Merry Fucking Christmas, And Thanks For A Good Year

We are blowing out the candles here at Sell! Towers, and shutting up shop for two weeks over Christmas and New Year (don't try to rob us, we have a two hungry Dobermans prowling the premises). Thanks to everyone who has helped to make 2013 a fun, challenging and rewarding year. And a special thanks to you lovely people who continue to read and comment on the blog, because without you, we would just be crazies barking at the moon. Have lovely Christmases, have fun, rest up, and enjoy. Woof!

Thought For The Day...

Christmas Shit

Many of you cultured souls may already be aware of the Catalan Christmas tradition of the "Caganer" - a squatting, trousers-down defecating figurine that often accompanies the usual suspects beside the crib in a nativity.

Apparently the shitting figurine is a symbol of fertility and good fortune.

As a Christmas tradition it certainly beats leaving out a carrot for a reindeer.

There's a whole, thriving industry devoted to the production of these marvellous objects. And while the most popular example is the Catalan peasant wearing a floppy red cap, shops are packed full with versions of the good and famous all taking a dump.

Some highlights below.

Someone Got Paid to Make This.

please submit any examples of "Someone got paid to make this" work you've seen to : entries@canneslions.com

Do you remember pictures?

Feels like every piece of logo and stationary design these days is made up of sans-serif typefaces,  two initials in a circle and gold foil print finishes.

Have a look at some of these letterheads from yesteryear. How fresh do they look compared to the letter of today. Check more here.

Consumer Engagement Lifecycle

It doesn't look how you expect it to look...

Branding Heroin

An interesting project documenting Heroin Baggies from photographer Graham MacIndoe. In New York between 1975 and 1982 there were over 400 Heroin Brands on the market apparently.

Just Say No

Much gnashing of teeth about the latest company (GSK I believe) to ask agencies for a fee for the pleasure of working on their business.

These kinds of request are clearly absurd, but there is an easy way to stop this from happening.

You don't need trade bodies to step in, or collective agreements, crisis summits, or any of that bollocks.

All you need is for any agency involved to simply take responsibility, grow some balls, and say no.

Clients will quickly rethink when they realise that they can't get anyone of any quality to work on their business.

A brief history of Computer game title design

Computer games have come a long way since pacman.

Website Of The Year, Possibly All Eternity

The best website of this year by far. Possibly in all eternity.

Motherfucking website: find it here.

Going Nuclear In The Sound Booth

This is a brilliant bit from Toast Of London, with Steven Toast (Matt Berry) in the sound booth. You can tell Berry has done loads of voiceover sessions as this is uncannily true to life. "Have fun with it" is such a lame/brilliant bit of absurd direction, I've heard it used in real VO recordings more than once. And I think we've worked with that Clem Fandango chap...

Monkey Hanging Tuesday

After Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we proudly present Monkey Hanging Tuesday.

You may or may not know that, according to legend and folklore, during the Napoleonic wars the good people of Hartlepool put on trial and executed a shipwrecked monkey as they believed it to be a French spy.

In fairness to the townsfolk, the monkey was dressed in full French military uniform so you can see how their suspicions were aroused.

Another theory abounds that they were only able to claim salvage rights if there were no survivors from the shipwreck and they needed to put paid to the monkey so they could fill their boots with the booty.

Either way, this act of simian capital punishment has given Hartlepool unique notoriety and fame. Fans of Hartlepool are affectionately labelled "monkey hangers"and its own mascot is a monkey named, you guessed it, H'Angus.

This ridiculous and bizarre incident has provided a rich source of comedy ever since 1810 as this witty little ditty from Boothby Graffoe demonstrates.

Dave Trott Lecture

Dave Trott breaking it down nice and simple. I think everyone - 'professional' or otherwise - could do with watching this.

National Geographic Found Tumblr

Today, you lucky people, I'm going to share with you one of my very favourite places on the internet. The National Geographic Found Tumblr. If you don't already follow it, you are in for a treat: FOUND is a curated collection of photography from the National Geographic archives. In honor of our 125th anniversary, we are showcasing photographs that reveal cultures and moments of the past. Many of these photos have never been published and are rarely seen by the public. It's updated very regularly, the images are of an unbelievable standard and breadth, and every time I go there, they blow me away. Pure photo-porn. Here are a few examples to whet your appetite...

Westinghouse demonstrates an electric razor using x-ray technology, May 1941.

A man and his dog on the Overhanging Rock in Yosemite National Park, May 1924.

Three adolescent Jewish boys, their heads traditionally covered with skullcaps or top hats, sitting in front of school lockers in Brooklyn, June 1982.

Original William Henry Jackson print held in the collection of the Colorado Historical Society. This is a hand-tinted print.

Botafogo Bay and Rio de Janeiro at night, September 1920

People watching a solar eclipse squint through smoked glass or film on Rebun Island in Japan, March 1949.

Unpredictable

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." 1878 Western Union Memo

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one on particular." - David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920's

"The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad." - Michigan's Savings Bank advising the lawyers of Henry Ford

"The cinema is little more than a fad. It's canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage." - Mr C. Chaplin.

"Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." - Darryl Zanuck

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home" - Ken Olson

Now, what do the above quotations tell us?

On the one hand, you could say that they remind us to ignore the advances of our technology at our peril.

However, on the other hand, I think they more powerfully demonstrate the futility of so-called experts making predictions with about what will or won't happen in the future.

It's something that the advertising business, to its detriment, has become obsessed with in recent years.

Armies of ridiculously named 'futurologists' and 'trend-hunters' telling us that 'everything has changed' and falling over themselves to convince us that there's a pot of gold at the end of some mythical rainbow.

Nest-feathering, militant digital evangelists parroting "TV is dead. TV is dead. TV is dead" without any facts or substance.

Conference upon conference dedicated to new ways of thinking. New ways of doing things. Conjuring up new buzzwords and brainwashing the easily influenced and simple of mind.

It's a sad reality that there are far too many people working in the business today who are more focused on doing something new than doing something good.

If all the energy put into obsessing about the future of marketing was channelled into doing some better work in the here and now, then I'm convinced the overall quality of advertising would improve and standards would rise.

Less talking, more doing.

Because, to misappropriate a famous Keynes quote;

"In the long run we are all dead."

Ad nauseam by Adam Corner

If you do any reading today (I won't be, it's friday for god's sake) read this arrangement of words by Adam Corner on cynicism and anti-consumirism in advertising.

Designers touching their faces

I don't think I'd enjoy the internet as much if it wasn't for silly Tumblrs.

This weeks silly Tumblr is designers touching their faces.

Indoor League

Another blast of nostalgia to brighten up a chilly day. You can keep your Sky Sports Super Sunday nonsense. Televised sports doesn't get any better than Fred Trueman introducing Shove Ha'penny with pipe and pint in hand. You know he's deadly serious when he says it's "the biggest bonanza of sporting skill I've ever clapped eyes on". See for yourself and watch that bonanza of sporting skill right now.

Cache Monet

Click this link for the weirdest website you'll see this fine friday morn.

Guess The Brand

This is funny, I especially like the two ladies at the end trying to guess who the ad is for.