Our Hairy Boys.

Here we have Amadu from Legal and Amit from Creative with their very own home-grown Mo's, in aid of this year's Movember campaign.

Together they raised the grand sum of £360 to help raise awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer. A very worthy cause, and some fantastic facial hair, so well done boys...

You can shave them off now.

Cats! Plagiarism! What's not to like?

God bless you, the Internet.

Not only do you give us a humorous promotional video from an ad agency featuring cuddly bundles of fur; you also give us an opportunity to get righteously riled about the fact that said promotional video is in fact a blatant rip-off of another feline based promotional video.

Here's one:

And here's one that was made earlier:

Intentional? Coincidence? You decide. But they're both (wait for it) a-mewsing.

Keepin' the streets of TBCH clean.

Just in case anyone at TBCH starts to muck about, we've enlisted our very own upholders of the law.

Not really.  Creative Services Manager Rich and Account Executive Nic accidentally wore matching (rather police-y looking) outfits today.  So our Creative Director got 'creative' with them.

Still...everyone seems to be keeping their heads down. 

Nothing to see here.  Move along.

It's Chriiiiiiistmaaaaaaaasss Part 2

Littlewoods' jolly festive offering (created in-house) is proving less than popular with precisely the audience it's trying to win over.

Irate Mums from all over the country have been bombarding the company's blog with three main beefs:

1.  It kinda blows the lid on the whole Santa Claus caper for their still innocent 'ickle ones.

2.  It encourages the notion that to be a good mother you have to buy your kids expensive stuff they don't need and you can't afford.

3.  It's incredibly sexist (Where exactly is Dad? Chopping wood for the log fire?).

Rumours of revisionist Facebook activities are also circulating.

You can see the ad and read the comments here (although don't be surprised if it 'magically vanishes' soon).

http://blog.littlewoods.com/2011/11/stars-of-the-show-our-new-christmas-advert/

(http://bit.ly/rHAbdd)

Wince pie anyone?

Agency, heal thyself.

It's very easy and usually unwise for one agency to have a pop at another.

But as with most rules, there's always room for an exception. And we're more than happy to make one for this turkey, from large multinational conglomerate Sapient Nitro.

Apparently, they are 'Idea Engineers', or something. They're so proud of this fact they decided to write a song about it. And produce a video too.

Now musical taste is a very subjective thing, and there will be some out there who might like this jaunty little number. But most were pretty scathing. Twitter and YouTube gems include:

"My eyes just vomited into my brain."
"OMG my skin just fell off."
"A little part of me just died watching this..."
"Makes me feel embarrassed to be a human."

Ouch.

But that's not the point here. The real problem is that the agency was unprepared for the almost universally adverse reaction it received. Rather than taking it on the chin, they started deleting hostile posts from their Facebook page and eventually pulled the plug on the video altogether. Too late. It had already been copied to YouTube.

So here we have a case study in:

A: How not to do agency self-promotion
B: How not to manage a social media backlash.

It appears the video originated from the agency's Indian offices, and that 'cultural differences' are being blamed. Fair enough, but there's another important lesson for us all: The Internet has no border controls.

But wait a minute. Perhaps the agency is having the last laugh here? If no one was talking about them before, they certainly are now. The video has over 50,000 views and counting and it even trended on Twitter. Hmmmm, pass me that guitar....

PS. The final word goes to Sapient Nitro HQ via Twitter: "We do great social media work for our clients. Today we left our own brand unattended. Sorry."

Going to the chapel.

Sometimes life gets interesting when you say yes.

While on route to buy their lunch, Muz and Becky from our Creative department were asked to witness the marriage of Mark and Linise at Chelsea Old Town Hall.

They agreed and 20 minutes later, were cheering the happy couple (and wishing they had bought confetti).

All the best for the future, Mark and Mrs Mark!

It's Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiistmaaaaas.

Well, it nearly is. And in adland the first shots of festive campaigns have been fired.

