tumblr

I'm moving this blog. From now on, I'll be rolling from jimstump.tumblr.com
because it's better. It looks better and it doesn't do the funny jump around thingy with pics. I'll try to post something at least once a day from here, because it looks nice and because it looks nice it makes me want to use it more often. So this time next year I'll remember more stuff, link to more stuff and refer to more stuff.

London International Award

truthaboutsmart.co.uk picked up the heaviest award yet. It won a silver on Monday at the London International Awards for Automotive online work along with a nice VW Golf site from Germany. It sits beside the Campaign Big Award won earlier this month. Think that's it now. Surely that must be it. Well done to everyone involved in its production.

Boat Watch Update:

People spotted. Milling about. Talking to each other next to big guns and looking off the back of the boat as though something had rolled off and into the Thames. Uh - people.

10:47am

Boat watch update:

Activity at last. People have been spotted milling about marching up and down directing a black aircraft around around in circles. That's it. No really - that's all they've done.

Boat watch

Hands up, who's got a massive Navy Aircraft Carrier parked outside their front door right now? No? Must be just me then. It arrived in the dead of night a couple of days ago without making a sound. Nothing much has happened but I'm keeping tabs on it, don't worry.

13:32pm

















13:33pm

Obama CNN coverage uses Hologram presenter.

He won. Everyone's happy about it. But look at CNN's coverage. They waited for this historic occasion to roll out their latest piece of technology. A link with an outside reporter via hologram imagery. Star Wars style. At the moment it's a bit pointless and doesn't offer the viewer much more than seeing the reporter on a screen in the studio, but it's definately cool and beats the Swing-o-meter.

Colour like no other

It's Autumn, the time year London is only seen in black and white. It's not a pretty place at this time of year - not quite filled with Christmas optimism and a still a little dispondent about the lack of summer. After the Costwolds this weekend where life is lived in CMYK, I think the best thing you can do is get the hell out of London. It's really depressing.

Greyscale













CMYK

Atheists fight back with counter bus ad campaign.

Well done to the British Humanist Association for not putting up with recent ads on London busses damning non-believers and threatening them with spending all eternity in torment in hell. These ads should be on a double decker near you soon and I must say I love the cheeky and optimistic tone. They don't try to cause a stir or bash Religion and so keep their dignity.

Gordon on the big big screen

Got to drench Ramsay recently. This was the first screening of the 20 second version of the transvision ad. Also seen on Cross Tracks and hopefully Cinema sometime soon.


Untitled from jim stump on Vimeo.

My day yesterday...

I encourage everyone to do this. Carl found this group on Flickr. Create a 90 second film of your day. Film it, put it together, don't put any gloss on it or music, just show us your day. I like it. I'll make more of these. Here's the first.

What brilliance

The Machine from mudlevel on Vimeo.

Future in my hand.

I just bought an iphone.
It is sexy.
I downloaded this app on my iphone.
I went for a little run this morning with my iphone.
To test this app.
I had a Satelite following me all the way.
When I get back it told me exactly where I'd been.
How fast I went. How far I'd gone.
And showed me on Google Maps.
I always knew it could do this kind of thing.
But know I've experienced it, it's even more impressive.
Well done Mr.Apple.

Audi in my films

Is it just me, but ever since the blatant product placements in I-robot I can't help but notice that every car in every film that has ever been in the cinema has featured an Audi.

I saw Taken last night and in the 5 film trailers that preceeded it, 3 of them showcased an Audi in a chase seen along with Taken itself. Liam Neeson plays an ex special forces fella, who finds himself in Paris. He rents a car - it's an Audi. He steals a car - it's an Audi. He crashes a car and remarkably escapes unharmed - in an Audi.

I'm sure it probably pays off for the Car Manufacturer, but I'm really beginning to resent my films being taken over by product placements. Should probably change my viewing tastes I suppose.

Formal Friday

To celebrate the end of Summer (yes Summer) Republic went formal for the day. Suits, Waistcoats, Shoes that give you blisters, Ball gowns and Hats were worn by every single member of the team. A good turn out this time and won by Timmy G in his Dad's military Mess uniform.

Sweet Apology

Some naive townplanner built the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) thinking that the population of East London would remain the same. So, with the Olympics as their excuse - Transport for London have had to close the tracks while they extend every platform to fit another carriage, which means royally mucking up my already unenviable commute.

But on Monday morning, they said the tracks would be running again, naturally I didn't believe them but they told the truth. Not only that, but they gave me this - a thankyou chocolate. How nice.

Of course I forgave them. (Until next time they fuck up.)

Managerless

So in the space of 2 days 10% of the Premierships managers have both quit because of the same reason. They're fed up with being told how to do their job by the board.

If this isn't proof enough of the way business is ruining what the game is all about, I don't know what is. Clubs now have too much money. Manchester City seem to have come out of nowhere, buying Robinho for 32.5 million (I remember when Alan Shearer broke the record for a transfer of £9m!) and say they'd spend £135m on Ronaldo. Crazy money.

It would serve these oil tycoons right if all the decent managers went back to a proper league, The Championship and left the Premiership teams to crumble under their own wealth.

What's really worrying though, is the passion the Geordies show for a football team. Oh yeah - they'll go out onto the street after during work and protest about that. Sod the Iraq war. Sod Alistair Darling emptying their pockets - their beloved Keegan has thrown a hissy fit and walked out.

My new music cube

http://qa.radio1musicubes.co.uk/view_cube.shtml?id=36220

My new favourite thing.

I went to Kao Tao and Phi Phi recently, and managed to practice my skills as a diver. It's the weirdest thing sinking down to 20 meters looking up and seeing schools of fish between you and the surface, being weightless and so conscious of your breathing. It's totally cool and reminds you just how much of the worlds life we don't see. It really is another world under there. I've also become hooked on this BBC show called the Pacific Abyss, that follows a team of American Marine Biologists across the Pacific as they dive to depths of up to 100m (the deepest the human body can cope with) in search of new species - nearly every dive they come up with more and more fish. There must be so many we don't know about. Sometimes the world is marvelous.

