Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

We're very lucky to have this building barely two minutes away from my house here in Beijing . I've been making the most of it and dropping-by on my electric bike and buying random tickets for the Ballet, Pianists and Orchestras. It's called 'The Egg' locally for reasons I can't figure out.

Last Monday a colleague and I went to see the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and they were seamless. A real transportation away from the outside world, conducted by the hugely talented Yannick Nézet-Séguin from Montreal. A classical superstar in the making , along with a sublime performance by the pianist from Shanghai called Yundi Li who was definitely on another level when he played a Prokofiev piece, Piano Concerto No. 2 in g minor, OP. 16 which is hideously dark, complex and confrontational. I loved it.

They get very annoyed about filming anything in the Egg (actually China loathes anything being photographed if they think copyright is being infringed - which is ironic) and even shine a laser spot on people during a performance if anyone is caught doing so.

Anyway, you know I like to shine, so I sneaked some of the two and half minute ovation they gave to the conductor with some never before seen panoramas (I should work in advertising shouldn't I?) of the auditorium. It's world class and here it is.

Just in case you've got loads of time on your hands there's an expression I picked up in Thailand from a P.R. professional, that also applies here in China. Do it first and ask for forgiveness afterwards. This is how we roll as Sam might say.

Twitter Explained with Schweppervescence

I was in some old fashioned groups last week for Beijing University students and I learnt some pretty neat stuff. Best of all, again was really how nice the folk in Beijing are in general - innocent almost, if that doesn't sound patronizing (that excludes advertising folk and clients btw). I was describing this to a colleague and concluded that it's not the worst place in the world for the balance of power to shift from D.C. to Beijing.

As I believe it already has from a global psychological power-perspective.

Even more so in a few months when more people will be looking at China than at any time in the entire history of the country. But more practically I can share how most of the youngish respondents were pretty conversant with Lost, 24, Desperate housewives and Heroes through P2P file sharing.

I thought it was a brave and edgy way for the curious and young to find out a little more about the frankly amazing media culture of the U.S. but after a little bit of probing it seems that in China, content like this is seen as being from the outside world more so than the U.S. specifically. Which raises an interesting view that I haven't really thought of since I first learned German in the early 90's and discovered that foreigners are called 'Auslander'.

Anyway, completely unrelated to any of this is the Twitter explained video which is useful for those still scratching their heads over the whole thing. Unfortunately it doesn't even come close to explaining the Twitter Karate that Sam and I invented over the weekend (with a little subsequent Twitter Wrestling from Angus

Lastly I want to post about this Schweppes ad which is easily the best thing since Gorrilla although I'm loving Singing Dog and Moonwalking Gorrilla. It highlights what for me is a growing problem and one that can only deteriorate as clever brands move closer to achieving feelings and move further away from 20th century messaging model, which has it's place, but more in an Adsense/Google way than the last-years-of-TV as we know it should.

Incidentally I think this could be a Golden age for advertising because the clever brands will mark out territory for feelings while the clock ticks for interrupted attention media. It's just a matter of time. The difference between describing an ad using storyboards (or even using them in research) to seeing the final piece is too wide for me because it doesn't come anywhere near close to conveying the emotion that I feel when I see a fantastic piece of work like this. I did read about some of this brand talked about over at Rob's but I had no idea if the Cynic gang were involved with this piece while writing this post. Either way it stands for itself. Bravo!

Evolvify

Sure. He's a human and takes a shit like all of us on this painfully extraordinary planet but equally it's hilarious listening to Sam Harris trip over his snooty superiority and resort to ad homs on non locality plus I can't ignore that funniest for me so far (and thank you so much for putting this my way) is Michael Shermer answering the question of whether it's him or his x squllion neurons firing off when he's thinking and he replies it's his neurons. 

Chopra calls him a Zombie. The Scientist snookered on logic and the mystic hurling epithets? This is what Youtube was made for. 

Maddeningly frustrating is the inability not to join in and take both sides on as I have my own point of view which is deeper and darker heresy ;)

More over here

Trouble at mill

I just found out that maybe the last two weeks posts didn't make it out to you through Dynamo London's post over here. It has to be down to me meddling with Feedburner (Does this mean I'm a geek?) a while back and if it wasn't for them or Sam I'd be posting away oblivious to the technical problems. I hoped I've fixed it but you could do me no better a favour than leave a comment or drop me a mail here if this post feeds your RSS reader. That would be great. Thanks

Israeli Prime Minister At Epstein's New York Townhouse

While researching on CSPAN, I came across a video of Joe Biden at AIPAC and found a segment that speaks loudly of his relationship with former Israeli PM Ehud Barak, pictured above discretely visiting Jeffrey Epstein's town house in New York before he was suicided.

