The Farm Second Edition - Karavan Gitane

Young talent on it's way...
— The Farm Second Edition

IKEA advertising tribute

Please do comment or tweet me more IKEA advertising brilliance if you have some kick-ass ads that are not included in this tribute.

Note to self

Create momentum
Remain dissatisfied
Break the rules
Be nice to people
Kick ass

Idea hill - May the fun be with you

Guillaume:
"So you have an idea... You are going to be a star. You're idea will amaze the world. You explain it to the ones who have to buy the idea. They say it is brilliant But maybe a bit too extreme? They say they are not creative but they have a few suggestions to help your idea live. They give you constructive criticism. To make your idea more acceptable to a broader audience, they say. With a few compromises, you get your idea done.

Here's what you should do:
Leave the first idea and find another one. A bigger one. Bigger again. And again. Until they are tired and want to go home. Two possibilities: they buy the new idea, or, they go back to your first idea, saying; "hey, it wasn't that bad was it?".They'll let you do it without compromise.

Your idea will be a success. They will be a success. They'll love you forever."

May the fun be with you — Duval Guillaume

Hearts Creatives, a digital short by Yahoo!

Funny because it's too stereotypical. Funny because it's true. In a way.

Yahoo!: "As an agency creative, have you ever felt like this? We. Feel. Your. Pain. Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/yahooadvertising Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/yahooadbuzz "

Good old viral: Danish mother looking for tourists.

Well, can't resist ... we all know the story by now but since I just heard that the rave of this viral has actually caused some people losing their jobs I found it worth posting. And I've finally found a version that's live again. Thank you Adland.tv

The video of a Danish woman begging for help to find the father of her baby is a marketing hoax concocted by the Danish government.

The video, which had received over 800,000 hits on YouTube in five days (14 sept 2009), features a young mother with a baby in her arms appealing for the father to come forward.

The woman claims the baby was the product of a drunken one-night stand.

Here goes the story:
If you’re a man who took a vacation to Copenhagen last year (early 2008), and if you’re also a man who met a women at the Custom House bar, and if that woman also took you back to her apartment shortly after you met, then you might want to sit up and pay attention to this.

Karen, 27, says that she had a one night stand 18 months ago that resulted in pregnancy. She’s now mom to baby August, and she’s turned to YouTube to help track down his dad, a vacationing foreigner whose name and home country she can’t remember.

Since the video was revealed as a hoax, YouTube has been deluged with angry comments from viewers, saying it demeans the plight of single mothers, and cheapens the reputation of Danish women.

Smart had one good idea and that was stupid.

The new DIESEL is Stupid!
Be Stupid: Recruitement > Are you stupid? Well, we can help you promote your stupidity.



Created by Anomaly (who recently picked up the Sony account from Fallon), the campaign certainly takes a more bombastic approach than previous Diesel campaigns, which have been more noteworthy for their style than their taglines. But while it may be eyecatching, when we're all fed a regular diet of genuine stupidity via the media and TV most days already, will the 'Be Stupid' tag just prove grating? Or is everyone in fact longing to out themselves as stupid to Diesel?

Campaign by Anomaly: "Heaven is a playground".

via CR

Hold my hand oh mama

TMF Travel is Belgiums favourite party travel organiser for teenagers between 16 and 25. And when you’re having a clubbing holiday, it’s quite obvious that you’ll soon learn to leave your mama behind.

Best take of Mad Men first season

The embedded movie (above) is quite annoying if you want to watch the best few minutes of the first season of Mad Men. But I found the way Rachels English uses it to help improve your American English accent. They've put up a fully dedicated website with listen/repeat exercises, it's called the American English Pronunciation Guide.

Unfortunately the original video cannot be embedded due to a content claim by AMC. You can watch the uncut version on YouTube. In this scene Don pitches a campaign to Kodak for their new slide projector. It's a thrilling scene, certainly for those who ever had the experience of pitching a new campaign idea to win a new account.

North Kingdom Showreel 2009

North Kingdom Showreel 2009 from Designchapel on Vimeo.

Almost unbeatable. If not, unbeatable. Anyway, unseen, so far. North Kingdom.

via Fontanel

Expedition 147: Advertising 11000 meters below sea level.

Expedition 147: Alfa Romeo advertises on lowest point on earth.

Using the codename 'Expedition 147' - Alfa Romeo dives to the lowest point on earth - 11000 meters below sea level - to promote the lowest price ever to be advertised for an Alfa Romeo.



To amplify the campaign message, Alfa litteraly went deep, really deep. To the lowest point on earth. During an extraordinary expedition a team of expert divers and fishers loaded a 2m" billboard into the almost 11 kilometer deep Mariana Trench near the Island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. A stunt that would really underline the lowest price at the lowest point on earth. The team made a documentary of their adventure. The film is posted on YouTube.

