Ace

Anita Blay aka The Cocknbull kid is one of the most underrated musical talents in this country.
Instead of just playing the same old bloody Florence, Adele, Jessie J blah blah yawn, more people need to take notice of this super cool lady.
She's the best x

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.