I'm Loving It

Holy crap I should really write a PhD thesis on McDonalds because like my Microsoft post they're so big they often get an enormous kicking over everything from the environment to fast culture and I guess there's lots for them to be responsible about, but really while trying to hunt down my most cerebral comment/thought piece - the one about the social function that McDonalds plays in Hong Kong I'm a bit lost. Mainly because it's an excellent brand platform and fits nicely to the commercial I've embedded below. So I'm not far off the mark.

I do remember from an observation I culled the last time I was here in Hong Kong, while frequenting the Causeway Bay restaurants for my beloved McBreakfast, and which I'm not sure if I wrote about on this blog, in the comments or somewhere else but which definitely have been used by me for other global brand categories in a few meeting rooms around the world when trying to contextualize the whole do-good-power or potential of planet sized brand spiel.

Not a subject I talk lightly of either.

But while I try in vain to hunt it down you might want to check out this execution by DDB Hong Kong because it really doesn't get much more contemporary and Asian, than with the Web Cam McDonalds 24/7 Home Delivery Service they're just rolling out here in HK (the commercial that is) and that's one I could write a few thousand words on because between you me and the internet I'm highly familiar with this service and can even reel off some off the finer points of the service in Bangkok such as breakfast kicks off at 5.00 am, the Spinach pies are awesome, and the delivery lads didn't mind doing a few errands for me as I tipped them handsomely and we both chuckled like mad when I gave back a hundred or so sachets of unused tomato ketchup and asked for more coffee creamer (thanks guys that was fun).

I will write a post about my kamikaze tipping in my last few months of Bangkok, because, well, I was in the mood and yet it led to some heated scenes of frenzied artificial popularity that I don't wish to repeat in. But anyway, watch the ad and see what you think. Can you understand it?

I have to say I'm a bit of unusual about the Cantonese accent. It's about as sexy as a Cockney one, which that too can work nicely although is highly subjective, unlike I think a thick Brummie accent which doesn't do as well. Anyway I love those drawn out vowels on Canto chicks.

This movie and specifically this clip might have something to do with it as I first watched Chung King Express in the 90's, and which I've lifted off (nicked) for both my creative briefs and on this blog. I mean check out that blue heart action on Fay Wong which is to die for and frankly there probably is no better director than Wong Kar Wai than in this movie, except for 'In the mood for love'. Possibly one of the most beautifuly directed movies ever (outside of the sensational Korean location based Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring by Kim Ki Duk of Korea)

I'd really like to embed a couple more clips, specificially the Korean movie I just mentioned and a last Fay Wong bopping to the Mamas and the Papas in the food stall but it's just too precious this formatting at the moment, so until another time you can check out more of the McDonalds information over here.

Nixon & Complexity

Prior to George W Bush the most reviled president by pretty much unanimous opinion in recent American history was Richard Nixon. However, after a few years of listening to my early American baby boomer friends or non octogenarian civil rights supporters trash the name of Richard S Nixon I took the time to read into this complex figure who in my eyes is pretty much inseparable from Kissinger as they both dominated the political stage that extended from a year before my birth in 1969 to 1974 when Nixon was ceremoniously (sic) squeezed out of the Whitehouse while walking across the Rose Garden lawn towards the helicopters with one final wave to the cameras before a life of relative obscurity.

There's something about seminal helicopter shots in U.S. history such as the last line of South Vietnamese people desperate to bail out of Vietnam before the Viet Cong triumphed with the fall of Saigon. Yeah, helicopters and history is something I'll always associate with the Americans in much the same way that the Chinese will forever be associated with Tanks and squares.

 

 Incidentally this famous photograph of the fall of Saigon was taken by Dutch photojournalist Hugh Van Es who died just under a month ago here in Hong Kong. It is all connected you know even if it's largely some illusory Black Swan post rationalised causality.

Traditionally the view of Nixon is one of mendacity, vulgarity and sneaky subterfuge, and yet, it is one I can reconcile with the other side that I want to talk about because let's face it, the problems don't lie with our politicians, they lie with the electorate and our complete inability to handle the truth or even discuss it in an adult manner. That doesn't mean I'm not surprised by the sheer scale of human fallibility over on the other side of the Atlantic with the MP's expense claims which are surely not that far morally from those who claim income support while having an income from work. Benefit cheats sounds so much more dramatic and I'm surprised the press haven't dreamed up a more sticky label for the "right dishonourable members of the Parliament". I digress.

