T-Shirts To Convey Feelings

Hmmmmmmmmmmm!

Crusty Bread, Wine and Cheese

Difficult to beat it. After a long week, I can't think of a better way to wind down with a little indulgence. The only thing I would do is to exchange the dinning room table for a outside wooden table by a French rural retreat.

Taking Something Out

I have been feeling a little stodgy of body and musty of head recently, and wondered if I could feel a little lighter in both areas by changing my diet.  So I radically cut down on diary and bread intake. It worked. But there was an interesting side-effect; I started eating much more 'creatively'. Rather than just grab a nearby sandwich, I thought about what foods might go together to create a meal. And though it took longer to get my lunch during the week, my lunches started to get more interesting, varied and satisfying. 

The third Peter Gabriel album (Peter Gabriel III or 'Melt' as it is now know) contains NO cymbal hits. Apparently, Gabriel insisted on this to the drummers used on the album.  When you don't know that it feels like something is missing, but you aren't quite sure what it is. Though what is missing is replaced by things which are more inventive, for example the 'grated' big drum sound that Phil Collins used extensively in the 1980's was created for the first track on Grabriel III, 'The Intruder'. Listen to the album. Knowing what Gabriel took out increases the appreciation of what is already a great album. 

In Sao Paulo the Mayor declared an end to visual pollution ie out of home posters and billboards, and signage over a certain size, as he believed it was taking over the town. One effect of the ban was that brands became more creative and inventive in their public communications, using street artists, deploying brand equities in an intelligent and dramatic way, using brand colors to full effect. It is worth having a look at this post, on the Coley Porter Bell blog for some more details.   

Perhaps one way of being more creative is to take something away, or remove one part of the equation. 

A Revelation In Every Cup

Green Mountain Coffee. Great company. Great marketing team. Wish them great success.

Here is TJ in Ad Age's CMO column.

The Signalbox Experience

Just to complete the trio of 'experience' posts, here is the St. Albans signal box. Apparently, it is the only restored signal box (in England) that is still on its original site. It is being restored by a group of local enthusiasts and it is open for the second and fourth Sundays of each month. We went in and got a very enthusiastic volunteer show us how all levers work: 

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to control the real trains on the real track so we had settle for a pretend scenario of a pretend train coming down the track in order to press buzzer, ping bells and pull and push levers. Perhaps that was a little virtual after all!

For more details on the St. Albans signal box click here. 

You'll Never Know What You'll Find In The Park

Demonstration of the Roman army's tortoise formation during the Roman Museum's 70th birthday celebration in Verulamium Park.  We also saw Roman surgeons, potters, surveyors, gladiators, weavers, and some fearsome cavalry:

The point is, if there needs to be one, similar to my previous post about the power of getting out and experiencing stuff first hand being such a good thing, especially for kids.