Planning on Subversion

This blog is in retirement.

2009-09-24T09:39:00.002+01:00

In case you stumble upon this, I no longer feel compelled to blog. It doesn't mean I stopped thinking, writing or subverting, I just do that elsewhere. Although a couple of people know who I am I always liked the fact that I blogged anonymously. It was never about me but about the thinking. I've moved that on a bit now. I am still planning on subversion but I try and do it in practice rather than in blogs. If you know me or interested to find out more about what I am up to e-mail me here: saherhs@yahoo.com.

Exploring this map with a bit of sarcasm.

2008-11-05T11:43:00.003Z

Some silly observations: The people on the edges (and closer / facing the rest of the world) are the ones who voted for him. Change comes from the edges, most certainly not from the orthodoxys of the conservative centre. Apparently Obama had a lot of young people voting for him, perhaps it's the young are the ones that still believe you can change. Any way more later on this.

Top Influential People on the Web.

2008-09-30T14:13:00.006+01:00

According to Business Week these are the most influential people on the web. What I find really interesting though is that 8 out of the 25 mentioned have businesses or ideas that are under serious threat from somebody or something else. Craiglist is threatened by eBAY Google is in danger of becoming the Microsoft of the web or a spin on their Don't be evil becoming exactly that: 'The Evil Empire' Amazon has reached maturity already and needs to diversify out of the Book Club Ghetto. Microsoft well their biggest threat is moving from a software business into a web based software business not to mention google docs and the likes Firefox is under threat from Google's Chrome MySpace is under threat from facebook and is forced to diversify it's way out of being the poor people's facebook Yahoo well who wants a directory based portal in a digg world. Nokia trying to compete in the multi-media hand-held computers, talk about psychizophrenia For a list showing the webs most influential people it seems to me that over a third of that list are either shitting their pants, laying sleepless at night or simply sweating. Fundamentally because either their ideas have reached maturity already and are in need for diversification / reinvention or they haven't evolved fast enough or simply came up with new ones. Contrast those 8 to the guy who did blogger, tried odeo and recently done twitter, not to mention Apple who is for all intents and purposes a music business as much as it is a computer business. Interesting Indeed.

Bonfire of the Brands. Amen.

2008-08-27T10:03:00.001+01:00

Irrelevant Experience.

2008-07-29T11:06:00.003+01:00

Isn't it funny when recruiting people or being recruited in an industry like ours the people who get the job tend to be those that have done something 'similar', 'relevant' or are 'a bit like us'. I would love to see the day when people are recruited because they have an experience that's nothing like the existing culture. A mixed up world is a more interesting place. But this 'creative destruction' principle is too painful for those who seek to stay in their comfort zone. Any growth out of what puts you in the un-predictable and is painful but so are muscles as they grow. If you can't stretch you can't reach the top shelf :-)

Ryanair - fare without care and soon without profits - serves them right.

2008-07-28T13:31:00.002+01:00

I hate Ryanair. It's shit. I couldn't put it any other way. They are definitely the 'fare without care' airline and the thing that I find annoying like hell is that they don't have to be rude. Rude is a policy at Ryanair. It doesn't cost anything to allow their staff to be nice. Like easyjet for example. Today Ryanair have announced that they will be making losses this year. I couldn't have been happier. Because as well as market forces teaching them a lesson in eating humble pie perhaps the fare no care strategy should now come back to haunt them as passengers dessert them not only for price but for nice service.

On types of planners.

2008-06-16T07:01:00.004+01:00

'Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see' - Arthur Schopenhauer. I was thinking about types of planners out there following a conversation with a great planning director and we were debating the virtues of various 'types' of planners. Labels abound of-course, account planner, creative planner, communication planner, digital planner etc. Yet the only types I could come up with were simply two: the first are planners who are brilliant at de-construction: these are the folks who are great at telling you how the world works. Typically because they come from research and curiosity backgrounds / mindsets. The other type are the planners who are brilliant at construction. These are the ones who are into how the world 'could' work. The latter type don't need a curiosity background. Sadly i was say that the latter are the rarer variety. I suppose the difference between the two is what Schopenhauer described between the talented and the genius. Finally, as far as planning processes go wouldn't it be simpler to narrow down the planning cycle to two phases: Deconstruction - Reconstruction. The first is about understanding 'how the world works?' and the second is about 'how it could work?'. If it is one planner who is doing both then he/she would need to swap hats somewhere in the middle but you could always have two planners the de-constructionist and the re-constructionist in charge of each phase.

BRANDED COMMUNITIES ANYONE?

2008-04-01T16:27:00.001+01:00

If there was ever a good example of the above can you please link below. Thanks. ss

BOLLOX to the tipping point and think turning points.

2008-03-26T15:43:00.003Z

Years ago when i was a student i did my masters theses on Everett Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory. Today I am still gob-smacked to see so many mediocre thoughts based around the idea that if you influence the influencers the rest will take care of itself. Glad to see that this rubbish view is finally being challenged. I hated Gladwell as i thought what he was suggesting was marketing porn the sort of shit that lazy marketers looking for quick fix formulas would drool over. Even people like Earls don't talk about the original theory. What Rogers outlined fifty years ago was a number of factors that can make an idea spread. Mostly it is to do with (you guessed it) the quality of what you actually want to spread whether it's an idea or a piece of technology. It has to be innovative in the first place. Secondly once you cracked a mind blowing innovation then the quality of the network in which this idea is meant to flow needs to fulfill a lot of criteria. To oversimplify Rogers like that is a travesty but I will in two lines. 1. You must have a fucking mind blowing new, innovative, valuable and compelling idea first. 2. Then and only then you can start worrying about the quality of the connections between the people you want to take it up. In other words it's less to do with the people you are influencing and more to do with the content you are influencing them with and the quality of the pipelines between those people. Finally, if you still want a formula here are some ingredients based on Rogers for spreading stuff: 1. Demonstrate considerable advantage to everything else is out there. (Hardly going to come from your average brand / agency) 2. Show how it is compatible with what the receiver already knows. (It has to fit in or evolve an existing frame or reference) 3. Reduce complexity show how easy it is to adopt it. (not only show them and idea show them how they can work it) 4. Encourage trail. 5. Show credibility by showing observable social advantages. (This actually means you have to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE and what makes them tick instead of knowing the special yoghurt flavour of the celebrity you just hired to influence people) There were other pre-conditions for diffusion that I will not go on about here. I cannot be bothered with marketers who buy this whole influence the influencer bollox without thinking first of how they will make a better mouse trap instead of trying to simply trap people like mice.

Bollox to those who say you can't do emotion in digital.

2008-03-19T13:43:00.002Z

Knobs. Was there ever a sequel to this?

2008-03-19T13:23:00.001Z

Nice one.

2008-03-19T13:08:00.001Z

Of-course the original was this. r

From the same people who brought you the spreadsheet.

2008-03-19T13:00:00.001Z

Fill in the gaps...

2008-03-18T17:07:00.002Z

Ad planners have the ear of a senior, educated, often with some creative / strategic judgement. Digital planners have the ear of....

CULTURE IS THE NEW COMMERCE.

2008-03-12T10:16:00.005Z

There are endless conversations going on right now about brands moving from 'saying' (making ads) to 'doing' (making services e.g. Nike +). Naturally it wasn't one individual who came up with that trend or shift, lots of marketers and particularly those of us in new media noticed this early on. Personally the first time I've written about this in presentations and articles was as far back as 2001. However, I wanted to re-fresh my own thinking as well as current mood in this area. I am of-course indebted to John Grant for the original chart in his new book (pg: 134) as well as various others who are championing the doing e.g. Stuart. There are multiple ideas that I tried to summaries in one chart which is ambitious but most of it is above. I will not go into the full discourse of what everything means but I will attempt a brief summary. Yesterday: Brands used to operate in a universe of commerce and communication meant to say & sell products and emotions to consumers with an end goal of making money. Today: Brands are more like social movements who operate in a universe of culture and society they no longer just say&sell but they do & share either a passion or an enemy with perhaps a bigger end goal of making meaning rather than just money. (see previous post on credibility v commitment). A lot of stuff goes into this newish framework: The role of the brand is no longer to release the consumer from the tyranny of conscious choice but a bigger one of instigating a social reformation either by sharing a passion or fighting a joint enemy. Brands have to play more of a cultural role rather than a commercial one. If a brand or company is not helping culture or society move forward somehow it will appear as just trying to use clever stuff to sell stuff. Brands have to stop sitting on an aspiration pedestal and stand next to a new type of consumer who is truly not stupid. The role of consumer has changed. They are no longer consumers and particularly online. They behave more like citizen activists, journalists, pirates, producers, protagonists in the brand story and most importantly their buying decisions are more like voting with their wallets for things they believe in rather than buying stuff. The mode of communication was about showing, selling, spinning stories and creating illusions - sorry bran image - around perfectly mundane products. But that's clearly no longer enough. A brand that does what it says and stands next to its citizens in either a fight against a cultural enemy (Thank you ignorance / Nike) or shares a passion with consumers is far more likely to be seen as credible, committed and a contributor to a greater cultural meaning. In a way I think what I am saying is this the nature of commerce itself needs to be re-visited. Is really the pursuit of above average profit such a brilliant goal for companies or brands? Or, could they pursue a greater good that extends beyond selling stuff. Consider your average global brand: probably has more revenue than the GDP of a small country, a better infrastructure than most governments, a better handle on resources than most charities and better democracy than most countries because their consumers vote with their wallets not with any misguided loyalty. Just imagine if global brands started using their immense power to try and make an above average culture instead of above average profit...we may just have a planet worth saving then instead of this pointless mess.

