BRU-V Print Campaign

Such a fun campaign by DDB Toronto. Such a perfect example of bringing a benefit to life. Do it in a self-deprecating way like we have here and you’ve got a fun, engaging and memorable campaign on your hands.

The product: Bru-V – A glass that protects your beer from the sun’s UV rays, which offers you beer that tastes ‘slightly better’. Not 100% better, amazing, incredible or revolutionary – just… slightly better.

The solution: Show side by side images where one is only slightly better than it was before. A girl with a beard ends up with a just a moustache, a guy with two skew eyes ends up with one pointing the right way and last but not least – a bald man doesn’t get his full head of hair back, but he gets something.

By being self-deprecating and not over-claiming (as we know brands love to do) Bru-V does a great job of humanising their brand and bringing people along for the ride. Let’s be honest – if you’re in the market for a special glass for your beer that will make it just a little bit better, the chances are you’ll appreciate this kind of humour.

Great stuff!

Stellenbosch Academy Pendoring Finalists

A huge congratulations to all of our students. We have recently received the list of finalists for this year’s Pendoring Awards (which celebrate advertising work and creativity in all of South Africa’s 11 languages) and we have the most finalists out of all the schools in the country.

We lead the way with 6 finalists and in second is Vega (Pretoria) with 4. Well done Vega!

To all of our students who made the finalists – we are so proud. See you at the awards show!

 

Kenzo World – Film

Perfume adverts offer such great opportunities for creating ads that really have no boundaries. It makes sense if you think about it – you can’t smell a fragrance through a film, but you can bring to life an idea or a feeling that is inspired by the fragrance. Sometimes these can end up a little insipid (famous actress walking through a city / ballroom / forest with a slow-motion kind of feel) but very often we get something truly out there.

This piece, directed by Spike Jonze, for Kenzo World is most definitely one of those that took advantage of the freedom of perfume advertising. This takes the way we traditionally think about perfume advertising and really turns it on its head. Added to this, because this is appearing online, Jonze isn’t limited in time to 30 seconds or 1 minute – he has the space to tell the story he wants to.

We open in a similar way to what we would expect – a beautiful woman in some kind of ball room, but something’s wrong. She looks a bit uneasy and we quickly notice that we can’t really hear what the people are saying around her. She gets up and then…

Well…

You’ll have to watch below to find out what happens!

Student Goldpack Awards Finalists Announced

The finalists for the 2016 IPSA Student Goldpack Awards have just been announced and the good news for us at the Stellenbosch Academy keeps on coming! The following students have made it through as finalists: Alexandra Hanson, Stephanie Le Roux, Lhente Strydom, Alida van der Westhuizen, Ashton Winkworth.

And now we wait! The winners will be announced at the official awards lunch on 25 October at the Inanda Club in Sandton. Good luck everyone!

Alcoholics Anonymous Brazil – Print Campaign

This is not the first time we’ve featured work for Alcoholics Anonymous. And it may not be the last. When creating communication for something like AA, we as creatives are often given just a little more license when formulating our ideas. With the chance to take more risks, we have the chance to create things that are a little more out there and hard hitting. These hard-hitting ads for AA Brazil really bring that to life.

With strong, emotive copy that captures what it can feel like to feel stuck as an alcoholic, with nowhere to turn to, these ads reach out a hand to those in distress. By offering relatable stories, no matter how hard they are to read or think of, along with a bold visual style that reminds us of the anonymity of AA, these adverts go a long way to helping someone make that first call for help.

 

Pearl Vodka – Print Campaign

Rodgers Townsend/DDB did this great campaign for Pearl Vodka that takes cues from adventure posters and book covers of old, with typography, composition and borders to match.

With the line, Discover Pearl, we are transported into magical undersea worlds where people battle with sea monsters, jellyfish and even what look like evil mermaids just to reach the vodka.

A combination of smart photo manipulation and retouching along with great illustration make these adverts good enough to be printed out as posters and hung on the wall. Remember: The mark of good design is that someone may like your work enough to be willing to steal it!

Peter Assenga takes second place in Lürzer’s Archive Student Awards

It’s been an amazing few weeks for us at the Academy what with our Loerie news and all the other amazing things our students are doing. And the great news just keeps on rolling in! We are very proud to announce that Peter Assenga, a student at the Academy, was recently named as a runner up in the Lürzer’s Archive Student Awards.

To learn more about the awards and see what the judges had to say about Peter’s work, have a look at the Lürzer’s Archive site.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 – Busy Busy Busy

You can always trust Wieden+Kennedy to create memorable adverts. This piece for the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is no exception. With Christoph Waltz as the star, we see him in increasingly outlandish scenarios, talking about Americans and the way they live and work. All the while, he is showing people features and benefits of the new Galaxy Note 7. This all ends in a beautifully tongue-in-cheek piece of hyperbolic American exceptionalism that you can’t help but laugh at.

It is masterfully done, beautifully art directed and very well written. This is advertising nirvana right here!

Have a look at the ad below and let us know what you think.

Stellenbosch Sport Ambassadors

Our second year students recently helped the Stellenbosch Sport Ambassadors develop visual elements for their athletes taking part in the Paralympics in Brazil. The final campaign, BeWon, shows how the athletes themselves can bring the community of Stellenbosch together. Well done to all our students involved: Chiquita Williams, Robyn Bodmann, Sarah Yeats, Jamie Waller, Mario Kirkland and Jess James.

Great work for a great cause!

 

Ottawa International Animation Festival – Posters

What a fun set of posters for the Ottawa International Animation Festival by McMillan, Ottawa.

With the line: Never Ever Grow Up, these posters feature crazy illustrations of older people doing things that only kids would do: Blowing out the candles on a cake, jumping into a kiddie pool and riding on a rocket. For a festival all about animation, this is such a perfect route to take -it’s all about the silliness that animation allows you to have. From the choice of colour through to the illustrations themselves, these are just spot on.