This is a somewhat bizarre but nonetheless very impressive dance routine performed for Samsung to celebrate the launch of a camera with 10 million pixels. Forget the BA blinking eye, this is in a different class altogether:
Via: Brand Tao
Anomaly's head of innovations Johnny Vulkan pulled in $100,000 for Keep a Child Alive by selling the first iPhone on eBay.
Spike Lee bought it! Well done Johnny! Truly incredible achievement for the charity.
Amongst his other talents, Johnny has been one of the most vocal exponents of brand utility (the idea that brands should actually be useful). Johnny kindly spoke on the subject at the recent Wildfire conference on developments in communications that Leo Burnett co-hosted with Contagious Magazine.
The Observer points to a great new photography exhibition which starts at Tate Britain in London this month. "How We Are: Photographing Britain" opens on May 22nd and includes work from over 100 photographers curated to create a picture of how Britain has lived for the last 150 years.
Somehow I managed to miss the arrival of the stunning Solarshuttle on the Serpentine at Hyde Park last summer. Luckily it's still there.
The videos of the pecha kucha style presentations from the RLF fringe event at the MRS conference will be up on You Tube shortly. As a teaser, here is a list of the speakers and their abstracts (some edited by moi):
Mark Earls (Herd Consulting): "Gastromarketing: the next best brand new fancy new technique”
After celebrating that his paper had been voted the least influential at the MRS conference this year by one of John Kearon's predictive markets, Mark argued for us to trust our guts over our brains. Individuals are bad witnesses to their own lives and therefore much research is flawed. Ethnography and neuroscience offer ways around this. However the study of our brains is only "at the end of the beginning" and we should instead look to "the seat of our emotion": our guts to provide the answers. He admits that he was "not being terribly serious" but closed with the main thrust of his Herd thesis - that peoples' behaviour is largely governed by what the people around them do.
Grant Hunter (Iris): “See the potential – why do creatives
hate research”
Being a creative Grant got away with not submitting an abstract. Here's a memorable bit from his presentation instead: “When the word research is heard in a creative department our natural response is to go and boil our heads for fear of losing the idea to f***ing Mavis and her WI chums from Scunthorpe” You get the drift. He went on to talk about research which can actually help creative development.
John Griffiths (Above and beyond planning): “Environmentally
sustainable research”
Research as it is currently carried out is no different to Amazonian deforestation. Current methodologies commit us to slash and burn and to pretend any respondent recycling happens by accident in spite of us. Which is stupid, wasteful and self defeating as clients become more cynical about the quality of sampling and the value of the outputs. What I intend to show is what environmentally sustainable research looks like moving from horizontal to longitudinal models of relationship where we know people's research history and they don't have to deceive us to continue to participate. I conclude by showing how using such panels companies can dismantle the boundaries between the producers and consumers and how research will move from start-stop projects towards a fluid model of consultation and co-creation. Clients will get it. Customers will love it. Researchers will take some persuading.
Craig Harries (AMP): “The power of positive thinking”
A diatribe against traditional qualitative research approaches which stifle creativity and new ideas. Craig contends that you can turn good ideas into great ideas by encouraging people to think creatively about the idea and explore what it could be, rather than seeking to unearth its deficiencies. i.e. stop criticising my ideas, OK!
Andrew Vincent (Waves): “No but yeah but no but yeah! Stop
obstructing and start accepting, the skills we need to stay on top.”
Andrew argued that the broad training model adopted by most the
research industry is flawed and that it contributes to a view that research
doesn’t make the impact it should. A new framework is required together with
new attitudes towards young researchers if we are to accept the skills we need
to say on top.
Chris Barnham (Barnham Research): “Venti Skinny Latte -In
Praise of Contradiction”
Current marketing culture assumes that contradictions in brands are, per se, a 'bad thing'. This way of thinking stems from the 'message' model of marketing that is still dominant despite all the evidence that it is out of date. In line with this, we assume that contradictions involve 'mixed' messages and will, therefore, undermine the marketing process. As market researchers we, accordingly, think we are doing the client a favour when we help to iron contradictions out. All of this is mistaken, however, some of the most successful brands are, indeed, founded on contradictions – e.g. Jack Daniels is whisky from the USA, Caffreys is an Irish Bitter. Their very ability of reframe and challenge these contradictions is what has made them successful. So, rather than trying to make brands squeaky clean and having no rough edges (a sure sign of fake marketing these days), we need to know how to embrace contradictions in a brand. And we can do this by understanding how contradictions can exist in the propositional hierarchy.
Douglas Dunn (Tuned In): “Sex, drugs and research”
Youth researcher Doug reported his key findings from research projects for clients like Lynx & Channel 4, being sure to deal with the real issues – Drugs and Sex! What’s the drug of choice for today’s youth? Is it E’s, Charlie or new pretender Ketamine? Where are young people on threesomes? How important is capping up? A unique, fast-paced and amusing presentation which was designed to shock.
