Gin packaging

Webb deVlam has created packaging for gin brand Bombay Sapphire that illuminates when it is picked up. The packaging features an illustration by Yehrin Tong that has been produced in electroluminescent ink. The Global Travel Retail pack, which was developed by Webb deVlam with German packaging manufacturer Karl Knauer, is aimed at the travel and duty-free market.

I think the ideas quite original for this type of product and will be really popular around the festive period. However I don't think the idea will be very cost efficient and necessarily appeal to the duty free target market because if the traveller is flying for example the product could easily be damaged and lose its appeal. Overall I think the design looks great and adds a unique touch to the packaging.

Designer Pudsey 2012

Children in Need has released its Designer Pudsey 2012 collection, which sees imaginative re-workings of Pudsey Bear by fashion houses including Mulberry, Burberry and Alexander McQueen.

I think this is a great way of publicising Pudsey and Children in Need, in general. The idea gets a range of famous figures involved and is extremely creative.
Some examples of the bears:

Tom Ford

Alexander McQueen

Confused.com

Price comparison site Confused.com is launching a TV campaign featuring brand character Cara signing a Christmas spin on the song 'YMCA'.
I think the song choice was very random considering the vast amount of christmas songs they could of chose from, but oddly enough it works due to the lyrics. The animation and style of the advert is easily relatable back to previous confused.com tv ads.

Unicef Print Ad

This is a print advert created for Unicef to raise awareness of hunger problems across the world. It's advertising world food day, which was on the 16th of October 2012. The advert also has the message "Hunger kills 2.5 million children every year. Your donation nourishes: www.unicef.ch”.

I think the imagery of a fork resembling a small hand is very clever and although looks simple it conveys a very powerful message.

Space Jump

Austrian Felix Baumgartner has become the first skydiver to go faster than the speed of sound, reaching a maximum velocity of 833.9mph (1,342km/h).

In jumping out of a balloon 128,100ft (24 miles; 39km) above New Mexico, the 43-year-old also smashed the record for the highest ever freefall.

An amazing historic event that will defiantly raise awareness of RedBull (the sponsor) and also inspire ideas to somehow incorporate this event into an advertising campaign. 

Mercedes

Mercedes have launched the world’s first television advertising campaign in which the plot is
decided on Twitter. The campaign features a series of three ads by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO that promote the car marque's new A-Class to young people.

The ads centre on a musician, played by Kane Robinson, and a professional driver, who are chased by the authorities on their way to a secret gig.At the end of the first two ads, viewers will be asked to choose what the characters should do next. They can vote on Twitter with the hashtag #youdrive. The campaign also features a hidden date, which resembles the date of the gig, by spotting the date you can win vip tickets to this exclusive event. 

I think the campaign in general is a great idea, and a really good way of hitting their target market of young people, via clever use of social media site twitter and showing the ad during the break of popular show 'X Factor'. However I don't think the target market they are trying to appeal to will have the money to spend on this type of car and although the car market is being hit hard finically they should just stick to appealing to their usual market and invest money into that.

Facebook & Chairs

Social networking site Facebook just hit its 1 billionth user and to celebrate launched their first major ad. The Advert was created by Wieden & Kennedy, the Portland, Oregon based ad agency that became famous for making Nike's powerful advertisements. The video advertisement appears on the homepage of the site.

The Ad uses chairs as a symbolic way of connecting people around the world, in the same way that Facebook does. I thought it was a weird, random but interesting concept. Wieden Creative Director Karl Lieberman explains that the company wanted its first advertising message to be humble. "Facebook wanted to speak in a significant, but humble way," Lieberman said. "We thought that starting off with chairs really did that. We don't think about chairs a lot, but you can if you want. You can spend $5 on a chair, or $5,000. They could be incredibly ordinary, or incredibly sophisticated. We thought it was a humble but interesting way for Facebook to start talking about itself."

They ad has already been described as "Facebook's first ad" and "its worst ad," by the technology weblog, Gizmodo. It has also been described as "kind of silly". I agree with the overall reaction and don't think the message is very clear in this advertisement but I also don't think this matters too much as Facebook aren't trying to sell or promote anything, just simply celebrate their success and show users what the company represents and how one site connects the world.

A year..

It's already been a whole year since Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, passed. As an avid Apple fan (currently typing this up on my MacBook Pro) I remember his death coming as quite a shock and it definitely had a huge impact on the design world to lose such a talented and creative mind. Apple honored Steve today with this video on their homepage accompanied by the following message. 

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle." - Steve Jobs