Cage against the machine

Did anyone find it amusing last year how Rage against the Machine's 'Killing in the name of' reached the christmas number one slot instead of Joe McElderry? Well this year could be equally as funny, as apparently a collaboration of artists are to release a silent x-factor protest song in an effort to clinch the prestigous accolade from Simon Cowell's grasping hands again. Artists thought to be taking part include Pete Doherty, The Kooks, Imogen Heap, The Big Pink and even Billy Bragg. The idea of the track is to emulate composer John Cage's experimental score 4'33" which included a silent orchestra sitting in a studio.
The track which has been coined "Cage against the machine", is being organised  by DJ Eddy Temple-Morris who said "I don't know what the noise will be. I imagine there will be the tweak of a leather jacket, a cough, a snigger, a muffled laugh. You'll hear whatever happens in that room at that time. That's the performance."
Proceeds made from the single will be put to charity, and according to sources the track was recorded a couple of days ago without Pete Doherty who did not show up for it.
It's sad to see that the once genuinely exciting Christmas number one build up has become such a farce, but sadly the only things who are to blame for it are the X-Factor and the brainless people behind their large record sales.
I'd quite like to see this new song beat the X-factor once more but I don't really hold my breath. But if people will buy the single out of respect for charity and it does reach Christmas number one, I think it will be another satisfying kick in the proverbials for Mr.Cowell and the X-factor this Christmas.

Click here...

Life in 2025

MSN has carried out a survey that reveals what people think life will be like in 2025 as part of it's Pulse of the Nation survey. According to the study, 48% of people think Prince William will supersede Prince Charles to the throne, 41% of women think they will be able to virtually try on clothes before buying and 22% of people even think humans will have set foot on Mars!

Other stats have concluded that by 2025 'Celebrity' will have become a registered profession, genital and 'moob' surgery will have become commonplace and the average retirement age is estimated to be around 75.

The survey marks MSN's 15th birthday and has been achieved with the help of 100,00 British people. It gives a very interesting insight into just where the citizens of this country believe the UK is headed, and where the priorities of the general public today lie.

click here...

New Stella Artois Advert

Stella Artois' have launched a new Christmas campaign named 'Ice Lounge' to promote Stella as a drink for Christmas. The agency Mother have the account and have created an advert that evokes a very festive mood. It shows an ice sculpture competition somewhere in Europe (I presume Belgium) that shows three competitors chipping away at blocks of ice to win over the judges, one of which is very attractive woman. They all create impressive works, the first of which is a christmas tree with presents under it which the competitor gives to the female judge. However, the winner creates a full lounge out of ice complete with a grand piano, full couch with mink coat and tables and glasses. But the thing that wins her over is when the handsome gentleman pours two glasses of Stella Artois, which is the ends the advert with him taking the first prize and a drink with the woman. There is also an element of humour as one of the losing contenders angrily kicks the leg of the ice piano and sets fire to a part of it.
With the strap line 'Originally crafted for Christmas', it is clearly pushing the drink for Christmas, and I think is a typically classy and successful idea for Stella Artois and it stays firmly within the tone of voice of the brand. I certainly believe they have met their aim for the advert and the brand will do well over the Christmas period as a result of it.

click here to see it...

Scents of the Seventies

We all know that vintage is huge at the moment. We can see it everywhere we look in the music, colours, styles and textures used in fashion and design today. I myself happen to own a number of retro inspired items, and I'm quite happy with the way fashion and style is going at the moment. With brands such as Lyle & Scott, Fila, Biba, Levi's and Adidas to name a few all bringing back vintage lines in fashion, I suppose it shouldn't really come as a massive surprise to learn that aftershaves from the seventies are making a comeback too. But with owning a small bottle of Brut my dad gave me about 10 years ago, and being all too familiar with its formidable aroma I for one was.
It seems that in an effort to continue embracing the latest trend of all things retro, people are even wishing to smell like people did in the seventies. Shops like Superdrug have recently been stocking fragrances like Brut, Old Spice and Charlie to keep up with demand from consumers who are requesting them. There has even recently been a rather tongue-in-cheek campaign launched, promoting Old Spice to a modern audience, and I'm pretty sure Brut have started advertising again in magazines and an updated webpage.
I'm all for the latest vintage styles and trends and I will continue to buy clothes and accessories derived from these days gone by. But I think the nostril burning musks of the past, are definitely better off staying there.

