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Steve Hall? Yeah, you know him. Well, he’s curating Killed Ideas, which means what he says goes around here. It’s not a democracy, it’s Steve’s world, and he’s looking for the best and brightest creative that’s been hidden away – until now. He'll bring his rants our way, and also showcase some special picks on the blog along the way.
All ideas published on this Blog remain the intellectual property of the submitter and any use of them for commercial means without express written permission from each owner is forbidden. The Blog postings are available for usage under a Creative Commons license.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.killedideas.com.
June 30th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Today is the last day to cast your vote for your favorite Killed Idea. Voting closes at midnight PST so head over to killedideas.com, take a look at the fifty selections and choose for favorites.
Yea, last week was Cannes but this week you can pretend to be on the Jury and decide the fate of a creative, determining their success or failure for the remainder of their career.
OK, so you won’t have that much clout over their career here but you can still have fun checking out the submissions and whomever you vote for will be forever grateful.
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June 23rd, 2009 By Steve Hall
So the mother of all advertising award shows is taking place this week in Cannes and, as always, it’s filled with some pretty great ideas that were not killed. Though, seriously, some should have been.
So if you’re bored with all the Cannes hoopla, jealous you’re not there and frustrated because it absolutely, positively will not stop raining (at least in most of the Eastern U.S), then have some fun becoming your own Jury of One and vote for your favorite Killed Idea on the main site.
If you can’t be at Cannes, at least you can pretend you’re on the Jury deciding who lives and who dies.
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June 17th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Hmm. This is a tough one. Is it the book itself? Is it the work within? Is it the fact I helped create it? Is it the fact there’s a lot of great work out there that never gets appreciated and Killed Ideas provides that?
Hmm… Tough choices. I’m going to go with… No wait. OK. Yea. I got it. It’s the…oops, thought I had it there for a minute.
This is way too difficult. The solution? The entire book! Yes, the entire book is awesome. The entire book is my favorite part of the entire book.
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June 15th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Today, Killed Ideas Volume I will arrive in the hot little hands of some of the industry’s creative elite. Last week, it arrived in my hands so I guess I’m special. Actually, it has nothing to do with how special I am. Rather, it has everything to do with the fact I curated the book so of course I get to see it first!
The finished product looks great. The Killed Ideas look even better than they did when I first looked at them. Even with the lawyer-required scrubbing some of the ads had to have done. All fifty ideas look great. I’m very pleased with the work that was submitted and how this book looks in its final incarnation.
Be sure to visit KilledIdeas.com so you can participate in the People’s Choice voting. You’re free to pick your favs from the top fifty.
Yes, we are going to milk this as long as we can:)
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June 11th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Yup. It’s out. I have in my hands a copy of Killed Ideas Volume I. It’s actually printed and in my physical possession. And it rocks! Blurb did an amazing job putting the book together.
Despite the supposed death of all but online media, there’s something about print that just still, in some ways, seems more substantial. I don’t know…call me old school but the tactile feel of a book, well, feels better than a website.
The book officially launches next Tuesday, June 16.
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June 9th, 2009 By Steve Hall
The time is near. In fact, the day is next Tuesday. The winning fifty Killed Ideas will be unveiled and we will launch a People’s Choice Vote. You will be able to choose which of the fifty Killed Ideas are your favorite so make sure you visit the site on Tuesday. Read more >
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May 22nd, 2009 By Steve Hall
At this week’s Academy of Art Institute Anual Spring Show, thousands of creative ideas where on display. From basic illustration to photography to 3D design to fashion to digital media, the ideas on display were amazing.
These aren’t Killed Idea because they haven’t yet had the chance to see the light of day, other than an art gallery display and the eyes of recruiters who attended the event.
The work coming out of the school is amazing. I spent an afternoon ealking through the gallery and took tons of pictures. You can see them all here. You never know. One of these buddi ng artists could be the next creative superstar.
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May 18th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Where oh where did all the Killed Ideas go? They’re still dead. Well, not really. At least 50 of them are in what we’ll refer to as publishing purgatory. They’ve been selected to appear in Killed Ideas Volume I and the presses are about to roll.
We expect to publish the first week of June. Can you stand the suspense? We can’t! Though we’ve selected and seen the winning 50, it’s always great to see winners all polished up and presented as if they were cdolled up for a prom. And that’s what you’ll see when you Killed Ideas Volume I is released.
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May 5th, 2009 By Steve Hall
As we await the debut of the final fifty winning Killed Ideas to be unveiled later this month in Killed Ideas Volume I, let’s take a look at another submission that almost became an un-killed idea.
