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London 2012: the Gifts of the Games
Posted by Creative Review, 12 September 2012, 11:46 Permalink Comments (9)

Well it's all over. No more Olympics, no more Paralympics. Now, attention switches to the much-disputed 'legacy' of the Games. And lest we forget all the great things 2012 has done for London, there's an ad campaign to remind us
Timed to coincide with the end of the Paralympics, the Greater London Authority has launched The Gifts of the Games, a poster campign and website highlighting some of the benefits that 2012 has brought to London.

The 11 'Gifts' (presents which taxpayers did actually pay for themselves of course) range from the thousands of new homes which will be built on the Olympic Park site to arts projects and the Emirates Air Line cable car.


Each one is portrayed by photographer James O Jenkins. The ads will be running on the tube network and the DLR as well as in the Metro newspaper for the next six weeks.

Creative director on the campaign was GLA head of design Tom Lancaster who joined in 2011 and heads up an in-house creative team of designers and copywriters. In the May 2012 issue of CR, our columnist Gordon Comstock interviewed Lancaster about his work for the GLA (you can read the piece here).




Credits:
Specially commissioned photography by James O Jenkins
Creative direction: Tom Lancaster
Designed in-house by Caroline Sellers, Vivienne Lang, Sergio Fernandez and Lancaster.
Copy written inhouse by Helen Booth
Campaign management by Patora Dyrma
Website by David Scales at User37
Print by Park Communications

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9 Comments
I'd be interested to know what the editors reasoning for featuring this piece of work? What set's it apart?
Is it the edgy concept? Or the typography? Or perhaps it's the playfulness of the images and copy that get's this featured? Maybe it's the Wordpress themed website?
Come on CR.
2012-09-12 14:11:05
perhaps because its public graphic communication very closely related to one of the most culturally significant events in london in recent memory?
2012-09-12 14:33:51
I love it, simple, accessible and warm
2012-09-12 15:15:49
Wasn't it Jonathan Ive who said "simplicity isn't always simple"?
I like these posters, the light copy, simple layout and images work well. I don't think having an 'edgy concept' would particularly help communicate the message any better, especially as I'd imagine they are aimed at a broad range of people.
2012-09-12 15:41:19
Generally I quite like these, clear and functional, nice photography, nothing awesome, but OK, what just bugs me is the tracked out all caps headline, I just keep seeing the gaps between the letters, rather than words. If you are doing something as minimal as this, you need to get the fine details right, thats what makes it stand out. This just misses the mark for me.
2012-09-12 17:14:40
I too, quite like these.
There's a lightness of touch for something that would have been through quite a few approval processes.
I even forgive the extra kerning (or lack of) seeing as they've stuck to two word headlines.
2012-09-13 15:34:17
Pity (in the "House Party" poster) their grammar fails them. "There's going to be over 2,800 ..." Should be "There are..." Who writes this? Who checks it?
2012-09-13 23:42:25
Thanks to the games. The North West got nothing!
2012-09-18 16:15:45
I think the reason that the House Party says 'There's going to be' rather than 'There are' is that the new homes haven't been built yet. Nice campaign though
2012-09-20 14:07:00
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