Hey all,
I’m Karl and I’ve recently joined ICAN as a copywriter.
The good or bad news, depending on how you look at it, is that I’ll be blogging right here from time to time.
So, without further ado…
What the advertising world can learn from Kony 2012.
Offset 2012 was an inspiring and tiring weekend. It was exhilarating listening to top creatives from the fields of art, design, advertising and filmmaking talk about their work and their craft.
While the speakers spoke about many diverse subjects, there were a few key themes that emerged from the weekend. So here are 3 things I learned from Offset 2012.
1. Recharge your Creativity.
Many speakers from Erik Kessels to Paula Scher spoke about the need to recharge your creative batteries, that creatives needed other creative outlets whether they are hobbies or side projects to provide inspiration for their regular work. These side projects didn’t have to be big or clever, just something that you loved doing, so that when you return to your regular work your passion remains.
2. Change your tools.
The second theme that emerged was that there was a danger in relying on the same tricks or tools in your work. It might be uncomfortable but that creatives had to try new ways of expressing themselves. If we always use the same tools we’ll always solve problems the same way.
3. Be Happy
This theme was best expressed by Stefan Sagmeister’s brilliant presentation but all the speakers touched on it to some degree. Do more of what you love and less of what you don’t, now we all don’t have that luxury but we all want to do good work and if we as advertisers, can convince our clients that in Andrew Essex’s words that ‘creativity is a business imperative’ then we might find ourselves a lot happier.
Let us know what you thought of Offset 2012 in the comments below.
Myself along with 10,000 others sat down to watch Facebook’s first conference for marketers live last week. There was some exciting news with Facebook Timeline for pages and the new Facebook premium ads on the agenda. While most might not have four hours to spare from their busy day, I was glad I put some time aside to watch the whole broadcast. I highly recommend anyone interested to do so.
For everyone else, here are the top four business-driving ideas you should know from the conference, one for each hour.
There has been a lot of talk about Pinterest recently.
The new social network delight adored by a primarily female audience. Read more
There is a growing phenomenon amongst TV viewers. Instead of shouting at our TV sets in disgust or excitement, we are turning to our social networks in droves to issue missives on what we think of what is unfolding on our screens. Whether the show is about Current Affairs or a group of young adults living in Tallaght or the Jersey shore the emergence of social networking has most certainly created a new element to our TV experience.
We are delighted to announce that ICAN have been nominated for the Nokia Digital Media Awards 2012!
We are in the running for Best Search Marketing Campaign for Dublin Business School and permanent tsb. We are also nominated for Best Use of Digital Marketing Overseas for Digicel and Easygoing Croc.
The Nokia Digital Media Awards will take place on March 30th, 2012, at the Convention Center so fingers crossed!
ICAN’s recruitment ad for a new copywriter which appeared in the IMJ, has come third in the print category of ad of the month. Ok it’s third but it was a very tough category. The judges at tvads.ie were complimentary of the execution. So well done to Ian and Andrew!
With millions of dollars being spent on advertising during the Super Bowl, which brand will reign supreme? A nice way to see who is talking about a particular brand during the Super Bowl is Brand Bowl, which also gives each brand a sentiment score. BrandBowl monitors Twitter and ranks the Super Bowl television ads based on those who are watching and tweeting about them. Super Bowl ads are now both an online and a TV phenomena.
I was reading the story behind the famous Pregnant Man ad that appeared in 1970. The idea was created by Jeremy Sinclair and Bill Atherton at Cramersaatchi later to be known as Saatchi and Saatchi. It was beautiful idea in it’s power and simplicity. It’s an example of how great ideas do not age over time.