It's not enough to be credible, you have to be committed.

2008-03-11T12:49:00.004Z

I am having various debates at work around one of our clients who do have a lot of credibility as a 'creative' brand. However, it dawned on me that credibility is not enough because lots of other competitors direct/indirect can also be credible in their own way while claiming the same territory. And here is where my thoughts shifted towards commitment. How committed are you as a brand really to whatever territory you want to own? Take Dove Real beauty for example, fantastic campaign and reasonably credible (unless as a consumer you find out that it is made by the same people who glamourise skinny girls in their Lynx ads). Now take Nike for example that is committed to its cause and never wavered from its few core principles such as being for the athlete in all of us. Nike is committed and credible when they give me something like Nike+. Since day one they've been about the athlete and did things for the athlete it's an unwavering commitment and loyalty to an attitude as much as to an audience. The difference is that between those who will use whatever cool thing they can find in order to brand and sell and those who truly believe in a cause or a mission. I can't remember who said it but somebody once said that a principal is not a principal unless it costs you money. Now that's commitment.

It's capitalism stupid.

2008-02-19T13:16:00.002Z

Most people who have a problem with marketing or advertising often miss the point. It is simply the most visible and of-course designed to be the most attractive part of relentless capitalism. Capitalism built around growth and the mindless pursuit of above average profit is by far the real enemy here. Advertising is just a byproduct of a much bigger economic system that is only about profit. A glimmer of hope appears on the hot horizon though. The imperatives of the environment and the planet may very well force capitalism on the larger scale to change course from profit to plane and companies on the smaller scale will just have to be you guessed it ... more 'responsible'

Things I hate about my job.

2008-02-04T10:20:00.000Z

1. It's about politics not planning at my level (or any level for that matter) 2. It's about screwing the consumer and spinning their head instead of giving them something meaningful. 3. It's pop culture but hardly culture. 4. Creatives who insist on being inspired by pop culture instead of creating their own. 5. Clients who are more worried about their position in the company than creating something amazing. 6. Living the lie which is worse than believing it. 7. People who do this job to fill deep insecurities about their talent or lack of attention they got when they were kids. 8. It's a fascinating business but it's still a business, some just think it's an excuse for a party. 9. The alternative careers using the same skills look like manna from heaven in the desert for the lost jews. 10. Maybe I don't have a problem with the communication business but the very nature of capitalism itself. More on that later.

Insecurity the sinister side of Insight

2007-11-29T15:19:00.000Z

I was having a debate with somebody on insights and what do we really really look for as planners when we are looking into audiences. It occurred to me and much to my own shame that one of my dirty tricks for coming up with decent insights is to look for the insecurities in the audience I am planning for. For example I am working on a youth brand and I ended up looking for teen insecurities such as their lack of confidence to really be independent from their parents and the fact that their cocky attitude is nothing but a front for their lack of confidence and in that I found a role for this brand to challenge and support them in their quest for true independence from their parents and implicitly encouraging them to turn against their parents all knowing control. Perhaps I shouldn't be too hard on my self I mean any candy brand or even the purest of the pure dove is actually playing on people's insecurities.

Amen.

2007-11-19T15:00:00.000Z

Find more videos like this on Plannersphere

Aristotle, AIDA, Advertising and Pursuasion.

2007-11-06T12:37:00.000Z

So, I haven't blogged in a long long while. I doubt that anyone still reads this (apart from me) although the numbers tell a different story. Anyway one of the reasons I started blogging apart from fame seeking and the suspect satisfaction I get when somebody actually disagrees with me is that I surprisingly do want to keep some sort of a record of random doodles in my head. Here is one about pursuasion. Looking into various theories about communication I found that in a world where we are hyperconnected and people find out stuff from their mates first instead of a t.v. ad we still seem to be basing the entire modern marketing industry on ancient models of communication. Take AIDA a model based on attention, interest, desire and action that influence how advertising is concieved and evaluated with various metrics such as awarness, recall, consideration are somehow justified by things like AIDA. I find the whole thing a bit suspect. AIDA was developed by E St. Elmo Lewis in guess when???....1898. And it was a model based on personal selling not mass communication. Since the 70's we've been slaves to Millward Browns awarness index and other metrics that are supposedly what we are trying to achieve with marketing and advertising. Take desire (the D in AIDA) is about filling a brand or a product with emotional meaning and appeal. All the usual lovely ad stuff. However, I was wondering since I was contemplating how old these things are why not go really old. Aristotle seems to have had a better version that I like. Aristotle's model of persuasion was about three simple things you need to have in order to pursuade. Ethos, Pathos & Logos. Ethos is based on the reputation and the credibility of the speaker. Pathos is based on appealing to the emotions of the audience via appealing to their values, speaking to their goals and challenging or re-inforcing their beliefs. Logos is about having evidence and reason to back up the case you are making. Now if Aristotle was alive today he may very well agree that brands convey Pathos through advertising and Logos through product and experience. However, when it comes to the question of Ethos he will probably go 'mmmm'.

3 rules for new planners

2007-07-25T18:14:00.000+01:00

1. Hate advertising. 2. Buy no media 3. Talk to customers.

Brainstorms are Bollocks

2007-05-24T08:32:00.000+01:00

Richard's post on brainstorms is essential reading. http://www.adliterate.com/archives/2007/05/death_to_the_br.html#more The big points for me in what he is saying and comparing with my humble experience are: 1. The selection process of the ideas is based on some form of post it note democracy and you can't get original ideas based on the least common denominator of the feasible and feeble. I was in a meeting with Steve Henry once and he said 'I don't know how on earth we are going to do it but that is what we should do' now how can you let something like that happen in a room full of people and a big white elephant called: somebody is going to make this happen and it better not be me. 2. There is only one real 'problem owner' in the room and frankly no one ever really thinks about something unless its their personal problem. If you run anything to do with solving problems or coming up with ideas it should be done with the one or two people who's mortgage depends on it. 3. Original ideas are hardly born like that APG logo with a big flash bulb I always had trouble with that, they are more like a candle in the wind you have to cup your palms around it in order to make sure it stays alive, you only need a maximum of four hands for that. 4. The coupling of creatives with planners and in digital techies too is not just a nice idea it is critical.

Time is the new Currency

2007-05-15T13:46:00.000+01:00

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid464021208/bctid878762558 I also believe talkability is the new currency. ss

Jeffery a modern day Judas

2007-03-23T11:44:00.000Z

I went to the book launch of Lord Jeffery Archer's new book, the Gospel According to Judas. It was a bit unlike most book launches I've been to, this crowed were well into their theology and the finer points / philosophical and theological in the book where hotly debated. The book was co-written with Franncis Maloney a theologian and a leading Catholic scholar. I was fascinated by why Archer wrote this book and his reply was that since he was very young he was fascinated by the bit in-between black and white - he should know a thing or two about that. Maloney on the other hand wanted a rigorous and fact based account of Judas instead of the sort of stuff that Dan Brown and Dawkins come up with. I found the whole thing really interesting, here you have a disgraced peer trying to rehabilitate Judas (perhaps himself too in the process - a bit like Carvaggio with the self-portrait of himself as Goliath in the David and Goliath). And on the other hand you have a Catholic scholar who wants the Catholic church's version to be heard by a mass audience (via Archer). What an odd couple. Religion and author motivations aside as I am reading the book right now I am finding myself sympathising and identifying with Judas instead of falling in love with Jesus. It is a very difficult balance to strike as a writer if your reader ends up identifying with the wrong character or failing to be inspired by one. But I do like that a gospel which should be about the good news ends up a version of Christian reality where the relationship between humanity and Christ is less than black and white for a change.

Are you global warming ready?

2007-03-15T13:18:00.000Z

So guess who is asking this question? Yep it is Diesel in a fine campaign that has enough irony to re-do my entire wardrobe.

Super Bowl goes CGM

2007-02-05T15:45:00.000Z

I am in NYC at the moment doing some groups. You can't be in NYC during Super Bowl and not fall over the talk about the bigger than movie budget ads they show here. However it is interesting that 'several' of the ads in this advertising block buster prime time, show time and for the first time ever featured ads that were either inspired by consumer generated media or done by consumers. Here's a short report. Interestingly a comment from Tim Calking a Kellog University marketing professor about this year's vintage was: 'This year's ads were a mixed bag with everyone playing it safe, no one was pushing the boundaries of creativity nor taste'. Funny that, if he is right, CGM then becomes one of those things that advertising people do for themselves not their audiences to show how 'in touch they are' - personally I didn't think much of the ads but then again, I am not American.

