The Playful Planning Project

The wonders of digital technology

2007-01-24T14:44:00.000Z

Thanks to Cybergabi for photo

I can't claim to have found this, my digital partner here Andy, pointed it out.

It's fascinating how technology seems to be affecting our lives, be it Sky+ boxes which mean we no longer have to watch ads, or low cost satnav which means there's no excuse to get lost again (particularly good for me because I keep getting lost). The fascinating thing is how governments and councils seem to be adopting technology for real good. Anyone who has used Transport For London's journey finder will know just what a marvel it is, but I digress you probably already know this but perhaps not the efforts being made to make the world live in that little bit more livable...

"In March last year, a city council project in Lewisham was initiated, which allowed residents to send camera-phone pictures to their local council to report stray garbage, unwanted grafitti, etc. Two new spottings show that the concept is catching on. The local government of Amsterdam's Geuzenveld district just launched an online tool that lets people pinpoint neighborhood problems on Google Maps. After filling out an online form, a marker is placed on a Google map of the area, along with information on how the complaint is being dealt with.

The district is counting on the service to save time and money. Currently, a street lantern that's out of order will lead to numerous calls and emails to the district (roughly 40% of all complaints are sent by email/internet forms). Once people get used to checking the map to see if someone else has already reported an issue, the amount of redundant notifications will presumably decrease. Geuzenveld also hopes residents will feel more involved now that they're actually able to track how their complaint is being followed up, and that local maintenance crews will be motivated to keep the map as empty as possible, solving close to 90% of all issues within 2 days.

New York, meanwhile, isn't one to fall behind. Later this year, the city's 911 call centers will be able to receive camera-phone pictures and videos taken by residents and visitors, straight from the scene of a crime. 311 non-emergency call centers will be similarly equipped at a later stage, allowing New Yorkers to document and photographically report on 'quality of life problems'".

Time to smile

2007-01-24T14:38:00.000Z

I have no idea why, but this made me smile. I received it in an email, usually the stuff I get is rubbish, but I like this one. It's light and simple. If you stumble upon it, I hope it does the same.

The mobile phone killer?

2007-01-10T16:06:00.000Z

So Apple has finally announced the launch of the worst kept secret, their new wait for it...iphone.

They are of course predicting that it's going to revolutionise the market. I have no idea if it will or not, I guess time will tell. The thing is, I just don't think it's quite as revolutionary as Apple are making out. I suppose it's because it does all the things that I was expecting, plays music, film, you can make calls, it's got a camera and you can surf the net. Don't most phones do this already? So what else does it do that is so life changing? Well it has a touch screen which is clever, removing the need for a touch pad (and hence a bigger screen), and it has some nifty portrait to landscape functionality. And that's really it. I know you could argue that when the iPod launched it wasn't really doing anything that new, it was more that they'd changed the parameters by the way you do it. I just don't buy that the iphone is in the same league.

Furthermore the iPod was (and still is) as I've waxed lyrically before amazingly, jaw droppingly beautiful. The iphone isn't. It looks pretty smooth, but it's not beautiful, not like the iPod or the original iMac.

Maybe I'll change my tune when I get to see one in the flesh, but I'll be really surprised if this is the handheld device that changes everything.

Total 24 immersion

2007-01-10T15:46:00.000Z

There are only a few TV programmes, that I will do everything in my power to avoid missing, Lost, Battlestar Galactica (don't knock it till you've seen it), but above all else 24.

It's not quite as good as it used to be, but for pure escapism on a Sunday night, nothing beats it. Those of you who are fellow 24 fans will know it launches on Sky in about a weeks time, so surprise, surprise there's some pre-build up interactive interest. They're not the first to do it of course, Lost has had for a while a pretty decent interactive / immersion element, a website and various puzzle spin offs that give you more story beyond the TV show. It's quite possible that 24 has as well, but I've missed it until now.

But they've taken it further, you get to play agent, and you get phone calls! So cool!

I'm not going to ruin it for you, if you want to find out more go to www.ctuagent.com fill in your details (including your real phone number it's vital you do this), enter in passcode: 99k36f and wait to see what happens.

Good luck fellow CTU agents.

Pom Bashing

2006-11-24T15:48:00.000Z

In the interest of fairness (and ensuring a peaceful home life) I thought I'd share how a different company is capitalizing on the cricket. It's hardly an original idea really, I mean Australia and sledging, goes together like England and fair play, so we should all take it on the chin and not let it get to us. The problem is I'm really easy to wind up...

Weirdly enough it comes from Ford, I can't quite work out the link with cricket, maybe it makes more sense out there. Anyway it's actually quite fun, reminds me of swing the penguin.