Low, lower, lowest.

Alfa Romeo Belgium explains how the expedition got through: "a while ago we decided to put up a campaign for the 147-model. We wanted to re-introduce the car at the annual carfair in Brussels. The car would be advertised at the lowest price possible. Duval Guillaume answered our brief with an extra-ordinary brand momentum idea."

Geoffrey Hantson : "Price-communication for a car-brand. Not really your most exciting creative brief. Not to mention the fact that consumers get slapped with price offers endlesly. We knew we had to break through the masses and juice the orange and use creative leverage to get the message across. So, we focussed on 'the lowest' and started thinking from that point. We partnered with mediacompany ClearChannel and figured it would be possible to lower a 2m" billboard to the bottom of the ocean. To the lowest point on earth. Almost 11 kilometers below sea level!" — it worked.

The result is a huge expedition recorded documentary style. A team of experts - including marine scientists, engineers, marketeers, directors and creatives - got on board of a fishing boat on to the spot where no bottom of oceans would reach that deep. The 11 kilometer deep Mariana Trench near the Island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. Armed with lots of equipment - GPS, radar, computers and a heavy fishing crane used for sharkfishing - the team made the difficult drop...

Watch the complete expedition on www.expedition147.be.

Sweden's most viewed YouTube advertising clip of all time.

With nearly one million views on YouTube, 31 individual Facebook groups, 79,000 Google hits, attention from nearly all of the big Swedish media (and a group of foreign press, too) as well as a storm of thousands of comments on many different blogs and forums, one thing can't be denied: seldom has a Swedish advertising clip succeeded in getting this much buzz. Or stirred up so many different feelings. Some think it's horrible, while just as big a group is captivated by the ad and really appreciates it.

Happily, it appears that the campaign has really achieved results – sales have more than doubled, while in June alone, sales managed to triple. Thus Apoliva has risen right to the top of specific categories to become a new market leader.

This is viral - 100 greatest internet videos in 3 minutes

via crossthebreeze

Show us where you work - inside the advertising agency

CR is devoting the whole of the November issue of CR to looking at the creative workplace and on life in the studio or agency...


# this image was floating on thin air somewhere on our servers, I don't know who's magnificent shot it was. The owner can claim this image in the comment section.

CR wants to find out about where you work, what your studio or creative workplace is like, even what the view outside your window is. So if you're a designer in a studio, or you work in an agency, if you're a creative working on your own, we want to see what your space looks like.

I work at Duval Guillaume, but you knew that of course. Duval Guillaume is based in an old factory. The building was completely renewed by Jo Crepain, a respected Belgian architect who unfortunately passed away in december (2008).


# this image was floating on thin air somewhere on our servers, I don't know who's magnificent shot it was. The owner can claim this image in the comment section.

The postal adress of the agency is Antwerpselaan 40, B-1000 Brussels most people enter the building via the front porch on that adres. But that entry is actually the backdoor. Jo integrated the large manor house on the back of the factory when the factory got re-opened. Because the old large manor house houses the reception desk, visitors get a warm welcome. A cosy but chique Jori treats waiting visitors well.

When visitors actually enter the working ground of the agency going passed the receptiondesk they are confronted with the enormous majesty of open space. Most people intuitively look up to see the grandeur of a huge glass bricks roof symbolising the importance of a Team. The roof would collapse if ever 1 brick would break.

@Pietel has a very nice set of the DuvalGuillaume atmosphere

The ugliest buidling in Belgium is going down down down down!

Nominate the ugliest building in Belgium on www.hetlelijkstegebouw.be.



There's an abundance of awardshows for beautiful new buildings and modern architecture. Tomorrow Belgian architects celebrate the Day of Architecture and to honour that Jan Stallaert will professionally tear down Belgium's ugliest building.

The ugliest country of the world
40 years ago Renaat Braem described Belgium as 'a stitched plaid of madness' in his manifesto "the ugliest country of the world" and called the Belgian Order of Architects to join a movement against "the proliferation of architectural dullness"

From october 10 till november 6, 2009 every Belgian can submit a picture of a building he or she would like to tear down.

Ugly buildings make a large portion of the Belgian population truly unhappy.
According to philosopher Alain de Botton one of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kind of walls, chairs, buildings and streets we’re surrounded by. Alain de Botton wrote a book: The architecture of happiness.

Tear down to start again! May the ugliest brick win!

Belgium's ad shops show world-class potential

A major haul of Cannes Lion awards reflects the growing international respect for Belgium's ad agencies.
By Mark Tungate. 2 October 2009 — Campaign



Many Belgian advertising professionals remember a night just over a decade ago when they stood around at a Cannes beach party asking themselves: 'How the hell do we win a Lion?'

