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ONWARDS!
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1. #OGILVYTRENDS2018
And about time too.
Hello. Here be the fifth edition of the annual Key Digital Trends document from yours truly and my dear friend, Marshall Manson.
You can read the whole thing on Slideshare right here but the resolution is borked* so I’d probably download button when you get there and read the whole PDF in high-res thereafter.
A couple of things that are fresh in my mind and related to the above. The AR trend up front? Since we published the Star Wars stickers have rolled out on Pixel 2 - and they’re amazing. And then Snap launched Lens Studio – a tool to allow you build your own AR integrations. So yeah, we’re super confident on that one.
Finally, last year Marshall snuck in a tribute to my newborn (slide 81). This year, as it’s Marshall’s last year with us at Ogilvy, he snuck in a valedictory note – with some very kind and supremely humbling words about yours truly.
Marshall, I know you’re only a recent subscriber to this newsletter but I would like to take this moment, sir, to say thank you.
For your guidance, your mentorship, and your friendship – I learn from you every day.
We joke that the growing success of this trends presentation (50k views in three days – say whaaaat?) has become a rod for our backs (how do we top it next year?!) but, and I say this with my hand on my heart, it is singularly the thing I look forward to tackling most – year in, and year out. The challenge of it, the writing of it, the debating of it. Five years of these and I think grumpy-cat-gate is the closest we’ve come to having an actual argument. Ha.
Thank you, my friend. Good luck with your new gig, and happy new year.
…
*we’ve raised it with Slideshare and apparently it’s a known bug and they’re looking into it.
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2. HOW TO PARTY IN YOUR 30s
Annie Mac.
Confession: I don’t think I’ve really got Annie Mac (until very recently).
I listen to Radio 1 when I’m in the car. I hear Nick Grimshaw. He’s alright. Clara Amfo – amazing (Clara did a thing for Ogilvy a while back and was just fantastic). Alice Levine, hilarious. But Annie Mac? No, never got it.
But, and I can’t remember why, I happened to be listening to her actual show (that might’ve had something to do with it) and it was great. The music, her enthusiasm and knowledge – anyway, at that point I realised that I’d only ever really heard her appear on other shows. The depth never really came across…
Anyway – Refinery 29 interviewed her. And it’s ace.
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3. FOR ITEM THREE THIS WEEK, I WILL COMPRESS WHAT SHOULD’VE BEEN LAST WEEK’S FTOF
Aka - stuff you would’ve read about last week and it would’ve been cool but instead you’re reading about this week and it’s now just a bit passé.
READY?
LET’S GO!
- Got Spotify? Get your 2017 playlist -Â WRAPPED!
- My Spotify playlist for 2017 is RIGHT HERE Y’ALL!
- Cards Against Humanity Redistributes Your Wealth.
- I wrote about Voyager in the last edition - this link celebrates the 40th anniversary of the AMAZING journey and you should all play with it.
- If you’ve got a 4K TV and live in the UK, you could be enjoying Blue Planet in UHD right now -Â did you know that?
- Oobah. Vice. Shed. Of course.
- Amazon and Google are fighting and only users lose.
That was the quite the download…
And breathe.
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4. HERO.Â
For the uninitiated, Twitch is a [mainly] video game streaming site where gamers can stream their gaming antics and, if popular enough, make money from the advertising served against. There have been a few cases of nefarious usage before however this one, while not completely above board, is so super awesome I just had to include it.
LOOK.
Amazing streamer, AJ Lester, streamed an entire UFC match while pretending to play it. Hero. Bashing buttons, shouting – it was hilarious. I say ‘was’ because I don’t think you can watch it anymore BUT do, definitely do, go read about it.
Legend.
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5. GOODBYE, EVERY FRAME A PAINTING
I first referenced Tony Zhou’s work in FTOF #177. The ongoing Vimeo series, Every Frame a Painting.
If you know it, then you’ll be sad to know that Zhou has brought the work to a close.
If you’re new to it, then I envy you (you have a lot of catching up to do).
The former, go read.
The latter, go watch.
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PRE-BONUS ESSENTIAL READING:Â
Only the essentials.Â
- Salma Hayek’s op-ed on Harvey Weinstein is a must-read.
- John Oliver grills Dustin Hoffman – and inspires us all.
- SNL – ‘Welcome to Hell‘ – grim.Â
- WPP Whistleblowing hotline triggered CEO departure. Â
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THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS-SHAPED BONUSES:Â
Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-nus.
- Swinging Safari looks ACE.
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – YES!
- James Gunn doesn’t take prisoners.
- Much TV. Many lolz.
- Remember the John Lewis definitely didn’t steal from a kids book thing from a few issues ago? Yeah, happy ending!
- Denis Villeneuve – the interview.
- Err. I found another newsletter called ‘Five things on Friday‘ – how dare they. Turns out mine outdates theirs (hardly an original idea) so y’all should go subscribe.
- Five BLACK PANTHER comics to read before the film drops in May.
- Ben Evans on Ten Year Futures – watch this.
- Alan Partridge & Malcolm Tucker – old but I missed it.
- MC Overalls.
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SO LONG 2017, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH.Â
Team, you are all brilliant.
I’m signing off now, for the rest of the year. All being well, your next edition of Five things on Friday will arrive on (or around) January 5th, 2018.
If you’ve been here for a while then you may have detected that 2017 hasn’t been the easiest year for me. However, again – if you’ve been here a while – one would hope that you’ve detected a lift in my spirits. And they are indeed, lifted.
Those of you I owe email replies to, expect them over the coming days (if you’ve never replied to this email before – then why not do that today?) and if you’re new here, reply and say hi. Because why not?
Merry Christmas.
Happy New Year.
Sincerely, reader, I hope your year has been kind to you. As a dear friend said to me once, everything will be OK in the end. And if it’s not OK, it’s not the end.
Whatley out, x.