February 23, 2007
Bimbling out of Sony's Playstation Rooms off Brick Lane during half-time in the Chelsea/Porto game on Wednesday for a sneaky fag -- the armchair supporter's orange -- Macworld editor Mark Hattersley and I came across this strange series of symbols on boarding covering some building work.
We stared at it for a while, trying to work out what it was advertising. The only clue was a small line, 'A.B for W+K', at the bottom -- confirming that it's the work of ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, the worldwide group behind award-winning ads such as Grrr for Honda.
It turns out it's not an ad as such. The building behind on is actually the agency's London offices and the symbols are just there to cover up the chipboard, turning every studio's nightmare when trying to pitch to clients - the noise and ugliness of building work - into a showcase for the company.
The symbols are by freelancer designer Anthony Burrill (A.B), and the full story can be found on Wieden+Kennedy's blog.
Ignoring the fact that it's commissioned by W+K as essentially an promo for itself, this is a piece of art not advertising -- though after years of guerilla advertising and viral marketing, your first instinct is to wonder what it's selling. How long before we start regarding all street art from graffiti to pavement chalk paintings in this way?
Posted by: Neil Bennett
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The creative stuff we come across that we've just got to share (rather than simply getting on with creating Digital Arts magazine)
