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10 things we didn't know before the 50th week of 2009

1. The Queen travels to Sandringham by scheduled train each Christmas.
2. The Moon has the coldest place in the Solar System measured by a spacecraft.
3. About 3.8 million cheques were written in the UK every day last year.
4. Australian stingless bees immobilise intruding beetles by mummifying them in resin, wax and mud.
5. The Royal Mail's missed parcel cards are also known as "739" cards.
6. 748 million burgers are sold in the UK annually.
7. Women's touch is more sensitive than men's.
8. The Na'vi language spoken in James Cameron's new film Avatar took four years to write and develop.
9. Female spiders eat their mates despite them being nutritionally poor.
10. Milton Keynes central railway station appeared as a UN building in Superman IV.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

Iron Man 2 trailer is up

Whiplash, Black Widow, Nick Fury and War Machine. Oh yes.

Christmas film from Publicis: what were they thinking?!

The next time someone suggests your agency mimes along to a song (or worse still, actually sings it) for a Youtube film,even if meant ironically, just say NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

Do you wind or scroll

Language evolves over time as people's associations and uses change. And had a good example last night, which may have been a post-training (and so tired) slip of the tongue, but was interesting nonetheless.

It was really frosty when we came out of the swimming pool at 9pm. And as my son described it to my wife when we got home: "it was so icy we couldn't scroll down the window".

So there you have it: a digital life has killed the fine and ancient art of winding!

In praise of turkeys (of the week)

Not everyone likes our launch commercial for MTV's Viva. And Campaign in particular seem to hate it: they made it turkey of the week when it came out, and elevated this to the no.1 spot of turkeys in their end of year review…

All of which we love, as it means we're doing our job: better polarisation than indifference. Because what do Campaign know anyway (a much asked question!), when the numbers speak for themselves (remembering this was a low spend campaign, with no active investment in making this a viral happening).

At time of writing (and all in just 2 months)…

• Over 600,000 hits on youtube so far
• 100s of user generated remakes
• Over 400 Facebook groups
• The biggest had nearly a million members, before it was shut for some unfortunate flaming incidents
• Over 3m hits on Google for the phrase “up your viva”
• And a nicely trending catchphrase on Twitter as well
• Generating an increase of over 30% in both viewers and ratings (vs the TMF, the essentially identical channel that previous occupied the same slot), and 25% share of viewing

And here's a little compilation we've put together of some of the Youtube mashups that are out there...

As one client said "we think it's bloody brilliant and it has transformed our business". Or more pithily from another "turkey my arse".

So when it comes to Campaign understanding a new youth targeted TV station, it may be a case of "here's the coco and slippers, and get back to Last of the Summer Wine Grandad".

The voice of social media

How true is this...

 

(From Tom Fishburne naturally)  

10 things we didn't know before the 49th week of 2009

1. Kit Kats used to be called Chocolate Crisps.
2. taH pagh taHbe is "To be or not to be" in Klingon
3. And hok-oo means "watch out, other monkeys about!" in monkey language.
4. It's not Tiger, but Eldrick Woods.
5. Procter and Gamble set up a media company in 1933 to promote its detergents in the first "soap operas" - the last in its stable, As The World Turns, has just been cancelled.
6. Eco-light bulbs are designed to be brightest at 25C, and can get dimmer when cooler or hotter than that.
7. eBay's first ever item sold was a broken laser pointer for for $14.83.
8. Douglas Fairbanks and Cary Grant were among the first to repopularise pink as a colour for men.
9. Tipsy people who drink coffee to "sober up" are more like to underestimate how drunk they really are.
10. The German Cold War bunker up for auction is so well protected, it can withstand a jumbo crashing into the mountain it is hidden inside.

 (Borrowed from the BBC)

The beach hut advent calendar

If you happen to be in the Brighton area over the next few weeks, and hanker after something more than opening cardboard doors at the breakfast table in the run up to Christmas, why not check our the beach hut advent calender put together by Beyond.

 

The church in good example of real, tangible hands-on experiential marketing shock. Looks like fun.

The environmental argument for city living

I can find Simon Jenkins a bit reactionary and strident sometimes (strange given he also writes for the Guardian). But I thought he made some interesting pointsin last night's Standard about the environmental argument for city living (vs. building on/living in the country), in terms of energy use and pollution per person.

"We should use more intensively the land area that is already built over, and not spread new settlement across virgin acres of carbon-rich countryside, wherever they may be.

New settlements, however many times you prefix them with "eco-", are all carbon belchers. They are low density and require high mobility to service them.

Most people think of cities as ecological disaster areas, seething swamps of concrete and tarmac, fuming traffic and throbbing central heating. (Whereas) Greens are seen as inhabiting a virtuous Hobbit-state of woodland cottages, where people dig potatoes, sing folksongs and cycle everywhere...

...(But) Londoners...use space intensively and energy efficiently. They mostly occupy long-constructed buildings, sharing walls, roofs, ceilings and heating systems with others. They also share transport, street lights and entertainment. They walk, cycle or use public transport (mostly electric) to get to work or play. Londoners crowd roads, shops, restaurants, theatres, pubs. They communicate with each other without having to take long journeys.

They do not heat, light and cook in isolated homesteads, where almost every journey requires the carbon emissions of an internal combustion engine."

Now there are obviously environmental and social negatives a plenty to do with city living that Jenkins chooses to ignore. And he is talking about a certain kind of city - London or New York rather than Mexico City or Beijing. But I think he makes some useful points that dovetail well with trends like urban farming.

That said, I have always been and remain an outdoors type and country boy who has never lived in the Big City, with a desire to move to the West Country as soon as is reasonable, where I shall, in Simon's mind, increase my carbon footprint.

When not surfing. Or feeding my chickens ;o)

The 5 foundations of morality

TED talk by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, where he examines the cornerstones of morality.

turns out there are 5...

• An antipathy to harm of others
• Sense of fairness/reciprocity
• Loyalty to your group
• Respect for authority
• Desire for purity/sanctity

In terms of perceived importance, liberals tend to score highly on the first two and low on the others, whereas conservatives score similarly on each (tho lower than liberals on 'harm' and 'fairness' measures).

Although, even here 'perceived' is the important word - liberals may disagree with conservatives on 'purity' when it comes to sexual morality, but might consider it very important when it comes to food for instance.

Unsurprisingly tho, it is in the areas of loyalty, authority and purity that most moral disagreements and debates happen.

But Haidt's argument is that these different moral priorities are neither right or wrong, they are simply different. And that it is only in recognising these different priorities, rather than demonising them, that constructive dialogue and progress can happen.