The beginning for Kodak

I've been sifting through a load of old print ads today, many dating back from the 1850's! Some are hilarious, the copy they used is priceless.. one of my favourites for Palmolive Soap:

"Palmolive's Beauty Plan brings exciting complexion loveliness" ...

What the! Also, Lose weight with Aids!? Gold!

Haha anyway, I came across a whole load of them for Kodak, which reminded me of a page in one of Paul Arden's books.. I read both of his bestselling paperbacks, "Whatever you think, think the opposite", and "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be".

Freaking amazing books, I think they should be supplementary textbooks for creative courses at uni!



In one of my favourite pages, he tells us about the beginning of Kodak as a brand:

"In 1881, George Eastman, a junior clerk, left his safe job in a local bank to start a photographic company.

But here is the interesting part..
Seven years later, he changed its name to "Kodak", an odd choice, since it was meaningless and nobody in those days gave random names to serious products.

Eastman's reasons for choosing the name were:
firstly, that it was short;
secondly, that it was not capable of mispronunciation; and,
thirdly, that it could not be associated with anything else.

Even today, corporations cannot think like that.
Only entrepreneurs can."

(Source: "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be" - Paul Arden)

303 Digital and Twitter

Plucked from the 303 Digital Blog..

"A discussion on mobile wouldn’t be complete without touching on Twitter – definitely the buzz brand of late 08, if you don’t know it; it’s a social networking tool and/or micro-blogging service. Basically, users can either write or sign up to mini updates of up to 140 characters in length. Barack Obama sent endless ‘tweets’ during the Presidential campaign to hundreds of thousands of followers, and continues to do so as we head to the inauguration... http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044908,62049668,00.htm

Brands have begun using it as part of wider campaign activity, for a review of some of those see here: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/16-examples-of-huge-brands-using-twitter-for-business/7792/. This includes a dabble from Telstra last year, to much derision from the blogosphere: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/85706,telstra-faces-backlash-on-twitter.aspx. We won’t get too excited in Australia just yet, as you can’t receive tweets on mobile here, but if, as many believe Google buy Twitter then that’ll surely change. Although debate about Twitter’s monetization will need to be looked at before that happens. "

"Loving Twitter :) It's good to see a lot of big brands are now beginning to make the most of getting consumers opinions about their products. It’s these smart cookies that are the ones in the trenches watching and listening to what the general public say about them. The world of digital is expanding, faster than most can handle, but the businesses who choose to ignore it will be left behind and unaware of what the public perception is about them.

Take Starbucks for example who were monitoring a discussion on a website about their products, when somebody complained that when the ice in their drink melted, it became too watery. Alas, the idea of coffee flavoured ice cubes was born. Straight from the Horses mouth!

M. x "


I'm very excite! It's nice, I like!

Twitt Twitt!

SplishSplash

Berlin street art

Thanks to my brother, Chris for the pics on his recent trip!

Books to buy

- Hey Whipple, squeeze this!
- A master class in Brand Planning
- How to become an Advertising man.... (HAH - must be old school)
- Intro to Advertising, Belch & Belch
- Cutting Edge

Cool designs

Stumbled across these awesome photoshop designs for some big brands, thought i'd leave them here for referencing purposes. :)

Playstation 3 by m0sk


Collab: Adidas, The one by roxymanlol


Tiger Beer : Energy by archanN


Nike lions by REAL-FIDUCIOSE


Let's Mini by sk8ershep

NYC Grand Central frozen in time

On a cold Saturday morning in January, over 200 Undercover Agents descended on New York City's Grand Central train station and left the entire concourse in a state of complete confusion.

What did they do that had everyone so confused? This flash mob suddenly froze in place at the exact same second for 5 minutes in the Main Concourse of Grand Central Station. The frozen poses ranged from people tying their shoes and eating to someone who just dropped a stack of papers. Everyone from tourists to cops stopped in amazement to try to figure out what was happening around them.

A simple idea, you might think - but very effective! People's reactions are varied, with sheer puzzlement being the most common. After the 5 minutes were up, and the agents continued on with their act, the grand central train station filled with applause! Would have been great if it was to promote something, but still love the idea!

Bagvertising

Woah, what a busy time of year! I've been so incredibly flat out I haven't had time to relax.. until now.. :) Thank god for Christmas holidays! So, now I'm back into the swing of things, I can finally write about all those things I've been meaning to. Beginning with something cool I found surfing the net, a clever form of Advertising using bags, now colloquially dubbed "Bagvertising".

Some examples!

People seemingly skipping rope with the corded handles of bags from YKM, a Turkish department store chain.


When properly carried, this bag makes it look like you’re in your undies! Haha! Not sure who the bag is advertising, though.


A "Reach out to children with Autism" bag promoting the efforts of the Dubai Autism Center.


A gun themed bag promoting the work of Belian crime novelist Pieter Aspe.


Graphically depicting the use of 'Stop 'n Grow' nail biting deterrent.