Reality T.V.

2007-01-03T10:25:00.000Z

68% of all t.v. aired in the world is reality t.v. Two thirds of 18-25 year old Americans said they would go on a reality t.v. show. One third also said that 'anyone who would go on a reality t.v. show isn't normal'. Young people typically watch 4-5 reality shows a week. These random stats got me thinking the following: 1. Everybody is a Celebrity. Most young people are getting used to the idea of being on a screen of some form, traditional t.v., youTube etc. This may be creating a long tail of celebrities (v products) who would have a fair chance of getting on a screen of some form. This can create new niches of celebrities e.g. Lonelygirl15, Peter the 70 year old from Norlfolk on YouTube, George Gallway -:) But the question is: does this erode the idea of celebrity in the classical sense? i.e. somebody famous for something extraordinary: George Best in football for example. 2. Celebrity is not the same as Legendary. Celebrity is becoming such a commodity, people no longer dream about their 15 minutes of fame but demand it - or blog like hell to get it. The next level of aspiration has to be more than just being famous for being famous it has to have some level of authenticity, grounding and yep talent. Perhaps the next level of fame is that of Legend. Legends are truly iconic, immortal and impossible to miss. Now how many YouTuber's can you name that can sit comfortably next to Churchill, Steve Jobs, Dyson, Tim Berners Lee, Pele, John Grant? Perhaps the new legends will be those that truly change the landscape left behind them and the concept of traditional legend itself will shift with the time, I just hope that tomorrow's legends won't just be those who got the most visitors to their MySpace simply by doing nothing except sitting there all day tagging each other. 3. Lo Dumb Down Culture. Given that nearly 70% of global t.v. programming is reality based is mind numbing. If you wanted anything of cultural, intelligent, artistic or craft based products you probably have to look elsewhere like Banksy's Santa's Grotto on Oxford Street. Grant once mentioned in one of his books that we've become the society of the spectacle. Today we want the sizzle not the steak we want the sensationalism of seeing sex on big brother we want the lowest, basest of human common denominators yep we love trash but perhaps the masses love trash and whoever has the job of giving them or inspiring them with the more deeper, higher, more meaningful and slightly more demanding forms of culture and art simply don't give a toss. This stuff doesn't sell t.v. ratings and doesn't guarantee eyeballs to sell to soap advertisers who crave coverage. Therefore you end up with 70% of t.v. being reality based. The sad thing is this is not new. Theodore Adorno as far back as the 50's lamented the mass produced, dumbed down culture as a threat to higher forms of artistic or entertainment products. Adorno observed that the culture industries for which t.v. and radio at the time were the main organs cultivated false needs driven by capitalist agendas (ratings, revenue etc) while true needs they stipulated were creativity, freedom and happiness. But maybe this won't go on for ever. In the Economist's new year edition an article on post modern marketing highlighted how accessibility of niche products (long tail stuff) and consumerism are allowing people to become 'artists of their own life' people who are capable of building their life, with individuality and sense of self-expression by tapping into what technology and variety provide. However, the question that still bugs me is: where will people get their inspiration from? Sure as hell it ain't going to come from watching big brother. Mainstream inspiration will still play a huge part of how people find out about things to make their life more individual (like everyone else's) ... but somewhere, sometime, some people may just make the effort to side track the whole mainstream dumb down drivel and start discovering, exploring on their own what is genuinely interesting and meaningful to them. Perhaps the biggest tool that they may use to do so is the Internet but I hasten to add there is nothing like actually living in an offline world with genuine face to face interactions with people you've never met and being in places you've never been intellectually, emotionally and physically. Discovering it for your self is by far more rewarding. Arthur Scheopenhauer once said: 'Talent hits a target no one else can hit, genius hits a target no one else can see'. Perhaps it is too optimistic to expect modern day culture industries to show us the genius stuff that we have to find out for ourselves.

Imagine if all that marketing spend was a gift from the brand.

2007-01-02T15:10:00.000Z

Brands spend extraordinary amounts of money advertising themselves. Imagine if instead of plugging all this money into 'communications' they instead created, cultural products, entertainment, services, innovations, applications of their brand idea. In other words they did stuff instead of said stuff. Brands should do more and say less.

Un-natural way of getting natural ideas.

2007-01-02T14:35:00.000Z

There is a nice quote in Inspired about how a guy in a black polo neck shirt, tucked into his black chinos with a word 'imagine' stuck on his chest went around the room and asked the participants in an innovation workshop 'what's your fear?' - somebody replied - 'you'.

You can't force ideas out of a structured process real ideas hardly come out of those highly structured manufactured workshops. They come out of something else: conversation and conflict.

I am yet to meet an artist who organises brainstorms to come up with ideas and yet to find a great ad or brand idea that came out of an amazing workshop if you know of any let me know.

C'mmon Branson

2007-01-02T14:29:00.000Z

Previously, Branson pledged huge amounts of money to fight global warming. Today it was announced that him and Stelious and some other Asian gizza are planning to launch the world's first global lo cost airline. Isn't this a bit hypocritical?

Steve Job's Speech in Stanford Ceremony

2006-12-15T10:56:00.000Z


This is an amazing speech by Steve Jobs in Stanford University's graduation ceremony!

God gets a MySpace page

2006-12-07T18:16:00.000Z

Cool brand study on neave.tv

2006-12-07T17:54:00.000Z

Check it out here

The intersection of VIDEO, 3D and Interactive

2006-12-06T14:52:00.000Z

Thanks to OF for this neat example of web tv and here is another example of 3D enviornments online. The future of the web and web design is likely to be at the intersection of VIDEO, 3D and video. Now are we thinking enough about what this means?

Planner as Politician

2006-12-06T12:33:00.000Z

I reckon as well as looking for curiosity, intuition, creativity and all those things you look for in a young planner you need someone who can be a statesman/woman too.The more you go up you enter into boardroom level selling where the real selling happens as well as managing the in-evitable complex iceberg agendas floating about. Nevertheless, integrity and truth continue to be the ultimate planner weapons.

Brands & 2.0

2006-11-27T15:06:00.000Z

Parkour is soo Un-Cool

2006-11-24T17:38:00.000Z

Lots of 'officially' cool brands try and copy and paste the latest cool thing in some culture or sub-culture and dress it up with their me too brands. A quick glance at a leading Parkour outfit (will remain nameless it is un-fair) in the UK revealed no less than 25 projects for BRANDS in the form of ads and events since January 2006. I swear, if I see another dumb ass sports shoes brand doing a Parkour ad again I will run away barefoot in disgust. The point is not to slap your logo on a bit of subculture but to borrow the ethos and the values of that subculture and create your own interpretation of it otherwise those who know anything about Parkour in the UK would have seen the same crew in 25 different ads this year how un-cool is that...

Show and Tell

2006-11-20T12:19:00.000Z

Every agency I'ever worked in had some form of show and tell. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't need to do show and tells because everybody is involved somehow and already knows what is going on? For example if every person had to contribute an interpretation of or a thought on an idea that each account is working on...ah I can dream on.

The eleventh P

2006-11-14T15:14:00.000Z

Tom at i-WISDOM posted the web paradigms below and pointed out that I could be missing two more P's: passion and porn. Agree on both of-course and actually when I do this presentation I do mention porn as the surprise surprise bit. Tom also had this great link to a video from Clo Willaerts about how porn technologies and models are in-fact the the pre-cursors to tomorrow's innovations.

Web (P)aradigms...

2006-11-06T12:59:00.000Z

INSIDER OUTSIDER INNOVATION

2006-11-06T10:35:00.000Z

Inspired by John's entry here about the Guardian's weekend piece on Web 2.0 innovators. Looking at the spectrum of innovators some of them are INSIDERS so close to the technology that they can see opportunities that no one outside the coal face could spot. A fair few are computer programmers who became entrepreneurs and some like Joshua Schachter are OUTSIDERS he built Deli.icio.us because as he put it: 'I built it because I wanted it, not because I thought it was a business or whatever'. Now this leads me to an interesting debate I had with a friend recently. To do innovation you need to be able to harness the impossible to spot insights deep into the 'thing' you are working on but you also need to have the genius of a complete outsider who spots a big whole - a painful need - in a market and do something about it. Now I wonder how many 3M's What if's, GE's HP's are staffed by a magic mix between INSIDERS and OUTSIDERS?