Check out this White Tipped Reef Shark. Also seen were, trigger fish, sea snakes, very poisonous and you'll be dead before you reach the surface, turtles, puffer fish, box fish, whale sharks. I urge you to try it - don't just go snorkling you whuss.

Never dive into Bracken.

You know when you just feel like diving into a pool with all your clothes on because it's so damn hot? Don't do it with lush green Bracken, because behind that lush green Bracken is lush green stinging nettles. And they sting like a bitch.

Eco shopping bag I've been playing around with.

Sexy venetian blinds t-shirt

Of course you want it. I do. See it here.

The Shining through the eyes of Stanley Kubrick

Channel 4 has painstakingly recreated the set of Stanley Kubricks horror film The Shining, complete with look-a-likes of the crew and cast members, to promote a More 4 season of the director’s films. This is impressive and must have taken ages to put together. Well done.

Religulous

The latest film from Larry Charles (Director of Borat) see Bill Maher investigating Religion. I think it's going to be great. He talks to people from all religions (mainly dilly Americans) as an Atheist who just doesn't get it. But he does it in a Lois Theroux way that makes the interviewee sound a little bit silly. It's controversial yes, but when you look at it from Larry Charles' point of view...

"Ok. An old God, a very buff old God that lives in space decides to create the first man from earth dust, then makes a woman from that man’s rib. They get to live forever if they don’t eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, but the woman is tricked into eating a piece by a talking snake and all future humanity is cursed. Or, how bout this one? This same space God who lives in the sky and has power over everything decides he wants a son, so he impregnates a woman but she remains a virgin. And, the child can walk on water and raise the dead. But his father, the sky God, sends him on a suicide mission to save humanity. After he dies, he rises from the dead and flies into space to be with his father (who is also him.)"

Smart gets a slating then wins an award.

Oh dear somebody doesn't like my work. The Smart website and accompanying ads were show in Private view of Campaign last week. Reviewed by Damon Collins the Executive Creative Director at RKCR/Y+R who found the production values to be pretty bad and Ron Collins a founding partner of WCRS who found nothing positive to say about the campaign. Trouble is, they didn't actually see the campaign. They didn't see the site, they saw the ads (probably only one of them). Now we at Agency Republic think that to be honest the work looks pretty shit hot. What's nice is that you get to see the car in a real environment without all the re-touching, glossy reflective floors and white backgrounds you so often see on car websites. The brief was to convert opinion quite directly about the car and that's what they do. While these two guys found it tricky to find something nice to say about the work, it's gone and won last months IAB Creative Showcase. And as a reaction to these guys comments in campaign, calls have been coming in praising the work, telling us how they don't know what Damon Collins is going on about. One nice quote mentioned how the site was sent around their agency and recieved great plaudits about how interesting and usable it was and how it was heralded as an example of 'how to get a lot of information across in a very palatable way.

Anyway have a look at what they said - there ain't a lot to read...

More good work.

Having just been to see Radiohead at Victoria Park in east London, I got pretty annoyed about lack of mobile phone reception there (thanks o2). I couldn't even ring my friends to meet up with them at the gig or ring the people I was with when they got lost on the way back from the beer tent. We're hoping to do a mobile application for o2, one of our clients for their Wireless festival that will automatically locate your position within the arena and also show you the location of your friends so there's no need to ring them and try to have a tricky conversation what with all the loud music and everything. (triangulation and what not) But it seems we've been pipped to the post by Orange and The Guardian. Have a look at this very nicely executed app. for Glastonbury. You can...

• view the complete line-up from The Guardian Guide
• build your own schedule and share it with friends
• find your way around with a detailed festival map
• broadcast your location on the map and send alerts to find friends

Hopefully ours will be better though because it'll show you where you are automatically rather than having to punch it in manually and send your location to all your festival friends. Good work though - it's probably the first really useful mobile app. (Apart from Googlemaps).

Scientists farm a Sheep with the mind of a goat

Just Brilliant.


Genetic Scientists Develop Sheep With Brain Of A Goat

Are these the most depressed men on TV?

If I was asked to go over and present the Euro 2008 finals, watch every match and get paid a chest full of gold for it, I'd be the happiest man alive. Especially having seen the awesome Holland demolish both World Cup finalists. But this group of merry men just seem so bloody boring. I can understand why Ian Wright left them. Look at this picture of the Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen, Mark Lawrenson and Alan Shearer. Mark looks suicidal!!

Cheer the hell up guys. It's only a game. Have some fun. God!

Digital Download Press ad

Campaign, the advertising industry magazine has a digital downloads suppliment coming out soon. Probably next week. In it agencies are given a full double page spread. Indy, our head of planning has written a really interesting piece about users and how brands need to be looking at the way users already use digital environments in order to improve what they're doing. So we came up with this ad that in no way what so ever talks about anything he has to say. The Creative cupboard started life at work as just a charity shop cupboard, but every 2 weeks we invite a different designer or group to exhibit. It's nice doing press ads every once in a while. It is for real. You totally have to come check it out.

New T-Shirt ideas

Has this been done? I don't think I've seen it, but it seems like it might have. Let me know before I print some. Guess the groups of people.

