livingbrands

Off to a flyer

(AlbinoFlea)

A great start to the year. Back less than 2 weeks, and 2 new biz wins already. Can't announce anything as yet. But they are both great brands...and really nice people.

Anyway, bodes well for 2008...if we can keep this pace up!

10 things we didn't know before the 2nd week of 2008

1. Circumcision does not reduce sexual satisfaction.
2. The UK has only one polar bear, at Edinburgh Zoo. Its name is Mercedes.
3. Window cleaners who work on very tall buildings are trained to lie flat if their platform comes loose - a tactic which appears to have saved the life of Alcides Moreno, who tumbled some 500ft (150m) to the ground in New York.
4. At school, Sir Edmund Hillary was in a gym group for those lacking co-ordination.
5. Siblings who are separated when adopted may be naturally attracted to each other in later life.
6. Etiquette dictates that at dinner parties, a man should always talk to the woman on his left during the first course, and right during the main course.
7. One in three British adults is on a permanent diet.
8. Octopuses need mental stimulation.
9. Liverpool is not Europe's only capital of culture this year.
10. Half of men aged 16-24 haven't read a single book in the past 12 months.

(Source: BBC)

FutureScoping 72

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.

The games people play

Take one very big screen (as very big as you like, in fact), a whole load of people, and their mobile phones (no downloads or extra tech required - just a phone call), and you have Megaphone's recipe for a huge, great interactive game...

It's pretty lo-tech (nothing wrong with that...in fact, it's probably a good thing), but looks highly addictive and herd-y (is that a word? Have to ask Mark).

And given that it's only early days, I would guess basic shot-em-ups is just the first of many applications we will see

Shopping for dinosaurs

Maybe I'm a TV snob, but (football aside) I can probably count on the fingers of no hands the number of programmes on ITV that I actively choose to watch.

The one exception last year was Primeval, which I was rather taken with...because my son wanted to watch it obviously ;-)

Any way, the new series kicks off this Saturday. Not high art I know. But there's great excitement in our house nonetheless. After all, Velocirapter runs riot in shopping centre: what's not to like!

Not sure about the Broadcast sponsorship by Haven Holidays tho. Can't really see the brand fit!

10 things we didn't know before the 1st week of 2008

Well it seemed interesting last year, so I'll carry on...

1. Police are not required to clean up a crime scene once evidence has been gathered.
2. Networks of sensors are embedded in road surfaces to beam back information to councils on ice, rain, wind and temperatures.
3. Japan's justice ministry surveys ex-cons on topics such as whether they liked the design of their prison-issue pyjamas.
4. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga's first name means "stinging nettle".
5. Immunity to norovirus once you've had the bug that causes sudden vomiting doesn't last long.
6. Britons are keenest on fast food, more so than even Americans.
7. It's the first time in 50 years that neither the president nor his deputy will be seeking re-election in the United States.
8. The Royal Marsden was the first hospital in the world to be dedicated to cancer when it was founded in 1851.
9. Victorians believed smoking cleared the lungs - and struck off Dr Thomas Allinson, who founded the bakery of the same name, for describing nicotine as a "foul poison" and advocating healthy eating.
10. Malaysian hotel rooms may be fitted with CCTV.

(Source: BBC)

Didn't know I wanted it till I saw the ad

One of those uncomfortable insights into what we do that leaves you wondering whether there's a better way...

(Thanks to Faris)