I'm not talking about the somewhat comical double (or clone, for arguments sake) currently playing the Biden role. I'm talking about the hard-nosed, nasty piece of work Joe Biden the Ultra Zionist, who plotted the murder of his wife Neilia, and indirectly his 13 month old baby Naomi, to marry his babysitter, now his wife Dr Jill Biden. Who is just as bloodthirsty as sleepy joe

That Joe Biden had so much power, I kick myself when I recall Sam Ismail (I'm still not sure if that was his real name) remarked that Joe Biden, was 'white bread', when Obama was elected in 2008 and inaugurated in 2009.

If I'd bothered to research him, I'd have found out very quickly that no malarkey Joe, was a very dangerous DC operator, and that was magnified when he made VP pick. 

The reason for this post is I ask you to examine the brief clip I've posted above, because the body language by Ehud Barak, and the closeness of his relationship with Joe Biden is unprecedented, even in the disgusting and vile world of AIPAC.

Go ahead, take a look. 

Tell me what you see.

I can't even articulate it.

Yer 'avin a laugh

Matt Baker

Just found this little number on my 'puter that I'd all but forgotten about! I really enjoyed this part of the day, but I was in good company with Sam who knows how to milk a good situation for best results as indeed do I. Our laughs were theatre of the absurd meets Kafka with a knowing wink and unexpected gusto. Which is a completely new genre of laugh that we invented that day. Anybody know where I can link to Matt Baker for using the photo?


Video: Interesting 2007

When The SHT Goes Down

 

When the sh*t Finally goes down. This is us, Anons 🤣 pic.twitter.com/Khn1PwW8BU

— MrsMainFrameDestroyer🐸 (@MrsMFDestroyer) May 12, 2023

Just so there's no confusion. I'm not an 'Anon'. I think I'm the only person who used their full name on the chans when the Q team were posting and not only was it noticed but I received a friendly warning.

In addition it's important to remind people that qanon is a media portmanteau and lazy nomenclature because the facts are very simple. There is Q - military psychological operation with Q clearance, team of no more than 10 probably closer to 6 with access to President Trump and the Oval Office during 45's term - and there are Anons. If I use the qanon post tag/label it's for unimpotant or flippant stuff like this. But if I'm dropping important information. It's just the Q label.

Now if you were really paying attention, Q clearance is the highest in the Department of Energy. Do you know who else had Q  clearance? Sam Brinton.

.

There are no coincidences.

If I documented them all it would take a six thousand six hundred, and sixty six hours. It's the context that is almost impossible to outline. The timing, what was going on, what were the themes, what were the sequence of events leading up to to any drops in particular and so on and so forth.

Not of all of it was interesting. The mid-terms cheerleading had a different tonality and many say it was hijacked. I've written too much. I'm not the go-to expert, but every time I do cover the topic, the traffic goes up and it's not 'consumers' checking in. I can tell you that for nothing.

Here's the chief laying it out straight in simple language the uncommon man, can understand.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

I'm still on the back foot till the funds arrive, and while I was really having a rant at the authorities you took the bull by the horns and did what I needed. You've been brilliant, and I'm humbled by your kindness and generosity.

Now what are all these contextual ads for flights to Tuscany doing in my mail?

This is just a small sample of your Twitterpower and forgive me if I've neglected to respond properly yet in the comments or in my mail as I've tried to be diligent but at one point I was swamped by Disqus. Sam who has been brilliant, at doing, not talking is taking care of money administration over here and I will blog every penny I spend so you can see how it's working to get me out of this situation. I may be broke for a wee while but through your collective kindness, I  believe I'm a rich man that no bean counting can every quantify. Thanks so much again and again.

Sean Stone's Documentary - Best Kept Secret

Best Kept Secret from Sean Stone on Vimeo.

For one reason or another I'm not very good around famous people. It feels like I'm entering a cartoon world when I recognise a well known face and say hello or something.

There was that unfortunate Oliver Stone incident in a night club, when we last met.

He did two tours of duty in Vietnam, so it's not unusual to cross paths with him in S.E. Asia.