 Clearly the thorniest role that confronted Nixon was Vietnam and there's no denying that in order to extricate the United States from that holy fuck up of ideological warfare in proxy countries that a lot of nasty, ugly and criminal decisions were taken such as the bombing and warfare that took place across the Ho Chi Minh trail which veered into Laos (the most bombed country in the history of the world) and Cambodia thus compromising the lives of millions of their own inhabitants. I'm on record as being hugely fond of the Laotians and the Khmer because of the inexplicable and retarded snobbery they face from other developing world candidates such as Thailand who exercise the rule of marginal superiority acted out from deeply evident insecurity in the manner of the arriviste nouveaux riche against old money while more than aware that side by side with the Benz and it's logocentric Star, is the sticky steamed rice, the stink bean and the ubiquitous calloused hands from pre-school tilling of the paddy fields of Isaan, more often than not controlled by the plutocratic Siamese Chinese families as indeed they do across South East Asia.

 But back to Vietnam because despite the claims of denial by Kissinger  (Nixon is now gone) there can be little ground for conceding that nobody knew what was going on in the Mekong Delta and it's a crime against humanity that only the land of the free are obliged to defend themselves against. However we all know that 95% Americans don't even know the difference between Taiwan and Thailand because as long as the milk and honey is flowing in the lands where territorial transgressions are the sticky issues there's little need to have an empathy for what is known as 'the other'. When it's always about two sides isn't it?

 Which brings me on to the nature of this post because I'm of the opinion that the duality of binary classification is no longer a simplistic luxury we can afford and it's time if you haven't started to look, for the complexity and infinite shades of grey that exist between the polar states of good and bad, black and white, north and south or up and down.

 Life isn't some post war halcyon consumer years of rosy cheeked goodness and evil empire badness, though of course that latter term was Reagan's contribution to political history, yet we now see Obama introducing the nuance of different types of Islam between Cairo and Jakarta and which it would be wise to pay attention to (if taking a look at Islamic country birth demographics for example).

To bring anything to the advertising planning table is the ability to embrace complexity and distance oneself from the relentlessly overly simplistic reductionist role of account planning which is one part science to two parts art and not the other way round.  Particularly now we know that homo economicus is forever dead. And so with that mental perspective in mind I want to reverse back, full speed and with screeching tires (distant sound of police siren in the background) into Nixon's career because it was his role with the Plumbers and the repeated and subsequently scandalous 'break ins' of the Democrat National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate office complex and now forever preserved in political history and it's meme like propensity to term any scandal with the suffix of 'gate' and which first came to light when on June 17, 1972, Frank Wills, a security guard at the Watergate Complex, noticed tape covering the locks on several doors in the complex. He took the tape off, and thought nothing of it. An hour later, he discovered that someone had retaped the locks. The scandal revealed the existence of a White House dirty tricks squad but to my mind, the democrats could have played a smarter game with what they left out for the uninvited breaking and entering squad.

More to the point is that the labeling of Nixon as  monolithic-bad doesn't do justice to one of the more contradictory and paradoxically subtle minds of the post-war Whitehouse. Here we have a president as in the above video playing his own Piano Concerto.

Furthermore once we distance ourselves from the morally repugnant Indochina actions and the break ins that subsequently required extensive lying, we have a figure who was easily one of the most intellectually qualified of his era, and a character who was responsible for the detente that was fostered in partnership with the Soviet Union (unthinkable really given the postwar context) and most markedly became the first president to visit Chairman Mao and extend the hand of tentative friendship with the Communist China.

 One only has to think of the McCarthy era to understand the deeply Pavlovian response of the American peoples to anything of a socialist nature despite the recent global socialization of the banking system from the efforts of their last GOP president.

Nixon was also responsible for the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "clean air, clean water, open spaces" and so we have a complex figure with both the vulgarity of a Bronx bare-fist fighter and the intellectual subtle fingered sensitivity of  a concert pianist, the diplomacy skills of the long term thinker and player as well as the DNA of a progressive environmentalist. Arguably the only game in town as we observe the decline of the American empire.

So in summary embrace complexity and only settle on reductionist simplicity once the really hard work of weeding out the immortally terrible and the infinitely unworkable.


