'The' torch

Were not talking you average mag-lite here, this is the one and only 2012 Olympic torch. I have to say it is probably the first thing I have generally been impressed with in regards to the games. Don't get me wrong, I applied and was successful in gaining four tickets, what for you ask, good question, I think we would all like to know but that is a story for another time. Being a bit of a sports fanatic I am quite excited that our country is holding the games but it probably couldn't of come at a worse time what with the recession, yes it is creating jobs now but what happens once the games have been and gone...

Anyway, natter natter natter. So, this beautiful torch, whether it looks as good in person in comparison to this photograph we will never know but on that black background it looks truly amazing standing all alone, tall and proud. The torches perforated body has 8,000 holes which represent the 8,000 bearers that will carry the torch on it's journey. The bearers will be a mixture of athletes and people who have given outstanding sporting contributions to their community. I am excited to see if Barber Osgerby have anymore involvement in the Olympics. Take at look at their website for some design inspiration.


http://www.barberosgerby.com/

A Glass and a Half Full Productions

Cadburys is up to it's usual tricks... Creating adverts about anything, because they can. There is no new message or product it is trying to entice us with, it is for pure entertainment. If you think back there has been the drumming gorilla, kids eyebrows and the vehicles on the airstrip. This is no different in the sense of there is no logic. However I was interested to see what they had come up with when I first viewed the ad on television and lets be honest, it's pretty random. It takes the notions of Toy Story, bringing things to life when no-one is around and uses the concept in a vintage shop. Yet again they had chosen a great song which was helping to sway me but the thing that tipped me was when I found out that it was not CGI but dancing people in huge items of clothing. Not only was it the clothes but the whole set was super-sized, the idea of this and a larger than life set fascinated me more than the final output itself. At around one minute into the advert you get a glimpse of some legs underneath a dress, but this clip is not used in the commercial that was aired on television.

Special thanks to Metro for the behind the scenes gossip.

3M

3M pretty much have their finger in every pudding that is going. A familiar one is the Post-it note found on any desk, everywhere. The most recent product to grace us is the 'Noise Cancelling Headphones' - I"ll be honest, I'm more excited by the new campaign than the headphones themselves. A number of times I have been told by tutors and designers among others, as well as seeing examples myself that the best ideas are always the simplest - this is no exception. A simple idea, beautifully executed equates to a fantastic visual and in this instance one that people can relate to on varying levels.

Personally the best visual for me is New York, it probably has some of the most iconic statues and buildings in the world, on top of that I heart NY. I am glad it has the location in the corner as I thought Shanghai was potentially Toronto and could of just about worked out Moscow. Either way this can be easily applied to most places, Sydney, Paris, Milan... the choice is endless. Like with New York the greater the difference in buildings and monuments the better the equalizer.

With the advert I am not so sure, it takes all the elements from above, adds in some new cities, but it is just the annoying noises which I understand is the point and probably why the advert is no longer than a minute. I personally would of preferred it if they could have used this and ended with the a song. Think back to the first iPod adverts, a silhouetted person dancing around to their iPod with a great song on. I think it is the one thing it lacks and it could of gave the 3M a more powerful ending, it could of even been a chill-out song to emphasis the point that there is no disturbance to your serene setting.

Harvey Nichols

Harvey Nichols is not only fabulously expensive but possibly has 'the' best window displays. Working in their Visual Merchandising department would be a blast. There are no boundaries which is one of the great things about the company, I think this is partly because they are an upmarket (dare i say it) department store so to speak, housing a number of high end brands and a deli with some of their own pieces. With only seven stores in the whole of the UK your lucky if your city has one. I was lucky enough to be a student in Leeds, for me Harvey Nichols was very much a kid in the sweet shop scenario - you can look but don't touch. Harvery Nichols provides a platform for how shopping should be in my eyes, calm, clothes displayed so you can actually see them and don't have to wade through to see what the item is let alone the size or price.

After moving away from Leeds I have missed the city and every time I re-visit, like on this fine sunny day I get to see what I'm missing, how the city has changed and yet is still very much the same. While working around the city I visited a few of the favourites, Aladdins Cave being one, a vintage jewellery shop in one of the arcades and Retro Boutique based in Hyde Park where I used to live with the girls in our 'dolls house'.

But the point I am getting to is Harvey Nichols window display, have a peek -

The first image is what looks like a Ferrari made from little horses, like you used to have the army figurines when you were a child, also seen in Toy Story. But the whole car is made from them, there is no relation per se, except that you may need a car like that to be able to afford half of the things in that store.

Pencils. The second window, minus the mannequins and props is made purely from pencils. That is immense work, imagine being briefed for that! But how amazing, and it seems that the fashion comes second, it grabs your attention and it is fascinating what you can create with a few pencils, using the lead, rubber and body - crazy. Even though you may not be able to afford to shop there, they certainly want you to window shop and it ingrains the brand to you and is something you are likely to share with others equating great viral marketing too.

Google

As we all know Google is the dominant search engine, Google has also entered my vocabulary as an everyday word, according to myself and many others you don't search it, you Google it. I love Google. I have noted my love for the search engine on a previous post looking at bing among other sites and the simplicity of Google. The funny thing is they don't do any advertising they just seem to have become superior. Google logs around two billion searches a day, and from each pay per click ad make just a few pence, but with two billion searches and a few pence each time... you do the math.

One of the other things I like about Google is how they mark birthdays, anniversaries, significant days in the calendar and it is simply incorporated into their homepage.

If we look at the two examples they are in celebration of Roger Hargreaves 76th birthday, we will know him better for his collection of Mr Men drawings and stories. It's a simple touch that gives Google a fun side and we learn some useless facts that one day will come up as a question on a pub quiz. The themed Google title provides not only a new visual but a direct search to further information on the topic being celebrated. Using these as themes it allows Google to have fun with it's own name while having a brief to work to as well as being informative. Happy Googling folks.

I am...

Mee. Nikon, like T-Mobile are using communication as a focal point. Nikon have focused on the moments we get to capture and save as a visual reference. The clip I love the most is the one of Robbie Williams getting everyone to take the photograph, all those flashes - immense. What an ideal moment to capture, such an event.

Looking at the range of adverts and the variation of content it shows all different moments you can capture on film from weddings to playing in the park or capturing your pets do silly things. Similar to T-Mobile in essence is the sharing element that we can do with photographs either by printing out or email, social networking etc.

With photography it is all about capturing those moments on film, basically taking a moment in time and freezing it. With digital photography it now means we can take a zillion photo's to make sure we get the 'perfect' shot, sometimes I wonder if it is so perfect, maybe more staged. We have also lost the excitement of waiting to get your photos developed and see the results, now we want to see the photo in an instance because we can, we are very much a society in need of knowing the information then and there, hence the development in smartphones. A minor tangent nonetheless happy snapping folks.