Things do not change, we change.

I just want to be heard

2012-01-11T14:04:00.004Z

Hello World! or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise from Christopher Baker on Vimeo.

I love seeing art that portrays and dramatises things that are stuck in my head. Everyone loves to talk about participation. The consumer is in charge, 15 mb of fame. But this starts to show the reality. Above is a video of an exhibition from Christoper Baker an ex scientist come artist who has an exhibition over at the Saatchi Gallery.

Connecting weird things

2011-11-17T11:38:00.004Z

I have always been a huge fan of connecting weird things in life to create something even better. But I was reading an article over at fastcodesign which had an amazing connection for the iPod that I wanted to share.

Here’s another example of how bringing two seemingly unrelated thoughts together. One morning, a designer sprang into the frog studio. “I know why everyone says the iPod looks clean!” he exclaimed. Ask anyone what’s so appealing about the design of the iPod, and, almost without exception, they answer, “I like it because it looks clean.”.................

“So,” the visiting designer said, “as I was sitting on the toilet this morning, I noticed the shiny white porcelain of the bathtub and the reflective chrome of the faucet on the wash basin, and then it hit me! The iPod is ‘clean’ because it references bathroom materials.”

There were a few seconds of silence, followed quickly by laughter. We were laughing because we knew that Jonathan Ive, who designed the iPod, came to Apple from a London- based design consultancy where he worked on a lot of lavatory basins.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But, at the very least, it’s an example of how anything, no matter how unconnected, can spark new perceptions. Often, the more incompatible the connection, the more useful it may be.

Hahaha ... brilliant. Check out the rest of a great article on what hinders innovation here.

Grass Roots Innovation

2011-10-06T11:45:00.003+01:00

Two years ago I wrote a piece on what I saw as a more resourceful group of individuals that innovated with what they had in front of them. I called it the MacGyver formula. If you know of the 90s TV show this guy could get himself out of anything situation with a pen knife and what was in front of him. I highlighted how I saw this on a recent trip to South Africa when I spent some time in the townships working on a pitch. It seems that in the light of the economic situation that the world is starting to look to the developing nations as a smarter way to innovate with what you have already

The video above is for a great magazine called Makeshift that has just launched thanks to some help on kickstarter which delves deeper into this trend of DIY innovation. It is something that is utilised across the world by different societies to push against scarcity to make things to enable them to survive.

The interesting thing is that now the global consultants are also jumping on it and highlighting it as a way to innovate the western world out of the current crisis and gain growth from what we already have.

What interests me about it, is boundaries. Everyone talks about freedom to innovate but actually creating boundaries is what makes people maximise what they have in front of them. Simon Waldwell highlights it in his book Creative Disruption where when he was running the digital innovation team for the Guardian actually having freedom in time and opportunity made the team somewhat lazy.

So go out make some boundaries and see how resourceful you can be. Im thinking about buying a swiss army knife just in case.

You think then do, no wait do then think.. wait

2011-08-03T10:19:00.002+01:00

Design & Thinking Official Documentary Trailer from Design&Thinking on Vimeo.

Another extension of my general love of the design industry and the discussions around design thinking is the video above which is a sample of a supposed movie that is coming out on the concept. Can you make a movie out of it ?. Maybe more a documentary as I dont quite see the storyline, twists and turns or character build. But a documentary could work just fine. This connects with the event Google Firestarters by Neil Perkin a few months back with great presentations from John Wiltshire and Tom Hulme from Ideo.

Tom Hulme talked about this very subject, as it is something I have seen from him before last year at Internet Week when I went to an IDEO session. There is a great quote in the video above from Paul Pangaro from CyberneticLifestyles

'If you are only thinking and your not doing, and you have to do in order to know and you have to know in order to think better'

Sounds like the ultimate catch 22 if you ask me. The thing I take from this comment is that you can never stop experiencing things. A way to truly understand things is to throw yourself into the situation. Dont force or create a situation just throw yourself into one. The interesting thing in marketing at the moment is supposedly social media. A bunch of kids coming in and telling the old folk what to do. Why ??. Because they are doing, thinking, doing, thinking better. If its not in a linear way but who cares. This can work everywhere. It plays on the fact that all people in the marketing industry need to get out there and get their hands dirty. John Wiltshire talks about making things. Media people should be whores for media no matter what type. They should try to actually create their own media. In areas that arent relative to their lifestyle. (in England I mean read something other than the Guardian, Vice and Dazed.) create something your audience would love and try to experience why they would love it.

I think planners are great at doing this but could take it a little further. I love ethnography but i think its better when the people involved in the work do it themselves. Not just get an agency to do it for them. Actually experiencing what people do think and feel cant always be seen on a video.

So get out there and get amongst it

New Campaign: Shave my beaver.....

2011-07-22T15:03:00.002+01:00

hahaha

This is a campaign I have been working on for a new TV show from E4 called Beaver Falls. (I know... I have about a million different beaver puns). Its a TV show about three British guys who fake their way into a very exclusive American Summer camp. We make a fake tv ad above about the summer camp trying to get the audience to sign up to be a camp councillor. But its not as easy as just signing up. We created a game on facebook using a number of game mechanics for different tasks and activities to gain badges virtually like you would in scouts / brownies. These badges have a little humur to them telling you a little bit more about the storyline. We combined some actual games that have elements about characters within them as well as being addictive and pushing people to share. Then we played with people's behaviour of uploading stupid photos of themselves with a beaverfaces where you can upload to get a badge. We have also taken the location based 'checking in' a little further with new technology getglue to allow people to check into the program and discuss it which is already happening. Also adding the the mystery behind the story of how the guys got there, we've created beaverleaks which has small bits of information about their past lives.

Great trail below with an awesome track from aussie group Miami Horror

So check it out on facebook... shave a beaver... or take a photo of your beaver face. But make sure you watch it next wednesday night on E4 at 9pm

Have we lost our love of serendipity ??

2011-06-29T10:35:00.009+01:00

I have always been very motivated to broaden my horizons and learn as much as I can about different topics. Some could say it is a bit of an obsession. The internet over the past five years has enabled me to do this at lighting speed. Which is all well and good but there is a problem on the horizon that might restrict this.

They say that your cognitive learning abilities begin to decrease from the age of 27 as you become more habitual and you begin to lose your sense of discovery. The problem is that now our laziness is going to be controlled by the algorithm.

>The video above is from Eli Pariser who believes that facebook, google and applications across the net are creating a filter bubble that will go against what the web was intended for. He believes it was created to introduce us to new people and help us find new perspectives. Which I agree with and have rather been enjoying over the past few years. The problem is, as the web becomes more personalised you could argue it becomes more isolating. He makes a great point that in a broadcast society we were controlled by the editors of choice... like Mr Murdoch. The internet was supposed to bring us freedom. But 'the torch has been passed' onto the algorithm. The flow of information can be somewhat controlled under the guise of YOU. It's what you and your friends want right. But in the light of Mr Jobs... we dont know what we want. Here is a great quote from the inventor Mr Tim Berners Lee

'The filter bubble phenomenon, I think that noun is applied to the idea that a search engine can get to know you and so it can get to know the source of things it thinks you’re interested in. You will end up in a bubble because you will reward the search engine — you will go to the search engine — it feeds you things which you’re excited about and happy about and it won’t feed you things which get you thinking.'

This has all sorts of implications for the concept of democracy and everything that the free flow of information stands for. But instead of tackling that issue I am going to address something a little closer to home that I think affects most people who stop by here and people who want to live in what I see as a more fulfilling life. Eli talks about a problem that Netflix had to address in their subscribers in the difference between the perception of the person you want to be in the future vs the reality of you now. It is the difference between a functional understanding of a person vs their little eccentricities that make them who they are.

I believe this connects nicely with one of the key elements of creativity. A person you walk past on the street, an image you take of someone interesting, a comment a person makes in passing, someone telling a story through their art. These small serendipitous moments of life can not be valued, but I believe are a major part of what makes up someone's persona. These eccentricities are the things creative people live and breath on. One of my favourite things about travelling is just wondering the streets and running into things that are unexpected. How does that happen if you plan, analyse and organise every part of it or in this case my connection to the world does it for me. What about those chance encounters that fuel a sense of wonder and imagination outside the peripheral of your life.

This is something that has been bugging me a bit lately which I have noticed particularly on facebook. Of the 500 odd friends I have on facebook. The same ones pop up on the news feed with the similar pictures and status updates. So I started a little experiment of looking into people I havent heard from in a while. Some people had moved to new countries, got married, had kids, had more kids, connected with friends of mine in other groups, completely changed careers, taken up a random hobby, gone back to school and so on. This started to make me realise that the machine was adding to my laziness (or my laziness was adding to the machine..). That there is so much even within my reach that was worth discovering but id become too habitual to enjoy that sense of chance.

I find this even more interesting at the moment as google + launches. Have a look through the great rundown from the guys at wearesocial here on all the elements. You see that the promo videos are starting to address this sense that not every part of our lives need to be analysed, planned and organised. As what breaks us away from the machines is a sense of wonder or imagination of what we dont know or what we dont expect. This no doubt brings fear to a lot of people. At a time that seems like the world is out of control, Im sure people feel great comfort in knowing what is going to happen. But will we lose out ability to be creative. Will we loose out ability to tap into the eccentricities of life to bring that sense of imagination and wonder to things that we do be it for a greater audience or just to make our lives a little more fulfilling.

I dont know about you, but I am connecting a little less often and trying to enjoy the small eccentricities that are slightly beyond my reach a little more.

a few buttons

2011-06-28T16:06:00.001+01:00

Sir Ken Robinson in a more commercial sense

2011-06-27T10:54:00.004+01:00

I am a huge fan of Sir Ken Robinson and his views on creativity. Its great to see Ogilvy get him over to Cannes to help do a talk on creativity within companies. Im dying to see his presentation but here is a nice little interview him in what is called the Ogilvy Inspire Series.

