A hurried video on Third World Debt

Marc at SCA gave us one day to research and produce a presentation on Third World Debt.

This is what Olly and I came up with - it's a bit rough and ready in both writing and art direction, but it's a fair representation of our research.

A quick bit of genius to share

Found in an interview with Dave Trott; one of his favourite adverts:

It's so simple, but it actually takes a while for its genius to sink in fully. The "by tube" pun. The fact it ends at Pimlico (the station shown on the tube of paint). The immediate visual schemas for "art" and "London".

And if that isn't enough fun, you could try looking at where the Jubilee line ends and try to work out what year this might have been produced...

Not the face! Not the face!

Spotted a quotation that resonated with me in one of Dave Trott's recent campaign blogs, from Mike Tyson:

“Everyone’s got a strategy, until they get hit."

It reminded me of Buddhist Ben, a Buddhist called Benjamin, who visited our School early on in the year to talk about "mindfulness". I was more interested in his martial arts titles, and his streetfighting past, and about the kind of mental state one needs to own or achieve in order to take a punch in the face without falling over, or at least falling to pieces.

It's easy for us to fantasise about it. Some nasty type squared up to me recently at a bus stop for accidentally getting in his way, and I've thought numerous times about knocking him out with one blow, or alternatively wrestling with him and pushing him into the road into the path of an oncoming vehicle.

Of course I just backed down and apologised straight away. I didn't even say what I wanted to say, let alone do what I wanted to do.

The best-laid plans of mice and men etc.

And that's why I find boxing so fascinating. I can't stand youtube videos of painful pratfalls and skateboarding spills, or people getting hit in the face. But I can watch Manny Pacquiao overcome an opponent with skill, speed, strength, bravery, and aggression with no revulsion and a great deal of pleasure.

And it's because they embody an ability we wish we had ourselves - to remain professional and keep to a plan under the most extreme pressure.

(disregarding ear-biting abberations, obviously)

You could say the same about football to an extent - it's not about playing the perfect pass, it's playing the perfect pass with big men running at you from all directions. But I don't think any sportsman comes under the kind of relentless, violent, pressure as a boxer (and, I suppose, other martial artists).

I'll never be like Mike Tyson. In so many ways.

But I can try to emulate that attitude - not aggression, but just a focused mindset that adapts and changes and reacts and defends, but never wavers from its single-minded purpose.

I'll just try to do it without raping a stripper or converting to Islam.

Thoroughly decent Goodfellas ad (for balance)

This blog can't be all doom and gloom, so here's a good ad. It draws you in, it strongly pushes authenticity as a brand value, and there's a great pay-off. A big platonic Italian kiss to the uncredited Mother London copywriter who wrote the script.

However, now we supposedly have to listen to what Steve Henry and Dave Trott are saying, that you really have to start making your ads special, or else who remembers them? I don't think things are quite this black and white - because in this case, what they want to do is make you choose them at the freezer aisle above the other frozen pizzas.

You might not remember this ad when asked "tell me about some ads you saw yesterday", but to me that's a bit of an artificial challenge. Surely the test is to put some brands in front of someone then ask if they remember seeing any adverts for it, what they thought. And if this one springs to mind as they're hovering around that freezer aisle, it's only going to be a positive.