My First Portfolio Crit

I went to see a chap at one of London's top five agencies yesterday (I can't say who or where as I didn't ask his permission) and he ripped my portfolio to pieces. To be fair it wasn't that brutal, the guy was really nice and couldn't have been more helpful if he'd given me a packed-lunch and my bus fare home.

Not only did he give me some great advice, a couple of contacts and an invaluable insight into what potential employers are really looking for from a book; he also helped me learn the most important lesson in advertising - don't be too precious about your work.

I know it's something that I need to get used to but it was still a little difficult having someone go through the work I'd spent so much time on and pull it apart. The most annoying thing was he was right. And it seems so obvious when I think about it. I completely agree with everything he said and it was great to get some professional feedback after working in a bubble (metaphorically, of course) for so long.

He was quite complimentary about my ghd ads and liked my playdoh, although warned me it probably wasn't what an agency would be looking for in a book. And that was the second valuable lesson - agencies aren't looking for good adverts, they're looking for something special.

As I see it you need to say something new and interesting about your product. Say it in a new and interesting way. And always answer the brief!

All in all it was a really great experience and I got a lot out of it. I want to thank the guy that took time out of his busy schedule to see me and give me the benefit of his experience. He's kindly volunteered to see me again when I've got a new book together (hopefully along with an art director) and I'm definitely going to take him up on the offer.

Don't you hate that?

I've just spent a couple of hours putting this advert together but I can't seem to shift the uneasy feeling that I've seen it somewhere before. It's pretty simple so maybe that's why I get the creative deja vu from it - surely someone's thought to do this before. Or maybe it's just because urinal ads seem to be de riguer in recent times. Of course it could always be secret option number 3 - it's one of the many ideas I didn't write down as I drifted off to sleep which got stored somewhere deep within my subconscious.
Click on the image above to go to a larger version.

Let me know what you think. Oh and let me know if you've seen it somewhere before, it's going to bug me otherwise.

New Playdoh Banner Ad...Added

I couldn't think of a better title, sorry.

But at least my Playdoh "Whole World..."Campaign is starting to come together. I've added a Flash and Non-flash version of my new banner ad to the site as the Flash one repeats nicely and represents the idea better... but it's huge!

Go to the playdoh section of thebook and have a look now before I spoil the magic and tell you how it was made.

Back? Ok. I photographed my hands using the continuous shooting mode on my camera and then photoshopped the playdoh models in. Finally I animated it using flash. Simple!

:: Update ::

I've shrunk the flash animation down so it shouldn't judder at all anymore. Plus it's now safe for mere mortal screens so click away.

New Thermos poster online

Just a quick post to say that I've added a new poster to the Thermos campaign. It's nothing special but it's a darn sight better than the extra-long fudge sundae I'd originally drawn.


The rest of the campaign can be found here or browse through the book section of the site for more.

Lies...all lies!

I generally get a lot of stick from people about wanting to be in the advertising industry. Bombarded from every available outlet people are somewhat jaded by marketing and can't wait to tell me so.

"Advertising doesn't work on me!" they say while they wait for their latest iTunes download to transfer to their brand new iPod hooked up to their oh-so-alternative iMac. Yeah, fight the machine guys. "It's all lies" is another all too common phrase they utter. "Hang on a minute." I say "Adverts aren't allowed to lie, there are strict rules in place to stop this." And with the exception of cosmetic adverts where hair products are advertised by people wearing fake hair and the effects of mascara are shown using false lashes I thought I was right.

For shame. I turned on the TV the other day to be greeted by the new HSBC advert. A happy chinaman fishing with his obedient pet cormorant...wait, didn't I see this on some documentary? I don't remember it being quite so clean and wholesome as it's portrayed here. In fact...




Not that I've got anything against HSBC or their ads - I actually like the "World's Local Bank" campaign. It's just this one left me feeling a bit dirty knowing that the reality is very different from what is portrayed in the ad. How about in the next ad the guy goes to Romania and dances with a cheerful dancing bear or to Mexico and bets on a cock fight where they're dressed as Luchadors?

To be fair this campaign was always going to be difficult. Not through any fault of the client or agency but because it's showing 30 second snippets of other cultures. Take any culture, be it Eastern, Middle-Eastern, Western or even your own and there'll be some aspect you don't agree with or view as barbaric. I'm sure looking at the clip above you might think the guy is cruel but firstly: He's not doing it for fun, he's doing it to make a living, support his family and survive. Secondly: two words - Battery Chickens.

The soapbox is now vacant.

You know those projects you wish you'd never started?

It's no wonder you only get a new Wallace & Gromit movie every 5 years. I used to love doing claymation at college. In fact it was one of the few things I actually did. Aside from laughing at all the Catering College chavs stood outside trying to look tough in a pair of chequered trousers. But this project seemed to be never ending.

It originated from a single scribble from one of my Uni sketch pads from about 2 years ago. As I was sorting through and chucking anything of little or no value I stumbled across it and went "Hmmmm?". It took about a week for the idea to germinate into something useful and a further couple of days to get the lyrics down. It then took a week to pluck up the courage to venture into Toys 'R' Us and buy a big box of Playdoh. I said it was for my nephew but it was clear from their faces they knew I was lying. To be fair it only took me two days to storyboard, make the models and shoot it (and if you're wondering I just used a stills camera and then flash to animate it). But it's taken me months to get the soundtrack done. Mainly because, originally, I was going to get a child to sing the words but eventually gave up and recorded it myself - there's only so many nurseries you can get chased out of before you start to feel unwanted.

In the end I'm pleased with the result. Having a child sing, while all the rage in ads 6 months ago, might have made it too twee. My dad did offer up his recording studio to use but I liked the homemade sound of my own £5 microphone and felt it fitted well with the unrefined feel of the ad.

Anyway, here it is - my ad for Playdoh:

Well, it's certainly appropriate

A colleague of mine is semi-involved with the Liberal Democrat party and happened across an interesting phenomenon on their website. If there is an error on the site the usual 404-error message is replaced with this:

We're sorry, but something went wrong.

Is this an admission that their original mission statement has not been met? An apology for the state of parliament in general? Or just an attempt to seem hip and whimsical to webusers who are obviously themselves hip and whimsical too - how else would they know about this new fangled technology?

Now if only this had been from the labour website....sigh!