iphoneography is a new craze using the iphone camera and various apps like Camera bag and polarize. It’s instant, throw away, capturing that fleeting moment but it sometimes produces some great shots, check out the Flickr group. The iphone has been so successful over the last few years that even artists of the calibre of David Hockney are embracing its technology to create art. Here are some images off my iphone.
Voting opens today for Art Vinyl, the graphic award that celebrates the best in album design for 2009.
Selected by Art Vinyl and a panel of industry experts, 50 sleeve designs have been shortlisted and then go to public vote. The shortlisted entries will be on display in Selfridges, London, the Snap Galleries in Birmingham and Georges House Gallery in Folkstone throughout November and December. The winner will be announced on 5 January.
Last year’s winner was Fleet Foxes’ which received 3000 public votes. The Cribs, Man’s Needs Woman’s Needs Whatever designed by Rob Crane, took the 2007 prize, and Thom Yorke’s Eraser, by Stanley Donwood, won in 2006.
So what’s your favourite album cover of all time? Here’s some of my favourites plus some more random ones.
British artist/designer Jamie Reid iconic album cover design for the Sex pistols.
Pennie Smiths’ fantastic shot of Paul Simonon smashing his guitar at the Palladium in New York.
The brilliant Sir Peter Blake and Chris Gabrin
Comments (2)Two weeks ago Tourism Queensland advertised ‘the best job in world’, inviting sunseekers to apply for the role of caretaker, based on Hamilton Island. Tourism Queensland is looking for applicants willing to walk white sandy beaches, sit under palm trees and swim with turtles as they soak up the sun.
The successful candidate will be asked to keep a blog and photo diary, feed the fish and collect the mail in exchange for six months rent-free on Hamilton Island, and a £70,000 salary package that includes return airfares and travel insurance.
The job application was posted on the Tourism Queensland’s website, and asked applicants to upload a video application requesting them to be enthusiastic, creative and entertaining.
The best job in the world or a clever viral campaign?
Well in truth the ‘island caretaker’ position was created as part of a three-year $1.7 million marketing strategy by Tourism Queensland’s Brisbane Ad Agency (nice work guys!).
The whole campaign has generated a huge amount of publicity with the website having an amazing 2,000 hits per second with over 400,000 unique vistors in the first day and half. The campaign to date has generated over 9,000 applications and 2.3 million visitors to site.
The campaign was first launched overseas, with small strategic ads placed in various nationals, supported by online marketing such as online PR, blogs (twitter), Youtube channel, social media sites such as Facebook, pay per click and natural search. All marketing activity drives traffic to the website which is simple but seductive. This campaign is a great example of how viral online marketing can work really well. As with all good ideas it’s copied very quickly, look out for the Malibu ‘executive product taster’ based in the Caribbean.
Comments (2)Pizza Hut is changing to Pasta Hut, Iceland has gone bankrupt and Spurs are bottom of the league, what’s going on?
Apparently it’s a global recession, but I don’t think Spurs can use this as an excuse, although a great depression seems to be looming over White Lane.
So, what impact will this have and how does this affect marketing budgets?
During these tough economic times, it’s easy for companies to dismiss marketing as a disposable expense.
If I may be so bold as to suggest that this is not the time to cut marketing budgets, but a time to spend. It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share with a greater return on investment.
Despite the turbulence in the financial markets, one thing is for sure, internet marketing is still going strong! Which has recently been proven by a campaign we have been running for Newell Rubbermaid. With a sound creative strategy, email marketing, search engine optimisation and pay per click can all lead to a return on your investment at a low cost per enquiry.
Good creative internet marketing, is an effective way of keeping your business front of mind. By spending smarter and creating a clear-cut justification for the investment, marketing in a recession really
does pay dividends.
Now, what to do about Spurs!
Comments (1)One of the weakest areas of modern tactical marketing is the integration of online with offline. The most beautiful optimised website and carefully crafted offline campaign can be hindered if they’re not
integrated.
It’s still traditional to keep offline and online campaigns separate, placed in different agencies run by different account managers, of course there are exceptions to the rule.
Whether it’s a brochure, direct mail or press ad it should communicate a message and drive action. If an ad, direct mail or brochure points someone to a website, the opportunity to communicate in a targeted fashion is enormous. These must be measured for their effectiveness. But that means that your offline comms and your website have to work together. Simply adding a homepage web address isn’t going to work.
Engage your audience; create a specific URL for the campaign, and with strong calls to action, and most of all keep them interested.
This should also be translated into natural search, optimising content for specific communications and campaigns, linking this with pay per click and suddenly your offline and online is starting to integrate. Integrating analytics and you have a very tangible effective measurable campaign that works offline and online with ability to measure the effectiveness of your cost per acquisition. In this current economic climate where every penny counts this is powerful stuff.
