Five things on Friday #373
This week: the ASA, some incredible LEGO bits, and a few movie trailers because why the hell not.
Things of note for the week ending Friday May 24th, 2024.
INTRO
Happy Friday, gang. How have you been? I’ve been a little peaky if I’m perfectly honest.
After last week’s edition went out (MEGA EARLY) I went out for a proper lunch and a gossip with a good pal that ended up going on for SIX HOURS.
A. SIX. HOUR. LUNCH.
You know you’ve had a good time when people are seated for dinner and ask you ‘Excuse me, what are you going to have?’ and you’re able to say ‘No no, we’ve been here since lunch’ - my goodness me. A proper advertising lunch that was. Been a WHILE.
At ROKA as well.
ROKA? I barely know her!
Anyway, yeah, I’m paying for it now. My defences were lowered (arguably moreso from the lack of sleep the night before) and some lurgy from the kids leapt on me at the weekend I think. Been fighting it ever since. Rough.
Anyway, outside of that, it’s been A Good Week™️. Work is going well, good work is getting through, and good people are thriving. I went to an [inaugural?] Ogilvy Alumni get together on Wednesday - arrived fashionably late (you know who you are) and caught up with some amazing old colleagues. Seven years of my life. Friends for life. And the mother of my children (y’know, for life). All came from that place. So it was nice to return and see some friendly and familiar faces.
I hope they do more.
What else can I tell you?
As I write to you now it’s 07:24am on Friday morning. The kids are off today - teacher training day kicking off half-term early. I’ve got a couple of calls this morning and a new Fortnite season kicks off this afternoon so y’know - BUSY DAY 😅
A big thank you to whichever one(s) of you it was last week who circulated FToF among your friends. I counted 50+ new subs in one day - that was kinda nuts! Welcome, newbies. The most recent archive is here and I’m currently working on getting the COMPLETE 370+ edition FULL archive available on whatleydude.com (in case you’re completely insane and want to read them all).
Either way, I hope you stick around. The things are good y’know. Speaking of the things, shall we get to them?
LET’S.
TO THE THINGS!
THING 1. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY (THE ASA)
If you’ve not been anywhere near Linkedin this week, you’d be entirely forgiven for not having seen this headline:
Per the BBC:
“Influencer Grace Beverley broke advertising rules with six posts promoting her fashion brand, Tala, a ruling says.
The 27-year-old shared two reels and four TikToks in October which the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have told her to remove.
Grace shared the videos of her promoting a coat from Tala and the company argued her followers would be aware of her relationship with the activewear brand.
But the ASA disagreed and found they breached rules that adverts must be obviously identifiable.
The watchdog said it had received more than 50 complaints about the posts not being clearly labelled as ads.”
Now. This stuff is interesting to me.
It’s not my first dance with the ASA and, as someone whose early career days were spent at the forefront of social - ensuring the campaigns being put out were always legally compliant as well as helping create the guidance for that compliance (I was on the social media council for the IAB for crying out loud) - knowing all about what is right on how brands communicate on social has always been deeply important to me - and my work.
Back in 2013, when the CAP code was first extended to cover social media, I pondered on how it might work for players and sponsors.
For example, this stuff from Wayne Rooney (from May 2013) could be perceived as a breach. I wasn’t sure so I decided to test it with the ASA. I complained - and it was not upheld.
However, going through the process of testing the system led me a) get the hump a bit (ha) and b) write this article for The Drum in that same year: ‘The ASA must sharpen its teeth on social media: If we don’t police ourselves properly, the government will’ (Sep 2013). Like I said, I had the hump 😅
Anyway, it was at this point the ASA invited me in for a meeting to discuss the legislation - what it meant, how it was developing, and how they investigate - and with it they explained the black, the white, and the purposefully grey (it is a choice). It was a fun day! And all power to them for addressing my critique head on. I was really impressed. Are there problems? Yes. Does it take too long? Absolutely. Are they trying to make it better for vulnerable consumers? Inarguable.
And on that point, one thing that has remained a constant over the past DECADE OR SO in the regulation of social media marketing, is that marketing communications on social channels must be obviously identifiable as such.
If it’s not obvious, it fails. The fastest way to make it obvious is stick #ad on it. It’s that simple.