'In those days, we used to celebrate just because a few Belgian ads had made it on to the shortlist,' one of them recalls.

Those days' are apparently over. At this year's Cannes festival, Belgian agencies scooped no less than 28 Lions, 11 of them gold. The haul made Belgium the biggest European winner after the UK. And what's more, the biggest prizes went to nimble, quirky little agencies with names such as Boondoggle and Happiness.

So what's behind this new wave of Belgian creativity? You only have to dig a little to unearth one source: Duval Guillaume.

With few exceptions, the founders of the agencies that are winning prizes have either passed through or been inspired by this pioneering Belgian shop.

'Duval Guillaume was the agency that showed us we could do things differently,' Stef Selfslagh, the creative director of Boondoggle, says 'We were stuck in a typically Belgian mindset of self-deprecation. We either tried to imitate work being done in other markets, or just complained that we couldn't be creative because we didn't have the budget.'

Guillaume Van der Stighelen, who founded his agency in 1996 with Andre Duval, confirms that the pair set out to change the game. 'We were in a perfect position to be creative, because we had no choice. We were a small agency, in a tiny market, working in three languages, with no money. And we were tired of people complaining about the lack of budget and the conservative Belgian approach.'

In fact, Van der Stighelen felt that Belgians had an aptitude for creativity on a shoestring. 'We're famous for making comicbooks. What are they if not Hollywood on a budget?'

He was also inspired by Belgium's fashion industry. Designers such as Martin Margiela and Dries van Noten had emerged from Antwerp to take the fashion world by storm. 'They proved that Belgians could not only be creative, but could shake up an entire industry.'

Joeri Van den Broeck, a creative director at the Belgian agency Famous (who was on the Film jury at Cannes) confirms that the success of Duval Guillaume encouraged a new school of thinking. But he identifies what he thinks is another important factor.

'Partly because of a lack of budget, Belgian creatives very rapidly embraced the possibilities of the internet. Combined with a simple, humorous approach, that has suddenly put our kind of advertising at the forefront of the industry. It parallels the way the business is going.'

Selfslagh agrees. 'It's no surprise we've come into our own in the middle of a recession, because we've always had to work in tough circumstances.'

This has frequently meant turning to cheaper, non-traditional media, he says. 'If you analyse our wins in Cannes, they're largely in areas growing in importance, such as digital and direct. Boondoggle started out as a digital agency before it decided to embrace all media platforms, because now they're merging.'

Boondoggle's media gold Lion, for best use of media, went to the 'banner concert' for Axion youth banking. The agency built a box the same shape as a banner ad and recorded budding rock bands playing live in the cramped space. The banner-shaped videos were placed on popular sites. Visitors who watched the performances could click through to see other concerts. They could then vote for their favourite band. The campaign connected the bank with youth and gave a bunch of young musicians a boost.

'It was a simple, amusing idea that had a slightly surrealistic feel to it,' Selfslagh says. 'In other words, it was very Belgian.'

Another small agency, the 30-strong Happiness, founded four years ago, won two media golds with its 'car dance party' for Toyota's Aygo Music runabout. The campaign featured two Russian 'car dancers' called Boris and Uri, who showed viewers how to dance in their cars via TV, viral, banners and posters. Consumers were invited to post their own 'car dance' videos on YouTube. The best competitors would be invited to an outdoor event where they stood a chance of winning the car.

The campaign saw 2,900 videos posted in the first month. The clips attracted 793,000 unique views in total. 'Car dance party' became a summer hit with its audience and Toyota reached its sales target.

Karen Corrigan, the Happiness chief executive, says there's no great secret to Belgium's recent success. 'It's an understanding of media, a no-nonsense approach and the ability to surprise people. To a certain extent, we're not making advertising. We're not into storytelling. I don't think you need a narrative - you just have to give people a good moment.'

Corrigan adds that Happiness is a great believer in user-generated content. 'Everyone is media these days, so you have to find ways of connecting with people.'

She employs in-house trendspotters to monitor popular culture on- and offline in search of inspiration. 'It's no use waiting for other people to tell you what's going on. You need to catch trends early and get involved in them. I'm always looking for people who have that kind of vision.'

Happiness has developed other smart ways of working, too. As well as the Belgian agency, it has established a small production company called Bliss Interactive in Vietnam. 'Bliss is one step further than Happiness,' Corrigan jokes. But the move gives her access to seriously talented - and economical - producers of content.

Given its position at the centre of Europe, Belgium suffers from a surprising lack of international clients. But could it be about to have an Amsterdam moment?

'It certainly deserves one,' Van der Stighelen says. 'Belgium used to be known for making the most boring advertising in Europe, but that's certainly no longer the case. And it's quite possible that these awards will attract creative talent from other markets, giving Belgian an even more international feel.'

