Newsblog
Seven nation army
2008 will be seen as a period of sustained growth here at 300m. As we sail into stardate year six, ever keen to get stronger, stay on top of a constantly changing sector and crucially, keep relevant; it naturally means bolstering the team with some fine people.
Right, that's enough of the military-style rhetoric. Let's say howdy-doody to the four latest millionaires to order their own choice of Pantone™ coloured business cards…
Sick to the back fangs of Lord of the Rings trolls and retired couples mountain-biking in slow motion in front of jaw-dropping landscapes to the sounds of Crowded House, Kristina left nice n' quiet New Zealand, jumped on a plane and started applying her project management wizardry here in bustling Clerkenwell.
Former freelance designer Adam was welcomed on board full-time when he started to come into work dressed identically to Nigel. Verbose agencies out there might call this 'applied synergy'.
Richard joined us a fortnight ago as a former senior designer from Lippa Pearce and therefore latterly Pentagram. His position is very much about sharing his design knowledge, growth and development – although at six foot five – this had better be in step with our ability to make the doors a bit bigger.
And then Lance joined us as our first full-time artworker last week. Rock-loving Lance, as a South African, makes 300million a seven nation branding agency. Every single one's got a story to tell. Everyone knows about it. From the Queen of England to the hounds of hell.
The rise and rise of the people
As if you need this blog to keep banging on about it – in marketing, we’re going through a very ‘consumer is king’ [or queen] phase right now. It’s almost old-hat – Time magazine’s person of the year 2006 was ‘the consumer’.
The days of thinking that a nice rhyming couplet or woolly stuffed puppet could sell you a product seem to be fast disappearing. Now – it’s all about ‘you’. In the next few weeks, you’ll be able to walk past an Oxfam billboard that has slogans generated by the public, eating Walkers Crisp flavoured by a member of the public, talking on your ‘I am’ Orange mobile phone with a ‘For all you are’ Sunday Times newspaper stuffed under your arm.
You have to be careful though. The pitfalls are everywhere with this approach. Try too hard and your appeal might ricochet to the sound of, ‘Don’t tell me who I am!’. Be too open and you’ll risk being asked what your marketing department does for a living if it gets the target audience to do all the work. And what if those ideas are really, really good?!
Seriously though, the biggest danger is being cynical. It’s actually a fantastic stage in marketing and branding that we’re in right now where consumers and employees are being really respected. Let a consumer/employee ethos run truly throughout your brand and we’re confident only good things will happen. Adopt bandwagonism, or worse pretend – and feel the wrath of a million consumers telling you that your next crisp flavour should be strawberry & Swarfeega, that the phone plan you want is either Muntjac – or you’re off and that you’ll do your Sunday newspapers online from now on because the printed ones are too heavy for your sore back.
The 300million dollar question – where next? Well, once we’ve put our Sky+ remote controls down to consider this, we think we’ll be seeing – creatively – respect being given out to those that dare to use a good, old-fashioned sit-down and listen second/third generation of marketing sandwich board and Oranjeboom, Oranjeboom it’s a lager not a tune techniques. Regionally in the UK some of you have been exposed to our successful ‘Space is Ace’ work for Access Self Storage, for example. No – we weren’t referencing Frank Sidebottom’s sci-fi homage, by the way.
Culturally, what next? More honesty, more openness and eventually true, total transparency – though that is contentious and debated here at 300m like what would happen to atoms at absolute zero – you can’t quite describe it. One thing for sure though, those that don’t strive for true respect will wilt.
The A-Z of logos A-Z
You know what it’s like; you get the brief – and the brand begins with a H or a Q or W [yeh – OK – sometimes a number]. Regardless of the industry or purpose of the brand, the first idea on the wall is…
A – Upper-case. Turned on its side to look like an eye, like they told you to draw them in science classes as a kid
B – Upper-case. Du jour is to fill in the counters so it’s a solid blob of Bness
C – Made to look 3D by showing its depth and having the C itself blank to trade off negative space.
D – Uppercase. Roll it clockwise 90 degrees and there’s that smile. It was good enough for Smile In The Mind [my first printed idea] and it was good enough for our dentist logo last year. By all means resist using a serif face – yes, it looks more like a smile – but it never looks as well balanced as a bit of Franklin G.
E – Easy. Set it in Bliss Bold, lower-case. Rotate it about 10 degrees anti-clockwise. Bingo – a nice smiling Pac-Man sorta character. Would suit a pound shop or fried chicken franchise.
F – Lower-case. The top of the f curls around quite head-like – whilst the bar through the middle curls up like a person celebrating.
G – Ah – the ultimate. Yep that’s right – upper-case with that bar slightly pointed to make the arrow shape. Continuity, delivery – perfect for almost all sectors….
H – It’s just a Helvetica Neue Bold H. Uppercase. Brutal and minimal. And you’ll put a square full point after it too to stamp its authority.
I – Lower-case, with an eye picture for the dot. Geddit…
I [option] – Lower-case slab serif. With a quick nip and tuck – hey, it’s a little man!
I [option 2] – Upper-case. For reasons unknown, the I has acquired a shadow – voilá – a tick.
J – Lower-case. With the dot step-and-repeated to the left to make the inevitable Gonzo happy face.
K – Ah, the kicking k. Literally. You’ll tip him up a bit. Tip him up a lot. One way or another – you’re gonna give him legs.
L – Taboo and seldom seen – cos it looks like a learner-plate in upper-case and an I in lower-case. Any examples welcome.
M – Always, always, always a picture side-on of two people shaking hands.
