Meme Huffer

In The Loop

We are huge fans of "The Thick of It" up here at Huffer Towers, and now we're delighted to see that Armando Ianucci has directed a feature film in which the ever-scabrous Malcolm Tucker heads to Washington to lock horns with US military brass, ably played by Tony Soprano James Gandolfini.

Also worth taking a gander at Tucker's Twitter feed. And of course we're loving the Obama-esque posters (another favourite meme round these parts).

I could do that (Friday ffffound)

Same holds true for great advertising ideas, don't you think?

From New Math via ffffound

Great Quotes for Planners #64 -David Lynch on ideas and fishing

"Ideas are like fish.

If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you've got to go down deeper.

Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They're huge and abstract. And they're very beautiful."
                            
                                                    -David Lynch, "Catching The Big Fish"

photo of deep-sea glass squid (plus more aquatic oddities) found here.

Friday ffffound

This is turning into a nice little meme...

Great Quote for Planners #63 - Beyond the quant

"If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability."

-Vannevar Bush

Or, to put it another way, you need to think beyond the numbers, beyond the measurable and predictable.
Look at irrational as well as rational behaviours.

And don't forget to pay to attention to the lies while you're looking for the truth.

photo credit: Ashley Bingham

Great Quotes for Planners #62 - Read around

"I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way."
- Franklin Pierce Adams

I was having a great chat with a colleague this morning (hi Jane!) about how one finds interesting things -y'know, the little factoids and opinion pieces that may lead to insights one day. Then I serendipitously stumpled upon this quote, which kinda sums up the point I was making about the importance of reading actual newspapers and magazines rather than just skimming the headlines of RSS feeds.

Don't get me wrong -searching for stuff online is great, but it makes it harder to learn about the things that you don't know that you don't know...

Photo: Cameron MacMaster @ flickr

Star Wars -Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it)

For all you geeks whose girlfriends just don't get your Star Wars obsession:

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Friday ffffound - Topical Edition

Here's one for you to drop into your "planning in a recession" decks.

Image: Craig Ward @ Debut Art via ffffound

Bringing back the art of body copy

 

I'm loving this campaign celebrating the 60th birthday of the VW van. Yes, the art direction is classic Bernbach, but what really makes it sing for me is the copy. [click the above image to enlarge and read, baby, read!]

We live in an age where visual wit is the order of the day, and I can understand why. It is quick (good in our cluttered mediasphere), it transcends language (good in these days of international campaigns) and -perhaps most importantly- it can appeal to a Cannes jury made up of a Brit, and Aussie and a couple of Argentinians.

This is all well and good, but sometimes I want more (just like how sometimes I want to watch big dumb action films, but sometimes I want to watch beautifully-crafted, thought-provoking cinema). Sometimes I want to be seduced by words, by intelligent, engaging, well-crafted copy.

Alas, it seems to be a dying art. So big ups to copywriter Aurelie Scalabre at DDB Paris. Lovely stuff.

 

See the rest of the campaign here.

Would you take marketing advice from the Royal Mail?

I was just having my late-morning cup of tea and browse of Campaign, when I came across a little story headed "Royal Mail to advise brands".

Apparently the Royal Mail have "launched an online advice centre for advertisiers and media agencies... which offers free advice on how to maximise return on marketing investment. It will include research, campaigns, media planning strategies and case studies."

WTF?

 

Seriously, would you take marketing advice from the people who took the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin Post Office and disastrously rebranded it to Consignia, only for public opprobrium to force them to change it back after just over a year?

Although it does look like the folks over at Norwich Union Aviva may have already subscribed.

Yes, another one. As if the first massively stupid money-spunking ad wasn't enough...