Congested from manchester

I have a real issue with the current campaigning for and against the Manchester congestion charge. Not because I'm fundamentally opposed or in favour of the idea, but because a campaign on a topic such as this should be clear, to the point and lay out it's case with a compelling argument. I lived in London all my life and to be honest the congestion charge had some effect on calming the streets (although the subsequent price increases have been a flimsy excuse to increase earnings from a captive audience). What's bugged me with the Manchester advertising has been the lack of any conclusive argument within the campaigns themselves.

The "stop the charge" lobby lead with a "Vote NO!" poster, black background / white text and the line "£1200 to drive your car" (note - it's about £2 in and £1 out. That's it.) No argument about why or why not we need a congestion charge, just a cheap and bland "It'll hit you where it hurts" message. Other anti groups have adopted a similar approach. It comes across as facile and bland.

The pro lobby, led by Greater Manchester Future Transport leads with an above the line message "I won't have to pay the congestion charge...because I travel off peak". I'm stunned. I drive into work, so it's not talking to me, or telling me the benefits of why it's a good thing, it's just telling me that other people won't have to pay it because they wouldn't have been hit by it in the first place. It's random and irrelevant to the people it should be targeting - me the commuting driver.

So, it's nice to see someone doing something with a bit of impact and a clear message....



Enter stage right Mr Peter Saville. Very simple - Manchester needs the investment in transport from a congestion charge or the city will grind to a halt. Voila - a nice bit of video on You Tube to send around to your friends. A point well made.

To be fair, the "pro" website has changed it's messaging of late and is doing a decent job of giving a proper argument - given the vote takes place in a couple of weeks and knowledge is everything...

Snap!

Google have created a home for the LIFE photo archive. Millions of historical and iconic photo's available for all. Powerpoint will never be the same again! Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for posting it via his Twitter.

Money money money - money mia!

On my way down to that London for a meeting and was listening to the world service on the drive to the station. News article came up about the Italian national lottery, which has a jackpot that currently stands somewhere around the 100 million Euro mark.

What jumped out at me though, in amongst the spectrum of moral outrage at the huge amounts on offer, to the absolute frenzy of ticket buying (Italy has a population of around 58 million people, and they seem to have bought a total of 100 million tickets) was a comment from one hopeful ticket holder. When asked what she thought were her chances of winning, in the face of odds at 600 million to one (you have to pick 6 numbers from a total of 90) she said simply "It's not about the winning - for cost of one Euro I can dream. If I didn't buy a ticket, then I cannot dream".

I found that quite beautiful....

Wordy Rappinghood

Like words? Want to share words with others? Want to tell others what words mean?

Wordie is billed as Flickr without the photos. Create your own list of words and phrases, share them with others, comment and discuss. Dead simple and dead nice.(thanks to Nicholas Butler for flagging this via Twitter).

Wordia is slightly different, redefining the dictionary with users asked to make short videos about their favourite words and upload them to the site. Very creative, and one of those "why hasnt anyone ever thought of this before?"

I never knew what Fermata was / is until I saw Doc Brown's delightful description. Nooooooooowwww, I dooooooooooooooooo!

Twittering classes...

Some interesting articles here on how brands are embracing (or not) Twitter as a channel

33 Brands That Suck on Twitter

Why Brands are unsuccessful on Twitter

The Evololution of Brands on Twitter

Muxtape has snapped...

It's down courtesy of the RIAA. Full report from Mogger Mistee here. Maybe just for now - who knows?

Hope Blip isnt next. "We've only just begun..."

Can we all stop having fun please and do as we're told!

Hey Mister DJ....!

Came across blip.fm via Crackunit and I have to agree with Iain, it's brilliant, not least because it's got one of the simplest sign up processes I've ever seen. Screen name, email address, password, what bands do you like. That's it! Straight in and it's given me 30 likeminded souls with similar tastes in tunes and it blasted me a cracking Albert King track "Blues Power". Reminds me that I havent used Last.FM in ages, so will have to give that another go at some point.

So, sign up and start spinning people. The sun's out and we need a decent soundtrack!

Who's talking...and how?

Media consumption figures released today via an article on the BBC.
Will give it a proper read later...
Article here...

Original source material available on the OFCOM site here...

Ready for your close up?

Back in the 70's, the celebrated fashion photographer Helmut Newton developed "The Newton Machine", a device allowing his models to take photos of themselves as they saw themselves, without the need for the intrusion of a photographer to colour the process. So, the Helmut Newton estate have recreated this device in three of TopShop's flag ship stores (London, Manchester, Dublin) and opened it up to the public. Really nice idea, offering a great platform for Top Shop to showcase their clothes and (more importantly) the people that buy them. Have a look for yourselves at the website here.
Read all about it here.

