www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqRRQioUeiI

I will be trying to write more, including a report on the current cultural and economic state of Japan. I am just contending with the amazing-ness of the whole experience. In tribute to the adventure, this video is dedicated to Nic.

Moar and noaw, plskthx.

Think something like coca cola’s recent campaign for their new grip bottle that used velcro posters, a concept that literally stuck with consumers (although, as some pointed out, one that had potential to end in disaster). Using the same concept, Unicef spread a message about landmines, and then there is my personal favourite, a guerilla campaign for television series Dexter in Portugal, which literally scared the shit out of people to build awareness about the show. Each campaign worked hard to use a conventional space creatively and unconventionally, and although ROI is harder to measure, I have a pretty good idea how much attention I would be paying if the toilet I was using suddenly gushed with blood.

Ambient and experiential advertising seems to push these boundaries the hardest. Perhaps it’s because they have the tools to do it – we now have bus shelters that can emit smells, outdoor signage that can dispense samples and even advertisements that can recognise your response and react accordingly. But it doesn’t take crazy technology to make the smartest ads. It’s just a matter of thinking a little more imaginatively.

But how can digital advertising achieve this? How can we create something that is tactile, that elicits an uncontrollable reaction, that excites and inspires, that makes people want to reach out to the screen and touch it…(is it something like this, perhaps?) Digital suffers many of the same limitations of TV and video – we can show moving picture and sound, but we cannot create smell, taste or feel – but we have one huge advantage. We can interact with audiences.

There are limited examples of online advertising that really interact with the viewer. Somewhat surprisingly (considering the capabilities of the medium), the majority of concepts choose to go with the same stock standard banner ads, pop up displays and adwords. As the internet becomes more cluttered, however, there is going to have to be a shift in thinking. We’ll have to think outside the screen, so to speak. Beautiful websites just ain’t gonna cut it anymore, unless they are capable of something really cool. People will want to be surprised, delighted and intrigued; they will want tools and tricks that allow for this. Here’s our chance to make an online experience that is more than just beautiful and user-friendly. It can be memorable.

Alternatively, we’re just going to have to be really, really f*@cking funny. Either will require innovation.

Let’s get to it. And apologies for the use of italics, I was feeling overtly emphatic today.

The passive-aggressive (and just plain aggressive) notes website is run by Kerry Miller, with examples contributed by readers worldwide. Many are simply enchanting, especially at a time when my own relationship with work places (and the outside world in general) feels a little strained :cough:

To top off this brighter day, via her website I also discovered some fine apostrophe abuse, the thoughtful Ironic Sans and the outstanding cake wrecks (which I had forgotten the wonders of). Thank you Kerry, and the lovely We made this, for the fix.

Work has been absorbing and exhausting, not just because they threw us an end of year party (aka we-found-some-left-over-funds-at-the-end-of-the-financial-year party) complete with kegs of cocktails, but also because of the buzz that is the Cannes Lions, the importance of which would have eluded me just over a year ago, but now has some significant relevance (or so I’m told) due to my new choice of career. While the majority seems to be industry-indulging bollocks, occasional gems are worth their weight in…uh…gold lions. Such as this spot from Tribal DDB Amsterdam.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ3D4CqHbJM

(much better quality here).

Winning awards seems to be quite important to our agency, despite some views to the contrary and our seeming inability to do so (this year, at least). But it also serves as a valid excuse to take the time to seek out and peruse the most innovative and fabulous work from around the world. Images that disarm you, media placement to delight you and innovation that leaves you breathless (not to mention petrified).

But in the end, it is still far away from the commercial and capitalist world that the most wonderful art is occurring; incredible music, magical imagery (below, and courtesy of Mark Sartain), and fabulously pertinent writing.

It is digital expeditions that make discovery all of these treasures possible, not TV or press or radio. I am enchanted without being sold ideas, persuaded without being told what I need. And sometimes, just by chance, you stumble upon something that is all sorts of wonderful.