Apples different take on social networking.. live curation

2011-06-20T16:55:00.003+01:00

I am really interested in the context of curation at the moment. With an oversupply of everything in life a little bit of guidance wouldnt hurt anyone Im syre. Have a look at the interesting rundown on apples iDating patent. It looks to combined all the data from your phone with data from the internet about you to create a much more rounded understanding than say the ad-hoc information on facebook or linkedin.

There is a somewhat fakeness created by people on their social media presence.(I say people but Im sure I one of them). It will be really interested to see a curation of a number of different data points to give a greater view of the people you connect with or want to.

Or we could just enjoy the spontaneity of life and just walk up to someone and say hi

Summary of Planningness 2011

2011-06-03T14:24:00.001+01:00

Planningness 2011

View more presentations from thas naseemuddeen

nice little summary of the event for those who couldnt go

thnx Thas

Binge thinking a new addiction

2011-06-03T11:46:00.004+01:00

I have found with pushing a few more years older and days thinking way to much about people and what motivates them. I have found myself 'binge thinking'. Not only am I binge thinking on my own, but I drag friends in whenever I feel I need a stronger hit. It gets worse as I reach out to new experiences and people to expand my binging into a full blown obsessive addiction. It seems I am not the only one thank god.

I had noticed that there was a large amount of workshops and mental experiences happening all over the place no matter where I went. Im a huge fan of the school of life which included a present I bought myself for xmas on how to make a digital creature and also my friends bought me a day in epicuriosity across London. Last year for a friends birthday , instead of just going out and getting hammered I took him for a tour across London to all the great areas that inspire my thought. From cafes to food markets, to museums to pubs, too finally clubs.

I realised this had gotten even bigger when I saw that a great London pub, The Paradise had created a bunch of events on a guide to living. It seems that brands are jumping on the thinkbinge wagon as I actually stole the term from an article I read on the Evening Standard website.

Here is a bit of a list that started my thoughts

School of Life

Diesel School of is Island Life

Levi's Creative Workshops

Apple stores are obviously way ahead

Just to name a few. So with a market that seems to be trying to grab people's attention by teaching them something. How can you differentiate even within all that

Obama showed us how it was done, now its NYC's turn

2011-05-24T11:10:00.004+01:00

PSFK CONFERENCE NYC 2011: Rachel Sterne from Piers Fawkes on Vimeo.

One of the many recent trips I have made to NYC has lead to me noticing a number of small things about how the city is using technology to allow the citizens to have their say, but also access information that is important to their lives.

Considering you are being run by a guy who might know a little bit about how information can change any landscape. Mr Bloomberg seems to have brought his commerical understanding of how information can lead to power... to empower his citizens.

I noticed across the city a lot of information about building sites has their licences posted on the walls with QR codes on them. This I have now found out is full of all the appropriate information needed including the phone number of the builders making all the noise if you felt the need to call them and tell them to keep it down.

I realised this in so many small cases when I was in NYC. I was there in January during the huge snow storms and the citys attempt to clean up the snow which was a huge problem which they struggled in different areas of the city. As you would think loud mouthed New Yorkers went to the internet to share their frustration. But I'll be honest they jumped on the idea pretty quickly and did something about it. In the UK two years in a row there have been big dumps of snow... trains stopped the 2nd year and took a while to start up again because the supposed snow clearing machines for the trains were in the shop being fixed... in the middle of winter.... nice one Anyway I digress. Its awesome to see how the local government has really become citizen centric and thought about how they can gain from citizen concern and also address it in the digital age.

One of my favourites we have talked about in meetings in the UK a bit is the Daily Pot Hole. It is just a tumblr that they have used to speak to one of the biggest problems in NYC. pot holes. People can use an app to send a photo and geo tag where pot holes are. Which is great for the local government to address. But not only that they have used it in a creative way to tell stories about fixing them but also be transparent with the audience by showing how many they have done.

Smartphones are probably in the hands of a lot of New Yorkers but they must address everyone. Their line 331 is actually a city complaints number that people can call, go online or post activity to from a mobile app. Something more simple is a free text message of things like traffic, accidents road closures etc. Simple low tech ideas to help the audience through their beloved city.

The second thing I love is that they are starting to open up all the data they have to the larger digital community to do what they will. They have a lot of information but they dont know what to do with it. So have reached out to a community that can. creating a competition for developers to create useful tools for their citizens they help them through their day utilising the available data. Then the winner gets publicity and also a little cash for their work. So they have turned a problem into a way they can be seen to helping small businesses and also their citizens... thats a win win win.

The great thing overall is that technology isnt there just for fun. They see its value in helping the government with its processes, how they share information and communicate with the public.

So what will the government teach us. Something quite simple

Listen to your audience. Give them the ability to have a nag about something they dont like. Use that information to identify problems. Address that problem in a way that is manageable (cant do everything at once, but communicating that can help). Create things that are useful for everyday purpose. If you cant do something be open and reach out to companies that can help. Dont be afraid to have a little fun doing it

Another side to democracy via technology

2011-04-08T15:03:00.002+01:00

With all the uprisings kicking off in the Middle East there has been a huge spotlight placed on the power of technology in helping drive this democratic shift in a number of nations. I found this video from Noam Chomsky really interesting.

But what about the other side of the coin. What about the governments and dictators that are actually using the technology for their own drive. using crowd sourcing to scare people into submission.

A shopping mall Id want to go to

2011-02-18T12:08:00.004Z

BOXPARK 08/2011 from Roger Wade on Vimeo.

Have you been to Westfield in West London lately.... yeah welcome to my childhood. One on every corner in Australia. Worst than McDonalds as it subsumes every part of your life. So I have tried to run away from the concept of a mall for most of my adult life. Then came a saviour Roger Wade with an awesome concept for a Pop Up Shopping Mall made out of old containers called Boxpark. With a mix of eclectic brands and also galleries / cafes. Right down the road in Shoreditch.

It will be great to see who they get involved. Being across the road from the Tea Building it will only last about 5 minutes before being inundated with advertising people's money, photos, videos, blogs and tweets. Good luck I say... I'll be down there

The future is here.. and its a lot cheaper than we thought..

2011-01-23T15:23:00.005Z

A memory continues to pop into my head every time I hear about mobile overtaking the world of marketing. I remember back when they first allowed you to text other networks and the press jumped on it like a dog chasing a ball with restless enthusiasm. They created futuristic stories of simple technology that understood your location based and could send you offers when you were close to your favourite shops. (I know it doesnt sound that futuristic but we are talking about the late 90's) Every time if hear the 'you are walking along the street close to your favourite store when BOOM you get a text from that store with an offer right as you walked past'. (The weird thing is it was about 14 years ago but I still visualise the same street and store whenever I think about it.)

Fast forward to London, January 2011. In one of the most depressing times of the year, post Xmas and NYE everyone has run out of money and feels like the month will never end.. dying for pay day. Some of the juniors of an undisclosed agency suggest to everyone they go out for a cheap bite to break the winter blues. 'I think I have a voucher for Zizzi's'. 'Wait I got one for pizza express.' They all scream to each other. So off they go to Zizzi's only to realise they are not alone. So the herd move onto Pizza Express just down the road. Throughout the meal people 'check in' on facebook and foursquare and look where other people are to potentially meet up with after wards. Using the phones to share images of holidays, funny videos and places they had checked into or been mayor of for a short amount of time. But as the meal seems to be drawing to a close someone asks. 'Did anyone bring the voucher for the deal? I thought you brought it, no I bought the Zizzis one. Well what are we going to do?'. As the waiter walks up he asks do you have a voucher... NO... 'well all I need is a voucher code... so...' So what.. so get on your phone and get one. Within two minutes they have the code and all of a sudden a reasonable costing meal turns into a cheap meal and that sense that they have dodged the system and come out on top.

That little story was a realisation to me of two trends that are building at such a rapid pace we will probably miss them by summer. Groupon has been getting a lot of publicity lately as Google tries to move in to purchase the company after only launching two years ago but supposedly being worth $6billion. The growth of location based services like foursquare and facebook places is creating opportunities for companies to get closer to their audience in a physical sense not just a supposed emotional.

This is great. People working together to get a better deal and generally taking whatever opportunities arise in relation to their location. But is this a positive for the value of a brand or a negative ? I remember my mum being invited to a co-op buying group when I was a kid. Each mum out their money in and took their turn going and picking everything up. We didnt last long as my mum felt that the quality wasnt great and she always felt we didnt get quite what we needed/wanted. Also isnt the job of marketing to bring intangible value to products to differentiate and allow our clients to charge a higher price. So giving deals as you walk past the location seems a counterpoint to that. But the positivity of the experience seems like the perfect opportunity. But what also seems to be interesting is the herd like behaviour of the masses to strive for a deal together. Its like those jokes on facebook 'My wife will let me call our first child batman if I get 10,000 members'. So how do we utilise this growing consumer interest to help build value for our brands and restrict the search for a cheap deal ??. How can we utilise them to engage a larger mass within more herd like behaviour to create someone large out of something small.

Thats one to throw into a preso !!

Good luck

This is pretty cool: i want to be a god

2011-01-13T11:02:00.002Z

TURNING INTO GODS - 'Concept Teaser' from jason silva on Vimeo.

Maybe a little over the top. But a very well put together trailer to something that looks like its worth checking out. Jason's passion and the other characters as well will keep you entertained for a while at least.

Behavioural Economics in the printing world

2010-12-20T17:21:00.004Z

Canon Pixma: Bringing colour to life from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

About 7 tears ago I was given a brief for a major printing company about making people value their ink more. This particularly large technology company make 70% of their profits from ink, so it was kind of important. Being a big global company they had made an unreal TV ad, beautiful OOH, print and what was simple digital banners (which is all you did in those days). The concept was to demonstrate and glorify how awesome their ink could be. Then people would be willing to pay the extra 30% for it.

Looking closer at the consumer and their behaviour you could see they really valued the brands ink and all the metrics were great. But when it ran out they walked in store with little information on the product or with their previous cartridge in hand. Usually in a bad mood as the experience took way too much brain power and wasted so much time. Then the sales person in the store would say.. 'dont get that brand its too expensive. Get this one as its way cheaper'. It was more expensive as it included the driver as well, which made the prints a lot better quality but they didnt want to try and explain that as it was a quick sale.

