Buttered-cat paradox comes to the screens in Brazil

If you haven't heard of the buttered-cat paradox then this ad by Ogilvy & Mather Brazil will make it all very clear.

Combine the law or physics that cats always land on their feet and buttered toast always lands on the buttered side down and you get a limitless source of electricity. The world's energy resource problem is solved.

Not one for cat lovers I'm afraid.

Facebook highlights factors that increase ad performance

In an attempt to boost its ad revenue and improve the quality of advertising, Facebook's measurement team is making public its research on the types of ads that work best on its platform.  

After talking with marketers, Facebook identified six elements of ad creative that impaceted upon recall and purchase consideration including two visual elements of focal point and noticeability and four that looked at messaging and a range of things, from whether it's easy to see the brand to whether the ad is succinct and to the point.  

They then asked 109 marketers to rate around 400 ads on each of the six elements. All were from the Facebook premium-engagement format, which appear on the right column of a Facebook page and is restricted by image size and copy length.   All of the ads chosen were brand or product ads rather than direct response.  

The results for recall highlighted three factors that were particularly important: Images needed to have an obvious focal point, the brand had to be clear and the ad needed to fit with the brand's personality.   

Not rocket science but at least an indicator of best practice winning out.  

Failing focal-points were fairly common, due to the lack of space for images, however this was increased by brands which opted for small product images on cluttered backgrounds. This got in the way of consumers recalling brands - therefore simplicity is best.  

The ads should also be clear about the brand they're promoting, which may sound obvious but many brands were obscured in the ads or missing associated brand colours.  

When looking at purchase consideration the main aspect was whether the ad rewarded the viewer. Very important in encouraging interaction.  

"Ads that were rewarding tended to be pretty clear -- there wasn't an overload of information," said Mr. Bruich, who conducted the study with measurement researcher Adrienne Polich. "But [the] rewarding ads also seemed to connect. The information seemed meaningful."  

The importance of offering a reward was the single-biggest creative predictor of an ad's success, which apparently surprised the Facebook team.  

The full study will be presented in the US next month however those that believe that bright colours or crazy fonts would create noticeability will be sorely disappointed as the survey found that this was not predictive of either recall or purchase consideration.  

So it's goodbye to psychedelic Facebook ads and hello to minimalism.

Saatchi & Saatchi revamps Thailand office

Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in Thailand engaged Supermachine Studio to revamp their offices and have come up with a very creative space.

The brief was to enhance the social atmosphere within the space and encourage staff’s creativity and imagination. Everyday objects have been used throughout and the office has been separated into two zones: the creative zone and the managing zone.

Arch Daily reviews the space and says, 'The creative zone was designed to be open and bright where people can communicate broadly, share ideas and get inspired together as it was important for them to work as a family. On the other side, the managing zone has a darker tone atmosphere yet with colorful decorations in order to show that they too need excitement at work. In between, their lies a playful trophy wall and a bicycle wall for passer-by and facility zone with pink colored walls to create liveliness for the lifeless programs.'

Great fun and very inspiring - see more on Arch Daily.

Photographs © Wison Tungthunya

Shock advertising for journalistic freedom

This hard hitting press campaign for the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression highlights the plight of correspondents working overseas and the risks they take to bring us the real news.

They were created by agency Juniper Park in Toronto, Canada

Live commercial in New York gets right up your nose

To prove just how good their air freshners are, Febreze held a live commercial in New York city, inviting blindfolded New Yorkers to guess where they were.

The venue was an old sea container that originally held fish - but not what the audience thought.

See how it went below:

Portraits of a conceptual artist

We don't know a great deal about this self taught photographer and conceptual artist David Talley, who is based in Los Angeles, California. however we thought that they were worth a mention.


He is currently pursuing a BA in Photography at the University of La Verne and you can see more of his work here.

'Visions of Earth' through the photographer's lens

This year's "Visions of Earth" photo series, by National Geographic, has been launched showing some of the best our planet has to offer in terms of visual beauty, both natural and man-made.


Beautiful images that make you think.


Can you guess what this image shows?

See more here.

Photographs by Joel Sartore, Nacie Battaglia and Alvaro Sanches-Montanes

Georgian service stations a real eye opener

When Georgia built a new road connecting the Republic of Azerbaijan with the Republic of Turkey they commissioned architects J.Mayer H to design a series of 20 rest stops (or service stations).


The result was were these stunning structures that are located on selected scenic viewpoints along the route. They serve as activators for their area and neighbouring cities, including not only a gas stations and supermarket, but also a farmers market and a cultural space for local arts and crafts.


See  more on Contemporist here.

A rainbow of colour appears over Omaha

Michael Jones McKean’s “The Rainbow” Art Project creates rainbows over The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in downtown Omaha.

In clear weather the rainbow will appear twice a day, for 20 minutes, and are created using sunlight, renewable energy and 100% captured rainwater.

The project was a decade in the making and represents a collaboration between irrigation and rainwater harvesting experts, Lindsay Corporation, structural and mechanical engineers, atmospheric scientists, Bemis Center and artist Michael Jones McKean

Quite a beautiful project that will start in early June and run until 15th September. 

