The holidays may be coming to a close, but Swiftmas is still happening in full force. On Thursday, Taylor Swift debuted her new music video for "Out of the Woods" on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve hosted by Ryan Seacrest.
And what an eye-popper of a video it is: a wilderness extravaganza that finds Swift, clad in a flowing blue dress, traveling through forests, scaling mountains, running with wolves, and standing amid blazing trees.
Shot in New Zealand, the "Out of the Woods" music video is the sixth Swift has released from her 1989 album
A restaurateur has shot to infamy after posting a hilariously honest job advert on Gumtree. All that is known of the businessman is that he is an American named Justin.
The advert for the opening at a new eatery in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire starts by telling applicants that: “I have no problem working seven days a week, but on the off-chance I break my foot or get third-degree steam burns on my face I need someone who can work unsupervised and still make quality food … I need a second in command to bang out a ton of semi-fancy food in a kitchen the size of a closet, and you also have to put up with my wife because I do, and she's the real boss.”
He intends to open a diner that offers egg-centric breakfast and sandwiches, although he implores that “There are no eggs benedicts,” and fends off any idle candidates by adding: "If your idea of a good sandwich is a tuna mayo like your gran makes then please don't bother responding.”
Succinct covering letters and CVs are encouraged, with the brusque businessman implying that previous recruitment processes have involved reading too many prolix applications: “If you have one that says you're a ‘hard-working team player that can also function well alone’ and that you ‘value customer service and punctuality’ I will stab myself in the face with a pencil and nobody will get a job … Last time I was hiring for a place I got over 400 CVs. You know how long it takes to read 400 CVs? Too damned long. So don't waste anyone's time.”
On the subject of pay - £7 an hour for up to 55 hours - he simply says “The money is s**t. That's the best I can do. I'm dead serious about the money thing. Don't come to an interview and then say it sounds great but you've got your kid's school clothes to buy or whatever. You’ll literally be making more than me because I am essentially working for free until the place is paid off.”
Despite this barrage of brutal candor, the job does come with certain creative freedoms: “I will listen to your ideas and try your weird suggestions, but if I don’t love it we’re not doing it and that’s that.
“I don’t care if you’re super outgoing or actually mute. I don’t care if you’ve got tattoos. I don’t care if you only work in kitchens to get away from your horrible significant other. I don’t care about anything other than that you’re fast enough not to be in the weeds constantly and you want to be part of something genuine and good. What you cannot do is be a pain in my balls because my life savings is on the line and I have to work with my wife all day so I don’t have time for any primadonna bulls**t.”
Justin closes the advert with a deadpan observation: “If you think I sound like an obnoxious d***head, congratulations. You are observant and will go far in life. Don't let it discourage you, though. I'm only a d***head for the first three years you know me. After that I'm a total sweetheart. If you're awesome and you have actual cooking skills, you'll probably be my best friend … and I'll let you put whatever horrible music you enjoy on the stereo and buy you beer
It’s not always easy to promote a product to an audience that is different than your usual one, and this creates the need for innovative ideas. That’s what Astra did, in order to promote their beer to women of all ages!
Astra, along with Philipp und Keuntje, decided to target women on their new campaign, in order to approach an audience that was usually overlooked by beer brands. Men are traditionally the ones that drink more beer, which results in relevant advertising. However, Astra thought of reaching a brand new target group, hoping to make more women try out their beer. In fact, they thought of creating a campaign that leaves out the male audience, targeting women exclusively! How can you promote your product to a specific genre though? That’s how they decided to create a girl detection billboard, an innovative way of marketing to an exclusive audience.
An illuminating billboard managed to grab the attention of women passing it by, engaging with them through relevant videos. What’s impressive is the ability to use the latest technology in order to customise the video for each occasion, creating more than 70 videos. There were even videos addressing men that stopped to observe the billboard, informing them that this ad is not for them!
The creative idea required the installation of a built-in camera on the illuminating billboard, along with the latest gender detection software, in order to detect the gender from people’s faces. What’s more, the software is even able to detect the age of a person, in order to ensure that they do not promote the beer consumption in under-aged women.
This was the first gender-specific advertising, both for a beer ad, but also for an ad in general, proving that there are always new ways to reach an audience that you haven’t targeted before. Even if you use billboard advertising for your latest campaigns, there is still a way to blend traditional marketing with digital re-invention, in order to reach your set goals.
According to Astra, their idea led to a significant amount of publicity, with many media sources reporting on this clever marketing campaign, being impressed both by the originality, but also by the technology used to implement the campaign.
And what’s even more important for Astra, is the fact that women seemed to like their beer, which means that they managed to increase their audience!
Credits
Advertising Agency: Philipp und Keuntje, Hamburg, Germany Executive Creative Director: Robert Müller Art Directors: Bastian Adam, Rouven Steiman Copywriter: Christian Stamp Technical Director: Holger Norden Interactive Producer: Miriam Koch Project Managers: Julia Cornils, Michael Mehring Film Production: sonntagskind Published: January 2015
Beth Vyse: Why were Rudolph and Blitzen left on the shelves over Christmas? Because they were just two dear.
Stewart Francis: How does Santa remember which chimneys he’s been down? He keeps a log.
Isy Suttie: How many donkeys does it take to change a light bulb? Donkeys don’t know what a light bulb is, and they’ve got hooves anyway. If you’re going to do one thing this Christmas, for God’s sake keep donkeys away from light bulbs.
Lou Sanders: Where do the showbiz elves go? Tinsel Town.
I’m Jules Birch, founder of Works with Water Nutraceuticals, and I’m passionate about helping people take care of themselves.
With today’s pace of life, this has never been more important
The formulations in our Nutraceutical skincare range are easy to use and each one contains natural ingredients scientifically proven to make a significant difference to the look and feel of your skin.
The term ‘nutraceuticals’ is relatively new and defines products that contain targeted ingredients considered to providespecific medicinal and health benefits so we’re able to confidently deliver benefits for anyone suffering from – or who don’t wish to suffer from - acne, spots, blackheads, whiteheads, eczema, psoriasis, skin reddening, dull and ageing skin…
We only formulate with functional ingredients that have solid, human-trialled science to support these specific skin health claims, and we are committed to developing products in which you, the consumer, can have complete confidence in their proven effectiveness.
We are very fortunate to have a development and market expansion partnership with global ingredients specialists NIG Europe. Their global expertise and presence allows Works with Water to develop nutritional products that are approved for use throughout Europe, US and Asia.
Oh – and if you’re wondering why we’re called Works with Water…well take a moment to think about it. From your biology lessons, you may remember that 75% of the weight of a new-born is water. On average, the human adult male is approximately 60% water. So by our calculations, to be effective, whatever you put in or on your body…has to work with water!
Jules is available for interview or for comment on industry news and trends. In the first instance, please contact Caroline or Sarah at press@workswithwater.co.uk