Here’s one I really liked but I can see why the idea was killed. This logo for Flipside Furnishing applied the word “flipside” to the design and “flipped” the name around so it appeared backwards. As a non-ad type without having the benefit of first reading the brief, this is one of those ads a person would have to look at for a few extra seconds to fully understand. Which is why it was probably killed. Nobody wants prospective customers to be scratching their head too long before they realize what they’re looking at.
Still, a very nice design.
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May 5th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Well we’ve been at it for a couple of months now. Hundreds of submissions. Fifty selected ideas to appear in Killed Ideas Volume I and a top ten list.
I’ve had a great time pouring over all of the submissions. There’s some great ideas out there that should never have been killed off. Equally, there were quite a few that should not have been yanked from their peaceful grave and forced to walk the earth as a zombie in hops of reanimation. Just sayin’.
Killed Ideas Volume I will be out later this month at which time the fifty winners will be announced with all sorts of fanfare. Well, at least as much fanfare as us advertising types can have in out little corner of the world. Which, if you’ve ever counted the number of “gala events” our industry has, won’t be inconsequential.
So stay tuned, my friends. The Killed ideas “gala event” is almost upon us!
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April 23rd, 2009 By Steve Hall
In the final moments before the debut of the top 50 Killed Ideas, there’s been some drama here at the Killed Ideas offices . Some brands – fully within their rights, of course – have preferred their “killed ideas” remain, well, killed. So we’ve had to go back to our list of front runners and pick a couple more. Read more >
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April 14th, 2009 By Steve Hall
When someone commits suicide, it’s not always clear why they did so. In a memoir written by Joan Wickersham, the author attempts to make sense of her father’s suicide by putting together the pieces which led up to his death. Read more >
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April 6th, 2009 By Steve Hall
OK, people, it’s time. Yes, it’s time. The deadline is here. You knew it would come, didn’t you? It’s not like we never told you, right?
Alright. So you have until midnight PST Tuesday to submit your greatest idea that never got approved and was never seen by all. Come on. Dust it off. Polish it up and submit it. Yes, you might end up in thre Blurb-produced book alongside 49 other awesome killed ideas. SUBMIT NOW!
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April 3rd, 2009 By Steve Hall
If you’re a fan of the ABC television series Lost and you love simple creative ideas that get the job done without a whole of adsturbation then you might like this Land Rover poster and DVD campaign touting the vehicles GPS capabilities.
Using Lost imagery and typeface, the word “Lost” was replaced with the word “Found” along with the Land Rover logo and a simple line of copy declaring the Land Rover’s GPS feature.
It’s not brain surgery but great ideas shouldn’t have to be. Sadly, ABC wasn’t willing to offer permission to Land Rover and its agency Young & Rubicam Brussels.
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April 1st, 2009 By Steve Hall
Ask any boat owner and they’ll tell you a boat is a giant hole into which you continuously pour money with declining returns. Capitalizing on that notion, Amsterdam-based boat rental service embarked upon an interesting guerrilla campaign.
Read more >
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March 31st, 2009 By Steve Hall
If you haven’t been sleeping the past month or so, you know about a project called Killed Ideas. Basically, we’re hunting for the best creative that never happened. It could have been shot down by your creative director, your client or your AE. If it’s great, we want to see it. If we like it, we’ll feature it in a book produced by Blurb.
So just like every other award-related event in this business, the deadline has been extended. yes, you have more time to submit your awesome ideas for consideration. You now have until next Tuesday, April 7 to get them in. So hurry. We want them and we don’t want to miss any great ideas you have sitting around. head over to the Killed Ideas site to check out the details.
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March 27th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Killed Ideas are a very sad thing. Prior to their untimely death, they spring to life and are the best thing that ever could have happened. Then, bothersome external elements begin to interfere and that perfection is challenged with a sometimes insurmountable challenge to survive.
In life, second chances are few and far between. When we get them, we should grab tightly and hang on for the bumpy ride ahead. But that’s life.
Here, we’re talking about something much simpler. Something with much less baggage. Killed Ideas. Yes, Killed Ideas. If you’ve been reading this site long enough, you know what we’re talking about.
We want your great work. We want that dream you created. We want to nurture it and give it life. So dust of your dreams and send them to us here at Killed Ideas. We’ll give them the love they need and if we really, really love them, we’ll share them with the world in the form of a book along with 49 other ideas we love.
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March 25th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Well here’s a happy one. OK, not really but it’s an issue, like many cause-related issues, that needs to be addressed: human trafficking. It’s a hidden issue. One that gets swept under the carpet, ignored like most things not in our own back yard.
Read more >
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March 23rd, 2009 By Steve Hall
Nope. It’ not an ad. Online, offline or otherwise. This Killed Idea from Matias Conti is known as the Transformable Spin Vehicle. It’s a three wheeled motorcycle-style vehicle which gives the rider a number of riding options.
