This is perhaps the best compilation of the most impactful social media campaigns from recent times. Stole it from WeareSocial, who btw are a must-follow on Twitter.
View more presentations from Marta Kagan – the woman behind What The F**K is Social Media? and What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later
Ok.. so it happened once again! Blog lethargy!! Actually, it was more of lethargy consumed repeatedly with potent spoons-full of doziness! That sounds just about right – I blogdozed!! I blogdozed for a year almost and every time i told myself to get back into it, i blogdozed a little more.
Honestly, guess i’ve been keeping zip because i was afraid that my literal diarrhea would get me in trouble with ‘certain’ people i work with. But am hoping that my dormancy has sent them on a trip to Farawaysthan.
Why am i being such a mysterious 16 year old girl? Must be all that Nivea Soft work that i’ve been doing lately.Trying to get myself into the heels of a 25 year old has had me flipping the pages of Vogue and talking about the subtle differences between ‘touching’ and ‘feeling’.
And now.. i think i know!! believe it or not ladies! i think i am a tad bit closer to figuring you all out!
Ok.. sudden and sporadic intent to spin out of my blog’coon ends here. I may or may not return with more accounts of twists n’ turns from my life. No promises.. just doziness!
Oh btw, on the note of Nivea.. somebody please save me from this sexbomb goddess – Asha Leo. On a recent edit job that i’ve had to do for this client, I’ve had to repeatedly treat myself to watching clips of her dancing to the tune of LadyBug’s track ‘SnapShot’ in the Happytime commercial and boy!! was that 1 minute worth it?
,,,it sure was! take a snapshot of it yourself…
In a glittering ceremony last week, attended by over 200 eminent personalities from the media, marketing and advertising fraternity, the UAE Chapter of the IAA announced that it would award ParisGallery, the leading luxury retailer in the GCC with the honor of founding UAE’s National Lunch Bag.
For over 25 years, ParisGallery’s iconic red bag has become the quintessential grub bag for many UAE residents who prefer to carry their own lunch to work. Over the years, white collar employees have been traveling back and forth from work with this bag that has now officially been named a national fashion accessory. Hesham Ezzat, an executive working for a leading insurance firm claimed that not only was the size of the bag just ideal for most tupperware that he owned but the bag’s durability made it a highly reliable lunch mate.
The CEO of ParisGallery has been considering slashing his marketing budgets and producing more durable retail shopping bags from next year. In a proud moment after receiving the honor, he said ‘ All this while, i had no idea that shoppers were advertising my brand for me. Imagine, all the money i could have saved on marketing if i knew this was happening. I could have bought more hair gel and Bmw’s instead’
I’ve been wanting to put this one together forever.. actually No.. am lying!
I’ve been wanting to put this one together ever since i watched the scene in Madmen where Ron Sterling (John Slattery) walks into Don Draper’s office (Jon Hamm) where suited creatives sit in admiration over Volkswagen’s legendary ad ‘Think Big’. The creatives point to the ad and say ‘This is Advertising!’ to which Ron says ‘ you want to know what advertising is? it’s 99c. That’s advertising!’ HAH! Super!
About a month ago, Bert and Annie Sue recommended a book called ‘E by Matt Beaumont‘.. HILARIOUS and INSIGHTFUL TO THE CORE! is all i have to say. Just thought i’d pick a bit from the book to share here. This is the bit where Daniel Westbrooke (Head of Client Servicing) sends an email to Katie Philpott (intern), briefly telling her about advertising and ‘who does what’ in an agency.
I know that the next post in queue was going to be dedicated to how awesome me and my writer were at the ‘Dubai Young Lynx 2009′ 
But i am forced to digress and crib about a depressing brief i found laying on my desk this morning. It was for the lack of a better word – CONDESCENDING!! – a brief that required me to design a poster urging mall shoppers to wear respectable clothing!! Now don’t get me wrong… i don’t usually consider any project as ‘beneath me’ and i have been charged guilty on numerous accounts as being the eternal optimist who sees a fluttering potential in mostly every shitty situation.. but somehow i considered it purely offensive and borderline insulting when i was asked to replicate an existing artwork for which we were missing our very own digital files. NOW THAT! IS BENEATH ME!
Anyway.. the drama queen within me found peace at the thought of ‘taking the piss’ !! mwahaha! If you can’t beat em – join em, is what they say ??? The call against ‘indecent exposure’ turned into a support for ‘decent exposure’ and i was calmed by the sound of my own brain giggling at these silly little figurines wearing these modestly shaped designer shopping bags. I mean after-all, if you can’t show any skin – you may as well wear the damn bag yea ??
