Everyone's Invited to Swim

Only the great will make it to the other side.

The annual D&AD Student Awards competition is in full-swing. The British Design and Art Design Award is one of the most coveted and challenging student awards across the pond and around the world.

There's no limit of entries, but they had better be incredible. The best of the best will be grading them. Each entry needs to be signed by your tutor/professor, or you can't enter. Can a 30 year-old grad student enter? You betcha. (Coincidentally, that's the same age as this award.)

Winners receive an oversize pencil whose tree's growth must have been stunted due to the greenhouse effect. But this little stump can be used as a pedestal to reach the next level, or a doorstop to save yourself from having a crushed foot.

The categories are: Advertising, Animation, Furniture Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Integrated Communication, Music Videos, Open Briefs, Photography, Product Design, Social Design, and What Else Do You Do? Description for the last onereads, "Having already entered one of more of the briefs this year, you are now entitled to now submit an additional piece of work that has nothing to do with this or any other competition..."

Because this blog is about advertising, I will only list the endless possibilities for the Advertising category.

Postcard
Breastfeeding, Sponsored by Best Beginnings
Press Advertising
Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Sponsored by Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Outdoor
HSBC, Sponsored by ClearChannel
Viral
Nando's, Sponsored by Nando's
Ambient
London Fashion Week, Sponsored by Grazia
Writing
If Only I'd Listened More Carefully, Sponsored by Ogilvy
Direct and Online
The Army, Sponsored by TEQUILA\
Poster
The Royal Opera House, Sponsored by This Is Real Art
TV
Belu, Sponsored by Weilands

You can't literally drown if you don't win; you only fill your metaphorical lungs up with water and have to be resuscitated by determination. Or you could change majors (quitter). Before you enter, read this. Did you read it? Okay, the briefs are here.

D&AD will accept entries from students from Jan. 14 – March 20, 2008. The grading takes place in May, and the awards ceremony is in June. All of the 'A' work is accessible in June.

Good luck!

(Do It) For the Glory of Love

In the latest issue of Communication Arts magazine, Ernie Shenck encourages us to appreciate every day, whether it's the day you get laid off or the day your agency lands an account with your favorite brand. The article is called 'Is There a Shoeless Joe in You?', referencing the baseball player, Shoeless Joe Jackson. Do what you do because you love it unconditionally.

Here's an excerpt of the motivational column. I encourage you to subscribe to CA. If you don't, at least get this issue for Ernie's uplifting words.

"I hope you love it all. Embrace it all. Suck it all in and let it shape and form you into something amazing, something with depth and breadth and subtle variations in texture and color, the likes of which we've never seen. Love what you do. Love the highs and the lows and weave it all into what you are to become. Be blindly in love. Be Shoeless Joe. Hold the bat up to your face. Look at the grain. Feel it on your cheek. Smell the varnish. You'll be better for it. We all will."

Here's a great example.

Starbucks Goes Wi-Fi with iTunes

The iPod touch was released today by Steve Jobs. It's really thin and can play your favorite movies, YouTube, Cover Flow, and you can hop on the Internet with the Safari Web browser. The iPod nano also has received a big face lift with a new design, new colors, a larger display with video, Cover Flow, and enhanced interface.

But now Apple has joined with Starbucks, so the iPod touch user will be able to download the music that is playing in the coffee shop. No more asking the barista what the tune before last was while you were in the bathroom.

Now you can download it with their free wireless connection. Until the release of this news, Starbucks Wi-Fi has only been available to T-Mobile users, and it wasn't free.

According to Apple, New York and Seattle Starbucks should have it integrated sometime next month. The San Francisco area should get it in November. Next year, Los Angeles should have it in February and Chicago in March.

The new iPod touch doesn't have that much memory. There's an 8 GB and a 16GB, in comparison to the 160 GB possibility for the iPod Classic. This should be enough for your duration at Starbucks to watch a movie and listen to some tunes on the walk back home.

Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Where's Your Bone?

Somebody took it on the road.

In celebration for the DVD and Blu-ray disc release of Night At the Museum , The Borden Agency created a promotion for Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Home Entertainment. The mobile marketing and event promo has been announced as the "T-Rex Trek". REXY, a 13-foot tall and 20-foot long T-rex, will be set on a flatbed trailer to run after a yellow Hummer H2 (relative to the little monster), which will be carrying his prized possession - a large bone.

Borden has the right idea by using free publicity. Larry Borden, CEO of The Borden Agency says, "...local media outlets will broadcast live in each market. We've left no stone unturned, and we will even have local traffic helicopters involved." To see the full press release, click (eMediaWire).

Kansas City's seismographs should detect the dino on April 20th, with the epicenter located in the vicinity of Science City at Union Station. Other cities should expect a visit from the voracious reptile from April 17-24. You'll be able to track REXY's cross-country chase via Yahoo! Maps and watch footage from his trip via Yahoo! Movies.