Them and Us.

 Had a real blast from the past experience when I went to The London Boat show. It was like the exhibitions my parents would take me to in the 1970's, shuffling past dull static displays roped of from 'us' with access only to 'them'. The advertising featured black & white cartoons circa 1974 Daily Mail, I cound't deceide if this was an ironic joke or not. The blue blazer and chino clad salesmen wave us chosen ones in to the VIP area . The latter built on raised platforms so the full sense of privilege can be achieved.

Even second rate nightclubs know not to shove such elitism in the face of the 'punters'

Thank goodness I hadn't paid for my ticket. If I had I would have been very miffed at paying (£15 adult + £9 carpark) to be taught I was an underling. The corporate car parks were all full so it seems the only ones paying to come in were the ones actually not allowed on any of the fun stuff.

Earlier this year we had had a fab day in the same venue at the London Motor Show. Total hands-on, interactive experience, learnt loads, had a ball, Got a chance to climb into just about every car there. Came away reconsidering a number of brands. my Flickr set of the day here.  Finkangel has a much better one HERE

When the British experience/event/show industry is in such rude health (examples Here and Here and Here) why does an event with such lack of imagination like the London Boat Show happen? A very poor paying visitor experience and a touch of the Surrey Golf clubs about the VIP version.

Those of us actually deemed worthy to set foot into one of the hallowed 'by appointment areas' noticed the following 10 things;

1. If a boat is built to live its life on the ocean wave, why can't you step on it in your shoes?

2. There appears to be a mini hierarchy in the type of slipper/sock thing they give you to walk on the boats

3. There is an international law that states all boats have white uppers and dark blue bases, with insides clad in blingtastic cream leather 

4. Gold bathroom fittings are still fashionable afloat 

5. To sell radar equipment you fill a plastic tunnel with smoke and heat it to 40C, then get members of the public to shuffle through.

6. All the 'By appointment only' signs must have been stolen, forcing everyone to quickly print one off a laptop and sellotape it to a rope barrier

7. HMS St Albans, The Navy's newest frigate, has a parking dent on the rear left quarter.

8. Selling fast boats? all you need is young women looking bored in cut-off tight racing overalls. (like the motor show in the 1980's)

9.  er, didn't notice anything else, we got bored and went home

10. Actually went to the Museum in Docklands which was great, report in 'Home life' section.

Friday afternoon research

 

Something to bring a smile to your face. Honda Japan's utterly bonkers home page. charm, wit and advice on growing potatoes (yes really)

The construct of this site makes me enthusiastic about finding more. I get the impression this brand is home to people with a passion for what they do. There is a huge contrast to the Honda USA site. Which appears to be just a proficient automotive brand talking in a recognized way about metal.

Honda UK, apart from crushingly boring load times, tries to bridge automotive norms with some of the wit of the advertising. That said along with Australia none of them give advice about growing potatoes. 

Why does this all even merit a comment? well its fab thats why. Global diversification is invigorating, More different please.

On a further car note, the only really fun thing to come out of the Detroit motor show was Chryslers's Chief Economist Van Jolissaint's gloriously off-message comments about not having to worry about climate change as it was "..way, way in the future.." and that big cars were on the way back. He also compared the European attitude to a 'Chicken Little' stance. I take it his next position will be in the Bush administration

Update on 2007-01-12 15:42 by Philip

  Forgot to include the spud header from Honda Japan, oh and this 'man and Crocodile' absolutely no idea what thats all about though

news as it happens

Watching the launch of the iphone live via www.macrumors.com, cutting edge technology news delivered like a 70's teleprinter, neat

 

Update on 2007-01-09 21:23 by Philip

 ooooh yes I would like one please, battery life notwithstanding this really does look like it can do the business. There should be a vibrant industry in after market cases to protect that screen. My Sony 910i looks like its been attacked with sandpaper, simply by resting in my pocket (and bottom of bag, floor and bar top etc) 

 The functions have all the wow factor a non-tecchie like me dribbles over = screen automatically rotating throu' 90' as the phone twisted, Google earth pin pointing, mobile email that works with the address book, web and diary in sync.

and its small

and shiny

and the menus are OX

Full show and tell HERE

Steve Jobs presentation from today HERE 

Update on 2007-01-11 14:36 by Philip

Great footage of the phone in action on a CBS news bulletin HERE

Indexed.blogspot

 
 

Indexed.blogspot This is an excellent antidote to all my previous posts about instant/digital/stat based charts for presentations. Jessica Hagy has drawn a great set of diagrams on index cards. Feels very right for the moment.

Bored? try this.

 

Finding it hard to get back into work? Got a new camera for Christmas? - Transparent screens have been around for awhile but this collection of images from Wookie is just fab. I would have thought its crying out for a porn version.

Update on 2007-01-08 18:04 by Philip

Like a complete nob I forgot to put the links into the transparent screen flickr sets (sorry wookie, lost your link as well) THIS is a link to similar, but not as well graded set.

