The rock, or what looked like a secure rock, crumbled beneath my left foot and sent me on a one way ticket to ouch town not 1.5 metres away from the cliff edge in Kleftiko. The pair of shorts and sandals I was wearing provided little protection from my now ruby red sunburnt body as I made the horizontal decent that landed me straight on my stomach, crushing the bottle of water I was clutching like an airbag and cracking the lens of my digital camera which was slung across my neck in a waterproof bag...waterproof so I could swim across the gap between the security of the white sandy beach and the highest accessible cliff face.

So, back to Milos. I arrived on a bright sunny Wednesday afternoon. The man I was to meet would later be known as the incredible hulk after his tale of an 11hr kayaking trip around the entire island...his non-comic book name was 'Rod', yes, like hot rod.

Rod owns a kayaking business in Milos called…well…Sea Kayak Milos and has been running it for over 10 years with his wife and three kids in tow, best part, he's Australian. That means no hand gestures, polite smiley faces and nods that mean I don't know what the hell you're talking about.

He’s an exceptional host, having been a Geologist and living on the island for so long makes him one of the most capable guides I think you could find...besides, being an Aussie means he let me jump off cliff faces and explore caves like nobody’s business.

• Stay in Adamas - it's the centre of attention and you could throw a rock and probably hit a bar, restaurant, hotel or grocery store

• Hire a car - kayaking and staying in Adamas will give you a lot, but having a car you can take on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere will get you so much more

• Bring a girlfriend/boyfriend - this place is made for 'sleepy time' and I’m surprised there weren’t beach police ensuring lovers weren’t doing what lovers do best on the secluded beachs only accessible by boat or kayak

• Bring sunglasses, shorts and tshirts - it's all you need, even if you're kayaking with the Rodster

• Come anytime between end of May and August - the perfect temperature for swimming in the transparent ocean

• Get a good pair of waterproof shoes - if you want to explore it might mean swimming and climbing over rocky terrain, and unless you're a dutchman from Pretoria...your soles are gonna take a beating

• Don't assume rocks are solid - scaling the cliffs in Kleftiko I made the logical assumption and fell...twice. The first of which was rather fun, a little jump into the ocean...not so much for the second face planting stomach dive near the cliff face

In conclusion: Go, kayak, be awesome.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Kayaking - €180 for two day trips and two nights’ accommodation at their B&B which is run by Rod’s wife

Getting there - €220 total flights from UK – Athens – Milos and back again

Getting around - €40 total cost for 2 days car rental, they also have quad bikes, scooters and dune buggies! I couldn’t get one of those 

Food & drink - €9 average meal price and €4 for a 500ml beer

Siteseeing - €0 once you go kayaking and rent a car, everything worth seeing is free and simple to get to

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Some time ago I compiled a rather entertaining presentation about Nando's and some of the incredible work they've done in the marketing world since walking the old lady into a street pole. (See the end of this post)

Well, last week Nando's did it again, releasing the "meal for 6 campaign" featuring Bob Mugabe and some of his buddies, including PW Botha, Amin, Hussein and Guddafi.

The ad itself is hilarious, and a little controversial, which we know to be a good mix for social success. What I loved about the campaign was the fact that Nando's could probably have stood back and watched the views come in, but they still went out to handpicked bloggers around South Africa with a guy dressed as Robert Mugabe holding a Nando's USB and a meal voucher. Nando's do an incredible job of leveraging WOM in South Africa, and later today @Whatleydude should be sharing a few more thoughts on that over at 1000heads.com...so will keep you updated. 

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The other day I found this really cool video by Studio Shelter entiltiled "Keep drawing"

Pause at any stage during the 1:20m and you may spot a baby yoda, zombie looking Borat or spiderman :)

See the full gallery on Posterous

Although my skills range from doodling to colouring inside the lines, you can't help but feel a little inspired by the clip...so, in the spirit of drawing...here's to the doodle!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Via Brandflakes for breakfast

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A great man once said…

In a world of buzz words, powerpoints, spreadsheets and metrics, it’s important to keep in mind that even someone in a position of power, whether that’s a client or an agency, may still find this marketing world a little daunting…or just plain confusing at times.

The information is important we know, but is it really that hard to “simplify” what you’re trying to say, put it into a “story” and make it easy for people to understand? It’s called “Storyselling”, and if you’d like a fun read I suggest checking out this post by Johnny B. Truant

Think about it this way. Has anyone ever said "That's way too easy for me to understand"?

