fight the un-words

One step ahead.

If some of your followers can't keep up with you it's just fair to slacken your pace . HE, thank goodness, cares about us. So everybody who's not in blogging yet can save the following link to a planner-wiki – striving to collect ideas and useful information about account planning.

http://www.plannersphere.com

(The name "plannersphere" harks back to a recent post by Richard Huntington.)

Mama Johnny.

Read in: Galore (the interview magazine) – issue of 24 December 2006.
Interviewee: Jonathan Meese.

Either he's today’s most exciting artist or I haven't got a clue. Both is possible.
I must admit that his argumentation is – as noticed by the interviewer as well – easy to disprove:
- he anticipates that art will take over his life and therefore
- art will take over his producing (e.g. doing the Hitler salute on stage, covering himself with apple puree, collecting this and that – by the way: "this and that" is now filling several garages.)

Either he is just shifting responsibility to something else, or he actually is taking responsibility when he allows all these actions and reactions.

The way he shows lowliness towards his art is quite charming and smart, as long as he does not exceed his self-imposed border – not to harm or kill any person or animal. Unfortunately, he couldn't exclude it. But he's full of hope it won’t happen.

I keep my fingers crossed. Hopefully, he will go on to show us how to cross the line without crossing his own.
Learn more about Meese!?

Put the kettle on.

It even works with Germans. Although some may struggle with Johnny Vegas' accent, the romantic reunion of an English advertising duo – Monkey and Al – makes the point. Underpinned by some, I guess, viral stuff like their interview (see below) PG is running for consumer's hearts. I will straight leave the house, stop by the shop for "products from the isle" and get me a pack of PG. Thanks Mum.

Testing, testing.

Motivated by BBH's recruiting questionnaire I had to think about what the future holds of the advertising industry. This is what I expect – in 100 words.

Advertising will become more media driven. Recent and forthcoming developments in information technology will enable a better connectivity of different channels to the consumer. Ads are mostly everywhere already. They will be everywhere at the end. So, more than ever, ads must feel like entertainment and work as trojan infotainment.
Along with that, responsible advertising and holistic brand management will be necessary for all stakeholders. The current discussion about restrictions on advertising for food and drinks to children is not the first indicator. Responsible brand management became relevant with the Nike sweat shops and still is a challenge for brands.

Expertise and authenticity.

This is about another gold piece by Russell (see on YouTube). But I have to add something.

I'm afraid it is possible to fake expertise! Or specifically: It doesn't matter whether you are authentic or not – in some cases.

Some weeks ago I went to a concert of one of my favourite bands. The band consists of musicians who have never done anything else than rehearsing and climbing up the ladder from very small stages to small stages – and I am sure they are proud of what they have been achieving and I'm sure they love what they do.
On this evening in December 2006 they had a special guest that is known from the German Pop Idol thing – or something like that.

I haven't got the intention to talk down this singer's performance. She has a great voice and certainly she loves what she does, too.
But you couldn't overlook she was off-beat. And I'm not talking about time. Every second minute she had to check whether her top was straight. It wasn't. Her make-up was screaming – I didn't notice that her band colleagues were wearing make-up at all. Her moves were practised for a concert hall, not for a familiar atmosphere of a jazz club similar to Ronnie Scott's in Soho/London.
Nevertheless, the first row in the audience consisted of enthusiastic teens, filming and photographing their idol all the time. It seemed they did not even notice the rest of the band.
Resumé: In my eyes, her performance looked like faked authenticity – but it worked out well for the right target group. And I'm afraid it works for some brands as well.

Hello, I'm a HEC.

Our fridge is alive. Suddenly there was this sticker on it saying "I EAT FOOD". Then a magnet with the word "Knutschen" (Engl: snog) emerged. But now, as my flatmate came back from home – Switzerland – the fridge suffers from bad breath. I do not really know how to handle this. I am afraid that our relationship will suffer from it, too.

By the way: from time to time we notice some defluxion on the bottom of the fridge. You really did not want to hear that, did you? I am sorry.

The neighbour thing.

I have just found a post by Russell Davies on YouTube. It's about the size of a brand in peoples live. I guess he would not even say a brand could be like a neighbour as I suggested. He's even more radical. But look and see!

For all planners in Germany who do not know Russell yet: go and see his sites!