Let's Keep Things Simple

4 Fuks Saké

This blog has moved and changed names.

Please head to 4 Fuks Saké for more of the same.

Goodnight and God bless.

Global Sulks, Dodgy Texts And The "Angst-Ridden Germans"

I get about 20 minutes to learn something from a newspaper between Putney Bridge and Oxford Circus each morning. I usually get distracted - my brain thinking about the day ahead.

Whilst I head into an office to sell lager, video games and TV subscriptions I am acutely aware that my job is an emotional business. You can come up with all the flash ideas and strategies you like, but if some decision maker's got out of bed the wrong way, and you've not second guessed it, it all counts for shit. The success of my day ahead hangs on managing moods.

Fortunately the same tantrums and sulks exist at the summit of global diplomacy. Some lovely writing from Michael White takes us right to the heart of the daily grind of Downing Street and the Foreign Office.

Gordon Brown was on the phone yesterday, giving Wen Jiabao the heads up that he was going to see the Dalai Lama. Whilst there, he had to go through the motions about decrying the violence in Tibet. Brown knew full well the Chinese Premier would be switching off on the second half of that call...flicking through his email, having a look at Facebook, that kind of thing - whilst Gordon half-heartedly said things like 'deeply concerned.' The two of them were just going through the motions of their jobs.

But as White writes, half the job is managing moods:
"Just as the Brits need to be loved in Washington (not in Brussels) and the angst-ridden Germans 'need to be telephoned every day', the Chinese don't like surprises." I could match some clients and colleagues against those national characteristics.

If it's not moods, technology is close at hand to drag us all down. Press send too early on an email. An intoxicated SMS sent at time of stress - just a handful of syllables sent over the airwaves are fraught with danger.

So a spare a thought for the Sarkozys.  Le Nouvel Observateur has reported that the former Mme Sarkozy received a text from her ex-husband 8 days before he got married to Carla Bruni.  The President of France reportedly tapped out, "If you come back, I'll call it all off." Poor bastard. That's a tough one to work your way through even if it's bollocks.

We're all weak humans - even if politicians appear extra terrestrial at times.

Another Culture Lesson

Throughout Asia, an 'instant noodle meal solution,' is an efficient, tasty and wholesome snack. Here in the UK we have Pot Noodle. Our and AKQA's latest work for them, with more than just a nod to Guinness...

Chinese Facebooks

No Facebook yet in China, and it may be some time. Its pronunciation in Chinese sounds like 'Doomed To Die." Not to worry - in the country where there's a caring and sharing approach to idea generation, you can sign up to whichever clone you like. Mobinode points out U.discuz.net, Xiaonei or Yeejee which look comfortably familiar to a pair of Western middle class social networking eyes.

More importantly, kop a load of a bunch more 'China's massive' stats. In the last 6 months, 48 million more people tucked into the Internet, report Kaiser and China Web 2.0 Review. That means we're now up to a total of 210 million users - primarily well educated and city-based. However, 40% of that new 48 million are living out in the sticks. You can find a meaningless stat about China every day - but that's a significant one. Greater access to education and information is coming to the masses.

A Proper Job

I don't know who you are, but you'll be like me. We don't have proper jobs. As Mrs Martin Lukes' commented, we're all "just faffing about."

Except this man. This is a real man with a real job. This is David Higgins and his job is to build an Olympic Park.

The London 2012 Olympics will cost GBP10.3bn. David's in charge of GBP9bn of that - and with it he's got to see that an 80,000 capacity Olympic stadium, an aquatic centre, a velodrome, an Olympic village and a media centre are all standing and fit for purpose in some dark hinterland of east London when the world turns up in five years time. There's no mealy-mouthiness going on when you meet David down the Rotary Club. His annual appraisal doesn't have too many grey areas.

I like David a lot, and I'd like to sit down with him in his office and get my head round how the hell he does it. If you read this very refreshing interview, and if you have ever undertaken any form of 'project' in your life, you end up doing what I've been doing today...getting distracted, your mind wandering back to David and his job, and starting hundreds of phases in your head with, "how does he know," or "what if,"   or "how on Earth...?"