Louise Cook (Holmes and Cook): “Econometric models – so many
possibilities, so little time!”
Many people use econometric analysis as a means
of understanding one particular issue and never push its boundaries. But it can
do lots and lots of things, particularly in conjunction with other research
techniques. This presentation whizzes through a range of applications to give
an overview of its true scope.
Paul Wilson (Starcom): “When Sam met Carol: the importance of
personal experience in research”
The importance of personal experience and how it influences
our world view. How technology can insulate us rather than connect us with
others. The flaw of focus groups - the difference between being behind the
glass and in front of the glass. The challenge of connecting a 24 yr old media
executive with a 45yr old housewife.
Andy Dexter (Truth): “The death of the research agency”
There are ten compelling reasons, with evidence, why the traditional mainstream research agency model will die out over the next few years. Andy stuck his neck out and predicted that one (unnamed) large research agency will go under in the next few years as umpteen innovative small agencies start to take the high ground and offer research consultancy devoid of the commodity that is data collection.
Fiona Blades (MESH): “A Revolution in Tracking”
In the last 20 years the world of communications has completely transformed. But the way we evaluate campaigns through tracking studies has hardly moved on – TV gets overplayed, online and word of mouth scarcely feature. With TROI, .Touch points Return on Investment) data is collected in real time by participants using their mobile phones and with new data we uncover fresh insight. We need to revolutionise the way we collect data, analyse it and communicate it. This is a call to arms to do things differently.
Carol Howes-Wright (Totman Stride): “Dark Side of the Moon”
Digital Research has a dark underbelly. From the dangerous world of online surveys to
the drastic measures used to address the large scale opting out of
participation in surveys generally, all things digital will be discussed, drawn
and quartered. Insurgency is
urgent. Recommendations will be provided
in order to move to the broad sunlit uplands of today's digital revolution.
There was an interesting article in the International Herald Tribune last week about the reemergence of surrealism in art, architecture, design and advertising which mentions a new exhibition on the subject which has just opened at the V&A in London:
Surreal Things is an exhibition exploring the relationship between Surrealism and design. It opens at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on Thursday. It examines the ambiguity of Surrealism's relationship with commerce, and the tensions that developed during its transition from an avant garde art movement in the 1920s to a commercial design style from the 1930s.
Surreal Things is the latest in the V&A's ongoing series of shows devoted to 20th-century design movements, of which Art Deco and Art Nouveau have been the most popular. The exhibitions are organized chronologically: the last was on Modernism, and the final shows will be Cold War Modern in autumn next year, and International Baroque the following spring.
The IHT quotes a number the following examples of the resurgence of surrealism including:
Surreal Things: Surrealism And Design, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7. 29 March to 22 July 2007. 0870 906 3883 or visit the V&A online to book
Read the reviews: The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and the Metro freesheet.
The subversive activities of the Research Liberation Front were noted by Campaign's diarist this week:
"Word reaches Diary that anarchy was about to reign at last week’s Market Research Conference in Brighton when a group calling itself the Research Liberation Front staged an “anti-research demo” outside the conference venue. The local police were alerted but the “demonstrators” turned out to be actors creating a bit of PR for MESH Planning."
To set the record straight, this was no mere PR exercise. As you can see from the picture below this was a deadly serious attempt to challenge the research orthodoxy and set research free.
The lovely people at Iris are co-hosting a fab sounding event in early April with Contagious Magazine.
A cross between a pub-crawl, a mad fringe event at the Edinburgh Festival and an undergraduate tutorial group, Under the Influence takes place in the boozers of Borough Market in London's SE1on April 12th from 2pm.
Described as a "festival of chat" on the subject of "creating influence in a crowded media landscape" the event will feature John Grant, Ivan Pollard of Naked, Paul Kemp-Robertson of Contagious and Andy McKay from Manumission. If you want to be a speaker then you may still have time to bid for a slot on eBay.
If you just want to drink and chat then you can register here.
We at Leo Burnett are co-hosting a splendid conference of new marketing thinking called Wildfire with those lovely folk at Contagious Magazine next month at the Truman Brewery in London.
The conference is all about understanding what lies behind ideas that spread and sell. Here's the full spiel:
The relationship between brands and consumers has shifted. The media landscape has fragmented. The transmission of ideas is rapid, and viral. The challenge facing brands – how to stand out and be heard amid the din – is more acute than ever. Strategic creativity remains the last legal way to gain an unfair advantage over the competition. Learn to create that advantage. Wildfire The Conference 2007 is your chance to meet the industry’s brightest minds. Discover their thoughts on how everything from design to technology and retail can help to create a Wildfire Brand.
