Mandylives!com

Levi’s has long been a staunch supporter of local culture, particularly South African music as is seen with the brand’s sustained sponsorship of the Oppikoppi and Rocking the Daisies music festivals. Good to see then that Levi’s is taking this love of local culture one step further through its Facebook fan page that showcases cool South African artists, photographers and other cultural agents.

Advertising Agency: Rafineri, Istanbul, Turkey
Client: Binboa Vodka
Creative Directors: Ayse Bali, Murat Cetinturk
Art Director: Ozer Yalcinkaya
Copywriter: Gorkem Yegin
Illustrator: Pelin Kirca
Published: March 2010

Via: Ads of the World

What MandyLives!com is reading right now about how Wikileaks is changing journalism. It’s all about rethinking thinking and developing new mindsets:

From Nieman Journalism Lab: Data, diffusion, impact: Five big questions the Wikileaks story raises about the future of journalism.

From Publish2: Why Computational Thinking Should be the Core of the New Journalism Mindset.

From The Linchpen: Rethinking our Thinking.

From STDOut: Information architecture for news websites.

From Kim Pearson: A foundational concept for the new news economy.

Oliver Hambsch is the design genius behind the cover of the latest issue of CHEW Magazine which focuses on Africa.

Who loves you Daddy?

Amy Allais of Ola! Films has created a winner for Vodacom in an advert that’s part “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and some “Little Miss Sunshine” with a whole lot of “Undercover Brother”.  Pimped by a retro Boney M beat, this ad is a cultural fusion of a kiff commercial that’s sure to remind South Africans about everything that’s cool about being South African. (Via 10 before 5 where you find most of the cool stuff first.)

TechCrunch reports that just over a week ago France launched a multilingual tourism site to sell the nation’s brand to the world.  One small problem though, tourists visiting the site were greeted with this for much of the past seven days:

That’s what MandyLives!com would call a #nationbrandfail.

Sport24 reports that the Cape Town Stadium has unveiled its new logo:

Morne du Plessis of SAIL STADEFRANCE which manages the stadium was quoted as saying: “The logo had to be one that didn’t suggest the venue is merely a stadium for sporting events but also one that caters for all kinds of gatherings, including music concerts and gospel shows. Its design had to be modern yet timeless so that it would not date. To achieve this, the logo had to be a strong symbol – instantly synonymous with the stadium and a reflection of Cape Town.”

The logo is marginally reminiscent of the Datatec brand image, but it’s a stretch of the imagination as to how the logo would be a symbol of Cape Town or in any way likened to the Cape Town Stadium:

Photo: Rodger Bosch, MediaClubSouthAfrica.com

If the design brief was modern, timeless, universal, symbolic of Cape Town and Cape Town stadium distinctive, I’d say the agency that handled the brief failed big time or was very badly managed. In short the new logo is a pedestrian, sub-standard attempt at a brand device meant to sell a world class facility for one of the finest cities on the globe. With the abundance of creative talent that’s bursting at the city’s seams its inconceivable how SAIL STADEFRANCE managed to get things quite that wrong.

Perhaps those responsible should be reminded of what a world class logo looks like. Below the 2010 winners from the Mediabistro Logo Awards:

By Al McKay of Yellowwood Future Architects

The world is looking for a complexity antidote, to return to what is familiar and comforting. What industries can we expect to see flourishing?

AlMackay - Yellowwood Future Architects

Complexity is the plague of the modern world. We have access to so much information that we desperately turn to content aggregators to distil it for us, and even then we seldom have the time to read our favourite columns, sites and feeds.

We are stressed out and anxious about the complex wicked problems in the world. We are confronted with too many stories, too much information, on too many platforms in too many mediums. And until the Darwinian fires of the recession began to spread, we were confronted with too many undifferentiated products and too many choices for things we didn’t even know we should be thinking about or trying.

And the kickback is strong. It made economic sense, during the recession, for consumers to focus their thinking on what they actually valued, and pay only for that. Excessive packaging, or silly marketing gimmicks, started to fall from grace. Consumers demanded brands find their true essence and offer only that.

There is a cost-saving implication to this simplification, but the benefits are so much more. Consumers got hooked on filtering out the fluff from what they want, and are actually willing to pay more for products that do so. They have realised not only that they can make do with less, but that life simplification and cutting back on clutter freed up more time to focus on what is important, and reduced their stress levels.

What people look for in products and brands is undergoing a recalibration. There is demand for a complexity antidote that is having various manifestations from the literal (simplified design) to the esoteric (traditional values and nostalgia for simpler times).

So what industries can we expect to see flourishing in the next few years?

