Mike & Phil

Oops...

2010-03-08T13:01:00.001Z

OOPS! IT APPEARS
NOBODY'S IN. YOU
CAN CONTINUE THE
STORY HERE //

Baby steps...

2010-03-02T20:30:00.000Z

Hello! Glad you're still reading, for some reason the stats have been higher than usual... weird - But thanks all the same...

Anyone else slightly perplexed by this...

So... I've basically been spending my time seeing what's out there, meeting some very interesting people. The thing I've noticed most is the diversity of single creatives out there, I'm not just talking about ability, but backgrounds, situations, visions & directions. It's an exciting time, I won't mention names because, well it's just my opinion, but there's a real mixed bag. Some very talented people and some... who are just starting out. Obviously from my perspective I'm looking for someone with a little bit of experience, but there's some really enthusiastic people out there, who are just starting out and have some nice spec stuff in their 'folios. What's more is everyone has been bloody nice, I am yet to come across anyone who has been a complete tw*t - more to my surprise. I've not made any drastic decisions just yet, I'm considering all the options before leaping head first into anything.

I've been in touch with a couple of people who have been/ are followers of this blog (there's one reason to start up a blog if you're starting out - or not), the old fashioned NABS lonely hearts monthly meet-up run by Rory over at The Talent Business, friends, friends of friends and contacts from agencies that I've worked at. I'm trying to use a whole heap of resources to find my best possible match.

When I get a second or two more I'll put up the resources I've been using and try and be a little more specific for any other aspiring and/or single creatives. If it helps then great if not, then what's lost, right?

I've also been collating my work, or rather hoarding it in a new 'folio. I spent quite a bit of time running this blog and our previous website that I never thought to put any time into my own web side of things. Which leaves me currently working on developing something a little better than a temporary website.

Oh, and as for the latest on the blog front I've set up a new blog here: mlcuthell.blogspot.com. I've imported all of the posts I did from this blog so it's pretty much just the same - but different haha... It just allows me to continue the journey but under a new banner. Get it in your bookmarks!

Cheers.

Mike!

Snap...

2010-02-24T01:25:00.001Z

A selection of snaps from my recent trip to Scotland. You can find more at my flickr (which will be updated in the coming weeks also).

Not that you would, but if you should, please credit them (if you borrow them). A little note may be nice too.

The Plural Genius...

2010-02-23T13:49:00.001Z

Whilst I'm in the process or sorting out my work and what not, here's a 'new' initiative from another creative team, Amy Jackson & Hollie Belton. I don't know much about them but this landed in my inbox... I'll leave it to you to decide - Is it a silly attempt at securing some work? Or an enthusiastic act of genius in these difficult times?

Personally, I think if they only get £7k someone has got a bargain and the workers rights may have something to say about it - unfortunately the terms are a little vague, seeing as the starting annual rate for a junior seems to be between the £20k - £25k mark each. Maybe it's only out of hours. Perhaps they should have spoke to Campaign and a few newspapers...

Anyway here's some free minimal publicity girls...

For more see here and here

For a laugh...

2010-02-21T14:22:00.001Z

Our Nike film spoofed by one of Britain's top comedians* doesn't seem to have done badly on the PR front. Nice. More here

*subject to personal opinion.

Mike sans Phil.

2010-02-19T13:27:00.004Z

So... unfortunately, our time at W+K has come to an end. It's been a hectic 7 months but we've definitely got something to show for our time there. Following a chat with Tony & Kim, in light of changes happening, their focus is on the senior ranks at Wieden + Kennedy

As much as there was no longer a permanent role on offer, they did express that based on our performance in our work and ideas, that if there was work, they would like to keep us around. As a result, we are now on the freelance roster for W+K should any suitable projects come up in the near future.

A big thanks to all the guys who helped us achieve what did whilst we were there. You are some really talented people and I look forward to working with you sometime in the future.

This may come as a surprise to some of you... but the dynamics between Phil and I have shifted, we realised our ambitions are different and have decided to go our separate ways. we've had some fun times, he's a good bloke, but I think he now feels this industry may not be for him.

As for me, I will be continuing on my path and hopefully it will pay off in the end. I am left filled with optimism and unexpected yet exciting possibilities. I don't know where I'll end up, but I know this is what I want to do, so we'll see.

In the meantime, if there are any enthusiastic & passionate single creatives out there who want to get in touch feel free :)

// Inbox:
mike@mikeandphil.co.uk
mlcuthell@hotmail.com

// Twitter:
@mlcuthell

// Chit-chat:
+44 (0)791 910 4930

For those regular followers, I will in be continuing the blog but under a new title, of course. I will get a redirection set up to the new blog in due course. For the time being however, I may continue to post a few bits up here.

All the best & good luck to Phil for the future.

Mike.

Observer Relaunch...

2010-02-19T13:15:00.000Z

On a lighter note, the Observer concept we were part of is airing out as we speak in preparation for this coming Sunday's Observer relaunch. Our print range will be supporting the TV by Ben & Rob. The campaign reflects the informed, considered opinion of the Observer; which takes a moment to think about what we say when compared to the daily, live by the second, media hype.

Examples of the 30 second ad & print can be found below...

As a result of our pitch work in the summer, the second part of COI campaign has recently arrived in cinemas near you. Paul & Angus have done an amazing job and in my opinion it exceeds the TV ad that came out in early Jan.

Battle of the Blogs...

2010-02-19T13:01:00.000Z

Best Creative Blog

The journey is finally over. It was fierce, it was close, we stood level for a long time, but we seemed to clinch it right at the last minute. A big thanks to all those who voted for us, we are ever so grateful. A nod to Emily at theideabakery for a nail biting finish.

Oi! get down from there...

2010-02-05T13:42:00.003Z

These adverts are lovely from an art direction perspective, simple and a little different to the usual style. A faint whiff of 'Keep Calm and Carry On' about them, which cropped up when the posters were released.

If only all criminals caught in the act genuinely gave themselves up that easily.

Why...

2010-02-03T21:37:00.002Z

Sorting through the 'bottom drawer' of ideas. Found this little beaut that I knocked up a while ago.

Noticing...

2010-02-02T10:57:00.000Z

We notice things... we sometimes post them on here, here's a notice about noticing something we noticed.

If you like noticings it maybe be worth checking this site out.

Battle of the Blogs...

2010-01-31T20:41:00.007Z

So here it is, we go head-to-head with Emily over at The Idea Bakery... It starts tomorrow - for a week.

You may have seen Adam & Dan triumph over Blog off Mate a couple of weeks back but now the ball is in our court. It's all a bit of a laugh, but if you get a minute hop over to BOTB and give us a nudge (Just click on the pic).

Em's already got her post in so it would be rude not to stick up for ourselves!

Collateral...

2010-01-31T15:19:00.022Z

Being as the Nike film it is our first notable piece to circulate the public domain, it seems to be getting some interesting coverage. There's the obvious...

And then the slightly unexpected places...

The most interesting bit is reading the comments on the film - the social interaction is one of the most interesting bits, I always wonder why people duplicate films on YouTube? Is it for the ratings?

Under all of the faceless slanging matches (typical of YouTube) there are a few interesting debates coming out of the film...

I'll let you judge for yourselves...

Who's the better player Wayne Rooney or Fernando Torres?
Rooney & Torres to team up at Man U or Barcelona?
What in the film is real and what's not?

What's the song? I'll tell you this one the track is called 'Jump' by 16-Bit.

Technology has added benefits...

2010-01-27T19:16:00.001Z

How many times have you been caught doing this? This is Noe one of the Creatives here at Wieden + Kennedy.

Ah, tracing off a laptop - Phil and I used to do this all the time in our uni days, and to be honest, ever since we left. The tip is not using a sharp pencil and extremely fine pen or pushing too hard on the screen. You can learn the hard way, but it certainly does beat the hell out of printing stuff off and holding up against the nearest window, plus it works when it's dark. Bonus.

...there is always a light box however...

#Mangojuice...

2010-01-27T14:17:00.002Z

The latest social media phenomenon.

Take one...

Add one @Colman

A nudge by one @nicowen

& an ultimate love of #mangojuice.

Wow. In under a day. Impressive.

If you can't win the game, change the rules...

2010-01-23T02:05:00.005Z

This is actually mind blowing and distinctively original... just watch out for the night mode.

First person Tetris. Amazing.

All you can eat...

2010-01-23T01:50:00.001Z

A sweet little note from an all you can eat chinese buffet at the weekend. I'll restrain from pointing out the obvious flaws in its logic, but I do like little hand written notes, I can't help but hold on to them.

There's something rather nice about the time someone has taken to put pen to paper and how it tends to be a little more personal. I tend to slip them into the inside cover of a little great book of hand written notes I have from the University days, called 'I lick my cheese' by Oonagh O'Hagan.

Ok, the titles a little strange but it's a collection of witty insights to flat-sharing via scribbled notes - In some cases they are utter genius. Here's a sampler: 'I have put your copy of "My Wammys are bigger than Pammy's" in your bedroom' or the one below... 'Here's a stamp. Write to your mum she keeps calling'.