2006-11-21T10:14:00.000Z

Aussie Bashing

Hopefully my other half won't see this (she being an Australian), but thought my first post in a while should combine my job and the best sport in the world: CRICKET.

It's a viral ad for Marston's and bashing Australia. This might be the only laugh we get for the next month or two, so I thought I'd share it with everyone. Who knows maybe, just maybe it'll get under the skins of the Australian team, so destabilise their confidence that we win 5-0.

Now that would be something.

It's quiet, too quiet...

2006-10-10T17:22:00.000+01:00

But there is a reason! I've been in that awkward period of looking for a new job. Which means it's been hard enough too:
- read and keep up to date with all the great blogs and posts out there
- do my job
- create fake meetings to go to (and remember what they were!)
- ensure I do enough research on what I'm about to walk into interview wise
- and then to write things that pop into my head and put it down here

But the wait is over, I've got a new job and can now spend the time contributing my little bit to the world wide web.

Oh and where am I going? Here's a clue...

p.s. that's not me on the right.

What it means to be English

2006-09-28T15:07:00.000+01:00

More often that not, an outsiders perspective gives you a much better idea of your own culture than you will ever have, because they see the differences... at least that's how the theory goes.

By and large I go along with that, as discomforting as it can sometimes be. Chief Giorgio Locatelli, revealed something about us in the Observer Food Monthly, which I'd never really considered particularly associating with us.

I quote:

"They are very passionate, the English. They are very passionate about different things. They are passionate about fair play"

I really wasn't expecting that, I mean fair play is not the first thing that would come to mind in describing the English, but when you think about it...

Maybe that really is a unifying factor, a sense of justice and fair play is something that we hold true. Lets face it, we don't like cheats be it sportsmen or businessmen, if you're successful fine, but play by the rules.

Having said that, in comparison to Italy where corruption seems to part and parcel of life, 'fair play' might well seem enhanced. And I'm not convinced historically we've always adhered to these principles, but I do wonder if the US held 'fair playness' more centrally as an ethos, perhaps the world and their own country wouldn't be in quite such a mess.

Must remember this, could be a useful brand positioning: x the fair play brand.

Statistics can be fun

2006-09-28T12:25:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago I posted some scary cigarette smoking stats, so here instead are some fun non-scary booze related stuff, specifically for Guinness and will not, I guarantee, send you scurrying into a corner to hide with a pillow.

There is a pub, in the soho vicinity, that specialises in Guinness, if you drink the stuff then you've probably been there, it's The Toucan on Soho Square. It has to be one of the tiniest pubs in London let alone Soho, but has more taps of Guinness than in any pub I've ever been to, which might help to explain how the following was possible.

On St.Patrick's day 2005 they got through 43 kegs of Guinness.

There is approximately 85 pints in a keg.

Which means that The Toucan served a staggering 3,655 pints in a 24hr period.

In fact, more accurately, their hours of opening are from 11am to 11pm, so they served 3,655 pints over 12 hours.

Or 304 1/2 pints per hour, or unbelievably 5 pints per minute (remembering that it takes 119.5 seconds to pour the perfect pint).

Which is nice.

Roadside advertising and more

2006-09-26T10:00:00.000+01:00

My driving trip round the US was amazing, and the thing you reaslise, is just how fundamental the car is to American society. Consequently most most towns are organised round the car i.e. the road (as opposed to pedestrians, squares, etc.) and this results in a multitude of roadside advertising.

The following are some of the funnier roadside "ads" or rather signs that we came across during our trip. Notice how many times "God" is used to sell a product.

The first is possibly the scariest, and the last is unbelievable!

Design of the week: my new ipod

2006-09-25T17:45:00.000+01:00

And to kick off my return, I'm going to share with you a present I got for myself when I was in the US: a brand new ipod.

I don't care what people say about Apple or ipod's, I think it is a thing of beauty. Simple as that. why on earth would you want anything else?

It's the first time I've spoiled myself in ages, something I rarely do. It often feels like it's wrong to do, at least from my perspective, but it felt really nice. A treat.

See y'all later

2006-09-08T15:35:00.000+01:00

I've been a bit blog lite this week preparing for our road trip across America.

In less than 24 hours, we head for mid-west USA. I'd like to thank everyone who helped to build what will be our soundtrack for America. When I get back I'll post the full list for future travellers.

And hopefully I'll have some great experiences to share...

Do come back ya here.

