Christmas’ most wanted

At this time of year when we all want to be safely ensconced within the bosom of our family and friends, here’s a cautionary tale. Having been the victim of crime during the festive period I thought I’d post a photofit. Here’s an individual, who has year-on-year entered my property, hoofed my mince pies and had a pop at my finest bottle of brandy. To add insult to injury, he has left all manner of assorted tat under my Christmas tree and trodden reindeer poo into my carpet. Now I want payback ‘Oi, St Nic, this year you’re nicked!’

Please circulate this image and remember vigilance pays, bah humbug!

Janek, PLBR Art Director

The Penultimate Paradigm of the Century! 11.11.11

Nearly eleven years ago we celebrated the start of a new Century and a new Millennium.

Over this time we have possibly got a bit tipsy, fought, loved and prayed on a set of dates of which only a dozen exist in each Century.

1.1.01
2.2.02
3.3.03
4.4.04
5.5.05
6.6.06
7.7.07
8.8.08
9.9.09
10.10.10
11.11.11
12.12.12

… And we are approaching the penultimate one!

A few loose facts!

11.11.11 is a paradigm meaning it is numerically repetitive and forms a pattern. 11.11.11 can be a colour reference – grey I believe. 11.11.11 is a primary numerical phenomenon which Google has demonstrated on many of its search pages; and would you have guessed a spooky film to be released on the 11th November 2011. Or, as perhaps one prophecy might add – the END OF THE WORLD.

Whether 11.11.11 marks the end of the world or a grey day, I urge you to celebrate… THE PENULTIMATE PARADIGM! Wear a paradigm outfit, hop for 11 minutes, sing for 11 minutes, dance for 11 hours – get involved and share it! Do what no man or woman (since 1911) will do (until 2111).

If you’re lost for inspiration here are some tips:

1. 11 cream crackers in 11 seconds
2. 11 tiered cake with 11 candles
3. 11 legged race
4. 11 hours of silence
5. 11 hours of singing
6. 11 hours of hopping
7. 11 letters to friends and/or strangers
8. 11ses – tea and cake at 11mins past 11 (remember the 1 minute silence at 11am)
9. 11 good deeds
10. 11 photos
11. 11 comments on this blog

So there it is, 11 ways to enjoy your PENULTIMATE PARADIGM.

Not only is the 11th November 2011 the PENULTIMATE PARADIGM OF THIS CENTURY but it is also Remembrance Day, also known as Poppy Day. I know I for one will be pulling out my red outfit and buying a poppy or 11.

Finally, if you are going to be 1, 11, 111, 1111 on this day then Happy Birthday and I think you are very special. Especially if you are 1111!

PS for those that may not have done this, if you re-read this blog and imagine the voice of ‘our Graham’ from Blind Date or the voice of Big Brother, to read the words in caps it will make it more dramatic. A better read for you.

Win a year of your life

A few months ago we blogged about a competition involving the new Justin Timberlake movie called In Time, and promised to come back with an update, so here we are.

To quickly summarise, earlier this year in May, a couple of A-level students named Ewelina and Kasia came into our studio for a week to work on a brief. The brief, set up through the Ideas Foundation, Metro newspaper and 20th Century Fox, was to promote In Time, a new science-fiction thriller starring Justin Timberlake. The film is set in the future, where time has become the ultimate currency. In this future, medical advances allow people to live forever, but only if they can afford it.

We showed the girls how we tackle briefs that come into the agency and helped them develop their ideas, which they then presented to a panel of judges. Their winning idea was to promote the movie by offering readers the chance to win a year of their life in time.

The film hits cinemas next week and is being heavily promoted at the moment. Today’s Metro features a wrap-around promoting the film and the ‘win a year of your life’ competition that Ewelina and Kasia came up with. It’s a fantastic idea and a worthy winner and we recommend that you get involved and win some time!

That worked, let’s copy

Part of any marketer’s job is to keep up to speed with what the competition is doing, and positioning themselves to respond where necessary. Sometimes this is an unenviable task, as the competitor’s latest advert is brilliant, and captures exactly what you’ve been trying to say about your own brand for years. Sometimes, it’s because that brand receives a huge amount of publicity from their latest ad. Take price comparison websites, for example. Who would want to be the brand manager for any site other than comparethemarket.com?

Back in 2008, comparethemarket.com was running this ad

All price comparison sites were slugging it out over who could offer the best discount, the widest providers, or the most guarantees. But this all changed in January 2009, courtesy of VCCP and Aleksandr Orlov. All of a sudden, comparethemarket.com had a character. Not only that, but it was a distinct character, with that distinct phrase that immediately entered any type of social conversation.