Unsurprisingly, technology brands that help us to unclutter our lives by converging multiple activities into one easy action will continue to be successful. Part of Google’s incredible success is its ability to simplify our lives, eliminating the need for maps or books. It provides access to any answer you need, in a clean, crisp, uncluttered and easy-to-use white interface. The iPhone similarly packages almost any activity into effortless apps.

As already mentioned, content aggregators will become increasingly necessary as it becomes impossible to source and read everything that interests us for ourselves. Media platforms that distill the torrents of information into reliably relevant content to their audiences will thrive, and the pressure to build their brands around this will increase. Expect better utilisation of user feedback, tailored or customisable offerings and a higher premium on analysis and expert opinion.

Companies that simplify their complex industries will win with consumers. Consider Capitec’s meteoric rise as a bank that prides itself on cutting anything unnecessary, or the growth of user-friendly, direct and tailored insurance.

And there will also be increasingly nostalgic industries beginning to flourish. Think of returning to good old home-cooked meals (enter  bread making kits, finish-at-home packs and local home industries) or classic designs. For example, The Body Shop recently responded to customer requests for their discontinued classics by relaunching a number of their original products under the “Anita’s Favourites” range. Our aesthetics and tastes are even being affected by the desire for more stable, simpler, traditional times. Fashion is awash with references to the 50s and 60s (in eye wear, hair styling, clothing), as is pop culture (such as the Mad Men series), and our cities are littered with diners and gourmet burger joints.

People are searching for meaning and reassurance in what is familiar. Expect to see the idea of “coming home” do well, from estate agents selling the ‘neighbourhood you grew up in’ to the return of community organisations and, despite the predictions of so many, the growing popularity of spiritualism and religion. Because finding balance and equanimity in these complex and stressful times is so difficult and so valued, religion and spirituality will continue to be big business. This is evident in the might of American and African mega-churches, the gloriously integrative adoption of traditional African spirituality by both black and white South Africans and the more subtle array of manifestations such as Oprah’s Angel Network or Virgin Active yoga classes.

And so the recession is not solely responsible for the pressure on brands to focus and cut the chaff. In our massively complex, overwhelming and overly informed world, people are looking to recalibrate to a new baseline; one that is as much to do with values as it is to do with value. Trust is in scarce supply, and consumers are therefore looking to return to simpler times. Those industries that offer familiarity, nostalgia and meaning will do well. And in the coming years, the value of simplifying your services or your product cannot be overstated. Help provide your consumers with a complexity antidote, and they will reward you with their gratitude and their loyalty. They are values from a simpler time, after all.

MandyLives!com celebrates Nelson Mandela’s birthday this weekend with an image of him used in an advertising campaign that helped turn Apple’s fortunes around in the late nineties. The television advert featured the world’s leading mavericks and had copy rumoured to have been written by Steve Jobs. True or not, the words are a fitting tribute to Madiba:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

After a breathtaking run in what has been called the smartest social media campaigns of its kind, the Old Spice guy has hung up his soap on a rope. In one of the cleverest digital commercial plugs MandyLives!com has seen in forever, Procter & Gamble and ad agency Wieden + Kennedy cast one ridiculously handsome man in a series (pretty darn close on 200 actually) of Youtube commercials that were camp, hilarious and a whole lot of fun. Sexy Spice featured on the Old Spice Facebook page where interested fans could chat to him, and a Twitter account where he got flirty with Alyssa Milano who claimed to have a crush on him.

What was remarkable about the campaign is that it had such a brilliant understanding of social media. Old Spice Guy eventually started making responses for people who responded to him on Twitter and Facebook. The result was a social media conversation that caused a viral sensation (and a publicity fiesta for Old Spice) which now sadly has ended.

Eish! Talk about a campaign looking for trouble. Brandchannel reports that Vaseline recently launched a Facebook page that offers an avatar that people can adjust to make themselves look whiter to promote the brand’s male skin-care whitening product in India. Spin from Omnicom – the ‘brains’ behind the campaign – declared the social media app a major hit. “We started campaign advertising (for the application) from the second week of June and the response has been pretty phenomenal,” said Pankaj Parihar for the global agency.

Iconoclastic magazine Jezebel has lashed out at the ad saying:  “Vaseline has developed a skin lightening app for Facebook, so users can make their profile pics look whiter. Because why rely on an advertiser’s unrealistic and racist image of beauty when you can create your own?”

The application has caused a najor backlash from bloggers and global media outside of India -  hardly the ‘pretty phenomenal’ response Vaseline (which is owned by Unilver) was hoping for.

Apple’s brand hasn’t been doing well of late and the iPhone 4 antennae debacle has been particularly bruising for the brand. The smart phone was rejected consumer watch groups and the media have made a meal of the story. Now comes news that Steve Jobs apparently knew of the problem before the iPhone was dispatched to the public. Apple has called for a media conference, haven’t stated what’s on the agenda but there’s no prizes for guessing it will all be about the troubled iPhone 4.  Analysts say the phone won’t be recalled but that other forms of consumer compensation will be offered as a piecemeal.