No, of course not, but what you might hear are things like:

Marketing is all about psychology, and I find it fascinating that so many people just don’t grasp the basic idea of how humans behave. Yes, you might be brilliant at coming up with an idea that gets people buying your products, but if you don’t sell it to the man, or lady, who’s got the power to make it happen…it falls into the dark halls of mediocrity where great ideas go to die.

People get bored, sad, angry, jealous, annoyed, confused…we understand this, which is why we find marketing so fascinating, because every day we put ourselves in the minds of our consumers and try create inspiring campaigns. My question is this, why in the world wouldn’t we show the same kind of empathy towards our clients, agencies or employees?

Empathise, be brutal in your simplicity and sell a story…it’s pretty damn simple. And again, I’d like to ask the question – Has anyone ever said:

“This is too easy for me to understand”?

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Haha...I asked my old boss from Thunk!, now 21Tanks, if he had any photos of me while I was "working" at the office for a blog post I hope to get written up over the next week or so...

Needless to say, hair aside, this was a day in the life of working for @RichMulholland and @donpackett :)

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So yesterday, I finally got around to seeing the Power of making exhibition at the V&A. The King Kong installation made completely out of coat hangers was the only pic I was allowed to take unfortunately. The exhibition is free, so if you're board one Sat or Sun and in London...I'd definitely suggest checking it out.

Highlight for me was the alphabet work by Dalton Ghetti

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Aah...those days...the days when you have a moment of clarity. When your friends look at you while holding their beer and say..."that sounds stupid dude"

I'm a pretty retarded person when it comes to pursuing things that truly interest me. Not sure if it's the lack of motivation, or the realisation that I'm just poking at a bee hive I'm inevitably going to get stuck on my head.

Have you ever wanted to play an instrument, pick up a new language, learn how to draw like Todd McFarlane, or even Seth MAcFarlane for that matter? Well, me too buddy.

The point is, when ever I find myself inspired by someone, or something, I tend to do my excited puppy dance and run around like I'm trying to find something to piss on. I never sit still for a second, take in the scenery and then find something suitable to lay my claim against...no...I just run around thinking everything's great! Ooh, look at that shiny toy! Is that a cat I just saw through the window! I'm pretty sure I heard the biscuit tin open! Tennis ball!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!

No, as much as I hate the damn creatures, you need to be a cat when it comes to kicking as at hobbies. Even though an owner bought you, raised you since you were a kitty, threw your poop away, hit the dog for chasing you and introduced you to that fine cuisine cats know o so well...you're still a cat, and you'd probably face-five your master with your claw-paw if he ever did something that pissed you off. You're independent, and proud!

Once you find things you think are interesting, turn it into a hobby. People stumble across hobbies and talents all the time, whether it's a friend who took you salsa dancing or your mom smacking your hands while you were playing chopstix on the piano like a Trex...you learn a lot, but you excel in things that you find personally relevant to where you are in life. Right now, I'd probably roundhouse kick someone if they tried to teach me about archeaology...funny...because when I was 12 I used to run around the garden wearing a crap hat whipping a piece of rope at everything I saw like I was Indiana "faster than a boulder" Jones.

Yip..."you grow out of it", "you get older" etc... My theory...you see and experience things that simply change your perspective of "cool". I still think Heman's cool, and my dad said "Son, if I told you to put your heman sheets back on your bed at 27, would you do it?"...Yes! Yes I would dad...because it's retro :)

Anyways...I digress...Jesus...digress is an understatement judging by the fact that I can't see the top of this post any more. The reason I've selected the three challenges you see below is fairly simple...these are things that interest me "now". I don't know much about any of them, but feel that if I threw myself into these things, spent a little time researching and getting to know them for who they really are as hobbies...I might just come out of this whole thing a little smarter than the guy writing this today. So, without further adieu, let me explain to you what my three challenges are, and why I've decided to drop kick these puppies over the posts...

"Mic me up" challenge

You guessed it: Public speaking! Sounds ridiculous, but a wise man, and a wise lady, once told me that I should just give it a crack. So...why the hell not? I've spoken in front of people three times in my life now...and you know what...it's pretty awesome when you actually know what the topic is and you've thrown more time into it than you've throw into your own pillow.

