Peter Kenny
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here’s one i prepared earlier…
I have a friend called Sprinkles who is fond of saying that success happens when opportunity meets preparation. And the truth of that was shown again this morning. Was pleased to find that one of my essays had been taken by a very small literary magazine. They wrote to me saying that they needed something…
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and another thing…
Dealing with clients is often tricky. A savvy switched on client can makes working an absolute pleasure. This inspired AdVerbitims site shows the other side of the coin, however, with an insight into what makes creatives want to plunge their heads into food blenders. These kind of conversations happen so frequently that they just become…
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labelling and illustration
In advertising, one of the ways to spot an absolute beginner is that they produce concepts that label things. To reduce this to basics: imagine a picture of a sports shoe, with the line This is a great sports shoe. This leaves no room for the imagination to flex – that’s because the lines are…
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A good night’s sleep
Those people who think that people who work in agencies would rebrand their own grandmothers, with a view to marketing do have a point. But the surprising fact is that many people who I’ve worked with have strongly held ethical principles. And there are certain sorts of writing that can give you a moral sheen…
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post-rationalisation is for the birds
Sometimes, as a creative, you get a good concept, and you have to retro-fit it to the brief. This is usually referred to as post-rationalisation, and is generally considered A Bad Thing, or at least not ideal. It shouldn’t be. Sometimes you come up with a gut solution, and only gradually work out how it…
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meet the new bacterium, same as the old bacterium
Just watched a TV ad for the Activa New You Plan. In it minor Brit celeb Nell McAndrew endorses Activa every day to “improve slower digestive transit”. She does so wearing garish green, and opens up a garish green fridge, where she pulls out a container of Activa next to a tray of gleaming green…
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the year is done
… And however you choose to spend this season, may it be wonderful for you. All that’s left now, is to wish you a happy and prosperous new year. Until next year… Cheers!
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timeless
This quote from Paul Celan, possibly the greatest European poet of the 20th century, made me think about the difference between art and advertising. Celan said: For a poem is not timeless. Certainly it lays claim to infinity, it seeks to reach through time [durch sie hindurch] through it not above and beyond it. For…
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stand back – there’s still a pulse!
Day three of working on an immense website to do with cholesterol. I have spent a huge amount of time this year getting my head together with designers to create animations, writing scripts for possible video content with an interactive film maker, driving with strategists the overall messaging, not to mention planning the structure of…
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oink!
Note to self: not everyone thinks marketing is big and clever. “Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.” George Orwell
Peter Kenny: a writer's notebook 