Five things on Friday #387
Seeeeekriiiits.
Things of note for the week ending Sunday October 13th, 2024.
INTRO
Howdy gang.
Happy OCTOBER to you. Scary month is it? Well, fine. The neighbours have put their Halloween decorations up already (again: this is fine, nay - excellent) but I’ve only just put the air-con units back in the loft, are you telling me I’m going back up there to get the Halloween box down?
Already?
FINE.
Sorry, hi. How are you?
Me, well, you’ll be wholly unsurprised to learn that things have been A BIT BUSY here - I think I owe a couple of you some replies from the last edition too (I’ll get right on that).
But here are some amazing things that have happened since we last spoke:
My first LEGO campaign went live. YAAAAAAY. Can you solve the Mystery of the Monolith? Multiple islands (here’s the first), a handful of clues, some phenomenal talent, and ONE SCARY MONOLITH. It’s kinda nuts to me given where things were at the start of the year that right now I have stuff live on FORTNITE DOT COM. Y’know? Nuts.
Another mega super top secret (and non-LEGO) project that I spent about 14mths of my life on also finally went live. There’s no link here because I’m waiting for the nod to talk about it. And hopefully I can soon. But honestly, to be involved in this monster has been some of the best work I’ve ever had the fortune to work on - and I can’t wait to tell you about it.
Thanks to the OREO Cheat Cookies campaign clearing up at last year’s Eurobests (with not one but TWO Grand Prix), the team there have generously asked me to come on board as a judge in this year’s Entertainment category (we’ve started already and I’m well excited). This is mega! Look at my face!
And finally, thank you to so many of you that wrote back in reply to Annabelle’s Linkedin post from the last edition.
In an entirely in-character move, Annabelle pitched a new/updated take to Campaign mag and they were graceful and grateful to publish. Entitled, ‘Burnout in adland: what can you do to help?’, this write puts the focus on solutions and action (vs blaming specific people, places, or publications) - and is worth your time.
Campaign get a kicking from time to time - and on occasion it’s deserved. The kindness and grace I’ve seen (and overheard) in the process of getting this article live has been nothing short of exemplary. And for that, they will have my eternal respect.
Right then. Shall we crack on? I think we should.
—
TO THE THINGS!
THING 1. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE CHAGOS ISLANDS
I've been reading a lot about the Chagos Islands this week. You may have done too.
Never heard of it?
You MAY have heard the have seen the news that the sovereignty is being ‘handed back’:
The UK has announced it is giving up sovereignty of a remote but strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean after more than half a century.
The deal – reached after years of negotiations - will see the UK hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a historic move.
This includes the tropical atoll of Diego Garcia, used by the US government as a military base for its navy ships and long-range bomber aircraft.
The primer link at the top is the thing that interested me the most. Understanding the secrecy, the politics, the standard UK imperialism.
But all that’s about to change.
As ever, the devil is in the detail.
-
As a minor addendum to this, The Verge is reporting the .io domain might also be at risk…
THING 2. WHAT ARE NEXT?
I hit play on this because I was promised a good intro. I ended up watching the whole thing (how long). And I knew I had to share it with you.
DON’T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST CONSUME PRODUCTS.
DON’T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST CONSUME PRODUCTS.
DONT’T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST CONSUME PRODUCTS.
THING 3. THIS WEEK IN… ROBLOX
As predicted a few days ago, famous short-selling financial research firm, Hindenburg Research, hit the press this week when it published what seems like an incredibly damning report about the state of things over on Roblox.
A mixture of new data, updated research, and a revisit of older stories, the opening fifty-five bullet point exec summary is a pretty tough read.
What's most depressing about this is that while the facts about Roblox’s… laissez-faire approach to kids/brand/legal safety on its platform have been known for years, the alleged deception on DAU and MAU is the thing that's going to spook the markets the most.
Capitalism, eh?
-
Spare a thought for the comms team at WPP who announced a new global content and advertising partnership with Roblox on the same day as the Hindenburg release went out…
Banter.
tl;dr: keep your kids off Roblox.
THING 4. WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHIEF METAVERSE OFFICERS GONE?
🎶 ..Long time pa-aaa-sing.. 🎶
Look, I don't want to say I told you so but actual WIRED running this headline in the year of our lord, 2024, feels, well, entirely expected?
I’m not saying this could’ve been predicted at any point during the past two years (please, by all means, read literally any FToF from 2022 - a vintage year) but WIRED does a very good job at dissecting the what, why and where things are when it comes to this endangered species.
Covering everything from the 'abrupt' departure of Gucci's metaverse head, a brief stopover in Decentraland's joke of a DAU number, through to the 'Godmother' of the metaverse's job title change (ALL previously covered in FToF)... this is an excellent reflection on the madness of the last two years and frankly, a great reminder of how right I've been about this the entire time.
'This won't age well' they said.
Get in the bin, lad x
Read ‘Where have all the Metaverse Officers Gone?’ on WIRED
THING 5. MARKETING REBELLIONS
Last Friday I was invited along to SALESFORCE TOWER (which, let’s be honest, sounds like we’re in the wrong superhero multiverse) to attend the FANTASTIC Marketing Academy UK Scholar Alumni Rebellion Bootcamp.
