Archive for March 2007

A real classic from the UK.

Penguin, the book company that was first set up to provide ‘intelligent books at a low price’ have gone green. Rather they are trying to be greener. They say:

“Only 2% of the world’s paper is turned into books, and while we’re proud of all our books here at Penguin, we are mindful that trees have to become paper, some of which will eventually become books.

“So we’d like to tell you what we at Penguin are doing to reduce our effects on the environment. As a well-known frog once said, it’s not easy being green. But at Penguin we are doing our very best.”

So what exactly does that mean? Penguin will now print all monochrome books on FSC paper and they have planted their very own Penguin Wood near Botany Bay.

via Innocent.

More W+K… They’ve been working on the first Space.NK store to hit the USA. On Greene St, New York (where else) the shop window has been evolving:

First:

Then:

London based ad agency Mother have offered budding creatives the opportunity to work there. To filter the wheat from the chaff they have asked prospective creative teams to create a short film, upload it to YouTube and then the film with the most views will win the creative team a placement. Here’s our favourite:

The rest are here.

We were at last night’s industry prizefight in which two heavyweights of the plannersphere sparred without either managing a knockout blow.

The debate, sparked by this now infamous post, raged over the motion that blogging was killing planning. In the ‘yes’ corner was Grey London’s John Lowery, wearing what can only be described as an outrageous jacket. In the ‘no’ corner was John Grant, founder of St Luke’s and wearing his qual research shirt with ‘Yes, No, Maybe’ plastered over it.

John Lowery kicked off the debate with a well put together speech. The central tenet of his argument being that whilst planning blogs spewed out ideas and idle pontification they lacked the intellectual and statistical rigor that the discipline requires. He also argued that many planners, particularly the more junior were likely to fall into the trap of introspection.

John Grant’s argument wasn’t a direct answer to Lowery’s, Instead he argued that there was no way of measuring the effect of such a new medium on the discipline of planning. Grant also pointed out that the ‘advertising’ industry was doing itself no favours by attacking a medium that threatened it very own existence.

Once the opening salvos had passed the debate moved into a more ideological territory which harked back to the dawn of planning; on the one side those who believed that numbers were the key to good planning, whilst the other argued that great creative ideas could be honed for target audiences in focus groups. Whilst Lowery represented inspiration coming from solid data, Grant argued that clients needed something to push them beyond this: ideas that took their brand further.

For a far more comprehensive overview of the debate you can read the official notes, alongside the results.

Selling butter probably isn’t the most glamorous brief in advertising. However, after a prolonged pitching process last year W+K London have finally created their first full campaign for UK butter brand Lurpak. The results are surprisingly good. Not that we don’t expect great things from W+K but butter a slippery product to sell.

Here are the results so you can judge for yourself:

TV:

Press:

More here.

PopUp stores are simply not enough to create excitement, David Pollinchock suggests in a review of the Teletubbies store on Bleeker Street in New York. He says:

And I’ve thought that creating an experience for Teletubbies and aiming it at older folks just didn’t seem to be right. Kids love them, so why not creating a really engaging experience for toddlers and let the parents be there for their kids. I’ve done children’s theatre for years and I know you can create content for the kids that the adults will enjoy as well.

But this space didn’t seem to really look appealing for either audience. It didn’t seem to be a cool place for kids to play. I didn’t really see any activities for kids at all.

Experience Manifesto: Teletubbies in NY

Pink tentacle points us to a Japanese website that highlights a little craze created by a Mr. Nakajima. Nakajima started “Turban Noguchi,” a popular origami made using a 1000-yen bill. Fresh ways of thinking about old things.

Pink Tentacle
ターバン野口の世界

A new free service called xipto is paying taste-makers and influencers to endorse specific products and services to their circle of friends by leaving a pre-recorded message on their mobile phone. Each time someone calls, the caller hears “this clip was endorsed by the person you are calling,” the message plays, and the endorsers receives payment. The cool thing here is that each user gets to select exactly what they want to endorse by managing their own playlist of brands/campaigns they support. Users have the option of running a single message or having a rotating list.

mocoNews writes:

Most of the deals in place for the launch are from agencies and local brands, but Xipto also supports peer-to-peer messages, so anyone can produce a message, post it into the marketplace with a small budget and get their friends to endorse the message. “This means that Xipto is great for local businesses, and even individuals (a local band, for instance) who want to leverage a small fan base,” said Nick Arauz, Founder and Managing Director of Xipto

adding that sponsors can set their own rate and budget.

mocoNews: Endorsing Mobile Ads Via Ringback Tones



xipto