Archive for November, 2007
what did you do last night to make me feel proud?
I went to ‘London 2012: The Ultimate Pitch’ last night at The Royal Armouries, hosted by Leeds Media.
Part one: Daryl Goodrich, director of the ‘Sport at Heart’ and ‘Inspiration‘ films that 
were instrumental in helping London to win the 2012 Olympics talked us through both films, complete with storyboards, anecdotes and the tale of his own pitch process to get the films into production. He’s a brilliant, relaxed presenter that had the room hooked. The subject matter was pretty fascinating too – and a great accompaniment to Jon Steel’s own take on the run up to the final pitch in his book ‘Perfect Pitch’.
Part two: Martin Havenhand, Executive Chair of the Yorkshire Committee for the 2012 Games talked about ‘why Yorkshire must get behind the games’ – otherwise known as Death By Bureaucrat and Powerpoint or I Can’t Believe I’m Missing Studio 60 For This.
The difference between the two presenters couldn’t have been greater. Its such a shame that an inspiring, uplifting topic like the Olympic games (the Sport at Heart film had me all damp eyed and moved) translated to a lengthy, dull, message-free lecture.
I’m not going all-out to get the guy, he’s obviously very dedicated to his role, but shouldn’t ‘be really good at inspiring presentations’ have been part of the job description? And if not, someone needs to tell the self confessed ‘advocate and practitioner of life long learning’ that he needs some help. It just didn’t make me proud to be a Yorkshire lass in the run-up the the Games.
Jeremy and the Staufenbergers
I sent a client off to check out another agency’s blog recently. Actually, I sent them off to read a speech from 1972.
No, I’m not trying to lose the account – I pointed my client towards Jeremy Bullmore’s 1972 address ‘ the consumer has a mind as well as a stomach’, hosted on the Staufenberger’s blog.
(update 09/03/11 – the Staufenberger blog seems to have been taken down, but you can get a copy of Bullmore speech here instead)
If you haven’t read it, its a really pertinent piece looking at the difference between shouting your message and understanding, respecting and engaging the consumer. Its easy to forget that not every client has read what you have or has access to the same ammunition when they’re fighting internal battles.
Maybe part of Planning’s role is to be some kind of human google for our clients?
Come on in, the water’s lovely
I had a meeting with a chap from Digital and one of the gals from the support team this morning. We got round to wondering why this particular lady was quite happy emailing and googling but hadn’t ever bought anything online or downloaded music or set herself up on Facebook or Flickr.
It reminded me that not everyone is merrily swimming into the digital ocean. Lots of them are still paddling at the edge. Seventy-something percent of the UK might use the internet, but a heck of a lot of them are looking for someone to hand out armbands and take them for their first swim in e-commerce or social networking.
So which brands are going to be the ones giving swimming lessons? It seems to me that its going to be the ones that are familiar and safe – in other words high street brands. So why aren’t they exploiting this massive opportunity?
There is no ideal
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about whether there is an ‘ideal’ way to structure a Planning department. Of course, I’ve come to the conclusion that just as there isn’t an ‘ideal’ agency model, there isn’t an ‘ideal’ Planning department structure to fit it.
Looking around the net, Russell has been posting about whether you need one genius or thirteen smart guys to solve a problem, while Gugoda responded to my post on Plannersphere with the comment ‘my belief and experience is that for planning to be successful it has to work with the environment in which it is based. In other words it has to be tailored to fit this wider context and operating realities’, which seems to make a lot of sense.
I think there’s also some kind of investment/return axis to illustrate the very specific point where an agency’s investment in Planning is most likely to actually generate a return – whether that be financial or in terms of effectiveness (which should eventually lead to monetary return anyway).
Return is likely to lag behind investment while a Planning function is under-resourced for the size or demands of the agency, but I’m sure you can have too many Planners as well – returns would eventually just level out.
