Friday 30 May 2008

The news...

Hmmm we've had some intersting things happening in the last week of so and things are looking rather promising.... will update as soon as we hear anything definate...

Thursday 29 May 2008

The Honda Ad!

Just saw the live ad.... and oh yes they did it, N was a bit of an issue nearly didn't make it but it all came good in the end. I'm very impressed.

However the real highlight was the guy with the camera who wrote hello mum on his hands.

Well done W+K, Well Done Honda you've done it again.

Wednesday 28 May 2008

The show...

Okay Ladies and Gentlemen...


Our show. We are graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University very soon and to celebrate were showing off our best and latest work. You of course are invited to attend, we do appreciate though that some of you who are further away may not be able to come and see us, but we do understand.


The Campaign article...

There we go.... (click to make bigger...)

Tuesday 27 May 2008

The last few days...

3 to be exact, and its all going to plan...ish. Hopefully we should get it all done and dusted. 

Sunday 25 May 2008

The funny thing...

Who would have thought you couldn't advertise in campaign? Lol well i've finally got my campaign magazine and shall be putting up on here soon but the people at campaign decided to leave off the blog address off the article, maybe we wrote too much.

Oh well, if people want to talk to us, we're not that hard to find!

Thursday 22 May 2008

The NEWSFLASH!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen of the congregation... we have just been informed that our 'secret' mission has now come to reality.

Please turn to the 24hrs with coloumn of your new campaign magazine.

There you will find mine and Debbies mugs staring back at you and our account of portfolio night.

Those of you coming to the blog from campaign, please refer to the archive sections for full accounts of the crits.

Tuesday 20 May 2008

The step too far..

Just saw this on brand republic....

The UK government has just started making changes to try and make this country healthier and get the obesity rate down.

Over at Burger king however... "I know lets make six burgers into one!"

http://www.brandrepublic.com/Discipline/Advertising/News/810229/Burger-King-launches-burger-six-share/

The eggy idea...

Ok were doing a brief on eggs, a bit of a brand diversion and well we had a bit of a good idea...

You're stood in a supermarket and you fancy eggs for tea tonight but you know that you're not going to need loads as you're a student/single person/fussy eater that won't want eggs for quite a while after that. Either that or you're baking a cake and you only need two eggs.

So here you are: The two egg eggbox!

It made sense to us anyway!

p.s Thanks to Jim who has spent quite a while checking our spelling and grammar. You see as we're on a very tight deadline for our graduation show we aren't really paying attention to it at the moment so all help is appreciated. ;)

Sunday 18 May 2008

The best viral marketing....

Most have this has already been documented by the lads over at carb free creativity. I have to agree however the viral marketing campaign for the Dark Knight is unbelievably good. It just keeps getting bigger and better!


Ive been following it but obviously these things dont translate well unless your watching the site constantly and although im a student im not that good with time atm!


anywho, I found this the other day, and this movie ain't gonna be pretty from the looks of it


(p.s i might get in trouble for this so it might just disappear. Warner bros have been hunting down this photo. hehe.)


If you want to keep up with all the dark knights promo look on....

Thursday 15 May 2008

The WTF??? moment.

I wont spoil it by telling you what its for, but god this is cringe-worthingly funny and made by farm. apparently.


The D&AD awards


Well Fallon ran riot for the bunnies and got a black pencil for Gorilla. Congrats.


What im disappointed about is POKE. I really hoped they'd win a pencil for the Orange unlimited site.


Full awards can be seen here:


The 100th post...

I missed it. Its the one below. I didn't even notice till today. whoops.

UPDATE: actually this is the 100th post, blogger miscalculated somehow so YAY mini virtual party!

Wednesday 14 May 2008

the small world around us....

I stumbled across this guy on Flickr and then found out that nokia are using the same technique for their promotion of bluetooth headsets.... its really strange but intriguing.

