Russell Davies

best book ever

This was written during WWII by a famous american copywriter. (He also wrote 'a technique for producing ideas' which still stands up today as a great guide). It started as a diary that ran in Ad Age, and was turned into a book later. Although Young was writing in a very different age and a very different world (and clearly he could be a bit of a git) a lot of what he says about advertising (and other more trivial stuff, like life) holds true today.

I've going to fill the odd idle moment by quoting some of the stuff he said (assuming his estate don't have a big problem with that).

Here's an entry which could serve as a description of the satisfactions of blogging:

Sunday...August 16th 1942

Pleased to get from the Editor some letters which indicate that, now and then, somebody reads this Diary. Showed them to my wife - who still wonders why. If a man likes the sound of words, putting them together may be its own reward. But I notice that a neighbour of mine, who often sits on his doorstep of an evening, playing a flute to himself, doesn't mind a little audience either.

online strangeness

About this time last year we made the Honda Cog ad. It seemed to go down quite well. Created a bit of a stir. But what's been interesting has been watching the online conversations develop about it. People having been talking about it in all kinds of places - forums (fora?) discussion groups, blogs. And there have been furious arguments about whether it was real or CG. Normally agencies just ignore these conversations, but we thought it would be good to actually get involved and tell people how we really made the ad. So we posted some answers here(scroll to the bottom). It's going to be interesting to see if anyone still cares.

a picture paints a thousand etc

we took these pictures on weymouth beach. every time i look at them i just have to smile. the power of an image.

ingenious

This is the kind of imagination I'd like to see from Transport For London. Who's going to park somewhere with the threat of the car ending up on the underground?

have a go kevin

I read Kevin Robert's Lovemarks book on the flight to New York. (Very bad airplane book - takes a lots of luggage space but only about half an hour to read.)

Obviously it's easy to criticise (mostly because it's rubbish; facile, arrogant, and shockingly badly designed). But you've got to applaud the bloke's energy and enthusiasm. And at least he's trying to move the debate about brands forward. It's just unfortunate that he's moving it forward from some point in the late 80s.

apple flaw

Went to the Apple Store in New York. Very good, of course. In some ways. I particulary liked the way that they'd made it feel like a public, shared space. People were checking their email and browsing for porn on the display computers. And they were lounging around plugged into the wall and using the airport network. And there's a theatre space upstairs where people are demoing products the whole time.

And they have great ideas like apple camp. Where kids can learn stuff about stuff and things. In the store, blah blah blah. All the incredibly obvious retail things which no-one ever does.

Of course the fatal flaw is that it's really hard to actually buy anything. There are always long queues at the sales desk and you're not quite sure who you have to ask to get something, can you just pick one up or do you have to ask someone, and do they have any mini-ipods or not? So, apart from the actual act of buying stuff, one of the best stores ever.

added value

Bought a shirt at the weekend. And they added a little value with these ear plugs. Don't really know why, but I liked it.

local is smelly

Brands are all starting to realise that local is important. Nike and Adidas and people do special city-focused limited editions. And here's a terrific new example (from the NY Times, you need to register). With a sense of humour. Another window I walked past in New York.

and get yourself a spiritual vacuum

Was in New York at the weekend. Saw a bunch of stuff. I loved this sign on a vaguely 'worldy' shop. But it struck me that they'd distilled so much in the phrase 'accessorize your spirit'. So many contemporary brands and products are acting as spiritual accessories - candles, 'scrapbooking', starbucks, all those books about angels. Some are obviously more crap and facile than others. But they're all spiritual accessories.

canada, excellent

I got an email from a chap called Ignacio. He said he'd found this blog when doing a search for stuff relating to advertising and students. Which seems remarkable. And he's asked me to promote this competition for junior creatives. It's here. I know nothing about it but it seems like a good idea. And the home site i have an idea looks fantastic. And it's Canadian, and I love everything Canadian. Obviously if it turns out to be an elaborate scam akin to transferring funds out of Nigeria then it's nothing to do with me. But I don't think it is.