Emerging technological breakthroughs were once synonymous with lab coats, thick-rimmed glasses and dodgy haircuts. In more recent times, (much like the motor industry) the technology industry – especially the ‘gadget’ and ‘gaming’ sectors – have been promoted through the use of pretty woman, often scantily clad or in latex, hired to give products some ‘sex appeal’ and entice consumers to get up and personal on the stand. The gaming and gadget industry may still be driven primarily by male consumers, but does this cheap marketing ploy still work, and is it acceptable with the ever rising female user-base and woman working in the tech industry? What are your thoughts on ‘eye-candy’ at expos? Tasteless? Harmless? Unrepresentative? Would you rather someone who had more than a one minute briefing demonstrate their wares? Are you offended as a male, to be targeted as being a hormonal schoolboy – won over by a pretty lady, or as a female, that women are used as the products themselves?

Some women at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas have expressed their frustration at the scantily-clad “booth babes” hired by some companies to promote their stalls.

The BBC’s Matt Danzico investigates whether this practice is an effective marketing strategy, or merely a reflection on gender relations in technology.

WATCH THE REPORT HERE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16533289

(Opinion: Jon Price – designer)

Article by: Paul Mabin, MD

As we welcome in another year, so everyone’s favourite software bods, Microsoft wave goodbye to Internet Explorer 6. Web developers the world over* rejoice and we all look into the html 5 driven future with great joy and enthusiasm.

Microsoft revealed this week that less than 1% of US internet users now use the program to surf the web. Microsoft held a light-hearted celebration to mark the imminent demise of their IE6 browser by baking a ‘Goodbye IE6′ cake. Microsoft themselves have been  keen to kill off this old version of the browser which was first shipped with Windows XP over 10 years ago. They even launched an IE6 countdown website last year to chart the demise of its usage.

Like an elderly relative, IE6 has been causing headaches for web developers for many years with its blatant disregard for any kind of web standards and it’s frustrating array of display quirks. This milestone has been a long time coming and makes for a very welcome introduction to a fresh new year.

Read the BBC article here

Opinion: Simon Farrow, web designer

* Based on US usage dropping below 1%. The UK is reportedly 1.4%, but China still have over 25% usage. DNA as a company decided to stop supporting IE6 for new web builds last year, but approach each new site individually, assessing the necessity for backwards compatibility by client and target market.

To add to the Christmas love, the game now resides within Facebook, allowing you to take our generous gift, extend thy Chritmas love, and share it with all your Facebook & Twitter friends.

We think this is one of the most addictive little Christmas games around, but don’t take our word for it, head over to our facebook page and get playing!

I thought I’d take the last of my annual leave and use it to do something I’d had my eye on for a while. Climbing Snowdon (yr wyddfa). Despite no takers to join me on my expedition, I ventured the long drive up to Snowdonia, lodging in the quaint village of Betws-y-Coed for the night before the hike the following day. All was well despite the ominous low cloud cover, but after an hour of walking the Pyg trail, visibility became unnervingly poor and within the rolling clouds came the gale force winds. Against the weather I continued to the summit to be greeted my a misty expanse of white void – hardly the view I was hoping for but it made the journey that much more challenging and has given me good reason to return. The trip back down the Miner’s trail with the wind at my back was more perilous than I had bargained for but beneath the cloud saw beautiful vistas over some of Wales’ finest landscapes before the drive home. Here’s looking to a sponsored Three Peaks in 24hrs challenge with team dna next year!

(Jon Price – Designer)

The dna team have been busy shopping and wrapping, preparing their Christmas boxes. Boxes included some great gifts including toy cars, bouncy balls and plasticine for the boys and fairy wings, dolls and hairbands for the girls, just to name a few. Everyone really enjoyed putting their boxes together for such a great cause. We dropped the boxes off this morning at Quickstore Storage in Torquay, our local collection point. Hundreds of boxes had been left ready to be delivered to children all over the world. Thank you to everyone who supported the cause.

(Sarah Thomson – Designer)

In a campaign designed by the Seoul branch of advertising agency Cheil, Tesco Homeplus supermarket opened a virtual grocery store in a South Korea subway station, allowing users to shop using their smartphones. A large, wall-length billboard was installed in the station, designed to replicate a series of supermarket shelves, displaying images and prices for a range of common products – with each assigned a QR code.

Commuters scan the code of a product they would like to purchase, thereby adding it to their online shopping cart and after the web transaction is complete, the products are delivered to the user’s home later that day.

The strategy makes productive use of commuters’ waiting time, while simultaneously saving shoppers time spent going to the supermarket. (Design Boom).

A clever awareness campaign or just online shopping with pointless posters? What do you think?

(Opinion: Jon Price – Designer)

With over 400 luxury holiday cottages throughout Devon and Cornwall, Toad Hall Cottages offer the widest selection of luxury coastal and countryside cottages in the South West – and we’ve just completed their identity redesign and corporate guidelines.

The new design uses a customised handwritten typeface, moving away from the calligraphy of old, to create warmth and informality. Mr. Toad has also had a makeover and has been illustrated in a variety of poses which will be implemented across the up-coming brochure and website that are in development.

We’ll keep you up to date with new developments in the coming weeks.

For the past couple of years I have taken part in Operation Christmas Child, the largest children’s project in the world organised by the Christian Charity Samaritan’s Purse. This is a great cause and it’s really easy for anyone to get involved. This year the dna team is busy buying their gifts and goodies to fill their shoe boxes. The boxes can be sent to a boy or a girl who is 2-4 years, 5-9 years or 10-14 years. We’re hoping to bring smiles this Christmas to some children who aren’t as privileged as ourselves. Every child deserves a gift at Christmas, so if you would also like to get involved please email saraht@dnaadvertising.co.uk or visit www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk. There’s only 44 sleeps until Christmas!