A lot more difficult than one might think.

(I'll come back and try get the formatting right but it's still a mess in draft blogger)

Hong Kong

Well it's been a while since I was last here, messing about on a Tokyo story that wasn't directed by Ozu (小津 安二郎), but I'm very happy to be back and also frankly checkout of The Conrad Bangkok, where I could have holed up for another week while running up a large tab of Pellegrino popping antics.

I've still got my India trip to do and that's going to happen but in the mean time I'm sort of back in love with Hong Kong because I'm reminded how much more breadth there is here. I've often pointed out that if one were to choose the Sinified capital of Asia it has to be Hong Kong both historically, business-wise and geographically. Tokyo is too hermetically sealed as a culture even though I love all things Nippon. Korea too is probably hipper than the former colony now as they just do their own thing with TV and K-Pop production (check that video out on top - three times and you're hooked on pop) which while inspired from elsewhere is definitely on another level. But yet the Koreans or the Japanese aren't known for their multilateral view on things. Xenophobia some might call it but all Asiaphiles will have noticed that this is one area where full marks aren't scored across the board, although I've always appreciated the Malaysian vibe on that point or maybe I've lucked out meeting the best quality people in Penang.

In any case, while no longer the most achingly hip. I still think Hong Kong deserves the moniker of 'Asia's capital'. It reaches all around for cultural influence and yet its past is undeniable, its present is still formidable and the future could well be more than just a Shanghai satellite. Of course Shanghai is the capital-of-currency in China and is arguably the Leviathan of Asia; definitely an exciting city to live and work in but yet for me it's the more sedate Beijing, the seat of power and home of the tanks that more fully represents the bits of China I like the most. Intellect, power, thoughtful, less greedy than its sister Shanghai and in lots of pockets more sophisticated from it's exposure to the international diplomatic ranks.

Anyway after an awesome flight with Emirates who over delivered on food (God dammit that Tuna lemon grass starter really kicks ass) and service (largely gay yet cheerful and authentic) I checked into Hong Kong immigration, once again during a time where people were sporting white face masks (the last time was during the SARS crisis, it's that deja vu thing all over again).

Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok is yet another awesome Asian airport (built on reclaimed land from the sea) and like Suvarnhabhumi, Incheon, Beijing, Changi and all the rest is yet another reason to appreciate this part of the world while Heathrow whinges on about terminal five (are we there yet?) and the US whinges on about terminal decline. It's the Asian century isn't it?

 One more point that contrasted nicely was when, complete with squeezing luggage, I met up with friends in the Jardine House (the one with the circular windows) in Grappa's Cellar located on the basement and was treated to a full-on live swing band and swing dancers and it occured to me that this semi amateur gang of people who were getting off on their own subculture that nods in respect both musically and in dance form to the 30's and reminded me heavily of Malcolm X's autobiography (completed by Alex Haley) with mad scenes of lindy hopping (and the nutmeg and the hookers and finally the Nation of Islam) and I remembered that despite really really liking my trips into the heart of the slums of Bangkok (where I find out how the country ticks) and the sizzling neon lightlife so close by that there's so much more culture happening in places like Hong Kong and which possibly explains the myopic and insatiable nosiness of the Siamese who largely don't even discuss the big two of health and education because a nation of car park whistle blowers and maids is exactly how the priviliged wish to keep it. Priviliged.

I've deliberately left out Singapore in this post because Singapore is unique for me from an Asian perspective and I don't want to spoil it with what should ideally be written within the Island State. And I will.

But lastly as I made my way up the hill after the ferry ride, with a heavy and loaded suitcase in the dripping humidity of the Island I'm staying on; stripped to the waste and ranting in the gloomy night about hiring a car for the final leg of my journey ("there are no cars on the Island Charles") I finally made it up the flights of stairs with the artifice and efficacy of anger to pull that bitch of a suitcase up the steps one by one and yet when I was finally shown to my room I looked up and saw the light and smiled because it doesn't matter where I am it's only a matter a time and then one by one I'll knock you out.

,

#canneslions

Well I had no idea that Microsoft had sponsored the Cannes advertising festival for the last eight years but despite that had joined up with the Facebook group this year in case it proved a useful resource. They've got a hashtag on twitter for the event so adding #canneslions will update there site over here.