I was in a meeting with the client and said why dont you just give out a software pack with every colour printer you sell (they had 65% of the market) that links people online to a store directly loading up the information of their ink cartridge when the ink begins to run out. Probably wouldnt cost you much to make the software and use the couple of million in the budget to pay to put it in the boxes and change the packaging to sell 'a connected offering'. I was kind of stared out by everyone in the room. Being 2003, social software and usage of sites like amazon hadnt really broken into the mainstream.

I walked away realising we are in advertising and that is it. I felt a little down because I thought it was a much simpler idea. The brand tracking had shown that they loved our ink, they just didnt buy it. So we needed to cut out the middle man. I realised in probably a very naive viewpoint that surely there was potential in this sort of thinking. More recently Rory Sutherland's drive for behavioural economics for the IPA and growth of social software / amazon style websites into the mainsteam. You start to see that the value of that sort of thinking in agency land is crucial for our survival. I guess I took the concept of agencies as 'ideas factories' a little too directly. I didnt realise we were restricted to ideas that played out in ads.

Fast forward to now and behavioural economics is the thing that everyone is talking about. But I question, is it too late? As clients have an expectation of what we do and what they pay us for. How do we open our clients expectations and the boundaries that they give us... as much as we have created for ourselves. But in order to change their viewpoints of us everyone on the frontline must believe in the future change. The thing that really worries me the most is how do we change the mentality of people within agencies who find meeting expectations and playing within those boundaries easier to get them home in time to watch The Apprentice. It is a hard thing to change people to something they don't feel comfortable doing and might cause them to miss their favourite TV show that evening as it takes a little longer to explore. Imagine how the clients feel?

Seeing this great video from Dentsu London reminded me of that same brief although slightly different. It looks awesome but is the question how do you change people's perceptions of printing or is it how do you drive people to push the print button to regain value in the tangible. Does a cool ad do that ?? I dont know maybe it will

Please make the choice for me ???

2010-12-03T11:23:00.004Z

With a new TV client I have been thinking a lot about 'habit as opposed to loyalty' as well as herd behaviour. One of the avenues I have been looking into is the elements of behavioural economics which it seems a lot of people are looking into (I know I am apart of the herd). A few recent events for the IPA and APG brought up a lot of things that I have been reading and thinking about and people gave some great examples that helped to give it context.

The interesting thing is 'we are bloody lazy'. The more choice anyone is given the more you search for short cuts or ways out in general of making decisions. I remember the first time I ever walked into an Asda, I turned around and walked straight out again. No way in hell was I ever going to get through that place alive. It is an interesting perspective. Do we use the TESCO Expresses because they are just conveniently located or is their convenience grounded in their simplicity.

I have found over the years that I have gone from a direct determined decision maker to a lazy 'no you choose what we should have from the menu' and this isnt from a girlfriend either. How many times have you just surfed the TV looking for something to watch ? How many times have you argued with friends or housemates on what movie to watch 'you choose, no you'(we call the game 'Baggs Not'. Well guess what ? soon we wont have to choose. The machine will choose for us. So next year you will see the launch of youview in the UK which is an on-demand version of freeview (UK) but your EPG goes backwards as well as forwards as it is plugged into your broadband connecting with all on-demand channels from the internet right on your TV. For only like £180 (EST). But the kicker comes when as they bring out new versions of the box it will eventually turn into an amazon style recommendation engine. You watched this... so we think you'd like this. What happens when that links to your social network. Watch the video above. A friend and I came up with a similar 'media recommendation website' ingrained in one of the top portals who was a client e but at the time they didnt get what we meant. Which links quite nicely to the current book I am reading Making Ideas Happen from the guys at Behance. Which highlights why ideas fall down but that is for another post.

Cool way to visualise data from the master himself

2010-12-01T14:05:00.002Z

another reason to buy an iPad ... future of books

2010-11-17T22:59:00.001Z

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

Here is a little future gazing from the team at IDEO NY. If this is what books in the future will be like I better get an iPad.

If facebook ever need to start advertising

2010-11-15T09:43:00.001Z

If facebook ever needed to advertise .....Guy has an interesting life

Great video from Economist with speaker from Frogdesign

2010-10-29T14:04:00.002+01:00

I have followed frogdesign for a while as they are known as a whole bunch of ex apple designers. they also have a very interesting take on a lot of areas of creativity. Here is one of their senior creatives talking about ideas and a simple little experiment he did on the people at the event.

I love a powerdox: a paradox as a power tool for overturning thinking and changing people's perspective

I love to see other industries ways of pitching

2010-09-28T12:42:00.001+01:00

I have often believed in advertising that we have lost our love and insights for what the people we are targeting are really into. We more focus on what the audience we are pitching to want... be is marketing people or otherwise. I also find it interesting the way that some of the production companies in this video discuss how they work with a commissioner to come up with something, which I have found whilst working in the UK. As opposed to the American way of .. have I go an idea for you. All singing or dancing.

Check the video out below

Televisual TV & CHANNEL

All my custom search engines

2010-09-23T10:45:00.002+01:00

I have updated some of my custom search engines to make life a little easier

Communications Trends

Research

Stuff About Brands

UK Newspapers

Nikeplus... what Nikeplus

2010-09-23T09:40:00.002+01:00

So everyone has been asking for what is the next nikeplus... what is the next cool piece of technology that will connect your brand with their audience leading to a long term relationship. I think this is a pretty awesome one.

What I love about the original Nokia application for the skate board is that it can connect with the virtual world of gaming.

Think about this for all sports and activities. You can get all the data punch it into your computer analyse your technique. This would be great for my golf swing.

Nice work nokia... hopefully if you tap this into a better OS on your smartphones you can start to get a more mental edge on the competition.(supposedly nokia smartphones still outsell other suppliers.. they just are at the bottom end)

First in my series about the future

2010-09-20T16:57:00.002+01:00

Here is the first of some of the research I am doing into the future of entertainment straight from the horses mouth. This panel that was at this years comic-con lead by Mr Transmedia himself Henry Jenkins as well as some great players in the game from producers, etc.

What is interesting is the openess of people on the panel to work together with people to make this 'universe' the best it can. Not to try and control everything just the storyline.

Creativity cues from John Cleese ... very nice

2010-09-20T14:05:00.000+01:00

The future has always fascinated me....

2010-09-13T11:13:00.004+01:00

It has been a while and I apologise but a lot has been going on. I have now taken a role at omduk working on the ever impressive channel 4 in the UK. This is a brand that has been renowned for pushing the boundaries and it seems they have lost their way a little bit. But with a new CEO (Dave Abrahams, ex St Lukes advertising and man that launched Dave in the UK) its actually an exciting time for the business.
Not only that ... but we have been asked about the future for their channels... which pretty much means I need to start accumulating everything I have written on this blog over the past 4 odd years and turn it into something useful to create a plan of the future for some of the Ch4 channels. How exciting. So I hope to share more things that I find along the way in the coming months as I try and pull it altogether.

here's a start... I love what penguin have done over the past few years taking a very different approach to publishing. First of all creating a brand.. which was weird enough in itself... but now truly taking on the digital world. Flo and the guys at Dare have created an awesome app for the launch of Stephen Fry's book which you can get here. It breaks the book up into chunks so you can read it from any entry point depending on the tag you chose. I often read things and want to tag them to remember at a later point. So this is an awesome way to do that. check it out

keep your eyes out for other future stuff I will be posting

Real Life Facebook 'Like' buttons

2010-08-23T14:09:00.004+01:00

I have seen some stuff on RFID tags for users at events. But the thing I really like about this one is that the kids are using it to add what they 'LIKE' in the real world to their digital world. Gotta be some cool stuff for this.

2010 Planner Survey is in

2010-08-18T09:32:00.004+01:00

The Planner Survey 2010

View more documents from Heather LeFevre.

This is a great survery that Heather LeFevre has been doing for a number of years across the world for planning. Although a researcher might pull apart the respondent numbers it still gives you a general feel for whats going on in the world of planning across a number of markets. Also how much your worth

Integration is down to better bargaining by us all isnt it

2010-08-02T11:59:00.003+01:00

Beduoin kids, originally uploaded by laura Bb.

Campaign last week had an article from Justin Gibbons from research company the Work talking about integration. After all these years talking about it. We still are talking about it and their seems to be limited movement in how to move forward and make this work.

Coming from a small market, integration worked a lot better. You had less people to deal with and generally people get on with it. Always a little bit of competition but people knew what they were there for. My general feeling now is bigger markets, bigger responsibilities, bigger expectations and therefore bigger egos.

I dont have a P&L to watch so therefore you could argue my point is a little one sided. But lets have a look at that one side. Collaboration is what every agency sells. But most of the time that is until the other team turns their back. A lot of it comes down to the people involved and how they work to gain what they want out of the situation. I found a great article on PsychBlog about how you can avoid 'threats' and use communication to 'not get a bad bargain.'

The thing I have learnt in the past few years is more about how people can work together in delivering something great. How do you create win win situations ?. How do you negotiate to get what you want out of the situation? It is frustrating at times but I love to stay with a very naive POV that it should alwaysbe about the work. I believe that you concentrate on that and keep delivering it will turn out well in the end or at least you can say you stuck to your own ethics. You might not always get the all credit but the people who steal it will eventually get caught out. If your clients or coworkers dont see it eventually. Time to move jobs. Because this will always happen. But what came out of this summary of different research pieces is the idea of threats.

Communication cant overcompensate for threats. How do you limit threats with other people you work with ?. People's irrational behaviour comes out when they get backed into a corner.Thats evolution for you, constaintly trying to survive. Ive seen it a million times. Lovely people losing it over something you cant quite understand.

In the end who should limit the threats ?. Should the client play a role in limiting the threats through payment, better understanding of people's roles, maybe. Or could we just do it in the office everyday. Just start with someone close to you. Then broaden it out. Limit their potential threats and see how it prospers. Because the other interesting thing this article shows is that co-operation leads to the best overall result but also the best result for the individuals.