Maximalist or Minimalist?

2010-01-23T01:17:00.005Z

Here's two great websites that I've stumbled across recently. A lot of websites seem to be going pretty clinical these days, favouring the modern minimalist look (including this very blog) ...and for a good reason too, usability and simple navigation usually have something to do with it. However, these two sites do the opposite, I actually want to spend time clicking around finding out which bits I can click and which I can't.
So maximalist or minimalist... for me it depends on my mood. It's got to reflect your personality right?

What if we created websites that matched our mood? Neat & tidy vs. Full on & Hectic.

Nike film released...

2010-01-17T16:14:00.010Z

If you're not a follower on twitter or a friend on facebook or generally haven't been following the Nike feed etc - here's our Nike film that was released yesterday after featuring on Soccer AM.

Or the YouTube version if you'd prefer it...

It seems to be getting some coverage after appearing on the Sun website and numerous other online feeds. Make sure you've got your sound up, way up. If you like it, let us know.

Sometimes there's just not enough crockery...

2010-01-15T17:13:00.002Z

Nicole does caesar salad American style. Big bowl, small salad.

Weightless...

2010-01-15T13:44:00.000Z

My instincts tells me it's wrong to laugh, my mind tells me otherwise.

Rayban Viral...

2010-01-14T11:49:00.004Z

You may remember this...

Now there's this...

I really like these from an entertainment perspective, but the new one certainly feels a bit more 'real' - I use that term loosely. The first one makes me think, oh that's cool - but then it gets a bit silly, the second I could actually see some idiot doing.

Viral as a term seems to be overused these days, I wonder if the definition is clouded somewhat. I see a viral as something that has the capacity to entice you to pass it on to someone else... or post it on your blog, in which case I've done both. I always think they are there to question the norm but still in the realm of believability - cue the is it real or is it not debate. Surely anything to do with PR, Advertising or promotion of a product should endeavor to be viral?

What do people think? YouTube seems the best place for natural 'virality' like the little kid playing the ukulele or the cat playing the piano (for a more recent reference). When associated to brands do they have to be entirely believable or just a bit of fun?

How much do you want one of these...

2010-01-12T00:53:00.000Z

Multicoloured Pentax K-x - the limited edition camera of a hundred or so from Pentax Japan.

Hello 2010ers...

2010-01-09T17:14:00.000Z

Does anyone else think the hols have just flown by? or 2009 for that matter? I already feel like I've been back for weeks, perhaps that's just the welcoming feel of W+K.

I've been stalling and it's now the 9th. Most people seem to reflect on the best industry ideas of 2009, new year's resolutions and the copious amounts of food they consumed over the holidays. So i'll probably just do that in a roundabout way.

Over the past year we've been on a bit of a journey... less of a bit - and more of a lot. You can find out more or less of what we've been up to if you read back through the blog, but unless you're ever so slightly obsessed and have nothing better to do, you're unlikely to do that so let me give you a brief overview...

We've made our way through 4 different agencies, Iris, DLKW, Leagas Delaney & W+K. All have been very different, both through the work, people and experiences. Most of our luck has paid off in the most recent placement as we're still in at Wieden's, we're due for a catch-up to discuss possible long term plans at the agency.

The development of the film has been a steep learning curve. I never realised just how much production goes into it. It doesn't end when you've shot the footage, there's the rushes, the editing, the grading, the sound design and the post visual effects. People have no idea just how many people are involved when they sit back in their livings rooms and watch a 60 second spot - nor do they care, probably.

The last week has been split between post production over at Time based arts and working on a new brief that landed on our desks just before the winter hols. We've not entirely cracked it yet but things are progressing and it seems to be going along the right tracks so fingers crossed - and toes.

Just recently we've taken to having the review meetings out of the agency, which has been kind of nice. A little more inspirational that sitting in a board room or in the booths of 16 Hanbury St.

We'll set up a link when the films finished. Be nice to know what some of you lot think.

My main new years resolution, besides a few personal targets is to stop taking photos on my phone and start using my camera again!

Back in the day...

2010-01-01T20:21:00.006Z

Adman Phil

Adman Mike

Advertise for Apple...

2009-12-21T17:43:00.000Z

Maybe Apple don't even need to advertise anymore... they do say a great product sells itself.

Well here's a little example by Ben Terrett who's CD'ing one of our projects...

Four ads in one newspaper. All of them promoting the same product yet not one of them are paid for by Apple. They must have got something right.

Post Nike Shoot...

2009-12-15T15:29:00.000Z

So... the shoots all over, and we're back in the office. Done and dusted all in total of 6 days on and off. It's been absolutely amazing, the set looked very impressive - just how we pictured it. The director and his crew were fantastic and always on the ball - it's amazing what the art department can knock up when time is short.

We've had a lot of laughs, had to be thawed out from the cold on a daily basis and most of all got some great footage.

Now we're back, it's time to dive right into post production - but there's still a fair bit to do. Looking forward to the next step and of course the final film.

Once the production is a little further underway I'll see about getting some more shots up and a more detailed write up of what we got up to. For now though, please enjoy a few of the power terminals...

Sweden + Kennedy Christmas...

2009-12-15T15:02:00.000Z

Given the amount of Swedish people the agency has acquired in the last few months, the name Sweden + Kennedy was proposed by a few. A few alcoholic beverages later, a bit of blue and yellow, an ice louge/ sculpture, a chocolate fountain, abba tribute band & a few more shots... here is the end result... A selection, and yes this is only a small selection of the vast amount of photos that came out of the event - to the theme Sweden + Kennedy Christmas Party!

Team Sweden

Emily can't believe what she is hearing!

Ryan puckers up for a shot

Karelle as Bjorn Borg

Rob Burleigh at the end of his shift

It's a papermache swede not a turnip

A pair of very uncanny Swedish Royal Monarchs

Christmas Winter Wonderland.

That's a litre bottle of Absolut Vodka - 1:1 scale

A Volvo. Nice. (Working lights too)

Screen Dump 15.12.09

2009-12-14T17:51:00.000Z

I'll let you make your own mind up about this one... hmmm.

2009-12-14T17:34:00.000Z

Update...

2009-12-08T07:13:00.001Z

So, tomorrow we head off to our secret location to shoot our film for the Nike project we've been working on for the past couple of months.

The past few weeks have been extremely busy, there are so many levels to selling in an idea it seems to take a little time to set the cogs in motion. From working the concept, pitching the idea, working developments, finalising script, editing script, re-finalising script, sending out the script to directors, receiving treatments, meetings, conference calls, deciding on our preferred option, discussing feasibility issues, physical set design, locations, confirmation on athletes, storyboards, animatics, presentations, more discussions... signing off and a pre-production meeting it's taken quite some time... (and that's the short version)

But finally it's here!

It's all pretty exciting, I'll try and get some photos in the meantime and keep you up to date with how we get on. There was talk of getting a personal cam on set to document what we get up to, but I guess if that happens you'll see it up on the WK blog

It's due to roll out in the new year so wish us luck!

Screen Dump 05.12.09...

2009-12-05T15:47:00.001Z

I'm going to make this a regular thing - I have a habit, as we all do (probably), of collecting pictures of things I like, I don't really know what to do with them other than using them for reference or sticking them on the wall, so I figured I'd dump them here, perhaps once a week, perhaps not. I guess it all depends on how often it needs doing...

Christmas is fast approaching...

2009-12-05T15:10:00.002Z

I love this time of year, alright - maybe not quite as much as the Summer but I do enjoy a big warm coat, some green and red festivities and the good old Christmas markets! I just can't quite believe it's December already!

In case you haven't seen it W+K are doing some clever little things in and around Shoreditch to bring a little christmas spirit. It all starts off at the giant advent calendar carefully constructed in the Hanbury St. window. This advent calendar works in the same way as most do, every day you open a window counting down the days up to Christmas. Instead of picking up a little chocolatey treat, a few of the WKers creep out of the office with the hopes of bringing a tiny smile to your face. It will be continuing right up until Christmas so if you're in the area keep your eyes peeled :)

Here's what they've been up to so far...

Big Do's or Little Do's...

2009-11-16T12:03:00.006Z

The first time I saw Tony Davidson was at the 'Six of the Best' lectures whilst I was at Uni, a series of lectures that seemed to have disappeared in the last couple of years... with some top talent presenting such as John Hegarty, Martin Lambie-nairn, Daljit Singh & Patrick Burgoyne, it was a mere bargain at just £5 to get in.

But here's something new, a nice little lecture by the infamous Tony D - if you haven't met him/ seen him before it's certainly worth a watch, the bulk of his presentation is a tribute to his Dad... as you'll see creative ingenuity certainly runs in the family...(Just click on the picture).

It's a 'Swoosh' not a 'tick'...

2009-11-10T08:49:00.005Z

Things have gone in an unexpected direction this last week. We received some good news that a project we've been working on for the last few weeks has got the initial nod from the powers that be (as for the brand - the clue is in the picture). So... we're currently wading through the initial stages of production. Towards the end of last week we flashed a script in front of a few carefully selected directors, they seemed excited about the potential of the concept and we're just in the process of getting first batch of treatments back.

