Brand – Smithery

The Unbelievable Age

John V Willshire

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08-10-2024

There have always been unbelievably bad ads. They are now just unbelievable in a new way. I was at the cinema at the weekend with friends. It is probably one of the few opportunities nowadays where I see adverts brought together in one place. And yes, it was as underwhelming as one might fear, though…

Are Brands Fracking The Social Web? [ My talk from Squared ]

John V Willshire

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06-03-2013

I’m not long out of giving a new talk this morning for the first time, at Squared in London to the bright young things who’re just starting out on a six week intensive learning experience. It’s always a privilege to talk to the future leaders of an industry, and today was certainly no exception. Find…

The next era of cigarette branding

John V Willshire

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15-02-2013

There is something grimly fascinating about the creation of electronic cigarette products & brands. They seem to veer from the ‘make it look like a cigarette as much as possible’, to the ‘what would they smoke in Tron?’ brigade.

2013 Projects: From Making to Media

John V Willshire

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05-02-2013

Yes, I know. It’s a bit slipshod to be writing a “2013 Projects” post when a 1/12th of the year has gone already. But hey, you know, there’s been stuff on. The good news is that I’ve started doing some of the things already, so I haven’t lost all that time. NB: If there’s a…

George Lucas Sells Adidas, Volkswagen, PC World… and your childhood down the river

John V Willshire

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03-02-2011

Oh George. What are you doing. Sure, the Adidas thing was exciting at first… …but the ad was largely forgotten in the trail of Nike’s Write The Future, and the shoes were kinda rubbish in the end. Yeuch. Then there was the PC World thing. God, really? Look,…