Really?? Hublot new ad

Hublot have just released their new ad. The image states:
"See what people will do for a Hubolt"...
With the image of millionairre Bernie Ecclestone's face, beaten and bruised from a real life mugging for his Hulbot.

Are they sure that showing someone famous, looking like this will really encourage people to buy one? Highlighting the fact they are going to get mugged if they wear their watch is perhaps not how to go about showing the lengths people will go to get the product. And really I don't think muggers care what kind of watch it is anyway!

For the full article on this advert go to Campaign Magazine: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1045767/Hublot-uses-battered-millionaires-face-watch-ad/

Testing your mettle

A great way to get noticed and test your advertising skills is to enter open briefs. D&AD runs open student briefs for campaigns and there are others.

http://www.dandad.org/awards/student/2009/categories/25/open-brief-1
http://www.bootb.com/en/all-briefs/

This is an excellent way to get onto advertising courses by standing out. It will help you to develop a portfolio and to get the juices flowing. Its great to have the knowledge and theory provided by books; but taking it to the next level and forging a campaign idea is just so much more fun.

You don't even need to enter these, you can keep the ideas to self , it's just nice to see the kind of briefs set.

Degree Courses For Advertising

You do not necessarily need a degree to get into the advertising industry and many get into the business after doing a broader degree such as English or History.

However, being advertising students, we can definately see the benefits of studying advertising. Some courses in particular you will get an idea of the different areas you can go into and which may suit you best and others will give you a focused area. Within our degree we have studies core units such as: Communications and Marketing Research, Media Planning, Account Planning, Branding, Consumer Behaviour, Planning and Budgeting amongst others. This gives you an insight into the different areas of communications and also enables you to have both theory and a practise application. In the final year you can choose areas of focus (e.g. creativity).


You should be aware, that advertising courses do not always focus on creativity, some have a larger focus on the business side to the industry. If you want the drawing/design side it may be better to look into arts courses and do a foundation year in art. Nevertheless, knowing about the different areas can only benefit you in the future.

For a list of advertising courses look on Hot Courses: http://www.hotcourses.com/uk-courses/Advertising-Undergraduate-Courses-In-England-p2/hc2_search_result.page_pls_user_sresults_col/16180339/220704/s/858889440/p/2/p_zoom_level/11/page.htm

Remeber to look at the focus of each course!!!

Skoda -

We haven't really blogged about ads - more how to get into advertising, but I thought I would just throw one in now. I recently went and saw Harry Potter (had to be done) and my favourite part of the cinema is always the good ads. I noticed that the ads were jam packed with different car adverts!! Obviously making it hard for the bad ones to stand out (poor media planning??). However, this is currently my favourite one of the bunch, that stuck out miles compared to the others. I seem to love all the Skoda adverts and was happy to see that the latest wasn't a let down.

The link between the previous ad (Skoda Cake) and this one really works well. In particular, I think the music makes this ad what it is. Perhaps that's just me? Any thoughts on it?

Check it out if you haven't seen it...


http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialFabiavRS?v=NmZNvGHtMbo&feature=pyv&ad=10636006639&kw=skoda%20advert

Some websites to get your creative juices flowing..

I believe in adv

Dave Trott’s Blog

www.stumbleupon.com

http://helloyoucreatives.com/

http://www.dandad.org/awards/student

http://wklondon.typepad.com/

What is creativity? 5 things to think about

So i'm sure you might be wondering what is creativity? well obviously its not an easy definition. here's 5 questions/statements to get your juices flowing and get you to think about what you think this elusive devil is?

1. According to William Plomer “creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected”.

2. Oscar Wilde observed that “The imagination merely imitates.  It is the critical spirit that creates.”

3. If creativity is the ability to ‘think outside the box’ what constitutes ‘the box’?

4. The postmodern affinity with nostalgia (e.g. the revival of the Fiat 500, the resurrections of the Honey Monster, Tetley Tea Folk and the Milky Bar Kid and the retro rebranding of Virgin Airways) has meant that creativity has been increasingly superseded by reference to the past.  Evaluate the diminishing role of creativity in the context of postmodern nostalgia.

