Five things on Friday #396
Oh hello.
Things of note for the week ending Saturday March 29th, 2025.
#396
INTRO
Well hey there friends.
It's been checks notes six weeks or so since we last spoke. A LOT happened immediately after the edition I shared back then which all seemed important at the time (we’ll come back to this) and I really wanted to write about it… but then things got busy and so I didn't.
The good news is: I kept the notes and so along with those old words and these new ones, I think we might actually get a newsletter out this week. Exciting :)
Three crazy things that took away my writing attention since we last spoke:
Five things on Friday got threatened with a cease & desist (hilare).
I dropped my phone in a log flume (at a theme park - in February - what japes).
A mean throat cough bug arrived (nasty) properly knocking me for six.
And that was just February.
On that last one, it’s funny: I had to go for a blood test a day or so before I came down with it and (thanks to the amazing NHS) I literally had a text that evening saying yeah, your white blood cell counts seems high, maybe go see your GP? And then I was poorly. The human body (and the NHS) is brilliant isn't it? It finally shifted after the doc prescribed anti-bees... and here we are.
As I write to you now, it's 11:29 on the morning of Saturday March 29th. The kids are playing Bugsnax on the telly and I'm waiting to play Assassin's Creed Shadows (it’s so good!) - we've got quite a bit to get through this week so I won’t keep you much longer…
OH! And for those playing along at home, I finally have a living room again.
Quick recap for the newbies: Flood in October, insurance assessment in November, delayed work til January, and then, well, it’s been a farce ever since (most recently, a gas-lighting carpenter telling the Mrs that she’d asked for something she didn’t - ‘See that Google Display over there mate, that recorded your entire conversation, you didn’t give her the options and I think it’s probably best if you pack up your tools and leave) ANYWAY, FINALLY, finally, we can stop living in the kitchen.
God it’s good to get that out of the way.
…and breathe…
Shall we crack on with the things?
Let’s.
TO THE THINGS!
THING 1. AN INSIGHT IS A HEFFALUMP
Starting off with something light but deceptively useful.
This is a heffalump.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept then may I commend upon you some Winnie the Pooh.
In the books (and I think the movie too) Winnie the Pooh and Piglet one day set out to trap a heffalump but the problem is no one has ever seen one before and so even the idea of finding one becomes tricky.
James Hurman, posting over on Linkedin recently, explained how he uses the idea of the heffalump as a metaphor for the mystical strategic gold known as ✨ the insight ✨.
It is an excellent piece of writing.
And possibly my favourite thing this week.
Between pitch doctoring, coaching, advising and actually working, I occasionally run training sessions on strategy and one of the areas we nearly always cover is demystifying the insight.
And I always start off by killing it.
True insight is hard to come by.
Observations? Fine.
Unspoken truths? Better.
A provocation that inspires better thinking? Go for it.
Just don’t get so wedded to (or worse: scared of) the iNsiGhT because it’s a surefire way to help you lose your way. And you might lose some young marketers and planners in the process.
I know for some of you this is a challenging thought. But reflect on it. When was the last time you had an insight? Do you expect to have one for every single brief you read or write? Our industry’s obsession with them is a worry.
Think about it.
And see where it takes you.
THING 2. GET CLOTHES FROM TOP BRANDS FOR FREE*
* Just pay shipping!
Per Re-commerce Atacama on Linkedin:
“The Atacama Desert has become a dumping ground for major fashion brands, with nearly 40,000 tons of discarded clothing piling up each year—many in perfect condition.
To tackle this issue, we created Re-commerce Atacama—the first e-commerce platform where you can get these rescued clothes for free, paying only for shipping. Fully sanitized and ready to wear, it’s a way to refresh your wardrobe while raising awareness about fashion waste.
A collaboration between Desierto Vestido, Fashion Revolution, and VTEX, one of the world’s top e-commerce platforms. Created by Artplan.
Join us in giving these clothes a second chance—and helping the planet!”
This is an amazing initiative and it has, of course, already sold out.
