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Symmetry with an opposite

By Creativity, Uncategorized

This neat little idea comes from building a symmetry between the transient text of a text message and the really permanent text of a blue plaque. The net result is a neat comment on just how annoying the wrong predictions are.

We’ve all been there. And the other place

By Uncategorized


I’m always telling participants on the Copycourse that change is the key making a piece of writing interesting. Yet this cute little film keeps doing the opposite; It’s a story about keeping the bear in the same place.
So how come it’s so entertaining?
Well, for one the expectation for anyone who stands in a queue is to move forward. So the film turns our expectation of moving forward in a queue upside down. It plays with how we see the world.
And it keeps doing it in different ways.
All the while it’s saying something deeper about trying to get ahead: that it comes at the price of frustration.
As William Goldman said about screenwriting, give the audience what they expect, not in a way but not in the way that they expect it.
No wonder it got four thousand likes and counting.

I jiggle therefore I am

By What's out there now

Beneath all the flab on show there’s something quite subtle about this idea. The premise of being a Bollywood belly dancer is that you’ve got to enough fat to jiggle. So by celebrating belly dancing, you’re providing a neat piece of subliminal logic; namely other cultures are okay with a bit of extra flesh. It’s just the west where we’ve all gone anorexic.

I jiggle therefore I am

I jiggle therefore I am campaign to get women to exercise

https://time.com/3669876/this-girl-can-ad-sport-england/

Creativity as a gift

By Communications craft

british_airways_cup_of_tea
Getting an idea into a piece of communication transforms it.
I recently got asked to help out with a piece of communication that had gone wrong. A client had spent a lot of money filming some of their stakeholders and was trying to string it all together as a film.
The trouble was it didn’t work. Although the footage was, by and large well shot, the narrative was all over the place. It wasn’t clear whether some of the people we saw in silver framed photographs were alive or dead, and who exactly was doing what on whose behalf. But most of all, the reason it didn’t work was there was no idea, even slight idea to hold the whole thing together. Result: A budget halfway to six figures, and not much to show for it.
Ideas transform a piece of communication in several ways. One of these, I believe, is that getting an idea from a piece of communication often feels like receiving a gift. And a gift is an ideal way to begin a relationship. And just like we enjoy, almost anticipate, receiving a gift at the beginning of a personal relationship, and the same is true in the brand world. When we begin a relationship with an inanimate object or service we call a brand, we also expect some kind of gift; this is often given in the form of an idea.
Without an idea, it just feels a like a lecture. Now, how can I explain that to this client…
pre session task

Nothing Compares 2U

By content, Uncategorized

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x28r9_sinead-nothing-compares-2u-live_music

SinĂ©ad O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2U


Ever wondered why the lyric is nothing compares to you rather than no one compares to you? That’s the genius of this lyric, because it adds that touch of craziness that defines great poetic thought. And the structure is identical to Martin Luther King’s ’63 speech and Winston Churchill’s Finest Hour speech. 114 million hits can’t be wrong. Looking at the structure in terms of beats. It’s been seven hours and fifteen days
Since u took your love away (Facts) I go out every night and sleep all day
Since u took your love away (Develop the pain, problem or situation)

Since u been gone I can do whatever I want
I can see whomever I choose
I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant But nothing
I said nothing can take away these blues (Claim USP or deal -Nothing brings you the same level of blues)
`Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u (Depressing principle, opposite of inspiring principle) Repeat the same format then leave on I know that living with u baby was sometimes hard
But I’m willing to give it another try (Call to action)