But as a marketer, how would you respond to this character, knowing your ads were still harping on about prices, providers, and guarantees? Well, put simply, the majority tried to mimic the core principles that this ad set in their industry. Let’s have a character. A distinct character, with a recognisable tone, that reminded people of the site URL. Once at the site, the facts will become apparent. The ads are a race to clicks. Mimicking is not new – apparently it’s flattery. But what does this say about your brand? A me-too product? I would say so, in my opinion.

The returns are good for those brands that manage to captivate through strong creative, yet the mimicking continues. Obviously creative alone won’t sell your brand – it has to be well researched and executed – but it’ll go a long way to getting it recognised.

PLBR hopped on the bus and stayed on it for a fair while

Having found out last month that we had made the Big Bus Challenge longlist, we were invited to the London Transport Museum to attend the awards presentation. On entering we were handed a cocktail, appropriately named the Routemaster. From there we worked our way down the stairs to the lower floor where all forms of public transport from past, present and future surrounded the longlisted entries on pull up stands.

After a few canapés and drinks, Jason Cotterell of CBS Outdoor stood to announce the shortlist,

“Optive!” he bellowed.

I looked around. Did he just say … Was that Optive?

For me this was a mixed bag of emotions, ecstatic for making the shortlist, a touch disappointed for the inescapable fact that we’d be missing out on top spot, and a little embarrassed as I tried to sober myself up a little on the way up to the stage.

When you consider the competition, with 653 entries from 250 agencies, 14 longlisted adverts, it is amazing how just one little idea for Optive was able to come out on top of ads for some of the biggest brands like Mercedez Benz, McDonalds, Philips and Clarks.

A huge thanks to CBS Outdoor for organising the event and for the judges and everyone involved. Click here for more information on the entries. The online write up is available here

Written by Nick Robinson, PLBR Junior Designer

PLBR hops on the Big Bus Challenge

What’s the most sought after place to put an ad? The one every copywriter and art director dream of? Is it a massive billboard on Times Square? A full page spread in the Sunday paper? A 30-second Super Bowl Spot?

How about the side of a London bus? It may not seem quite as glitzy, but if you consider that over 8 million people flood the capital on a daily basis and that the average bus ad runs for 4 weeks, it could actually be seen by just as many people. Perhaps more importantly, a London bus is simply a very unique, very cool place for an ad to live.

That’s why we jumped at the chance to enter the Big Bus Challenge. Agencies across the UK were invited to create a piece of advertising uniquely suited to a London bus, with the winning campaign to receive £200,000 worth of free media space. Needless to say, we were thrilled when we received the recent news that our ad had advanced to the final round of judging.

Check back in a month and we’ll let you know if our work will be roaming the streets of London…

Written by Stephen Cooney, PLBR Copywriter

An extra-ordinary culinary day

Last Thursday, L’Atelier des Chefs saw a day they would never forget. They had the privilege of being graced with the presence of a very excited Publicis Life Brands Resolute group, which was embarking on its annual Summer Away Day.

The day opened on a wave of positive energy; Anna and Paul, and several members of the KV and TB teams, gave some inspirational presentations. Examples of case studies that demonstrated our excellence across a variety of disciplines offered a real an insight into the cogs, nuts and bolts of our company, and Olga got ‘sticker-happy’ illustrating the numerous contributions that the Scientific Strategy Team make during the course of a project!

We then learned a little about ourselves (this wasn’t the usual ‘self-help’ session it sounds like!), and learned whether our behaviour makes us a ‘Driving’, ‘Influencing’, ‘Compliant’ or ‘Steady’ character. We were surprised at how a 5-minute exercise can tell you so much about yourself!

The culinary capers then commenced – we all popped on our beautiful branded aprons and each joined one of several groups that were all suitably named after a celebrity chef. In our teams, we embarked on a journey that took us around different cooking stations, at which we learned the basics of sushi-rolling, kofta-making and wine-tasting (not to mention drinking plenty of wine outside the tasting session itself!), to name but a few activities. To add a little competitive edge, we collected stars from those teaching chefs who considered us to be high-achievers in their particular art, and also worked together to complete a quiz (my one contribution was ‘star anise’ – the others: no idea). Congratulations to Team Delia, who won the competition with an impressive collection of stars!

Of course, the fun didn’t stop when we removed our aprons; we trotted down the road to the pub afterwards!

We are now awaiting the PLBR social on 11 August with great anticipation…….

Written by Victoria Davey, PLBR Account Manager