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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

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 ;)

3. SportScheck Sporty Vouchers

Advertiser/Client: Ogilvy, Germany

This, is by far my favourite of them all. In a place where flyers on a windshield was probebly the last idea on any marketers mind, SportsScheck decided..."wait a second, doesn't the snow on that car remind you of a mountain?" and boom! These guys went the whole nine yards and even left track marks and foot prints...now tell me that's not awesome?

Damn German video sites won't embed, so you're gonna have to check out the link (I hate inconsistency)

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"

Finding David Ogilvy...the man who was, is and always will be a legend

5 super awesome marketing campaigns!

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