_ _ _

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Poster

Hi
I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.

This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.
Thanks Shan.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
That is shocking news. Luckily I was sitting down when I read your email and not half way up a ladder or tree. How are you holding up? I am surprised you managed to attend work at all what with thinking about Missy out there cold, frightened and alone… possibly lying on the side of the road, her back legs squashed by a vehicle, calling out “Shannon, where are you?”
Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.37am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Poster

yeah ok thanks. I know you dont like cats but I am really worried about mine. I have to leave at 1pm today.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

I never said I don’t like cats. Once, having been invited to a party, I went clothes shopping beforehand and bought a pair of expensive G-Star boots. They were two sizes too small but I wanted them so badly I figured I could just wear them without socks and cut my toenails very short. As the party was only a few blocks from my place, I decided to walk. After the first block, I lost all feeling in my feet. Arriving at the party, I stumbled into a guy named Steven, spilling Malibu & coke onto his white Wham ‘Choose Life’ t-shirt, and he punched me. An hour or so after the incident, Steven sat down in a chair already occupied by a cat. The surprised cat clawed and snarled causing Steven to leap out of the chair, slip on a rug and strike his forehead onto the corner of a speaker; resulting in a two inch open gash. In its shock, the cat also defecated, leaving Steven with a foul stain down the back of his beige cargo pants. I liked that cat.
Attached poster as requested.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.24am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah thats not what I was looking for at all. it looks like a movie and how come the photo of Missy is so small?
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.28am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
It’s a design thing. The cat is lost in the negative space.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.33am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Thats just stupid. Can you do it properly please? I am extremely emotional over this and was up all night in tears. you seem to think it is funny. Can you make the photo bigger please and fix the text and do it in colour please. Thanks.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.46am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
Having worked with designers for a few years now, I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism. I don’t come downstairs and tell you how to send text messages, log onto Facebook and look out of the window. I am willing to overlook this faux pas due to you no doubt being preoccupied with thoughts of Missy attempting to make her way home across busy intersections or being trapped in a drain as it slowly fills with water.. I spent three days down a well once but that was just for fun.
I have amended and attached the poster as per your instructions.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.59am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

This is worse than the other one. can you make it so it shows the whole photo of Missy and delete the stupid text that says missing missy off it? I just want it to say Lost.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.14am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.21am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah can you do the poster or not? I just want a photo and the word lost and the telephone number and when and where she was lost and her name. Not like a movie poster or anything stupid. I have to leave early today. If it was your cat I would help you. Thanks.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.32am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Awww

Dear Shannon,

I don’t have a cat. I once agreed to look after a friend’s cat for a week but after he dropped it off at my apartment and explained the concept of kitty litter, I kept the cat in a closed cardboard box in the shed and forgot about it. If I wanted to feed something and clean faeces, I wouldn’t have put my mother in that home after her stroke. A week later, when my friend came to collect his cat, I pretended that I was not home and mailed the box to him. Apparently I failed to put enough stamps on the package and he had to collect it from the post office and pay eighteen dollars. He still goes on about that sometimes, people need to learn to let go.
I have attached the amended version of your poster as per your detailed instructions.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.47am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Awww

Thats not my cat. where did you get that picture from? That cat is orange. I gave you a photo of my cat.
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.58am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Awww

I know, but that one is cute. As Missy has quite possibly met any one of several violent ends, it is possible you might get a better cat out of this. If anybody calls and says “I haven’t seen your orange cat but I did find a black and white one with its hind legs run over by a car, do you want it?” you can politely decline and save yourself a costly veterinarian bill.
I knew someone who had a basset hound that had its hind legs removed after an accident and it had to walk around with one of those little buggies with wheels. If it had been my dog I would have asked for all its legs to be removed and replaced with wheels and had a remote control installed. I could charge neighbourhood kids for rides and enter it in races. If I did the same with a horse I could drive it to work. I would call it Steven.
Regards, David.

