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. 

Authentic Aircraft

In an increasingly viral, on-line, digital world, it was great to see our boy's reactions to a trip to the Hendon air museum. We could have left them there for weeks. There is something so imposing and impressive about seeing the real thing.  Especially the big planes like the Sutherland, the Lancaster (above) and the Vulcan. But also the fighter planes like the Lightening and the Phantom which resemble a man sitting on top of an almighty rocket with a load of explosives hanging from the wings and fuselage. The pictures below feature the ME 262, the world's first turbojet plane used in WWII.

It sounds a cliche to say it is 'living history' but that is a pretty good description.

Foot and Cycle Paths

One of the good things about Britain is the amount of public paths, short cuts and through ways. Invariably they are a function of history, whether the paths mark ancient cattle tracks or disused railway lines. Even when they go over private property, English law gives a right to use the pathway, which makes for some lovely walks over farmland. In towns and cities it has resulted in lots of short cuts, back alleys and a maze of little discoveries. And St. Albans, as a town with at least a couple of thousand years history, has many of these little paths. Generally towns which grew up before the car have more of them than planned towns or towns that have grown after the car. The one above is a little backcut which gets me to Ramsbury Rd much quicker than going around the roads. 

The one below, is called the Alban Way. It is a cycle path that runs from the Roman site at Verulamium to Hatfield along the route of an old railway line. More details, here. I cycled to Hatfield on it yesterday. The photo below is when the path runs through open countryside.

It also runs through St. Albans very close to where we live. In fact Charlie and Ollie use it everyday to get to school, here. 

I also found some lovely pictures of the Alban Way on flickr, courtesy of phatcontroller: 

I also took a couple of pictures of the flora. This is a bluebell, I think! 

This time of year is lovely in Britain. Spring doesn't exist in quite the same way in the States, where it seems to go from winter to summer remarkably quickly. The English spring looks lovely as everything becomes green and the flowers bloom. Birdsong fills the air and the days are getting longer. 

Pitching

I was recently asked to put down some thoughts about pitching. It has been before, and better than I could do, notably here, by Jon Steel, and here, by Mavity and Bayley. However, I thought I would post thoughts on the subject. 

1. If you have a good chance pitch it
2. If you are not suitable, or don’t want to do it, don’t pitch it
3. Small tight team
4. Team leader crucial
5. Clear the diary
6. Get info early.
7. Be obsessive about it. Know most. Learn most.
8. Build hypothesis fast.
9. Dip in an out of research during the process if you need. Best pitch based on real insight.
10. Develop a clear and simple point of view
11. Build a simple argument based around a SINGLE pivotal point. Everything should related to that.
12. Problem – solution is never a bad way to go. Definition of problem is half way to a solution
13. Don’t be scared to say what is ‘right’ as opposed to what you think client wants to hear
14. time spent approx 30% strat 30% creative 30% presentation
15. Different functions lead different parts of process but pitching is where functional divisions are at their most blurred (for the good)
16. Cut people out who don’t need to be there but use ‘outsiders’ when needed
17. Have one person own the deck. Different people can write/present different bits, but the deck should be owed by one person.
18. Have an outside POV who doesn’t know too much about there are a couple of key points in the process (with enough time for their input to be reflected upon and included)
19. Can you win the pitch without a meeting/before the meeting: relationship, showing thinking? Work?
20. Rehearse, esp the links between speakers
21. Never plan to fill the meeting timewise. Plan to go well under time. Everything takes longer than you think.
22. The pitch meeting is about theatre and simplicity
23. Don’t let ppt control you. Try to avoid it.
24. One thought per slide (audience can’t read and listen at the same time)
25. Think about audience all the time
26. You need to be tightly rehearsed but loose in presentation (if you see what I mean)
27. Winning the pitch and winning the business are two very different things

It's the Cricket Season

When I was a teenager summer meant the cricket season and the cricket season meant summer. I played a lot. It is a wonderful game. I cannot think of a game that is better. It is subtle yet explosive, incredibly physical yet idle for long periods, it has endless stats (always good for geeky teens), is exclusive for those who understand its laws and rituals yet open to all. Some of the best moments of my life have been towards the end of a game, fielding on the boundary, after a long spell of bowling, chewing on a long blade of grass, as the shadows cast by the local village church spire stretch further across the ground and the wheat in a near by field sways in the gentle wind. It is like nothing else. It wouldn't be invented today. It takes too long. And that is part of its charm.