A very nice letter from a very nice man.

I save letters. They nestle at the back of my wardrobe in a 1971 Dunlop Greenflash shoe box. 

I have letters from my mum that she wrote to me when I was away camping with the Leicester  25th Scout group. There are a few notes in SWALK envelopes from ex girlfriends. (Don't tell the wife.) There's even a short note from Barry Manilow somewhere.

In my 28 years at Watford I kept only two letters, both from Creative Directors. One was from Trevor Beattie offering me and my students the world. The other was from Peter Souter saying his agency would rather help out another college. (These letters I fear were lost in the  College Great Paper Cull of 2010.)

Nowadays, letter writing is dead. Emails are merely word bites which make Bukowski's Post Office seem loquacious.

Today, I received an unsolicited letter from a Creative Director I've never met before. 

An out-of-the-blue-never-saw-it-coming bunch of words that hit your soul with a warm mushy fist of human kindness.

Although the letter was in email format it would have equally looked at home if it was written on parchment paper with a quill.

This is another letter for my shoe box.

Tony, I felt it was high time I said hi.

My name is Richard Russell and I’ve just joined WCRS as CD on their Government business.

As it happens, I sit next to – and have just worked with – the gruffly delightful Johnny Ruthven and Ben Brazier, who also say hi. (Brilliant team – what a good job you did with them.)

For years, I have been meaning to get in touch and offer any assistance, if wanted. I am a huge admirer of what you do at Watford, Tony, and firmly believe that under your inspirational and human leadership it remains the pre-eminent course for aspiring Creatives. But these days, of course, any old Tom and Dick University or College think they can do the same job as you, and I hear that times are much tougher for Watford.

If you’d like a hand, I’d be happy to help. As unoriginal as it sounds, I guess I’m thinking about maybe coming to talk to your students, showing them a few choice, eye-opening things, and setting a brief of some kind. There may be other ways to assist you in promoting the course, but perhaps a visit is the best place to start. I’d relish the chance to speak to your class and get them fired up about the extraordinary things they can make happen as a Creative, and how best to go about it. While the industry is having an identity crisis at the moment, fiercely original problem-solving will never go out of fashion. Indeed, it’s more important than ever that the new generation of creative talent fly the flag for irresistible thinking and claim our place back at the top table.

I hope this finds you well, Tony. It would be a pleasure to meet you and perhaps we can make that happen sometime soon.

Richard

Apple to launch world's first vegetarian phone.

It's long been known that animal fats are used in the manufacture of mobile phones. The lining of cow's intestines is used to insulate the circuit board which improves  the connectivity of the electrical impulses.

In fact, Apple have used cow guts to pre-coat their wiring and to improve insulation since 1994.

However, due to recent pressure from animal rights groups in the US,  Apple have decided  to launch the first vegetarian phone. 

The Vphone8.

Apple technologists at Palo Alto, California have successfully
found a substitute for cow's innards. The humble potato. 

You may recall a primary school experiment where a potato was used as a battery cell to charge a small bulb. 

In Apple's labs the potato proved to be far better than animal fat at transmitting electrical impulses.

Vegetarian groups are delighted by Apple's new socially conscious direction. 

The company will eventually roll out vegetarian lap tops and Ipads by 2020. 

Under new legislation the mobile phone industry is to adopt ingredient labeling similar to the food industry.

Samsung for example, have 0.004% animal products in all their Nexus range.

The Vphone8 will be launched on 21/11//2017 in all Apple stores and in the vegetable section (next to the carrots) of all major supermarkets.

A limited edition Vphone 8, with potato peel casing designed by the Japanese artist Olaf Pirlo, can be seen here for the first time on Youtuber.

https://youtu.be/h2o5p59zzvY

PAPER FIRES THE BRAIN

Screen culture is damaging creativity.

Increasingly, I see young creatives reach for their laptops whenever they have a problem to solve.

Hey, there are no new ideas on a screen.

You'll only find ideas that already exist.

And you don't want those.

Do you?

The computer is a big cluttered cupboard, a super-fast postman and a very clever professor.

It's not a creative tool.

Not when your task is to come up with new ideas.

The brain only truly ignites when the hand has a pen and it hovers over a huge pile of lovely white paper.

Screens encourage laziness.

Creatives simply do not bring the same mental effort to screens as they do when working with paper.

Studies from around the world show that people working with screens are far more casual than those working with paper.

Paper demands more mental energy and commitment.

In 2005, San Jose University found that students using screens spent more time trying to take shortcuts than those working with paper.

Their time was spent browsing, scanning and hunting for key words.

The students using paper spent more time thinking.

Their brains were more active in seeking out the problem.

Screens tire us.

They emit light which drains our energy, irritates our eyes and makes us feel tired.

Paper does the exact opposite.

It reflects natural light.

It has texture, weight and beauty.

Paper is sensory.

The physical aspects of writing and drawing on paper are simultaneously linked with our cognitive processes.

Our mind and body are interlinked.

