D2 Collective

  This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and this year’s focus is on anxiety. The Mental Health Foundation describe that “anxiety is a normal emotion in us all, but sometimes it can get out of control and become a mental health problem”. Combining long hours, heavy workloads, and ever-changing demands within the dynamic nature of the creative industry – agency life can arguably be the perfect environment for anxiety to fester.  In reflection of Mental Health Awareness week, we have been reviewing the practices we put in place to best navigate through the grips of anxiety at work. Although never avoidable, we believe these things have aided us in safeguarding against an anxiety-inducing work environment at a busy agency and allows us to continue to thrive and produce great work, day after day.        Often finding yourself in any sort of “grey area” can be one of the biggest anxiety inducers. The things left unsaid, ill-defined, or open to ambiguous...

Oh no, not another article about AI! But really, we need to talk about it. AI is the elephant in the creative room.    Advancements in AI are fast moving, and the technology morphs each day stretching into new realms and possibilities. Including text, image, audio, code, chatbots, video, search, gaming, data, it would seem there is AI to do just about everything.    But, if it is as easy as writing down what you want and inputting this into your device for a viable idea to be churned out, then surely this must be  the  time and cost-efficient method of the future, enabling even the most uncreative people to produce something worthwhile.  And by association, the need for any creative services becomes obsolete. Surely, it’s not that simple?    The first fundamental issue we see with this hypothesis is that AI is only as good as the information that is fed into it. An obvious fault when getting a clear and definitive brief from clients can ...

  Love is in the air… so here at D2 we have been thinking about what we have fallen in love with this month. From coffee blends to new music, to wall murals, our list is, well, varied, reflecting the diverse and creative minds that make up our Collective.     Not a boring billboard placement Starting with a witty ad campaign that grabbed our attention is this recent advertisement by Starling Bank. Its clever placement  neighbouring  a NatWest ad, whether intentional or entirely fortuitous, duplicated the message and led to a flurry of online engagement after a passer-by snapped the ironic scene.    This is a great example of how user-generated content can be a premium for brands. Creating organic and authentic cross-channel content, a passer-by snapping a picture of this moment and uploading it to social media increased the reach of this ad to heights not possible via traditional B2C communications – D2 loves this strategy.  Office blend As self-p...

It’s here once again, the Monday-iest Monday of all the Monday’s. That’s right, its Monday January 16th, this year’s “Blue Monday”.   Cloaked in icy blue hues, January 16 th  2023, has been awarded this gloomy title, signifying what is said to be the most depressing day of the year. As the tinkle of jingle bells is replaced with the tapping of keyboards, the cold dark nights continue to hastily draw in and the joyful festive aura exits the scene for another year, Blue Monday is upon us.    However, here at D2, we’re not wallowing with the blues nor are we painting the town red or acquiring green fingers. No, this year we are celebrating in tones of red and pink, embracing Viva Magenta 18-1750, the 2023 pantone colour of the year .    Drawing influence from music, film and entertainment, as well as travel, technology and sport, Pantone’s colour experts select a colour that is both reflective of, and inspiring for, the year ahead. As 2023’s Pantone colour of ...