His son Sean Stone has done some very solid reporting on the taboo subject of Israeli involvement in 9/11. It's an old subject but worth tipping the hat to.

Sean strikes me as very grounded for a Hollywood princeling, and I suspect that's a testament to his father bringing him up the right way.

Sean's latest project has the distinctive editing hand of his father. It is however a first class documentary series in the making.

It's is a very dangerous subject to broach in Hollywood circles, but my first, second and third impression of the trailer above was WOW. It won't be on the big screen for obvious reasons.

I hope you have a couple of minutes to spare and watch it. It will be useful information in the coming days, weeks and months.

Summary:

Human trafficking, pedophilia, 'Satanic' politics... The Jeffrey Epstein scandal was the tip of the iceberg as Sean Stone, the former host of Buzzsaw, lays out the hidden agenda of the dark elite in this six-part documentary series...

In this 'red pill' journey, Stone explores famous cases like the Franklin Scandal, MK-Ultra and Monarch programming, the Jon Benet Ramsey murder and even the Son of Sam case, to connect the dots of a dangerous ideology, now driving the philosophy of a 'transhumanist' idea - to remake the human being. As more and more people awaken to these hidden truths, the more rapidly we can rise to take our power back.

TweetWheel

This is interesting...


Thanks to Sam.

Doubt Is OK. Certainty Is Dangerous.

After I got robbed in Hong Kong I met Steve who was kind enough to stand me a few beers while I was stranded waiting for Sam to reappear from his now questionable charity climb of Kilimanjaro and attend to his obligations. Steve and I got tangled in friendly but tricky discussions on the nature of God and so forth. Steve is a sceptic and so I think we agreed to disagree but we've kept in touch on Facebook and naturally he's sceptical of my UFO links I post on there from time to time. 


I think it's worth pointing out that intelligent life must exist in a universe where billions of stars form a galaxy and billions of galaxies form the universe. To me it's inconceivable to assume it's empty apart from us when our nearest star Proxima Centauri would take 72000 years using the fastest technology known to our species. But we're mates and so I haven't pressed my point but earlier today he touched on the sensitive topic of alien abduction which far from being the most ridiculous evidence, is to me much more credible than any photo or video of UFOs on Youtube. I'm not great at spotting the nutters immediately but I've developed a keen sense of authenticity if given a large pool of testimony and I think I'm brutally forensic if I can have a hundred or so hours of one person talking on difficult or unbelievable topics. Most people don't get past an hour and that number drops to single digits after five hours.


I had no intention of getting into all this UFO stuff but about a year ago I decided to research quantum mechanics and mysticism (same subject really). Which ever way I turned the UFO subject turned up again and again. So once I overcame my internal resistance to spending time with what I thought must be overly zealous proselytizers I realised I'd skipped possibly the most important question of our time. Then on the fringes of the research material it became apparent that the subject appeared to be on the verge of bursting into the daily domain of ordinary lives with a timing for me that I can only describe as unbelievably lucky. Some people have devoted their entire lives to the matter with no measurable return before they died and here I am sensing a change with just enough hours under my belt to argue cogently with some of the most seasoned players in the field. We all have widely differing points of view though and I'm madly hoping I get to find out what I got right or wrong sooner rather than later.


In any case here's me imploring Steve to consider the issue differently and as it's from the heart I'm sharing it here.


The late Budd Hopkins was a highly regarded abstract expressionist artist in New York. At great risk to his career he was unable to ignore the first hand testimonials of alien abduction which is marked by a feeling of confusion involving missing time in many different scenarios. 


The only way to salvage the memories during this process is to use hypnotic regression. Budd Hopkins has a video lecture of his findings after 700 of these regressions over decades and I put it to you that you can't watch it for a couple of hours without realising that it's a phenomena that deserves to be given the respect of at least the diplomacy of accepting that many of these victims have not only been held against their will, tested like a farm animal but also face the ridicule that opinions like yours shame most of them into never revealing what has hurt them psychologically for life. 


I see your anger for this subject as a kind of reminder to you that this isn't people claiming to be the new messiah who are in it for egoic reasons but is a sore concrete data point that nobody comes out of alien abduction with nothing but shame and misery and at best have here shared their information so that others may learn. You may challenge my view but it's just irritating facts as we both know a negative is impossible to prove.