I'd like to become a speaker of some sort, and the greatest man of them all once said "Don't bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.", so Mr.Ogilvy...one day my goal is to stand on the stage of TED and babble my rubbish to hundreds! Or ten if it's a TEDx talk...either way really.

"Unleash the pen" challenge

So, I've actually got a few dorky poems and a couple random stories on a secret website I've decided to make public today due to the fact that writing is now part of my challenge. Yes, it's not the kind of stuff that would make Poe, Elliot, Wilde or Twain jealous, but, it's an atempt at putting thoughts into words that sort of make sense to me at the time. Anyway, over the next three months I hope to write at least one (maybe two) new stories over on that site, and by God...they better be awesome future Riccardo Webb! The idea of writing stories is one thing, but looking at Sarah Kay I can't help think...hey, what's the harm in trying to read those stories out loud? Might even help with the first challenge if the writing isn't too shit.

"Art master" challenge

This one is going to be tricky...the idea to create a work of art within three months. Big ideas, little talent and no knowledge of art what so ever. What chance do I have? Every chance in the world I think. It's art...I could slap a microphone to a bedroom lamp and call it "Light mic" and be hailed as a genius...or an idiot...either way it's mine, and you can't have it.

So, those are my challenges...anything you could do in the next three months?

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Let me intro this post with a damn cool video recently released by the very company you're gonna hear all about

So, sometime ago...I sold a car to this dude - Richard "The Rockstar" Mulholland.

Richard arrived on our showroom floor wearing shorts, sneakers, spikey hair and was covered in tattoo's, as you've obviously just seen...not your average Lexus client. I ended up selling Richard the most expensive car we had on our showroom floor, but more than that, got a long with the guy, because he's a rockstar.

Due to our mutual appreciation for fine cars and service, which I think is the reason Richard tried to get me to work for his company...I said no...then said no again when he got me an interview at Investec...finally, I came to my senses and decided to join Rich...! in his new venture called Thunk!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Best part of all, I got to work for this dude too - Don "The really, really, ridiculously good looking" Packett:

Needless to say, working for these guys led me to do, experience, talk about and see amazing things I had never heard of before...or never thought of actually doing:

Thunk! The company I worked for, with walls painted by these very hands! Has now become something much easier for people to repeat when you say it to them...and something far more awesome :)

Introducing...21 Tanks!

The way "they" explain what the company does is simple enough:

"When a group of smart people are struggling with an innovation based problem, it's never a lack of knowledge that's holding them back - it's a lack of perspective. We sell perspective!"

The way "I" explain what the company does is a little more flattering:

"A group of rockstars, dedicated to being on the forefront of business, tech, social and marketing innovation. They take all the random crap they constantly, and consistently, read, hear, see or do...and package it into an idea that can help companies solve a variety of problems. These are people who know nothing about your business, but know a lot about what works in the real world. Having someone who isn't engrained in your company politics and targets, but is dedicated to solving problems and innovating the way businesses are run, treat their employees or talk to their consumers is an invaluable asset for any company to have.

An educated outsiders perspective...that's what they sell!"

UPDATE: PICS JUST IN!

That's right, if my words weren't enough to convince you...here's a glimpse at their war room! ;)

See the full gallery on Posterous

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So I spotted the video you're about to see, but had not context as to what the hell "Boardwalk Empire" was, so, before you jump on the triangle, check this out first...

To help promote the second season of Boardwalk (See, I know it so well now I'm even shorting the name), HBO decked out this 1920's look alike train to help promote the series, and they even went so far as to include a ceiling fan inside, as well as period appropriate ads and art work inspired by the show.

The idea of branding both the inside and outside of a commuter train may seem a like an Ad-bat trying to bludgeon you to death with its message, but the creators of this campaign realised the same thing and decided to hand out free MetroCards in Times Square and 72nd street on the day the new season airs. That's real nice.

Via Gothamist and The Awesomer

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You know those times when you've stumbled into a pub, club or festival, probably dragged there by that one friend who's always up for randomness, and you watch a band that you've never heard of, singing a song you probably don't know. Regardless, the one thing you do know is that the band strikes right to the very core of your awesome bone and you're in love!

So over the last year I've seen a number of random bands, but the three in the video below really stood out...the challenge? Finding out exactly who the hell these guys were and how I can get their music!

