Plasticine Bunnies

With over 500,000 youtube viewings in its first week of being posted and new news features in countries that aren't airing the advert in a commercial break, it's time to talk about the gold tooth snarling drum playing Gorilla. Another gem out of Fallon's box, this time for Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate, they have managed to yet again grab an unbelievable amount of attention with a unique idea. They did it a couple of years back with 250,000 brightly coloured balls cascading down a hill in San Francisco for Sony's Bravia colour TV. An ad that seemed to have little association with it's product. Again with the Gorilla ad there is no product placement or hint except for the title. So, how is this going to sell the product. This new brand of advertising has people talking about what was originally a one-way selling tactic in an inventive way. Instead of simpling viewing and hopefully buying, it has people excited about adervts to the extent that they're googling, emailing, posting and even reinventing them. What technology and the internet has given us is the availability to communicate more freely with a more diverse group...sharing thoughts and ideas, enabling us to be more creative and to feel part of something bigger without boundaries. This is nothing new, but it definately gives advertising and creativity and a whole world beyond an exciting future. How does this sell a product...it got a lot of people talking.


This is the latest ad for Bravia.

Digital vs Analogue

I have arrived in what most people would see as smelly and disgusting trashville, but what I consider heaven. On the outskirts of every great metropolis is all the evidence that civilisation exists close by. Everything that we have unwrapped, used up and discarded...rubbish. I am discovering with each little journt and short walk that I am within the eye of a gabbage mecca. I took a 40 minute train ride down the coast yesterday, to spend the entire jouney noting every station with an accompanying sketch of what eye sore of seagull feeding ground lay close by and a mental calculation of how I could reach it.



So with all this stimulation, why am I not crazy with the shutter release? It has come to my attention that even though I am perfectly content to take off hand, even candid snapshots and other peoples memories with a digital camera, my personal work I cannot.

The instant preview digital technology has brought to photography has it's benefits, but also it's downside. Yes, you can preview a shot with a polaroid back or for those with deeper more lavish pockets Live Capture. But I can guarntee that shot took more time, consideration and forethought to bring you to that moment then (almost) any digital equivalent.

Possibly I'm just an old romantic. But I know that when I have a camera loaded with film, not MB's, that I approach the subject with a different mindset. The moment is there waiting for me to find it. I look, search, compose, focus, adjust and refocus and with patience and possibly a little luck (we are talking about capturing light) the moment reveals itself...or do I?

Seeing Red

Wow! After 7 years in America I forgot how polished and sharp British advertising can be. And I'm not just talking about the high end cosmetic ad's on TV. Billboard posters which always welcome me back to Chicago seem to be reserved for casinos and health insurance. In London they cover a broader spectrum from the cost of a pint of milk to more international current affairs. The Economist has a great ad campaign running at present. Creativeky taking a new twist on an iconic image, incorporating the publications brillant red...the original political message disapaits leaving the new message of innovative forethinkers, in touch with the world and ahead of their time.


this is not the ad.

Polaroid Magic

Process Enacted: by Jordan C Greenhalgh