TRON looks bloody amazing

2010-07-23T15:00:00.002+01:00

I was saying the other day I never seem to go to the movies anymore. I definately will go to the movies for this one.

Reason 3 for an iPad: Flipboard

2010-07-21T14:39:00.002+01:00

Now this is an awesome application. I say it as we had a similar idea for a website for a pitch once. That all your media is fed to you purely from what your friends are watching, listening to, looking at or reading. But it is definately a reason for an iPad. As the magazine format looks better than the current opportunities of aggregators.

We have to all become entrepreneurs...

2010-07-19T10:25:00.004+01:00

Richard Branson, originally uploaded by Daly3d.

I wanted to be an editor or a journalist, I wasn't really interested in being an entrepreneur, but I soon found I had to become an entrepreneur in order to keep my magazine going.
Richard Branson

I like this quote from Richard Branson. I did some groups a few months back on small business owners and this seemed like an apparent point for everyone who starts their own business. The main thing that stood out for me was that they just wanted to concentrate on what they loved to do. In whatever field. But in order to do that they had to become entreprenaurial to keep their business alive. So if we fuse that thinking with a great post I saw from Seth Godin the other day

Low esteem and the factory

If you want to hire people to do a job, to be cogs in the system and to do what they're told, you might want to focus on people who don't think very highly of themselves.

People with low self esteem might be more happy to be bossed around, timed, abused, misused and micromanaged, no?

Seth Godin

Go here to read the rest of the post

So what this means is that in order to do that work we truly love and not to live in the world of average, we need to become entreprenaurial to survive to instigate and continue to build whatever work we do. Unless you wanna be average

Dr I have a problem.....lay down on the couch then

2010-07-13T10:03:00.004+01:00

Apg uk not doctors but_psychoanalysts

View more documents from mickstravellin.

I often find it amusing when I will be thinking of something and all of a sudden someone way more intelligent than me has gone and written something brilliant that personifies pretty much everything I was thinking about. You could argue that in a world of excess information that if you follow the blogosphere enough in the world of communications. We all in all will end up in the same place. But recently I have been thinking about a friend in Australia who was in fact a psychologist in his former life. Ive heard stories about how he could read the room and the clients during pitches. He could ask the right questions and push clients to get what they really want from their agencies in a way only he could.

I have combined this with a recent conversation I had witha friend who ran a pitch for media and creative. I asked her for a behind the scenes view on what goes on and why she picked the team she did. Straight away she said 'we liked the team'. Then she said their work was good, but they wanted to work with us. They didnt walk in and say 'we have the answer'. This open feel made her and her team feel like ' we really want to work with them'. Which is a statement Ive heard from a lot of clients.

So intro a much more intelligent man. Mr Jim Carroll the Chairman of BBH UK and a planner extraordinaire. Who has written the first of I hope many 'APG UK Planning Instants' entitled 'Not Doctors but Psychoanalyst's' which I have attached.

I have always seen planners as using these types of techniques for consumers to get a greater understanding. I have often chatted to friends in this field and stolen some texts from my sisters courses and used them for audience work. But to turn this on clients has been a recent viewpoint. Jim believes that clients are advanced enough now that they now longer come to agencies or indeed planners for their opinions. They come for a little therapy.

I have found this often with 'running workshops' to make sure you get everyone on the same page and consistent with each other. It seems that workshops often have very similar elements to what they utilise in group therapy sessions. Also she is studying an area called gestalt which is a type of therapy whereby the therapist is in fact working through their own personal journey. What you find with this is that the therapist doesnt take this overbearing and controlling viewpoint just because they read a couple of books at university. They have gone through it and being a therapist is often a part of their own therapy. You find that they work together with the paitent which often drives better rewards for everyone. Im sure this is how a client feels. They dont want to be spoken down to by somer upty planner with glasses and a piece of paper on the wall from Oxford. They want you to help them, identify and build ideas to address their problems. Not make them realise they arent as smart as you.

So once again the wonderful world of the internet has helped to build on some interesting points I have had and hopefully make them a little more useful in everyday life.

The Facebook Economy Infographic

2010-07-08T13:26:00.003+01:00

Its often better to ask for forgiveness than to ask permission

2010-06-29T14:17:00.004+01:00

This is a great quote from Dan Pink who you might have seen talk on the subject of human motivations especially in the creative area. I found this video of his and I think it is something a lot of people can take on board and connect to the day to day workings. What is something you can do today behind the scenes and try to get away with. Results or no results. We all talk about taking risks but how and when do you do it. As well as how do you learn from it

I find being one of the younger people in the agency with no mortages, kids or responsibility I often get looked at to take the risks. Even if the older folk believe in it or want to do it.

So I guess its important to stick your neck out occasionally and try to avoid the knife. But a little sorry afterwards, Im sure will get you out of it.

Reasons for an iPad 2: to pretend to be a DJ finally

2010-06-25T11:10:00.003+01:00

I spent years listening to my mates buy records, try new mixers, synth machines and then slowly convert to MP3 etc. All holding back saying... its your thing I will leave you too it. But I love music and I shouldve done something about it. I also never really had the paitence. Until now... cool iPad DJ Decks app

I have always believed in emotional search

2010-06-22T14:58:00.002+01:00

Converse Domaination from Ross Martin on Vimeo.

I have always believed that their was a way that you could address more emotional search queries from users. As opposed to just simple functional direct searches. You can start to see this in a lot of the great google search ads and the stories that have been created around them.

Here is an awesome idea from Converse on how to use what emotional things people are searching for and how to drive them to an interesting experience which in turn drives conversation.

Where is all your money going

2010-06-22T14:46:00.005+01:00

A Where Does My Money Go? visualization by David McCandless / InformationIsBeautiful, research by Lisa Evans and Tim Hubbard using on information from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and HM Treasury.

It is all about getting to that 10,000 hours first

2010-06-22T11:30:00.003+01:00

So Malcolm Gladwell's viewpoint on doing the 10,000 hours in a profession maybe not too far from the truth. Here is Droga talking about how he was driven to work harder, faster and smarter.

I think it is interesting as you always think that creatives are about a god given talent. But he truly believed he didnt have that talent but knew if he worked harder and more he had a chance.

Typical Australian mentality

Just rip yourself off to access new markets

2010-06-10T12:19:00.002+01:00

I have always been impressed with people / companies that use negatives to their advantage. One of my favourites is Paulo Coelho who's publisher kept wondering how countries like Russia kept getting pirate copies of his books. It tooks years to find out that he was in fact giving them to different black market printers to get them out there.

Here is a great idea that a T-Shirt company used in South Africa.

Great Post Digital Briefing Context from Gareth Kay

2010-06-10T10:33:00.000+01:00

The brief in the post digital age

View more presentations from Gareth Kay.

The Future of Retail Report from PSFK

2010-06-10T09:49:00.000+01:00

PSFK presents Future of Retail report

View more presentations from PSFK.

Open platforms are the way forward for media owners

2010-05-20T08:23:00.003+01:00

Everyone has been talking about API's and applications for a while. But its usually the digital creative agencies having a bit of fun with some code and hey look we have this cool little tool. What is interesting now is that it is no longer just a little game. I was talking with some friends at Lastfm the other week and their whole sell now is their data. Not the website or banners, but how a brand and its agencies can utilise their data to create an experience that amplifies the brand's promise.

The Guardian has been playing with APIs for a while and now they have created an open platform to allow advertisers to start utilising all their data to create experiences for their audience. I mean this is awesome. Whats better a homepage take over and a couple of banners. Or an application or experience utilising data from the newspaper to better your audience's experience. Look at the first one they have done for Enjoy England. Perfect for the brand, the experience for the user and the interesting thing is that this could create a life of its own. I have talked with quite a few digital creative agencies around the idea of creating 'communications products'. Things that become either a tangible or intangible experience that keeps on giving.

The interesting question now is... how do they sell it. Who do they sell it to... which agency

Reasons to buy an iPad... No1

2010-05-19T10:23:00.004+01:00

I have never been an early adopter. I am the one that comes after that. The one who waits to see what happens and also for the price to come down. I think this happened when I was a kid and my father saved up for years after starting his own business and his reward for all his hard work was that he bought the first 5 series BMW. It just seemed to have a few problems here and there. I felt bad for him as it was his dream.
So now I analyse everything before I buy it. I am loving the idea of the new iPad but will I use it. Working in the wonderful world I media I stopped buying magazines about 12 years ago. But in the past three years I have started buying magazines from the US. I think half of the fun is trying to find a copy of The New Yorker, Wired or Fastcompany.... well guess what. The other is that I love sitting back with a coffee and enjoying a magazine with my notebook in hand.
The iPad will give me access to them all til my hearts content....but will it over compensate for the tangible magazine that I still love.

so reason number 1.... access to more magazines than ever... but will it work

Great Idea from Work Club

2010-05-18T17:48:00.003+01:00

I love it when agencies have a bit of fun with their environment to spur a little creativity on. here is a great one from workclub. They got an artist to write up all of Bart Simpsons lines from the blackboard at the beginning of the show

Some interesting IDEO work

2010-04-20T17:43:00.001+01:00

Ive always loved IDEO and the different ways they work and address problems. Just some fun work they did here for Air New Zealand

we all know I love this guy

2010-04-11T12:07:00.001+01:00

Sir Ken Robinson, originally uploaded by sfjalar.

Management Tip from Harvard Business Review

2010-04-08T08:27:00.003+01:00

Take an Imagination-Driven Approach to Management
Measurement is critical to understanding current and oast performance, but data can only tell you so much. Measurement can fall short when you need to predict the future. Many companies have been blindsided by unpredicatable changes in the market: see GM and Motorola. To envision the future, use your imagination. Employ qualitative insights, inferences, and logic to help you determine what the future might be like and how your company can adjust, prepare, and be proactive. think beyond what can be proven with data and use hypotheses and deduction to determine likely scenarios.
By Roger Martin

A great quote from way back when about urbanisation

2010-04-06T13:46:00.002+01:00

I am reading Alain De Botton's Art of Travel which a friend gave me years ago when I went off on my 'walkabout' journey (not the pub a ritual australians go on to become men... that we stole from the aboriginals). Its taken me things long to read it. But throughout I have been jotting down a lot of very interesting quotes including this one...

