The Monkey Puzzler

Are you sitting comfortably?

2010-06-17T10:10:00.003+01:00

Then let the story begin...

So today marks the first promoted tweet on Twitter for Toy Story. Nice simple action, it calls up all the tweets on the topic, very interested to see how this develops and what the consequent feedback will be...

Let's go to Israel!

2010-06-17T09:02:00.005+01:00

or not.

Don't worry this isn't going to be political! I just saw this ad on the tube yesterday and couldn’t help but think that what with everything that's kicking off in the Gulf of Mexico i.e. the 9/11 of the natural world this probably shouldn't have been put live.

Obviously with copy and print deadlines it's tough to make changes late in the day but when your country is getting pretty crappy coverage anyway in the Western media, to then associate yourself with the biggest natural catastrophe of this millennium, isn't ideal.

Beauty in numbers

2010-05-25T10:06:00.000+01:00

I was reminded today of a site that I really like, it’s called Information is Beautiful and the I like it for many reasons but predominantly for its simplicity. How brilliant to take what is often a whole load of complicated data and turn into something so accessible. And it’s not necessarily about having loads of data but instead taking a concept and using a relevant analogy to explain it in its simplest form.

With the rapidly changing digital landscape there are often times when we need to explain concepts to clients in their simplest form. We are already developing various dashboards for our clients that help to simplify the huge amount of data we collect from campaigns to make them easily digestible. They're also easily shareable, which is important for clients to present to their seniors who perhaps don’t have time to sit down and trawl through reams of data.

I think it would make a big difference if we applied more simplicity and creativity to our outward facing work. Admittedly a lot of the back end work requires spreadsheets and charts but when it comes to presenting to those that matter why should they have to endure these charts too?

Yes a lot of the time we don’t have the time to produce charts that are made in anything but excel and PowerPoint but if cretivity was the norm and there were templates set up for producing this work then time wouldn’t be a problem.

Imagine for a moment that you’re a client and your product is fairly low interest and DR focussed (financial services, health care etc). Your main focus for any results meeting is to be shown what’s working, what isn’t working, what’s being fixed and what’s in store for the future?
Perfectly reasonable requests, the answers to which would require a lot of numbers and cross referencing graphs and overly populated scales that are difficult to read etc.

Using IIB as an inspiration, how could we look to change this? You might have to start with something that’s recognisable on the first look but upon closer inspection proves to be much more in-depth and detailed such as this Digital Distraction Chart:

Chart found here

And then at a more advanced level you could have an interactive chart that clients could take away and explore in their own time such as this:

Chart found here

To be honest we’re nearly there with some of our dashboards and clients love nothing more than being able to see exactly how their results stack up against their competitors, especially if these results were huge towering trees overshadowing little saplings or piles of notes stacked next to a small stack of coins.

Generally I think clients are fairly content with the way results are delivered but I also think this is because they know no alternative.

This can change, as the bottom line is: Data doesn’t need to be dull, accurate yes, dull no.

Guiding Lights...

2010-05-06T08:58:00.009+01:00

What with all the election business that’s been going on I got thinking about the essence of leadership and the principles upon which it is (should be) founded. I then thought about what can have an effect on these principles and how they are perceived by different people depending on their needs and interests and how huge decisions can sometimes be made on small amounts of information.

This thought led me on to thinking about behavioural economics in general and how brands act, and how we, as consumers, react to them.

Ultimately the three main factors that dictate behaviour are PERSONAL, SOCIAL and ENVIRONMENTAL.

From these pillars we can derive some more detailed principles that affect the way we react to and engage with brands which should stand true even in the face of technological advancement.

Before we talk about these principles it’s important to remember that for many brands the AIDA Model (attention, interest desire, action) is being increasingly questioned and a ‘Value–Action’ gap exists where people hold values that are inconsistent with their behaviour.
This theory is known as cognitive dissonance (e.g. Smokers know smoking is bad for them but seek to justify their cognitive dissonance - “I know a bloke who smoked 50 a day and lived to be 100”).

Below I’ve discussed nine principles based on theory from the myriad books on the subject (Nudge, Predictably Irrational, Paradox of Choice etc) and the planners meetings/debates we’ve had over here at PHD HQ.

1) Choices are influenced by how they are framed

• Quite simply if you are aware of the context of the decision you’re about to make and it will change that context positively then you will be more inclined to make the decision.
• The bottom line is that it’s virtually impossible to present a neutral choice to a human being.

2) We believe things that we can easily imagine are more likely to happen

• Despite statistics and facts that suggest otherwise, the more tangible is often overlooked for the more fantastic if we believe in it enough. This might explain why people take out “earthquake insurance” and have a greater fear of plane crashes than car crashes

3) We make decisions based on outcomes that have happened before

• This seems like the most perverse of human foibles but is probably the most common when it comes to decision making. If something has a proven record to produce the results you want then this is an understandable approach however when the chances are 50/50 making a call on previous results makes no logical sense, but probably ‘feels’ right. Might explain why gamblers go on an ‘unlucky streak’

4) We’re loss averse, and ‘over-value’ things we already have

• Having something as oppose to not, makes the object much more valuable. Emotional value far outstrips rational thought as those who have ‘something’ or the prospect of ‘something’, imagine what it will be like whilst those who don’t have it apply rational thoughts to the situation and realise it for what it is.

5) We’re naturally inert & avoid decisions - so ‘default’ options are very powerful

• This is a very influential marketing technique when used properly. Thankfully there are systems and checks in place which mean you are far more likely to be given the choice to ‘opt-in’ rather than ‘opt-out’ however in cases such as organ donation, would people actively choose to ‘opt-out’?

6) The more we repeat an action the more automatic it becomes

• Habitual behaviour is one of the most difficult aspects of behaviour to change.

• Campaigns such as drink aware and anti-smoking have to be hard hitting as they show the consequences of individuals actions. The message needs to make consumers not only realise what they’re doing isn’t healthy but that there is an alternative and a way out.

• The more hard hitting the ad the more likely they are to be talked about which then generates community spirit and camaraderie between fellow smokers/drinkers to make a change.

7) Personal empowerment is vital for behaviour change

• Knowing or at least feeling that your actions make a difference can make individuals and consequently groups take action

• Known as “Self Efficacy” - a belief I can do it, is more important than an ability to actually do something in changing behaviour, hence why things like Act on CO2 place great focus on what can be done by the individual.

8) ‘Social proof’ wields huge influence

• When food comes out at a party who dares to tuck in first? And when on a Just Giving page we look at how much others have donated and follow suit.

• The steps Facebook is taking with regards making nearly everything ‘likeable’ mean that social proof by association is becoming increasingly prevalent which will greatly change this behaviour

9) Enabling people to change their behaviour is key

• We can change attitude and intention around recycling for example but providing recycling boxes is likely to be far more powerful in changing behaviour.

• In other words – make it easy for people to behave in the way you want them to.

Clearly these are varied and numerous principles and cannot be applied to all brands and campaigns, however knowing how human behaviour works on a fundamental level will help to simplify the objectives of campaigns greatly. It’s all too easy to get bogged down in research, surveys and trending graphs and be influenced by a channel choice that perhaps doesn’t 'feel' right but can be corroborated by the 'figures'...

Have you seen this Ad? It's crap.

2010-04-28T13:11:00.013+01:00

Was having a read of Sport on the Tube last week and the first ad I saw was this one

Nothing remarkable you say, and you'd be right but then I look over to the companion ad on the right hand side and see this

Which is a total rip-off of this

Image Courtesy

...which I think is genius (the cat ad not the Chevy ad).

I've spoken before about ripping stuff off and whilst perhaps the original doesn't have a huge reach and therefore isn't considered plagiarism by the creatives who steal the idea, if you're going to rip something off at least place it in the right context.

There’s a whole host of things wrong with this, firstly it's just a boring ad with nothing particularly memorable about it but more importantly, the idea of changing the perspective to make something funny/memorable has been totally lost. I don't need to explain it but the reason the cat poster is funny is obvious but the Chevy ad doesn't give the reader anything.

They couldn't put it on a lamppost because nobody loses their car and puts up posters for it and there's no other vehicle for the joke because you need the context of the lamppost to distort else it doesn't really make any sense, you end up just telling the reader to look for this car because it's awesome. As a consumer I'm thinking… Is it awesome? Why? Personally I think it looks like radioactive snot which is pretty low down the awesomeness scale.

I don't have a problem as such with copying ideas but only if you either improve on them or keep them exactly the same and even reference the original piece. As mentioned in my earlier post about this, Car Phone Warehouse did this really well with Kristopher Storm where they loved what he did, got him on board and paid him to do the ads. This is much better and doesn't make your brand look like a total faceless corporate automaton who will just buy themselves ideas instead of actually investing in the talent.

Brand Diversity

2010-04-19T10:34:00.003+01:00

Image courtesy

I’ve been asked by a friend for some advice on getting sponsorship on an event they’re running. The event is the Euro Gamer Expo and has grown exponentially over the last few years, so much so it now attracts some 20,000 gamers from all over Europe and is being held at Earls Court. He was asking me whether there were any brands who were more mainstream that could be attracted to an event like this and weren’t just the obvious TV and hardware brands that regularly get invovled.