N – Upper-case, keylined and then cross-bred with the Renault logo to produce a 3D effect thing looking all a bit StudioLine 1987.
O – A bit like the C, you’ll seek out endless negative space 3D options. And no one knows why…
P – Made up from a keyline square and dangly straight line to the lower-left corner. Techno techno techno techno.
Q – A perfect circle, really thick with the perfect echo of the counter as a tail. Or, as QuarkXPress and the Scottish Arts Council both discovered and got into legal hot water about, corner off the bottom right part of a thick circle.
R – Be a bit scripty freestyle with this little lower-case fella and you have a neat, little LS Lowry ‘bird’. Do three together for that Hilda and Stan Ogden dining room ducks effect.
S – S is for symmetry. Two equally opposite elements snaking together to make your symbol of connection…
T – You’ll just use a mathematical plus sign. Next…
U – Helvetica rounded. Chopped about a bit. Perfect smile.
V – Eek out the right-hand side a bit for that tick. Perfect for health and governmental bodies.
W – Inevitably Bauer Bodoni [is that an early Tears for Fears album name?]. You’ll want to do something just-so about it in a Pentagram/Napoli stylee. And it just might work.
X – See S above.
Y – Three same lines coming together 120 degrees from each other. Get that transparency tool in Illustrator fired up so you can show how three things coming together makes things – a bit darker…
Z – Worried about how jagged the lines could make the logo a bit sinister, you will effectively make it look like cheap, stringy sweets; a long, bendy, thick line. Bright pink.
Air Miles
Following hot on the heels of recent trips to Russia, the USA and... er... the Kalahari Desert, we've been clocking up the Air Miles again, this time a little closer to home.
Last week saw us jetting overseas to visit two beautiful cities as part of our on-going mission to spread the Million word. Take a look at the snaps above and have a guess where our meetings took place.
Clues you want? Oh, go on then. In city one, the faint tick-tocking of amazingly hand-crafted watches was just about audible as we stood at the lake's edge. And in city two, if we strained our ears from the roof-top gallery café vantage point, the jangly acoustic strumming of the President's wife was definitely in the air...
We are the goon squad and we're coming to town...
...beep beep.
A big thank you to Canon and all those that joined us at London Fashion Week on Wednesday. This is just the start for Canon, as we help them engage with the cream of our industry and work with them to discover how they can better connect with us hard-to-pin-down [or stitch, for that matter] creative types.
Tate Million
YCN is a network for young creative talent. It helps design graduates find gainful employment, it puts new illustrators and photographers in touch with art directors and agencies and it showcases emerging talent. In short, it's great.
Imagine our delight, then, when the nice people at YCN asked 300million to become part of their 'open gallery' project this month: called YCN Live, this scheme was hatched to allow the work of young creatives to be displayed in agency, retail and other environments. We happily agreed to hang work by recent design graduates Michael Mercer-Brown and Paul Ryding. Paul's lovely, politically motivated screenprints and Michael's equally topical (yet slightly bonkers) toy-soldier assemblage are currently wowing visiting clients at Million HQ.
We love the idea of using our downstairs studio as a gallery space. We've got the white walls. We've (very occasionally) got the reverential hush. And with our shiny new coffee machine, we could even have the overpriced and slightly stressful cafe.
Condensed cream
This week sees the launch of Distill magazine, brainchild of 300million pal Pete Bowker and his partner in crime, Chris Lockwood. As the name suggests, Distill is a boiled-down, edited, condensed, lovingly packaged mag compiling the very best fashion and style editorial from across the globe.
Pete and Chris (who work with the Million as business consultants and general all-round purveyors of sage advice) obviously have very well-stocked Rolodexes, given the veritable creative-industry who's-who of Distill contributors: issue one boasts Giles Deacon, Matthew Williamson, Stephen Gan, Deyan Sudjic and Colin McDowell.
All of which has got me thinking about an edited version of our blog. I'm sure that you, esteemed and extremely busy reader, could do with a shorter, snappier, shrink-wrapped, nugget-shaped version of these blog entries.
So, here's the Distill-ed version of what you've just read:
Distill Magazine.
Created by pals of ours.
Edited by famous folk.
Available now.
Buzberrrrrrrr...
We've had problems with our business land line recently so apologies if you've had trouble reaching us. This annoying situation has however given us the opportunity to put a nostalgic image of 'Buzby' on our blog, an interesting contrast to 'Yota', Russia's latest communications brand created by 300million (read more below).
Enjoyment Unlimited
Today is a very special day for us. We have just attended the press launch here in Moscow for Yota - one of the first WiMax brands in the world.
WiMax is a city-based mobile communications platform that allows for super-size broadband speeds. It makes 3G look like yesterday's news [making the current advertising rhetoric for 'rocket powered broadband in your pocket' look a bit out of breath]. We're talking the ultimate in connection. Forget about drop-out or spinning clocks here: it's 'instant' on-the-move YouTube clips, Facebooking, high definition video links to your friends, family and clients [so you can show them how beautifully kerned your 7-point text is], big fat files and movies in a snap. You get the idea. Liberating, totally flexible, life-enhancing, energetic. It's 'the last 100 yards in connectivity' as they say in the trade. Available imminently in Moscow and St Petersberg.
300million have worked very closely and confidentially with our client team here in Moscow and St Petersberg, working across a massive range of brand delivery. From creating the logo through to merchandising, from development of the ringtones to the rather funky packaging, from getting the light on the USB dongle to glow a nice, bright blue when you get online to helping the client and partners from Samsung put together the knockout press conference presentation we've [literally] just left.
