This shit biscuit ad is a HIT.

Watch it. Just WATCH IT. It's by Forever Beta (no, me neither).

So here's the interesting thing. I was at a talk the other day for a book launch (this one), and Steve Henry was talking about how "weird shit" starts conversations. It's always the weird, wonderful, and woeful that we talk about.

So I wondered, could this utterly shit piece of work actually be more successful than a competent but not exceptional advert? As it happens, I blogged about that exact thing a while ago - an ad for McVitie's Quirks.

YouTube video for the Quirks ad - uploaded 4 months ago / 6,800 views
YouTube video for the Hit Biscuits ad - uploaded 30 days ago / 55,757 views

I can also state that I've seen the Hit Biscuits ad shared at least 3 times on my Social Networks, and I've personally shown it to number of people.

Just worth bearing in mind next time you produce an ad and think "well it won't win any awards, but it's decent enough".

Have I got any fucking clue what I'm talking about?

Dave Trott recently had some harsh words to say about an aspiring creative who had come to interview him, and rather unwisely fell into a large bear-trap.

His first mistake was to utter the word "story-telling", which was already on the man's mind. His second was to be unable to articulate any convincing definition of the term. As a result, Mr Trott was moved to ask 2 questions:

1. What’s good about [storytelling]? What’s new about it?

Well there's a lot good about it, and some of it is new - though by no means all.

The simplest explanation I can muster is that having a narrative tends to be more memorable than just presenting information. It's why Jesus didn't just say "being good to people is more important than where you come from"; he told the story of the Good Samaritan instead.

So it certainly isn't a new invention, inside or outside advertising. But I think there has been a trend towards integrated campaigns that tell a story - sometimes one that requires active engagement across several forms of media to fully understand. The "Why So Serious?" campaign for The Dark Knight is probably the benchmark for such efforts.

And this is probably the reason for the vague response. No-one's quite sure whether they mean the general principle of memorable narratives, or the specific technique of telling a story across multiple media.

2. How come we are using words and phrases and expressions that we don’t know the meaning of?

Because there's an immense pressure upon students these days to impress their industry elders. Here I am, doing it in this blog, though hopefully with marginally more success than the sacrificial lamb in Mr Trott's office. In fact, much of this blog is my attempt to make sense of the half-formed thoughts and learnings bouncing around my head any given week.

We're constantly told that we need to stand out. That there's so much competition for every placement. That we need to know about the industry before we get into it. What are your favourite ads? What ads don't you like? Which agency made them? What kind of work do you want to produce? And the result is, a generation of students all talking confidently and knowingly about agencies they've never even seen the front door of.

In fact, the more I see of agencies, as I go around getting my beloved book looked at, the more I realise that the less I know. I've nearly finished my advertising course, but that's only a fraction of my learning.

All that matters is having a great book and the gumption to show it to the right people. The rest is just listening and learning. And if more students were taught that, the future of advertising might feel a little more secure.

Adam + Eve's journey

So A+E have just been bought by Omnicom for £60 million and merged with DDB. I'm not a businessman, but I assume that's a result they're pretty happy with. Not to mention the outstanding creative work and crowded trophy cabinet they've assembled in such a short time.

But what were people saying when they started out?

I chanced upon this blog from 2008, mentioning that the then youthful agency were looking for placement teams. There was quite a response in the comments section - here are some of the highlights...

"A&E, clues in the name."
"I'd be very wary about taking a job at Adam and Eve. They're undoubtedly going to be the new (less creative) CHI"
"Look at the work to come out of rainey's during ben dave and james tenure. utter pile of crap. doubt A&E will be any different."
"All these up-and-coming startups make me laugh"
"Do not, whatever you do, go work for Ben Priest. He can't be trusted, nor can his creative judgement."
"But without a CD or planning director with the gravitas and talent to serve as a counterbalance, A&E will only ever be a first-rate account shop."

To be fair, the blog in general seems to be a bit of a bridge for embittered creatives and wannabe creatives to lurk under, but it's interesting nonetheless.

What I take from it is not to automatically trust the received wisdom on any particular agency. Sure, I'd love to work for a great agency. But I'd equally like to help one that isn't currently making many waves to achieve greatness.

For instance, my team has attracted some interest from an agency with a strong DM background, which is neither my strongest suit nor my greatest interest. But I understand that they are hoping to become a more integrated shop - so perhaps there's an opportunity there to help blaze that trail.

After all, who would you rather be: a White House intern ferrying around coffee and documents, or the guy who interned for Obama back in Illinois and now works in an office 2 doors from the oval one?

I don't care about new technology

I don't care about new inventions and new websites and apps and social media platforms, either.