We work with you to integrate your efforts into a cohesive overall program that will produce greater impact than executing each tactic in isolation.
All sounds simple, in the right hands yes it can be, or is this just good marketing common sense?
Comments (1)
The Victoria & Albert Museum recently bought the original artwork for The Rolling Stones’ famous “lips” logo, designed by John Pasche. Pasche was a student at the RCA and was asked to design a tour poster for the band and then later, the bands own record label. The logo first appeared on the sticky fingers album cover, and has been part of the Stones’ image ever since. Based on Jaggers lips, anti-authoritarian and drawing references from pop art it has remained untouched for nearly 40 years.
This got me thinking, what other iconic logo’s have stood the test of time from humble beginnings?
Volkswagon, designer Franz Reimspiess
Volkswagon, it’s a v and a w, simple yet iconic, made even more so by the beastie boys. The logo was the result of an office competition the winner being engineer Franz Reimspiess who won 50 Marks.
Chanel, designer Coco Chanel
Chanel is world renowned, designed in 1925 by Coco Chanel herself and has remained unchanged ever since. It turned out to be one of the most recognisable symbols in the fashion world with its overlapping double ‘C’.
I Love NY, designer Milton Glaser
The best rebus ever designed! In 1977, William S. Doyle, Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Commerce hired advertising agency Wells Rich Greene to develop a marketing campaign for New York State. Doyle also recruited Milton Glaser, a graphic designer to work on the campaign. Glaser expected the campaign to last only a couple months and did the work pro bono.
Smiley face, designer Harvey Ball
The very earliest known examples of the logo are attributed to Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Massachusetts. He devised the face in 1963 for an insurance firm that wanted an internal campaign to improve employee morale. Ball never trademarked the image; it fell into the public domain and the rest is history. Ball never made any profit for the iconic image beyond his initial $45 fee.
CND, designer Gerald Herbert Holtom
Herbert Holtom was a conscientious objector in World War II. In 1958 he designed the Nuclear Disarmament logo for the first Aldermaston March, organised by the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War. The logo was not copyrighted, and was available for use by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, also founded in 1958; it later became known in the wider world as a general-purpose peace symbol. The logo design was based on flag semaphore, a combination of the letters “N” and “D” nuclear disarmament.
Nike, designer Carolyn Davidson
Nike was founded by Phil Knight in the 60s, but at that time he called it “Blue Ribbon Sports”. The name Nike and its trademark swoosh design were changed in 1971.
The swoosh logo was originally developed by a graphic designer, Carolyn Davidson in 1971. She was one of 35 people who put forward concepts. The owners met and agreed on Davidson’s design, taking into account her conceptual thinking about the wings of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. According to Davidson, Knight asked for a design that suggested movement – originally disliking the swoosh she submitted, but as Knight had deadlines to meet, he ended up using it, saying “I don’t love it, but it will grow on me”
Apple, designer Rob Janoff
Rob Janoff worked on the re design of the then over complicated Apple logo, and is responsible for adding the famous “bite mark ” that is recognised today. The concept behind the design was one of seduction with references to Adam and Eve in which the apple represents the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.
What’s your favourite?
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So it’s finally here! The Olympic flag that is not whiff whaff.
As the Olympic flame went out over Beijing, the attention turns to London 2012, and that logo! Over the next four years the logo will be applied to all and sundry, prompting more debate about the design.
Though, the reaction was somewhat predictable, the intensity however, was surprising to say the least. Within hours of its initial launch, the London 2012 Olympic Logo was heavily criticised by many sections of the design community, some calling the logo “a puerile mess, an artistic flop and a commercial scandal”. Harsh. Even an online petition was started with more than 50,000 people signing up.
In its official press release, the 2012 London Olympic Committee had this to say about the London 2012 Olympic Logo:
“The new emblem is dynamic, modern and flexible, reflecting a brand savvy world where people, especially young people, no longer relate to static logos but respond to a dynamic brand that works with new technology and across traditional and new media networks.”
I did ask my sixteen-year-old stepson, whom I have to admit won’t be challenging for any golds in 2012, unless sleeping and msn becomes an Olympic sport, what he thought “rubbish” was the reply, but I love it!
Lord Coe said, “We don’t do bland – this is not a bland city. We weren’t going to come to you with a dull or dry corporate logo that would appear on a polo shirt and we’re all gardening in it a year’s time.”
I agree with Coe and well done to the Olympic committee for not going down the traditional, tried and tested avenue of disappointment.
I have to admit it’s not a thing of beauty, but in my opinion, it captures the essence of London, a thriving, bustling, multicultural and vibrant city, and bucks the trend of traditional Olympic logos. When you put the previous logos together they look, well, bland!
Maybe the strap line for the games should be “ we don’t do bland – get over it”
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