As Promised

I did promise to post something interesting when i feel that this blog is getting a bit boring. So here it is. This is an incredible viral for Gatorade. The only indication that the viral is for Gatorade is the end shot when the ball girl is sitting down with a bottle of gatorade, very clever indeed. I was hoping there would be more virals like this floating around whilst the olympics was on, but no such luck. Enjoy!

TV 11th August

Us Brits must really be great climbers because here is another news update featuring English Matt Pierce climbing to great height's just to lift up a banner to do something with Tibet. All very well and good Mr Peirce but your stunt received a mere 10 seconds of air time and you were put in a Honk Kong prison for two days. Why not try and do something a bit more creative next time? why not take some tips from 'fathers for justice'?

TV 10th August

Will the Olympics be overshadowed (laterally) by the cities smog? Will this smog effect some Olympic events? i will let you know.

TV 6th August

The human rights protests continue in Beijing. This time an English dude has got involved. Ian Tom is the man in thee picture seen scaling a giant pole to erect a banner with the message 'free tibet'. Mr Tom was later arrested. Well done Mr Tom, you chump!

TV 4th August

16 policemen have been killed in the Chinese city Xinjiang. Terrorists have made constant warnings via TV messages and have now decided to take action. The bomb killed 16 and injured 12. Fortunately these bombings didn't happen in Beijing where crowds are gathering to welcome the olympics. These events again have overshadowed the Olympics and heightened the speculation over the safety of the olympics. These recent events have made me think forward to London 2012. With our city a hight terrorist risk, would the 2012 Olympics make us a prime target for Osama and his pals? Maybe we should start preparing and building our olympics around security?

TV 28th July

The big news towards the build up of the olympics was all about safety. With fierce protests and terrorist warnings security is high on the agenda at the Beijing olympics. The Chinese government have deployed 100 thousand police officers to protect and oversee the Olympics. As pictured China had received terrorist threats suggesting that they would attempt to bomb Beijing during the olympics. What was China's answer to this? well, to buy bigger and better bombs to combat the tourists, and to have them on show to put the frighteners up the little buggers. Here is a picture below of a BBC news correspondent reporting from Beijing where you can see the missiles the chinese have set up.

Apologies for the delay

Okay so as you know my three mediums were txt, TV and newspaper. So far i have updated you on my newspaper and txt research but not my television. With the assistance of Sky+ i have managed to save all the news reports on the olympics from BBC news. I have had to filter most of the generic news out but there are some interesting points made ranging from politics, slavery, world records and much more. I will post all about my television findings in the morning when i have more time. Thank you for your patience.

More from Nike and W+K

Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam have created a new spot for Nike, titled ‘Bad Listener’, to coincide with the Beijing Olympics.
The advert features Oscar Pistorius, the South African paralympian sprinter who, through his bravery, grit and determination, is making the world rethink what it means to be an athlete. The commercial tells Oscar’s story through his own eyes and words, and focuses on the fact that whenever he has been told he can’t achieve something due to his disability, he has gone on regardless and has become a highly accomplished athlete. Inspirational, and its a great example how you can reach your consumers on a personal level. Just Do It!

Three in one day

This really is my lucky day. This third one is a spot for Visa by TBWA. I particularly like this one because it uses Michael Phelps recent gold glory. The camping is based around Phelps becoming the most successful Olympian of all time. However Phelps only reached the feet yesterday, this means that TBWA and Visa had the campaign all ready to go before the olympics and hedged all their bets on Phelps winning gold. Lucky Nike didn't do a similar thing with Paula Radcliffe as she just limped over the finishing line in 28th position. So much time and money rested upon Phelps shoulders, i wonder if they had a backup plan incase he flopped?

Advertising campaign's are just like buses

So here is another one. This time its and outdoor campaign for 'Powerade'. The campaign is by Mother and looks beautiful. The breathtaking shots show triple jumper Phillips Idowu, 29, rower-turned-cyclist Rebecca Romero, 28, and swimmer Gregor Tait, 29. Im not sure what the strategy is here and why there isn't a shot of the product? it would be good to get the background story on this so i will keep my ear to the ground and let you know in due course. In the meantime you can look at the images, admire the photography and have fun trying to put a strategy to the campaign yourself.

"I will win gold!"

Well ive been waiting in anticipation for some cool advertising for the olympic games, finally its here.
Its a campaign for nike by W+K London featuring Kelly Sotherton. The idea was to get Kelly to promise she would win gold at the Olympics under lie detector test conditions. She was wired up to a polygraph machine and tested by a psychophysiologist. Kelly's commitment has been questioned in the past, particularly in Athens four years ago by her former coach. Ever since then she has been determined to prove she has the right mental attitude to win gold. Its and obvious but great way of showing our Kelly Sotherton's belief and determination. The campaign come along with a website, TV spot and print.

