livingbrands

I want something distinctive and different (honest)

2008-11-23T16:33:14+00:00

Tom Fishburne gets it right again. Seen it with NPD. Been there with comms ideas. You suffer death by a thousand cuts, only to be criticised because what's left isn't that interesting (surprise surprise!)

10 things we didn't know before the 47th week of 2008

2008-11-22T20:59:11+00:00

The Queen wore flares.
The Mary Rose might have been sunk by a French cannon.
Parents pushing children in away-facing buggies talk to them less, and their offspring appear to be more stressed.
Business Secretary Peter Mandelson is a practised and "flamboyant" dancer.
There was rumoured to be a 14-minute-long Beatles track called Carnival of Life, although many fans thought its existence was a myth.
They were wrong - it exists.
On the Buses star Reg Varney opened the UK's first cash dispenser.
Britain's not in record debt - if you account for inflation and economic growth.
Some Albanians settle family feuds through an ancient code called "Kanun" which allows revenge to be exacted on any male adult member of a family, but precludes entry to that person's property.
Camel urine is sought after for its medicinal effects in India's Bihar state, and sells for £1.34 a litre.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

If you can't beat em make sure you just do it better

2008-11-20T19:18:17+00:00

The official Monty Python Youtube channel. Brilliant!

Cutting off the long tail

2008-11-20T08:25:14+00:00

All of us working in the digital space like the Long Tail theory - it's simple, elegant, makes intuitive sense, and offers a lot of hope that small can be viable, even successful.

But is it actually true?

British economists have recently completed a study of 'tens of millions' of digital music transactions. And they found not the Pareto Power Law of the Long Tail, but the Log Normal distribution of a classic sales curve.

You can check it out in more detail here (although I should warn you that it's not the best written thing I've ever come across). And there's a preceding article arguing why the economics (particularly in music) don't stack up either.

But some interesting stats for you to be getting on with…

80% of the digital inventory had no sales at all - starkly put, there was no tail, long or otherwise.
80% of sales were accounted for by just 52,000 songs. The number of songs, in fact, that could be found on around 4,000 CDs…roughly the inventory held by a typical high street music store.

I'm sure there's a strong counter argument to be made. But it does make you wonder.

So brave new world? Maybe.

Alternatively, in the wise words of the Who: meet the new boss…same as the old boss.

10 things we didn't know before the 46th week of 2008

2008-11-15T09:08:29+00:00

Avatars have sex.
Cocaine addiction has a gene.
Love handles shorten your life.
Barack and Michelle Obama have code names Renegade and Renaissance.
Germany, not China or the US, is the world's biggest exporter.
The QE2 does 49 feet to the gallon.
Monty Python's dead parrot sketch dates back to Ancient Greece.
Gary Glitter's I'm the Leader of the Gang was on the syllabus for GCSE music.
The song Two Little Boys was probably about the American Civil War.
Alastair Campbell plays the bagpipes.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

Get your free money here

2008-11-13T08:52:38+00:00

(Loopzilla)

Big headline in the Evening Standard last night: Bank rates head for zero per cent. Now I'm no expert, but is this really the answer? I thought cheap credit was the cause of all our current woes? And surely savers will flee, the pound collapse etc.

Any experts care to comment?

In your face

2008-11-12T10:52:29+00:00

Without wishing to turn into Obamablog, this did make me laugh. It's nice to see that even events of positive, world changing significance aren't above some gentle mockery. The irony obviously being that, for some Americans, this is precisely what they fear...

(From Adam Buxton via CMM)

700

2008-11-12T08:59:45+00:00

(Leo Reynolds)

Nearly missed this. But it's 700 not out!

10 things we didn't know before the 45th week of 2008

2008-11-08T08:39:21+00:00

Saddam Hussein's yacht had an escape tunnel leading to a submarine.
The Dalai Lama boxes.
Women's hands have more bugs.
Londoners complained about house prices in the 1600s.
Antelopes click their knees to demonstrate sexual prowess.
Drum-making can be fatal.
Barack Obama supports West Ham.
The average person can sing three octaves.
Snow ploughs are used to clear dead lemmings on Norway's roads.
About 20,000 people die globally every year from snake bites.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

It's been a long time coming...

2008-11-05T20:27:49+00:00

...but change has finally come. A little something we pulled together to commemorate Obama's win, and what it signifies.

(1976 being the first time our Trev remembers seeing a black face like his on TV - how times have changed)

If you lose, lose well

2008-11-05T15:25:15+00:00

Politically, I'm probably diametrically opposed to all the Republican party (seems to) stand for. But I did kind of get the impression that McCain was its acceptable face. Until that is, he got into bed with the right wing, fundamentalist neo-cons. Then everything went out the window. So much so, that even he seemed sometimes embarrassed and uncomfortable about what was going on around him.