Working out what that magic number and level of Planners is has the be the holy grail. Then, all you have to do is worry about how you’re going to demonstrate this wonderful effectiveness and return…
developing the agency bods of tomorrow
I spent some time this morning chatting to a group of teachers and course leaders who are busy putting the finishing touches to the new 14-19 Creative & Media Diploma.
A selection of bods from my agency talked about our roles and how we got into the industry. We quickly reached a consensus that the skills you really need in this industry (communication, creativity, passion, teamwork, sheer bloody mindedness) are currently much more likely to be gained from work experience and extra curricular activities than academic education.
But it sounds like this new diploma is actually going to blend the vocational and academic sides of things in an employer friendly way.
The only issue I have with it is a simple one – I didn’t have a blummin clue what industry I wanted to work in when I was 14. I just went down the ‘chose what you’re good at and enjoy’ route for my GCSE options. I was in no position to make career defining decisions about industry sector then. Then again, the account exec who was up before me today did a Performing Arts degree…
Dr Who?
If you missed Children In Need last night (perhaps because you were out having a life), then you missed the most fantastic eight minutes of TV this year – Dr Who: Time Crash.
In a charidee special, David Tennant crashed his Tardis into the fifth doctor Peter Davidson’s Tardis, resulting in fantastic dialog that made me laugh, shriek and get a bit teary in the space of a few minutes.
Going upt’market
I’ve been struck by the number of black 4x4s with tinted windows I see on the way to 
work in every morning. No, its not a drug dealer’s convention – it’s the school run. When did Leeds get so upmarket?
I know everyone made a fuss when Harvey Nicks moved in eleven years ago, but now according to rumours, a very-well-known-and-expensive-shoe-designer is to join Jo Malone, Louis Vuitton, Vivienne Westwood and Nicky Clarke in parting (the apparently not all that tight-fisted after all) Yorkshire folk from their brass.
Its not as if we even have a premiership football team whose WAGS might provide some spending power.
short term mental gymnastics
I’ve got lots going on at the moment (both professionally and personally) which means that work-wise I’m having to make decisions and come up with insights a lot faster.
Which is probably a good exercise to do anyway. Without the luxury of a few days ruminating over the research or mulling things over, you just have to trust your instincts, in a Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink kind of way.
Hopefully this short term mental gymnastics should result in some longer term gains in brain fitness.
serendipity and the beatbox champions
So a gang off us went off into Leeds last Saturday night and headed for The Elbow Rooms ‘pool hall by day, club by night’. Its normally a fun night out with a laid back vibe.
We were a bit surprised to find a full-scale breakdancing/beatbox type competition in full swing. Just a little out of my comfort zone – but it turned out to be on if the best nights out I’ve had in ages.
Sugarbeatclub hosted the night. They’re about ‘hip hop, breaks, drum& base and old 
school funk’, which translated means that one of the DJs managed the incredible feat of mashing up Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’ and Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ into well recieved hip hop tracks while still giving us civilians something to dance round our handbags to.
And everyone was so nice. If someone bumped into you they apologised profusely. No-one was drunk or obnoxious. There wasn’t even a queue at the bar. It was fine to watch the experts dance, but no-one minded if you had a go at beatboxing yourself or just boogied around in your own style. Even the bouncers were laid back – probably because no-one was giving them any hassle.
Turns out (after a bit of detective work on google today), the night coincided with a massive breakdance event hosted in Leeds, and the Elbow Rooms were hosting the pre-party so there were some world champion breakdancers/b-boyers/whatever knocking about.
Whoever they were, they were all class acts. And the cost for all this? Just a fiver.
Pondering Provenance
I was at the Pub Food Awards last night and everyone was talking about provenance, from the gastropub chef who had just started rearing his own chickens for their eggs to the foodservice big shot pondering how to add provenance based value without adding cost.
There wasn’t a lot of discussion about the importance of organic food, food miles, or CSR – but there was a real recognition that UK consumers are confused by Soil Association certification, Fairtrade, Red Tractors, RSPCA Freedom Food logos and the like. They just want to know that their food has been ethically produced and isn’t full of rubbish. Maybe we need some kind of catch-all hotel style star rating system?
