On June 23, J.K. Rowling (perhaps you’ve heard of her) is set to announce Pottermore, this mysterious new project that fans are quite literally losing their shit over. People have spent hours upon hours guessing what this project could possibly be, going so far as to put together “clues” based on the numbers on the YouTube countdown and even the amount of leaves that fall from the screen per day.
To quickly relate this to advertising before I move on, I will say that this is a pretty good teaser campaign …

I originally tried to embrace the concept of electronic books (e-books, I think they are called) when they first rose to prominence.  I even read a few e-books on my fancy schmancy iPad.  Yet, as time went on, I found myself increasingly not wanting to read e-books.  It’s gotten to the point where I sort of scoff every time I see someone on the subway with a Kindle.
E-books do have their benefits; I can admit that.  For instance, portability.  If you’re reading Atlas Shrugged or Infinite Jest or something similarly …

The thing I don’t like about Tina Fey is that I have such a hard time thinking of things not to like about her. And believe me, I have tried. Yet I continually find that, despite all my best efforts, I can’t help but admire and envy and quite possibly even desperately love her. And now she has written an awesome book that I have just finished reading. Bossypants is a hilarious account of her “rise” to fame, in which it becomes clear that she never …

Creative Director: Year Zero is a book made with amazing stories of successful Creative Directors of today. How they got there, the challenges
they had to overcome and for sure the lessons they learned during their journey to become who they are – a symbol of good creative.
Check out the official website to know more: http://ihaveanidea.org/books/cdy0/index.html and you can buy your copy here: http://www.blurb.com/books/2067329.
Should be a good read. – Philipe Diao
 

Sometimes in advertising we are asked to bend the truth, exaggerate claims, or in some cases create an alternate reality in which our client is the obvious choice among all other competitors for reasons we may or may not have invented while drinking beers at a happy hour. Daily we attempt to modify the perceptions of consumers through various techniques and media.
“An Oak Tree” (1973) by Michael Craig-Martin is a conceptual piece consisting of just two components.
1: A shelf holding a glass of water.
2: A leaflet explaining why it was …

While traveling to Portland for a client meeting the other day, I started reading Paul Arden’s book “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be.” We had barely reached cruising altitude before I was finished reading, but its contents will give me years of material to ponder.
As the name suggests, “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be” (or its acronym of a similar length, I.N.H.G.Y.A.I.H.G.Y.W.T.B.) is a motivational booklet of the highest value to creatives and business people alike. …

Quite good or the best in the world? If you want to be the best in the world, I would like to recommend a book that I’m sure some of you have and now it’s just simple decoration in your living room. Paul Arden’s ‘It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be’, is an optimism manual written by one of the greatest ECDs that advertising has had. This book is not only loaded with lessons based on real situations while he worked at Saatchi&Saatchi, but …

I just found out that Richard Castle has a NY Times Best Seller. If you don’t know why that’s awesome, allow me to dawn some hipster clothes and an aura of superiority so that I can enlighten you.
ABC has a show called Castle. It’s about a crime novelist named Richard Castle who shadows a NYC homicide detective as a way of doing research for his books. He decides to write a series of books about a female detective named Nikki Heat, who, oddly enough, is being shadowed by a crime …

I just started reading a new book to help with my presentation skills. I’m not a horrible presenter but trying to become a great one so I picked up this book from Amazon for about $20. I haven’t even finished it yet but I’m already loving it. It’s written by an account guy, which I was very skeptical about at first, but it has some great insights and Steel makes some great points about presenting, client management, and keeping the ideas simple and impactful.
He also pulls examples from his experience …

This past year I have been experimenting with sports to break some blocked creative walls. This was somewhat challenging because I grew up in artistic environment and the most athletic thing was drawing a hopscotch board with sidewalk chalk for the JV hopscotch team. I never really thought of creative people to be athletic — ever. And in most art institutions there are no sports. Maybe interpretive dance — and let’s be honest, that doesn’t count. Unless you count the scissor-kicks in leotards.
I recently discovered the one thing that fills …