Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Creative of the week

Every now and then comes an ad, we the advertisers like to call "highly creative". That means, an ad that was probably created for a contest of some sort. So it takes a few minutes to understand the creator way of thinking. But that's OK, us admen, both like these ads and dying to create them. Out of budget and without a pesting client breathing down our necks.
But sometimes comes an ad so good... That you just get pissed off it wasn't your idea.


Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Branded for life

Israel definitely has a branding issue.
It all started with a tag line in the United Nations partition of 1947 as a "Jewish state". Now the Jewish state started out with one major USP: A state for Jews (da).
Through the years instead of progressing with its brand and emphasizing on more and more strong points such as, High-Tech, medicine, agriculture, Nobel prize winners and so on and so forth, Israel kept pushing the same old USP. But through those years, things have become worst for the Israeli brand. Wars, upraises, terror attacks, world opinion etc. made the brand unappealing at the least.

With the world starting to suffer from extreme Islamic terror, one would expect Israel's brand to score some points back, but yet... apparently it doesn't. I think Israel's target audience i.e. the Jewish people are the wrong, or not the main audience Israel should consider. The Jews world wide are a captive audience anyways. Israel should start targeting different markets and rebrand itself if it wants to survive today's hostile markets, and I believe some drastic measures are in order. Maybe Israel should show the world for instance, how do Israeli Arabs live in Israel Vs.. in neighboring Arab states. Thus, rebuilding the Israeli brand as a multicultural one instead of just a Jewish one. Or even more, forget about religious al together, including the Jewish one and keep on marketing its successes and world wide collaborations with different states in different fields.

Well... here's a good start

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVsZ7z2Dkkg


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Spot the not

Of course there is no real zebra here, but I just love this effect. To be completely honest, the picture on the right is not mine, yet I found the two quite suitable for each other.


Thursday, August 6, 2015

Live and die in T.A


Two of my dearest friends just left. They relocated to New York. The reason of course is business, but this move reflects a much dipper issue. Every day I hear of more and more people with more and more reasons that leave this country behind with everyone in it. It feels like the ring is getting tighter around my neck. I live in Tel Aviv which is truly a great city with a unique vibe. But lately it hasn't been enough. Things and events are penetrating our wonderful bubble and it's getting harder to breath. I know it may sound petty or unfair, but I don't care. I see myself as a modern and socially active person, I recycle, I work hard, I am a good father and husband (I try my best), I drive an electric vehicle, I help people and animals in need, really I do it all, so... I feel I am entitled to be happy with my life. I don't expect everything on a silver platter but I also don't expect to struggle. So as hard as it is for me to keep "losing" friends to other places I truly understand, support and I am even jealous. I know it's easier to just put on ear plugs and cover my eyes but I don't want to be numb. So for now, I'll just keep living the way I do in my shrinking little bubble and just hope its doesn't pop.


Wednesday, July 22, 2015

little things make a big impact

Every now and than I get a new gadget or a new toy for my office. It doesn't have to be something big, on the contrary, it usually is a small thing, but the joy this small thing gives me is tremendous. Recently we started (humanity that is) a voyage to Pluto so I have decided it is a great opportunity to acquire another gadget, an astronaut which will hold my cell phone. Sounds trivial I know and you might think I have nothing better to do, but that's hardly the case. The more busy we get and the harder we work we need those small things to keep us happy and sane. It's like facebook likes. It's a very trivial and small thing, but we keep refreshing the page to see how many of those small and insignificant things we have so we can feel happy about ourselves.
So I've decided to boldly go where I have been going for quite some time, online shopping and buy another piece of happiness.
So the next time my phone will ring, it wouldn't really matter who is on the other end of the line, because my cell phone will be taking his one small step for me...



Tuesday, June 9, 2015

theredadman or Madmen?

I know it's a bit late (better late than ever, right) but I have just started watching MadMen. Me, a creative director. Anyways, I can't help but comparing the show to my own experience in the advertising world. True, it's not the sixties anymore, but still there are lot of similarities and I keep wondering whether the place of the creative director has weakened over the years or is it simply the clients that have worsen. I choose the second option of course. I believe it is partly our fault. As time passed and the markets became harder and more competitive, the clients slowly became more insecure. This is exactly when we had to step in. It is our responsibility to lead our clients rather than be led by them.
All you Madmen out there listen to theredadman, the real denominator between us all is creative, so remember, don't follow, lead.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Is language male or female?

Who cares?
In English for example, both men and women are being addressed to as "you", but in the Hebrew language there are different nouns for each. Maybe because it is an ancient language or maybe there is no reason at all, but still it is a fact. For years I've been talking or at least trying to in the right manor, a noun for male and a noun for female. I also used to correct others for using the language wrong (annoying I know). Recently I have decided to raise the flag no more. It's about time that Hebrew will become a non gender bias language. I know it will be hard to change the way we talk, but I promise to do my best. Plus, I will stop correcting people. I really hope more people will do the same until the Hebrew Academy (a funny fact on its own, that it is called so while academy is NOT a Hebrew word) will decide to go with the times and change. 
:-)

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Beauty is skin deep

Just another example to why we shouldn't believe everything we see online...


Wednesday, March 18, 2015

oops, we did it again

Well... It's "groundhog day". Today we woke up to a new but not so different day.
The 2015 elections are over and nothings has really changed, again.
Now, people always say to me "you live in a bubble", and it's true, I actually do.
But because I'm living in Tel Aviv, a young, colorful, tolerant international city, I always tend to forget it is still just a city within a country that apparently is nothing like my little bubble at all :-(
It seems that in Israel 2015 the minority (i.e. my bubble's dwellers and a few others good souls) is trying like hell to "do good" for the rest of the country while the second is doing its best not to comply.
Well I don't know what's the best course of action right now... Whether to keep on fighting or just forget about it all and become numb or maybe just get the fuck out.
Being an optimist, I'll most probably stay here and keep trying my best (in my humble ways) to change things for the better. But the truth is, I am loosing fate, and I am NOT the believing kind.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Heros?

In 2009's Quentin Tarantino "Inglorious bastards" there's a story about Fredrick Zoller, a Nazi sniper. Apparently he was so successful that they made a movie based on his "accomplishments".
In the movie the entire Nazi party, including Hitler himself celebrated the sniper's story by attending his movie premier.
Now, in 2014 America is celebrating its famous sniper in a movie which is "also" based on a true story (I am not compering the two characters). And it seems like the entire country is going to this premier.
So it got me thinking, haven't we learned anything? Is it important in this day and age to glorify violence, (just or not)? And what message are we sending our kids?


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Count me in

It's been a while since I wrote anything here. Not that there wasn't anything to write about, I was just trying to give you all separation anxiety.
Well, to be honest I just didn't feel like it. But now I have a reason to write, I AM GOING TO THE CARNIVAL. Yes in Brazil!!! I've decided that it's about time I'll visit this part of the world while I am still young enough to enjoy the things that should be enjoyed there.
It's true that I usually write about advertising and design but let's say I am going to learn about south American design (carnival trucks) and advertising (women in thongs, because they do advertise something). I am sure I will come back with many new fresh ideas and some I may even post here but for now let's just count the days.

25 days and counting...


Great minds...