Too many people at Yota to thank right now for working so well with us in the last few, hectic months. You know who you are! Keep an eye out for the more complete story on our website soon. At last we can talk about it! We're going to the evening gala now, where we'll be toasting our success with - of course - blue, energising cocktails (complete with on-brand cocktail sticks).
'Let's Yota', as the last slide in the presentation says.
Brainserene session
Our candidate for the most exotic ideas generating session in the world - this is the table in the luxury game reserve in the middle of the Kalahari desert where Paul and I were 'thinking outside the helicopter envelope box view push' this week - as is the parlance in many creative agencies.
Before you think we're cocking a snook to the much mooted economic downturn and spending funds willy nilly on a so-so project – we want you to know its strictly business.
And we're not blazing a trail here. Apparently JK Rowling once spent a month here writing one of the Potter books. That'll explain the strangely named Hogwarts pupils Cal A. Harry and Desmond Ert.
Life is sweet
As UK inflation continues to rise towards a 16 year high, it's good to know that some things in life are inflation proof. The price of a 10p Mix Up in Hartlepool's Indoor Market is exactly the same as it was over 25 years ago when I would regularly off load pocket money at this sweet stall. Last weekend whilst on a visit home I couldn't resist this nostalgic purchase, but fully expected to find a smaller yield inside the bag. Not so! The usual favorites where all there in full, milk bottle x1, shrimp x1, beer bottle x1, aniseed gobstopper x1, mojos x2, and a strawberry bootlace.
Beautiful art is made…
…when you FedEx a D&AD Annual to your Russian client, it doesn't find its way and gets sent back to Terminal 5, Heathrow.
It seems a shame to unwrap it. We think we'll just send another.
Where is everybody?
Feeling desk bound? Chained to your Mac? Lacking that vital SHA-ZAM of inspiration? Then go away. Go on. Shove off. Get out of the studio. Hop it. Skidaddle. What's more: get yourself over to Print Lounge in Shoreditch, Gavin Martin Associates' cornucopia of incredible printed ephemera. It's a veritable Aladdin's cave of inspiration in print.
Worried about colleagues wondering where the hell you are whilst you're there, soaking up the ideas? Fear not. We've just designed this handy piece of desk-top signage, printed on just two pieces of GF Smith's new wood-like board and foiled with the legend: I went thataway.
If you fancy paying Print Lounge a visit, drop Phil at Gavin Martin a line. He'll point you in the right direction:
phil@gavinmartin.co.uk
And that's magic.
Some time ago, friend of the Million and genius wordsmith Mike Reed asked us to help him create a self-promotional piece. Mike has harboured a long standing bugbear concerning the correct use of the word 'and'. People (clients, friends, passers-by) constantly inform him that he shouldn't use 'and' at the beginning of a sentence. And he argues that you flippin' well can.
Here's the resulting book. It took us a long, long time to work out the sneaky mechanism. It took Gavin Martin all kinds of head-scratching to work out how to print and finish it (thanks to Kerry's clever folding).
And does it settle Mike's 'and' argument? Well, we're convinced. Ask him for a copy and make your own mind up: mike@reedwords.co.uk
V for Vincent
For one day only, we have a special guest appearance on the Million blog. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Nick Vincent:
Thanks, Matt.
Today is my last day. Having lived and breathed the 300million 'dna' for the last 19 months, I sign-off with a tear in the eye and a lump in the throat, naturally.
My leaving gesture threw up an interesting design brief however. The design standards were simple.
1. Must be noticed and remembered
2. Must have a shelf-life
3. Must reuse all of those suddenly useless business cards.
4. Must be a blatant bit of self promotion for my new studio: www.vincentdesign.co.uk
(Cheeky I know!)
The results are above.
Many thanks to the ‘million massive’. It has been ace.
Nick.
Mad as a lorry
If you take a leisurely scroll down the length of the 300million blog, you’ll be reminded of the work we’re doing with classical young guns, the London Contemporary Orchestra. We helped the orchestra get up and running with a brave brand identity when they launched back in March.
I mention the orchestra again, as we just spotted them in an article in the July issue of Classical Music magazine (with a client list like ours, one’s reading list becomes healthily varied). Gratifyingly, the orchestra’s artistic director Hugh Brunt cited the advice we gave him and business partner Rob Ames right at the start of the project.
Here’s what the article says:
“As Hugh puts it: ‘We met with our marketing team, 300million, and they said, “Our spectrum for approaches goes from this end which is safe to this end which is brave-to-bonkers. Where do you want the LCO to be in it?” Rob and I went for the brave-to-bonkers end of the spectrum.’”
So there you have it. The Push It effect in action. We pushed them. They pushed us. We all ended up somewhere unexpected. And a bit bonkers.
Girls done good
Congratulations to the 300million All-ladies Urban Running Collective for successfully completing the Race For Life 5k charity run this weekend in Regents Park. Whole hearted thanks to all of the generous blog-reading sponsors out there: thanks to you, the fleet footed five piece comfortably exceeded their sponsorship target. The girls' best time was a rubber burning 24.5 minutes. Must have been the pre-run isotonic hot dog what done it.
Roadworthy brand
I've just got back from California where I spent last week collaborating with fellow brand designers C2. All told it was an invigorating and inspiring week. I was taken in for the week by a close friend and client of 300million who we helped create an identity for several years ago called 'Starbhanta'. It was fantastic to see how this translates to a Californian car registration plate. It certainly added to that feeling of pride as I maintained a very respectful 55mph on Highway 1 towards Half Moon Bay each morning.