Creativity and the future

2006-09-07T10:47:00.000+01:00

I have no idea how Jon does this, I didn't when I worked for him, but he's found an amazing talk on the internet. A very insightful and enjoyable speech about creativity and education systems. I've often thought that our schooling system in the UK is damaging to creativity, as Sir Ken Robinson, puts it beningly pushing you away from it: you won't get a job doing art, dance or music...

Amazon.com a stretch too far?

2006-09-05T14:15:00.000+01:00

I used to think Amazon.com was great; I really understood what they were about. But I'm not so sure now.

The book selling was the really compelling proposition, I really got it: if the book's in print somewhere in the world you can get it from us. And with the marketplace, if the book isn't in print you might still be able to get it. That was revolutionary. And because we're online, we can lower costs, and hand them over to you. Brilliant.

Understandibly Amazon.com wanted to grow, so they added music to their inventory, which still kind of worked with their overall model. Then they added DVD's, games, electronics, toys, houseware...

The problem with all these additions, is they've started to move from a clear proposition of what they're about, to a generic retailer. Where once they were revolutionary, they're now simply copying other companies.

And now surprise, surprise they've introduced the Amazon.com credit card. It's not revolutionary it's just another store card.

The Innocent of cereals?

2006-09-04T15:08:00.000+01:00

I like muesli, I have for a while. But for so long it's either been hopelessly worthy or dull.

But now there's a new kid on the block: Dorset Cereals. They seem to have come from nowhere; first they were in our local corner shop, and now they're in Sainsbury's and Tesco's. And the good news for them, is they keep selling out.

The first thing is, like Innocent, the product is very good, it tastes great, there's a good range and from my experience it's better than most muesli's out there. Secondly, this definately feels like the first 'adult' cereal, or at least the first 'adult' cereal that somebody has taken the effort with.

But there may be a problem, I can't work out if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but Dorset Cereals does feel an awful lot like Innocent. If they were to do cereals, I don't think it would be a million miles away from here.
- a fun look to the packaging, yet at the same time quite understated
- down to earth communication style (feels very much like a conversation)
- yet allied with a slightly irreverent tone

This a definately a brand to keep an eye on, I suspect it could get a whole lot bigger.

Doing the right thing

2006-09-04T13:05:00.000+01:00

I saw an amazing film over the weekend, I missed it whilst it was out in the cinema: Goodnight and Good luck. It is a fascinating insight into the McCarthy witch-hunt era and his fall largely a result of intrepid newsmen. Specifically Edward Murrow.

He delivered several powerful speeches, but one in particular made me think about some of the discussions given towards moralism in marketing. It was delivered to the Radio and Television News Directors Association in the late 1950s (for the full transcript go here).

"This instrument (television) can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box."

This is surely as relevent to brand communications today. Wouldn't it be great if our collective aim was to illuminate and inspire. Imagine the visual landscape, and the potential for new brands...

The Morals of Marketing

2006-09-01T11:43:00.000+01:00

There has been some really interesting discussion on various blogs about the ethics of marketing, good and bad practice. Should consultants/planners/marketeers stand up and be a lone voice when clients want to or continue to tread a dangerous line with their brand.

It's been fuelled by comments picked up by Brand Tarot in regards to Coke's poor working practices worldwide, and specifically Rita Clifton's stance where she suggests that this isn't necessarily that big a problem for the brand given that "People are radical in research questionnaires and reactionary at the checkout Â People like to carry on doing what they like doing".

Others have commented on this morally dubious statement, none better than Jon Howard's post here, as he argues "wrong is wrong" and rightly so.

The irony is that anyone who works with Coke knows their business is in HUGE trouble. So I suspect to some degree people will carrying on doing what they like doing, and if that means feeling better not buying coke then they will. (I still for the life of me cannot work out how Coke is still considered the world's number 1 brand).

So to add fuel to the fire, here's an article from the Washington Post demonstrating just how amoral marketing can be. OK no surprises it's the USgovernmentt/Military, and it's hardly news that they are attempting to manipulate the media to present a better picture of Iraq.

But when you consider there's a $20 million contract, and that PR firm's will be pitching for it, you have to question the morals of any firm even willing to take part..don't you?

Statistics can be scary - this post now comes with a health warning

2006-08-31T12:15:00.000+01:00

Was caught by some smoking statistics in an article in the Guardian. So did some sums on the way-in. Sorry if you smoke, but thought the results quite interesting.

500,000 35+ year olds die a year.

Of that 90,000 die due to smoking.

Approximately 1 in 4 people smoke.

Which means of the 500,000 people that die a year, 125,000 of them are smokers.

Which means 71% of smokers die of smoking.

Or 3 out of 4 smokers will die because of smoking.