It suddenly seems a little strange being on the flip side of the ideas process, although we're still very much in control of what happens - it's nice to see how a Director can take our thoughts and run with them. All of a sudden you are faced with having to do it for real, that floating thought needs to be grounded both in a technical and conceptual way and suddenly everything comes out of the woodwork. Cue the production process.

I must say it's all very exciting.

It's now looking like we're going to be staying at Wieden's for the duration of the shoot, but in the meantime we'll hopefully tackle a couple of other briefs, see if we can latch onto something else.

Hallo...ween!

2009-10-31T21:00:00.006Z

This time of year encourages a certain level of creativity, and whilst I'm laid up on the sofa with a lemsip feeling a little under the weather... I thought I'd pay tribute to some of the more creative pumpkin carvers out there!

More news later this week....

Big Mugs...

2009-10-23T16:32:00.005+01:00

After a few days off we're back in at Wieden + Kennedy to continue working on our Nike project. It's not quite there yet, but fingers crossed we'll find out soon enough! All up in the air at the moment. We'll let you know, when we find out.

Meanwhile... here's a little something we did for Fairtrade... as part of a bigger idea that we've been on. I didn't notice but it popped on the WK Blog a few days ago. Nice to finally see it as a physical thing.

"These irresistibly pick-upable big mugs will be sent out to businesses all over the country to sit on peoples' desks and let them know about Fairtrade Fortnight 2010. On the back, the mugs explain our campaign for next year, The Big Swap (swap your usual stuff for Fairtrade stuff), and act as a cheeky reminder to any lazy tea-making co-workers: that it is their turn to get the kettle on, and make a Fairtrade brew. "

Pitchy goodness...

2009-10-06T08:26:00.003+01:00

Well... you know that COI pitch we've been working on for pretty much the whole first half of our time here, the results are in and Wieden + Kennedy has a new client! Amazing.

Snipped straight out of Brand Republic.

Smiley faces all round.

Um... Hello, Hello WK.

2009-10-03T13:29:00.005+01:00

Ok, so our previous post was a little premature.

We had some great news towards the end of the week. As it turns out another one of our ideas was liked by one of WK's biggest clients, so we're still hanging in there - of course we were happy to accept.

So we're not leaving, well not just yet anyway.

Still, it gave us good reason to go for drinks after work on Friday - not that you need one of course. Unfortunately we can't go into the nitty gritty of the concept, we'd love to - but the usual office ettiquette suggests we'll have to wait before we can share anything.

We'll be leaving our current desks (possibly the smallest desks in the world) and adopting the new 'hot-desking' policy; a chance to move about a bit and settle in with some new neighbours!

Bye bye to WK...

2009-10-01T08:12:00.008+01:00

Well, tomorrow is our final day at Wieden + Kennedy after nearly three months and what a blast it has been. We’ve had the chance to work with some of the most truly creative and inspiring people. We’ve worked on all sorts of projects, from big clients such as Nike & Fairtrade to the all consuming pitch work. They really want you to get stuck in and produce good ideas.

The nice thing about W+K is that everyone is approachable and will always give you the time of day – the top dogs, right down to our little chin-wags with the cleaners in the morning, There’s always something going on, mini exhibits, tea & cake, numerous celebrations and finding out the next big thing out of WK... we’ll certainly miss it.

For now though, we'll take some time out to re-collect, get the book up to scratch and get back on the rounds. We have learnt so much in our time at WK, we'll take what we've learnt and put it into practice. Some new work for the 'folio and a whole host of people we need to get in touch with. We're still awaiting some news on the COI pitch (expected in the next week) and an update on our project for the Nike account. There's still plenty going on and a possibility of some freelance work, who knows what lies around the corner...

Some of the Fairtrade work has finally broken, bit of a new handcrafted look and feel to the brand. It's only the beginning, but jump here to WK news for some work in progress stuff or check out some of the interactive bits over at fairtrade.org.uk

As for the rest of the stuff we'll get it up shortly.

Rocky...

2009-09-28T08:43:00.001+01:00

Phil saw this over the weekend and enlightened me this morning...

Brilliant!

Be sure to visit BBAB.org.uk for the latest in safety precautions.

87 Cool things...

2009-09-24T07:56:00.018+01:00

Some serious brain food in the form of really interesting experiments in Digital creativity....

What are your favourites?

Drop the Tough...

2009-09-17T14:11:00.003+01:00

Whether you like the music or not, the video's good.

What's going on at W+K...

2009-09-15T07:50:00.008+01:00

Saying 'be right back' was a little optimistic, it's been pretty busy here, hence the lack of a post and general lack of blog activity on my part. Last week was the WK Platform launch party, which seems to have gone down a treat, I only managed to pop my head in. Phil has taken some photos I believe, so I'll get them up shortly. We'd met the guys prior to the launch and a couple of them now sit a few feet away, a lovely bunch of people with some serious creative talent. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of the new wing of WK.

When there's work, there's work - and well, there always seems to be work. It really is 'all go', with the COI campaigns well into research, it lightens the load on that department. Following that the mammoth that is Fairtrade had us firmly held within her grasp, with everything from small promos to some online activity and even big PR events, it's been good fun to work on.

Oh, we've been extended a bit longer, for a good few more weeks, so we're still getting our heads down, occasionally slipping in the odd hour of sleep in between. The back-end of last week saw a lovely Nike brief land on our desk, an amazing brief and an amazing opportunity at that. We're really trying to nail that one, and hopefully come away with something great.

We'll be working into the night this week, although there's not much change there; as I'm moving into my new house on Saturday. Mind you, before long it'll be dark when we're getting up, and dark when we're going home. After setting up a temporary residence at my Dad's house and a fair old commute for the last few weeks, I'm beginning to think these bags under my eyes just might actually disappear! ha.

*Image Poached Webponce

Word[Dot]Word[Dot]

2009-08-27T07:50:00.004+01:00

Pitch.Big Campaign.Late nights.Moving house at the weekend.Not packed a thing.

Bugger.

Be right back.

Coming to a screen near you...

2009-08-20T08:26:00.026+01:00

I won't ruin them, just watch the trailers... (click the images)

Great News...

2009-08-13T21:44:00.011+01:00

Phil stole the Limelight but I am in there - promise.

A failed attempt to appear at the edges of the frame.

This week we found out that we are being kept on for an additional month. Apart from being completely chuffed, slightly stunned and extremely excited... we've had some more good news.

Putting in the extra hours and the odd weekend seems to have paid off, for the short-term at least. The pitch idea has been well received, everyone making a huge contribution from the team means we're down to the final two! Both Wieden + Kennedy and VCCP enter the final stage of the pitch. More here

Along with the pitch work on COI, we are now working on some bits for Nokia's new initiative and the recently won Fairtrade account. We've had a brief review with the infamous Tony Davidson & Kim Papworth as well as another with Dan & Ray - has they both left us brimming with inspiration and the desire to do more! (I'll do a write up on this sometime in the week).

Next on the agenda - knuckle down once more & try and get another month.

Absolutely Stunning...

2009-08-13T16:12:00.004+01:00

Something sent around the office last week.

I love this

Summer Festivities...

2009-08-12T08:36:00.014+01:00

Just some of the photos from the WK Summer Party... As promised.

Thanks to Robbie Maynard for the photos.

Weekend + Kennedy...

2009-08-10T07:21:00.007+01:00

They certainly don't get the name for nothing.

As we mentioned we're working on a pitch right now, so we've been putting in the hours throughout the weekend. In fact, it's not just us the whole pitch team has. There's always a strange feeling at the weekend, most of the staff are out of the office, it feels slightly less busy, so for a change we switched to the opposite side, into the infamous 16 Hanbury Street. Out of the window Shoreditch was buzzing & inside 16 Hanbury Street we were scribbling away.

It was worth it though, we'll just have to see what happens. It could certainly help us out a little.

Right before the weekend though, Thursday night to be more specific, it was the agency summer party. It was like a whole weekend rammed into a single night. And what an amazing party it was. Wieden's know how to work but they sure know how to put on a show.

91 Brick Lane (aka the building across the street from 16 Hanbury Street) was opened in the name of Martin Cole. W+K's Head of Planning who passed away not so long ago. We never had the chance to meet him, but he was obviously a much-loved character across the agency.

After a speech from Tony Davidson & Martin's family, the new building was officially opened.

I don't really know where to start explaining exactly what was on the agenda....

On the roof terrace of 16 there was San Miguel, Sangria & enormous woks of Paella. In the building there was 'Rinky Dinky' the Tarot card reader, a photo booth along with a dressing up box, a popcorn machine & a games room & more beers.

In the road... a doughnut van, for all your doughnut & crepe loving needs.

In 91, face painting, a hog roast/ bbq, a freestanding bar - with a rather large range of beer, wines & spirits, a cocktail bar on the roof, cocktail girls, pretty much everywhere, a stage with some top DJs & bands, Pedro Pinto, Mpho, Nick DeCosemo, Athlete, FrankMusik & Beats Working.