5. “Notwithstanding all the rhetoric and attention in corporate corridors and boardrooms all over the world, lack of innovation remains a key problem in business today.  One reason for this is the continued failure to systematically manage for creativity.”   (C.D. Shepherd, 2010)
How and why do organisations fail to structure for creativity.

This stuff is adapted from questions for final year university essays. Think about it, there's some interesting stuff in there.

Creative Must Haves...

OK, I have put together a brief list of my top creative books that are helpful and interesting...

Easily the the best book on copywriting. Simple. To the point. Used by copywriters all over the world.

Step by step guide to developing the strategy behind creative campaigns. One of the most important reads for would be creatives.



The best book on life within the industry. Luke Sullivan is a comic genius. Entertaining whilst still being extremely informative.
Let me know of any others that you have read that would be good to put up on the list, or just comment on some of the ones I have mentioned if you have anything to say about them!

Advertising Account Planning: A Practical Guide - Review

This is a great advertising book for Account Planning. It's short and concise chapters helped me a lot for my exam and coursework (yes i actually bought this!). Highlighting the hell out of this book aided my understanding of the area.

It shows how to do an account plan for a campaign with step by step analysis in the advertising agency style. Which i used to get a surprise 1st in my account planning exam! (ego rub)

Whilst i can't guarantee this will make you a genius planner, Account Planning does teach you how to pick out the key propositions of a brand and target audiences for campaigns and how to interrogate the brand. It's truly a useful book for anyone interested in advertising courses and how to plan advertising and marketing.

Amazon is where i tend to buy all my books for Uni from, check it out.

Excellent Book - Excellence in Advertising

For a book that covers various aspects of the the advertising industry, Excellence in Advertising is a great book to get hold of. It helped us in our first year to have an understanding of the basics of each area. The book covers the Creative Brief format of BBH, which is helpful to those looking into Account Planning. It is particularly interesting as it is written by people who have been directly involved in the industry such as John Bartle (used to work at BBH). Every chapter has a wealth of information, knowledge and insights. It is a great study book for anyone who is looking to go into the advertising industry and it is just as good for those who are already there.

The Creative Brief

What is the Creative Brief?

As previously mentioned, the creative brief is part of the Account Planners process in aiding the Creatives. 


The creative brief is there to give direction to the Creative team as they search for a creative concept (Wells, 2006). It is there to give clarity to all involved in the campaign. Typically it would include; the problem to be solved, the aims and objectives, the target audience, the positioning strategy, the type of creative strategy, tone of voice and execution considerations. Different agencies tend to have a different format that they follow. Some may be outlined by a number of questions such as 'What is the key benefit?' and other formats may include any additional points that will help the creative, such as the role of the communications as a whole.


Last year at Uni, we were given a live brief by Fallon and Radio One to produce an Account Planning document. The final stage of the document was to produce a Creative Brief. I found the whole process exciting and it highlighted the importance of insights in developing a campaign. The insight must be a reflection of the consumer and it can either be emotionally driven or for a functional benefit. For anyone wanting to get into advertising, have a look at Account Planning books and practise developing a creative brief. Even if you do not want to go into this area, Account Planners will often communicate with account management, creatives, the client etc. So knowledge of what they do will be useful.


I will soon upload key Account Planning books, so keep an eye out!!

Account Planning

Account Planning

Before starting my advertising course, I wasn't sure exactly what the 'Account Planner' did.

AP is the area that should bring objectivity to the process, bringing the consumer into the equation and influencing the creative process. The Account Planner should find a key proposition that is motivating to the consumer, differentating from competitors and true to the product. Basically, it is finding the golden thread or key insight.

The role of the account planner is large, from chosing the target audience, understanding their key insights, determining a position for the brand, developing a communications strategy and setting media/creative stratgies. The part of the process that brings all of this together is 'the creative brief'.

Look out for a future post all about the process of 'the creative brief'.

Putting together a Portfolio

Check out the new post on the Creative page for tips on putting together a portfolio for the advertising industry.

Ambient - The Simpsons way...

I have just noticed this ambient advertising for The Simpsons on I Believe in Advertising.  From what i can tell, being sponsered by the government in the UK to help tackle obesity, doesn't really work when encouraging the public to take the escalator. Any thoughts on the brands contradicting message? For other bits of Ambient Advertising, have a look here: http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/category/ambient-outdoor/

So what is Media Planning???

