Understand a fraction. Know zero. See India Reborn on CBC. Tonight at 8 pm and again at 9.

A tip of the turban (literally) to fellow ad man, occasional employee and international Sikh Dalbir Singh. His Sikh Park cartoon series reminds us why this successful, industrious community is so much fun to hang with. They know how to laugh. At others and themselves. Vah, vah, vah. Keep it coming Sardarji!


Sikh Park, copyright Dalbir Singh. Via sikhpark.com


Article and blog: Creative Commons License 2008 Gavin Barrett
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.

India just celebrated the incredible, colourful, uninhibited festival of Holi. Enjoy the The Boston Globe's photo essay on the festivities from its spectacular Big Picture website. And in the words of one billion revelers, "Holi Hai!"

Let go and let yourself have some fun.
Click here to see the photo feature.


Image: Makks2010 via weblink to from Wikimedia Commobes

Article: Creative Commons License 2008 Gavin Barrett
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.

A beautifully executed series of peace posters featuring all 12 animals from the Japanese/Chinese zodiac.
Shown here, the Ox -it is the Year of the Ox after all. Enjoy. You can find the entire series here.


Image by Graflex Directions, via notcot.com

Article: Creative Commons License 2008 Gavin Barrett
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.

This hilarious ad (seen here in situ) from Dublin sells safety with a smile if the reaction of riders is anything to go by. Yay Dublin.


Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2009

A couple of years ago we were handed a challenging assignment by Viva.
They wanted to make university students a core rider group, and make transit a behavioural choice for a new generation or riders. And oh, while doing that, they also wanted us to change the image of the bus as a loser cruiser.

No pressure, clearly.

Our single, unifying idea pivoted on transit’s promise of connectivity - its very reason for being. But we placed it in the context of the student’s world.

Viva connects you with the world you live in, we told them.
Yes, Viva gets you there on time, reliably, efficiently and comfortably.
Yes, riding Viva is good for the planet, but as importantly, when you ride Viva, you continue to make friends and meet people.

In a car you shut the door and cut yourself off.
On Viva, life goes on. Love goes on. Fun goes on.

The ads simply showed you how.

The campaign went on to win awards at transit and mainstream advertising award shows and was a huge success with students. We extended the campaign with an SMS marketing promotion in which students could win an iPod. If you'd like a case study with more details, write to me here.

Client:
Viva

Creative Directors:
Gavin Barrett, Mike Welsh

Art Director: Mike Welsh
Copywriter: Gavin Barrett

Photographer: Don Dixon


Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2008

Barrett and Welsh is heading out to San Francisco.

Gavin Barrett, Creative Director | Partner, Barrett and Welsh and Pushing Buses author, will be attending the APTA Marketing and Communications Workshop at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District.

We're looking forward to meeting the other APTA "Bus/CableCar/Train Pushers"!


Photo (c)Tomo.Yun http://www.yunphoto.net/en/

Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2009
All creative work shown is the property of its copyright owner(s) unless otherwise specified.