The question is would you do something if you knew there was only a 29% chance that you would survive? Or 71% chance it would kill you?

I know most anti-cigarette smoking advertising is shock based, but I've never seen the odds quite as starkly as this. Maybe it's already been done, but might actually make people sit up and notice.

Although from my experience, I used to simpy blank it out, switch channels, or believe it wouldn't happen to me.

Nothing like a cup-a-tea

2006-08-30T16:14:00.000+01:00

I don't seem to be the only one who spotted this article on tea from the BBC.

I don't remember tea ever being particularly bad for you, it just fell out of vogue, what with the rise of soft drinks and now coffee. But even so better than water?

"Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so its got two things going for it" Dr Ruxton

Surely this is a vindication to every avid tea drinker. The thing I can't get my head round is I thought tea was a diuretic. But apparently that's a misconception, only very highly caffeinated drinks are dehydrating.

I just wish they could prove coffee was as good for you!

Oh and then I read the bottom of the article:

The Tea Council provided funding for the work. Dr Ruxton stressed that the work was independent

Design of the week: a website and a power extension

2006-08-30T12:54:00.000+01:00

So I'll start with the power extension

Curtesy of Boing Boing , I came across this lovely piece of design. I can just imagine this sitting under my desk, or being tucked in behind an armchair, which will only be discovered when you need to plug in your mobile charger. I like the play between making something usually so dull, quite pretty and fun, but also the whole consumerism angle to it. Must find out where I can get one.

Visualising the news

This is a completely different way of displaying the news. Fallon picked up on this earlier in the week, it is a news agregator site, which has taken a novel graphic approach to visualising the news. I think it's great, but also because it is surprisingly intuitive and simple in showing what is happening right now, but importantly what stories the newsreporters think are important.

I love design

2006-08-30T12:18:00.000+01:00

Always have. From the simply beauty of graphic design:

To brilliant industrial design:

I'm not sure why 'design' captures me, might be because my dad trained as a designer, or might be because I grew up in the hey day of advertising and logos, or it might be simply being brought up in the greatest city in the world, being surrouded by the vibrant, creative place that is London.

In any case, I think design has never been so exciting.

Where form used to follow function, indeed when form was the sacrificial cow of function, now we seem to be in a time where form is as hallowed as the function. And personally I think that is fantastic. I love seeing the juxtaposition of something totally utillitarian, with something totally wacky.

Why shouldn't everyday objects be beautiful? Why shouldn't all the really boring dull stuff we look at, not be fun, playful and interesting? It's something that has interested me for a while. So from now on, once a week or so (we'll see how it goes) I'm going to post examples of great pieces of design.

Is YouTube losing its way?

2006-08-30T11:01:00.000+01:00

Whilst most people have been talking up the success of YouTube, and the incredible number of hits it receives per day, there are those on the fringes who are starting to talk of its demise. At first I thought it was tall poppy syndrome, corporate jealousy and simply people looking to shoot down another internet success.

But then came Paris Hilton. John Grant I think only yesterday commented on this fact and whether the internet community will accept this type of 'advertising' on its site.

The thing I'm starting to wonder about, is whether YouTube actually has a plan. If the rumours are right YouTube is losing $1 million per month, without an effective means of recouping the bandwidth costs. So they start by introducting Google Ads, and now branded channels.

It looks as though they are jumping at ideas as to how to make money. What I can't quite fathom is why the people behind YouTube would have started up an online business, which had the clear potential to hemorage money. It smacks of the early days of the internet, when people just setup random online companies, backed with a huge marketing spend and hoped they were bought out. Can YouTube really be the same?

But then there's the Paris Hilton thing! They clearly can't be sane if they think this is how YouTube can make money. Especially if you see the user commentary - any researcher would tell you it probably isn't working.

I guess the old adage "there is no such thing as a free lunch", may well come to bite all of us who use YouTube. Ach well it was good whilst it lasted.

Verbal Overshadowing

2006-08-25T14:42:00.000+01:00

You know those times when you come across something and that "of course!" thought strikes you, well I've had one of those whilst reading a post from Jason. It's a pretty interesting article generally on the whys and wherefores of the creative brief. But something leapt out at me when I was getting down the bottom, in reference to why one shouldn't write everything down whilst working on a strategy - Verbal Overshadowing.

This is a phenomenon that I came across whilst doing my psychology degree on facial recognition. I'd completely forgotten about it, but essentially what has been discovered is that if people too early on in a process (in this case recalling the details of a criminal) talk about certain details they inhibit their future memory and ability to accurately recognise the said criminal.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder whether there are greater implications than simply brief writing. One of the things I find difficult is being asked to pitch or work on something that I have previously have had a lot of experience with before, I always find it more difficult to come up with something startling new, because my previous experience seems to get in the way. In fact I wonder whether one really can come up with something startling new, simply because of that fact.