He adds that clients should not assume Belgian agencies are now biased towards digital. 'If we think a client would get better results through a radio or a newspaper ad, we will help them. But the point is that we're not locked into any one solution.'

Corrigan believes that the recession could give Belgium a valuable window of opportunity. 'Tell them all to come here,' she says, referring to clients. 'We can do it faster, cheaper and better.'

Hire the younger, and better

"We hire from a generation of people, younger than me, who understand the way the world is currently configured and want to be the first people to create an app or redesign something rather than just get a 30-second film out of the building shot by the latest director."
— Laurence Green, Fallon London

10 rules of advertising engagement

• If it doesn't sell, it's not creative.

• Media should be planned in order to benefit the impact of the idea, and not because of the profit or fee it generates to the agency booking the media (they'll benefit in the long run).

• Ideas were and will always be the core of good advertising. BUt it mustn't be forgotten that execution is as important.

• Advertising is all about creating good content. If that content is really good, a conversation will emerge. If conversations continue, they grow a community. Communities tend to grow their own content collaborating with the existing ideas and message thus creating new content that can be enhanced by new Big Ideas. Generating more sales in the end.

• Blow the line: Big Ideas come from above. Below makes those ideas really work.

• Sell products not advertising. Be business minded and never create for the sake of creation.

• Will online replace others soon? Never. Online will amplify advertising to become attractive, and effective, again. It is the very core of the future, the backbone of all communication and thus the most important traffic driver to the product or service advertised. Online pushes advertising to fuse with editorial, which is a good thing. Advertising was nothing but editorial back in the days (1875 > 1950's)

• Focus more on the importance of customer services. Because a better service helps create a better product. Customer services will not only tighten the relationship between brands and their customers but will allow agencies to grow closer to the customers.

• Ideas are, and will always be, what differentiates the agencies from what customers do for brands. The power of what keeps agencies alive are those Big Ideas.
Sure, a good product tends to sell itself but the true profit for the manufactures really comes from advertising their products, of course. Yes, I believe in advertising. Advertising is giving information. Products still need to be explained and clarified, their strenghts communicated to it’s possible buyers. A message needs to be send telling why it is a good product.

• To me advertising is a story that sticks.

RKCR/Y&R Opens Doors For Local Businesses

RKCR/Y&R, recently opened up her doors for local businesses in London borough of Camden.



Possibly the first high street ad agency in the world. RKCR/Y&R opened their doors this week at number 22 Chalk Farm Road with the aim of bringing marketing and communications advice to the shop keepers and stall owners of Camden Town.

Damon Collins (Executive Creative Director) explains: “Getting as many local business from Camden Town into this local shop. We’re gonna sit down with them, pick their brains and work out exactly what their business issues are, and then get teams together - strategists, creatives - and actually create work, in whatever media appropiate, to actually solve those problems.”

Matt Steward, New Business Director, explains: “We’re a couple of years into the recession and the high street has been suffering, it’s a really good time for us to get out there, understand what the pulse is in terms of money running through high street and the ability to chat to these guys and see how they are suffering and where they are suffering, and you know, marketing is a great solution to buck that trend. So, we can actually work with them and work on a solution to get some cracking communication to get some extra people in.”

The agency, which normally works with clients such as Marks & Spencer, Virgin, Bacardi and Oxfam, is now giving advice to tattoists and pub owners. Teams of planners and creatives spent day one talking to four business owners in Camden Town about their needs.The RKCR creative teams will then set about creating marketing campaigns for their new clients. On Friday, all the work is set to be displayed at an exhibition at the shop.

RKCR/Y&R new business director Matt Steward is blogging each day from the shop: RKCR/Y&R Local blog

I personally believe this is a great initiative, having main street shops being able to make use of services of a big agency. I am fully aware marketing budgets from big companies are huge, but I believe Small & Medium sized Enterprises (SME) or Small Office /Home Office (SOHO) combined have a considerable marketing budget to spend as well. RKCR/Y&R may have very insightful week and I hope they will do this more often and other shops will follow suit.

“He who can not keep a penny shall never have many.“

Source: ViralBlog

Art & Copy - a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration

Art & Copy is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray (SURFWISE, SCRATCH, HYPE!), it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time -- people who've profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising's "creative revolution" of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation: George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney and others featured in ART & COPY were responsible for "Just Do It," "I Love NY," "Where's the Beef?," "Got Milk," "Think Different," and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents. They managed to grab the attention of millions and truly move them. Visually interwoven with their stories, TV satellites are launched, billboards are erected, and the social and cultural impact of their ads are brought to light in this dynamic exploration of art, commerce, and human emotion.

via CPLUV