High Time We Had A Website

Nonsense will be a year old in January - and considering we do a fair bit of creative work coming up with ideas for use in digital media, its a bit silly that we haven't got a website.

So, we've done something about it. Something that we'd like you to help with.

If you go to hightimewehadawebsite.co.uk, all will be explained!

Cheers.

Black Google = Blackle.

This got me thinking. A black version of google that claims to save energy.


Could the whole internet follow suit? Will the sight of bright, colourful computer screens soon look as dated as those ones in Sci-Fi films with the blocky green-out-of-black typeface?

I read somewhere (I think it was in 'The World is Flat' - a fantastic book about the impact of the internet on world trade and economics) that computers account for 2% of energy that the world uses - and this is increasing. Therefore any attempts to lessen this impact are good by me.

I love the simplicity of the idea. It's easy to imagine trying to solve same problem by spending loads of money on a campaign aimed at getting people to turn their monitors off, or install energy saving software. Whereas 'Blackle' requires no effort from the individual, and has produced a viral effect that has raised worldwide awareness of how much energy computers use. And it can't have cost more than a few quid to make, either.

Oh, and if you're a first-time visitor to Snoozing Under The Desk, its always been black. Honest.

UPDATE: Google's boffins have responded on their blog. They cite research that proves clean, white pages with splashes of primary colours are the most energy efficient! Well, sort of. Regardless of what's true, Blackle has started a debate, and that's always good, isn't it?

Mr. Gherkin's house.

Went on holiday to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the south coast of France in early June. And very nice it was too. In particular, the walk around the Cap itself is lovely.

My favourite bit wasn't one of the spectacular views of the med, but the holiday home of Norman Foster. For those that aren't up on their architecture (like me, until the FUSE boys put me right), he's the dude who designed this:Yep, "The Gherkin" - unaffectionately known as the Swiss Re building. So, what's Mr. Gherkin's holiday pad like then? Well, its a stark modern box right on the tip of the cap, that has an incredible view of the sea. What makes it cool is two huge arches that go into the hillside above and below it. Its probably best if I show you...
There. Not only do they look pretty sweet, but they're functional too. Note the sail-like thingies hanging from the left-hand one... those can be positioned wherever you like, offering Mr. Gherkin shade on his terrace, or perhaps to prevent the sun's glare from obscuring the TV when his little Cornichons are playing PlayStation. There's even massive sails that stretch between the two arches - which I reckon could be used to keep the rain off. Nice.

Der-d-d-d-der DENTMAN!

Me: Hello, nice to meet you.

Friendly guy on motorbike: You too. Incidentally, why did you randomly start talk-WHA?! Hang on... my PrangSense(TM) is tingling.

Me: PrangSense(TM)? What's that all about then?

Friendly guy on motorbike: Sorry, no time to talk. An over-paid marketing executive has just let their regulation Audi get too friendly with a Soho bollard.

Me: I'm sorry? What Audi?

Friendly guy's motorbike: VVVRRROOOOOOOOMMM!!!!

OK, so that's not quite how I first met DentMan. But I still reckon he provides a well thought-out service; when you dink your car, but don't crunch it enough to warrant an expensive trip to the garage, DentMan will speed to your aid on his motorbike.


Then, he uses the same set of tools French restaurants provide for eating snails to fix your car.
Its a fraction of the cost, and a lot less hassle. Not to mention perfect for if your malcoordination happens to have kicked-in when you're driving a hire/company/friend's car. Plus, he really is a friendly bloke - I mean, would you pretend to fix a car you'd already fixed for a complete stranger?
Oh yeah - and his real name's Martin, which for some reason he prefers...

Long time no type.

Ooh. This feels strange. A bit like coming back from school after the holidays and finding you can't write for more than 2 minutes without getting severe wrist-ache.

Nonsense has been incredibly busy. Which is good, obviously. But it has meant that the blog has been neglected. But we might be able to post some of our own work on it soon, which would be lovely.

The strangest thing is that people have actually noticed the lack of posts. Our mate Seb mentioned it at the weekend - mind you, he might not have been thinking too clearly...
...and so did Angus, which is a nice compliment from a blogger we like.

So, we'll now be making a bit more effort to post stuff. Expect ramblings on:

• The fantabulous DentMan.
• The-guy-who-designed-the-gherkin's holiday home.
• Equal opportunities boards.
  
• Sharpie Buddy.
• And more!

Merry Christmas Everyone.

After reading this, I reckon Nonsense should habitually send out yuletide cards in May.

Clever ambient work.