Studies by Professor Anne Mangen at Stavanger University, Norway show that our brains don't work like computers.

We don't sense things and process the sensory perceptions afterwards.

Mangan proved that sense and process are one.

And the best way of  harnessing this is via the medium of paper.

There is a close connection between what we sense and do with our bodies and what we understand.

Paper is classical and speaks to us in a mental language we comprehend.

It has been the creative launch pad for centuries inspiring Da Vinci, Steve Jobs and David Bowie along the way.

Jean Luc-Velay, a French neuro-physiologist, has produced studies that show that writing and drawing by hand stimulates different electrical impulses in the brain.

These brain impulses are dormant when we work with screens.


Which explains why the smarter institutes of learning are bringing paper back in to the classroom.

Paper reveals your very own emotional mind map. 

It shows you the wide roads of unhindered thoughts, the side streets where you can stop to gaze at the mental architecture, the cul-de-sacs of curious concepts and the random roundabouts that make you giddy. 

Paper gets you to your destination: the big idea.

And it allows you to understand your creative journey more fully.

The next time you have a brief, shut down your laptop and grab a layout pad and a marker.

You'll get more ideas.

You'll get more interesting ideas.

And it will be more fun.

And if someone tells you you are wasting too much paper tell them they shouldn't work for an advertising agency.

They should work for The Forestry Commission.


This piece was written on a big sheet of paper before it was typed.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CLASS OF 2016?

Six months ago I kicked out 15 talented young creatives from my
course. 

They didn't want to leave.

They wanted to stay another year and look after the college cat.

The fact that we didn't have a college cat was a sign they definitely needed to get out in to the real world.

I asked the teams to do two things.

One: get in the business.
Two. make it better.

They have done the first part.

Now for the fun bit.

George Robb at RKCR/Y&R.

Bryn Jones-Walters and Olivia Adda have already won an award whilst working at Mother. They are now gainfully employed by Crispin Porter.

Chaz and Lucy, the cheeky girls, were hired by AMV after joining straight from Watford.

Charlie and Max cracking out the campaigns for Grey. Nice flowers.

Sarah and Jules (in the black coats) are gainfully employed by The BBC. 

Connor and Charlie were hired at Karmarama after a spell at Y&R.

Tom and Dave fought their way to a job at VCCP.

 Dan Scott, currently at Duke. With JWT and Isobel lined up.


Mel Mcginnis was last seen working at Engine.

Well done to everyone from me.

And the college cat says, 'meow' by the way.

YOUR FOLIO IS YOU.

We live in difficult times.  

Bankrupt economies, sluggish growth, Brexit and the continuing wars in Afghanistan, Libya and Syria have cast uncertainty over many businesses.

Clients don't like spending money in the best of times.

They all want advertising for nothing.

Or they don't want advertising.

In 'adland' the fatted calf is being slowly starved. 

Its rib cage is prominent.

Tech companies, content agencies and start-ups are doing well but the traditional above-the-line agencies are struggling.

Some have a hiring freeze right now.

Very few agencies take on junior teams with the frequency they used to. 

So, if you are looking for an easy time in the next couple of years you are looking at the wrong business.

This doesn't mean that there aren't jobs out there. 

There are. 

It's just a different kind of person that's getting them.

You need the right folio. 

When I say the right folio, I mean the one that's right for you. 

And the one that's right for the agency you want to work for.

The folio that shows off your individual taste.

The folio that shows you can solve difficult problems with a fresh solution. 

A solution no other creative team could have come up with.

The folio that shows that you understand the issues of the day.

The folio that demonstrates how you can improve an individual’s life.

The folio with big ideas executed across different media platforms.

The folio that shows craft skills, writing ability, art direction, design, software and social skills.

The folio with films you've shot on your phone at the weekend.

The folio with ads, games, business ideas.

The folio with a surprise on every page.

The folio that shows you are passionate about culture, creativity and humanity.

The folio that says, 'You've got to meet me.'

A good folio will contain 8 campaigns. 5 minimum.

People would rather see less work but of a higher standard. 

Don't put anything that you're not proud of just to make up a campaign. 

If you don't believe in it, why should anyone else?

Put the best campaigns at the front and at the back of your folio. 

Your folio should be balanced and varied. 

And every campaign and execution should be poster simple regardless of the media. 

You need a wide range of products and services with different tones of voice and different audiences throughout.

Be different.

Pick products that everyone else is doing and do them differently.

Pick products that no one else is doing.

If your idea is familiar, forget it. 

There is no point in going all the way to London to be told, 'It's been done before'.

Know your history and better it.

Ads are an intrusion.

  

Why should people stop and look at your ad? 

Unless your ads are interesting or emotional don't put them in your book. 

Work on them.

Or come up with some new strategies.

Work with emotional truths, in particular work with the emotion of your target audience.

You need to find a BENEFIT.  

A target audience is one person, so get your executions talking to that person. 

And talk to them in the way they talk.

