Saturday 23 June 2007

You either Love it or Hate it.



Last year I found this image was on a Guardian Advert for their online dating website and I have to say it is one of my favourite pieces of advertising. I think it is a wonderfully clever image, by taking a product as topical as marmite, with the catchphrase “you either love it or hate it”, and reworking this tagline in terms of relationships and dating within the iconic framework of it packaging is simply genius.

Marmite; you’ve got to love it.

Thursday 21 June 2007

Justin Timberlake; Lovestoned/I think she knows (Interlude)




Director: Robert Hales

When I found out Justin Timberlake filmed his new video just outside Bolton, I couldn’t wait to see the results! But it seem Bolton has some of the finest green screens around. However disappointed I am that Yorkshires not going to be put on the global map, just yet, I have to say this video is absolutely brilliant, and you can’t help but watch it over and over again. The director was Robert Hales, who also produced videos for Gnarles Berkley and Jet.

This particular song has two very distinct parts to it, the beginning Justins signature RnB beat with an ‘electronic’ feel to it, into a more chilled out vibe. With this being the case, there are also two distinct sections to the video. With the first half, the concept focuses on the idea of there are a multitude of sounds that’s are being transmitted through sound waves, which create images of Justin. The video is fast paced, futuristic and will certainly keep your attention, all aspects that Justin Timberlake would pride his music on. Transforming from the black, sound wave movements, to what looks like a large white padded space with Justin standing in the middle it would seem the video takes a turn for the worst. The bizarre environment, in which Justin stands, does not seem to flow with the rest of the video, losing his cool factor almost immediately. The second half of the video is really disappointing, and minus the appeal as the first half unfortunately means you lose interest rapidly.

Saturday 16 June 2007

Ambient Media






This photo was taken 9 years ago when I was in Australia. As you can see in the photo the recognisable Toyota logo has been created in the sky, using chemical trails. This form of ambient media would have been seen by thousands of people in and around the city of Sydney, reaching their target market and beyond. Although certainly attention grabbing and interesting, combined with the fact that I remembered this photo without even a name with the logo gives credit on Toyotas behalf. For the fact a 13 year old girl on holiday can remember such a media stunt, proves that they have such strong brand recognition and they can ‘play’ with more interesting ways of promoting themselves, however I don’t think this is the most successful way in which they could have done so. With Toyota wanting to be valued for selling quality cars and promoting the company’s longevity with the use of the line “Today Tomorrow Toyota”, the choice of ambient media is particularly flawed. By using the chemical trails, the fact that it is only a temporary display, lucky to last 20 minutes, let alone till the next day, doesn’t quite demonstrate these values and thus does not seem like a suitable match of brand and media.