The sad thing is that I found out it had been used already. I was using a nokia handest in another campaign and saw it accidentally. :(


http://flickr.com/photos/manuperez/sets/72157594263393334

http://www.nokia.com/nonstopliving



The deadline...

is may 30th which in theory gives us 16 days. Just over two weeks until our uni lives are summed up into a little pile of work. (well ours is actually gonna be a medium sized pile we've had to make extra folders for this blog and contacts.)

Usually two weeks doesn't bother us, it pushes us. This time its panicking us. Learning so much with such little time left makes us feel that we have to do new work showing these skills or else its not worth it.

So were doing 7 campaigns in these two weeks, and once again we think the works going to be much better. The strategies are there this time. We've had confirmation before we even begun pen to layout pad.

Oh and did we mention in these next 16 days we have 4 days of Rachel and Debbies part time jobs, various planning meetings for shows (which can take up to two hours each) and we have to paint the studio (its a big studio.) We know were not the only ones doing it but still its a big task. Also we have to get our section ready. We havent even got that sorted in our heads yet. Plus printing and mounting and hanging.... This is going to be a very stressful two weeks.

phew that feels better.....

But I guess now is a better time than any to start juggling jobs, time and working to short deadlines eh?

Tuesday 13 May 2008

The thunderbirds are go....

Adlands certainly got alot of stuff for me tonight... just saw this ad for drench water...


Thunderbirds are really getting used and abused lately, they were used for specsavers only a month or so ago... Brains is better by a mile tho.

The congrats...

such alot to say today...

Pisspoorenglish got a job! yay and well deserved aswell might I say, I hope the workload doesn't take over his blogging to a point we dont hear from him again....

see. stunts do work. as long as their done well....

The spoof...

Sacla... it had to happen sometime....


The thing ive been trying to figure out for ages....

Lol ages ago i used to play these games at the height of boredom and ive been trying to hunt them out so that everyone can see. This guy produces these small flash games that produce different endings depending on what order you choose things. Highly enjoyable and annoying if you cant figue them out! anyway enjoy....

http://www.eyezmaze.com/

p.s I recommend grow nano series, grow cube and grow island.



The ad from last night...

Not the honda one, but the one that previously got me interested...

Alien and predator playing football to promote their film going to dvd. It just doesn't seem right. Apparently its to do with the FA cup that they've done a special.

something tells me that the guy who was put in charge of promoting its is either a cardiff or pompey fan...

http://www.avp2dvd.co.uk/

Monday 12 May 2008

The new one....

Oh my, what you find watching late night TV eh. quick spot during 'The fast and the furious' of people practising synchronised sky diving with the end line "difficultisworthdoing.com!" of course I'm already near my comp and curiosity gets the better of me. I was already interested by the alien vs. predator football ad but anyway back to this 'difficult' spot...

Honda are doing something really interesting. W+K what have you thought up this time?

http://difficultisworthdoing.com/

I'm intrigued.

The challenge...

We've been set one... and its a doosy. Seriously though if we can do these (and well) ill be amazed. but were never one to back down from a challenge!

Here goes:
  • British Airways T5
  • Bernard Matthews
  • Cilit Bang.

ouch.

Saturday 10 May 2008

The question...

Ok opinions please...

  • Mercedes-Benz - Inspired by women since 1900.
  • McVities HobNobs- They can take the heat.
  • Rachel's organic milk- Big on the benefits
  • Flybe- The low impact airline.
  • Expedia.com- See the bigger picture.
  • Nestle's After Eights - Who said we meant the evening?

Good initial ideas? (and I emphasise initial)

Friday 9 May 2008

The aftermath...

Well after that day, its another book in the bin another new start. but thats not new for us except this time we are going to spend a little longer on it only because were exhausted. However products are already getting researched and ideas are in the pipeline but as our Uni life is coming to an end we need to get our work together for that so london will have to wait for a couple of months lol. we were slightly disallusioned and exhausted but actually once we analysed it all we realised it wasnt as bad as we'd imagined and theres so much we can get from this.

