I continue to admire the chaps at Dare and me old mucker, Professor Emmel. Despite the flowery shirt. Here’s their digital essay. A lovely piece piece of storytelling and thought leadership. Cut out and keep stuff. Here’s a big version to avoid eye strain.

Here’s a great presentation from the Techno//Marketer himself, Matt Dickman. Definitely worth 40 minutes fo your time. A really well structured presentation with neat examples and good brain food to start the day.

And here’s 8 future trends from Leo Burnett in London. Nice to hear a British voice too.

And here’s another! This time from Paul Isakson (found via David Armano)

If these three things can’t help me pull together a “what’s next” point of view then nothing will.

“Markets are conversations.”

Well, we all should know that by now and should be putting it in place in all our work. But this statement originated in 1999. Way back when dial up tones were the norm. The statement came from the Cluetrain Manifesto which was way ahead of its time. This report from Technorati and Ogilvy revisits that manifesto and shows how to put it into place when you get into work on a Monday.

What I like is that there are some real examples of conversational marketing, social media, call it what you will. And how they worked and why. These case studies cover:

• An Inconvenient Truth
• Microsoft sponsored Live Earth site
• Shut up and sing campaign
• Scion and the Indie film community
• Sun microsystems

There’s a nice diagram too for finding, concentrating and syndicating conversations (above) and we all like more pictures, less words in any document.

I’m not sure it was necessary to devote a half page to a proposed conversational advertising code of conduct considering the one word that springs to mind and sings from the page is “transparency”. And somewhat disagree that “the real spoken language of peers is so much more interesting than copywriting.” Not if you have a good copywriter and they’re released from any corporate and legal shackles.

But well worth a read first thing on a Monday to get the old grey matter warmed up.

Found via Greg Verdino.

Take a step back in time and flick through some classic TV ads including the Hamlet cigar\wig ads.

A very cool Mac virus film by these guys with even cooler stuff on their site.

Egg-shaped car seats and other interesting design and inspiration things at think/thing

Lots of free stuff on the web these days. Get this Free Love report. (via Steve Clayton via Armano on Twitter.)

A bit pointless but you too can make a tune by poking these ladies. So to speak. Found here

And this is pretty freaky the way she follows your cursor around. Can’t make her go cross-eyed though. (thanks to Bo). Created by these folk.

Lots of web-based video tools.

How do you get to the kidz these days? Well, music is one way. And these chaps seem pretty good at it. But the user experience of this part of the site is phucking (see, down wid da kidz) dreadful. Not book at all. Scale? Pan the page around? Zoom in/out? Phuck me. How about a PDF download for those of us who can’t be arsed to spend our days working out your funky, new-fangled interface?

I find this amusing

Post from New Tee Vee on Google launching ad sense for video

Never moan again in a restaurant or face getting a few F words on your bill

“Grab ‘em by the balls and their hearts and minds will surely follow.”

Quote from BBC series, Life on Mars. Just thought you might like it.

Hurty brain blog. Emmel was keen to point out the very good Carslberg activity. I like the whole blog. And I was going to share the Diamond Shreddies focus group separately but now you might as well look at it on that blog. Hilarious how people will believe any old crap.

Are your boobs OK? Norweigian “pop star” Lene’s are. She even sings about them and has managed to top the Norwegian chart with this little ditty.

I found the above while finding out about a competition for fring, a new mobile service being promoted by Ogilvy PR that lets you communicate with your fringsters for free.

A free mobile network for 16-24 year olds in UK. Want to watch their creds on You Tube instead?

New work for Tiger Beer which is perfect for those with a 2 minute attention span.

Online magazine for all things marketing & interactive in Asia Pacific.

Continuing with Asia, here’s a new series of ads in Malaysia for the Renault Kangoo featuring our favourite yellow friends.

Short but sweet review of FX Networks new branding. Interesting direction given media fragmentation.

Feeling peckish? You too could get your Hunger Shot mantra. I’m creamy vanilla kamala . Disclosure time, this is Ogilvy work. Let me know what you think.

And lastly, get yourself a Wurst rug (via popbitch)

So I went to New York a few weeks back for work to meet some folks, do some meetings, present some work etc etc. Work side all good. Although I found myself oddly detached from it all. And I’m still unsure as to why this was. Here’s my thoughts on various subjects and maybe by the time I’m through I’ll have figured it out.

JFK

Last time I went to NYC, I was a wee lad of some 18/19 years of age. I flew in solo to meet up with my then girlfriend who’s sister lived out there and she’d gone ahead. I remember a fearsome true noo yoiker at the passport control who looked not unlike the great Andy Sipowicz in the glory days of NYPD Blue. Somewhat scared I managed to mumble my way through my responses and at the same time ascertain that that ever-so-familiar-looking chap that had just been frog-marched round the corner was one Boy George and that he had to be “searched” as he was a known drugs felon. Rubber glove time, George. That made me even more petrified. Anyway, I got through and met up with everyone and had a blast.