There will be more drops, however, so you can sign up on the website and find out when the next one is going to be so you too can help fight against this awful wastage problem.
THING 3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING
First, some work stuff (that I can talk about):
The biggest secret I’ve had to keep for months now: LEGO x POKEMON was announced (coming 2026). I’ve done the tiniest bit of work on this (teeny, tiny) but the team on it are fantastic and… well, if there’s one recurring theme from everybody working on it: you ain’t seen nothing yet.
One thing I have spent a fair amount of time working on, is this: LEGO Technic x ASPHALT UNITE. A great project - with so much more in the pipeline for the year ahead. I should say, the team on this are also pretty great. I’ve been the brand strat lead on this work and as a result was in Barcelona back in January to meet the Gameloft team. What a bloody great bunch of people they are… there’s more to come on this one too.
Again: watch this space for more.
Oh, and look out for [PROJECT: BANANA] also coming soon. Banana is my codename for it (not the official one - obvs), it’s more so I can tell you about it when it hits. Don’t let me forget, yeah? Anyway, it’s mega exciting.
And now for some non work stuff.
STORIES OF VERDANSK
I really like this new content series from Call of Duty/Activision: ‘Stories of Vedansk’.
To celebrate the return of fan-favourite map, VERDANSK, to Call of Duty: Warzone, the acti lot have asked a bunch of famouses to retell some of their favourite stories from Verdansk (geddit?) and then chucked in some laugh-out-loud animation for the best bits for good measure.
In this one, Rob Beckett is talking about his squad of tired dads (I can relate) and one killer random joining the team and making their whole night.
There are loads of others (Declan Rice is a good one, Nick Kyrgios too), and they’re just as good.
Seek them out.
Congratulations to Activision and its agency Waste Creative for this work.
It’s sometimes difficult to properly land nostalgia in video games comms. There’s an inherent tension between encouraging players to remember what they liked [about the old game] and getting players excited about what’s next [in the new update].
You don’t want to lean too much backward because you risk both taking attention from the newness of a game’s latest update AND players wanting, remembering, or preferring an older version instead.
And imo these films land the bullseye in the tension perfectly. Entertainment without distraction. Nostalgia but used to entertain and an jumping off point to return.
Really, really nice.
I can’t wait to drop back in.
UKIE GIVES SOUTHGATE A YELLOW CARD.
At the recent Richard Dimblebey lecture, England’s old manager said:
"Young men end up withdrawing, reluctant to talk or express their emotions," he added. "They spend more time online searching for direction and are falling into unhealthy alternatives like gaming, gambling and p*rnography."
[one of these things is not like the others]
This is at best, ill-judged and UK’s trade body for the game industry rightly had something to say about this.
Please read the response.
It’s worth your time.
-
Quick news bites
Laugh out loud gaming brilliance, Thank Goodness You’re Here, wins GOTY at the Ukie awards.
It’s been a while since I backed anything on Kickstarter but ‘here’s some inspo for what you should play next’ app, ‘Ludocene’ was a great excuse to break that duck. And it’s through!
‘This game is perfect, please don’t buy it’ - is a superb reflection/review/rant about the work of art that is Rollerdrome (and everything that happened to the gifted team of artists and developers that put the thing together.
Behind the scenes of the excellent Split/Fiction is a refreshing read on how to make games without burning people out (or firing them).
Next time we speak, we’ll know a lot more about Switch 2 (and we may even be preordering).
Nobody needs to know how many people are playing a single player game.
What is James Playing?
You not getting a newsletter from me for the past month is a triple whammy of being ill, then an ill treat to myself being a copy of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (outstanding) and sinking a whole bunch of hours into that. And now, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows has stepped in and that too is also fan-bloody-tastic.
We are so back. #ACShadows
— James Whatley (@whatleydude.com) 2025-03-22T17:20:17.947Z
So yeah, good luck getting another edition out of me for the forseeable. We’ll see how we go.
