livingbrands

FutureScope 61

Just to let you know, the latest edition of my trends newsletter is now out: "emerging trends, new ideas and general thought stimulation"...or so it says on the cover.

Brand consultants wanted

David over at Where's The Sausage is looking for new partners in his Brand Gym business. It all works along an interesting franchise model, and his original post is probably worth a read if you want to know more.

February's Top Blogging

Choice cuts for Feb...

Planning & puzzling

Cloudiness

What is an insight

Lessons from food science

Less is more missions

Active persuasion

Brand vs. strand

The BBC's 15 web principles

Eduction marketing (and vice versa)

Blurry ideas

A Second Life view

Real research

User control

15 steps to meaning

Get a job

Death of zero sum (which goes as a pair with...)

Dove lessons

Tapping into enthusiasm

Dumb connections

Things to remember about trends

Dynamics of creativity

Bad marriages

Gotta dance

We have a new Cheestrings commercial out. As U Talk Marketing (who kindly made it their ad of the week) suggest, Gillian McKeith (po-faced campaigner for healthy eating) probably won't be a fan! But they are 100% real cheese ;-)

Planet sized brain

A paean to planning, from the IPA...

Still think writing an entry is nigh on impossible for anyone lacking a super computer and hoards of minions to run around for them.

Oscar celebrations

Well not really. But as it's Oscar's week we thought we'd celebrate with a film-themed new biz win.

Quiet Storm have just been appointed to handle the Movies 24 account. Without a pitch. Which is nice.

It's a fun channel, featuring what would classically be called TV movies. Although we like to think more in terms of emotional engaging guilty pleasures!

We've been working on positioning, and new work will be breaking shortly. So watch this space.

10 things we didn't know before the 8th week of 2007

1. Two cups of spearmint tea a day is thought to control excessive hair growth for women.
2. Less than 5% of cohabiting couples stay together for longer than 10 years.
3. A baby can survive being born after a gestation period of 22 weeks.
4. Dog bites have doubled in 10 years, judging by admissions to hospital.
5. Chimpanzees make their own spears for hunting.
6. Cross-country skiing is a useful skill to have when exploring the moon.
7. Poor maths is costing UK shoppers £800m a year because they don’t notice when they are short-changed.
8. Peter Hain’s house in Neath has a dancefloor.
9. Trabants were made from plasticised cotton waste, called Duroplast.
10. Tony Blair still plays his guitar most days.

(Source: BBC)

Looking for an ad agency?

Here's a thought. If blogs can replace headhunters, as seems to be the way things are heading if the blogs I read are anything to go by, could they replace other much used, but not always much loved aspects of our business.

What about competitive pitches? Let's be honest. Adrenalin buzz aside what, in the words of Edwin Starr, are they good for? Well sometimes they are good for a lot of things. But not always.

They can be time consuming and expensive for client and agency. They make it difficult to get to know each other properly...so you're often none the wiser whether a relationship will work. And they don't always deliver the best work...because the best work comes from working closely together (see previous point). So, I thought, maybe there are times when a different approach would work better. Here goes then...

Looking for an agency? Give us a call at Quiet Storm. Not to give us your (whole) account on a whim - that probably IS unrealistic. But to test us out. Come in, have a chat, see what we're like (we like to think we're quite nice). And give us a project: maybe there's a knotty problem you can't seem to crack, a pet project on the back burner, a secondary brand that could deliver ROI if only given some TLC. Whatever it might be, give us a budget to work with and give us a go.

We'll keep it collaborative and light of touch (quick if necessary). It will give you a chance to get to know us (and vice versa). And for us to show what we're capable of. And afterwards? Well, there's no strings attached, if you want to walk away (unlike after those big pitches!). But we've always found a successful project, and a satisfied customer, tends to lead to bigger, more lasting things ;-)

So there you go. Probably terribly naive and simplistic. And deeply flawed, given that most of the people reading this are likely to work for other agencies (although friends of friends and all that...). But you never know what might happen. I'll let you know.

The next best business ideas

Fast Company have just announced the 6th annual Fast 50 - the best new business ideas as they see it. You can check them out here. And though they go to great lengths to say it's a list not a ranking, I like that Arnie is in at no.1 with a bullet!

Man of the match

I know that post the whole 'having a go at Russell' thing, getting all personal and 'ain't my family great' is maybe a bit out of fashion. But I don't care. So from last weekend's 'A' final of the Thames Valley Junior League, where Wycombe came 4th...

"The stars for Wycombe were definitely the 10 year olds. Individual wins came from Abbie Clarke in her first swim after a long break with a ski-ing injury, and Nathaniel Armstrong. Abbie and Nathaniel both swam an excellent PB in the 50m Breaststroke to take 1st place. Joshua Howard (hurrah...that's my son! - ed) was Wycombe's 'Man of the Match' producing 2 excellent PB's in 50m Back and 50m Free. All three of these swimmers are still only 9 years old. Wycombe's only relay win came from Joshua and Nathaniel joined by Fraser Russell and Rory Stamp to take 1st place in the 10yr Boys Medley Relay.

Onwards and upwards to the first weekend of the county championships this Saturday!