Furthermore after my seminal Microsoft Live post (or was that semenal?) they've leveraged their own resource and got a profile page for additional networking and social media utility although they so need to get some bad boy action into that site to add some zing.

Frankly after this post I feel that their endline "You dream it, we deliver it" resonates a bit closer to home. Don't marketing people get the whole 'we're-taking-the-piss' endline yet? ;)

Are You A Champ?

Some mates of mine are setting up an agency in Bangkok and are looking for an account director. They are Westerners, and have a ton of Asian experience under their belt. One has even written my favourite print ad of all time.

They've got some interesting collaborators and backers and so it's an opportunity for someone currently based in Bangkok or about to move here.

You should have all the things that make brilliant suits such as diplomacy, courage, intelligence, salesmanship, drive & charm to forge a way into the future that nobody is really certain of.

I see from my email these days that there's a lot of people being laid off right now and so I believe that somewhere out there is a quality account person with good results behind them, and quite possibly with their best work still ahead of them.

This is an equal opportunities position.

Email me and I'll put you in touch.

Break The Silence

Sam who came and stayed with me in Bangkok not so long back did this and I think it's good enough to reblog. I urge you to take a look and consider lending your vote for the Cannes Young Lions by reading the full story over here.

Todos Por Un Pelo

Via Tissue Issues

Breaking & Entering

Propaganda

I often get into the swing of things in the comments section of other people's blogs or even my own on occasions and so I'm on record as hoping to work for a benevolent propaganda department as an almost perfect role.

I think I'd be highly productive at squeezing out quality commercials that hopefully induce Daily Mail readers into spasms of apoplexy before settling into a semi perma-state of rising panic, that luckily facilitates constructive change such as cycling and erm leaving the car behind at home for something more pedestrian(sic).

No small miracle I might add, as Daily Mail readers are not known for their social obligations prowess, but fear is a reasoning they grasp beautifully. Feer and sneers I guess.

So if you're a lurker and find this propaganda line of thinking not so tedious, I'm happy to point you to this post where it first emerged as a rough, and I think mildly innebriated line of thinking that was in the heat of the clearly-not-over-war in Iraq. I don't mind reminding you, it was considered treasonous not so long back in U.S. media space to question even the smallest details of any Presidential decision and I've since noticed that our US cousins never say anything about politics publicly.

Nothing at all; and I wonder if it's because of the Patriot Act and the fear of an opinion coming back to haunt them in later life. Sad if so. Free speech is what made the US special.

Yes Dark days indeed.  But anyway, over the years I've tightened the propaganda thinking  to make it a bit more focused, and chipped in to the comments over here, some recent incursions into the topic via Adliterate comments here (the author of which might need to pay credit to John Grant for the economic car crash line I used in this paper but which John  originally came up with in a BBC radio interview), over at Chroma very briefly,  and then on to some of my own posts including this one that uses a propaganda poster as the key visual, a mention here and how the thinking formed in a post I contributed to over here - Context being important and all that.

However what sparked this post was a comment from Pat who I worked with in Beijing. Pat linked to an ad that is pure propaganda - 21st century Island State, Asian propaganda. It's very good too. It's powerful, and it's got me thinking a lot about the topic again because I see this as so much less pernicious than say advertising for flying which is sucking the Earth's resources only to facilitate the business cycle's step change in frequency up another level. Faster, faster, faster...

What do you think? Welcome truths or unwanted Nanny State feelings management? Incidentally this post has been lurking in the drafts folder, and only made it to the blog as Rob has gone and posted about the commercial over here. If you're from Singapore I want to know what you think. I really do. So does Rob.

Dominos Pizza - We're Not Normal

Anybody else think that this kind of advertising is dying?

Action For Children - Lee's Story

What do you think of this execution folks? I'd love to know all of your opinions as mine is less important in this instance. It's focus group time!

Mariko from Texas! I'd be honoured if you commence the proceedings please since you are working in the field of Autism. For you any readers still hanging in, I suggested a week or so ago that Mariko take a look at the post that is largely responsible for why I'm publishing Baby Creative's latest work for the children's charity Action For Children.

That post also has one of the longest comment threads on it for my blog, with a notable contribution from Socrates, who is a nice bloke when he's not giving me a hard time. He also contributes towards a clever but biting blog on the subject of Autism.