So if I put my client head on for a minute, I suppose the biggest question is, ‘What value is there for my brand if I associate with an event like this? I understand that games are a multi-billion dollar industry globally and the audience reach is expanding all the time, (with the proliferation of family based gaming platforms (wii, DS) and games such as Buzz), but will being a part of a cutting edge event for a niche audience be beneficial to my brand or will it seem out of place?’

My initial thoughts (if I was a mainstream but non-endemic brand such as Sainsbury’s for example) is that there’s no obvious connect and for those brands that are more ubiquitous with a much larger audience (such as Orange), is there enough of a draw to present the brand in front of what is a specific, tech savvy audience, who make up maybe 5% of my total audience?

With that in mind, the next question to ask is ‘Are there any big brands who have a specific offering to this audience?’

Could Virgin promote their 50Mb optical fibre broadband with the promise that there would never be loss of connection mid-game?

Dominos could offer ‘buy one get one free’ during a national online tournament when you quote a specific code which is given to you when you register.

Gamers are probably fairly big film watchers, so perhaps Lovefilm could do a tie-in promoting not only their blu-ray DVD proposal but their game rental service too?

The amount of investment required is not huge and although there is such a big focus on value and brand perception at the moment, clients are also beginning to understand the importance of testing new areas. I told him that with some of our clients we add an extra 10% to the budget in order to test new sites, formats, channels etc, which shows that clients are willing to investigate, if the proposal is presented in the right way.

The proposal my friend sent me didn’t pitch in quite the right tone for getting brands to explore and discover, it was asking for out and out sponsorship assuming that the audience understands the benefits of what a sponsorship would provide. I’ve spoken before about the importance of understanding your audience and this is another case of making a few tweaks to get the right people engaged and responsive.

If I was pitching this project I would put together a wish list of brands that I wanted and find out exactly which part of their business offering would fit. I would then do my research and find out exactly what they’re trying to achieve as a business and match it with the different elements of the sponsorship. In support of this I would make sure that I had plenty of PR/Case Study material to help substantiate my points as from a planner’s perspective there is nothing more helpful when it comes to selling in ideas to a client then showing them what their competitors are doing!

The Expo is in October, let’s wait and see who they get onboard!

Screen Test

2010-04-16T09:31:00.005+01:00

Image Courtesy

Saw this nice bit of creative on the Diesel site.

I'm sure it's been done before in some other capacity, but I think it could very well be the future of online shopping. Imagine being able to watch a programme/film and have the ability (through your wireless enabled TV) to pause the content select an item (whether it's clothing, furniture or a even a car) and find out more information about it with a clear call to action to purchase.

Works on paper but in reality it might make from crappy viewing especially with other people in the room but it would redefine ASOS's offering!!

Lo and behold...

2010-03-31T16:52:00.004+01:00

A prediction comes true! (well almost)

Image courtesy.

A couple of weeks back I talked about Chat Roulette and mentioned who I thought would be the first brand to get involved in a campaign predicting that Dr Pepper would do a campaign along the lines of being busted by your mum whilst having no clothes on!

And then lo and behold I read this.

It's only a matter of time...

The bigger they are...

2010-03-24T18:21:00.006Z

Image courtesy

I'm very fortunate to work on some big global brands who have done (and continue to do) excellent campaigns in the media and advertising world. The one drawback however on working with big brands is that more often than not, they associate themselves with old school traditional creative agencies.

Whilst in many cases this doesn’t cause any issues as quite often the work they produce for TV/Print/Outdoor is of an excellent standard, where they fall down, is when clients ask for the production of digital assets.

I’m being general but over the last two years, time and again ‘big dog’ agencies have let themselves down when it comes to digital. Either they draft in digital agencies who know very little about the client and their business and produce un-integrated work that rarely sticks to objectives (“we recommend a microsite!” Grrrrr…..) or if it does work, we end up having to pay over the odds as the traditional agency take their cut.

Times are changing of course and I attempted to challenge this whole idea at ‘Brief’ a couple of years back, and just recently I’ve been exposed to some excellent work from purely digital shops. So much so, we’ve had increasingly awkward meetings where the Goliaths are having digital pebbles smashed at their heads and being made to look a bit stupid, and in all honesty I’m all for it!

Why shouldn’t they be challenged? In a climate where everything is about value and tracking, engagement and sales, spuffing a load of cash on non trackable ATL media with no discernable results is something that can’t be accepted. Even creating digital assets that have very little obvious value other than getting £60k signed off from the client, are also being scrapped. (microsites I will get my revenge!)

This video helps to summarise all of the above nicely…

Currently, and in my specific field, clients are now looking for one of two things:

1)A DR campaign...

that drives as many potential customers through to their site in the hope that they convert into sales. This only works for some clients though and has unfortunately been employed by brands that should stick to brand campaigns as DR in digital can often get cheap and nasty and does high end brands no favours! This strategy also makes our jobs very difficult as it is often coupled with a cost per arrival of something unattainable dreamt up by the procurement department!

2)Sustainable social media campaign

In my opinion everything that’s created digitally should have social in mind. There has been a shed load of literature on the benefits of such an approach so I won’t spend time going into any more detail here, however the early signs suggest by incorporating such a strategy into creative and media executions, it's all looking positive (ignore Nestle when I say this!).

I firmly believe it’s all headed in the right direction and I feel very positive about the future, especially if the quality of work remains at this level. The sooner big brands understand that a slightly more long term, less cut and dry approach to digital branding and advertising can reap great rewards, we can start to really make some progress in this field. Technology is developing faster than we can pre-order our ipads and whilst we shouldn’t be pushing clients to take on and test everything that’s emerging, small pebbles can cause deadly damage.

Chatroulette provides another gem...

2010-03-22T14:17:00.003Z

In amongst all the pervs and exhibitionists there is some real gold on chatroulette.

If you haven't seen it yet have a watch of Casey Neistat's summary, it's interesting and nicely put together.

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

I found the below on Friday which I thought was genius. Ultimately it's simple inprov with a piano but somehow it works so much better for being topical and unexpected. There's some really nice natural reactions , especailly the heart hands girls and when he plays ‘firefly’ by ear...

Whilst watching it I was thinking is this Ben Folds…? The style of music and his voice sounded a bit like him and then lo and behold this morning I see this...

No sure it's as good as Merton's, although his is clearly edited and Ben's is cut short a bit, but still I got more pleasure from the grass roots effort recorded in Merton's living room!

Odds on the first brands to get involved in Chatroulette:

2-1 Dr Pepper with a parody about being on CR and being convinced to get your bits out by a sexy female who’s identity is hidden until you realise it’s your girlfriend’s mum. LMAO…

7-2 Match.com – they’ll develop an app that searches for people currently online who fit your criteria. It will bomb as only 0.0005% of people using CR are 21-24 blonde, slim, sporty, GSOH, independent women interested in ‘a fling’.

12-1 Nestle – will have a live feed of their staff flicking V’s at their few remaining fans whilst torturing orang-utan babies and laughing at pictures of starving African kids

25-1 David Cameron – trying to be down with the kids…

50-1 Gordon Brown – unintentionally….

Photos from Afar

2010-03-17T16:04:00.011Z

I recently got back from Thailand for an extended trip (managed to get 2 1/2 weeks through the system!) and I took a friend's DSLR with me which was a real treat. I was using a Nikon D40 (Canon would be weapon of choice of course) but it was a nice bit of kit and took some nice photos. Here are few of my favourites (edited down from 2,498!!)

If you're very bored the rest can be found here (FB tends to compress the hell out of them though!)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Understand your audience

2010-02-19T11:43:00.000Z

Image courtesy

I've just been given a presentation from an online property that got me thinking about both the product and the way in which it was presented.

My initial thoughts were what is this product? Why should I care, and if I do, how will I sell it into my clients? This was not answered until about 20mins in, by which time I was quite confused and lacking interest.

I've never been a sales person (in the traditional sense) however I have met a huge amount in my career so far and spend a lot of time selling in ideas to clients, everything from the mundane (which adserver they should use) to the extravagant (sponsoring the dance tent at Glastonbury) and in every case you need to lay out the nub of your idea in the opening 2 minutes.

Many people argue that it's important to set the scene, put things in context, recap on the brief, but I disagree. We both know the context and I believe this can be incorporated into your idea and answer the main point in the brief. And please don’t recap the brief, I know what it is, I wrote the bloody thing!
Also don't give everything up straight away though, as the art of good story telling allows for your audience to fill some of the gaps. However be clear, succinct and knowledgeable. Don't ever talk about something you can't substantiate, it makes you look foolish and lazy. Obviously you can't legislate for curve ball questions from your audience but if they are handled correctly and answered at the first opportunity after the meeting then you still maintain control.

Having control is another important point to make. Many sales individuals are considered good because they can close the deal quickly and efficiently, however if you're trying to sell in the benefits of a back office social media network, I think you're in a far better position getting a dialogue started amongst your audience. Explain the benefits, show some relevant case studies and then suggest some ideas that you've had for the brand in question. Unless you are exceptionally well informed your audience (planners in this case) will know far more about the product/brand and will start thinking about forthcoming events/promotions that might be relevant, that maybe you’re unaware of.

