I think my earliest interest in advertising came through Nike‘s advertising, especially the football adverts. They ALWAYS go all out and this time is no exception; utilising YouTube’s clickable functionality to tell a story through ‘hidden tunnels‘ in the interactive video. The three-minute film highlights the next crop of star players coming through, like M’Vila, Gotze, Neymar as well as incorporating the young players from Nike’s scouting campaign ‘The Chance‘. Incredible – the kids must have been in dream land whilst filming this advert with footballers who have made it. Think my favourite part has to be the cameo from LeBron James who catches the ball in an Avengers Hulk-esque manner. FuelBand alert, more on the reverse.

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Nike Football – Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Website

Here’s the normal version of the advert below, click here for the interactive advert.

As much as I despise Piquet for his Arsenal-Fabregas gate nonsense, the suited Barca lot top of this already exceptional advert. Pep Guardiola is a G.

Inside Euston Station, JWT have installed this interesting interactive campaign to raise awareness on how people can step in and help put a stop to domestic violence. A series of interactive billboards have been placed in and around the station with a big screen starting off with a video of a man shouting in the face of a woman. People are asked to interact with the billboard via a mobile site that gives them chance to control the characters and manually drag the man away from the woman. Interesting for sure, I’m not sure how effective it will be though. It’s a nice experiment for sure but think the execution could have been a little better and more noticeable. Think a plethora of people will walk past without even noticing it, perhaps more interactive adverts around the location?

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Who remembers C&A? I was never a fan but the brand have switched it up with their new collection usage of interactive social media with its Fashion Like program. I’ve never seen a brand utilise Facebook likes in a real world environment in such a way, very innovative. Folks who shop at C&A can now view and like clothing items via the retailers Facebook page (I can’t actually find it on there, might be country specific). The Facebook likes are then displayed in real time via the hangers on the actual items of clothing in store. Incredible! this is just the beginning of merging the online with the offline world. More on the reverse.

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I can guarantee you this is something we can expect more of in the near future. Traditional Facebook apps are fast becoming the norm so brands and agencies are looking for new initiatives and disruptive methods to make an impact. Creative uses of data collected online in a real world atmosphere is just the beginning of something special. Who knows what we’ll have next? Liking Facebook page competitions in a bar/pub to decrease the price of alcohol – probably illegal but my God, imagine that! would be a hit. Watch the video below.

I can’t wait to work on something like this. *grins*

I’ve had the most wonderful 4 months working on Future Stylist, I’ve always been about ‘influencer’ marketing and engagement but this project isn’t about throwing product and a press release at a tastemaker. It gives them an opportunity to get their name out there in the fashion world, a platform to shine by doing something they love. So 16 handpicked stylists have battled it out for the final and now we’re down to the final two – Kani from Australia and Jana from Germany. More on the reverse.

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For the final round, ASOS brought over the two stylists for a week of fashion-related challenges at ASOS HQ. Seeing as I was the point of contact on the agency side, it meant I had to be there. Best part of that? Spending time at ASOS HQ playing photographer yo! as well as being out of the office for a few hours. Worst part of that? Nothing. So the girls were asked to style looks using certain collections, style a model and much much more. I’ll be posting my behind-the-scenes imagery later on in the week, after they debut through ASOS channels.

Have a gander at the result of the first challenge below and if you want to see more imagery of their look – click here. We’ll be revealing another challenge later today on the ASOS Facebook page.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE

And get acquainted with the on-site HUB for both the stylists. Videos below of what they got up to!

Lego, lego, lego. I honestly think most of design skills came from years of playing with the LEGO blocks. The little blocks will always have a special place in my heart. In fact, my otherhalf even bought me 2 little figurines last week! it’s the little things, you see. Speaking of little things, if you happen to walk around central London, be sure to keep an eye out for these miniature billboards placed around the city by LEGO to promote the LEGOLAND Windsor Resort. The billboards are about a foot tall and made completely out of lego, most likely stuck together using super glue otherwise I’m sure every other drunken yob would attempt to smash into pieces. More on the reverse.

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If you do happen to spot one of the billboards, you can tweet a picture of it with the hashtag #legolandminibreaks to enter a competition. Here’s where the blocks are hidden around the city: click here.

All this drama you’re about to watch is the result of a well-executed campaign in support of a new channel in Belgium, TNT. The ad supposedly takes place in the middle of a ‘little town in Belgium, in a little square where nothing ever happens’- a big red button clearly labelled ‘push to add drama’ is placed in the square awaiting an inquisitive passerby to press it. When someone finally pushes the button, all hell breaks loose as an ambulance unit dropping a man on a stretcher leads to a bicycle accident which then leads to a full on brawl and then some! It’s just brilliant, a really amusing ad/pr stunt that if done in London probably would have lead to all sorts of problems. It only launched last week and has already achieved an impressive 23million hits on youtube and it’s now the 2nd most shared ad ever; watch it after the break.

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Would you push the button?

How many of you made a conscious decision to exercise more this year? Running it seems has never been so popular. I recently challenged myself to run (jog) a mile a day to get my lazy ass into the routine of it. If at the end of a week I’ve managed to run seven miles, that’s seven miles more than usual! Baby steps!

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We all have a different reason to run. Watch David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Derrick Rose and Katy Perry go all in on their run. Whatever the reason, wherever you are, go farther and enjoy every stride.

The music in the campaign video is the Jacques Lu Cont’s White Duke Remix of the just released ‘Part of Me’ by Katy.

Every time I say ‘Lego‘ in my head, I can’t help but think of Chris Brown’s dumbed down version of ‘Let’s go’. Sigh. This is minimalism at it’s best, so simple but yet so easy to decipher. German advertising agency Jung von Matt created this great print campaign to advertise Lego featuring minimalist interpretations of some our most iconic cartoon characters created with Lego blocks. Can you guess the one pictured above? Clue: Doh! See more after the cut.

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Woah, this is actually genius. Shout out to Brady for bringing this to my attention. Two graduates down under went out of their way find their first job (as you do, naturally) but not in any typical fashion. They weren’t satisfied with just emailing and calling the advertising agencies, they took it a step further. Art director Andrew Grinter and copywriter Lee Spencer-Michaelsen bought the domain names of several of Melbourne’s key creative directors and held them for ransom until the directors met with them. The ransom notes on the sites demanded a meeting and if they didn’t comply – the site would be redirected to, wait for it, Justin Bieber’s site. They managed to get their name out there with this idea – would you be willing to do the same? They’ve come off it with jobs; Grinter and Spencer-Michaelsen work at at Ogilvy’s digital operation DTDigital. Watch the video on the reverse.

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In support of The Guardian’s Open Journalism concept, the paper has launched their first TV ad in many years- the ad was unearthed a few days ago. The title along with the theme suggests the generic fairytale idea that’s been done, re-done and is now tired, but that’s not the case. ‘Three Little Pigs’ is a depiction of how we (modern society) would cover the story of The Three Little Pigs in print and online. This includes, television, newspapers and of course social media. I love how the advert is so relevant to our time but still manages to capture the traditional elements of the story without selling too young AND it is hilarious, I mean this ad is just genius. Watch it after the break and let us know what you think!

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What did you think!?