Chanel Chance Eau Vive advert

I recently saw the Chanel Chance Eau Vive video on several occasions whilst flicking from video to video on YouTube. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan. I do quite like the art direction of the advert, however I don't really feel like it fits with the Chanel Chance brand. Although the classic oversized big bottle appears - as bowling balls, launched down the alleys - I didn't feel it worked as well as the previous campaigns. 

"Small Change, Big Difference" advertising campaign

"What's your favourite advert?" is a question that always makes me stumble. Every time I am asked that question every single advert I have seen, enjoyed or hated escapes from my memory and I'm often left gawking. Of course, some are unforgettable, like the Cadbury's gorilla playing the drums or the beautiful John Lewis Christmas adverts (the Snowmen, the Bear and the Hare and the Penguins). One thing that I find incredibly astounding is the fact that these adverts have made their way into my mind and I can't forget them. Connecting with an advert with an emotion, whether it makes me smile of tear up (the Snowmen got me, they really did) is a pretty incredible thing.

I recently discovered an advertising campaign called, "Small Change, Big Difference" by fashion photographer Calle Stolz teamed with Saatchi and Saatchi for Cordaid, a non-profit organisation.

Unnecessary brand ambassadors

Brands and their use of celebrity ambassadors can be a hit or miss. Whilst some work superbly and really communicate the ethos of the brand, others simply flunk. Sometimes that specific celebrity doesn't really fit in and other times one simply isn't needed. That's how I feel about Balenciaga's choice with Kristen Stewart as the face of the FloraBotanica fragrance.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Twilight star, and I can remember being quite surprised when I first saw this advertising campaign. I feel that a celebrity was not needed for this campaign and the use of an unknown model would have worked much better.

The actress, known for her often expressionless face does not bring anything to the brand or fragrance advert in my opinion, and I don't see the connection between her and the brand at all.

How to get into Advertising

Today I went to lecture by one of the account planning/strategy creatives at Ogilvy.

He gave a whole range of tips and showed us many different ways into the industry as well as some brilliant examples of advertising.

To start off he shared the simple question, "What is advertising?" then asked if the answer was "Selling you shit you don't need?" (which received many laughs) but then a true answer, "Creative solutions to business problems".

Being creative in a more graphic design way, the advertising industry has always appealed to me and it was really interesting to hear about the industry from personal experience.

We were also shown two adverts which I think are just too good not to share:

PUMA - James Corden interviewing Lewis Hamilton

Expedia - Travel Your Tweet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnAervKN2J0

Decoding fragrance adverts

Fragrance adverts are found in dozens of magazines, you just have to flick through Vogue or ELLE and you're bombarded with them, and often whizzed past as you search for an article. However it wasn't until today's seminar that I really focused on the adverts, placing them into categories and discussing the messages they hold.

2014 Christmas adverts have arrived

"It's the most wonderful time of the year" if you didn't sing that in your head you should be ashamed.

Summer (and let's face it, the sun) seems like a distant memory now, with the crisp winter winds creeping in, and your scarf becoming your best friend. And what gets us through these chilly mornings, it turning dark at 4pm? Christmas!

When adverts attract attention

When it comes to YouTube adverts, I have a love/hate relationship. I'm pretty sure a lot of people do. I can normally cope with them, especially the ones where you can skip it after 5 seconds, but the 30 second ones where you are unable to skip can become frustrating. Sometimes I'm not too bothered about them but other times when I eager to watch a video, I can become a little impatient.

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