http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT16DcHcjRA

Titled Legacy – Now Is Our Time, the ad features a reading of Charles Bukowski’s poem The Laughing Heart, which opens with the lines ‘Your life is your life, don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission, be on the watch, there are ways out, there is a light somewhere.’ The visuals are a mixture of kids having fun (jumping into swimming pools etc) and the more pertinent imagery of protests and riots.

Realising that the timing is off, Levi’s has apparently postponed the ad’s UK release, but has uploaded the spot onto YouTube and similar sharing sites, and it is available to view on the Levi’s Go Forth site, goforth.levi.com, so is easy to find. Plus with the unrest that has occurred elsewhere recently, the ad’s imagery will no doubt feel topical to people all over the world, not just in the UK.

Levi’s is far from the first brand to want to co-opt the romanticism and danger of protest imagery for commercial gain. And looking more deeply into the mission statement that accompanies the ad on the website, Levi’s is clearly trying to instigate positive action with the campaign (in particular support for the charity water.org). But should brands really be dabbling with the language and imagery of political protest to sell products? Especially when the issues behind such action, as has been proven lately, are often far more complex than brands are ultimately comfortable with engaging in?

This post courtesy of Creative Review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvgYAwDORo4

{Please note: this isn’t suitable for under 18′s}

Although there’s a big disclaimer saying it has nothing to do with Wrigley or Skittles themselves, there’s some nice production in it that cost ‘someone’ some cash. Clearly, watching the video it’s obvious why they can’t be seen to have commissioned it themselves.

We love the way big brands are cottoning on to the idea that a low-cost viral can spread like wildfire, if the concept is really and truly rude, shocking or proper funny.

This doesn’t apply to marketing managers that don’t have bottle to be rude (You’d be surprised how reluctant people are to be rude). Someone using your product wearing a funny hat is not going to make a great viral, and we’ve all seen enough cute cat/baby videos.

If you would like to investigate promoting your brand or product through viral advertising, we can come up with an idea, shoot and distribute it for you. The question is, do you have the bottle?

Give us a call

As it’s on our doorstep, Clare and I decided to watch a production of ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ at Packwood House, one of Warwickshire’s most popular National Trust venues.

Whilst some of the audience came armed with deluxe picnic hampers complete with table and candelabra, we were more low-key – taking camping chairs and wine, and a few nibbles from Marks & Spencer – happy to enjoy a bit of alfresco theatre in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside.

We’re not big on the works of Mr Shakespeare, and did wonder if it would be a little too high brow for us. We needn’t have worried.

The actors from The Lord Chamberlains Men Theatre Company, had the whole audience in stitches as the all-male cast played both the male and female characters , and I would imagine anyone would find it an entertaining evening.

We have no strong political views one way or the other here at Cloud 9, however it does seem the Lib Dems are trying to win our votes in getting down with the kids in launching their own Manifesto iPhone app

Could a queue of Lib Dem MPs be ordering their Apple iPads on their expenses right now?

WRONG!

Google is now combining the maximum price you’re prepared to pay per click with the quality of your website in order to determine how high up the sponsored links you appear – so if you’re prepared to pay £2 per click and your competitor is prepared to pay £1 per click but has a better website – they could appear above you in Google sponsored links.

Want to know more? – check out this nice, nerdy old dude from Google who explains it better.

It seems the more you invest in your website, the less you pay in Adwords (and of course the better it performs in regular search engine optimisation too)!
Isn’t it about time you gave us a buzz and got your site performing better for you?

I was delighted this week to be invited to judge a creative writing contest at Oakfield Primary School in Rugby.

Mrs Walsh’s class of 9 year olds had to design a poster advertising fictitious chocolate – ‘Cocoas’.

Not only had everyone created great looking posters, I was amazed to discover that even at this early age, kids already had a good grasp of some of the techniques that people like us use to help sell product.

The Contest

Although it was tough judging, the 3 best were :

1st Place – Emily

Cocoas - 1st Place

We chose this as the overall winner because we felt is had a good headline, a good promotional offer and a great description of the actual bar itself.

2nd Place – Brandon & Adam

Cocoas - 2nd Place

This entry came 2nd because we liked the idea of ‘cheeky little cocoas in their beds’ – it was fun and conjured up a great image of the product.

3rd Place – Brandon

Cocoas - 3rd Place

We liked this one because of the strapline – “The cream of your dreamzzzz’

Well done to you all!

What’s it like working in advertising?

In addition to judging the contest, I gave a brief insight into what working in an advertising agency was like.

Eager to know what happens at Cloud 9, Questions included:

• Do you do all the adverts on the TV?
• Did I have to go to university to work in advertising?
• If you make posters, do you have to put them all up?
• What is the best advert we’ve ever created?
• How much do you get paid?

All the kids seemed really interested – who knows? maybe the next Ogilvy or Saatchi will come from Rugby!

Well here it is – Christmas day 2009!

At first glance it looks as though Mike has nothing better to do on Christmas day than blog , but I’m cheating (actually like most people on Christmas day, I’m probably well oiled and feeling stuffed from eating too much).
For the geeks amongst you, I setup our CMS to publish an entry automatically at a pre-determined time and date.

It’s been a tough year all round but there appears to be a good vibe about business picking up next year. Although I’m sure we’re not out of the woods just yet, those customers who have continued to push on with their marketing efforts throughout 2009 appear to have seen a real benefit. With their brands now at the fore, I’m sure this will really slingshot them when the market picks up again.

Anyway – back to the frivolities. On behalf of us all at Cloud 9, I would like to thank all our great customers, suppliers and friends for making 2009 such a success – we look forward to working with you all again in 2010!

We’re back in on 4th January.

Regards

Mike

Watch the video below to find out more

Sometimes it hits me hard; how unfortunate I really am being a Mac user living in the UK…

Thanks to the guys at Creative Review for this one.