ADAsia

If you have been following this column, this little scribble will come as no surprise. Much as old fogies like me regret the passing of the era of 30-second crafted television commercials and full page ads, with beautiful typography and photography, we in the advertising industry have to accept it…

At one time we had below-the-line agencies, and those of us on the mainstream agencies rather looked down on those poor fellows doing mailing shots while we made glamorous TV commercials or put glossy full-page colour ads in the UK’s Sunday Times Magazine. As the years passed, a tightening in world economies…

I find young people amazingly ignorant. I also find them smarter than I was at 24. They don’t seem to read but, as a group, they are sharper than in my generation. They understand business. I guess we were a bit naïve and idealistic. It is easy…

After writing last week on the lack of digital experts and sitting through 2-days of marketing presentations at the APPIES in Singapore, I got to pondering on the creative work we are producing.

“Where can I find experienced people to head our digital department?” asked the agency head. I was involved in a discussion a few days ago on the shortage of digital experts in the advertising business. It is comparatively easy to find people familiar with computers and able to do…

I have received some sad news. Something bright and beautiful died last week. Or maybe to be more accurate has succumbed to a disease which has killed many in our industry. I am talking about the absorption of BBH into Publicis. While the global giant Publicis had held a large stake, BBH was…

After attending the MMA Forum a short while back, then spending two days at ad:tech and finally listening to reports from CommunicAsia which just ended, I had really had enough of the digital world. I desperately need a holiday…

I spent an interesting and very informative day recently at ‘Asia Shopper Marketing & Insights’ conference. Sadly I could only attend half of this two-day event organised by Pacific Conferences. The speakers were first rate and the presentations were excellent…

Last week I wrote about my attraction to the ads of yesteryear and compared them to current advertising. What struck me walking between the rows and rows of ads pinned up at the AdFest was the number that relied on a visual alone. Copywriting hardly…

This year the recent AdFest in Thailand offered me an unusual experience. Alongside all the current creative work entered for the show we were able to view two reels which showed work of previous decades. The Gunn Report reviews…