Click here for link....

England; Why I don't bother anymore.

After the World Cup I vowed to boycott watching England until I could see some real changes in the way that our national team is run. When I did this I was fairly confident that by being so embarrassingly piss poor in the biggest tournament in World football, the England players and manager might think it was time to pick up the slack and improve themselves. How sad that I am being proven wrong.
Straight after returning so early from South Africa, you might have thought that the players would be so disappointed and solemn faced that they may just want to go home and stay out of the public eye for a bit. Instead, most of them saw it the ideal opportunity to go on a bender of epic proportions in what I can only imagine was an attempt to drown their sorrows. After catastrophically dashing the nations hopes and apparently not being particularly abashed about spending so lavishly on their return party (even in the middle of a recession), Ashley Cole saw it an ideal opportunity to really try and spit in the faces of the English fans. The phrase "I hate England and the people" may have been slightly fabricated by the media, but for me I believe it wasn't too far from the truth. I remember thinking to myself that after seeing such disregard and a complete lack of passion and discipline in the squad, surely Fabio Capello and the hopeless, bumbling idiots that run the F.A would decide that it was time for a shake up?

Fast forward 5 months and I find myself sitting here, more disillusioned with English football than I thought was possible. The epitaph this time being England 1, France 2. The french team was the only bigger joke than us in South Africa; a manager who looks like Sam the eagle from the muppets and picks his team according to the stars(!?!), and a squad that on paper should walk the finals but crashes out in the first round. Clearly though, after such a soul destroying World Cup they have managed to turn themselves round a bit. England on the other hand haven't quite done the same, and I think I saw this one coming. Capello apparently picks his squad on a rating system of first team games played, current form, etc. regardless of who they play for. Sounds brilliant. But when I saw that he had picked the likes of Kieran Gibbs, Jay Bothroyd and Chris Smalling over people like Matty Etherington, Kevin Davies and other possibly more deserving players at the moment, I could immediately see that nothing is changing. Its still the case (with the exception of Jay Bothroyd) that some players are overlooked, seemingly just beacause they play for more glamorous teams like Manchester United. Maybe I'm just being biased and typically derogatory in the way I view the way things are in English football at the moment. But can you really fault me?

Rant over.

Campaign Site & Blogs

Found a quality webpage for anyone interested in advertising called Campaign. I've been going on it quite a bit recently and have found it really up to date and informative about the whole advertising industry. It includes news about whats going on in the agencies at the moment, jobs and opportunities in the industry and blogs from people working in advertising at the moment. In particular I find Steve Henry's blog very inciteful as a creative with huge experience in the industry.

Take a look for yourself....click here

Santa's Strong Character

There was a recent story in the telegraph about a Catholic group in Gremany, who want to ban Santa Claus this Christmas because they see him as "an invention of the advertising industry designed to boost sales". They instead want the reintroduction of the traditional St. Nicholas, who the group describe as "a helper in need who reminds us to be kind, help our neighbours and to give the gift of happiness". I think that they have a fair point (if not a little bit of an over-reaction however); Christmas has been for a long time a massively commercialised event and the true values and meanings of it as a Christian festival have been forgotten,and it is a shame that the figure of Santa Claus does stand at the heart of this. However, what is interesting is that the modern depiction of Santa Claus as a fat, jolly man in a red suit that is recognised all over the world began as part of an advertising campaign for Coca-Cola in the 1920's to promote the drink as a beverage for all seasons. But it was from 1931 onwards that a man from the D'Arcy Advertising Agency named Haddon Sundbloom began to work with the image of Santa Claus. Over the following 33 years, these adverts had become so iconic and popular that the only remaining perception people had of Santa was from these images.
I am certain that if there is ever to be an example of the power of advertising, then this would be it. Just think about the impact that it has had on not just for the Coca-Cola Company, but on the whole festive season as a whole. From it's humble beginnings in the 1920's of an advert with the simple intention of promoting Coca-Cola as a drink for winter and not just summer, to near single-handedly shaping the whole way people celebrate a religous festival is actually quite frightening concept...but hugley impressive.