That said, he took the loss well, and seemed to regain some (self) respect in the process (and maybe remember what he really believed in)...

Yes you did

2008-11-05T08:20:14+00:00

Thank you from the rest of the world.

10 things we didn't know before the 44th week of 2008

2008-11-01T09:02:03+00:00

There's a town in Uruguay called Fray Bentos.
The final day - or half-day - of World War I produced about 11,000 casualties.
Ian Fleming's wife administered a rap over the knuckles with a spoon to a reviewer who didn't like Dr No.
About 90% of pumpkins grown worldwide are not eaten - instead they are carved for Halloween and the innards discarded.
Men like women in red. And not just red clothing - even those in photos with a red frame are rated as more attractive than any other colour.
The word "euthanasia means easeful death.
George Osborne wore plus fours at university.
There are about 200 earthquakes a year in Britain.
The United Arab Emirates, along with the US, has the largest ecological footprint per person.
"Charlie's dead" means that someone's slip is showing.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

The wisdom of age

2008-10-30T08:57:25+00:00

When it comes to the digital space, you can never be sure people are who they say they are. But let's take Margaret and Helen at face value, and accept that they are two American ladies in their 80's (as their blog FAQs say: Are you for real? Why is that so hard to believe? Now I know what Santa Claus must feel like). In which case, they have one of the must-read blogs when it comes to comment on the US election, coming as it does from such an unexpected source.

Here's a recent post on That Woman, repeated in all its glory (and there's more, so much more)...

I am surprised that some of you are up in arms about my calling Sarah Palin a bitch, or John McCain an ass or even George Bush a jackass. I read your comments about how I should be more respectable and not call Sarah Palin a bitch. Some of you are actually praying for me because I called John McCain an ass. In particular I am struck by the comments that suggest the problem with our country is that we can’t have an intelligent conversation to solve our problems without resorting to name calling like when I called George Bush a jackass.

Well this old broad is hurt. Clearly I didn’t start this blog to call Sarah Palin a bitch…or John McCain an ass… or even George Bush a jackass. I am so sorry if I have offended any of you. What was I thinking when I called Sarah Palin a bitch?

New rules:

I will stop calling George Bush a jackass when he stops calling me a terrorist: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

I will stop calling John McCain an ass when he stops calling Barack Obama a socialist at every dog and pony show on the Straight Talk Express tour.

I will stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops calling Obama a terrorist sympathizer. And I will stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops calling the parts of the country where I don’t live more Pro-American than the part of the country where I do live. And I will definitely stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops acting like a bitch.

I’m old enough to remember the Republican party of Barry Goldwater - when the party stood for fiscal responsibility, small government and personal freedoms. I remember when I could talk with friends about politics and just agree to disagree. And then religious nut cases decided that if you didn’t agree with them you were immoral. So they went and elected George Bush President so he could take the Republican Party from being a party full of respectable people to a party filled with asses, jackasses and yes - bitches like Sarah Palin.

I am tired of Rush Limbaugh suggesting that feminism is a dirty word. How hard did he fight to gain the right to vote? Or own property in his own name? Or get equal pay for equal work?

And I am tired of Sean Hannity suggesting I am un-American because I don’t think that war is the answer to everything. How many bullets has he taken defending his country in battle?

And I am tired that Sarah Palin can decide what she wants to do with her body but other women can’t make that decision for themselves.

NEW, New Rules:

If you are not for me, you are against me. I’ll get over it. Now kindly return the favor.

Oh…and one last thing. Elisabeth Hasselbeck is still a moron. There is just no way around that, Folks.

Thanks for stopping by everyone. I am doing fine. Thanks for asking. I mean it.

Snow in October

2008-10-29T09:28:49+00:00

I know we Brits get a bit over excited by a spot of snow, but we had over 2 inches yesterday where I live…the first time the South East has had settling snow in October for 35 years. And though it didn't settle, the first time snow has fallen this early in London for 75 years!

Read into that what you will - more evidence of climate change, a symptom of the financial crisis, another reason why the US should vote for Obahma, or maybe the end of the world is just round the corner!

FutureScoping 79

2008-10-28T09:10:56+00:00

Just to let you know, the latest edition of my trends newsletter is now out: "emerging trends, new ideas and general thought stimulation"...or so it says on the cover.

FutureScoping is now also available as an effective workshop technique, designed to maximise the number of great ideas generated with the minimum use of your valuable time.

The future: same as it ever was

2008-10-28T08:27:15+00:00

Came across this when doing some research on trends. It's a documentary made in 1972, based around Alvin Toffler's Future Shock book, presented by Orson Welles, and handily split into 5 parts for Youtube consumption. This is part one...

