Russell Davies

worth looking at

from ihaveanidea:

Are you in need of a challenge?

Here's one. Take a relatively new brand and make it famous. Very famous.

The cameras are ready to roll and convert your idea into television reality.

TigerGaming.com needs a new advertising campaign, and somewhere within you lies an incredible T.V. idea!

Whether you are an advertising creative, account executive, planner, photographer, producer, director, marketer, or someone who has always wanted to make your own television commercials, this advertising challenge will test and push your creativity to the limit.

More details here.

And maybe, with any luck, you can also get an old git of a creative director to quit at the same time. (That's me, editorialising, not ihaveanidea)

stefan bucher - top man

Thousands of years ago I worked, briefly, with a fantastic designer called Stefan Bucher. He did some completely gorgeous and intricate Microsoft print ads which got horribly swallowed up by the general morass of badness that surrounded w+k and microsoft. (And, I'm starting to remember, we also spent time practising being in a radio play written by another friend Jed. Wow, I haven't thought about that for a long time.) I'd love to see those ads again. I think they're some of the best stuff I've ever been involved with and they've been buried by history.

Anyway, Stefan took off for LA to be free of our morass and design beautiful things and I've not seen him forever. Then I bought a book about Graphic Design which I really liked, and then I spotted that it was written by Stefan and I was really incredibly happy to see his little picture and read his words. I have absolutely no hesitation recommending it to anyone. It's supposed to be about design but it's actually about creativity, integrity and imagination. Things we should all pay attention to.

Buy a copy. Buy several. And, while you're at it, visit his splendid site and watch his fantastic talk at the San Diego Y conference. He's smart and funny.

when insights go bad

This is an ad based on an insight; that mid-life crisis blokes reach out for totems of their youth - drums, motorbikes, fast cars. Not that startling but, nevertheless a legitimate marketing 'insight'. I'm sure everyone at Roland is very pleased with it, and I'll admit it's a step-up from the stuff they normally do.

But they undermine everything by not following through on their own thought processes. Our midlife crisis guy is reaching for symbols of his lost youth with his new-found disposable income - he doesn't want you reminding him of that. These drums, that bike, are a fantasy and you're puncturing the fantasy with your clever-arse ad.

(Made even more cynical by shooting the drums like they're a lifestyle accessory. If you really wanted to touch the crisis you should have shot them in a shoddy rehearsal room.)

I speak from personal experience. I'm 39. I bought some Roland e-drums so I could practise in the flat. I love them. I can pretend I'm in a band again. I'm the perfect target audience for this ad and it just made me feel silly. It made me feel like a shallow fool. I'd say that's a tactical mistake. I'd say that's where a thin insight and a too-clever writer have undermined their own intent.

Anyway. That's just what I think.

going deaf in a small way

My mate Ben invited me out to see the Steve Reid ensemble (with Keiran Hebden) last night. Two gigs in two nights. Unprecedented for me. It's not something I'd ever have selected for myself but I really enjoyed it. The bassist burned more calories in an evening than my whole body gets through in a year. Splendid electronic noodling from Keiran and powerhouse drumming that never lapsed into too much freeness.

Never going to be a rock photographer am I? But this blurriness does capture the experience of a gig, standing at the back.

our product will come to the market

This is the lid of a robot I bought for Arthur in Italy so obviously it's a product of mangled translation. But I like the way it sums up the extent of many Web 1.0 dotcom launch strategies:

1. Our product will come to market.
2. We'll be Fast, Cool and Super.

And then if you add 'Defend Peace' with echoes of 'Don't Be Evil' it turns into a Web 2.0 strategy.

frost

dangerous smile

Arthur and Anne have been reading a Robin Hood book which referred to Robin's 'dangerous smile'. Arthur's been practising his dangerous smile. With mixed success.

is there a good 'web2.0' solution for this?

As you'll see from the comments on the post below (Account Planning School of the web - Lending Library) we have a bunch of people wanting to borrow books and a bunch of people willing to lend them. Does anyone know of a simple, web-based way to manage this? Or does someone want to build one? I can imagine it would be useful to more than just us.

Any ideas?

melt banana

Went to see Melt Banana with Neil last night.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed it as much as Pete obviously did, but it was very er, rousing. God, that makes me sound old. They sounded like the pictures look.

rocester - still losing

Went to see Rocester again. They've still not managed a win and didn't this Saturday, despite scoring 4. They lost 5-4 to Barwell. What spirit. How do they keep going?