Tone of voice is critical.

You don't want to sound like an ad.

You want to sound like a mate.

Reward your audience. 

Enlighten them, engage them, provoke them, tease them, flatter them, surprise them, bring tears to their eyes, make them laugh. 

Answer the punter's question, 'What's in it for me?' 

They want to be rewarded with fun, insight and something that is interesting. 

They want to be involved in your idea.

And if they can't be involved they want to share and talk about the idea.

If you cannot reward your consumer you need to get back to the drawing board.

Steer clear of long copy. 

A crisp headline. shows you can write.

So can a well written strap line.  

The art of writing is saying a lot with little. 

You can say a lot in 6 words.

Don't be worthy . 

And don't be dull. 

Your folio is you. 

It is your thinking. 

And it is your personality.

If you are a hard working, insightful and unique thinker it will show in your folio.

Creative directors will only hire you to make them look good.

Dogs smell shit. And Creative Directors smell dull.

If you can't imagine doing anything but working in advertising you'll get a job.

It might not be the day you leave college.

It might not even be the year you leave college.

But if you stick with it, work hard and believe in yourself you will get a job in advertising.

The hardest workers and the nicest people always get the jobs. 

Eventually.

CREATIVITY IS A BRILLIANT DISGUISE.

Someone once said the art of creativity is 'disguised stealing'.
We all do it. I once wrote a TV ad for Sure deodorant which ripped off a scene from Indiana Jones. I used the scene where Indy fell through the top of a pyramid in to a pit of angry snakes. I even used the same snakes from the film. A rather obvious-shamefully-lazy can't-be-arsed- rip-off on my behalf.


The art of disguised stealing is to use, or appropriate, an idea that hasn't been seen by the brand's audience. 

I have decided to rate some advertising ideas on how well they are disguised. 

Disguise Rating: Out of 5.

1. A Royal Guardsman in full military uniform on a nudist beach.
2  A big toe toe nail in a small meat pie.       
3  Groucho Marx mask made with real skin.
4  A bearded tit a hundred feet in the air with a flock of coal tits.
5  Harry Potter's Invisibility cloak worn by the Invisible Man.


 Volvo. Live paint.

Originally used to paint deer antlers in Finland to cut down on road deaths. Widely reported on BBC news networks and the national press in early 2014. Later appropriated for Volvo and cyclists.

Disguise rating: 2.  A big toe toe nail in a small meat pie.  


















Guardian newspaper and mock law trials.





You don't have to take too many clicks before you find films of theatre groups, schools and university law students running through mock trials of nursery rhyme characters. The trial of Goldilocks is a favourite at UCLA.


The idea for the 2014 award winning Guardian ad was woefully transparent. However, the execution added value and the writing craft and production took the idea to a new level.

Disguise Rating: 3. Groucho Marx mask made with real skin.                                                                                                                                         

Toshiba and Simon Faithfull's video art.
                                                                               

The video artist Simon Faithfull's Escape installations came from a very personal feeling that he was 'tethered to a mundane realm.' His piece, Gravity Sucks, opened at the BFI in 2009. I doubt very much the audience for Toshiba had seen this. They were tethered to their own armchairs watching Grey's Space Chair ad on their Toshiba televisons.

Disguise Rating: 5.  Harry Potter's Invisibility cloak worn by the Invisible Man.



Honda and Fischli and Weiss.


In 1986 artists Fischli and Weiss rented a huge empty warehouse and created an art film called The Way Things Go.  The film showed 'everyday' objects colliding to create a fluid moving narrative.

In 2003 Fischli and Weiss threatened legal action against Honda for copying 

their film for the Wieden and Kennedy produced ad called Cog.

Fischli and Weiss had refused several requests to use the film for commercial purposes,

Wieden and Kennedy eventually admitted to copying a
sequence of weighted tyres rolling uphill.

The controversy was blamed for denying Cog a Grand Prix at Cannes.

Disguise Rating:  4.  A bearded tit a hundred feet in the air with a flock of coal tits.





David Letterman throwing coloured balls down a street and Sony Bravia televisions.

In 1996, David Letteman released thousands of coloured balls down a steep street in San Francisco. 
In 2005, Sony did the same thing to promote the quality of their colour televisions. 

When you take an idea from one of the most popular television shows to advertise a popular television shame has all but disappeared.

Letterman also released thousands of melons down the same street which curiously wasn't ripped off by a sports bra brand.

Disguise rating: 1. A Royal Guardsman in full military uniform on a nudist beach.

John Lewis and Youtube foxes.

Videos of foxes bouncing on trampolines
have been appearing on Youtube 
for over ten years now. I suspect the only fox films John Lewis shoppers watch is Basil Brush with their kids.

Disguise rating: 5.  Harry Potter's Invisibility cloak worn by the Invisible Man. 

This blog post. 

Disguise rating: -1. A coal tit pretending to be a toe nail on a nudist beach of bearded tits in Groucho Marx masks made of real skin.