Five things on Friday #363
Things of note for the week ending Friday March 8th, 2024.
Things of note for the week ending Friday March 8th, 2024.
INTRO
First thing first: OH. MY. GOD.
Honestly, you've all been so lovely. Thank you thank you thank you for the response to last week's newsletter. I'm not going to dwell on it too much but just know that if you reached out - here, on WhatsApp, Linkedin or whatever - it helped.
So thank you - you know who you are.
- Onwards -
Here's a thing I've been thinking about recently: way back in 2006, when I took a job working at my first start-up, our founders were talking about a shared approach to product development and with it, startup mentality. Forwards, always forwards. One phrase that kept coming back (and I can't remember if it was Kevin or Scott, sorry gents) was this:
Rule number one: if you see a snake, kill it.
Rule number two: never play with dead snakes.
If there's a problem, address it. Solve/action it. Then - most importantly of all - immediately move on from it and don't waste endless amounts of time returning to the same thing over and over and over again.
I don't know where they got it from (I'm sure it was silicon valley-ish) but it has stayed with me all these years as a good guide for process - especially working in smaller/nimble environments.
If you need to take an action, action it and then move on. As a rule for work, it feels action oriented and future-focused.
And I like it.
What are your favourite maxims for the work environment? Hit that reply button and tell me, yo.
- What else can I tell you? -
Ah yes, one more thing!
In a few weeks, and thanks to the wonderful people at the APG, I'm going to be joining the group head of planning for the sports and entertainment agency, CSM (the lovely Stuart Donovan) to talk to members about how to use your planning skills when you move industries.
Stuart and I met each other at a recent APG heads of planning meet up and the delightful Sarah Newman, listening to us trade stories about how we apply strategy, had the idea to share those stories with others - in case they too wanted to transfer their planning skills to new/other industries.
And well, here we are:
Event Details:
Date: Wednesday 27th March 2024
Time: 5.30pm-6.30pm GMT
Platform: Zoom
Tickets available here:
APG Members = £7.50+vat
Non Members = £40+vat
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Right, I think that's everything for this week's introduction. Shall we crack on with the things?
LET'S GOOOOOOOO!
1. IWD24
At the time of writing, International Women's Day, or as Amy calls it 'Feminist Christmas', is TODAY!
And as IWD falls on a Friday this year I will be breaking with tradition* and posting some things that might be useful reading:
Here are some things:
First, Clare Josa (via Robbie and Daianna), talking about this year's 'theme'. It might not be what you think it is.
Second, Daianna and Robbie again, this time with today's edition of Today Do This - and with a good selection of CTAs.
Third, speaking of CTAs. Here's Caroline Parkes calling out The Caples (since apologised) for... well, take a look for yourself.
Fourth, here's Jo Wallace on Creative Brief, talking about how we need men's help to help us all.
Fifth, the Wonder Women of advertising.
- - -
Anyway, have a great IWD however you like to celebrate.
Remember: no matter which gender you are, always lift up, back, promote, invest in, and PAY women PROPERLY all year round.
Not just on March 8th.
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*Aaaages ago, I either read or saw an interview with George Clooney, the husband of the famous human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney. If you've never heard of him, he's made a few films in his time but is known among his acting peers as a notorious prankster.
In the interview, when being challenged on the tricks he plays on his friends, he basically comes out and says that he refuses to participate in April Fool's Day. 'It's for amateurs - commit to it or not, don't show up once a year' - or something like that. So yeah, happy IWD day.
2. LET'S ENJOY A QUICK INTERLUDE THING OF A FEW WINNERS FROM THIS YEAR'S UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS
Because why the hell not.
Jenny Stock, British Underwater Photography of the Year 2024 for this, 'Star Attraction' -
"Loch Leven is a Scottish dive site near Oban, as I descended into the dark green depths of the sea loch, on a dusk dive, I approached an area where my torch picked out the vivid colours of a living carpet of thousands of brittle stars."
While we're here, let's have USA-based photographer Lisa Stengel.
