Advertising is supposed to engage us on more than one level these days. It’s also supposed to be entertaining. So here’s a winner from the Cannes Lions festival, produced by WCRS for Transport for London. I won’t say anything more.
I’ve nothing to do with it, so you can safely tell me what you think (but no spoilers, please).
I just read an interesting piece in US Today about music in advertising, tying in with the annual Cannes Lions fair. Music and advertising is a bit of a dream date: the music can do with the exposure (and the extra licensing fees at a time when revenue is still falling), whereas the brand gets instant magic and immense colour. As one producer says in the article, “No one ever calls up and says, ‘I want to sound like an ad’. They say, ‘I want to sound like a hit on the radio’.”
The article has a Coca-Cola ad with a number of different soundtracks. But it’s not easy by any means. Working with a good art director and editor is essential, as well as composers that are keyed into both upcoming music and the needs of a very broad 30-second format. I’ve worked on several projects over the years, including Alpro soya, Tuborg and Douwe Egberts, as well as providing lyrics for a number of hit songs. I’ve also been called in to find existing music to licence (for an upcoming PlayStation game, notably). The edvantage of licensing existing music is that you know exactly what you will get.
Check the USA Today article here. And if you’re looking for a song for your ad, ring me on +322/644 02 30.
I came across a very interesting poll on the ProZ translators’ site recently. The question was “What are the words that you dread hearing most when a client rings?” “Urgent”, topped the list. But you might like to know that other words such as “easy”, “straightforward” and “short” also set their alarm bells ringing. How come?
Maybe it’s a bit optimistic. Maybe it’s just plain wrong. But I’ve been speaking to a number of copywriters in Europe these past few days. None have a spare minute. All are struggling to keep up. What does this mean? Do I know the only successful copywriters in Europe? Or – as one of them suggested – are we an indication of the way industry in general is headed? I’d like to think it’s the latter. I’m currently working for two very large companies and a hotel. All are very upbeat in their sectors. They are all confident about picking up extra market shares and have the plans and processes to do so. Significantly, this involves new products, applications and – in the case of the hotel – a totally new way of talking to people. So it’s a time of innovation and working together with customers – the type of things copywriters love.
I’ve done words for a couple of songs in ads over the years, most notably the UK and German campaigns for Alpro soya (“Happiness is Easy”), Tuborg beer and two hilarious mini-musicals for Douwe Egberts coffee. A great song does great things for advertising, connecting immediately with an audience or instantly creating a period or atmosphere.
Advertising Age has drawn up a list of Best Songs in Ads for 2007, as well as the notable raspberries. Leslie Feist’s “1234″ for iPod Nano in North America picked up the Palm. Check it out on Advertising Age. Any favourites?
Incidentally if you need that extra atmosphere that only a song can bring in your next ad, you know who to ring!
Who writes these things? I gave the dog a shock laughing at this one. If you’ve ever seen discussions between the creative and accounts dept of an agency, you’ll enjoy this spoof, taken from “A Few Good Men”. Unfortunately, the direct link to YouTube breaks my frames (ouch). So click through for one of the funniest spoofs of agency life I have ever seen.
By the way, while you’re there you might also want to check the original speech given by Jack Nicholson’s character at the end of the trial. Brilliant writing and a perfect role for Nicholson.
I’d heard that companies were beginning to advertise on the online game Second Life but had yet to know anyone that tried. As MIPCOM, the trade fair devoted to audiovisual content, has been trumpeting the virtues of cross-media platforms, it only seems normal that they should give it a spin. Through the agency Consorcom, we provide texts for MIPCOM’s brochure and ads. So I was curious to see what sort of visibility Second Life offers. The bad news is that I couldn’t really get through. I think my aging computer has something to do with this. But moving about Second Life is really sluggish on a Saturday night. I’ll try again at another time and keep you posted.
I can’t take any credit for this, but Belgium picked up 13 awards at the Cannes Lions this year. That’s one more than Holland and (gulp) three more than France! So the Creative Club of Belgium launched a cheeky campaign to point this fact out to European advertisers under the title, “We’re lousy at football these days, so we beat our neighbours with something else”. Em, who says long headlines don’t work? (To be frank, I might have condensed it to “Belgium 13: neighbours less”).
I quote: “So how did we manage it? It’s simple. Constraints make us creative. Being
a 10 million people federal state with three languages, we deal with smaller
budgets, tougher clients and delicate cross-cultural issues.”
I can vouch for that! Click over to the Creative Club for more.