We were even given a little post-party pack for the morning after. (The team had a review just after midday).

With all that going on we even had the chance for a catch-up with an old friend, Rich from JWT, one of the most enthusiastic people we've met.

Needless to say we had a good night. I will get some photos up shortly.

More here.

We have a review with Tony & Kim on Tuesday so we'll let you know how it goes.

W+K Good Times...

2009-08-06T09:56:00.003+01:00

Busy busy busy, we're mainly working on a pitch at the moment, with some other projects thrown in for good measure... we seemed to have timed things well, tonight is the agency summer party... there's to be an air of excitement ... everyone's looking forward to it. Time to crack on, still a lot to do before we can relax.

Something to bear in mind...

2009-07-30T19:06:00.004+01:00

Well...

...what do you think?

Love the doodles over at gapingvoid.com

Wieden + Kennedy book club

2009-07-28T00:22:00.005+01:00

I found this bookmark on the floor earlier today, and in true scavenger style I thought it may be interesting to someone... The top ten recommended reads according to the Wieden + Kennedy book club as as follows...

In no particular order - I'd imagine...

James Fray - A Million Little Pieces

Patrick Suskind - Perfume

Meg Rosoff - How We Live Now

Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go

L.P. Hartley - The Go-between

Peter Goldsworthy - Maestro

Lionel Shriver - We Need To Talk About Kevin

Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited

Audrey Niffnegger - The Time Traveller's Wife

Ian McEwan - Atonement

Get reading kids!

And if you're interested... a couple of my reads of late - they're worth a look.

Stephen Chbosky - The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Joshua Ferris - Then We Came To The End

Malcom Gladwell - Outliers

Maxx Barry - Syrup

Teresa Monachino - Words Fail Me

Dan Brown - The Digital Fortress

Wieden + Kennedy...

2009-07-27T08:10:00.006+01:00

A View you won't see too often - from 91 of 16 Hanbury Street

Today is the first day of our second week... and what a nice place. I'd keep this brief, but why change the habit of a lifetime... Things were a little bit slow off to begin with - in terms of briefs etc, but we found things to do and pushed for the work and it seems to have paid off, lots of things floating around with Lurpak and even a small glimpse into Nike - with a few more bits coming our way this week (we think).

We are currently residing in the new building across the street from the original 16 Hanbury St. Which is a pretty amazing building itself. It's not long been done, so it still has that 'new' smell... it's a huge building at that... which gives the people who are staying in the building across the road a little bit more room to breathe. When we visited earlier in the year people were piled on top of each other so it seems to be a big relief.

Terrace view from 91

It made things a little tough trying to meet people in the first day, hopping between both buildings. With everyone being so scattered about, accounts amongst creatives, and everyone in between it seems to make people more social - having to move around throughout the day means with such a large staff count, you don't get lost in the midst of all the faces.

We put names to faces on the first day though, well... mostly anyway. There's so many people! We still somehow seem to meet new people everyday! We managed to introduce ourselves to both Tony & Kim (on separate occasions) in day one for a brief chat, which always a plus. Tony had some interesting thoughts on where he thought things were going, and since we had just finished a stint at Leagas it was nice to have something to talk about - other than the usual topics you aim for... even Rob Burleigh is working here! The Ad world is a small place.

The new 91 stairwell - fascinating right? ha.

We're sitting a few desks away from Lucy Collier who is heading up the WK Platform as its Creative Director. It's very interesting to see the selection process go through - looks like it's going to be an interesting project. We're due for a review today on something we've been working on, ironically, for a brief that was set to the Platform candidates on Friday... should be fun to see how we compare...

There's a nice feeling about this place, everyone seems to be pretty friendly and there's a nice buzz about the place... hopefully we'll be able to extend the placement, but I guess it's all about the work... so we'll just have see how it goes...

I'll see if can add some more photos this week, it seems the only time I remember to take them is once we've finished!

Just a moment...

2009-07-24T11:31:00.005+01:00

We're settling into Wieden's, it's a busy place. I've got a few things to put up when we get a sec, bit of a surreal week.

We seem to crash out when we get home, so have a look at this, a lovely but simple way of interacting with youtube...

Happy Birthday Jimi!

2009-07-19T23:31:00.001+01:00

Our house mate turned 30 today, you wouldn't know it, his humour is still that of a 12 year old!

We didn't have any candles... so I made some, anyway... the perfect present - a post tribute!

As we're finding alternative earning to add to our placement wages - If you would like a birthday shout-out, we are now accepting a £1 payment via paypal (msg for details) ha-ha!

Things move so fast...

2009-07-19T21:59:00.007+01:00

Well, it certainly doesn't seem like a whole month since we turned up for our first day at Leagas Delaney. People say things move much quicker when you move from University to the 'big wide world,' but you won't truly appreciate this until that year has been and gone - and trust me it has gone phenomenally quickly.

Our time at Leagas has come to and end but it's gone really well, shifting from brief to brief, working on a whole manner of things. There were quite a few late nights... and early starts - there never seemed enough hours in the day, but it was very productive nonetheless.

This week we've been working on some charity campaigns, as well as Goodyear, Timberland & Nationwide, with a few other bits thrown in for good measure. Also, we've had the chance to work directly to Tim Delaney - one the legendary Copywriters of the British Ad world. Made famous for his passion for the job (temper - which we never saw) as well as his Timberland and Harrod's ads from back in the day. Our writing seems to have gone down well... Our usual approach is to churn out as many different ideas in the given time as possible. It turns out that all the thoughts/ ideas were sound, but his advice to us was that when you get a thought 'stick with it'. Stay with that thought for at least an hour. This will give you time to craft it, write as many variations as you can, then, and only then, if it's not working move on - but hopefully you will have formulated a good line. You need to give the idea time to develop and make sure you spend enough time to do it justice.

We can't thank the guys there enough for having us in. Some good news though, it's not over... Leagas have invited us back after Wieden's - so it's nice to know that we've done something right and knowing we've got something to come back to is always a bonus!

For now though, it's off to Wieden + Kennedy tomorrow - trust me, we're very excited.

Wish us luck!

Lunch time Doodles...

2009-07-13T18:18:00.004+01:00

C-3PO meets WD-40

What next? D&AD?

2009-07-12T18:56:00.004+01:00

... Love Cannes, but never had the chance to go? Now you can feel like you've been amongst the best. Nip on down to Uni-qlo and buy one of these bad-boys. I hear One Show, D&AD will soon be following suit...

Week 3.0 @ Leagas Delaney

2009-07-07T19:05:00.003+01:00

Phil doesn't smile for the Camera - he's 'thinking'.

From the end of the first week to the beginning of the third... but what happened to week two, I hear you ask?

It absolutely flew by, that's where it went. Into the a big gaping hole called time - it wasn't wasted though, briefs are falling on our desk one after another, we're knee deep in mountains of paper... on the desk, in the drawers, on the walls... pouring out of our earholes. [The photo doesn't really support this - it was from the 1st week] Perhaps we should tidy up a little? No really, it's not that bad. We seem to be making some progress, signing off on some Emirates stuff today, meetings, reviews, work in progress, late nights, strong tea [or coffee - Phil], burning hot days, fans buzzing and Tesco's for lunch.

The nice thing about Delaney's is that the people are so friendly (this is a re-occurring theme), the briefs are good, lots of opportunity to go outside of the requirements and put our own spin on things and Matt & Chris have been pushing us to nail those solid, simple thoughts to use as a spring board.

There was a nice chat from Magarida, here at Leagas, an overview of Cannes, not print & TV - as you'd expect, but a real push into the possibilities of utilising media for an explosive idea. Some truly integrated examples included AKQA's Eco:Drive for Fiat, 42 Entertainment's 'Why so serious' alternate reality game, pre-launch promotions for The Dark Knight & Tribal DDB's 'Carousel' for Philips - three very unique ways to stir up awareness.

We were due to start Wieden's on the 13th of July, it's now starting on the 20th, we were really cheeky - as we've been asked to stay here for a full month, which helps us follow some work through and tackle some new briefs before we start.

Coolz.

D&AD New Blood 2009

2009-07-07T18:44:00.007+01:00

*Thanks for the photo Em.

Last week we hopped over to New Blood 2009, a year!? seriously... a whole year since we were exhibiting, I can't believe it.

There was plenty of familiar faces, our attempts to check out the work was thwarted by smiling faces of old friends, fun and welcome conversations, Gyles - our old lecturer & the Uni of Lincoln lot, who received a variety of nominations, pencils and a best in show - always a pleasure. Danny & Paul - who after being hired at the Inferno group were beaming, their enthusiasm is second to none, Little Emily :) over at theideabakery who was exhibiting & ended up coming away with 2 student pencils - that's no easy task. Rob Kitchen & Chris Waite, really nice guys, who run the show over at Falmouth, we've run into them on a couple of occasions... nevertheless we still got a good look around.

