Life in a northern town

I've been playing whith my cameraphone whilst on some trips round the north west

Obsession

Ben got me thinking about driving obsessions.

Its pretty clear what his is, and instantly that sets you thinking what drives you.

I'm often obsessed, over the last year or so:
Cycling
Surfing
Writing
Stories
Poker
Brewing beer
Making bread
Growing vegetables
Howies
On-one

Its a strange list, so what 's the start point.

Well, when I was a kid I'd always take new pens to bits. I'd click them a few times, draw a bit then start unscrewing. Often I couldn't get them back together, a spring would fire across the room, or a little plastic bit would vanish under the fridge.
That didn't matter, knowing how it worked was enough.

And that drives the obsessions.
Its not about riding the bike, its about how the gears work, or how the tour de france was won in 1935. Its not online poker, its understanding chance and bluffing and how fixed limit should be played differently to pot limit.

I like to soak up stuff, to find out why, how and where, the next bit - what - that drives Ben is fascinating to me but to be fair, I'm pretty rubbish at it.

Tomorrows chip paper

Big news today.

Not George Bush's new approach to the Iraq situation.
Or the Bank of Englands base rate hike.

But Mr. David Beckham.

Now, I'm not the worlds greatest fan of football, however, Beckham's probably the most famous sports person in the world, and has moved to the most lucrative sporting market in the world. So you've got to take note.

He must be the biggest sporting brand on the planet. He'd certainly rank as one of the biggest brands in Britain; more awareness and clearer perceptions than any brand I've worked for anyway.

Endorsements with David Beckham are no longer endorsements, they're copromotions. If you sign him, the balance of power is not with you.

Imagine you take the Corrie sponsorship when Cadbury's bow out. You have to stick with it for a long period of time before anyone realises its you, and not a chocolate bar. Now, take David Beckham - he's had so many endorsements that when you see him, there's conflicting top-of-mind information coming through. Do you think of Adidas (or Nike - confusion reigns for me with most athletes), or Gillette, or Brylcreme, or Police shades. Nothing stands out, so the only benefit you get is when he's on the TV ad or the poster in your shop. Its a lot of money for media you have to pay for anyway.

Sure, during that spot, you're getting all the positive Beckham associations rubbing off on you, but wouldn't it be better if you invested in creating your own perceptions over time.

Beckham endorsement thus looks like a quick fix for a brand who needs a rapid positive gain in perceptions.

Unless you're in the US, where people have heard of him, but aren't fully into the David/Victoria powerbrand.
He's the biggest star in soccer.
They want to push soccer to the masses.
Cue lots of exposure.
Cue some really neat brand endorsements untainted by the perceptions we've all spent 10 years building up.
Nice

How much money does he need though. I'm skint, with a broken car and leaking windows. Lend us a few grand Dave.

Grrrr

I've not been a very fierce dinosaur recently.

Life's been getting on top of me a bit.

You know the feeling, its been one of those times when little things seem big. I'm not going to publish these tales of woe, because I'm from Yorkshire and we don't have feelings, so this' pushing against a lifetime of psychological development.

Anyway, I reckon that big changes don't happen without lots of little ones building up, so I'm doing some little things now.

I've booked to do a run with Steve.
I've put some borders up on the kids walls.
I've started building a fence.
I'm planning the veggie patch.

Who'd have thought that growing veggies would turn me back into a fierce dinosaur ready to regain his place in the world. There you go then.

Changing world or media bandwagon

On West Yorkshires Pulse FM today (Cheesy local radio DJ voice there.) they had a scheme where Johnsons cleaners take in old kids coats, clean them and pass them on to people who need them. No web link for you, sorry.
On Sky TV today, its green britain week.
My local recycling site is full. To the brim.

Clearly things are a bit different this January. Whilst people aren't consuming less, they're at least thinking about the mess they make post consumption binge.

Now I've always been a semi-green - aware but slack, interested in recycling but a bit lazy. But I've been getting better, making an effort. Fretting about fair trade and organic in a middle class angsty way. Watching Live 8 on the telly and doing sod all (pretty much like the G8). Every now and then you think that everyone is doing the same, then you see rising SUV sales and the balloon is burst (sold mine 3 years ago, decided that 2 of-road trips per year didn't warrant running a refinery).

There's a big trap you see, for people in the marketing industry, we see so much cultural commentary and focus groups, that we believe we are everyman. Actually, most of the time we're creating for ourselves and people like us, which is why we get it wrong.

But with all the recent events, I'm starting to believe.

That's a good thing.

I hope green britain isn't just a bunch of Sky News people talking to themselves and their mates. I hope that under the frothing of commentators, politicians and the media, real cultural currents are changing.

You see, currently its too early to call it. Marks and Sparks might sell organic jeans, but nobody is saying "we'll walk away if you don't do it". This to me is an example of a consumer group acting based upon what they've been told, not what they believe. Over the next few years we'll see if corporate social responsibility moves from cashing in to corporate belief.

I read Yvon Chouinard's book last year which is a great take on all this stuff.

More TV

Well, I quite enjoyed bits of Torchwood last night. Apart from the pretend Godzilla style ending, which was weak.
Despite being a geek, and admiring the programme for its detail I reckon most of its missed the mark. Only by a bit. However, a bit makes all the difference.

Last night was typical, plenty of geek talk about time rifts, loads of angst and self interest from all the characters. An obvious bad guy, who everyone seems to miss, lots of will they/won't they infighting.

Then they can't resist bunging in some demon CGI whilst the evil bloke you've been worried about for an hour and a half is stood on the road spouting some weak devil worship sermon.

Ages ago these people did some work on some ad scripts for us. Apart from being brilliant explanations as to why we liked the ads we liked, the semiotic guys wrote about light, dark, and light/dark tones.

Light/dark for me was the reason one script worked. A truly nice situation painted over a dark world which starts to show through as it progresses. I suppose its the reason why 6 feet under and desperate housewives work, and I find most british sitcoms as funny as having my nostril hair pulled out.

Anyway, I reckon Torchwood could get the balance right if it kept the dark dark.

CGI demons isn't dark, its not even shadowed.

Watercooler TV

Last night i watched This Life again for the first time in 10 years.

I can't really make up my mind as to whether this episode was any good or not (on balance probably closer to not than good). But that's not really the point of this is it. To coin the phrase used in the programme, BBC wanted loads of fucked up mid 30's metrosexuals to bask in nostalgia for their early 20's.

So I did.

And I felt better for it.

Because, I look back with fondness to events (weddings, parties) or trips (climbing, surfing), or stuff I did (work - no that's bollocks, sorry). And if I reminisce about a time, its usually school, or college, or recently, when my kids were born.

Its seldom those just finished uni, got a job, got money days of the early 90's.

But that time in my life was brilliant. Utterly brilliant.

So I've been feeling fuzzy today. Not worrying about what the next wave of culture will leave, not worrying about what people will think or do tomorrow. Just happy about what I did 10 years ago.


Anyway whilst I'm reminiscing