Today's Inspiration — Lost Olympic Sports

Nowness featured this delightful collection of short films by photographer and filmmaker KT Auleta:

Lost Olympic Sports on Nowness.com.

She shot all three shorts on Super 8 — the medium of choice for yesterday's cheesy family movies and hirsute stag films.

Ms Auleta told Nowness, "With the grain of Super 8, there is a real visual depth, a sexiness... I wanted a carefree feel from the models, allowing playfulness and the interplay between the sexes to shine through."

Great stuff.

There's also a behind-the-scenes video on Facebook.

The mindless tyranny of the "Rule of Three"

School House Rock - Three is a Magic Number - The most popular videos are here

We are all obsessed with threes. Blame School House Rock. (That, and centuries of myth and numerology.)

Ever since I began my career in advertising, the number 3 has been a pain in my creative ass — particularly when it comes to print campaigns. We sit down to brainstorm a campaign, and unless it's a one-off, we always feel compelled to try and make three equally awesome versions of the same "big idea".

The first one is usually great. The second can be also. But the third — that extra push to make it a nice, round numbered campaign — is too often a compromise.

I believe this obsession with three execution print campaigns is universal. I see it all the time in places like Ads of The World, where agencies try to clone one or two good ideas into a "full campaign".

Here is a perfect example:

Some very creative people at  DDB, Sydney, Australia, came up with a clever (if gory) visual idea to communicate the dangers of crossing the road with earbuds on. It's a little shocking for my taste, but it is original (as far as I know) and the execution is solid.

But is it "campaignable?" is always the Creative Director's question. They most likely then looked into other deathly representations of various types of headphones and other peripherals for music players and smartphones.

But what did they come back with?

The same... bloody... ad. But with a man.

What a waste of photography and art direction to duplicate the first idea. (I don't actually know in which order these were conceived, but stay with me here.)

I understand that sometimes clients feel that viewers cannot identify with a person in an ad who is not like them — sexually, ethnically, age-wise or whatever — but I would have argued that the concept was strong enough to overcome that. And the duplication just dilutes the "wow" factor of the original.

But they kept going:

There. Now we've increased the age and ethnic diversity of the campaign. But at this point, I don't even process the concept anymore. I just think that the creative team stubbornly stuck to the one good idea they could come up with.

Damn Rule of Three. It totally ruined an otherwise impressive campaign.

Every family's worst nightmare: Dads in briefs

You know, as a "needs to get in shape" middle-aged man, I have no problem whatsoever with the double standards in what would be considered ageism, sexism and body shaming if this was an ad about women.

It's just one of those times when we need to accept the payback.

Flash only (for now):



Ad by Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Beunos Aires

Via Creativity Online

Sex and Design

Animal NY just turned me on to made me aware of a blog called "Sex and Design". Under the tagline of "WHERE IMPULSE AND ARTICULATION MEET" it explores the sensual side of creativity.

This is its self-promo campaign from Halloween:

And they added this behind-the-scenes:


Sex + Design x Halloween 2011 from Colin M Day on Vimeo.


Reminds me of those weird fashion videos I keep covering. Yeah, it's pretentious, but the blog seems like a cool collection of art and design projects. Count me in.

Creatives write the best passive-aggressive fake memos

In this case, it's a Disney animator who objected to the renaming of the 80's less-than-epic cartoon "The Great Mouse Detective" from its more evocative working title "Basil of Baker Street".

I can just imagine the executive decision coming down:

"'Basil of Baker Street'? Nobody is going to care about that! What about 'The Mouse Detective?'"

"Not epic enough. This is Disney. We make timeless animated classics."

"Okay then... 'The Great Mouse Detective'!"

"Brilliant! Inform the scribblers."

Click to enlarge.

Here's the full backstory, via Letters of Note:

When, in early-1986, Disney executives decided to change the title of their upcoming animated feature from 'Basil of Baker Street' to the less ambiguous 'The Great Mouse Detective', its production team were less than pleased. One animator in particular, Ed Gombert, harnessed his displeasure to comical effect by creating, and circulating, the following: a fake memo purportedly from then-head of department, Peter Schneider, in which he announced the retroactive renaming of Disney's entire back catalogue, bar The Aristocats, in a similarly bland style.

It was a hit, and in fact such was its popularity that the memo soon reached a very unimpressed Jeff Katzenberg, then-CEO of Disney, who, after questioning an entirely innocent Schneider, tried and failed to uncover the identity of the memo's creator. To make matters worse, a copy then found its way to the LA Times.

To Disney's dismay the movie's name was suddenly on everyone's lips, albeit for the wrong reasons.

Australian reality show invites admen to solve impossible briefs

Why don't we have a show this cool in North America?

Australia's The Gruen Transfer has a segment called "The Pitch" in which it asks viewers to suggest objectives for "impossible" creative briefs via social media, which real admen and adwomen then have to pitch spec creative on.