The thing with New Blood is that the ad work always seems overshadowed by the rest of the categories, don't get me wrong, we saw some really nice work in a few books - not to mention some of the work on display, but with only 5 truly specific Creative Ad courses - that I noticed (being: Bucks, Falmouth, Gloucester, Lincoln & Solent) amongst the 50+ other stands - it does give you an idea of scale.

As always, due to neglect of my camera - my battery was flat and little to no photographs were taken. This is a mid-year resolution of mine. Sort it out!

Last weekend in June...

2009-06-28T16:04:00.000+01:00

We've just finished our first week at Leagas Delaney and we've certainly been kept busy. We have even had the chance to step out for a beer with a couple of the guys - sing songs in Italian & get lost trying to take a shortcut through town.

Well it's been over a year since we left Uni and made our way London. It's doesn't even seem that long ago... but it clearly has.

D&AD New Blood is next week, hopefully we'll be able to make an appearance - I'm interested to see what other ideas are out there and what we're up against with this years freshest grads on the ad scene.

Mike.

Irresponsible Thinking...

2009-06-28T15:53:00.004+01:00

So, a few friends and I managed to steal a day away to Thorpe Park last weekend - I hadn't been since I was about 10 so I was pretty excited... before I get to the point, I must just tell you this... the SAW ride is amazing... go... now.

However, amongst the rides we found this harmless ladder climbing game... at a second glance you may notice something a little unexpected...

Now, I don't mean to be rude... I'm not usually, but what were they thinking!?

The Lonely Island...

2009-06-28T14:49:00.013+01:00

No, not a spin-off of Hyper Island, but an awesome group named Lonely Island.

They've been going for ages, but I only found out about them in my last year at Uni - following the smash-hit 'Hot Rod' - possibly the funniest film of all time, a slight twist of dry humour - it's going to leave you with some serious quotage!

Having directed most of the 'We Are Scientists' music vids and featuring the likes of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, as well as frequent guest appearences from Seth Rogan, JT, T-Pain, Will Ferrell, Jack Black & others you need to check out their videos...

A couple of vids you might know - featured on Saturday night live...

Some other hilarious videos...

Guess what! they run a blog too, check it out... here

Enjoy.

Shoes of the In'juns...

2009-06-24T08:28:00.005+01:00

Hello Shoppers...

So we're sitting here on the morning of the third day... now slightly more settled - and ready for another day at Leagas Delaney to begin. It turns out we're sitting in Rob Burleigh's old office... (sorry Rob) - it was the only space available - but what a nice office. It's not very common for a placement team to have much space to work, DLKW gave us a rather large office, but there was a catch - no windows. We have, however, 2 rather large windows for light to flood through - the catch this time, I hear you ask? Probably that we're sat next door to Tim. Although, we don't see this as a bad thing... we've heard the stories and I hope he lives up to every expectation. (He's not around until Friday).

So far we've been working on some pro-bono stuff for Child Trafficking, but yesterday, a nice brief for Timberland landed on our desk - and a couple others to be honest... We'll see what we can make of it.

In other news, a couple of bits from DLKW of some work was approved today so that should be appear in some media near you...

As for brain food, I'll leave these rather nice, iconic ads for Timberland for you to ponder over... you can also find them in 'The [infamous] Copy Book'.

...

From one Delaney to Another...

2009-06-19T13:07:00.004+01:00

Although Wieden's has been pushed back to July, we received a phone call yesterday from Leagas Delaney... We start Monday. Nice opportunity to stir some things up... there's been some nice work so hopefully something will come of it... as always, we'll have to wait and see...

Having met Greg at DLKW, it will be nice to squeeze in a chat with Tim. (I've also read Sam's book...) We're not stalking - honest. They just seem to have a large presence across the Ad & Film world...

Also, does anyone have a video camera we can borrow? Just for an idea we'd like to do the side, we'll need it for a day - possibly 2? We'll take good care of it - promise. It's cheeky, but well... if you don't ask...

The Chip Shop Awards...

2009-06-11T09:42:00.009+01:00

...were interesting. haha.

The evening was held at Fabric Night Club around Farringdon way, it certainly wasn't quite what we imagined. We had made up some flyers in preparation, it seemed like a good opportunity to chuck around our names... designing and printing them in only a couple of hours was a bit tight but they seemed to do the job. We'll just wait and see if anyone actually picked one up... It was pretty dark so I'm surprised anyone saw anything!

The promise of a packet of chips was offered although the portions left a lot to be desired... The night began with a Canadian comedian - he took a couple of minutes to warm up, but once he got going he was actually quite funny - in a weird, aggressive & slightly deranged way... he certainly got the crowd going.

After an introductory speech by the Founder of the Chip Shop Awards & The Editor (?) of The Drum magazine, we got down to the nominations. There were a few categories, some being awarded 'Chips' others 'Vinegars' and some categories - both awards. He explained that due to the nature of the awards the 'CSA' are often sued by various commercial companies, perhaps this explains the small portions of chips?

It took a while but our category was practically last, but we were successful, both entries in our category received 'Chip' awards. One thing that made me laugh was that, although the D&AD pencil is certainly coveted - if you ever get to pick one up - they are practically weightless... the Chip is solid as a rock.

The Grand Prix was selected from all the Chip winners and was awarded to an incredibly funny viral for Specsavers (a spoof of the Barclaycard flume ad) It can be found as one of the video entries here

We followed the awards with a few celebratory beers and a quick chat with Mike McKenna for some wise words of wisdom. We saw John Jessup was floating around but we didn't get a chance to chat with him...

The final nominations, vinegars & chip can be found here

The Chip:

We're not due to start Wieden's until July now - so some real time to be cracking on with the book - say hello if you see us at NABS :)

Today, Tonight & Tomorrow.

2009-06-10T13:31:00.003+01:00

Hello!

Apologies to anyone to likes consistency in updates to the blogs they read... it just doesn't seem to happen with this one... no real reason, I get distracted you see... then a day passes, then another day... and well then I think... damn, I actually like doing this.... riiiiight back to the point...

Well, quite a few changes to the world of Mike and Phil.

We finished DLKW on Friday, trust them not to give us an easy send off! 2 briefs came in on Thursday night and about a gazillion amendments, it all seem to hit us at once. That's one thing I'd say about DLKW - the busiest agency i've seen - full stop. Although, It's rumoured Wieden's work the longest hours - this would be nothing new; I guess you have to work for it and I think we worked most days/nights throughout our time at DLKW... it's a habit or something.

With little/no sleep by the end of the week, I think we left a good impression, we received a few nice words from a number of people. We seemed to get a lot of work out, leaving just before a portion of it was due to go into production, typical, from press/print to radio, online, TV and some retail stuff. Easily the busiest placement yet.

I certainly found, that it's great seeing stuff that you've spent hours scribbling out on a page come to life in some form or another. When things go into production its a small reward for what you've been working to... at least for a second or two, before the inevitable request for 'tweaks' comes in... and.... if it doesn't come at the creative review or even at the account review, then it's certainly going to come at the client review. That's what we've found so far anyway.

What's next? Well... we'll be looking forward to our next placement at W+K, but for now it's time to get back on the book and round for those crits.

In other news:

We're off to the Chip Shop Awards ceremony thingy tonight, there's only two entries left in our category so we should either be first or second... ha! We'll let you know how it turns out.

My 23rd Birthday was last Wednesday in which I received this present from Phil... very apt.

...and this little DIY card from Guy & Sarah, done on a budget of course.

Dee Ell Kay Dubya...

2009-05-31T21:09:00.012+01:00

Done in some serious time

Hopefully this will be a nice little read for your Monday morning curiousity - or your sunday night boredom... or perhaps not - either way you seem to be reading it... anyway...

The last couple of weeks have certainly been intense, with the work being more available here, than anywhere else we've been. The briefs have been coming thick and fast, ok, some of them aren't the most exciting but you can change that when you're working on them, it's a valuable experience and definitely gives us something to sink our teeth into.

We've been quite lucky on the whole, we've been putting in the hours - and it seems to be paying off. With two tv ads through with the Mirror to date, another couple in production throughout this week, it all seems quite good. It's nice when you're working to tight briefs, the satisfaction and reward of being able to produce something certainly puts a smile across my face :)

Reflections

We've also been doing some bits for Sexual Health - I know - typical brief for a placement team, spend your whole student-life NOT doing condom ads, avoiding them in fact, you arrive at an agency and a Sexual Health brief drops on your desk. It's funny really, and not as bad as you'd think, with 4 or so press ads going through and some radio possibly running off the back of it, it has gone better than we could have expected.

One thing though, we've definitely started getting used to 'client feedback'. From the small almost insignificant word changes, that have to be approved/ altered - to complete dismissals of work for no particular reason, other than it being too clever. A compliment in some aspects, I suppose, but it does leave you with a few late nights and frazzled brains. I've come to think it's a nice way of saying "it's not quite right" - without being to direct...

Perspective

From day one Rich & Rem made it clear to us that they were keeping an eye on a few teams, throughout the junior ranks, in order to get the best perception of Juniors, and as a result on Thursday - Guy & Sarah (who you may recognise from the blog world) joined us at DLKW for a while, who as it goes, are very nice people. I'm sure there will be many a late night shared between us this week.

