Will the agency launched in Los Angeles recently vowing to fight cancel culture. They've set up all the usual socials, their website and their Twitter, and that's where they immediately got into trouble. So I had to see what that is all about and invited Josh Denny, founder, and head of business development, together with Isaac Simpson, founder, and creative director to talk about it.
Within five minutes, we were talking about Hitler's hand in developing what might be the world's most beloved and iconic hippie-car - the Beetle.
DDB's founder Bill Bernbach took on the VW client when they were exported to the USA, and the art director on the job, Helmut Krone, has famously said "To be completely honest, I was wondering what was going on in Bernbach's head, because it really had Nazi connotations to it," as he really didn't think this was a client they should take on. The rest, as they say, is advertising history as the DDB simple VW campaign ushered in a new creative era in advertising.
We also discussed current ads, shocker, I know, and while I mentioned that I love The Guardian "points of view", from decades ago, the sea of same today leaves me cold. Collaborations, however, Isaac points out, have a way of breaking through the clutter and reaching new audiences like never before. As an example, he brought up the event where Adidas collaborated with Arizona Ice Tea, launched the Arizona branded sneaker, and sold it for 99 cents. The event was shut down by police because as it turns out, everyone wanted a pair of one-dollar sneakers with cherry blossoms on them.
Cutting through the clutters and the sea of same is key, so while their humoristic project The collab generator may just have been for fun, there are new avenues to explore in the meeting of brands that share fans. This, cancel culture - does it really exist? - Cuties the film, and much more was discussed as I seemed to have forgotten I was one a podcast and we chatted as if we were having a beer somewhere. Allowing people to speak freely is how you get to the better ideas, however, and that's how Isaac spotted the targeting and campaigning potential of a decades-old rejected Carlsberg ad I once wrote.
The Adland podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, Google podcasts, on blubrry, at listennotes, at tunenin, on Spotify, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app too.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is as always "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
David Burn, the co-founder, editor and publisher of Adpulp, and I had a lively discussion about what it's like to create a media that predates the existence of Youtube, Twitter, and even Facebook. How much the advertising and media world has changed since. How Internet advertising keeps missing the absolute basics of marketing. How students need to grow a thick skin because your ideas will be shot down a thousand times over in this business, and it's nothing personal. The death of the holding companies. The trade magazines who are in bed with the companies they write about leaving us with no journalists properly reporting on our industry, and much more. We gossipped so much that I lost track of time, and if you want to see if you're mentioned you will simply have to give it a listen. You might be. We namechecked tons of people.
Adpulp has also launched a Patreon subscription service, that helps pay for young emerging voices in our industry to write commentary for Adpulp. You should support this. Because heaven knows most banner ads do nothing for anyone. It's "digital debris" as David said.
The Adland podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, Google podcasts, on blubrry, at listennotes, at tunenin, on Spotify, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app too.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is as always "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
Kellie-Jay, also known as Posie Parker, the founder of Standingforwomen speaks with Dabitch on this episode of Adland's podcast about the "Woman" billboard campaign that she has created which manages to get banned everywhere. Why is it so controversial?
We also manage to discuss ads in general, opining on everything from Johnny Rotten selling butter to the most recent Libresse bodyform commercial with the animated wombs and then some. We speak about the Dove ads were the new type of mother includes the biological father, which got a lot of backlash. (Standingforwomen have a t-shirt for that too) and kvetch about Always removing the "female" symbol from their packaging as well as copywriters inventing new terms for women and how clunky that can sound. Also, we spoke about Heinz using Pornhub as a place to run their ads. In short, this may be the most advertising focussed podcast yet, and Kellie-Jay doesn't even work in advertising! So do tune in, and if you want to hear more from her, she has her own Youtube channel.
Adland's Podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, Google podcasts, on blubrry, at listennotes, at tunenin, on Spotify, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app too.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is as always "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
This week on Adland's podcast we discuss social media, and recent events with another podcast duo, Sarah Larsson Bernhardt and Deeped Niclas Strandh who host a podcast called "Social by Default" in Sweden. They also hold a class at Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm, about social media.
This was recorded on Wednesday, the day after some really monumental events both on social media and in real life, so when Sarah comments that brands should do more, such as donating money, she's a little ahead of the game as big brands such as Lego did do so on Thursday.
We discuss influencer journalists, the blackout Tuesday on Instagram, and much more.
Fun fact about Deeped, his blog used to be hosted at Deepedition, and when it came to creating usernames around the web, "Deeped" was simply shorter and sweeter, and that's what he named himself here when he created an account. These days you'll find him blogging at digitalpr.se. You can also find Sarah at @sanasilb on Twitter and @deeped as just that on same.