The deadline for dropping off boxes to your nearest location is Friday 18th November.

(Sarah Thomson – Designer)

Article by: Paul Mabin, Managing Director.

The dna team were thrilled to be selected by South West based adoption charity Families for Children to work on their latest campaign that was launched this week. The campaign aims to recruit potential adopters and can already be seen on billboards, advertisements and posters placed throughout Devon, Cornwall and Dorset to support National Adoption Week. The campaign aims to encourage those thinking about adoption to find out more and to dispel common concerns around adoption such as adoptive parents having to be married and be homeowners, neither or which are necessary.

Families for Children place children from throughout the UK with loving families in the South West and pride themselves on the ongoing support offered to the families for as long as it is needed. With over 4000 children currently waiting to be adopted, the campaign encourages potential adopters to ‘Give a child a chance.’ If you have been thinking about adoption or would just like to know more about it, you can speak to one of the Families for Children team on 01364 645480. Alternatively you can find out more here.

Congratulations to our 2011 Pumpkin Queen Sarah Thomson, who took the title with 29% of the overall 134 votes for her super scary carving skills. Chloe was a close runner up with 23% voting her wolf pumpkin as the best in show and Sarah Z took third place with her pumpkat entry. If you missed it you can take a look at our petrifying pumpkin line-up here.

The standard this year was very impressive but we’re looking forward to carving even spookier creations next year. If any clients or suppliers are brave enough to take on this terrifying task and would like to enter the 2012 carve-off, get in touch!

Happy Halloween!

The Bullion collection brief was geared to highlight the unique features of the product, namely the gold finishing on corners and buttons. In order to instill the essence of ‘pricelessness’ and ultimate value, we constructed a story around the product. Placing the products within a briefcase highlighted that they were precious and the bank vault setting and gold bullion placed either side enhanced this notion. Photography and post production was done in our in-house studio ensuring the result looked authentic and atmospheric.

The Pinstripe collection brief required us to capture how the iconic pinstripe suit, with its sharp and precise tailoring, is still a hallmark of the city. We took an approach that best displayed how the suit/products are intricately and painstakingly put together. Shot in-house on a blanket of a classic pinstripe material (direct from Savile Row), the subtle yet clever use of the material’s pinstripe direction helps draw the eye to the products, creating a stronger, more dynamic image. A few props were added to the scene to tell the story and a backdrop integrated to place the scene within a top London tailors. Post production enhanced the lighting and colour palette to help sell the concept.

Both adverts were launched today. Let us know what you think.

Keep your friends close and your iPhone 4s closer! My shiny white new iPhone 4s has been the topic of conversation this week. I have to now keep it locked in my draw now so JP can’t keep asking Siri silly questions like “Who killed Roger Rabbit?” Siri’s answer was Judge Doom by the way! It’s my new favourite thing and is now sleeping snugly in my drawer in its own little knitted Aran jumper, hands off boys!

(Opinion: Sarah Thomson – Designer)

Yesterday saw the very first dna Curry Club night. It was a serious meeting of stomachs as we sampled spicy, fragrant delights of the East whilst mopping our sweaty brows with chutney soaked napkins. As this mini feast was as the brainchild of JB – we thought we’d honour the night after him! Not a bad turn out for a first time – and yes, despite the picture it was more than just Paul and Sarah tucking in!

A fresh new look has been applied to the latest brochure suite for Princess Yachts, one of DNA’s higher profile clients. We are always looking to evolve and improve their brand presence and this year have looked to specialist print finishes and materials as well as looking at sizes, design and production. DNA were responsible for helping to save significant costs on print as well as adding a more pro-active and structured approach to this year’s brochure suite. The process, which starts around 8 months before the main boat show season, includes art direction on photography, print management, a lengthy design and artworking process, image retouching and inputting copy for 7 languages. However, the most important part of the process is the concept stage, which involves talking to Princess Yachts staff, customer feedback and looking at industry trends. Once the concepts are approved, the design process begins. The culmination of all this hard work is the printed article itself. This year the V Class and Flybridge brochures feature an uncoated softback cover with accented foil blocking and clear varnish elements to the type. The guts of all three brochure types were printed on a high gloss stock with a gloss coating to help lift and add vibrancy to all the images. The Generic brochure featured a hardback cover with matt laminate and silver foil and used a new lifestyle image photographed in Thailand earlier in the year.

The brochure suite has been well received by Princess Yachts and launches to the general public at the Southampton Boat Show, which starts 16th September and runs through to Sunday 25th September. For your copy, why not visit the show, or contact Princess Yachts directly – www.princessyachts.com

Pictured below: Simon Clare (Marketing Manager for Princess Yachts) at the recent press pass signing off a section of the V Class brochure suite.

Article by Paul Mabin – Managing Director

McDonald’s Canada and Ad agency Cossette in Vancouver have brought to life an interactive ice sculpture on behalf of McDonald’s Restaurants in Alberta, driving consumer interest in the company’s Dollar Drink Days campaign. Hosted in the town of Sylvan Lake, the stunt saw 8,000 pounds of ice moulded into a seven-foot tall installation, containing over 4,000 sparkling coins, shaped into McDonald’s famous Golden Arches™. Watch the interaction as the ice begins the melt… Thanks to adlag

(Jon Price – Designer)