BUGA's

2006-11-02T15:00:00.000Z

Ladies and gentlemen we now have an award for the top British user generated content...well will soon have champion consumers as well as creative geniuses but the question in my head is how will professional creatives justify their existence when there is ample and often better ideas made by consumers? I realise of-course that the good UGC stuff tends to be one hit wonders but sooner or later somebody is going to work out how to do it properly, here's a random selection of UGC stuff making the rounds not quite sure yet whether I've seen something that is actually amazing... Followfinger Itsyourshowtv Joga iCoke Coke Google Mentos Jones Firefox Doritos PS Freedom Flux Trouble iFilm Yourkindatv Pepsi Underground Summerbingo

Your help please

2006-10-24T13:41:00.000+01:00

I've been asked to speak in a conference about Leveraging content to access younger audiences and early adopters on digital platforms. Any thoughts on what you think the do's and don't are welcome...and any reflections or examples on/for my 5 starters below are extremely welcome: 1. Create a culture around the brand not just a campaign or a message. 2. Give them an experience and don't chase exposure for expoure's sake, do not say. 3. Give them something that they can participate in - not treating them like a passive audience. 4. Be authentic not didactic. 5. Allow them to carry your idea forward - their way.

Life in Second Life: The Holiday Video

2006-10-24T12:15:00.000+01:00

Trash Talk Tells it as it is HERE: Click on watch film on the left.

10. Random thoughts on Second Life

2006-10-18T16:53:00.000+01:00

1. A place for 'forward thinking, innovative ad agencies' to show us how forward thinking & innovative ad agencies they are. (Dad in school disco) 2. Chatted to David Reuters from Reuters in SL a great deal of interest about their venture at least they have an interesting idea - the intersection between virtual and real news. 3. A place for Americans to come and make money and for others they come to find out about the rest of the world. 4. You can watch a stripper and run a spreadsheet on the same desktop neither sheet is worth getting underneath. 5. Brands are trying to exploit it while its users are trying to enjoy it. 6. There is nothing really new in Second Life pretty much everything in it is already in Real Life ... its just the way you do it is different. 7. People in Second Life have really weird alter egos (flaming wings anyone?) wonder what they look like in real life (bloke with a beard from bexley heath?). 8. SL is clunky techy geeky but when it becomes more like real life that's when it will really be an interesting proposition for example VOIP will enable you to have multiple voice conversations live. Ultimately Second Life - I humbly predict - is on a trajectory to become as close to real life as possible...but 9. Second Life is a metaphor for fantasy and that has always been with us not just now. So will it loose its fantasy? 10. It's all about people people. Technology may give us new ways to connect and make clans but it is still about people and always was always will be.

Clients of the future will look like this...

2006-10-06T17:03:00.000+01:00

The top ten marketing innovators in Ag Age's report showed some interesting characters. Trever Edwards the VP Global Brand Management for Nike who was born in London and pretty much worked in every major city had this to say about Nike innovation:

We think a lot about the need to bring something new to the marketplace, but we don't think about it as just being new; we think about: How is this better than the last thing we brought to the marketplace?

According to Edwards it's not innovation for innovation's sake. A father of two three year old twins Edwards is inspired by how his children always see the world with a fresh pair of eyes. Another interesting US marketer is Paolo Timoni CEO Piagio US. He had a great lovely brand and cool product but the Americans didn't want it I mean its small to start with and didn't know where to park it right? Wrong. He started a campaign about

"Vespanomics" concept, which the company defines as "the ecological, economic and personal satisfaction one achieves after buying a Vespa scooter."

This is interesting but what's more interesting is what Mr. Timoni did when Bush announced a drive against American's 'addiction to oil' Timoni wrote an open letter in The New York Times, addressed to all U.S. mayors, encouraging them to find a place for scooters in their cities. The letter received an overwhelmingly positive response, not only from pro-scooter bloggers but from the mayors, who invited the company to present at a conference of mayors in May. Now could this idea have come from an ad agency who is only interested in selling 30second ads ... I doubt it but damn it gets mayors in every city consider giving your product government approved distribution not to mention putting your product on the public agenda. And of-course the latest campaign moved from "Vespanomics" to "Vespatition" to call for facilities for two-wheel vehicles. The client of the future is an opportunist, propagandist as well as innovator.

The Consumer is not an idiot it's your ...

2006-10-03T14:20:00.000+01:00

Thoughts on Cannes

2006-09-28T11:54:00.000+01:00

Cannes are a bit like what the car industry does in their motor shows. Full of concept cars, beautiful and shiny stuff that no one in the street would buy or ever be able to buy and somehow not many people see re-incarnations of these glimmering toys post a motor show. Cannes tend to be the industry's pat on the back by its own hands (no audience awards, critic's awards or anything that may make it the credible zenith of achievement in our business). Yet we love to see the winners out of spite or inspiration depends on who you are. I went through the winners and finalists this morning and for what's worth here is what struck me as interesting random thoughts: 1. Animation is back. don't know if this has been started by Honda GRRR... 2. Serialisation / soap opera style ads e.g. Love Story from Thailand. These were interesting because that type of campaign gets to watch the different bits of the story not just a single ad. The narrative becomes what keeps you looking forward to the next episode. You wouldn't have to fight too hard for attention when you already have an audience that is interested in the next twist in the story. Stella, VW, Smooth 3. Ads that mock ads. I thought these were really interesting Beer AU and Smooth Thailand. There is some honesty about the punter in the street's perceptions of advertising and brands poking fun at the whole thing WITH the audience instead of AT them. 4. There was an ad from Renault that I really liked about crash tests not only because it subverted the conventions of crash test advertising but of food category advertising as well in one creating 'depth' to the engagement. 5. Craft? Somehow it felt like the winners were rewarded for the craft and the new 'tricks & techniques' that were introduced in the production of the ads not the brilliance of the idea. See for your self here.

I wish I had the mind of a teenager.

2006-09-27T10:40:00.000+01:00

Compund Security Systems have developing an alarm that can only be heard by young people under the age of 20. Capitalising on a medical phenomena where we stop hearing sounds at a certain frequency (18 to 20kHz) after the age of 20. The intended use was to push the kids out of malls and places where they may be a nuisance (a worthy cause of-course I mean kids should be treated like insects right?) So here we go the kids record the alarms turn it into ringtones to pass on to their friends so that when they call each other in class the teacher can't hear them. Brilliant. More here.

Doing the (RED) thing.

2006-09-26T12:10:00.000+01:00

I am a cynic. I don't believe in silly ideas like every little helps ... but every time I make a call from my new Motorala RED mobile phone my phone company Orange makes a 5% donation of the cost of the call to Africans desperate for help. It makes me feel better about my 'middleclass guilt' but beyond that I also feel that at least it is something that I can participate in everyday. To do something is better than doing nothing. As well as a cynic I am also a hater, I hate indifference. Indifference is the biggest enemy that civilised societies ever had. RED allows a cynic like me to stop being indifferent. Do the RED thing even if you don't see the results immediately people will see you doing it. A colleague of mine after seeing my RED mobile decided to change his Amex from Gold to RED. As I said to do something is better than to do nothing. And if one does the RED thing maybe others will see you doing it and it might just catch on. The greatest irony would be if RED catches on like a virus and spreads across companies and consumers a bit like AIDS … but without the 's' beating a virus at its own game. One more thing, I really couldn't give a toss about Motorola as a brand felt nothing thought nothing about it, if anything my natural default choice would have been a Nokia N series - you know the one that your creatives are carrying. But somehow I feel different towards this brand now on a level that its silly ads would never get me to feel. Here is to the power of doing not saying.

The Brilliant Banksy

2006-09-25T11:12:00.000+01:00

Mother Earth.

2006-09-22T18:23:00.000+01:00

John Grant requested some thoughts for The Ecologist magazine. I think we should all contribute. It is mother earth and she is in trouble and maybe, just maybe, we can do something about it. You wouldn't just walk away if you saw an old lady who fell over on the street and needs help to get up or would you? If you'd like to contibute ideas go to John's site.

Economy of Presence

2006-09-22T12:20:00.000+01:00

Nothing is more useful than water, but it will purchase scarce anything: scarce anything can be had in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce value in use: but a very great quantity of other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it. - Adam Smith the Wealth of Nations 1776.

Core to what Adam Smith's idea was the simple formula Scarcity = Value. We value what we have the least of. If you are wealthy you may covet time, if you are hungry you want bread, if you are isolated you covet belonging. Humans seem to want what they don't have. Whether they need it or not that's another discussion. William J. Mitchell of MIT talks about the Economy of Presence. He proposes that society today in the face of a multitude of hi tech ways of communicating it values face to face interaction far more than other ways of interaction. For example most e-mails appear to be about setting up face to face meetings, we pay more for the opportunity to hear a speaker in a conference than read their book. My personal experience of this is a recent breakfast I had with a luminary planner friend with multiple books that I know inside out but the value of the one hour conversation somehow added a significant depth to his books. Face to face 'presence' definitely has huge value far and above pretty much any other form of communication. This has wider and bigger implications. Belonging. Is the first on the list, with a society that is increasingly individual in mindset and isolated in reality opportunities to meet and connect face to face are very pertinent to a wide variety of products and services. For example; the web cam as a standard in the new Macs, YouTube, SkypeVideo, Nike Run London. Secondly. Economy of Presence has implications for how meeting places of all kinds take a new meaning. Anything that allows, encourages, adds value to face to face interaction should be fundamental to the design and architecture of the space. The Apple Store genius bar, lectures, Wagamama sharing tables, Starbucks, Selfridges food hall etc. Thirdly, from another angle a psychologist friend of mine recently argued that there is a lost art of telling stories. We are so dependent on visual and written media that we forgot the great art of telling a story and oratory skills.