Media Planning is one of the final steps in the advertising process. The ultimate purpose of a media planning company is to get an advert in the right place. That is, they strive to ensure that a suitable target audience is identified, analysed and the largest number of members belonging to that group see the ad in question. This is achieved through detailed research into the everyday lives of the target market particularly focusing upon their media habits, a typical housewife, for example, cannot be reached by advertising on Dave or in Men’s Fitness magazine.

Media Buyers, who actually purchase the advertising space for brands, strive to get the best deal with media owners, with which they build an ongoing professional relationship over time; after all, many brands require the national reach The Times can offer for example and so buyers are in constant contact with titles such as this. 


Attending Bournemouth University and completing a degree in Advertising and Marketing requires students to complete a minimum of 6 weeks work experience. I completed my placement at MediaCom, a media planning agency and would just like to introduce the company before going on to describe media planning and buying in more depth in further posts! 


MediaCom is a media agency owned by GroupM, the number one trading group in the market. MediaCom spends the most money annually than any other agency in the UK (£937m in 2009). It is proud of the long term client relationships it maintains, for example working for P&G for 41 years and Universal for 23. It’s offices in Dublin, Edinburgh, Manchester, London and around the world all share the same aims and objectives. 


The agency strives to keep its reputation as the “Campaign Media Agency of the Decade”. As the market grows in a way that makes it harder to cut through, MediaCom’s company vision is “leading the industry in the age of dialogue” whereby it finds new and innovative ways to communicate to consumers. One of its vital objectives is to focus on non-traditional advertising and emerging media, such as mobile phones, iPad and iPhone applications and Social Networks. MediaCom has a full proof structure which carries a client from team to team throughout the organisation, from researching the brand, right up until post campaign analysis by the buying team. 


Consumers are always maintained at the heart of the MediaCom process, and they have 5 main brand values by which they stick; accountability, passion, creativity, ahead of the game and straight talking.

Find Your Route Into Advertising - List of Top 50 Ad Blogs

Here is a list of the Top 50 Advertising Blogs, this should give those looking into the advertising business an idea of the different routes that can be taken...often you may not realise that advertising is not just the creative department, there are many roles.

If you want like the look of one, there are different routes to get into each area, ranging from a more online media focus or creative art focus. Check the list out and see which you would be most interested in as a starting point. http://www.spotlightideas.co.uk/?p=909

Some of these blogs that I particually like are...

AdFreak - http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak 
Adverblog (which has a wide range of areas covered) http://www.adverblog.com/
Confessions of an Advertising Student (an ad students views on recent ads and industry related blogs)  - http://confessionsofanadvertisingstudent.wordpress.com

Can you measure creativity

The arts institute over in Canadaland think you can

http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm

take the test to see which side of your brain is dominant and what type of thinker you are. It's pretty long winded but the results are quite interested. I'm not too sure about the wording of the responses though :)

Food for thought....

Really interesting talk by Ken Robinson on creativity within today's education system. Clearly something needs to change. What are your thoughts on this??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

The Post-Graduate 'Root'

Post-Graduate Courses  (MA)

Most budding Art Directors and Copy Writers then tend to then go on and take a year-long Masters Postgraduate course in ‘Creative Advertising’ or ‘Copywriting and Art Direction’ at Universities or Colleges. Some of the best are listed below:

Falmouth

http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=75&Itemid=303

West Herts

http://www.tonycullingham.com/

SCA

http://schoolcommunicationarts.com/

Napier

http://www.courses.napier.ac.uk/W54705.htm

It is here that students work on briefs for real products to build up their portfolio with the aim of securing a Creative Placement on graduation. It is often here where creative partnerships are formed. (although there are organizations such as ‘The Book Club’ (see http://www.nabs.org.uk/career_management.htm or ‘D&AD Talent Pool’ who help ‘matchmake’ creative teams if you fail to meet a suitable partner at university or college) (Source:IPA.com)

This Is Advertising - Book Reccomendation

Eliza Williams’ book is different from other advertising books; it offers a great overview of some of the best and most memorable ad campaigns worldwide. It covers all different types of advertising and has lush glossy full colour pictures of all the campaigns. The really nice thing about this book is its simplicity; it gives you the adverts in all their forms and gives you an outline of the objectives and implementations.

