Thursday, August 14, 2008

D&AD Workshop – WHSmith

Ok, we didn't make any copies of the campaign we submitted to qualify for the D&AD advertising workshop, as we've been pretty busy with Nike stuff at that time. But as we went to the introduction session on Wednesday we received our work back and we thought we'll share.

The brief was: Create a campaign to encourage parents to spend more quality time with their children, by showing the range of products that WHSmith has to keep all ages entertained.

Here are the two campaigns we sent in.


Jai prefers the first one but I like this one more. We don't know yet which agency did set the brief. Maybe we'll find out and ask what they preferred.



We had a couple more starting points we've submitted as lines:
  • Adult Play Time
  • Invest in your assets
  • You'll need them once you're old
  • Playing makes you younger
  • Be a TV family
  • Make time before they make you to
  • Keep them younger longer

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Found this pic of yours
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8812624@N04/2264110939/in/set-72157603718750137/
These ads your handy work???

Anonymous said...

yes

Anonymous said...

Seen it around, so its nice to put a face to it. Like it.

Anonymous said...

really like the first three, too much gayness in the last three.
Good for you for putting them up, keep us all updated!
well done, definitely warrant a place on a d&ad workshop! good luck lad's.

Ronnie Blogsville said...

Yeah i prefer the first campaign...

Have fun on the workshops and say hi to Davina!

william said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
william said...

I like the second campaign but the writing is a bit strange. Why have you used the Americanised "Pa and Ma", "Little One"? Is that part of it? It's seems a bit odd for WHSmith which is a quintessentially British company.

Also, why the word "different" in the end-line. Surely just "memories for sale" says the same thing?

Enjoy the workshops and your celebrity status on it:)

William

Anonymous said...

thanks, but the endline doesn't read different, it reads: childhood memories for sale.

about the writing, we thought it sounds just like someone would say it, but i guess we'll have to look into it, it was all in a bit of a rush really.

Anonymous said...

I think they're both boring to be honest.

What's the USP?

This could be for Woolworths...

The Oxymorons said...

Does it need a USP?

Surley an insight and truth is where it is these days.

DM

william said...

Sorry Wal, I misread it. It's a really good, workable strategy I reckon.

Anonymous said...

Nice work.

I prefer the second campaign as it happens :)

Anonymous said...

Do WH Smith actually sell all the items that make up the "kids" in Route 1? I thought this brief was to promote educational board games, etc?
I don't know of any parents who want to "craft" their children. Leave genetic enhancement to the scientists.

Anonymous said...

I think there are so nice ideas but I hate the word "kid".

Anonymous said...

are they supposed to be kids in the first campaign? you can't tell they are kids.

copy in the second one is pretty poor to be honest, unless you have amazing copy the don't bother is the reality.

Anonymous said...

In my humble opinion the first campaign doesn't quite work. I know what you're trying to say but I don't think 'crafting' a kid will appeal to many parents (unless their name is Geppetto).

I REALLY like the thought behind the second campaign. The body copy needs a little work. As someone else said, the Americanized (I know, I know) copy doesn't do it for me.

A thought: could you even lose the body copy and let the visual do the work? Have a photo of a parent with their child, using some of the stuff from WH Smith. For example, they could be doing a painting, and both of them are laughing, covered in paint.

It's not edgy, I know. But, hey, WH Smith ISN'T an edgy brand.

Anonymous said...

I don't see you coming up with any suggestions.

You might not like the idea of a child and parent painting, but you've got to pay attention to the brand and not just create wacky pieces for the sake of it (I don't think you have here though Jai/Wal)

That type of suggested execution would work well with their end line and strategy and work well with the W H Smith tone of voice.

Anonymous said...

Why so many "comments deleted" lately? Don't you like criticism? Maybe you are not in the right business.

Are you going to delete this comment too?

Anonymous said...

there's not a single deleted comment here. we only delete them if they are offensive.

Anonymous said...

thumbs up for posting your work. really brave so you have my respect for that.

i see what you're trying to do there but it's not coming across in an interesting way.

'crafting' your son sounds like an experimental service offered in a dodgy Chinese clinic.

your second campaign has a more human thought but the copy makes it really boring and predictable.

you say they were done in a rush. they do feel a bit like that to be honest. half baked. my only question there is, why? isn't this something worth giving it 100% ? if it's not, then why doing it?

Hayley said...

My vote's with the second campaign, and would have to agree that the "American" wording of some of it is what needs work on it. Love that they're simply done with pen.

Think the line "Craft your perfect kid" is a bit harsh on the first ones - surely to every parent, their child is "perfect". Understand what you were getting at, but it ends up coming across like the parents would be trying to mould their children into something they're not, if you get me?

Anonymous said...

sorry, this is not a spiteful comment but they are both as dull as dishwater.

as with your some of your other stuff wal it's too safe and twee, yeah fair enough it's got you guys on the workshop but I'm suprised it has, was a lot tougher a while back.

Anonymous said...

I agree, the work is forgettable, but maybe it's because he's "famous" that he got on?

Anonymous said...

people judging the entries don't know the name of the creatives who submitted them.

they got in solely on their work merits so well done.

that being said, the bar was not set too high this year.

not intending to slag you off, wal. i just honestly think this ads are not the best you can do. sure, they got you into d&ad but that doesn't necessarily mean they are great, it means the other entries weren't even at that level.

and you my friend, surely want to do better than that.

Anonymous said...

I won't beat around the bush, these are both shit, seriously!

They're both really addy and about as interesting as a lemon sandwich.

I don't mean to be negative Wal but i think you need to hear some truth. A lot of people seem to be saying how these are good, but they're not.

Would any of these get into your book? If the answers yes, then you're bang in trouble as your book must be pony.

Starting to wonder how you got into Weidens, although they seem to me to be abusing the placement system as all they do is bring teams in for a month.

They other lines you've added are afwul, very addy and you need to start to write in a more colloquial way.

Anyway, good luck. I think you're a decent chap but your work needs to be a lot better.

Anonymous said...

No offence but how they hell did those get you on the workshops? It looks like Adam & Eve did them. Cheap, quick and rubbish. Still, good luck on the workshops.

Anonymous said...

I think you'll find this is a deleted comment Wal:

Comment deleted

This post has been removed by the author.

8/15/2008 10:37:00 AM