Stop worrying and enjoy life

Just found this over on Dave Gorman's Blog. Bus ads for Atheism. About time all us non believers had a voice!

Truly the worst ad ever made

I've just seen what is truly the worst TV ad ever made. It's for a piece of software from Microsoft for singing with your laptop. Now not only is that a really crap product, yes another one from Microsoft, but the song the little girl sings will make you want to throw-up in seconds. The direction is awful, the script terrible, the acting appalling generally there aren't enough words to describe strongly enough just how bad this ad is.

I'm almost ashamed to post it here but without doing that you'll not understand just how excruciatingly bad this ad is.

Now before you watch it you have been warned - have a bucket ready. Click play at your own peril (this is not a "joke" video, this is Microsoft video).



To see a great ad take a look at this recent Virgin ad, now that's how to make TV

News at 10 spin the figures

Just watched News at 10 and they announced with a fantastic set of graphics that there were over 7,000 job losses announced this week alone. Which is terrible news and was rightly reported as a main item. And they did use a very striking graphic to ram the figures home.

Thing was that once the figure had been taken off the screen they then announced that 15000 jobs would be created by the major supermarkets.

Now call me cynical but isn't that a net gain of 8,000 jobs? Why on earth didn't the graphic come back on and then move the other way?

Clearly we're not ready for good news stories yet.

Twitter is really changing the world

Twitter and social media in general are changing the world - no really!

A guy using the ferry in New York posted some of the first pictures of the plane crash from his iPhone on Twitter within minutes of the incident.

This just would not have been possible even in the last two years. The news flashed around the world literally in seconds.

If anyone doubts the power that the Internet and social media have given the world now then they really are crazy. The world has changed, soon there will be two sets of people those on the inside and those outside.

Grattan announces job cuts in the UK

It's a sad day today as Grattan the giant of the British mail order companies announces job cuts.

Especially sad for me because I used to work in the Bradford office on the customer retention team. Grattan is an amazing place for anyone in marketing to hotbed their skills. You learn so much at such a quick pace a, because you have to and b, because there is an enormous wealth of skill and knowledge in the teams over there.

Thinking back there are people working at Grattan who had been there 30 years when I left around 4 years ago.

And maybe that is there downfall as well as their strength. Grattan and the associated brands, Freemans, Look Again etc where jut too big a ship to turn around.

It's odd when you think about it because mail order is the way that business is now going. Every company with a website takes orders online and delivers direct to your door just like Grattan has for over 100 odd years.

The problem is that their model for mail order, or the "Club Book" as it was know on my street when I was little, is based on people not being able to get credit. So one person in the area would be the agent for the Club Book and customers would pay that person in small weekly installments. The agent in return gets a commission.

All was well for Grattan until the advent of the credit card, then suddenly there's no need to get credit form the agent anymore.

This did so much damage to the traditional mail order companies like Grattan because their entire business model was built on having this credit system which they handled.

Even more of an irony now is that due to the credit crunch, the Grattan model should in theory be perfect again as people can't get the credit they could in the recent boom.

Unfortunately it would seem its too late for Grattan and that's a big shame.

Twittersphere here we come

Hey I'm getting advanced now. I've decided that just using Twitter via Twitter is so last week, so I've jut downloaded TweetDeck which seems to be the platform of choice at the moment. I'll let you know how I get on.

Bringing all your sites together

Maybe I'm a little slow on the uptake, I don't know. I'm only just realising that you can tie all your sites together.

Since I posted on being able to have my blog content appear in FaceBook and Linkedin I've now just found that I can also syndicate it to Flickr as well. So needless to say I did it.

Here's a link to the Flickr Account, let me know what you think to the pictures.

Great Twitter Tool

As A new user of Twitter, I was a bit lost on how to see how effective it was. Just found this great tool, after following a Twitter post.

http://twitter-friends.com/

Twitter Friends allows you to see all your twitter stats at a glance and even compare it to other twits (not sure that's the right term)

My Lomo LCA has arrived!

I'm very excited!

Yesterday my Lomo LCA arrived. With trepidation I opened the package to discover it. I got it off ebay so didn't get the whole lomo packaging, box and books etc which is a shame. However there's a recession on and buying it second hand meant I saved a few hundred quid.

Also as it's not new it means that its not one of the newly made LCAs from China. This is one of the old Russian ones. It even says Made in the USSR on the shutter cover.

I'm off out today to take my first two rolls of film, I'll post on how I get along.

Spreading your blog content around the web

If you are like me, and I'm sure you are or you wouldn't be reading this, you'll be on various Social Media websites my main ones are Twitter, FaceBook and Linkedin.

Did you know that you can easily syndicate your blog content to FaceBook and Linkedin? I didn't until recently.

To add it on FaceBook just nip to the notes application and point it at your blog. On Lined in add the Blog application and it'll automatically add your blog and all your connections blogs as well.

Then hey presto! All your blog entries will be automatically added to your profile as you post them increasing the scope of your readership instantly.