What doesnt kill us only makes us stronger....

Oh yeah and that secret thing thats happening soon...still going to happen.

The massacre (Portfolio Night Bit)

Ok we were a bit harsh, it wasnt that bad and it was all good fun

3 sessions of 45 mins moving through table after table of CD's and people in the know.

Rachel 1: Iain Tait: YES! was really happy to see Iain, we love poke, they really have a thing about work involving experiences and we like that sort of thing too. We nearly didnt get through the book though too much chatting oops! He thought Nandos was a good laugh and liked you nandos needs you and the lemmings (everyone loves lemmings) Liked Euro 08 and the big british ball game, some good things could come out of that. Get rid of the cameras on lonely planet and he thought that slim fast was really funny. sick but funny.

Debbie 1: Mark from JWT IQ: good product but misses the mark. Euro 08 get rid of the strapline more reasons like its a shame that noth germany and croatia cant both lose. The big british ball game has been done too much before (has it????) Fed ex: Fun Nandos: needs a clearer line and needs a funnier premise than suicide. Suicide isnt funny. but we respect chickens who make the choice of dying for their future in nandos. lol.

Rachel 2: Russell Ramsey: I really wanted to see this guy so I was in awe. and really didnt care that he hated everything in the book and that he said it was too flippant and to gag filled. Still in awe of the guy.

Debbie 2: Al Campbell Head of copy Agency republic. : IQ one dimentional and it woouldnt run. (we get told to put things in that wouldnt necessarily run! oh well.) Euro 08 all good but runs out in a couple of months and then its outdated. Fed ex is sick he liked that. but stick with the famous side of things. Nandos too sick for this book our book is sick to the point of bullimic lol. Ditch nandos. Lonely planet has a lovely thought behind it and needs working again.

Rachel 3: Miles Bingham JWT Cool guy said our book should be portrait OR landscape choose or die lol. Euro 08 is too niche for a book. we need more everyday products. Fedex line should be shorter whenever whatever? and needs to be cleverer overall get to the 4th step of it. Nandos: when he understood it he loved it! Lonely planet didnt seem that interested it was ok. Said we should write a list of truths then work from that lonely planet...could have something to do with perfect crime. Slim fast made him laugh but its too sick and its not right.

Debbie 4: Graham Fink, Less said about this the better. Debbie is traumatised/furious. He hated it.

Later we saw Paul silburn after a small misunderstanding and he agreed to see our book.

IQ liked the no restrictions idea but it needs to go more left field (it is. the left field bin. Sorry.)
Euro 08' Its more reasons than excuses and he quite likes it the thought needs to be expanded further, poking fun at english players? (its easy enough)

Fedex. Its too fedex when we should be thinking fresher and newer.
Nandos is way too done. but theres something in burning chickens
Lonely planet and slimfast are way overdone by students. we didnt know that.

Need better less advertised products. thinking beyond the typical, events and the promotion associated with the event.

Then we went home to bed. and Cried. No actually we didnt cry we were too exhausted. Sincere thanks to everyone who saw our book and took time out to see us and everyone at portfolio night. Did you get all that? we didnt it took me three times reading the notes to remember what happened!

The massacre...(Saatchi & Saatchi bit 2)

Back to charlotte street for the umpteenth time and were seeing Brian. Brians individual opinions on our work really stand out against everyone else and gives us inspiration to chuck things we once thought were fantastic...

  • IQ still confusing and if were gonna carry on with it we really need to find something individual about it. (Answer: were not. Its going in the bin. theres nothing individual about this car we've decided.)
  • Euro 08 Didnt get the first billboard initially but he likes what were trying to say, but it needs more. much more.
  • Fedex. He didnt love it. But he didnt hate it either. Its ok.
  • Nandos Difficult. Hes seen it so many times now he doesnt know what to think anymore. Fair enough cos we're getting sick of the sight of chickens now.
  • Lonely planet: theres so much better stuff we could do for this. He didnt like it.
  • Slim fast: Didnt like this but the gorgeous execution might have something to it. It works on a whole but personally he didnt like it.
  • Grand national he did like.