I tried. I subscribed to Mashable, I followed industry gurus on Twitter. I read articles about nanotechnology and robots and Pinterest and clouds.

And in the end, I just gave up. But with good reason.

First of all, there's always going to be someone who knows more about it than you. Just like however big your record collection is, John Peel's was bigger. And in an ad agency, I'll probably be surrounded by sharp young and not-so-young things who embrace every new fad 6 months before anyone else.

But that's the point. I'm not interested in technology, I'm interested in people. I'll get curious about something 6 months down the line when my brother and my friends and the guy in Accounts show some sign of understanding it. I got into advertising to communicate with people; to better understand what drives them to choose one thing over another.

People get paid a lot of money to spot trends and predict the future. That's fine. But it's not what I want to do. I want to make adverts and tell stories that millions of people can relate to and actually enjoy. That's all.

No puns? Fuck off.

There's nothing wrong with a pun if you (a) make it funny, and (b) make it relevant to the campaign - or in this case, the topical event in question.

So all hail "Ma'amite" - a genius piece of opportunism by DDB.

It's worth noting the attention to detail too. There are the corgis who love it or hate it. The copy (including another pun in "toasting"). The Union Jack. The crown made from a toast rack.

Love it.

Dock your Alliteration Allowance

I love a little alliteration. Assonance has a certain resonance, too. But it can easily be taken too far - either by just coming across too student-y, or sacrificing meaning for artistry.

Take this ad for Nurofen as an example. The text tells you it gets to work in 10 minutes.

But travelling from Heathrow to Regent's Park via tube (where the advert is being placed) takes nearly an hour. In their desperation to find Hs and Rs, they've completely obscured the point of the advert. If I took nurofen at Heathrow and was only getting relief by Regent's Park, I'd be pretty disappointed in the product.

Illusory chocolate treats

I eat Kit-Kats quite a lot. Not in a "I only eat baked beans and Wotsits for dinner" way, just that if I fancy a chocolate biscuit, it'll most likely be a Kit-Kat.

Occasionally, you'll find that one finger, or even both, is missing its wafer and is basically all chocolate. And when that happens, I'm delighted. But why?

If I prefer "all chocolate" over "chocolate and wafer biscuit", why did I buy a Kit-Kat in the first place? Why didn't I buy a Dairy Milk or a Yorkie?

It's interesting, what we can convince ourselves is a bonus. Would they sell more if they said that 1 in every 1000 fingers had no wafer?

Evian's counter-intuitive art direction

Companies so often get the ads in the corridors of Oxford Circus station so badly wrong. They always fail to realise that customers just sweep past them close by, propelled in a near-stampede of rushing bodies. Yet some of these brands put extensive text on their ads, irregardless of the hold up and possible assault caused by anyone actually stopping to read them.

The exceptions are the clothes brands whose shops greet you when you reach the surface - H&M, Top Shop, Gap, Uniqlo - who use simple branding and large, attractive pictures to say "make sure you visit US". Here's a typical example (it's from Berlin, but the art direction is the same):

So it was nice today to see Evian using the space intelligently and deliberately aping the clothes stores' style to attract attention. The disconnect between the art direction and the product, in this particular position, created enough cognitive dissonance to make me think consciously about the advert - which is a good deal more than half the challenge in these situations.

Of course, I'll just buy whatever bottled water is cheapest and then fill that bottle up with tap water until I need to buy a new one. I'm not a fucking moron. But it's a good try.

Getting book crits? Some tips...

Well my partner Olly and I have been taking our book to a fair few people lately, and although it hardly makes me an expert, it does mean that the experience is extremely fresh in my mind. So, based on our efforts, and stealing a little advice from others, here are my top tips for getting the most out of portfolio crits (and getting them in the first place).

• Any communication medium can be used to arrange a crit - one of ours was arranged via Instagram.
• Don't be discouraged when Creatives and Creative Directors don't reply to your emails. They're busy. Chase up politely after a while, but you can't win them all.
• Be prepared to be flexible and adjust to their schedule - expect last-minute changes.
• Don't just approach the Creative Directors. Junior Creative teams can be the most helpful of all, especially when you're just getting started. They have more recent experience of the application process, and they're more likely to have quality time to spend with you than the CD.
• Keep a spreadsheet with "campaigns" along the top, and "crits" along the side. Then colour the squares green for "loved it", orange for "needs some work", and red for "lose it". Then, you can see at a glance how your projects are going down. You can also use the space to make a note of specific comments or suggestions.
• Never ever go back for a second crit without making significant changes to the portfolio. Push the work further, add in new projects. What they want to see is progress.
• Have something in your book that tells the reader something about you. They're not just hiring the work, they're hiring the people.
• Be aware of the agency you're going to before deciding what projects to put in. AMV BBDO may like to see plausible above the line campaigns for major consumer brands, whereas Mother might appreciate a more slanted, warped approach.
• BUT have the courage of your convictions, too. We met a team who were told by Nick Gill at BBH to drop one of their campaigns. They came back to see him and stuck to their guns, and still got the placement. And then a job.
• And don't try to be all things to all men. (a) You'll never achieve it, and (b) it'll make your book look bland and directionless.
• Remember to end every crit by asking to come and see them again.

