Tea break creative

Bauhaus & Bournemouth

Stew: I recently discovered a brilliant Twitter feed called Bands FC. The premise is straightforward: take a band and a football club band, mash ‘em up and share the results.

Sometimes these beautifully designed unions are obvious – Oasis & Man City, Oxford United & Radiohead – sometimes they’re less so: Bauhaus & Bournemouth anyone? It’s one of those ideas that designers everywhere will no doubt be thinking: “that’s brilliant, why didn’t I think of that?!”. New badges are being added all the time – I wait expectantly for Chas n Dave & Tottenham!

Book a trip

Stew: Earlier this month I decided to pop into the Waterstones on Tottenham Court Road in search of some reading inspiration. As I browsed the various displays at the front of the shop, picking up books that looked interesting and reading the blurb on the back, I took a second to appreciate that this what a great customer experience is all about. They understand the audience and appreciate that the wonderfully eclectic book titles and cover designs encourage exploration – many other retailers both off and online could definitely take a leaf out of their book (pun intended). Why not find your nearest Waterstones and go be inspired?

A(nother) Perfect Day

Bob: As a rule, I’d say that trying to recreate/revisit/refresh an old idea is a sign of lazy thinking and dull creative. But then I saw BBC III’s new version of the iconic ‘Perfect Day’ film from 1997. And the fact is that they’ve totally nailed it. Fresh, relevant and packed with today’s voices, it gives Lou Reed’s classic a stylish makeover.

Maybe it’s because…

Bob: I’m not a Londoner, but I was total wowed by Nike’s “Nothing beats a LNDR” campaign. Yes, I know I’m late to the party. Yes, I’ve heard about the law suits. And yes, I get that it’s just a teeny bit London-centric. But wow, what a film. Thrilling. Dynamic. Funny. Proud. And more than anything – authentic. No wonder other cities want their own films.

Tired of cute?

Bob: After years and years of cutesy, comfortable advertising by energy companies, it’s time someone kicked back with a vengeance. Someone angry. Someone with a story to tell. And that someone is Ovo Energy, with their film “Power life differently”. It is, ahem, powerful stuff. No voiceover. No captions. Just a huge call to arms. Nice. Oh, and it’s not often you hear Slayer on an advertising soundtrack either.