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We’ve both worked in advertising for about 7 years, and as much as we love it, we’re also often struck by how certain phrases and ways of thinking that – although they sound like a comic parody of themselves and/or script fodder for Nathan Barley – still get used day in day out. It’s funny how even though some agencies are so different, the vernacular is exactly the same.

The more we became aware of this, the more Adland Bingo began to form. Without realising, we’ve been playing it in our heads for some time. We often find ourselves swallowing a smile or sharing a look of amusement across the table when one of these cliches raises its ugly head.

What’s more shocking is when you actually catch yourself saying one of these horrendous phrases or ideas. You become someone you don’t recognise. For example the other day Lol actually said ‘…..so we’re on the same page…’ I almost vomited.

So it’s with tongues in our cheek that we give you ‘Adland Bingo’ – compiled with love after working in lots of agencies. (It goes without saying that ‘Adland’ in itself is yet another cliche.)

See how your agency fares, and let us know which – if any – other cliche you would like to see in place of the question mark.

 

The bookish among you, look away now.

 

 

 

I (lol) always feel a little sad when I see books being torn up or trashed in any way. Is this yet another copywriter’s occupational hazard? However, although these sculptures could be dismissed as ‘book abuse’, there’s also something rather beautiful about them. There are loads more amazing ones at the link.

I guess if the Kindle and all the other e-books really do take off, this could be what libraries of the future will look like?

This got us thinking about e-books and the inevitable digitisation of writing. Obviously there are benefits to e-books (the environment, obviously). But I still hope real, tangible, tactile books that you can write margin notes in, admire the cover design, and smell the print of… will be around forever. Having tried out a Sony Reader the other day, I was struck by how difficult it must be to hold down your concentration with one of them, when you know there are however many other stories only a click away. Like when you’re listening to music on an i-pod, there’s a massive temptation to skip tracks when you get bored a few seconds in.

I can’t help wondering whether devices like this just feed indecision and impatience in a way, creating a kind of Attention Deficit in the way we consume things. It’s the same when we use the internet – constantly flitting between pages, channels, documents. At least with a record, you couldn’t skip to the end, you had to wait, to pay attention to every detail. I think there is something nice in that – more respect for the artist maybe? The trouble with digitising books is that some of the most rewarding of novels take a lot of effort to get in to. So I think there’s a real risk of readers missing
out if you can so easily just click onto something else. On the other hand, perhaps by putting books into these new formats, publishers can actually reach out to a different type of audience who would never normally have picked up an old style book. Is this likely? I’m not sure. Saying that, I’m probably just a luddite stuck in the wrong generation…Oh well, back to these dynamic MPUs.

 

 

 

 

Whilst researching butter for a brief we came across this bizarre invention.

We wonder where it would be stocked – in Smiths, or in Tesco? And is the thing in the bottom right a close up of it or is it a shaven boiled egg do you think?

This got lol and I thinking. We (sadly) love stationery and we love food. So what could be better than food stationery?

How about a stapler that dispenses sunflower seeds, or a cheese rubber that leaves shavings of Parmesan cheese when you use it, or a pencil sharpener that acts as a potato peeler, or a yoghurt trail tip-Ex or a jammy red biro. The list is endless. Any other suggestions welcome.