I’ve got a few posts up my sleeve, I’m just struggling to find an Internet cafe that has any kind of USB connection so I can upload some photos. As soon as I can get to one I’ll be back posting again.
Monthly Archives: October 2007
Posted in Blogging, mexico, travelling
Who cares about advertising # 1
When you can drink tequila in Mexico!
To be honest I hate the stuff but as they say…When in Rome, get drunk, lose your memory and feel rough the next day
Posted in mexico, tequila, Who cares about advertising
Life through a lens
I’m left with a bit of a dilemma. I don’t want to spend the next six months travelling and having to think about communications and work type stuff but I also don’t want to leave this blog (and my brains) lying dormant. So I have come up with the following idea…
It’s a bit like a personal photography ethnography for want of a better expression. I’m going to hone my photographic skills by asking the question: ‘Who cares about big advertising budgets when there is this in the world?’……insert image
I don’t know where it’s going to go. But I’m hoping it will vary from the irreverence to the deep and meaningful. This should keep me on my toes.
Posted in Blogging, Ethnography, Photography, travelling
Adios amigos!
These two fantastic Georgian buildings have been my home for the last four years, at least professionally. Trust me, if I lived here I’d be out on my Sunseeker, not writing this post.
This is my final week at work and in a weird way I’m going to miss the place. But most of all I’m going to miss the the friends I’ve made and the great people I’ve worked with.
I’m also going to miss Toby the Rabbit, who seems to have a thing for Louis Mountbatten. Although I haven’t seen him for a couple of weeks. I hope he is OK whilst I’m gone. 
See you guys. It’s been emotional!
The Jane-O-Meter # 2
The Jane-O-Meter has been fairly quiet recently until it registered this new Bradford and Bingley ad. It would seem that there has been an error in the casting.
The Jane-O-Meter said: ‘Oh my god she is annoying. I’m sorry I can’t stand her irritating little face, turn it over’. I’m sure it’s nothing personal, but here’s a more expansive critique.
Marketing is just common sense?
This is a remark I hear quite a lot throughout the course of a year. Whilst I do believe that some people in the industry might lack common sense, to suggest that marketing is merely common sense winds me up. It is often used by people who produce mind numbing work that does the bare minimum. If this is common sense marketing then I don’t want to be anywhere near it thank you very much. So in the words of George Bernard Shaw:
“He’s a man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage”
Planning on the margins
In my opinion one of the best traits any planner can have is the ability to understand people from all walks of life and really see, sense and feel things from their point of view. And when I say understand I don’t just mean being able to describe their TGI definition. You need to have a real empathy and respect for them, irrespective of your preconceptions or what the data might tell you. It is always possible to find something endearing in any audience if you look hard and objectively enough.
Ironically our industry, despite employing interesting people, are generally from the same margin of society. And for people supposedly so open minded it’s surprising how easily judgments are made. I’m blogging about this because of a free project we are working on for a local drugs working group that highlighted a really interesting transition in people’s attitudes and behaviours towards an audience having spent time with them.
Under our guidance we have given this brief to all our junior members of the agency to answer. After giving them an outline brief there was the usual snap judgements about the lives and motivations of drug users and addicts. It was all very middle class and quite disappointing frankly. So in order to get them over this, open their minds and put them in a slightly uncomfortable position we set up a series of groups consisting of ex-addicts, drug workers and counsellors. It was up to the guys to ask some questions and get some real insight into the lives of drug users. After an uncomfortable start they began probing and developing some interesting relationships. I’d go as far as saying friendships. So good in fact they even went out for some drinks with them afterwards to probably ask more ‘informal’ questions.
By the end of the session there was a complete turnaround in how they viewed a group of people who are arguably in a completely different part of society, with vastly different life experiences. Not only did they have a real empathy for them, they developed a real enthusiasm for the cause. Well done guys, I can’t wait to see the work.
Freaky Dancin had by one and all
One of the things I’m going to miss whilst I’m away is going to gigs. So with my impending departure I’m taking as many in as I can. Last night was the Happy Mondays and let me tell you, they are back to their very best.
Bez is often referred to as just Shaun Ryder’s mate who merely dances around with maracas. But anyone who has seen them live will know Shaun is the creator of the atmosphere and Bez is the conductor. Bez is the king of behavioural engineering and there aren’t many better in my opinion. By the end of the night he had about 1,500 people all doing their own Freaky Dancin. An absolutely brilliant night although I’m aching in some strange places.
Posted in Behavioural engineering, Bez, Happy Mondays, Music, Shaun Ryder
Ich bin dreizehn…
Is the only bit of German I can remember. But what excites me more is that yesterday’s post has been translated and posted on to some German blog. It could be slagging me off for all I know, but I was tickled by the translation of a couple of things…
Beverly Hills Cop translates as Beverly Hügel Polizist
Crocodile Dundee translates as Krokodil Dundee
I’m easily pleased but you learn something everyday
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