Wandering around the entries of print advertising displayed at the AdFest in Thailand (6th-8th March 2014), I was struck by the amount of illustration. For a long time, I feared illustration (within advertising) in Asia would never take off but here it was in full glory. Art directors and designers have been producing delightful and imaginative illustrations alongside digitally enhanced photography to create eye-catching ads. Often the visual was the idea and copy just…
Recently a small creative agency in Singapore vented its frustrations on a Facebook page over a client who recycled a front cover design created by them but used another agency for the second year of the campaign.
I came into the advertising business in the mid-1960s. It was the tail end of the larger-than-life advertising world we see depicted in ‘Mad Men’ TV series. And yes, there was a lot of smoking and drinking. Sadly, I was too junior (too low on the rung) to enjoy the other activities! However, unlike the ‘Mad Men’ on screen…
In the old days when AdAsia was a print magazine, we had a spread in January issue displaying the New Year Resolutions of well-known people in the advertising, marketing and media field. Even then, I found many people had not even thought about this. I am sure with the increasing digital noise and the demands of our hectic industry, many of you have not sat back and pondered this. What are your New Year Resolutions?
Just a few years ago I read a piece in The Economist talking about a new technology called 3D printing. It seemed like something from science fiction. From a drawing or photograph, a printer can actually build up layers of material to create a copy of the original. About 18 months ago, I saw that 3D printing machines could actually be purchased and the price was not astronomical. I became very excited and talked to a friend of mind about…
As I write this, the news that Blackberry is up for sale has been on the television and in the newspapers. This followed the announcement that 40% of the staff were to be cut. Four years ago, Blackberry had 40% of the American smartphone market. It looks as if this Canadian company will follow Palm into obscurity. We are also watching the swift decline…
The above quote is from Subcomandante Marcos, a leader of the revolutionary Zapatista rebel army in Mexico. It could well apply to the changes being experienced in the digital marketing areas and, in particular, in the social media. Marketers and brand curators are having great difficulty in adapting to the new world of knowledgeable buyers…
OK, I am guilty. I have either written or said “it rose to a crescendo” at some time in the past. Thanks to an article in The New York Times and kindly reproduced by Singapore’s The Straits Times, I now know that one cannot rise to a crescendo, the word explains…
The Amazon is a powerful body of water bringing fertility to the plains. The online retailer of the same name has certainly created new markets with its innovative ideas. The founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, has been reported in the past as saying that there was no future for print publishing. Yet he made a decision…
It was revealed last week that the American intelligence services have been spying on people to an unprecedented level. It shook even their allies in Europe when it became clear that it was not just American citizens who were being monitored but the people across the rest of the world too. Edward Snowden, the whistle-blower, now being called a traitor by some while hailed as a hero by others. Despite denials, it is suspected…
