In this day and age we’re used to media-savvy street artists such as Banksy earning a fortune in the auction room or Shepard Fairey emblazoning clothing with Andre the Giant.

One particular artist though, has turned his notoriety to something quite different.

His name is BNE.

The eagle-eyed among you may well have seen his painted name or simplistic stickers in major cities around the globe.
He is well travelled, prolific and yet still remains shrouded in anonymity.

Like most street artists, the stickering and painting would at first have meant nothing more than having fun and leaving his mark.

He is though, a man who understands the power of a brand.

Upon realising his name was widely recognised, he decided to use it not for the good of his bank balance, but for the good of the world.
What at first may have been a feverish attempt at faceless, harmless world domination has now become a symbol of positive social change.

BNE has become BNEWATER.

BNEWATER is a registered, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing clean, safe drinking water and basic sanitation for those living in extreme poverty.

Funds are created by simple online donations, the sale of merchandise and crucially, the Artists4Water scheme in which artwork is sold with the proceeds going straight to charity.

BNE’s decision to do something as positive as this is I believe, a lesson to us all about not just what good can be done with a name, but what good can be done with nothing.

So, if you’d like to invest in a painting, make a donation or just get more information, visit: http://bnewater.org and follow him on Twitter

Tom Elliott-Mell - Art director

This week the popular music streaming service, Spotify announced the “new direction” for the company with Spotify Apps.

In the last few months we have seen numerous companies looking for ways to make the consumption of their product a more social experience. So it is no surprise that Spotify is now looking to extend the social listening experience beyond merely being able to show your friends what you’re listening to on Facebook.

Apps have the potential to really evolve the platform and may even help Spotify keep its edge over competition like iTunes Match and Google music. While the apps that Spotify chose to launch with were relatively underwhelming, there is definitely a massive opportunity here for content providers, curators and brands.

Spotify now presents advertisers with a more interesting way to reach consumers than the standard playlist or adverts – especially as more users move to ad-free premium accounts.

Personally I can’t wait to see how the entertainment industry utilizes this opportunity. For example, it would be great to see apps that will allow users to play the soundtrack to a new movie, while accessing exclusive trailers or teaser content.

The introduction of Apps is also an interesting move by the company, as apps are likely to see massive growth in 2012 as both new customer acquisition channels and new distribution channels. Many are even predicting that apps will be bigger in the next year growth wise than social.

It is obviously early days, but it we will be watching closely over the next few months to see if Spotify apps gain mainstream pickup.

By Laura Scott

The Campaign Media Awards were held at the Lancaster London Hotel Paddington this year. Black tie, drinks reception, three courses and a mingle-off. You know the drill.

We arrived just in time to be sat down at our table.The inevitable moment of dread followed, but fortunately we found ourselves sat amongst some lovely folks from the Haymarket group. One of which spent a spell working for ‘Packaging News’ so you can imagine the killer anecdotes that he had in his locker. A marvellous fellow.

We were happily chatting away and enjoying a micro herb and parmesan crisp starter when the announcer from the x-factor belted out that the award ceremony would be kicking off in five minutes. A lamby main quickly followed and then up stepped Austin Healy. Not the car, the ex-England rugby player. That said I did find myself wondering whether the car would’ve delivered superior gags. Perhaps he could’ve sat inside and beeped the horn repeatedly every time a new gang of winners took to the stage.

It was Carat’s night, who deservedly won the ‘Media Campaign of the Year’ award for their excellent work with ASOS for Nivea. They also won awards for Best Fashion, Beauty and Healthcare Campaign, Best Total Communications Programme and Best Use of Research. I must say, I thought the Foster’s Funny campaign probably deserved the grand prize in the booze category, but that’s just my opinion. Have you seen the recent Fast Show shorts?

Next it was henceforth and gung ho into the mingling part. Oddly, it seemed that we were the only people from a creative agency in the mix, so we grabbed the opportunity like a huddle of teenage girls who’ve somehow found themselves in a room full of free Bieber merchandise. Volleys of business cards, rounds of beers and jagerbombs followed. Well it was actually just one round of jagerbombs but who’s counting. All in all it was a very valuable experience for us and a great chance to see what’s picking up the points and for what in media world.

Robert Young Account Manager - Addiction London

So wednesday night saw our annual pilgrimage to the opening night of the onedotzero ‘adventures in motion’ festival at the bfi.

The lucky 13 (with staff from every department) sampled a wide selection of short films, drinks, installations, like minded geeks & toys over a most enjoyable evening and it’s fair to say we all came away with a greater respect for the mighty zombie chicken!! thanks to Studio AKA.

onedotzero trailer:

A little while ago we told you of Jeremy’s tales in China, now Becca Saraga our Global Business Development Director, has gone on her own mission with the IPA to Silicon Valley.  She has gathered her thoughts together and written a piece for Info Vision.

Focussing on Day 5 of the trip, Becca talks about Lionsgate and how they have embraced the digital age and are continuing to innovate within the industry. From Dirty Dancing’ s Facebook page to virtual humans….yep that’s right virtual humans, that look and behave like real people, she gives a glimpse into the exciting developments across the pond. 

This week one of the biggest conferences in the media calendar, the Promax Conference, has been taking place. The event attracts over 600 delegates from around the UK and abroad. After sponsoring Promax New York earlier in the year, we were very pleased to be a part of it once again.

The conference wraps up with the Promax Awards, which reward the best in creative, strategy and innovation over the last year. So we are super excited to announce, that Addiction has been nominated for Best Direct Response Promo, for our Adidas competition. The competition aimed to get as many MTV viewers as possible, to enter the competition of a lifetime - to meet and interview Plan B, Caspa, Example and The Enemy, travel the country to watch some pretty amazing gigs and best of all, co-host their very own TV show with the beautiful Laura Whitmore. Not bad eh? So fingers crossed for tomorrow.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, our Head of Design, Ben Collier-Marsh has also been nominated for Best Short Film. If you would like to find out more about the Short Film award click here. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed for you Ben!! Have a little peeps at his film……

Triangle Love Brief Synopsis….

 The piece at its purest level is an appreciation of the triangle. The animation explores an abstract narrative using the triangle as the catalyst. It explores how simple things develop and grow within science & nature, showing how action and reaction lead this process.

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has for the past few years ran a series of UK events with the Chinese business community and taken part in UKTI-backed trade missions to China to help build relationships with Chinese brands and the country’s advertising industry.

Our CEO Jeremy was invited to attend the most recent trip, which took place from the 22nd-27th September 2011. The group, led by IPA President Nicola Mendelsohn, attended the Chinese International Advertising Festival in Shenyang.

Jeremy Rainbird  with UK Design Mission delegates, including Brent Hoberman, co-founder of lastminute.com.

Designed to promote the UK as a creative and innovation hub to the world, the trip included a series of workshops, seminars and networking events with Chinese brand owners, Chinese ad agencies, government and students.

When the group visited Beijing, they met with leading Chinese brands and representatives of eminent Chinese ad agencies. They also toured the manufacturing plant of Snow Beer, the largest beer manufacturer in China, and were guests of the number one Chinese brand, China Mobile.

Full details and photos from the mission are available on the IPA website: http://www.ipa.co.uk/Content/IPA-reporting-from-Beijing-and-the-CIAF