Thoughts on creativity, Pharma and whatnot
I was having dinner in a very nice restaurant in the financial district of New York (as you do) with some colleagues a few weeks back and the subject drifted, as it sometimes does with those who lived through it, to the time of no-good-shenanigans that our beloved industry used to, while not exactly condone,... Continue Reading →
These days it seems that the copywriter, at least those in the mould of the David Abbotts, Tony Brignulls and Tim Delaneys of yesteryear have almost, if not disappeared, been relegated to the bench. The glitterati of adland are no longer the wordsmiths but the tech developers, the experiential masterminds and the product developers. Copywriters... Continue Reading →
It's Christmas time so I thought I'd go a little mushy. In pharma we deal with changing people's lives, hopefully for the better, every day. But it's a term that's become so over-used that it has somewhat lost its meaning. Indeed my last agency had 'lifechanging' as its client-facing tagline. It was arguably true, no... Continue Reading →
One of the hardest things in our job is to accept client changes. We all have had to attend meetings, where we have to dutifully write down the client comments on how a concept could be improved, taking in all the feedback, and thanking them for their input. I have mixed feelings about this and... Continue Reading →
We pharma creatives often have a slightly different hill to climb when it comes to creating brand campaigns. The concept of a campaign with multiple executions all pivoting off one central thought, like consumer campaigns, is hard for many pharma clients to get their heads around. History has proven to them that one 'key visual'... Continue Reading →
Diversity has many nuances, yes from the obvious ones in terms of colour and creed to neurodiversity and gender et al, but there is an underlying diversity issue some agencies need to manage that is less immediately visible.
And so dear reader, I am compelled to only write three centenary blog reviews. Two seems too few, four is too many and much like the Holy hand grenade of Antioch, 'five is right out'.
Why centenary? well, it's been 100 blogs and I thought that was worth a review. So while I am here, I'd like to say thanks to all of you who continue to read my ramblings and opinions. It reminds me of the time Eric Morecambe (if you don't know he was then I'm afraid we... Continue Reading →
The thing to remember is that everything is inspiration. It might be in a garden centre or a Masai tribesman's mud hut or a street performer. And it's the places you would least likely find it that are arguably the most surprising.
There's probably four rules for taking a poo at work and five rules for tap-dancing at funerals, for all I know. In fact any job, pastime or bodily function, can probably be broken down in to a list of key guidelines. But what of our beloved pharma advertising? Can we break down the myriad of brands, disease awareness and internal comms in to a simple list of 11 briefs? Well, I reckon it's worth a shot, dammit. You're welcome.
ollycaporn's blag 