4 Fuks Saké

Who Still Wants To Be An Astronaut?

I have a pretty good job. I try to persuade people to drink more booze, eat more food and watch more telly. It gets demanding though, and at times of extreme stress my mind naturally wanders to what I'd rather be doing. David Gower's job as main anchor on Sky Sports, or the bloke that chooses the music for the goal montages on Football Focus are obvious first choices. More prosaic careers such as being a lorry driver pop up - probably the time and space you get I imagine. The process of travel has always been strangely alluring - perhaps flying a commercial airline might be an option.

I am not alone.

KidZania in Tokyo is a theme park which is targetted at 2-14 year olds. It shoudn't be for kids - I'm 36 and I want to go. Originally launched in Mexico, it's no surprise to see it a roaring success in Japan.  It's a replica town where you can have a go at doing the job you fancy doing. You can get into uniform, fly a replica jet, work the post office, marshal the traffic - whatever needs to be done, you can do it.

After Disney's takeover of Marvel, and the certainty of another 100 years of character-based theme park-to-fast food tray juggernauts, it's nice to see that there's a place for simplicity. Nintendo always said that everyone likes playing games however old they are and they're right. 

Knock down Chessington down the road from me, and stick one of these up.

(Pic: guardian.co.uk/Getty)

Completely Irresponsible. Indignant With Rage.

One universal truth about UK kids  is that, by and large, they don't have much respect for their elders. At school, kids develop a canny ability to spot vulnerability in people who should have authority. A successful lesson meant driving a failing teacher to explode in rage, or erupt in tears of frustration via quality goading. They were supposed to be in charge. We brought them down. Result. Perhaps that behaviour explains why our English ancestors led the world in the establishment of liberal democracy. Who knows, and who cares? This blog is about how people sell shit.

Anyway, it's a link into a quality bit of work from EA today in the UK, who have used the same trick to sell a video game to kids. The authority this time, appears to be an "indignant with rage" MP, and a load more "angry residents," queuing to use words like "completely irresponsible." Mercenaries 2: World In Flames available now on Amazon for £24.99 on PS2 features "Venezuelan-style fuel riots." EA offered free fuel to people. It was over-subscribed massively. A "Venezuelan-style fuel riot" then takes place in Hornsey, North London - just like it was in the picture above. Except it wasn't really - it was a bit of a traffic jam. Coverage appears for the game on the front page of BBC Online. It'll be elsewhere too. Outstanding.

Asian Intelligence

How to get instantly smart on Asia, the Internet and other things. Norman Lewis: "To See The Future of the Internet, Look East," in the excellent Spiked.

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 and read Creating Global 'Talkability'. It's written by me.

Text Me If I'm Fat

And in Japan, Digitalworldtokyo again gives us another example of how Japan is leading the world in mobile phone applications.

Japanese foodies, stressed about calories can now turn to their mobile for dietary advice. You can simply photograph your food and send it off to a team of nutritionists who will analyse it, and tell you to put the Big Mac back.

For once there's a flaw. It takes three days for the pics to be analysed and feedback given. By my reckoning that works out as a 'meal lag' of an estimated 6,000 calories?

Globalisation Or Anglo Saxonisation?

An Anglo-Saxon man recently...

Just back from four days in Vietnam - my first time there. I played my part in a full day of an ideas fest on behalf of my Unilever client in Vietnam. The most provocative thing I heard all day - and I don't think it was intended to be provocative - was from Lowe's Global Creative Chief for Unilever, Fernando RV Olmos.

He introduced himself to the young crowd with the words, "I am not Anglo-Saxon." Fernando thinks and speak in Spanish, whilst creating advertising that moves people across the globe. Despite globalisation bringing us lower production costs, a freer flow of information and so on, Fernando argued that the ubiquity of the English language is proving to be a barrier or filter to the flow of insights and ideas, rather than a support.

An idea can come from anywhere right? But big ideas are only ever any use when they get executed? So how many big ideas are emerging from Vietnamese / Spanish / Kenyan / Sri Lankan brains, but not making it into the world stage - stymied by an Anglo-saxon decision maker? 

I would add that as brands become increasingly 'global' as new markets open - the guys that sign off the comms campaigns at a global level remain Anglo-Saxon either in physically or in mindset. Maybe the guy who gave him the job recognised Anglo-saxon qualties in the 'outsider' and gave him the keys.

There are a couple of things for us to keep an eye on.

1. If we are in this age of co-creation - people forming their own opinions of brands and now having the power to influence others with those opinions - what will happen to the axis of globalisation culturally? What happens to ideas when American guys stop signing them off?

2. How quickly will our traditional cultural creative hubs of London, New York, Tokyo shift as the Anglo-Saxon cultural leadership diminishes?

3. Are we going to see shifts in the creative processes in our trade, borne out by Hispanic, Chinese or Japanese creatives ? Where is our modern day David Ogilvy / Rosser Reeves? Wouldn't it be great if we addressed him -san or Signor?

Hey Grandad, can I have your digits?

Japan continues to get older. NTT DoCoMo brings us a mobile phone for old people. According to Digital World Tokyo, the Raku-Raku phone includes things like a "slow voice" feature, slowing down the barking of younger siblings on the other end of the line.

The phone also uses a voice to read all the text-based messages for you. I don't think anyone over 60 can take a mobile keyboard off CAPS SHIFT or use punctuation. I hope they don't all think they're shouting at each other. And what happens when they discover text sex?

Creatives 1 Technocrats 0

My boss was the first person I remember who said about 2 years ago, 'ah, blogs - we should pay attention.' 12 months ago he gave me and my colleagues a copy of Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind" 12 months on Pink's words are starting to bear even more fruit.

Pink's now well-read book can be summed up in two sentences, thus. In this age of automation, cheaper labour in Asia, and abundance; the winners in business in the 21st century will be the right-brainers: the empathisers, the artists and the story-tellers. Conceptual thinking will defeat linear thinking.

Nintendo v Sony v Microsoft is my favourite latest case study. I worked with Nintendo during the N64/GameCube era and the atmosphere was very different. At the time, a games producer from one of the large all-format software publishers showed me a demo of a sports game with such pride, because the grass blades on the pitch flickered that much more than version 3. 'Who gives a shit?" I suggested politely, "what does that do for the game?" I interpreted his private thoughts as 'this guy just doesn't get it.'

The video games industry went nuclear when Sony's Playstation brand granted social acceptability to the sector. The figures speak for themselves. But Nintendo have been entertaining people for 100 years. Playing cards, games, dabbling in a taxi company, eventually moving into video games in the 1970s - they are a compelling and fascinating example of a Japanese creative company. Nintendo have never needed to remind themselves to get back on track by chanting glibly 'content is king.' It's in their blood - and it's their ability to see the bigger picture in gaming - to symphonise to use Mr Pink's terminology - which is bringing them financial success now.

Games are about having fun. Wii meets that basic human need for all ages - without getting into a technocrat arms race. It's conceptual. It's right-brained. It's profitable and they can't knock them out quickly enough.

The technocrats have been given a bloody nose, and they won't be the last.