4 Fuks Saké

This Is The Self-Delusional Society

 
Is Bryan Ferry alive or just a high res jpg?

Ferry - to whom you can add Jo Wood, Ed Vaizey, Tamara Mellon, Time, CNN, airline gold cards, and the phrase "I just can't live without my iPod Nano" - all operate in the parallel universe that is business travel lifestyle. It's a place that has no relation with reality. It is a phrase that is the definition of an oxymoron.

Travelling on Eurostar this evening, I look at my bag on the rack and have to ask myself the uncomfortable question - why have I got a Cathay Pacific gold luggage tag attached to it? I haven't lived in Hong Kong for four years. I'm clearly no longer 'gold.' Marcus Wareing's face smiles benignly at me from the cover of Metropolitan magazine. Looks interesting - 'I wonder what his latest "pioneering restaurant venture," will be?' Or do I. Do I fuck in fact. Marcus sorry pal, off to Nando's with the kids on Saturday. And actually I've no idea who you are.  

Amongst all this, it's not abundantly clear that any woman has ever travelled. Boys collect football stickers, then they get a career and collect air miles. It's only men who wear airline luggage tags on their business. It's only men who absorb all this then subsequently have mid life crises. It's probably the reason Tiger Woods lost it - believed his own Accenture airport billboards.

Publishers - there is a gap here for someone to fill. I give you some leeway - you can create an iPad version if you like. But how about a title that is more reflective of the reality?

Boredom. Poor phone receptions. Dinners for one. Dinners with men you don't know very well. Propositions at 2am next to lifts. Unnecessary or unwanted drinking. The darkness behind a hotel room door. 

Probably not the most uplifting of reads - but then again, I enjoyed Nil By Mouth. 

What Makes Good Content?

Next Thursday I have a slot on a meeting agenda. I am asked to give an opinion on what makes good social media content.

The simple answer as far as I can see is this. The people decide  - not a bloke sat a desk in London. 

So please, help me answer the question - 'What Makes Good Content?'

Send me a picture. A slide. A video. A book. One word. 

I will credit every entry, and I will send out the finished document.

Thank you for thinking about it. 

This idea is stolen from Neil Perkin, who did a similar thing once before.

I'm here or at:

[email protected]

@jimdowling

i Is Feeling Slightly Patronised. You?

A few years back, I remember a pretty senior client being damned by one of his colleagues. "Ah 'xxxx.' He is an ocean wide but an inch deep." He sprung to mind this morning when I spent 20p on i, the newspaper "designed for people with busy, modern lives."

The product itself reeks so much of a supercilious focus group, you can smell the lukewarm samosas.

Indulging in uncomfortable business small talk, we invariably ask 'how's business?' The guaranteed answer is always the same. "Busy." (Focus group = tick, they're busy).

It's only after the meeting, and several more, plus a few pints one night that those same people admit that they watch X Factor and quite like Aiden. You don't get that insight in a one hour focus group of showboating strangers. The result - i is a smartly designed Metro without the pictures of Lily Allen. And you have to pay for it.

Turn to Kelner's opening editorial and the insecure get more reassurance. i is "the perfect way for an intelligent person to start the day...at a more affordable price than a cappuccino."

I prefer to start my day with a double espresso. It delivers. It doesn't fanny about. And that's the issue.

If I'm busy, am I better to read, think and learn from 2 or 3 pieces of quality writing in the morning? From learning and engaging in a piece, we absorb and think. From understanding comes knowledge, ideas, insight and ultimately, output. Sounds pompous but I think that's true. 

It's tempting though to spend 20p, skim read and bullshit your way through til 6 o'clock. Worked for client xxxx and a load more I've met since.  

Walkman, b. February 2, 1983. d. today, 2010.

February 2, 1983. My 10th birthday and arguably the greatest birthday present of my life. My parents - still freshly divorced - knew they had to make Christmas and birthday count. The early to mid 80s boom in consumer spending allied to a messy separation was the perfect storm. 

And so it was, I unwrapped the paper, genuinely oblivious to what lay beneath. The paper peeled back and a silver and blue box marked Panasonic winked at me. Inside, the main body of the product was hugged by a pair of headphones with blue foam. I hadn't asked for it - but my parents had second guessed me. I opened it up and inserted the Ever Ready batteries. We had a student lodger - Nick Carter, 9 years my senior. He handed me a TDK - C90 of Duran Duran's 'Rio,' nodded sagely, and said, "try this."

I put the headphones on, pressed the play button in hard, and the opening swooshing sounds of the title track kicked in. In stereo. I'd never heard anything like it in my life. The future had arrived. 

The Sony Walkman. What a brand. What a monumental fuck up. 

Cultural Intelligence

I once wrote a small book on the nuances of global culture and their effects on communications campaign. It's "How To Create Global Talkability," and you're free to download here. This is from The Poke is equally as insightful - Europe, as viewed by Americans. 

Publicity & Public Service

My work has inspired me so much, I am arsed to write 100 words. 

4 Fuks Saké is nearly four years old. If I didn't work in this industry it wouldn't exist, so some discussion around Cake work is to be expected. Today - two pieces of Cake work, two films, two different reasons for their existence. They explain a little bit about how people like us are producing video (or 'content' if I'd like to pretend to be more important) to deliver slightly more nuanced objectives. 

1. IKEA. Cats - The Experiment.

We work with Mother and Vizeum on IKEA. A new direction suggests to people that IKEA knows what makes homes and households function as well as look good. Homes that work make for happy households - ergo "Happy Inside."

Mother develop a beautiful treatment for a 60" film. Let 100 cats free in IKEA Wembley and see what happens, because when it comes to finding happiness, a cat will find it and sod the rest of us. My Mum's cat Millie pissed off a week ago and she's still not come back. 

Anyway, what follows is not rocket science. If someone sees that ad in XFactor for the first time, it may well be the case that they'd go, "Shit. How did they do that?" So we created a film, "The Experiment," for people who's next move would be to head to Google and search for IKEA Cats. It's just shy of 2 million views a week later and it creates fame for the campaign. The more eyeballs, RTs, and masturbatory blog posts to draw attention to it, the better. That's all.

2. Stephen Fry's 3D TV

On the other, a modern day public service film. Today's public servant is Google. We go to it and ask it to solve everything. Like what is 3DTV? So it's nice to find Stephen Fry explaining it to you, and politely letting you know that it's Sky who's offering it to you. Yes, Sky would like some eyeballs on it, but there's no frenetic grab for them or a desperation to call it 'viral.' It's just a little more pleasant to find this, than an ugly piece of commercialism. Unless of course you think Fry is ugly. 

High Quality Porn

Good news for the dyslexic porn hunters who regularly pitch up at 4 Fuks Saké, I've posted some extreme shit. 

Very excellent work from EIZO - makers of high quality medical monitors -  with a nice take on the old Victoria Wood, strategically placed fairy cake gag. 

Found here. 

World Cup Fever: Symptom #3

Guardian World Cup TV from Wieden + Kennedy London on Vimeo.

This is lovely. From W + K who look like worthy winners of the World Cup before it's even kicked off. 

Just really need one of those wallcharts. (For my son obviously). 

Summer Sale

My latest words on music festival marketing on Slideshare... 

Budgets Bearing Up Well At Nike

Subtle. Understated. Nike's 2010 World Cup effort. Quite good isn't it?