A post on the excellent Spitalfields Life blog  (which, as the name suggests, covers aspects of life in the area local to our office in London’s East End) caught my eye and I thought its contents might be of interest to readers of this blog.

The Gentle Author writes:

The London of Borough of Shoreditch existed from 1899 until 1965. Yet although it ceased to be a political entity long ago, thanks to the official guides preserved in the Bishopsgate Institute, we may do our Saturday shopping there – especially if we are in line for some quality cabinet-making, upholstery or bedding.

Here (below) are some of the ads reproduced on Spitalfields Life. Interesting to see the kind of work that was being produced back in the day by local agencies in ye olde Shoreditch.

Normans have some lovely British made shoes:

Nice art direction with a hint of art deco (below) for BBB. Prams and "motors"? I wonder what kind of motors.

Kumfysprung upholstery is available in " a fine range of velours".

This one (below) gets creative with typography: see what they did there? Also loving the obsequiousness of the phrase, "we should like the opportunity of quoting you in order that we may prove the truth of our statement".

The Uriah Heepitude of the copywriting continues in the example below with the splendid phrases, "I would esteem it a favour to receive your enquiries… Get my prices first, it will be to our mutual benefit". I'd love to see language like that being used by We Buy Any Gold.

Great strapline (below) from Hobdays, "It's better to oblige than to apologise." For when you really can't wait for your motor, cycle, radio and electrical supplies.

"One quality only – the best." You can't argue with that.

Nor can you argue with the sentiment, "beer is best".

Here at W2O we have in the past referred to the old rhyme that provides advice to agencies struggling with difficult clients.

When the client moans and sighs
Make his logo twice the size
If the client still proves refractory
Show a picture of the factory
Only in the gravest cases
Should you show the clients’ faces

The agencies of olde Shoreditch apparently had some refractory clients, as quite a few of these ads show pictures of the premises. Look at these impressive glass works:

Here are some splendid tea warehouses, should you need to avail yourself of warehousing for your tea supplies.

This one (below) uses an interesting shot. There’s a suggestion that B. Webber was so proud of his car that he went for an odd crop of his shop so as to include his motor in the picture.

Lovely stuff. Hat tip once more to Spitalfields Life for tracking these down.

We opened this morning's edition of Campaign to find our latest campaign for Lurpak, Adventure Awaits, noted by Private View's 'Suit' and 'Creative' alike.

Says Richard Arscott, MD of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, "It does a great job of carrying the brand’s value yet embracing the "new frontier" of Cook’s Range products with its space theme. […] And it moves the campaign on just enough for me not to think they’re caught making the same ad again."

Read the full online article here.