Imagine then my delight upon the recent trend which seems to have returned to London's billboards. I was very this morning to see the return of the award winning piece from iris promoting adidas sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics. Created by Phil Kitching, Lou Bogue, Tim Clegg and John Murphy at iris, this ad won the Grand Prix in the CBS Outdoor Long Copy Challenge, back in November last year. 

"You don’t know me.

You don’t know anything about me. You don’t know what i’m made of or just how much I’m capable of. You don’t know where i’ve come from nor where I’m heading. You know nothing of my highs or my lows. You don’t know how fast I am, how strong I am, how resilient I am. You haven’t got a clue what breakfast cereal I eat, what fragrance I wear or who I’m dating. You don’t even know my name.

But you will."

Stirring stuff, and if I'm honest, I'm a little jealous. Hopefully this will get used in a few more channels - it would make a killer voiceover in a cinema ad. 

Another current favourite of mine at the moment is this recruitment ad from Posterscope. Written in a very different style, this one actually rewards repeated readings. I even missed a train so I could get a second look at it. 

"So what about that Judi Dench, then? She's a damn fine actress isn't she? I think we can all agree on that. Well, most of us, anyway. That's what research tells me. I've just been looking at some research that tells me what kind of person is most likely to be looking at this poster. (Not for fun. It's my job. I decide where to put posters to reach the right people.) And it turns out that most of you lookin at this will admire: Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Richard Branson ... and Judi Dench. 

Not all of you, of course. You're not all exactly he same. If you were, my job would be easy-peasy. In fact my job in Insight is becoming increasingly complex. There are lot of new types of posters (or "Out-Of-Home media" as we like to call them). And you guys - thanks to your smartphones - can now do all sorts of things like searching online and even buying while you're on the move. So I need to understand how the medium works, who Out-of-Home media reaches and where, and how it contribute to consumer communications. 

Frankly, I need a manager to help me! If you reckon you could do this job, and if you've sound knowledge of UK media research, or advertising, email your CV to [email protected], adding a few sentences telling me why you would be the right one. You can also find out more about us at posterscope.com"

I was nearly moved to apply myself! A specialist using its own channel to recruit is genius. The tone is very different to the piece from iris, but it's no less effective. The more conversational style is highly engaging, and the transition from small-talk to media research and planning is deftly handled. (If anyone is thinking of applying, my advice is go for it. They're lovely folk at Posterscope.)

Bluetooth-enabled, 3D projected, animatronic, smartphone compatible, LCD screens are all very well, but perhaps sometimes the pen is still mightier than the pixel.