Front-runner for ad of the season is this little heart-string tugger from John Lewis. (Well, it made me go all teary-eyed. But then, most things do at my age.)

Of course, the interweb is a cynical place to be. So even though the ad managed to make it as a trending topic on Twitter, it wasn't necessarily for the right reasons.

Charlie Brooker, for instance, started a debate about what really was in the little boy's gift box, suggesting that:

"Anyone who wells up at that John Lewis ad is a monster. That's a dog's head in that box."

Meanwhile, miserabilist Smiths fans bemoaned the fact that Morrissey and Marr had sold out in allowing their hymn to teenage alienation be used to sell fast moving consumable goods. Oh, and that the cover version was rubbish.

But the best (and most creative) reaction was this clever bit of editing that married the ad to the music from The Shining to chilling effect:

Merry Christmas everyone.

Changing Rooms.

We've recently updated our office with three new working spaces. Collectively named 'The Crystal Maze', each area is supposedly for a specific purpose, except everyone seems to have named them something different. Names include:

The Land of Leather.
The Docking Station.
The War Room.
The Smoking Room.
The Medieval Zone.
The Room with the Client in.
King Arthur's Round Table.
You Know, The One With The Big Table, Round The Corner, On The Left.

Here are Becky and Carley decorating The Land of Leather, in order to make it a little more homely. All that's missing is a roaring fire and some glass decanters....

Will you marry me?

So with the eagerly awaited (two years to be precise) contract upgrade looming, the all-important question is 'Just how much do I need Siri in my life?' I mean, I think it's pretty unlikely that I'll actually ask Siri to do things for me...and could I trust that they'd be done accurately? If you want something done properly, do it yourself, right?

But all the people I know with the iPhone 4S seem to be able to admit that there is a use, and one use only, for Siri.

Stupid questions.

Saucy Siri....

Something my friend asked quite early on...

But maybe this is just a step too far.....

When will the novelty wear off? And when will poor old Siri get used for things she/he was intended for?

On my contract? Probably not anytime soon. Think I can just about cope with a Siri-less life for now.

Save the boobs.

Today we talk about a subject many people would be interested in.  That's right...boobies.  Hello boys.

Actually, we're gonna talk about breast cancer.

Wait!  Don't go!  Breast cancer PSAs tend to feature big sexy boobs!  Because if breast cancer isn't caught early, the world misses out on another set of lovely boobs.  I'm a bit fed up of busty women in bikinis...busty women doing a Nuts magazine boob-hold...busty women having a sexy boob-checking shower....

One can't help but wonder if we should all just grow up a bit.

Or maybe we don't need to grow up at all.  Maybe we just need to make ads that speak to the women who actually own the boobs, rather than focusing on how upset the men would be if the lady boobs went all wrong.

Maybe we need pretty boys making 'tits' (pun absolutely intended) of themselves in the name of saving women from cancer.  And in return, the ladies can do their bit for testicular cancer, in whichever way they find appropriate.....

Daily Star Boob Count (present in this blog post) : 12

I beg your pardon?

Sometimes, ads make you sit up and pay attention.  Sometimes they wind you up.  Sometimes they become iconic.  Most of the time you ignore them.

Occasionally you'll innocently be watching TV, eating your seventh bag of crisps, and an ad will make you do that comedy double-take thing that people only do in films when someone just got all sexy.

Like this one for Morrisons.  How did no-one involved in this read this script and think "Perhaps we should use a different variety of apple?" or "Perhaps the Morrison's employee shouldn't ask the young boy if his cox is fresh enough?"  

PERHAPS HE SHOULD NOT DO THAT. 

Watch, enjoy, smirk, report to the police.

Minority Reports for the Majority

"John Anderton. You could use a Guinness right about now!" The target of this statement is Tom Cruise's character in the futuristic 2002 film Minority Report. It is the stand-out message in a relatively short scene in which we see him faced with a number of highly targeted, digital display adverts. Adverts that recognise his face and present him with 'relevant' (if not exactly timely) personalised content.

