What's In Your Handbag? (or Manbag!)

The styles may vary but it doesn't matter if you're a girl with a Gucci or a dude with a record bag, the benefits of having a bag to dump all you gear into are unquestionable. It may surprise you, however, to find out that if the right person has a look in your bag of choice, they could tell you all about yourself. Debbie Percy is just such a person. Following an extensive career in corporate HR, Debbie has spent the last four years developing a technique to introduce her clients to the concept of personal change and life coaching, through, what she calls, Handbag Therapy.

I was lucky enough to speak with Debbie yesterday evening for the launch of the Kildare Village Outlet Shopping ‘What’s in your handbag?’ digital campaign. Debbie had the opportunity to go through my 'manbag' and give her analysis of who I am and what I'm all about. Here's the funny thing - she was 100% right on everything she said. Seriously, I can't even begin to explain the detail that she went into but totally correct in everything she told me.

The 'manbag' in question

So what exactly is all this about? Well, as I said, yesterday was the launch of the Kildare Village Outlet Shopping ‘What’s in your handbag?’ digital campaign. Through the dedicated campaign microsite, users are invited to register and upload a photo of their handbag and its contents. For one lucky winner there is a €1,000 shopping spree up for grabs at Kildare Village, as well as a similar handbag therapy analysis.

What makes the campaign really interesting is that there is a public vote on all photos uploaded (check out the current uploads here). The top five handbags with the most votes then go through into the final and go head-to-head against eachother under the expert review of the Kildare Village panel. From there an ultimate winner is chosen. Of course, that's where the campaign also jumps in to benefit the voters. Everyone who registers (both those uploading pictures and voting) will be given a VIP Day Card that gets you 10%-off for your next trip to Kildare Village Outlet Shopping. Pretty cool, especially considering the current economic climate. I for one am always on the look-out to save a few quid and still treat myself to a few nice things ;)

The competition closes on 6 September 2009 so don't waste any time. Get yourself over to the site and upload your handbag/manbag, and ask your mates to vote! You can also become a fan of Kildare Village on Facebook.



For those of you who haven't popped out to Kildare Village, I recommend a trip for sure. Similar to Woodbury Common in New York or The Outlet up in Banbridge, Kildare Village offers over 55 designer brands, offering last seasons’ ranges at up to 60% off.

Impromtu Public Singing

I was watching Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog again at lunch and I remembered that someone had done a musical/singing viral recently but I couldn't for the life of me remember who. So a little bit of Googling later and I remembered that it was a LastMinute.com viral from last year for their 50%-Off theatre ticket campaign.

I absolutely love this, and even though it's over a year old, I thought it was worth a re-share...



RubberRepublic were tasked with seeding out the campaign on behalf of Steel London.

Johnnie Walker: The Man Who Walked Around The World

One of my favourite actors, without a doubt, has to be Robert Carlyle. From Trainspotting to The Full Monty to The 51st State, Carlyle always delivers shocking believable performances. Although Carlyle rejects the term 'method actor' he always seeks out a level of emotional identification with a role aiming to find a core of humanity. This is what ultimately makes him so memorable and convincing. With all that said (and not to mention Carlyle's Scottish heritage), it should come as no surprise that Carlyle was the first choice when it came to casting for Johnnie Walker's new ad.

The ad, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, was shot in Scotland in a single continuous take, which sees Carlyle tell the story of how Johnnie Walker whiskey developed from the grocery shop blending of a 14 year old shopkeeper to the international brand that it is today. Between a classic Scottish bagpipe intro and the random appearance of visual cues along the highland that Carlyle is walking, the ad is certainly captivating and engaging. Carlyle delivers a pitch-perfect and charismatic narrative that turns this into more of a short film then an ad.

The copy is from BBH's Juston Moore, and while the ad is delivered as a single continuous shot, according to the production company it did take 40 takes to achieve a successfully result. Shots has a great interview with the ad's director, Jamie Rafn of HLA.

So without further delay, here it is...

MercuryGirl: The World’s First Augmented Reality Browser

A huge congratulations to Tim and everyone at MercuryGirl, who announced that they were awarded a Layar developer account. This means that MercuryGirl will be developing datasets for Layar, the world’s first Augmented Reality browser.

Initially MercuryGirl will be focusing on developing travel orientated layers.



Layar is a free Augmented Reality application for mobile phones. Layar is currently available for Android handsets and will be available on the iPhone in the near future.

Current layers:

• Funda, realty site, providing information for a layer with houses for sale and rent
• Tempo Team, temp agency, providing information for a layer with available jobs
• ING, bank, providing information for a layer with all ATM’s
• Zekur.nl, heath insurer, providing information for a layer with participating health care providers

Wieden + Kennedy 12: Fail Harder

This definitely has to be one of my favourite things that I've seen from Wieden + Kennedy 12.

The project was to create a mural, which they did with over 100,000 thumbtacks and over 351 hours (in the process they bought out all available clear push pins on the west coast of the US). The mural spells out Fail Harder. W+K12 runs by the philosophy of the importance of failure during the creative process to ultimately create stunning and impactful creatives.



Wieden + Kennedy 12 is an experimental advertising school run by Portland ad agency W+K