This episode, in which Australians were asked to support a ban on vulgar language, was pretty fucking hilarious. (Wear headphones if you don't work in an unashamedly vulgar ad agency office.)



You can just leave the playlist going to see other briefs. I just love how this show not only entertains, but educates viewers on how ads are conceived, and how different two good solutions to one problem can be.

CBC, I hope you are reading this.

Spoof kids' show expresses the dark side of creativity

Created by This Is It studio, the following bit of insanity starts out like a harmless (and painfully cheerful) kids' show, builds slowly, and eventually takes a left turn into the darkest depths of the creative mind.


Don't Hug Me I'm Scared from This Is It on Vimeo.

Perhaps it's a warning about the fine line between genius and madness. Or maybe the creators were doing some other sorts of "lines"...

I have no idea. But I'm scared now.

Via Animal NY

The line between panhandling and busking...

I think this man has crossed it. In the right direction.



I'd give him money. We creative folk need to have each other's backs.

Via HuffPo

Frankenstein's Adman

Notice anything odd abut these ads?

You might be tempted to simply say, "they're crappy", but they all share a diabolical secret: They were created by a machine.

And that monstrous machine was the creation not of some mad scientist, but of a Creative Director. Stéphane Xiberras, to be exact, the Exec CD at BETC EURO RSCG Paris.

Image from Shift Disturbers.

The Drum today posted an interview with Xiberras about his computerized creative generator, CAI:

"What started out as an intellectual game became more and more alarming as we progressed in the development of our robot," said Xiberras. "We expected to create a clumsy rather grotesque machine that would be systematically way off the mark, in a comical way.

"Unfortunately, this is not the case. CAI produces something that is caricature, but that very often by some random diabolical grace, reminds us of an ad we have already seen on a street corner or on the page of a magazine.

"CAI creates something that resembles advertising, but that fundamentally isn't, in the sense that it lacks essential qualities: novelty, inventiveness and the unexpected. In short, anything that only a human being is capable of producing. CAI is a fascinating but dangerous machine because it synthesises the nemesis of our creative profession: standardised or formatted thinking, call it what you want."

"Faith in the fact that creativity sells, and the courage to defend creativity against idiotic formatting no matter what, are the only arms that can still protect us against CAI. To surprise, to innovate, to invent is what we owe our clients and what they have the absolute right to demand from us.
"

In other words, Xiberras built this monster so that creatives would have an enemy to fight against. The Drum also challenged flesh-and-blood UK creatives to pitch against the computer's algorithmic concepts on the same brief. The results are intriguing.

CAI's Harley Davidson concept

McCann Erikson Central's version. See more at The Drum.

What's interesting to me about CAI's ads is that the strategic insights are fairly solid. And that's 90% of what makes an campaign succeed. But that missing 10% — the subtleties of language, the refinements of art direction, and even the hip cultural references — is what actually makes an ad get inside someone's head and stay there.

Thank God that hasn't been automated. Yet.

Will Intel's signature sound get a hip hop remix?

High technology and the arts share a burning passion for creativity. So should it come as any surprise that a tech company would want to tap into popular music for inspiration?

That's exactly what Intel has done. According to The Drum, the processor giant has appointed Black-eyed Peas frontman (and hip hop solo artist) Will.i.am as its new director of creative innovation.



The article says that will.i.am "will collaborate with Intel on many creative and technology endeavors across the 'compute continuum' that may include such devices as laptops, smart phones and tablets."

Whatever that means.

 “Nearly everything I do involves processors and computers, and when I see an Intel chip I think of all the creative minds involved that help to amplify my own creativity,” said the artist, real name William Adams.

“Teaming up with the scientists, researchers and computer programmers at Intel to collaborate and co-develop new ways to communicate, create, inform and entertain is going to be amazing," he added.

Well, okay then.

This isn't the first time someone has made the crossover from music to high tech. One of the most interesting examples was when former Iggy and the Stooges Guitarist James Williamson quit the music business in the late '70s, went back to school, and quietly rose up the ranks to become Vice President of Technology Standards for Sony.

Iggy Pop with James Williamson, in the glory gory days. (source)

The funny thing in James' case was that nobody at Sony knew that he was a legendary proto-punk rocker. Until his recent retirement and reunion with Iggy and the surviving Stooges, and subsequent tours playing their old songs — which now have a huge cult following.



Will.i.am's career transition was a little less anonymous.

They make some good effing points

My friend Mimi turned me on to an awesome site, Good Fucking Design Advice.

You just keep refreshing, and it keeps doling out the wisdom and the four-letter words.

Much of the advice is technical and process-oriented, but can apply to many trades:

Some is about harnessing your creativity:

 There is sage career advice:

Philosophy:

And life coaching:

Not to mention...

But whatever advice you draw from the site's engine of ancient design wisdom, two things hold true:

1) The advice itself is indeed, good, and
2) The fact that ad people really fucking swear a lot.