My mates Ross & Becky (who are getting married in August - congrats again guys) saw this in Islington:
It's a replica of Michaelangelo's David with a plinth advertising Florence. Hardly the cleverest use of ambient media ever... Hang on though - why are so many birds hanging around it? Ahhhh - the statue's made of seeds. And that line on the plinth? "Get the best of Florence before it goes." Nice thought, I thought.

Plus point: I like the way the birds act as a living attention-grabber. Lots of Londoners walk past lots of statues without looking - but not ones being viciously attacked by hordes of pigeons.

Minus point: it's possible people will interpret the message badly. i.e. Florence is being ruined by tourists - join in! Maybe that's Cynical Rob talking though...

(Unfortunately their photo doesn't reveal the URL, plus I can find jack about it through Google... otherwise I'd've had comments on the site too. If anyone finds it, let me know.)

The 6 month full stop.

Here's our brand spanking new logo. It kind of says "yes" and "no" simultaneously, while overlaying a cheeky hint of "maybe".

Only kidding. We've kept it nice and simple. We wanted it to be the word nonsense presented clearly with no hint of 'nonsense' about the design (i.e. a back-to-front 's', a "wacky" font, or the like).

One feature we discussed at length was the full stop, which we included for 2 reasons:

Firstly it nods to the 'no nonsense' side of our character - we're not airy-fairy, precious 'conceptualists'. Our passion is to produce fantastic creative work that is rooted in the core values and ambition of the brands we work for. And secondly, so that in 6 months time when we proceed with the obligatory logo re-design, we can get rid of it - citing the need to reflect a marginal shift in our brand positioning.

Oh and we kind of like the colour. Comments welcome, good and bad.

Product of the year.

Ever since discovering the existence of blackboard paint, I've wanted to buy some. Partly because I couldn't really believe it exists - surely blackboards are made from some kind of slate, or the dried resin of oak trees?

Anyway, it does exist. I bought some...
Then, I painted a big splodgy blackboard on our office wall (very satisfying it was too)...
And I ordered the cool-liquid-chalk-pen-things that pubs use...
Then Robbie took over and had all the fun. Hmpf.

Working up a lather.

After 4 years experience, a handful of awards, and your own start-up agency, you think you just about understand the creative process. Then, you see something done by a complete amateur that unceremoniously pops your bubble (so to speak):

You stare at it, dumbstruck, and marvel how the art direction subtly reinforces the obvious-but-brilliant knob joke. And all the while you're wondering "Will I ever craft anything as good as this car wash guy from the crap end of Fulham?".

So, all you can do to console yourself is whinge at your girlfriend until she agrees to pose for this shot:

*Image made tiny due to insistence of girlfriend.

Kick someone, feel good.

I've just been having a look at some new work from Weiden + Kennedy Amsterdam, on behalf of the Burnout series of games by EA. The campaign is built around a fake Eastern philosophy called Kah Ra Shin, which promotes "Inner peace through outer violence".

First of all, I like the insight: Anyone who's played video games, particularly ones that involve smashing stuff to bits, knows their stress-busting qualities. And I imagine the Eastern philosophy treatment works well for the Kill Bill generation too. What's more, there's no arguing the site isn't beautifully crafted.

But that's not why I chose to write about it. The thing that interests me is the level of brand presence. The banner ads have none, there's a subtle logo on the website, and some of the content on the site and the YouTube channel of the movement's elders plugs the game.

Now, it's clear that over-branding Kah Ra Shin would've ruined my enjoyment of the piece (and I have no doubt W+K's creatives repeated this like one of their mantras). But, if it wasn't for a bit of perseverance on my part, there's a chance I would have missed the Burnout connection (where the game is mentioned in the content is done nicely, it's just not very up-front). And it's not as if the campaign relies on the intrigue of me not knowing where this mysterious organisation came from: its obviously a joke, and obviously done by a brand. And it's done so well that I reckon Burnout should take more of the credit. But is that just because I like EA?

I guess the trouble is there can't be any hard and fast rules about how prominent branding should be in pieces like this, because it's dependent on the context of the creative idea, the brand's reputation, and who's interacting at the time. (Royal Mail's stoplateness.com is another example that I liked, but was unsure about how branded/unbranded it should've been.)

So all I can say is, for me, EA got pretty close to getting it right for Burnout. What do you think? And have you seen any examples that raise the same issue?

"My lips; Google's Arse. Google's Arse; My Lips."

I'm really conscious that I can't seem to help banging on about practically everything Google do. It's got to the point where I nearly didn't post this:

There's some cool new functionality on Google Maps. It lets average punters like me do the kind of mash-ups that crazy coding people having been doing with the free Google Maps API thingy.