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.07pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Please just use the photo I gave you.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.22pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.34pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

I didnt say there was a reward. I dont have $2000 dollars. What did you even put that there for? Apart from that it is perfect can you please remove the reward bit. Thanks Shan.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Can you just please take the reward bit off altogether? I have to leave in ten minutes and I still have to make photocopies of it.

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 1.03pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Fine. That will have to do.

www.refresheverything.com

Pepsi is giving away over a million dollars in grants to fund great ideas that will move the world forward.

If you have an awesome idea, submit it and get your peeps to vote – you may just see it come to life!

There are all kinds of categories – health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighbourhoods, education – and Pepsi is looking for individuals, businesses, and non-for profit organizations with ideas that will have a positive impact on communities. Check out how it works.

The current funding available is $200,000 and the finalists will be announced September 1, 2010.

Gooooo!

Oh, and if you’re not up for submitting, check out some of the interesting ideas submitted by others and vote on any that you feel passionate about. Let’s help others make a difference.

The real question is, do any of these make you wanna buy the product/service they advertise, or are they just fun to look at?

(Clearly, I’m talking to non-ad folks).

Ad Agency: ALMAPBBDO São Paulo, Brazil | Client: Cafiaspirina Painkiller (Bayer)

Ad Agency: ZAPPING/M&C SAATCHI Madrid, Spain | Client: Western Union

Ad Agency: OGILVY & MATHER Bangkok, Thailand | Client: Sakura Products

I know it will probably never go away, but I just can’t anymore.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve seen it misused, overused and abused. The audacity…

However!

Today, I read something that I think does it for me when it comes to a healthy and happy replacement.

Looky, loooky:

Ideas with a Whole

-  ideas that leave that all important space for the consumer get involved.

Smart, no? I like it a lot. Kudos to Dare of London, England for coining the phrase – consider it stolen.

Have you seen any Ideas with a Whole lately?

In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation…
I could go on to talk about all the negative connotations that gangs carry today, and give you the satisfaction of reading about the expected “reds” and “blues”…

BUT

I’d much rather show you this amaaazing campaign, inspired by “Gangsters from another era”.

It’s for a Brazilian wine e-tailer called Smart Buy Wines and it was launched by an ad agency called Mohallem/Artplan from São Paulo, Brazil.

From the looks of it, Mohallem/Artplan was successful at “gangsterfying” everything – social media (follow a gangster on Twitter for updates on the next sale), the waiters (wearing black 1920s style hats), the packaging (disguising the wine as office supplies and such), and the screensaver (which switched to a clothing store theme for disguise).

I loooove.

Props to Mohallem/Artplan, São Paulo for the results too -  the site had over 10,000 unique visitors and 900 new registered users.

Check out the very cool, prohibition inspired, vid that explains it all.

Have you seen other “gang” inspired advertising that caught your eye? I want to know please. One other that comes to mind is that BBDO talent recruitment ad from Germany. It was wirklich gut, ya?

(wirklich gut = very good)

Now you can’t say I never taught you anything.

I set this up awhile back.

It’s a neat little tool that puts all my social media outlets into one big-happy-family.

LinkedIn, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo, le blog… it’s all there.

Enjoy, and if you set one up, let me know, I’d love to check it out!

For me, it was. For you, whatever, choice is yours.

I loved it for one simple reason:

Alice is me and I am her. End of story.

Oh, right, and Tim Burton, whose mind I’d like to have an affair with.

But seriously, the various characters and their depth, the how-can-this-be-they’re-more-random-than-me randomness, the colourful eyegasms – all of it kept me interested, intrigued and engaged.

How do I measure this metric?

Simple. I review how many times I check my Blackberry.

Nope, not once in this case.

[Obsessed with the Cheshire Cat by the way. My fav character of 'em ALL.]

