After having introduced our new columnists last week, this week we’re introducing a new item called ‘Inspiration’; Amsterdam creatives sharing their inspiration on a weekly basis. In order of future appearance we found the following posse willing to show us what they like, what fascinates them, or what they admire on a regular basis: Jennette Snape, art director at Dolly Rogers; Jarr Geerligs, art director at Selmore; Joep Beving, creative at Massive Music; Rick de Zwart, designer at Meneer de Zwart (and responsible for AAB’s visual identity); David Snellenberg, copywriter at Dawn; Johan Kramer, director at 328 Stories; Martin Pyper, designer at MeStudio; Reuben Alexander, creative at Buutvrij for Life; and Christian Borstlap, art director at Part of a Bigger Plan. Of course these people do more than just what their often somewhat rigitd title suggests (in art, music, photography, etc.) but you can read about that on their profile page, once they’ve posted their first contribution. Today Jennette Snape kicks off with an art piece she created herself. The title is “Inspiration lies in the eye of the beholder”; a nice kick off for this new genre, since it philosophies on what inspiration really is.
There’s a somewhat strange trend going on in the Netherlands. Ambulance personnel is being harrased quite regularly whilst trying to do their job. You wonder how ambulance personnel could possibly evoke any aggression. And when you see this SIRE commercial, with the pay-off “If we respect our medical care providers in wartime, why not in peacetime”, it becomes even weirder to think about it. You can sign the petition ‘Hands Off’ here. Strong one, by Selmore and director Rogier Hesp (Caviar).
To be honest, we find this concept for the KNGF (royal Dutch guide dog federation), KNGF Maps a little thin. The reason why we’re featuring it anyway is that we like the insight supporting it; a guide dog for the blind sheds light in the darkness. You fill out your directions in Google Maps and a layer on top of it ‘illuminates’ your route. We can imagine that the KNGF’s ad budget didn’t allow for a more elaborate concept. Created by Selmore.
When we started watching this commercial, we thought: why the hell did Selmore send us this soft Christmas crap? Fortunately we watched it till the end, cause then you get to see that this film carries a nice little twist. And what struck us in this twist – if we may get a little philosophical – is that it spoofs advertising and clearly shows that we work in a business of make believe. But instead of thinking ‘we are a bunch of crooks’ it actually made us realize that the truth is too ugly to show. Thank god there’s advertising!’ Directed by Ismael (Pink Rabbit).
O.k., o.k., it’s not the most creative ad ever made, but it does show what apt advertising looks like. And though it’s always easier to sell a product with real added value, the fact that we only need to translate the pay-off ‘The Bank Anno Now’ says enough. One thing that’s not so realistic of course are these grandparents camping with their iPad and actually using the ABN AMRO money transfer app to reward their grand daughter’s swimming certificate. Then again, it’s advertising so some exaggeration is allowed. Here’s a more realistic one: “My treat”, is what the girl texts her boyfriend after he insists on paying the check. The ads are simple and smart, just like ABN AMRO’s app. Created by Selmore and directed by Dana Nechushtan (Artcore).
With 13 shortlist nominations in film and 7 in film craft, Amsterdam should be able to win some more Lions tomorrow night. Of all these nominations 4 go to Nike ‘Write the future’, 3 to Heineken’s ‘The Entrance’, and one to Heineken’s ‘The Date’, which adds up to an impressive 8 film (craft) nominations for Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam. Write the future also has a nomination for Titanium (integrated), though this case was sent in by Nike. BSUR also does well with 4 nominations for MINI Countryman’s ‘Flow’. Philips’ ‘Wake up the town’ by Tribal DDB has 3 film nominations. Other film nominations go to Volkswagen (DDB), Centraal Beheer (DDB) – we personally liked this more subtle Centraal Beheer film a lot better – De Bijenkorf (Selmore), IDFA X-ray eyes (TBWA) – a very smart film – and the beautiful Sire film ‘Marked for life‘ (180). We’ll keep our fingers crossed!