Matt Stuart captures the Million
Top flight snapper, seasoned globe-trotter and all round good egg Matt Stuart was round our gaff last week. His brief: to spend a day with us, capturing the emotional roller coaster that is a day at 300million HQ. Of the several hundred fly-on-the-wall pictures Matt took, we managed to whittle down to a good four or five where we didn't look like complete idiots: this heavily Photoshopped short list will be appearing on the upcoming, redesigned 300million website (currently a closely guarded work in progress). That's right: you read it here first...
300million x 5k
If you find yourself in Regents Park this Saturday, beware of large numbers of stampeding lasses. No, it's not the Selfridge's Summer Sale causing a mass breakout of frenzied pavement pounding. It's the 2008 Race For Life, Cancer Research UK's massive annual fund raising 5k run.
300million are dispatching a small, crack unit (Muireann, Nat, Kerry and Jo M) to variously run/jog/amble the distance. If you're a client, a regular 300m blog reader, a design student, an ex-placement, an ex-employee... or just plain generous, please visit the official RFL website and sponsor our team.
Just copy and paste this handy link into your browser, and away you go:
http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/300million
Go girls!
The Exmouth Tagger
I stumbled across Banksy's latest last night: a three storey stenciled behemoth, daubed across a gable end just off Oxford Street. Whilst I've never been keen on the clunky political statements, you've got to admire his/her/their chutzpah. The giant Banksy artwork had drivers slowing their cars for a closer look and passers-by (like me) snapping away on mobile phones.
Back on Exmouth Market this morning, a slightly less ambitious but no less intriguing piece of street art has appeared. Who is DB? And what's the significance of the wheelbarrow?
Now I come to think of it, 300million director Dom Bailey did look slightly furtive on his way into the studio this morning. And was that a smudge of green paint on the collar of his Fred Perry?
It's not all doom and gloom in the city
We were pleased to hear this week that Amlin plc has won an award from the Strategic Planning Society for their Annual Report and Accounts – ‘Best strengths and resources coverage by a FTSE250 Company’.
300million have been working with Amlin for the past 3 years, developing the brand and designing the annual report. Our objective - to make the reinsurance business more widely understood - seems to be working. Companies are becoming more accountable and are under increasing pressure to improve the quality of their strategic reporting, The SPS ‘assess the standards of communication and coherence, the content is only good if investors can make use of it’.
So as the debate around the lack of awards for graphic design in this year’s D&AD continues (see Creative Review) we are reminded that it’s the effectiveness of the solution for the clients’ audience that is important and great communication will always win the day.
Hungry like the Wolff
The D&AD Student Award ceremony took place last night at Shoreditch Town Hall, in London's fashionable... er, Shoreditch. As members of the D&AD Education Council, as well as being on the 2008 judging panel, 300million were invited down to the bash to quaff champers with the winners and offer the losers a conciliatory hanky.
Wandering amongst the assembled bright-new-hopes and next-big-things, we couldn't help thinking that everyone looked really... professional. Surely, we ruminated, when we attended our own D&AD Student Awards back in the early 90s, we were all scruffy, awkward gonks, gawping awe-struck at the award-winning work on display. I'm certain we didn't look as self-assured, as savvy as last night's winners.
However, in amongst the scrubbed-up, confidently networking graduates, it was gratifying to spot a lone crusader for the shabby-chic look we were lamenting. There, holding fort amongst a crowd of admirers was brand uberlord Michael Wolff resplendent in jogging trousers, Birkenstocks and trademark heavy-framed specs. He'd even gone to the trouble of putting on a wolf-emblazoned t-shirt, just to reinforce his own brand.
So, graduates take note. We're really impressed with your work this year. But get yourselves an animal print t-shirt if you really want to break into the industry.
Budgens of Tysoe Street
Budgens has always provided our team with a bit of a lifeline throughout the busy working day. Whether it's to get fruit for the week, the emergency milk run or the mid afternoon biscuit dash. Recently refreshed, the new identity system accommodates a special space for the location of each store. Everyone's a winner, 300million now enjoys chocolate Hob-Nobs from 'Budgens of Tysoe Street' don't you know. That's right, Tysoe Street, just off the world famous Exmouth Market.
Keep it real
Whilst in New York last week on a quick-fire blink-and-you'd-miss-it business trip, I couldn't resist snapping this cab-roof ad campaign.
I almost dropped my soy-wet-frappacini in amazement: hell's teeth, I gasped, surely the US networks haven't concocted a reality TV show based on the exploits of a gang of fame-hungry, ruthlessly ambitious graphic designers. It did rather appear so. The clues were all there in the ad: the bald/beardy design faces, the well-fanned Pantone swatch, the use of Avant Garde in the show's ident...
Back home this week, I Googled the show's title, Design Star. It turns out that the programme follows a gang of fame-hungry, ruthlessly ambitious interior designers. Much more conventional. But it did make me think that there's a tiny sliver of a gap in the reality TV market for an Apprentice-esque show about graphic designers duking it out for a well-paid job at a top branding studio.
In fact, I reckon that the four directors of 300million would make a great four-headed Alan Sugar. We're firm but fair. We're plain speaking. We know our onions. We've even got enough grizzly facial hair (if we all pool together)...
Round one
A big thanks to Peggy and the team at AAR for inviting us to their celebrated, trivia-busting quiz night last night. Fellow Millionaire Dom and I found ourselves in the fabulous Bloomsbury HQ of McCann Erickson, talking shop to the assembled branding and ad industry types.
You'll no doubt be pleased to read that, having been separated and ushered into two different quiz teams, Dom and I managed to help our respective teams come a respectable second and third in the final reckoning.