(note, hiding the ‘#ad’ in an image and/or just not bothering at all is why Social Chain (Thing 2, FToF #184) got into so much trouble so many times back when it was a cowboy operation run by a man who now needs to seek permission anytime he wants to talk about them - Good job he’s stopped all that, eh?)
I’ll say it again: the CAP Code is very clear on this stuff.
All the pearl clutching on Linkedin about business owners ‘suddenly having’ to put ads on everything are either wilfully ignorant or purposefully misleading. Either way, they clearly have no idea what they’re talking about.
I’ll say it again, social media marketing communications “must be obviously identifiable as such, and that they must make clear their commercial intent if that was not obvious from the context”.
The key word is OBVIOUSLY.
But hey, don’t take my word on it (I’ve only been following it for 12 years, sat on the guiding council, met the ASA, been through the complaints process - several times), instead read Alice Bull’s take over on Linkedin.
It’s clear, concise, and easy to understand - and my recommended read of the week.
-
As a final PS, Tom Scott is also very good on this. But arguably does a better job at pointing out how other channels are behind when social is not.
THING 2. ROB & RYLAN’S GRAND TOUR
Possibly the greatest bit of factual entertainment to come out this year.
Rob Rinder, aka Judge Rinder, he of silly daytime TV fame. Rylan Clark, made famous by a viral breakdown moment on X-Factor), and now a highly successful TV and radio presenter. Two good pals that have had their fair share of bad times (both publicly and privately), follow Byron’s ‘grand tour’ from Venice to Florence to Rome, and along the way unpack their shared experiences of emotional repression and heartbreak through tears and laughter.
If any of you know Rylan or Rob, please tell them from me: more please x
THING 3. THIS WEEK IN… TRAILERS
BRATS
A documentary you say?
About the BRAT pack?
Oh go on then.
Next!
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
I am cautiously optimistic on this one. YES, Michael Keaton is amazing. YES, this is a wonderful franchise to revisit. YES, Winona Ryder.
BUT Tim Burton hasn’t made a decent film in 20 years so… we’ll wait? I hope it’s a return to form. Truly.
Next!
LORD OF THE RINGS: RINGS OF POWER SEASON 2
Yeah yeah, let’s go.
I am an unashamed fan of season one. Couldn’t care less if y’all thought it was slow or whatever - I just loved being back in that world and exploring its origins. I ate the books when I was a kid and this just felt good.
BRING ON SEASON TWO.
THING 4. THIS LEGO STAR WARS ART IS GERT LUSH
‘What’s that James? LEGO content in the newsletter is increasing now that you work there? Such a shame!’
Yeah yeah, shush.
Look at this!
And this!
And this!
I love this kind of stuff.
Check out more at Hue Hughes’ Instagram and webpage for mooooooooore. And thanks to Gizmodo for showing me it in the first place.
THING 5. IN SHOCKING NEWS, IT TURNS OUT IF YOU TREAT PEOPLE LIKE ADULTS, PRODUCTIVITY AND HAPPINESS LEVELS GO UP
I’ve mentioned before my general disdain for post-Covid mandated return-to-office (RTO) policies.
People, let’s face it, CEOs (and to be fair to the good ones, the ones I’m talking about are predominantly the out of touch CEOs that are ‘blessed’ with help at home, or have a large working space to work from (marble kitchen vibes, yo), or have never a walked a day in someone else’s shoes, or simply have no one insisting that they stick to the policies they’re asking their HR dept to enforce (that is if they even have an HR dept - lolz)) can often be found on panels, podcasts, in trade mags, on internal comms platforms wanging on about how important being in the office is important tHe CuLtUrE.
Better yet, it might even be some tosh about ‘how we work BETTER and deliver FASTER and more EFFICIENTLY’.
They never say:
‘The rent for the office space costs us a fortune so we need to justify that so yeah, sorry about the cost of living, your mental health, the workload, the price of childcare, the pet you got in lockdown, the toll of the commute… [delete where appropriate] …but there’ll be yoga at lunchtime!’
In every job I’ve always argued that a values-based company culture - built on a foundation of trust and empowerment - drives effectiveness and collaboration.
Digitas was v good on this. Ogilvy also.
If you set the values that all agree and adhere to, you’re then able to hold people account to those values when they don’t.
Anything else - especially when your c-suite, department managers, company founders never adhere to the same rules - is an exercise in micromanagement, gaslighting, and control.