Make if infectious

2006-09-14T13:47:00.000+01:00

Trust No One

2006-09-14T12:35:00.000+01:00

So we have YouTube, WEB 2.0 and all that which is great for finding stuff out and finding the truth but as this example shows under the veil of information and sharing comes the opportunity to pull the wool over people's eyes. It's ok if you laugh at it / with it but what it does is it makes it very difficult overall to trust anyone online. I wonder how many people on WEB 2.0 have spoof detectors on all the time? What might appear as a harmless video blog about a lonely young girl can turn out to be Blair Witch style promo for an upcoming teen film. Now if you think that "Lonelygirl15" is really locked up in her bedroom by her strict parents and can't have fun then think again. Sucker -:) - full story in Brand Republic (she is 20 year old film graduate not a lonely 15 year old in need of friends.

No's 1, 2 & 3 ...

2006-09-06T14:04:00.000+01:00

No. 1: Owns the category codes No. 2: Wannabe number one No. 3: 'd Better be funny No. 4: A passer-by in this category No. 5: Cheap shit No. 6: Pretends to be in the category but really isn't

You've heard it here first

2006-09-06T10:29:00.000+01:00

In my entry on Porn below I suggested that Public Pornographic Performances may be just one of the things that we may see influenced by the substantial number of porn junkies online etc. The London Paper has published research with YouGov outlining some interesting stats about sex in the city: 17% of males had sex in the office, 36% of males and 34% of females have been unfaithful to their partners and an astonishing 36% of males apparently had sex in public (only 25% of females admitted to that-:) naturally the story was about a couple in their late twenties having full on sex in full on public view. Only about 36% may admit to such behaviour but I wonder if underneath this: - sex is no longer a private act and closer to a performance act, - sexual performance is somehow become part of the typical bragging rights; big cars, big job, big knob culture Nothing is new here really, it has always been like that I guess -:)

Paris Hilton has been interfered with again -:)

2006-09-05T18:47:00.000+01:00

Hundreds of copies of Paris Hilton's debut (and only, possibly, given its reception) album have been tampered with and left in independent record stores and branches of HMV and Virgin across the UK by 'guerrilla artist' Banksy. A spokewoman for the artist has confirmed that he has replaced Hilton's CD with one featuring his own remixes with titles like 'Why Am I Famous', 'What Have I Done' and 'What Am I For?', which is all rather amusing to a needless celebrity heiress deplorer such as myself. Banksy also doctored pictures on the CD sleeve to make Hilton appear topless, and with a dog's head, but he left the original barcode on the 500 doctored albums so that customers could buy them without realising that anything was awry. A spokesman for HMV said that the chain had found seven CDs in their Brighton outlets, and confirmed that no customers had thus far complained, or returned a CD. He continued: "It's not the type of behaviour you'd want to see happening very often. I guess you can give an individual such as Banksy a little bit of leeway for his own particular brand of artistic engagement. Often people might have a view on something but feel they can't always express it, but it's down to the likes of Banksy to say often what people think about things. And it might be that there will be some people who agree with his views on the Paris Hilton album." A spokesman for Virgin Megastores said that staff were looking for the CDs, but that they are proving hard to find, adding: "I have to take my hat off - it's a very good stunt." Pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharl/sets/72157594266743665/ That's why I love Banksy. Beat this fad-lads.

So what did you think of the London Paper and Lite?

2006-09-05T10:04:00.000+01:00

Well they've both gone for the colour Purple - says it all really There's little to compare. I saw the ads for the London Paper which use purple and my first reaction was this is the new Metro ... ah but no it isn't. Talk about me too advertising / design and I am a planner never mind the poor punter in the street The format is lite it is another addition to bitesize dumb down culture to give to those dizzy commuters who need a bit of light relief after a hectic day at The Office. Both papers appear to be going for the same need / want / whim The editorial was very similar in style highly indistinguishable from each other tone of voice etc not to mention they both went with the same lead story that of the crocodile hunter...as a consumer this simply means I can pick any of those two without any conscious effort to be loyal or pick one because I like it is a bit like asking someone do you want chips or chips ... Lite is claiming a FIRST with the London Paper a split second behind ... talk about first mover advantage and fast follower advantage. Interestingly though there are some consumer generated content in Lite with columns like Citizen Reporters naturally reported by you and me. I think there could be something interesting in this if it is pushed further for example imagine an evening paper half written by consumers that day in all fields the city broker dishing the dirt on his boss, the estate agent commenting on the hottest neighborhood in his property watch and you get a different Londoner to do it everyday then it truly puts Londoners in London's first evening Paper. The London Paper appears to have better listings or at least better layout. Naturally I only gave both papers about 1 minute each yesterday which is probably more than the punters in the street who simply refused the distribution method of can I shove this BIG leaflet in your hand sir....and then you walk another ten meters for another one dressed in purple trying to shove another BIG leaflet in your hand and you ask yourself why?

The Pursuit of Perfection

2006-09-04T17:54:00.000+01:00

I finally got to work on a fashion brand. I always wanted to work on one because they are genuinely fascinating. Here are few of the things that struck me about advertising for fashion brands compared to other brands: Real & fanatical attention to detail. They spent hours debating every single detail in a shot right down to counting the time it takes to walk down the red carpet at a film premier in a designer garment. Their attention to detail is something to be commended and aspired to. The brand ‘attitude’ turns brand onions into pear shaped meaningless drivel. They are so in-tune with what their brand is about that the need for a formal articulation is almost the equivalent of someone writing their own name on a post it note to remember who they are. They are masters of the image creation industries. As well as the detail the brand personality and attitude is extremely well honed in the delivery or execution, they know more about spinning the stories behind their designs and works that literally transcends any tangible quality for the fabric or the design. With so much effort that goes into the pursuit of perfection it’s not surprising that when given the luxuries of life so many dispose of the necessities without hesitation.

5 Reasons why there is so much rubbish advertising around

2006-08-31T12:26:00.000+01:00

1. Because the consumer is not an idiot but the creative is 2. Because the client is the ultimate creative director 3. Because the agency didn't have the balls to take the client somewhere they haven't been before 4. Because everybody in the room gave it a 'nod' of recognition (they have seen it before, therefore the horrible proclamation 'it is a bit like what x did for y...' 5. Because no one got scared of loosing their job by coming up with it, selling it or making it

What if it isn't about a BIG IDEA?

2006-08-31T11:59:00.000+01:00

Just read an article in Champagne about how the agency of the future will be about coming up with the big idea not the 30 second ad. Somehow having the idea of the BIG IDEA drummed into everybody's head has become a form of mass hypnosis for fad-land. What if the brand can have many small ideas? Even better, lots of small ideas that are so perfectly executed in a medium that they cannot possibly live anywhere else e.g. subservient chicken? What if it isn't about who runs the campaign or becomes the architect for it but a rather a dedicated partner who looks after the short / long term health of a brand (e.g. Nike & W&K)? What if the Campaign changes it's name from campaign to Brand Territory? I think our obsession with creating campaigns that may have a big executional idea in it is all well and good but what we seem less obsessed about is the brand territory long term? There is a difference between brand positioning / territory and the expression of that in a form of communication idea. What if brand consultancies start telling fad land what the positioning should be because fad land has been obsessed about creating ads instead of genuinely caring about the brand positioning (they don't make money from that you see) e.g. BBH & Wolf Olins and the case of Sony Ericsson. What if the agency of the future didn't make its money out of creating 'executions'ads / sites etc. but made its money for nurturing, developing brand territories not big campaign ideas over time? I think that this will never really happen because brand owners (marketing directors etc) have an average tenure of 18 months. They don't necessarily care that much about long term brand territories perhaps they just want to make a couple of famous campaigns perhaps in the 18 months then move on. Then another marketing director comes in and wants to stamp his or her mark and there you go the search for another BIG IDEA begins...

Marcus you are a genius.

2006-08-30T18:17:00.000+01:00

To understand this read the entry below and visit Marcus here

The Loss of Fantasy

2006-08-30T15:12:00.000+01:00

I saw this post card in Foyle's over the weekend. Somehow it triggered a thought of disappointment that is probably directly correlated to a sense of loss of fantasy. I felt depressed, where has the beauty gone, where have the dreams gone, where is the zealous aspiration for creating something that is attractive, what is wrong with a bit of aspiration and glamour into let's face it a life that often resembels a wet bank holiday. Got me thinking of fashion advertising and how it is a million miles away from such a post card. Sometimes a bit of fantasy wouldn't hurt.

Insecurity v Information v Identity your honour...