Ok so all that over we were feeling good and upbeat and enthusiastic for the night ahead....oh we were in for a shock....

The massacre... (Lunar BBDO Bit)

Well this was eagerly anticipated and it lived up to itself.

The Lunar BBDO bloggers Ben and Daryl were able to see us and whilst they flicked through our book we flicked through the new circle annual and what a nice book that was. We didnt want to put that one down!

  • IQ was missing a bit of truth and by this point i think debbie and I had already decided it was going in the bin but the stratergy may survive somewhere for a later date.
  • Euro 08 was a hit but they said get rid of the strapline and just use the logo it speaks for themselves but maybe it should be a bit more secret so that wives arent prepared for the excuses?
  • Fed ex They liked the mugabe execution but not the others
  • Nandos they kinda liked but they wanted it sicker, get really involved. 9/11? London bombings? Maybe, maybe not. Nandos may not survive this book....
  • Lonely planet they didn't understand, there isnt much truth to it but they did like the see more stratergy however we should be showing more benefits of the book. Fair enough.
  • Slim fast they liked and it had a real truth but think it should be kept to magazines rather than billboards.

They liked the fact that we look at other media, actually we prefer other media, that stuff is so much more fun! In all we need more TRUTH in our book. This was such and inspiring crit for us. We really enjoyed it we also had a quick chat about Ben's three year old picture in campaign last week....

So outside sat in the sun we wondered if Brian (saatchi & saatchi) was back in the office after getting his chair delivered. So we rang him and arranged a crit for an hour later...

The massacre....(The saatchi & saatchi bit 1)

11.45 and Back to see Rach and Izy at Saatchi and Saatchi, we love this agency and its creeping its way to the top of the list of where we'd love to be.

IQ The prints are too similar and there is so much more that can be done with the no restrictions line and we havent gone far enough MORE MORE MORE!!! why is the car clever what makes this car so brilliant?

Euro 08' Date instead of the strapline? Doctors notes bandages Expand, its good but expand!

Fedex Nice and simple and theres loads we could do with it.
Nandos They really liked compared to all the rest (theyve seen every attempt.) And they love the lemmings idea)

Lonely planet they were a bit lost with, theres something more they should be seeing rather than what we've presented. It needs more work. They liked the stratergy though.
Slim fast made them feel sick so we talked about a new stratergy that may be attempted were not sure yet. It might not be for slim fast.

So after that it was back off to liverpool street to Lunar BBDO...

The massacre.... (W&K bit)

And thats what it was ladies and gentlemen. Good and bad. The book has been well and truly decapitated in every which way and shan't be appearing in that form ever again. You can however see it in its shameful form over on the portfolio page.

Right then. Better start at the beggining.

9.30 thursday morning, we joked that W+K would be a great way to start the dayand we were proved right! crazy reception area and photos will follow but Fabian and Ida were great we had a pretty good crit from them, They loved the idea behind Euro 08 and want to see more, but we need to tweak some things, get rid of the bit before the strapline as the excuses says it all. Has the spirit of the football fan within it, They prefered the personal side of fed ex, the student one rather than the famous people but thinks we should focus on the brand rather than what we did. MORE TRUTH! (that is going to be mentioned alot in the next however long this takes to read...)

Didnt really like IQ and they did like Nandos they thought it was funny and fits the tone of nandos but it doesnt really make them want to go. They loved the Lonely planet simplicity but they said some tweaking needs to be done about the images and whats actually being looked at.

Slim fast was a bit iffy. And they liked the grand national viral so all good!

Wednesday 7 May 2008

The time has come....

