Articles from: Society

Indeed, following on from Riaz’s post I too attended the Microsoft Truman Session. Their take on the world come 2019 caught my eye.

I must say, their vision piece was extremely well thought out and crafted. There were of course some usual suspects: digital newspapers, an evolution of Surface and interactive mirrors (hey, we’ve already done that for Macy’s). I guess when imagining the future these technologies are de riguer.  I would have liked to see the vision piece driven by narrative however. Perhaps a storyline. How’s this: A story about a strange man that builds a world using holographic tools for the woman he loves?  Oh, wait.

Whilst creative judges and juries fail to admonish the jolly corruption of children in the selling chocolate to lonely women (and instead get down to late 80s freestyle electro), there are important things at hand ineligible for easy cool. 

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Now that the Evil Eye of Mordor has temporarily passed from the energy companies to the Bankers… (and having recently worked on briefs for both) it strikes me there are some major insights relating to all forms of ‘corporate evil’: 

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We, the consumptive populous require proof positive of corporate change in order to believe again. We want clear and easy influence… To be certain that the corporate villains are listening and repenting… And that this ‘change of spots’ is having a measurable, positive effect on our lives. 

We are conflicted, we want our guilt expunged without having to sacrifice warmth or mobility (or a million other convenient dreams)… we want CorpsUnited to change on our behalf, that’s what we’re paying for damn it!

It is said that capitalism is built upon scarcity and debt, and yet the human spirit craves the opposite… some say we are living through a 12 month window of opportunity disguised as a recession. ‘What Ever. My head hurts. I feel powerless. This is confusing. I don’t think I can make it without my two weeks in the sun’.

<insert therapist.ai here>

Here in the home of building believable brands, Marketing demands aimed at stereotyped targets seem redundant, self-indulgent and transitory. We are not immune from the dark side but we are relentless in our desire to make stuff that works and that is built on the solid foundations of listening to real people. To be part of their lives in any moment, mode or medium they feel or request. To be meaningful and sustainable. We are at Base Camp. There is a climb is ahead.

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In the mean time I’d like to alert you to the genesis of a new cult: Cabralla. Sounds a bit like Kahbalah doesn’t it, well it’s pretty popular these days and not just with the creative elite. Supposedly the only effective protection is the gospel of the First Things First Manifesto, (old testament 1964, new testament 2000). As the followers of Fallon deride the disciples of IDEO (who pity them in return), some of us remember a simpler time pre-dotbomb, and imagine a future where ideas are the integrated currency - where everything else; every channel, format, media, platform and process… is open, available and perpetually intermixing. 

Some of us are nearly there now… we’re waiting for you…

<administer cold compress> 
</end waking dream>

(Playlist disguised as Post)

So here’s another site exemplifying why the internet is such a wonderfully democratizing medium that challenges authority, and exposing the difference between Brand Promise and Brand Reality.

That being said there are a few old stalwarts refusing to embrace this ongoing powerful new force of social change desperate to cling on to Information Control and retain the power of Information Flow.

If you’re providing a shitty service and a community exposes it as just that, see it as a warning.  Change the way you behave. Move on.  It’s the new world stupid.

As the Easter cliff-edge approaches (£Q1′09) an old trend returns. The Trends Research Institute reintroduces the theme: ‘The recession will fuel escapist revelry. It’s either that, or stay home and become really depressed’. 

You could say Economic Escapism is less of a trend, more of a reflex. According to the idyllically named Melody Brooke (a Texan therapist and compassionate relationship expert) ‘The escapist response is biologically programmed…’ it helps keep us in balance when things get bad.

Philip Graves of The Consumer Behaviour blog says in recessions ‘people cut back and reduce their spending significantly, but spending on escapist pursuits holds or even increases. People spend more on things like going to the movies, buying popular upbeat music, low-cost indulgences…’

So expect cinema attendance to go up - the livescience.com blog sites the box office success of comedies in hard times (you don’t have to go all the way back to Chaplin to prove that one).

We can expect lots more gaming - billsavings.com points to the fact that xBox 360 scored record sales on the Black Friday weekend.

All very interesting, but here’s the real trend: Today you can be the party monster of your dreams for free - if you have the right invites, vouchers and passwords… as well as a wirelessly enabled laptop.

With a Spotify invite and Hype Machine to guide you through the new music bloggersphere you’re already dancing. Google Video + Vimeo + You Tube leaves BBC4 & HBO the only reasons to have a TV license or cable subscription. iPhone users reading this will most likely be aware of the wi-finder app, and know that it can be set to actively scan for open nodes 24/7. Been into a ‘trendy’ restaurant chain recently? Wagamma, The Real Greek, Gourmet Burger world all have 2-4-1-or similar voucher schemes, and it’s eVouchers a-go-go with the internet the (viral) channel of choice - search for evoucher on google and you’ll see what i mean.

To end… who am I to resist a global trend? Goodnight Friday the 13th. The W.O.R.L.D. is full of M.A.G.I.C.  so let this be marked as the first insanely happy antidote to the credit crunch… think of it as the sound of Friday night reaching out for Monday morning. See you there.

The Sound of Arrows - M.A.G.I.C. (Mini-video) from The Sound of Arrows on Vimeo.

There’s no escaping it, times are rough and tough.  We’ve been bracing ourselves and tightening our belts to the point where we’re running out of notches. Green shoots of recovery? Yeah, right.

