Thursday, 2 April 2009

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.

Monday, 2 March 2009

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!

Tuesday, 24 February 2009

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!

Sunday, 22 February 2009

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!

Friday, 20 February 2009

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!

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Trott on

No word of a lie, I saw Dave Trott this morning! Striding purposefully towards me, I was in no doubt that it was the silver-haired Trotter.


Except I'm not quite sure why he was getting off a Magic Bus in East Didsbury. Sarah thinks I'm crazy. Or that it could possibly have been Dave's long-lost twin, Fox.

Discuss.