Searching Google for the lyrics, Shizaming it...nothing! Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to see if you can hunt down the artist...simple...but wait...there's more...

What's in it for you? 

Well there's an interesting question, this wouldn't be a challenge if there wasn't a winner, and this wouldn't be fun if there wasn't a prize involved right? So, let me expand on the super awesome gift package that is waiting to be bestowed upon you should you guess just one of these bands correctly:

The master bell ringer, otherwise know as Equestri, is the ring leader of the gift crew, behind Equestri are his three companions, nay, brothers in this quest to reward one noble and certainly knowledgeable musical prince...or princess. What? What's that? Is that a silver music box mechanism that plays Frere Jacques? Is that an undertaker finger puppet? Is that a golden dragon from Temple street in Hong Kong? The answer is YES! Yes, these gifts as well as the bell ringer Equestri himself could all be yours! ;) Good luck!

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Stupid question, but have you ever felt like doing more with your life, whether that's getting knee deep in a ridiculous experience, starting a career, coming up with an idea, selling a product, changing the way things are done, changing the way you do things, teaching someone something they don't know, learning something new or finding someone you can truly be happy with?

Well, I hope this post might inspire you to achieve these things and spark the fire cracker of awesome that I believe is beneath each and every one of our asses. In order to make this slightly easier though, I've included 6 videos :)

So let me break it down into 6 main points that I think barbarically summarise human evolution:

1. Learn

No one wants to know about that thing you could've done that one time but never actually did. People want to learn and feel inspired by your experience, history and perspective, why, because you're awesome and I sure as hell don't have the experience, knowledge and perspective you do...hell, the Queen herself aint got shit on you.

Learning new things is pretty damn important, it's all about the appreciation of your unique outlook on the world which helps lead to progress. Progression is what allows us to explore new career paths, become a master in our field, find fun people to hang out with, open ourselves up to new business opportunities or simply surprise people with the random crap we know.

Now I'm not talking about university learning here, I'm talking about the simple things that can have an incredible impact on your life, like Steve Jobs taking a calligraphy course after he dropped out of varsity...that calligraphy course was fundamental in creating the seamless type fonts we see on Macs and PC today, you can find out more in the next section when we get to that video.

Never become complacent, explore the things you enjoy and maybe, just maybe, they might become the things you love doing for the rest of your life....figuratively and metaphorically speaking ;)

The video below by Matt Cutts is all about trying something new for the next 30 days and I for one am gonna jump on this like a hillbilly at a ho down:

2. Love

Now before you roll those eyeballs and say "here we go, another God damn hippy", let me clarify that "love" means various things to different people. For me, it's the passionate appreciation and willingness to connect with someone/something, and then allowing yourself to feel inspired by that connection in a positive way. Pretty deep, but let me explain...

Loving what you do is quite obviously an important thing, unfortunately all my life I've been told "son, you walk down the street and ask the first person you meet whether they're doing what they love or not. 9/10 times you'll find someone who hates their job". Fair enough, but I see two problems here - people who are working to live, and people who haven't explored their hobbies. You love art, how many business opportunities are there for you? Become a painter and live on scraps until you hopefully become a success, cut off your ear and die? Doesn't sound glamorous at all does it?

But the problem here isn't the financial gain, it's that people are conditioned to believe that their interests and hobbies are merely just that...fun things to do when you're not at work selling cars for example.

There is absolutely no reason you can't be successful doing something you love, I'm not saying it's easy (if it were everyone would be doing it), but it's the people who spot the opportunities and are open to doing new things simply because they love it, who might turn into the car salesman who runs the next version of the Vauxhall art car boot fair, the car salesman who actually creates the world's most expensive BMW paint brush to promote the brand, decides to sponsor the dirty car art project, uses the idea of invisibility art to sell his product in a shopping mall etc...

The Steve Jobs video below is simply inspiring, lots of great quotes and stories, but the one that stood out for me was: "But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love."

3. Innovate

Innovation, probably my favourite stage of the lot thanks to the crazy Mo'fo's at 21 tanks, can be described as bringing something new to an environment which ultimately leads to changing the way things are done. Really, it's the physical proof of man’s evolution.

If we're comfortable with someone in a relationship, isn't it easier to get along and just do the things that matter instead of wasting energy on being a version 2 of yourself? You'd explore, challenge, fight, learn and eventually fall in love. Why wouldn't this be true for work?