'The poet accused cities for fostering a family of lifedestroying emotions: anxiety about our position in the social hierarchy, envy at the success of others, pride and a desire to shine in the eyes of strangers. City-dwellers had no perspective, he alleged; they were in thrall to what was spoken of in the street or at the dinner table. However well provided for, they had relentless desire for new things, which they did not genuinely lack and on which happiness did not depend. And in this crowded anxious sphere, it seemed harder than on an isolated homestead to begin sincere relationshipswith others. 'One thought baffled my understanding,' wrote Wordsworth of his residence in London.' How men lived even next-door to neighbours , as we say, yet still strangers, and knowing not each others names.''

It was written about the poet William Wordsworth and his views of the city in comparison to the Lakes District where he spent most of his life. Scary thing is most of his writing is from the1790's

Polarising view amongst those who over think vs be stupid.. Diesel

2010-04-04T19:59:00.003+01:00

I love the current Diesel ads about breaking the idea of over thinking things and just do it... BE STUPID. I think it talks very much to our own industry in the need for us to not over think things and start to put our balls on the line a bit more. . The video is the manifesto

I have been discussing it with a friend who works in finance and doesnt get it. I keep saying its not aimed at you. But I am sure you want to be apart of it.

I really like the way they have used the web to publicise artists from all different fields. It will be interesting to see if they utilise those artists to prove the point 'dont think be stupid' publicising the artists work.

With anomaly just starting out in Europe and taking the Sony account I am sure they are happy to see some great work out there from the agency they said would bring them a new model. The new music offering sounds interesting off the back of the campaign as well.

Be interesting to see something new in the industry... they definitely changed things in the US

If we build it, they will come...

2010-03-27T19:23:00.002Z

Well... they might not. But there is a running joke in our office...that ... guess what... Michael wants to create his own media again. Well why wouldnt I. The world of paid for media is diminishing and creating platforms that can continually have a conversation with our audience where they feel apart of, are entertained, inspired or other is ever more important as a brand. The bar has also been risen that we not only need to create them, they must be good enough that people would want to talk to their friends about it as well. Which then expands the value of the audience you first connect with. It also makes the next campaign a little easier as you have already connected with an audience and they have a positive viewpoint with you. But you must continue to deliver.

Think about iTunes. A great place to get music..... no. Its a great way to connect to a brand for something where both parties win. Users get great entertainment and apple get a channel of communication to you for cheaper than paying a TV or radio station or website. But think about this. What happens when your iPod gets too old. (like mine). You dont want to leave iTunes because all your music will be lost. So your connected to them forever. Not only a channel that can continue to adapt to your wants and needs, but also a great way to keep you for life.

The video above has Faris saying a lot of things. Like one on the use of gesture technology which considering this idea on Nikon (go to 'touch' page) came from McCanns NY... sounds fishy enough to be from him. But the main thing I find interesting is why shouldnt we be talking to technology companies and not media companies. Why cant we start creating our own media for clients. Look at this creativity list from creativity-online. Seems to be a lot of technology... come media companies on there. So why dont we get in earlier. Why isnt there an international adconference in silicon valley or Asia bringing the parties together(I maybe I have been invited). Ashton Kutcher has already got himself involved in this space. As he can see the value of combining, advertising, entertainment and technology.

So its time for us to step up..... because if we do and start making some cool media.... they will come.... and tell their friends to as well.

As a creative I felt frsutrated, as a consumer I felt violated..

2010-03-26T11:44:00.003Z

I think everyone working in advertising has this feeling. But I think the cost and simplicity of doing your own ideas can in fact be quite rewarding. I have done some side work for smaller companies before and I think it helps keep your mind in check and not too restricted.

Its also interersted that he put his money where is mouth was and paid for a lot of it.

Cohesion not consistency... comes from knitting it together

2010-03-17T14:50:00.003Z

In the world of communications (connections etc) planning, there has been many different models, styles or ways to go about planning all your communications. Every man and his dog have brought to bare their version of events. Whether its the specialist Michaledis and Bednash, to Naked, to media agencies catching up, to creative agencies adding to their own planning offering.

It all started with media neutral planning. Taking everything into consideration and the brand being consistent across a number of channels to increase frequency and drive the message home hard. Then it was about Trans-Media Planning which talks about the common idea, but the different narratives that are expressed and built through different channels and works to drive communities of people around their own expression of the narrative.

Where I think this starts to fall down a bit is that as a brand there could be multiple streams of activity in market at any one time. Media Neutral and Transmedia Planning highlight all the elements that the agency identify and recommend as apart of their 'Campaign' within their budget or the elements they can control. What about things they cant control but will still have an influence on the consumer and in turn their view of the brand.

No matter what area of the business you come from you will be throwing around statements like 'we need to move upstream'(I hate that term, my nickname at school was fish due to my swimming abilities and it just reminds me to doing laps... its useless as an expression).

In order for anyone to do this its not just about one off campaign ideas. Its about truly driving how the brands we work with behave in every thing they do, not just if its linked to a campaign idea or not. Ive been working a lot with social media strategies lately and the outlay of what futurist Ben Hourahine has highlighted as 'Thread Marketing' or ways to diffuse your messages throughout mutliple contexts, entry points or expression points across the web or in real life is powerful but can lead to a lot of fragmented pieces that may have little effect. But the use of simple short codes or logos can connect everything through more content, other people, additional services or possibly something we dont know yet. This is another element that will expand out but could happenn separately to a campaign. The ability to now connect everything could add in delivering their cohesion but also give agencies a broader role outside just the campaigns they deliver.

It is hard because our roles are very one by one campaign by campaign. HP have used their youtube channel to start to utilise their creative for their sales team which is a simple way to start. But the next question is what about when the sales staff go out to speak to the channel (sorry its an IT industry term for IT wholesale companies). How can the brand baheviour be cohesive across B2B and B2c. Its more than using the same character from the ad. What if their business cards has codes to link to 'How to Buy' guides that were delivered in a humorous way similar to the videos. What if tools or widgets were given to staff to share on their intranet. Digital tools can now embed code in them to track all the pass on effects and comments around videos and other tools. So we could compare the greater lasting effect of the B2B video vs the B2C video online and compare that to the television ad, vs the outdoor that might have a code that connects people together via location based software.

Its getting more complex but the interesting part is how they connect and work together to make the brand stand for something. From the qualitative angle of how we can build the brand story through all these different experiences or threads, be it paid, owned or earned to the ability to measure the individual elements and their entirety will be the value of comms planners. I see their role as a way of 'knitting' everything together. Then seeing what the jumper looks like at the end.

Its the last memory that counts

2010-03-04T13:31:00.004Z

I have written before about Noble Prize winning Daniel Kahneman's view on the Peak End Rule and the value that it can play in creating brand experiences. Its obviously important to continue to build great experiences all round for consumers that really stand out, connect with the essence of the brand a tap into insights about the audience. But for these experiences to start to build a better perception of your brand in the long run. Maybe its that final hooray that will make all the difference.

Have a think about all the money and great ideas that go into the lead up to and during a music festival. Clutter everywhere but there have been some truly standout ideas within this space including some stuff from orange uk at Glastonbury like spot the bull and the recharge Pod which uses solar power to charge your phone. But what about cleaning up and leaving at the end of a festival, which after all the fun can leave a nasty taste in your mouth. What if you just gave some tips and tricks on how to make that whole experience easier and faster. A quick way to get to the train station Or as you left gave you a USB with recordings of your favourite acts. Leaving that one last memory.

What about a simple phone call to a bank that never seems to end up being simple. What if the customer service rep sent you an email afterwards reminding you of their name and what youve discussed.

So we should continue to tap into insights about our audience come up with ideas that amplify the essence of the brand... but remember it could be the last thing that matters most of all.

Empathy drives innovation... how

2010-02-23T13:32:00.003Z

I have written stuff about empathy before. But seeing this interesting book through the frog design blog it has given me a different angle to the same problem.

So there is a lot on looking at empathy for your customers outside the company walls ...which is great. But what about empathy inside the company walls. What about your staff and understanding what motivates them. How about walking a day in their shoes to gain a better understanding of how to truly connect and engage them in your future. Staff can often be the most tangible elements of your business. Gaining empathy for them and their situation will have the roll on affect to your customers. Everybody has dealt with someone who doesnt want to be in their job and someone who does. The difference is often small things like having a better understanding of the mission of the business. They feel they have been listened to, that their is an open culture to share opinions, that they have a sense of input in their future. Similar to the Hawthorne Effect which I have brought up before. So maybe you should start by looking at your staff first.

BUT... why cant we treat our customers with similar style ideas. How can we have a regular monthly staff meeting with customers. Innocent in the UK invited anyone and everyone to their annual general meeting. What about the company newsletter or the company away day. What about an employee performance review.. how would you do those for your customers.

Could be an interesting way to show your empathy for both groups of people...

Very cool hack competition for the N900 phone

2010-02-15T10:42:00.004Z

I love a good hack competition and the guys at Nokia havent let us down with this one. Hyperhappen have built a nice little blog to give you the rundown. I think people's creativity should always be put on show by brands. As the way that people address things can often be completely different. This straight away broadens the potential benefits that people see in the product/service. So in the whole argument of crowdsourcing or co-creation etc. Is this just a simple way to continually broaden benefits in the eyes of the consumer... could do

Now we are changing weather for brands...

2010-02-11T14:14:00.001Z

I love what I do and usually I will go to the ends of the earth for an idea that I truly believe in. Or to the ends of the universe to find out as much as I can to get a great idea. But is changing the weather going a little bit too far. Here is an idea I saw from germany

Umbrella salesmen do a very brisk business in Halle (Saale), as the Germany city regularly tops the polls as Europe's wettest city. Good weather for umbrella salesmen used to mean bad weather for those in the convertible car rental business, until now.