Hilary Clinton out of 'America's Next President'

Phew. Thank god that round is over. Between America's got talent and Big Brother this is the best reality TV show ever and it goes on for much much longer. They still haven't even reached the final, sorry election. Personally I'm glad Obama is through to the finals, Not only does Hilary have a hidden side to her see this post, butI think it would have been a bit of a mockery of the whole American 'Anyone can become President' ideal if Clinton got through. Do you know if she had got through and became president, which let's face it - John McCain isn't going to - then including her first 4 years in power America would have been ruled by just 2 families for almost a quater of a century, since 1989 when George Bush Snr got in. There was just something smelly in that for me. From what I've seen of Obama, he makes pretty passionate speeches, he knows what he wants, he's intelligent and he can read a script pretty convincingly - oh and he's black. To this point I think his fame over here in the UK is noted among young black kids in London. The other day I walked by a black teenager wearing a T-shirt with Barack's face on with the word 'Progress' underneath. I was quite impressed that a teenager over here even knew about this Presidential talent show, but then on the bus I even overheard another group of teens talking about it. Imagine how much Simon Cowell could make if he turns our General Election into a Saturday night extravaganza? Text 86098 for Brown or Text 86099 for Cameron.

Euro Millions 2008

I've just watched the first game in Euro 2008. Before the match, Petr Czech the goalkeeper, was complaining about the ball. Every tournament FIFA change the ball and every tournament goalkeepers complain. They have good reason too. Because the ball used in these international tournaments are pretty different to the ones they're used to in their league games and they're scared that they'll be embarrased by them infront of thousands. The one brought in for Euro 2008 looks like something you'd pick up at a BP Petrol Station on the A47. From a distance it looks like the type of ball you'd draw if you were asked to. It's incredibly light and changes direction in the wind like a balloon. This makes players look much more skillful, confuses goalkeepers and often results in more goals. I'm not being cynical, but why else would FIFA change the ball every tournament? A lighter ball makes the game more entertaining. More goals, makes the tournament successful which in turn means much much more money. I like how simple this idea was. Hats off to whoever's idea it was to realise it. I like your style. I just hope Switzerland will stop trying to look good by shooting from outside the penalty box.

Bug 07 Directors cut

A few of us went down to the Southbank last week to visit BUG07 The Directors cut. Dougal Wilson a top Music Video Director (of Benny Benassi, The Streets, Dizzy Rascal, Will Young, Bat For Lashes and most recently two clips for Goldfrapp fame) hosted the night that was basically viewings of the latest and greatest work.














A couple of ads slipped in there, but when they're as good as these Skittles ads nobody in the audience minded. Is there a lack in humour in ads coming from England at the moment? Perhaps there is. Anyway - not the purpose of this post I just wanted to also show this new Fat Boy Slim video by The Brighton Port Authority but it hasn't been released yet so I'll show you this short film by PES - nice gimmicky stop motion work.

Offf Lisbon 2008

I spent last week in Lisbon, with a handful of other Republicans in Lisbon (That's in Portugal) at Offf. Offf gathers designers, programmers, illustrators and visual artists whose creativity explores and fashions digital aesthetics and software language. So many awesome speaches to mention but I did like watching Joshua Davis, We make money not art, Dfunkt and Hi-res. Lisbon was very pretty and housed a great location in the old LX Factory for the event. A few things i'll remember about Lisbon itself; moonwalking men in traffic lights, cobbled streets, lots of old ladies standing about nattering, relentless graffiti tagging on buildings, John Malcovich's nightclub.

Scaffolding to Brickwork ratio 3:1

Another thing near my abode is this. Congratulations Millcroft scaffolding onsuch a superb job. This got me thinking about my Flickr set. I plan to scan all the photo's I have been collecting of famous landmarks I've visited that are covered or obscured by scaffolding. I'm gonna make a coffee table book out of them.

This is not the Meridian Line

This has just been put near my abode in Greenwich. It's brilliantly pointless and confuses tourists daily as to the where about of the actual meridian line. As somebody has articulately pointed out on it already. What I like is the fact that somebody probably saw it, went home, found a scrappy piece of A4 and a marker, wrote this message and then trundled back to bluetack it on.

Stupid idea

Try and raise awareness of road fatalities by making a zebra crossing out of names belonging to those killed on our streets. Catching peoples attention in the middle of the road isn't going to cause even more accidents is it? Surely?

God hires ad agency...

...but this ad agency have really let him down. Lots of money has been spent on posters on the Tube and the busses around London. I can picture the awkwardness of a meeting between the agency big chiefs and the big man himself in the hospitality room of a swanky Soho Square office.

"I need a brand refresh, I need to reach out and tell people on the street how great Christianity can be." said God.

"Er... Couldn't you save all your money and just appear as a vision in peoples dreams God? Er Sir - sorry Lord."

"It's God. Just call me God. No, I need something real, something people won't pass off as 'just a dream' - according to Moses (and he knows a thing or two about speaking to the masses) what I need is a through the line campaign."

"Right. Well, let's see what our teams have come up with. The first idea is 'Christianity. The post pension plan.' Obviously we're targeting the elderly in retirement here..."

"What!" Thundered God. "That's pretty cynical isn't it!"

"Well, you might say so, but we have to show the average sceptical Londoner there's something in it for them."

"I don't like it. What's your next idea?"

"Well, in a bid to target a slightly younger demographic, we aim to market this young and trendy pop group. With the right people, the right songwriters, stylists and airtime they could have a top 10 downloaded single within a year."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Do you remember Westlife God? What do Westlife have in common with Take That and Boyzone? "

"What zone?"

"They've each had a member of their group 'come out' at the peak of their popularity in turn sending sales sky high. What we're proposing is that at the peak of this groups popularity, it emerges that this totally and unbelievably cool pop group is...

"GAY!!!"

"No. Christian. National belief will be at an all time high."

"This is nonsense. Why can't I just have a load of posters with a clever quip from the Bible?"

The office moaned.

"Nobody understands the Bible God. I know there are some pretty cool stories and morals to be learned but you're not going to get them across in a 48 sheet poster."

"It's my money I'll do what I bloody want. Good day gentlemen."

And with that God finished his custard cream and left the room. Below are the results of his creativity. Nice aren't they?

Smart car adverts

These 3 rich media ads can be seen around the web right now. They accompany a TV campaign and drive traffic to the truthaboutsmart website. Unfortunately I can't supply a link as yet but these are stills.

