I know it hasn't been a week... but

Creative of the week

Time off from time off

After signing the contract yesterday I suddenly realized I am giving up my free time. I am actually going back to work in an office, this is not an easy thing for me. I have decided, I will try and focus on the positive things about all this, like I always do. So I started thinking about the money and the fact that it is important for me to give my brain a good workout, plus meeting new people and maybe travel abroad for work sometimes. I realized it's not that bad, but still I am giving up my free time. For example, I am writing this post from my sofa at home it's 8:00am and I am not planing to go anywhere till noon. So what is free time really all about and why is it so important? Well first of all, I think it's the fact you can do what you like when you like, without having to answer to anyone. But the real big thing about having free time is that time doesn't fly by. Of course when you are young and living by yourself it doesn't really matter, but now, well apparently it does. Once, your free time was just free time, now it has a price tag (an expensive one) because you have a family, a mortgage and all sort of expenses you never had before. Well I don't want to sound like I am complaining, but I am selling out, I am giving up my free time for a fist full of dollars (euro will do). I guess I just need some time off

Creative of the week

A star is porn

Please give it up for the next big thing in the online sex industry. I just got a position (well not a position per say, yet) in a large internet company that develops top of the line technology for video chatting. Their main business, are 6 sites, for now that is (no you can't have the addresses yet, you horny buggers), that hosts women and men from around the world who keeps themselves busy by talking to each other on line (well, having self sufficient sex). I of course am going to be the creative director in this company, in charge of all the designers and copy writers and some more administrative stuff, but what does it all really mean... well I am not so sure yet. Because the girls on the other side of the screen basically know what to do and the guys who chat with them I believe can be creative on there own. So maybe, my job is just to make shit loads of money and try to keep everything looking great and professional. Because, we already know sex sells, but it only depends if you are willing to buy and I am willing

In god we trust

It's a bit strange, but the biggest news story in advertising today is TRIO being bought out by AFIKIM (an ultra-orthodox ad agency). Now, if you are a secular person, you wouldn't understand the immensity of this merge. But in a world in which there are only three major players (not like around 20 in the non religious market) it's a giant step that probably propels AFIKIM straight into leadership. Yet still, it's just a business.
A question that was being asked for a long time by my friends and myself is: "Do the ultra-orthodox advertising people don't care about anything else but money? doesn't good advertising count?" For me, as an advertiser, after working in this sector for 4 years it''s still puzzling. From experience, I know some people who do care and actually changed the ultra-orthodox market, with sharp and intelligent creative work, but since most of them left, things seem to slip back into incoherence. So, let's just hope the new APEK-AFIKIM group will do more than just merge and give us something to write home about.
Amen

Creative of the week

The Holy Trinity

Last week a new campaign had it's debut on T.V., billboards and basically everywhere you looked. I am of course talking about Y&R's campaign for the new real estate project in Tel Aviv by Gindi. The campaign claims that something that happens only once every 100 years is happening now in Tel Aviv. In a way it's true, it's the first time (so I have heard) that a company spends on an opening campaign an estimated 30,000,000. The project will cover 3,000 sq meters and will include 3,000 flats (do you see a pattern here?), well I did. I decided that this thing is too be big to be ignored. So, I started a new trinity campaign of my own. Yesterday was my wife's birthday, so I did as follows: I bought her an i pad that costs around 3,000, we went for sushi at Onami which came to exactly 300 and when we came home, well...
I can tel you it wasn't 30 times, but there was definitely a divine intervention

Creative of the week

Music to my ears

Two nights ago me my wife and the girls went to a rave (a trance party) on the beach. We arrived early to get a good spot for the tent and basically, got the best place around, straight across from the main tent and the stage of the D.J's. It started of slow but then just like any good rave people started poring in and kept on coming till the after party the next morning. The music was great there were 6 or more D.J's each with his unique sound and two live shows. One of which was this girl playing trance music on a Didgeridoo, that was the most amazing thing I heard (I was on no drugs ye). I have to remind you people I am not 16 any more but still, there is something about these parties and this kind of music that keeps your heart pumping. Of course it was all a new experience for me being in a rave with my girls (3 and 5), so the things you enjoy, except the music of course are a bit different now.
Picture this, I am sitting on the beach at a rave, the music is pounding all around and everybody there is in some kind of a trance, some chemically induced, others are in a natural high (like your truly), it's 4 am, all of a sudden out of the tent comes my 5 year old Yuli, sits down with me without saying a word. We are both covered by a blanket sitting quietly and just waiting for the sunrise.
Now, can you think of a stronger buzz