Tag Archive for 'advertising'
the brief.
In recognition of the power of visual communication, Greenpeace Australia in collaboration with The University of South Australia, has launched The Greenpeace Design Awards. The brief is to design an A4 poster that delivers the message ‘Be a Part of the Action’. Entries are open until June 15, from when 8 judges will cut the cream from the clutter. Kudos not coins will be bestowed upon the winning entry, which will be considered for use in major Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigns. Look here and here to start the cogs turning. Good luck!
ecopera.
The symbiosis of art and ecology has always proved to be a provocative and powerful form of visual communication. WWF’s campaigns against pollution, Greenpeace’s naked protest on a Swiss glacier, and campaigns by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has always challenged and stirred the emotions to illustrate but a few. Ecopera, while flying under the radar of its more established counterparts, is an online, international portal, that allows graphic artists to address environmental issues through contemporary art. There are some beautiful works here and plans to open an online store selling prints and shirts with funds being donated to charities. At last glance, I couldn’t see any names from Australia. Perhaps it will be you?
green transport.
When words are not needed, or in this case translation necessary, the power of a message in advertising is simple and defining. For car manufacturers, the combustible engine will change, hopefully before the last drop of oil is sucked from the ground. Some brands are already leading the way. BMW’s entire line is now diesel and have also released the hydrogen model 7. Saab ran a recent campaign announcing it had gone green. And Citroen offers ethanol, hybrid and other technologies such as Stop and Start. All are efforts to reduce CO2 gases being emitted from the driving of cars. While some efforts are seemingly behind widely acknowledged strategies, they are nevertheless a beginning of a change in attitudes, to both lead citizens towards a new relationship with private transport and to reflect citizen demand for cleaner, greener cars. For others, bikes, buses and car sharing are alternative solutions. In grade twelve, my beloved Biology teacher would throw a hand-full of leaves into the air each morning to discern which way he would walk to work. Perhaps this is the greenest mode of transport yet.
The Benetton Group, most widely remembered for its publishing of thought provoking advertisements, is an international clothing brand started by three brothers and a sister; Luciano, Carlo, Gilberto and Giuliana Benetton, in 1965. What might not be widely known is that Fabrica, is Benetton’s communication research centre, and was created in 1994 from Benetton’s cultural heritage. Fabrica is housed in a stunning building by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and is situated outside Treviso in Northern Italy. Fabrica is described by itself as a meeting place. “Meetings between people, of course, but also between artistic fields, languages, forms of expression, territories”. Each year a group of young people are invited from all over the world, and dedicate, through photography, design, music, video, writing, interactive and visual communication, to uncover the future. Interestingly applicants must be under the age of 25 years. If successful, you will be asked to attend a two week trial period and if you are liked, a one year contract/scholarship will be offered including a return trip from your city, accommodation, lunch from Monday to Friday, health insurance and a monthly allowance to cover living expenses. William Barton attended in 2005 and created Songlines with three percussionists. Who wants to speak Italian?
Is it just me, or has the World Wide Fund for Nature got a whole lot more savvy lately? First highlighted by the futuremakers website earlier this year and today, now imprinted in my memory, their use of the white tab in the upper left. This ad is so powerful in its imagery and message, it would be fantastic to see it on a billboard and lit up at night. Powered by the sun of course.
The business of imagination is alive and well. Psyop is a New York based film and visual effects company whose use of the screen in communicating a message is very impressive. While the calibre of some of their clients and some self promotion work is less than appealing, the majority of the work is simply beautiful and enjoyable to witness. This clip from sister company Blacklist, is amazing to watch, if not meaningless.
There is no more Louis Vuitton. Dolce and his mate Gabbana have retired. Maybelline twisted her lipstick tube shut and fled to the hills. Nike, Adidas, Puma and Reebok stopped expanding and started to teach people how to make their own shoes. Coke was found to contain a sub particle which gave rise to a carcinogen that nearly wiped out America and General Motors returned to making cars that lasted. While some of these traditional brands are in financial positions and have the responsibility to pledge profits to social and envirionmental causes, I hope a range of new advertising messages start to emerge in the consumerist mainstream. Messages about issues of importance, of binding intelligence and of consequential changes in consumer behaviour. Hautlust is one such medium for these messages. Sit back, be affected. One scroll of your mouse and you’re engaged.
An Australian has won a global brief posted on OpenAd.net, the world’s first online market for creatives to pitch ideas in the hope of snaring big prize money. Winning a pitch that asked creatives to convince people to holiday in their own backyards, Melbourne’s Steve Lopez caught the judges’ eye with his campaign Hidden Gems. His work, which used print and digital activity, won him a US $1000! Lopez is a freelance art director who has won a number of previous awards, the most recent being his recognition as a finalist in the John Caples International Awards, an international advertising contest unique in direct marketing.
Jo Smith, UK general manager of OpenAd, told B&T that Lopez’s campaign was versatile enough to appeal to many countries and was impressed with the way the he extended the campaign idea. As would be expected Lopez is thrilled about his latest win. “ I’m over the moon, how can I not be? A brief that allowed a world of creatives to respond, and I was the winner!” he told B&T.
It’s definitely a global village out there with opportunities limited only by hard work, creativity and an unrelenting passion to succeed. It seems these days it doesn’t matter who you are, what’s on your C.V or even where in the world you live because talent speaks for itself. This is the case with Openad.net, a global platform for buying and selling advertising, design and marketing ideas. This site claims to be the world’s biggest creative department and it’s here that creative types, from agencies to freelance designers and copywriters (even students), showcase their ideas to a worldwide audience. Even more enticing is the fact that it’s not just a creative outlet for showing off creative talents, but it’s also a place to be discovered and paid by multinational companies.There are two ways to submit ideas, either through sending unsolicited work to be critiqued and displayed in the Gallery or by responding to a creative brief set by a client. Continue reading ‘if you’ve got talent they’re open to ideas’
