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Why I’ve joined the Nods team as Vice Chair.
I was a guest at the inaugural Nods Awards last year and was impressed by its enthusiastic rejection of the usual awards puffery.
- No suits ( I wore my daughter’s purple hat, inexplicably)
- No drawn out sit-down dinner with expensive wine. (In fact it was a selection of market stalls selling street food in a really cool venue in the Barras called BAAD)
- No two hour ceremony with so many awards you couldn’t even begin to work out who had won what. (It was by contrast a little rushed and in need of sharing the work visually more – but it was all done and dusted in half an hour – the criticism was noted and a balance will be struck this year).
- No overblown entry fees or ticket prices
- And, most importantly for me, no profit motive – the proceeds went to the STV Children’s Appeal. But this year, and hopefully for the long term, proceeds will go to NABS (Scotland) well that’s an obvious choice is it not given that NABS is the creative (Communications) industry’s representative charity
This all made the event refreshing, more so when the judges are revealed as global giants, the Chair is a Global Giant herself (MT Rainey) and the organisers are Lux Events and CRAK Marketing, two small businesses wanting to put something back.
Many in our industry have bemoaned media owners using Awards as money-spinning bun fights and whilst I don’t wholly subscribe to that point of view there is no doubt this represents a refreshing change.
So year two now approaches, this time the awards ceremony will swap to Edinburgh and the ethos will be identical, although all of the people and organisations categories have been opened up for FREE entry. This makes sense as people feel awkward paying to enter themselves for an award. Instead it will be a Nod of recognition to those that deserve it.
Also we have introduced a craft category – a chance for photographers, illustrators, animators, musicians, film makers to enter for themselves – or for makers in agencies to have a bit of a spotlight shone on them.
I hope the industry will support the awards like they did last year. It’s a shop window for the winners both to clients and to prospective staff and the awards themselves are keenly priced.
You can find out more here.
But, please note, the deadline for entries is 23rd November. So get your skates on.
For my designer friends. Ryan Gosling trashes Avatar for using the Papyrus font.
Splendid entertainment.
Is Papyrus as bad as Comic Sans?
Ryan Gosling – “Papyrus” from joel boettcher on Vimeo.
Why Brexit is bonkers.
(From an article Jan Fleischauer in Der Speigel)
The United Kingdom is currently demonstrating how a country can make a fool of itself before the eyes of the entire world. What was once the most powerful empire on earth is now a country that can’t even find its way to the door without tripping over its own feet.
Take this perfect example…
Journalist: “If we leave the EU without a deal, doesn’t there have to be a hard border in Ireland?”
May: “We’ve been very clear that we do not want to see a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.”
Journalist: “But if we leave without a deal, that does mean a hard border, doesn’t it?”
May: “We are working to make sure that we leave with a good deal.”
Journalist: “But if we leave without a deal, there will be a border in Ireland, won’t there?”
May: “If we leave with no deal, we as the UK government are still committed to doing everything we can to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.”
Journalist: “But you’ll inevitably fail, because according to World Trade Organization rules, there has to be a border. Shouldn’t you level with people and explain that?”
May: “As the UK government, we remain committed to doing everything we can to ensure no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.”
You can read the full article here.
Best ad campaign I’ve seen in a long time. By David, Chicago.
By David of Chicago for Burger King. Absolute simplicity and extraordinarily brave advertising. The award should go to the client, not just the agency.
Nike smash it with Colin Kaepernick.
Watch this.
10 black protagonists (some disabled)
4 female protagonists (two black)
Three white male protagonists.
Not representative, huh?
Colin Kaepernick, the former San Fransisco 49ers quarterback strongly divides opinion in the USA.
It was he who started the black injustice protest of kneeling on one knee during the National Anthem and this has driven white supremasists, such as Donald Trump, absolutely nuts for disrespecting the flag.
And it’s him that’s fronting this commercial standing in a US city street in front of a rippling US flag.
Now that’s what I call brave marketing.
This is what Donald Trump calls it.
And he’s right to an extent, there are boycotts from similarly white supremasist Republicans.
But my mate (who doesn’t really like Nike) just bought a White Nike NFL #7 Colin Kaepernick T shirt for £25.
Because this ad moved him.
Sure Nike may lose some customers with this (admittedly a bit Appley) ad, but they’ll win over a lot more than they lose.
Someone at Nike said to a brand manager “Don’t ask if your strategy is crazy, ask if it’s crazy enough.”
I doff my hat.
Which hat tonight at The Nods awards?
To celebrate the first ever NODS Awards I’ve launched a unique promotion.
Enter my ‘Get Ahead, Get a Hat’ promotion TODAY ONLY to receive a FREE HAT when you commission a day or more of Think Hard consuiltancy.
But first, which hat would you choose?
Free Promotion FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY: Exclusively for attendees of The Nods 2018.
I will be attending the Nods tonight. To celebrate the launch of this exciting new creative awards initiative I will be offering all new commissions a FREE HAT with every commission. LARGE or SMALL.
There’s only two commonly used words that can sum that up…
Blimey!
You know what they say. Get ahead. Get a hat!
To avail yourself of this offer simply stop me at The Nods Awards tonight and say. “Hoy, take this work commission Mark and I claim a free hat.”
