2010 And All That Jazz

As we blunder into 2011 like a drunk with his pants round his ankles, it seems a good time to take a quick look back on what we did with 2010. As we've often crapped on about, we set up our little company with the simple aims of doing great creative work, and having good fun doing it. That is all. We'd be lying if we said we managed both a hundred per cent of the time, but that's the aim. At least we know what we're shooting for.

We kicked off 2010 with a new client, MyBuilder. We made their first ad campaign, including this TV commercial, directed by Mark Denton at Coy!



In the spring we started work on a new kind of project for us - a new product naming/branding/advertising launch project for the lovely folks at Fentimans. There's more to come on this in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime here's a sneak preview...

We also made our second Straight8 film, Twelve Pies For Twelve Bridges, and got to see it played on the big screen at the premiere at the Renoir cinema...

Over summer we launched a new campaign for KGB, the text-question-answering people, with posters and beermats aimed at young blokes in pubs...

At the same time, we designed branding for The Shepherd's Children, an entrant into the Cannes short film festival...

And, after designing it twice and throwing them both away, we eventually got a new Sell! Sell! website that felt 'like us' up and running...

Later in the year we began working with the smashing people at The Racing Post, launching The Betting Site, and starting work on a new campaign for their paper...

Late last year we put Fentimans on the moving screen for the first time. This project was a challenge with production and budget, but we knew we had to find a way to make it work. In the end, we made three ads, all shot in one day and directed by our dubious selves (with the production expertise of Gas & Electric)...



And with Fentimans of course we continued our love affair with long copy print advertising...



In all a pretty fun year for us, sometimes very challenging, sometimes a bit bonkers, sometimes a bit scary. But I suppose that's what being a small company in a big industry is all about. It certainly isn't dull, that's for sure.

A big thanks to everyone who helped make it all happen. First and foremost the Sell! crew themselves, for always pushing on, and never satisfied with 'that'll do'. And secondly to our clients, a big, big thanks. Thanks for trusting us with your business, and believing in the way we go about things. We know that working with people who are relentless about always doing the best work they can isn't always the path of least resistance for a client, so ta for being good sports. Thanks also to Mark, Sean and Sara at Coy, Tom, Doug and the gang at Gas & Electric, James, Andy L, Jude, Steve Q, and all the bloggers, readers, and randoms (you know who you are) that we've met and conversed with along the way.

As for 2011, a whole new year of potential opportunity lies ahead. All we can say is that we'll try our damnedest to keep improving ourselves and our work, to meet new clients, and collaborators, and have fun along the way.

Have a great year.