There are a few things I want to share and I’m sure I’ll forget something (I’ve got pages and pages of notes I still need to distill) however, here are a few headlines from a group of people that I first got associated with FOURTEEN YEARS AGO and yet still find ways to continue to enrich my life professionally and personally.
Alumni Thing One.
Fighting the status quo is HARD. Rebellions matter. Marketing Rebellions - going against average. Pushing for better. It’s hard. Sticking to your guns when the people around you are going insane. But if you can be the sole sane voice in the room, and hold onto that voice, then things will change.
Alumni Thing Two.
Simple things are often the most powerful. David Naylor sharing his ‘Formula for guaranteed success’ reminded me of what it means to craft a decent creative brief.
If it feels hard it’s because it’s meant to be.
Alumni Thing Three.
Not all rebellions have to be massive. Micro-rebellions can be the start of a butterfly effect that effects just the right amount of change. In one of my favourite sessions of the day, Robbie and Daianna from Today Do This - in literally 20mins - got every attendee to not only identify and commit to their own micro-rebellion but also act on it in the room. Emails were sent. Meetings were put in. Action. Was. Taken. And, in the course of an afternoon 80 odd new butterfly effects were put out into the world.
What’s your butterfly?
Overall, a great day of learning was had. Great to see some old friends, refresh some loose/old connections, and also make a whole ton of new ones ‘Hey, you work for LEGO? Me too!’
If you’ve never applied for the Marketing Academy, nominations for the 2025’s cohort open NOW (for the UK, the US, and Australia). So why not give it a shot?
You never know, it might change your life.
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.
Is Disney bad at Star Wars? The Hollywood Reporter asking a decent question and, I think, gets to a decent well explored answer.
Mark Ritson’s 10 step guide to marketing effectiveness is [a write up of a recent talk he gave but still] essential reading.
Fifty house points to the caption writer for this BBC article.
These fictional football shirts are excellent (I’m a Weyland Yutani wearer, all day long), via Robbie.
Game studio and current custodians of the HALO franchise (and previously known as 343 Inudustries) turned the page on a new chapter of last week, first as HALO STUDIOS and second as a studio leaning into Unreal Engine. For reasons I am very excited about what HALO STUDIOS will do next. Congratulations to Pierre and the team, and good luck with Project Foundry - Halo deserves to be amazing again.
I was reminded last week that the APG YouTube channel is an ACTUAL MINE OF GOLD for any budding future planners and advertising strategists out there (thanks to Rick Evans for the reminder).
The Rest is Entertainment - ‘The Return of Philip Schofield edition’ is an excellent listen. Come for Marina Hyde’s evisceration of the above celeb, stay for Richard Osmon’s delicate deconstruction of how ‘the guy from the go compare ads’ is now on Strictly. Two masters at work.
FIFA & Konami sitting in a tree, trying-to-make some-money. Back May 2022 (see FToF #330, thing 3) I made the case that is was perhaps Electronic Arts that knew their way around video games, and not FIFA. The latter’s failed forays into crypto, web3, and Roblox, says it all and to see FIFA get into bed with its long-standing competitor (Pro Evo fans remember) is as astonishing as it is unexpected. This doesn’t mean that Konami is making the next FIFA, btw. Not yet at least. It’s more that Konami’s football game ‘eFootball’ will the be football game played at FIFAe - their e-sports tournament. Yeah, I had to read that a few times too.
PC Gamer here with ‘Fortnite isn’t the future, it’s an anomaly’. It’s a bold take. Facts are facts, numbers are numbers. And what's interesting are the cracks in between. Will single player games disappear? Of course not. Is Tim right about AAA/A failures? Yes. Is Fortnite an anomaly? I doubt it. Is everything changing? Absolutely.
If you've seen Deadpool vs Wolverine one of the more disgusting special effects by the film’s antagonist was pretty gross - here's how they did it.
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER.
MIND THE GAP.
Thanks for reading this edition of Five things on Friday. Signing off to you now, it’s 1615 on Sunday October 13th. I’ve been hit by a second bout of food poisoning in three weeks and frankly, I don’t think it’s food poisoning (as no one else has been struck down) so maybe something else is going on. Either way, I’m on the sofa, chilling with the kids. I introduced the eldest to the 1989 BATMAN yesterday - a life-changing film for me. I’ve worked on three Batman briefs in my life and I wonder if it started with my uncles smuggling a ten year old me into a 12-rated movie… maybe I’ll revisit all the bat-stuff one day.
Maybe when I have some time?
On a time-related note, pending more madness, I am reasonably at capacity until I think about February. The consulting work I’ve been across so far this year has been fascinating (and something I’ll write about in the New Year, when it’ll be a year since I left my last job).
But given time constraints and a handful of conversations converting at the same time means I need to start saying no to things - this side of Christmas at least - due to time [and family] commitments.
However, and depending on the size/shape of the job, I have been building a good network of smart games/brand/research people who I can call on if needed.
So if you’re looking for help with brand, games, or brand and games (or considering building something out with own UEFN-based island), give me a shout.
I’m proud af to say I’ve helped easily three or four people land new jobs this year - and that’s down to people coming to me first, asking for a specific talent, and then connecting them to trusted folk I know can deliver.
Point is: whether it’s integrated, brand, advertising, gaming, brand partnerships, consulting, pitch-doctoring… I know some people.
Until next time,
Whatley out x
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