And just remember, as the old saying goes: opinions are like arseholes; fun to explore and rewarding to probe.

Unite V (Young Creative Council event)

On Wednesday night, Olly and I went down to this event, and damn it, if it wasn't the most worthwhile decision we've made so far in our careers. At the end of the day we came away with several business cards, a handful of invitations to visit agencies, and an immediate offer of a placement.

The first half of the night consisted of a "Creative Stand-Up" session, with each of the 20 teams being given 2 minutes on stage to do - well, whatever they liked. It's fair to say the results were mixed; those teams who went went for a funny approach tended to either triumphed or bombed. Still, at least they gave it a go - the teams that just showed some work didn't really impress anyone.

We ploughed a middle course, talking about our 3 golden rules of advertising, and plugging our portfolio at every opportunity without actually showing the work. And it seemed to do the trick - we had plenty of industry guys coming over to look at the what we'd previewed, and luckily none of them seemed to think we were all mouth and no skinny jeans, so we just about pulled it off.

My only regret is that because we were so busy manning our corner, we didn't really get chance to network with other students or check out their work - but the atmosphere seemed to be one of friendly rivalry, and I think YCC can take a great deal of credit for the good-humoured nature of the evening. Overall they're just a fantastic organisation and I can't recommend getting involved with them highly enough.

Yes! We are all individuals!

Well that was an inexcusably long gap since posting my last entry, so I'll try to make up for it this week. We've got a book crit tomorrow at AMV and we're competing at the Young Creative Council's Unite V event, so I'm sure there'll be plenty to talk about.

For now, I'll just get something quickly off my chest. I like advice. I particularly like advice about how to produce good work. Very often I can store that in my head and apply it to whatever it is I'm working on.

But what I can never understand is when short, pithy quotes are offered as advice on how to live your life. Our modus operandi is so fixed by the time we're adult that it takes more than a clever aphorism to change it.

So when someone quotes Steve Jobs saying, for example, "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life", they're actually rather ironically wasting their own time as well as mine. It's a great aspiration but not great advice.

You can turn your life around, but you don't just decide to do it without any significant stimulus. Look at Ricky Gervais. Before The Office he never really tried his best at anything - and I don't believe for a moment that this remarkable change was inspired by a quote he read. No, it was inspired by having something to work hard for.

I know this because the exact same process is happening for me - academic excellence followed by complacency followed by a career rut followed by opportunity. All it takes is the right opportunity, and you can grasp it, with or without the words of Steve Jobs ringing in your head.

If only I could sum up all this in a sentence...

More D&AD Reflection

I should start this post with an apology, because lately I've been relentlessly spamming the social networks with news of mine and Olly's D&AD Student Award nomination for our Peace One Day project. I think one has to be a fairly shameless self-promoter when getting into this industry, but the downside is that those who know you well can get a bit sick of it all. So to those people, sorry.

I also feel sorry for a team from Sunderland, who had almost exactly the same idea as us - you can view it here - but didn't win a nomination (though they're going to the BBH Barn shortly, so their story has a happy ending).

I wanted to work out why our version of the idea won out - not to gloat, but to understand, so the success can be repeated. I think the answer is simply that we worked harder at ours. We tested our thinking and our strategy at every stage, and we pushed our ideas as far as they could go, asking advice at every turn.

As a result, you find the little differences. Our method for getting people to play football is probably more technically realistic, as we found out that simply switching to a sports simulation engine within Battlefield 3 would have been extraordinarily difficult to code. The person who told me this also suggested using Electronic Arts, as they produced major videogames in both war and football - a fact which led us to the "pEAce day" logo, a useful stroke of luck.

Our research also led us to develop a realistic user journey, that took into account likely scepticism on the part of gamers, and therefore harnessed in-game advertising opportunities and created incentives for them to participate. Throughout, we were determined that the idea would fit into peoples' lives and habits, rather than expect them to take a leap into the unknown.

And that's it, really. It turns out that hard work counts as much as a good idea. And on that bombshell, I'm going to bed.