Yesterday was a good day. Not just because it was our first day in Cannes and we enjoyed soaking up all its extremes – Le Palais, the sun, the beach, ‘le canard au miel’, and lots of drinks – check out our photo’s here. It was also a good day for Amsterdam, because it won 5 Lions! Two silver lions went to outdoor; Interbest ‘mail stripper’ and the Go Fast water-bike, both to Y&R Not Just Film. At the time, we weren’t too positive about the unattractive stripper, because we doubted its effectiveness. You could say the silver lion has proved us wrong. Two bronze lions went to the radio commercial ‘sexual harassment’ (Publicis) and an Allsecur outdoor ad (Ogilvy). In Media Muse and Starcom won Silver for their 3D Samsung projection. Earlier, on Monday Amsterdam won two meager bronze lions; the Dutch dress for Bavaria in promo – which definitely deserves more in our opinion – and bronze for Boondoggle’s KLM Suprise in PR – in Holland this won a golden Spin (read: cyber) award. Hopefully we’ll be able to celebrate some gold later this week.
A commercial that feels like a warm bath, that’s how we experienced this. Cynics might say the concept is a little too easy, but in our opinion it’s just perfect; on strategy (Bavaria = a beer without bullshit), well written, and well executed. It helps of course if you can afford Hugh Hefner and his sexy entourage, but there are enough agencies out there that would be able to fuck it up. Not Selmore and director Jonathan Herman (Bonkers). But it’s not just Selmore doing a good job. A great agency needs a great client. And if there’s one brand out there that understands marketing and – more importantly – dares to stick its neck out, it’s Bavaria. It started with a complete new visual identity in 2009 (by Brandnew Design), with powerful blue instead of faded green. Then it created a series of commercials with aspirational production value – e.g. the epic journey of a drop and, about a year ago, Mickey Rourke, selling alcohol free beer. But the jewel in the crown of Bavaria’s marketing efforts was the DutchDress, a premium targeted at women instead of men and used as ambush marketing tool during last year’s World Championships football in South Africa and causing priceless amounts of PR. It’s no coincidence that Bavaria was awarded ‘Advertiser of the year’ by the SAN (organization of advertisers) last week. The biggest award for Bavaria (and Selmore) though is that it turned itself in an indisputable A brand within 2 years time.
Write the future did what most of us expected, it won big last night at the Dutch Art Director’s Club (ADCN) Awards: the Standing bulb (read: Grand Prix) and three golden bulbs (Integrated, Film, and Print/Magazine). Massive Music also won an award for the music in this commercial. Overall, TBWA\Neboko won most awards, taking home 2 golden (in Film for Pearle and in Print for Heineken’s Social Networks) and 4 silver bulbs. Live Interactive billboard (n=5) won gold in Outdoor. Bavaria’s DutchDress (Selmore) – causing such a big stir at the World Championship football last summer – also received a very deserved golden bulb in Activation. Christian Borstlap’s posters for the overview exhibition of Dutch advertising classics won gold in Graphic Design. In Interactive there was no gold. This could mean that digital creatives are still mostly tech driven, rather than aiming for the big idea. It could also mean that the ‘traditional’ creatives (the largest part of the Jury) are not able to fully appreciate digital innovations. Or it might be a bit of both. In any case, there were three silver bulbs in Interactive for Philips ‘Wake up the town‘ (Tribal DDB), Live Interactive Billboard (see above – a big digital idea, created by a ‘traditional’ agency), and Vodafone’s Madame TreSesti (Achtung!). Our very favourite film ‘Drama Queen‘ for the Young Director Award (TBWA Helsinki, directed by Rogier Hesp) got a bulb in the category Young Directors, but unfortunately not gold.
This commercial advertises the big Mad sales Marathon at department store de Bijenkorf. The cute animated animal represents our inner hunter, hungry for bargains. It wakes up twice a year; once in October during the Three Crazy Days and then in April during the Mad Marathon. Created by Selmore, directed by Bram van Alphen.
