Speaking of the ‘Creative Class’, Behance is an interesting site I just found. They’re stated mission is “to help creative people and teams make ideas happen”, based on their theory of “Productive Creativity. ” They do interviews with various notable creative professionals, and make some nice-looking productivity tools to boot.

This is leading to my own trend speculation - the productivity trend (I’m not in the trend game, so maybe that’s old news). There’s various blogs out there devoted to productivity/efficiency that are gaining in popularity, notably 43 folders (run of course by a ‘BGM’ and true ‘Guru Joe’ - Merlin Mann) and lifehacker, that cover (if not create) techniques for out-smarting the bewildering array of systems we now live with and in. From my limited forays into the area, the book Getting Things Done (known as GTD to devotees), is a sort of prime mover in the field. This feels to me like a facet of Web 2.0 and the DIY movement in general, with it’s air of subversion and self-empowerment.

It looks like some really useful tips breaking on those sites. I can definitely use this one: Get Human.

Black-Glasses-Man REALLY wants to sell you something:

I think the ubiquity of BGM heralds the true rise and subsequent mainstreaming of the so-called Creative Class. He is smart, (I mean, he is wearing glasses after all), stylish, unique (just don’t tell him about all of the other BGMs), and has found a way to be successful while not sacrificing his personal values and tastes. He’s an easy visual cue to show you that the product he’s selling is aimed at the savvy individualist. Like you. (And you. And you, too.)

Not that this is the most egregious possible example, and subway ads are certainly nothing new, but whoever the revenue entrepreneur at L.A.’s Union Station is has been on quite a roll of late. Most recently unveiled is the “Bodog” mixed fighting championship campaign which basically took over the entire entry and platform to the Red Line, i.e. the main subway node (which, granted, isn’t saying much in L.A.). A huge vinyl covers the floor in the entry, as well as several billboard-sized wall mountings further in the entry, capped off with a vinyl wrap around every one of the supporting column/pillars down in the platform area.

As you can probably imagine, the top (I’m assuming) Bodog mixed fighting championship contenders aren’t the prettiest faces around to say the least, and the ad is a huge up-close face-on portrait of each contender. I wasn’t looking forward to having to endure these gruesome heads on a bi-daily basis (in multiple no less), but it hasn’t bothered me as much as I thought it would. In fact there’s almost something primal and cathartic about descending into the cavernous underground space in the heart of L.A. and being confronted by the bigger-than-life, jabba-the-hut-caliber ugliness of these visages, only to then walk right over them, your foot fitting surprisingly well in a roundhouse-contorted nostril as you pass.

This is on the heels of a whopper of a Dos Equis ad that was put up way back at World Cup time (and still there), which covers basically the entire tunnel leading from one end of Union Station to the other. This was kind of shocking at first, Union Station being a tourist-level architectural attraction in L.A. and all. In retrospect, it seems surprising that prior to this, the considerable interior square-footage of the central hub of commuter travel in L.A. was basically blank, which I guess speaks more to advertisers’ estimations of the reach and frequency rates of would-be adspace there…

As a vaguely-related postscript, here’s a view from the 16th floor at my office, in which if you look closely, you can spot off in the smoggy distance a HUMONGOUS ad for what appears to be in my best estimation the newest Will Ferrell vehicle. I believe this month’s installment has him as an ice skater.

Dave King’s work for the British Council

Look Don’t Read - the move to visual was the topic of discussion at the 10th Asia Pacific AdFest today. Chaired by Lewis Blackwell, the panel included Piyush Pandey (O&M India), Dave King (M&C Saatchi, Sydney) Birger Linke (JWT Vietnam) and Steve Hough (Saatchi & Saatchi Vietnam).

There was a lively debate around the increasing importance of the visual trend in advertising and, with some copy experts within the group, there was a lot of discussion around the relative importance of copy versus the visual. Piyush Pandey showed some examples of TVCs from India that relied heavily on the visual trend.

For India, with numerous dialects, the visual ad is key. Meanwhile, Dave King presented a range of below-the-line campaigns that appealed to a range of the senses including touch, combined with copy and visual to achieve the desired response. The session also touched on the need to evolve the briefing process, which traditionally has been copy-based. Many on the panel commented that their agencies were becoming increasingly dependent on creative briefs that encompassed more than the written word.

From imagery to music the nature of the creative brief has changed forever!

To hear more about what Lewis has to say about the future of creative imagery, don’t miss his webcast this Wednesday (3/21) at 2 EST .

“Unchanging rooms. The backlash against home makeovers” was the coverline on the London Guardian’s newspaper supplement yesterday. The article inside was based on a photography book Living Normally, which is showcasing (if that’s the word) homes that haven’t been swept through by the ‘makeover movement’.

