Cabbage

The Perfect Brief

2009-11-15T15:58:00.002Z

ICAD Upstarts - Exhibition Promotion

2009-10-31T00:33:00.015Z

From the 3rd to the 10th of November the ICAD Upstarts Exhibition will take place at Rothco. The best work of the upstarts will be on view here for all to see from 6.30pm on the evening of Nov 3rd and then from 9am to 5pm between Nov 4th and the 10th.

Our final brief as upstarts was to come up with an idea for a viral video to publicise the launch event. I thought it would be funny to show Rothco trying to sabotage the event so that they could prevent all the other agencys coming to the exhibition and that way they get to keep all the talent for themselves. Here's the story board...

ICAD Upstarts - Publicis

2009-10-30T23:01:00.007Z

This week we were in Publicis and the brief was for a TV ad for Cadburys and their sponsorship of the GAA U21 'Heros of the Future'. The ad has to communicate the heritage of both Cadburys and the GAA, be inspirational 'goose-bumps' while also not be seen as Cadburys hi-jacking the GAA for their own benefit...

ICAD Upstarts - McConnells

2009-10-30T22:35:00.012Z

McConnells brief was for Club Orange. The task was to come up with a press ad for Hotpress magazine to encourage people to stock up on club orange in the run up to Christmas. The line 'Some bits are crucial' must be used.

As the ad was for Hotpress and because Club Orange have been pretty daring with their advertising in the past, I felt I should really push it. I didn't want to end up with a typical, lovely Christmas ad. I wanted something edgier.

As Hotpress is about music, I thought a play on the lyrics of Christmas Carols could be interesting. What would happen if one crucial bit of the song was changed?

This is what I came up with.....

ICAD Upstarts - Rothco

2009-09-13T19:17:00.000+01:00

This week Rothco set us a tough advertising brief that deals with a very sensitive issue...crisis pregnancy.

The Client was Positive Options which is part of the CPA (Crisis Pregnancy Agency).

The Brief:

There are a number of counselling agencies operating in Ireland which have a hidden agenda and seek to influence the decision a woman may take when faced with a crisis pregnancy. Many women do not know of their existence and it is often too late when they finally realise the intentions of such an agency.

A high standard of crisis pregnancy counselling is available from state-funded crisis pregnancy counselling services (such as those advertised through the Positive Options campaign), doctors and other reliable services, although many women do not access such services following their negative experiences with disingenuous agencies.

The aim of the campaign is to steer women away from such agencies by increasing awareness of their existence and encouraging them to attend Positive Options endorsed counselling services state-funded by the CPA, and other reputable services.

Format:

Outdoor. 6 Sheets.

Style:

Non-judgemental, trustworthy, confidential, legitimate, above-board, and reliable.

My Response..........

I wanted to create a poster that is attractive to look at, a pattern that tells a story but not in an obvious way, so requires the observer to look closer to figure out what the pattern means. I felt it was very important to highlight the fact that illegitimate agencies exist, without doing this in a shocking or graphic way. I wanted to maintain a non-offensive, non-sensationalist and gentle tone for two reasons:

1) Because this is already a very difficult and upsetting time for the woman, the message must be delivered in a way that is not going to add to her distress.

2) Because the tone of the poster must reflect accurately the tone the woman will experience when dealing with a Positive Options endorsed agency, i.e. gentle, understanding, supportive.

Inspiration.....

2009-08-31T16:26:00.000+01:00

Every now and then I see something that really stands out. Whether it’s a piece of art, advertising, photography, a TV ad, graffiti, viral or just some random thing, it doesn’t matter. So many things over the years have made me stop and take notice….

Just to make note of a few here:

Rosalie Gascoign – New Zealand/Australian Artist & Sculptor

One mans trash is another mans treasure..or womas in this case. Rosalie Gascoign created art from chopped up retro-reflective road signs, faded old Schweppes drink crates and torn up lino among other things. Most of her materials she found while scavenging in the country side around her home in Canberra Australia. Text also features a lot in her work as many of the cut up pieces created abstract grids of letters and word fragments.

Erik Refner – Photographer

Danish Photojournalist Erik Refner works as a contract photographer for the national daily Berlingske Tidende since 2002. He won the World Press Photo of the Year in 2001 for his image of the body of a young Afgahn boy being prepared for burial at Jalozi refugee camp in Pakistan. His photographs are always vey poweful and evoke a strong emotion. The image below was also taken at Jalozi.

Bruce Gilden – Street Photographer

"I'm known for taking pictures very close, and the older I get, the closer I get." Bruce Gilden.

I love Bruces photos because they are so vibrant. His compositions are always really interesting and unexpected. He creates such movement and really captures a moment in time. He makes this look easy but I know this is actually a very difficult thing to achieve.

David La Chapelle – Photographer

His work has been described as surrealist, grotesque, shocking and ironic. Love it or hate it, it works. I love it.

Street Art/Graffiti

Whenever I see really great street art it makes me smile. There is definately not enough of it around Dublin.... For the best street art from all over the world visit www.woostercollective.com

Advertising Print

Playboy - Celebrating 31 years. A bit rude...but very funny.

Advertising Ambient

Very Clever!

Advertising Outdoor

Simple and brilliant. Like all the best advertisments are.

Awareness Campaigns

Advertising TV

Advertising Viral

You've probably seen this one a thousand times...but it is a brilliant viral. 13,820,190 you tube views and counting......

Banner Ad

Knife Crime: It Doesn't Have to Happen on BannerBlog

Random

Art Student Creates an Invisible Car!

University of Central Lancashire art student Sara Watson painted her banged up Skoda Fabia to match the car park outside her art studio...making it disappear! Sara said “I was experimenting with the whole concept of illusion but needed something a bit more physical to make a real impact.”

Air Garden in NYC

New Yorkers suffering from concrete jungleitis will be delighted with TODO Design and DAS Studio who came up with an urban design proposal to take over New York City billboards and greenify them with living air gardens. The idea is to green the gritty urban landscape by seeding gardens on the flip sides of commercial billboards.

What have I got to show for myself....

2009-08-31T15:56:00.000+01:00

Being relatively new to the industry I am working on building up a portfolio of work at the moment. By the time I’m finished the ICAD Upstarts Programme in 6 weeks I will have a lot more to add. So far ‘THE BIG BOOK SHOP’ print campaign I did to get on the programme is a good start.

I love art and drawing, sketching and taking photos. You can see some examples of my work here:

ICAD Upstarts First Meeting.....

2009-08-31T15:15:00.000+01:00

So Monday night was the first ICAD Upstarts meeting and was really great to see all the other upstarts and meet the ICAD gang. This is going to be a very intensive six weeks of hard work by all accounts. So sleeping, eating, socialising and general hanging around are out the window until at least October!

The studios and agencies who are hosting the workshops this year are:

Brand Union
Chemistry
Dcoy
Dynamo
Irish International BBDO
Language
McConnells
Publicis QMP
Red Dog
Rothco
The Hive
Zinc

ICAD Upstarts 2009

2009-08-31T14:20:00.002+01:00

I got on the ICAD Upstarts program ! I’m delighted. For those of you who don’t know ICAD is the Institute of Creative Advertising & Design and fosters, promotes and rewards creative excellence in Irish Advertising & Design. Every year they run the ICAD Upstarts Programme for people starting out in the industry. There are 6 workshops, over 6 weeks, each one in a different agency around Dublin. A new brief is given every week so that by the end each upstart will have a portfolio of work.

To get on the programme I had to answer an advertising brief and hope that my idea (below) was good enough to get through. And it was!! Can’t wait to get started……