In a bid to promote rentals of their convertible car fleet, German car rental firm Sixt decided to bring some much needed sunshine to the soggy citizens of Halle. Using technology pioneered at the Beijing Olympics, the ever present rain clouds were dispersed and Halle's motorists donned their shades and took to the streets in rented cabriolets.

In a technique called 'cloud seeding', silver iodide can be released into cloud formations and cause the clouds to increase precipitation and therefore quickly dissipate. This technique is widely practised to clear foggy skies surrounding airports.

Sixt has a strong track record of innovative campaigns, animated URL bars and ASCII art on google searches. Continuing their style of humorous creatives, this short film presents Lieutenant Colonel Sandro Wolf of Fighter Bomber Wing 37 as a man on a mission against the inclement weather. During July 2009, armed with his missiles of silver iodide, the Lieutenant took to the skies 109 times and dispatched any threatening rain clouds.

Sandro won many fans among the local residents who hailed him as a hero for and credit Sixt for their best July weather ever recorded. The unassuming Sandro is, as ever, philosophical about his work. "What Sixt has done in Halle is amazing," he muses while smoking a cigarette on the tarmac "and should definitely set and example for others. . . I am honoured to have been a part of it."

The full clip runs to 4m 29s, with a shorter edit available at 2m 48s. Filmed in German, the clip can be watched with English subtitles. As of January 2010, the clips have been viewed 36,500 times.

Google keeping it simple

2010-02-10T08:30:00.003Z

Well I am sure all Americans found it interesting to see an ad for google in the superbowl. But it is interesting how the likes of google and apple's advertising does nothing more than show how great the product is. But what is great about googles video is that is makes a very simple product demonstration ... emotional and shows how it can enable your life. The user could turn Paris into Berlin, French into German... truffles into ...uuummmm bratwurst.

Is long term strategic planner over

2010-01-25T17:15:00.002Z

Twins, originally uploaded by J.T.R..

Since the on take of the digital world. We have all continued to discuss whether the long term strategic process is in fact the best way to address our brands future. With things changing on a daily basis and our ability to access real time data at any point how can we take the time to wait for the next planning cycle to do address it.

Technology and our consumers are changing and we must adapt to truly take advantage before it becomes the norm. Not sit back and wait for things to pan out in our favour. Because they wont

Then while we chatted about, something special happened... we were forced to... by a simple thing like the economy collapsing. Its funny how terrible situations are often the only thing that make people wake the f$%k up.

But the truth is being truly adaptable to the needs to consumers is in fact the only way forward. Because guess what... they will change brands to someone smaller more nimble who is.

Here is a nice blog post on the differences made when Office Depot in the US adapted faster to their customers needs. Waitrose in the UK also adapted quickly by launching a cheaper essentials range that aided in it not missing out too badly during the decline of consumer confidence and drop in overall spending.

The guys at W&K also looked to adapt the old account planner brief creative brief producer do some stuff... model for Nokia for their supernova campaign. Which included a faster more nimble team including planner, producer and client. So they could continue to build content and adapt to the needs of the audience over a 3 month period.

The industry has talked about fast strategy at an IPA event. With everyone giving their tricks they have used over the years that I created a widget for here a few years back.

We need a prepared mind constantly taking in data and being able to adapt to the situations at hand. But in focusing on this too much we might in fact loose the essence of the brand and our abilities to truly identify and take advantage of future opportunities as well as the one in front of us.

So we need split personalities and split calenders. Time that addresses whats in front of us. But also has an eye on the horizon and what we need to do to keep the business at its core essence but always keep it moving forward.

Great quote about the challenges brands face..

2010-01-25T11:50:00.002Z

Everyday products whinge that they cant be nike because they are a toothpaste. But here is a simple objective that Graham Brown from mobileyouth hightlights as...

'this isnt about products, its about the challenges your customer faces on a daily basis and how you use your product and community to solve those problems'

We have all skirted around it a bit. But it is a nice simple objective to hit as opposed to selling benefits or trying to badge youth culture.

A new world of entertainment....

2010-01-20T08:46:00.004Z

So I am back from a wonderful stay in the sun down under. (although their wasnt much sun .. just humidity). The first thing I did when I got back was read a paper to try and get back into the UK lifestyle. I readn an interesting article about Simon Fuller and how he has built up his empire around different properties including moving into fashion through the Beckhams and fashionair.com. Here is the article

The general perception is that Fuller calls it way before it happens. He creates trends... not looks at them. Well with the Cowell vs Fuller fight about to begin. Its seems someone from the advertising bretharen has got into cohoots with 19 entertainment to launch a new entertainment property via hulu not the TV networks. The guys at Poke NY have helped them to launch what is called 'If I can Dream' and here is there first bit of work .

To me it just looks like big brother taken to the extreme with some really hot people to follow. I guess the ultimate indicator will be whether the TV networks try to buy in at some point.

What I will also find interesting is whether people connect with the high spec value that is usually utilised on TV. I think I like the messiness and more human characteristics that clay shirky has highlight that you usually find on the web.

we will see

Just a great quote

2009-12-17T17:25:00.002Z

"Geniuses are geniuses by birth, whereas the wise gain their wisdom through experience. The ability to deal with problems in the most appropriate way is the hallmark of wisdom rather than genius."

thanks

My light obsession...

2009-12-17T15:27:00.005Z

Ive been terrible at writing on here this year as I have been very busy. But my current obsession is with lights and long exposure on my camera. As mine own images arent great I thought I beautify this place with someone elses. So here's haberdashery in London's cool images...enjoy

Some great inspirational thoughts from John Hunt

2009-12-16T14:43:00.004Z

John Hunt the South African Word Wide Creative Director at tbwa has brought out this book 'The art of the idea' and has used a local South African artist to help bring some of his thinking to life. I have included a couple of his images which I got from fast company. Save it on your delicious or bookmark as you never know. One day you might need a little inspiration.

Seven Core Concepts of Transmedia Storytelling

2009-12-15T17:25:00.002Z

Seven Core Concepts of Transmedia Storytelling, originally uploaded by budcaddell.

Here is a great summary of the core transmedia planning principles that Bud Caddell of planner reads fame put together in a very digestable format.

Ive been a bit busy lately and although genius, I dont often have time to read through all of henry jenkin's work. So its great to get the simplified version.

But here is the different parts one and two. As well as the keynote that Henry gave on it all

Enjoy

The Most Contagious of 2009 is up

2009-12-14T09:46:00.003Z

Here is the most contagious of 2009. ENJOY

Five key secrets to innovation... its an obsession not a job description

2009-12-08T11:42:00.003Z

This article from cnn has been doing the rounds on how to innovate. They seem so simple yet not diluted in anyway. Sometimes I feel that simple is now turning into easy to understand. Which is not always the case. I do truly think that innovation is simple...in theory but relentless in action. Innovators never stop doing any of the below. Whether on the toilet, in the pub with friends or away on holiday. Its an obsession not a job descritpion

FIVE KEYS TO INNOVATION

Researchers say they have identified five skills that drive innovation:

Associating: The ability to connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems or ideas from different fields.

Questioning: Innovators constantly ask questions that challenge the common wisdom. They ask "why?", "why not?" and "what if?"

Observing: Discovery-driven executives scrutinize common phenomena, particularly the behavior of potential customers.

Experimenting: Innovative entrepreneurs actively try out new ideas by creating prototypes and launching pilots.

Networking: innovators go out of their way to meet people with different ideas and perspectives.

Baby Boomers are catching the Gen Y's online

2009-12-02T15:58:00.002Z

Accenture Consumer Electronics Products And Services Usage 09

View more documents from mickstravellin.

Just saw this research piece from Accenture on how the Baby Boomers growth online as well as other products like gaming is at a much faster rate as we start to see the Gen Y audience plateau out. The audience is only going to get more digital be it native or immigrant.

The creative class might be the answer

2009-11-11T14:53:00.002Z

The Ghosts of Soho, originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk.

I am a huge fan of Richard Florida's view on the creative class from his book and I have written posts on it before. He wrote his book a number of years ago but with the current economic crisis its starting to come up again. It seems that he has become quite big in US and Canada helping to build or what he has termed 'reset' the economy for the future. He makes some interesting comments on how during the last two depressions the economy was in fact readjusted to cope with the issues

I couldnt embed the video but check it out on his site here

here is another interesting article he wrote on how the creative class could change the US economy for ever

Maybe an iPhone Killer....

2009-11-11T09:45:00.003Z

Now I love my iPhone and I am about to get the next one. But Nokia have thrown something in the mix that looks pretty awesome. The N900 which has an open source software package called maemo 5 which is a hell of a lot better than their usual symbian software. But after doing a little project for Nokia on Ovi. I realise that its not all its cracked up to be and they are struggling to get the app store working for a number of their devices. I also feel that the interface is a real struggle and just looks as well as makes me feel like its going to be too hard. I still have their old music store on my desktop from when I had an N95 which is terrible in comparison to iTunes as well as the new music software we are all becoming accustom to like spotify.

The interesting take out is that Nokia are addressing the problem. They want to become an entertainment service company and this is a step in the right direction. But in order to do that they have to make the service seamless and beautiful which apple are often good at.

so see above for a cool viral for the N900

Nice bit of crowdsourcing in Aus

2009-11-09T09:07:00.002Z

When I worked in Australia we used to try and sell to our international clients that Australia was a great place for a test bed on ideas. Its cheap, regulation is a lot lighter than other markets and we are a bit more random. I know I pulled off a few ideas that wouldnt have happened in other markets which then went on to be launched by the brands elsewhere. I think its an interesting thing to look at especially now as I have started working with markets that are cheaper and arent as heavily regulated. But its great to see even the local brands still being quite experimental. Here is a cool crowdsourcing idea for a local beer brand using some well known talent.

Adapt and crowdsourcing wont cut agencies out

2009-11-04T10:50:00.002Z

webman's fridgee art (by noa), originally uploaded by yuvalgo303.