Lisa was named Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024, for her image of a mahimahi catching a sardine, in Mexico.
Gorgeous.
3. THIS WEEK IN... GAMING
I might just rename this section 'This week in predictable hilarity' - reason being, this week in predictable hilarity, Apple went ahead and terminated Epic's iOS developer account, calling them 'verifiably untrustworthy' - lol.
(As an aside, I do wonder who at Apple has the job to just mess with Epic - I mean, what a job)
Of course, Epic kicked off with the European Commission (the Digital Markets Act is waiting in the wings) and lo and behold, Epic has it back again.
A few Five things on Fridays ago I wondered if Disney's recent investment in Epic would help thaw the relationship between Apple and Epic. Lol. As if.
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THE OTHER MASSIVE THING I WANTED TO TELL YOU WAS THAT DAFT PUNK IS NOW AVAILABLE ON BEAT SABER AND THERE GOES MY WEEKEND THANKS WOW
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QUICK FORTNITE NEWS BITES
Sticking with Fortnite, Axios is reporting that Fortnite and Roblox are to be sued over targeting kids' gaming addictions. We've been down this road before. Whether or not it'll lead somewhere remains to be seen.
Related: 'How do you make an addictive video game?'
Moving to Lego Fortnite - and Epic's latest update to the new kid-friendly part of the platform - and 'Hey, here's the new content you asked but...' is never a good look.
Of course someone has made the Glasgow Willy Wonka 'Experience' in Fortnite.
This is an interesting piece from the Wall Street Journal about how musicians are increasingly looking to video games for new revenue streams.
Helldivers 2 continues to break records. This is a pretty good look at some of the design choices that have powered the way.
For the nerds among us, Digital Foundry compared PlayStation Plus Premium to Xbox Game Pass Cloud Streaming and you may well be surprised by the results.
The games industry deserves a better spokesperson than Geoff Keighley. I mean, the industry does, definitely. Do gamers?
And now for something completely different:
One of my favourite Five things on Friday subscribers (who am I kidding - you're ALL my favourites), Vikki Ross, sent me this link from Seth Godin talking about how video games are leading the way for virtual meetings (and how they solve a lot of associated problems).
"...a well-designed videogame solves for all these problems. If, even once, you’ve had a virtual meeting that engaged you and made you feel connected to someone else, then it’s clearly possible."
As I said to Vikki at the time: I love this. It's missing nuance but I do love it. Games allow so much more than just 'chat' - there's an unwritten language in play-style. Like, I've had a few client meetings in games now and some clients have really surprised me. Others I'm like 'Oh, you're that kind of player'. Some play support, others wanna go off and do their own thing. Others default to a new language (of the game). It can be really eye opening!
But also, most modern games give your characters ways to express themselves. Through clothes, emotes, dance moves, expressions - a lot of that nuance is missed because, well 'Y'know, gamers do it'.
My point, in response to Seth's, is this: yes gamers do do it, but they do it in completely unique ways - cross-platform, cross-title, cross-community. And that's the wonder of it all (and the kind of world we'll eventually move to).
Currently playing:
Helldivers 2 and Agar.io (thanks Clare). What are you playing?
4. ANOTHER WEEK ANOTHER POEM. YEAH, I'M LIKING THIS VIBE Y'ALL
[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]
BY E. E. CUMMINGS
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
5. REMINDED OF GOOD WORK
Indulge me a thing would you?
Last week, just before I hit send on this FToF #361, the OREO x Xbox campaign I led the planning for (researched, briefed, sold in to 27 markets etc), was recognised as THE SECOND MOST AWARDED CAMPAIGN IN THE WORLD.
You can read about the detail behind all of that on this Linkedin post but the tl;dr is:
This is a) NUTS and b) timely af.
I was talking to a Creative pal of mine over lunch last week and, while reflecting on what kind of work people might expect from working with me, they were quick to point out a few other campaigns that I worked on. I argued back but then they challenged me to put together a whistle stop tour of some of the best work of my career.
