Five things on Friday #243

Things of note for the week ending December 15th, 2017

Hello!

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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.

So read it.

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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!

That was the quite the download…

And breathe.

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4. HERO. 

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: 

Only the essentials. 

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THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS-SHAPED BONUSES: 

Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-nus.

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SO LONG 2017, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH. 

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.

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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