SKY MOVIES COMMERCIAL

Agency: WCRS





This ad is another example of what a great source of inspiration travel can be. It was filmed in Sao Paulo where all forms of outdoor advertising (including shop fronts) have been banned by the City’s Mayor. As a result São Paulo has been left with numerous empty billboard structures, which without their signage appear ghostly and oddly beautiful.

The ad pans across the city taking in the empty billboards, whilst accompanied by Gene Wilder singing ‘Pure Imagination’ from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. It ends with the line “Because you like movies with no interruptions, we took away the ads”.

The slow and tranquil feel of this ad is in stark contrast to the banned high-impact advertisements which were designed to grab your attention. Although this does make for a beautiful piece of film, I don’t think it effectively promotes the idea that a world without adverts would be a better place. Instead, Sao Paulo appears dead as if the banned adverts have taken with them all the life and excitement of the city.




Above: Before the Sky ad was made, Tony de Marco, who described the banned adverts as his “visual enemies”, created a series of epic photographs of the empty billboards. Home Corp, the Production Company behind the Sky advertisement, were so impressed by De Marco’s shots that they approached him to advise them on their shoot. More of his photographs can be viewed online at: www.flickr.com/photos/tonydemarco.

SHE-BEAR LINGERIE

Agency: TBWA Hunt Lascaris, Johannesburg.

I really like this ad. It’s provocative, fresh and very current. Graphically it looks great as well, with three Muslim women fully covered in black carrying white bags of erotic lingerie.

Maybe its underlying message is: She-Bear lingerie liberates you.

I find it interesting that the ad comes from Johannesburg where maybe the culture is less ‘politically correct’ than in the UK. I wonder how effective it would be, as an ad, if it were to be used here.

MARTINI

(Shaking this ad makes the Martini logo visible.)
Agency: McCann Erickson, Geneva

This is one of the cleverest print ads I’ve seen. The optical illusion allows the viewer to physically interact with the static printed ad.

By involving the viewer in this way they are more likely to remember the advertised brand and show it to others, purely because it is so clever.

CAREER BUILDER AMBIENT

Agency: The Martin Agency, Richmond, VA

A very clever use of space: cheap and highly effective. Through using this space they are specifically targeting people in office blocks (their target market).

This advert could easily catch the viewer’s attention, as no other adverts are fully visible from this viewpoint. Also, the unusual use of space adds to the impact of the joke.

The success of this ad makes me think about other places, which could provide new advertising opportunities. When I do think about it, the potential of ambient media is limitless and I think it’s just a matter of time before the advertising industry starts feeling confident enough to use it more often and exploit that fact.

CHUNGKING MANSIONS

“There is probably no other place in the world like Chungking Mansions, the budget accommodation ghetto of Hong Kong. This huge ramshackle high-rise dump is almost a city in itself.
You may be put off by the undercurrent of sleaze and peculiar odours- a potent mix of cooking fat, incense and shit- but don’t seek sanctuary in the lifts; they’re like steel coffins on cables.
Adding to the excitement are the midnight raids by Hong Kong’s boys in blue. For the most part the police are looking for illegal immigrants: have your passport ready.”

Source: Lonely Planet; Hong Kong & Macau

After reading this description of where I was going to be staying alone, on the plane flying over to Hong Kong, I was expecting the worst. However, when I arrived there, I was relieved to find that although it was crazy, it wasn’t quite the hell on earth that my guidebook had described.

Although it was late, inside the building was a hive of activity. There were market stalls, restaurants, hairdressers, tailors and lots of loitering touts and street workers. The place had a strangely appealing dangerous energy about it and although I was very wary of it, I was definitely excited to be there.

TATE MODERN

Although I enjoyed the Tate Modern, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Although the scale of the building was impressive, I found parts of the building to be soulless and ironically quite dated in appearance.

Overall though, I did see a lot of work which I found to be exciting and inspiring (although there was also a lot of work which came across as annoyingly pretentious) and I will go back to see the bits I missed.

THE ART DIRECTION BOOK

D&AD asked 28 of the world's top art directors to talk about their craft. They published the results and examples of their work in this book.

The examples of work included aren’t particularly inspiring as they do look a bit dated (the book was published in 1996), but the advice given is still very relevant.

The three pieces of advice that recur throughout the book are: 1. If you want to be the best work with the best. 2. Keep it simple; don’t be distracted by fads and fashions. 3. Get a life outside art direction.

Other pieces of great advice include:

“Even the most radical work should be easily justified”

“It is easy to do something that looks different or something that looks relevant. Doing both is the tricky bit.”

“If you know what you’re doing you can’t be doing anything original”

“It’s more difficult being wrong than right.
If you want to be right, just do it the way everyone else does.
Doing it differently means listening.
The cleaner can improve your ad.
The most junior account handler can.
Your aunt can.”