Action for Children are the Children's charity formerly known as.... well, maybe it's best to not mention it, as I thought long and hard about that issue, when I was doing those focus groups in Glasgow with the tagged offenders.

I wonder what they are doing and if they've progressed. I hope so, I really do.

More Indian Pantomime

See why Y&R India are backpeddalling mightily to delete all evidence of this scam ad over at Rob Campbell's always lively blog Opinionated Sod.

It's random

Go on then what ya waiting for?

Only corporate tie-wearing stiffs would duck a challenge like this.  

Engage a random. The Wiki notes that the segment profiles for "Smooth Smooth" have the ability to politely conclude the discourse at the "time of their choosing" without their interlocutor realizing the entire experience is being micro-managed.

OK I just made that up...... complete fibs. Embellishments can be OK.

I did however get blown out quite quickly in my first Random chat, displayed at the top of this post didn't I? What a loser.

Do you think that response of 'tired man' was a knee jerk termination to my gung-ho-YO? 

Stop sodding about and head over to Omeagle for the wild ride if you think you're hard enough.

P.S. Sam and I finally concluded the name of the movie we've been collaborating on for as long as we've probably known each other. Despite a flight to Bangkok to film some stuff and collaborate on a couple of  scenes, we yet again failed to settle on the films name which has sapped valuable energy on too many occasions.

Then suddenly out of nowhere it magically manifested itself over a long distance conference-call we held earlier and it just felt right because I think I said  the line flippantly, and then Sam gave it a home i.e he said that's the name of our movie, and it was settled in a matter of seconds. One small result for today at least then.

So it's been christened : 'It aint about the movie"

It feels right. It's fallen into place

Friendfeed & Twitter

While I was locked out of Twitter I noticed that the only way I could check on it was through Friendfeed. Which was interesting because somebody also noticed that and tried to change the password on it thus revealing just a little bit more than I knew before.

Moving on because the lesson learned was a good one that I want to write about and which links directly into Johanna's analogue experiment. I only really grasped this while 'offline'. I've not really cracked Friendfeed as a utility yet outside of that. I use it as an RSS aggregator I can pipe into some other places such as Facebook. Either way I could probably just get by on Friendfeed now I know its me-media footprint size which is huge, but you know how it is when trying anything new out; there's only so much time that we can get to explore them properly although I have in this case worked out what a useful tool it is for at least seeing what is going on when deprived of some other staple feeds. I might one day figure out the difference between that and my identi.ca

Or does anyone know the critical difference? Thanks to all of you who are open minded enough to check out Rejaw with me too and I'm also looking into HelloTxt which is all pretty tedious I'm sure but I've been doing the grunt work of signing up for stuff for so long now it's a chore I just get on with. As indeed I need to for my Myspace account which you're quite entitled to keep but may as well just change the email back and we can all just put it behind us. Some good came out of it too.

Planning Wank

One of the notable disappointments of the plannersphere is the inability to engage with the larger subjects of the day. A herd like mentality (high five Mr Earls) seems to invariably ensue until a breakaway opinion is shared.

I mean really, was it only me who noticed that this economic turmoil would be the single most influential dynamic in our business before I blogged it?

Of course not, it's just that nobody wanted to point out the elephant in the room and this post is all about the elephant in the room.

Thanks btw to Neil who respects his own opinion as much as he welcomes others or I think we'd still be keeping quiet.

So, some months ago I came across a post on the use of a hotmail address which I found to be symptomatic of any London based planner who has yet to sharpen their skills abroad which is an assumption that what seems right in the UK is obviously a more progressive and thus substantial opinion than abroad - wrong. It's all over in London and this post one year down the line is my call on where the action is.

The writer (a friend of friends and thus a friend I might add) asserts that the use of a Hotmail address is either uncool or indicative of age. I'll let you read it but I'd like to state here that a hotmail address in China (the Leviathan of internet populations) is considered more prestigious than a QQ address which most are unaware of and the reason why I'm blogging about this topic.

Why put one's foot in the mouth without qualifying that one is just a local planner and the views expressed commensurate with that? The internet is after all a global media despite our cousins in America failing to understand that we don't all live in a U.S "state" when signing up to try stuff out. One of the perks of planning I might add.

