Boarded Hope
Living in a big city you can find art in all manner of places, some pieces are amazing, some confusing, some basic just tagging and some generic as…
I spotted this off Kingsland Rd on a block of flats, about 80% are empty and boarded up whilst the rest look pretty depressing. One flat had this painted on it, it is a young girl sewing whilst birds are flocking to her…
Balls to it
Today it was announced that there could be a fine of £20k and a possible jail sentence for anyone streaking at the London 2012 Olympics, which I think is just plain mean. There was a time when a friendly streak was a common part of a football match and the crowd loved it, regardless of the sex of the streaker, even if they had an ass the size of the goal itself, it was fun. Viewers at home even got to share in the joke, nowadays if you are watching from the comfort of the sofa you do not even get a sneak peek.
The reason for the stern clampdown it would appear, is the power of the sponsor and the aim of protecting the paid for exposure deals, Olympic big-wigs are worried that non-official partners may get a slice of the publicity. Every major sporting event in the world is sponsored to the nth degree, big brands pay millions to be associated with the most prestigious events and for that they expect a level of control that would embarrass Kim Jong-il… well nearly.
The worldwide audiences enjoying events such as the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics and as we are currently seeing in New Zealand for the IRB Rugby World Cup are huge. The opportunities to see through increased TV coverage, newspapers and the influence of the web both through editorial and UGC means that the level awareness can be almost total. One of the first instances of a brand streaking their logo was Vodafone at the in 2002 during a New Zealand fixture, since then we have seen a variety of cheeky ways to beat the ban, at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 the dutch brewer Bavaria bought a load of seats at a World Cup game. They dressed attractive blonde ladies in bright orange branded outfits in the sure and certain knowledge that during a break in play the producer would look to cut to crowd totty for a bit of a rest-bite, the ladies were arrested which was not a positive outcome for any party. Manu Tuilagi, the England Rugby player was hit in the pocket too for wearing a sponsored gum shield.
Brands who can not afford the cost or who choose not to sponsor officially are therefore left to come up with clever, cunning and sometimes underhanded techniques to get their logo in front of our eyes. I have been in numerous brainstorms where we have been trying to find a way to hijack these events, guerilla tactics are nothing new but where do brand managers draw the line? Can they claim ignorance or apologise when the proverbial hits the fan? Are the inevitable fines worth it?
It is clear that we need brands at these sporting events in order to pay for the stadiums, create the infrastructure and to attempt to keep the ticket prices at a level that the average person on the street can afford. A cautionary word is needed to make sure the brand fits and that the event does not become dictated to by the world of brands, that is when you lose the fans and the magic of these great events ids diluted
Lady in neon lights
When I was a kid the one thing I wanted for Christmas was a neon sign in my bedroom, I didn’t really care what it said, I just thought it would be cool. They were expensive and ma and pa said ‘no’.
Never a truer word said... in my opinion
Plus Art Projects is hosting a variety of artists at a small gallery event off Redchurch St including up and coming artists from across the capital such as Declan MacMullan and Will Strong through to Gavin Turk and Stik plus some lady called Tracey Emin.
Love, Peace and Fuck by Ken Graham
Now not all the pieces have neon lighting but don’t let that stop you. Next event or project I work on is going to have neon lighting regardless
RiRi could not have said it better
Douche bags not 2 shoes
So last night I saw this while I cycled home after my mind yoga class, wearing skintight jeans, big Nike kicks on my battered but much loved Peugeot racing bike listening to electro-gabba-nu-dub-step as my poncho blew up in my face knocking my non-prescription glasses into the gutter where these wannabes were loitering
To be fair it had to be Jaguar Shoes and would have been a feast for the eyes for anyone like me who feels the same excitement at a viddy session of London Freakery as a pre-pubescent school boy in the mixed change rooms
As always Vice put it best so I’ll hand over to them…..
My faves are K-Tron who looks fierce with all that metal in her gob and Louie Banks who has just got his snappy snap camera and is bursting to capture the essence of the East….
In all seriousness, will this be the same as Towie and that hideous Chelsea programme? Already stars have been made of those lot and people made into brands and money making magnets. Or could it be done more seriously and actually look at some of the creativity in East London, maybe the search for the next Zuck seeing as we now have the Silicon Roundabout on Old St and some really smart marketing and media agencies live in the East End
That is one busy scene
The new Müller advert entitled Wünderfull Stuff really aims to strike the chord of nostalgia doesn’t it…. The ad starts with a grey background and everyone’s fave speaking car, Kitt from Knight Rider being harassed by a pesky traffic warden, only for Müller to save the day. Hooray!
I am not going to go through all the details because frankly I could be here all day, but will say it seems that every cartoon character suggested in the ‘thought-shower’ was included in the final cut. Then slowly but surely everything is turned happy as all our childhood faves join the advertising party, but it does not stop there, the ‘masterpiece’ is set to music which I am sure was taken from Pirates of the Caribbean, I’d have preferred something from Hook. I am probably being harsh because they did not use any of the Thundercats which I think is a travesty.
So back to the nostalgia…. Well one thing I would like to say is that Müller did not really play a big role in my childhood, nor that of my friends and therefore the nostalgic theme of the ad seems a little strange. Now if it had of been a Sodastream, my lucky neighbour had one and I was jealous. Wham bars, they were the ultimate in tooth rotting treats, I ate many. Coco-Pops were a staple part of my breakfasts through until uni. A summer walk home was not complete without at least three Mr Freeze ice-pops and every lunchtime at school would be started and usually finished with Space Raider crisps.
The Wünderfull Stuff campaign kicked off with a super expensive ad slot during the X Factor on the weekend and is a part of a cool £30million integrated campaign, they have a Facebook page which has 17,000 likes so far but not too much content, plus billboards in prominent spots as well as slots on major releases in the cinema….maybe there will even be the chance to get some stuffed toys.
London has a transport network of sorts but it is expensive, hot (just ask RiRi) and the intelligent Londoner prefers the cycle option. We have the tube, the big red busses, overground trains, black cabs, the clipper, Boris Bikes (or Barclays) and now we can add cable cars.
Everyone’s favourite buffoon Boris announced a deal with Emirates to sponsor the cable cars that will stretch across the Thames connecting Emirates Royal Docks and Emirates Greenwich Peninsula. I forgot to mention the stations are getting a re-brand too. It will be called The Emirates Air-Line, clever that. The 10 year sponsorship period will cost a cool £36m (total cost of £57m) so this begs the question… Is London for sale?
Football stadiums across the world are branded such as Arsenal’s Emirates and Manchester City’s now being known as The Etihad Stadium. This coupled with numerous music venues such as the O2 Academy chain, the O2 Arena which once was called the Dome many moons ago I believe. Oxford Circus was recently taken over by a wine brand and Ikea have sponsored the very epitome of London, the London tube map back in 2008.
What is next maybe Uncle Big Ben? Or BT Tower Bridge. One thing is for certain working with brands allows London to continue to grow in these more frugal times
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