So a Friday question to ponder on, how many pitches are won by planners (ok I know it's not all down to us, by roll with me) coming up with great insights as a result of previous experience in that field vs. those with none or only lateral experience?

Accepted wisdom would state that those with the more experience will come up with the richer insights, simply because they have more grasp of the subject, but I wonder whether this is true...

My Music Tower

2006-08-24T12:46:00.000+01:00

I came across this a while back and really thought I should post this on my blog, mainly because I think it's pretty cool.

It's been created by those clever people at the beeb. I've stuck it in the sidebar and is, if you roll your mouse over, a tower of my musical tastes. As you can see (and hopefully hear) I am more of an indie/rock planner, so what sort are you?

Jon, I suspect you're going to struggle with this, having one of the braodest tastes in music that I've ever met, but if you do manage it let me know and I'll check it out!

Why planner's blogs are great

2006-08-24T11:41:00.000+01:00

Richard from Adliterate, who I've never met, but feel I know, has proposed something more useful than any IPA or APG planning paper award, he has set a challenge to see whether really good thinking by people (planners I assume?) that has led to really great work, actually works.

I've always thought the IPA Effectiveness Awards somewhat pointless, endlessly proving advertising is effective, is a bit like endlessly proving that if you drink alcohol you will get drunk. In fact, if anything these days it seems to be more about proving just how effective it is, i.e. how drunk you got, rather than whether the advertising was any good i.e. a glass of Chateaun Petrus vs. Vodka Redbull.

My dream would be to be able to prove that through brilliant thinking, and brilliant creative/engaging execution you were able to reduce media spend because of its effectiveness at generating sales. Imagine a client setting that as a target...

In case you're wondering I proposed Persil's "It's not dirt" campaign. Great thinking and beautiful strategy, I'd be really quite upset if they haven't sold bucket loads as a result.

The Ultimate List of Driving Songs

2006-08-23T13:59:00.000+01:00

3 Brits, 1 Aussie, two weeks, a car and a trip across the US of A.

We want to create the definitive collection of driving songs. Can you please help us on building the ultimate playlist?

The goal is enough tunes so that we don't have to play the same song twice. The only criteria we have is:

the songs should either be evocative of America
be about being on the move
or as you will probably notice just be classic (cheesy is fine if it feels right)

And the songs so far:

American Pie - Don Mclean
Mustang Sally - Wilson Pickett
Highway to hell - ACDC
Achy breaky heart - Billy Ray Chris
Fairy Tale of New York - The Pogues
Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor
Pina Colada Song - Escape ?
Dallas theme tune
Cross Town Traffic - Jimi Hendrix
Dueling Bajos - Jean Pierre Danel (from the film Deliverance)
Shaft theme tune - Isaac Hayes
People Everyday - Arrested Development
Ring of fire - Johnny Cash
Magic America - Blur
Running Bear
Rawhide
I left my heart in San Francisco - Tony Bennett
Boots were made for walking - Nancy Sinatra
Friends in low places - Garth Brooks
Top Gun theme tune - Harold Faltermeyer/Steve Stevens
Blueberry Hill - Chuck Berry
Final Countdown - Foreigner
Copacabana - Barry Manilow
Driving in My Car - Madness
Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
This is the greatest song in the world - Tenacious D
A-Team theme tune

So what's missing?

Refuting Future Shock

2006-08-22T16:58:00.000+01:00

You may be quite familiar with the concept of Future Shock as proposed by Alvin Toffler in the 1970's. If you're not, he proposed that too much change, in too short a time creates an overwhelming state of being and stress.

Not being particularly concious in the 1970s (I was a baby through most of it) it's hard to imagine sufferers of Future Shock back then, but in the 1990s it is very easy, mainly due to the rate of technological development and change. Suffers of said syndrome were thought to be those in the older generations, who simply struggled tot keep up with the pace of change, my girlfriend's mum is one of them (she's still scared of fax machines).

So you might think that the internet would be a place less visited by those in their 80s, and especially something like YouTube. But think again, I came across an interesting post on the fruits of imagination yesterday that points to something happening over at YouTube, a chap in his 80s is posting his life story on video. Why? Because he loves YouTube, and thought he'd like to get involved, and maybe just maybe, there might be a few people out there who quite liked to hear his story. It's turned out a hit, he's had loads of responses and posted around 8 videos which are getting something like 50,000 views.