2006-08-27T11:51:00.000+01:00

Another supper club accuasation. A judge (as in courts etc) entered into a heated discussion with me on how advertising works. In his 'judgment' advertising trades on people's insecurities. Promising to fill emotional voids just as an obese person eats to fill an emotional hole. OK so here I am trying to be Marketing 2.0 etc talking about how advertising fulfils a function in economics that of information & inspiration I gave the example of the 'Delete' (http://www.steinbrener-dempf.com/) campaign done by a couple of Belgian artists where they installed blank yellow sheets over the signs of stores in a Brussels high street as protest over the influence of advertising and contamination of their beautiful buildings. Two days later somebody graffitied the yellow sheets with the following statement: 'but I need consumer information'. I think people confuse advertising with consumerism or at least quick to judge it as it is the most visible bit of the consumerist / capitalist system. He took my point but still insisted that it trades on peoples emotions to which I replied yes it does however in the absence of Religion, National Identity, Beliefs, Strong stable systems of allegiance such as a political party for example people use brands that evoke a sense of belonging and identity in fact the better ones always do e.g. Apple's rebel computing for creative people simply pulls a culture that identifies with such an ethos way beyond the manufactured images that aim to attract people with lines such as '...because you are worth it'. I also pointed out that just like everything in life there will be good and bad examples of everything you can't blame anti-ageing cream ads for all the brilliant work done by companies like Apple, IKEA etc. He admitted that that he likes Apple and actually listens to Shubert on his iPOD at wich point I said well the day you are prepared not to buy brands is the day you can judge advertising sir. I was saved by the arrival of the pudding ...

What I learnt from Porn Recently

2006-08-24T09:39:00.000+01:00

Planners are the sorts of people who are prepared to go where no one else wants to, does or dares. For example one quick way to find out what intimacy means to people go surfing for porn. Given that 96% of men online surf for porn and 63% of women do too, it would be silly not to find out what our audiences are into -:) 'Dogging'. Is a relatively new phenomenon where swingers engage in sex with perfect strangers in secluded car parks. Naturally this is not what everybody does but it highlights that somehow wired to our mentality the sense of 'illicit pleasure'. Nothing new here but dogging is just one expression of such a principal. Glue successfully exploited the idea of 'dogging' for Pot Noodle a couple of years ago in the Pot Noodle web: a series of spoof porn sites promising guilty pleasures with clips of people engaging in dogging-like back-of-the-seat Pot Noodle snacking in secluded car parks. 'Reality Porn'. Nobody is going to believe me when I say this but long before the advent of reality t.v. reality porn was pushing the boundaries of voyeurism online. Just as bands get rated, reviewed and promoted and discovered online in My Space, amateur porn sites have done all of that ahead of everyone exploding people's fascination with the 'girl next door' fantasy. What I found fantastically curious is outside of the 'produced' porn sites the amateur sites had abundant number of women who are perfectly attractive and quite happy to engage their insecurities by displaying all and actively soliciting votes in order to post more pictures. No different from big brother really but with full on sex. OK so what might be the next 'public' thing we see that comes out of what is happening in porn online: Public Pornographic Performance. I came across porn sites dedicated to frat parties in colleges in the states where young men and women compete to show how good they are at sex for an audience of fellow students. It seems that the idea of 'achievement' and public displays of such achievement is transforming the dirty act of porn into an opportunity to show off just one more of the things you may be able to do (puts vodka chess into perspective). Strip Dancing classes in various gyms in London are a mild version of turning sex into sport where skill, technique and audience support has transformed a traditionally private act into a public display of sexual prowess. Now I wonder which brands might play in this area? Well guess what... beer brands in the states are head over heals trying to sponsor such college parties and spring break trips. Internet Gratification. In a recent survey by One Plus One it was found that 72% of users of pornographic chat rooms online were married or had a long term partner. Another survey by Yahoo showed that 26% of women respondents had sex with someone they met on the internet. Now no one is saying the answer for sexual marital problems is to go online but it taps into a bigger thought of an 'alternative life' where we are able to escape mundane realities for exciting online fantasies (the girlfriend without the five year plan as a Coke Zero ad says). Now who does sexual fantasy-like holidays for jaded couples that are not cheesey Hedonism II? Or if you are not prude which clubs open up opportunities for gratification that are out of this world? Or if you are into gaming what else can you hide or functionality can you add to live multi-player games? Group Sex Anyone? Belonging is naturally a big thing for humans, and nothing gets to show a sense of belonging than group sex. With divorce rates at 2 in 3 in the UK the idea of monogamy somehow feels nostalgic. 76% of men want it and astonishingly 57% of women endorse the idea of group sex. As unimaginative a line as you can get but Lynx's SPRAY MORE GET MORE ads are nothing but a reflection of something that is on a substantial number of men and women's minds. It's just one of those things that you can't talk about it but what else can you do? Porn Tech. If anything pornographers actually are quite good innovators of online technologies. If I am not mistaken the notorious pop-up ad was first spotted on porn sites before any advertisers knew how to use them, phone dialers were a pre-cursor to instant chat and SKYPE, 'the play with me' game that DARE did for Lynx was actually an already existing game that some pornographer did, virtual reality sex tools sensors and gloves were shown at porn exhibitions in the states already, hot linking, peer to peer sites, video sites innovations such as GUBA are just full of porn. OK ok I am going to stop talking about porn now this is sooo rude.

Planners should be FEARLESS above all else.

2006-08-24T09:21:00.000+01:00

Lots of things are said about what planners are, should do and be. Walking up the street it struck me that the difference between planners and everyone else in the agency in the way they apply a core part of their discipline, namely insight. It is about being absolutely fearless. Here is what I mean: Planners are champions of the TRUTH not just the consumers. - in a client meeting where everyone is scared of the client and the account girl playing more the role of a P.A. than a business manager (instead of an account manager) the planner is the one who should have the intellectual courage to stand up to the client, debate the belief in the idea and the evidence for it, something that no one else in the room does or can do. - planners should take inspiration from journalists who go out to war zones genuinely seeking to report the truth of what's going on (unless you are CBS reporter) I often felt jealous and ashamed when comparing how far I go as a planner to get underneath a compelling insight or truth in comparison to journalists. - planners should take inspiration from Star Trek, I recently replied to a question in a supper club about what I do for a living with the answer 'I boldly go where no one in my business dares to go'. And as Bill Bernbach once said: "The future belongs to the brave"

Ideas that are carried forward by culture live more.

2006-08-23T09:27:00.000+01:00

Davis wrote in his blog once the seven things he learnt while at W+K one of them was this: 'Ideas that influence culture sell more'. For example: 'Chuck your Chintz' IKEA, 'Think Different' Apple etc. This is a fantastic principal but somehow felt like it's not quite right. Maybe I don't like the word influence so here is my take on the same principal: 'Ideas that are carried forward by culture live more'. A recent example: Snakes on a Plane. Snakes on a Plane is a new film starring Samuel L. Jackson and as the title suggests it is about Snakes on a Plane. Here is what the film makers did in order to make this an idea carried forward by culture: - They asked film buffs online what to call it and the reply was Snakes on a Plane - The movie wasn't shown to media in advance a typical thing in film marketing (they had to see it at the premier like everyone else) - However they only released 'audio trailers' of Samuel L. Jackson saying 'there are snakes on the motherfuckn' plane' - It is arguably the first Wikipedia-ised movie created by the users themselves. - Producers scanned fan sites for what should go in it and agreed to such gems as Samuel L. Jackson to say: 'I've had it with these motherfucking' snakes'on this motherfuckin' plane'doubtlessly going to go down in Hollywood as one of the finest lines ever written -:) And another one where the captain predicts the fate of a plane with snakes on: 'Go down quicker'n a Thai hooker'. - There is of-course endless blogs, spoofs, sites, films, virals etc that were created by fans around similar or same idea for example: - Snacks on a Plan - lamenting the decline of airline food - Steaks on a Train - about a steak on a Parisian train - Blanks on a Blank - a film making competition around the same theme The film topped the US box office in its openning weekend there is no doubt in my mind that allowing culture to carry the idea forward allows it sell more and live more an aspiration for all brands not just cool entertainment brands.

Good & Bad Agencies

2006-08-23T09:11:00.000+01:00

A thought on good and bad agencies. Bad agencies tend to think their mission in life is to be big and rake in the cash fleecing the clients and the consumers they are talking to in the process. They will do whatever they can in order to do so. They tend to behave in a laddish manner where it is all about how big their revenue, profit etc. Good agencies love the work.

Command & Control

2006-08-23T08:56:00.000+01:00

It occurred to me that the difference between bad marketers and good ones is that the first genuinely think that it is a scientific prodecess whereby if they tick enough of the right boxes add the right chemicals apply the right formula you will have an explosive effect on consumers. This is rubbish because the good marketers that I've worked with tend not to repeat the 'formula' that was pre-developed by common marketing sense but genuinely fight such temptation and force themselves to discover what's missing from the culture and allow good accidents to happen. In fact those that take the bigger risks by going 'out there' intellectually and creatively are the ones that come up with ideas that seem well, less formulaic.

