Inspiration for the Day

by Carlos Lascano

Advertising that Inspires

I just got brain damaged from one of those ‘buy now!’, ‘sale sale sale!’ ads. I swear if I see another tacky 3D animal animation talking to a real person about magical broadband speed or ugly typography I might quit TV. I’m craving some good, perhaps inspirational ads.

Advertising and inspiration don’t appear in the same sentence often, actually, it’s more of a once-in-a –blue-moon type things. Rarely do I find an ad that’s going to ‘inspire’ me to buy that washing powder, take up that health insurance policy or skull that vodka while keeping in mind the brand rather than writing off my urge that is second nature.

Inspirational ads do exist. They entertain us, bring perspective and ever so subtly introduce an idea, splashing a bit of colour into our mundane average lives. I never give too much thought to the brand, not until the end. But always without fail, I find myself admiring their creative agency’s capacity to weave a story and bring to life the saying ‘accentuate the positive’. These stories play on our emotions, dreams, curiosity, identity, moral values, pride, child-like innocence and most of all possibility to be greater that what and who we are.

As an ad enthusiast, I love it when I stumble upon such gems. It gives me faith that creativity and aesthetics has once again prevailed over sales objectives. Ads that makes me feel good about a brand? Ads that I watch like episodes of Gossip Girl? Bring it on!.

Johnnie Walker



Simple and full of flavour. What is it accentuating? History. Johnnie Walker is timeless, it just is. It makes me want to grab that bottle and drink down all the pride, reinvention and drive. I love Robert Carlyle's accent and delivery. In other movies he often came across as a bit icky (Trainspotting) but he cleaned up nicely for this TVC.

Optus Whale



I have to say this is a beautiful ad. I love the music and whale sounds. The idea of communicating to whale is way awesome (like Dory from Finding Nemo but with more grace). If you haven't had the chance to visit their website definitely check it out. I go there to relax. Hope they never take down the site. It made it on the Favourite Website Award (FWA) too!

XBox 360



I remember the first time I saw this ad nearly three years ago. My friends and I immediately put the story to practice. Like careless children we ran around the uni campus shooting at each other. It was fun. It made me want to buy an Xbox360 and let me tell you not many ads have that effect on me.

These are some ads I found crawling through my Youtube 'favourited' videos. I'm sure there are many more out there that I’ve missed, if anyone has suggestions post it and let me know

Get Inspired

This is really great! I love the 'idea' in it's simplest form. Brilliant! This is how PR, advertising, experiencial and social media come together. No divide between agencies or 'areas of expertise' just pure effort to bring the idea to life.

Heineken İtaly Activation from Kreatif360 on Vimeo.

Go Font Urself

‘Go Font Urself’- was pretty awesome. My inner typography addict was completely satisfied. I took some pics which I’ve compiled here for keep sake and to share on tumblr.

The immediate above is my favourite work out of all the ones I saw tonight. White on white (reminds me of Mondrian), typographically stunning, with meticulous attention to detail and pressure. Also it is quirky. Unfortunately in my state of appreciation I forgot to take down artist names and for that I apologise. Hope you guys enjoyed this compilation.
 

Knock On My Head

That's right, pay attention!

1. START TELLING THE TRUTH
To each other. To our clients. About our brands.

2. STOP THE BLOODY POLITICS
Because we're an industry run by bankers, it is the conniving crowd pleasers rather than the cream that tend to rise to the top. A general rule: in most agencies, those with vision who 'get-it' are bullied and undermined at every turn by those with no vision, who don't.

3. START HAVING FUN AGAIN
We used to be the envy of the salary-man. Why have we let it become so serious and dull? The greatest work ever done in our industry, has always come from places where people like each other and enjoy...really enjoy... playing and partying together as a team.

4. STOP OVER-THINKING EVERYTHING
What we make doesn't really matter. If we accept this, we get somewhere immediately! It is also true that what we make matters less when we over-analyse it in order to appeal to lowest common denominators.

5. START DOING SOMETHING!
Instead of taking 8 months to do 1 thing...we need to be doing 8 things in 1 month. Many of these things may fail. Allow. Today, one in ten meetings are necessary, one in ten people at those meetings actually get it, one in ten jobs get made, and one in a hundred are any good.

6. STOP THE INCESSANT RESEARCH
Put ten industry professionals who know what they are doing into a room, ten people who know what makes people tick, and who understand a good piece of communication from a bad; and whatever comes out of that room, can and should go straight into the media. We absolutely do not need to waste time obtaining prior validation from a postman, a bus-driver or a housewife.

