Five things on Friday #397
With love, from Islay.
Things of note for the week ending Friday April 4th.
#397
INTRO
Hello from Scotland.
I’ve drafted most of this newsletter in the drive up to Scotland today (as I write to you now, it’s 1412 on April 3rd) and when I hit send on Friday I will add a gorgeous photo of Islay.
UPDATE. It is Friday! Hooray! We made it!
We left sunny Borehamwood at 0530 yesterday morning and checked into out hotel 2030 last night. That’s not bad, door to door.
We’re off to Bowmore today, Saturday is the big one with Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg. Then Sunday is the stretch to Bruichladdich and Kilchoman. And then we drive back on Monday. So yeah, wish me luck. For Bluesky users, my plan is to keep this thread updated with occasional photos and notes if you fancied living vicariously…
What else can I tell you?
This week? NOTHING.
Because we are going onward.
ONWARD.
TO THE THINGS!
THING 1. VAL KILMER
Ice Man.
Madmartigan.
Bruce Wayne.
Mentor.
Nick Rivers.
Colonel John Henry Patterson.
Jim Morrison.
Chris Shiherlis.
Gay Perry.
Doc Holliday.
I think I would like to go to a bar where they just showed Val Kilmer movies on repeat all day long.
Maybe I’ll open one one day.
For now though, I’m gonna make plans to watch Tombstone again when I get home - and try to think about how emotional it was to see him again in Maverick.
Go in peace.
THING 2. A CORRECTION / PROVOCATION ON LAST WEEK'S RECOMMERCE ATACMA PIECE
Honest to goodness one of the best things - if not the best thing - about having a newsletter are the reader replies.
You lot are smart, mindful, and above all else - interested.
Last week, in THING 2: GET FREE CLOTHES FROM TOP BRANDS FOR FREE, I wrote about the Recommerce Atacam project and how it was a great initiative to address a growing problem.
Well.
FToF subscriber, Ana. wrote back to me from last edition and, after a brief back and forth (mainly me saying ‘er, you are so right - thank you’), agreed to let me publish her reply in full.
Ana writes:
“Hi James!
I've been a long-time fan of 5-things and it's always such a great stirring pot of things to learn and think about, I love it. But this week's edition brought me a little degree of discomfort that I couldn't really elaborate at first, namely Thing #2. Maybe I was missing something? I read the links, I read the excerpt you highlighted, and I read your opinion. I'm still at a loss. Eventually I figured I could share my discomfort with you -- not to try changing your mind, but just to let you know how this reads very differently when the reader is born and raised in the Global South.
Ok, so we start with the problem: The Atacama desert has become a dumping ground for major fashion brands, with nearly 40,000 tons of discarded clothing per year. The next sentence lets me know the objective is to TACKLE this issue. Cool. But then we get an e-commerce platform where you can select these clothes "for free", paying for shipping. Do you see the disconnect? How is this tackling the issue? The amount of products going through this "re-commerce" is but a handful. How is this addressing the 40,000 yearly ton? And more, if the idea is to make this environmentally friendly, how is shipping items to different corners of the world environmentally conscious? Sending things across the globe is very polluting. Why encourage more of it, for no good reason?
I grew up very poor in Brazil. I'm so used to foreign companies making my home a dumping ground for all sorts of stuff they don't want anymore. And I'm so used to foreigners coming up with performatic, empty solutions that solve nothing. Going back to the Atacama issue, there are only two real solutions to this problem: curbing fashion brands and decreasing the ever-increasing consumerism. The first one is nearly impossible. Who is going to hold these major fashion conglomerates accountable? As for the second one...well, one of the companies part of the collaboration is VTEX, would they like raising consciousness around shopping? I'm guessing no. I'm guessing they would rather sponsor something that has a shiny website, gets a little buzz and makes it seem like they're supporting a good cause.