So I believe that ET exists, ET has always existed, ET is part of the fabric of our history/cosmos and that UFO sightings went through the roof after atomic bomb testing (ding dong logic alert. hello is anyone listening) and some ET have been testing our species like mad since the that time too. You don't have to believe any of that but have the courtesy to listen without prejudice to Budd and have some sympathy for a group of people numbering hundreds of thousands if not million(s). Just some sympathy and maybe you'll find something that says it's not madness, but it is at is. 


I know your world view mate and that's fine but I spend my brain power looking for information that turns my world view upside down and it's not easy, takes deep diving and a good nose for bullshit which I don't have but which I'm getting better and better at, particularly with regard to video testimonial. Anyway listen without prejudice and if you have real concerns about authenticity that are above "he said, she said" rhetoric then I would love to hear those because I think your nose for the human story is probably as good if not better than mine. It's the most massively complex story I've ever had to unravel and this is just one small piece of a puzzle that has enraged far far finer minds than mine.

China Takes To Flash Mobbing

I think one of the first planning differences of opinion I had with another agency here in China was about an idea I had just presented to a client that the most useful ways a brand can get involved with their customers, particularly if digital channels are available, is to create community online (easy to initiate) and then push it offline (no better way to actualize) - as that's when the magic happens in my experience. I've been evangelizing about this for some time, probably too long now I think about it so sorry about that but new thinking shoots are peeping through.

I subsequently discovered from Sam's China Internet Word of Mouth that there is a name for this activity in Chinese netizen culture and it's called Fubai FB for short or 腐败 in Chinese. The literal meaning of fubai is "corrupt." It comes from describing the act of corrupt officials freely spending to enjoy life. Within internet auto forums, the term has been appropriated to refer to the netizens spending their own hard-earned money to enjoy life through such "FB" activities as going out for good food and traveling. Often these "offline" FB activities are organized "online" within the forums, as the sense of community is very strong. "Online" friends, who are united by similar interests can quickly become offline friends.

Further evidence that this kind of activity is not restricted to the West comes today in the form of flash mobbing. I came across this possible first event in China last month but it was a Western organised affair judging by the participants. I twittered about it with Mark Earls blogging it later in the day on that occasion.

I then had a really good conversation with one of our planners here called Connie, who is ace and gives me all my China tip offs. Connie explained to me on that occasion that the internet conversation with the Chinese revolved around 'what is the point?' of flashmobbing. Which is a fair enough cultural perspective on something so new. However I'm pleased to see that today, again through the brilliant Connie, that the Chinese netizens have come up with a constructive form of their own flashmobbing. It manifested itself yesterday at the same time in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Finally we have a point to flash mobbing, Chinese style.

The participants assembled outside bookshops and froze at a certain time with a book in hand to advocate that reading and literacy is a good thing. This is quintessential Chinese in so much as it takes a marginally subversive activity that could potentially be used for 'Mob Sourcing' ™ (Oh yeah. I like that) and is turned into something constructive with a point, while of course having fun and not unsettling the authorities. Here is another picture from yesterdays event in Beijing that appeared in the newspapers.

China 2.0

Here's what I would do if I was serious about marketing in China. China has the largest internet population in the world, and it's still growing. The shift from television screens to internet screens on computers or mobile phones is the largest media exodus ever. More people will engage with the internet on a mobile phone in China first than in any other country. The numbers go on for ever really. China is all about the numbers.

However Chinese internet isn't really Web 2.0 yet. The Western model of identity and profile through Facebook and Myspace et al simple doesn't work here, but use of BBS is unbelievably masssive. I wrote about it over on Kaiser Kuo's excellent digital China blog some weeks ago here. The most dangerous focus group topic I ever raised was identity versus anonymity here in Beijing with quite progressive University students. Even mentioning that 99.9% of China's internet voice is completely anonymous on Bulletin Boards (BBS) against the thought of 'appearing' on the net as themselves was enough to silence a room full of respondents with fear, as if I were interviewing them for Komitet Gosudarstvenoi Bezopasnosti in Soviet Russia. I'm not exaggerating.

Whether its the State, or the group or the family there's something about being identified or attaching a face to content that terrifies Chinese folk. Face is a big deal in Asia. However the internet is a very valuable and highly appreciated part of middle class Chinese ability to express themselves and articulate their thoughts. Sure a lot of it is flame wars but I think we all know that flaming is part of growing up on the net. Its not hard to wind people up via the interweb is it? Once that realization is discovered, we tend to move on. Possibly to identity/reputation management which is definitely the new game in town now that Google is in charge.