So there is a lot of talk about crowdsourcing at the moment and how it will cut out the agency in the future. Particularly in the UK with Unilever saying it is going to crowdsource the TV ad for pepperami. I read the awesome Jeremy Bullmore's response in last week's campaign. Go and check it out but here is my view point.

Agencies are often seen or say they are the brand custodians. So you would have to argue in this situation it hasnt changed. Ideas that are half baked are great. But would a client want your little boy or girls drawing that sits on the fridge at home to be the centre of their campaign. How will your client choose between your son and your daughter or even the kid around the corner. What about the difference between your child and the adult who made up their idea on photoshop. What about the difference between publicising your creative team to the Sun for their great idea or publicising a 17 year old who is smack bam in the middle of your target audience. If their idea is a simple concept uploaded onto a website who is going to make it happen.

I think you see where I am going with this. The interesting thing I find is that agencies collaborate with creative talent everyday. Producers, directors, photographers, animators etc. Why should the crowd be any different. Im seeing behind the scenes videos of little jonny's day at the big creative agency making his ad. Meeting hot models at the casting. Chatting with the cute TV Producers (agency producers are usually hot) going out for lunch at the Ivy with the MD etc. So all I ask is dont jump to conclusions but dont run at the idea straight away either. Remember to ask yourself some simple questions.

What is the strategic direction for my brand
How do I want my brand to behave
What is still... the insight for my audience
Do they want to get involved with my brand...
Is crowdsourcing the way to get my audience involved with the brand
Is there other ways
Whats the value of their idea outside just a TV or press ad
How can we use the crowd once we have picked a winner

Im sure there are plenty of others. But here are a few simple ones to start off with that I think we often overlook. For peperami going through the questions makes the idea of crowdsourcing seem like a good one. Especially in the world of Idol and XFactor. I can even see the 'ones that didnt make it' special on E4 on sunday afternoon with Steve Jones now (sorry non UK people).

What worries me is Unilever's view to get rid of roster agencies as they believe its a sustainable way to create activity for the future. Making ads is one thing. Taking your brand into the future is another. It is a similar argument thats happened for years on taking creative in house. I saw this happen once on a bank in Australia. It lasted about 18 months before they realised they were functional, boring and had no creativity at all. So they broke up the internal agency and hired an agency once again. Agencies have value, its just not black and white. We all need to constantly need to adapt to the environment to show it to clients.

So bring on the crowsourcing... if it fits the bill. Agencies dont be afraid. Adapt to more of a brand custodian role and brave out the new shiny thing that every one is staring at. For years everyone has been stating that agencies need to get away from making money from producing and more about selling thinking.... the crowd might force it to happen like everything else its has.

Great New Coffee Shop: Wilton's Coffee Bar

2009-10-27T10:52:00.001Z

Wilton's Coffee Bar, originally uploaded by ^Tom.

So there is a great new coffee shop at the back of Londonfields. They have done a great bit of marketing with a radio station in the shop window. But the design of the place is what really stands out. Its actually quite small but they use the space in such a good way.. with little tables that come out from under the benches on wheels.
I think every cafe or restaurant works by how the room or rooms flow with traffic. This plays is great and how people and workers flow through the place. Check it out

Great quote from Russell Davies

2009-10-19T11:45:00.002+01:00

' All this web stuff is going to look like a picnic compared to the horrors that will that will be delt to the agency and the media business when every product has a communications channel built right in' Russell Davies

This is an awesome quote from Russell Davies that I got from this great presentation from Neil Perkin.

Hilarious Idea from Australia... taps into Male insight

2009-10-19T10:54:00.002+01:00

This is a great ideafrom a pie company in Australia. Great insight and an awesome little idea to make it happen

I love Rory Sutherland... tinkering with perception

2009-10-16T11:42:00.004+01:00

I have been waiting for this video to be uploaded as I knew it would be great. He is hugely entertaining but has an ever adapting mind which continues to have a very central core, but can adapt to whats going on around him at the lightening speed in which we now live. He doesnt talk about social media, he gets involved.

In this video he demonstrates some fantastic ways of reframing things around people's perception. Which I dont think we often do enough of in terms of what we do with clients and their brands. I love his quote ' persuasion is often better than compulsion'... briliant

He also comments that 'changing the interface by which people make decisions and the vary nature of their decisions changes'.

I think people always think of the word interface as being for technology or the internet. But his comments see it in a much simplier human behavioural way, that could then be turned into a technology advantage for someone. As an interface is actually a boundary between two things. So how can we start to cut down that boundary

But lastly his use of the meaning of poetry... almost as an objective for the industry

'Poetry is when you make new things familiar, and familiar things new'

watch the video... his delivery is great. Also as the President of the IPA acts as a great advocate to people outside the industry.

How to you really sell ideas outside of your speciality

2009-10-13T09:27:00.004+01:00

bp. Photobooth Walkthrough from Zeus Jones on Vimeo.

How many times have you seen an idea pop up that you had. Please see the video attached. I had this one in the very early stages of digital photography with a client around 6 years ago. It was as simple as girls take photos in the outfit and print them out. (client look after cameras and photo printers).
We also had the exact same idea about three months ago for another entertainment client.
But there truth is we never made them happen.

I have always been interested in selling ideas, making them happen and understanding who does what. What if you are a PR agency and you come up with the most interesting online technology idea. But the client looks at you funny because thats the digital agency's job. So it helps lead to the question

How do you really sell thinking outside your speciality ?

There is a lot of of back and forth at the moment on what the role of strategy people are from different business types. To who is a creative, to who should control the brand. But in theory a good idea should be a good idea. But it never seems to work that way. Which sux

Can you get an iPhone on the GiffGaff

2009-09-29T18:00:00.002+01:00

It seems that O2 has looked to create a new sim only phone network that is completely built by the people. Its an interesting take on crowdsourcing. The guys at albion and zenithopti are helping them take it to market. Sounds cool. I will have to keep an eye on it.

Compare the Meerkat Casestudy

2009-09-29T12:18:00.003+01:00

Social Media As A Team Player Comparethemarket Com Case Study

View more documents from mickstravellin.

I am a huge fan of Amelia's campaign of comparethemeerkat over at VCCP. I have written about it on here before as an interesting example of mixing online and offline to help bring human qualities to brands. Here is the actual casestudy on the campaign.

Short Cuts to getting ideas

2009-09-29T11:55:00.002+01:00

Book Worm, originally uploaded by boopsie.daisy.

I read an interesting article in contagious this quarter about some quick cheats on how to break the mold a little bit. Some of these you probably do naturally but to aid in getting teams and groups of people or even more junior people to break convention. I think these are a great place to start.

Reverse Engineering:
This is about getting to the end result and working backwards. I quitelike this way and it can be a great way to present things. I know the creative agency Krow tend to work in this way with their clients

Sabotage / Reducation:
Instead of adding something new which is the standard way to create an idea you. You in fact eliminate something to make people realise its true value. Crispins in the US have used this a bit with the Whopper Sacrifice and Whopper Freakout.

Fight for a Cause
Im starting to love this one. Brands having a notable cause that relates to their brand positioning is awesome. But on a slightly more superficial level creating a cause like Doritos 'Bring back the Slow Dance' in Argentina which tapped into the growth of social networking but boys fear of getting close to girls in real life... needed an instigator. It is also great to make the audience feel apart of something greater than themselves which is an important trend to address at the moment.

Creative use of the problem:
Making the problem the highlight is always interesting. I think one of the standout examples of this was Guiness's 'Worth Waiting for' tagline a few years ago. But they also talk about Queensland Tourism's 'Best Job in the World' playing on the lack of holidays due to fear of actually losing your job.

It was written by a company in Tel Aviv called mindscapes which works with agencies to help create more specific processes around creativity.

Interesting things that Google Creative Labs think are cool

2009-09-22T12:46:00.003+01:00

If the guys are google creative labs think these are cool. Then they must be. Some of them are pretty awesome. I love how simple their presentation style is as well.

Cool video on future of mobile

2009-09-17T14:36:00.001+01:00

Cool video on the future of mobile. There are some interesting points in there. I dont think cyber security will take that long to become an issue.

Cool virtual graffiti with the WiiSpray

2009-08-28T14:54:00.002+01:00

WiiSpray Teaser from Martin Lihs on Vimeo.

This is a pretty cool. If you ever wanted to be a graffiti artist but were too afraid you'd get caught. This is the answer.

Great video on paid vs earned media from MobileTV

2009-08-26T09:47:00.003+01:00

This is a great video that I got from jon_howard. Just a great overview of the difference between paid for vs earned media. The whole idea of doing not saying...

If you are a John Hughes Fan

2009-08-25T12:31:00.001+01:00

Eclectic Method - A John Hughes Production from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

I was a huge John Huges fan as a kid and Im glad that a group of vj/dj's eclectic method. That I also am a fan. Of have done a great little mix up they did of his films, music etc

Has Dave shown us how the web can be a little more human

2009-08-24T20:48:00.006+01:00

One of my friends who is working over at glue recently sent me a campaign he is working on at the moment called davegoestoskane for the Swedish Tourism board. They have created a funny little cockney cab driver character called Dave that they have sent to Skane in the south of Sweden to give their audience a better understanding of the area. There are some quite amusing videos on youtube, he is on twitter and facebook.

Agencies have been using characters for years. But what I think is really interesting is how the web is really starting to allow these characters to become more real and even closer to the audience. Which I think is helping brands to become more human.

Im sure we have all sat in meetings hearing from ad agencies how people want images they can aspire too. Because after all, people really want to aspire to be like models in the ads in Vogue magazine. Im sure id be happy if my daughter did. (I dont have a daughter, but if I did Im sure it would just upset me). But although Im sure most digital agencies are building their film production capabilities to make more money. The positive of the situation is the quality of the films are getting even better, but it also mixes really well with what clay shirky calls the messiness, openiess and human characteristics of the web.

Building up these amusing characters and giving them a platform to speak to the brand's audience, I think starts to address some of the barriers that advertising can in fact create as opposed to break down. The creation of the 'ivory tower' mentality of being better than the average person that uses their brand.

