Oops it's been a while

Where has the time gone? God only knows...

New, new, newsflash

Hurray. I've updated my website to show off some of the super duper exciting work I've been getting up to this past few months.
Take a stroll around and hopefully enjoy yourself.

Also, I wanted an excuse to share this seagull pic taken by my good self in sunny Broadstairs last summer. He looks friendly doesn't he?

Let's all go to the lobby

... and buy ourselves a drink (and some sweets).
I LOVE THIS. Why they don't still have this playing at cinemas is beyond my tiny brain's comprehension- if anything is going to make me waste my hard earned pennies on sweets and fizzy pop it's this infectious song accompanied by merry edible dancers.

World turned dayglo

"Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard..” Poly Styrene was the iconic lead singer of punk band, X-Ray Spex - a breath of fresh air in an oversubscribed genre. Poly sang about the plastic nature of consumerism with her seemingly untamed voice which she would distort to emit a rather frightening scream. Now she is back with new album, ‘Generation Indigo’…
RIP.

Love is in the air

It seems that no stone has been left unturned in the pursuit to make a penny or two out of the imminent Royal Wedding.
Today I've seen Kate and Wills themed fridges and these delightfully thoughtful pocket sized gifts... royal wedding condoms.
To quote the manufacturers who have got a wonderful way with words:
"Like a Royal Wedding, intercourse with a loved one is an unforgettable occasion".
So stock up and think of England as they say.
Grim.

Inventors of the world unite

Now THIS is a good idea.
I'll bet all those busy busy business guys frantically trying to cram all their work into the few hours that there are in a day whilst ALSO trying to squeeze in time to scoff a delicious sandwich have been crying out for this very object.
It beats the banana holder and the battery operated scissors hands down.
If I can locate a very important business type wearing the sandwich holder amid a manic day of deal clinching, I'll be very pleased indeed.

Sweet sunshine

The sun decided to come out somewhat prematurely for British climates - especially surprising given that I've been in Scotland.
Anyway, let's enjoy it while it lasts and enjoy imagery like this even more.

In love

As someone who really can't stand the overuse of the word 'amazing', in this instance I'm breaking the rules because I think this is truly amazing. And also beautiful.
National Geographic Channel have created a real-life version of the animated film Up — launching a house thousands of metres into the air using balloons.
Why I'm not sure, I guess I'll have to watch the program to find that out.

A team of scientists, engineers, and two world-class balloon pilots successfully launched a 16' X 16' house 18' tall with 8' coloured weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles, and set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted.

If scientists are keen on bringing glorious animation to life then I say next in line is a real-life flying elephant ala Dumbo.

There's nothing quite like the sound of a typewriter

I love this piece of work and I'm so glad that I discovered such a subtle guerrilla gem because it's reminded me that for all the fancy pants 3-D, secret mobile phone codes, tagging and whatnot sometimes the best stuff is really the lovely simple stuff centred around a sincere message.
Of course I accept that we have to move with the times and therefore technology is a very important factor in the world of media and especially brand experiences but I always have that slight niggle in the back of my mind when I see those posters that you have to wave your phone in front of in order to see 'exclusive stuff' that's asking me "do people really buy into this stuff"?
I guess they must do, otherwise why would brands continue to do it?
Anyway I'm probably just being a luddite who will start all my sentences with "when i was young we didn't have... blah blah blah" so I should shut up now.

So yes, back to the subject at hand and I just wanted to post this because for me it's a highly effective, personal and inspiring piece of guerrilla marketing for a brand that we know don't exactly have buckets of cash to spend.
In fact I know that the beautiful shutter artwork pieces that Mother did for Penguin Books not so long ago. was paid for in books instead of cash. Who says advertisers are only in it for the money?
Regarding the typewriter campaign I'm not sure of the coverage they got in terms of hitting physical stores but it's obviously caught the imagination of the online community so either way it's done the job perfectly.
So all together now: long live the book worms!

