What the frig?!

It's not so much the advert that disturbs me, just the man's eyes. They just scream "Give us your gold or I'll creep into your bedroom tonight and kill you!"

Freaky!

Jobbage update

Slightly delayed post here, just a quick entry regarding my attempts at landing a job in advertising. Somewhat out of the blue a fortnight ago, I received an email asking if I was still looking for a junior copywriter role. "Hell yes, I am!" I said (possibly not in quite those words). As a result, Monday morning saw me heading to meet with the account head of a modest little agency in central Manchester. Unfortunately the CD wasn't around at the time, but Jeanette took onboard everything in my book and seemed to make all the right noises about it. I tried to put together my most varied bunch of copy to show what I could do, as well as a couple of other snippets to try and swing it in my favour! At the moment I'm just waiting on feedback from them once the other candidates have been interviewed, and hoping I did enough for them to consider me for the job, as it would be a fantastic opportunity to finally get my career started.

Will keep you all updated as soon as I know more!

I think too much

Pardon my politically incorrect post, but am I the only one who sees that this is not the best choice of web address?


Perhaps it's just me, but I read that as "Beth Ditto ate vans" - might explain a few things then!

Giraffa Cakes

The product of an unusual conversation with my parentals a while ago.

(Forgive my shonky Photoshop skills!)

New Blood 2009

Forgive me for the belated posting, I only returned from London late on Wednesday night. As for why it's taken me until Saturday night to write this, never you mind!


Any excuse to have a day off from the dreaded 9 to 5 rat race that is my life at present, I popped on down to the Big City to check out this year's offerings (or more to the point, to keep my beady eyes on the competition). And I must say, there was the same abundance of talent as is always expected at any D&AD event, noted by what seemed to be a plentitude of Best In Show markers around the event, one of which making it to Claire Gilchrist's work for the National Portrait Gallery from UCLan's Advertising Class of 2009 - big up the Preston massive!

UCLan at New Blood

A little sad to be a mere spectator this year, but was great to head back to it and get lost (literally) amongst the rows of amazing work. Just a couple of examples of what I thought to be the best ads on show - so simple they may have been done before, but still great to see imagery so uncomplicated that you understand it in an instant.

Taste of London

Heinz Hot Ketchup

Until my moment of advertising superstardom descends upon me, I shall continue to work my arse off and hopefully be D&AD worthy some day!

Old skool

Not really one for the sun (being a milk bottle and all), I spent a sizeable chunk of Saturday indoors, going back to my UCLan roots to check out this year's degree show. Brought back quite some memories - some good, some bad, but none that left me having cold sweats thankfully. As surreal as it was to head back there, it left me feeling further inspired to keep at it and helped me to remember why I love the industry so much.

Needless to say, there were a solid few bright sparks amongst the work, of which a couple of my favourites I've included here.

Some of the Advertising Class of 2009

A moving piece for Fathers4Justice

And a humorous POS for Berghaus Opti-Stud

The rest of the show wasn't without promise, with some great work coming from graphic design, animation and textiles in particular. Overall, the whole thing just left me feeling inspired and strangely at home, as well as adding a little extra fuel to the fire of burning advertising desire within me! If you have chance to go along before the show finishes this Saturday, it's well worth a look. As for me, I'm off to write some more of my book. Toodlepip!

Creative projects

As ever, the "I will blog more" resolution has been waning, so I think it's time to pep up this tired ol' thing with some different stuff. Still working the temp scene (though hoping to become permanent if my ever so suave interview skills serve me well next week), so still trying to keep my fingers in the pies that interest me in any spare time I can grab and practically suffocate into submission ("You will be mine, oh precious 5 minute CSI ad break. I will doodle something right n... [the bright lights of the TV set become too distracting] Oooh, purdy adverts!")

For starters, I'll introduce you to Haylee. This is yours truly in mog form. I'm not sure what a mog is, but it's a character I made up whilst I was at college many moons ago, and I still seem to draw them to this day. So here she is - do be nice and say hello to her, she's quite shy.