I think due to the diversity of digital media, there is a far longer gestation period both with the planners and clients, as what you're getting is not always cut and dry. This isn’t to say that response to briefs should try and cover everything off if they can't, as this will result in everything being vague and often vapid.

The bottom line is, understand what our clients do, and where they are headed and want to achieve, understand what it is you do, have the courage to tell me that your product isn't a good fit or conversely that it really is, believe in it and don't, whatever you do, start your presentation with a load of stats about how many unique users and page impressions you have, this is of little importance at this stage as I know the site wouldn't be commercial if it wasn't hitting at least 200k a month and it’s a sure fire way to kill the attention before I’ve even had a chance to have my first sip of coffee.

It’s a tough market for a lot of people currently and many proposals are insightful, purposeful, clear and get me excited and interested in the product and how my brands can fit in, so no disrespect to those, but for the ones who let me down, I'm afraid the plan will go on without you.

Twenty-Ten

2010-02-03T11:31:00.001Z

Image - it's mine! Khao Lak beach early morning. 20/01/2010

In my humble opinion, 2010 will not be a return to the ‘way things were’, as many old fashioned brands hope, post recession, but instead a year of opportunity for brands who put digital at the forefront.

Whilst there is still plenty of value to be driven within the market media owners are becoming increasingly savvy to the value of their products especially those who can differentiate themselves from the mainstream. The behemoths of the media world (MSN, Yahoo!) still provide the reach required for relevant campaigns however I wonder that now the relevance, measurability and engagement of digital has been showcased during 2009, whether just being able to secure 15million page impressions in a 24hr period for a very hefty sum (MSN Homepage), is going to fit into client's key objectives…

Impactful and high reach media will still be relevant to product launches and film releases, however this will often be in conjunction with a whole array of other (predominantly ATL) advertising. Smaller or arguably savvier clients might look to find out more about their audiences and engage them directly. With this in mind, I think the focus in 2010 should be on communities rather than audiences. Many different profiles can make up a community and it’s the brand that taps into them that will find the most traction and consequent success.

As you would expect, most communities can be found in the social space as this is where they are most active, however whilst a social media campaign is often difficult with the nature of many brand's offerings – there are less intrusive methods available which still target these specific communities. I won’t go into these methods in detail as people have written whole books on the subject, but what is worth bearing in mind for both planners and clients, is that you can't just have a separate line on the plan where you assign £25k to 'social media' hoping that by creating a few profiles and 'talking' to your audiences you'll suddenly have thousands of brand advocates running around shouting about how amazing your product is.

Digital (and especially mobile) will be the centre of attention this year. It has earned it stripes by being one of the only channels that clients can rely on in tough times due to its measurability and diversity. Clients are also beginning to notice that online can work on a brand level equally well, whether this is getting 15 million impressions served for your new film trailer or tapping into your un-official fan base through social media, it's all there for the taking.

Clients, be brave, be open minded, stay true to your beliefs and don't be afraid to invest! 2010 is going to be the year when it all makes sense.

Social Media Boiled Down

2009-08-03T12:30:00.002+01:00

Image courtesy.
Slightly unnecessary use of the F-word but this deck lays social media out nicely.

After flicking through I wondered how many brands are still yet to grasp these basics? Does social media still appear as this big labyrinthine beast which they're afraid to poke with a stick?

My advice is poke away! Gently at first, you don't want to wake it with a start, but once awake you’ll find the beast is actually a lot of little gentle beast cubs dressed in a big beastly outfit. As with all things infantile they just need feeding every so often to make them big and strong before you let them out into the wild to talk to all the other beasts and animals in the forest and make friends!

(Apologies for the wildlife analogy, I've been watching a lot of Animal Planet recently!)

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

Blogger made me swear!!!

2009-02-03T12:26:00.003Z

Not sure how else you could say this 'word' out loud, without sounding rude?!

Attention seekers

2009-01-28T13:06:00.004Z

Image courtesy.

I've just had a presentation about an online product where their USP was they can guarantee an average of 16 seconds of audience engagement for your ad. 16 seconds?!! That's not a bad stat if you know about these things and work in the hugely disparate online media world, but imagine trying to explain that to your grandparents??!

It's certainly a sign of the status quo and has been for some time, but what can be done to counter it? Do ads need to be more creatively engaging? Or is this the tip of massive iceberg that has been staring us in the face for a while now but we're yet to see what's under the surface? I think a fundamental shift is required and a much bigger post is required on this. Perhaps this will be the basis for the next 'Brief'. Hmmm, thoughts please…

Auditorium? Addictive yet strangely calming...

2009-01-27T16:43:00.004Z

Not sure if I'm really slow to discover this site but it's absolute genius! It takes over your life somewhat (which is not so good when you're supposed to putting end of campaign reports together) but my it's fun!

check it out here. and have fun!

Times have changed...

2009-01-26T12:40:00.003Z

Nice client friendly deck found on the Fallon Planning blog about the changing media landscape. Doesn't give any particular answers but it's a good starting point for a discussion on the subject.

I thought these guys had gone under. I remember doing work experience for them back in 1998 when they were based in Paddington. Worked alongside a creative pair called Christian and Matt and they just spent the whole time playing Scalectrix and discussing how they could target illegal immigrants with West cigarettes (back in the day when you could advertise smoking!) Fun times!

Couple of cool photo shots from the inauguration

2009-01-21T17:19:00.000Z

First this from Popular Science

and this from Microsoft's Photo Synch via CNN:

Geeky biking observations

2009-01-16T10:12:00.002Z

Since my accident (due to a snapped sprocket and not strictly my fault) I've been taking things a little bit easy on the bike recently, including not powering along at break neck speed and stopping at a lot more traffic lights. As a way of trying to make up for lost time due to my new law abiding traits, I've made a few observations.

1) Motorbikes think they're pedal bikes (they hang around on the left hand side and in the green zone) it's bad enough that they can now use the bus lane (although it hasn't been too bad, I don't think word has spread)

2) On average (and this is based on my route to and from work, it takes an average of 6 seconds for the red man to appear and the main lights going green. Some lights are as delayed as 8-9 seconds and some 1-2 but the norm is about 6.

3) Manhole covers are like ice. Literally! Never take a corner at speed where there are manhole covers, you'll be faceplanting the tarmac quicker than you can say quick release clips!

4) Never undertake a lorry/bus on a corner, you will be crushed to death, fact.

5) Bus stops always smell nice in the mornings as they are full of washed, scrubbed and perfumed people on their way to work!

6) Always, always, always wear a helmet. My old one saved my life, there's no doubt about it. If you don't wear a helmet you're a fucking idiot and deserve to be removed from the gene pool.

Stay safe.

This made me laugh

2009-01-16T10:08:00.001Z

Thank you Holy Moly for this gem and your continued hatred of all things Johnny Borrell!

I've never known a brand to hit rock bottom, and start digging!

2009-01-16T09:53:00.000Z

How can their advertising get any worse?!

Two questions:

1) Who on earth created this?!
2) Which total douchenozzle signed this off?!

Another viral spin off of CG but it works...

2009-01-05T17:06:00.000Z

Saw this today via 'The AP of CRAP' (winners of Brief 2008) and thought it was a nice execution and still works even though the original campaign first came out a long while back...

New year, new job!

2009-01-05T15:42:00.000Z

image courtesy

Have been totally rubbish at doing any posts over the last 6 weeks mainly due to how busy I've been, changing jobs and getting fully stuck into yuletide frivolity! So I've now left BLM and have started over at PHD as an 'Integrated Media Manager'. After 3 years at BLM it was time to move on and spread my wings a bit. I've got a good vibe about both the brands I'll be working on and most importantly the people I'm working with.

Also, I'm determined to breath life back into Brief as there were quite a few obstacles put in place previously which prevented me from doing a repeat event but I'm hoping that management will be a bit more open minded moving forward, it certainly feels that way.

I'll update regularly on what developments happen on that front and will get back up to speed on my posts starting this week.

All the best for 2009!

Ash

Power to the Sheeple!

2008-11-19T16:51:00.000Z

This post was inspired by a few events over the last couple of weeks and will cover context, expectations and the innate fear of not fitting in and what this could mean for marketing messages.

It started in the Tate Modern two weeks ago when I was meeting a friend and was running late. She was already on the 2nd floor by the time I got there and although I was doing my best 'Dad run' (Ref: Peter Kay) across the main concourse, when it came to the escalators I suddenly realised where I was and couldn't bring myself to bolt or even walk up them. I'm sure we've all had that feeling before, however it reminded me of a video I saw about a month ago...

Candid Camera proves the Sheeple Theory correct.

You can often see this happen in real life when you get in the lift on the tube and you are unsure which side the doors are going to open. The regular commuters will always know and if you're not observant enough to see the 'Exit' sign you are tempted to follow them and most of the time you do. It was this sense of unease which is clearly shown in the video, that got me thinking.

I've blogged before about what I consider to be primordial feelings that are so engrained you can't avoid them, especially if you are not expecting the situation that makes you feel said emotion.

So I was wondering how this emotion could be used to make people respond to marketing messages. There is of course a fine line to tread between illustrating the benefits of a product in a clever way and psychological manipulation and this could in no way be the basis for a long term campaign, but on a tactical/stunt level this could be very effective.