Great promotion

 

Some times you just have to salute genius. A quiet little pub in Bolsterstone, outside Sheffield, December 28, In need of drumming up trade, holds a quiz night, charges £1 to enter AND includes a plate of meat pie, musy peas and gravy, what an offer!

It goes without saying the beer was cheap as chips as well. We got 18 out of 25, which put us in about fifth place (out of seven teams, they are pro' at this kind of thing up there) 

Christmas Close down

Seasonal closedown for my laptop after a heavy party season, (its in for a service) back in Jan. Currently planning quite a complex photo shoot for 4/5/6 Jan involving a 767 at Stansted. more info later

Update on 2007-01-04 21:34 by Philip

Well never mind the shoot's been delayed, which was a shame as Niall at Horton Stephens had done a bunch of running around to get us ready to go at very short notice. BUT every cloud has a silver lining as we now have time to do a proper reccie of all the locations, Sooooo its off to New York next week, tough job, but i'll cope.

Christmas eCards

Ho Ho not very Ho.

Well quite a pony selection of agency/company/suppliers cards this year so far. The Media agency I am sharing an office with are overflowing with chocolate advent calendars. High(low)lights being the nice illustration on the Clear Channel one let down by woeful copy  and poor font choice.  Also a very bland offering from Orange, I really expected much more from them.

Arc's plant a tree ecard is OK but could have been so much better had it linked to Plazes or Google earth or Flickr. Reactive have some neat programming in theres and if I was a client I can imagine pushing there little animated bodies around would give me pleasure. But for out and out simplicity Brand Tacticians wins. 

For interactive fun, Russell Davies highlights  Grand Unions  Xpapr app' which is with out doubt one of the best time wasting / colour copier abusing ideas I've seen for awhile. (and possibly the tipping point for anti web 2.0 sites)

As ever the truth is so much funnier than the forced humour of company cards so I leave you with AdVerbatims. Everybody must be able to add something to this excellent collection of quotes from the creative process. 

Update on 2006-12-21 14:00 by Philip

You have to really ask why The Train Line even botherd with this effort,

very poor.

Foggy London on the lash

Pre-smog controls, London suffered from fairly epic fog,(Smog)  but these days its fairly rare. Today we had the first really heavy dose of the year, The view from Waterloo Bridge was spectacular with sun glinting off the glass buildings of the city, caught up in what looked like cloud city from The Empire Strikes Back.

Looks like the rest of London is out on the lash tonight. Trying to find a bike space in central London after 9am is normally nigh on impossible, but cast your eyes at my lonely bike in the bay by Russell Square this morning.

Update on 2006-12-20 22:47 by Philip

Wooah not just pretty fog. BA cancels all its domestic flights tomorrow

Update on 2006-12-21 14:07 by Philip

The Fog Strikes Back! I was going to be meeting a client today who was flying in from the States, due to the weather they've been diverted to Manchester, with the offer of a coach transfer to London (est time 3 - 5 hour road time). The Trains appear to be rather busy today for some reason. -its going to be a long day.

Muggers delight

A while ago I wrote about my worries regarding social networks moving onto mobile phones. It centred on my concerns regarding opportunist muggers who might use the technology for a double hit. Today the BBC carried a story regarding concerns about stalkers misusing the ipod/nike set up.

I think the danger is less with stalkers but more with predetermined burglary. If as a house breaker you have a property under watch and the owner jogs. then the ipod/nike setup offers a fab WiFi look-out system, as you can track the house owners movements.

I take it encryption is pretty easy for these types of units. So why not? the question is more regarding the issue of web2.0 sharing. swapping ideas and joining up friends is indeed cool. Amongst friends why put up barriers? well unfortunately, outside of the beta testers there are some pikey individuals. I just think the rush to get these products out has ment some elements of common sense regarding personal safety have been ignored.

Plazer Google Earth mash-up

 

Yet another excuse to while away the day cruising Google earth. Matching the Plazer locations and peoples icons with Googles fab maps. I do love the way they all move around when you 'fly in'. By the way Plazer now works on your mobile, which is very neat at this time of year when losing friends in the streets of Soho becomes an Olympic sport.

proposition of the day.

A Pub = It's warm, everyone is glad to see you and they serve drink.

If only all briefs had such a clear consumer benefit. Thanks to the ever joyful boys and girls at Scarlet magazine for that.  They normally have a generous gift offer this time of year so give them a click, -it normally involves Rabbits.

Missed the Eurostar

The Eurostar is a fantastic service whose staff provided some of the quotes of last weekend. I had managed to miss my train which involved the following exchange. Me, in very poor school boy French, 'Can i change my ticket for the next train?' Eurostar employee 'But monsieur you have missed your train'. me, 'funnily enough i'd spotted that.'