Once we've fought to find something we enjoy, we learn as much as we can about it, to the point that we start noticing opportunities to the problems we might face and proactively try to improve it. It's that idea of "contribution" to an industry or individual that makes us feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in life. We're doing it because there's a need, and we have an interest.

The video below is a great example of innovation, and more importantly, it shows how one man in Malawi called William Kamkwamba had an interest to learn about engineering so he could help the people he loved...not because he wanted to make a fortune, but because he saw a need, had an interest in engineering and took it upon himself to peruse his passion in the hopes of adding some value to the way things were done:

4. Fail

Failure is the lack of success, success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose...key word purpose. Purpose is the reason we do what we do and it's sure as hell the reason we hit the ground so hard when we fail, because no one likes to want something and then have it taken away...it sucks.

You're gonna fail, you're gonna fall flat on your ass at some point and regret a decision, but it's having those future ideals and the passion for your field that will get you back up on your feet with a cool scar to show all the chicks...because chicks dig scars.

I have no better way to summarise this section than to quote Conan O'Brien from the video you're about to watch below: "It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique"

5. Teach

The video below raises a really interesting question: "Do schools kill creativity?"

Now although this section is about how we can take our passion, knowledge and cool innovation stories about our experience and impart that knowledge to new starters or partners, it's also about how we can help raise the next generation of ass-kicking babies. How can we help enable people to find what they're passionate about and give them the opportunity to peruse that dream.

In the video Sir Ken Robinson speaks about Gillian Lynne who's a big deal in the world of choreography, responsible for such productions as Cats and Phantom of the opera. It's absolutely amazing to hear her story which puts Ken Robinsons quote below into perfect context:

"The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed -- it needs to be transformed. The key to transforming education is not to standardize it, but to personalize it, to build an environment people want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions." 

6. Leave a legacy

We make our way through life meeting people, doing incredible things, learning new skills and the like, but have you ever sat back and wondered if there was anything in particular that you'd like to change or leave behind? Maybe not, I certainly don't know who I'm going to be years from now. Kids, my own company a dog named Triffis...no clue, but what I do know is that one day these people might be able to benefit from my years on this earth, and although times change I'm pretty confident that these 6 basic principles will remain the same in some way. 

Sarah Kay is a spoken word poet, and a great example for why I find the idea of leaving a legacy so fascinating. She dedicates her first poem in the video to her non-existent daughter, lessons in life she hopes to hand down to her when she finally arrives. Sarah Kay started off with an "interest" in spoken word poetry, and besides her fear for public speaking and age, decided to get involved and started going to grown-up events when she was still in school. She realised that she didn't have to follow the way these people were writing their poetry and started doing it the way she felt worked best. That allowed her to leave a memorable impression on so many people, change the way people thought about "how" they should write their poetry and brought the idea of spoken word poetry to a much wider audience. She will be remembered, and her daughetr will hear her poem one day, and she will leave a legacy because she simply loved what she did and she did it to the best of her ability.

Summary:

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It amazes me how much great music in my iTunes library comes from TV commercials.

Over the years I've built a fond relationship with a few bands, simply because I heard the song in an ad promoting whiskey, cars or war-hardened soldiers out to kill the locust horde!

Anyway, I'm proud to introduce just 10 of the many ads I could actually find online, some of which were produced in South Africa I'll have you know ;)

1. J&B "1.618"

Band: RJD2

Song: Smoke & Mirrors

This song used to come on TV just before the 8 o'clock movie on ETV, and happens to be the first song from a TV ad that caught my ear. The bit at 39sec is awesome.

2. MTN "Gandini"

Band: RJD2

Song: Ghostwriter

Who woulda thought...just a few months after I tracked down RJD2 from the J&B ad and started loving Ghostwriter, this ad comes on TV and I'm like "Dude! That's R2D2! I mean RJD2 or something!"

3. Nike "Chosen"

Band: Hanni El-Khatib's

Song: I got a thing

Now this, this ridiculously sweet video treat of awesomeness is what has me up at 1am writing about music in advertising. The song is pretty awesome, but unfortunately the artist doesn't live up to the remix you hear here...but regardless, still well worth the listen.

4. VW "Grumpy kid who could have been sorted out with a simple face-five"

Band: Arno Carstens

Song: Another universe

Right, so back to the SA ads I remember o so well. This one hits the spot simply because we all feel that special bond with our dads at times...plus...taking a piss on the side of the road is the greatest way to depict us for who we are as men.