Which demonstrates several things:

Perhaps technological developement isn't as scary as we all think
Don't make assumptions over who you think uses technology
Old people can be interesting, lets face it they always have fascinating stories about their past
The importance of community no matter how young or old you are

2006-08-22T11:04:00.000+01:00

If wisdom in knowing how little we know (Socrates)

Then here are two staggering examples of just how little I know, and how little I will ever know:

First I read this about some brilliant new mathmatical theoretical thinking, which quite went over my head, if anyone can explain this simply I'll buy them a pint.

Secondly, Whistle Through Your Comb pointed me to this on string theory, which is quite brilliant and fun. Now this is what the internet was designed for, it's like a much better version of Open University. I don't fully understand it, but I might look into it more.

I wish I could have a Groundhog Day experience so I could know just a little bit more, than the little I do, and learn to play my bloody guitar.

2006-08-21T15:12:00.000+01:00

ASDA vs the price cutters

When you position yourself as cheap, the cheapest and always lowering prices, what do you do when you're not the cheapest anymore?

This is what ASDA faces and it looks as though they're trying the tried and tested route of sticking their collective heads in the sand over at HQ. At least that's what I gleamed from a Radio 4 programme, who interviewed those from the price cutter brigade: Allders and Liddle and those at ASDA.

What's happened? Well Liddle, Allders and others have increased in size to account for something like 10% of all supermarket sales. They've done it by self-selecting a range of goods, and then offering them at a very low price. So rather than having a choice of 15 olive oils like at ASDA you get the choice of 1, but it's bloody cheap and it seems that we price sensitive creatures that we are, are shopping at the price-cutters in ever increasing numbers.

Meanwhile...ASDA bleat on about range and value, but what does value mean in ASDA terms? If you've educated the public that value means price, then that's what the public will think.

And if you're not the cheapest anymore? You go to somewhere that is. The amazing thing is neither Liddle nor Allders have done any form of brand advertising. It's all been word of mouth; they're just slowly growing and growing.

Personally I hate the concept of cheap, cheap food, it can't be good for you, it must be full of crap, but plenty of people do, so expect a Liddle on your doorstep soon...

2006-08-21T13:38:00.000+01:00

Word of mouth

(The following rant has got nothing to do with the rest of this piece, but I need to do it to ease my conscience.)

I do not like Simon Cowell, he may be successful, but he's clearly a bully and a narcissist, and quite possibly a psychopath (the evidence for psychopath's in business is well evidenced).

OK with that off my chest, I hate to say it, but he said something quite interesting the weekend before last, that has stayed with me.

Quite why Simon Cowell was on Desert Island Discs is beyond me, but he was, and near to the end he was discussing with Sue Lawley what it takes for musical success. Now what Simon said is hardly new in itself, but what was interesting is that it came from him, and not because I loathe him, but because he does have a well attuned antennae for making popular and successful records. So when asked what it took to do just that he replied something along the lines of "to be truly successful, I'm increasingly of the opinion that word of mouth is really the only important factor".

And the thing is, he is right of course. And this is hardly new news, but what struck me about this is that it didn't come from a marketing hack, theorist or person who philosophises about such matters, it came from someone who operates in probably the toughest arena to create sales (albeit it seems Simon Cowell's trick is to ensure they are good looking, put loads of money behind it, and write cheesy tunes). At the end of the day Simon Cowell is a slick marketer. He taps into what a certain generation of people are looking for (or currently attuned to) and provides it, but he does more than that and in Pop Idol's case I believe he's actively moulding culture.

In the interview Simon Cowell pretty much admitted that Pop Idol's success was its ability to tap into young people's desire to be famous, not to be a famous singer or actress, but "fame for fames sake". He wasn't sure whether Pop Idol was the fuel for this phenomenon, or the follower, but that was what was behind its success. I suspect that Pop Idol had a role in the former and capitalised entirely on the latter, but it's word of mouth effect came directly out of this powerful understanding.

It is my belief that we should be trying to apply these princples to the brands we work on and how we approaching marketing. There are truly great examples from high profile campaigns such as Sony's bouncing balls ad to Bud's Wassup campaign, but it's just as effective with lower profile marketing efforts too, Innocent's fruitstock or nPower's urban cricket (more of that to come) are just two examples that spring to mind. So I wonder whether this should be the permanent state of desire for all planners: how can I influence culture to create a word of mouth effect?

Lets face it as media costs go up and up, and as fragmentation only multiplies, this surely will be the only way to go...

p.s. thanks goes to Russel whom put so succintly the thoughts of brands influencing culture

2006-08-10T10:54:00.000+01:00

I'm off to Wales!