But this time round JFK was a soulless place. Posters on the front of the customs desks bleating on about our pledge to do this and that. A bored customs official motioning for me to get finger-printed, stare at the screen and then out to baggage. Hardly intimidating at all. I felt let down. Where was Andy? Or Jimmy Smits? She didn’t even have a noo yoik accent. Perhaps this is where my feeling of being let down started?

The subway

For some reason I’ve always had the mentality when it comes to expenses that I treat it as if it’s my own money. Perhaps that’s what comes from being brought up in the direct business where budgets have never been plentiful for that type of thing. Or you’d never get it signed off and be fuming at the largess of your choices. I remember a chap who used to work at an agency with the letters T, J and W (in a different order, I try to protect the innocent) where they would regale us of tales of them going left as they entered the plane and the clients going right to the cheap seats. That always struck me as odd. I digress. Again.

The subway. So, I decided to take the subway. Perhaps naively buoyed by my experiences of the trains in the Netherlands which are clean, punctual and cheap and our own dear Expresses of Heathrow and Gatwick which are clean and punctual but not cheap. I presumed that JFK to Manhattan would have a similar route (that’s pronounced root, not rowt by the way). So I hopped on the terminal train type thing to one of the Metro terminuses. And then completely baffled by the need to buy a card. How much? No info. Ask an attendant? No English spoken here it seems. Ask a fellow traveller (with two l’s)? Essentially, you have to buy a ticket and the train system thing debits you $7 for the trip to anywhere in Manhattan. So I try and buy $7 worth but it doesn’t take my card. I am in America and it rejects American Express. So I have to break into a $20 as that’s all the cash machine plopped out. But it doesn’t give change. I am now down on the deal and feeling annoyed. I then step outside. Feckin freezing! Minus 6 says the outsized thermometer. Jesus. Thankfully I had my gloves.

Eventually exiting, again I found myself being hit by the cold - it was a mild 12 degrees when I left Blighty. Eventually I found the hotel after belatedly discovering that Broadway was in fact 7th Avenue. Why do they do this? Is it to confuse Johnny Foreigner? I actually found navigating my way around quite easy with the block system but that annoyed me. It’s the small things, people.

Hotel

The W in Times Square. Very trendy, very cool but also very dark. Couldn’t see in the lift to hit my floor number so ended up going up and down a few times and squinting by the small amount of light that was emitted when the doors opened. Eventually found my way to the 39th floor and had a not at all bad view up 7th Avenue.

And a big billboard of Corona beer staring at me. Mmm, beer. Mmm, mini bar. I wonder if they see a spike in Corona sales in the side of the building? It worked on me.

Room was what you’d expect of a trendy, urban style-seeker hotel. But why oh why do hotels have such noisy air con units? Every hotel I’ve ever stayed in seems to have the same problem. And I always switch it off. Not the green hippy in me, just the fact I like it peaceful. Perhaps I should work out how to make a silent air con system and make my millions of dollars?

Manhattan

I explained that I’ve been before a while ago and I somehow had this romantic memory of tall buildings, cool places and just generally jaw-droppingly cool. Maybe I was just in the wrong parts of town. Maybe my head wasn’t fully wired to wanting to do stuff. Maybe because it got agreed last minute that I didn’t have time to plan or try and get in touch with (reach out/connect) some people I know in NYC. For example, the very week I go to New York, Spam’s mum is in Aruba for a pitch. I’ve been there too. I liked it. A lot. So I was probably in the wrong headspace for it. Nonetheless I wandered a bit, went into some shops etc. Macy’s felt like a 1970s department store not too dissimilar to Grace Brothers.

Dear Macy’s, have you never visited Selfridges for what a cool, aspiring department store brand should be?

MOMA - nice shop. Couldn’t be arsed (bothered) to go to the museum. Which is odd because I actually wanted to. Again, a clue as to my headspace. Hersheys/M&Ms stores - full of chocolate and cheesy stuff. Annoyed that the Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cup Cakes were not available in an easily manageable format for me to take home. Grrrr. I took a walk down 6th Avenue. Why is every other shop a chemist (drug store) or have peep shows? All felt a bit brown, dull and especially run down. Everything seemed in need of repair. Again, the 1980s seemed to resurface.

Felt compelled to go to the site of the World Trade Centre. Last time I was there was just after some less successful terrorists had tried to car bomb the basement so you couldn’t get anywhere near it. Couldn’t see much this time either as it’s a massive building site. Thought I’d feel some emotion. I felt more thinking about going than when I was there. Probably because you can’t see anything. I thought there was a memorial thing there. Either I didn’t find it (again, crappy signage) or not there. Looked out over the water at the Statue of Liberty. Took a cab back uptown to hotel. Ate in the hotel. Nice food. Wine had a lot of sediment.

