It Ads Up

A colleague lent me a 1988 edition of Vogue over the weekend and as I reclined at home with a cup of tea and Cindy Crawford’s youthful beauty emanating from the front cover, it occurred to me just how much has changed in the past twenty three years. There was even a 20p off coffee voucher somewhere in the middle, inserted within the restaurants section.

Okay so the wide-shouldered, angular silhouettes may cast little difference between an ‘80s edition and a current one, however rather than wading through the ads to find the content it was the other way around. With just a few advertorials on skin products, Horlicks and Debenhams, equally interspersed with articles on everything from health, fitness and beauty to travel, fashion and horoscopes; the real age of advertising seemed a long way off from Condé Nast’s flat-planning. With ads being thin on the proverbial ground it was a real joy to cut straight through and read the thoughtful and academic editorial: commentary on relevant designers such as Eileen Gray and Joe Tilson, notes from playwright David Mamet and debates of current political relevance (which at the time centred on the new education bill). Unlike the contemporary version which is stuffed to the gills with predominantly fashion and beauty and ads. Even the cover should tip us off as to the economically sleek content within, particularly when compared with its 2011 peer…


The Eighties marked the era of Margaret Thatcher, higher taxes and budget cuts. Vogue featured a spread on Thatcher entitled ‘Political Dressing’ and raised the point that advertising plays a significant role in the success of any political candidate, particularly a first lady: ‘Politicians and their dress have become a matter of considerable interest. All now wedded to the television camera and the advertising campaign, they must be sure that the way they look stands up to the scrutiny of a public that is skilled in the reading of images.’ So fashion is an ad campaign? But what are we endorsing, ourselves or the craftsmanship of designer and high-street seamstresses? How we look can dictate a number of things: whether we succeed or fail; whether we carry ourselves with poise and confidence; and whether we buy Vogue or not.

It’s all in the advertising really. How we look is a projection of how we would like others to see us. So while Thatcher would don modest mid-calf skirts, neck-high blouses and tailored jackets hoping to instil confidence and respect in her voters, Yves Saint Laurent would don peonies and a glam-looking Milla Jovovitch to instil consumers with an aspirational need to use its perfume. Good looking people, well-photographed products and catchy phrases all concocted to sell. But while Vogue circa 1988 did it subtly, Vogue circa now shoves it up our noses, in our faces and down our necks at every page-turning opportunity it gets.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I class myself a ‘Vogue Woman’ along with the rest of the trend-following lemmings alighting at Oxford Circus station every morning, however, having this ’88 point of reference really opened my eyes to how society views us. Yes 21st Century Vogue covers all the same reference points, culture, politics, fashion etc; but the sheer extent of advertising in modern-day magazines points to the fact that more than ever we are driven by money and materialism.

So here’s a thought for your Wednesday afternoon – particularly those of you who (like me) work on Oxford Street (or in one of the other fashion-heavy districts of London) – when you trawl the stores on your lunch-hour are you buying things because you really want them, or are you just buying into the glittery trap of all-consumering advertising?

Chapter Two

The clanging became more insistent. ‘I have to get out of here,’ Lacey thought. Suddenly, her eyes flew open. Heart thumping; her eyes roamed wildly, searching for the source of the ringing. She alighted on the illuminated device on her bedside table. It was 7am.

It was a dream. It had all been a dream.

Frantically, she threw herself out from under the covers and began pulling out garments from drawers and cupboards. A rush of dizzying nausea washed over her and she slumped back onto the bed for a moment, regaining her centre. She continued with her morning routine, slipping into her shirt and trouser suit, which she had ironed and pressed the night before. Her mother, a nurse, had already left for work, leaving Lacey alone in the house. Her head throbbed as anxiety and panic gripped her. Doing her best to ignore it, she shouldered her handbag and retrieved her portfolio from the dining room table.

‘I’m going to get this job. I’m going to get this job.’ She repeated her mantra the whole way down the road, inwardly buoying herself along as she made her way into the train station.

Plugging her headphones into her iPod she stood back as the train roared into the station. Joining the crush of people flowing on, she squeezed herself into a space and leaned against the seats of the train carriage prepared to just immerse herself in the music. No such luck, at the next stop an inordinately rude girl stepped onto the train. Lacey tried not to listen as she spewed profanities and verbal abuse into her mobile directed at some poor sod who was apparently at home and thereby unhindered by the affliction of rush-hour tube travel. Phone call over, angry girl then turned her fury on some poor fellow standing in front of her. Blasting him for his McDonald’s-own coffee breath and abject proximity to her in such a small and confined space; she muttered that situations such as this explained how people were convicted of ABH. Lacey exchanged an alarmed look with the lady standing opposite. Coffee breath tried to explain there was little manoeuvrability for him as angry girl pointed out some space behind him. To her irritation he refused to move into it. She huffed and puffed until the train finally pulled into Finchley Road where to everyone’s relief she alighted – Lacey assumed to wreak havoc for the community of the Jubilee Line.