It’s the unsaid part of why the FT is reporting how employers are re-examining their wellbeing strategies:
‘Company executives are starting to rethink their approach to wellbeing programmes as research suggests that — despite billions of dollars being spent on such initiatives — many workers are the unhappiest and unhealthiest they have ever been*.’*
The yoga, it no working.
Shocked, I tell you.
Maybe ‘Are remote workers more productive?’ is the wrong question.
“Mandates, for the most part, miss the point; workers will come back on their own accord if they feel doing so would bring a material benefit—or make it easier to deliver on their own work objectives.”
Which is ridiculous given how much evidence is stacking up on overall employee happiness when flexibility is given as a priority.
💥
On a related point, reading about OpenAI’s utterly ridiculous non-compete and exit agreements reminded me to look up the strength of non-competes in the UK.
The government has recently taken evidence on non-competes in the UK and, based on the findings of that evidence gathering, will be introducing a three-month limit on all non-competes (I imagine after the election, now), but still - all change!
As a point of interest, it’s probably also worth reading the initial Call for Evidence as it is quick to point out the following:
“There is no provision in the UK employment statutory framework for non-compete clauses, including in Northern Ireland where employment law is devolved.
As such there is no statutory definition. However, non-compete clauses are subject to the common law principle of “restraint of trade”. The principle provides that a worker should be free to follow their trade and use their skills without undue interference, thereby rendering a contractual term (such as a non-compete clause) purporting to restrict that worker's freedom to work for others or carry out his trade or business void unless it is: (a) designed to protect legitimate business interests; and (b) no wider than reasonably necessary.
Consequently, even where non-compete clauses are found in employment contracts, they may not necessarily be enforceable, unless a court considers that the non-compete clause is to protect a “legitimate business interest” and is no wider than reasonably necessary.”
So con-competes are potentially unenforceable. What’s more, it’s on the employer to prove that ‘legitimate business interest’ needs a protection - and unless you’re a c-suite level employee, that’s going to be difficult. Harder still if you get proper legal advice to help you figure one out.
Fundamentally, if it’s stopping you from putting food on the table, then it’s probably unenforceable.
If you’re worried about a non-compete (or any part of a weird contract you find yourself in), then please talk an employment lawyer. They’ll tell you quite quickly if it’s enforceable or not (and just how difficult and expensive for your employer to actually prove one is enforceable, let alone then enforce it).
Most lawyers will give you the first 45mins or so for free and figure out what kind of help you need if you need it.
If you’re reading this and thinking ‘Are you talking about me, James’ - the answer is yes, I am.
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.
THIS WEEK, FEATURING A LOT OF STUFF I FOUND ON THREADS. HOORAY.
Meta’s AI council is composed entirely of white men. I’M SURE THIS IS COMPLETELY FINE AND NOT AT ALL PROBLEMATIC.
David Bain is a good egg and a great CSO. We worked together on a pitch recently (we won that one) however, this piece, on losing, is excellent.
Turns out... taxing the rich works actually?
Brands love dupes (note: Ella covered this MONTHS AGO).
Snowplough survivor Jeremy Renner on Jimmy Fallon is kind of nuts? Like, wholesome. Incredible. Just a bit wow.
Why are incoming messages so overwhelming? Well, there's an answer.
Google Gemini thinks you should put glue on your pizza.
Related: Nilay interviewing Sundar Pichai is excellent (like, really).
Some game links
Senua’s Sacrifice was my GOTY in 2017 (see Thing 2, FToF #241). I can’t wait to play Hellblade 2 but I’m determined to finish Animal Well properly first… (what are you playing?)
Are you a parent worred about games? Maybe you should ASK ABOUT GAMES.
‘Fortnite is lowkey becoming the place for the best Lego games’
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.
As I write this to you now, it’s 18:29 on Friday evening. This morning was a few calls, this afternoon was Fortnite (and cutting the grass), and tonight I think we’re going to order in some pizza.
Three things I need to tell you:
Reminder: I’m speaking at the State of Social conference in Perth in August. Message me if you’re coming :)
Thanks to the UK election, the One Question event ‘Who is responsible for our Mental Health?’ in Bristol scheduled for July is moving to September (read more here).
If people show you who they are, believe them.
Take care out there…
Until next time,
Whatley out x
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