Cloverfield

The city was awash with advertising for Cloverfield. I’ve wanted to see this for a while as it looked interesting and different on the trailers, had an innovative digital campaign utilising user generated content. And more practically I was convinced I wouldn’t get to see it at home. So I took myself off to the cinema. Experience-wise not at all different to the American inspired multiplexes we have in the UK these days. One huge difference was the size of the drink I got. I asked for a regular. It was HUUUGE. Literally about 3-4 litres in a massive receptacle that required two hands to hold it. It was also so sugary sweet that I could only stomach a few sips.

Onto the film. After the initial nausea caused by the hand-held style and the character setting the film really sets off about 20 mins in and from there it is edge of seat stuff. I hadn’t quite realised that it was a bit of a monster film. And reminded me of the horrible little critters in Resistance: Fall of Man. Really enjoyed the film although again slightly odd seeing a disaster movie set in New York when you are there. Un-nerving when they’re way up in a building and you can hear the wind howling outside and when you get back to your hotel and hear the wind howling in the corridors. I think the threat of the monster and the non-conclusions of the film were the most interesting parts. You never knew why the creature appeared and assumed that at the end they had to total the area and the monster along with assuming the protagonists died. An innovative piece of film-making with some really good effects. Although the prat (idiot) who shouted out after the helicopter crash moment near the end “wooo! now that’s a movie!” somewhat spoiled it for me. Also had the Under Construction trailer for the new Star Trek film also by JJ Abrams which should be exciting judging by his Lost and M:I3 outings.

Starbucks

On every corner. Literally. And oddly, not another coffee house brand in sight. At least you get choice in the UK: Nero’s (actually the nicest in my humble opinion), Coffee Republic, Costa etc. No, every one a Starbucks. Despite this, some thoughts: the coffee not as strong as at home. In fact a bit insipid. I did like the fact that someone would ask you in line what you wanted and then radio it to the barista and there it would be scrawled with your name indecipherable on it. Speeded the process no end. Something we could learn over here where sometimes we seem hopeless at efficient service.

I also discovered that Starbucks is now the natural home for weirdo’s. Two examples here for you. One, a guy who spoke to himself quite loudly all the time. Two, another guy (it’s always guys) who would constantly keep standing up, re-setting his clothes and then sitting down. A touch of OCD? I backed away from them and found a corner to myself in both instances.

Flight

Virgin Atlantic, premium economy. Serene, nice food, comfy seats. Good selection of entertainment. Good supply of wine when sat on the tarmac at JFK for 3 hours when power failure at the tower grounded everyone. Makes you never want to fly economy again. And the overall experience was miles better than BA who I flew to Boston last year.

Spam

Spam got in on the act. After missing out on South Africa, he made sure he jumped into my hand luggage here. A Spam Show will follow.

So I felt a bit flat. Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the lack of planning. Maybe I was just not in the right mood. Maybe I wanted to be at home. But it didn’t feel very go-go or taste that nice to me. Just a bit drab and dreary and 80’s. Or maybe London actually is a lot more interesting these days?

(pics at top taken from 19th floor in BBH offices on 6th Avenue. Nice offices, nice people.)

… you could work for these guys. (via Anita who keeps sending Jude and I an endless stream of emails. Some amusing, some not.)

First stuff and things of the New Year starts with this off-beat look at the Death Star’s demise in Star Wars

Another outing for bullshit bingo which is always amusing. And working in the world of agencies, too close to the truth sometimes. (thanks to Debbie)

Jeep on Facebook

In case you missed it,Tom Cruise doing weird Scientology vid. I don’t recall any newspaper headlines about Tom stopping at road accidents?

What’s in your name?

And apparently internet advertisjng will be up 30.8% in 2008.Thank fuck.

A sackful of stuff and things today as will be away for Christmas.

God bless your brand (thanks to Bo Hellberg)

Fancy attending a Jedi bootcamp? These people exist.

Star in a soap by uploading your photo to check if you’re hot or not. (source: popbitch)

Get fed up with those inane, circular questions about having content above the fold? Use this as ammo to wipe the floor with ‘em. And this as a fabulous creative example to put the knife in. (thanks to Karen Gwyer)

Fabulously weird story about coffee bukkake.

A year of ideas.

Physics get all web 2.0 and funky (thanks to Mel Ferguson)

Ever get stuck trying to find logos to dump into slides. Here’s a load. Free. (source: Drew’s Marketing Minute)

Not content with advertising Snickers, Mr . T turns his mohawk to World of Warcraft