Well hey 👋. How you doin? The sun’s buggered off a bit hasn’t it 🙁. Sure look it, we had it good 🍹 didn’t we. Anyway, lets go. (also, do give it a share if you have a sec).
“Technique is communication: the two words are synonymous in conductors”.
Leonard Bernstein
culture // luddites
Ever used the term Luddites? You probably called yourself or someone else one. You know, technology 👨💻 heel draggers. We’ve come to use the term Luddite as a pejorative. But actually, the real history of the Luddites was a secret working-class movement in the early 19th century opposed to the political consequences of industrial capitalism. Under the cover of night 🌚, they destroyed weaving machines in protest to changes in their working conditions. Which is interesting. Particularly in light of big tech. And things like the creator economy. Lots of platforms enabling gig and passion workers, but are they supporting or exploiting? Where workers historically sold their labor; now passion workers sell their imagination and creativity and VC’s are set on exploiting it. Maybe, we’ll all be proud Luddites soon?
brands // henry
Love this story from Dave Trott on the origins of Henry the vacuum cleaner. The owner made the prototype from an oil drum and a washing-up bowl. It was ignored initially. So, to make it stand out, he drew a smile, made the hose look like a nose and put two eyes 👀 above it. Big hit and the rest is history. The brand was built without any of the trappings of “normal” marketing. No ads, research, strategists, creative etc. He just read the room and saw what the public wanted. Which was a bit of fun. Interestingly, in the same week as this article, this report from the Ehrenberg Bass Institute was released, on what happens when you stop advertising. They found that typically, sales fell 16% after one year, and 25% after two years. Worse for smaller brands. Makes you think, imagine what would happen if Henry did advertise?
creativity // gertcha
Just finished reading "Why Does the Pedlar Sing” by Paul Feldwick. It’s great. Full of insight. At the start, he discusses how far advertising has drifted from popular, entertaining content 🍿. Watching this brilliant short doc on the genius of John Webster hammers that home again. John was the creative brain behind Cadbury's Smash Martians, the Honey Monster, Chas and Dave's Gertcha ad for Courage Best Bitter 🍺 and a string of John Smith's ads. What’s clear is, he was someone who understood people. Common people. We often forget them. Forget that the most watched comedy in the UK is Mrs Brown’s Boys. And the biggest film of the year so far is Fast and Furious 9. Meanwhile, the ad industry, is churning out ads for awards, not people. So yeah, there's a strong case for radical popularism in advertising. And to get there, requires more diversity. People from different social backgrounds, not more Rugby Rory's as this piece suggests. The industry needs to get common. Bit like John Webster did in the 1970s.
technology // new realities
AR and VR are trucking along, bubbling in the background. Recent AR developments like Reebok’s AR tool for mapping the exact dimensions of a court anywhere, or using AR to navigate in store or trying on clothes with AR, all signal progress. Yeah, it’s moving along. Meanwhile the metaverse (which is partly a VR 🥽 thing) rolls on too. Epic games, who just finished hosting a series of concerts “The Ariana Grande Rift Tour” on Fortnite, see the metaverse as a blue ocean opportunity. A game changer. Which is why, Facebook now want us to live in it and Zuck is betting Facebook’s future on it. Hell, even ITV are jumping in and bringing the gameshow 'The Void' to the Fortnite metaverse. All makes sense when you think that the next big thing always starts out being dismissed as a “toy.” But as Bowie said, “Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming”, are you listening?
five (ish) random things //
The danger of following design trends means everything looks the same.
Mariah Carey’s Black Irish 😱 and Pepsi move into booze 🤷♂️.
Nice use of voice tech for house hunters 🏠 in the UK from Nationwide .
Good read on the ABCDE of marketing re-invented.
watching 🎥 // introverts :
Watched this again recently. Powerful stuff. We live in a world designed for and governed by extroverts. But, 1/3 to 1/2 of us are introverts. Extroverts enjoy, feel most alive and are most switched on with lots of stimulation. For introverts, it’s the opposite 🤫. We often believe that creativity comes from a group place. Brain storms 🤯. But many creative people do their best thinking alone. We need to start addressing this.