We might have made it to number one if we'd know that (a) red is the most frequently occurring colour in the world's flags and that (b) Queen's Greatest Hits is the best selling UK album ever. Now we know. As do you, fact fans.
Dashwood you believe it?
We all enjoy the occasional pat on the back. That's why we're extremely gratified by the transatlantic pat we've just received from the uber creative award scheme that is the New York Festivals.
The NYF has nominated our Land Securities 'Dashwood' book (you know, the one with an iPod cunningly housed inside the cover) for a prestigious Gold award.
We're blown away by the nomination. The winners are announced at a ceremony in NYC at the end of June: here's hoping for a gong on the big night in the Big Apple.
On a Wim
300million poured into the SEA Gallery last night, invited by friends of 300m; Bryan and the boyz at SEA, the bonny Tullis Russell tribe and GF Smith. We were there to see the private view of design guru Wim Crouwel's fabulous design work, part of SEA's Naturalis paper promotional material.
A good time was had by all, made better when they handed out a limited edition of 150 cardboard tubes that made excellent dummy bazookas [only boys do this].
Imagine our extra delight when we found they'd accidentally left an equally limited edition Wim Crouwel/SEA poster inside, exotically scented by screenprinting processes.
Thanks to the hosts for their generosity. And shame on those double-barrelled "And one for my friend over there [pointing vaguely at Geordie Dave by the drinks bin]" sneaky bazooka ebayers.
How big is 300million?
Clients' (and more often peer branding people) opening gambit when meeting up is to ask how many people currently work at 300million. Understandably, it's a seemingly good barometer of success. In reality, it's a slightly vapid statistic, out of context of turnover, profit, the healthiness of current client relationships and so on.
Better still, there are loads more interesting numerical indicators for success that seldom find their ways into charts (or conversations at private views). So, here are a few suggestions;
300million, we are...
15 pints of milk a week these days y'know?
4 commuting cyclists at the mo.
Ordering twice a week from Viking now, did I tell you?
'Doing 40 gigabytes' a month, thanks.
Skyping three times a week.
Getting a dig in the trade press about once every two months now.
And, since you're asking, 16 full time, 4 freelance. OK?
Big on numbers
Our second favourite number after 300 000 000, and one that you often hear on science TV shows, is 20 000 000 000 000 000 000 000.
Rather dull? On the contrary. Some bright spark, perhaps unknowingly skilled in the ways of consumer engagement, thought of this a while a go and rebranded it as 'the number that's roughly the amount of stars in the universe that's greater than all the grains of sand on the beaches of the Earth' – a figure thrown around school physics classes that we're a lot more aware of. It's more easy to comprehend when brought into a physical context. A good example of number branding.
Don't believe us on this statistic? Then look for it on the internet search engine 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 – sorry, I mean a Google, sorry, Googol – a number almost twenty factors larger than all the atoms in the Universe.
Bring-Bring your best ideas by audio
Think you've got a good idea? You could spend a lot of time developing and testing it. Or, just call the client up and explain it down the phone. This way, there's no pomp n' ceremony to distract the assessment of it or make them suspicious about its integrity. It's just presented to them in its stark, birthday suited brilliance. Or not.
There's a similar thing to be said for containing yourself to a Post-It note. But, some ideas are too wonderful to be visualised. Whereas a few words down the phone, like radio, paint better pictures.
The UK heart Hertz
Blog pictures that move – always more charming aren't they? Confound someone's expectations today.
We've been doing a lot of through-the-line work for Hertz – recently revealed as one of the UK's top 10 most loved brands. We thought our recent 'heart' campaign was an excellent symbol of this affection – made neater when we discovered that the heart shape was the original icon for Hertz 90 years ago.
Your brand – as recommended by…
Endorsement. It's one of a brand's best friends. That was until the internet allowed sneaky PR machines to send their junior journos scurrying to Amazon to give their client's product five stars and a glowing recommendation.
No real change from pre-net days – it was just easier to do this time and more convincing to consumers who were awe struck that this great digital oracle let them know that Maureen from Crawley had stayed in the obscure hotel you were going to – and loved it.
So genuine brands of quality can heave a sigh of relief to know that soon legislation will be brought in that will mean all internet recommendations will have to be accountable – proving that Maureen is actually Malcolm from Soho. And Morris from Rhyl. And Mark from Worsley – who only gave 4 out of 5 – to look more authentic.
The rise of Simple Bold
Apparently 2009 is going to be a tough year in marketing, if we believe what the media tells us. Every brand will have to make sure every penny of their marketing budget can stand up for itself and be accountable now more than ever.
Result? Simple Bold. Simple, bold type, colour, message, tone of voice. Unequivocal. Undeniable. Everywhere you look – from iPhone promos to British Airway's ads – we're seeing more simplicity that was previously dominant on wonderful 'value' own-brand baked bean tins and the like.
Here at 300m, when developing a communication, the first idea on the wall is simply the purpose of the brief inverted into the consumer's need and made big on the available space. 'You want to buy these shoes'. 'Leave our rival and choose us – we're much better'. Then, we go deeper, looking for more canny, wittier, more engaging answers. This way, every time a new idea comes along, it is litmus tested against the initial ideas to see whether it's anything over and above Simple Bold - or is it just Clever Clever?
Green Pages
We're all being asked to 'Do our bit' to slow down climate change, the simplest and easiest way (on a personal level) being to use less and recycle more. In Hackney where I live there has been a noticeable change in behaviour over recent years and more people than ever are filling up these little green boxes each week for the council to collect. It's an age old argument that in order to have any real impact on slowing down the inevitable it will take the innovation and commitment of big business as well as the individual. So whilst I'm doing my bit to recycle toilet roll tubes (amongst many other things) it would be reassuring to know that Yellow Pages where thinking of smart ways to improve it's directory delivery database to find out who still wants one and who is more than happy using their more than useful website.