A deluge of people replaced angry girl and others who got off and the train continued forward on its journey. A few minutes after departing the next station, the train heaved to an untimely stop somewhere within the tunnel. Most people didn’t particularly notice this fact, engrossed in morning headlines and assorted literature. Then the lights went out plunging the train into darkness. Lacey looked up at the carriage ceiling, expecting the overhead beams to come back on. But nothing happened. Trying to ignore the unease tugging at her consciousness, she studied her fellow passengers in the muted light. People on top of people. Bags pressed into the backs of others. Sighs of irritation. The hands on so many watches ticking down the minutes as they stood and sat in unfriendly silence, willing the train to move forward so they could attend to appointments, meetings and other working commitments.

The driver’s voice crackled through the intercom. It sounded alien and far away.
‘Sorry for the delay to your journey Ladies and Gents, I’m just waiting to hear what the problem is but hopefully we’ll be on the move again soon.’ A murmur of discontented grumbles passed through the carriage. Lacey tried to peer out, beyond the double layered windows into the tunnel but recoiled at seeing the red brick of wall mere inches from the train’s exterior. Breathing heavily she fished in her bag for the bottle of Rescue Remedy she had plucked from the bathroom cabinet before leaving the house. Her trusty aid for the nerve-inducing ordeal of the interview; she slipped a few drops onto her tongue now, relishing the taste of the calming ingredients as they dissolved in her mouth.

She swallowed and shifted slightly on her 4” black Louboutin heels. Discomfort was beginning to settle on her limbs as the time passed, slowly.

Hilarious easyJet tube ad

The Art of Long Copy - The London Long Copy Challenge 2010
In association with CBS Outdoor and my former workplace, Campaign magazine.

Read this hilarious entry from Publicis London, for easyJet:

So I said to Sofia (from £35.99), I said, ‘What the Helskinki (from £27.99) are you on about? I’m not getting up at 4am. That’s taking the Mykonos (from £35.99). I’m Tallinn (from £29.99) you, with Speedy Boarding there’s no need for me to be up that Orly (from €28.99). I’ll have plenty of time at the airport to get Cologne (from £25.99) for Uncle Tel Aviv (from £101.99). And something Nice (from £25.99) for your Nantes (from €24.99). Corfu (from £41.99) girl! My first business trip, and you’re acting like a Catania (from €24.99) hot tin roof.’ So off I go, and Kos (from £35.99) easyJet only fly to main airports, the hotel wasn’t too Faro (from £25.99) away. I’m on the terrace in two Sharm El Sheikhs (from £102.99) of a lambs tail, having an ice cold Biarritz (from €29.99) at the Bari (from €19.99) with this German fella Bilbao (from £27.99). ‘Venice (from £27.99) your return flight to Gatvick?’ he asks. ‘And after the meeting, do you fancy Lyon (from £25.99) on the beach?’ ‘Sure’ I said, knowing that if I got Bordeaux (from £25.99) and wanted to Split (from £23.99), I could always catch an earlier flight home at no charge. What’s Toulouse (from £27.99)? Wherever you’re flying on business, it’s a Pisa (from £27.99) cake on easyJet.com.

NYC & Social Media

Having spent a week in New York meeting a variety of PR and ad agency folk, it would appear that the importance of social media in securing the success of current marketing campaigns is high on the agenda, however they are crying out for people with these digital skills.

Moving further into 2010 the internet will continue to provide brands and companies with free and essential advertising opportunities. Digital marketing is central to any PR and marketing strategy and for most people nowadays, the web is their first port of call for information and research. Twitter is the most powerful form of free marketing, so companies utilising it to full effect in this current digital media climate will thrive. For example, Stephen Fry has been using it to promote his new book in time for the Christmas season and subsequently driving people to his website. For PR agencies and their clients Twitter has become the most effective way of spreading the word about what a PR agency is doing for its client, but also what the client itself is doing. The online visibility afforded via social digital media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and their synergy in working together to create a widespread and dynamic network gives agencies and clients a portal through which to generate new business and effectively maintain existing clientele by staying current and ahead of competitors. The iPhone and Blackberry and other social networking mobiles, including the new Samsung Genio, have become integral in assisting the functionality and success of social media and digital marketing. The Compare the Market front-animal, Aleksandr the Meerkat is another great example of digital media worked at its best, with almost 6.000 fans on Facebook and hordes of followers on Twitter. Understanding how these networks work and exploiting them effectively will play an important part towards the success of PR agencies and their clients in 2010.