Truth about smart.com

My latest live work here. Some people have a few misconceptions about the Smart car. They think it's crampt, unsafe and a bit of a toy. So this site and accompanying series of ads (to follow in the following post) asks you what you think about the car. Using multiple choice questions the user can see exactly how the last 10 people to visit the site answered and then see what the truth behind each misconception actually is. Not a massive website, and doesn't try to be clever. See what you think.

Found: My long lost twin. (Thanks Ben)

God I miss this.

Untitled from jim stump on Vimeo.

Penguin pool at London Zoo - rubbish.

At the zoo yesterday we found the famous Penguin Pool designed by what's his name (Berthold Lubetkin). Looks nice doesn't it. But it sits redundant in the middle of the zoo doing nothing. Because of it's styling - it's become a listed building. Personally I think it's shit. Yes it looks nice but it has no place in the zoo. Shear style over substance. The reason it's not used is because no thought was given to the animals it was going to house. The pool is too shallow for the Penguins to dive and swim in and they can't burrow which is a part of their courting ritual. The London Zoo can't do a thing with it because of it's listed status. Dumb ass Lubetkin - you failed.

Bad holiday water

You go on holiday. Somewhere hot. You pack suncream to protect your skin. Mosquito spray to protect from bites. But what about protecting your tummy from the nasties in foreign water that instill fear every time you stray 50 yards from a toilet?

My idea is to stock bottles of tap water from various holiday destinations around the world. You drink this water a week before your holiday so that your stomach grows accustomed to the difference. You'll never have a shit holiday again.

Black Ice-cream for goths.

The Art of Football

My friend Craig was asked recently to produce an illustration live in the London Graphics Centre - Covent Garden, by Nike. Great for him, but a bit of a weak link to football in my opinion. Nike are asking anyone to submit an original interpretation of 'The Beautiful Game'. Their site claims that 'Football has inspired each new generation of artists to push the bounds of creativity.' - A bold and somewhat wishy washy claim in my opinion. Never the less, Craig's piece invited customers from the shop to make their mark on the canvas and be credited for it. Nice.

Dodgy media purchase?

Did anybody else notice that recent Channel 4 body shock programme about a poor guy who has grown up with a 25 kilo tumor on his face, entitled 'I am the Elephant man' was sponsored by 'The Beautifully Engineered Volkswagen Passat?'

Violent procession for a torch of harmony???

The Olympic torch procession wasn't quite the journey of 'Harmony' - as China wanted it to be known. Did you see it? Did you see the 3 or 4 layers of police and security guards surround some poor girl holding the torch because everybody else dropped out? Don't mix sport and politics they say. But the two have been mixed ever since Beijing was handed the Olympics. China was given the games in some vain hope that by 2008 the country would have tidied up it's act. It's all very well to stand up for the Olympics - it obviously means a lot for the world and is heralded as one of the few occasions the whole world comes together for a common cause, but this Olympics is marred already. This Olympics is different. I totally respect those who were arrested today for taking advantage of London's freedom and using it to take a stand. The fake smiles put on by the Chinese Ambassador became very strained by the end of the 31 mile tour of London. The Police outnumbered spectators, rugby tackling anybody who got in the way. It became compulsive viewing after a while, waiting to see if anyone else could get near the flame. Surely London should have acknowledged there would be a lot of trouble, that most of England is opposed to China's meddling in Tibet and shrunk the torch route accordingly. The fact this torch of peace and harmony will be passing through Tibet is a tad hypocritical isn't it?

Candidates for the 2016 Olympics are:

Zimbabwe
Kenya
Venezuela
North Korea















Luckily the torch came right by my flat on a boat so I could heckle in my slippers.

Chreaster 2008

Odd one this year. Weather from all seasons - yeah yeah Global warming - or it could just be because it's mega early this year. Anway, it's been an entire year and I still haven't done anything about the revolutionary idea I had last Easter. Instead of giving a generic easter egg from a chocolate bar the recipient wouldn't even consider buying from a BP garage anyday of the week - give them a chocolate mould of your face. Watch them take satisfaction in munching down on your nose. Beware though - if they start licking your chocolate lips it means they fancy you. (Unless you've given it to your Mum. That'd be sick.) I'm going to write a letter outlining my business plan to Cadburys, Thorntons, Hotel Chocolate and Marks and Spencers. Watch this space.

First piece of work I am jealous of this year.

Much has been commented of the new VW website - the one that took 2 years to build and took an army of Flex developers to create non-stop. I think the site itself is nice. Brilliant - you can customise your own car. It sets a benchmark for other manufacturers, but I also love the accompanying creative campaign. This TV ad has also been cut up and put into banners etc. Non of which are rich media or interactive, but I don't mind. They're so eye catching and cute I began clicking on them even though I knew I'd go to a site I'd seen before.

Note to self: What is Flex?

Nomis Damn Boots

This is nice. It's good to see an imaginative piece of work again. Is it just me or have things become a little too targeted. I find working in digital, that strategy stragey strategy is... well - the strategy all the time. How will we target them, where, when,what's the all important call to action - what do we want them to think and do? - It's all so accountable. There are even more boxes to tick when concepting. Everyone is calling themselves 'Communications Agencies' now in a bid to leave the Above the line/Below the line/online stigma. It can be draining creatively sometimes. Let's just create something fun. This is fun. At face value - like it.

Learning to board

Learning to board from jim stump on Vimeo.

The lady and I went to go and learn how to snowboard last week. The week went well. Whiplash and bruises the size of Phil Vickery's hands, but no breaks or blood. A couple of other things we noted about the whole Skiing thing.

Skiers look down on boarders. Boarders don't give a toss.
Skiers get down the hill. Boarders at least look like they have fun doing so.
French people can actually be quite rude.
It's a bitch fight to get on lifts.
Everyone speaks properly. (You know - people who can't wear jeans)
Bright Green is this seasons colour.
You can take out 2 kids per slope. More than that and it's just nasty.
Boarders should never use button lifts.

