Month: March 2022

Five things on Friday (on Monday) #327

Things of note for the week ending, Monday March 28th, 2022

INTRO

“At your highest moment, be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you”

Hello, friend.

A shorter/ish edition this week. The other half has been a bit under the weather and as such, the downtime for writing and collating has been relatively minimal. In sickness and in health and all that.

I hope you’ve had a decent week. I’m coming up on month one in the new role and reflecting on what it means to be a first-time CSO. The responsibility. The ambition. The sense of duty.

Perhaps a longer noodle for another day.

For now, though, I’d be interested in hearing about your lessons from stepping up into a new role. Best advice you took, the best lesson you learned, anything and everything is welcome. I’ll pull some quotes into the noodle (and attribute you, unless you prefer not to be).

Let’s see where that ends up.

On that note, I’ve just glanced at my notes for THING 4 and maybe this edition won’t be so short after all.

I guess there’s only one way to find out…

TO THE THINGS!

PS. FTOF was finished late last night and scheduled to publish at 7am this morning. Turns out if you don’t tick the ‘send email’ box when you schedule, the email doesn’t send – who knew?!

1. AMOL RAJAN MEETS SHARON WHITE

As I write this to you right now, it’s 21:29 on the evening of Sunday March 29th. My notes tell me that THING ONE this week should be a FastCompany article I read earlier this week ‘What happened to Starbucks? How a progessive company lost its way’ (which is still worth reading, btw) but earlier this evening we sat down to watch Amol Rajan Interviews Sharon White – chairman of the John Lewis Partnership (available on the UK on iPlayer) and it is such a fantastic watch I really can’t recommend it enough.

I’ve seen a handful of Rajan’s interviews (and iPlayer tells me I’ve missed more than that however his Sundar Pichai episode sticks out in memory as a good’un) and he is excellent in this format. But that’s not the point of this. The point is Dame Sharon White – who is heart and mind shine through as an exemplar of great leadership looks like. Openly disagreeing with Rajan within the first ten minutes and speaking on matters that clearly mean something to her, and to her staff/partners, it’s an engaging watch. And to think of the background with it?

This image, shown about 20mins in, is barely on the screen for seconds but speaks volumes.

Take some time out and spend 59mins watching it. And maybe watch some more.

Another final highlight? Years ago, when I made it onto the Marketing Academy Scholarship. The brilliant Sherilyn Shackell stood in front of us all and said ‘Leaders are not defined by quarterly earnings or by 3% growth this year or that… truly great leadership is about the leaders you leave behind you’ – there’s a moment towards the end of the programme where White casually lets this slip, that it’s about the seeds that you plant and the talent that grows, that fills the heart.

And reminds you of what leadership is all about.

2. AI FOR AI’S SAKE

You know when you think ‘Well, that sounds like a good idea’ but then… it isn’t?

“Until we buy into the idea that we need to sort out the unsexy problems before the sexy ones, we’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes,” says Mateen. “It’s unacceptable if it doesn’t happen. To forget the lessons of this pandemic is disrespectful to those who passed away.”

In a sobering and somewhat depressing read, this MIT Technology Review piece compares and constrasts the multiplicity of AI tools that were rushed into development when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

As it turns out, if lots of people set out on their own to try solve a global problem on their own, they’re destined to make the same mistakes.

Teamwork makes the dream work, right?

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

This week in gaming: a mini five things!

  1. ELDEN RING still has me in its blood-drenched grip. I say again: subscribe to my Twitch channel to watch me die and make such incredible mistakes as this wonderful gamplay that one of my ahem, FANS, clipped earlier this week. As an aside, I beat the Tree Sentinel this week (if you know, you know) and I HAD AN ACTUAL ENDORPHIN RUSH LIKE I HAD JUST RUN 15K AND WHAT. Now I know why people play From Software games. Just wow.

  2. Confirming: I will be at the WASD Video Games Expo next month. Thursday and Saturday. Diva is a sponsor (main stage + industry drinks) but I am not on commission – I just want to see some friendly faces. If it helps, you can get 10% off your ticket price by using the friends of Diva code DIVA22 at checkout. See you there?

