Friday, February 23, 2007

Monocle

I bought the first issue of Monocle, the new magazine from Tyler Brule, today and really love it so far.

I say so far because it's huge, and looks like it would take a week to read properly.
What's impressed me is the gerneral look and feel of it, the fact that it's not scared to run very long articles (something other magazines really fight shy of), its really eclectic in the subjects that it covers, and the fact that it seems to be a labour of love, like all great magazines.

However what I'm scared of finding on going in deeper is:
- It'll be really right wing
- It'll be full of pairs of trousers for £750
- It'll be completely humourless and po-faced
- It'll be written by pseuds
- It'll love really terrible, dull, flavour of the month music
- It'll love the film 'Hidden'
- I won't like it

We'll see. I'll try to do an update at the weekend.

Update - 1st March.

OK - I've read it now, and i still love it.

Addressing the points one by one:

- Right wing? No, not noticably
- Trousers? Don't know, because cunningly they don't put prices in. What's even better is that the don't bore you with stockist information - if I want to find that jacket I'll find it online.
- Humourless? No, not with headlines like Kabul and Wireless about an arabic DJ
- Pseuds? No, except for the bit that said their favourite Sunday newspaper was Portugese
- Dull music? No, and in fact one of the plugged albums was one I'd already thought of buying
- Dull films? No, and they even plug Grey Gardens on DVD. Any fan of the Maysles...
- I won't like it? No, I still love it, and I'm looking forward to the next issue.

Terrible distribution though. The only place I can find it in London is the stall at Leicester Square tube station, and he's now sold out.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Valentine Viral Compendium

7 Valentine's Day Virals:

Send Your Love a Kiss – for The Last Kiss on DVD


Give A Love Note – for the British Heart Foundation


She’s So Twisted for Auntie Anne’s
Pretzels
Plus the site

Valentines Serenade for Norton


Love's Arrow for I Want One Of Those

Spread the Love for World Archipelago

& Shooted Cupid for Capri Sun (Thanks Simon!)

So... Not a great selection, and not as many as I'd imagined there would be. I'm sure there were better ones a couple of years ago like the Lastminute love tattoo Perhaps we're all too busy these days doing regular campaigns.

Monday, February 05, 2007

'I Hate Macs' - unfortunate media placement


Two massive Mac ads around Charlie Brooker's excellent opinion piece on The Guardian website.

But... Fair play to Apple for leaving the ads up, and they must be enjoying the level of debate that this article is creating. Over 6,000 Diggs so far, and zillions of comments on the thread. Given that the article was pretty much tongue in cheek, this is not bad for Apple at all.

Or to put it another way,

Mitchell (as the PC): QUICK - take the ads down - that man's being rude
Webb (as the Mac): You know what - leave them up. It'll take more than one bloke writing in the Guardian to destroy our cool image.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Guinness Hands TV Ad



Here's a YouTube preview of the new Guinness campaign, due to hit the UK TV screens next week.

I like it. Some of the commenters on YouTube (well, one actually) have said that they expected something glossier with a bigger budget, but Guinness is about great ads, and not sticking to one formula.

Yes we all love 'Horses', but this is far more in the vein of 'Dancer' (or Anticipation as it was more properly known), the low budget commercial from Ireland that became a big hit the mid-Nineties.

Declaring an interest - media planning and buying by my colleagues at Carat, creative by AMV BBDO
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