Tuesday 31 May 2011

New York by Miho


These stunning posters by Tomoko Miho are from a collection of classic New York posters given to the city by the Container Corporation America way back in 1969.

Beautiful. Don't you think?






Monday 30 May 2011

Street brighteners


In the early days of DNA I used to post a lot of street art.

For some reason I don't do it so much anymore.

So here's some lovely ideas I found that have been brightening up streets around the world.

Top piece is by Rene Gagnon.


Above - Artist unknown. Below is by Pandacrew.


Friday 27 May 2011

Around the Blogospere


My recent Around The Blogosphere column for Marketing magazine is now available in the blogosphere.

This month's ramble looks at online conversation around the future (or lack thereof) of the advertising industry.

Click here to go take a look. And be sure to join the conversation via the comments.

Thursday 26 May 2011

Racist or ridiculous?


The pic above is taken from a new print ad for Dove Visible Care.

It's a body wash designed for use in the shower.

The ad in question states that "You'll see more visibly beautiful skin in one just week".

Hence the Before and After headline.

Sadly some people with nothing better to do whipped up a ridiculous racism storm over the ad.

Why?

Good question.

Their reasoning is that the girl under Before is black and the one under After is white.

Which is true. But still.

Much ado about nothing I reckon. What about you?

Is this ad intentionally racist?
Absolutely
Mmm..Not sure
No way!

View Results

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Break out of those silos



Great advice for creatives and clients both young and old from John Kay the Global CD of Weiden & Kennedy.

Beautifully filmed too!

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Next they'll take Manhattan


The first thing you notice when you walk into the reception at Leo Burnett is a bowl of apples.

It's been a part of the agency philosophy since Leo first opened his doors in Chicago back in 1935.

Of course we all know Leo burnett is the agency behind the Marlboro Man.

And that they have offices all over the world.

This week they opened a new office. In New York.

Yes New York.

I don't know about you but I can't believe there has never been a Leo Burnett's office in the spiritual home of advertising.

Better late than never I guess.

Monday 23 May 2011

Kraftwerk for computers


Kraftwerk. A band synonomous with computers.

So much so that they released an album called Computer World.

And used robots of themselves on stage.

So the fact that they have been imortalised in a set of computer icons doesn't come as a surprise.

What is surprising though is that it took so damn long for something to think of doing it.

Click here and go get yourself a set.

Sunday 22 May 2011

If dogs were fonts


Brilliant!

Friday 20 May 2011

Looks like I made a list


No idea how or why my blog turned up in the prestigous BR 200 list.

It's just outside the Top 50 if memory serves.

A pretty good effort if I say so myself.

To be honest i often wonder if anyone actually stops by to read this waffle.

So I guess I must be doing something right.

If you're a first time visitor who discovered BrandDNA via the BR 200 welcome.

There's 5 years worth of rambling quotes, rants, thoughts, ads and opinions for you to devour.

Enjoy!

Thursday 19 May 2011

Cute cursor


Hot on the heels of yesterday's clever treebranch bookshelf comes this ever so cute cursor badge.

It was designed by Melle Hammer.

If you want one (and I certainly do) click here.

Thought for the day


Wednesday 18 May 2011

Branch of books


Now that my friends is a bookshelf.

Beautiful don't you think?

It's called Bibliothèque Branche and was created by French designer Olivier Dolle.

Makes me wonder why so few designers try to reinvent the bookshelf.

After all most of us have got one.

And I bet they're all pretty much based on the same basic design.

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Failure is an option



I've posted quite few videos these last few days.

Hope you're enjoying them as much as I have.

This one is a beauty.

It's Stefan Sagmeister sharing his wisdom on why failure is such an important part of the creative process.

Watch it. Then go fail at something!

Monday 16 May 2011

Foil stamping



My favourite art director Matt is a big fan of foil stamping.

Thing is it's a costly and occasionally difficult printing process to pull off.

This short video from Field Notes shows you how it's done.

Friday 13 May 2011

The original iPhone?


Stumbled on this 80's ad on a tumblr.