Overall, I'm sad and tired that people get away with this kind of empty activism. This is a complex problem, and it offends me to the bone that some half-baked response gets called "amazing" and "brilliant". Shiny websites aside, it's us in the Global South that have to live with the consequences of colonialism, oppression and inaction. The 40,000 ton of products is still going to be there, even if now there are minus 30 pieces of clothes give or take.
Thanks for hearing me out,
Ana”
Ana is right. And I saw it as an awareness issue (more than literally shifting 40,000 tons of clothes pa) but to Ana’s point: it doesn't help. And if it gives Ana the ick, then she’s right to flag it and put me right (as this is also on me for not doing the proper due diligence on this).
Thank you, Ana. One thing you learn to love when you’re a planner is to enjoy being wrong. Having a reader hold me (and this thing) to account is great.
Incidentally, another reader took issue with the Atacama project but instead flagged another suspicion:
Holly writes:
“[I’m] not saying it is, but there have been clothing "rescue" schemes like that one before that turned out to just be sending people cheap shit that they were producing specifically for the box, it wasn't real deadstock. Worth being aware of - as a scam template.”
🤯 🤯 🤯
THING 3. THIS WEEK IN… VIDEO GAMES
I was in such a rush to get an edition out last week that I completely forgot to talk about the Mentos Fizzooka work from BBH.
This looks fun, right? And I’ll confess, what with going on a short break I’ve been cramming the work in so haven’t had a chance to jump in and play with this yet BUT that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about a bit.
If you missed the announcement, BBH London (and partners) built the Mentos Fizzooka as an in-game weapon for three Fortnite Creative (FNC) maps - each built in Unreal Editor for Fornite (UEFN). The point of difference here is that FNC maps are user-generated content. They’re not published or built by Epic. They are published on the Fortnite platform
So right off the bat: I like this.
I heard a rumour that this was coming a month or so ago (literally overheard in a pub - adlanders, eh) and I was wondering how on earth it'd work in the main game (thinking it was a broader Epic partnership) but this is not that.
This is smarter.
Integrating with a handful of popular islands instead of the main Epic-published Battle Royale (BR), is arguably easier to execute and potentially more impactful - we’ll come back to this...
So yes, this is UEFN/FNC-based (not BR), but it IS in Sky Wars, Troll Bed wars, and Piece Control (twice - 1v1 and 2v2). So that’s three (four if you’re being polite) very popular titles that the Fizzooka is showing up.
Very nice.
And that’s kind of why I like it. Some actual thought has gone into making this work.
To quote MYSELF from AUGUST LAST YEAR (FToF #383):
“The smart brands are moving away from building their own individual (and frankly sub-par) islands or worlds in Fortnite and Roblox and instead setting up shop inside already successful indies by games creators.”
This trend continues.
On the impact front, the coverage has been great (if sketchy - don’t worry, we’ll get there) so the PR hit has done well for Mentos.
Player-wise? Well, as these activations are in UEFN / FNC islands, anyone can jump over to Fortnite.gg and see the live data on the player impact:
Sky Wars - a peak of 200 (!) players on announce day (not amazing - but we’ll allow one duff).
Troll Bed Wars - avg 1000 players a day.
Piece Control 1v1 - 5k players a day, these are v good figures.
Piece Control (2v2) - 15k players a day, even better.
Tot those numbers up, bundle it up with the PR hit, throw in some paid streamers aaaaaand the inevitable Cannes Case Study writes itself (cue: quick cuts of streamers freaking out, v/o ‘and the players went crazy for it’).
Trebles all round.
A good bar setter this.
And I fully expect to see more creative uses of UEFN to build brand activations combined with media buys with popular islands to publish those activations SOON.
As an aside, on the sketchy coverage part, I was chatting to new pal and smart strategy consultant, Mara Dettmann, about this in the week and I asked her if she wouldn’t mind putting some her thoughts down so I could share them.
Mara writes:
“If brands aren’t exploring gaming, theyr’e missing out. Especially for Gen Z, Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite aren’t side quests – they’re core brand touchpoints.