By the way the one caveat is that no matter where your blog is syndicated the content still had to be worth reading.

Blimey its Benny Hill

I was just watching BBC4, and saw one of the first colour series ever recorded by the BBC. In this particular twee episode the poshest lady I've ever heard presents a 20 minute show on Fashion. While not a hottest subject, it was great background viewing.

About half way through a little section on moustaches caught my eye. As the posh lady talked, Benny Hill and two other men from the the Benny Hill show are shown spotting bizarre face furniture. Totally priceless, Benny Hill can't help that little look from under his eyebrows.

Four Twitter Tips

I joined Twitter just before Christmas. It's very odd at first but soon becomes pretty addictive.

Since I began to use it my Blog visits have gone up a huge amount which pleases me no end. It's tough to get hold of an idea what the etiquette is yet. But here are my thoughts:

1. Referencing your own blog entries is fine as long as you don't over do it. The whole point is to spread the love not blow just blow your own trumpet.
2. Saying nothing in particular some of the time is fine. There's only 140 characters so saying nothing on Twitter is fine too. Is this why the name is so close to witter? Sorry I realise that I'm wittering on myself now.
3. Following celebrities is fine, then encourage it. Just be warned that they can be just as boring as the rest of us when they only have a few words.
4. Butting in on someone else's Tweets is a bit rude, but can be very tempting. If you are going to do this make sure you give a good answer.

Learn from Geece

Sorry lots of video clips on the blog at the minute, but hey that's how it is.

Here's a great video from Satchi and Satchi about team work. Very nice.

David Ogilvy speaks from the past about the future

I just found this video of a film David Ogilvy sent to a conference years ago. The film is very old which adds a huge amount of gravitas to the message. What Ogilvy, the pioneer of Direct Marketing says is still true today, even more so with the dawn of the Internet.

If your marketing is meant to sell products then forget clever creative, flowery copy, cryptic text. Sell the product or service, ask for the response - making it easy to do so. Measuring marketing spend has never been easier than with the Internet, even more so than it is with Direct Mail. Testing is quicker and easier and the results can be in almost instantly.

Take the time to watch David Ogilvy as he talks to you from the past and see how you can apply this to how you are marketing today.

Best Practices for Content Optimisation

Apart for the American spelling I love SEOMoz. Rand has just posted a great article on Best Practices for Content Optimization. His spelling not mine.

It is very detailed and quite techie but the overriding theme is that there is no short cut to getting good ranking. Unique content and a usable site are the only way to get there.

Now that's a great TV Ad

Tongue in cheek, cocky, right on the money, well done, perfect branding, funny, memorable, leaves you with a smile. Need to fly over the Atlantic, lets fly with Virgin - Brilliant!



That's how you use TV, Norwich Union (soon to be Aviva) please take note

How to waste money and piss people off in 1 minute

How stupid are the people at Norwich Union? Let's set the scene: There's a global recession, particularly in the finacial sector. People are losing thier jobs left, right and centre. What should a financial institution do in this scenario?

I know lets pay a ridiculous amount of cash to Hollywood stars, models, aged "Rock Stars" (Alice Copper and Ringo Starr) to tell everyone that where changing the name of our company from Norwich Union to Aviva! That'll be a great idea, we all saved!

Sorry wrong time wrong planet! (sorry for all the exclamation marks)

Wouldn't a better idea to be to use all that money to improve their service, improve conditions and job security for their staff. Reduce the cost of their insurance for the hard pressed population. Hey I think that would be much more effective.

Lets run that scenario: Letter drops through door "Oh Marjorie, you'll never guess what Norwich Union have suddenly drop the cost of our premium by £5 a month and we get exactly the same cover. Aren't they amazing, they also say that if we tell all our friends and they join then they'll give us even more and all our friends will get reduced premiums too!"

Of course it will never happen because the head of Norwich Union (soon to be Aviva) wouldn't get the chance to meet Film stars, Models and Ringo bloody Starr!

Here's the ad, what it and chunder. Nice production values mind

Twitter changing the world

At last the old firms are engaging in face to face marketing using Twitter. Giving direct answers is a big deal for the big companies who love to hide behind carefully crafted press releases, well now they are actively engaging and reaping the rewards

The Financial Times reports how they're doing it

I'm using twitter now myself and 140 words is tough but its getting easier plus its very quick on responses.

Looking for little glimmers

Just found this amazing picture on the Guardian website by Sarah Moon. The chances of getting this picture are ridiculously small but that the beauty of photography. To catch the moment perfectly because it can't ever be repeated.

Seth Godin inspires me

Just getting ready to go back to work. No one knows what 2009 will through at them but one thing is for sure if you sit back and let stuff happen to you you can't complain if its not what you want.

Why not take hold of the opportunity the uncertainty is bringing to everyone else and make 2009 a great start. Seth's post has just inspired me to do just that I hope it does the same for you too.

Happy New Year