It’s fascinating because it is flagging a phenomenon predicted by the Map Report (what Makes A Picture), released a couple of months back.

Produced by Getty Images Creative Research team and titled One Life, the first MAP Report is 11,000 words long, based on the study of 2000 tearsheets from around the globe, analysing 50,000 unique searches conducted for images, and includes the confessions of over 500 creatives who revealed under hypnosis the deep visual trends for the next 12 months. I made the last bit up.

But the MAP Report’s findings are based on an exhaustive global study, thorough analysis of cultural, commercial and social trends, interviews with relevant ‘trend witnesses’, and really does include a survey of 500 professionals from around the globe.

While The Guardian feature sees the backlash against home makeovers as a backlash against designer culture, signalling a desire for the handmade (as designers know, the ‘handmade’ is also really a designer culture) the MAP report suggested that this makeover backlash is likely to happen for longer term socio-psychological reasons.

The term One Life refers to a desire for anchorage in a world where we feel overwhelmed by choice, information, and the generalised anxiety of the post 9/11 world. The 90s and early noughties values of multi-tasking, enjoying the multiple roles afforded by modern lifestyles, have become for many far too stressful. The concept motivating One Life is an assertion of a desire to take control, to focus, to filter out the information overload, which is finding unusual expressions in advertising and photography.

The Map Report suggested that it’s the ‘makeover’ concept in general, linked to a treadmill experience of change that’s increasingly unappealing. Here’s one relevant passage from the report:

“Anxiety around change has been played out in TV. The relentless wave of space-makeover TV, which initially locked onto the nesting trend, is now perceived as a threat to the ‘nest’ that is constantly being gutted, fixed and rebuilt. Programs such as Swan, Extreme Makeover and 10 Years Younger, where the focus is on the individual rather than the space they occupy.

One Life is a call for anchorage. It will reject the fast-changing, style focus of nesting programs and demand an altogether more timeless approach in communication. Just because change is inevitable, doesn’t mean people want to spend their time feeding and following its call. Expect to see a change of emphasis in TV programming, publishing and elsewhere, as nesting-cum-makeover programs switch to preaching more eternal values.”

(Photograph by Freudenthal Verhagen)

It’s a bit like Tom Waits’ breathless sales rap Step Right Up! “Tired of being the life of the party? Change your shorts, change your life, change your life, change into a nine-year-old Hindu boy, get rid of your wife…” Anyway…

…the Map Report explores how a range of social and cultural dynamics translate into the visual language of photography. If that lights your candle, you can register here to see a webcast next Wednesday by Lewis Blackwell, Getty Images Global Creative Director, who will be summarizing some key ideas in the report. One Life is about how people at this moment are dealing with change, and how the visual language will have to change to meet that.

In the meantime I want that ultimate product that Tom Waits pictures in Step Right Up!

“That’s right, it fillets, it chops
It dices, slices, never stops
lasts a lifetime, mows your lawn
And it mows your lawn
and it picks up the kids from school
It gets rid of unwanted facial hair
it gets rid of embarrassing age spots
It delivers a pizza
and it lengthens, and it strengthens.”

Uncannily, the album on which this song appears is called… Small Change

(Photograph by Mitch Jenkins / Exclusive by Getty Images)

Hilarious article by Jessica Helfand at Design Observer about Ken’s birthday which was yesterday. Apparently the chameleonic Ken has done turns as a photographer, a photography student, and yes, even an art director (seen below).

The “real beauty” evangelists at Dove are at it again, this time with a campaign that features women aged 50+ wearing nothing but…nothing.

The copy reads: “Too old to be in an anti-aging ad,” and it promotes Dove’s new line of Pro-Age products, which are aimed at the pictured demographic. I think the photos are beautiful, and the campaign has the potential to be nothing short of revolutionary. That is…if anyone actually sees it. It turns out that the TV commercial portion of the ad blitz was banned in America by the FCC for showing, get this, too much skin. (It is being shown in Canada, however.) Dove has gone ahead and posted the commercial on their site anyway, so do give it a look.

This whole debacle is fascinating to me on two fronts. 1) How can it be that Ms. Spears is allowed to gyrate in a bikini top on MTV with a snake whilst singing “I’m a slave for you” to 12 year olds, but 50-something women are not allowed to be shown sans clothes in what I would argue is a completely tasteful, if not downright elegant manner? And 2) why is said “debacle” not more of a…well…debacle? The only mainstream coverage I was able to find on this was here, and that’s on a Canadian news site.

Women, beauty, body, aging, and the media representation thereof are elements that are intrinsically braided together, especially here in the states. If the commercial itself can’t be a conversation starter in this country, hopefully its censorship will be.

More to come on this, I’m sure.