The scene probably left marketers salivating at the possibilities - until they remembered, regrettably. that they were indeed watching a sci-fi. Surely such tailored messaging would be out of their reach for years to come...

However, recent technological advances suggest that this may actually be reality far sooner than we think. Forget 2054, try 2012.

Can it really work? Will it be cheap enough? Would anyone really give away all their personal details? Well actually, the answer is yes - to all of the above.

Let me bring two exhibits to the table.

Exhibit 1: Immersive billboards - digital signage that is equipped with cameras that can roughly work out your gender, age and whether or not you are with friends. It can then offer you tailored advertising based on some assumptions.

http://www.psfk.com/2011/04/immersive-is-the-google-adwords-of-intelligent-digital-signage.html


Exhibit 2: Facebook picture recognition - a 'service' that 
 recognises the faces in your photo albums and tags them automatically in order to save you time.

It does not take a genius to propose synching the two types of technologies together. You could create a system that not only could establish who you are, but scan your personal page to discover what your interests are, what brands you like and who you are mates with.

I say bring it on...

I like to think that when they get hold of my page it will only be a matter of time before I'm offered a half price bottle of Bacardi, last minute gig tickets and a new (replacement) phone. Winning!

Claydon's Heelz

This week, our crack team of speedy runners, known brilliantly as Claydon's Heelz, took part in the annual LGN Run Club's Inter Advertising 5km in Regents Park.

Raising money for TESFA in Ethiopia were Richie, Steve, Mus, Amit, Ali, Nicola, Jules, Eve, Lou and Alex.  Here they are looking slightly rosy-cheeked after the race...

And here they are celebrating their (personal) win.

Sweaty trainers and well-deserved pints all round.

Well done guys!

Fast cars and...your finances?

Stability. Solid. Customer centricity.

Just some of the core attributes a high street bank would probably want to portray to its customers, right?

Risk taker. Adrenaline seeker. British champions.

Perhaps three attributes not quite so timely for banking institutions. Especially one so unmistakably non-British (that shall remain nameless...)

Why then, has the largest bank in Europe recently announced its plans to ramp up the prominence of its two UK 'brand ambassadors', Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton?

Now I can completely understand the reasoning behind this kind of high profile celebrity endorsement. They can be beneficial by:

-  proving a useful way of communicating some sense of a brand's value and personality, by drawing upon the general public perception of said individual.

-  closer aligning a brand with its consumers through an individual that people admire, respect or aspire to.

-  leveraging the highly visible nature of an individual to reach a wider audience.

I can clearly see the link between the sport of Formula One and the financial industry. Both are intricately scientific and complex. Both are highly volatile and operate at speed.

In this case though, it just feels wrong. Post financial crisis, associating your consumer facing financial services brand with a sport where the tiniest error can have hugely destructive consequences; or where speed, risk-taking and aggression are rewarded, just seems poorly thought out. More than this though, it's the association with the drivers themselves - these adrenaline junkies that crave the high-risk excitement - that hits a nerve with me.

Banks need to do a serious job in re-establishing a relationship with consumers that is based on trust. They need to show that they are solid, stable and customer focused. Consumers are more savvy about the financial world. They're more wary of overt displays of financial risk-taking and more willing to shop around for the best products and rates.

Investing such vast sums of their marketing budget on high profile Formula One faces doesn't seem particularly smart to me.

By Royal Invitation Only

As part of our campaign delivery for The Queen's Awards for Enterprise, our CEO Steve Grout was invited along with the campaign team and winners of the awards to meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace for a personal thank you.

Targetbase Claydon Heeley - We've got contacts.  Believe.

Google Goggles Part II

 Here's the exciting second installment of 'How Google Goggles sees TBCH'.  We still recommend abusing the technology for your own immature amusement.

Becky

Caroline

Chris Martin

Chris Myers

Claire

Merran

Muz

Ali

Amit

Tee hee hee.

The New Rock Stars?

