits last friday in Tequilla. It was a fantastic opportunity meeting 6 creative directors continuosly for 3 hours! I had to admit I didn't get the best start, arriving a tad late due to a national express bus leaving me and a fellow passanger at the services! So, after turning up a tad flustered after running through various tube stations, the afternoon was worth all the stress of getting there.
I met the following people which as expected gave me varying feedback.

Simon Bosworth CD TDA
Trevor Chambers CD- Start Creative
Iian Hunter- Wunderman
Jamie Bell- Creative Group head, Wunderman
David Harris- CD and GRt Trustee, wrote the Brief.
Chris Catchpole- CD Catchpole and Friends

Ill write general comments about each brief i had in my book.

1. Photolibrary. Everyone remebered it clearly, so must have been a rememberable piece. Many however prefered my digital version, which suprised me! Maybe the bakery is leaning towards a didigtal future.

2.Covent Garden Soup. A brief I did for Mother. Tv campaign showing a cow eating the ingrediants for soup and producing fresh soup! A few guys thought it was a tad mad, but all seemed to like it in a quirky way. It was suggested like most of my campaigns i should extend the idea into other mediums.

3. Oxford English dictionary. All liked the client i used and my idea as shown below but all think i need a grounding bit of copy. Simon Bosworth picked up on my lack of copy but gave me a great tip of getting into copy, think of it like a conversation and edit down. Again, campain is extendable, sigestions, sms text.

4.Bulldog. Natural male grooming products. This piece was done for YCN. Bad press form this, completley told to scrap it by a few. The image didnt seem right at all, which i agreed. Maybe re-do with a more ruggeded,manly,essex biy attitude.

5.Grazia. Done for DandAD, as you can imagine seen thousands of times over. A few guys likeed the piece suggested i should scamp it all to the same style as previous as mac version wasnt giving it justice. A few said my scamps were great and could run as they were.

6. Nivea- As seen below. All said it was great, but not much else, so i think despite it winning i will eventually move it aside for third year work.

So overall, increase my copy, find a decent partner, go back to a few people with my changes.

Winner

Last Thursday I attended the Clear Channel Student Awards at the Orchid Bar, Piccadilly Circus. It was a great night, meeting some top contacts and picking up the catagory winner for "Sponser Judging award" for Nivea Visage Young. It was a good first awards ceremony and the free bar certainly helped! Let me know what you think of the campaign.

Heres the judges comments:
The Nivea judge was impressed as this design fits the brief and reflects the brand personality. The creative is young, fresh, girly and engaging, and all relevant brand elements have been integrated. Furthermore, the creative idea was carried across the different outdoor formats very well, being innovative at the same time.

I'm a naked creative

thats right, i have no internet. So this blog is coming from an internet cafe and im being charged to write on my blog! Ive also missed the opportunity to grab the new 3G iphone online, which has now sold out. Gutted.

Good news though, got a few contacts about partners, this dating is all exiciting. Does anyone have any good tips on finding the perfect creative partner? Or disaster stories?

Right, im off as i cant afford another minute. Meanwhile im in London for the next few days and will tell all when i return.

Sustainable communication

Recently I've had lots of insight into sustainable advertising and graphics. It all sounds a tad boring and yet just another area where we seem to be lectured on saving the world. I'm not a hippy,druid or ship jumping green protester but since ive started researching into the subject I'm actually getting more of a positive solid view towards sustainable business'. Take Three Trees





A sucessful business with clear ethics with great work. Also futerrawhos spokesperson at D&AD was really inspiring and these people are really passionate about trying to change the way creative industries work to benefit everyone. It's a quickly expanding area, but i just hope that its not companies trying to jump on the bandwagon with the whole "green" image inevitably cashing in truck loads from companies trying to prove they are fashionably green too. But then again if there still producing fantastic work as well as being sustainable, who can knock em.

Tell me your thoughts on these kind of business. Should i be aspiring to such levels, or is it a green wash out??

Digital Disciples

I'm having a crit next week and every crit I've had I have been told about the importance of expanding concepts to new and exciting digital formats. I don't know if its just in my little uni bubble, but im just not getting reved up about it all.

Whilst reading "Digital Disiples" by Patrick Burgoyne in this month CR I found a quote which pretty much back up how i feel :

" Digital advertising has produced nothing of any note. If all about being entertaining and engaging, then we havent done anything significant yet. We're still making shitty microsites" Flo Heiss, Dare.

Im sure that i will come round to the idea of thinking digitally maybe first, rather than a last medium and doing it not just to impress creatives to give me a job but that its the best and most exiting,challenging way to communicate.

Im going to work on some more digital responses and post them here shortly.

What do we think?? Is the classic age of press,tv and radio really dying out to digital?? So i try thinking digitally first?

On a happier note. This new Advert ticked all the bakery boxes. Lovely

dictionary

some ideas i recently did for a placement. let me know what you think.

you win some you loose some. Clear channel and GRT

This blog is in need of a revamp as the bakery team has changed. Unfortunatly not all the ingredients for a great cake happened and im in search of a new copy writer. So if anyone actually reads this and is in there final year at uni looking for placements or indeed finished uni, then give me a quick email and ill post some of my work up.

But for now.. good news! Im in the clear channel final and will be attending the award ceremonies next week and the following day im shortlisted for the GRT awards, which includes a three month placement and 5,000 bursery.. no pressure! ill put more info on the competions and work i entered for it on here soon.


Emily