Penguin gives you an adventure telling stories
March 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Yesterday afternoon the rather good brand marketer who actually gets it Jeremy Ettinghausen alerted me to the fact that Penguin were launching a new site called We tell stories. The site shows a series of six stories, one launched each week that includes an interactive layer in the form of Google Maps. The user follows the authors journey through Google Maps, seeing the places referred to in the stories themselves. That in itself is a very nice campaign. If you are fairly observant, you will see a hidden code. I am not going to give anything away but the journey it takes you on completely turns it from a nice campaign, to a “wow” campaign that I just loved. Some of you I know are reading from outside London so if you want to know how it ends up, send me a message and I will share with you. The site was developed by Six to Start and if the first adventure is anything to go by, keep checking in every week for the other five installments.
Amazon Kindle
November 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Amazon have launched Kindle, a wireless device that enables you to download books, newspapers or blogs directly to the device directly from Amazon Whispernet so there is no need for a WiFi connection. Weighing 10.2 ounces, users can choose from over 80,000 sources that are updated throughout the day. The device comes with Wikipedia readily installed and the content is displayed at it is in paper form. Read more
Bonfire of the Brands debate
September 8, 2007 | 1 Comment
So Thursday evening I headed over to Mother’s offices to hear Neil Boorman author of Bonfire of the Brands, share the epiphany he experienced just over one year ago, that made him want to live a brand-free life. Neil was joined by Dylan Williams, strategist at Mother, Adam Curtis, director of BBC documentary The Trap and media commentator Peter York to discuss the ethics of advertising. For someone who publicly set fire to everything he owns to raise awareness of this life choice and has just released a book detailing his experiences, I didn’t quite know what to expect from Neil. His actions have been received with mixed emotions ranging from full admiration for believing in something so much that he was actually prepared to do something about it, to some more self-righteous opinions (fellow Guardian readers I mean you) who believe Neil should have donated all his belongings to charity and only set fire to them to raise awareness of his own brand.
From meeting Neil I have to say I found him charming and wonderfully honest. He genuinely believes that brands have come to mean too much in our lives to the point where we think that they will enable us to achieve a better quality of life. Choice has become too much of a burden. He openly discussed the vitroil he has experienced since burning his branded belongings, and admits that he could have given everything to charity instead of burning it, and that’s ok. It is really as simple as Neil Boorman believed in something so much that he decided to change his way of life, and he has let us share this experience with him. Personally I think it is a very brave decision.
Neil I know you are reading this and as we discussed even though you have received mixed emotions, I hope you always have faith in your decision and wish you every success with your book. Those who wish to purchase it can do so here.
Bonfire of the Brands the book
August 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
A while ago, some of you may remember I posted an invitation to join journalist Neil Boorman on a Sunday afternoon as he set fire to everything he owns that is branded as he embarks on a journey to live a brand free life. Since the bonfire, Neil has adapted his lifestyle to only shop at local markets, independent shops and second hand retailers. He no longer owns a luxury gadgets like a TV or an iPod and yet despite this lifestyle change, Neil states that his quality of life has improved dramatically. Neil has documented his experience in a new book “Bonfire of the Brands” published on 6th September, which I would advise each and every one of you to read.
Tank Books in a cigarette packet
August 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Tank, the creative and publishing agency have recently launched a series of books that mimic cigarette packs. They have a flip-top lid and a foil wrapping all packaged up in a cellophane cover making them every product designers dream. They have reproduced some of the classics including “Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Tolstoy’s “Father Sergius”. I headed over to Daunt Books at the weekend and picked up Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and I love it, but be warned, they are flying off the shevles fast.
The Age of Conversation
July 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
In March of this year, Drew McLellan owner of US agency McLennan Marketing Group posted an experiment on his blog called We Are Smarter Than Me to see whether a large community of business people can jointly author a book of the same name. The book focuses on ways in which companies are learning to leverage social networks and the power of communities to improve their performance by allowing customers or others to take over functions typically performed by experts. Drew received responses from over 100 people ranging from Bloggers to Creative Directors and finally they have produced the finished product entitled “The Age of Conversation”.
Penguin revival
May 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Penguin Books have brought in artists such as Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman and Frank Miller to produce some new book sleeves for some of their classic titles soon for release.