Isn't it a disappointment when you imagine a brilliant picture of something really cool in your head, only for it to be rubbished in the cold light of reality?

Maybe it was just me, but I always had a slightly romantic view of internet hackers (not to be confused with those pesky phone hackers).

I had convinced myself that they were the modern day heroes intent on sticking it to the man (think Neo and Morpheus from The Matrix).  Either that or they were a sinister bunch of uber-villains out to cause havoc and mayhem.  What tied the two together was a delightful mixture of intelligence, charm, skill and mischief, not to mention a good dose of humour.  They were a secret society, the illuminati of the internet, who met up in their mysterious hideouts to plot, scheme and hack.

But the recent arrests of prominent members of hacker groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec has made me realise I was perhaps being a little flattering in my fantasy.  The dynamic internet elite were little more than teenagers, and pretty geeky ones at that.  But it did get me thinking...

Are these budding hackers the disaffected youths and rebels from yesteryear?  Both are seemingly drawn to the 'cool' and dangerous side of society.  Just as they were with punk and grunge, our generation of youngsters are being compelled by the same sense of rebellion and anarchy (and the counter-culture and politics that come with it).

Have they simply traded guitar rhythms for algorithms?

The main difference is that the internet has made it possible for anybody to become a 'rock star'.  The internet provides anonymity and intrigue.  Its reach allows anyone to gain kudos, respect and admiration (regardless of what they look like).

Herein lies the appeal for the downtrodden and outcast - a golden chance to be a part of something bigger.  More importantly, it's a chance to be something more than an awkward teenager who struggles to strive in an offline world.

Let's compare the old with the new.  Sure, both are rich and famous and evidently surrounded by a gaggle of groupies.  But if I'm completely honest, I'd sooner spend an evening with Keith Richards than Julian Assange - any day of the week.

Email or Admail?

Returning from my summer holiday this year, I was welcomed home by over 280 emails in my hotmail inbox.  I know we all complain about junk mail, but this number actually excludes those pesky little bits of communication.  So if you subtract all the messages I received suggesting all sorts of gadgets and pharmaceuticals for any problems I might (or might NOT) have, it would appear that I am pretty popular.

It was only when I started to sort through my inbox that I realised I didn't have ONE email that was sent from a friend, relative, colleague...or indeed, anybody I really know.  Most people knew that I was away, but this did strike me as pretty shocking (Or maybe you have no friends - Ed).

I sorted the messages into groups:

Interesting stuff I want to read:  0

Newsletters from sports clubs I've joined:  3

Offers from brands & products I'm a regular customer of:  21

Updates from LinkedIn/forums I've signed up to:  32

Random rubbish from companies I've had to give my email to in order to register interest/buy something once:  224+

Now, I'm no good with stats but that's a pretty small percentage of email that I actually have any interest in.

More importantly, there wasn't any personal email, so it seems (in my world at least) email isn't used this way anymore.  Has email become purely an advertising medium?  Perhaps email has now reached maturity as a personalised, targeted comms channel...

While I have 'opted in' to this stuff in some way, virtually none of it is truly personalised, relevant or interesting.  When I do take the time to 'open' rather than 'delete', the majority is just your bog-standard, boring email copy.  And the more I get of it, the less time I spend opening anything at all...

Email can be good, but it should be used sensibly.  Just because it's cheap, doesn't mean you should send it.  Just because you are pinging out lots of messages to your mailing list, don't kid yourself that you have an engaged audience at the other end.

Next time...'Freemiums'.

Yodel-ay-hee-hoo

All agencies have them.  We look forward to it.  We dread it.  We try to guess the weather.  We try to be original.  We always end up spending 80% of the budget on booze that doesn't get drunk.

The 726th Annual TBCH Summer Party was held this year on the 14th July.  A date that will surely go down in history as the day that we had our party on this year.

We started out with a very civilised picnic in the park, complete with bubbly, strawberries and smoked salmon (plus over 130 blinis, due to a clerical error with the Sainsbury's order).

