livingbrands

The Gutter Twins

Maybe a play on Mick 'n' Keef's Glimmer Twins, the Gutter Twins is an upcoming partnership of two alt.rock greats - Afghan Whigs' Greg  Dulli and Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stoneage fame.

I think I've said before that Lanegan is one of my all time fave rock vocalists, so very much looking forward to the album (out early March)

What's your attitude?

The 2008 British Social Attitudes Survey is out. A few choice cuts...

• 32% of men agree that it's a man's job to earn money and a women's job to look after the home and family.
• ...but 68% of women in a relationship say they do all the household cleaning.
• In 1987 (not that long ago), 75% of people thought homosexuality was always or mostly wrong; now it's (still) 32%.
• Only 50% of people read a morning paper at least 3 times a week, vs. 77% in 1983.
• 12% of Britons participate in voluntary organisations...less than half the rate found in Canada.
• 76% think the gap between high and low incomes is too great.
• ...but only 34% think the Government should do something to redistribute income.

There's a handy press release detailing these facts and more here. Or you can access the BSAS data base if you register here (although it's not the most user friendly site around).

Diversity or publicity

For this year's Super Bowl adfest Pepsi are taking the apparently bold step of featuring deaf characters who communicate only by signing. It has quite a nice sight/sound gag, and it's good to see a big corporate so publicly embracing diversity in their comms.

Having said that, the cynic in me does wonder (given the cultural significance of Super Bowl ads in the US) whether this signals an on-going and public commitment to diversity issues, or simply a way to maximise publicity (I'm not sure I would otherwise write about a SB ad).

Also, I'm hoping that the short intro in the Youtube clip isn't part of the 'on air' ad, as it feels rather clunky. And having to 'explain' might suggest that Pepsi doesn't quite have the courage of their convictions. If you're going to do it just do, rather than explain why you've done it.

But whatever the motives it is still a good step forward in how we represent diversity audiences in mainstream media.

Happy birthday Lego

50 today (as Google helpfully pointed to me this morning), and still going strong...at least in our house (Exo-force the current faves for Year 6 boys it seems).

Without a doubt, one of the greatest inventions of all times. And it's a toy!

10 things we didn't know before the 4th week of 2008

1. Swedes have a word for a man who visits prostitutes - torsk.
2. Using a mobile before bedtime can delay you getting to sleep.
3. A bear helped carry ammunition for Polish troops during World War II.
4. Moleskin clothes used to be made of moles' skins.
5. Wealthy people are more likely to drink than those in low-income homes.
6. Ships emit twice as much CO2 as planes.
7. "Plain vanilla" is a term for basic financial instruments such as shares.
8. Only offal-free versions of haggis are available in the United States.
9. Super-fast broadband fibres are laid in the sewers.
10. "Fischer chess" is a game in which the pieces are placed on the board in random order.

(Source: BBC)

The anti-Tipping Point

Whether you've embraced the Tipping Point and the power of Influencers to your heart, or find yourself more of a Herd-er by instinct, you should probably get yourself over to Fast Company. There's an article on the work of Duncan Watts (Is The Tipping Point Toast), and his premise that Influencers are no more influential when it comes to trends than the typical man or woman on the street.

I've covered Duncan's work before, but this is a very robust attack on some of the most basic foundations of word of mouth thinking. He's not saying the WOM doesn't work (anything but), just that the whole thing is way more random than the simplistic 'find the influencers' model currently employed.

At the end of the day, it's probably six of one, and half a dozen of the other. But well worth a read.

Curiosity

According to Seth Godin...

Lite-ing up London

(bsit)

The first of our 2008 wins is now public, and very nice it is to: Associated Newspapers' London Lite. Everyone is particularly excited, as it's a new sector for us. And lovely clients as well, so we're looking forward to a fulfilling partnership.

And apart from the fact that we DID win (so obviously I would say this wouldn't I), it was a really good pitch process. The client team kept it very low key - more like a chemistry meeting, with some strategic and creative starters to talk around, avoiding the usual (and unrealistic) expectation of stumbling across the 'right answer' in a two week vacuum.

The idea here was much more to get a sense of the agencies, whether they were like to work with, and to see evidence of them being up to the challenge in terms of ideas.

It all felt much more real and natural than the usual pitch process. And far less stressful as well (especially as it was over Christmas!).

If you're about to call a pitch, maybe take note.

10 things we didn't know before the 3rd week of 2008

1. The Scottish crossbill is the only bird unique to the UK.
2. Barack Obama attended a stag party in Wokingham.
3. Nicolas Sarkozy never had dinner at home in eight years, according to his ex-wife Cecilia.
4. Christopher Columbus introduced syphilis to Europe.
5. Carrots used to be purple.
6. Both men and women find long legs in the opposite sex attractive, but not too long.
7. Rodents used to weigh a tonne and have skulls half a metre long.
8. Ps can claim up to £250 a month without producing receipts.
9. There is no such thing as pure black.
10. Brazil has more people of African descent than any country outside of Africa.

(Source: BBC)

Sixteen again

I have a pretty eclectic taste in music. But if I had to pick a centre of gravity, it would probably be the 'spiky' (as always described by the music press) post-punk guitars of the late 70s/early 80s.

Which is why I have, for all the Arctic Monkeys-lite stylings, a soft spot for the Wombats 'let's dance to Joy Division'...

But it isn't the mini-kangaroos I want to talk about today. Rather I would point you in the direction of the rather excellent and somewhat 'angular' (to borrow another post punk descriptor) sounds of Southend's finest These New Puritans.

New single Elvis sees the band at their most accessible…if the Killers/Bloc Party fronted by Mark E Smith could ever be described in that way...

After that it really does get a bit Marmite musically. More like the Fall colliding with the Slits at times, if that's to your taste (works for me).

Chuck out Myspace or get the album.