But there still seems to be a knowledge gap in adland around how brands-in-gaming actually works. Take the reactions to Mentos Fizzooka – joyful, smart, and built in Fortnite Creative by my former agency BBH (massive love). The responses were glowing, but also revealed some confusion about what it actually means to be “on Fortnite” as a brand. There’s a big difference between working within Fortnite itself (Epic’s IP, characters, gameplay) and building in Fortnite Creative – the user-generated side of the game, powered by Epic’s Unreal Editor (UEFN). One gives you reach and lore; the other offers creative freedom, but can be harder to discover.
And the same goes across gaming platforms – there’s no one-size-fits-all. To build branded gaming experiences that people care about, we need to understand the spaces we’re entering.
This isn’t shade. Just a nudge: the best way to start? Play. It’s fun, promise.”
It was really nice to have Mara ping and ask if I had noticed the coverage thing as well. ‘Yes, I have but go on…’
Mara is so right about the misunderstanding in adland. You only need to look at the coverage to see this. Case in point, this write up on Campaign does not mention Fortnite Creative or UEFN once. And I don’t think this is BBH’s fault (who clearly do understand the platform) but to write this whole thing up without understanding the differences between the main game and UGC created islands is a little misleading at best.
If you’re a brand reading that article you would think you could just make a weapon and drop it into any season of Battle Royale for hundreds of millions of monthly active users - and be fine.
But that’s not how this works.
Sky Wars is on the Fortnite platform, it is not just ‘Fortnite’.
Fortnite Battle Royale is the main Fortnite game but even that has 3-4 variations (ranked, build, zero build, OG etc etc).
Difference is, one has hundreds of users, the other has millions... so it kind of matters.
Please show a modicum of understanding (dare I say it, cough, journalism) when writing this stuff up?
Quote: “The Fizzooka is the only weapon in the game that could destroy builds" - is fundamentally untrue. Every weapon in the game can destroy builds. Some mythics can do this in 1-2 shots. Designed to destroy? Yeah? I guess? Maybe?
I’m getting nerdy now - but that’s kind of my point.
This is a very good brand activation. With brilliant tactics and media placements (which include the island partnerships themselves) and BBH deserve all the plaudits.
As long as those plaudits are properly described so you don’t trick brand marketers into thinking they can do the impossible.
Thanks.
PS you can and should follow Mara on Linkedin for more provocative insight - Mara is a smart planner and like the best smart planners, generous with her thinking.
NEWS BITES
Game Informer is back! Yay.
Samurai Pizza Cats! WHAT.
South of Midnight is looking VERY GOOD INDEED.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion looks siiiiiick [YouTube trailer].
The FT on the Office of National Statistics (ONS) vs the Xbox is fascinating (if inconclusive) reading (oh, I get it now).
I’d be interested in your pov on this, btw.
Is it due to Game Pass? Or is it simply being 3rd in the marketplace? Hit reply and tell me what you think…
WE NEARLY GOT TO THE END OF THIS SECTION WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT SWITCH 2.
In an hour long presentation this week, Nintendo showed off the Switch 2, revealed pricing, release dates, games, and more… You can watch the whole thing here but the main takeouts are:
It’s £395.99 for the base edition and £429.99 for the Mario Kart bundle.
The latter of those two being the most attractive because in what is arguably the first step towards a new baseline for expensive games, new Mario Kart is £74.99 for the physical edition - Stinger - and I don’t think it’s even the game on that cartridge, more a digital key. Just… wow. LEGO Fortnite is free, btw x
The c-button is ‘CHAT’ - and there’s a camera coming so you can video call/stream and do some cool in-game stuff too (I like this version better already).
On a personal note there were three games that looked interesting to me: Mario Kart, Duskbloods, and Donkey Kong. I haven’t preordered (yet). Admittedly, Nintendo are trying to avoid scalpers by doing invite only first but still. I’m wondering if I would get one (who am I kidding).