The slightly overcast day lent itself well to a few games of ever-increasingly competitive rounders, with more than a few dirty tactics being employed by senior members of staff.

Then it was back to the office to wipe our sweaty brows and cabs to Old Street, where everyone was welcomed to The Bavarian Beerhouse.  A few Steins of Krombacher and shots of Porno Brause (imagine popping candy plus vodka and you're there) put everyone in a party-party sort of mood.

Many sausage and schnitzels later, it was on to Ziegfrid for more drinking and dancing until the early hours.

There were sore heads and a reconciliatory trip to the pub the next day, but as everyone knows, that just means it was a good party...

Here are some of the (least incriminating) photos from the day...

Beer, pies and teeny-weeny footballers.

Wednesday 6th July saw the Red Box Table Football Tournament roll into town once again.

This year our fighting fit team consisted of Andrew 'The Stopper' Musumeci and Richie 'The Scorer' Florey.

After doing a bit of pre-match warm-up (beers), it was game on.

Each game lasted no more than 3 minutes and the only rule?  THERE ARE NO RULES.

Oh, except for no spinning.  Spinning is cheating.

After winning the first game 8-2, and losing the second 5-2, our team needed some half-time encouragement (beer and also, pies).

Winning the third game 5-3 pushed our team into the Quarter Finals...unfortunately, that's as far as they went, finally bowing out with a result of 2-0.

Great sports that they are, they valiantly stayed on to support the other teams (drink more beers).

Despite the eventual result, a good time was had by all.

Special thanks to Amit 'The Cheerleader' Dave and Merran 'Just a small glass' Lusher for their unwavering support throughout the evening.

Roll on next year...we've already started practising.

The four commandments

The King James's Bible was written by a committee.  Yes, you heard right.  The book that gave us phrases such as 'the salt of the earth' was written by committee.  In fact, it's plural.  Committees.  Not one, but six were responsible for writing it.

How can this be?  In our business we are taught that anything created or designed by a committee is a bad thing.  The result of a committee will be a many-headed beast, rather than a pure single-minded idea.  How many times do we exclaim 'There are no statues to committees!'

The BBC Four documentary 'When God Spoke English: The Making of the King James Bible' provided me with the answer.

Lesson 1:  The importance of the single-minded idea

King James wanted a translation that would stamp his authority as king over a country that was going through turbulent times.  He knew exactly what he wanted the version to convey - his majesty.  If he had written a brief, that would have been the proposition - 'majesty'.

Lesson 2:  The power of presentation

Each of the 47 translators (he needed this many as let's face it, the Bible is rather big) was briefed to translate from the original Greek into English.  The committees then judged the translations against the King's brief of 'majesty'.  Every single word was judged.  And because the Authorised Version (as it came to be known) would be read aloud in church, the committees insisted that the translators didn't just send in their work for approval, but instead they had to read it aloud.  They had to present their argument for why they had translated each word the way they had, face to face.  (One suspects the 21st century habit of copy sent by email wouldn't have been tolerated.)

Lesson 3:  Check for typos

The first editions suffered from printing errors.  The word 'not' was missing from the seventh commandment ('Thou shalt commit adultery').  Oooops.

Lesson 4:  Committees can be a good idea

Everyone involved with the King James Bible knew what was expected of them, and they had a shared vision.  The King had a clear brief.  The translators knew what they were trying to achieve.  And the committees knew against which criteria they were judging the translations.

Any parallels with our industry?

Just a thought.

Doomsday for display?

Sucking on a thoughtful tooth and generally musing about everything, a thought hit me.  Doesn't happen that often.  But hit me it did.  We're all aware of the latest cookie legislation and the Euro directive to overtly solicit opt-in.  And we can all conclude the future of online advertising has been thrown into a serious tailspin.

The way we collect, collate and analyse the data that informs the way we all go about our online advertising business has been seriously threatened.  But we all knew that.  And despite Ed Vaizey's vaguely reassuring but nebulous murmurings about modifying (or ignoring) the Euro guidelines, there is genuine worry sweeping through digitalopolis.