My mogs will be making more of an appearance shortly, just as soon as I have time to upload some more of them when I'm not working on the book. The book being an actual book, not the portfolio. I've finally started the painstaking process of forming the plot for the lovely little piece of fiction I'm hoping to write. I won't say too much at this point except that the heroine will be (very loosely) based on me, and will no doubt arrive at a happy ending much sooner than myself!

Anyway, that's me for now, so do tune into the show again, whenever it next decides to air! My old partner in crime, a certain Ms Sparkinson, has recently set up her own blog to showcase her creative talents, of which they are vast and varied. So if you're around her neck of the woods, do be sure to pop in for a look-see at: http://sparkidoodle.blogspot.com/.
You can also find the link in my sidebar - be there or be square!

Sarah in all her mog-shaped glory

Move over, George!

Flo Rida CD single: £1.99
Reeboks with the stripes: £39.99
Simon Cowell's face: Priceless!

The end of a mini-era

A slightly sombre Monday evening as me and Sarah have decided to part ways. Various reasons leading to it, but mainly just in light of our current personal situations and the different directions we're being taken in right now. Sarah's currently trying to get work as an artworker whilst I'm on the 9-5 scene until finances allow otherwise. I don't think either of us would say it's a definite permanent move, but it's what's best for us both at this stage.

Has been a great 9 months and such a learning curve for us both, experiencing our first placements together and having our first ads produced, something I don't think we imagined would be possible just from our short time at the agencies we've resided at. Glad to have shared the experience with Sarah, and we'll no doubt continue to wreak havoc on the streets of Manchester!




Long live Team Sparkley!

In the spirit of forgiveness

Marks and Spencer have also been making up for their boo-boos (or boob-boobs) this past week after the negative press surrounding their "bigger prices for bigger bosoms" bra scandal. I've never been a fan of M&S as such, and the more expensive DD-cup and upwards bras did not impact on me in the slightest (as much as I wish they did), but I think there's something endearing about a brand that can hold their hands up to their mistakes. Fair enough, they needed to before even more people fled to Asda or Primark for cheap underwear, but to admit that they "boobed" (yes yes, puns are bad but this one is acceptable) and offer a new price AND discounts for a fortnight could well result in the biggest turnaround achieved in such a short space of time.

Unfortunately for them, their wily advertising charms will not have me crossing their threshhold. Power to the Primarni!

Learning lessons the hard way

This week brought about our first proper ads which was very good. Unfortunately, my week is ending on a bit of a low.

A year ago I was a student struggling towards the finish line of the degree under quite a lot of pressure and stress. Around this time I found myself on Facebook rather a lot (nothing new there!) and happened to post a couple of derogatory comments about a brand on a group that I joined, purely to let off some steam. Fast forward to today, and those actions have come back to bite me in the ass. The agency dealing with the brand's advertising has suddenly found this group and my comments, and politely informed me that I can rule out any chance of placement or long-term employment with them for the forseeable future as a result of this.

Let this be a word of warning to any current or ex-student who has ever thought that any negative comments they've made online would never be discovered, be it on Facebook or any other public forum - even blogs. During any placements I have had, I've always remained professional and abided by the terms of contract as well as asking permission before blogging about any aspect of work to avoid repercussions such as this. I understand and respect that the agency in question are simply protecting themselves and their client in such precarious times, but I am disappointed that something I wrote on one day a year ago as a disgruntled student under no contractual obligations, has now backfired so spectacularly.

If you're a member of any anti-brand/product groups, remove any comments and your membership now! I had removed my membership from the group some time ago, thinking the comments would disappear too - unfortunately not! As a mark of respect towards the brand and agency, I have now removed these. In future, unless you choose to be part of a pro-brand/product group, I'd advise anyone interested in this industry to learn from my naive example and stay away from these groups entirely.