Anyway, I had a bit of a play with my girlfriend's cycle route to work. (I wonder if she'll give it a go?)

It really is brilliant. As well as the obvious bits like doing your own lines, shapes, text & picture annotations, you can even export a KML file and open it with Google Earth. I tried it with the cycle route above and it worked a treat.

Brand Extension - Streatham Stylee.

Let's be honest; barber's shops in Streatham aren't renowned for their cutting-edge approach to marketing. In fact, most make do with a picture of Tupac in the window. (Yes, that's Tupac Shakur, the famous, bald rapper.)

However, that could be about to change, thanks to this enterprising barbers on Greyhound Lane:
A close look at the photo (which I took with my phone while cunningly feigning interest in the neighbouring fried chicken emporium) reveals that as well as providing the usual barber's services, they also stock an extensive range of trainers. Weird, eh?

But it actually makes great sense. A barbers is the perfect place to get the undivided attention of fashion conscious young people, at a time when they're thinking about how they look. I reckon they should make it the whole proposition for the shop - they could even rename it 'Top to toe", or something (probably "Top 2 Toez", if they're going to stick to traditional South London barber-naming etiquette).

Who would've thought that Streatham would be blazing trails in brand extension? I'm sure it won't be long before this kind of cross-sell is popping up all over Lambeth. Just think; there could be designer handbags on the walls of Tony & Guy, a hooped-earring section in Mothercare, or flowers & chocolates stalls by the back doors of 'massage parlors'.

The possibilities are endless. No really they are - the barbers also sells knock-off DVDs.

"Surprise and delight."

Surprise and delight. I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard this phrase in relation to bits of marketing. Either as a requisite in a creative brief, or in some 'inventive' description of a piece of work for an awards entry (I'll be honest - I've been responsible for the latter).

Now, I'm all for creative work that gets that reaction, or at least aims to. My issue with the phrase is that it's been devalued by over use. Did the last high-volume DM piece I worked on really elicit such a reaction?!

The other day, I was surprised - and delighted - to see this:



It's a giant, fake, green plug socket stuck to a wall in Ganton St. in Soho. The building it's stuck to is horrible, but this bit of art makes it cool. And it provided me with a reminder of what it's like to be genuinely surprised and delighted.

So, from now on, I'll be giving my new concepts 'the green plug test'. If I can't realistically imagine my work getting the same reaction as I gave the Big Green Plug (which, by the way, used to be orange - as shown in the 3rd shot which I pillaged from Flickr), then I promise not to go round claiming it will!

[Anyone know any more about this installation? Who did it, for example? My googling has led me nowhere...]

Does sex sell sex?

Recently, our mate Gracchii pointed us in the direction of an article claiming to prove that sex doesn't sell. Now, I can't be bothered to tear the research apart (it seems almost mean to break something so flimsy) but it did get me thinking...

Presumably, the reason researchers seek to test the "sex sells" assertion, is because it's so ubiquitous in advertising that it's a great scalp to claim, and because intelligent people feel insulted that sex is used in so many ads where it's irrelevant to to the product. So what about the occasions when it is relevant? Does sex sell sex?

OK, so your average pimp doesn't do much advertising. But if those cards in phone boxes are anything to go by, they don't stray far from using sex as the main hook. But are they effective ads? I'd love to test them against a humour-based execution!

Then, at the weekend, I thought about condoms. Not for too long mind, but it's hard not to when you find this in a dusty loft:

Condoms are probably the closest product to sex that gets advertised. But it doesn't look like Durex used sex to sell condoms in the early 80's, does it? Looks like a product that prevents dancing-while-smiling accidents.

Off the top of my head, I can only recall two recent condom campaigns. The first is the brilliant Trojan Games for Trojan Condoms (watch the video highlights). And the second is the really rather crap The Pants Whisperer for Durex. And the thing is, both attempted to use humour over and above sex (the former succeeding, the latter failing abjectly).

Why is this? Is it because by the time you're in the market for some French letters, you're pretty much certain you're going to get some action, so the promise of sex isn't motivating?

I don't know. I just thought it was interesting. Anyone out there got any examples of sex selling sex? Or condoms? Perhaps someone can produce evidence that blasts my embryonic little theory out of the waters?

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Happy Birthday Grandad!

We share an office with a bunch of dudes who do clever things with animation and 3D and stuff. One of them, Simon (a.k.a Grandad - oldest in the office at 29), happens to be a mate from the incredible village of Langtoft where I grew up. Anyway, yesterday was Si's birthday, so I got him a cake. (He likes cake.)

