24th November 2018
Mark Ritson on Gary Vaynerchuck. ‘Here is an overview of the main places where Vaynerchuk is wrong. Note I will not take issue with the personal brand or motivational aspects of Vaynerchuk’s content. That is for others, with expertise on these topics, to comment on. It is the media nonsense that I focus on here.’ (reg may be neccessary)
From NYT. In Praise Of Mediocrity. ‘The pursuit of excellence has infiltrated and corrupted the world of leisure. I’m a little surprised by how many people tell me they have no hobbies. It may seem a small thing, but — at the risk of sounding grandiose — I see it as a sign of a civilisation in decline. The idea of leisure, after all, is a hard-won achievement; it presupposes that we have overcome the exigencies of brute survival. Yet here in the United States, the wealthiest country in history, we seem to have forgotten the importance of doing things solely because we enjoy them.’
‘These 64 contenders aren’t just personal favourites. They are the result of months of painstaking meta-analysis of hundreds of “Best Ad Ever” polls, editorials, interviews with industry leaders, TV countdowns, opinion pieces and listicles from the past thirty years. From BBH Labs, this is the World Cup of Ads. Lots of classic ads here, but the two finalists were Guinness Surfer and Nike Just Do It.
From Creative Review. ‘In both political discourse and the world of advertising, there’s a range of ideas that are acceptable to discuss. The Overton Window describes the range of ideas permitted in political discourse. For example, we might be OK with chatting about immigration figures and tax increases, but a discussion about putting the over-65s in forced labour camps is less likely to be tolerated…. (reg may be neccessary)
12 Easter eggs you may have missed in Apple’s incredibly detailed holiday ad. From Sonic Youth to streetwear, there’s a lot hidden in plain sight.
This 100 second video from Friends Of The Earth provides a view of the United Kingdom, in the correct time proportions. 28% of the land mass is made up of pasture – for feeding sheep and cows. With one in ten British species at risk of extinction, it seems reasonable to ask – is there space for nature?
Last week was the 30th Google Firestarters, hosted by @neilperkin. I’ve been to a fair few and, in my humble opinion, this was the best. Rob Campbell, Dr Helen Edwards and Mark Pollard (who delivered his discourse via the medium of rap) provided some compelling perspectives on The Brilliance and Brutalisation of Insight. You can see Scriberia’s
pictorial summary of the session here. Last week also saw a Performance Firestarters (for the performance marketing community) looking at The Future Of Search. In this area, the growth of, automation seems to be the big theme. One of the speakers, recently did an interesting voice search piece, on the Econsultancy blog – The future of paid voice search: How voice could be monetised.
A pretty controversial initiative from the Indian Government, seeks to influence elections in a novel but surely unethical fashion. ‘In the state of Chhattisgarh, the chief minister, Raman Singh, has promised a smartphone in every home — and he is using the government-issued devices to reach voters as he campaigns in legislative elections that conclude on Tuesday.’
From @timharford. ‘The (building) was indeed completed, but in 15 years rather than five and at a cost of A$102m rather than A$7m — a truly impressive cost overrun of nearly 1,400 per cent. This is what the Sydney Opera House teaches us about Brexit.
Great fun. From SNL, ‘Jeff Bezos’ gives us all the reasons behind the big decisions at Amazon; and they are all to do with one man….
A mum turns her back on her toddler for 5 seconds and all hell breaks loose (spoiler alert, this has a happy ending)