This is a clever little guerilla marketing campaign going on here in New York. Obviously, Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire-turned-mayor is running again (for a third term), so why not run another billionaire against him. There’s even a whole platform including how Burns will use the subway to ship freight and cattle.

Gothamist featured the story, and includes a video. The “official” campaign site has more info, wrapped in a pretty awful design.

I’m interested to see where this goes, if the local news catches wind or if the gang gets sued by the creators of The Simpsons. I still haven’t exactly determined the purpose — it seems a long way around to promote The Simpsons as a TV Show, which already have a solid following in New York (and anywhere educated and comedy-loving people live)

Apparently it’s part of Art in Odd Places. »

Hell, I dunno. Thought it was clever. Maybe I’m just a big Simpsons fan.

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O that I were yet a grad student, for surely this would be my thesis.

London, my beloved bittersweet mistress of a second-city, has an identity crisis, and has put out the call to the design firms of Britain (and to a lesser degree, the world), to redesign the brand identity for London. While a bit of visual goodness is always appreciated, the main objective in this endeavor is to unify the many purpose-build identities used in London for tourism, transport, the 2012 Olympics, and a host of other departments and activities.

London’s many identities, courtesy of Brand New

I should have written about this last month when I spotted a post on Logo Design Love, but somehow I didn’t get to it. Anyway, The official assignment is elaborated on over at Brand Republic. In short, the call for work is unpaid, and you must contact the folks running the scheme to get your name in the ring. For anyone reading this blog post, you’re probably too late, as the closing will be 3 Sept.

But I think that I will turn this in a Design For Fun post here on Perez-Fox.com. Having lived in Britain, and fallen in love with Lady London, this could be a great chance to geek out with cultural identity-based design, and a challenge in modern branding on how to tie all those seemingly unrelated elements together.

Outside of the official tender, there are a number of possible solutions being discussed on the site A Brand For London. Definitely some sharp insight into typography, iconography, design history, and the “brand DNA” of London. But didn’t Rian Hughes already put together a logo for London a few years ago? Yes, he did, and the powers that be told him “thanks, but no thanks.” (in the British equivalent of a Sarah Palin accent, no doubt.)

Hughes’s Rejected Logo for London

So everyone bust out the sketchbook and let’s find a way to unify London behind some sort of a logo or graphic identity. I hope to find some time in the next few days to post my entry.

And let us not forget that immortal quotation about The Big Smoke:

“Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
— Samuel Johnson

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Well, last night I snuck out to a preview and managed to watch the film. The two words on my tongue after seeing it: “so what?” The film is a little more than a trophy, acknowledging the rare moments in advertising that do, somehow, manage to cut through the shouting, and that can, admittedly, touch our lives. But we already knew that.

From the title, I imagined Art & Copy would be a sort of inside story into the day-to-day lives of ad agency workers. For once, the lay public will get a glimpse into how it happens, and see that behind these ads are real people, waking up and going to work. But instead, we see a reinforced stereotype of frustrated artists and eccentric creative directors who swear they are changing the world simply by breathing.

There has always been in our society a cynicism towards advertising. We don’t enjoy being interrupted, be it on television, radio, in magazines and newspapers, or even while walking down the street peering at bus shelters and billboards. We’re sick of this shit. But the film does nothing to assuage this cynicism, and instead helps solidify it by highlighting how each of the famous ad-men (and women) featured share a general hatred for their own profession. This is more apparent in the nature of the film itself — interview segments are intercut with montages of ad-saturated cityscapes. Statistics are displayed on-screen that quantify just how many ads we’re exposed to … and how the figures are getting worse over the years. So after a heart-warming tale about the golden age of the biz, we’re brought back to Earth by the reality that those days are, indeed, gone.

Advertising (at least in America and Britain) is overwhelmingly white and male. The industry continues to take criticism for this. And that lopsidedness is reflected in this film. I’m just saying. It also misleads the public by featuring only successful, distinguished industry veterans, thereby sidestepping the ugly issue of burnout, which is infamous within the profession. A lot folks don’t make it to the corner office, and are pushed out well before their hair goes white.

But to be fair, the Art & Copy does entertain. Featuring some of the most notable ad campaigns of the last 50 years, it literally makes us laugh and cry. After all, aren’t emotions slightly heightened by nostalgia?

There is an odd meta quality to the film — the whole thing is one giant ad in the sense that they use the medium of film, combined with moving music, well-chosen imagery, and clever text, to evoke emotions in the audience. And maybe we’re not supposed to notice, but I did, can still testify that in that regard, it’s done very well.