In the background, with the new floor going in we played Mario Kart: Live Home Circuit today - that was fun - as well as a dabbling of Split/Fiction (which I’m playing with my eldest - that too is great).
As a complete aside, I was at a dinner thing at The Shard earlier this week and, whilst extolling the virues of video games more generally, someone asked me: ‘So what’s your favourite game?’
Put on the spot like that, my heart reached out for the first thing it could see and the words ‘Spiritfarer’ appeared on my lips.
Well, I guess that’s that then.
THING 4. PITCH PERFECT PITCH ADVICE
One of the recurring pieces of work that has been coming my way since going freelance is that of pitch doctor. Whether it's a few day sprints over several weeks or a one day dip in and out, the pitch doctor job is one of my absolute favourite things to do.
You've got to be smart.
You’ve got to be good.
You've got to make work better.
You've got to inspire confidence.
Structure. Edit. Refine.
And ultimately leave the pitch (and its team) infinitely better than it was before you came on board.
Truth be told, I think I’m into double figures on pitch doctoring now [at the time of writing at least] 100% of those doctor jobs has converted into a pitch win. Which in itself is a combination of great team work, hard graft, and a ridiculous amount of good luck.
…
But pitches can be horrible. They can be terrible experiences. They can drive teams into the ground, burn resource like there’s no tomorrow and above all else, bring out the worst from clients who don’t understand exactly what it takes to deliver a pitch perfect piece of work.
Because even on your best day, if a client just decides to, well, y’know, just not reply then what the hell do you do?
The wonderful Jemima Garthwaite of This Here recently posted about her experiences of being ghosted after a pitch (which is just insane thing to say about ACTUAL BUSINESS) and to invest nearly £50k worth of time on a potential client who just disappears is nuts.
The good news is: Jemima’s post struck quite the nerve among the agency community and, as a result, was the recipient of an enormous outpouring of support and words of advice - all recapped both in this follow up post and this handy five lessons image, below.
Pitches are painful. Agencies work their socks off to get them - and to not even reply to a pitch after so much work and effort has been sunk into one is just plain wrong.
Don’t be that person.
THING 5. THIS IS JUST A LONG GIF OF MOVIES THAT TAKE PLACE AT THE SAME TIME
Is it engagement bait ripped from another platform? Probably.
Is it still watchable af? Absolutely.
Here’s the bluesky link to watch the whole thing.
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.
‘Roblox creators don’t see brands as a significant revenue stream’ (bodes well).
The new Pebbles are available for pre-order (repebbles, even) and while I like the look of them, I think I might be too invested in the Fitbit / Google Fit ecosystem now to switch out. Damn.
In a week where I was presented with a slide that said ‘Gen alpha like listening to music', here’s two and a half thousand years of adults blaming ‘the younger generation’. Great slide fodder for the BS marketer asking for a campaign that speaks to Millennials.
‘We tell stories for a living but ignore this one at work’ - powerful.
‘Staring at a carrot while being beaten with a stick’: how adland's culture of overworking persists - is an article that appeared in Campaign shortly after the Campaign A List stuff (where no one talked about burnout - see last edition, and the outro in this one) and reading it reminded me of the Desmond Tutu quote that goes: "There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in." - watching the parade of advertising c-suites in the pages thereafter standing around in hot dog costumes all explaining how they’re all trying to find the guy that did this has kind of done it for me.
LEGO Mario Karts are out in the wild and some of the influencer content the team have organised is just STELLAR. Honestly, this is just great.
Speaking of ne’er—do—well studios, The Studio from Seth Rogan over on Apple TV is an outstanding piece of telly.
So is Last One Laughing on Amazon Prime (it reads like it should be over-produced tosh but it’s genuinely laugh out loud funny - watch it).
It kind of matters when trans people actually get to have a say on matters to do with their existence. So much so they can flip a vote. This is an incredible read.
Did you know: if you have an ebay account then you have auto-opted into training their AI model? Here’s how to opt out.
