25 lttrs n th alphbt

Robert Senior is a twat

I'm not *entirely* sure I get this. It appears to be telling me that Robert Senior was a twat. It doesn't seem to indicate at what stage he ceased being a twat. At the very least he is a twat with an excellent sense of humour.

When will agencies learn?

 

Stop making fucking wacky promo videos for YouTube. 

*UPDATE* The chaps at Mindshare Paris have been sufficiently dismayed with the reception their little viral got that they have made the video private. They are adamant that it was for an internal audience, and that their target "loved it". There's a lesson to be learnt here - the best place for a targeted message certainly isn't YouTube. Oh, and "viral" isn't always a good thing folks.

You can still watch the video here though.

Zumba phone intrigue

There is a whole skip of WTF being filled up here. BBC has just reported on a new handset being created by a bunch of Ejector Seat specialists in Hereford - IA Technologies. The Zumba phone is totally handsfree bluetooth device that stores all contacts and details remotely. Nothing too new there then. But they believe that it has the best new voice recognition software enabling you to create texts vocally via the bluetooth device. Cue lots of kiddywinkles carefully enunciating "Grrrr-eight" and "El-eight-eeeerss" seemingly into middle distance.

Supposedly, the inventor (those are his hands) Dean McEvoy, is dyslexic, and hence this is a neat solution for someone who has trouble spelling. Not that that is a real texting issue...

He's not exactly Steve Jobs. And Hereford is hardly Mountain View or Tokyo. It slightly smacks of Colin Pillinger's failed attempts to land Beagle on Mars. Or Sir Clive's C5... Good luck to the boys though. It may well be the next Aston Martin.

Engadget have just caught on...

As far as I can tell from searching around on Google Zumba is some kind of hypnotic aerobic thingy. Looks a smidgen more cutting edge than a mobile from Hereford.

Ross and Brand back together

Uh oh, the Daily Mail are going to have a field day - Wossy has convinced Russell Brand to sign up to Twitter. And above is the proof that Wossy posted on Twitpic last night. It's interesting in itself that celebs need to prove their authenticity. Lots of blaggards about, but the best proof is always another celeb endorsement. Phillip Schofield has just introduced Andi Peters in this way. How sweet.

Seems Ross' first show back with Stephen Fry where they discussed Twitter is the moment when it went mainstream. See, clients - all those presentations about Microblogging don't seem so daft now do they...?

Aretha's Hat

Quite, quite wonderful. Thank you Viximo. Print out and cut out your very own Aretha hat. And you too can be just like Mrs Franklin.

Join the latest Internet Meme in the best Flickr group in yonks. Flo, the genius, has even just brought my two posts of the day together.

More than a glass and a half full of joy

 

This is going to cause a whole world of debate about whether it is good or not. In fact it already has. And frankly, that is the end of the debate for me. If people are talking about your ad they are engaged. Irrespective of if they love it or hate it, they have had an emotional response to a communication and are therefore the communication has had an effect. 

Often we get stuck in a rather inwardly facing debate in the creative industry about the merits of certain ads. And why not? It's what we do, we should have an opinion. But I always grimace at how most people regurgitate how much they personally like or dislike an ad. This is marketing, not a game of soggy biscuit for adfolk.

The agency world consists of a bunch of late twentysomething, London-based, Guardian reading, Apple obssessed, Nathan Barley replicating fuck monkeys (I added in the last bit as that is what the rest of the country consider us to be). It's Planning 101 to learn that you are making comms that are pertinent to a target audience. And more often than not that audience sure as hell ain't us.

As Jeremy "I-wish-he-was-my-grandad" Bullmore says: Preparation H is of limited interest to a bunch of twentysomething creatives, but it is of incredible interest to someone with piles.

We should all give ourselves piles before we make judgements on the effectiveness of comms. 

[Insert Piles] Dairy Milk eaters will look at this ad and say WTF?! They will then say that to a few other people, and they will chat about WTF it is for a while. Then they will chat about gorilla. Then they will forget all about it. But I bet some of them will remember Dairy Milk next time they are in the confectionary isle. [/Insert Piles]

Good work Fallon. Job done.

SpEak You're bRanes

Apologies for festive/illness/international-travel-to-places-without-internet based silence here. But back in Blighty now. And what better way to celebrate my return to our fair country than with "SpEak You're bRanes", a super blog compiling all the stupid comments made on the BBC's Have Your Say site.

I can highly recommend the Twat-o-Tron which randomly generates HYS comments on your behalf. Magic.