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May 15, 2011
Just back from interviewing smart folk in NY for a film for A Big Event on the future of the global economy and government tax strategies. Struck by a simple truth. People don’t go to events, summits, conferences (call them what you will) for information, but for opinion. In most industries the information is out there. In volume. Live. Online. Like thick alphabet soup. What the live medium is about...
Read MoreMarch 29, 2011
I recently went to a great seminar at the IVCA run by Angela & Peter from Every Sense. It was all about how to grow a creative business (so do call them if yours is withered or stunted). While there, the conversation got round to how the general trend for Joe Public to “have a go” at making a video is devaluing the offer of “proper” video production companies. As in:...
Read MoreFebruary 28, 2011
As promised, having tried, and failed miserably, to start a Major Twitter Hash-Tag Craze (#meinonetweet), here are some key conclusions: Learning One: most hash-tag crazes (as in big trends) are very, very rude or about truly outrageous or worldwide events. My idea (your CV in one tweet) was too pleasant and unexciting to catch on, it seems. Learning Two: if you don’t have famous friends, or hundreds of followers (on both scores, I’m...
Read MoreFebruary 14, 2011
It’s official. Trying to read or write something intelligent (like this blog, for example) is rendered 17% less efficient if you have your Smart Phone on at the same time. Apparently, once interrupted by a bleep or a little red flash, we learn to expect interruptions. And, worse, we start dealing with interruptions instead of remaining focused on the task in hand. It’s a learned behaviour that is hard to...
Read MoreJanuary 6, 2011
Interesting. Working on a speech about changing attitudes to financial planning. Have been looking at the values that society embraced after the last Age of Austerity (how the 1930s influenced the 1940s). Plenty of food for thought for us all today in terms of ideas such as delayed gratification, frugality and self sufficiency. All fairly obvious stuff. Less obvious is the quest for value. As in: you can still sell...
Read MoreDecember 9, 2010
Don’t get me wrong. Multi-person telecons are great. They allow global organisations and us work-at-home folk to stay connected, to progress projects and to reduce travel bills. All good stuff in the Age of Austerity. But: Like their cousin, the multi-addressed email, they are not great for situations that have become tricky and require debate and compromise. If you can’t see someone, it’s hard to read their views and their motives when...
Read MoreNovember 9, 2010
Further to my last blog suggesting that a little less communication planning and a little more communication-uncovering might be worth a ponder: I gather that there is now evidence that too much communication of the electronic kind, especially mad-mad texting, can be a sign of an addictive or even promiscuous personality type. This Huffington Post Article suggests that there is a correlation between kids who text too much and kids who have...
Read MoreOctober 19, 2010
Having recently finished “writing” and “directing” a film for a Life Insurance Company in which the client and agency team actually allowed the customer to (a) say what they wanted (b) to have complete right of veto over the finished film, I am wondering if a little less “communications planning” might add up to a whole lot more useful messaging, in the end. Not that I want to talk myself...
Read MoreOctober 6, 2010
So: Radio 4, The Guardian and most of the media are keen to highlight that the cut in Child Benefit to high rate tax payers is a “political mistake”. There is a “row” so we hear. There may well be. In the media. Media Opinion is clearly in favour of exaggerating the “row”. Meanwhile in the Real World, it is worth bearing in mind that 83% of people think that the...
Read MoreOctober 4, 2010
So imagine you are a real and highly talented singer called Gamu Nhengu. You enter the X factor. You can sing. You give a great audition. Then you pop off to Cheryl Cole’s “house” and fail to make the cut for the Final 12. Cheryl (who can’t sing, and who is a fashion icon) fails to spot your talent, placing you behind two girls who can’t sing but who are – er – fashion...
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