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