See more about artist Michael Jones McKean here.

Pittsburgh Tribune gets to the point with front page mistake

Earlier this week the front cover of the Pittsburgh Tribune - Review's Living section carried a rather blunt statement.

What appears to be an unintentional message was the result of a poor graphic effect applied to the headline "Suit Yourself," 

Whoops!

Toads take to the screen in Ford ad

This Australian ad for Ford brings two new stars to our screens - native cane toads.

Produced by JWT Melbourne it is quite humorous and reminiscent of the old Budweiser ads that ran some years ago putting toads (or were they frogs) in the limelight.

Enjoy.

Woods Bagot releases report into future of airport design

Woods Bagot, a leading global architecture and design practice, has recently published a report into airport design and the future implications of global travel.

The report, called WARP Speed: Mach 1, covers a range of topics that will influence the way that airports are designed in the future including technology, efficiency, passenger numbers and collaboration. The report seeks to understand the near to medium term trends that are shaping the design of airports so that we can all build the IATA vision of “sufficient and efficient” infrastructure in a sustainable and future proofed way.

By 2050 it has been estimated that 16 billion passengers will fly every year along with 400 million tonnes of freight. The implications are immense and this first stage report attempts to highlight and tackle some of the core issues.

The report was compiled by a team of senior experts and identifies emerging trends in the aviation industry that will be critical to the future success of airports. It focuses on airports as well as their tenants – airline carriers, retailers and concessionaires.

In the report introduction they say, 'Woods Bagot’s WARP Speed: Mach I is the first in a series of research investigations that identify emerging trends in the aviation industry that will be critical to the future success of airports. From wild science fiction to grounded realities, WARP Speed: Mach I makes forecasts by exploring the various wants, needs and aspirations of airports and their tenants. Most importantly, WARP Speed: Mach I recognizes that change – fast change – is the only constant in the aviation industry.

Throughout WARP Speed: Mach I, we are taken on an exploration of the often-tenuous relationship that exists between airports and the airline carriers, retailers and concessionaires with which they sh
are both dependence and competition.'

This is an important insight into the issues facing the aviation industry in the coming decades and makes interesting reading.

You can download the full report here:

New glass technique from Lasvit delivers organic flows

On display at Milan Design Week 2012, 'Liquidkristal' is a new glass technique developed by British designer Ross Lovegrove in collaboration with Czech glass and crystal producers Lasvit.

Using a high precision heat transfer process to create organic-like glass panels, this innovative product has been developed for use in large-scale architectural installations. The manufacturer says 'The system facilitates the precise forming of any mathematically describable design, and individual panels can showcase slightly 'shifted' versions of the model, creating the effect of an organically flowing pattern across a building or other large structure.'

This innovative production method lets designers or architects control the level of opacity of segments of glass, allowing the creation of spaces where features can be highlighted and others blended through a play of colour and light.

A very interesting development. Find out more here.

More colours from Pantone

Ever worried about not having enough colours to choose from? Then this will make your day.

Pantone has issued an additional 336 colours in its 'plus' range to reflect the selection of points within the existing colour spaces to add nuances of tone.

More choice for the creative team to mull over!

Find out more here.

The poster that changes your colleagues' music choice

Have you sat in your office and cringed at your colleagues' awful taste in music? Then the "Change the Tune" poster, invented by Agency Republic will have you cheering.

The agency plays music via Spotify over their sound system and have rigged up a poster with a motion sensor that changes the song when it's hit by something. A great idea but watch out for unidentified flying objects and the Health and Safety squad.

Oddest political ad ever?

This has got to one of the oddest political ads we have ever seen - and guess hwat - its from the US Republican primaries.

A very interesting way to represent tax effects on small business. If you love rabbits look away now!

Sony World Photography Awards 2012 winners announced

American photographer Mitch Dobrowner has been announced as this year’s winner of the L’Iris d’Or - the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year.


Dobrowner was presented with the award during the Sony World Photography Awards Gala ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane for his extraordinary series of images, Storms. This beautiful series of black and white photographs are quite stunning.

He was chosen as the winner by a panel of nine judges and wins a $25,000 cash prize and Sony’s latest digital imaging camera equipment.

Other winners included Tobias Bräuning from Germany as overall Open winner, William Klein for Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award and Asef Ali Mohammad from Middlesex University, UK, for Student Focus Award.

See more of the award winning photography here or you can visit the awards exhibition at Somerset House, London until 20th May. Tickets on the door.

Burberry goes on world tour

Burberry launched their flagship store in Taipei in April with Burberry World Live, a 360 immersive experience.

A custom-made cylindrical space was designed by Christopher Bailey and brought to life the Burberry worlds of British Heritage, Fashion, Music and Weather.

It combined an eight part 360 degree film, a live musical performance and digital weather experience. Burberry World Live will be touring the world, coming to cities including London, Hong Kong and Chicago later this year.The multi sensory experience blurs the physical and digital dimensions of the brand to great effect.

Quite an experience. See how the event went below: