In my last post I mentioned the nostalgia for children’s toys as seen in the Santander’s commercials. How delighted I was therefore, to see that Lego have pulled from their illustrious archives their award winning stop-frame animation ad ‘Kipper’ by TBWA. It’s a surreal look at the things kids can make out of a Lego with a brilliant voice-over by the late and great British comedian Tommy Cooper. ‘I said a kipper not a slipper. Ha hah ha.”

This master-class of creativity, simplicity and charm has more than stood the test of time – it’s appearing on TV and at cinemas now. Well done to Lego and their agency for having the courage to air it again. Have a look for yourself on YouTube. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY9lctGCZZE

Last weekend, I took the opportunity to visit the ‘controversial’ Banksy versus Bristol Museum exhibition. For any cultural hermits, Banksy gained notoriety by using stencils to paint images on a diverse array of outdoor locations – graffiti in other words. The Banksy exhibition presents a considerable body of work and many 3D pieces which were unfamiliar to me. I’m not going to add my opinion to the “is this art, debate? But look at what appeals to me, professionally. He’s a great communicator. A populist, where his work is instant and immediate and not highbrow. You may not like the contemporary subject matter, or his medium, but you cannot argue with his creative power of expression. There’s satire, there’s wit, there’s social criticism. Delivered invariably by the juxtaposition of images and double meaning, all of which is very hard to do, and do well.

He’s a modern day William Hogarth and our streets (and museums) are a better place because of Banksy.

How refreshing to receive the new Heineken commercial as a viral yesterday. It lifted my spirits during these bleak days, thanks tbwa neboko in the Netherlands, great work. 

Heineken walk-in fridge

Working with brands across EMEA, as a copywriter and creative director, I’ve seen my fair share of language translation glitches.  So when I was sent this little nugget of knowledge I just had to share it.  Some English phrases were translated by computer, one way and back again, using 5 different languages.  How did the software cope with 10 consecutive translations of the same piece of copy?  Judge for yourself.

1) I’m a little teapot, short and stout.
became
They are a small potentiometer, short circuits and a beer of malzes of the tea.

2) A cookie is just a cookie, but fig newtons are fruit and cake.
became
Biskuit has expert of biskuit, but Newton von Fig is fruit and hardens.

3) When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.
became
If the moon fixes its eye like a great vector of Fleischpie of the vector of Pizzapie, is the lover.

Laugh? I almost cracked my ribeye steaks. One final point, at Beechwood, we always use mother tongue translators for all our client’s EMEA  localisation work.  We find it’s a better way or which after 10 translations becomes  - ‘We discovered it, an avenue of butter’.