Amazing!

The only excuse i have for posting these is for the simple reason that they look outstanding. I managed to get my hands on some high-def images so click on them and enjoy.

I put this up before Tom!

Aha, yes I won the race to post this image first.
I stumbled upon this image whilst on my travels through cyber space. It’s a great photograph and I am sure in due course will become a big hit on other blog’s and all over the Internet. This image really can speak a thousand words. It typifies the state that Beijing is in at the moment. Their mind is on one thing, the Olympics. Forgetting those around it. The line 'one world one dream' is rather ironic as the contrast here almost creates two different worlds, leaving you to wonder, what will happen after the Olympics when this divide is taken down? Great image, great topic, but a bit depressing, I will try to post something a bit more upbeat next time.

Opening ceremony

Okay so the olympics has been up and running all weekend but i have only just managed to get my grubby little hands on some photographs of the occasion. Unfortunately i missed it because i was at 'field day' but i have heard rave reviews and the photographs look outstanding. Hopefully bbc iplayer will have uploaded the footage so i can post it up here to show all of you that missed it.

The coke song!

Oh dear! Well after a thorough research I have discovered that Coke really have been busy with their branding on the olympic games. Coke have even created a song for the olympics, now this is either great PR and Marketing or the people singing along to the song are incredibly stupid. However it has worked for coke. In this video thousands of people can be seen singing along to a song by coke, branded by coke and has more to do with coke than the olympics. Genius, or just taking advantage? You decide.

Birds on Coke

A couple of weeks ago i mentioned that coca-cola were 'proud sponsors' of the olympic games and wondered if they would eventually come up with any interesting advertising to support the olympics. Well here it is. W+K Amsterdam created this spot where a few inventive birds build their own version of Beijing's new Olympic stadium. The idea derives from Beijing's very own stadium labeled 'the birds nest' for its similarities to, you guessed it, a birds nest. Its enjoyable to watch but doesn't really capture the imagination of the viewer and fit in with the spirit of the olympic games, unlike the BBC spot that i posted a few weeks ago.

More please

Lets hope we see more stuff like this in the lead up to the olympics.
This was a viral created a few years back for a brand that i've forgot - sorry, but its cool, im hoping whilst the olympics is on nike and some of the others will up their advertising.

Because this blog is getting boring....

I have decided to inject some advertising greatness into my blog whenever i feel this olympics stuff is getting as a bit dull and hard to digest!
This ad is one of my favorites. Its from the guys over in Miami, CP+B. These dudes have been pushing the boundaries for years. The client is VW and the campaign strategy is 'because safe happens'. The first video is one of the ad's and the second is how the americans reacted to these ad's, watch and learn people!

Its finally here

Ows about this, when i signed up for the bbc olympic text reports i didn't know what to expect. Well the day has finally come, they took there time didn't they!
Well the text wasn't exactly warm and friendly but what it did do was to remind me to watch the opening ceremony. This text thing could be interesting. It will definitely come in handy when the event actually kicks off, so i don't miss any big races etc. Will it get annoying? is it just for the bbc to plug their own tv shows? or do they actually want to keep you up do date with all the comings and goings in beijing? well watch this space!

A Bolt of lightning

Wow this dude is sick, he's name is Usain Bolt. Bolt has only just been crowned the world fastest man alive! The whole world will be watching this guy in anticipation to see if he can take his form into the 100m in beijing. Bolt is also to race in the 200m where he is tipped to dethrone Michael Johnson of his 200m world record.

Crack heads banned!

Aha something interesting from the sun!
Not four, not five but seven russians have been banned from the beijing olympics. All seven women were caught attempting to swap urine samples to prevent from getting caught. Unfortunately they didn't succeed. Personally im all for drugs at the olympics,. I feel that it would make the olympics far more interesting, more and more records will be broke, fitter faster athletes, just think about it, it would be amazing.
However this does make you think, how many people have got away with it this year? if the russians came so close to slipping under the radar then surely some slippery so and so have got away scot free? well we will see at the olympics!

Paula Radcliffe aka weird face

Another article from the sun newspaper. Apparently Ms Radcliffe has been assured that she will not be him by golf balls as she trains at the british camp in Macau. How interesting. Although it would be incredibly funny if Ms Radcliffe's olympics were to be cut short because she had been hit by a golf ball, im disappointed with the sun for the pointless article. Instead they could have commented on how Paula Radcliffe's fitness is doing before the olympics, as it was rumored that it would take a miracle for her to part taker in the olympics.

On yer bike son!

