McDonald's // the power of insights and storytelling.

Insight-driven advertising is in my opinion the strongest form that we possess. We can draw on large insights or we can draw on small insights, those specific to a certain type of person, or those that are universal. Whatever the insight, if you can really understand it and communicate it in a way that resonates with your audience, you're in with a winner.

Insight-driven advertising builds brand equity, encourages loyalty and consumer dialogue. It helps make people like you, which hopefully in turn encourages people to buy you. Of course this is no guarantee, however when we sort advertisements into their various baskets (direct response, emotive and insight-driven, interactive) I think insight-driven is my favourite.

This McDonald's ad does just that for me, a beautiful story with honesty at its heart.

The beauty of animation // Carlos Lascano.

Imaginatively capturing work I'd love to share with you.

I recently came across the work of Carlos Lascano, an Argentine writer and director, best-known for his work in animation and illustration. His work is beautiful and covers some advertising projects, but also most-impressive are his short story animations.

The clip below was created to advertise Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the Euro Cup 2012. A breakdown of the illustration and animation process is also included on Carlos' website and provides a great insight into the precision and creativity required for this work.

There are also a number of elegant and inspiring short stories Carlos has created, which can be viewed on his website here. My favourite teaser clip 'A Shadow of Blue' is featured below. The full clip is currently taking part in various Festivals and will likely win Carlos more storytelling, creative and animation excellence Awards.

It is also worthwhile to read the full inspiring story behind this short clip, which can be found here.

Just gorgeous, I love it.

Messing with a fairytale. Brilliant.

Although I don't necessarily think this idea is genius, there's something about the current The Guardian 'Three Little Pigs' ad that makes me smile.

Causing us to re-think a classic fairytale, we are challenged to consider a different series of events, one that sees the three little pigs as the villains and the 'big bad' wolf himself as the victim.

Framed within a 2012 context full of iPads, YouTube, online video streaming and debt issues, this fairytale is projected into a contemporary context, where everyone is an author and digital and social media are king.

A lesson in storytelling as well, the positioning of the audience and the art of editing, crafting and production. A bit of an insight into the news media as well I feel.

'The whole picture.' is the end line that closes out the ad, a debatable point of view one might argue as the news has always been known to be less than the whole picture, but rather an edited grab of the events. 

And so the debate around the portrayal of news media continues. An interesting piece of work and one which I have enjoyed viewing all the same.

  
Creative Agency:

Welcome. This is my Wonderland.

"As the warm fur of the rug tickles my cheek, I feel the comfort of the burning log fire against my back. I inhale deep into my stomach and feel my body fill up with this warm memory."

I love the story-telling nature of some of the ads being produced. Such an internal and external exploration can be triggered from storytelling in the most subtle of ways; the ability to transport and transform what we know into a new destination.

A delicate art I believe. Ultimately we want to associate the brand with a bigger idea, cause or movement to build a brand awareness, an identity. If association is lost for the sake of storytelling or the connection is not strong, we are no longer selling the brand effectively. The very basis of the industry.

I may be a romantic, but I prefer to work with the attitude that brands can act as a positive catalyst for change; to have a positive value in society. With the tech- and media-savvy audiences of today, we need to go further, to encourage interaction and to be experiential; to add real value to the consumer.

Ultimately, audiences will decide whether a brand is of value and is relevant to their lives. Knowing your audience means you can decide where you need to be and when, what messages will resonate with your audience and become something more than just another advertisement.