Adland's Podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, Google podcasts, on blubrry, at listennotes, at tunenin, on Spotify, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app too.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is as always "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
If you don't know who Cameron Day is, you haven't been paying attention. The son of Guy Day from Chiat/Day, he was determined to carve out his own path in an industry that is constantly changing, and with his heritage, he had the luxury of of never having to explain to his father what he does for a living.
Now a chief creative mentor, because that's what a creative director really should be, he shares some of what he learned, and how he works to make the best work. For more advertising history, see Cameron's post "How big can we get before we get bad?"
Adland's Podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, Google podcasts, on blubrry, at listennotes, at tunenin, on Spotify, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app too.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is as always "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
In this episode of Adland's podcast, I have a nice chat with Marc Lewis, the Dean of the School of Communication Arts, London about the future for the new creative generation in general and his school in particular. As schools have locked down, Marc had the foresight to envision an online version of this creative bootcamp, and SCA students can be in school virtually now, with their own personal offices, a smoke room and even a pub.
The SCA, which in its first incarnation was created by John Gillard "the pied piper of advertising", is now the most awarded ad school in the world with both short courses and a full year complete with six months internship. It is where copywriters, art directors, creative technologists and ideapreneurs meet and hone their skills, network and teamwork in the heart of London. It's not for the lazy.
Adland's Podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, Google podcasts, on blubrry, at listennotes, at tunenin, on Spotify, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app too.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is as always "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
Everyone has seen something that Raymond Larabie has done, even if they might not know his name. A most prolific font creator, he has influenced our world from package design to logotypes to shouting headlines, by giving us a plethora of expressive typefaces to play with. I mean literally giving us, as he released tons of them for free.
You can find his work at typodermicfonts.com, in your Adobe font collection, and naturally at MyFonts. You can stalk his Japanese scenery on Instagram and follow him on Twitter where he is @Typodermic.
So how did he start creating all these fonts, and why? Which is the hardest letter to do? When did he move to Japan? He left the gaming industry - where he designed the cars you thrashed in Grand Theft Auto among other things - to start a type foundry, did that even make sense at the time? What inspires him?
Adland's Podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, on Spotify, via Google podcasts, at listennotes, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is as always "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and any streaming service of your choice.
Welcome back to Adland's podcast.
Adland's Podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, on Spotify, via Google podcasts, at listennotes, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app.
This time on Adland's podcast, in the episode I chat with Ian David, founder of Fearless, a creative network of mavericks. We discuss, among other things what inspired him to do this, as well as the possible future of advertising in these changing times.
We also dip in some nostalgic ad memories, recalling great creative work of the past by maverick creatives such as Mary Wells, who wrote "A Big Life in Advertising" about her astonishing career.
Some of the ads that Mary Well Lawrence created are here in Adland's archives, and on the podcast, Ian mentioned the Braniff Airlines work as well as her American Motors campaigns, which are but two examples of her prolific portfolio shown here below.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is as always "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
Welcome back to Adland's Podcast, which is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, on Spotify, via Google podcasts, at listennotes, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app.
In these strange quarantined times, we chat with Belén Wilson, whom you may recall wrote this useful guide "how can a parent navigate life as a freelancer", and you may know from Twitter & Linkedin, about the future for Harry and Meghan. The brand. How will Sussex Royal brand themselves, now that they are no longer Royals? What can they sell?
We discuss what the Suss-exes can, and should do, in order to not lose the little branding they have already achieved, what their current mistakes are, and what they could possibly do in the future. As all of the world self-quarantines at home, their bet on airlines was a bad one.
I had a few brainfarts as we recorded, stating for example that "I'm not a republican at all", which is the opposite of what I mean. I am a republican in the sense of the word that I would prefer to not have a royal family, but I am also not a British subject so that's neither here nor there. I had a great time chatting with Belén, thanks for coming on.
The spiffy intro/outro tune is "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
In this episode, I discuss the impact of the Coronavirus with Evan Brown, a freelancing Creative Director (copy) who has been ordered to work from home, just like pretty much all of the employees of the “FAANG” companies in the Bay Area.
Will this change the way we work in the future, will people work from home more? How will this impact the travel industry and the advertising of these industries? This and more is what we are talking about.
The lead-in and out for Adland's podcast is the awesome jam "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy", which is by the Cosmopolitans, and is available on Amazon, iTunes, Google and the streaming service of your choice.
This was meant to be the second episode but the first one will be re-recorded due to technical issues, so this one is released now.
Adland's Podcast is available everywhere like at apple podcasts, on Spotify, via Google podcasts, at listennotes, and you can listen with the pocketcasts app.
Adland® is a commercial-laden heaven and hell for advertising addicts around the world.
This advertising publication was founded in 1996, built on beer and bravery, Adland® now boasts the largest super bowl commercials collection in the world.
Adland® survives on your donations alone. You can help us out by buying us a Ko-Fi. Adland® works best in Brave browser