Well another interesting article from the sun. Im starting to roo the day i chose to use the sun sport as one of my mediums for the olympic games.
Anyway here goes. Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendelton has revealed that she rides her bike to tescos, the sun found this interesting and made it into a double spread in there sport section. Penderton a hot favorite to bring a gold home has revealed that she sometimes rides her bike to tescos instead of using her car. awesome!

Fireworks rehearsal

The grand opening of the beijing olympics is only four days away.
Everyone is waiting in anticipation as to what they have lined up for the opening ceremony. Heres a little taster of whats to come. The Chinese have opted to rehearse the big day so there will be no major cock ups! Enjoy, hopefully the main event in four days will exceed all of our expectations.

Coke jump on the bandwagon

Now mention coke and the olympics and you probably think of Dwaine Chambers! well no, im not talking about that coke, this is about the coke of the liquid variety thats amazingly refreshing and irresistible.
Yes you got it, coke are sponsoring the beijing olympics. Here is proof, found this whilst i was working on my book in bond street.
I like what they have done, could have commissioned a really cool graphic designer to completely change the whole can design for the duration of the olympics, but i suppose this will do.
(photograph taken on location in my bedroom by Mrs Prendergast.)

"Cock-Up"?

I know, i know its a bit late! Im late in posting my newspaper articles because ive simple been too lazy to take photographs of each pages as my scanner has gone bust.
Ive kept every sun newspaper for the past week and slowly but surely i will post every article until i catch up.
The first is about Kelly Sotherton. Sotherton was involved in an incedent at the Crystal Palace tounament (the warm up to the olympics). The problem was that someone had layed out the hurdles in the wrong order and caused total chaos. Is this what we have got to look forward to at the 2012 olympics? lets hope the dudes in beijing get it right in a few weeks time.
Glad the sun newspaper found room for this article as i find this far more interesting than reading another article about that druggie Dwaine Chambers. In this newspaper they thought it would be wise to tell us what kind of music he listens to. However im sure Dolly Parton is over the moon finding out that Mr Chambers is her no1 fan.

Text Alert!

So i chose text alerts provided by the bbc as one of my mediums to research the beijing olympics.
The reason for choosing the text alert service is that its new and inventive way of receiving information, rather than newspaper, tv, radio etc. Its new for the bbc as-well, they also provide a moving image service but unfortunately im not lucky enough to be able to afford a flashy phone so that service doesn't apply to me. However it will be interesting to see what information they can send in just one text, what will the hierarchy be, what tone will they use, will they use text language and how useful the information will be? all very interesting stuff! Above is a picture of my conformation via text, i will be sure to let you know about any other texts i receive from the bbc.

Extreme Advertising

Okay so i am supposed to be posting about the beijing olympics using three different mediums : text alerts, newspaper, and the bbc news at 10. However when i come across images and news such as this its impossible not to post something about it. So here goes.
Above is a photograph of Liu Ming. Mr Ming or Dangerous Dave as his friends like to call him, has taken it upon himself to get the beijing olympic logo tattooed on his bloody forehead! genius! These images have come about at just the right time, four days before the olympics! Makes me think wether this is a great marketing ploy and they slipped Mr Ming a few quid or Mr Ming may actually be a genuine nutter. who knows? but id like to think that its a some form of advertising. Great new medium eh?

BBC + The Gorillaz = Genius

This is a great spot from Red Bee media for the olympics. The BBC based company enlisted the help of Damon Albarn and The Gorillaz to promote their coverage of the Beijing Olympics. The soundtrack is great and the visuals are spectacular. There is a beijing theme throughout and cleverly merges all of the olympic games events into two minuets of entertainment. Its a daring move by the BBC but it really has payed off. Its far different from any other promotion for sports events but thats why it works so well. Press play and enjoy!

Bendy Prendy posts about similar subjects.

The other half of joetom.com is blogging on the same subject.

Tom's new blog makes for an interesting read. Although Tom's blog is no-where near as good as mine its well worth a check out and is definitely worthy of and add to the old bookmark menu.

Summer Project 'Beijing Olympics 2008'

Students on the 'design for advertising' course have been fortunate enough to be issued with a summer project. 

Our task over the summer is to research one subject across three different mediums. 

It seems as if the only subjects that would consistently be in the news for the summer months would be bad news, i.e. Global Warming, Knife crime etc. I really didn't want to get into this territory as i know the only place we could take this information would be to turn it into some sort of pro bono / charity  project. Although this may be very interesting i was after something a little more light hearted so i could enjoy the summer and the project. 

So i chose the Beijing Olympics! 

The three mediums that i will be covering are TV, text updates and newspaper. However any other interesting mediums that i come across on my travels i shall make a note of.