5. Gears of war 3 "Ashes to ashes"

Band: Sun Kil Moon

Song: Heron blue

Mark Kozelek from Sun Kil Moon has become a regular feature in my "Chilled" playlist. The second I heard this song I decided...there we go...I'm keeping my damn ears open from now on so I can track awesome bands I've never heard of like this!

6. Dante's Inferno "Go to hell"

Band: Bill Withers

Song: Aint no sunshine

Well, with this ad the song isn't exactly new or anything, but the fact that this soldier of evil who's actually just trying to save his wife from the depths of hell jumps into an abyys of monsters and fire...I can't help but have a new found appreciation for someone as timed as Bill WIthers.

7. Heineken "The entrance"

Band: The asteroids galaxy tour

Song: Golden age

A happy tune I just couldn't resist, but again, the music once you delve into it is rather monotonous.

8. Nokia "Dragonfly love"

Band: Kap Bambino

Song: New breath

A story about two fat guys in remote location having a robotic dragonfly fight...I couldn't decide whether I liked the song at first or not, but it grows on you. The electro-punk scene is pretty damn immense, and something I'll stay clear away from...but for the purpose of expanding my musical tastes, "New breath" is a great song to try out as an appetiser.

9. Ford "2011 Mustang"

Band: Band of skulls

Song: Light of the morning

In no way their best song, Band of skulls is definitely another addition to my playlist simply because of two things that were seamlessly thrown together...a Ford Mustang and Rocking tunes...sold!

10. VW "Beat"

Band: Jet

Song: Be my girl

And we finish off the musical adlist with a commercial that must have aired 4 years ago back home in South Africa. In a time when Jet was never heard of in bars, clubs and house parties...the ad launched at a good time and stired a lot of interest into this new wave of rock that kinda lends itself to bands like Band of skulls, Cage the elephant and Kasabian.

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So a while back someone asked me..."dude, if you could go to a random country or see one crazy thing that interests you...what would it be?"

My answer...ROMANIA! More accurately...Castle Dracula, or Castle Bran as it's called. Why the hell not? It's in a country I've never seen, surrounded by forests and has ample unique food, booze and accommodation to suit every need.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Anyway, my summary of Romania, should you choose to accept it, is as follows:

1. Go

2. Watch out for the cab drivers...they will try rip you off

3. Go to Brasov and stay there for at least 1 night

4. See the black castle in the main town square...best to stay around there if possible

5. Enjoy the exchange rate if you're going from London...so cheap!

6. Go to a pub called Festival in Brasov

7. Learn basic Romanian, it will always come in handy (Hello, thank-you, could you please direct us to the nearest bus that will take me to the castle of that vampire man who killed people)

8. Enjoy the fact that you will probably be one of a few English speaking tourists...there are actually more Romanians in the tourists areas than tourists...awesome!

9. Take a good camera. There's plenty to see out there if you're a fan of mountains, forests, castles, pubs, cosy restaurants, random villages, dogs, cows, bears and even 6 year old homeless kids smoking cigarettes

All in all...great idea, great place for a weekend away.

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In the last week I've become pretty obsessed with advertising and marketing campaigns...in fact, what actually happened, is that I had a shot of advertising-heroin when I went to the Cannes Lions festival in France last week thanks to the work I get to do for Nokia.

Cannes didn't inspire me to achieve something that seemed glamorous or unobtainable, it showed me that I'm already doing something that I love and find fascinating on a daily basis.

For someone who's been in this industry for almost three years, I'd like to think that knowing who and what David Ogilvy was all about would be a standard, but the way I see it, three years isn't a very long time...and I'm not here to feed you rubbish, so I'll be honest...I knew the agency, but I never knew the man.

Last week was the 100th birthday celebration of the late David Ogilvy, I looked into who he was when I got back to London yesterday and came across the awesome video you see below (via AdWeek) Watch and then read on...

After seeing this video, I realised just why it is I love my work...

Advertising encompasses a variety of disciplines, finely crafted together to bring great ideas to the surface and well executed campaigns to the consumer.

• We appreciate, study and atempt to predict human behaviour.
• We interact with, respond to and approch new people every day
• And finally, we take art, film, philosophy, mathematics, music, geaography, history, language and a variety of other ingredients to use in the marketing mix of awesome! 