I was just tweet-versing about how incredible the real life/graphic integration is in this film. It’s what I meant by “eyegasm” above, in case ya didn’t catch me.

Lava Alice in Wonderland is a movie that combines the three things I love most:

• imagination
• risk
• meaning

You should probably check it out if you’re up for two powerful hours of inspiration. Bursts of creativity that make you want to go home and blog and then stay up all night and create stuff.

I’m just saying…

Don’t-get-me-wrong-Avatar-was-great-but-this-is-MY-type-of-ish,

Alice oops! Mrs. Burton mybad! AdGirl

But you know what they say…

So I’m going to bed. I have a BIG day ahead of me tomorrow. <that there is a grin full of teeth

Maybe I’ll tell you about it when it’s over. Maybe I won’t.

Just another AdGirl Nightly.

xo,

Please shake hands with:

and

You may have noticed a subtle mention in a Sounds of Fashion review, AdGirl TV video, or Shannon Boodram interview teaser…

But I digress.

The reason why I felt compelled to highlight them tonight is because of the reactions I saw and whispers I overheard at Sounds of Fashion where they performed last Friday. For a moment, I forgot that not everyone knows and sees what I wish they would. And then I remembered that I have a blog.

Alas, I give you:

1. Wolf J McFarlane’s Official “Grizzly Bears Panda” video

I asked Wolf to give me some background on the vid.

Turns out it was filmed By Creative Tim and directed by Wolf himself. Shot in a home studio on a plain, white background, the intent was to capture Wolf’s different personalities:

• the arrogant Wolf (wearing the scarf and rocking the mohawk)
• the calm, non-chalant Wolf (wearing the cardigan and the tuke)
• and the real, sincere Wolf (wearing the furr hat)

The black and white video stays in theme with his mixtape artwork for continuity purposes.

This makes an AdGirl happy.

Wolf told me he chose to make a video for “Grizzly Panda Bears” versus the other (equally great) songs  from his Upsidedown Day Tapemix based on the generous feedback he received from his fans. “A lot of people told me they related to the song, so I changed my mind about doing a video for New Vogue and did Grizzly Panda Bears instead”. Wolf told me that this decision was challenging because the song was so personal and included real people from his life that really mattered – from deceased family members to girls that broke his heart.

It’s funny how the most personal and honest songs are -rule-of-thumb- always the ones that are most successful.

On to the next…

2. KJ’s Official “Repeat” video

KJ’s story is unique. He never intended to make a video for Repeat (off his album The Headphone). Instead, he was approached by music video director Lavado Stubbs, who expressed interest in the song (and rightfully so).

I got in touch with Lavado, who told me that the inspiration for the video came immediately after hearing Repeat.

“I instantly knew from KJ’s vibe that I wanted to do a video that shows the essence of hip-hop. We got a female model to represent one of the purest elements of hip-hop – the drums. I decided to have her beating a marching drum alongside KJ in a graffiti alley – another element that represents the essence of hip-hop. I wanted the audience to really hear KJ’s great lyrics and did one authentic long take to have KJ directly tell the audience a story (another hip-hop element) and allow them to follow him word for word. I wanted a simple concept that was both effective and creative”.

[If you're from Toronto, you may recognize the Queen and Spadina location. ]

The video has become so popular that it has earned a nomination for an Americafree.tv Music video Award. If you like it, you can still vote.

Note that the wardrobe seen in Repeat is a line called Malyka, owned by Lavado and also represented at Sounds of Fashion. An intriguing brand that represents the uplifting of individuals, creativity and their choice to express themselves as today’s leaders. Check out this promo short, featuring guest appearances from both Wolf and KJ.

Oh, you thought all we had was Drake?

~AdGirl

P.-to-the-S.

If you like the headphone pic at the top, I like you.

Seriously though, I’m so impressed by the Japanese audiowear company Kotori. They allow you to choose from over 100 variations of ear buds or design your own. Talk about wish list – I want ‘em all… [!]