Partridge Returns

I've just read some fantastic news for anyone like me who is a fan of Alan Partridge. Apparently the Fosters Company are funding the production of 12, 11 minute long episodes as part of a new comedy based initiative to promote the brand.
For anyone who doesn't know who Alan Partridge is, he is a fictional character played by Steve Coogan that has appeared in various series of episodes from the beginning of the early 90's up until 2002. Alan started off as a television presenter on The Day Today, and the series that follow document the trials and tribulations of his hilarious, pompous and sometimes sad existence.
The new set of short episodes, (written by Armando Iannucci) will see Partridge played by Coogan and feature him presenting his new programme called "Mid Morning Matters". The episodes will maintain the Foster's branding throughout and will be produced by Naked Communications. They start on the 5th of November and I for one cannot wait to see what they are like, and I don't care how sad that sounds!
I've posted a link to give you all an essence of the Partridge phenomenon....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW4yAPpEwT0

Favourite Adverts

This set of ads from a few years ago are some of of my favourite ever. They use a really simple senseof humour and aren't difficult to get your head around, which I suppose is the essence of this particular campaign. It worked well for them aswell because they used Peter Kay just as he was getting big in the U.K, and appearing in them didn't do him any harm either... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFSLUJ8SIbc

Top Bombing!

 

Lazy People

Just seen an advert for a self-stirring mug in the paper. This is a mug, that stirs itself. I mean I can see how it would be quite handy and have it's purpose in life, but it just got me asking one simple question (which I'm not too proud to admit I find myself asking a little too often in life)- Why? Where does the line get drawn between a labour-saving device, and just sheer bloody bone-idleness? I fear that within this modern fast food culture where everything is becoming on demand and is all about making life easier for ourselves, we are getting to a stage where we are losing basic skills that have been so vital in the past: cooking, cleaning, washing up are but a few rudimentary arts that so many of us just don't really have to deal with so directly anymore. One of my friends the other night asked me if he could make some beans on toast for himself, and being the hugely generous chap I am I obliged. However, I will never forget the sheer look of bewilderment on his face when he realised that he would have to open the tin manually, and without the use of an electric tin opener. We all found it hilarious at the time watching him wrestle with my rather crap tin opener, but it does highlight the fact that we really take for granted a lot of the technology we have around us. I can't begin to imagine how hard it must've been for Captain Cook to find his way back to Hawaii all those times without his GPS tracking system; and how Heathcliff and Catherine managed to meet up without mobile phones is beyond me. I think it is important to remember how many luxuries we have around us these days, and we can function by doing things for ourselves if we really want to. . . there was civilisation before Facebook!

Billboard Family

I've just read a relatively short but interesting article about a family in America, who plan to make a bit of extra cash for themselves by advertising companies who are willing to pay them. They say they charge $2 (£1.26) per day for wearing t-shirts with the company's logo on and also advertise them on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube.
My initial reaction was that it was a ridiculous idea  and was just another eccentric American family just hungry for a bit of media attention. But then as I read it again and considered it, it actually appears to be quite a unique and enterprising concept. Think about it: these people are offering to potentially travel round the USA, simply to promote and spread awareness of your brand or company. Not only this but they will also advertise you on the social beacons that are Facebook and Youtube...just for $2 per day! Don't get me wrong, they're not amongst the most visually appealing campaigns that a company could wish for, nor do they have any back catalogue of satisfied clients to show off; but for $14 a week, you've got to imagine that there are a good few companies out there who would be willing to take this very small gamble. In an age where advertising is at the forefront of many marketing strategies, I can see this possibly making a small fortune for the family form Missouri. Even if they're quirky business isn't a roaring success, I think it is still always refreshing to see someone working with a unique idea they have had.
I'm not sure how it will work for them, but I would like to wish them good luck. Don't they say there's no such thing as bad publicity?

Heres the link to the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8033456/Billboard-Family-to-advertise-for-companies.html

First blog

Never really been interested in blogging but might as well embrace it now. Not really up to much, just had some pies and trying to get my head around some research surrounding the wedgwood museum. Stumbled across an interesting exhibition at the National Museum in the Prague about Beatlemania. Seems a bit different, using 2 parallel storylines which document the rise and time of the Beatles and the swinging 60's, alongside what was going on in the Czech Republic at that very influential time in history e.g Jan Palach. Was planning a trip there around christmas until work put up a ban on holidays in December. Oh well, heres a link to the exhibition......click here