NORTHERN PLANNER

Years ago I worked on a pitch for a car brand. The main idea we came up with was 'the brand that makes you feel more'.

It came from the observation that modern middle class men were pretty jaded, with oversupply of stimulation on all fronts, they had become 'numb'.

Thought, and still do, this is an open goal and not just for men, as we're all more stimulated than ever, but do little that's real.

A was re-watching Life on Mars recently (UK version!). A man who comes back from a purgatory set in the 1970's for police. Eventually he wakes from the coma that put him there, but prefers the 1970's version because in real world, he realises he 'feels nothing'. Certainly compared to the simpler, but more visceral 1970's life where experiences are real and not 'simulated'.

He kills himself to feel alive.

That's the real need behind the rise of more extreme sports for both genders – the need to feel something, for flow etc in a jaded, distracted world.

Perhaps it's a better interpretation of the 'man of action' archetype. Or not.

I always thought it was how this ad was really working…

Anyway.