Shuttleworth and Yorkshire Tea match made in heaven

I love John Shuttleworth so I'm really pleased that he's back on TV all be it in a TV ad from Yorkshire Tea. His comedy is just perfect for it and the really great thing is that there's been no compromise in his style or act, Ken and Mary are there as is the Jacket, roll neck and glasses.

Badmovieclub and Graham Linehan break Twitter!

Last night was the first and who knows last Bad Movie Club on Twitter. Maybe this was becasue it was Friday 13th or maybe becasue it was such an insane and easy idea.

Everyone watch the same bad film at the same time and give a running commentary
on Twitter

Well here are the numbers

• On 13th Feb 2009, around 2000 people watched the same ‘bad’ film at exactly the same time and shared their collective ‘disappointment’ via Twitter.
  40,000 individual comments were sent and tracked ‘live’ by the film’s audience.
  A total of around 80,000,000 ‘Tweets’ were therefore viewed in just 2hrs 40mins. To generate this much Twitter traffic, both Barack Obama & Stephen Fry would each have to sustain posting 68.4 Tweets an hour ‘at the same time’... on Friday they collectively averaged 1.7 per hour.

#badmovieclub on Twitter

Twitter is being used in the most imaginative ways. Just found Graham Linehan on Twitter @Glinner had he's running an experiment with the Bad Movie Club. Tonight at 9pm the club are watching M. Knight Shayamalan’s ‘The Happening’, which I paid to see in the cinema and I can tell you it really sucks.

Anyway the point is that all the members are watching the movie at the same time and tweeting their thoughts on this truly dreadful film. A great experiment and a good laugh to as well.

I don't see how this kind of collective event could have been managed without the use of Twitter. People all around the world are now using the Internet as it was envisage, well at least this far.

Simpsonise Me

If you like the Simpsons you love this site where you can make yourself or anyone else you have a picture of into a Simpsons Character.

Here's me

Comedy in the Park

Last night I went to Comedy in the Park at Kirstall Abbey in Leeds.

I love comedy but I'd never been to something like this before. The setting was amazing, the stage and seating was set right in the middle of this ancient ruin and gave a brilliant atmosphere. We were sat right on the front row which was a bit frightening as comedians have a habit (sorry about the pun) of targeting people. Luckily I managed to avoid it by one seat, clearly the lady to my right was a better target.

I had a great time and haven't laughed so much in a long time.

The point, at least for this blog, was the great way the event worked. The juxtaposition of the ancient Abbey and some great new comedians worked so well. It hit a very good long tail of comedy and the niche loved it.

I'm keeping my eye out for the next one.

The Apprentice UK in Lego!

This is fantastic, scenes for the Apprentice UK with Alan Sugar re-created in 3D Lego animation.

Brilliant!

How not to Translate or Interpret

In my line of work you hear a lot of stories about how companies have someone who speaks french, or they have a relative who can write Chinese.

So they use these people to translate or interpret and they end up with a terrible job. But there are a few reasons why they might continue to use these friends, for translation.

1. They don't have any understanding of the languages so have no way to check the quality
2. They are too embarrassed to tell their friend/colleague that they are doing a bad job
3. They are too blinded by the cost of a professional translation or interpretation to pay for a professional

All three are really bad reasons. Would you trust an accountant to fix your car?

Then why trust one to translate for you?

Here's a great clip from the Catherine Tate show in the UK. It Illustrates my point perfectly.

Long tail on YouTube

I know that YouTube is now becoming old hat. Yes, it nothing new anymore, but it's now becoming the long tail of clips I used to search for in vain.

I just found a jem I'd forgotten about from a UK comedy series Big Train. Big Train never had a big following but produced some of the funniest things I've ever seen on TV. I wish it would be repeated (hint to any one who has influence).

One of the best things on it is the Staring Competition, which is a masterly piece of simplicity, the animation hardly moves and the focus is so strong. It's a perfection of understatement and that's what makes it so great. Enough waffle here's the clip.



These clips I've been adding recently don't really fit with the site and I'm sorry. But apart from being pearls of comedy, they demonstrate a few of the best marketing practices available.

1. Simplicity
2. Engagement
3. Passive Interaction
4. Word of mouth
5. Long Tail
6. Perfect targeting