...Oh and the Pound is shit against the Euro right now.

So many messages

Such little space to say them.

Same ad 3 times

Having just seen these on adgoodness I was 'vexed' yes 'vexed' by the shameful tactics of some ATL campaigns that just produce the same ad 3 or 4 times. This is the worst culprit I think I've ever seen. Incredibly piss easy to produce and the idea isn't exactly new. Done by Saatchi and Saatchi, Russia. For more of these take a flick through Luerzers Archive - you pay £10 for the privilege of looking at perhaps 7 actual ideas. (All beautifully executed I must admit.)

Creative cupboard exhibition 2

The creative cupboard is housing it's second exhibition. Bert designs by day at Republic and stitches by night. He creates these cute little monsters and gives them to people he likes.

Do you...

Deliberately not look at very expensive cars parked in the street, so that you don't give the owner the satisfaction, should they be nearby?

Let's all go to the toilets for a technological wank

Tim Sparke, the digital guru at Republic was jumping with joy after finding this site called qik.com that allows you to stream live directly from your mobile to the interweb. If you watch this you'll see all of our reactions in the office upon it's discovery.

Transcrutiny

A new word. I've just invented. It means; being forced to overly scrutinise a fellow passengers face due to cramped conditions on a bus or train.

Agency Republic T-Shirt

This is my entry for Agency Republics first T-Shirt Competition. It's based on the fact that it's been about 10 years or so now since Princess Diana died but still the National Press feel the need to write an article - no matter how small or insignificant, as though it's something everyone needs to know. Each letter is made up of blonde hair. She dead. I don't give a toss. Sorry about that.

Tube tunes

Nobody likes riding the tube. Well tourists do. They slowly wander the tunnels imagining what it was like for those who slept down them during the Blitz. But normal people don't like riding the tube. Having to stare at other peoples ugly faces or even worse read the long copy ads that have got worse and worse over the years. Here's an idea. Why not ask the driver to compile a playlist of their favourite tunes to play over the announcement system. It would make getting on each journey a different experience and probably cheer everybody up first thing on a Monday morning. You could have themed lines. 'Lady in Red' by Chris de Burgh playing on the Central line. 'Revolution' by the Beatles on the Circle line. I'm sure there's more.

Agency Republic Creative Cupboard

This is the Creative Cupboard. It sits in the heart of Agency Republic's office as an ongoing Arts project. Yes. It is a small wardrobe filled with stuff, but we see it as a space for exhibitions and instillations that will create a platform for discussion on the exhibiting artists and their work. The Creative Cupboard will try to blur the boundaries between art, illustration design and performance pieces, whilst proving that a small space can be as innovative and tactile as a large gallery. The Creative Cupboard is not just limited to personal work or artistic endeavors by those at 'Agency Republic,' but is also a serious space for commercial artists and creatives. Hopefully it will be updated weekly on a Friday afternoon at beer o'clock. Keep checking the blog or get in touch if you'd like to come over to Battersea to view with your own eyes. Admission is FREE.

A year ago today I left England. (sigh).

Gwen Yip

This girls blog and drawings have been noted by other people before, but I've recently come across her blog again. Gwen is from Hong Kong and came over to try and get a job in the ad industry here in London. She illustrates really cute drawings of her experiences with creative directors, emails she gets from them, freelance work she's offered.















She's been about - all the major players have got her in at some point and spoken to her but I get the impression she's still doing her own thing. When Ben and I started we thought it would be nice to draw up a league of Agencies and rate them on things like tea making facilities, placement desk space etc etc.

















Her drawings capture the feelings of getting work very nicely. Lovely honest observations on advertising and on London in general.

Bargain

500GB Hard drive at £66 + Free delivery = 13p per Gig.

Voice over advice

Here's an idea. If you're creating a TV series, Radio or TV advert that has anything to do with Britain or being British. Get Tom bloody Baker to do it. He has a proven track record in delivering oddball war cries to the nation. He's everywhere. The people loved him in that Little Britain show with the fat guy and the tall guy - he can do no wrong, right? Wrong! Please people. Stop supplementing his pension with badly written scripts. Help him hang up his scarf and disappear with some self respect still intact.

Football Poetry

I'm not going to say no to a cheap ticket to go and see 2 top teams battle it out at Stamford bridge a 15 minute walk across the river so on Tuesday I was introduced to the ever articulate Chelsea and Everton fans. Here's my favourite chant of the night...

"YOoooou ARE SHIT. YOooooou ARE SHIT."

Cut to the chase hey lads.

Don't vote for Hillary

Seems every photo in the press shows her as being clearly unstable

Toof-hurty

I think Christmas has taken it's toll. Eating an entire Christmas cake with 3 days has punctured a hole in one of my molars, so to limit the pain until I my Dentist's diary loosens up I'm trying to cut down my sugar intake. I'm usually a 2 tsp per mug of tea kind of guy. Now I have none. Painless. Round about 3pm I need a chocolate fix. Now I have fruit. Again... painless. But I also quite like my cola. So today I tried this...









And I regret to inform you that despite the heavy marketing, it does in no way taste like this...














Painful.

Christmas cards

Bannerblog have kindly posted all the best of this years agency Christmas cards in one place. (Haven't noticed Republics on there by the way) I think that given everyone is using the same creative brief it's very interesting to see the different tangents agencies have taken especially with the online medium - a huge improvement on the paper based predecessors. I think a brief such as this is actually pretty important to get right because - it's probably the only brief in the year that every single agency is working on simoultaneously. The resulting execution is also available to be seen by every other agency and compared. Of course some devote larger man hours and budgets than others, some donate to charity and a lot use web-cams - personally I think those that don't take themselves too seriously or don't appear to be pure self publicity are the best. AKQA's wins my vote. Random. A bit silly. Memorable and based on a simple real time idea. Work Club also brought a modest series of films about their neighbours at Borough Market - with a 'real life application' thrown in. Mention Work Club to any of the stall holders in the film and you'll get a freebie.