Which products could you do it with? A select few I think, but initial thoughts point towards fashion and art brands. Fashion brands like Diesel could really play on the whole non-conformity theme and position themselves as an alternative to norm.

The actual execution would have to be guerilla in its execution because word would spread fast so I'm thinking some sort of mobile group that targeted people when they were in their routine. Commuting would be a key area, the supermarket (maybe a whole bunch of people could start wearing baskets on their heads?!!), the gym, the cinema (everyone sits facing the wall?!) You get the idea.

Not sure it would ever get signed off, but it would certainly create some buzz.

Go go gadget camera!!

2008-11-19T15:42:00.000Z

Why they had to call it an 'I-Ball' I have no idea, but I love the idea, especially as it can be fired out of a grenande launcher!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7734038.stm

I'm no plumber, but seriously...

2008-11-10T16:09:00.000Z

...what the hell does this mean?!!

Found in RDF's office loo if anyone needs their 'fused spur' fix!

New and improved!

2008-10-16T16:18:00.000+01:00

The statement makes no sense at all because if something is new then it can't be improved, however I've seen some examples recently where advertising has used current advertising and re-invented it making altogether better and arguably more effective.

The piece that piqued my interest and the basis for this post was what the Independent did in response to The Times' campaign late last month which they called 'Ahead of The Times'.

I love this idea of guerrilla marketing. I think it's so effective because it works on the back of someone else’s effort (i.e. £3m Times' marketing budget) but delivers something wholly original through the art of reinvention. Whilst this idea doesn't work for a longer-term campaign, if you have planners with good reactions, media buyers with good relationships and open-minded clients you can be on to a winner with this formula. Examples from the past that I think are brilliant:

Examples from the past that I think are brilliant:

Pot Noodle:

118-118:

and my favourite of all time, Tango:

Take on me - what it really means

2008-10-15T12:28:00.001+01:00

I love this. It's simple, a bit puerile but overall very funny.

I realise the last couple of posts have been a bit flimsy but this one has sparked an idea for a post about the art of re-invention and whether or not 'sweded' versions of ads can be more effective than the original.

Will post tomorrow, promise.

Career change?

2008-10-06T12:13:00.000+01:00

Anyone fancy applying for this job?!

When it comes to copy, the devil is in the detail...

Every penny counts...

2008-09-29T11:49:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to put this post up for a a while and every time I see a shiny new penny in my loose change I berate myself for not getting my arse in gear. So here it is, a little piece on a fantastic piece of design that will be seen by see by millions upon millions of people everyday, will outlive it's creator and even has the royal seal of approval!

What I'm talking about are the new set of coins that have been created by desingner Matt Dent and have begun to be minted this year.

I first heard about the whole project at Interesting this year when Matt did a 5 minute talk on how he had entered the 'New Reverses' competition back in 2005 and then how his ideas came to fruition. More details on the processes here.

As with all things I'm a massive fan of simplicity. I feel that if something needs justification (especially in communications) then it's already failed. This design however is perfectly simple it requires no explanation.

I also like it because it takes it's inspiration from days of yore. I remember studying heraldry at school aged 11 and it was fascinating. All the different rules you have to follow and what each symbol represents and the importance of the different colours available. The Royal Shield of Arms is obviously a much bigger crest and one we see a lot of...

The first to get a this design are 1p coins and I'm yet to see any more at the moment but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

One thing that Matt says on his blog that really resonates is:

'I could imagine the coins being played with, looked at and enjoyed in a way which was foreign to coinage, and could imagine their appeal for kids messing with them in school as much as for folks in a pub'

Awesome use of You Tube branded channel...

2008-09-24T14:56:00.000+01:00

Lost in translation

2008-09-18T12:03:00.001+01:00

This morning we had a new shower installed in the office (which is an epic event in itself as I could write a whole piece about shower rage) but I couldn't help but laugh when I read the safety instructions which appealed to my puerile side...

It read like condom instructions that had been translated from Chinese to English via Babel Fish and reminded me of those signs you often get emailed such as this...

More can be found here.

What's in the mystery box...?

2008-09-08T17:18:00.000+01:00

Image courtesy

On Saturday I went to pick up a parcel from Post Office HQ and whilst standing in the enormous queue and watching people come out with parcels/packages/not enough ID I got thinking. Receiving a parcel taps into a very raw human emotion that I don't think anyone can avoid and is so powerful it takes you through a whole range of emotions before plonking you back where you started, but hopefully slightly changed for the better.

What I'm talking about is the power of anticipation. That encompassing feeling when you get delivered a parcel which you weren't expecting and you have no idea what's in it. It brings back all those very early memories of trying to sit patiently before opening your presents at Christmas or knowing that your new bike is being picked up by Dad on his way home from work and will be there when you get in from school (not sure why I was doing longer hours than Dad, but it was a memory that stuck).

More recently I think it's still possible to re-create this feeling, but I think we all suffer that pessimism that is so rife in London where everything is not quite good enough. Nobody seems to get stupidly excited like you did as a kid, even for the briefest of moments when you suddenly remember you've got the night of nights planned and the day off the next day. Suddenly everything can go to hell and you are fully consumed in your own world, untouchable and indestructible.

I used to feel this a lot about the most stupid of stuff like knowing I was having steak for dinner that night and having a giggle on the way to work. The Americans seem to have it right and whilst they can sometimes sound insincere they certainly know how how to get excited by things. Ok, this exuberance might jar with a lot of us but it’s also strangely infectious if you’re a part of it rather than from it.

I believe there are four main stages to finding out 'what's in the mystery box'.

1) expectation/surprise - both as powerful as each other, although the former can lead to a much greater anti-climax.

2) reveal-ation - not a word I know, but it's the moment when you open the box/rip off the wrapping paper/undress the girl and what you've been waiting for (for however long) is revealed.

3) the hug and roll – i.e. does the feeling last? Is it the gift that keeps on giving? Does it matter?

4) the love in – does the surprise excite you so much that you can’t help but brag to your friends about it? I know the first thing I did on my bike was cycle it straight next door and refuse to give my mate Rich a go until tea time.

I hope that you’ve already drawn upon your own experiences of opening the mystery box to understand my viewpoint on this but what I also hope is that there is the understanding that this emotion is currently a bit lacking in both the way we interact with brands and their communications with us as well as the way we connect with one another.

There are exceptions of course, just look at the hysteria around the iPhone, and I hope there is a way that brand communications can be developed to make people feel the same way they did aged five, sat under the Christmas tree.

In this day of mass communication and greater consumer understanding this is an increasingly tough remit and I think the answer will come through technology and continued re-invention. Even if what’s in the mystery box is fantastic and the person you’re giving it to knows what’s inside, it’s the barrier of the box that must be utilised to it’s fullest. Timing and scant details lead to the best type of intrigue, just look at Cloverfield. Talking of which JJ Abrams, makes a fantastic TED speech on this very topic. It's all about getting your potential recipients talking about the box in their own language, making up their own theories about what's inside.

And because you can never have enough Family Guy in your life and there always appears to be a clip you can refer to I leave you with this. (good throughout but 2min 40sec is where it gets relevant)...

If you're ever bored at work...

2008-09-04T14:27:00.000+01:00

Spend 5 minutes on this site.

It'll put everything in perspective and probably make you laugh. My favourite today:

Wish you were here redux...

2008-09-02T09:30:00.000+01:00

About a year ago I talked about an idea I had for an out of office widget for Facebook that would see your friends receive a message in an OOO style if they got in touch via a message or wrote on your wall.

Although we soon worked out that the original concept was a little bit technically ambitious I've managed to convince the client to sign off a pared down version that I think will work just as well.

There will be less in the way of OOO but more 'I'm off on holiday soon, this is where I'm going and looking how frickin hot the weather is going to be!!' This widget will sit on users profile pages (although annoyingly new Facebook has just hidden all apps in the 'Boxes' section of profiles) and whenever anyone visits your page they will see how long until your holiday as well as what the weather is like over there. Friends will then get the chance to use the widget themselves and put it on their pages/blogs/websites etc etc.

We're using Gigya as a platform to build this so that we can put it across as many platforms as possible and the whole process has been fairly straight forward, although we did have a few issues trying to integrate various feeds which update the weather and destinations etc.

There are a couple of font tweaks still required and I'll update accordinlgy but take a look for yourselves and let me know what you think!

The new Nike ad?

2008-08-24T12:59:00.000+01:00

Saw this whilst killing some time on Kontraband this morning and thought it would make an awesome sports brand ad...

Now whilst I don't wholly agree with using viral ideas as inspiration, if creatives continue to use these raw, user generated platform for ideas generation then they should at least 'fess up and incorporate the original people in the making of the ad, instead of bastardising the orginal and making it look shit. i.e.

Instead of using Kristopher Storm to design (and get paid for) the new Carphone Warehouse ad:

and you guys who ripped off Flight of the Conchords for Coors Light, stop it, stop it right now, and come up with something original you lazy bastards.

At the next tree, turn left, collect the fruit...

2008-08-16T11:33:00.000+01:00

Image courtesy.

