The Brilliant creative team blog

Nikita Nomerz is a Russian street artist who travels around local cities in search of derelict buildings to deface with, erm... faces.

His work isn't restricted just to this but it really is quite unique, at least to me it is. He paints on anything from water towers to dilapidated buildings and beyond.

Check out more of his work.

The annual Super Bowl game is often the most-watched TV programme in the US, and so naturally has become something of an advertising hotspot, as big brands fight to promote their wares to hundreds of millions of viewers (Apple's '1984' launch ad for example was aired during the 1984 Super Bowl). As in previous years, car adverts made up the bulk of the one and two-minute commercials, but beer, soft drinks, sportswear and technology products also featured.

With slots costing around $3.5m for 30 seconds, many companies pulled out all the stops to make use of their big budget. Below are three which play the nostalgia card to tempt viewers to part with their money. Head over to the Creative Review and Branding Magazine websites to see full round-ups of commercials from the 2012 XLVI event.


MetLife
Insurance company MetLife brought together famous cartoon characters from the past, including He-Man, Mr Magoo, and the casts of Scooby Doo and Charlie Brown.


Samsung
Electronics giant Samsung resurrected 2000s glam-rock group The Darkness, using frontman Justin Hawkins to lure prospective Apple buyers to sample its products.


Honda
Honda brought Ferris Bueller's Day Off back, casting original star Matthew Broderick, and inserted over a dozen references to the cult-1980s film.

A nicely-resolved infographic is, to me, as beautiful as an old master is to an art enthusiast. Usually beautifully illustrated and graphically striking, they catch the eye, telling their story concisely and directly. Take this one for example from hubspot.com, which imparts information on the history of marketing through the ages. A simple colour palette and iconographic shapes mean it's easily read (though it is a little busy at times, I will admit), and fun in a way that a wordy feature just isn't.

Your average computer, smartphone and tablet can display 16.7 million colours? That's a lot of colours right!

Dulux have teamed up with Unicef to help raise money for children to help transform lives and save lives. Their goal is to name each and every colour available, remember that's 16.7 million colours!

We have our colour so head over to www.ownacolour.com , find yours and make this small gesture for children everywhere.

This is an absolute new favorite of mine, It's beautifully produced, shot in such a way that makes you feel part of the scene and want to grab a skateboard to get involved... not only that, It includes probably the sweetest skate park I have ever seen, awesome costumes and tricks, people stacking it and, oh yeah, fireworks in a tunnel! The guys and girls in Vancouver certainly know how It's done.

Well, whad'ya know, the new Volkswagen 2012 Super Bowl XLVI TV commercial has been released early, and unexpectedly builds on the canine theme featured in 'The Bark Side' teaser spot. 'The Dog Strikes Back' features an overweight pooch called Bolt, who undertakes lots of doggy exercises to get fit so that he can chase the German company's new Beetle. That's all very cute, but where does the Star Wars link make itself known? We won't spoil it here, but there is a galaxy far far away-tinged ending, keeping the running theme from last year's 'The Force' film. An edited 60-second version of VW's 76-second clip will air during the 2012 Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday 5 February, along with high-budget car ads from Acura and Honda.

Here is a fantastic animation short by Royale called 'Impossible Present'.

Not only is it brilliantly done, the comedy elements and timing are played out with perfect precision. It gave me flashbacks to the Christmas just past, watching my one year old fruitlessly attacking his presents wrapping :)

Check out more of Royale's work.