A vivid representation of a consumer who needs some Panadol pain relief.. Great idea but I don't think I would wear it.. :P

The simple things in life

Last night I looked up into the sky and I saw something that made my day!
It was Venus and Jupiter aligning with a three day old crescent Moon appearing as a smiley face in the night sky! This strange occurance happens once every 5 years, and I was lucky enough to see it by chance.

It's times like these you stop and smile, and appreciate the simple things in life.

Katharina Grosse..

I love her work! When I've got my own house, I'm going to paint the insides like she's done. Awesome.

Google sightseeing

Aliens have been trying to communicate with us puny humans for years now, usually via the confusing medium of drawing circles in Britain’s fields. But a recent trend shows them branching out into more direct forms of communication with actual words being carved into our crops. Of course they haven’t fully developed a grasp of our primitive languages, as seen in this example of childishly rude crop writing just beside Edinburgh Airport.

What, oh mighty alien lifeforms, are you trying to tell us?!

(click for google sightseeing)

And another..
This gigantic image of the KFC Colonel was constructed from 65,000 1-foot-square tiles laid out in the Mojave desert. The ad took six days to construct, and was announced to the public almost exactly a year ago, however the images were not available on the Google Earth until now.

As part of the publicity stunt it was widely claimed that this was “the first logo to be visible from space”.. But it really depends on how you define "visible" and "space".



Also.. Fucking, Austria?

Business card ideas

Design: Lush Lawn and Property Enhancement
These envelope style business cards were letter pressed by hand and stuffed with grass seeds.
So original, yet so simple it would be hard to forget!



Design: Yuka Suzuki
This hair stylist used bobby pins attached to a business card to look like hair. I love this! The amount of times I have digged through my bag to find just one bobby pin! If I had one of these cards, it would be kept in my wallet, and every time I needed one I'd surely subconsciously have approving thoughts about the company. haha :P

Supposedly Wednesday..

Just some scanned freehand drawings I did a few months ago.. :)
(Added watercolour - 24.11.08)

Apple.. My favourite brand

I remember reading about this back when I was 15. I was always in love with the Apple Ipod ads, and used to make my own versions - haha! The tagline was something like.. "Life is random.. and so is Michelle!"
I'll see if I can find them.. They'd be funny to laugh at now :P

LIFE IS RANDOM: (2003)
Apple Computers unveiled their new portable music player called the iPod Shuffle. Those who wish to remain in control of the order in which their music is played will not be able to stand the device, as it can only play music in the order by which it was added to the player or in shuffle mode. This gave the ad campaign the slick slogan of "Life is Random." The word Random, a harmless enough word, has crept into the popular vocabulary as an all-purpose word, often used to describe things that are not random or are simply strange. It has become overused and clichéd, taking the place of several fine adjectives that work equally as well, if not better, by themselves.

Other versions of this ad:
- skateboards
- rollerskates
- breakdancing
- skipping

Poems from back in the day

The wind and I

We had so much fun, the wind and I..
Scattered the leaves and made them fly..
Like Autumn birds in the moonlit sky..
We had so much fun, just the wind and I..

- Year 9, 2003. Age 13.

Sitting on the fence

Come sit down beside me,
I said to myself.
And although it doesn't make sense,
I held out my own hand
As a small sign of trust,
And together I sat on the fence.

- Leunig.

Look beyond what you see..

A golden brown baked maple leaf
dances and skips across the road.
The tall, spindly white trees shake,
itch and sway in the roaring wind.

Untitled Haiku
(RIP Jodie)

Big bold and boney,
Eyes the windows to his soul,
Follows where I lead.

untitled

Silky Chestnut coat,
Gracefully trotting onwards,
From another life.

Cute

Sweet little faces,
Tiny rainbow stars peeping
Out behind the grass



Soft, dainty petals,
Forever looking onwards,
Smiling at the sun.

The song of the surf



White steeds of ocean,
That leap with a hollow and wearisome roar.

Gathering, growling, swelling and surging and shivering.
Your wonderous glory, your beauty, your power.

What is the tale you are telling?
What is the drift of your lay?

You break, with a rainbow of glory,
Through the spray of your glittering tears.

You crash, and your crawl back and hide in your keep,
Ready to pounce and crash again.

- Year 10, 2004. Age 14.

An exile's farewell..



He extends his wings,
Guided by the strong wind,
An urge to be free,
An urge to move on.

The clouds sit beneath him,
He can't stop now,
Can't turn back,
Time is short.. ticking.

The seasons are changing,
For Winter is near, inspiring his flight.
The wind like a monster roar at his head.
The surging, spitting sea below.

Black eyes of fear,
Wings of lead.
Something is drawing him closer,
But nothing can drag him down.

All he wants to do is fly.
All he wants to be is free.
Must move on.. to another place.
We will meet again someday.

- Year 10, 2004. Age 14.



Inspired by the novel, Jonathon Livingston Seagull.