  3. Completed the new raid on Destiny 2. Big deal (for me at least).

  4. I’m also getting into and really enjoying Gran Turismo 7. It’s super relaxing and the graphics are ridiculous. Related: My friend Olly shared this film me earlier this week, ‘The evolution of Deep Forest in Gran Turismo, 1997-2022’. Which is a) GREAT and b) exactly the insight that led to the idea behind this film we made for Honda F1 way back when.

  5. I opened with Elden Ring so I’ll be closing with it as well. When someone says ‘Hey, why don’t we make a podcast with all the insane Elden Ring rage from WhatsApp voice notes. Mixed with music and silly levels of silliness…’ then you might like this. You might not. Will there be an episode 2? Who knows.

Oh, and we are now a four Switch household.

4. LOOK, I KNOW WE DISCUSSED THIS LAST WEEK BUT HONESTLY, YES, THING FOUR WILL BE METAVERSAL ONCE MORE. DON’T LIKE IT? UNSUBSCRIBE

When you start your week thinking: ‘Y’know what, maybe this Friday I won’t have to write about some idiot’s latest interpretation of the metaverse’ and then someone tweets the below into your timeline? Well, it’s only down from there.

Image

Ignoring the above for a moment, I regret to inform you I have had “the conversation” again.

What is “the conversation”, I hear you ask? The Conversation is when someone tries to convince me that NFTs are the future of gaming because ‘WHAT IF’ (and it always starts with ‘what if’ – because what use are those words unless they’re doing Atlassian levels of heavy lifting), what if digital items you bought in a game, could be OWNED by a player. Could be taken to ANOTHER GAME by a player. Could be SOLD ON by a player on the blockchain. Now look, let’s be clear, I know for those things to happen this technology needs to be in place and yes, blockchain technology is foundational to making this a reality.

But please.

In a world where at a dinner party just last week I hear ‘Oh, you’re on Android… that’s why I had to use WhatsApp to message you [oh, why’s that? iMessage doesn’t work with their kind of phone]’ we’re expected to believe the interoperable magic of “THE METAVERSE” will make NFTs in-game “just work” – are you insane?

Remember, green bubbles exist for a reason.

And yet, here we are with people still positing the argument of ‘But wHaT iF you could purchase clothes and transfer them to other games and take them with you and sell them on’ – as if EVERY SINGLE THING THAT TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS SCREAM AT YOU IS ABOUT CONSUMER LOCK-IN. You can’t even embed an Instagram photo in a Tweet anymore. Lol, what.

How’s this? The only reason we all use USB-C these days is because the EUROPEAN UNION made it THE LAW. That’s right! It took actual legal intervention to ensure that the UNIVERSAL part of U.S.B. was actually a thing.

HAHAHAHAHAAH. THE METAVERSE. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, that was the intro.

This week’s Metaverse section is about REPORTS

REPORT ONE.
The Gartner Report ‘What is a Metaverse?’. A report from where the opening ‘diagram’ of this section is from is only worth reading because it says ‘Refrain from heavy investment’ and I think that’s about the only good thing there.

Metaverse. Gartner says: ‘Refrain from heavy investment’. Frame it.

REPORT TWO.
The Game Developer Conference State of the Industry (GDC SOTI). I’ve featured this before (FTOF #322) but maybe some of y’all missed it. It was GDC this week and and while I didn’t make it out myself, I thought I’d go back and re-read it (full transparency: I blame “the conversation”).

Yes, it came out a couple of months ago and some may consider it ‘old news’ but as all this metaverse nonsense continues creating froth for consultants to drown client budgets in, it’s worth *once again* taking a look at where the true leaders in this space – games developers and publishers – are bottoming out.

In the first instance, I strongly recommend you spend some time with the report yourself. It’s a fascinating read and acts a snapshot in time of exactly what is (and isn’t) keeping over 2700 developers up at night.