Oh, and check out the "family friendly" version. It's effing hilarious.

Why my office is always a mess

I know that my office is an affront to tidy people everywhere. Papers strewn about the desk in an ad hoc "piling system" and shelves full of random books and pop cultural artifacts, empty liquor bottles, and presentation boards from rejected campaigns.

Sometimes, I think I was only given this office to keep my chaos contained. When I'm away, and there has been a client tour of the agency, I often find that my door has been discreetly closed.

But according to Malcolm Gladwell, this is totally just evidence of my creative mind:



I especially like this part:

"Their imaginations are messy. Why? Because they don’t want to throw anything out. Why don’t they want to throw anything out? Because they believe on some level that there is always something of interest or value in whatever they encounter. They know enough about how mysterious and serendipitous and unpredictable the creative process is that they realize that it’s dangerous to kind of make too hasty a judgment about the value of anything that they come across."

That's right, folks. Look on my works, ye haters, and despair!

The full bottle of Tahitian beer is 13 years old.
And they don't even make those Beau's bottles anymore...

It must be October 2010 somewhere, right?

There's a good story behind the enormous pink bra on the door.

I am in both the Sleeveface and Fark books.
Not yet in the ad ones, but give me time.

No office is complete without a lard bucket.

Ummm... you're welcome?

As a Creative Director, I really kind of hate Google Adwords. It's as if advertising had been invented by — and for — robots. With all of our training in concept, art direction, copywriting and even font choice, we now find ourselves reduced to writing a text-only haiku with a URL at the end.

Not to imply that Google AW are an ineffective medium. They're quite the opposite, and "smart" or "social" ads like them are here to stay. Which is why I find myself using horrible texting slang and prince-like "4U" language just to get the point across.

Which is why it seems ironic that Google has created this long, awkward and horribly paced "thank you" ad in glorious video for all the advertisers who have made them the reigning gods of teh internets.


Google Adwords - Thank You from PostPanic on Vimeo.

But like Google itself, the ad takes as well as gives.You'll never get that time back.

(via I Believe in Advertising)

Lego my Imagination!

Ever since the late '70s, I've been kind of a crotchety old man when it comes to Lego. That was when the iconic building blocks went from focussing on generic pieces to what can only be described as glueless modelling kits.

Okay, so a Lego AT-AT is really freaking cool, but where's the imagination in that? And how impressed would you be if your kid was able to design one using only those old primary coloured blocks?

But these fancy model kits aren't necessarily the end of imagination — just a lazy way out. Really creative kids ignore the instructions and make whatever their fantasies demand.

And that's why I love... no, LOVE! this campaign I just saw in I Believe in Advertising:

[click pics for larger versions]

Thank you, Leo Burnett Moscow. That's a truly refreshing and inspirational campaign for a parent like me!

The other creativity

I'm sitting here this morning putting together a puzzle. No, it's not a scene from Star Wars (I wish!). It's just a normal part of my job.

You see, yesterday we received a request to re-script a commercial that has already been shot and edited. For those of you who have not been involved in TV production, this is kind of a big deal. Weeks of planning and hard work, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, go into producing a 30-second spot based on an approved script. It's usually step one. (Luckily, there's nobody speaking on camera!)

So here I am, figuring out two options: re-edit existing footage to match the new script, or edit the supplied script to existing footage. Both require a fair bit of resourcefulness.

Resourcefulness is not always given due credit in creative circles. We thrive on inspiration, resourcefulness' celebrity older sister. But as exciting as inspiration is (what could be more scary thrilling than a blank page?), resourcefulness deserves its due.

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 1:9

We have a joke among Copywriters, "I need a new word for 'new'". The desire for novelty is what keeps us fresh. At the same time, once you've been doing this for a few years, "Seen it!" becomes a more and more frequent reaction. That shouldn't mean we give up trying, but realizing that inspiration is just recombining — or building on — many other people's ideas is actually liberating. Knowing that inspiration is not magic, but rather natural evolution of ideas, removes the fear of that blank page. You just let the ideas happen. And if they don't, you start looking around for inspiration.

Understanding that you never really have a blank page also gives an insight into the nature of inspiration. It's really just unconscious resourcefulness.

On the other hand, when faced with challenges like today's puzzle, the unconscious just isn't enough. Instead of inspiring myself, I'm problem-solving.

We've all been there. The super-awesome, brilliant, earth-shattering idea that you had at the brainstorming pub lunch five Fridays ago has now been reviewed, approved with changes, focus tested, and generally altered. Some Creatives give up and bemoan the loss of their prodigal daughter. Professionals get resourceful.

Resourcefulness is about taking what you have, evaluating the situation calmly, and using every skill, tool and talent at your disposal to come up with the best possible solution for the situation.

It may not always be art. But resourcefulness is what let humans take over the world.



Now, back to work...