Sadly, the film represents very few campaigns (or thinking) from the 21st Century. Obviously, the Century is young, but with media and consumer habits changing so rapidly, I reckon it’s worth at least mentioning. One line, I believe, mentioned the need for more integrated campaigns going forward, and a few of the on-screen graphics acknowledged that advertising is no longer confined to the television set. But no attention was paid to the trans-cultural nature of brands, user-generated content, the push for online, the death of newspapers (and magazines), or TiVo, all of which are huge players in the constantly-evolving landscape of advertising today. With this oversight, Art & Copy might have been perfectly suited a release in 1999.

I am cynical about advertising. Perhaps because I like to focus more on the branding side of things, but I’m one of those guys who wouldn’t mind if all advertising disappeared overnight. (yes, I know there are economical logistical issues to work on) But even I, the cynic, have to give props to some of the campaigns over the years that have moved us forward. These are one that do become art, and do end up in that same corner of our brain where we store fond memories of childhood Christmases. Here are a few featured in the film. They are indeed timeless. (in no particular order)

Wendy’s – Where’s the Beef (1984)

MTV – I Want My MTV (1981)

Nike – Failure (1999)

Nike – If You Let Me Play Sports (1995)

Milk – Got Milk? (Aaron Burr) (1993)

Braniff Airlines – End of the Plain Plane (1965)

Reagan ’84 – It’s Morning in America (1984)

Johnson ’64 – Daisy (1964)

Apple Macintosh – 1984 (1984)

Apple iPod – iPod+iTunes (2003)

[someone please correct me if I got the years wrong. I'm not the expert here.]

So what’s the takeaway from all this? Basically the same thing we’ve been saying all along: advertising can push the limits of art, media, communication, storytelling, and society. But it usually doesn’t. If you’re a client, take a risk once in a while, it may pay off. If you’re an agent, try not to be a dick. Be creative. And don’t take yourself so fucking seriously. (I added that last one myself.)

PS, I think I might have voted for Reagan. A little hyperbolic, but man, what an ad.

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Check out this Flickr pool of beautiful faded signage and advertisements. I love this crap, wish I could go around photographing more of it. There’s actually an example right at the end of my street.

Faded Signage on Flickr »

via Design Work Life »

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When Naomi Klein wrote about “the 3D Ad takeover” I don’t think this is what she meant. Otherwise, stronger words might have been invented to describe the absurdity of this. From Denmark, comes a grotesque, albeit straightforward, promotion for Silk Soft toilet paper.

I know there are many examples of 3D advertising where unsuspecting objects are transfigured into consumer goods and other props, but maybe we should keep things above the belt, no? Clever, I suppose, but not exactly slick.

via Scary Ideas »

Here are a few examples of 3D advertising — clever, but in my opinion inappropriate. Sometimes it’s best to stay within the lines.

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Movie poster are usually pretty lame. Repetitive ideas, groupthink and compromise, templates, and occasionally a Photoshop Disaster. But today, PSD TUTS has compiled a collection of 50 Brilliantly Photoshopped Movie Posters. Not that Photoshop is necessarily employed to retouch or otherwise hoodwink the audience, but these are generally pretty awesome in their artistic composition and/or style of art direction.

Certainly worth a look. By the way, who knew Walk The Line had an awesome poster like the one above? I certainly never saw that one hanging around. (That’s because teaser posters are often much more creative than regular promotional posters. It gets even worse for DVD packaging which is designed to be purchased on impulse in-store.)

Article Here »

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I agree.

PS, Joanne, please marry me.

via Rocketboom »

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This bit of strangeness turned up recently, and although the Presidential Election seems like a lifetime ago, it’s still worthy for talk from a graphics and branding point of view.

Click for a larger view

The image portrays who donated to the campaigns of McCain and Obama represented in advertising space ‘purchased’ on the suits of their stated candidate. Basically, the way motor sports do it.

As you can see, there are trends in who donates to which campaign, with a few crossovers, such as financial companies. The trouble is that there are inconsistencies and omissions — for example, where would you count the hordes of regular folks who contributed a serious portion of Obama’s campaign dollars? And the key included on this diagram represent categories that don’t seem to appear on the candidates themselves. So what gives?

Still, an interesting mash-up of popular culture, politics, and advertising.

via Good Magazine »

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With the US Presidential Inauguration only hours away, this might be a good moment to reflect on a trend that is becoming more and more apparent in the world of design and advertising — people are copying Obama! The next great hope for America is fast-becoming the face to launch a thousand shirts.

We knew it would happen in the realm of campaigning, and we’ve seen the plain-faced design mode duplicated on the website of Israel’s Likud Party, for example, as well as movie posters, and the like.