The production values are obviously dated, as is the tone of Cold War era paranoia. But what's interesting are the points being made.

In the first part alone, we have the following: challenges of choice explosion and media/information overload (all those books, so little time - how quaint!), the impact of 'digital', the rise of impermanence/transience, the pressures to consume, the over-heating pace of life, the increase in mobility and lack of rootedness that comes with this, and the fact that children born into this world will know no different.

Sound familiar? The future - it's happened before.

Wassup? Change!

2008-10-27T08:22:39+00:00

How to do engaging, culturally relevant political comment...

Fingers crossed for change on the 4th.

(Thanks to Amelia for the heads up)

10 things we didn't know before the 43rd week of 2008

2008-10-26T19:55:42+00:00

Stars make noise.
Fast eaters are more likely to be obese.
'Stink bomb' gas can control blood pressure.
Alan Bennett does not own a computer.
Peeling sticky tape emits X-rays.
Gay couples can't commit adultery.
Kate Moss's favourite drink is a vodka tonic.
Robin Gibb has never watched Saturday Night Fever all the way through.
Warm drinks aid friendship.
The Smurfs have sold more than 10 million albums in the last three years.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

Hello Dave

2008-10-22T14:34:05+01:00

And while we're on the subject of Dave saying Hello, this always cracks me up...

A rather scary hello

2008-10-22T14:23:28+01:00

There's absolutely no reason for this post, other than the fact someone sent me this.

It manages to take what was always creepy (teacher stalking a blind girl - what were they thinking!!), and make it even creepier...yet very funny at the same time.

Alternatively, it will completely pass you by (it certainly split the jury here - must be a good 'type of sense of humour' test).

So here we have Lionel Richie's Hello as sung by (what seem like) the League of Gentlemen's Papa Lazerou (it sags a bit in the middle, but stick with it to the end)...

Red Stripe bREDren

2008-10-21T15:04:50+01:00

Just realised I forgot to mentioned the first fruits of our relationship with Diageo is out and about - a new campaign for Red Stripe back in it's Jamaican homeland...

As part of the campaign, we also produced the first advertising I can say I genuinely don't understand (much to everyone's amusement): a patois heavy radio campaign, which works very well apparently. Here's an example for you enjoyment. If you can get further than it being about dominoes, let me know.

10 things we didn't know before the 42nd week of 2008

2008-10-19T10:43:25+01:00

Pets don't like divorces.
More than one in four commuters has bacteria from faeces on their hands.
The Queen has a gold Blue Peter badge.
Val Singleton not only had a fling with Peter Purves, but fancied John Noakes.
Prince Charles could have had a cameo in Doctor Who.
Men are most romantic aged 53.
The world's longest insect is 56cm long.
Sugar makes you a nicer person. But artificial sweetener does not have the same effect.
A spurtle is a spatula-like tool traditionally used to stir porridge.
The brains of obese people find eating less rewarding than brains belonging to other people.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

Finding truth in unknowing

2008-10-16T21:58:58+01:00

(NiKo)

I'm currently reading a theology/spirituality book (isn't everyone?) that offers an alternative perspective to that held by many Christians (and Muslims I would guess), who look for clarity, certainty and objective truth (singular) in often hard to understand religious texts.

This alternative perspective suggests that, rather than perfom linguistic and inteletcual gymnastics (with a bit of selective blindness) to iron out the apparent inconsistencies and odd/difficult bits (or, at the other extrreme, to say that inconcistencies and oddness mean the text cannot contain any truth), we need to grapple with and embrace the tensions, lack of certainty and unknowing the texts contain, accepting that there can be multiple readings and mutiple truths, without these being necesarily contradictory. And that it is in this wrestling with this (deeper) meaning that we find the real insight and understanding we're seeking.

Which I thought (at a push) sounded a bit like what we do.

There is the desire (and pressure) to find the one, perfect, focused, diamond-like right answer, the ultimate brand truth that encapsulates 'everything'. But in reality people, businesses and brands are just as messy, (apparently) inconsistent and complex as religious texts, and rather than ignore or explain away the bits we don't like, we also need to embrace their complexity…and look for the deeper meaning this points to (possibly!?).

In The Fidelity of Betrayal, author Pete Rollins tells a story from the Jewish tradition, which captures this need to look beyond objective, singular truth quite well. But for the young man looking for a rabbi to school him, we just need to substitute a young planner looking for a planning director to train them.

A young man was seeking out an old and learned rabbi to be schooled in the wisdom of Hebraic logic. After a prolonged search he finally finds a suitable rabbi and asks him if he would be willing to tutor him. But upon seeing the youth the rabbi simply smiles and says "you are too young and have too little life experience for the lessons that I have to teach. Come back to me in ten years".