I was reading an article on Thursday night about how games are being specifically made to coincide with the proliferation of GPS on mobiles. Basically the premise is that by using your GPS enabled mobile you can go to any open space (park, beach, disused airfield) download a specific GPS game (classics such as pacman) and then by using the built in technology you (your phone) turns into pacman and you have to run around the place trying to collect the fruit whilst avoiding the ghosts and dog poo.

It's such a simple idea, but it blew me away. What a fantastic way of getting kids to play outdoors whilst still being tethered to their beloved iPhones. From an advertising perspective there are certainly opportunities for brands to get on the back of this. I can just imagine someone like Innocent coming up with a game at one of their Fetes that involved collecting ingredients for a smoothie whilst avoiding nasty sweeteners and preservatives!

Send in the clouds...

2008-08-11T09:24:00.000+01:00

make your own at http://wordle.net/

Silence is golden...

2008-08-04T09:56:00.000+01:00

I was in the pub with a friend yesterday and the Grand Prix happened to be on, and whilst watching the ads (with the sound muted) in between Hamilton getting a flat and Massa's engine blowing up, something dawned on me. Some ads just DO NOT work without audio commentary.

The ad break was so short my re-call was fairly minimal but it got me thinking. Car ads work without a v/o although they often need a commentator to highlight the points of difference that may be on offer however some ads (interestingly the more conceptual ones) don't need anything audio for the message to be understood.

Examples of ads that work:

And those that don't:

I think when ads are tested they should be played without any audio to see if audiences still get it. Something tells me some of the time they wont...

P.S. If you have a bit of a fetish for TV Ads visit this site.

A is for Apple

2008-07-28T12:13:00.000+01:00

Last week we had the guys from Work come over and take us through their 'Fission Training' which is something they've designed for our agency as a guide to conducting successful brain storming sessions.

We practiced various techniques which all worked very well and got people thinking of some awesome ideas for what were fairly mundane topics at times.

One technique that resonated was the 'Random Whack' technique which involved using pre-school style flash cards with pictures of a dog or egg etc and using this as a starting point for an idea. It was so effective! I think that maybe people could come up with ideas based on the card and hide behind it and blame the picture for what they might consider a crap idea.

This follows on to another point that came out of the meeting which was that you should always try and include people in the brainstorm who have nothing to lose i.e. members of your finance team or reception, people who don't necessarily give a toss about what you think of their idea!

Brief 2008 - have we started something??

2008-07-21T23:23:00.000+01:00

So after what felt like months, Brief 2008 finally happened last Thursday at the Design Council. I really wasn't sure what to expect and was having all sorts of day dreams about the night, most of which ended in disaster so was pleasantly surprised when everyone who said they would turn up did, and no-one got too pissed and made a fool out themselves (although I think Ant was giving it a good go!).

We ended up with 8 teams (The Young Guns (aka Spandex!), The Naked Mashups, Rapier, DLKW, The Latecomers (Banner), The Randoms (mashup of VCCP, Iris, Omnicom etc), Loft Digital and Magic-ish (creative pair from BBH and Hyperhappen).

The judges were invaluable and threw in some excellent curve balls in the form of reducing the time by half, 10 minutes in, and asking some nasty questions from time to time which kept all the contestants on their toes.

The brief itself for Time Bank, threw up some really interesting questions including a tough target audience (young apathetic youths) and the responses were broad reaching and surprisingly insightful given the time available.

There could only be one winner however and this accolade was given to The Young Guns who gave an excellent presentation which was full of energy and certainly pushed the brief!

Overall feedback has been excellent and although it wasn't really on the cards, there will definitely be another Brief before the year is out. There are many lessons learnt from this one but the overall energy and competitiveness is not something you see all that often and I'm keen to replicate it so watch this space!

Band of the week - Vampire Weekend

2008-07-15T21:57:00.000+01:00

for all you trendy festival groupies I'm sure you've been humming along to these guys for months but my sidekick Anisha introduced me to them last week and I'm slightly addicted as a result!

Just found out tickets are going on sale this Friday, right in the middle of our company AGM, typical.

Ni hao!

2008-07-09T22:32:00.000+01:00

So Wednesday night is Mandarin night. A full three hours of trying to master a language that has approximately 60,000 characters (or so they think, nobody actually knows!) due in part to the fact there are four different tones which can make the same word mean VERY different things!!

I'm in the middle of a 10 week course which should result in me having a vague idea of basic greetings, asking directions and ordering dim sum. (as you can probably tell I have no ideas of grandeur when it comes to my skills!)

This week we learnt how to introduce ourselves, say where we're from and ask after one another's well being.

Jokes aside it really is such good fun! Ming (our teacher) is a hard task master as she literally doesn't stop for the full three hours but she likes a good laugh (yes that is a picture of her laughing and not showing off her fillings!)

The other guy is David. He's an accountant and has real trouble saying the number 4 which phonetically sounds like the first part of the word 'sew'er.

More updates to follow and if there's anybody working for W+K Shanghai (or the like, those are the only guys who I can think of with an office out there) who are looking for an energetic digital planner, here I am!

Return to the sandpit

2008-07-07T13:31:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I happened to cycle past the first flat I ever lived in when I moved to London, suffice to say I hadn't been back nearly two years and I was suddenly gripped with that feeling that you get when you go back to your old school. In many ways it's indescribable but I think you know what I mean when I say I felt slightly apprehensive mixed with excitement as well as a sense that I shouldn't be there. It was odd and whilst I looked up at the windows and balcony all the memories of the parties and fun times flooded back and I felt immensely warm whilst chuckling to myself. People walking past must have thought I was slightly unhinged as I looked longingly at a block of flats grinning away.

One thing that I did think however was how great it would be if you could tap into this feeling through some sort of communication? Now obviously the biggest stumbling block would be that everyone's feelings are acutely personal (old schools, houses/flats, ex's etc) so whatever was being said and whichever medium was used would have to combine ambiguity with specifics. Ambiguity, to avoid wastage of ideas on un-receptive audiences and specifics, which tap into the key feelings that are generated in these situations.

Immediately I'm thinking that this might be something that is user generated at its core and maybe facilitated through the brand, for example Orange could offer users the facilities to put together a slide show of their memories of school which would include photos of old teachers and perhaps classrooms and playgrounds. From this I could see other people from the same class/school chipping in and giving their opinions and versions of the school/events etc. This is quite a large scale example and I imagine it would be for primary and secondary schools however that's not to say it wouldn't work on a really small scale personal level. i.e. destinations of childhood holidays, the first place you met, maybe track down your first car?!!!

Bit of a stream of consciousness and lacking in details but I think if it worked this would create a very neat network that would be fed from all sorts of different sources and could allow for people to share their early experiences using modern technology as a facilitator.

Where the party's at!

2008-07-03T09:35:00.000+01:00

Just read about this quite cool technology that the guys over at City Sense have come up with. With the proliferation of GPS on mobile, tools like this were always going to be developed.

Although we're fairly habitual in our drinking habits (especially on a Friday after work) I think knowing where the hotspots are or aren't (depending on what sort of night you're looking for) could really help you to shake up where you normally hang out. Currently it's only on Blackberries so the current hotspots in London would probably be Bishops Gate and Holborn, but things should improve after the 11th of July...

A little less consternation, a little more traction

2008-06-24T09:42:00.000+01:00

I attended Interesting 2008 on Saturday and had a great time. There were talks ranging from how horses can get scared by the most mundane of things (crisp packets) to a quite beautiful demonstration of a Technics Zoetrope. There's already been plenty of coverage of this so I thought I'd just comment on the aspects I found most 'interesting'.

In order of appearance. Firstly there was Collyn Ahart Chipperfield who declared the 'death of nostalgia' and that 'authenticity was soon to die'. She supported these statements with examples of fashion trends and the innocence of children. The one thing that really hit home was (and is the theme of much of this piece) is that we should stop writing narratives about who we are and more about who we want to become. This idea resonated somewhat.

To help concretise my notions of understanding what you could become we were given a talk by Steve Hardy about what it means to be a 'Creative Generalist'. Again lots of resonation going on here, and his examples made me realise that getting massively over excited about various subjects but coming away with only a superficial understanding is actually not such a bad thing. Long live the Jack of all trades!

Jenny spoke about Churchill which I thought was a brave topic to talk about as it's easy to use examples that many people are familiar with, however whilst alluding to his satirical wit (drunk/ugly, drinking poisoned coffee etc) she told us about some other slightly less well known attributes of the great man. She ended it beautifully by saying that courage was defined by Churchill as not only having the courage to stand up and talk but also being able to sit down and listen. It reminded me of a piece Ant wrote which I often think about in meetings and interviews.

James put together some beautiful animation using his Technics Zoetrope. I love the way he used something so simple to recreate a classic form of animation with such fantastic results. Maybe nostalgia isn't dead after all Collyn?

Less serious pieces came from Anna and James who spoke about funny words and booze respectively and at one point I found myself playing a Guardian Branded recorder on stage with 29 others!

Spent most of the day chatting to Clive who's a freelance brand planner over from the states doing some work. We had some good chats especially when we got down the pub.

So in summary, I 2008 was a fun day. Met some interesting people and it helped me to develop and rationlise some personal preconceptions. Bring on 'Brief 2008!!

