Raising a Glass to the Trier.

We’ve all seen the Breast Cancer ads and felt a tug on our heartstrings as the lonely child’s mother fades from his birthday photographs. But, emotional advertising is far from restricted to the confines of the charity guilt trip or awareness shock spot.

The emotional tactic is, in the new era of advertising, rapidly catching up with the rational product demonstration game. Take sports brands, one of last year’s most successful campaigns, Wieden & Kennedy’s ‘Find Greatness’ campaign for Nike, took the brand to a whole new level. Sporting merchandise became the very heart and soul of determination, passion and success.

Nike used emotion to make every man, woman & child at least want to ‘find Greatness’. This is a perfect demonstration of how to use emotion to sell a product.

It also shows, how key it is in this new era to not just sell a product, but a lifestyle, an experience and an ideology. How many of the Nike factory children have the opportunity to ‘Find Greatness’? And, how many of us care? This is, without doubt, proof that advertising and branding can achieve almost anything for a business, when done correctly.

Now take Cider, it’s not going to kill you (when consumed in moderation of course), it’s not a charity either. However, Magners latest spot ‘Now is a Good Time’, uses emotion to promote a nostalgic ‘good time’ vibe. It inspires people to live in the moment and share it with friends and a Magners. People are not buying fermented pressed apples. They are buying an idea and an experience.

When presented with the task of creating an Advertorial for Scottish Liqueur brand ‘Glayva’, I knew there was no other choice than to tap into this growing love for emotion in advertising. 

Happy Birthday www.norman-creative.co.uk

To celebrate a year of norman-creative donating the profound spasms of my brain meat to yours, I hand to rains over to my viewers. I have requested that followers submit a single sentence, on any subject, with a limit of 12 words. Below is the result.



   The man in the grey coat walked in the rain. It's wet and windy outside but tea smells good. Hirsutism is at its most prominent in the Eastern European countries. My boyfriend has a small penis. Time heals all wounds. Fuck it, let's get drunk. I have eliminated all the Juice. You are like the Greek Goddess; Confusia.



Thank you for this wonderful literary donation. 

Wu Wei

Having purchased Dave Trott's 'Creative Mischief' nearly a year ago, I finally cracked its spine and had a peep inside. I know every time I open a book I will be presented with a new opinion, new knowledge and a fresh voice, a treat I wish I could indulge in more often.
   This time it hit me within the first few pages. Translated into English, 'Wu Wei' means 'action by inaction', relating to achieving a desired result by doing the least possible yourself. Trott goes on to quote the situation that lead to Winston Churchill's rise to Prime Minister;

'Neville Chamberlain was about to resign as Prime Minister (...). He called Winston Churchill and Lord Halifax into his office. He said. "Well, one of you two will have to replace me. Who's it going to be?"
Churchill wrote, "I knew no Englishman could ever say 'Give it to me'. So whoever spoke first would be the loser. It was the longest 30 seconds of my life, but nothing would induce me to speak." Eventually Halifax couldn't bear it any longer. He cracked. He said "Well, I suppose you'd better give it to Winston."'

Without doubt, these 30 seconds carve the path of our country, still doing so until this day. The power of silence, white space, minimalism and having the balls to do it are overlooked, by me, the man next to me and possibly the reader of this post. 

We are all so eager to express, whether it be visually, verbally or physically. I can't recall where I heard this, but somebody once said, 'It's not about the words, but the spaces between them that make the sentence.' 

This profound concept is one of near-perfection, does it really matter what we say? Or is the focus on what we don't say, and how we do or don't say it? 



 

The Box.

   Ahh the old 'box', the infamous box that appears on every designers C.V, portfolio or self-promotional material. It wont be featuring in mine. Thinking outside of this 'box' is seen as a key skill for anybody in the creative industry to hold, yet very few see the contradiction in the very statement 'I think outside the box'.
   An irony exists whereby, if I were to state 'I think outside the box', I would, in fact, be doing the same as everybody else, packing myself straight into that very box. The only way to refer to the box without being inside it, would be for me to openly suggest that I do think inside the box. Though this bold admission is an irony in itself.
   I think I'll just stick with 'I think differently'.

Four Haikus Sake.

   Daniel Broadbent, Peet Singleton, Thomas Norman & myself recently formed a collective known as 5.7.5. The name is fairly self-explanatory... We write Haiku. Having developed as shared passion for this fading art form, whereby one is challenged to create a small clip of reality or summary of an idea in a mere 17 syllables and 3 lines, we set about a project. 

   With over 200 miles separating the group we met online regularly and conversed in conference calls, but never did we have the luxury of one and others presence. The challenge was to create 25 Haikus each. What each of us did with them was our own decision, the results of which we were astounded. 

   The only way to truly define somebody's creative personality is to give a number of people a blank sheet of paper and tell them to draw the same thing. No two results will never be the same, this is evident and effective throughout Four Haikus Sake.

For £4.04 you too can explore the creative instincts of 4 minds. 

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-norman-and-dan-broadbent-and-ben-norman-and-peet-singleton/four-haikus-sake/paperback/product-20707928.html

Necessary Nonsense.

   I am not a Graphic Designer. The contrary seems to be regularly suggested by the likes of my partner, parents and pretty much anybody who knows me. The fact is, anybody outside of the creative field, harmlessly believes that anybody within the field is either an Artist or Graphic Designer.

   The primary disadvantage presented by this misconception is that I don’t in fact have the skills to create a finished graphic product to the standard of a graphic designer.

   Having recently set to the task of putting a CV and Portfolio together, I have been presented with that very challenge. As an advertiser, I appreciate how crucial it is for my self-promotional material to effectively represent my ideas, passions and skills. However, my main challenge is in knowing where to draw the line between ‘necessary nonsense’ and ‘nonsense’.

   I don’t know whether or not graphic designers have the same problem, but; when presented with the challenge of creating a finished graphic product, I find myself begging the question, ‘is that really necessary?’

   Borders, colours, images, typefaces, layout… the list is endless. I have a passion for simplicity when displaying work as to avoid distracting from the work itself. But, where do I stop? Is my name really necessary? My address or excessive contact details? Does a creative director need to know when I was born? Do they want to build up a full opinion of my character or are they simply bothered whether or not I have the raw talent for the job?

   My only option is to do what I do best… display my work in a manner that visually represents the content of the work itself or the primary concepts behind my creative theory. That should be pretty simple. 

Excuses.

   There's nothing quite like that feeling, the gurgling in the pit of your stomach when an idea slaps you round the forehead. The excitement and utter astonishment, when after 3 minutes of contemplating a campaign the idea reveals itself and assures you it cannot be bettered. Granted this is not a regular occurrence in this line of work, but it is what we work for.
   I must apologise for my absence and failure to maintain regular blogging, I have been involved in a number of personal and educational projects; multimedia campaigns, art direction, copywriting, haiku collaboration, wine making, eating & sleeping. However, all will be revealed in good time, as Guinness say 'Good things come to those who wait'.