For example, Nike has an awesome set of unbelievable athletes on its roster, which have been in some unbelievable ads over the years. But does putting Cesc Fabregas on an interactive show online make the brand seem more human, than those old 80's and 90's ads. Can the fact that you can get closer to the player add to the appeal of the brand. Almost speaking to a human makes it almost feel like a real relationship.

Here is a couple of interesting questions on the topic

Would the comparethemeerkat.com campaign be as effective without the huge and fun online presence ? Alesandr has more friends than Cheryl Cole or Wayne Rooney might I remind you.
Does having a character like Dave for the Swedish Tourist board purely online and not on a TV ad make it more attainable and cut closer to the audience, than a TV campaign.
Does scores like sentiment, fan pages, friends etc mean more human than, reach and frequency

I think its a really interesting time as these campaigns explode and we start to ask ourselves these questions for clients. Maybe we should start to treat our measurement in more human qualities than reach, frequency and awareness. So we can actually measure the value of our relationship and even allow them to measure their relationship with us.

trends in 2009

2009-08-24T14:20:00.001+01:00

I know I am a bit late as usual. But here is a good video from the Leo Burnetts futures editor on the key things for this year.

I found generation game interesting.. as I am looking into that at the moment as well as the idea of brands being constantly moving vehicles not static destinations

Notebook out from Nokia

2009-08-24T13:35:00.002+01:00

I do find the notebook market really interesting. I read an article about it in fastcompany about the idea of building them to cater for the developing markets. When they have in fact taken off in the developed markets as an additional light and mobile computer for city dwellers. I find it interesting that Nokia are moving into this space when surely they are trying to address it with smartphones anyway.

Great Campaign from Microsoft and Lastfm

2009-08-19T10:13:00.003+01:00

Im not usually a huge fan of talking about my work and stuff here. But this is an awesome stuff we did for Microsoft and lastfm called 'Hackday'. It really plays into what I call the 'self-fulfilling' community that developers often play within. Or what forrester calls 'creators'. You may think that they spend all their lives online. But some recent work we have done has highlighted that they love getting together in real life with likeminded friends. So this plays to that perfectly.

The need for nsights into people's behaviour hasnt change, the way we change people's behaviour has.

2009-08-12T20:34:00.001+01:00

Survival of the misquoted, originally uploaded by Colin Purrington.

I love how everything people talk about in the marketing world is so drastic. Things dying, things that are king etc. In my mind nothing from the front end has really changed. Understanding people's motivations, loves, desires, actions and general behaviour hasnt changed in importance. Creating valuable insights has become even more important as it has leaped out of stanley pollit's brain and into even more areas of the business arena. I think its an awesome time to be in planning. The only thing that has changed is the opportunities available to change people's behaviour and the ways in which we utilise them.

Some people fear change. By the name of my blog you can see I love it. So much opportunity calls for the need from clients to have someone help curate what they are going to do. Someone that truly understands the behaviour, but also now's how to utilise that understanding and curate the brands narrative and personality across a multitude of different areas. From what does the lady on the telephone , to that interesting data visualisation of the energy I have used in my house in the last 2 months, to that cool iphone app that is a smaller version of the same data which overall is my brand experience of a gas company. All these elements will still be driven by simple human truths. We just need to identify them faster and apply them even faster than ever. Which is fine for me. I often get over sitting in meetings hypothesizing about all these elements, as opposed to having some good but simple fast rigour. Then getting out their and acting on it. Its the digital mantra of 'fail and fail quickly. Do it learn from it and move on.

So after years of people trying to push me into specialist areas. I feel that maybe I wasnt half wrong sticking to my guns and continually pushing to being a broad generalist. Understanding each element and how they fit into the picture. This is now coupled with a general personal fascination and love of everything digital. It is about open a huge amount of doors. Not closing them which a lot of people in the industry have claimed. It allows us to move away from awareness scores and millward brown tracking. To deliver a greater overall business objective.

So as the blog says... dont be afraid just adapt and keep adapting as fast as you can. Otherwise the clients will run to someone who can

Great video from Jason the head of engagement planning at BBH

2009-08-12T20:09:00.006+01:00

Blurring the lines, 'its like going home with a hot chick only to find out in the morning you have to pay

2009-08-10T08:41:00.004+01:00

There was a recent bit of fun that a creative team in an Australian agency did to test whether creativity works. They took a simple bmx bike on eBay and tested whether their creativity could in fact get more money for the bike. Check the video out. But also read this article. As there seems to be a running issue in Australia that agencies tend to be playing on the real side, when in fact it is not real with a lot of fakes coming out of the wood work. I love the comment that

'I felt, I imagine, like someone who sleeps with a beautiful woman believing she’s enjoying his good looks and wit, only to discovers in the morning that they’ve accidentally bedded a prostitute who’s now waiting to be paid.'

Maybe they just need to stop the fakkies in Aus. Otherwise they are going to piss off a lot of people. Cool idea though

Over the top... self promotion

2009-08-04T22:09:00.004+01:00

This blog was never supposed to be about me promoting myself. It was more of a case of fear that if other people start to see what is in my head, I might actually need to think it through properly. That definately hasnt happened, as most things on here are half baked. So I guess some self promo doesnt hurt. I made UK's mediaweek magazine's 30 people under 30 years of age to watch... watch what I have no idea. But hey.. if your reading this you have kind of been watching already. So I hope this makes you feel better about wasting your time here.

Please note I didnt got into the studio for the shoot and they gave me limited photoshop

Great video on how clients treat agencies

2009-08-01T17:33:00.001+01:00

Got this from the guys at madebymany

Im not a game changer... the game has changed us

2009-08-01T16:52:00.004+01:00

Tim Malbon from Made by Many from The IPA on Vimeo.

I saw this great video from Tim Malbon from madebymany at the IPA 'Game Changers' event. I like how he states that they embraced changed and went with it and how being 'agile in fact accepts change into the processes.

Im loving the view of an ever evolving strategy that he links to startups and John Maeda at RISD who has a great view on creative leaders.

I believe its not about re-inventing the wheel it truly is about turning with it

I wish Ken Robinson changed the schooling structure when I went to school

2009-07-16T11:19:00.003+01:00

There was one thing I struggled with at school and in my attempts at university. As a child before school, I had a wild imagination. My mother could leave me for hours as constructed worlds in my head of anything and everything around me. Being an extremely happy child, it all seemed to be working ok. Then something terrible happened. My parents sent me to school.

It was horrible. No longer could I use my imagination and daydreaming techniques that I used to make me happy. I struggled straight away with teachers. Why do I have to do that. It doesnt make any sense at all. This has been a running problem throughout my life. The difference is I just learnt to move around it. I ended up in an British military school in Australia, which sounds strict but as I made it through the pain of the early years. I actually did quite well at school without really trying (my dad wasnt happy when I said that a number of years later). But I gained respect from some of my teachers allowing me a lot more freedom as I got older.

One teacher supported my wild imagination on on interesting topic. A girl in Australia had recently died supposedly from an ecstacy overdose. The government and the press jumped all over it and made her the perfect girl who was struct down by this terrible drug. The truth was she was an alcoholic and a drug taker from a young age. I wrote an essay within a school class on this completely against everyone else. I highlighted the lack of transparecy and the blatant cover up by media and the government on a girl that was renowned in my area as passing out drunk at house parties, throwing up and sleeping with anything. My teacher who was also the school priest, but he backed me all the whole way. Loved my angle and drove me to write about it in my final exams. It didnt get that great of a mark in the national exam. But it didnt matter me. I thought I wrote a great piece and so did he. It was great to have the freedom to think and express a different viewpoint and I got a lot more out of that than the marks.

Then at Uni I was restricted again. I was working in an agency and studying communications part time. I had a marketing lecturer who was a junior at some pharmacutical company and from my small knowledge of the marketing world straight away started to butt heads with the lecturer. The material was so limited and didnt express any real life understanding at all. So university didnt last long for me, as work was showing more promise and I was more open to utilise my imagination there.

Although it seems like I was a bad child I dont believe that was true. I was truly interested in learning. I always said to teachers, 'its better that I am talking and questioning things. Because if I am not, that means I am not paying attention or I am asleep'. I bring this up as I recently saw this great video from Sir Ken Robinson. Someone who pulls apart the education system and its ability to structutralise everything and limit kids imagination. He highlights a need for openness for kids to use their imagination as the importance of it in the future of man kind and problem solving is so crucial.

I moved into advertising as I believed it would drive my imagination which it has. But after 10 years in the ad industry I believe it is now cutting back on imagination and also is becoming too restrictive. I think we can evolve and mesh the great business acumen with fantastic imagination as I believe a number of the smaller networks are putting into force. The future truly is about diagonal thinking and how we as companies can fuse imagination and business acumen into the company's culture.

He talks about a number of things I truly believe in. That diversity brings creativity, that intelligence isnt just about academia. As well as many more

I had a chat with a guy last night who was a good boy and did a law degree like he was supposed to. Then went to a law firm and didnt really like it. After years of studying and travelling he has made his way into advertising. He too seemed to have a similar confusion of what he was restritced to do and not what he wanted to.

So I post this video to all the social misfits out there who probably made their way into advertising.... be happy .... and keep using your imagination

video below

Our (and Your) RISD Ã‚Â» Blog Archive Ã‚Â» Sir Ken Robinson

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Lego is the best

2009-06-24T16:01:00.001+01:00

Great vengeance and furious Lego, originally uploaded by givepeasachance.

I have always been a great fan of lego. Recent trips to flickr have made me start to utilise different images from flickr for presentations. They always get a laugh but there are so many of them its awesome. I have brought up lego a few times before as I always thought they were a lost brand. But no they are alive and kicking.

They have truly become apart of popculture which i think is the key to a brands survival.

Check them out on flickr

400 Million people watch the final of supergirl in china

2009-06-16T13:27:00.001+01:00

Who says that mass media is over just yet. 400 million people across china watched the final of their version of Idol. Supergirl