But the young man is full of a confidence that borders on arrogance, and responds, "I may be young but I have already mastered Aristotelian logic and symboloic logic. Test me. Ask me any question you want and I will prove to you that I am ready".

The rabbi thinks for a few moments and then chooses a question: "two men descend a chimney. When they get to the bottom, one man's face is covered in soot. Tell me, which one washes his face?".

In responce the young man immediately says, "why, that is easy. It would be the one with the soot on his face".

When he says this, the rabbi turns to leave, saying "of course not. What are you thinking? It is the man without the soot who washes his face, for he sees his friend's complexion and thinks that he too must be dirty".

"Please don't send me away", replies the young man. "Test me again. Any question at all".

And so the rabbi thinks for a moment and then says "OK, listen carefully this time. Two men descend a chimney. When they get to the bottom, one man's face is covered in soot. Tell me, which one washes his face?"

"Why, the man without the soot on his face", replies the young man.

Again the rabbi shakes his head, "you are not listening in the right way. It is obvious that it is the man with the soot on his face who washes. He sees the reaction of his friend upon reaching the ground, can taste the soot on his lips, and can feel it stinging his eyes. Now leave me in peace".

"Please", replies the young man, "test me one last time, as I think I have it now".

"One last time", says the rabbi. "This time I want you to really listen. Two men descend a chimney. When they get to the bottom, one man's face is covered in soot. Tell me, which one washes his face?"

"The first answer I gave", shouts the young man, "but for different reasons".

"No, no, no", says the rabbi as he leaves. "They both wash their faces. How could someone descend a chimney and not think that their face would be covered in soot?"

As Rollins concludes, "before the young man could ever begin training in deep wisdom, he must first learn now to give up the desire to reduce truth to a single, defined, unchanging, propositional system. He must learn to dialogue, to debate, to rethink, to critique. Only then can he begin the journey ...(to) discovering a truth more profound than mere intellectual claims".

A lesson we could learn maybe?

"With everything in life there is a place of balance"

2008-10-15T14:04:21+01:00

(SparkyLeigh)

Which I thought was an appealing sentiment expressed in the previous talk.

The narrative flow of creativity

2008-10-15T13:56:14+01:00

Nice (and funny) TED talk given by author Amy Tan on her experience of the creative process...

The state of cash

2008-10-13T16:49:40+01:00

…or is it terminally ill on a life support machine.

We can't have financial meltdown, it's the weekend

2008-10-13T08:46:13+01:00

(PhotoGraham)

After a day out of the loop media wise, we sat down last night to watch the 10 o'clock news to, as my wife put it: "see if the world has ended while we weren't watching". To which I rather glibly responded, " it can have ended; the stock markets are closed".

Which was, in essence, what the BBC then went on to say.

Call me naive and simplistic if you like, but I think this just goes to show what a stupidly ironic situation (of our own making) we find ourselves in.

Famine, earthquakes and war don't hang around waiting for office hours. They are proper crises.

But ours is a purely 9-5 affair. And only then if you're watching the news to find how bad things are going to be (it's like Schrodinger's Cat: if we didn't watch the news or read the papers, and maybe had a long weekend as well, would the financial meltdown go away?).

In a few years, we may well look back on all this as a positive thing: a much needed, and wholesale, revaluation of our attitude to money and materialism (for which read our greed and unwillingness to be satisfied with what we've got), and the dubious benefits of an unfettered market.

Ditch the Masters of the Universe and nationalise the banks I say…oh, they just have ;-)

10 things we didn't know before the 41st week of 2008

2008-10-11T08:15:37+01:00

Goats wear condoms
Big Lebowski fanatics call themselves "achievers".
And the f-word is used 281 times in the film.
Sarah Palin is 10th cousin to Princess Diana.
The word "unbepissed" means "not being urinated on".
Contrary to myth, the suicide rate in New York in the month following the Wall Street Crash in 1929 was lower than normal.
The phrase "dead cat bounce" means a brief rally in the price of falling stock.
Scottish poet Robert Burns was Bob Dylan's muse.
The annual cost of forest loss is more than the amount being lost in the banking crisis.
Two New Testament books were left out of the modern Bible.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

A failure of decision making

2008-10-10T14:38:59+01:00

Jennifer Saunders was on the funny as ever Graham Norton last night, where she had this to say about focus groups (in the context of commissioning/evaluating TV shows)...

"people who can't make a decision showing things to people who have no right to make a decision"
(with some very slight paraphrasing for the sake of sense)

I'll just leave that hanging ;-)

There followed a section which, funny as it was, even had me saying "you can't do that": a live focus group, watched via a hidden camera, who were themselves watching and commenting on bits of the live show (which they thought were recordings). I'm sure it had the MRS spitting blood.

This is how one of the 'respondents' took it (with a fair degree of good grace I thought).