The point is that clearly a snobbery of some kind (at the worst possible time) is intoxicating a large segment of the plannersphere, because while I use all my email address so that I can see who is doing what I use my hotmail address as the oldest and most well known leaving say my Gmail for business or Yahoo for the password options or whatever it is I used Yahoo for while trying to figure out what Yahoo 360 meant to social media some years ago. (Unilever Asia are you listening yet?)

No that isn't the point. The point is that when it comes to Microsoft the plannersphere is tainted. Seemingly jerking off to the latest Skittles work which admittedly punches above its weight and is thus to be welcomed.

When it comes to any discussion of Microsoft, the debate is already in the realms of "I use Apple and they haven't spoiled the world" so let's all break out into Kumbaya, in unison ; after we watch this Coca-cola hill top ad (which hasn't aged as well as we would hope).

Well the thing is Apple wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Microsoft (nor would Google) and as I've shared previously it's time to stop kicking the Grandaddy of Software for just existing (and who would pull it out of existence if their paycheck was not on time as most are?)

Microsoft is way off from perfect, and this post is being written on an Apple MacBook Air which frankly has weathered the single toughest beating I've dished out to a notebook and survived but that doesn't mean we shouldn't aquaint ourselves with some facts:

Microsoft is the de facto operating system of the world. It is as it is and we cannot unwind the clock. We probably need it, more than it needs us (Think about that).

Bitching about Microsoft is like bitching about an incontinent relative who was mopping our own urinary leaks long before reasonably sentient thoughts arrived.

Go to China and, Microsoft or Bill Gates is the ONLY thing that is openly admired about the U.S.

The responsibility of ensuring that the system doesn't freeze up after more than 30 years of solid performance is in itself considerable and while it's easy to see that less is more when considering operating systems, I don't know a single person who hasn't succumbed to feature creep when buying a technology for the first time. Why wouldn't the inventors have succumbed to that line of thinking too?

So people like Tom Rafferty who make a living through liberal pinko commie bashing Microsoft are just that. Blow hards who have never done anything as fundamentally important or profoundly life changing as Bill Gates and Microsoft. Who could deny that here is a man who didn't change the world?

So while it's fashionable to take the piss out of easy targets such as Hotmail ,like this joker over here I'd like to remind people that getting my first mail address outside of University which provided one that was all numbers and letters and @solent.ac.uk was when Hotmail first allowed me to talk to anyone else with an email address back in '95 through the revolutionary interface of what is now called The Cloud. It was brilliant back then and is still a brilliant idea right now.

I've been watching something. I seen how social media and the ability to share common interests or even share uncommon ones thus providing a learning platform is the single biggest revolution on the planet since Microsoft increased the market for computers from about five as IBM predicted (and is in the seven worst tech predictions of all time) to just about the entire planet.

Big organisational goal I might add.

I've watched as one memorable evening the Microsoft Live (call it 'we're not buying Facebook' statement if you will) has rolled out and quite hard work for me as one one who has thousands of emails scattered all over the show, took about an hour to consolidate what up till then was in my opinion a reasonably slow and poor blogging/messaging platform by Microsoft.

It isn't now, it's one of the best and most seamless integrated roll outs I've witnessed and here is a question to my peers in digital agencies, planners all over and anyone interested in what can only be classified as a revolution in communication. Why haven't any of you deemed it important to record that the largest adoption of or invitation to social media is occurring as we speak and is based on a platform that has been around for years?

Maybe it's the Asian numbers that are missing so here's some quick cut and paste to help me get to the final sentence before I pass out with faux rage and delicious tropical heat.

Windows Live reaches 142 million users a month in Asia Pacific and that number is about to get bigger. Microsoft and Windows is a large, healthy, growing, prestigious brand in Asia from a population that appreciates the sheer ability to connect through web cams to messengers but don't take my word for it here's a presentation from Geert who I met in LA last year and is responsible for that fab brand consumer ad we all loved so much.

Windows Live Trade Launch

View more presentations from Geert Desager.

There's more facts to appreciate what is going on with the QUIET launch of Windows Live.

If the Windows Live user community were its own country it would be the third largest in the world. 8.2 billion messages are sent via Messenger daily - that's 14 times the amount of snail mail sent via the US Postal Service on a daily basis and 17 times the number of comments posted daily on MySpace. Look even in the UK Microsoft Live fares unexpectedly well on the visitor stats as you can see over here.

