Hasta La Creative!

In our age of virtual sharing gone berserk, here's a refreshingly tactile effort by a British ad agency. For new restaurant Dishoom, OgilvyOne U.K. is collecting customer stories through the Internet and baking the best ones into Dishoom's dinner plates—each one nicely designed in a way that fits that particular story. The campaign draws on an ethnic tradition. Dishoom is an Irani café—styled after similar cafés opened in India in the 19th century by Iranian and Persian immigrants. The sharing of stories over food was a big part of the Iranian café tradition (and restaurant tradition generally). OgilvyOne started the campaign with 80 plates featuring the personal memories of Irani cafés from the older generation in Bombay and the U.K. See some examples below. Now, new visitors are being asked to contribute. "Crazy and unusual anecdotes are very much encouraged!" says the site. "Tell what you used to do—whether it was hanging out with friends, dating, bunking off, doing business deals, finding inspiration. Tell us how the food tasted, the conversations you overheard, how the place felt, the more personal your stories the better." Via Creative Review.

It was my first visit to India. I was in Churchgate near the station and used to visit this old cafe on the corner for some of the best dosas and uttapas in town. The owner introduced himself and made me feel like he was one of my uncles. Uncle Satish or 'Satishbhai' as I called him invited me to their late night card games, and I learnt all sorts and made all sorts of new friends. Only in such a cafe, could you feel like you were part of the family as soon as you walk in, and leave with not only a full stomach, but a whole new bunch of friends.

Adi was tickled when he heard about my memories of the cutlet gravy at Cafe Excelsior from a decade back. He immediately called for a plate of gravy for me to taste. I took a spoonful…creamy yet edgy…an initial soothing sip followed by a slow but resounding hit of chillies. A very elegant and yet passionate sauce. I liked it so much that I finished the contents of the saucer. Seeing the delight on my face Adi insisted on packing some cutlets and gravy for me to take home…and some slices of bread too….the bread turned out to be as soft as Cupid's cheeks. I pointed out the lack of salt in the dhansak to Adi. "Well that's good for old people no with BP? Others can add salt" said Adi with a smile.

Colaba is the most popular tourist hub of Bombay because of the famous Taj hotel and gateway of India. A lot of Iranians migrated and settled in Colaba. They relate to this place a lot. Everytime I come here, I see them sitting around and it makes me feel comfortable. I've been a student of Xaviers College and have been very fond of this Irani Café, especially when you have a tight budget cause I'm in college. The food is very affordable. Every time I have a friend visiting, I bring them here to give them a taste of the real Bombay experience.

I once asked Mr. Kohinoor, who is 83 and owns Britannia Restaurant what would happen to Britannia when he was no longer with us. Gesturing towards his son and brother he exclaimed (a bit loudly!) "The moment I'm gone, these buggers will shut the place down!"

I held Bapa's hand tightly.
I was so scared
So many people
And I, so small
I sat in the chair
My chin on the table
He ordered
I stared
It came.
I smiled
A big smile.
Tutti Frutti Ice Cream.

Afshin Kohinoor, Boman's son, started talking to us at length about the restaurant. He pointed to the portraits hung on the wall, spoke about the letter written to his father by the Queen of England, and pointed to one of their latest awards. …and then willingly posed for me with a trophy. And then when we were leaving, asked us to return with our boyfriends. "I don't want to see you alone next time," he said.

Overheard one evening in an Irani café in South Mumbai's Fort District. A customer complains to the owner, that there is no sugar in his tea. "Did I call you? Did I say, come to my shop and drink tea? You are the one who climbed the steps and came. Today there are no complaints. Everyone's quietly drunk their tea and gone. No one said anything. What are these tantrums that you come up with …. God knows how your wife stays with you. Is she still with you or has she eloped and run away."

Wriggles & Robins ont réalisé cette belle vidéo « Life Drawing » pour le Book Club, un lieu atypique et source d’inspiration situé à Londres. Cette vidéo a été pensée en proposant en stop-motion les différentes croquis d’un modèle vivant, encerclé par plusieurs dessinateurs. Un rendu magnifique à découvrir dans la suite.