Paint the dunks red...

2008-06-19T09:46:00.000+01:00

Image courtesy

Nike are offering their customers the chance to get a unique pair of hi-tops designed based on the two most striking colours from a photo which they can text in to a special short code. Not sure I'm convinced, I mean how crazy are colours going to be for you to want them sprayed all over your shoes. Before I did any research into this concept I thought it was going to be something like what Anya Hindmarch does (don't ask me how I know about this) where you could scan a picture of your ex on the toe and go and score some hardcore goals in a muddy field, but alas it isn't. It's a good start though none the less.

Welcome Czech Tourism!!

2008-06-16T09:33:00.001+01:00

Saw this on South Bank on Saturday. Not sure how welcome 'Czech Tourism' will feel when they read this, although the language is so colloquial they might just see the international sign for love and feel touched that the British had decorated the table for their arrival!

The Surfer in your Pocket

2008-06-13T12:08:00.000+01:00

I had a chat with a nice man called Rik from Pocket Surfer yesterday who told me about the new version of their product, The Pocket Surfer 2. Basically it's a mini lap top that has no other functionality other than to surf the web, hence the name.

To be honest I found the experience a bit basic and un-rewarding. The screen was very grainy (although I was told the new version was improved - why show me an old version then?!) and for something that would be used by the occasional surfer who was looking for a bite sized online experience for a bit of entertainment for example, you can't even watch videos on it or listen to music!! The hook for the consumer is that for handing over £150 you get what is a quite cheaply made piece of kit and free internet for a year.

Their argument for why this is better than the iPhone for example is the amount of money we are charged for data. While I agree with this, I'd much rather pay a bit more cash every month which might work out as £10 a month (cheaper than £12.50 a month with Pocket surfer) and I get a phone and all the other cool functionality that the iPhone offers.

Ultimately I was being offered advertising opportunities and whilst their targeting is quite specific (location, direct competitor web sites etc) there are only 12,500 users which is far from convincing I'm afraid.

Bring on July 11th!

Inspiration Anyone?

2008-06-12T14:45:00.000+01:00

The second instalment from the Microsoft crew. I enjoyed them both, I think they work well to personify all the mumbo-jumbo that us planners blog about all day. Lots more info on the website.

Band of the Week...

2008-06-06T09:15:00.000+01:00
Heard Thomas Tantrum on Zane Lowe on Wednesday night and I think I'm a fan.

Weirdly, she's got a voice a bit like Kate Nash blended with Frida Ohrn from Oh Laura

Favourite track 'Shake It, Shake It'.

Don't mess with the best

2008-06-04T11:08:00.000+01:00
Saw this ad for Coors Light last night and it made me angry!

come on kids, please try and come up with something original...

and if you've never heard of Flight of the Conchords you should be taken outside and beaten with a hose!

One Nation Under CCTV

2008-06-02T12:18:00.001+01:00

Just read this article about 'The Get Out Clause' using some of Britain's '13 million CCTV' with particular reference to those in Manchester to film the video for their new single. They demanded the footage under the Freedom of Information Act and managed to put together what looks fairly polished and cost them relatively nothing. Song's not great, I think they're trying to be a new Embrace but with more hair and in the words of Not The Nine O'clock News...

The Genuine Article

2008-05-14T14:56:00.000+01:00

The more I watch these, the more I'm convinced that this is another cracking idea to come out of Fallon.

I'll be really interested to see how they roll this out and whether or not the guys will be turning up in The Forum anytime soon?!

Nomad

2008-05-13T17:55:00.001+01:00

Image courtesy

More to follow on this...

Ghost whisperer...

2008-05-13T16:48:00.000+01:00

Image courtesy.

Was amazed when I read this, especially as the possibilities are infinite and somewhat scary. Imagine walking down the street and suddenly hearing a voice in your head inviting you to take advantage of this week's BOGOF in TESCO? Freaky. They'll never allow it but it could work really well for some guerrilla marketing although the equipment took 10 years to develop and is going to cost more than just getting 20 flunkies to spray clean all the pavements in the area instead.

Cats or puppets?

2008-04-29T09:49:00.000+01:00
Plain wrong

The walls have ears!!

2008-04-28T14:47:00.000+01:00

Saw this at the weekend and thought it was neat. Not sure if it's going to encourage people to drill holes in the exhausts of their WXR's and see if they can get it over a tonne but from the vantage point of the top of the bus I enjoyed watching it in action.

This appears to be a europe wide campaign

The Clik Clik

2008-04-28T12:10:00.000+01:00

I saw these guys on Saturday night at The Bloomsbury Bowling lanes. I was really impressed. They're young, with some funky bass lines and great percussion (live and samples). It combines Jamie T with The Gorillaz (for the bass riffs). The girl's (Maya) vocals are a great foil to the lead singer's (Stefan) spoken ghetto vocals.

Anyway enough from me I think Stephen Merchant sums them up pretty well:

'The Clik Clik are Stefan Abingdon, Maya Yianni, Henry Bauckham and Dru Wakely– four teenagers whose infectious combination of classic British songwriting and their own smash and grab DIY production aesthetic has already got tongues wagging in the capital. They are the product of an exciting new, musically diverse Britain. Writing and producing everything, they make music that sound like all your favourite iTunes play lists rolled into one.'

Find out more here: The Clik Clik

Surely clients can see through this?

2008-04-21T17:43:00.000+01:00

Image courtesy

I found this on the JWT site today (click on the Ford campaign from the scrolling menu) and I couldn't help but feel it was like the intro to some ridiculous reality TV programme.
‘It'll be disruptive and shocking to people, in a good way', claims one of the vox pops, and I’m thinking to myself, will it? really? I think the only thing that would be shocking was if a client was watching the so called ‘no holds barred’, ‘candid’ films and saw quite how much they were slagged off by the creative teams or maybe how little time is spent on the ideas.

Now I'm not in the habit of slagging off other agencies, JWT have got a good reputation and I'm sure on an account like Ford they pull some very long days making sure they get it right, but seriously, putting together a trailer like this is just teeing yourself up for ridicule. If I was a client with any marketing sense who had a vague idea of the way media is headed (permission marketing, conversations with consumers, etc etc) I would demand this type of honesty from my agency from the outset. The fact they have to put something like this together just screams 'contrived' at me and I would be less inclined to get involved with an agency that feels it has to tout itself in this manner.

Ultimately, it is the work that counts and the results that work should achieve. I couldn't give a toss how what processes/discussions/shocking debates are involved in producing the work, I just want to make sure the people working on my brand understand the brief, maintain good honest communication and produce work that both stimulates and communicates with potential consumers. Don't give me all this dramatic 'Real World' style footage, it's only going to make me think you're all a little bit frayed around the edges or smacked up on Columbia’s finest.

Brand elocution: The Bloggersphere

2008-04-21T14:07:00.000+01:00

I've been giving brand/consumer conversations(in particular blogging) a lot of thought recently and I wanted to share my thoughts on where I think we are now and what we should be doing moving forward in this part of the world of 'social' communication.

I've spoken quite a bit previously about how we should go about talking to potential customers and brand advocates using this media and I'm sure by now we've grasped the basics of 'Permission Marketing'.

Therefore I want to talk more specifically about striking up a conversation in the bloggersphere. I think there are three main approaches when attempting to access this arena which take the rules of social interaction to another level but still adhere to the basics.

Firstly there is the brand association route. This involves convincing an author/moderator to have specific content (normally in the form of an editorial plug or display ads) on their site. Quite often bloggers are unaware of the value their readers/commentators present to brands so this can often be a cost effective way of targeting a dedicated audience. I'm seeing more companies cropping up who are capitalising on this niche audience but the results are not concrete as yet so we will have to see. I think the companies that will offer the most to advertisers are those who bring brand awareness and buzz metrics as well as creative display solutions to the party.

The second approach is more of a PR exercise that involves offering established blogs exclusive content that you hope they will run with and advocate. This works best for brands who can offer readers exclusive insights into their products (Electronics, Films, Music etc) and in many ways is a good way of judging public opinion before something is launched. Be careful that it doesn't back fire though.

The third approach is creating something truly memorable that the bloggersphere can't help but talk about it. This doesn't necessarily have to be something main stream but give those who are interested enough information for them to try and fill in the gaps. It's intrigue and specualtion that will get you talk about more than you could ever hope for…

no more sneaky campaigns

2008-04-09T11:06:00.000+01:00

no more cloak and dagger

It's all for you...

2008-04-09T10:42:00.000+01:00

Artist David Horvitz has produced an inspirational page which gives you the chance to indirectly produce art (by sending David off on little missions) and owning the results!

It's great, I got myself a mail box and a secret!

Earth Hour

2008-04-01T12:06:00.000+01:00

do your bit... www.earthhour.org

Regret the things you did rather than the things you didn't...

2008-03-05T12:29:00.000Z

The night before last I went to an IPA talk consisting of a Q&A with Sir Martin Sorrell, Lord Tim Bell and Sir Frank Lowe. It was an inspirational talk and you could really see how different the three men are but at the same time how they would all be able to work together. (They represented the three key elements of media media agency, PR and creative).

