A little wander around Columbia Road.

So I had a little wander around Columbia Road, East London, this morning and took a couple of snaps.

Nike: Find Your Greatness.

It's the Olympics, we're all well aware. But for Nike, that's not where all the greatness is this summer.



Nike's 'Olympic' ad, wasn't one of my favourites, but it has really started to grow on me. Although the advert itself doesn't wow you to the extent that other Nike ads have done in the past, it's a really nice sentiment to it and wonderfully written. The entire campaign ties in really nicely with the rest of their activity - for example London underground ads - "Greatness doesn't stand on the right" - especially the jogger ad below. This ad is probably one of the most simple Nike ads I've ever seen, yet it is one of the best written. It is inspiring, it's compelling and like many great Nike ads, it's not about the brand, it's about the person wearing them.

London 2012 Olympics & Paralympic Ads

Incase you hadn't noticed, this summer is all about the London 2012 Olympics. Because of the nature of sport, it has always been a fantastic subject area to advertise around. However that does mean you get almost every brand under the sun trying to be a sports brand.

And as the Olympics are the greatest sporting event in the world every ad under the sun is now an Olympic ad. This has unfortunately led to a lot of dire and dull ads on our TVs, computers and bus stops.

However, as there always is in ad world, a small glimmer of hope. Adidas and Channel 4 have both produced incredible ads for the Olympics and Paralympics, respectively. Both ads capture the what the events are about. They don't sell too hard, they're not cheesey, and although both are very emotional (as is sport) they feel very genuine and relavent to the games.

Adidas - Take The Stage



Channel 4 - Superhumans

Plan B: Ill Manors.

Intelligent. Talents. Influential. Relevant. Driven. Aware. There are few people that manage to have all of these virtues in their weaponary, but one man that really epitomises all of these is Ben Drew, aka Plan B. I've written before about Plan B when he did a TED talk. Yes, a rapper from East London, with a number one album and Ivor Novello awards to boot, doing a TED talk, and a very good one at that. From all of the words I threw up at the beginning, the most important one is relevant. Genuinely relevant to the youth of today, that can't be bought and that can't be under-estimated.



There is a reason to all this Plan-B adoration, he has just made a film to coincide with his latest album, Ill Manors. The rapper has described the film as "the hip-hop musical version of Crash", adding: "But I don't want to call it a musical, because none of the actors start singing or dancing or anything. It's quite serious. It's just part of the films are narrated by music. If you can imagine my first record but with visuals… parts are just like a normal film, others are told by kind of music video storytelling." (NME)



The film like brutal and heavy-going, but you can see that there is a reason behind the violence, sex and drugs. Plan B endeavours to look at the motivations and reasons behing the actions, every action has a reaction. And that was very much the topic of his TED talk, not to condemn the youth for their actions, but to understand what led to them and how we can prevent that. I've got a feeling that this film and album could be a really important for Plan B and British youth culture. It's a protest, it's a experiment, it's a explanation and just as importantly, it looks like it's genuinely good. But most of all, it's relevant.

TED X Observer: Plan B

Now this may not be one of the most slick or smoothest TED talks I've watched, but it is by far one of the most relevant, compelling and important ones I've watched.



Plan B, aka Ben Drew, is a phenomenal talent, I've thought that since his debut album, Who Needs Actions When You've Got Words. That was an album that, like many hip-hop albums, I could not necessarily relate to, but it was one that I could understand and appreciate. The content of his songs, the aggression in his convinction and language he used, although all intelligent and true, was never going to make it mainstream. Plan B knew this. So he made an album that would, in the form of a concept album Strickland Banks. And it did. Not only did it reach number 1, he recieved an Ivor Novello award for it. Plan B's talents lie not only within acting but also movies, directing and acting in Harry Brown and Adulthood, both to much critical and commercial acclaim.


But perhaps the most important thing about Plan B is his need and desire to do something good, to help those that he believes he can. He has used his talent and hardwork to put himself on a platform that enables him to do just this. From this TED talk you really get the impression that, not only does he want to do good, but he understands how to make a difference, perhaps the most important thing. He talks on the power and importance of hip-hop, something I've mentioned before, the need to listen and look after youth, not encourage the press to chastise them and also the importance of hope. He is relevant and intelligent, somethings that most politicians will never be. Kids will listen to him, he is putting his real power to real use. And as he says, it's not just him that is doing it, we all can. Brilliant stuff.

A Sunday In East London.

East London is getting a bad reputation these days, and it's safe to say that shows like the upcoming The Only Way Is Dalson, is going to help. There's no doubt that the Shoreditch/Brick Lane area is full of hipsters and just general try hards, but equally, it is full of art and culture, and that is something that should definitely be embraced rather than shunned.

I've dipped in and out of East London, however last Sunday I had a bit more of an exploration, visiting Spitalfields market, Brick Lane market and the beautiful Columbia Road flower market where everything is 'laavley' or '4 for a fivvar'. As you squeeze and shove between a mixture of locals and tourists you bounce between countless stalls featuring vintage clothing, handmade jewellery, real fur coats, art and food from each corner of the world. You really get the feeling that each time you go there you're going to discover something new, whether it just be a new stall of t-shirts, a new musical talent or a spot of graffiti. Speaking of the latter, you can see below some examples that brightened up the streets, made people stop and stare and whip out their phones (guilty) to take a snap, now how can something that adds so much be deemed illegal?

Just a couple of hours later...

I hope to make my visits a bit more frequent and explorations a bit deeper in the near and distant future.

Pastures New.

It's been a bit longer than a while since I last got a moment to sit down at the my worn out Macbook to write some words and sentences on the humble blog. That is mainly down to the fact that it has been longer than a while since I had a chance to sit down and stop at all. Now I won't sit here and bore you with a minute by minute account of the past four weeks but I will (loosely) entertain you with some of the major plot developments, such as I got a pretty decent set of speakers of £5 from Gumtree. I joke.
Some of you will know fully aware that I have, for the past year and a bit, been one of the statistics concerning the numbers of graduates that don't get employed since finishing university. I did a good course, Advertising and Marketing. I went to a good university, Bournemouth. I got a good grade, 2.1 (just). But for me and thousands others, that really isn't enough, and a lack of working experience doesn't help much either. And that darned economic climate helps no man.

So after the best part of a year of applying for every job, somewhat related to the advertising industry, I finally got something. Well I got more than something, I got an incredible opportunity. I'm currently on the HomeGrown intern scheme at BBH. For those not in the know, BBH is one of the original, great, British advertising agencies, and has gone on to fully stamp that reputation on the rest of the world. To name but a few, their client list features Google, Audi, Lynx, ITV, British Airways. Impressive. Though it's just an internship, I'm looking to grab the opportunity and have already starting working on some cool projects. BBH is a brilliant agency, sure they've got a great show-reel and are headed by the great, Sir John Hegarty, but it is their entrepreneurial and tireless approach that I really love. Working in departments such as Labs and Zag, is really incredible as they look to diversify themselves away from the traditional agency approach. They still have the basics of fantastic creativity holding hands with great consumer insights but apply it to pushing themselves and the industry forward. Really inspiring.

So I know find myself situated in London, from the village to the big city, and I'm glad I'm finally here. Things can begin.


On a side note, I thought I would give you a bit of a heads-up on where I'm hoping the blog is heading. Now that I'm in London, I'm assuming that a plethora of interesting activites will be coming my way to write about. But seriously, I'm looking to accompany the usual updates and posts of music, advertising, film, fashion etc, with my life and the things that I get upto. I hope you look forward to this and come along with me.
Thanks for the support.