As with everything I publish on this blog, this is just another stumbling block on the path to advertising superstardom, but the one I've learned the most from so far. I only wonder where it all ends - what of my criticism of the new Orange Wednesdays ad below? Does that assure me no chance of ever working for Fallon because I think their ad could've been better? If that's the case, then I think all of us bloggers are screwed! In an industry that tries to alter public opinion of brands and products, I find it a tad saddening that the creatives producing the work may only speak positively of brands and products, regardless of whether they are linked to them or not. But I guess you take the rough with the smooth and hope to hell you don't make the same mistake again!

Thus endeth the lesson!

What was that offer again?

The new Orange Wednesdays ads have come under some less than friendly fire since their first airing, the main criticisms being that they're just not as funny as the old ones, and that using the "I am who I am" line to send themselves up makes it less amusing still. Personally I don't have any problem with them, they're likeable enough, though it would be nice to see send ups of other well-known characters soon.

There is one flaw with the latest ad though - the flying monkey. Hell, nobody likes them, but that's not the point I'm making. Orange Wednesdays is a 2-for-1 offer. Witch + Vicki + monkey = 3. Is it just me, or did they need to give the flying monkey a flying monkey companion in order for the ad to sell what's it's meant to be selling?

WOOT!!

The time has come where we can finally reveal our ads for Warrington Borough Transport! Just to refresh while it's been so long, these were formed from a concept me and Sarah had during our time at AND Partners last October which the client gladly accepted. Still only small fry compared to your drumming gorillas and the like, but other than a leaflet we did for VivaLaDiva at Pravda, these are our first proper advertising babies seeing the cold, harsh light of day.


Our original scamps


The finished articles

4-page leaflet using artwork from our ad

The leaflet is something Lee and Sam formed after we left placement, but it uses the image from our ad so I'm shamelessly plugging it on here! For the moment our ads are appearing on WBT buses in the region to promote the U19 Savercard (which was originally U18, it's not a typo on our scamps!), but there's talk of them being rolled out into adshels and bus backs at some point. Whatever happens we're just happy to have work out there being seen, and the canny thought that the teens seeing it will never once think "I wonder who came up with these ads?" is actually kind of cool. Sure, someday we want to do something as big as Gorilla or Balls (possibly a gorilla's balls, you never know!), but for now it's a good feeling that Joe Public are seeing our work.

Though we sadly didn't get to see the project through from start to finish, we're glad we got to head to the shoot for it in February, and we've been enlightened as to just how long even the simplest of ideas can take to come to fruition (6 months!). Cue Oscars-style speech! Thanks to the AND Crew for giving us the opportunity to have our work produced, to Lee for letting us mock him as always at the shoot, and to Ste for keeping us in the loop about everything that was going on. Cheers guys!

Easter update

Just a quickie! Unfortunately me and Sarah received an unfavourable response from Finch yesterday - turns out they opted to go for a more experienced team which is understandable based on their standing at the moment. A tad disappointed, but knockbacks are always to be expected, more so now than ever. And at the end of the day it's another contact we've gained, plus Kerry said she'd put us in touch with some of their contacts closer to home in Manchester, so there's always that silver lining somewhere.

Right back to the chocolate eating. Not as a form of consolation, just because I love scoffing!

Long time, no type!

Seems like the resolution to update the blog more has fallen by the wayside a little! Been pretty busy over the last month with normal work stuff (i.e. the 9-5 job) so little to report from Team Sparkley. However, today we did have a jaunt over to Liverpool to an agency called Finch for an interview (yes, an actual interview, not just a random book crit!)


Unfortunately the CD was busy, but we got to see the lovely account director, Kerry Dennison. Admittedly it was pretty much like all the book crits we've had, but with a little more emphasis on what experience we've had since uni and also a lot more background and current info on Finch itself. Kerry liked much of our book and seemed to like us, and it turned out we were the last candidates for their job opening to be interviewed, so we should be hearing something from them sometime in the next week or so.

