Commercial: Some thoughts on changing customers, and behaviours

Not mine, but Rob Walker's, who as you'll all no doubt know, is the prince of scribes when it comes to tracking these things. In his book I'm with the brand (The UK title for Buying In) there were two things which jumped out at me. First, with branding implications:, from page 212:

The contemporary consumer... demands more - more originality, more sincerity, more not-in-the-mainstreamness, a greater goal than just making money... [X Brand] does have a logo, but it appears [...] only where the consumer sees it. And the point is: Only the consumer needs to.

Of course, this ties back into much earlier ideas of 'how cool is coldness' and the mass-produced secret, but it's still a leap that's going to be difficult for traditional, mass market brands to make - how do you have presence and awareness on a large scale, while whispering and not shouting?

Second, from page 228, in a section on how buying ethically in the marketplace is actually quite difficult, he quotes from a study that suggests that:

'The opportunity to appear altruistic by committing a charitable act in a prior task serves as a license to make [the subjects] relatively more likely to choose a luxury item.'

So, that's to say, 'doing good in one area of life provided a rationale to worry less about such things in another.'

Which, when you scale it up, has worrying implcations for trying to green people's behaviour. Set them a small task, and chances are you won't - overall - make their overall consumption any more environmentally friendly. Which in turn, perhaps, suggests that we might need to be setting bigger and more ambitious goals from the off.

Flower cab

Flower cab
Originally uploaded by SgtRock333

Saw this on the way to the first of my Poetry School summer school workshops this morning. Alas it didn't inpsire a poem; maybe it will in the coming week.

Instead, I wrote a ballad about a fire eater.

Thankfully, I'm in the company of some properly talented people like Raving Poet. She really should post her plague poem up, because it's ace.

My 2009 travels so far

Still as fast as a duck. This is a good thing, I think.

Follow me on dopplr.

Commercial: The Duckworth Lewis Method

Ah. An Ashes summer is upon us once more, so what better way is there to wallow in the inevitable rain and misery than with a cheery and upbeat collection of witty and literate songs dedicated to The World's Greatest Game (not my coinage, but you know it's right.)

So hats, caps and sunblock off then to Messrs Hannon and Walsh, who have downed bats from their respective sides (The Divine Comedy and Pugwash) to pen a fine XII, full of vim, vigor, gambolling and a first-person narrative from Mike Gatting which mentions a cheese roll.

We made a quick step down the wicket to The Oval last night to watch D-L in action, and fine time was had by all - not least due to the revved up 'Soul Limbo' they ended with. If the ECB are smart, they'll sign up to provide tea time entertainment across the country in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, you can interwebually stroll into their pavilion now.

'Audacious things need to happen'

Some interesting thoughts on what we need to do to reach a viable energy future, from Cambridge University physicist David Mackay. You can get his book at Without Hot Air.

Commercial: 'Free' by Chris Anderson

FREE (full book) by Chris Anderson

And if anyone knows how to crack the PDF, do let me know... (hat tip: annaling)

UPDATE: I'm now being told by Scribd that, due to geographical restrictions, this version might not be available. Somewhat undercutting the premise of the book.

Commercial: King of Shaves Shaving Bond

This could be a genius idea. Or it might not.

King of Shaves, that upstart provider of lather, razors and the like, has a nifty new wheeze: issuing bonds to customers, to pay for its marketing.

It appears to be legit; the press ad (in ShortList this morning) and the website have the relevant FSA disclaimers.

This is an interesting move for all manner of reasons, the most salient being:

1) Can an FMCG brand credibly become a provider of financial services?
2) Can an FMCG brand really expect loyalty and small-scale purchases to translate into £5,000 investments?
3) Has our trust in traditional financial services brands fallen so much that we're willing to trust our cash to, effectively, our barbers?

I see that this makes perfect sense for KoS, and will no doubt appeal to their customer base, who generally are upscale gentlemen earning enough to be willing to take a punt on this (even though, strictly speaking, a bond should be a lot safer than a punt.) I'm also not sure exactly how one can hold KoS founder Will King to his promise that this cash won't be spent on helipads or pensions.

The reaction in the financial press has been lukewarm, shall we say. Which could just be old-fashioned thinking. Or sensible.

So how long can it be until the Lynx Starter Mortgage comes to market? Or The L'Oreal This Is How Much You're Worth Account?

Like I said, could be a genius idea. Or not.

Commercial: Air New Zealand safety video

It's lovely to see a brand taking the 'integration across touchpoints' thing seriously. So hats - and indeed everything else - off to Air New Zealand, who've followed up this ad by giving their in-flight safety a similar, body painted theme.

The tone of voice used is lovely too, dovetailing neatly with the recent press campaign. It's just the right level of fluffy and informal, while conveying all the information you'd normally get - but without having the bejesus scared out of you.

No bum deal here, methinks.

(Safety video hat tip: Gulliver at Economist)

Reminiscenews: Weekend World

God knows why I've been thinking about this recently (I suspect it was the Prospect profile of Mandy that did it), but in my sad way, I've been missing Weekend World.

You remember; that wodge of heavy duty current affairs programming that took up the hour before lunch on Sunday, courtesy of LWT. Brian Walden forensically interviewing a politician who, y'know, actually answered the questions asked. Prog rock soundtrack (which I actually downloaded from iTunes this morning.)



Anyway, my thought is - why isn't it more widely available as a resource? I can't be the only politics geek who'd pay to have a best of DVD? Or why not show some old episodes on BBC Parliament? This surely is what initiatives like the BBC's Creative Archive are all about - getting stuff out into the public domain, and seeing what use we make of them.

(BTW: There's plenty of LWT nostalgia on the web. Seems to be the ITV franchise that inspired the most love.)

Commercial: Recession bites

Blackfoot no more
Originally uploaded by SgtRock333

Apologies for the blurry quality of the image, but it's somehow apt for the tears that it will cause. One of London's best butchers, Blackfoot on Charlotte Place, is no more.

Much gnashing of teeth and wailing when Copybot alerted me earlier today. What is to be done? Thankfully the sister foodie havens, Salt Yard and Dehesa, appear to be going strong, but who will now provide the best sandwiches in Fitzrovia?