Five things on Friday #240

Things of note for the week ending Friday, November 17th, 2017.

True fact: if you SUBSCRIBE to the Five things on Friday newsletter, you are 100% guaranteed to get MORE STUFF (eg: a proper intro and probably some more gifs) than reading it here on whatleydude.com.

So y’know, SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

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.

Lovely stuff.

Are we done? I think we’re done.

NEXT!

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2. FANCY A TOUR OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION? 

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.

Give it a watch.

Bonus space thing: this is ace. 

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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. 

Drum roll, please… 

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! 

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: 

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.

Thank you for the feedback on this new section; it is indeed here to stay. 

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THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS-SHAPED BONUSES: 

Not as big as last week. Promise.

GOOD LUCK! 

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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HURRAH! YOU MADE IT! 

Look at all the nice things that people said about the newsletter last week!

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“Subscribe to @Whatleydude 5 things of a Friday if you want to seem knowledgeable but are too lazy to put the work in yourself”

“My favourite newsletter of the week friends. Sign up and learn about the best in film, tech, issues and more. For real. Get it in your eyeballs.”

“Never on a Friday. Never just five things. Never boring.”

“It’s too long!”

“Quality as always…”

“If I at all seem like I’ve interesting stories or up-to-date news, it’s because of the FTOF newsletter.”

“The task: Stress test new on-board WiFi The brief: Literally, break the internet The challenge: Open all the tabs from @Whatleydude’s FTOF newsletter and see what happens next This could a) go really well b) end very very badly”

“It doesn’t always come out on Friday, or even weekly, but, well…life. But whenever it arrives, it’s always appreciated.”

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I’ll be honest, the ‘using your newsletter to test our new on board wi-fi’ one is my favourite – by miles. I mean, I obviously love the others too (you know who you are) but dude, that’s awesome.

Big love, and thank you for reading.

IT’S OFFICIALLY THE WEEKEND!!!!

Whatley out x

 

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Author: James Whatley

Chief Strategy Officer in adland. I got ❤️ for writing, gaming, and figuring stuff out. I'm @whatleydude pretty much everywhere that matters. Nice to meet you x