In the meantime satirists are having a field day (Via Mac Anamourlis):

By Velma Botha, head of brand strategy and research company OIL, Cape Town.

WINNERS:

Fans supporting Bafana Bafana as they played against Equatorial Guinea at the SuperSport Stadium Atteridgeville Pretoria. Photo courtesy Chris Kirchhoff, MediaClubSouthAfrica.com

The ultimate winner was Brand SA. We undoubtedly played a stormer to host the most successful World Cup ever against the odds. Even though we were a little slow off the mark, we did it and now we are even going to keep that flag flying for another 30 days. We pulled the proverbial two fingers at the nay-sayers and even got uncle Sepp to give us a nine out of ten! In the words of Boris Johnson  “South Africa feels a deep sense of pride that they have taken on something difficult and done it well”.

Next on the list is a brand that does not allow it self to be ignored or banned – the cacophonous vuvuzela.! Even though some tried to blend it, more than a million people downloaded the iphone vuvuzela app. Love it or hate it, the vuvuzela was not going to not going to be drowned out by anyone.

Even though Bafana Bafana made our hearts stop and they did not make it through to the second round, they managed to move from the fringe to the mainstream. In many ways Bafana has always been the poor cousin to the Springboks & Proteas, this World Cup has changed that. South Africans have got behind the national team & the game in a way that surprised even us. People who had never sat though a whole game in their lives have become fanatical & followed the beautiful game with a fervor that would likely startle even the most hardcore Brazilian fans. Invitus is a fake, this is the true South African victory.

The unofficial sponsors understood that it is not just about making a noise, but having an idea, being relevant and engaging.  Even though they bet on the wrong players, Nike did it with “Write the Future”. Puma loved football, wrote in the sky and did some amazing displays outside the stadium. Nando’s and Woolies got in on the action quick with a raft of witty tactical communication. And who will ever forget the leggy blondes dressed in orange from Bavaria that got the whole world talking?

Coca Cola understood that the way to create a lasting impression was to create music so compelling that it would become the  unofficial soundtrack “ooh ooh ooh oh oh, ooh ooh ooh oh oh …now wave your flag, when I get older…”

We can’t take anything away from the guys at MTN for Ayoba. Not only does every visitor to the country know what Ayoba means, the Ayoba-man even made it onto the field in the closing ceremony.

The last winner has to be the mollusk that is now a brand, Paul the Octopus, who was really the only one in the World Cup able to “write the future”.

LOSERS:
The list of official sponsors that thought noise equaled cut-through and were consequently upstaged are numerous: Addidas paled in comparison to Nike & Puma. Where was McDonalds on the fan walk? We saw Telkom before the World Cup, but where were they during the it? As for Budweiser – where they even here beyond the stadiums? FNB missed the opportunity to grab our hearts and minds.

As for poor Zakumi, he was totally upstaged by the vuvuzela as the world cup mascot.

Lastly the marketing disaster of the world cup should probably go to King Shaka airport in Durban for the semi-final. Their best effort at compensation for missing a once in a lifetime game was R400. OUCH!

With news BP is going to be investigated for allegedly negotiating the release of the Lockerbie bomber in an oil-for-terrorist deal it seems as if BP’s reputation couldn’t possibly get worse.

Guardian reports that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton  pledged to consider Congressional demands for an investigation into BP after she received information that the beleaguered energy company “lobbied the British government for the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to help it clinch lucrative drilling contracts off the coast of Libya.”

Meanwhile BP has struggled to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BBC reports that the company is currently running a ‘crucial pressure tests’ which could provide clues on how to stem stem the flow of oil permanently.

What won’t be stemmed is the flow of outrage at the BP brand which has handled the oil spill crisis so badly. After causing one of the biggest man made natural disasters in history, BP’s response has been dishonest, cavalier and distant.

This has driven an outrage online which is best expressed through the BP Logo Design competition run by LogoMyWay: (Thanks to Roy Johnson for the heads up on this.)

For one of the most intelligent book design places online mossy on over to Faceout Books – which is a great place to explore and learn if you’re a designer or interested in book design.

“This is not a blog to rip apart what we dislike—everyone has a different aesthetic. This is a blog about the challenges and outcomes of a project. We are here to teach and be taught by one another.”

Piracy

Author: Adrian Johns
Designer: Isaac Tobin
Art Director: Jill Shimabukuro
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Genre: General trade/historians/academics
Typefaces: Garamond Premiere Pro (with a modified loop on the P) and Hoefler Text