Lights, camera... robots
If you find yourself down Paddington way late at night over the next week or so, you may stumble across several black-clad, hoodie-sporting dudes drawing invisible robots in the air. Don't worry, it's not the local needle-exchange taking a new creative direction. It's new friends of 300million, German art collective Lichtfaktor. We recently invited the ninja-like nocturnal light surgeons over to London for a top secret project and they kindly accepted our invitation.
We decided that Lichtfaktor were perfect for our project after reading about them in Wired magazine and checking out their work on various hip websites. Their appearance on Blue Peter this week merely confirmed their status as cool dudes.
Left - right?
33% of each of the two design teams here at 300m are left-handed. Compared to a national average of 8%. Weird, huh? Or a fluke?
Perhaps not. I've always noticed a propensity of southpaws in the design and branding industry. We easily stand out with our claw-like writing style (hey - we're just looking to see where we're going as the Western left-to-right right-handed overlords have decreed) using your right-handed pens and pencils (don't believe me? Put your pen in your right hand - text the right way up, yeh? Put in your left hand - upside down. If not, ask for your artwork fee back).
My advice to clients - ensure the team working on your next project has a fair smattering of lefties. The US Air Force looks for them. Apparently, their left-handed pilots are less likely to follow convention and be more unpredictable - making them harder to tackle in a dogfight. More original you might say? Fresher thinking? Also, the hard-wiring to the brain makes left-handers more likely to analyse problems using 'synthesis' - solving them as a whole. Bang! Which is a neat balance to their right-handed counterparts who want to use 'analysis' and process the problem into little pieces. Yawn!
So look out for left-handers. Not to be confused with left-footers or left-eyers* which is another matter. They're good for the creative process.
* Are you left or right eyed? Look to something distant and point to it. Now close one eye and you'll find you're no longer pointing it at it - close the other and you are. This tells you which eye you lead with. Right?
G-FORCE
If you've flicked through today's Guardian G2 supplement, you can't fail to have noticed our full page ad for the London Symphony Orchestra on page four. We decided to go lo-fi for the LSO ad, eschewing the traditional whopping advertising budget for models, stylists, locations, photography etc... we simply took a copy of the new brochure we've just designed for the Orchestra, bashed it up a bit, stuck some Post-It notes inside it and snapped the dog-eared result. Who needs Kate Moss?
Planes, trains and single malt
Your 300million correspondents have been experimenting with modes of transport recently, whilst visiting clients (both old and new) in Edinburgh. The jury is still out on the perfect London-to-Edinburgh conveyance, but here are our thoughts to date. Heathrow and Gatwick: hot and hectic. Slow train from Kings Cross: too much time, not enough power in the laptop (but great scenery). Air France from City Airport: quick, easy, but something of a white knuckle descent back over Canary Wharf into London.
Fear not, we'll be sure to keep you posted as our investigations continue. In fact, we're due back up in Scotland in two weeks. Wonder how much Rosebery Cabs would charge...
Advantage you!
We're delighted about what we've achieved with the LTA and the delivery of British Tennis Membership communications this week has been a real highlight. The new membership programme provides the gateway to a winning British game, and aims to draw in a much larger proportion of the tennis-playing population. So if you play, watch or compete in the game, we urge you on behalf of the LTA to make it official and sign up at www.lta.org.uk/membership
Car crash advertising
A million years ago, Volkswagen started to advertise its Beetle with ground-breaking classics like 'Lemon' (if you don't know what I'm talking about, I suggest buying a copy of 'Remember those great Volkswagen ads?' - available from amazon.co.uk for a mere £225.06!). The consumer breathed a sigh of relief, safe in the knowledge they were going to be spared a lifetime of banal provocation into making the second biggest purchase in their life.
Or not. Whilst driving into work last Saturday (and if you're not happy about that, don't even think about coming in on Sunday*), as the UK glided smoothly into Spring, like Max Wall going the wrong way on a bumpy travelator; I saw this on Green Lanes.
Banality aside, I'm simply confused. Should I buy a convertible Astra despite British Summer always being so dreadful? Or, are they being ironic? Which confuses me because Astra ain't no irony, witty brand as far as I know. Either way, I simply thought praise be for tin roofs as the sleet obscured my view of this oddity - as well as thinking that £225.06 is surely money well spent for many of the endowed ad agencies out there who are looking to rewrite a few rules on being sold to.
* a great line from adland that I hope is true.
Hello Helen
Say hi to Helen - who recently joined 300m as a south-facing senior designer.
We're chuffed that Helen, who has a portfolio of scrumptious design work, has chosen to come to us to move her career forward as well as pass on her knowledge to the young padawans in my team.
Page 1 on Helen's brand identity guidelines PDF is all about her 'trademark' curly hair. Sadly, the same guidance for me and Matt was deleted in version 2.0 a few years ago.
DS it deserve a pencil?
Yesterday, armed with our Nintendo DS judging hardware, I was one of the 304 judges assessing some of the 25,000 entries at this year's D&AD Awards.
At times, the hi-tech system groaned under the weight of so many juries collating their results at the same time, reminding me of that NASA space pen vs the Soviet pencil myth. Or maybe everyone was looking for the secret passage on Super Mario? Other than that, it proved to be an intellectual, rigorous, engaging process of elimination as we prodded the creative (or not, as the case often proved to be!) entities in front of us to see if they said 'Pencil!'.
