IPA, Chip Shop Awards and EIFF

A couple of advertising-y bits and pieces have caught my eye over the past couple of weeks that are worth a quick mention.

Firstly, the IPA has declared war on the crappy state of advertising in Scotland. Murray Calder, the new chairman of the Scottish IPA, has got some fighting talk as well as a long list of bullet points to help reinvigorate floundering agencies north of the border. Fingers crossed his plans make a difference. You can read more here.

Next up, it's the Chip Shop Awards. If you work in the advertising industry and you haven't seen the endless stream of conversation about these awards I want your job. I made my thoughts clear on the Chip Shops in this blog post last year, so there's no need to bang on about it. The Awards are on 8th June and you can see all the entries here.

Lastly, the Edinburgh International Film Festival's programme was announced a couple of weeks ago. There are two Marketing Society events that might be worth consideration if you're rich (the two events will set you back £75!). Maybe you can get your work to foot the bill?

The first is definitely worth a visit if you can wangle the £25 price tag. The Classic Cinema Advertising Showcase is a two-hour foray into some of Scottish ad royalty's favourite cinema advertising. Featuring Gerry O’Donnell, Gerry Farrell, Ian McAteer, Angus Walker and Murray Calder, the event looks to be quite an interesting educational experience for those looking to find the perfect cinema ad. Do not attend if you avoid the first twenty minutes of trailers and noisy car commercials at the cinema. Get booking for 23rd June.

The second is a Peter Fisk Masterclass setting you back a tidy £50 (that would buy me five books on advertising which I can annotate forever more). The theme is lights, camera, action and there looks to be lots of discussion on brand-building. I suppose since it's a workshop there will be "hands on" elements? Who knows... That's also on the 23rd June.

Both events are in the Filmhouse. I am going to try and attend so if you can't make it along just wait for my helpful and in no way tongue in cheek write-up on this blog after the events.