12th December 2015
1) This is an interesting perspective and one I talk about a lot in the Creativity Sessions I run – The importance of daydreaming and letting the mind roam in order to be more creative. @rowlsmanthorpe gave a very interesting talk on this subject at NESTA’s Long and the Short Christmas event this week. The title of his talk was ‘Mind Wandering, The Rise of an anti-mindfulness movement’. Can everyday distraction, be a tool for productivity?
2) Very interesting observation, courtesy of genisusteals.co, regarding the number of Ancien Regime references in current advertising – ‘The French Revolution is our modern cultural myth of a society characterised by extreme inequality, where a tiny ruling class lived in incredible privilege over a population stripped of opportunities in economic difficult times. Perhaps that’s why are seeing so much of its symbolism in modern ads. The paradox of the aspirations of luxury and the desire to tear it all down runs through modern life’.
3) Got to love this. 20 years of masterful storytelling, from Pixar.
4) From WARC – The Worlds Best Marketing Campaigns, based on effectiveness. The top five are from Hindustan Unilever, O&M Sao Paulo, O&M London, Lowe India and Leo Burnett US. Looking forward, here are WARC’s six major marketing trends for the year ahead, including Moment Marketing, Generation Swipeand The Digital Backlash.’
More future gazing, this from Digiday – 2016 in Preview.
5) The Twenty Most Instagrammed Places In The World . The Top 3 are not massively surprising – Times Square, The Eiffel Tower and Tower Bridge, but there are plenty of surprises in store further down the list. For example, The Coliseum only comes in at Number 13?
6) Twitters Review of 2015. This is what Twitter, rather modestly, has to say about it – ‘As always, the world united this year in moments of triumph, activism, support and fascination, and Twitter is where we gathered for all of it. Whether people were making a hashtag into a global movement or expressing wonder over the colour of a dress, we all used Twitter this year in awe-inspiring ways.’
7) Ironically, given the decline of TV, due in part to the rise of the Web; it now appears that the Internet is mostly about TV. From The Wrap – Netflix and Other Streaming Services Hog 70 Percent of the Internet.
8) A wonderful initiative from Squareup Media this week. An ad free edition of Escapism focusing on the refugee crisis and the launch of a £50,000 fund raising initiative.
9) Interesting piece about the declining role that the ‘Media’ has to play in the role of gatekeeper – between the powerful & famous and the rest of us – ‘Why bother with a press release or [unpaid] exclusive when you have more followers on Instagram than most magazines have readers? What does it mean for the media when they no longer have preferential access?‘
10) Spotify’s first out-of-home ads give local stats of listening habits. Apparently Williamsburg is heavily into Justin Bieber…