I think next year we should organise all the agencies, making them play secret santa. BBH must spend £100 on a gift for TBWA. Dare buys for Mother etc etc.

Next year I think Republic should de-clutter and recycle. We build up so much stuff from charity shops and such throughout the year that with the help of a web cam or five we give it away for someone to use as Christmas presents.

User friendly Carpark

Some bright spark has installed clever LED lights above every parking space in this Multi-story. They go from green to red when a car parks up. A computer therefore knows exactly where you need to go and directs your car to an empty spot. Well... I got excited by it.

Multicultural SALES

A sign of the times. Wandering the streets of Dublin - a city that has seen a massive influx of Eastern Europeans - I noticed this in a shop window. Really would've thought a Chinese, Latvian and Polish translation would have been more apt than the French, Spanish and Italian given.

Jack Bauer interogates Chunck

Flight simuator on Google Earth

I used to love Google Earth but never really got past the - oh there's my house, and there's where I work thing. I play superman by skewing the angle to that of 45 degrees and whooshing my mouse casting a flight across the land. Well now there's a flight simulator that enables you to choose between an F16 or an old spitfire. Press CTRL Alt and A to reach it. Joy

Try and drive on Christmas day - it's ace.

Ever got in a car on Christmas day? No neither have I. But this year I got up nice and early to drive up to Norfolk to see the family and found the roads to be like a scene from Gran Turismo. Not a sole on the Greenwich roads. No police waiting to snap your number plate for speeding. Nobody. Zip. Nada. No lorries. No old boys with caps driving at 50MPH. No local drivers. No 4x4's. No pedestrians turning traffic lights red. Never seen the M11 so beautiful. Sweet Jesus - I've become Alan Partridge.

Youtube plasma

Go to you tube. Watch a film full-screen. You'll see an icon bottom left next to the play button. Press that and you get a very nifty plasma styled display of circles that showcases associated films. A nice move on from the fairly annoying itunes style scroll they currently have after you've watched a video. I love how organic your surfing can be - I just spent 20 minutes linking from a Levi's viral to Roy Chubby Brown. Must be the google influence.

Zaha Hadid and the Olympics

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Design Museum for the Zaha Hadid exhibition. Didn't know who she was, but it got rave reviews from others. She's an Architect originally from Baghdad and is bloody good a it. I was amazed to see the sheer amount of sketchbooks, doodles, deconstructivist styled paintings and pieces of furniture (everything from airport lounge sofa's to the mundane door handle).














So much of her work has never actually been made - one of the constant frustrations of being in Architecture I guess. But she has having her design for the 2012 Olympics Aquatic centre built - which by the way is a far braver build than the lame compromise of the Olympic stadium.

While in Beijing recently I managed to sneak into the construction site of their Olympic park - I think you'll agree their ball of elastic bands of a stadium kicks arse. Yes they are forcefully removing thousands of Chinese residents from their own homes in order to build it but hey - small price to pay in order to look like you're a first world country to the rest of the world.

How do cats do that?

Apparently it's Christmas (again)

The tree has arrived at Agency Republic. That's Rich and James welcoming it into our little abode. Not feeling it this year. Perhaps the year has been too quick for me. Better dust off the Home Alone DVD that usually sorts me out a treat. Can't we just have it every 2 years? People obsess over it. I know everyone laughs at how it gets earlier and earlier each year - I just hate the pressure to buy gifts for everyone. 'Who should I buy for? What the frigg would they like that's not something from Argos, actually useful, stylish and a bit different?' Some people (My girlfriends sister) will have already finished their shopping by now. They'll be sitting back this weekend laughing at all the unfortunates braving Oxford Street playing shop rugby. This means that for them Christmas started even earlier!

Asia trip then.

Back in Blighty now. Guh. Bloggin'. Stuff. Getting back into it. Slowly. A quick run down of my 3 months in Asia then...

Northern Thailand:
Yummy. Deceptive. Touristy. Hot. Badminton playing Monks.

Laos:
Unexploded bombs. Mountains. Logging. Bamboo villages. Long river trips.

Cambodia:
Poor. Genocide badness. Nature vs the temples. Corruption.

Vietnam:
Sweet. Crap diving. Properganda. Yummy. Chinese influence.

China:
Odd. Just odd. Belts on belly buttons. Mountains. No female children.

Fade Out Sydney

It's true. Sydney actually is what everyone back home said it would be. Lovely. The people were nice and happy - they're very lucky to live in such a beautiful harbour with great beaches and surf and they know how lucky they are to live there too. In ways it began to feel like another (less busier and more civilised) London, what with every third person being a 'Pom' and in others it reminded me of an American city. Still can't get used to holding a Scooner instead of a pint in my hand though. But for me, for now - it won't be home. Today I flew to Alice Springs in the outback. 1000's of Km from anywhere, where the sun shines all year and everybody knows everybody elses name. Next up - Asia. I may be gone some time.

Rugby League Sucks

Last night was heralded as 'The Pinnacle of Rugby League' on Australian telly. If that's the best that League has to offer, it's pretty dull. I don't know an awful lot about the game - Union is my cup of Bovril, so last night I made a few notes...

1. A pitch must be littered with as many corporate logos as possible (at least 10) - not strictly to do with the game, but annoying.

2. After anything decent happens, an advert must be shown.
(again, just annoying).

3. Teams are allowed 6 tackles before conceding possession. Which rids the game of any spontaneity. Once tackled, a player will writhe and squirm as though having a fit, then get straight back up and roll the ball under his foot as though nothing had happened.

4. Scrums - pointless. Nobody can be bothered to put any kind of effort in.

5. Commentators - analyze how each team are doing please, don't just say what I see.

Where's the suspense? Where's the clinging on and fighting for every inch of territory? Where's the overpowering of the opposition?