Thanks to Howard and everyone on my jury for their openness and to all at D&AD for a well organised, enjoyable day. Especially, president Simon Waterfall dishing out the Eccles cakes.
It looks like it's a time of change – creatively speaking - not for Eccles cakes. There's nothing wrong with 'dead fly pies'. For better or worse - you'll have to wait for the annual later in the year to find out what design work got through. Though, I'd get ready with something stodgy for that wish-I'd-done-it queezy feeling. An Eccles cake will suffice.
Drive from T5
Not everything at Heathrow's new T5 terminal is suffering from hitches. Specifically, our smooth, fully-functioning animated advertisement for Hertz in T5's Tardis-like car hire booth.
Thanks to our friends at Hertz for the brief and to the guys at AMX for producing the animation. It leaves the competition looking on the concept conveyor belt, waiting endlessly for their carefully packed good ideas.
Gasp! Another award
We have been awarded a Merit in this year's ADC Awards in New York for our poster for Gavin Martin Associates' talk on an electric powered print medium.
It's a prize that's all the more sweet because they don't even have the right plug sockets in the US to make our idea work. Three cheers to the UK's life saving, third, slightly longer prong, earthing pin.
Special thanks again to Gavin Martin Associates for the brief and David Sykes for the photography. And to ex-placement Andy Kidd who'll get a nice design credit in the Annual. How he did it in between making all that tea, we'll never know.
We don't normally talk about our charity work, but...
www.designauction.co.uk
The opening reads like a pitch list from hell, but when you get into the site, it reveals itself to be one of the better student initiatives we've seen. Faced with usual challenge of raising money for their degree show, students at the University of Lincoln have avoided the trap of organising a ball (typical scene; trainers and dinner jackets, eating cold chicken, drinking cheap wine, dancing to Fat Boy Slim).
Instead they have created a design auction, with donations of classic work from across the design community. Bid now for everything from posters, books, general tat to a 3 week placement at Sea Design and a copy of CS3.
Well done to everyone involved at Lincoln, including friend of 300million, John Dowling, who consulted on the project.
The auction is next week, with online bidding available via email.
Does it offend you, yeah?
I may not be the biggest environmental campaigner, although Greenwich Council are doing their best to convert me, but I was a little surprised this week when I received my 7 inch vinyl of the techno try-hard track; We are rock stars.
Having ordered six singles at the same time from HMV.com, I had them all individually delivered, lovingly packed in boxes and little jiffy bags....on the same day....
They do offer free postage though!
Rushin'
300m were in bright, sunny Moscow yesterday - on a whistle-stop tour to make new friends.
What an amazing city - so much history combined with a powerful can-do, entrepreneurial spirit amongst the people there. There's a lot of buzz in the UK design sector about consolidating a position of quality in the emerging global markets; making the UK the default for quality brand development, like what Paris is to perfume. This is fine - but short-sighted established agencies had better guard against complacency. We might fly back to the UK, but learning and understanding remains in Russia, India, China and so on. And they're not afraid to use it.
How long before a Russian home-grown [non-vodka!] consumer brand reaches out to international territories instead of the other way around? By our reckoning, not long at all. Exciting times in the branding world - collaboration, mutual respect and self-awareness will protect those that want to flourish in the future - and doubtless, the revolution will be blogged.
It sparkles before she speaks
A very belated 'hello' to Charlotte Cowley - our new Business Development Director - who joined 300million towards the start of the year.
We've known Charlotte for a long time, having worked together in a previous life, and it's great to be working with her again.
She has, of course, chosen a business card colour to match her emerald ring. Don't we all?
Launch goes with a pop!
Our top secret south London project ballooned into spectacular life on Saturday morning, with the public unveiling of plans for Clapham One. We have been working with the Clapham One team (including principal architects Studio Egret West and LA, and project co-owners Lambeth Council and Cathedral) since their initial bid for the project last year.
Now that the Cathedral-led consortium are official bid-winners, their plans for the huge development (including an amazing spiral library, an ecologically tip-top leisure centre and loads of new affordable homes) are ready to become public: hence Saturday's launch.
Watch this space for upcoming south-of-the-river activity.
Under the influence
This gem was spotted close to my home in North London at the weekend. Granted, it's not uncommon to see humorous puns on shop signs, the Essex Road is littered with them. There's 'Past Caring' the secondhand furniture shop, 'Get Stuffed' the taxidermy and rather ironically next door but two is 'Sew Fantastic' the haberdashery. We can't help but think that the proprietor of Sellfridges, who's sitting down behind the 3 tall fridges to the right, may be hiding for good reason, if the Selfridges & Co brand managers get wind of this they may call to threaten legal action at anytime, if they can find the telephone number that is. And before you even think it, no we haven't retouched the image. Any similar examples you may know or see will be warmly received.
The Old Street's like San Francisco
A hatful of Millionaires descended on LSO St Luke’s last night to witness the inaugural performance by the London Contemporary Orchestra – resplendent in their shiny, new 300million branding.
The performance, Scorched by Mark-Anthony Turnage [the venerable lateral thinking composer who woke up one day to realise that a 50-strong orchestra and a jazz trio could make sweet music together], exploded across the stage as though a Ford Mustang, being driven by Karl Malden, with Michael Douglas riding shotgun, burst through the main window – catapulted ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ style from Old Street. And, then into a stall selling thousands of toy monkeys with miniature cymbals [with the stallholder/stuntman leaping out of the way at the last minute]. Yep – powerful, visceral, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, orchestral, solo – it was all in there.