7. START DOING GOOD
We need to bring our clients to CSR programmes...all of them...not just the cigarette boys, the oil companies and the huge conglomerates who make sugary, cheesy comestibles...all of them...doing it cos they want to, not cos they feel they have to.

8. STOP BANGING ON ABOUT "DIGITAL"
There's no such thing. We are all one and the same now and have been since the start of this century. Agencies need to start walking the talk because right now, clients are leaving.

9. START UPS AGAIN, PLEASE
Go out there and do your thing. Don't suffer it...change it. Make it better. You've learned how not to do things...now put that learning into practice. Be ethical. Be creative. Be nice to other people. Protect and care for your staff. Be the next Clow or Hegarty or Chiat. Be brilliant.

10. STOP USING ANIMALS IN COMMERCIALS
Ads with chimps, dalmatians, koalas, ostriches, mooseseses, rhinos, warthogs, water buffalo, lizards, clydesdales, horses that aren't clydesdales, dolphins, the list goes on. These are today's equivalent of Two C's in a K. And we really can do better folks.

Thanks to Campaign Brief and Wassim Kanaan for dropping this on my head.

The GFC Explained

Very neat video.

Short Film? Ad? No..?

Watch this!

Following the success of Underbelly, Victoria Tourism thought it might hit the iron while it’s hot and indulge on the fantasy of the Australian public, let’s lead a ‘double life’ it said. Ok, maybe not entirely, but that was my immediate connection in my search for meaning with this particular spot, and yes, I know, gangland warfare? Of all things Katie! *Sigh

Upon first viewing this ad I was torn in all directions, searching for the ‘right’ emotion to feel and cue of my next ‘action’ that is supposably the aim of any ad. But I was left stranded with the infectious A cappella tune echoing between my ears. ‘What double life?’ my brain squealed as the sexily soaked Isabel Lucas stared into the depth of my soul. Word ‘Daylesford’ fades into clarity. What the hell?

Beautifully shot, this ad had the hallmark of the indie, artsy and sultry signature of elegant Melbourne art direction. As a short film, it is most intriguing. Stalking the character as she switches between personas and engage in behaviours that might suggest she hosts a split personality or have bipolar. (Ah ha! there’s the ‘double life’ line finally clicking.)

What was mind-boggling to me was the juxtaposed scenarios. One flash she is an innocent village girl wondering through the dusty old road, golden fields and luscious woods. Then like Gretel having an acid trip, the girl turn into the child of Cruella De Vil and Angelina Jolie soaked in mysterious seduction. Off we go on the adventure where she digs her nails into a mini mountain of blueberries, hooks up with a guy and ends up at the bottom of the lake…(signifying spa)

I don’t know how effective this ad will be. All I can say is that it is an art in its own right and indeed, very Postmodern. Yes, the eternal debate. What makes an ad, an ad? And to where do we draw the line when it is no longer an ad but a mysterious short film that has alienated too many audiences with its ‘art-ness’ to maintain general appeal.

Com’on Victoria! We’ve gone through ‘Loose Yourself’ and ‘Lead a Double Life’, why can’t we just visit your state lucid? Don't get me wrong I am a fan of the two campaigns.

I have gone and Tweeted this ad as well as send it to a couple of people for feedback, here are some interesting ones:

Wiebe (Netherlands): Only Caucasian people in Victoria? In Netherlands you always see different races in promos.

Ella (Australia): I don’t know if it communicates tourism, but it makes me want to have sex in a pool.

Michelle (Australia): I found it beautiful and easy to appreciate artistically, but it was very disjointed somehow.

Tourism campaigns have always had two key components ‘unique, breathtaking scenery’ and ‘large audience appeal’… yep, that’s it. The fill-ins in between can range from using an internationally iconic character (Crocodile Dundee/ Paul Hogan) or very clever marketing strategy relating to distribution, pricing or partnered package deals. There is no doubt the recent success of ‘Best Job in the World’ has got every tourism-reliant state or country gunning to replicate the same scale of impact. Unfortunately, I think it was just a one hit wonder.

What we need to have our eyes on more than ever is how people consume communication material. What matters to them now? What makes them want to pass on your message?

The repetition of the same formula with different images slotted in, is getting stale. One thing I’ve noticed is that people like grappling on to anything that is weird, quirky and totally relative to them, in a secret way that no one knows. Stealth campaign perhaps? Poke fun at the everyday Joe who turns out to be extraordinary. Exploring how to sub-consciously affect their next holiday destination decision? You never know. Just don’t use any invasive pop-up, roll-over or ‘you have no choice but to sit through this crap while I use up your bandwidth’ ad, because I might just cross the state line and make the double life happen while I loose myself.

Information and strategy overview of this campaign can be found here: Click