Obama’s design style had influence even before the election, but after his victory, the flood gates flew wide open! Aside from those disgraceful commemorative plates and coins, we’re seeing everything from Obama Hot Sauce to an Obama Chia Pet! The New York Times has been commenting on the apparent desire for Obama stuff.

Leo Laporte and Dick DeBartolo chatted about Obama merchandising on a recent epsiode of The Daily Giz Wiz:

But lately, proper and well-known brands are getting on board, catapulting off the inauguration to sell stuff. First, the always-cheeky Ben & Jerry’s who have produced a special flavour to mark the O-nauguration. So check your supermarket freezers for Yes Pecan! (Take that, Steven Colbert!)

But it’s Ikea who take the biscuit, launching into a full-on 3D promotional campaign all styled in the mode of Presidentiality. We’re talking a mock Oval Office in Union Station, a fake motorcade with Ikea boxes on the roof of Cadillac 1 and an overall typographic and graphical scheme based on the well-balanced posters of the Obama campaign. The typeface isn’t Gotham, but it is a smart sans-serif set in bright colours. Props to Deutsch for putting this together without going overboard on the cheese, or the tack.

So one has to wonder how much longer we’ll see this sort of consumerist frenzy continue? While his Presidency will always be historic, it will be interesting to see how the people react once Obama actually starts setting policy and making governmental-type decisions. Will there be an overwhelming demand for Obama buttons when he’s vetoing legislation? Will there still be Obama-inspired art exhibits for a man who enacts new regulations and creates new bureaucracy? I suspect that while the nation will always have a certain affection for the man who chased Bush out of office, his commercial success will suffer a from a sort of honeymoon syndrome. In other words, this will pass.

But in the meantime, grab as much of this crap as you can!

(side note: when Yes Pecan first debuted on Reddit, I thought it was a joke. The post posed the question of what would you name a flavour for President Bush? Although names like Abu Grape, Iraqi Road, and Im-Peach are darn clever, I’d still go with Cluster Fudge. How perfect is that.)

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When I was watching the games I was obviously watching the sports, but I had a keen eye on the background graphics, the signage, the uniforms, the flags, the t-shirts, the baseball caps, and every other bit of graphical brickerbrack that appeared on screen. And what I saw was pretty awesome.

The graphics for this years games were daring and modern, but also warm and welcoming. They didn’t command too much attention, but rather blended in to provide a great scenery before which the dramatics could play out. All the world’s a stage, and China provides the set.

I had three main observations about the graphics: First, there was a lot of cool swirly, firey, spectrumy stuff happening. Second, for a country that uses Red as it’s national colour, everything felt very blue. And there wasn’t much typography, which makes sense but sort of snuck up on me.

Since this is about graphics, let’s just take a look. These photos are brilliant, but take a look at the backgrounds, especially the blueness.

Is there some rule about gymnastics equipment that it has to be blue?

These girls where everywhere during the beach volleyball events, although not wearing the Chinese national colours

many of the backgrounds were blue, as were the staff uniforms

A rare instance where the logo appears against a red background

The Chinese hostesses wore white and blue, not red

More blue backgrounds

More blue backgrounds

The tennis courts were coloured blue, although this does seem to be a standard among hardcourts


While the backgrounds for most of the arenas were blue, the medals themselves were attached to red bands. Here, the national colour is apparent, as it was in Athens 2004, and Sydney 2000 (blue and green respectively).

Multi-coloured backgrounds, often using yellow, were popular at the Games as well.

I have two theories about why the Games were so blue. First, red is a bit of a harsh colour. It’s overpowering and in such large quantities, may have people a bit on-edge, feeling threatened or nervous. Blue is much more soothing and neutral. Also, red is the colour of Communism. With the always-tense political climate in China, covering the city in red might not be the best idea. No need to remind the world who they’re actually dealing with. More about this in my next post about China, the Brand.

As I mentioned, there was a ton of swirly, firey, tribal-style patterns that were seen on everything from the uniforms to the medal bands.

These patterns were featured on a number of uniforms, including the United States’ basketball jerseys, so I suspect that Nike and other outfitters had something to do with pushing the trends. But these patterns did make things a bit more interesting, and created a bit of intricacy against what could easily turn into a flat and dull series of flag-like backdrops.

The wooden spoon award for this year’s Olympic-based design goes to Canada and their team uniforms. This is a classic example of going overboard, and trying too hard to be innovative. Wow, these are seriously ugly.

For more info about the graphics at the Beijing games, check out this interview with Design Director Min Wang. »

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