It's a new week, and here's a new edition. (#56)

Welcome to the latest edition of the newsletter.

Go down a rabbit hole with The Matrix and Lays, discover a book about a punk legend, a sculptured cafe in Bangkok, and some new content from Burberry.

I hope you like what I have lined up.

Rodd

ADVERTISING - TV - Lays is inside The Matrix

The new spot from Lays takes viewers down a rabbit hole and into The Matrix where Keegan-Michael Key plays the role of Morpheus. A special guest makes an appearance towards the end of the commercial.

The spot was Directed by Taika Waititi.

Watch it in the links below.

ADVERTISING - Behind The Scenes - Lays inside The Matrix

Watch some on-set action from the spot. It looks like it was a lot of fun to make.

Link below.

COPYWRITING

Some headlines are just waiting to be written and sometimes culture has already written it for you - well at least the inspiration for it.

The agency can thank Prince for this ad for Corvette.

It's a great line and it just goes to show why good copywriters seek inspiration from anywhere and everywhere.

THE CREATIVE LIFE

How do you stay creative?

Do The Different.

If you’re a writer, learn to draw.

If you’re a photographer, learn to paint.

If you’re a fashion designer, learn to make a chair.

If you’re a video director, learn to play guitar.

If you’re a musician, learn to make a short film.

Just do something different. Teach your creative mind new tricks.

"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." - Maya Angelou

QUOTE

“Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience.” – Masaru Ibuka

ARCHITECTURE - BANGKOK

A new cafe in Bangkok, aptly named Curvy Dining, certainly stands out in its surroundings. It looks more like a sculptural flower, it makes a statement.

Yanko Design published a story about it, here's a snippet.

Tucked away in the industrial landscape of Bangkok, Curvy Dining feels like an anomaly—an ethereal bloom rising from the concrete. Designed by Unknown Surface Studio, this sculptural café pulls inspiration from the flowers that naturally grow on-site. But rather than mimicking nature outright, the design distills organic forms into a precise architectural language. The result is a structure that appears both delicate and deliberate, where curves and symmetry dictate movement and experience.

The design begins with a singular point, much like the growth pattern of a flower. Lines radiate outward, forming petal-like curves that shape the building’s flow. The exterior is a composition of white, arching surfaces that expand into the surrounding greenery, creating a seamless transition between architecture and nature. The play of light and shadow along these curved walls changes throughout the day, reinforcing the idea of natural evolution—something alive, shifting, and responsive.

You can read the full article in the links below.

BRAND - CONTENT

Burberry's new summer campaign "It's always Burberry weather: London in Love" celebrates the roots of the brand and a love of rainy weather.

I'm a fan of this type of brand content, small stories that are not trying to sell the viewer anything more than emotions and feelings.

Creative is from Lane & Associates.

You can watch one of the spots in the links below.

BOOK - The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren

I'm revisiting some books from my collection this year and this is one of them.

Released in 2020, this is a great biography about someone who was at the forefront of the punk movement in the UK. The brains behind the Sex Pistols and so much more.

There's a lot to tell about McLaren's life, which explains why this book has almost 1,000 pages, that's a testament to a life well lived.

I found a write-up about the book in The Guardian, here's an outtake.

Writing about Malcolm McLaren in 1978, his friend from art school Fred Vermorel described him as having “the vision of an artist, the heart of an anarchist and the imagination of a spiv”. It is still the most trenchant summation of a figure who, 10 years after his death and four decades on from the great punk disruption that he helped precipitate, remains oddly elusive in terms of his cultural importance. Paul Gorman’s exhaustive biography goes some way to explaining why this is the case.

The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren is a big book, nearly 900 pages long, and a detailed one, sometimes doggedly so. It traces a life that, by any standards, was eccentric and gleefully wayward. A self-styled cultural anarchist, who came of age in the political upheavals of the late 1960s, McLaren also modelled himself on old-school showbiz impresarios from the 1950s such as Larry Parnes, who controlled every aspect of the lives of the young singers on his books.

In McLaren’s world, contradictions were a given, moments of inspired creative iconoclasm often going hand in hand with tawdry opportunism, loyalty with extreme ruthlessness. During punk, this made him a figure of suspicion to many who saw him as a huckster rather than a visionary. In truth, he was a bit of both, and, as such, became a victim of his own double standards when it came to his credibility. With McLaren, even those closest to him never knew where they stood.

You can read the full piece in the links below.

IS IT T-SHIRT FRIENDLY?

Whenever I came up with band names this was the first question I would ask myself - Is it t-shirt friendly?

I asked myself the same question when I was coming up with agency names.

But it is also something to think about when coming up with visuals or even headlines for ads.

Can it get the message across or get the attention of someone walking past it?

Could it become something iconic or even become a piece of culture?

So, the next time you're trying to come up with a name, maybe ask yourself - Is it T-Shirt friendly?

THE WRITE STUFF - Copywriting Workshop

The next edition of The Write Stuff copywriting workshop starts on March 12.

Why hone your copywriting chops in the age of AI?

Because good copywriters, the human kind, are still needed and will be for the foreseeable future.

They have the benefit of lived experiences.

Life moments they can draw upon.

They have a sense of humour.

They’ve experienced love and a broken heart.

They’ve won and they’ve lost.

They know joy and sorrow.

They understand humans.

Life moments provide an invaluable library for a copywriter.

“Put yourself into your work. Use your life to animate your copy. If something moves you, chances are, it will touch someone else, too.” - David Abbott

So, until ChatGPT can do all of the above, we will need copywriters.

Early bird discount applies until February 28.

To apply and get more details simply email - [email protected]

Limited spots are available.

You'll find more details about The Write Stuff in the link below.

That's a wrap for the first newsletter of the week.

I hope you found some inspiration here.

I'll be seeing you in the next edition.

Rodd

• Watch Lays venture into The Matrix here.
• Behind The Scenes with Lays in The Matrix, watch that here.
• Read about the sculptural cafe design in Bangkok here.
• Watch the Burberry content here.
• Discover more about the Malcolm McLaren biography here.
• The Write Stuff Copywriting Workshop details can be found in the carousel post here.

#inspiration #ideas #advertising #creativity #creativedirector