Who knows how long we have left, whether we'll be invited back or when it will just come to and end, we're certainly being kept busy and things seem to be panning out okay... we'll have to wait and see where it goes.

2009-05-31T21:09:00.006+01:00

A bit of a cop out but the nicest ad I've seen for a little while from JWT.

Not too sure why, it's a really simple thought, must be the contrast between the sound and the visuals, a real nice combination for a perfect execution.

Morrisons Viral

2009-05-26T10:05:00.001+01:00

A brilliant little viral for Morrisons. :)

Daddy...

2009-05-20T08:03:00.004+01:00

Just some trivial posting for your amusement, and my own of course - that is, until I can find the time to do a proper post about what we're up to.

Current status:

- Still at DLKW,

- Still working all the hours under the sun.

- Still getting loaded with briefs - which is full on, but welcome.

- Still forgetting to set my alarm.

- Mark Lund's leaving do.

- Good news, bad news...

- Another mini TV spot - hopefully more to come.

- The Uni of Lincoln end of Degree show.

...oh, and any other wonderfully useless information I can think of in the meantime.

A little thing called ICE.

2009-05-20T00:55:00.008+01:00

Here's something that was brought to my attention a while back, so apologies if you're well ahead of the pack - or just me on this one... It's not really ad-like in the traditional sense, but an awareness campaign of sorts - perhaps someone can hook me up with surrounding material on the subject - I still think this is worth a mention... even if it's just for the sake of doing it...

The lowdown:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message from the Ambulance Service

We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory. If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this 'ICE' (In Case of Emergency) Campaign.

The concept of 'ICE' is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As mobile phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a
contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name 'ICE' ( In Case Of Emergency). The idea was thought up by a
paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents there were always mobile phones with patients but they didn't know which number
to call.

He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognised name for this purpose.

In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialling the number you have stored as 'ICE'.

Please forward this. It won't take too many 'forwards' before everybody will know about this. It really could save your life, or put a loved one's
mind at rest.

For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc.

PLEASE PASS THIS AROUND AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE AS THIS CAN HELP IN AN EMERGENCY

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Why not do it? You've got nothing to lose....

EDIT: Found this...

Graduate Guide...

2009-05-11T06:06:00.004+01:00

A little while ago, I promised I'd stick up this little graduate guide from Open Ad, NABS & Liz H... We picked it up about half way through our final year, perhaps it will be useful to someone...

Basically it's a Creative graduate, scrap that, Junior Creative handbook if you like, some points seems obvious, others not so much, but take it or leave as you will... everything from resources, finding a partner (that you get on with), industry advice, book pointers, getting out there, book crit tips, placement tips and then what to do once you've got your dream job...

*We've not got to that bit yet...

Some of the people/places are a little dated, but the actual information is spot on.

Hold on to it. It's useful.

Here's the linkage to download it...

Faster than you can say... 'Can you make some amendments'

2009-05-10T23:52:00.005+01:00

Well it has been yet another, action-packed week full of things to do. Having been working on a variety of Briefs for the Mirror since we started over at DLKW - it was nice to get the first piece through. Saturday saw our first TV spot hit the screens, nothing major, I can't see it making us famous, but it certainly taught us a few things, a milestone for us at least. A nice learning curve though, to be getting past the ideas stage, selecting voice over candidates, getting them in only to be baffled by the fact that the voice they use - is actually their real voice, learning how the editing suites work both, Audio (over at Scramble in Soho) and Treacle's Video editing suite, I think we might have just about fluked it...

With a few more in the pipeline, if everything goes to plan, we could be in for a busy couple of weeks... and possibly a few more flash appearances.

Things seem to be going well, we're putting in the hours which, thankfully, seem to be paying off, and the possibility of having one of our spec ideas picked up by the creative heads, it can only mean good things.

Plus, there's a Tesco's around the corner which keeps us fueled with cheap food throughout the day. Can't be bad eh?

Now though, it's the start of a new week and time to knuckle down once more. We're still trying to be cheeky and squeeze in the odd crit here and there over lunch breaks, but there never seems enough hours in the day!

A game for the Friday lunch break...

2009-05-08T08:30:00.001+01:00

Here's a nice little, highly addictive game... seems appropriate given the current pandemic.

Check it out here

The Chip Shop Awards...

2009-04-27T19:41:00.012+01:00

Well who'd have thought... after scraping a few pennies together for a bit of a laugh, we thought we'd chuck one of our own ideas into the mix... seems to have come up trumps having our 'Bra Training work being nominated for the Mobile category.

Those of you who don't know, the Chip Shop awards are an 'Alternative' awards competition with some big names on the panel such as, the distinctively original Dave trott, bloggers own Scamp & the likes of Mike McKenna (CD - JWT), Seb Royce (ECD - Glue), John Jessup (CD - Leos)

There are almost no rules... you can make up your own category, or simply rip of your favourite ad. This clearly isn't raising your expectations is it?

However, it's a good laugh, there is some seriously funny work on there, all a bit tongue in cheek, also some utter crap, but maybe that's the point, take a look I'm sure something will make you smile, even just a little. If it doesn't, then I've seriously misjudged our readership, yes all three of you. If you don't laugh at the regional ads, you're A) from said region or B) An acquired sense of humour. The awards have come from far and wide, the UK to New York, Germany and the Netherlands to bring you the finest 'alternative ads'. There are some good serious ads that are equally as justified... feeling constrained by that client brief, thought of something that would never run then make sure you're watching next year.

You can find the nominations from this year here ... As well as the entries from 2008 here

We're assured that any resemblance the awards carry to a certain infamous awards scheme is purely coincidental.... ha.

The keen eyed ones among you, will have noticed the addition of our new website to the side bar, it's still a major work in progress, but it's simple enough to navigate. We've avoided anything too complicated and instead opted for the - all about the work- option. We'd like to know what you think... there's still bits to go up there, and hopefully you'll see us changing some bits fairly frequently...

Freelance & Crit-age.

2009-04-27T19:30:00.002+01:00

In the run up to starting here at DLKW, we were packing in the crits and making sure we could get around to as many people as possible... We've seen some inspiring people, I'll write some of those up - when I have a bit more time. We did however make our way over to Big Al's Creative Emporium

Our work seemed to go down extremely well, everyone has their opinion on how good (or bad) the work is from their perspective, but we couldn't have had a better response. First having a separate crit with Tom & another with Stef, both last nearly an hour, we certainly made an impact on their planned schedule for that day. We'd heard a lot about the two, and we were consequently churning over inside - only to be pleasantly surprised at the result. They both know what they want, there's no frills, it's straight talking, honest thoughts, if they don't like you'll certainly find out about it. Get something they like, break past that intimidating exterior and they are bloody nice blokes.

Let me explain, Big Al's is a sort of Hybrid ...agency, if you can call it that... Sounds pretentious right? Well it's not, those are my words to describe it. It's run by Tom & Stef - they act as a creative hub, if you like, they pick up briefs floating in adland, pitch for new clients, in the same way any agency does - but don't function like a normal Agency in the traditional sense. They bring people in on a freelance basis, as and when the briefs suit. Perfect for us, I might add, as we can do a little bit on the side.

Anyway, Stef got in touch over the weekend and Bob's your mother's brother, we were freelancing on the Sunday. It was a pretty big opportunity and we had nothing to lose. We're still waiting to hear how the work went down - but hopefully it won't have destroyed any expectations they had, and perhaps we might have another opportunity.

Mike.

DLKW - A week in.

2009-04-27T19:16:00.007+01:00

Right well...

Here we are, 1 week on from starting at DLKW and I assure you, it has been one of the fastest weeks of my life. Having been in touch with Rich & Remco since we came and saw them a few weeks back, we finally got a call...

The work has been plentiful, quick turn-arounds, some tight restrictions, late nights, lots of coffee, but most of all - a good chance to try and make an impression. So far we've been working on the Mirror: TV & Press, as well as some press for Marston's Pedigree which are all currently finding their way to their unsuspecting clients, this of course, is all whilst we're trying to do some bits on the side for fun. We've also got some nice comfortable chairs, plenty of supplies and a Tesco around the corner to keep our food bills down.

We've papered the walls, exhausted the toner and filled the bin with umpteen scraps for recycling. I know what you're thinking... We'll plant a tree at the weekend or something.

The result of too much 'Kick' for Phil... a litre in one night. Ouch.

I know it seems like an cliché thing to say, but we have truly been made to feel welcome, from the people at the front desk, right up to the execs themselves. Sure there are offices here and everyone's always busy, but if you give them a moment they will usually give you the time of day. There's a lot of changes going on - with George Prest joining the Agency as ECD from Lowe, some new account people due, big clients and pitches in the pipelines, it all looks pretty exciting. Lets just hope we can pull off something special to stay a little longer, then a little longer perhaps.

Easter Egg Promo

2009-04-25T20:06:00.000+01:00

We like tinkering with things in our 'spare' time.