But that's only a teeny-tiny problem compared to another lurking threat to our digi-dream future.  Adblocker.

Yup, it's here.  And it's the most popular 'extension' to Safari.  By miles.  It wipes out every pixel of every display ad.  From the tiniest button, to the most sophisticated re-targeted-fancy-pants-rich-media-interactive extravaganza.  OK, it's not widely known about yet but it works and is free for anybody who wants it.  And it's only a matter of time before other browsers get their own versions.  And, let's be honest, search engines and browsers alike will be powerless to stop folk getting their hands on it.

So, it becomes irrelevant that we may not be able to use Google Analytics or come up with hyper-sophisticated behavioral targeting.  If people can turn off our ads, we're screwed.


Now I'm sure the multi-billion dollar online display business won't just lay down and let this happen, but the threat is very real.  Imagine a function that lets us cut the commercials from live TV.  Or 'banish' ads from printed media.  Or wipe out outdoor.  Who wouldn't give it a thought?  Despite the world being a much less vibrant and creative place without advertising, we know given the chance, people would and could do without it.


But with opting out of cookies and developments like Adblocker, the control is being handed to the consumers.  Ironically, you could call it true co-creation (well, co-destruction).


Maybe it looks like print is worth 'going long' on.


God bless the Heidelberg.


Amen.

Oranges aren't the only fruit.

Legals:

For the sake of anonymity the following tale of customer woes contains no direct reference to the telecommunications brand in question.  They will herein only be referred to as 'The Fruity One'.

I recently came to the end of my mobile contract with 'The Fruity One'.  I have been with 'The Fruity One' for three and a half years.  I have never fussed, never complained.  I have never lost my phone.  I have never called the helpline.  Barely set foot in one of their stores.  Always paid my bill on time.

"Surely", I thought to myself, "I must be one of their highly valued customers?"

"Surely", I wondered in my naive state of customer delusion, "I must be eligible for a competitive renewal offer?"

Nope.

According to my online account, if I wanted to upgrade to an iPhone 4 it would mean increasing my bill to £35 a month.  Quite expensive, but it's an iPhone 4, so I wasn't too surprised.  What did shock me however, was the upfront handset cost.

£600.

That's right.  £600.

Yeeaah...I'm out.

Why make it so difficult for me to get a good deal on an upgrade?  Why play 'the game' and risk my leaving?  Why not offer me a great deal upfront, to ensure I don't even consider whether the other side is greener (and more importantly, cheaper)?

I'm taking my plums elsewhere.

How do you like dem apples?

 

It's the end of the world. Give now.

You're a charity.  You want to raise as much money as you can.  You're offered free advertising.  You'll reach millions of potential donors.

Oh, just one thing.  Your ad will appear in a newspaper that's mired in controversy, has been universally discredited and is shutting up shop.  It's The News of The World.

What do you do?  Take the moral high ground and say no?  Or take the advertising?

Most of the big charities did the former, one of the few exceptions being the DEC.  And who can blame them?  After all, the saying may be,"If you eat with the devil,use a long spoon".  But at least the spoon can be used to feed the starving.

And the smaller charities?  Well, several took up the paper's offer.  After all, why turn your nose up at the chance to target an audience you'd never normally be able to reach with your tiny media budget?

Like it or loathe it, the final edition of The News of The World sold over four million copies.  That's over four million people who looked beyond the phone-hacking scandal and still bought the paper.  Over four million potential donors who won't think badly of your charity.

And when it comes to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like that, who wouldn't throw self-righteousness to the wind?

To (mis)quote Bob Geldof at Live Aid, "Just give us your f**king money".

TBCH Staff (as Google Goggles sees us).

Tim L

Sam

Rich

Peter

Merran

Hannah

Emily

Tim J

As you can see, there are hours of fun to be had by using the Google Goggles app to "recognise" your mates.  I find it to be very telling.  I actually think we might have unearthed some hard home truths here...