That’s the hook: 2700 developers. Because reader, I am tired of being told by people who have never spent any amount of time this space trying to tell people that are in this space how this space will work in the future.

The reason for the re-share? This :

Image

When you look at the report, and again I recommend you do, you’ll understand I’m being selective with what I’m sharing. However, these are quotes from games developers:

“I’d rather not endorse burning a rainforest down to confirm someone ‘owns’ a jpeg.”

“Burn ‘em to the ground. Ban everyone involved in them. I work at an NFT company currently and am quitting to get away from it.”

As I’ve said in this newsletter on few occasions now, when you move past the self-serving Meta-mixed manure around tHe MeTaVeRsE and listen to the people who have been making metaversal experiences for decades now, you begin to understand that… well, what you’re being told by everyone invested in the future of it all probably isn’t what is actually going to happen (this tee being widely ridiculed at GDC should scream it out loud).

The grift is real.

REPORT THREE.
Crypto, Web 3, and The Metaverse – a policy briefing published by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, Cambridge.

Quote:

“[I]t is important to note that the metaverse does not yet exist. Mark Zuckerberg’s presentation on the metaverse at the 2021 Connect conference and the re-branding of Facebook, Inc. to Meta Platforms, Inc. have encouraged commentators to describe existing VR applications – including those available through Meta’s Oculus headsets – as manifestations of the metaverse. This is incorrect, as such applications are neither persistent (because they reset when users quit them), nor interoperable (because they are siloed and it is not possible to move seamlessly between them). So, unlike the other concepts and technologies described in this paper, the metaverse can only be discussed in terms of its potential.”

No further questions your honour.

Oh. Last thing. It’s been metaverse fashion week this week. The fact this is news to you tells you exactly how important that was.

Shall we move on?

5. MEN

Alex Garland is back.

Watch the Trailer.

It looks grim.

Horrible.

And very Alex Garland.

Here for it.

BONUS SECTION

THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION, WHICH THIS WEEK – MAINLY DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS – IS PREDOMINANTLY A COLLECTION OF SOME OF THE BETTER TWEETS I’VE SEEN.

NOT ON TWITTER? WELL AREN’T YOU THE LUCKY ONE.

YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.

Only thing I want to leave you with this week is this:

Go and listen to some Amy Winehouse. I saw her at Glastonbury, years ago. And after catching some impressions of her on a godawful TV show on Saturday… which even now felt too soon, I felt like I owe it to her to go back and re-listen to her incredible voice. She misses you.

Whatley out x

Five things on Friday #326

Things of note for the week ending Saturday March 19th, 2022

INTRO

Hello 🙂

If you’re one of the 45% or so of subscribers that always reads this thing to the very end then you’ll know that I usually save the ‘thanks for subscribing!’ note for the closing paragraph.

But I’m going to start things off with that gratitude this week.

Here’s why:

Ever since I gave FTOF the softest of reboots back at the end of January (you can see the dip where a few people went: ERMERGERD, I FORGOT ABOUT THIS! UNSUBSCRIBE!), the newsletter subs have been on a gradual incline – adding a little over 100 new readers over the course of seven editions.

And that is all thanks to you.

Yeah, I tweet the link from time to time (OK, maybe a fair amount) but that can’t be the main driver of this growth.

Liking, commenting, sharing, and re-sharing the email and the links (and crediting this newsletter for those links) with your own friends and followers… it all adds up. And it’s just lovely.

What’s more, the open rate floats between 45 and 50% each week (I understand this is quite good?) and it tells me that this mixbag of nerdy commentary actually works for a fair number of you. And knowing that really helps with the motivation of pulling this thing together every week(ish).

Thank you.

And with that, let’s see what we’ve got in the bag ‘o Things this week.

Shall we?

TO THE THINGS!

Enia Sticker

1. SOCIALLY MOBILE

“Socially Mobile is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that supports and inspires public relations practitioners across the UK to increase their earning potential.

