Jersey, gorillas and cupcakes

This fun ad for Jersey Tourism France  combines video with animation in a real feel good format. A bit surreal at times but that adds to the charm.

It starts with a bored businessman being pulled into a colourful poster at a bus stop and then takes you on a tour around Jersey.

From gorillas to the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland this certainly challenges the standard holiday ad treatment of beaches and sunshine - although the gorilla is seen heading off into the sunset on a golden beach with a surfer girl.

Definitely adds colour to your day - great work. See below or click this link.

Ready to make a monster?

If you're looking for something to keep yourself (or the children) occupied this Easter then download these great model monsters.

They are a promotional tool for a new film called Waste, that I am afraid we know nothing about. But on their website you can download a monster kit and see a demonstration video of how to make it.

There are three to make and we have added the video for one of them below.

Download them all from the Waste website here.

Hole to another universe

These wall stickers are great fun for any home - you could even buy them for the kids!

They are designed by Dan Golden Studio and available from Blik.

Mini Lego posters pop up around London

Keeping the lego theme going their new UK advertising for Legoland Windsor has featured mini Lego poster sites across London. The signs are 12-inches high and were placed around London and highlighted by Google Maps with those that found them being encouraged to share their photos on Twitter using a special hashtag.

The ads were created by DLKW Lowe - nice work but we did feature something similar for Channel 4's Seven Dwarves last year.

Google's right in front of your eyes

Take a look at the future with Google - a vision of your life in augmented reality with AR glasses that will allow you to interact with your world just like a phone; but these sit on your nose.

You certainly won't be able to ignore the small icons popping up in front of your eyes as you look at the sky, the tube or at your breakfast.

Google has already started testing the glasses and has created the video below to start a conversation around their potential uses and improvements.

They want your feedback so watch the video and then click here to make your suggestions.

Nike ad is a running romantic comedy

Fancy a bit of running romantic comedy - well this Nike ad will be a treat.

Featuring a couple living on opposite coasts in the US, it starts off quite cheesy but soon brings on the humour.

It is quite similar in style though to the Match.com ads running in the UK.

Directed by Rattling Stick's Ringan Ledwidge, the film promotes the Nike Free Run+ 3.

Skype challenges impersonal social media in new ad campaign

Skype has launched a new ad campaign challenging the lack of humanity in social media and focussing on the theory that technology makes communication more efficient, but less personal.  

In a $12 million campaign Skype looks to leverage consumer anxiety about alienation promoting that it is better to talk face to face than via text or Twitter. The campaign launched last week in transport hubs, like Heathrow Airport, with a series of ads by Pereira & O'Dell which challenge the superficiality of text-based technology like Facebook, Twitter and SMS.  

These are quite challenging and make you think about how social channels are changing our lives, similar to the impact that email had a few years back. We often talk in the office about how email has killed the art of conversation. How will social channles eventually change the way we communicate?

What do you think?

Scottish Minister for Energy opens FoundOcean’s Livingston facility

The Think Tank headed to Livingston, Scotland last week to help with the official opening ceremony of FoundOcean’s newly expanded Offshore Service Base. The event was held to celebrate FoundOcean’s achievements and the Scottish Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, Fergus Ewing, was guest of honour. He gave a passionate and humorous speech to the delight of the guests – in spite of an influx of overhead aircraft seemingly trying to drown out his voice! 



While stressing the need for businesses like FoundOcean to be able to transfer their technologies, services and products between industry sectors, Fergus also remarked that he had come a long way since the first opening ceremony where he was guest of honour, at a sewage works 12 years ago!  



The event also included guided tours around the facilities with FoundOcean’s offshore personnel explaining the function of equipment to the guests – representatives of offshore oil and gas, and renewables companies, industry bodies, media and even the RNLI. 



FoundOcean is the global leader in subsea and offshore grouting, which to translate into layman’s terms means fixing offshore structures like oil and gas platforms and wind farms to the sea bed. 



The opening ceremony was a huge success and with more offshore projects in the pipeline than ever before the future looks bright for FoundOcean. The company is celebrating doubling its revenue and personnel since 2009.



Find out more about Found Ocean here.