May massacre has arrived! Were off to London again this afternoon and we won't be blogging for the next couple of days whilst were getting critted to the extreme. I shall come back and tell you all as soon as is possible and we have recovered from the chaos.

wish us luck!

Tuesday 6 May 2008

The summer omen...

Has it arrived? Well it seems that its making an appearance! We went into uni stupidly early this morning to print our stuff off. Well it got done in about an hour and a half so at about 10 o'clock we were wondering what on earth to do with ourselves! So having done all our work like good girls we gave ourselves a break and headed into town.



Urbis had a couple of exhibitions on so we went and had a look and then like every creative would went and plonked ourselves in a beer garden and pondered the world away. Debbie also tried to get a tan. Shes still got the red band on her back from the last time she tried bless her! I on the other hand had to fork out extortionate amounts for suncream as I burn way too easily and i'm not turning up bright red Thursday night.

Images below are from the park at uni....






Those are Debbies legs....




anyway we also saw an omen in a shop window. Something to put our minds at ease about the upcoming next few days...




A nice day off before may massacre....

Monday 5 May 2008

The upload...

Ok well we think we've done it. As far as we can tell our portfolio has been successfully uploaded to portfolio night. Not without a small glitch though. For some reason the site decided not to like my computer and refuse to let me on the site. Every other computer is fine but not mine. No. Typical.

Anyway a quick email to the support team and its sorted. Now were just checkin theyve got it all good down their end and we should be good to go! yay!

Now we just have to print a shitload of stuff off tomoz!

Sunday 4 May 2008

The preparation...

Answer: Yes, yes, yes and yes and your all good to go!


The stress...

I believe that Debbie and I are the only ones on this planet that hate the idea of a bank holiday this Monday.

Uni don't believe in things like half term and easter holidays but as soon as a bank holiday comes along everyone abandons ship on the one day we need it and its A3 scanner the most. Typical.

All our work has to be uploaded BY Tuesday 6th. I've put the 'by' in capitals because its causing me some bother. Does by mean monday midnight or tuesday midnight? Portfolio night contacts wern't too helpful. "as long as its all done by the deadline then its all good" was the response. WHATS THE DEADLINE? I hate vague outlines for things.

So Debbie and I are going to be taking photos of our work and uploading them that way. Not ideal but I suppose it will have to do. 10 to 1 if we leave it till tuesday we'll probably find out the deadline was Monday midnight and then we'll be in trouble.

Grrrr.

Thursday 1 May 2008

The retraction...

Ok I have to take it back. Sonys Foam city is better than I originally perceived. (It just came on tv.) I dont know if we saw an early release that wasn't finished yet but it felt and looked alot different than what I originally saw. It felt alot more believeable (I cant believe I used the word magical before...) this time round.

There. I said it. I was wrong. :)

What I also like is that the website lets you download the advert and theres a "paste to blog" section. Sony are so thoughtful.




UPDATE: Okay I take back my comment about foam city but... FALLON ARE TAKING OVER TV!!! lol ok I exaggerate slightly but this is just what I watched on channel 4:
  • Foam city ad
  • TV programme
  • Foam city ad
  • Budweiser ad
  • some other ad
  • bact to TV Programme

How much air time have they bought?????

The good news and the bad....

Changes. Nothing ever stays the same with us for very long. There we were all sorted for portfolio night, the only thing to do was draw em' up.... Then in walks Ken Davies, Creative director of Underdog advertising in Chester. Ken comes in every now and again to set briefs and see what were upto but we haven't seen him for months so it was nice to catch up.

Good news is that A smyths (Irish toy shop) brief we were set a while ago was rather sucessful with the clients but still questions on what will and wont run.

Bad news is that he had fantastic ideas for work! Our ideas had a right good workout and were moulded into new versions of themselves. at least we hadn't drawn too much up by then!

But everything is finalised now nothing is changing. well we don't think so anyway!