Matthew Ngui

Matthew Ngui, an Australian artist, originally from Singapore has an exhibit on at the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) at the moment. I had no idea who he was, but I really liked his stuff. This exhibit is all about different perceptions. As you walk in, you have to walk through lots of vertical poles with weird markings on. Most people think that's it and so ponder at them a while. But just around the corner is a large projection from 2 different cameras set ups. At the right angle, you can see on the screen that the markings actually form the phrase, 'Seeing may be believing but not always understanding.' Deep.




























He's also used the skyline of Singapore, and fitted giant Fairy lights over the buildings in select positions just so that from a distance the lights and the skyline spell out the word HOME. Next he wants to replicate the Sony Bravia 'Balls' advert in Austria, but each ball has a microphone that can record short sentances from the locals. As the balls cascade down the giant hill, the pre-recorded messages will go off every time each ball bounces. I like his nonsense.

Get out of Jail Free Cards

Annoyed at Paris Hilton's brief release from prison over the weekend, and seeing the Queens list of honours - we wondered whether this old Monopoly idea come be used in the real world. Cards can't be bought or sold on the black market but rewarded to those who have proved themselves to be good people. One day they may find they have a parking fine, the victim of identity theft, who knows? I can think of a few people who deserve one.

Gmaps Street view

Very clever this. I always use Google Maps and now they've added this feature; a street level view. It only works in some cities co far. I've only found San Francisco and New York. But you position your little man anywhere and then you're able to rotate a full 360. No idea how they've done it but it would be very freaky to see yourself on there. See it here.













Looks very Minority Report when you switch to Satelite also...

Prescription Windscreens

Useless ideas. This morning I invented the must have windscreen for people with bad eyes. Taylored windscreens...

...One day one of my ideas will actually be of use and astound you.

A non-starter?

I'm sure you know what the new London 2012 Olympics logo is like. It's everywhere now. People hate it. 400, 000 down the drain, thousands of other talented designers that could have done much better etc etc. I must say I find it pretty garish. Some say it resembles the nazi emblum, some that it's like graffiti that covers most of East London, I reckon (if you squint) it actually looks like Oriental Typography. But hey it's got people talking about it internationally - which when you think about it, is better than a very bland logo. Imagine for a moment that Wolf Olins had come up with a logo similar to the Sydney Olympics. Blahhhh. Crap hey?











Wolf does say that it will evolve over time. But what does he mean by that? I think it could be really nice if the logo does actually change the nearer we get to the Olympics, into a beautiful logo.

There are now Facebook groups set up to get the logo ousted and even an online petition with 32,000 votes already at time of writing this. See the rest of the new Olympic brand here.

Meeeeoowwwww!

It seems some people in the Advertising industry have got a chip on their shoulder about the amount of pencils given out to online advertising. This guy, Simon Veksner, a creative at BBH and his mate at DDB can't see what all the fuss is about in this blog post.

It annoys me that people view online as in its infancy still and automatically deem it as a lower form of creative. Sure there is a heck of a lot of shite on the net. There's also a hell of a lot of shite in the newspapers, on billboards and on TV. The GL banner gets slated because Simon seems to recall a Ford advert from 10 years ago that was similar. 10 years ago I was 16 years old. I was sitting my GCSE's and couldn't give a flying hoot about advertising. 10 years is a reasonable amount of time for an ad to be forgotten about. It's not the most brilliant ad I could ever wish to have in my book, sure, but it is about time digital was judged for digital rather than in comparison to TV, Press or Posters.

D&AD is in an important position. It is obvious that online advertising is taking off, and for it to continue growing and to improve it's creative standards it seems that the judges have awarded online in order to build a platform from which next years nominees must better. They'll only get better if clients are prepared to plough more into the industry - not just money, but the kind of respect, reasonable deadlines and manpower that above the line agencies are rewarded.

How's the new Woolworths ad with the sheep puppets coming along Simon? Cracked it yet? - And yes St Wayne really should have won something.

Art Director/Graphic Designer????

In the good old days, an Art Director would sit with their Copywriter in their own office, feet on table, pad and Pentel Sign Pen in hand and doodle visual puns in a rectangular box vaguely depicting a billboard or a newpaper page or a TV screen. He might even (if it were a posh scamp) pull out his draw of marker pens and begin 'colouring in' or 'toning'. Once one of these creative ideas was bought by the client, he'd browse photographers/illustrators portfolios or directors reels and work with them on the type of look and atmosphere an ad should have.
This whole process would have taken well over a week or two, and that was going some.

Recently, since working in Sydney - I've been wondering what my role as an Art Director actually is. See I'm from the lot mentioned above, and I've only been in the industry for about 4 years. At various agencies, like Weiden and Kennedy there just isn't a divide between copywriter and art director, well very slim. The creative process is much more organic there, everyone can come up with the main idea, anyone can write a bit of copy or provide visuals. Agency Republic was much the same. Brainstorming sessions were a regular occurance and really helped everyone working on the brief to gel and know where the concept was coming from. We worked in groups rather than 2 person teams. Of course copy had to be written and so a copywriter (someone who had a much better grasp of language) would sit and write it. But what I found difficult joining a digital agency was my redundance. Digital budgets and timelines don't allow for photography or shoots. Everything is created 'in house' by designers. So my job had in effect been halved. Sure I'd still be very influencial in the end result of a project, but now I must become much more savvy with various software.

Talking to Russ recently about how Tequila, Sydney operates - he agreed and recalled how an above the line Art Director had recently been given a basic banner ad brief. He said that this guy found it very difficult in the same way I had when I first joined Republic. It's like concepting in 3D. Not only do you have an image and copy (2D), but also movement of that image (3D). This guy found it hard to think of animating his visual pun - let alone makeit interactive and engaging.