Expensive games. No killer title (yet, imo). I’m interested to see how it shakes out once the dust settles.
We shall seeeeeee… (this is a good hands on preview).
What do you think? ARE YOU PREORDERING?
Tell me!
THING 4. HOW GO GET PAST US CUSTOMS WITH YOUR DIGITAL PRIVACY INTACT
It's been a while since I've wanted to visit the USA. But if I did feel that way inclined, I'd probably have a good hard look at this excellent article from WIRED and see if any of it applied to me.
THING 5. THE END OF WORK AS WE KNEW IT
So here’s a thing. I was talking recently how, as a 45 year old white guy in advertising, the jobs begin to dwindle.
‘Oh, I should share this thing with you’ they said. And I thought I would receive some advice and guidance on how to prep for being older in adland.
No no, something much worse 😅
Thanks to MJ for sharing this and for helping me understand what the future might look like. Fair warning, this isn’t the most inspiring read. But it’s realistic as hell.
Read ‘The Gen X Career Meltdown’ via the New York Times.
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.
A few of you will know my friend and old writing partner, Marshall Manson, has a superb restaurant review newsletter called ‘Professional Lunch’, I’m lucky enough to go to a few of these reviews. Sometimes it’s a good excuse to catch up with an old pal over some great food. Occasionally, the food becomes the experience and you realise this is something truly special. Yeah, that was Row on 5.
Dutch pension fund ABP has sold its entire Meta and Alphabet stock. That’s about 3 billion euros, all told. As canaries in the coal mine go, I wonder how significant this one is.
News just in: there’s a [not so] secret Killing Eve prequel on the way.
'My day in America's most hated car' has the best opening paragraph of anything else I've read this year.
“Ten-to-a-couch or make use of the high-top tables and pantry spaces, there is seating for everyone”- WPP’S RTO plans are going well then.
As someone who was definitely touched by the film Garden State (I saw it at the London Film Festival with a Zach Braff and Natalie Portman Q&A after), this fantastic write up of the recent anniversary concert spoke to me on a spiritual level.
Speaking of film, TIL there’s a new Naked Gun movie. Surely not.
‘18 habits of highly creative people’ feels like it should be listicle rubbish but for inspiration on something to do the next time you need to refresh your creative juices, this isn’t a bad place to start.
Luiza Jarovsky points out something obvious about the Studio Ghibli / ChatGPT thing (that many missed): it’s another way to farm data.
YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.
Right then. Here we are. Congratulations, you have read it ALL. Here is another photograph of the beautiful Scottish hills as a thank you.
This week’s newsletter feels a little grey around the edges so I’m going to lighten the next one up I think. Place needs a spruce up if you ask me. I don’t know what that means in practice but we’ll figure it out when we get there.
Oh, also, I don’t know which one of you it was that shared the newsletter around last week but I had a little bump of sign ups (which was nice - thank you for that).
So if you’ve not shared a FToF recently and you’ve seen something in this week’s edition you’ve liked, feel free to share it around. Something amazing might happen.
You do that. I need to get up, shower, and then go drink some whisky. Olly wants to take a swim - and I’m going with him. We are insane. But that Bluesky thread I linked to at the top will let you know how successful that goes, I’m sure.
Take care,
Whatley out x
Five thing on Friday will always be free.
However, if you want to chuck a couple of quid directly to the running costs then you can do that at these links:
You can sign up to an annual sub (no minimum amount required - people have dropped £20-£50 on this link, which is nice).
Or a one off pay whatever you want donation right here.
100% of all your dollar will go on Buttondown fees (about £23 a month) and anything left over at the end of each year with Buttondown will go direct to men’s mental health charity, CALM.
Hey James!
Great summary as always!
Just so I'm clear on the Mentos Fizzooka activation, are the impact numbers quoted the concurrent on those FNC maps? That's not the number of users who actually used the Mentos Fizzooka weapon, so engagement/interaction with the brand is actually unknown right?