Things we buy #12: Eco-friendly bra/shopping bags

Trust the Japanese to come up with the most innovative weirdities society will ever get to know. What is it about the Japanese mind that makes them come up with such twisted wonders?

Skill Bill #6: Use people

If you don't know how to use people without making them feel like they are being used you're not likely to succeed in advertising, and in life. The key to being more productive lies in your ability to multiply resources. In my opinion, this is what makes the Internet special: It multiplies.

Skill Bill #5: Board games

Nothing like board games to make the mind go places the body cannot. Here's one that I chanced upon via a post from Blaiq. Sounds fascinating. All this to say if you want to keep your mind curious, engaging and alive, play board games.

Lazy people

What is it about us that stops us from making that anonymous call? We'll make anonymous calls for all kinds of stupid things but we have to be cajoled, coaxed and pursuaded to make this kind of anonymous call? Crazy people. Great film.

Arthur aur les Minimoys

I think what this movie needed was some good English writing. The formula for successful animated films in English is wisecracks and smart writing to go with good animation. This film has some outstanding animation but some very banal dialogue writing. I suspect it lost some of its verve and sparkle when translated from French to English. In some ways, this film reminds me of the problems we face in advertising when writing for multilingual audiences.

Logo showgo #13: 6/10

Advertising dystopia

The film's best jokes—and Idiocracy is a very joke-dense film—trace the steady and inexorable crassification of the cultural landscape into a future where the Fuddrucker's hamburger chain has become "Buttf***er's" and Starbucks offers hand jobs along with its lattes. Nike's slogan is "Don't Do a Thing" and Carl's Jr.'s is "F**k You, I'm Eating." Slot machines in hospital waiting rooms promise a shot at free health care, and language has devolved into a mixture of "hillbilly, Valley Girl, inner-city slang, and various grunts."

Skill Bill #4: Mint words

A good way to practice lateral thinking, and cultivate it, is to spend a little time, every day, trying to come up with one new word. It's easier than you think. All you need is a bit of discipline. On second thoughts, it's harder than I thought.

The perils of overthinking

Skill Bill #3: Life matters

Don't work like your life depended on it. Advertising is too dependent on too many people to let your life depend on it. If you happen to be in a position where you can work as a lone ranger, then put your life and soul into it. Only then.

A tag late

I got tagged into doing this after I did it. Ah well, I'll just tag along. Again. Thanks for the tag.

Logo showgo #12: 7/10

Thank You for Smoking

Proof that you've got to be really smart to be in advertising. And really dumb to buy advertising. Great movie. Sooper soundtrack.

Skill Bill #2: General Gyan

If you want to be in advertising, be in advertising. And not in Client Servicing, Creative, Planning or Media Planning. Advertising is for a special kind of generalist.

Skill Bill #1: Google nuts

Most of the time people don't know things because they don't know where to look for them. Everything you need is out there. Learn how to find what you are looking for faster, and you'll do much more with what you find. Learn how to Google better. Every morning, come into work and play around for 15 minutes with different search word combinations on the world's best oracle. You'll be amazed at the kind of things that will get thrown up by your searches. Good fun. And good for your career too.

Logo showgo #11: 7/10

Raisin' California

The California Raisins made more money from merchandising sales than California farmers made selling real raisins - the very product the animated Raisins were designed to promote. Hmm.

Logo showgo #10: 6/10

Picture start #13

Don't think ads. Think smart.

Google topped the list of most popular brands in the UK despite spending spending just £1.4m on advertising last year, most of it online. See how this compares with the bloated ad spends of the lower-ranked brands.

Things we buy #11: Mimobots and other Popgadgets

Got to this when I was surfing for mimobots, which is another cool thing more and more of us will buy. Here you go. Good buys.

Advertising clever

In a very interesting and clever piece of advestigative journalism, Advertising Age has picked the 'Consumer' as the 'Agency of the Year'. Clever choice. And the biggest problem with most advertising creatives around the world - trying to be clever for their own good.

Forgive, don't forget.

Suggesting bad creative is the only way clients remember that they're creative too.

How not to do advertising

Advertising love II

Advertising love

The thing about advertising, it's a lot like love. It always falls short of expectations. And now that you know this, go forth and fall in love with advertising. It's the only way to enjoy it. And its contradictions. Sounds so fucking wise, doesn't it? It's not. It's reality.