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In the meantime, shall we?
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1. BOTS AND STUFF
This week, in short list of short things number one: we did a BOT THING. Which basically went along the lines of:
- We built a bot for (pretty ace trade mag) The Drum.
- The Drum filmed a short-film about bots (a ‘botumentary’ – I’m sorry).
- The Drum then launched said film and bot at Ogilvy’s HQ on the southbank.
- We did a panel discussion about bots + interesting tech for the future.
If any of the above is of interest to you then here are a truck load of links to sate that botty (not bitty) appetite.
- The Drum’s announcement of the bot.
- The ‘Botumentary‘ (again, I’m sorry).
- The conversation from the panel (guess the hashtag).
- A write up of said panel (shout out to the awesome Elizabeth Valleau of Facebook purely for the line ‘We need to be delivering a nutritious bot experience’ – amazing).
- Someone at Ogilvy then interviewed me about it for our website.
- And finally the actual bot itself.
Lovely stuff.
Are we done? I think we’re done.
NEXT!
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2. FANCY A TOUR OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION?Â
Yeah, course you do. This video is from a couple of years ago but it only hit my radar this week and I just love it.
Suni Williams is wonderfully endearing.
Bonus space thing:Â this is ace.Â
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3. YOU’RE PROBABLY WONDERING WHO WON TWITTER THIS WEEK. WELL WONDER NO MORE BECAUSE I AM ABOUT TO TELL YOU.Â
Drum roll, please…Â
…
…
…
This week’s winner of TWITTER is….
…
..
…
..
…
DONCASTER CITY COUNCIL!
YEAAAAAAAH!
WOOOOO!
What?
you didn’t know?
Guys. Get your eyes on this gift of a Twitter thread.
AND THEN WRITE ME AND TELL ME HOW RIGHT I AM.
THANKS.
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4. A GREAT TIP FOR UNSOCIABLE PEOPLE
Via.
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5. TREND SEASON IS UPON US!Â
I know this because Marshall Manson and I are currently putting together our own ones for the big O right about now (#OgilvyTrends2018 – it’s a thing that is happening – publishing second week of December with a free to attend (oo – ahh) webinar on Jan 11th – I’ll post it all here when it’s all confirmed etc).
ANYWAY.
The other thing about TREND SEASON is that you/we/I get to read all the other trend documents that go early.
A few hit this week and there are two that I want to call out:
The first is all about voice. It’s called ‘Speakeasy 2017‘ and it’s actually a pretty decent, if chunky, read. I use voice (in relation to tech) more and more every day – but I’m still not entirely convinced that it’s THE FUTURE that everyone and their sister seems to think it is. I’m on the ‘it’s all hugely situational’ fence. I’ll have more in my own trends piece next month but for now, go read the Speakeasy one. Like I said, there’s a lot there.
Good for stats and stuff
The second one I wanted to call attention to is only really a preview of one to come but – BUT – the ‘overview’ pretty much says the trends to keep an eye on are:
1. Things are getting more visual.
2. Exploration: Using tech to find new stuff.
3. Disappearing devices (Interfaces everywhere).
4. Bots.
5. Data.
And I’m a bit like – yeah, and?
Have a look for yourself and let me know what you think. I can get a bit spiky on this stuff because I know just how much work goes into the good ones. Bad ones make me growly. Grrrrr.
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PRE-BONUS ESSENTIAL READING:Â
This section is dedicated to all the stuff I’ve found/read/shared about everything that I’ve been thinking on since the last time we spoke.
Essential reading.
- Page Six: Gal Gadot is refusing to sign on for Wonder Woman 2 until Brett Ratner is removed from it completely…
UPDATE: Ratner is now gone. - ‘Can I rap along to songs that have the ‘n’ word in them?‘ – this is outstanding.
- NYT: After Weinstein -Â a list of men accused of sexual misconduct and the fallout of each.
- The Guardian -Â ‘Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race‘
- This is how you clap back.
- Sarah Silverman on Louis CK.
- ‘I left and I shut up‘: why women in advertising won’t speak publicly about harassment.
Thank you for the feedback on this new section; it is indeed here to stay.Â
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THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS-SHAPED BONUSES:Â
Not as big as last week. Promise.
GOOD LUCK!Â
- Remember the ‘hilarious’ KFC Twitter follower thing? KFC figured out who figured it out and then sent them something awesome. Awesome.Â
- I wrote this for a book about a year ago but only just found out it’d been published online: When it comes to brands, actions speak louder than ‘core values’ – (and here’s a related Stewart Lee skit)
- ‘I’m not a centrist Dad’ – is a great line from a great interview with Tony Blair. Go read.
- Boston Dynamics’ robot totally does backflips now. Yeah. About that.
- ‘I’m so tired of Facebook tracking everything I do and say’ – the Facebook status says Well, next time you see one like that, just point them in this direction. Hopefully it’ll help.
- This is a great interview with Mark Gatiss.
- John Lewis ad shown to be remarkably similar to kids’ storybook.Â
On that last one. I’ve thought about it a lot since seeing it. Yes, the similarities are remarkable. Yes, it could be plagiarism. My money is on it not being a rip off at all. Just sheer and utter coincidence.
The people that come up with this stuff take it seriously. If they wanted to use this book, they would’ve approached the author and bought the rights. If the hundreds – and I mean hundreds – of people that worked on this ad all colluded to make a copy of a kids book, that’d just be mental.
I can imagine the sick punch in the gut the team would’ve had when they saw the video, comparing the two pieces. And they would’ve been gutted.
Now, I could be wrong. I could easily be wrong. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a creative team has ripped off something they’ve seen elsewhere (i miss this blog, btw) but for a client this big? On a campaign this big? At Christmas? Far too risky. Far too stupid. Far too far.
We’ll see.
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Big love, and thank you for reading.
IT’S OFFICIALLY THE WEEKEND!!!!
Whatley out x