Still a lot of ups and downs for Team Sparkley at the moment as we've both been looking for any work we can get our hands on, whether it be together or separately. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say! Sarah had an interview for an artworker job yesterday, and for the time being I'm staying on at my temp job to keep the cash coming in and considering writing a book to pass my free time more creatively and hone my copywriting skills as much as possible. Whatever happens, we're just looking for any way to help us onwards and upwards, regardless of when that elusive "big break" finally happens.

On a lighter note away from all the doom, gloom and economic depression, we had a rather nice wander down to the Albert Docks, stopping in at the Tate along the way - hooray for a bit of culture (there's little of it in Wigan and Stockport, you see). True to our roots, our favourite part was the souvenir shop - me with my gigantic pencils, and Sarah with her pornographic art books. Very classy.


Hopefully we'll be hearing some good news soon, be it as a result of today or our many other endeavours/fingers in pieholes. The snippet of information we learned today that we never knew before is that Liverpool has an underground service. And it smells better than London's.

For the One I Love

Here's a little shout out to my lovely work wife, Sarah. For all the times you say "Nom nom nom!" to me, this is for you!

Stupid Sheilas

What the hell? I read possibly the stupidest article in the paper this morning. Word has it that having attempted to sign up for Swiftcover insurance, musicians are being told they're ineligible for it due to Iggy Pop being their frontman. WHA?!?! How on earth does being a musician make you a liability to an insurance firm?

Also revealed was that Esure (you know the ones - "Calm down dear, I'm just punching Michael Winner in the face!") does not insure film directors, and Sheilas' Wheels refuse to insure people who drive pink cadillacs.

Australian? Own a garishly pink dress? You're out!

Whatever next? MoreThan not covering anyone who owns a dog named Lucky (yes yes, old ads I know, but it appears insurers are crazy!), Norwich Union/Aviva not insuring anyone who has ever changed their name?

Perhaps I'm well behind the times and this has been going on with all manner of products and services for years, but I just don't understand why the ASA have allowed these instances to occur, discrimination being the buzzword these days.


On a brief note whilst I continue to fathom this out, me and Sarah received the first visuals of our ads for Warrington Borough Transport today and they're looking pretty good! No matter how big or small this achievement seems to anyone else, we can't wait to see our first printed ads out there and be able to say "We made that!"

Feel free to make sick noises!

Ze book

A new link has been added to the sidebar now, which is an online showcase of mine & Sarah's book. Feel free to take a look and leave comments or contact us via email (also in the sidebar).

Ta!

Back to the day job

That's your lot folks, our fortnight at TBWA is up! Never the best feeling leaving placements behind, but having been given a chance to prove ourselves at the church, we're more certain than ever that we want to work there. Two weeks ago it was just an idealistic view that it'd be pretty freakin' cool to be part of such a team, but having seen it from the inside, it's become a goal for us.

We had a great end to our stint there with some more good feedback from Paul, and he sent us on our way with another brief for us to tackle and some certificates of our time there which was pretty funny. I personally have had the best time there, and feel like I'm learning more and more as I go along my little copywriting journey, particularly with Paul's encouragement with has helped my confidence no end. Needless to say, that man is set for a whole load of pestering from us in the months to come, and we hope to be taken back into the church some time in the near future.

My record of achievement!

For the time being it's back to the grind for me come Monday when I'll be returning to my "day job", though only for a few more weeks before heading to the life of limbo once more! We're just going to take things as they come, keep working on the book and pushing to get it out there, and we shall see what the next few months bring for us. We've left a little mark or two behind at TBWA, so we'll see whether they're discovered (though Fergus did catch us in our suspicious act - d'oh!). Thanks for having us, and hopefully we'll see you soon for more Cheese Pub action!

Our Bex flying the UCLan flag for us at TBWA!

I'm a PC

Sarah showed me this little Mac piss-take yesterday which I nearly peed myself over (true story). As a blatant Mac-basher, I loved it!

"I'll buy almost anything if it's shiny and made by Apple" - genius!