I was really impressed by Tim Bell who was calculated in what he said but also hugely inspirational. He actually ended the talk by answering the question 'What advice would you give an inspiring ad bod?' with what sounded like a rehearsed speech due to its smoothness with the main thrust of it being,

'Don't regret anything, get yourself out there having a f*cking good time and then come back, give him a ring and he'd go for a beer with you to talk about it!'

I think it's about time I did that.

Social media buys itself a suit...

2008-03-02T11:35:00.001Z
Found this post at Gavin's blog and it brought home how social media is changing. It's not a ground breaking evolution that businesses are using social media to promote their products and services, but it gives us an understanding of how you don't have to be promoting the next Apple creation, tickets to Bon Jovi or a degree from Phoenix University to use social media. Find me at LinkedIn here.

Has the time come?

2008-01-17T16:18:00.000Z

Dedication

2007-12-30T12:16:00.000Z
At what point do you go from trying in vain to draw your name, with the end result looking like something you would have produced aged 3, to this...">

2007-12-29T14:28:00.000Z

The Game

I’ve just finished reading Neill Strauss’s ‘The Game’ which is a book in essence about the techniques employed by a secret group of guys to pick up girls who they would have originally considered out of their league.

I won’t ruin the story for you if you’re ever planning on reading it, but during the book, the author goes from becoming a geeky nobody with very little self esteem to a mPUA (Master Pick Up Artist) and then finally turns into somebody who realises the fakeness of what his life has become. As you can imagine, the core aspect of the book is how a man can boost his confidence and develop his communication and attention seeking skills in such a way that he can not only approach some of the most beautiful women, but also go on to take them home.

The protagonist however, after learning the skills and becoming a leader within the PUA community, suddenly realises that the people he is surrounding himself with and the activity he is doing are in essence wholly fake and shallow and he has an epiphany when, after chatting to a girl for an extended period of time (using all the tricks and methods he’s learnt) suddenly finds himself running out of material and starts to panic as he might have to talk to this girl as himself and all that self doubt that surrounded him before he learnt the techniques returns.

When I was reading this I couldn’t help but draw comparisons with advertising especially digital advertising with the way it is becoming increasingly social in it’s approach. Obviously there are basics to advertising which are apparent in everything that we do in order to raise the profile of our products and services or those of our clients.

However without theorising too much over this, I think the biggest thing to come out of reading about these techniques and methods and how effective they were, was that there is a need to get back to basics. There is far too much time being spent on trying to analyse consumer behaviour and interest focus which normally results in over complicating plans of execution and creative. That's not to say there is not a lot of excellent simplistic and highly effective creative out there but there is also a lot of overly wordy creative that either turns the consumer off or leaves them wondering what the hell they are on about. (ok this example isn't from the UK but it illustrates what could happen and it make me laugh)

So yeah, even if you are a mPUA of the advertising world with all the tricks up your sleeve, (good chat, expensive clothes, good aftershave), if your brand integrity (personality) is somewhat lacking, and you can't allow yourself to be judged on your core merits than no amount of attention grabbing techniques are going to save you. There is far too much information out there for the online community to access for a brand to be anything else but true to themselves and the people they are offering a product to.

Ok, I appreciate I might be a being a little bit utopian here and I'm not advocating a world of free love and mutual respect but if brands still think they can be anything but honest with their consumers, they're wrong.

AWOL

2007-12-29T14:10:00.000Z

Not that I needed ‘leave’ in order to go absent but I felt like I've neglected my posts for the last couple of months with no real excuse other than losing sight of what is actually important. I’m under no illusion that my little streams of consciousness are of that much importance, however as Erin says in her blog, it's not just about educating or informing others, it's also a type of therapy for introverts.

I agree with her, in that those of us who blog have a lot of internal thoughts and need to vent these ideas and opinions to allow for both their development (it's amazing how when you try to describe an idea to somebody you suddenly start to visualise the other possibilities the idea could lead to) and also allowing you to move on from said idea and start to think about other thoughts that have been bouncing around your noggin.

As a result of this I have decided that I will make a far more concerted effort to publish more posts, 1 a week in fact. Previously I have always tried to make what I say as polished as possible as I try to cover everything off on the topic. And whilst talking of topics, mine have always been slightly narrow minded and industry specific, this needs to change as I am of the firm opinion that planning requires influences from every sector, of course it does, else we have no chance in trying to convey a message to people.

Next post within 7 days (I promise!)...

'Re-volvo-lutionary' brand interaction

2007-10-16T10:16:00.000+01:00
Although this has a bit of a way to go in terms of development I think this is a really neat idea and could lead to all sorts of interactive projects. One day we might even be able to manipulate the film we're watching...

We are still in September, aren't we?!

2007-09-28T15:00:00.000+01:00
Very quick post just to say that I was in Somerfield this morning getting a few supplies and I noticed that they were selling Santa hats at the check-out!!

I understand that companies may well be trying to market their products for the overly organised amongst us who are buying their presents 3 months early - http://www.shopsafe.co.uk/christmas.asp But why would you be buying a Santa hat at this time of year?! Of all the things Christmas related I think the Santa hat favoured by stag do's and office parties would be one of the latest things to appear on the shelves and if for any reason you needed to wear one for a party or the like, why on earth would you think to go and buy it from Somerfield?!!

Wish you were here?

2007-08-20T16:39:00.000+01:00
Ok, I feel everything’s been a bit industry focused recently so I thought I'd put down some more creative thoughts to see what you think.

One of the accounts I run is a travel client and you can probably tell from what I've written about previously that I'm quite into the idea of using social networks more effectively. My idea is basically an 'Out of Office' application that users on Facebook could install so that whenever they receive a message from one of their friends an automated message is sent back which would look something like this:

(big thanks to Ed for his Photoshop skills. Cheers bud!)

I feel it's wrong for a brand to pretend to be anything else other than what it is, especially on social networks so the branding would be clearly stated. What I suggest as a way of defusing the obvious branding would be to include interactive feeds from the sender such as video and photo updates from their mobile which, as well as going into their profile pictures/videos they would automatically be updated on the OOO alert. There’s also scope to incorporate a twitter feed which I haven’t included in the mock up. The weather feed would act as an incentive for the recipient to book flights, (using the handy link at the bottom of the page) to the destination after seeing how great it is!

There is potential to develop this further by adding a competition element which could use the feeds to guess where their friend is (although you're probably not their best friend if you don't know where they were on holiday!) and guess at the bottom of the page with the prize being a free flight of your choice for example. I think this would be a really good way to launch it and create some buzz around the application.

As with all things on social networks I think it's very important to keep things simple and the installation would have to be very easy to upload and add to. I'm hoping that by including as many personal aspects in the application, it will minimise any potential backlash from users who fear the involvement of pushy brands in this environment.

I've currently got a couple of people helping me develop this and I really hope to get some sort of prototype together shortly, however I'm about to go on holiday myself ironically so you will have to watch this space...

Is play time over?

2007-08-14T11:24:00.000+01:00
Can digital media continue to successfully self-regulate or is it time for more stringent legislation to be introduced?

This is far too big a topic to comment with anything more than my own personal thoughts, however I'm hoping that maybe I can generate some sort of discussion.

I don't pretend to be in a position to have a fully educated opinion on this, however what I would say is based on my experience of the industry from a planner's perspective and what changes I think could be made so that the client and consumer (I don't like using that description but it seems the most apt) have a better understanding of what the digital world can offer but also take away in terms of brand integrity and user experience.

The comparison I would like to draw upon are the systems that are in place in offline media where checks are continually made on behalf of the consumer and breaches are punishable accordingly (i.e. C4 Big Brother). Where are these checks online? Are these checks possible on a global media where the consumer has complete choice over what they expose themselves to?

Digital media is still young in comparison to national press and TV and it's only now that there are trusted media houses such as MSN, Yahoo, AOL where it's probably safe to let your children browse the content but step away from these established areas and there is dangerous content in abundance. This is a massive generalisation and I am not suggesting for one minute that we should only use these online bastions, far from it. But the point I'm trying make is the only real comparison I can make between on and offline is through established online brands who have their own integrity and reputation to protect.

Another question is, are these checks possible on an ever changing medium where the consumer is hugely involved in a lot of the content that is produced? Some argue that if user generated content was removed from digital media plans then the client will dramatically reduce the chances of association with untoward content. The question that then needs to be asked is, are official political parties (who's views the client may not agree with) who have set up their own presence online, considered UGC? The answer to this is both yes and no. Yes, because they are appearing on a social network that is in essence user generated (and it is for this reason that places like Facebook are so popular) and no because an institution such as the BNP is a recognised party in the UK and as such is substantiated (unlike a lot of UGC that is out there). It would be fairly straightforward for brands to disassociate themselves from networks that have this sort of content (believe me I've just spent the last week removing all my client's advertising from any networks that might have unsavory sites as part of their portfolio) but is this actually such a smart move? Following on from both of my earlier posts, if clients are not advertising in these areas and engaging with these audiences, they are surely missing out on a massive user base. In respect of this I think clients need to be educated about what's available and the best way to interact with users using this medium.