If my bank were a living breathing bank...

... I'd like it to look like this one. (I'm with First Direct so thankfully I don't have to deal with the grey 80s-ness of British banks)

Pretty incredible isn't it?
This is first-ever, bank concept store for BNP Paribas in Paris, created by Paris-based architect Fabrice Ausset of Zoevox.
It has everything you may have ever dreamed and I suspect quite a lot more given than all most people want from their bank is less queues, more smiles and perhaps a slightly bigger overdraft.

The ultimate black swan

As a special treat I took a trip to the theatre last week to see the Scottish Ballet's interpretation of the childhood classic Cinderella.
If you are ever in Scotland and one of the Scottish National Ballet's productions are on do yourself a favour and go along.
Tickets are mega cheap, the costumes and set design are eye-poppingly beautiful, original and cool, the orchestra are incredible and the performances and totally and utterly amazing.
And thankfully no dark twisted murderous endings like a particularly popular film that's out right now.

High hopes

Sometimes it takes a small sticker to make a big wish.

The simple fill-in-the-blank stickers are created by artist/designer Candy Chang to help citizens in New Orleans express and share their thoughts on their community.

Stickers are free and can be found in corner stores, cafes, bookstores, bars, hair salons, and other places around New Orleans.

New years resolution

Here's to 2011 and filling life with fantastical treats such as these.
Good luck one and all (sorry it's a bit late).

The Night Chauffeur is no longer taking orders

Photo by Dean Rogers

Apologies for the very tardy updates on this blog.
I've been slogging my guts out (what a horrid expression) working on a very exciting project for the lovely people at Mother and Stella Artois, or Stella Artois Black to be precise.
Mother are the rather super-duper ad agency responsible for the Stella Artois advertising all around the world and who came up with the idea of The Night Chauffeur with the help of totally amazing, lovely, geniuses Punchdrunk
The whole thing was a massive success with press coverage everywhere from The Evening Standard, The Guardian, Timeout and Dazed.
Sadly The Night Chauffeur is no longer (who knows where he went...) but you can watch this little film if you didn't manage to make it along in person.

Stella Artois Black presents: The Night Chauffeur from Protein® on Vimeo.

Merry christmas (nearly)

Haven't heard them playing this one in the shops during the festive period.

Fun house

This picture is enough to get me donning my skates and hot-footing it to Amsterdam...

After closing more than five years ago to undergo extensive renovations, and suffering several false starts along the way, the STEDELIJK MUSEUM in Amsterdam finally opened its doors once again this week. The building alone makes the museum worthy of a visit, as it dates from the late 1800s and is dressed in an impressive red brick façade, though to the delight of Amsterdamers and tourists alike, at last some (but sadly far from all) of its rooms are now starting to be filled with the museum’s vast collection of contemporary artworks. Among those on display are pieces such as the amazing black and white room by Ms. BARBARA KRUGER.

Don't forget, it's only a 20 minute flight or something. Easy peasy.

This is why I don't like the fashion industry

What a load of morons fashion people can be.
I assume this was all about irony and having a sense of humour but I think this is just grim and tasteless.
On the other hand I'm very surprised that a massive company like Selfridges who I would imagine have stupidly boring rules and regulations about everything even had the guts to show something like this.
In case you can't see from the image above they decided to HANG a piece from their currently Mcqueen collection as some form of eye-catching window display.

Shoe thing

OK so I thought I had a good eye for fashion and at times managed to carve out my own 'look'. After seeing these shoes and a bunch of other very special designs my own personal style is about as exciting as that of David Cameron.
Pah.
For inspiration, laughs, confusion or to merely fill five minutes of your life I suggest you check out this
list of the top twenty weirdest shoes

Help! My lolly!

I think this photo deserves some kind of award on so many levels. Too many for my popcorn sized brain to fathom.
Nice yellow coat there too.