Here's something we got up to over Easter... we didn't actually send it to Joe Bloggs...

Some responses thus far, more to follow as and when the pictures arrive...

Last Week & Wanted Ads Work

2009-04-24T11:05:00.002+01:00

Ridiculously busy this week...

On placement - also, freelancing at the weekend.

Update this evening... or tomorrow. Promise.

For now, as mentioned a few weeks back, the Wanted Awards work here

Edit: Well as it turns out, there's no cap on the number of times you can vote - and it looks like somebody has gone click happy... I wonder if they will still pay attention to the results?

You can vote for your preferred favourite if any - Our vote went to Mauro Rodriguez & Tom Langdon.

Also there's that Viral we spoke about before - scripted...possibly.

All Crit-ters and Placements beware - this could happen to you!

2009-04-16T19:41:00.004+01:00

This week has been truly mental... the whole Easter thing, then coming back to London, then doing work, then shooting off to places, then coming back, then doing more stuff before heading off elsewhere, it's been quite crazy...

Before I have time to catch up... probably later tonight, or tomorrow, here's a little Video to tie you over... found by Phil in the furthest corners of the Interwebs!

**I'm not saying it will happen to you but it could...

I'm not sure if it's real or not... to be quite honest I don't care - it's bloody hilarious!

And well this is just plain... awesomeness-ness.

We're a Team! Not a couple!?

2009-04-05T22:33:00.003+01:00

Anyone who's in a team has probably had this issue at some point. It's kind of funny really...

The ad industry as a whole is quite unique, there's not many jobs out there where you get paid to do whatever it is that you do, to create and conceptualise ideas for adverts - and even beyond that - creating Ideas that make everyday life easier... well sort of... Right, enough philosophising and back to the subject in hand...

Teams. We know we work in teams. Often an Art Director & Copywriter, more and more so these days as Creatives working on Ideas. We know that. Other creatives know that. The Designers, Production and Suits all know that, (well most of them do). Our families know that...

Then there's everyone else.

I have often been caught out referring to our 'team' - Phil and I, as 'we' - as you do - in the job, in crits, and when you're meeting other creative people... However, I have a habit of forgetting, people outside of the industry don't know this. It seems unless you're working in advertising you'll rarely know what this means. I can't count the amount of times, I've been caught bac-tracking having to justify that my work partner - IS NOT - my partner, partner. It's a guy I work with. Even saying 'my creative partner' doesn't quite cut it.

It makes me think... there has to be another profession, in another industry, where you are required to work this closely with another person... and you'll perhaps even refer to each other as 'we'.

What makes it worse, is that Phil and I, live in the same house - along with another Copywriter. We leave the house together, we return - often together, we carry a portfolio with our names stenciled on it, I think it looks cool and helps put the name about... but, I also wonder how many people that don't work in advertising, think something slightly odd is going on... It gets a good reception in crits and certainly gets a little attention on the tube. A cyan coloured portfolio probably would though right?

Do people outside the world advertising understand this working relationship?

We've got a number of friends from Uni, they studied and now work in Graphic Design. They'd know surely... well they do now. I've had to explain it to them in the past, I honestly begin to wonder whether anyone else come across this predicament?

Now, Phil's a nice guy, but he's not quite the tall, long-legged, brunette or blonde girl I tend to go for. We're not that close. There's a little book supplied from NABS/ LIZ H* a little while back that says it's not a good idea to fancy the person you work with. Well thank God for that.

We learned that it's all pretty normal for any team, to agree, to disagree, to have fun, stress out, work late into the night, crack on first thing in the morning, there's highs and lows... all I can say is Welcome to advertising!

*I'll upload a copy if I can without breaching any copyright laws! ...or direct you somewhere where you can get one... if they are still in print.

Crit 2.0

2009-04-05T21:35:00.006+01:00

Apparently of the 5/6 Photos I took, this was the best - Ben & Sophie didn't seem to be that photogenic. Sorry Guys camera phones just don't cut it!!!

Not the Thursday gone, the Thursday before we nipped across London's finest underground system back to Wieden's to see Ben & Sophie again, although we've got the placement lined up, we still think it's pretty important to keep tabs on things, make sure they still like what we're doing. The book almost completely changed, went down well, arguably better than before, if that's possible. The place is in a whole lot of chaos at the moment, in fact, they've just bought/ leased etc the building across the street, so when you find yourself on Hanbury Street in future, Wieden's will be on both sides of the road!

People were crammed into every nook and cranny. We still managed to sneak a picture of this beauty... ha ha.

The day before we received a rather nice email, out of the blue from Rich Holmes over at DLKW, great news really, he said he seen some of our work on the rounds and would like for us to come in for a chat.

A big smile and a free copy of Campaign :)

It went swimmingly, Rich, a real nice guy, was unfortunately flying solo that day, as Remco, (his partner) was away, anyway a nice long chat, a good flick through the book and we had covered a whole load of things, including some views and thoughts on the work we hadn't heard before. Rich even gave us a free copy of Campaign. Free stuff is always welcome.

Everything seems to be going pretty well over there, those keeno's among us might have noticed they won the E.On pitch not long ago, I know WCRS were in the running but that's about it. With a new ECD and a new Head of Strategy on their way in there, it seems like it could be an exciting place to be... but we'll have to wait and see.

Now we know people are actually reading this I might, try and make things a re little more interesting... or we'll just keep on doing what we do. Eithey way we'll keep on bloggin'.

Right, well This Friday, we stopped by DDB & WCRS to meet Howard (an ex-JWT CD) & Si respectively. We find it's great going back to places you've been before, there's always a chance to catch up on what's been happening, on both sides of the wall, so to speak, and although it is about the work, it's not ALL about the work. Something that has often popped up is that people never seem to go back for a second round of crits!? This is often the best bit, the hard bit is out of the way, initial introductions over, a familiar face. Seems a bit odd...if you ask me.

On the Day...

2009-03-31T08:14:00.005+01:00

Friday of all days... we were both pretty excited about the Wanted Ads, a chance to get noticed by doing some good work and to meet other creative in a similar position - except some of them already have jobs, it was the end of the week and it had been pretty busy one at that.

As described by the last post, we arrived in a rather unstylish fashion, it certainly didn't leave us at our best, running 80% of the way, with the other 20% was spent on the tube...* but we were there, The London Art House.

Once we arrived we were straight in the briefing, the room was quite full with roughly 22 / 23 Teams, from all over. The restrictions were you had to have done less than 3 years employment as a creative. So teams with Jobs, teams without jobs, teams on placements and yes you guessed it, team not on placement.

The brief was for HSBC, World Selection - in short, a savings account where they invest your saving worldwide using their 'specialist knowledge' - a tough brief if I'm honest.

After being delivered to the 'Baroque Hall', along with a few other teams, we cracked on with the work. The day was pretty good on the whole, nice selection for lunch, they provided the pens, pencils & paper along with Tea & Coffee in the afternoon. Around 4 PM the work was halted everyone had a chance to present to a couple of Creative Directors, we had Grant one of the ECDs from Iris and Paul from the Newspaper Society.

The Baroque Hall - but none of the chairs were there.

Overall, our impression of our work, was that it wasn't brilliant, we had a last minute idea which saw the rest of the work scrapped and 5 minutes to sketch up the new stuff. We could have done far better - the power of hindsight though right?

The day was not over until the results, with Joe & Alex picking up on of the prize spots and Enrique & Borja winning for a second time two years in a row! They'll go on to represent the UK in Europe (Hosted in London - what a tough break)...

We had a great chance to chat with some people, Alex, from our first placement at JWT, Jake & Jake, a team from Iris, who we almost missed while we were there, as they were in a different house, but they recognised us, and vice versa - great to catch up with. The infamous Jai & Wal for a good old natter, Dip & Rob from Dare, Paul & Danni who are currently at Inferno and finally Conrad & Alex who have done a fair stint at M&C...

What's more all the work is going to be online this year, it gives people a chance to see what everyone else has done, not just the winners and decide if you agree. Also there will be a viral going out, we can accept no responsibility for the comments and statements made as they were completely scripted, then improvised for the public amusement. We are not 'total' fools.

*Figures are not accurate, in the slightest.

How to get to the Wanted Ads...

2009-03-31T07:57:00.004+01:00

Preparation - check emails - find the address, google maps is your friend, print off.

1 - Arrive 45 Minutes early, because you can't predict the tube times.

2 - Find out and make sure you know where the place is.

3 - Once you've found the place, sit down for a cup of tea, perhaps some toast in a local Café

4 - Making sure you're not late arrive 5 minutes before you're supposed to be there.

5 - Head on up to the Newspaper Society reception, the receptionist will look through her diary and direct you to a boardroom.

6 - Sit in the boardroom, realising you are clearly the first here, what a keeno!

7 - What a Keeno! It's half 9.30 AM - nobody else is here!?

8 - Cue visit from a nice man at 9.35 AM who tells you you're in the wrong place and instead of being at the Newspaper Society you need to be at the Art House. A good 35 Minute journey - It starts at 10 AM - he hands you another map.