'Why?'
'James. Be serious. Why aren't you using your newsletter to find interesting people to talk?'
'I DO. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT'
'No, about your next job!'
'Ohhhhhh'
So here we are:
First there's the Batman stuff. Batman - for some reason or another - seems to just follow me in my career. Whether it's building Gotham City in Nokia Maps for The Dark Knight Rises; ;aunching Arkham Knight in partnership with Pizza Hut; or planning the European partnership for OREO x THE BATMAN (resulting in among other things - this film, and this stunning special build OOH).
Then there's the other movie stuff: Transformers 3. Tron: Legacy (winner). Batman vs Superman. Among others...
What else? How about doing the global social content for the launch of the Converse Chuck II (see FToF #134 - Thing 3) - working with THE Benny Crime is still a career high. Fun fact: we - Ogilvy - won that work (without pitch) after the client read this article about the Year Ahead for Social Media for Campaign mag. Incred.
Speaking of social at Ogilvy, the lion-winning social activation for Expedia's 'travel yourself interesting' campaign - travel your tweet interesting - was pretty fun,
And then there was that content creator role I had for the Lucozade Energy Challenges. That was a blast.
Point is: doing some reflection with some friends over a bite to eat or a beer over the past few weeks has been as flattering as it has been enlightening.
They are telling me integrated brand activation around content and entertainment is a red thread throughout my career (that I didn't know I was weaving). Thank you, JC, for pointing this out (and for encouraging me to share it here).
And they're telling me that I should be telling YOU in case it leads to interesting things. Well, here I am.
Very British thing to not talk about your successes but I guess if you don't, who else will?
BONUS SECTION
THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS BUT DUE TO TIMING AND SELF-IMPOSED WRITING RESTRICTIONS ARE LIMITED TO PITHY COMMENTARY ONLY.
ENJOY.
Revisiting, briefly, the concepts of leadership - this interview with one of my old Ogilvy colleagues, Josh Harris, is a great example of how good leaders operate.
This is an oldie (2013) but a goodie: 100 year-old negatives found in the ice in Antartica.
Martin Lewis accepted an award for his efforts in consumer journalism and honestly, it's just fantastic. A rightful jab at the BBC for ignoring the topic too.
This NFT sold for $16m (allegedly). You can right click and save it to your desktop for free.
I quite enjoyed this piece from DIRT examining the advertising of the 90s and 2000s. Still heavily influenced by 'lad' culture, you can't ignore the inherent maleness in the work, however, the cry out for more subversion in our advertising cannot be ignored either. Worth a read.
Last bonus of the week: this newsletter still recommends the 'Couch to 5k for finding your voice' - Good Shout.
Looking to build confidence - for you, or your team, go no further than GOOD SHOUT (there's a jingle and everything).
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.
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Thank you to those of you that wrote back about toxic/blame cultures last week. I'm sad to hear these things are still so rife. If the culture if awful, do try and leave (hit reply to this email if you want some CV advice). You will be better off in the long run - I promise.
This week I'm asking you to do one thing for me: if you've seen or read anything from this week's Five things on Friday then please share this newsletter.
Folk can subscribe at fivethingsonfriday.com and it's breezy for anyone to do.
The rules are:
It's never guaranteed to arrive on a Friday but you always get more than five things (when it turns up).
Thank you. We lost a few people when we sacked off the nazis Substack and while the open rate has gone up (60%, sorry WHAT?), I want to see if we can push back over the 4k number again.
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This week I've been mainly thinking about petrichor. Last week, one of my absolute besties, Amy Kean, invited me to host Week 8 of the 'Couch to 5k for your voice', Good Shout (see recommendation above). And as a host, your job is to keep everyone energised and engaged but you're not always on stage which means you're able to quietly participate in some of the exercises being put on - which I did.
Which led me to petrichor.
The smell that comes after the rains have fallen. The freshness in the air. I can smell petrichor, my friends.
We're nearly there x
Until next time,
Whatley Out.
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