This Wildfire event builds on the very successful Wildfire seminar we put on at Cannes last year (FT coverage here) and have since presented around the world. Whilst the name isn't new all the material definitely will be as we have a host of splendid speakers lined up including Ze Frank, Russell Davies, Johnny 'Brand Utility' Vulkan and speakers from Nintendo, Camper, Bebo, AKQA, Channel 4 and more.
The full speaker lineup has been confirmed as follows (A-Z order):
Go here for the full speaker bios and here to see some details of what they will be talking about.
When: Wildfire the Conference: April 24th – 25th 2007
Where: The Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL
Cost: £1,100 excl VAT, 2-day conference and drinks reception
See you there.
Declaration of interest: If you hadn't worked it out yet, I work for Leo Burnett.
I'm off to the Market Research Society conference in Brighton later this week. The line up looks pretty good with nearly as many ad planners and clients as there are researchers up on the podium this year.
This is my list of 10 must-see papers (the links take you through to the abstracts)...
It's going to be a very busy few days. Say hello if you see me.
Picture credit: the big bambooly
Gordon Torr: Managing Creative People: Lessons for Leadership in the Ideas Economy
I hope Gordon didn't choose that subtitle. It seems below him somehow. Grubby even. His book is, he insists, the first attempt to fully explore how to get the best out of creative people. I'm currently half way through and loving every bit of it. More soon. (****)
Randall Rothenberg: Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign
Rothenberg is a long time NYT journalist who went on to be editor of Ad Age and is now president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Where the Suckers Moon is an implausibly detailed account of the pitch and subsequent development of an ad campaign for Subaru USA. The book ends with Wieden's Subaru ads being voted dead last by consumers on Superbowl Sunday in 1993. It's quite a ride. (*****)
Joshua Ferris: Then We Came to the End
The rythyms of life in a Chicago ad agency during a recession. The writing is a bit too staccato for my liking and the characters are all long gone before you can get to know them. Nonetheless, it is about as close to home as you can get. (***)
Joe Moran: Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime
More homespun ethnography in the vein of Kate Fox's 'Watching the English'. Makes you think and there is even some gold hidden between the platitides. (****)
Nick Davies: Flat Earth News: An Award-winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media
Davies finds his colleagues in the media guilty of systematically recycling press releases and news agency output without checking the facts or seeking to find the truth. Shame he doesn't even attempt to seek a solution. (****)
Sam Delaney: Get Smashed!: The Story of the Men Who Made the Adverts That Changed Our Lives
Enjoyable romp through the history of (mostly British) advertising containing some (possibly apocryphal) tales from those that lived through it. (*****)
Mark Tungate: Adland: A Global History of Advertising
Tungate manages to make the history of advertising boring. Quite an achievement. (**)
Robert Johansen: Get There Early
The Institute for the Future's president Bob Johansen gives us the benefit of his 30 years as a trends forecaster and futurist. (***)
Joe Moran: Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime
Watching the English revisited. Joe Moran digs into the Mass Observation archive (and a lot more besides) to tell the story of how everyday British habits have changed over the last century. (****)
Oona Strathern: A Brief History of the Future; How Visionary Thinkers Changed the World and Tomorrow's Trends Are 'Made' and Marketed
A worthy attempt at pulling together the history of futurists and trendspotters. Nice companion to 'Where's my Jetpack?' (****)
Jim Taylor & Steve Hatch: Rigorous Magic: Communication Ideas and Their Application
A valiant but ultimately flawed attempt to codify and assess the value of different types of communications ideas. The typology they have created is useful but they fall down when it comes to providing workable definitions (e.g. between an 'emotional platform' and a 'brand idea'). Furthermore, being media men they are predictably in thrall of those kinds of ideas that media agencies can control ('activation' and 'symbiotic' ideas), less enthusiastic about 'brand' ideas and brazenly critical of the value of 'advertising' ideas. (**)
Stuart Maconie: Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North
Imagine if Pevsner was written by Nick Hornby. Maconie fights his demons about living in the South of England by going back home to the North. Supposendly a travel book, this is Maconie's humorous and informative take on the North-South divide. (***)
Mark Earls: Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature
Mark Earls, the professional contrarian and erstwhile Head of Planning at Ogilvy London has developed his ideas about herd thinking into a book for all to see. (****)
Dick Taverne: The March of Unreason: Science, Democracy, and the New Fundamentalism
If you like Ben Goldacre's Bad Science column in The Guardian then you will enjoy this. I don't agree with all of it but then that's part of the point. (***)
Andrew Marr: My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism
Andrew Marr writes his autobiography under the guise of authoring an insider perspective on the world of news journalism. Fascinating and written with a light touch. Not as ambitious as it might have been but riveting nonetheless. (****)
