The largest merger in advertising history!

     I don't necessarily believe in coincidence, but how crazy is it that I am over in London studying international advertising, and the largest merger of agencies occurs one of the last weeks that we are here? Today, July 28th, advertising titans, Publicis and Omnicom merge to become the largest ad agency in the world with a combined capital of just over $35 billion. What is a little more crazy is that just prior to this, I read in my text book that Omnicom generates enough income per year that they could effect world currencies just by shifting their money around in banks.

     Some questions that arise and something that we discussed in class are conflicts of interest. What happens when one agency who handles the likes of Coca-Cola, and Microsoft partners with another agency who handles Pepsi and Google? What about culture clash among agencies? Anti-trust laws? It is a very exciting time in the advertising world and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for both the agency and clients alike. 

"... all I wanted was for the truth to be revealed."

     Today was part of the weekend and with most of the homework caught up on, a few of us decided to go to the cinema and watch, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks and boy was it freaking awesome. In my opinion, it was relatively bias free as it brought into light the good of Julian Assange, Wikileaks, and Bradley Manning. But also contrasted and showed some of the darker sides of each.

     I have always been a big proponent of Wikileaks and have kept up with it for quite sometime. I was fairly knowledgeable about Assange, Manning, and the Apache Helicopter / Reuters reporters video that came to prominence and gained traction for Wikileaks, but I dont think some of the peers that I was with had heard or seen of that video. The expressions on their faces when they realized some of the wrong doings that occur by our government & military is something I won't soon forget. I think this documentary was very eye opening, not only for myself but for them as well. One profound statement from Manning that really stuck with me in this documentary was that Manning could have given all those leaks and cables to another country or sold them off to this highest bidder. But Manning said that he wasn't about that. All he ever wanted was for the truth to be revealed.

     Later that afternoon, I had received a call from Ryan & Jen from Kerrang asking if I wanted to go out to dinner that night. I gladly accepted, and a few hours later, I was on the Underground to meet up with them. We went out to Yo! Sushi and had some good food and great conversation. Afterwards, we were going to get some drinks at a bar, but found ourselves in a casino!

Bet it all on black, they say!

Field trip to the BBC

    
     Today marks a day that I have been looking forward to for quite some time. Although I am not a news major, I have always turned to the BBC News to escape any bias from US news media outlets. And I was about to be right in the mix of where all the BBC News takes place. We had a tour scheduled at 2:30 and were shown around by a mediocre tour guide and one hilarious tour guide.

     Pictured above is the entire news room of the BBC viewed from the left side. One thing I learned from the tour is that if you were to split the room in half vertically, one half consists of the BBC News London team, the other BBC World News. 

(Click for better image)

     Above is a brief history of the BBC, read from right to left.

I've got the blues

    This evening, a few of us made our way to Camden and went to a blues bar where we got to watch Muddy Water's son perform. This place was jam packed, sweaty, and full of soul. 

Kerrang!, Hyde Park, a Super Moon, and the Royal Birth (WOAH!)

                                       

     I just got back from one of the most excellent days that I have           had in London (so far). After class had concluded, I gathered my things and began to head to Oxford Circus for my meeting with Ryan Cooper at the Kerrang! offices. For my British Media class, we had to select a media outlet in which we would use to compare and contrast with a similar outlet back in the states. I was psyched to have selected Kerrang! The largest rock publication in the world, outselling Rolling Stone.

     I had a short journey (or so I thought) to the K! offices, but upon my arrival, I was told that I had entered the K! radio offices and I still had several blocks to go. I continued on in the right direction until I finally made it to the Bauer Media Group offices which housed K! I met Ryan and was able to sit in the conference room and get my interview for my paper. Ryan was a good dude and pretty stoked that I was all the way from the states and had an interest in K! He gave me the grand tour of the K! offices, which to my surprise, was relatively small and housed about 15 members on staff. Not bad for being the #1 rock publication in the world!

The K! offices - some of the editors and design team

The back wall at the K! office featuring some of the recent covers

     I concluded my visit with Ryan and the rest of the awesome people at the K! offices with a head full of insight to this rock publication and a wealth of information for my paper. Across the street was a burger joint called, Byron and it was about lunch time. I still had a FULL day of adventure ahead, so I stopped and grabbed a bite to eat. 

                                                                                                                                

     With a full belly and a sense of excitement, I began my journey to Hyde Park for my solo walk. One of the assignments that Peter had given us (and one that I was most stoked about) was to go on a solo journey through popular destinations or parks around London. I was fortunate enough to have selected Hyde Park & Kennsington Gardens. Hyde Park is massive! I had several "checkpoints" to see as I made my journey through the park. The first was the Peter Pan statue and seeing as how I am a lost boy, I knew it was meant to be that I got this card. Second was the Serpentine Art Gallery which I found to be extremely weird but oddly cool. The third check point lead me through a large forest which was suppose to end in a "scenic rose garden," but that exhibit was no longer available.

Entrance to Hyde Park

                               

                                      Peter Pan Statue

                                 

Sculpture / Cafe outside the Serpentine Gallery

                                  

     The fourth stop was the very large, very lavish Prince Albert monument. It was pretty awesome to see this massive monument that was right in the middle of Hyde Park. Continuing on to the fifth stop was the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. After just seeing the lavish Prince Albert statue, I figured the Princess Diana fountain would have to be equally extravagant, but not quite. Stop six lead me through what was left of the lush and green park to the exit, but not before passing Speaker's Corner. I got to see a lot of beauty and a lot of awesome things on this solo walk, but more importantly I finally got some time by myself and was able to really gather my thoughts and reflect on this trip and it was real humbling.

     I finished up with just enough time to make it back to Regents to get dinner and to get cleaned up. The class is meeting up this evening to go to Primrose Hill to catch a glimpse of the super moon. We had quite the trek, but once we made it, we had the sickest view of London. We all hung out for a few hours before we finally got to see the super moon rise just above The Shard. Shortly there after, we all had gotten word that Kate had given birth to the Royal Baby. The BT Communication Tower just off to the distance had a digital display at the top of it that read, "It's a Boy!"

     We took a trip to Buckingham Palace the day after the Royal Birth. It was so swarmed with people, but we had an exciting time. We had just missed the changing of the guards, but you can see them below as well. 

     

Sun rise in Brighton | July 18

    
     Just a brief update - After class, I made my way to the London Bridge Station, then onward to Gatwick Airport to meet up with one of my friends, Jamie Beadle. I met Jamie about a year ago in the states through the close-knit paintball community. This weekend is Jamie's birthday, so Jamie, his girlfriend, a couple of friends, and myself all packed in his car and had a night out on the town. We decided to head out to Brighton that evening and I'm glad we did. We got to watch the sun rise on the beach. Above is the new pier and just off to my right lay the remains of the old pier which burnt down several years ago.

Advertising has standards?!?

July 17, 2013

     After class today, we got to sit in on a very informational presentation at the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media. They apply the Advertising Codes, which are written by the Committees of Advertising Practice. Their work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements.

 

One particular issue that stuck out to me at the presentation was the ASA's discretion on altered images via Photoshop. In the states, it's commonplace for many print ads (especially those related to cosmetics) to be altered to enhance a product or brand, but that sort of practice just doesn't fly in the UK. I think banning said adverts is excellent and very practical and it blows my mind that there isn't any sort of regulatory body like that in the states.

Here is the example the ASA showed as one of their banned ads and one of adverts that received the most complaints.