And, the best bit of all – it was accessible. I swore there was a ‘break’ in amongst it from that uplifting bit in E.T. just before he flies past the Moon. And, other parts sounded like the spookier elements of Poltergeist. And then, we were as though transported to New Orleans, like we were necking Sazerac cocktails ‘til the small hours in a downtown dive. The similarities to an eclectic 300million ‘there’s no wrong answers here, people – just get high off the marker pens [this is another blog to be written] and write down whatever comes to mind’ brainstorm were remarkable.
We could only feel energised and hopeful for the future of British classical music too. The Orchestra must have an average age of about 21 and made up of the cream of the country’s most respected colleges and conservatoires. With enough accolades and awards under their individual belts to make you wonder if they haven’t seen their own toes for several years, the performance was collectively, deftly delivered under friend of 300million’s Hugh Brunt’s conduction. Bring on the next performance in June – though the 300million yoof element are already focusing on October’s performance of Popcorn Superhet Receiver [now there’s a naming presentation with the ‘Be Brave’ slide writ big] by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.
Yep – bold, brave, witty, cheeky [liking the ‘Animal Hospital’ ringtone going off during the sponsor’s thanks] and intelligent – the LCO, just like 300m's other favourite orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, look like they’ll fearlessly take on all comers, shake things up, cause a stir, challenge the status-quo [as opposed to challenging Status Quo] and wind-up fuddy-duddies with the panache of Johnny Rotten shouting ‘…and we don’t care!’ in Pretty Vacant. Which was probably somewhere within last night’s performance too.
Hats/lids off to yoghurt pots
Anyone working on a successful yoghurt brand deserves some kind of branding gong. Millions [we can't find the exact 300million fact] are downed every year, under the premise of pro-biotic, health giving, tasty goodness.
But, strip away the cardboard sleeve packaging, remove the lid and you are left with a really miserable, sub-space food gloop. In a tiny pot. And fancy corner innovations along the way haven't really changed things over the years. Eat one with this in mind, and it's like that bit in Silent Running, where Bruce Dern eats square mash potato and blue mushy peas whilst Huey, Duey and Louie look on disapprovingly.
We often hear brand consultants say you can't have a successful brand without a great product. But, it's not that simple. A successful brand often focuses on a greatness – and skillfully turns our heads away from its weaknesses - be it poor battery life, a notorious safety record, that a competitor's offer is superior or that the unchangeable base packaging is so banal.
Here (goes) kitty, kitty, kitty
Nothing sinister – but you might have to stare into this kitten's pathetic eyes, from the leaflet that landed on our doormat, for one last time. That's because there's a big stir facing charity communications – guilt-based advertising will soon be legislated against.
No more bandaged doe-eyed animals, no more feeling bad when that plea falls out of your weekend newspaper, no more trying to de-guilt yourself by at least putting the leaflet that fell through your door into the recycling bin [having taken the free pen out first, of course].
Except… we're not letting you off that easy. 300m have long believed in the power of the positive. We've rotated our dying Earth crescent held in space 90 degrees to make it smile – not frown. We've long ago traded our morose piano playing for a cheery community choir. We're believers in motivation and that evidencing change actually provides a positive carrot people want to chomp on. And soon, everyone else will have to try and emulate our creative wit and cheeriness.
So you'll still be saving cats, dogs and polar bears in the future [if there's any polar bears left, that is]. You'll just be smiling at the same time.
Live x2
This Saturday (the 15th March) sees the inaugural performance by the brand spanking new London Contemporary Orchestra. The gig takes place at LSO St Luke's on Old Street. The Orchestra are performing Mark-Anthony Turnage's 'Scorched', with full band plus jazz trio. Brahms it aint. If you hurry, you might even be able to get a ticket.
We've been working with the Orchestra's artistic directors Hugh Brunt and Rob Ames for a number of months, creating a brand identity for the group. The first pieces of print collateral have begun to hit the streets of London and, as of yesterday, the full website is now live.
Scoot over to www.lcorchestra.co.uk for the big b(r)and experience.
Buckets of branding
I had a rare opportunity to read a weekday newspaper yesterday. (When you cycle to work, you forfeit the spare time a bus/tube/train ride allows you to leisurely leaf through The Guardian, spotting spelling mistooks and getting angry about their music reviews.)
Flicking through the paper en route to a client meeting in sarf London, it was gratifying to spot 300million client Mhora Samuel of the Theatres Trust cropping up with a wise word or two. The article in question concerned Britain's struggling seaside resorts. It turns out that our homegrown holiday towns are turning to the creative industries to take them beyond the traditional funfair and bag of chips experience. Leading the charge are developers Urban Splash, who are spearheading Morecambe's renaissance via a revival of the art deco Midland Hotel. The Midland will open in June with its Eric Gill stonework restored to its former glory.
Let's hope that the brand identity of these towns is given serious consideration along with the much-needed architectural restoration and cultural diversification. It wasn't that long ago that every seaside town's logo had to include the strapline 'Simply the best'. It was the seaside logo law. A doff of the kiss-me-quick hat, then, to Johnson Banks' Blackpool Pleasure Beach identity of a couple of years ago, which brought a bit of style, wit and confidence to that venerable landmark.
So, seaside brand managers take note: 300million are ready and willing to eat as many sticks of rock as it takes, to ride the Big Dipper as often as necessary, to stroll down the prom repeatedly to get to the core essence of your brand.
Apparently, 300million light bulbs are sold in the UK every year. That's quite neat - as in a metaphorical way - lights bulbs are what we sell. And we reckon ours are all 100 Watt. Powered by renewable energy sources - like the Brindisa deli.
Thanks to Simon for the fact [source: Radio 4 - so it must be true].