Fluffy Advertising

2006-08-22T08:54:00.000+01:00

There is nothing wrong with loving your job and injecting a sense of pride in what you do. I mean you have to. To justify your choice of career and why you are advertising a cigarette brand for example. Recently I noticed a strange phenomenon. Some of the best people I worked with and know in advertising with a history of making revolutionary ads had one thing in common, they actually hate advertising. Or at least hate to make ads that look like ads. Some even actively try not to make ads anymore because they feel that they are making the equivalent of a fizzy can of Coke instead of a LAB cocktail. If I was to segment the people who work in ad land I would say the majority want to make ads and nothing else that, sadly this is the height of their ambition while there is a small niche minority who are in advertising because they are interested in communicating with and influencing culture with ideas. The ones who think they are in advertising will never learn that this is exactly what they will ever do for the foreseeable future - just that - advertising. While those who are in the business of communicating to people and influencing culture the method is genuinely as important as the idea and hence gets equal amounts of innovation. The thing that annoys the hell out of me these days are ad lads pretending to be doing all sorts of ideas (e.g. digital) when they don't mean it want to or believe that they can. If advertising is what you are good at then why don't you just become the best at that don't bloody pretend you can do something else when you don't actually give a toss.

The Brand Innovation Manifesto

2006-08-17T10:06:00.000+01:00

A new John Grant book. Ahead of its time? John's latest book is useless. Useless if you work in a big ad agency the size of the Titanic, turn corners as fast as a tortoise and still think your job is to take briefs from clients. This book is ahead of most people in the ad industry. The implications of the forward thinking in the first half of the book on shifts in the way we should think about brands and culture is not for every body. If anything the book leaves you thinking how backward ad land is. But then again this is John Grant who co-founded an innovative and ahead-of-its-time agency - St. Lukes - at the age of 28. While needless to say brands need to innovate everything about them from their product to their vision, to the process and management there are big barriers. Sadly, as John says in the final paragraph: 'The very notion of a "creative department" suggests that the other 95% of people working in marketing are not supposed to be creative!'. This book is compelling reading and should inspire you to get over real life constraints. The biggest challenge is as it has always been that you are not making ads your are evolving and developing ideas. John has an interesting thought about this. 'Brands as clusters of strategic cultural ideas' is the central thought of the book. John having the brain that he does (about the size of Jupiter) takes on the concept of brand communication as a structured approach (onions, pyramids ads and matching luggage below the line executions) and turns that into an 'Anti-Structure' - he proposes the brand molecule as such a structure. It is a fundamental shift almost backwards into how innovative ideas are really developed through being opportunistic and entrepreneurial in your approach and not confined to rigid structures for thinking and planning. He then extends the chemical analogy into a periodic table detailing typologies of pretty much all the brand ideas from different categories around. This is one of the great things about this book, I've already used it in a brainstorm to stimulate a client out of the conventions of his category by trying ideas from other categories. And it works. The best thing about John's book is that it takes you out of the 'we have a brief for a 30 second ad now what's the idea?' mode and forces you to think on a much bigger picture how your brand influences culture through its ideas and innovation not through trite communications. You can apply the thinking not just read it which makes this not a book but a valuable tool for stimulation.

The Future of The Agency

2006-08-10T13:43:00.000+01:00

What would the agency of the future look like? I tried to answer this question with a friend of mine based on our own un-common sense, looking down the road from us, up the road from us and outside the country. This, is what we concluded.

Advertising & Entertainment

2006-08-07T16:01:00.000+01:00

I got interviewed by Corentin a few weeks ago, he published the text here.

Nick's Chinese Warning

2006-07-31T17:52:00.000+01:00

Nick Barham has given a talk in the US AAAA Planning thing and shared some of his insights from his Chinese experience compared to here: "In Britain, it feels like things are winding up. In China, it's as if things are just getting started" - Nick Barham mmm why do I feel I am in the wrong country?

Is this getting too close?

2006-07-31T12:02:00.000+01:00

According to imity if you are walking down the street and you pass someone who is a fellow subscriber your phone will tell you. Basically turning your mobile into a GPS for your friends and other like minded individuals. It takes social networking online into wirless. Interesting.

Services like this is why I love the power of the internet...

2006-07-24T12:52:00.000+01:00

Masses of music online and offline. How do you find out what you want / like? Here is a cool example of how somebody worked out how to solve the 'Paradox of Choice' ... check this out: Pandora

The most talked about brand in broadcasting...

2006-07-24T12:04:00.000+01:00

"The brand values are incredibly clear. Everybody knows what Channel 4 stands for. It is about innovation and causing trouble. It is about being mischievous and challenging". Andy Duncan - CEO - C4.

Well not everyone can be C4 but maybe everyone should be challenging something...just a thought.

Simple But Rich

2006-07-24T11:28:00.000+01:00

aresh in the Guardian liked this ad for its simple but rich execution. He argued that in advertising we've been obsessed with keeping things simple particularly when doing a global campaign - often impoverished of intimate insights. Keeping things simple often means keeping them stupid. As this new ad from W+K shows, instead of finding a real world 'generic global insight' you create your own world and make it exceptionally rich. Add another dimension to that hackneyed idea of simplicity - RICHNESS. It is interesting that Naresh's view echoes Russell's where he advocates that many small ideas are better, than just one big (and often meaningless) one. Interesting. Whenever I spoke to real artists about their work they always talk about the composition - 'the art is in the composition' - they say. I hardly ever heard any artist, filmmaker or musician talk about THE BIG IDEA. Maybe in advertising we are actually obsessed with Big Ideas because often it means Big Budgets - we should really be thinking of adding creative richness not bigness. If you make it simple AND rich success will follow and with that the big budgets stupid.

stillfree.com

2006-07-11T17:03:00.000+01:00

Seeded on 20 sites only at an astronomical marketing cost of ... 0. Picked up by major t.v. networks and reached 30 million on t.v. alone. Online views 87 million. If you live in the US and you never heard of Marc Ecko before, now you do. The site is of-course full of articles on the Americans' right to express themselves (the first amendment apparently)and graffiti as an art form for expressing yourself. As a fan of Banksy and Shrigley I think it is great that something as simple as a spray can and a lo fi viral can create so much talkability it does so because it starts a fight, fights get audiences. Would this has been as provocative if it wasn't Marc Ecko who did it? I don't think to the same level but provocative and buzzworthy absolutely.

I think we a have a lot to learn from fashion brands

2006-07-11T16:46:00.000+01:00

Chosen by Selfridges as their creative partner for the new season, Marmalade magazine have created and installed two exciting window displays. A team of ten embroiderers worked for seven days and used over 100 metres of fabric to create the displays that combine interactivity and robotics with embroidery. It is interesting how fashion brands and brands that have their own creative directors they have a very unique perspective on how they advertise and as this interesting example shows 'who' does their advertising for them, they probably don't think of it as advertising ... think Benetton & Toscani, Diesel and Renzo, and most recent fantastic example from Marc Ecko here stillfree.com.

Admiring Adidas

2006-07-11T10:04:00.000+01:00

http://www.mercizidane.fr/

GENERATION I

2006-07-04T12:19:00.000+01:00

Generation I is an article that I wrote some time ago about a mindset in culture that of individualism. Generation I can be briefly summarised as Innovative, Inspired, Informed, Intelligent, Independent, Impulsive and very very I-solated. Some of the evidence: 50%+ of UK pop put personal fulfillment as #1 wish compared to 25% in 1985, 1 in 2 people research online before making a purchase and perfectly healthy people don't give up their seats to old people on the tube. Consider how brands communicate to this generation ... no surprises here: Where do you want to go today? - Microsoft Because I am worth it? - L'Oreal Whatever you want, just yell. - Yellow Pages Be all you can be - Various armies Everything we do is driven by you - Ford Hear what you like, when you like - Rex Records Visa - It is everywhere you want to be Your fragrance, your rules - Hugo Boss You can - Canon Make yourself heard - Ericsson I want my MTV Be the CEO of your life - Compaq and my personal favourite Screw yourself - IKEA Norway Clearly a well trodden strategy by most brands sucking up to the individualism of generation I but consider this: We are less happy than we've ever been in the west, we have the highest depression rates in the world and a recent study highlighted by Corentin showed that number of people the US without ANY friends has DOUBLED in the last 20 years. BELONGING. Maslow as well as a whole load of others (psychologists, neuroscientists, sciologists etc) confirmed that the things that actually make us happy are friends, family, partners and relationships. Which brands can you think of that provide, promise or work on this cultural, connection and funamentaly human social level? Here is a clue.

RE-CASTING ROLES WHEN IN ENTERTAINMENT

2006-06-30T12:47:00.000+01:00

Can low involvement brands create entertainment like cool fashion & tech brands?