Click on the image to see it BIG!
This piece was done quite a few months ago.. but never really had the time to put it up. So here it is. Honestly, a tough piece to pull off considering Bassam and i had absolutely no clue what hedge funds, investment banking and the intricacies of a financial center was all about. In came, good friend investment banker guru Rocky with his bag of insights and knowhoos and this spot here was the result of an hour of 3 brains storming up. The piece is in arabic but the subtitles should suffice. Currently playing on Channel – Sama Dubai.
Introducing MY NAME IS ROBOT, the Middle East’s first custom toy show. Robotandspark invited 37 regional artists, designers, typographers, jewellers, artists, sculptors, photographers and leading creatives to customize the 8-inch resin robots and display them at thejamjar Gallery on Thursday February the 19th 2009.
The list of artists include Chor Boogie, Lisa Geuvarra, Rollan Rodriguez, Lewis De Mesa, Eduardo Yap, Paolomaria, Buffi Jashanmal, Renata Giovanoni, Diya Ajit, Hani Reza, Vivek Premachandran, The Tribe, Leo Burnett, Malek Ghorayeb, JWT, Zaid Alwan, TBWA, Khulood Khoory, Nina Jaitha, Cynthia Wong, James Gibbs, Roula Ghalayini, Bianca Bernstein, Nawal Khoory, Hind Iskander & Talayeh Jenab, Laughing Man, Stuart Harris, Darwin Guevarra, Yalda Jafari, Ogilvy One, James Clar, Amritraj Gupta, Joseph Manata, amirah t, Tony French and Jalal Abuthina, Expression and Hind Mezzaina.
Once the artists had finished, leading photographers from Bareface were asked to photograph the robots in any which way they wanted. These prints will be displayed alongside the robots and all artwork will be auctioned off for the charity START (www.startworld.org)
DJ Dany Neville from Underground Procedures will also be opening the exhibit with a live set.
The exhibition will run from the 19th Feb until the 23rd Feb.
Visit www.mynameisrobot.org for more info
So… now my turn to ramble ! I’ve been trying to get back to my roots again and return to my typical kitsch ‘omkara’ hindu art style again. This time round, the piece is called ‘My Name is Robot Kalki’ – The name Kalki means literally, “of iron” or “machine.” As this avatar, Lord Vishnu will incarnate himself as the machine-man, who will come riding his white horse and a blazing sword in his hands. He takes on his multi-armed form and as he punishes all evil-doers in this world, he recites the verse from the Hindu scripture- “Now i am become death, destroyer of worlds.” At the end of Kali Yuga, he will, destroy this world supposedly and recreate a golden age again. Here is a little video i slapped together inspired by a Nitin Sawhney track that has been my muse for the longest time ever!!!
See you at the show 
There comes a time in every creative mans life when he decides to stop procrastinating and get his ‘Book’ ready. This ‘Book’ that i talk about is not a collection of pages with hardcovers on either side, but more so a collection of past creative exploits that individuals of cosmoplastic stature believe is worthy of sharing with those who sit perched above him on trees other than his own.
And now that i have exhausted myself by sounding so pointlessly proper. Let me tell you what i called my book !!!
It’s called ‘Bread, Butter & Jam’ – TaDaa!! Take a bite here and tell me what it tastes like to you.
Just remembered a brilliant ad for the Nokia N95 this morning. Love the VO. Love the script. Love the texture. Love it Love it Love it !! Sigh!! what i wouldn’t do to concept a piece like this ?
What i find really awesome about this concept was the way they went 360degrees with it – all the way from encouraging user generated clips to competitions and blogs. Not to mention, the occasional spoofs that goes like ‘There’s a thing in his pocket, and now its mine!!’ – Hilarious!
Here is the original script;
There’s a thing in my pocket
But it’s not one thing, it’s many.
It’s the same as other things
But exactly like nothing else.
It has an eye and an ear.
It shares what billions hear and see.
It’s not a living thing
But if you feed it, it will grow.
It can rally the masses.
It can silence the crowd.
It can speak a thousand words
But it has no voice.
It can find you the places
So you can get lost.
And it can let others feel
What you’ve just been touched by.
There’s a thing in my pocket
But it’s not one thing, it’s many.