Unfortunately, Soho was all out of miniature candles. What to do? Can't just give him a plain old carrot cake. And then it hit me - candles are old school. Why run the risk that Grandad would see the candles as yet another tedious joke about his advancing years/hairline? So I got all futuristic and stuck a lightbulb in instead:


Looked rather fetching, I thought. A cake for someone who likes ideas. Old Man Hobbs appreciated it too:


Oh, the fun we have...

Our New Business strategy.

When we set up Nonsense, Robbie and I drew up a list of dream clients. Unsurprisingly, Innocent Drinks came pretty high up. Actually, we didn't even dare put them on the list - so in the end it read "a brand like Innocent". Let's face it, two young creatives who've just jumped ship to start up a creative agency on their own might not be considered ideal candidates for a brand of their stature.

Then we saw an ad for a creative job at innocent. So we applied for it. As a team.

The idea being, that although they might not offer us half the job each, there's a chance they'd be up for a casual relationship with some creatives, for when they're all too busy pulping lychees with their toes. Besides, it would be a great ice breaker if we were ever to meet up with the residents of Fruit Towers.

Hopefully they'll be in touch - we'll keep you posted.

Well, if the research says so...

Spotted in the Metro, 'Celebrity ads 'fail'' seems to be the latest golden snippet of advice lovingly provided to help guide us safely through the current advertising minefield. Fantastic.



But hang on - before you boldly scribe it with red permanent marker on the inside cover of your 'blue sky' book, and set up a casting agency next door to your local job centre, a small note of caution. On closer inspection the 'discovery' (my quote marks) was made by testing...

'298 students' responses to magazine adverts for a camera'

I don't think the Beckhams and Mosses of this world need panic too much just yet.

Doggy smile.

This made me laugh. I think a Doggy Fetch Law should be passed requiring 'all fetch implements used in the engagement of canines in public exercise' to possess, at the very least, 'quirkily amusing entertainment value' .

May go someway to make up for those nasty little surprises they leave lurking amidst our beautiful green expanses.

"Spam, egg, spam, chips, spam, spam and spam, please."

Here's an example of some excellent marketing: Everyone's favourite mechanically reclaimed meat product - SPAM - is launching a new garlic variant. The basic idea for the launch has been to tie in with hit musical 'Spamalot'. Fine.

The genius bit is the way everything from the product name (Spam with Stinky French Garlic) and packaging design, to the viral game, totally embrace the spirit of the Python musical and indeed the Holy Grail film. For example, the copy is all excellent, using John Cleese's insulting Frenchy-speak to get the product benefits across, while still being genuinely entertaining.

And the online game component...



...is not only fun to play (a simple set-the-angle-and-power affair a la 'Tanks' or 'Worms', only greatly improved by the use of livestock as ammo), but is also crammed with lovely Pythony bits (the Black Knight has to be despatched limb by limb).

Finally, the touch that really made me want to congratulate the people at Spam, Underground BLC & 4T2 Multimedia, was the fact that they've built in an ingenious way of driving sales. Whereas most games-purporting-to-be-virals do well to shoehorn any mention of the product, this one gets more enjoyable if you actually buy the product. By entering the barcode from tins of Spam with Stinky French Garlic, players can unlock extra items to lob from their catapult.

For someone who never, ever buys Spam, I find myself wanting to nip to Budgens to get some, in the hope I'll be rewarded with a Killer Rabbit to sling at the Knights Who Say "Ni".

Hungry suitcase.

Yesterday, I was having a bit of a play, and I found Hungry Suitcase

Done by New York agency Big Spaceship it's a viral/micro-site for Royal Caribbean - and is worth a look just to see the level of craft that's gone into it: there's tonnes of beautiful 3D graphics, nice animation, and a well acted and scripted voice track.

Unfortunately, it's crafting that is the site's downfall too. Presumably from a desire to pack in as much 'fun' as possible (or bill the client for more and more animation time!), the site requires you to pack item after item after item into the suitcase, via every room in the house, before you're rewarded with a fairly funny sequence at the end.

It's totally unnecessary, and a real shame - turning a delightful experience into a tedious one. Worse still, Royal Caribbean aren't even mentioned 'til the final 'movie', so anyone who doesn't feel like packing all 12 items will bugger off before they know what the site's for.

It's a pity, because the concept is a good one.

Eric The Red

Brought in a stencil of Eric Cantona that Robbie made a while back. He's now looking over my desk in his own supremely-confident style. It's going to be a good week!

Well we had to, didn't we?

You can't go round telling everyone you've just started a marketing/advertising agency and not have a blog. It just isn't the done thing. So here it is.