So really my irritation is that because something is fashionable we, the planning community, seem to invest it with magical powers of efficacy that simply aren't there. Because we the planning community are by and large appreciators of Apple products we've lost the respect and the impartiality to judge what is unquestionably the de facto operating system of the world that churns out our payslips and which we are asymmetrically unprepared to talk about in the same way we are so keen to give Microsoft a good kicking at the first opportunity like their recent Global Advertising (On a local budget if you think about it) for pointing out what heaven forbid in this world of truth rejection is easily the hardest factoid in the universe.

MS is a cheaper operating system to run. Christ I'd like to have that in a brief. I'd send the creatives down to Four Bucks and get them to pay the agencies Macchiato coffees while explaining that this is what the cost of living means to most people in the real world.

So there you have it. Microsoft is huge, they're in business, they just rolled out some pretty awesome integrated social media shit and we the planning wank community pretty much ignored it preferring to waffle on like "let's not talk business or profit or communications efficacy" and continued with our specialist subject of "let's talk about what's hip" what's yoof or anything that has diminished our client's ability to believe in us. Because frankly they don't really and who could blame them, given the silence on something so large that just rolled out. Most planners probably don't even know because they're too sniffy to have a Hotmail address. Go figure that one out in ethnographic field studies.

My only real gripe with Microsoft is that somewhere back in the day, they changed the world and I believe they could do it again if they really really thought about it. Now that is awesomeness. My latest fave word.


I'll try to clean up this post later when I've cooled down from the rant. Formatting is all over the shop in Draft blogger but little I can do till they fix things.

The Plot Thickens

This idea is beginning to unfold in a way that I appreciate very much. The transmedia influence is gathering steam if you can spot the link from yesterday's photography on Flickr that I posted about.

Is advertising dying?

 ithementalist 

I could quite easily both create or miss a million pound plus spent on advertising but stuff like this gets me thinking about how powerful a good idea using public space and then channeled into social media and shared with the right people can turn into something which frankly doesn't even needed to actually exist except as an idea.

It could be turned into a global media idea by a 14 year old student on a laptop, as George Parker highlights in Bob Garfield's Adage piece . You should read it because the parting shot is why we are "exquisitely, irretrievably fucked"

There is no commandment that thou shalt monetize media space. 

Although monetizing delivery is much much easier if we try and keep the mobile phone a pull not push media space. Keep an eye out for more of the above work going up on Flickr 

The future is looking awesome the sooner we let go of the past.

Lost In Translation?

I've discovered that Youtube is brilliant for explaining a lot of stuff when my Thai language skills run out. The songs are often known, the lyrics are easily available and most importantly the point is made memorably.

Sometimes we dance around a bit too.

What more could you ask for? This one is for Ann cfx

The Storytelling Experiment

Marcus is starting a storytelling experiment today. There's more information at his blog over here. We've been having some fun on Plurck in the last few days, but I'm in no rush to replicate the Twitter experience. I'd like to keep it lazy and less noisy because that's the bit I'm enjoying most. I've yet to have a human being contact me from Twitter despite some of your best efforts so thanks again for all your support again.

Twitter Not Human

 

If only I did get that email in the screen grab above, but I've been looping round that circuit for too long now and nothing gets resolved.

I'll put a hundred pounds into a charity of any reader's choosing if anyone can get a human being from twitter to contact me. The auto response isn't sophisticated enough to handle a stolen account with the default email reset. Only a human can solve the problem, but it's been nearly ten days now that I've been locked out.

It's not the account that feels cheated from me.. It's a free service and I can live without it as I do use Plurk and Jaiku and a bunch of others. It's the 800 or so people who wont know that it's not me Tweeting at some point about the ladyboy incident that Sam  had in Bangkok on his visit here, and which I have pledged not to ever mention again. 

OK well that's categorically not true but you get my drift. (Sam was the most popular person I've ever witnessed pay a visit to the City of Angels and I'm still getting broken heart phone calls  on the spare SIM from the fan club he whipped up on his visit. Quite remarkable it was to witness. Made me feel old too)

Sorry folks for any DM's that seem to be ignored  on my Twitter account, but I don't get them sent to me since the default email has been changed. It's out of my hands. Many of you have tried to help and I appreciate that very much. Really I do.

Update: Coincidentally I see Ian has posted about the need for humans  on websites over at his blog.

I'm hoping that today is going to be the day when a long overdue tattoo is put in place. More on that later I hope.