We have an immense potential to learn and teach...how we choose to do those things is what will differentiate us in the end.

Just some of the "many" quotes from Ogilvy that will surely stay with me throughout my career: 

"If you can't advertise yourself, what hope have you of being able to advertise anything else?" David Ogilvy

"Be more ambitious, don’t bunt. Aim out of the park. Compete with the immortals" David Ogilvy

"Try and inject into every commercial you make, a touch of singularity..." David Ogilvy

"It's the lack of ambition which cripples most people and makes them so pedestrian in the advertising creative business" David Ogilvy

"Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating. You can't bore people into buying your product, you can only interest them in buying it." David Ogilvy

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So after traveling the amazing maze of advertising at Cannes Lions, I stumbled across a few ideas that really got my attention. Below are just some of the awesome stories, and I hope these provide you with a little inspiration…

1. Surprise Cat walk

Advertiser/Client: The Salvation army secondhand shop

I loved this simply because it's an idea anyone could have thought of, simple, to the point and it adds a sentiment of fun to the people strutting their stuff down the catwalk

2. Decode Jay-Z with Bing

Advertiser/Client: Bing/Jay-Z

Now this campaign won itself a Gold Lion at Cannes this year. It's awesome, based on the fact that it tries to integrate various traditions of marketing, from billboards to online videos, the campaign itself was well thought out and brilliantly executed. Google may have been your big brother pushing dirt in your face Bing, but somewhere along the line you learnt some Krav Maga and are starting to kick ass ;)

 

4. Tesco subway virtual store

Advertiser/Client: Tesco

I great idea in the South Korean which saw virtual shopping aisles pop up in subways. The reason why this works are plentiful - It could be the fact that Tesco went to the consumer instead of waiting for them to step in the store, it could be that the execution is pretty strange and unique making it a little more interesting to pay attention to or it could be the fact that staff, training and production costs come down due to the fact that online ordering lowers your overheads...either way, I thought it was pretty sweet. 

5. Track tape, Hot wheels

Advertiser/Client: Mattel

Right, so I may be saving the best for last. Anyone can see why this is awesome, but what makes it unique in my opinion is perfectly captured in this quote from the video: "We decided that the best way to achieve this, was not a campaign, but a product" 

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Yip, to some, cars seem silly. To others, Lexus seems silly...to both of you...well...you can't really see what I'm doing to the screen right now, but know that it is terrible!

I'm not one for online competitions, strange coming from someone who works closley with them all the time and see's the benifits they can actually bring some folk. Anyway, the story goes that if you're not in it to win it...what chance do you stand?

So here it is...the first competition I put a little work into entering, all to be a Lexus reporter at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. More likley it's because of the chance to have a seat in one of these sexy beasts! Look...there I am standing next to one!

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So a weekend or two ago I made a stopover at the Science museum in London, great place to go if you feel like being a 12 year old again...SO much to play with!

Anyways, one of the most fascinating things, besides the hearing music through my skull by biting a metal pole machine, happened to be this "Time eating clock", designed by inventor John Taylor:

This particular clock is called "The Midsummer Chronophage" and happens to be one of two clocks in the world to show the experience of relative time. John Taylor's inspiration came from the idea that everyone experiences time differently. Personally, I could've spent an entire day staring at that thing.

I kinda loved this quote from him, which said:

'Inventing is hard work. The ideas are easy but turning them into a practical embodiment is the difficulty.' Dr John Taylor

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That's right, in celebration of easter and the chicken vs. egg debate...I've decided to lay rest to the claims and folly! Should you find yourself in the epic discussion of "What 80's cartoon came first", use the arsenal before you...

He-Man (1983)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He-Man

Thundercats (Sep 11 1985)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThunderCats

Care bears (Sep 14 1985)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Care_Bears_episodes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Planet_and_the_Planeteers

Darkwing duck (1991)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darkwing_Duck

Conan the adventurer (1992)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_the_Adventurer_(animated_series)

Animaniacs (13 Sep 1993)

Biker mice from mars (18 Sep 1993)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biker_Mice_from_Mars

Pinky and the brain (09 Sep 1995)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinky_and_the_Brain

Freakazoid (09 Sep 1995)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakazoid!

Any epic ones I missed? So many awesome cartoons back then...aah, the good old days :)

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