Why does TV advertising suck?

TV advertising is a massive form of marketing for a large number of businesses. It presents companies with the opportunity to reach a mass market with a universal message or promotion of their product or service.  Now i'm all for a really cooly advert, but i am increasingly finding myself annoyed by them rather than persuaded or influenced. This often results in me forward winding through adverts whenever i get the opportunity to do so. Why does TV advertising suck you ask? Well i have a few reasons, and i'm sure you do too, but for the sake of this blog post, here are mine:

Time

TV advertisements just seem to go on forever and consequently disrupt the viewing of programmes that people are emotionally and materially (time) invested in. They say that on average the amount of time TV advertisements actually take up between programmes is about 4 minutes, in an hour long program that's 16 minutes! There are so many advertisements on TV that it may lead you to question as to whether you have actually taken any information in. Try recalling all of the adverts that were on in the last advert break you saw and you would probably struggle to remember more than two. 

PPI and Injury Lawyers

Now i know i'm not alone on this one! These incessant adverts not only seem like they are on all the time, but there are so many of these types of companies offering the same service. I can understand that it needs to be constantly pushed due to the nature of the service they are offering, but too much of anything becomes annoying. The adverts are so cringeworthy too, often demonstrating the massive injustice that has been done by leaving a puddle of water on the floor in the workplace. I know for a fact i don't need either of the services provided, but even i start to question myself they are on so much!

Untargeted Ads

Quite simply, there is nothing worse than an advert that is promoting a product that has very little to do with the audience currently watching the TV show. Picture if you will gents, that you are watching a film with more guns and fast cars than James Bond and the Fast and Furious franchise combined yet suddenly, out of nowhere, an ad for high heeled shoes comes on. Are you going to be interested? Probably not. And ladies, imagine you are watching America's Next Top Model and smack bang in the middle of the show is an advert for mens shaving foam. Again, you're probably not going to be that interested.  Despite the fact there has been an increase in targeted ads over the last decade, there is still a great divide between what is relevant to us as an audience and what is shown. In short, untargeted ads do not really benefit anybody!

With all of this being said, i love the occasional creative and intuitive adverts that come on my TV. Feel free to tweet me yours! @bradleygavin

The top 10 coolest apps for iPhone

So, you've just purchased your brand spanking new iPhone and you're looking to personalise it a little. You've picked up the usual suspects for apps, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, but you want something extra cool to go alongside them.  In light of this, i have compiled a list of 10 of the coolest apps that i believe will be a welcomed addition to your new smartphone. 

1. Shazam - Shazam is a music recognition app that allows you to record a small part of a song in order to identify its title and its artist. If a match can be found you will be provided with its information, alongside a YouTube link and a link through to iTunes so you can purchase the song should you wish to. This app is a lifesaver when you can never quite remember the song that's being played!

2. Mobile Monet - Mobile Monet is a bit of a hidden gem. It essentially converts any picture you upload  into a black and white sketch. From here you can apply colour with a soft blow brush tool, the more that you swipe your finger across the picture the more the colour is applied. You can adjust the brightness, colour shade and more in order to create your very own masterpiece.

3. Expensify - Expensify allows you to manage your expenses in the most efficient way possible. With this app you can track expenses, snap and save pictures of reciepts and create expense reports all on the go. Easy really!

4. Flipboard - Flipboard really is a gorgeous app. The best way it can be described is as your own personal magazine. You choose topics that interest you and the app generates an easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate personalised digital magazine. Should you wish to, you can also connect it to Facebook and Twitter to see what your friends are sharing. Pretty cool!

5. Snapchat - For those of you that have yet to come across the Snapchat phenomenon, it is a quirky photo sharing app with a twist. You take a picture, doodle on it if you want to and you share it with your friends. However they can only view the picture for a maximum of ten seconds and it lets you know if they have taken a screen shot of it. Cheeky!

6. Sonic The Hedgehog Game - This is pure nostalgia, for the child in all of us! The game is a re-mastered mobile version of the classic Sonic The Hedgehog that was first available on Sega Megadrive. It is cool because it will remind you of your past, but is made even cooler by the additional playable characters and the enhanced graphics. 

7. Draw Something 2 - The original Draw Something game had amassed 50 million downloads in its first seven weeks on the app store. The sequel is relatively new, but the concept of drawing something for your friends to guess is still the same. With the sequel comes new drawing tools, and a social feed where you can share your work with all your friends.

8. Google+ - Despite the fact that it is not the most used social network, Google+ has a wonderful interface and allows individuals to see what is trending (similar to Twitter), and start video hangouts with more than one friend. It is not cluttered with ads like Facebook is and it is a delightful way of communicating and sharing with friends.

9. Wall of Sound - This app provides users with a refreshing way of viewing and listening to their music. In essence, it creates a tiled wall of all your songs and their artwork, where with a single tap it will play them, and with a single swipe you can move across the wall. The wall of songs can also be combined with other song previews that are on iTunes and comes with an internal search bar so you can find your favourite songs quickly. Here's a little look at what it looks like: 

10. Sleep Talk - This is one of my favourite apps that has left me in hysterics on many occasions. The Sleep Talk app records all your snores, farts and everything you do in your sleep! The morning after you can listen to what was recorded, but don't worry you don't have to listen to the whole nights sleep in the hope you'll hear something, the app filters out the sleep talking for you. In addition to this you can share your audio clips with others on the usual social media networks, as well as listen to other peoples sleep talking!

I hope this gives you an insight into some of the cool apps that are available on the App Store. With well over 700,000 apps available for download, i'm sure you'll be able to find something that takes to your taste.