To return to my original question of whether or not digital can establish a set of rules and guidelines that would be adhered to by both sites and the brands that advertise on them, I think we are still a long way off. Personally I think that the speed that this medium is moving at, means it has always been and will continue to be very difficult to fence in those involved in it, and I think if strict legislation is put in place, the amazing creative possibilities that digital can offer will be curbed along with it.

The Future? It’s now!

2007-08-07T11:06:00.000+01:00
Cheesy title I know, but I’ve been thinking recently about digital planning and what planners are trying to achieve in this ever changing, rapidly evolving arena and I have a concern. This concern revolves around the fact that due to the speed of change and perceived speed of uptake by the consumer, planners have gone from thinking outside the box to not even considering the box in the first place!

Clearly what I’m saying is quite a generalisation and I believe it is vital that creative planners continue to push the creative limits of digital media which offers those, (who ask of it the right questions) a whole wealth of options. I do not want to marginalise this section of planners, I can only dream of having the scope to produce the work they do, however I do still feel there is a point to be made.

This point stems from my limited experience of working with creative planners and that many of them (especially in the digital sphere) are chasing what appears to be the ‘Holy Grail’ of ideas that will see their client's brand interact and engage with the audience in a totally un-heard of way. Whilst it is great that planners are studying trends and aspiring to achieve this goal, would it not be worth looking at what we currently have and seeing how we can harness what's already becoming the status quo, so that we can engage with users in an environment that they are currently familiar with and feel safe within?

I’m an advocate of Mark Lewis’s theory of ‘Liquid Communication’ - http://www.planning-outside-in.blogspot.com/ (Monday July 30th), where the point is made that in order to engage with ‘generation Y’ we need to engage them in a way that flows around their fast moving, ever changing lives. He talks about pushing interaction over information, which has become a clear trend in how advertising on the whole is changing. He also makes the point that although interaction and integration must be key aspects to any campaign that a planner puts together; unfortunately the brands who finance these plans are not always of the same opinion.

At the end of the day, it must be the brands who need educating/convincing in order for these new ideas to take hold and develop. The work I am involved in is very direct response focussed and trying to get the client to understand the benefits of developing an application on a social network that perfectly targets their desired audience, is not easy. This is not to say that it is impossible and I believe that if planners took a more dynamic approach to the tools and applications that are abundant in the digital sphere and being used by an increasing amount of the online community, clients would be far more susceptible to listening to these ideas.

Without leaving myself too exposed, I feel there are still benefits to social networking despite it fast becoming the norm. The fact it is now mainstream means that many planners are seeing it as old news and have moved on to seeing what potential other emerging media can offer them. As mentioned previously, although this is vital to the development of digital advertising, social networking is by no means exhausted. I am not going to divulge too much into the pros/cons of social networking (these points have been made in my earlier post) and whilst there are still concerns with this wholly un-policed arena (a day rarely goes by when it doesn’t make the press in some form of another) that is not to say we can’t still use this medium and harness it’s fantastic targeting capabilities.

In my opinion social networking emanates many of the important elements of the digital arena, and with sites such as Facebook opening itself up to user created applications/widgets, social networking is embracing all the core elements of Web 2.0 as well. I see Facebook’s organic growth develop in such a way that (as long as it doesn't get shut down!!) it will soon become a one stop shop for all of one's social media needs. This will be achieved by the continued collaboration with established web properties such as Trip Advisor and Flikr.

It is only a matter of time before someone develops a tool that cultivates all the consumer information, that users gladly offer up in exchange for an enhanced online experience, and provides advertisers and ultimately brands highly specific groups with which to target their desired demographic. Once this level of targeting is achieved, the brand wont require a ‘Holy Grail’ of creative ideas but instead can employ more traditional methods, as engagement will come about through precise targeting.

I believe it is possible for brands to both educate and engage, but perhaps using a social network to experiment with this is perceived as a risky strategy. On the flipside however, if the creativity can strike the right balance between engagement and passiveness then communicating with users where they feel safe and secure, (even if this area has become mainstream) such as a social network, could be the best place for promoting a suitable brand and it’s product.

Social Networking - An education

2007-08-07T10:31:00.000+01:00
Why do people interact with social networks and what experiences do they hope to get from being involved? Unfortunately there are too many issues here to comment on in depth, however from a digital planner’s perspective; the most important aspects for me are what keeps community members (and ultimately consumers) interested.

Online social networks are in essence, the same as traditional social networks, i.e. a group of people who are affiliated to one another through either personal connections (friends, family, work colleagues) or areas of common interest (football fans, favourite bands, travel interests). What differentiates online social networks from any other traditional network is the ease with which members can interact with one another and enhance their offline relationships through the functionality of online social networking sites.

Despite what your preconceptions may be, social networks are not necessarily a place for dating and forming new relationships. In my experience (which I will admit is predominantly based on Facebook) social networks are used by people who want to share with friends and people with similar interests, aspects of their lives which may be of interest.

I think the best way to illustrate the difference between on and offline social networks would be to take an example of a typical offline social network and how it is enhanced once it becomes a part of a social network. Let’s look at a football team which consists of a group of work colleagues who play once a week as part of a Sunday league. Last season their captain had trouble maintaining numbers through lack of communication and a loss of morale through a string of defeats. There were also the issues of trying to get everybody to the different venues each week and invariably losing people through transport issues. Trying to recruit a new goalie also proved problematic as they had already used most of their workforce, including Nick from accounts!

At the start of this season however, their captain decided to embrace the digital age and set up a page on Facebook for his team. He set up a fixture list using the ‘Event’ function so everybody knew when and more importantly where the matches were to be held. Each match was reported on and pictures and videos were uploaded to the page. Also, when their lead striker broke his leg after a vicious tackle during a match with Carrot Digital, a sub-group was set up which recruited a new striker in no time. With their new found efficiency and improved morale, the team have had a run of successes resulting in a fan club being set up which has generated discussions and candid photos from supporters and the ever important footballer’s wives! - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=560683312 (quentin.media@hotmail.com; ilovefootball)

In order to understand what these networks consist of, let us look at the main players in the social networking arena and what they offer their users.

My Space: In many ways the most well known social network due to its high public profile. Founded in 2003, My Space typifies many of the core elements of social networking. The onus is on user creativity and self-promotion and is used by up and coming bands to promote their music. Personally I find My Space a high maintenance site that requires regular creative input to keep your page fresh. Drawbacks of the site are associated with how open the site is to other users who don’t necessarily know you, having access to whatever information you chose to publicise on your page.

www.myspace.com/jogregory78

Bebo: Set up two years after My Space its swift growth makes My Space look phlegmatic in comparison. Bebo gives typically ‘un-cool’ brands a creative outlet by offering user interaction through discussion and debate rather than simply forcing a message of product benefits upon the user. Interaction is encouraged as brands offer users benefits through association and mutual creativity, often tapping the huge creative source that network members provide.

http://bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3875450377

Facebook: The last of the current ‘big players’ was set up in February 2004 and began life as a college networking site. Now available to all, Facebook has become something of a phenomenon amongst a large demographic as it combines the attributes of a social network as mentioned above with the added benefits of sites such as Friends Re-united as connections are predominantly made through school, university and the work place. The differentiating factor of Facebook is the onus on events such as birthdays and sporting events that in many ways encourage users to physically meet up and interact, which is lacking from many other social networks.

In my experience there are three key aspects to social networking that maintain user interest. These are quite basic but are ultimately 1) a sense of community 2) the development of friendships 3) ease with which they can interact with other users and ultimately learn from them.

These attributes must be at the forefront of a planner’s mind if they are thinking of placing a client’s product in this environment as there are many pitfalls that could be disastrous to a brand's image in this fragile and wholly un-policed arena. Although the responsibility of social networks is to monitor and check that comments and blogs are professional and friendly (to an extent) it is impossible to rein in a debate that may rage from the presence of a certain brand and their failure to interact in a way that suits the nature of a social network. If such a situation did arise around a brand then this could be highly detrimental to their image and damage their reputation amongst those they are trying to target.

Industry commentators often claim that connections made on social networks are superficial and short lived as the amount of effort required to make connections is minimal. Brands have recognised this ease with which consumers can communicate and jumped at the chance to easily target this consumer group but forget the other more complex details of social networking interaction.

Due to the very nature of social networks and the audience who use them ('Generation Y' or 'Generation Now') traditional interruption and repeat methods of advertising will be ignored and /or rejected. In order for a brand to get their message across to these users, they must employ a strategy of engagement, embracing the core aspects that define the usability of these sites, in order to firstly make contact and then build a relationship with the user. In many ways it must be a game of give and take, where the users feels comfortable engaging with the brand and are rewarded for their loyalty with continued interaction.

Saying that however, the demographic using social networks are diversifying in the age department and niche interest sites are setting up their own networks which encourage users to interact with each other through forums and shared interest pages. Examples of this diversity can be seen in the BBC Food and Top Gear social networks that are currently being created. (The BBC Worldwide looks to invest up to £350 million on this area of online activity – Guardian Jan 07)

The main point to be made here is that although social networks appear to be a fantastic source for highly targeted advertising and brand association, if a brand does not follow the unspoken rules and etiquette which governs a users experience, (or uses walled garden networks (who's audiences tend to be of younger generation)) they are leaving themselves open to attack from all sides.