LOCOG should be / will be looking to Beijing for lessons as they prepare for 2012. For once, LOCOG should accept a lesson in communication from China - because it's time to get a grip on the drip-drip of budgetary bungling and the tepid passion the UK has for the Olympics. If David was in Beijing he would be a Chinese national hero - the man who holds China's dreams in his hands. In the UK he's perceived as just one of a quagmire of bungling bureaucrats with acronyms and dodgy calculators, tucked away in a corner of east London, as remote from the citizens of Putney as they are those in Pudsey. 

GBP60bn thrown down the toilet of Northern Rock, or GBP10bn for an experience that will shape a generation financially, physically, spiritually? I know what's better value for money. It's about time we started to see, hear and feel a campaign that connects with the country - that starts building an Olympic spirit with young and the not-so-young. David Higgins doesn't need our support, but he certainly deserves it.

In at number 6...

Industry and media recognition at last from Asia-Pacific's Media. There you'll see Let's Keep Things Simple, in at number 6 in the industry's Top 10 blogs feature.

Wonderful stuff - recognition not just for me, but also my 20 regular readers.

Thanks to Tim for the image, (http://www.gotoofareast.com).

Global 'Talkability?'

Positive word of mouth sells products. Brands and products that are talked about, shared, recommended or loved, sell. Brands and products that are ignored, fail. Marketers doodle on pads in meetings, thinking, "how do I secure positive word of mouth, or 'talkability' for my brand?"

For global marketers, there's a bigger question. How do I create positive word of mouth and fame for my global brand across different cultures, in different languages, through different media contexts?

Is it possible to create global 'talkability' for a brand or idea?

If so, how is it done?

Want to know? Click on the link just below and read Creating Global 'Talkability'. It's written by me.

Download Global_Talkability.pdf

Can We Be Arsed To Catch Up?

See that previous post? It all happened.

4 weeks in, 'so Jim, how are you finding being back in London?'

Well I've had a clear illustration why the East Asian economies continue to leave the Westerners for dead. One might be the different attitude the two cultures have to a simple thing called a deadline.

A deadline is essentially a promise. "I promise I will deliver you something by this time on that day," so an employee may say to his boss, or a supplier may say to a customer. My experiences in Hong Kong were clear - deadlines meant deadlines. People that missed deadlines did so with embarassment, shame, and no end of apologies.

In the UK it's different. A supplier - let's call them Sky Broadband by way of example - write to you and say, we'll have you connected by then. And then they don't. And they're not that bothered really anyway. So my first Sky bill arrives for the month, and it's for 36 quid a month, rather than the 41 quid I'd agreed  when I signed a contract for TV and broadband. They've lost 5 quid. That's called lower productivity.

As it says at the top of the page, it's no rocket science.

Ogilvy China Digital Watch

Ogilvy China Digital Watch is live now, and full of quality. In fact, it's been live for a few weeks and it's a cracking read. Nice work Kaiser, Michael and whoever else has a hand in this.

Beijing Finds Cure For Obesity

The dieticians, nutritionists, shrinks and hand-wringers in administration have got it all wrong. I've just stumbled on the simple yet obvious solution to weight loss. Turn it into a sport.

My colleagues at Ogilvy in Beijing have set the tone. There are roughly 800 Ogilvy-ers in Beijing, and those who fancied it signed up into teams of 5, representing their discipline. Over a 3 week period, the team that lost the most amount of weight collectively, picked up the glory and the RMB. Ogilvy's IT and finance team romped to victory, leaving Ogilvy PR to pick up silver. Individual glory was up for grabs too. The Light Hero Gold Award was picked up by Joanne Chyou (pictured), who shed an impressive 7.8kg.

Genius. Why do we have put with lectures and whinging from Patricia Hewitt and the like, telling us 'we must eat this, and we can't eat that?' The whine just makes you want to walk away and see if there are any more biscuits in the cupboard.

Bring in a competitive element, and then you'll start seeing some movement. Now you're talking. I want to see this turned into a demonstration sport for Beijing 2008. If Sebastian Coe wants a legacy for London 2012 - get those fat kids in the UK off their Xboxes and into training for Olympic glory. I'd be up for it if eating lettuce meant I'd get gold medal.

Respect to Joanna Chyou. Light Hero 2007.