Eurostar's trains and station are all looking a little tired these days (prior to a re-launch come next years move) But the staff retain a sense that they are representing a premium brand. Even when dealing with the mixed bag of consumers that this time of year throws up.

Fantastic briefs

I received two very different briefs yesterday. Both utterly fantastic but in oh so many different ways.

 Brief one: Large international client, newish brand, I thought was just considering a refresh of its marketing approach has turned round and questioned just about every aspect of the brands communication. What's more they have a will and budget to allow real change. Fab! best creative challenge I have had for a long long time. oh and a decent deadline to boot. (i.e. not Jan 2)

Brief two: New UK brand, backed by a celebratory, lots of green credentials, Research shows gap in market. TV ideas using said celebratory, simple. ah not quite. The celebratory is already on air for a rival (non-green cred) brand. er ideas on a post card please.

Free wallpaper

Giant sized images free, courtesy of the printer at work. This fab use of the office CLC. Huge blow-ups from your normal snaps or found images from the web. Either on-line or via a free download (which I can’t get to work on my mac).

This natty device is from the people at: homokaasu.org who appear as barking as they come. Witness the following:

“We are testing Google Analytics to enhance your privacy violation experience and to provide the best possible visitor behaviour scrutinization and abuse service. We are deeply committed in providing this information to a huge American company for exchange of some statistics.”
 

Update on 2006-12-01 19:43 by Philip

Forgot to put the right credits for the Rasterdator find. Arje.net. Also JPG magazine has a Rasterbator competition running as part of there upping in size.

Playing music while you work

Thank you to the ever observant Russell Davis for highlighting Musicology a fascinating visual bespoke music site. Ever since being introduced to Pandora I have been in two minds about this type of service. On the one hand they are great for creating a mood, on the other if you are using a well known band as a starting point (Bowie,  The Clash etc) you just end up with second rate sound alikes. But I suppose the biggest draw back is that rather than an ipod that hums away in the background while you work. Sound matching sites are so intriguing in the 'who's this?' way, that you are forever checking band names and details, Last.fm is worst as it provides so much background info on each band. I spent the best part of an afternoon cross referencing second division punk bands connected by the sound of  Sham 69 (while my presentation went unfinished) For new music Haystack works well, but they appear quite pro' Snow patrol so be careful.

1. iPods = Surprise yourself with what you own. reassuring

2. Pandora = generic sounds, unmoderated tends to go off on a tangent.

3. Last.FM = Good punk selections, time consuming, customisable graphics

4. Musicovery = Fab graphics but limited range too much Aha & Aerosmith

5. XFM = Can be repetitive but you could win tickets to winterwonderland.

6. Humming = Rather comforting but bloody annoying for your co-workers 

Update on 2006-11-30 22:58 by Philip

XFM Winter Wonderland. forgot to link etc. fab event except the no tickets left part that is. Anyone with a spare one (or three  -do call)

Passion Brands: America and its Armed Forces

  Sometimes a single article can sum up a whole nations state of mind. The correspondence on the Advertising Age web site just about catches everything you need to know about how America feels right now. The whole thing kicked off on November 12 when Bob Garfield wrote a fairly straight forward review of the new MaCann Erickson US Army recruitment TV spot. What followed caught everyone out. This posted a few days later HERE is just amazing. or rather as one reply simply put it "wow people...just wow"

Top Quote

I read a few geek blogs to help me understand the tech' side of brand communication issues. Greg linden has posted a great quote that actually very neatly sums up the morbid staffing issues in a few agencies I know.

"...companies cannot only be quick to create. They need to be quick to destroy. If something does not work, the company needs to move quickly. failures need to be acknowledged, all possible learning extracted and then the product should be eliminated..." 

Picture search prt 57

 

Draw crude pictures, retrievr matches to Flickr images. The world does not need more ways to waste time online, BUT this is really fun and absorbing, I am coming to it a little late as it was launched at the beginning of the year. Christian Langreiter from a bunch of work done by The University Of Washington. The interesting story of it HERE.

Talking about web 2.0

There has been quite a bit of follow up after my talk last week, most around a throw away comment I made about web 2.0 being a bit of a myth. I think I said perhaps we have missed something, all the talk about new web might actually be just that, empty comment, because the product's functionality (AJAX code, consumer interaction) is really not that new or clever, its the digital natives (young creative minds) that have used this tool in a way a digital migrant (like me) would not have considered, we had mobile phones and text messages, they went straight to Bebo and habbo hotel, which rapidly took them into: ziki / riya / odeo / flickrblog etc. I am still constantly bowled over by these fab new applications such as this new picture finder. from Felix Turner at Air Tight Interactive.

Growing up with calling your mates or texting under the covers, is very different to sharing thoughts online.

So the point being its the older generations (40 +) fascination with communication protocols of the young of mind that is driving the brand 'web 2.0' Because web 2.0 is after all a conversation topic rather than a product.

I find parallels with corporations trying to understand dance music 10 years ago.