I’m reading CARELESS PEOPLE at the moment, the Facebook one that is a bestseller everywhere because Facebook very publicly tried to shut it down. Banter. Anyway, it’s good - you should read it.
A great bluesky thread from my friend Rob Blackie about the work he’s been doing to combat propaganda in Russia.
Pour one out (again) for the Humane AI Pin. Sold off for parts. If only we could’ve seen this coming.
Do you have a job in strategy? Do you lead a team of strategists? Maybe you should read this.
The FT on Meta’s latest (now deleted) Horizon Worlds advertising is incredibly cutting.
But seriously, that ad was SO bad.
‘Dinner on your own is dinner with someone you love’ - love love love this.
Tangentially: The truth about coffee with your younger self - it burns
The Studio Ghibli rip off machine that is ChatGPT made headlines again this week for, well, being just that. Where’s the money? is an extremely sharp take on all of this. If you have anything to do with Generative AI (or have ever used it) then please read this. Please x
Here are some very good slides presented to students about Generative AI.
'Oreo Xbox Series S Owner Shows Off Their 'Monstrosity' Of A Console' - Real ones know why this is hilarious.
Becky Hill telling Jack White where to get off is one of my favourite things that has happened this year.
And finally…
One of the best bits about this stage of my career is being able to take on advisory roles to support brilliant and talented people to achieve and build something that matters.
Last month I took on a new advisory position with an incredible young agency called YRS TRULY. They're all Gen Z, work four days a week, and they're producing killer work (christ knows why they want me).
Oh, and they’re hiring.
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.
And I think I’m gonna call it there. It’s 20:04 and I nearly made it to the end without talking about the Campaign pain (campain?) from last edition.
Damn.
Hang on.
The tl;dr is this: I posted some analysis of its Campaign A List last edition and they got the hump about ‘giving their ip away’ - (ip that includes questions to the CEOs of adland such as ‘Are you Team Glinda or Elphaba?’).
Getting the hump… sorry, no, calling me and saying ‘our lawyers want to draw up a cease and desist…’ …about sharing paid for/paywalled content is all fine and fair enough…
But I didn’t do that though.
I looked at the paid for data, analysed it, then shared that analysis. That’s called fair dealing and is completely fine and legal.
To Haymarket, however, telling you that 5200 people called Nabs' 'emotional support helpline' in 2024 is fine but saying only two people from the A List responses mentioned Burnout and/or mental health is not allowed.
Oh well.
It’s all to the wind anyway because I couldn’t be arsed to argue. So I edited Thing 1 in the online version to within an inch of its life and waved it away.
As regular readers know, I believe in open plan thinking, and so it’s important to show my workings out here.
You’re welcome to go and see for yourself if it was worth the hassle. Oh, and here’s the old version on the Wayback Machine so you can compare.
…
Right then, shall we off with some fun things?
Let’s do that.
I SAW MUCH ADO AT THE DRURY LANE THEATRE (and it was amazing).
I AM GOING TO ISLAY NEXT WEEK TO DRINK WHISKY FOR FOUR DAYS (can’t wait). Chance of a FToF next week are slim…
And it’s nearly April and I finally actually have my living room back (did I mention?)
HOORAY!
OK that’s me.
Signing off.
Finally.
Thank you for reading this 396th edition of Five things on Friday. It rarely arrives on Friday but you always get more than five things.
Until next time,
Whatley out x
It’ll never be funny to me that one of the biggest companies in history lit itself on fire and burned through $100,000,000,000 trying to make something that pales in comparison to what bored and horny furries have built for free [contains quote post or other embedded content]
— Dave Wolf (@knabewolf.bsky.social) 2025-02-17T04:07:32.753Z
PS. Some of you have asked this recently so I’m putting it here: FYI, my restrictive covenants with my previous employer ran out last month so if you're still working there and want to talk to me about long term career plans, you are now allowed to do that.
If you were a client there and want an unbiased holistic view of the gaming agency landscape, you are also now allowed to do that.
OK? OK!
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