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Our recent musings…
CIM & Mintel talk about soft drinks
CIM & Mintel talk about soft drinks 1024 768 Stephen Holmes

Here’s my notes from David Jago at Mintel & CIM‘s talk last night about Soft Drinks… *  * * Provenance of ingredients is really important. It’s a huge market, 8.2 billion liters at retail per year in the UK alone Bottled water is booming. Two big challenges for the market: sugar and plastic packaging 61%…

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Design is business, not art
Design is business, not art 1024 768 Stephen Holmes

There’s a never-ending argument in our industry about whether design is art or business. At Bloodybigspider, we fall heavily on the business side. Of course, communications need to look attractive so you can grab your audience’s attention and get your message across, but that ‘message’ is really what’s key. You’re not painting a picture to…

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Be that guy
Be that guy 1024 768 Robert Scott

There’s always that guy, in school, at uni or at work, there’s always one. The bloke that doesn’t shut up. Talks rubbish about everything and anything. He’s the third wheel, the one that always has to ask as many questions as possible. You probably even have a name for this person. Maybe you know this…

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The future of work
The future of work 1024 768 Stephen Holmes

Last week I went to a talk, The Future of Work – Exploring the Roles of Digitalisation and Diversity at London School of Economics and Political Sciences – here’s my notes…   Simone Menne Non-exec Director at BMW, previously CFO at Lufthansa Standardisation and rules are important but this will lead to it all being automated.…

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Tenders, pitches & procurement
Tenders, pitches & procurement 1024 811 Stephen Holmes

There was a great article last week on Marketing Week, Why procurement must be marketing’s new best friend, and if you’re involved (either client or agency side) in running tenders, pitches or an aspect of procurement it’s definitely worth a read. The thinking behind tenders is that they’re theoretically a great way to appoint new…

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Oi, you, look at me
Oi, you, look at me 743 496 Stephen Holmes

With creative work, whether it’s branding, design or advertising, the most important thing is to be noticed (old skool AIDA). If no one is looking at you, they’ll never see your message, let alone do what you’re trying to influence them to do. This article, Using every trick in the book to be remembered, from…

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It’s (not) fantastic!
It’s (not) fantastic! 1024 564 Stephen Holmes

The latest round of Go Compare’s TV adverts are even more irritating than usual (hard to imagine, I know). Clearly, the brief said “we want everyone to think that Go Compare is fantastic!”, and okay, I can see how that’s a good thing. But where they went wrong was thinking the best way to meet…

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Coca-Cola Zero to Hero?
Coca-Cola Zero to Hero? 1024 614 Stephen Holmes

News from The Guardian says that… Coca-Cola is to reformulate and rename its sugar-free Coca-Cola Zero in the UK at a cost of £10m, to make it look and taste “more like Coke. After the company’s research found half of British consumers did not know the brand contained no sugar… So, in effect, no one knew what…

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When typesetting gets lost in translation
When typesetting gets lost in translation 1024 740 Miranda Latham-Jackson

It’s a rare week in the Bloodybigspider office that one of us isn’t typesetting a translated version of a design. Since I’m the language and typography geek, it’s often me – sometimes working in as many as nine languages at once. Now, I’m a graphic designer, not a linguist (though I know enough French and Spanish…

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Even nicer in your ISA
Even nicer in your ISA 657 421 Stephen Holmes

View this post on Instagram Our Wellesley ad in The Daily Telegraph today, woo! #advertising #newspaper #finance #investment #printad #marketing #isa #brand #designagency #graphic #advert A post shared by Bloodybigspider (@bloodybigspider) on Mar 25, 2015 at 6:30am PDT We worked with media planning agency MNC last year to write and design two newspaper ads for…

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I’ve fallen in love: Gtech’s vacuuming chorus line
I’ve fallen in love: Gtech’s vacuuming chorus line 150 150 Stephen Holmes

Previous adverts from Gtech (the Dyson wannabes) were, I think it’s fair to say, a bit pedestrian. Using an inventor or owner as the face of the brand is a tried and tested approach (think Richard Branson or perhaps more appropriately – James Dyson), but it does require them to have a bit of character. Nick Grey,…

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And then the world presents… Self Hacking
And then the world presents… Self Hacking 150 150 Stephen Holmes

Last night Tau and I went to an event run by the super nice Tom Le Bree – usually monthly, they’re always a good evening out and this one was no exception. It was on ‘self hacking’ and the rise of people tracking more and more of their own lives. Background on the speakers by…

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Not/Stalgia with LS:N Global
Not/Stalgia with LS:N Global 150 150 Stephen Holmes

This morning I was at a Trend Briefing run by LS:N Global at one of my favourite stomping grounds (The Hosptial Club) which was really interesting, both in the talks and the people I met. Below are some notes (some by them, some from me) about the three trends that were spoken about… Net/Stalgia A trend,…

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Stephen’s in The Hospital
Stephen’s in The Hospital 150 150 Stephen Holmes

Had a lovely surprise this morning as the latest copy of The Hospital Club’s magazine H came through the letterbox – a full page feature on us. Nice.

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Waterstone’s rebrand
Waterstone’s rebrand 150 150 Stephen Holmes

I noticed the other day that Waterstone’s (UK Bookshop chain) had rebranded from it’s old classical ‘W’ (on the left) to a very modern ‘W’ (on the right), in both a cool sans serif and as a version made up of other brightly coloured elements. It has a really nice surreal and dreamlike quality to…

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Carrots and sticks
Carrots and sticks 150 150 Stephen Holmes

Recently finished reading ‘Yes! 50 Secrets from the science of persuasion‘ by Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini – a great book in general but especially useful and interesting for those working in the marketing industry. It’s a really easy read, with each of the ’50 Secrets’ taking up about 3…

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The Power of PowerPoint
The Power of PowerPoint 150 150 Stephen Holmes

One of the constant joys of commercial life is sitting through PowerPoint presentations. Oooooh, I’m excited just thinking about the prospect of sitting through a 30mins+ presentation. The reality is that PowerPoint is used because it’s ‘standard’ and people have no idea how to present information in any other format. It’s often used as a…

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Confused? Don’t be, it’s seemples.
Confused? Don’t be, it’s seemples. 150 150 Stephen Holmes

Mmm… price aggregator sites (you know the ones I mean, where you can ‘compare the prices of every single car insurance vendor on the planet’ or similar) – don’t you just love them. For each sector, they all have the same companies / brands that they list, with practically no strategy for differentiation from their…

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