Moving parts in the middle of the vehicle offer the rider the sensation of various terrains and levels of riding difficulty.
Whether or not it would ever be road-worthy is for transportation departments to decide. But it sure looks like a lot of fun to drive.
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March 20th, 2009 By Steve Hall
For a college logo, designer Liz Oliner married the school’s crewing history harkening back to the glory days of the 1920′s.
Liz described what she envisioned when creating the logo, writing, “Women in long shift gowns watching the races on a summer day in philadelphia. A quad pulls the perfect feather as it glides across the finish — clean, smooth and controlled.”
While the idea was killed because the school felt it focused too heavily on one aspect, there’s no denying this logo has something to say.
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March 20th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Here is a very cool Killed Idea. Created by Kevin Park for Sneaker Pimps, a touring sneaker and street-based art show. To promote the event in New York, Kevin used the intricate sole design of Nike Dunks to convey the location of Heavy-sponsored event.
Sadly, the concept was not used but with a few tweaks, it would have been a great ad.
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March 17th, 2009 By Steve Hall
I’m in Austin for SXSW Interactive this week and while the conference isn’t purely creative focused it is filled with people who have amazing ideas and are the experts in the area of interactive.
For example, a panel on image recognition discussed the creative implications of placing this technology in images that, when shot with a mobile phone, could provide further access to information about the product. Read more >
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March 11th, 2009 By Steve Hall
Coming up with a new idea is not an easy task. Not only does it require an immersion in all available fact, it also takes a giant leap of faith based on the confidence gleaned from “immersion in all available fact” as well as the experience one has gleaned over the years developing ideas. Read more >
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March 9th, 2009 By Steve Hall
So we’ve had quite a few submissions so far for Killed Ideas. I’d like to highlight one today which came from Marcio Kelmanson of Brooklyn-based James Skowronek Kelmanson. Read more >
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March 5th, 2009 By Steve Hall
One of my favorite killed ideas wasn’t killed until after it had won an award at Cannes. Seriously. This jewel I refer to is the famed JCPenney Speed Dressing ad. Read more >
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March 3rd, 2009 By Steve Hall
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. It’s almost time, people. Almost time for you to get a glimpse of the first Killed Ideas. In a couple of days, we’ll begin sharing with you some of the better submissions we’ve received. We’ll offer up some initial commentary which, hopefully, will motivate you to submit your own Killed Idea.
Some time ago, I was in a presentation and my creative director was unveiling a new campaign to a client high atop One Penn Plaza in New York. The meeting with this client was, as always, jovial and upbeat. Until one particular piece of creative was presented. There was something about it he client didn’t quite like.
This being a presentation to an existing client whom we knew very well, my CD knew it’d be pointless to argue the execution’s merit so he dramatically tossed the piece of creative across the conference room until it came to rest on the floor. Read more >
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February 27th, 2009 By Gary Stein
There’s always been this interesting debate between Discovery and Creativity. Discovery, by strict definition, is finding something that already exists. That is, someone “discovered” electricity, America (a slightly controversial discovery, that one), and the African Hissing Cockroach. People found them and named them, and that’s cool, because we know understand our world a bit better.
Creativity is different. When someone creates something, our world gets bigger. There’s something new, and there isn’t even a chance for it to be discovered. The Mona Lisa entered the world whole, as did the Empire State Building and Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell”.
We need both, naturally. But there is something so exciting about creativity. Maybe it’s because it happens in big bursts. Or maybe it happens because it’s like getting a new toy. Or maybe creativity is cool because, when we all see that something new can be made…sometimes out of nothing at all…we realize how powerful we all are.
Gary
(VP Strategy Ammo Marketing, bike nut, dad – and one of the creators of Killed Ideas).
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February 27th, 2009 By Steve Hall
So when it comes to submitting your killed ideas, you might want to peruse through what, of course, is your huge collection of Moleskine notebooks in which you lovingly sketched out the initial ideas which resulted in your masterpiece.
Read more >
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February 16th, 2009 By Steve Hall
OK so you’ve landed the perfect client for whom you’ve been jonesing for years. They’re about to launch a new product line and have a huge marketing budget to support the launch. (OK, just pretend the economy doesn’t suck and they actually do have a huge marketing budget.)
You concept the most amazing idea you’ve ever concepted and present it to them. During the presentation they praise it. They love it. They fawn all over it. They pontificate about how it will introduce a sea change within their industry and how it will skyrocket the company to greatness. Everyone fist bumps each other at the end of the meeting and the client promises to call with final approval the next morning.
Then…
The call comes…
And the client kills the idea. It’s not that they really wanted to. They loved it just as much as you but, as we all know, there are other forces involved when it comes to a campaign getting the green light. Read more >
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