TENSIONS IN UK CULTURE

P.S. IF YOU FOUND THIS USEFUL AND FANCY SHARING THE LINK ON TWITTER I'LL LUV YA FOREVA

ALL MAN

Grayson Perry's latest show on Channel 4 is all about him trying to understand macho culture / masculinity in the 21st Century.

In Ep 1 he goes to meet cage fighters in the north of England. 

It's clear that Perry has a prejudice about 'old school masculinity', 'why do you need to be tough'?', he shouts at them.

As he explores the futility of the out dated, tough, silent, strong man, in a world that doesn't need these qualities (the young male suicide statistics for the area told their own story) he uncovers a totally different perspective on cage fighters that radically changes his opinion.

If we could demonstrate half his ability to see from another perspective, to see through the obvious cleshes, I'm sure it would have a profound effect on our work.

enjoy the series!

THE BATTLE OF THE SCREENS

“Water water everywhere nor any drop to drink,” The Ancient Mariner.

“Data data everywhere but what the fuck to think? “ Me.

In the wake of a lot of annual / quarterly / continuous reports on Mobile vs TV, I’ve tried to interpret some data into three points, that are hopefully interesting and helpful for you.

1. Beware of anyone telling you live TV is dead, because it isn’t

A piece of data in the Facebook’s Q4’15 Market Snapshot (UK) report (supplied by Millward Brown) is totally at odds with other, I believe far more reliable data, with regards to Live TV & On Demand TV viewing figures.

This is from a report called 'A Year In TV', have a read there’s loads of great data.

2. There is a case that adspend on Mobile mobile is underrepresented Vs share of screen

But that’s probably a good thing seeing as most Mobile advertising is awful, intrusive and steals people’s data allowance. All reasons why one of the biggest Mobile operators in the UK, Three, is going to block them.

3. BUT Mobile video can be as powerful as an HD Widescreen TV

A piece of research by Ehrenberg-Bass Institute (of Byron Sharp fame) has shown that viewing video on mobile can be as exciting or more so than on a TV. This is particularly interesting coming from them as Sharp can sometimes sound quite dismissive of digital / social.

"skin conductance results showed mobile phone participants experienced the same levels of excitement as participants who watched the larger screens.

The effect of holding a mobile phone on excitement was stronger than the effect of viewing distance. The effect of distance was clearest for the desktop personal computer, which was not held in the hand"

So used properly mobile video advertising can be very powerful.

Let me know your thoughts @LucianTrestler

And if you’ve got a moment to share this post I’ll LUV YA FOREVA x

BAMBI IS DATA

     Walt Disney with the fawn Bambi that was kept as a pet at the studios and studied by the artists, 1942.¹

What do you see when you think of data?

Do you see excel, soporific powerpoint or hackneyed pen portraits?

Do you see pre-testing debriefs driving brands towards persuasion based communications, a methodology that creates less effective work?²

Do you see Facebook and Twitter distorting reality by counting 3 seconds of muted auto-play as a view?³

I don’t. That’s just noise.

When I think of data I see cab drivers, novels, fields, footballers and a fawn called Bambi.

Data starts with what you want to know.

As Einstein said, “I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.’⁴

Go outside and you will see pen portraits of great depth and meaning.

‘Pick out a cab driver. He will look to you very much like every other cab driver. But study him… [and he will be] seen in your description as an individual, different from every other cab driver in the world.”⁵

If you want to understand situations you’ll never be in, read.

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”⁶

If you want to see how people behave, look in the right places. 

Koolhaas did this for the hallways of his McCormick Tribune Campus Center. Before the building existed there was an open field. Koolhass observed that the students had carved out fairly substantial ruts in the grass from walking the same paths. The result was a highly irregular plan with diagonal hallways.’⁷

Stop leaving competitor research to the work experience.

Don Revie created one of the most powerful football clubs in Europe during the 60's and 70's, dragging Leeds from the brink of Third Division obscurity to become the most successful football team in the country. "He compiled elaborate dossiers on our opponents, and for an hour or so on the morning before a match he'd analyse every one of their players."⁸

Approach every question anew, don’t be lazy and expect a one-size fits all formula to give you an answer.

‘In a world becoming more and more this, and more and more that, but above all more and more meditated, the only thing you can trust is the direct route to your own experience.’⁹

^{P.S. If you enjoyed this article and would be kind enough to share it on Twitter I'd be extremely grateful!!}

Sources;

1. @ClassicPics

2. Les Binet & Peter Field, The Long and the Short of It

3. Facebook, Twitter

4. Albert Einstein, On Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms

5. James Webb Young, A Technique for Producing Ideas

6. William Styron

7. Quora, Rem Koolhaas

8. Jack Charlton

9. Martin Amis, Experience