"And in at number five..."

Small but apt comment to make considering this time next week we'll be sat around a table having a battle of wills across a Monopoly board. The introduction of downloads into the singles charts is having a largely positive effect, with any song out there eligible to re-enter the charts without so much as a CD press being turned on. So, inspite of the inevitability of the X Factor winner who dare not speak his name taking top spot next week, a cursory glance around the rest of the charts sees some genuinely festive favourites returning. I never thought I'd welcome Mariah Carey back into the top 10, but god bless her she's in at number 4 with "All I Want For Christmas", whilst the Pogues featuring Kirsty Maccoll are in at number 9 with the ever brilliant "Fairytale of New York" (ok, it's not technically a christmas song, but then Die Hard isnt technically a Christmas film).

Take a look at positions outside of the Top 10 and things get even more interesting with Slade, Wizzard, Wham, Shakey and Band Aid all coming back for a sing song. Lummee, I've seen Chris Rea and John & Yoko peeking in the edges of the Top 40.

This is all good. We're starting to get a chart driven by demand and not by smart distribution and poor retail sales. All we need now is something like Scrobble to publish most played tracks from users computers and we have a truly representative picture of what the world is rocking and a boppin' to.

Flushed away

This blog was started following a conversation about how marketing was getting everywhere, and I wanted to know if anyone had started selling media space on toilet roll (they had). This is kind of an anniversary post, I guess, as I've come across a post on Consumerist about the trend in "premiumization" of everything and Renova's launch of a new upmarket toilet paper.

I already put premium unleaded in my car, and I'm sure at some point I'll be able to inflate my tyres with air from a plethora of mountain ranges (Himalayan breeze / Alpine pump). I reiterate a favourite quote from a long lost friend I grew up with (he's not dead, he went to Australia and got very rich fixing posh peoples cars). "Hurry up man, all you're going to do is wipe your arse on it. Pick the cheapest and we can go."

Building a better hole...

A leading manufacturers of drill bits hired a new CEO. During his introduction to the company, top managers from across the company presented how well their specific drill bit divisions were doing. After hearing all the presentations, the CEO gathered the top managers together and dropped a bomb-shell. “There is no market for drill bits,” he said. “The only market is for holes and as soon as somebody invents a better way to create a hole, we’re out of business.”

I'll go through this later on, but in summary it's about ROI from companies R&D budgets requiring not only close alignment with overarching corporate strategy, but a good dialogue (a conversation even!) with it's customers to find out what it is they actually need.

We heart Facebook

Nice piece about the role Facebook plays in certifying reationships. How official is it when you post your relationship status to your Facebook profile, and is it set to become the pre-amble to an engagement (or the beginning of the end).

Sure it will come in use at some point (for work purposes, naturally).

Liquid lunch, dinner, hell a whole life

I knew there was a reason why I liked driving up and down the motorway at stupid o'clock twice a week. It was down to sterling programming from the BBC wireless service, such as this. An hour long look at online communities and how they compare to real friends and loved ones (remember them?). Don't know why it was being broadcast via Radio 3, but it was a good 80 miles worth of discussion and study as to the impact of the internet in building new types of human experiences.

Details of the program can be found here

The series has been inspired by the learned work of Zygmunt Bauman "Liquid Life" which you can buy from here.

Build it and we will come...

Just saw this. Nice spin on personalising credit cards from CapitalOne, presumably bringing together a number of disparate card offers / types and presenting them as a flexible choice for the discerning debt lover.

Microsite here.

Bam, pow, kazaam!

Neat stuff going on with the launch of the new Batman film. Lots of hidden site, join the dots and contributions from fans (who knew a call to action could include "dress up!").

Read all about it here

See all the headlines here

Both Lost and 24 have done this kind of thing well throughout the run of their respective series, but it's interesting to see it being done for a film launch.

"A.I Artificial Intelligence" had a similar thing going on involving online, mobile and fax(!!) way back, and the new JJ Abrams film is using a similar route to promote the wonders of hi upcoming untitled work (see this and this).

Sunday morning (and afternoon and any other day you care to mention)....

I used to work "understairs" as they say, so spent my early burglary years running around sorting stuff out for people. Saw this on the Hyperhappen blog. It's a personal assistant service for people that can't afford a full time PA but need a helping hand every now and then to collect their sushi or drop their poodle off at the pamper palace. Paid by the task. Available online. Called Sunday.

Now all we need is therapy from your mobile and we're almost there!

You told us, we listen...