So here's the thing. 70% of Chinese BBS is built on a platform called Discuz which is owned by Comsenz. They just had another million bucks thrown at them by those guys at Google. Now the killer thing about Discuz is that it is partially open source. Open source is almost an heretical idea in Asia. The notion of 'sharing' is antithetical to the Asian mindset. Secrets and information are valued beyond anything else to the point that sometimes it would appear that some would prefer suffocation than sharing their oxygen supply with other parties. I really mean that, it also explains a lot of the copy mentality that exists in this part of the world. That's the irony to the insane fixation on secrets and not sharing stuff; nobody does anything really new and so everyone is watching everyone else to see if an incremental change or new direction is taken. It also explains why only one or two Asian brands, including Japan have brands that stand out.

But with Discuz there is an opportunity to create a mini platform between profile driven social networks and BBS topic driven net activity. I would suggest writing some code for some widgets to sit on top of Discuz driven BBS and then we have a half way house to facilitate cross networking of BBS and profile/identity management that exist with traditonal social networking sites. I'd even go so far as to encourage all the flamers to pick up a new moniker and treat it like they're in front of their family at all times. Like it's their new 'face'. ....Start afresh like!

So the trick now is to figure out where brands should hang out on the net with their customers and their respective communities. Nobody actually has a full breakdown of this information although Sam from See I See/China Internet Word of Mouth knows more than most.

A proposal I made was to do a standard quantitative research project of the top 500 BBS communities on the Chinese net. If that seems like a lot then hold steady because China is massive and there's more. I think the top 500 BBS communites across the metrics of 'most affluent', 'most populous' and 'most influential' would make sense. Then I would segment all those groups across the usual community interests that advertisers are most interested in, moms and families, car lovers, tech lovers, political, travel and all the usual useful-in-a-rough and-ready-way segmentation seen on those standard tick boxes we are asked to fill in when we subscribe to internet services.

Once this 'new digital media planning data' is available I'd then put forward a China 2.0 media plan. Using the fundamentals of Transmedia Planning and some viral work that embraced volume seeding, Lo-Fidelity video and the upside of risk, as talked about back here in the post Black Swan (and here too) I'd think about developing a plan for engaging with existing customers and potential customers on the basis of being interesting or useful to them. That plan should be strategically built on a broadcast to narrowcast basis or vice versa depending on the rationale for engaging/reenforcing something at an internet dialogue level first or television's monologue model. Its quite exciting when I start to think about creative briefs written with the net first or telly first as a rolling narrative direction. Lots of opportunities there.

The only part I'm still trying to figure out is how to 'represent' in those tens or hundreds of 'communities' on the net where it's important to be useful or interesting for specific clients and their needs. I've given it some thought and my instinct is to identify the people who are most active in and respected in the community. The trick is NOT to buy them, because they then lose their authority and respect (Shills they scream!), but to build up their reputation by giving them the ability to 'share' through either reputation enhancements of information sharing or favour dispensation such as Skype credits or Taboa (China's Ebay) coupons as an idea. It's crucial that all actions are transparent, open, honest and authentic otherwise it all falls apart. Brands aren't very good at that short list of Web 2.0 guidelines and it explains why most marketing 1.0 peeps and planners 1.0 types don't get it.

Ideas like the one above are unlikely to be implented here though any day soon. One of the most frustrating aspects of working in developing economies is just how many bad habits are picked up from the West and then applied cookie cutter style over here. The advertising format is pretty much the same for lazy/untalented marketers and agencies (insert pretty model with product implying that you too can be cool/beautiful/powerful). And then the methodologies for assessing the effectiveness of those campaigns are just lifted from the West without much thought to the notion that Asians have a different perception of the truth or how to articulate it. Even the focus group dynamic is completely stuffed given that cultural differences like Guanxi in China or Grenjai in Thailand exist. This is where even the sharing of inconsequential information is considered reckless and stupid. I did write back here how I would approach Asian research with a fresh mindset because the same old companies come back with the same old rubbish and its not hard to figure out better ways.

I've pointed out that a lot of the advertising people in China have sat on top of 15% GDP growth for 10-15 years and are at best unremarkable and at worst believe their own P.R. but I'm guessing that one or two might read the above and see the seeds of China 2.0 in there. It's all very exciting when I think about it - The End.

Update: I see that some of these ideas have started to materialize over on CWR blog.

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.