I'm David Pugh-Jones, a Brand Strategist working in the Global Creative Solutions Team for Microsoft Advertising. Effectively I'm a digital architect and evangelist for creative solutions focusing on ideation, craft and concept right through to the delivery of integrated and immersive brand experiences.

Following on from Mel's recent posting, over the coming weeks myself and some of my colleagues will be adding our thoughts and insights from the world of creativity... and not just examples of digital masterpieces. After all, the lines between online and traditional advertising are blurring so much that these days it's difficult to fathom out which platform the idea appeared on first. 

Now focusing on my headline for a brief moment, I wanted to throw something out there to those of you reading this. In the fast-moving world of advertising, the harsh but real expectations from brands/clients is to get it right with consumers every time they plan to promote another product launch. Well, easier said than done! You have to be tactful and impactful, but not aggressive.  It has to tick the core target audiences boxes in every way with its messaging communication.  It has to be useful - very useful. It has to be fun when it fits.  It has to have impact, and especially it has to have some form of creative wisdom behind it. But being creative for creative's sake is sometimes where it all falls down.

Just because Augmented Reality is 'the best thing since sliced bread' and is all the rage at the moment does not automatically mean that this element of technology is going to work with every brand campaign online. I call it the Wildebeest Effect - basically it's the theory of the grass is always greener on the other side; a new advertising opportunity arises and the world and his dog decide they also want to head in the same direction and do something new and innovative.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm all for new and I'm all for innovation.  What I'm not for is forgetting the core brand values and analysing what the brand is trying to achieve in the long and short term. Sometimes we do have to just take stock, sit back and really get inside the head of a product and its objectives; there you'll find the answer hidden in a cocoon waiting for you and your magical idea that will transform it into the beautiful butterfly that it is. That might sound a little dramatic, but I like the romance in coming up with ideas that just make you smile when you think them up.

On that note, ask yourself when was the last time you smiled or laughed out loud when you saw some brand advertising? Think about it... (this magazine picture I found in the foyer of my dentist's office did it for me).