Open happiness

Old charm, nostalgia…, it’s cola Christmas, tis the season to celebrate and to go shopping for presents, although unfortunately, as the 'little girl who has become a woman' in the ad does, you might have to carry them all around awkwardly in your hand (carrier bags don’t look so cool). But it’s okay, in spite of that and of the overwhelming crowds in Oxford Street, you are still in the mood to smile and make your rosy cheeks glow at the chance encounter with cola Santa; and lucky you, you still have a free hand to grab his nicely shaped cola bottle (Freudian connotations at work).

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Coca-cola: Open happiness
Lascotts Road, N22
London

Sometimes you need some extra cash...

If you frown upon the idea of our public space being sold to advertising, you’ll surely find this utterly disagreeable:
In times when the lack of regulation of the financial sector has arguably been the major catalyst of a global economic crisis which in turn has driven dramatic funding cuts in our public sector (education, health, welfare, local councils, etc.), it is precisely a high-interest loans company who sponsors London’s usual free-travel night on New Year’s Eve this year.
Transport for London and the Mayor of London must have agreed that there is nothing wrong with this.

This is London, I think containing a sigh, a city that sells its soul to the best bid.

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Wonga.com: Sometimes you need some extra cash...
Wood Green Station (LU)
London

Return to Narnia this Christmas

Christmas, that special time of the year to remember with nostalgia the time when street Christmas lights simply meant 'Christmas'.

Now sponsorship has altered that meaning.

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20th Century Fox + Walden Media: Return to Narnia this Christmas
Regent Street, W1B
London 

We are London. Are you?

Just the tip of the iceberg of this multimedia 'We are London' campaign.

Quite a branding stretch here for German sporting-cum-fashion goods makers Adidas, carrying out a completely localised campaign in London, closely targeting the homeboys they hope to convert/keep loyal to the spell of their global brand.

Appealing to that something so reassuring as it's the sense of belonging, addressing the audience with a direct question -"Are you?"-, the advertisers have taken this campaign to Facebook and YouTube. Just follow the link in the poster if you are curious -you'll learn that the kid in the above poster is grime MC Maxsta from East Ham, one among several success stories of local kids from non-postcard London areas who have done well in the hip-hop scene and have agreed to tell us all about it while touring us around their 'hoods' wearing Adidas clothes.

I have to believe that this grim London / hip-hop scene / social media stuff gotta be the cool thing, but I'm afraid I'm just too old to know. It's not that I'm not a Londoner, you know what I'm sayin'?

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Adidas: We are London. Are you?
Euston Station (LU)
London