That's enough about me, what do you think about me?

Solid article from Forbes magazine about the nature of the "always on" populace, blogging, twittering, FriendFeeding and generally telling everyone and anyone who will notice what they're doing, reading, eating, dreaming about. Still, helps if you have something important to say. Not so good if you don't.

Got to say, this was highlighted to me by Jeremiah Owyang via his twitter, although he does talk about it at length on his ever excellent blog.

While we're on the subject, Chris Brogan has a great post that takes this "always on" mentality to its next obvious step. If people are always talking, the best thing you and your clients can do is listen to what they're saying, especially if it's about you. How did I hear about this article? Nicholas Butler, a complete stranger who I happened to hear on a podcast one time mentioned it in his Facebook status update the other day.

God bless the internet....

Who's on first?

Jacked is a new service being launched over in the US, targeting television sports fans. I'm not a massive sports fan, I'll be honest, but the service seems like it may have something. Watch the game on the telly (remember those - generation Y people?) and get live stats, news, product info streamed to your computer, all ad supported.

Given there's an increasing number of people watching tv and surfing at the same time (twittering while Lost gets Lost) this isn't such a far flung proposition. If you've ever watched a baseball game or NFL, you'll know that half the screen is littered with stats. This eases the problem, letting you watch the game on your tv and getting your stats fix from your laptop. If they could offer a mobile service, so people could get this info while attending the game itself, I think they could be onto a winner. Google already have a live scores service for mobile users.

Saying that, have a look at this report from the beginning of the year, detailing the war against live blogging at sports events, following a recent crackdown by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). Given broadcasting rights are the backbone of the sports industry, control of stats from feeds and the internet, no matter how they're collated, carry a premium. Someone will at some point want paying for all of this.

Say cheese

I've noticed the new Canon campaign "Freecording" popping up in relevant ad placements across Flickr and YouTube (where else?). It's a decent enough campaign, showing you that poor quality video and sound is a thing of the past with Canon's new range of HD camcorders, and it offers a neat set of rules about how to free yourself and create the video masterpiece you always had in you. Nice enough, but there's no interactivity, which I would have thought this would have been all about. There's some video content created by some reasonably cool film makers, but I would have expected something like "add your own freecording" or at least some activity / tagging across video / photo sharing sites. I found one tag on You Tube, nothing on Flickr and nothing on any of the social sites.

I'm reminded of Lomo, who had this thing down to a tee. Their site was all about the camera(s), all about how to use it, and all about encouraging you to have a go yourself and share them with other people. This was back in 2001, and it's still going strong, with a wider range of cameras and an even larger user base.

The point is, Lomo built a brand out of taking something which was far from perfect, and injecting interaction and easy access to make it something we could all feel a part of and benefit from. They gave you some simple starters (check out the 10 Golden Rules of Lomo) backed it up with the best product packaging I've ever come across (unpacking your Lomo from it's casing was really something special) and encouraged you to not be shy and keep it all to yourself, but share with others who were as passionate about photography, and Lomo, as you were.

Canon are a great brand, with a near flawless product. I've been a fan forever, but they could take that loyalty and create something as special as Lomo if they wanted to. Freecording feels like it could start that process, but it needs to open itself up to everyone.

See what I've found....

Read about this little beauty on the way in this morning, courtesy of PC Pro magazine (yes, a real paper based publication). Searchme, currently in beta, is a search engine that uses visual search results instead of the usual listings. Nice idea (see your results in a screen grab of the page) and a nice take on searching. However, the bit I thought was really neat was how the engine contextualises results on the fly.

Type in Indiana Jones and it'll offer you filtered search based on games, films, dvd's etc. However, type in Carbon offset and you'll be offered filtered search options based on global warming, plants, flights.

True, it's pulling in associated key words, but the interface makes it simple to drill down within a couple of clicks.

Tagged and bagged

Ever wandered what people really think of your brand? If you haven't heard of this yet, dash over to Brand Tags. A bit like Hot or Not, but for brands. You get shown a logo for a brand and have to submit a word or phrase that you associate with it. The idea's beautifully simple - brands are how other people perceive them.

The days of the "empowering" brand are numbered. Now it's "what he / she says".

Whayagonnado?

It's Christian Aid week, and to support it they've launched a simple campaign site, asking you to pledge or donate and add yourself to their map. Very easy to get involved, with a choice of activities (a goat for dad, a pledge to recycle your used ink jet cartridges).

Decent presence on Facebook too!