Clients are shaking their heads as they ponder budgets for 2009. The IPA and other industry gurus will no doubt be knocking on their doors with some solid scientific evidence that cutting ad spend has a long-term detrimental effect. Will it be convincing enough? Partly. But accountability will be more important than ever.

We creatives can expect a rather large magnifying glass to hover above our heads, scrutinizing our work and looking to extract every last drop of value from it. Clients will be looking us straight in the eye and demanding, “hey smart Alec, stimulate me some green shoots,” as though it’s all our fault.

You can imagine agency presentations across town this year. They’ll be rather like the old Fairy Liquid TV ads. “Your previous strategy only washed this many dishes. Our fresh, new, lemon scented strategy will stretch your budget to this many dishes.”

We’re already seeing conventional reactions to the crunch; big football sponsorship deals being pulled, four figure global lay-offs, corporate art projects canned.

Spectacular big budget broadcast will be seen as spectacular, big budget wastage. “Open on a tropical beach? You’re having a laugh, mate. What’s wrong with Skegness?!” And that’s just in the tissue meeting. Increasingly throughout 2009 you will hear themes of empowerment, sustainability, innovation and inclusion surfacing in articles.

Industry old boys will continue distancing themselves from broadcast, “Did we say tropical beach? Noooo! Of course we meant Skeggie.” New kids will be hyping the relevance of ’social’ and ’service’ design. Digital agencies can go even further: “We open on user generated shots of Skeggie.”

Yet do we need to get all doomy and gloomy about this? Well, it’s not ideal. I’ve seen tropical beaches and I’ve seen Skegness and, with all respect to the Lincolnshire Tourist Board, I know which I prefer. Yet, the new economic climate does open up a very real creative opportunity.

The good news is that clients are on our side. They know that, as the crunch bites down hard, creativity needs to flourish.  Not just in the way it connects them with their consumers, but the way it helps run their business.  Working smarter, innovatively distributing content and creating cost-effective dialogues is now higher up the agenda than ever. CMO’s will be empowered to make the big balls decisions using “the current climate” to reinvent their approach to their budgets.

So let’s not disappoint them. We too need the balls to grasp the challenge.  Let’s reinvent the industry; move from Broadcast to Narrowcast. Embrace Branded Generosity. Be being bold enough to zig while everyone else zags. Connect with consumers by building believable brands; ones that stand up to the scrutiny of the empowered consumer.

Peter Joseph’s Zeitgeist the Movie has got plenty of us talking in the LBi creative studio. Is it an Anti Capitalist conspiracy theory, or a glimpse of what comes after the collapse of the monetary system in the Crunch… a geothermally powered Resourced Based Economy courtesy of the Venus Project?

A wiser film maker may have steered clear of some of the ham-fisted emotive narrative techniques (the final ‘Times Square Revelation’ scene is worst of all). It’s true Zeitgeist isn’t perfect - there are some holes, it doesn’t have all the answers. But it does do a good job of raising serious questions and prompting debate. For this alone I recommend it highly… clear an evening and go work it out for yourself. 

Part 1: Zeitgeist the Movie (2007)

Part 2: Zeitgeist Addendum (2008)

(Qudos to JMT for getting there first and sharing).

The Times claim each google search contributes 7 grams of CO2 to the atmosphere, google responds almost immediately, some else exposes The Times’ shoddy journalism (probably using google). I’d like to see them do an analysis of the total CO2 emissions generated during the production of a single issue of The Times.

I confess to nicking this post from Ian Tait’s excellent crackunit. But I had to put it up here. We’re always interested in what makes content popular on You Tube. Is this the recipe? Simple idea, well executed and lots of repetition? Kiddy Crack as Mr Tait says. I also can’t help wondering if the MASSIVE global phenomenon of Harry Potter has anything to do with it. I guess in the end, there’s no formula for a phenomenon. Although apparently is one for a fart. Hmmm. The web can be so childish.

Words and the internet. They’ve had a chequered history together, what with most agencies seeing “copy” as an asset to be uploaded as an afterthought and many a user claiming they don’t read it. Poppycock I say. There’s lots of great writing on the web, not least this from Nick Asbury. Corpoetics is an inspired and subversive exploration of corporate mission statements using poetry. Let this be a challenge to all brands, mean what you say when you say it. And even better, be believable. So do what you say too.

If you’re looking for inspiration of the word kind, the web contains all the greatest poetry ever written. We should look to poetry more than we do. What other art form is so instantly easily communicable? To appreciate a great painting you have to stand in front of it, novels take days to read, films and plays have to be viewed in the right circumstances. Poetry delivers a lot in a small space without costly embellishments. Is it the ultimate recessionary art form? Try Louis Macneice

The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was
Spawning snow and pink roses against it
Soundlessly collateral and incompatible:
World is suddener than we fancy it.

World is crazier and more of it than we think,
Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion
A tangerine and spit the pips and feel
The drunkenness of things being various.

And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world
Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes -
On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of one's hands -
There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.

Back in Spring we were lucky enough to get to hang out with the guys at LBi Syrup in NYC. A great time was had by all, (naturally), but the highlight was being there just after the team had launched Hope.Act.Change.com

We looked briefly at the project back in LBiQ 2, but the recap (if you’re unaware of it) goes a little like this: inspired by Obama, will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas put out the “yeswecansong“, (part of what Jeff Howe referred to the other night as the first ‘crowdsourcing’ of a presidential candidate).

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