Here at IF! and PSFK we’re considered in some quarters as an influential blog. As a result we sometimes get sent stuff like books, event invites and other bits and bobs. However, we’ve recently been asked to take part in what is a pretty interesting PR project by UK mobile phone company O2.

Richard over on Adliterate has put together a fantastic post on how to create the best work of your life. Richard suggests that we just think generously.
“I think that there is one thing that is absolutely true of great brand ideas – they are generous. don’t mean generous to their customers, though this is always nice, but generous to the other organisations collaborating on the project.
“Generosity is clearly not the be all and end all but when you brief your partners (whether creative, media, digital, PR, instore or anyone else) if you can see them literally salivate at the [...]

This is the latest work for World AIDS Day in India. A nice piece of lateral thinking.

via La Fora

The latest issue of Trendwatching is out and this time it’s all about something that they’ve coined Clowd Clout – the ability of people to come together and change things. Trendwatching define it as: “Online grouping of citizens/consumers for a specific cause, be it political, civic or commercial, aimed at everything from bringing down politicians to forcing suppliers to fork over discounts.”
You should read it.
Here.

When I was a student I’d often go through my dad’s old text books looking for an interesting or unfashionable angle on what I was being taught, not only did this (hopefully) make my essays more interesting to read it also entered me into the world of 1960s and 1970s book cover design.
Acejet170 has done us all a favour and dug through his library of Pelican Books and photographing their unique and classic covers. There is some fantastic stuff in there including some Alan Fletcher work.

First Amelia suggests that the era of the Great British Pun is over and then the Guardian argues that the age of ads with witty wordplay is over.
Amelia suggests that the art of the cleverly crafted tabloid newspaper headline will be lost as the likes of Google and RSS begin to deliver our news on a more regular basis. We’ll miss out on headlines like ‘The Queens Bum Year’ after her self proclaimed “annus horribilis” in 1992; in Response to North Korea’s nuclear test: “How do you solve a problem like Korea” and “Kim Wild”.
The Guardian argues that as brands [...]

Nike sent me this email yesterday:

And apparently it ran in the New York Times last Sunday too.
It seems pretty smart of Nike to take on the whole Don Imus affair and with an intelligent point of view too.

The producers of Big Brother, Endemol, and Electronic Arts, the world’s greatest games designers have partnered to create a brand new concept that combines the best of Second Life with the reality TV show format.
Called Virtual Me the game will allow avatars to compete in online versions of popular Endemol shows such as Deal or No Deal, Fame Academy and Big Brother.
The Guardian says:
‘It will be launched to coincide with one of Endemol’s national Big Brother series.
Endemol chief creative officer Peter Bazalgette said it represented “a wholly different level” of interaction between viewers and programme makers.
He added that participants would [...]

Lynx, or Axe as it’s known in most of the world has released its latest TV offerings. And they don’t disappoint.
Considering that the target audience is young males who like nothing more than hot girls and comedy catch phrases, the ads are spot on. Each features an everyday situation and then shows the effect of the latest Lynx fragrance on good looking young women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFA594MpJrs&mode=related&search=

We probably feature more than our fair share of W+K work on this site but there are a couple of very good reasons for this: they have an agency blog that we like reading and secondly, and possibly more importantly, they produce some of the most interesting work in the market.
Their latest work for Cravendale, a British milk brand, is as interesting as they’ve produced. The usp of the product is that it’s filtered to make it purer. To see how this equates to pirates, cyclists and cows you’ll have to watch the ad.

Ben and Jerry’s are a great company with a fantastic heritage. This heritage provides plenty of opportunities for the brand to exploit. Despite being bought by Unilever the company retains its quirkyness and have made the previously local community day a global event. The ‘Free Cone Days’ provide consumers with the opportunity to sample the Ben and Jerry’s product for themselves. A free sample, it’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it’s beautifully executed.
The 17 April is the UK’s Free Cone Day.

‘Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers.’ One of the finest pieces of advertising copy ever written. Lowend Mac have a great article all about the history of the legendary Think Different campaign that was in part responsible for the recent resurgence in Apple’s fortunes.
The story goes that after the wilderness years of the early 90s, Steve Jobs returned to the company and brought along his ambition and verve. According to Jon Steel Jobs also had in mind the idea for the Think Different campaign. Jobs reappointed Chiat/Day to the account, the agency that had created [...]

Public health and charity advertising often relies on a shock factor to create salience. Anti drug charity Focus 12 has commissioned UK ad agency AMV BBDO to produce this excellent spot. The relaxed music and surroundings of an old people’s home add to the surreal nature of seeing octogenarians mainlining heroin.
You can see the entire ad here.

Quirky but straight talking ads from Reyka Vodka:

via the lovely NOTCOT

One of our favourite bloggers, John Grant, has launched a brand new blog to help find inspiration and share thoughts on his latest book project, the Green Marketing Manifesto. Here’s a typical post (apologies for quoting in full):
“I’ve been trying to make personal use of all the research & new information that I’ve been collecting for the book. So far I have;
- stopped drinking bottled mineral water
- bought Co-op bank eco-insurance for my (hybrid) car
- instituted an anti-foreign conference policy (if I cant get the train there and its not world-changing I wont go)
“It’s the last one which will [...]