I've blogged it because it's beautifully presented, single minded (help out in anyway you can) and the entry mechanic is quick and easy.

Money doesnt grow on trees..but the streets are paved with money...

Ever worked on a campaign so inane that your inner voice (you know, the sensible one) dared you to suggest that it would be better just to stand on a street corner and give money away? Well, that's exactly what Atlas Solutions have been doing, in a bid to kick start the US economy back into life.

Nice idea, yet with little attention looking at their YouTube viewing figures.

Embedded Video

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The secret to great viral is....ahh, ask them yourself

The Guardian (hey - it's really good) reports on - and I quote - "ROFLCon, a web symposium which attempted to answer conundrums such as why so many people like watching animated hamsters dance, and what is so funny about photographs of cats with misspelt captions". There's a reason why these things go so big. They're funny, single minded, and lack irony. It's a beautiful thing, the internet. God know's why they let us onto it...

Compare and contrast

Chocolate Rain sans marketing

Cherry Chocolate Rain avec marketing

Not the same, is it? Article here

You never write, you never call...

The other week I posted up a link to Absolut's site. It's a great site, very creative, and it's heart is in the right place. So, one week (or maybe two) and since I've signed up and opted in, I've received nothing in the way of a communication from them. I've given them my email address, and I've uploaded my own idea, but they've yet to get back to me with anything about what else is happening on the site, what else is happening with Absolut, or anything whatsoever about which bars I could buy Absolut in (or even which shops). Why collect data if you're not going to do something with it?

So many socials, so little time

Solid article here showing how small businesses can adopt social media as cost effective marketing channels to grow awareness and drive interest. There's a sense of discomfort driven by a lack of awareness amongst agencies and brands in these new (not so new, really) ways of reaching out to customers. The thing is, they cost very little, or nothing, to use. So use them!

In a world....

Ferg has flagged up this brilliant site from Absolut, inviting you to submit ideas for your own perfect world. Mine involved Judy Garland! The most fun and engaging thing I've seen for yonks. Yes, the technology is great, but it's the idea that sells this so well, and the ease with which you can join in. In a perfect world, all sites would be as good as this...

It's a new browser!

Scobelizer has dropped a post here about the new web browser being developed by AT&T.

You can see a video demo here and sign up for the limited beta taking place.

Top line is, it's 3D and it's aimed at everybody (not just early adopters).

It's been developed by some clever people at Vizible who seem to know alot about 3D and the web.

That's all I know for now.

More later

Work it out

So, you find the worlds greatest record shop. You tell all your friends about it and they like the sound of it so much they agree to go there with you the next time you visit. You both turn up on the day and your friend is told that before they can enter they need to pay to get in. Sounds stupid, but something similar happened to me when I wanted to add my kids to my gym membership. I've been with the gym since last November, (and I didnt pay a joining fee). My kids come with me every saturday for a swim and I thought it would work out cheaper if I enrolled them as members. The staff were very helpful and told me how much it would cost and that there would, of course, be a joining fee. Of course! Of course? I've told my kids it's great, I've offered them as new members to the gym, and the gym wants to charge me / them for the privilege, despite the fact that they'll also be paying a monthly subscription.

I really don't understand joining fees. I'd love to hear of this in any other industry. My view is that it undermines good word of mouth, which is the strongest advocate for any ailing business, surely?

Homepage smackdown

The battle of the home pages starts here....

Searching the sky

When is someone going to come up with a search / tagging system for Sky TV? I could set up a watch list, and get it to alert me to programs coming up based on my preferences, or I could search for a program by subject, as well as title. Not much to ask is it? Have a feeling this is something TIVO does quite well. Be nice to see it in the single largest multichannel platform in the UK. I must have something in the region of 300 channels (or more) but no way of navigating my way around them unless I already know something is there.

Be happy

Aardmanesque, but great all the same.

Be safe, be seen...?

Did you know it's Safer Internet day today? No, neither did I, which kind of sums it up really (shame).

All your fonts are belong to us...

Nice snippet from You Tube here that hadn't dawned on me before. Take a closer look at film posters and wander if someone is getting a royalty for every bit of typesetting.

The kids are alright...

Will read this properly later today...

Pack up lads, we've been rumbled...

Charlie Brooker offers up an innovative sms service and inadvertantly blows the gaffe on the whole online marketing industry. Bill Hicks was right...

Ask away

Amazon's "Askville" service is still in beta and ironing out some of it's kinks. The idea behind it is sound - Ask questions, get answers from the community, and in turn get served up suggestions for relevant products you can buy from Amazon.

Found an entry about things to do for a visit to London and saw it's system had served up this map.