From Salman Rushdie to Fay Weldon, copywriters who go on to write novels are two a penny. But what about planners? Their intellectual mastery of human nature should make them great novelists. That’s why we were so excited to hear about the debut novel by Robin Poynglass, Director of Warm and Fuzzies at a leading London agency. ‘The Wedding Murder Code’ is so titled because according to research, books with ‘Wedding’, ‘Murder’ or ‘Code’ in the title are more likely to be bestsellers. Poynglass argues that all three words together should create a blockbuster. But can The Wedding Murder Code live up to the hype and avoid ‘plannery’ language? We think the answer is a resounding yes – but judge for yourself with our exclusive excerpt… Click the link below to read.

 

 Read an excerpt of The Wedding Murder Code (PDF)

Do you know where each and every one of your groceries was made, and who made them? Is there a story behind your cheese? Did a local farmer build your laptop? The rising interest in provenance is one of the biggest consumer trends of the last ten years, and brands know it. Some supermarkets now even employ farmers in store to follow shoppers around speaking passionately about their contribution (”May I interrupt to introduce myself? I’m Geoff and everything in your trolley was in my friendly muddy hands just a few hours ago!”).

Over the winter holidays we’ve been collecting examples of grocery labels that go the extra mile to communicate how authentic they are. Here are a few of our favourites…

Click the images to view close-ups:

Ads like this one have encouraged thousands of consumers to donate everything from frisbees to horses to help make “the best TV commercial ever” for Cadbury’s Wispa. It’s heartwarming to see so many people giving their time, effort and possessions to support this much-loved “comeback” brand. But how did the ad agency come up with such an uplifting idea? We’ve managed to track down the original creative brief, revealing the strategy behind the campaign — and we think you’ll agree it makes a fascinating read!

Click here to see the Wispa brief (pdf)

The proliferation of digital TV channels means advertisers have a tough time creating the big impact they used to. But for products with tightly defined target audiences, it can make small media spend super-effective. We’ve been doing some channel changing and discovered a few new specialist channels that planners and media buyers should definitely bear in mind:

TV33 – The only channel exclusively for 33-year-olds

Poochos – Programmes by dogs, for dogs

BBC Aspergers – Classic comedies obsessively re-edited and re-organised

I Hate The Olympics – Every event with scathing commentary from Terry Wogan

ITV 3.5 - ITV 3 and ITV 4 overlaying each other: Watch e.g. Minder and Katie & Peter simultaneously

KeaneVision – varied programming all with new soundtracks from Keane

News 25 – the news read slightly faster

Cameron – real-time soap opera devoted to the future prime minister

BBC TweenZone – non-stop Rotoscoped versions of the Saw films for young adults