9 - Leave in a hurry, run through the underground system (apparently it's not allowed), nearly run into a blind man on the escalators, change trains 1 or 2 times depending on your route, arrive at the Venue.

10 - Slip in to back of seminar, un-noticed, realising you are only missed 1 minute and no-one else knows you're late.

Welcome to the Wanted Ads.

Wanted... Ads.

2009-03-25T20:57:00.004Z

Slightly dishonest with the title, we don't want ads... well we do, but that's another story.

We were on the drop out list for 'The Wanted Ads' - Young Team of the Year Awards.

Today we received a call with some great news, we're in. We'll be going up against approximately 25 teams to try and come out on top, can't guarantee anything, but by the sounds of things there's going to be some talent there. We'll try and do our bit anyway...

This has been mentioned over at Jai & Wal - and being as they did the write up last year I'll let them feedback on it - we'll just do our usual twist. I noticed The Oxymorons will be there too...

Battle of the bloggers maybe... and then some.

Explosive!

2009-03-24T19:20:00.003Z

Sent to me by Mr. Dave!

And to use his words... "A music vid, by the legend that is Spike Jonez".

Superb cinematography, amazing shots, skaters and explosives... truly... wow.

Heaven (Fully Flared Intro Video Remix)
Uploaded by UNKLE_UK

Best Skating footage I've seen....

Got a few quid?

2009-03-23T20:05:00.007Z

A shameless plug I'm afraid to say...

We're broke, yet to have been paid... we have some designer chairs that we managed to acquire. (No, we may be a junior team, and thus, scraping the barrel at the bottom of the industry, but they were actually given to us!)

The .03 side Chair - they are Manufactured by Vitra and Designed by Maarten Van Severen, a very nice chap (apparently!?) Circa 1999. Blah blah blah - it's all on the listing.

Anyway, we're selling them on Ebay... they are worth a few quid... so tell your friends, or anyone you know with a chair fetish...

Thank you!!!

Go here...

If anyone wants to make this post viral - please do!

Bugger...

2009-03-22T23:20:00.003Z

Being as I posted the VW 'Bollocks' ad, I thought this would be completely appropriate with a dash of Aussie humour.

Enjoy.

The little things...

2009-03-21T11:01:00.002Z

Got in touch with Jay at the Brooklyn Brothers a few weeks back, he used to be at AMV BBDO, and is apparently doing great things over there. Anyway... Noticed a funny little quirk with his signature at the bottom of his emails... here's a few examples...

It's all in the details... This is what follows the witty little remarks...

The views and opinions expressed in this email should be smart, witty and/or incisive. They may contain the odd piece of brilliance. Dissemination, distribution or copying of this email or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient means you owe us a pound. If this email has been received in error please call The Brooklyn Brothers at +44 (0)20 ******** and feel free to call the sender an idiot for typing the wrong e-dress

Question is... do I owe them a quid?

Feel free to send some clippings of more and i'll add them up.

Mike.

Bollocks

2009-03-21T10:51:00.001Z

Possibly in my list as one of my favourite ads...

...working on something yesterday brought it flooding back.

Hats off to Dan & Amber, makes me laugh everytime.

From Crayons to Pencils...

2009-03-21T10:35:00.007Z

...No not that sort, but one day if we're lucky.

Well I hope you've got the time to sit down and go through this lot, a bumper series of posts this weekend, I'm quite happy to say!

Well after 5 weeks at Iris our time is up! Placements are only supposed to last 2 weeks for some reason, so we've done well and it's been great! The days have been long, but the weeks have flown by. We've worked on all sorts, from Dept. of Health, Jack Daniels, Absolut Vodka, Philips & finally the giant that is Sony Ericsson.

After a chat with Mark, the DCD of our second house, it seems the immediate need is for seniors, and he didn't want to hold us there when we could be working off our asses somewhere else, that is actively looking to take the chance with some new talent at a Junior level. Now, I know what you're thinking, that may sound like an excuse, but we've been invited back for Freelance in a few weeks to work on a few things.

The guys have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome, have briefs to work on and encourage great ideas - no matter what the brief is. We have possibly met some of the most approachable people in the industry so far, with a few exceptions. There were no offices or walls and the door was literally always open - well, there wasn't one...

A big thanks to everyone for putting up with us! From Neale & Leigh, Pete & Neil, Barry & Dave in the first house, to Mark, Phil & Tim, Gareth, The infamous Artworkers Dan & Damo, who kept the banter flourishing throughout our time there.

We have had the chance to work alongside some brilliant creatives, a couple of Freelance guys Tori of WCRS fame and Nick who did some great work at Adam & Eve.

There's plenty more people, but this isn't an oscar, and we're out the door, at least for the time being.

We've got a couple of things lined up next, new contacts and plenty of people to go see, let's see where they take us!

Looking for crayons...

2009-03-16T00:16:00.007Z

Here's the deal... a shameless plug.

We have a friend called James

He'll answer to Jimi...

He's a copywriter.

He's pretty good too.

He's looking for an Art Director, juniors specifically.

Think you're up for it?

Drop us a message and we'll forward his details!

Your friendly ad-matchmakers over at Mike & Phil.

Cuthell + Monks

2009-03-08T18:49:00.009Z

Um... the typeface isn't exactly right but, I think we can let this one slip through the net...

Yep, some great news last week. We've landed a placement at Wieden + Kennedy's as of June!!!!! Arguably one of the best Creative shops around... we couldn't believe our luck, and had to check to make sure it wasn't a prank...

WTH June!? I hear you say... well there was a minor mix up with the date, it was going to be the 16th of this Month, but we certainly don't mind the wait! :)

Another week... of names to learn...

2009-03-08T17:47:00.006Z

It turns out it wasn't 50, more like 25 feet from our last desk. Slight exaggeration there.

So as we said last week, things have changed somewhat, we've shifted next door to a new house, to work with a bunch of new guys and on a bunch of new briefs. Almost like starting a fresh all over again. It's good though, Mark the DCD of the house has been brilliant, the Designers & Artworkers have kept us entertained with miscellaneous pranks the odd bit of banter... Phil, & Tim have kept us busy with work and feedback.

This week has all been about Sony Ericsson. A few different briefs but one client kinda leaves you tripping over yourself a little. Different phones, applications and restrictions are keeping us on our toes. It seems to be going well though...

We can now also double the list of names we have to remember. It feels like every name I learn, something very useful gets pushed out of my head. I'm not complaining though - I'm probably due for a clear out up there...

There's a real nice feel about the place to date and we're being kept on at least another week, who knows beyond that, let's just hope we can crack a couple of briefs that come our way and continue on making an impression.

Mike.

A Nod to T & D...

2009-03-08T17:31:00.002Z

A quick nod of congratulations to two of our Buddies, Tom & Darren from the University days, they have just been HIRED at Ogilvy, after a bit of a stretch!!!! Well done guys (Apologies for the delay in getting this one up!!!)

Welcome to Iris...

2009-03-01T13:01:00.009Z

So this came a little later than expected... we're two weeks in and it's going well - we hope. We've met some amazing people and are getting a really nice feel for the place, and we're not just saying that.

Iris seems a little different to most agencies you come across, the big reason for me is because of it's unique (?) structure. I'll explain, it's one big company, but it is divided in to 6 houses.

(Appropriately named after 6 local pubs!)

Each house contains about 60 people or there abouts - it's own clients, suits, production/design and creative departments. It seems to allow the company to run a lot more effectively. This is the first time i've come across something like this. I think it gives the clients a much more personal relationship with the company and the people who work there a greater sense of personality. Having worked at a huge place and a smaller one it's nice to be at Iris with this fusion of the two. Phil and I love the big places, but we like the small equally for very different reasons - there's definitely something nice about having the advantages of both...

As for us, it's been tough but we've been enjoying every second of it, it sounds corny but we were made to feel very welcome from day one, there's often a separation with the temp staff, I find, and you really have to go out of your way to make an impression, (this is the norm for placement teams - don't get me wrong - you want a job - you work at it) but it's really not been difficult there and there's a lot of little quirky things that make you feel like your part of the team.

So we've been working to the Creative group heads, and the feedback seems to have been positive. There's work that is being presented to client for Jack Daniel's, some bits on Absolut Vodka and we've been working on a placement brief for Dept. of Health, amongst other things.

As of Monday we're switching houses for a couple of weeks to work under a new CD (Ironically it's all of about 50 feet across the same floor), it's not too bad though, it'll almost be like starting over, although we know a couple of people already, from the workshop days and through generally wondering the corridors. Someone else we've got to try to impress and make our mark - we'll give it our best shot.

We'll update as and when.

The Irony of Nature...

2009-03-01T13:01:00.005Z

I tend to keep notes of quirky little things that I come across - here's another...

Funny how paper starts life as a tree - and ends up as leaves.

We know what's coming...

2009-03-01T12:55:00.004Z

Great news everyone apparently I can write in the future!!!!

As to what I was doing on Facebook at 5.15 am in the morning I have no idea... I now coin the phrase 'sleep-booking'.