The Guardian's 'Hard Sell' takes on our Cravendale campaign. I think they like it. But I'm not sure.

Traditionally, adverts are meant to make you want to buy the product they're advertising. They're supposed to be aspirational, or funny, or memorable, or just feature a long, drawn-out romance between a couple that couldn't have kept their love alive or overcome the bumps in the romance road without the help of a company that offers both telephone and internet services. But not since the 90s, when alcopop Metz introduced the dream-haunting Judderman (don't YouTube it before bed) has a TV advert made me feel so uncomfortable as the Cravendale Cats With Thumbs.

The 41 seconds of terror begin deceptively quietly, when the question is posed: "Why do cats always stare when you're pouring milk"? Apparently it's because they're plotting. They know it's only a matter of time until they grow thumbs (the crunchy squelchy sound of a sprouting cat thumb will haunt you at 4.35am, when you wake up sweating and shaking as your own moggy scratches at the door). Cravendale wants us to know that when cats have opposable digits, they'll be reading books (on WAR – SIGNIFICANT!!!), sewing, and forming 1960s West Side Story-style gangs, only with worse singing voices. Cats can already see things we can't; what makes you think forming an army to reclaim the world's milk isn't the next step? The irony, of course, is that adult cats are lactose intolerant and shouldn't drink milk. Which means that any act of war over dairy products is just spiteful. The ad closes with the futile words "Jog on, kitty." But it's no use. It's a stark warning of a worrying future when felines rule the planet and humans are left with the worst thing of all: soy milk.

Wieden + Kennedy London is delighted to welcome two new, senior additions to our creative department.

Brian Cooper joins the agency as Global Executive Creative Director for Nokia.  He will be the global lead creative across the entire business and each office in the W+K network will collaborate with and work directly into him.  He will report into Executive Creative Directors Tony Davidson and Kim Papworth.

 Brian joins the agency from Dare, where he was Creative Director and led a number of the agency's key clients including Vodafone and Sony Ericsson. He went on to lead the creative output of both Dare London and Dare NY during the most creative period in the agency’s history, as evidenced by Dare’s placing on Creativity's 2010 A-List.

 Brian said, ‘Nokia is a fantastic brand, and the opportunity to help shape its future, at this moment in time, is simply too good to miss.’

Ben Terrett has been appointed Design Director.  He has worked at W+K on a freelance basis for the past year as Creative Director on The Guardian and Nike GRID.  In addition to running the ever-expanding design department, Ben will continue to be lead creative on the Guardian business.  He will also report into Executive Creative Directors Tony Davidson and Kim Papworth.

Ben said, ‘Like any company with design at its core, W+K makes work that has cultural resonance. There's a fantastic design team here and I'm looking forward to exploring what the future looks like for design at Wieden & Kennedy’.

Ben is also a designer and partner in RIG, a design studio with clients such as Apple, BBC and Penguin, he also won the Graphics Category in the Design Museum’s Designs Of The Year Awards last year.

W+K’s new hirings reflect our aim to build a strong team with diverse talents and broad skills. Our goal is to attract the best creative talent in the world to help solve the business problems of our clients. It also helps if they are human men with glasses, as above.

We say, 'Welcome on board, gents. It's a pleasure to have you – and your glasses – here.'