Art Directors in digital agencies aren't Art Directors at all. They're Graphic Designers who have begun to concept. They already have the knowledge of what you can and can't do within file size limitations, how best to create a cheap look and style, without resorting to photographers or the like. They're computer savvy, internet savvy and a little bit nerdy about what's hot in technology and it's possibilities.

At NetX there are no pads. Art Directors do everything just as quickly in illustrator or photoshop and will complete a whole project. I'm playing catch up. I like to think I have good ideas, but ideas it seems, should be just one of the strings to my bow.

DandAD Brilliantness

The Mercedes-Benz GL Banner (alright, it's just a banner) won a yellow pencil at this years D and AD awards on Thursday night. 11 names are attached to it here- count them 11! Some worked on it more than others, but big thanks to Andy Sandoz, Tim Gardiner, Gav and Gem and Ben. I will probably never be able to touch it - being the other side of the worl d n'all. It will sit in Republics foyer and gather dust. See the other winners here.

RPO Group website design

A little idea for a Recruitment Consultant called RPO Group in Sydney. All they wanted wasa space to show their credentials and past glories. Their USP was that they actually have a guy that works inside the clients offices full time so they know their ins and outs. The whole timeline idea makes sense, but you drag this little video dude back along it and make him re-visit past jobs. Didn't go live, but I didn't want it to disappear.

Political advertising from IKEA

IKEA have turned around this very quick ad. 21 May: story breaks that Howard government in Australia has spent almost $200,000 of Tax payers money on 64 Cabinet room chairs. Backbencher Don Randall even defended the move saying, "Do you really want [the PM] to go off to Ikea and get his allen key out and put together a heap of dodgy chairs for people to sit on?" So on the 23 May: Ikea publishes this ad in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Where the Hell is Matt?

Been getting ichy feet again recently and can't wait to pick my rucksack up again and get going. This great video will definately put a smile on your face and make you want to do the same.

How does your cursor work?

Really nice magnification of your cursor here. Did you know everytime you click the little men that carry your cursor bend their knees? No neither did I. Take a look.

Super Jim?

Sometimes, every now and then, from the age of about 7 - I get a really high pitched noise in one of my ears. Nobody else seems to hear it, so I think that I have a kind of 'Spidey Sense' and that this noise is warning me that someone is in trouble. I think I should follow it until it gets louder and see if I can help. But it always appears at a really inappropriate time, like in a meeting or something, so I never bother.

The Kite Runner

If you get chance, read this book. It's a great story of two boys growing up in Kabul, one sees the other get raped by another boy after a kite flying contest. He can't handle the guilt of doing nothing about it. They get split up when the Taliban rolls into town and the guilty one is rich enough to set up a new life in San Francisco as a refugee. His Dad dies and his uncle is about to die back in Afganistan so he goes back and is told that this boy was actually his step brother. But he's now dead. So is his new wife. But they have a boy who is getting raped in an orphanage by the guy who actually raped the boys dad when he was a boy. He goes on a rescue mission and gets beaten to a pulp. There you go - now you don't need to read it.

Website idea - Brickwall.com

Create an interactive brick wall. For people who are pissed off. They can either talk to it, and it responds or they can hit it or even bang their head against it.

Picture of everything

Howard Hallis' Picture of Everything aims to be just that: a picture of everything. Or, at least, a picture of every comic book character, cartoon character, merchandising icon, video game creature, superhero, monster and celebrity around. This is no slapdash production: Howard is doing the picture in stages, with each stage taking him about a year. It's also modular, so he can add characters as they come into being, or append characters he forgets.

He challenges doubters to name characters he doesn't have in his picture: if you can successfully name one, he'll be sure to add it. It's a good challenge, but I don't really want to meet the anal-retentive with the microscope crammed so far up his own ass that he'd actually try to figure it out.

Observations on Australia.

Wow 4th blog entry today. Must be fairly quiet at work. So having been in Australia for a while now, there have been a few things i've noticed about the place.

1) People stand on the left up escalators not the right.

2) Pedestrians you see while on the bus to work all carry surf boards.

3) Toilets have a choice of flushes. Half load and full load.

4) Everything has an 'O' or a 'Y' on the end of it. For example Bottleshop is 'Bottle-o' Bondi Junction is 'Jung-o'.

5) Paper towels actually dry your hands over here.

6) Pavements have a snow plough style scoop when you come to cross the road.

7) Adverts are shown after anything exciting happens on the sports pitch. Makes watching an AFL match on telly very frustrating.

8) Brands are pretty much the same as back home, except Walls icecream is called Streets????

9) Money is rounded up or down as 5 cent piece is the smallest coin.

10) The sky is a very distinctive blue. I don't think it's on the CMYK scale. But doesn't last long. Day turns to night very quickly.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

So apparently we're now well into Web2.0 This is trendy term coined by geeks and represents the second wave of online interaction. Essentially it means not only do people use the net to find stuff, but now they use it to express themselves and participate. They have an active role in it. Watch this video then can we all shut up about it?

Hammers stay up

This man is brilliant. He's the only reason we've managed to stay up after a nail biting end to the season. Also the cause of controversy but we'll not go into that. Thankyou Carlos Tevez. Amazingly we ended up finishing 15th in the league above Fulham of all teams and a win over Man Utd (Granted they had their C team playing)

Onwards and upwards eh?

Google Mapshups

Mum, Dad. If ever there was a reason to sell up and leave the cosy village of Tydd St Mary in the Fens this is it. A google maps mash up allows you to raise the sea level to sea how much of a particular country will disappear under water. According to this the family house will be gone with just a 1m rise.

Check out a few others.
NewsMap click on a particular place to see news from the area.

Mappyhour allows you to find all the bars anywhere in the world.

Or Safe2pee allows you to find a gender-neutral toilet anywhere in the world, should you be caught short. Correct me if I'm wrong but generally, if you're on the internet you'd be in or near somewhere with a toilet.