Through support and funding, Socially Mobile delivers training to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as well as under-represented and under-served groups including black, Asian and ethnic minority practitioners, the LGBTQ+ community, women returners and those with disabilities.”

This week, one of the communications industry’s big guns (like, one of the proper nice ones as well), Stephen Waddington, got in touch to ask if he could put a note in to Five things on Friday readers about recruiting for the latest cohort for the above programme. It was the easiest yes all week.

Here’s Stephen with more:

Socially Mobile, the leadership communication programme that aims to increase diversity in public relations, has opened applications for funded places.

It’s a ten-week executive education course aimed at helping PR and communications practitioners increase their earning potential by developing as managers and practitioners. The programme is delivered via an online teaching platform and Guild community and is assessed and certificated independently.

Socially Mobile was developed during lockdown by Sarah and Stephen Waddington along with a community of more than 50 teachers, assessors, and examiners. They’re both former comprehensive school kids who benefited from council grants to get to university, and continuous education to get ahead in their careers.

Stephen caught up with some of the students that are coming to the end of the first cohort this week to find how they’ve got on.

If you know anyone who might benefit, please encourage them to apply.

The deadline is 31 March.

—

I know quite a few of you who read this share these links across your own chat groups and networks, this one is of those ones I’d really like you to share this week. It’s great putting these kinds of things together but unless they find their way to the right audience, they’re never going to achieve their true potential.

I’m going to drop it into a couple groups I know as soon as this newsletter goes live – I hope you can do the same.

2. WHAT WILL BECOME OF FRIDAYS?

The excellent Make Work Better (MWB) substack published this provocation earlier this month. Truth be told I meant to put it in last week but I forgot. Whatever, it’s still a great brain noodle.

It starts:

“What’s becoming dawningly clear over the course of our first weeks of widespread hybrid working is that some early unexpected trends are emerging. (Yes, yes, I know that lots of people have been working this way for years, but with the scale of the current adoption unforeseen effects are starting to develop).

While some companies (like Lloyds Bank in today’s first podcast) are not mandating fixed days in the office, plenty of other firms are getting into clear rhythms of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday (like Apple) or the fairly ubiquitous TW&T. One thing common to all of these solutions is that Friday isn’t in the office.”

I think for many (yes, I know not all) of us who are lucky enough to now be in the situation, this rings true (as an aside, I recall a wonderful conversation post-lockdown with an ex-colleague telling me that finally ‘being an advertising tw&t meant something’ – lol), more so when MWB brings out the stat that demand for being in on Fridays is down 75%.

Which, given how we used to be pre-pandemic, is nothing short of seismic.

But.

Anyone can read data. Acting on it, that’s where the rubber really hits the road. And MWB has found some people who are already doing just that.

Go and read ‘What will become of Fridays?’ to find out more (it’s genuinely great).

3. THIS WEEK IN …GAMING (EVENTS)

Last week I told you there was an 89% chance I would be at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco later this month. I am very happy to be telling you that this is not happening.

HOWEVER.

One games event I 100% definitely will be at is WASD.

A teeny tiny bit closer to home, at London’s Tobacco Docks, and running April 7-9th, WASD is a new video games expo from some of the fairly large brains behind the original Eurogamer Expo (aka EGX) – which, to this seasoned EGX attendee, means it’ll be good.

My new lot (got a new job, did I mention?) are sponsoring and so I’ll be there in a professional capacity on either the Thursday or the Friday (or both) and I’ve also promised the kids we’ll go on Saturday as well. I may as well sleep over.

Point is: lots of indy games, a couple of AAAs, great developers, and still some more stuff to be announced. Even if I wasn’t being paid to go, I’d be going in my free time (which I am).

See you there?

4. THING FOUR THIS WEEK IS ONCE AGAIN ABOUT THE METAVERSE BUT I SWEAR* THIS IS THE LAST TIME MY GOODNESS HELP MY GOD

I think I am on the verge of consigning this section of the newsletter to be a continuous Whatley version of Web3isgoingreat (which is still going and is still not great), y’know? How would that be?