I can only surmise this 'device' did to the old school home phone what the smart phone did to my trusty Nokia 5110.

Bloody ugly thing though. Don't you think?

Thursday 12 May 2011

Literally plug 'n play


Now this is clever.

And long overdue me thinks.

A powerpoint with built in USB ports.

So rather than worrying about where your iPhone charger is you simply plug it directly into the powerpoint.

Brilliant.

More info here.

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Big on Audi



Over the course of my career I've worked on a lot of automotive clients.

Peugeot. Chrysler. Nissan. And I currently work with Ford.

So as you can imagine I see a lot of car work.

Some of it is good. Some not so. But most of it just plain uninspired.

This exquisite TV spot for the Audi A1 however is definitely a cut above.

Stunning work by BBH London and director Sam Brown.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Please explain


Can some please explain to me why I keep seeing beautifully art directed category ads?

That's ads that essentially sell the category rather than the brand or product?

For instance an ad for a coffee shop that sells (oh so cleverly) coffee. Not the coffee shop.

Monday 9 May 2011

Nice one Nike



Gourgeous little stop motion epic for Nike Snowboarding created by Brad Kremer.

People are people


Saturday 7 May 2011

The importance of the idea



Excellent talk in two parts by Keith Reinhard grand old man and Chairman Emeritus of DDB Worldwide from this week's New York Festivals.

New media, old media, new ways to use old media, old ways to use new media - what's important argue Keith is the creative idea. And coming up with a great idea is often about asking the right questions.



Video courtesy of BestAds

Friday 6 May 2011

Having an idea


One of the great things about ideas is that they are free.

Unless you're a client obviously in which case you have to pay for them!

One of the best books on the subject of having ideas was written by former JWT stalwart James Webb Young way back in 1965.

Yeah I know what you're thinking - but what about digital?

Well let me tell you an idea is an idea. And ideas are not reliant upon a particular technology.

At least not in my experience anyway.

The book in question is A Technique for Producing Ideas.

You can get hold of a copy for a paltry $7 if you click here.

Before you go and spend your hard earned $7 here is a fantastic piece of wisdom from the book:

The process for having ideas has 5 stages

1. Gather as much raw information as possible.

2. Chew it over and get your first ideas out of your system.

3. Stop thinking about the subject and let your subconscious go to work.

4. Be ready for the ideas to flow at any time.

5. Shape and develop the idea for practical usefulness.

Thursday 5 May 2011

Slightly suspect


I've noticed that some exquisitely art directed print ads have started appearing on the popular ad sites these last few weeks.

Funny thing is virtually all of these ads have little or no headline and a tiny logo in the bottom right hand corner.

Stranger still is the fact that many of these ads are being posted on the ad sites in campaigns of three ads.

Weird.

Oh hang a minute. It must be Lion hunting season.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Virtual agencies


After updating my long neglected Delicious account the other day I decided to check out a few of the oldest links I had bookmarked.

One particularly interesting one was about advertising agencies opening offices in Second Life.

Which of course got me wondering how those offices are going?

According to their 2006 press release the Second Life BBH "will be a functioning office, with client meetings and new business presentations."

I have no idea how that BBH office is going after five years but I suspect it is probably gathering dust.

And lots of it.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

The idiot box


The ratings company Nielsen recently published some interesting data on TV audiences in the USA.

Apparently the average American watches 34 hours 39 minutes of TV a week.

Based on my calculations that equates to just under 5 hours of telly a day.

Surely that can't be right?

Obviously Nielsen are experts in their field. But 5 hours a day?

The heaviest viewers are the oldies with people 65+ sitting in front of the box for 47 hours and 33 minutes a week.

Meanwhile teenagers watch less than half that.

But to come back to my original point - Are people in America really watching about 5 hours of telly a day?

Monday 2 May 2011

Stay safe kids


Steve Thomas is an illustrator.

He's also someone with a sense of humour as these posters show.

They highlight many of the safety issues affecting the modern workplace.

But with tongue lodged firmly in cheek.

Nice one Steve.