It’s interesting to see the different ways in which advertising agencies tackle different audiences or briefs and the details give you a chance to see which advertising agency has published what (it’s good to know who’s done what when looking for advertising careers as everyone loves an ego massage once in a while!)

I’d personally recommend this book for anyone partaking in advertising degrees or advertising courses looking for some inspiration, or just a nice talking-point book that has some genuine cultural milestones in.
You can pick it up from Amazon for about a tenner; check out our bookshelf!

Becoming a Creative God-The Undergrad edition...

How to become an Art Director

Traditionally most Art Directors have studied an Art-based BA degree such as ‘Graphics’ or ‘Design’. Typically these sorts of degrees often have Advertising based units within them.

To achieve entry onto a degree course such as this students will most likely have studied Art at A Level  or a Art BTEC, and then gone on to take a one year ‘Art Foundation’ course. It is here where students produce a portfolio on which their BA course entry will be judged. For a list of Foundation courses please see http://www.ucas.ac.uk/students/beforeyouapply/artanddesign/foundationcourses/

A BA degree typically lasts 3 years with some including a  4th year in working in industry. These years can be a useful time to get Advertising based experience, contacts and refine their portfolio for a possible MA admittance or employment straight after graduation.

How to become a Copy Writer

Most copy writers tend to have studied English at A Level and a 3 year BA such as English or Creative writing before going on to do a ‘Creative Advertising’ or ‘Art Direction and ‘Copywriting’ MA. However an English degree is not essential; many copywriters come from degrees as diverse as Law and Biochemistry. But to gain entry on to a Postgraduate course you must display relevant academic and professional experience.(Source:IPA.com)

What in gods name is a creative?

What does a Creative do?

 “Creates ideas, ideas, ideas!”

The creative department of an agency is where the campaign comes together. It’s where that great idea or stunning visual is dreamt up. They take the client brief and work with it to invent ideas to address the brand’s business problems. From here, they work with media planners/buyers and the production department in order to make those ideas, that have been approved by the client, into a reality.

How does a Creative Team work?

Traditionally a ‘Creative Team’ is made up of an Art Director and Copy Writer. This essentially means one ‘visual’ and one ‘words’ person.  However most creative partnerships are far more fluid and collaborative than this: in other words while Creatives may perhaps be stronger in say copy writing than art direction they may both act as Art and Copy Director within the team. Creatives often find partnerships of this kind work very well as they can inspire and refine each other’s ideas. Creatives work to client briefs set by the agency.

This said not all Creatives come in pairs and individuals may be called upon to work in conjunction with another team or on their own projects. As long as you have a strong portfolio (‘Book’) demonstrating strong art and copy direction there is nothing to say you have to part of a creative duo to get a job. (Source:IPA.com)

Mobile Advertising News - Apps World

Mobile advertising is growing and apps are a massive part of this. Apps world is an event to be held 30th Novemeber and 1st December for App developers, vendors, operators etc. Read more about some of the best new Apps and Mobile advertising at 4th Screen Advertising - www.4th-screen.com/creativegallery

For further information on app-world visit - www.apps-world.net

Transcreation

Advertising campaigns often need to be moved into other markets…this is where Transcreation is often mistaken for simple translation – however the difference is great. Simple translation can end up with mistakes like when Pepsi’s Taiwanese execution of “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation”, literally translated as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the grave”…needless to say, it doesn’t! This is where you need transcreation.

Transcreation requires the work of professional copywriters that must have cultural knowledge and a good understanding of the local market. Every language has it’s own charm like cockney rhyming slang - so local copywriters are needed in foreign markets.

Redworks is an up and growing transcreation and translation company which understands the need to adapt marketing materials for individual markets. Having a team of worldwide copywriters enables them to be able to address new markets successfully. 

BOOM!

Ad Roots has officially arrived! Yes, at last there is a big ol’ resource for people looking for a ‘root’ into the weird and wonderful world of advertising and media. You might be a veritable advertising guru or you might know diddlysquat, but fear not young seedlings we are here to help!