2006-06-30T10:39:00.000+01:00

Did a presentation to a bunch of friends on brand entertainment and the question was ah but only cool brands can do stuff like you are showing us for example technology and fashion but what about brands that are just low involvement by definition. So my answer was: I think any brand can make entertainment as long as it finds cultural truths that are relevant. Consumers then don't buy a product benefit but a share of the story that the brand created through the entertainment - a cultrual benefit proposition if you like. Ah and guess who made the above example ... yep it is them again Fallon US the ones who did the BMW films.

I recieved this unusual c.v. now that's what I call a c.v.

2006-06-27T12:45:00.000+01:00

The rest of his c.v. is here: http://organic-frog.blogspot.com/ I wish I had the budget to hire him.

Speaking of ICON Creation

2006-06-20T11:16:00.000+01:00

CP has created a campaign that invited people to go into research groups about 'what fast means to you' and sent them DM afterwards with a customised 'fast' which drove them online where you could customise a VW and of-course the t.v. followed with looking after your 'fast' executions. Apparantly sales were 80% above expected. I love the fact that VW has won a direct Lions award for this. Isn't it interesting that an ad agency won a dm award? Or is it an ad agency -:)?

BLOODY BRILLIANT

2006-06-20T09:56:00.000+01:00

The is a great example of how timing as well as iconography can make an already brilliant advert even more brilliant. The poster appeared on the M4 on the morning of England v Sweden in the world cup as well as Sven's announcement that Rooney will be in the starting line up. This one ad made it to the front cover of no less than 4 national UK dailies. Well done w+k more here.

Courage is the vital ingredient

2006-06-16T14:31:00.000+01:00

"I am glad we had the courage to say yes – with VW we’ve created something that didn’t previously exist anywhere in the world” - Kirsten Brochner Owner and operator of Park hotel that was transformed into Hotel FOX - the VW hotel in Copenhagen. It is throughly annoying and navel gazing of ad folk to keep talking about nothing except how wonderful and creative we think we are. I think we should shift the conversation to how brave we are. Withought courage and a series of people client, partners, planners, creatives making brave decisions along the way original creative won't happen. If we are so creative how come the world is full of shit boring ads. VW & the owners of the Hotel Fox property took a big leap of faith, 300 million impressions later did their courage pay? Definately. I think it was Bernbach who once said: 'The future belongs to the brave'. Amen.

Bonding.

2006-06-16T12:25:00.000+01:00

Stuck on the tube today. Trying to breathe inside the the equivalent of a human straw. The driver apologetically announced that we have to 'de-train' - London underground jargon for emptying a train of its hot and sweaty passengers onto rat infested tracks and walking for half a mile till the station. Morning rush hour and people are hot and nervous. Is it another bomb attack is it something equally sinister? No, just bits fell off the train ahead causing our train to get stuck for two hours. The bonding started promptly with people in the dark heat of the carriage cracking jokes and it became almost a funathon. The best jokers collected mini team mates and pretty soon everyone was laughing creating an ironic atmosphere. It was a brilliant example of how humour certainly binds, diffuses and makes people stick together even if they are stuck inside a human straw.

iDON'T.com

2006-05-24T12:19:00.000+01:00

Ok so I am on the tube wondering how come everyone on the carriage is listening to music with white earphones. Because it is simple, beautiful, it works and it's apple. Then I lift my eyes and I see this ad. For the first time in months I go online to check the URL of a site that I saw advertised - a mean feat for a busy bloke like me. And what did I get? A site that is totally, dedicated to take the p*** out of iPODS and the people who use them. Then of-course it turns out to be Scan Disk's apparently superior media player which is the alternative. Now this is interesting because: For David to beat Goliath Scan Disk (no-body) v Apple (Big buddy) Scan Disk had to be subversive and aim for the jugular. In fact if you were Scan Disk it's your only chance to create any dent in the consumer's mind. A good example of a challenger brand challenging not only the leader but a beloved leader. Apple however is unlikely to suffer that much from this subversive behavior few geeks, nerds and misfits may respond to Scan Disk's strategy but unlikely that there will be many of them to begin with. As in the case of any society, the moment you get a beloved leader there will always be a subversive element that think they can do better but the funny thing is even if they do succeed they end up in exactly the same position watch this fantastic film by some 18 year old Austrian kid who worked it all out beautifuly mindistortion.net (click movies then war).

I hate laggards.

2006-05-08T17:33:00.000+01:00

Went into a biz dev meeting today and came out thinking that whenever you have a great innovative idea make sure you don't waste it on a client that waits for his competitors to do it first then follow them. There is no point inviting someone to drive a Porche when they are still learning to ride a horse.

Mobile media's golden triangle

2006-03-07T17:09:00.000Z

MS's Origami

2006-03-07T16:23:00.000Z

OK remember the entry below on MS origami project well here is the leaked video curtsey of YOU Tube, as well here is yet another mobile thing from MS. It seems that MS are trying really hard to do a cross between PSP, a Tablet PC and an iPOD Video. Steady on now MS, stand for one thing or fall for everything, it seems that trying to come up with mobile computing that is a cross between a Swiss Army knife and a SUCK.UK beer opener is perhaps not very wise. The irony is the comments on YOU Tube basically say they like the idea but they want APPLE to do it. Now that's loyalty for ya.

Coding Content

2006-03-03T17:20:00.000Z

Ad Age's Big Question...

2006-03-02T18:10:00.000Z

Will advertisers widely embrace having consumers create ads for thier brands? Yes, but it depends on: 1. Enough consumers who are doing it out of passion for their brands e.g. Converse Gallery not out of some monetary incentive. 2. Not for everyone, some advertisers / brands will look plain stupid if they did it. e.g. some soap brand 3. Professionally & strategically produced ads exploit decades of expertise in creating, aspiration, fantasy, image and fine tuning emotive imagery & detail in ads. Consumers just don't have that expertise e.g. how many consumers can make an ad like the one Nick Gordon did for Levis recently in the UK? 4. Just because now they have the 'tools' consumers also need the 'skills' to use them, often consumer made ads are lo-fi and better as virals, I am yet to see anything with the 'polish' of a Playstation ad or an Audi ad. However, The one thing that this emerging trend really offer is the credibility that comes from something produced by 'passionate fans' for their brands - I can see myself doing it for Apple but not for Colgate (although I use both daily) and even then it may lack the polish of the iconic ads that TBWA do for Apple. I think, as a strategist, the question for me is NOT whether it is going to be widely accepted but rather what are the best ways and how do we exploit & harness consumer's ability and potential willingness to co-create ads for their favourite brands? Here are a couple of quick takes: a. Use CGC (consumer generated content) as a 'credibility' exercise in a PR way not in an ad way. The whole point is that they are not creating ads, they are creating film out of love for their brands. b. Use CGC in a viral, fan-based means of communication first, this is something that has to start and spread through the fan heartlands before being broadcast. c. Use CGC as pre-cursor to major campaigns perhaps to deliver anticipation through alternative channels e.g. online d. Use CGC more as entertainment rather than advertising, maybe a 'reality' or 'documentary' genre product if you are going to put it on t.v. e. Use CGC as a destination for audiences to flock to rather than broadcast it at them. Finally, it sounds to me that the industry in general has this fantasy that there is a magic solution to its problems. They grab hold of whatever trend that is passing whether it is internet, CGC or PR and build whole sand castles around it. STOP, and think what is your brand ambition and what is the commercial problem first and only then you can go and look for an innovative way to solve the problem but don't just take whatever the industry thinks is innovative and try and shoe horn that into your problem. Just like people, brands are individual. Some are more individual than others.

Vapour Wear & Hot Steam

2006-03-02T14:17:00.000Z

'Vapourwear' - is a technique often used by technology companies where they release pre-launch teasers or signals and quite often conflicting information to create, mystery, myth, attention and yep you guessed it 'buzz'. In some cases vapourwear is used to force the competition to play a card that they are not ready to play yet. The origamiproject from Microsoft is the latest example of teasers. They've set up a site where the new product / technology is asking you to guess what it is. With a simple count down clock. My guess is its a wireless type product of some description. But the question is can Microsoft do what Apple does with this marketing tactic, looking at this probably not.

AXE Creates a reality t.v. show on MTV

2006-02-28T17:34:00.000Z

AXE in the US created the Game Killers reality t.v. show which is screened on MTV. As a brand AXE gives the male the 'edge in the mating game' and this case it is all about keeping your Kool in the face of competition very on brand. After experimenting with few online takes on the content area e.g. Ravenstoke the full t.v. show was inevitable. If people are not watching the ads how can you put your brand infront of them? 1. Slow Motion offers a la KFC see below 2. Sponsor what they are watching 3. Digitally superimpose your brand in what they are watching see below 4. Create original programming that they would watch in its entirety and even follow as in GK above All quite simple really.

KFC Makes Ad Skippers Watch in Slo Mo...

2006-02-28T16:56:00.001Z

KFC in the states made an ad that has a hidden message that you can only see if you play it slo mo on your tivo, by watching it you get a free voucher for a sandwich mmm more here.