Penn State University officials still can’t bring themselves to say the name “Jerry Sandusky.” Hard to blame them.

In addition to the human tragedy of young lives damaged, Advertising Age estimates the Sandusky sex-abuse scandal has cost Penn State $46 million and counting since November 2011. And though some sponsor dollars look to be trickling back, it’s still a pittance compared to the loss.

On a site devoted to the Sandusky case, Penn State said it shelled out more than $41.1 million in NCAA fines and legal and consulting fees through Dec. 31, 2012. Ad Age estimates Penn State lost more than $1 million in sponsorship/advertising dollars from the likes of General Motors, Cars.com and Sherwin Williams. Another $700,000 in licensing royalties from merchandise sales was also lost. And next month, the Big Ten Conference will dock Penn State $3.25 million as the first installment in a four-year, $13 million penalty, according to Scott Chipman, the conference’s assistant commissioner. That represents Penn State’s share of conference-bowl revenue from the 2012 football season and will be donated to children’s charities.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

If Apple were to revive its iconic Mac vs. PC ad campaign but for the iPhone, the iPhone and Android personifications would be almost identical to the ones depicted by John Hodgman (the PC) and Justin Long (the Mac) years ago.

iPhone users are younger, more active on social networks and listen to more digital radio on their phones than Android users, according to new research released on Monday by digital analytics firm comScore. Android owners skew older and spend more time playing games on their phones consuming news and visiting sports-related apps and websites.

The typical iPhone user spend 1,102 minutes each month using social networks while Android users spend only 745 minutes on average. There were a similar discrepancies regarding digital radio and photo usage. The average iPhone user spent 530 minutes on digital radio during February, compared with 203 minutes for Android users. iPhone owners also spend more time taking photos and using photo-sharing utilities; 320 minutes per month to Android owners’ 117 minutes per month.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

A correction has been made in this story. See below for details.

HBO has named 360i to create a social media campaign, supplementing the work the network handles internally.

HBO brought its social media marketing in-house in 2007 after it tapped Sabrina Caluori as VP of social media and performance marketing; Ms. Caluori arrived from Deep Focus, which had been handling those duties for the network.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Advertising Agency: Tif Comunicação, Curitiba, Brazil
Creative Director: Thiago Biazetto
Art Director: Guilherme Rubini
?Copywriter: Rafael Coradine
Producer: Gabriela Alberti
Photography: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images, Lattinstock/Corbis

When it comes to paperwork, the designers at TBWA\South Africa in Johannesburg are a cut above. As an exercise in self-promotion, the design group transformed some of the agency's creative briefs—those not specifically requiring design recommendations—into three-dimensional paper sculptures using the pages of the documents and their nondescript envelopes as raw materials. The results, intended to capture the essence of the brand from which each brief was received, are amazing. My faves: the dress shirt for Bio Classic washing powder, with one corner of the garment composed of billowing soap bubbles; the insanely detailed ship in a bottle for Mainstay vodka; and the heaping bowl of shredded-paper noodles for Fatti's & Moni's pasta. Snatches of text from the original briefs peek through here and there. Such brand-specific words and phrases provide intriguing visual flourishes for these fusions of art and commerce. More images below. Via The Inspiration Room.

CREDITS
Client: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg
Executive Creative Directors: Matthew Brink, Adam Livesey
Art Director: Jade Manning
Copywriter: Vincent Osmond
Creative Directors: Sacha Traest, Mike Groenewald
Design: Sacha Traest, Leigh-anne Salonika, Katleho Mofolo, Graeme Van Jaarsveld, Ilze Venter, Jason Fieldgate
Typographer: Hazel Buchan
Photographers: Graeme Borchers, Des Ellis
Account Manager: Vanessa Maselwa
Director: Brett de Vos
Sound: Cut and Paste, Opus
Production: Craig Walker, Simone Allem, Ingrid Shellard, Gillian Humphris