And during the short break I have some decisions to make, do I migrate my blog from the rather difficult to use blogger, to the more elegant Vox?

2006-08-09T11:03:00.000+01:00

What sort of planner are you?

This is a question I've been asked several times in recent weeks and it's one that always puzzled me. When I first came to Mustoes, Nick (Mustoe) asked me that question and to be frank I didn't know what to say. It's one of those questions that you are damned by what you don't say as much as what you do say. In the end I muddled through with some sort of response along the lines of creative planning.

Do I know what sort of planner I am now, two years on? I'm still not really sure, but think maybe I've found something that helps at personaldna. It's basically a personality test, but for once produces a pretty accurate description of who you are. On the whole I agree, so now when someone asks I'm going to describe myself as a 'benevolent creator' planner.

Benevolent Creator

It would be interesting to see what other planners come out as. Iain Tait, for example is an advocating creator, so who are you?

2006-08-07T12:33:00.000+01:00

Where does everybody find the time?

I'm trying to:
- Write an interesting blog and a useful one too (for me mainly or anyone else who reads it)
- Keep up to date on latest trends and stuff in the industry, so reading books like "The Long Tail"
- Reading interesting books not related to work, because my imagination likes being fed
- And trying to have a social life

I can manage three out of the four, but not all of them, so one always seems to suffer. The last one isn't an option or the love of my life will leave me, and anyway being the love of my life I quite like spending time with her! So right now, number 2 is suffering, even though I'm finding it a great read (for once, one of these marketing books, is actually quite good!).

Anyone got any tips?

2006-08-02T10:21:00.000+01:00

Too much time on their hands

Yes it's dangerous, yes it's not particulary clever, and of course newspapers are getting on their high horse about the recklessness and stupidity of teenagers, but it's also hillarious. The thing is I imagine lots of teenagers out there would have done the same thing if they had thought of it, so would I, if I had a 50cc scooter. Here's to the mad mad kids of Crawley!

2006-08-01T12:50:00.000+01:00

Oh so pointless

I was given this on the way home last week. I couldn't quite believe I had been given a teabag, and couldn't work out why in the hottest of weather, Thames Water would be encouraging tea making.

The message was even more confusing, surely the reason for only partially filling a kettle is to save electricity not water. I mean I can see how I might save water, but it just feels so inconsequential, especially when down my street a mains has been leaking for two days.

If Thames Water were really concerned about water loss, rather than producing this rediculous sampling pack or spam or whatever it is, they would do better to speak to people like PG Tips, and Tetley and get them on-board on some water saving initiative. People might actually think they cared if they actually made some effort.

2006-07-31T12:41:00.000+01:00

The Rise and Rise of Branded Festivals

Being a relative newbie to the festival circuit, having been to about 6 in my entire life, I'm hardly an expert to comment on the change in festivals over the last few years. Everyone talks abouts the commercialisation of festivals, with frequent articles about whether Glastonbury (the original and the best) has sold out. However, the more interesting question is whether the commercial festivals (aren't they all commercial? Artists need to make money after all!) are any good.

My first true camping experience was at V, and whilst it was a far better camping experience than Glastonbury (running water, nice toilets, hot showers) the total package experience was nowhere nearly as good. Of course the music is important, but so is everything else from, the beer to the food, and most of the commercial festivals forget about that. You tend to feel you are in a closed "buy what we tell you to buy" environment. Now whilst the V-Festival and O2 Wireless Festiva's might have started it, there are some new pretenders on the block from Fruitstock to Ben and Jerry's 'Sundae' and the interesting thing is they're all about the total experience.

Maybe it's because they're food brands, or maybe it's becuase they have very rounded emotional territories, but they really understand the experience. The Ben and Jerry's Sundae festival yesterday in Clapham was excellent. It was a family treat, with good bands, but importantly lots of other good things like free ice-cream, a little farm, face painting, toe wrestling, pimms, etc. etc. And although it was heavily branded and we all knew why, it still wasn't HEAVY SELLING, but NICE SELLING, and I suspect a lot of people will have left thinking Ben and Jerrys' are a pretty good bunch.

So I say bring on commercial festivals like this, because they've not forgotten the most important people there are the people and if they keep doing that then people will remember you and like you for it.

2006-07-26T17:25:00.000+01:00

The mother of all shocks

Posted on the fwa.com this would surely rank as one of the most successful ways of getting back at someone. That is, if it's true. But an eagle eyed colleague was quick to point out the heavy branding of the media owner, which leads one to question the veracity. The question has this little prank, spawned something?

