1970's Advertising

Sticking with my Context of Practise overview, I feel it would be advisable to follow technology brands through their birth, and to see how they started and launched each of their new products. One of the most popular and the biggest technology share holder in the world Apple has been my target for the 1970, with their advert released in 1978. It shows the new Apple computer (boxy, right?), and contains the headline "Apple invents the personal computer, Again.". This combined use of product imagine and clever copy give great sense around the product, and due to its technological advances at the time, became a massive success compared to the previous model. It had made fun of its self, using a previous advert to make a "mockery", as it was slated for underperformance and consistently crashing when running high performance programs. This level of courage used by the brand gained a lot of respect from avid followers and customers, who valued its approach in recognising its mistakes, and releasing another product to replace it. 

Great job Apple, now stop being so god damn expensive! 

And the winner is....

For my Context of Practice brief, I have chosen to use Red Bull as my brand, and ambitiously, have set to create adverts for the Future (dont ask why).

the reason behind this is because Red Bull is a very young company, starting out in 1984, and has no real historical advertising campaigns except for the Give You Wings campaign. My project will be designed for the year 2034, the 50th Anniversary of Red Bull, and try to understand changes in technology, cultural surroundings and economic behaviours. 

Lets hope robots and what not havent eaten us by then......

DDB Decades of Excellence - 1950/1960

"Think Small". Two words which changed the face of advertising, and dawned the age of what we now know as Copywriters. It was these two words created by the agency DDB which captured a nation off guard, and sent Volkswagen sales through the roof. But why? Because it simply hadn't been done before. Nobody had been brave enough to push boundaries, and fully take risks in advertising industry, or force the readers to pay attention to minute details of copy, and literally "think". Instead of displaying all the information out for the user to make an informed decision  it was reserved, clever, and cunning in its execution. This remains to be one of the most influential adverts of the post-war affluence, and shaped the way the western world consumed their media. 

LMS Advertising

The early 1920's were known to be highly criticised for it's advertising. People accused it of being 'tasteless'. However in response this, Norman Wilkinson started to advertise posters, of which were commissioned by London, Midland and Scottish Railways, also known as LMS. However simple, the addition of a colour print along with the simplistic style of the image managed to hit with "bang", causing massive amounts of word-of-mouth and discussions about the adverts and the products itself. The post-war stylings used helped shaped the common years in advertising, especially post World War II, which changed the way we viewed the world. 

Can you see it?

This advert by Nikon is stunning. It balances humour, product benefit and composition beautifully, and does it so well that there is literally no need for a headline or any copy-text! It always makes me jealous when I see adverts where I go, "Damn it why the hell didn't I think of that"! Its hilarious, and im pretty sure its won an award for something, and if it hasn't, it bloody hell deserves one!

This Ad Is Phucking Amazing

Not going to lie, I freaking love this advert. It made me burst out laughing as soon as I read it, which obviously shows that you dont need flashy images and film, to make a good advert. All you need is a good old-fashioned dosage of the "pun", and when used cleverly can really captivate any audience. Hats off the to copywriters! 

Art and Copy - Creativity meets Strategy

As part of our Context of Practice we were asked to watch the film Art And Copy. Not having watched it before, I was excited on witnessing a documentary about our field, with reputable and inspirational members currently in the industry.

Whilst watching the film it really opened my eyes to the world of advertising, as it not only focuses on professionals  but the men who are in charge of placing billboards. It was fascinating to see the transition from thought processes and ideas, to the contractors who place the advert, and was interesting to see how they do not communicate throughout the process.

I also highlighted the difference between creative advertising, and just norma advertising. It references how in previous years there were no such things as Art Directors or Copywriters  there were just "Ad Men", and would commonly use the client to their advantage in order to gin most revenue, regardless of what the advert looks like. This carelessness to attention is said to give advertising a bad name, and was forced creative advertisers to think deeper and broader in search for unique perspectives.

A fascinating part of the film was the part on Tommy Hilfiger. When the brand had just started they approached the advertising agency and asked them to promote them into becoming a super-brand, in the likes of Louis Vuitton. In order to do this, the advertisers literally put his name next to the biggest clothing brands in history, in order to show their quality/dominance. This brache move forced Tommy Hilfiger to immediately upgrade his products and service in order to compete with the expectations of the brand. Its a fascinating twist of how the Ad Campaign influenced the products themselves.