I liked this statement from a local, Leeds PR company. It’s got a strong opinion and you get an idea of what they like.
But hold on, they’re human! There’ll be some days when their heart’s not in it and they’ll just do okay. They do operate on payment by results basis, but who’s to know how much effort it was to get there?
If always had a soft spot for Morrissey. I like the way he’s never really changed all these years, he’s always had this endearing mix of searing honesty and, well, daftness.
Many of his songs show a real insight into people’s lives. ‘Hold on to Your Friends’ is a prime example and has never been more relevant.
As groups of friends begin to settle down with partners, it gets harder to meet up. There’s two families to see, you start having friends who are couples, you have to spend time with your partner’s friends too. Not to mention the fact that as you get older, you’ve less energy after work to simply do stuff. It’s easy to lose touch.
But what happens if the relationship ends? Unfortunately, many do. Suddenly, people are finding themselves with no one. And if they’ve been fortunate enough to keep in touch with people, they’re still attached. So we’re seeing a growing number of people over 30 who suddenly find that they’ve nobody to see a film with, or share a drink. I wanted to see ‘Good night and Good Luck’, but everyone I knew didn’t, so I went on my own. I still cringe at the distinct awkwardness of buying just one ticket.
And it’s not like being in school, college and early jobs, where there was a ready made pool of potential friends. I’m not talking about romance either, just the simple pleasure of sharing everyday experiences with other people.
This is going to mean that dating agencies are going to face competition from companies that help people simply build new social groups, that faciliate social situations for you. It makes me wonder how brands might be more relavant to people’s lives in the very near future. How long it will be before more of them provide experiences that get people together or help them stay in touch in the first place ?
It’s useful to get another point of view on things, so Here’s a great observation from The Scamp about the odd practice of celebrity ads that need a super to tell you who the celebrity is. I’d never really thought about that. That’s what I like about working with creatives, they question everything and don’t mince words. There’s lots of other stuff on his site, you may not agree with it all but it will provoke a reaction.
When I did the The APG Training Network I quickly noticed was how nice planners are, from juniors to directors. You won’t find a more self effacing, genuine and generous bunch of people. So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that people have been kind enough to bring this blog to a wider audience’s attention. I feel quite meek, since they’re all far better at thinking and writing than I could ever hope to be. Thanks everyone.
This was the drive to work this morning. Fields and hills all the way. That’s one good thing about living where I do. Another is the quieter roads, early mornings are a dream.
I used to be a pretty good junior swimmer, which meant the thrill of seeing the world at young age. On the other hand, spending every dawn training in a cold pool was less inspiring. After I retired, my body clock got it’s revenge and insisted the next twenty years would involve staying in bed as long as allowed.
Twenty years later, I’ve fought back and I’m usually up at 6ish. It’s wonderful to see what I was missing. Quiet roads, the sun coming up and, best of all, getting to work done quicker and having more time for other stuff.
Thanks to Russell Davies the Staufenberger Repository has published Stephen King’s 1974 JWT Planning Guide, along with a vintage Jeremy Bullmore speech.
They’ve already said how relevant this stuff is now, and far better than I ever could. It’s refreshing to be reminded how important experience is though. We all seem so ready to worship the fresh, untainted ideas of youth, but we’re less willing to get some balance from listening to grumpier older people as well.
It’s a shame since they could help us avoiding rushing off and doing something really dumb. Ironic since one day we’ll all get older and say, "If only I knew then what I know now".
Over at Plannerliness they’ve found an article on ethnography. It’s the practice of using anthropology to find the gaps in people’s lives – and then filling them. Another great example of using research to say something new, instead of simply playing back what an audience already knows. You can read the full article here.
Here’s a link to Oxy’s UK website (kids’ acne products). There a great co-creation idea where they show you their ad, and asks if you can do better. If you enter your idea, there’s a laptop to be won. They’ve realised that young people think grown ups don’t get them, so they have an advisor team of young ‘Oxyologists’;because "Oxy is too old to know what young people really want". Clear positioning, great idea. Shame they still have to include the old ‘confidence’ cliches too.
I hate Mondays. They start slowly for me and rev up as the day goes on. Thanks to a badly argued article in this month’s Adline, today is different.
If you work in a UK agency outside of London you’ll have heard of Adline. If you don’t, it’s the trade magazine for agencies that never get in Campaign Magazine because they’re outside London.
There was an article this month on ‘integration’. Sue Little of McCan Erickson was describing it as a ‘new trend’. Hello? We’re way past this are we not? There I thought agency folk had ‘got the integration thing’ ages ago. I just assumed they were busy worrying about co-creation, branded content and the whole ‘Is TV dying?’ thing.
Outside of London, clients tend to be wee bit smaller and expect you to do more than just one thing as a matter of course, so what’s the big deal. Shouldn’t this be second nature now?
The bit that really got me going was the way she talked about encouraging specialists to understand other disciplines more. Why?
If someone lives and breathes direct, PR or SEO, why dilute their skills? If we end up with a world of generalists, we’ll be okay at lots of stuff and great at nothing. What matters is someone, not everyone, at the core to make sure that the briefs the specialists get works as part of a wider whole. I think I’m talking about planners.
Sure, they’ll be specialist planners still; advertising planners, DM planners and stuff, but more and more, planners will be the generalists at the heart of campaign planning. If people like Sue Little don’t cotton on to this soon, there will be no need to worry about re-training specialists, clients will have their own in-house planning function after giving up waiting for agencies to sort themselves out.
Apparently the billboard covers a bridge that was being repaired.
So much more interesting than a normal special build. Although it doesn’t tell me much about Adidas, at least they’ve taken the time to do something to interest me.