This appeared yesterday on brick lane:

Much more low-fi, but somehow more believable. It's like anti- classified advertising!

2006-07-26T15:32:00.000+01:00

My first attempt at developing a viral seeding strategy

I know the viral piece has been done to death, but I thought I'd share my views, and some of the stuff I've learnt from a planning perspective.

The interesting thing is just how poorly understood the process of seeding really is, that might be because there isn’t really much of a strategy needed! Nevertheless it’s pretty obvious most people are entirely clueless as to how to go about doing it.

So when I started to plan a ‘seeding strategy’ whatever that is, I thought the first thing is to understand how a virus propagates itself. A human virus invades the body and spreads by invading cells and recombining with human DNA and causes cells to replicate.

So how is this similar to a viral piece of marketing? Well only in the sense that somebody will choose to accept and then send it (infect?) on to multiple people. Really they don’t have a lot else in common. I mean lets face no-one actually wants to get a virus, people do tend to like to see virals. Virus’s change and evolve, most virals are unique stand alones. So basically the reason why people use the word is probably because it sounds cool, rather than it being that helpful a comparison.

Faris and Iain are vociferous in their arguments over what makes a good or bad viral, but what both come down to at the end of the day is whether it will affect behaviour: A viral isn’t a thing, it’s a behaviour – end of story. Think of it as natural selection, in the real world an unsuccessful virus will be beaten by the immune system and cease to be, it’s only the successful ones that cause the problems. With virals it’s the same, bad ones won’t make it.

But I do believe there is an in-between: moderate and outstanding. I was chatting with Nick Suckley of Agenda21, and he reckons 1 in every 10 virals will be a moderate success and probably 1 in 20 outstanding, there’s no real way you can tell whether you’ve created the latter, only time will tell, but there are things you can do to help achieve moderate success. This is where seeding, or getting as many people as possible to see it can help.

My un-sophisticate chart above, pretty much illustrates the idea. Most population growth patterns including viruses follow the above life cycle.

With viruses you get a slow build up, as one after the next cell is infected, before rapid exponential multi-cellular invasion, and then at some point the immune system kicks in and the virus is gradually defeated. Interestingly I think we can help to re-create this to help get a moderate viral success at least (providing it has some intrinsic worth).

2006-07-25T16:05:00.000+01:00

Bringing the crowd to you

Last week whilst walking down Tottenham Court Road, I saw or rather a heard a clever marketing ploy. A woman with a small ice cream stand, was ringing a bell to attract attention to her stand.

Two things struck me, firstly what a clever ploy to get people to spot her amongst the crowded retailers. Using noise to draw attention is hardly new; go to most fruit and veg markets and you'll be confronted by the wails of stall holders trying to draw you in to buy their goods. But in an environment where there is no 'marketing' noise it really stood out. Whether she knew it or not, she was employing a clever communication channel.

The second thing that made me smile, was the use of old technology, in a world where everyone seems to embracing new technology (which I'm all for), here she was ringing a bell, like the town criers of yesteryear. Now whether the bell was the best sonic device (although I'm not convinced some clever ice-cream jingle would have done any better), is neither here nor there, what was refreshing was this sense of old-worldlinness.

This has led me to think about other media, perhaps we should be applying some of these mechanisms to stand out in different media. There might well be a town crier principle for online, or ringing posters. Having said that, if everyone is moaning about the proliferation of advertising media, I'm not sure they'll thank us if they started making noises too!

Anyway I digress, the question is from a retail perspective did it work? Yes, I bought an ice cream, and no it wasn't very nice.

2006-07-19T15:13:00.000+01:00

Urban Spam: another bad example, but could it have been a good one?

Whilst spending the morning perusing the wonderful thoughts and opinions of the people on the world wide web, I came across this at Three Minds. I couldn't agree more with Misha's sentiment that advertisers and brands are in danger of annoying the very people they're targeting by being overly intrusive, branding every single available space out there.

This left me thinking about what would be a good thing to lazer etch onto an egg. What if they gave something back, actually made us smile or feel more fondly about them? What an opportunity to move a product from commoditity to brand. Egg manufacturers could do all kinds of fun and interesting things, rather than advertising, what about recipes, or poetry or jokes?

Remember when ice cream sticks used to have jokes etched into the wood? That was brilliant and clever, I used to saviour it, I'd like to think it wasn't cynical marketing, it had shades of the Innocent way of doing things. If anyone is out there who works in eggs, why not try doing something different, we'll thankyou for it.

2006-07-19T14:55:00.000+01:00

Hello world. Here's a tiny, wheeny little cog, who's adding his thoughts to the world.