Interesting post by 1000 Heads showing how brands can monitor consumers tagging of their content. Cloudalicious tracks tag clouds over time (no - I don't know what they're on about either) and generates trends showing how visitors to your site are tagging you via del.icio.us

Drop in your website of choice and stick the chart into a powerpoint slide for your next client meeting.

2 - 3 - 4

News from Microsoft here about their revamped Zune offering. Not sure the whole "customise your Zune player" is any great leap however, given people are doing that already by purchasing customized cases, getting their players engraved already in many weird and wonderful ways (knitted nano cover anyone?).

More interesting is the software component and the creation of their own social music network. Can't see it yet as it's down for maintenance, but to me that gives them something unique over iTunes and could offer a tangible alternative to music lovers like me.

Talking about loving music, have just moved up north and was driving back to London to the sounds of Steve Lamacq's brilliant show. Why are they only giving him an hour on an evening monday slot I'll never know, but it's fab and you can listen to it again from here.

Failing that, head over to NYUB for an equally brilliant podcast of new music. Around an hour of sonic joy and goodness, released around once a month.

With a little help from my friends

Facebooks of this world 'are the future for fundraising' - so says Simon Collings, chief executive of the Resource Alliance, speaking at the recent International Fundraising Conference.

Article here.

Here be monsters

Ajaxtastic new web community thing here. Don't know what it does yet, but it has a member called Dragon Girl who lives in Dragon City! What's not to love?

Change the channel

Quick post this, but important all the same. Just had a play around on Joost and think it's the way forward for tv and the internet. Great choice of channels from beta, easy to set up and use. When you turn it on, it actually works, and the quality is great. Can only get better.

Take note BBC. The iPlayer is looking very poor in comparison. I still havent been able to get a program to download on it. Distressing as well, considering I paid for it (as did we all).

This will change how we consume and interact with TV, no doubt, and can only get better with time.

Colour me bad (that's bad meaning good)

Nice bit of Sony Bravia action going on here. Nothing beats some great tv advertising wrapped up in a lovely flash pastry with directors comments on top, and a side order of UGC.

All available here.

Talk, talk

Missed this, but hey. I've been busy trying to get my house sold, move up north, and learn the joys of working on the hoof. 3 have just launched a wireless solution that I've noticed peeking out of the side of many a harried commuters laptop, and I think I may have to invest.

Anyways, the point of this post is the evolution, from print to talk to twit. Useful if a client asks you where online communication is going, and a nice primer to get your own head around the changes in how we can not only talk to each other online, but make sense of all the needless chatter. Article is here, questions on a postcard.

All aboard!

Virgin Trains asked people for ideas on ways to improve their service, and Richard Branson is picking the best (and most voted?) idea to take forward and develop.

Nice idea, nice microsite, not bad all round.

Turn the heater on....

Nice bit of co-branded CSR interactive gubbins over here. I'll write something once I've had a play around.

Yard sale

Lots of talk amongst people over how social networks can be incorporated into the marketing mix. Two decent clips coming up.

The Hub - Comment on the dynamics of online social communities , and the most appropriate way to approach a brief that declares "I want something web 2.0". Kind of a guide to etiquette (and this is the trick) than a set of instructions.

Reveries - This is mentioned in the article above and refers to an idea for referral marketing using your Facebook profile. It's something Google have been doing for a while now, offering bloggers and the like the opportunity to profit from traffic to their site (see Squidoo as well), but this gives Facebook participants a revenue, and brands some insight.

Who knows. I met a guy once who told me that if he stood on the corner of Camden High Street and asked every woman who walked past if they would go out for a drink with him, the odds were that eventually one of them would. He's now a very rich man. The lesson? Saying something to someone (friend or stranger) is one thing. Being tenacious with it is another thing altogether.

Dont tell me, bell me

Have heard of this sort of thing being tried before, albeit with barcode readers being distributed to the masses so they could scan a code in their favourite magazine and have their web browser go straight to the appropriate site on the internet. This is much cleaner and simpler, and has apparantly worked well in Japan. Point your mobile phone at a poster and get access to more content. Lovely.

Now, where's my jetpack?

(Web) 2.0 + 2.0 = 4.0

Smart video piece from Seth Godin looking at marketing appropriacy, and how existing ATL "broadcast" models of advertising (basically, it's a numbers game) have been challenged by the need for clever and insightful ways of not only communicating with potential customers, but getting them to want to tell their friends about you. Makes some simple points about the value of marketing being aware of the context in which its used. Throwing paint over a building to show how much you get the importance of colour when buying a TV is one thing on a commercial, and probably get you a fair few "oohs" and "aahs" into the bargain. Trying to do it all over someones online social space will probably get you a thick ear (if you're lucky).