Just, like, a trawler net. Dragging along this the ocean of metaversal horse manure, picking up all the rotting flotsam and jetsam and just calling it out for what it is.

Not all of it is bad. Most of it is. I sincerely hope you all find this stuff useful. Maybe one day there’ll be no need for it. And we’ll move on to the next shiny thing. Maybe.

Shall we get into it already? Let’s.

First up!

Wunderman Thompson with this ‘intelligence’ (their words, not mine) about how ‘Hollywood is merging into the metaverse’.

The examples quoted as proving this, and in no particular order, are:

  • Microsoft buying Activision

  • Sony buying Bungie

  • Netflix getting into gaming

  • Video game/game builder, DREAMS, being used to make a movie

  • TikTok being used to market Spider-Man: No Way Home

And all this while opening the whole thing by just trotting out the word ‘GAME-TAINMENT’ like it’s an actual thing.

Hold me.

NONE OF THIS IS METAVERSE. NONE OF IT. AND STOP TRYING TO MAKE GAME-TAINMENT A THING. IT IS NOT A THING.

😭 😭 😭 😭 😭

You could say: as the gaming industry continues to heat up, market consolidation is continuing as the race to be the number one game-as-a-service provider becomes the next big thing. Sony doesn’t have a Fortnite of its own (that’s arguably why it bought bungie – plus, y’know, microtransactions), and buying Bungie is a clear strategic step in that direction.

You could say Microsoft buying Activision is yet another move in Microsoft’s ever-growing ambition to be the number one house of studios to help bring its ‘play anywhere’ ambition to life for everyone.

You could say: the Dreams platform being used to make a movie IS an amazing technological feat. It speaks volumes to the powerful tools that live within that game that this is even possible. And everyone should go play it!

You could say: Netflix getting into gaming is a smart way to activate its large userbase and get them interested in something other than streaming movies, a space that is increasingly becoming more and more competitive and where content is the number one ruler of wallet share.

You could say all that stuff.

But then that wouldn’t drive METAVERSE clicks, would it?

And as for TikTok being used to market Spider-Man No Way Home? CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? A MOVIE. BEING ADVERTISED ON A SOCIAL PLATFORM. Shocked.

Deep sigh (and this is only the first thing on the metaverse list this week).

Sorry. It annoys me. People read this stuff. Naive/ignorant people – whose job it is to NOT be across this, whose job it is to be across the important things – rely on experts to tell them where the world is going so they can plan and place bets accordingly.

This ‘intelligence’ is bad. It’s worse than bad. It’s useless.

Look, I’m not a big fan of going all in on something like this. It’s not fair. But I’ve had enough now. Can everyone just stop? Please? Thanks.

To soothe the soul, the remainder of this Thing will be bulletised thus:

*do NOT hold me to this.

5. BEAUTIFUL THINGS

Street Vendor on a Bike in Hanoi in Front of a Colorful Wall

The National winners of the Sony World Photography awards are utterly beautiful and well worth soaking your eyes on.

Go see.

BONUS SECTION

SING! THE BONUS SECTION IS HERE, THE BONUS SECTION IS HERE! HERE IT IS, YES IT IS, OH THE BONUS SECTION IS HEEEEERE!

ENJOY.

YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. IT’S OVER NOW.

If you only do one thing to help Ukraine this week, please share this incredible nine minute film from Arnold Schwarzenegger everywhere you can.

After that, there’s literally nothing more I can tell you.

Until next time,

Whatley out x

Five things on Friday #325

Things of note for the week ending Sunday March 13th, 2022

INTRO

Hey friends. I very nearly didn’t write this week’s edition. It’s been quite the week in the new job (WEEK TWO, WHAT) and the last meeting of said week ended with:

‘It sounds like we’re going to GDC?’

‘Yes, it does rather doesn’t it?’

🤯

– it’s about 89% confirmed (which will nudge well into the 90s I think as early as tomorrow when we do a final call on it) BUT if you are heading out/over to SF for the Game Developers Conference week after next, do hit reply and let me know – would love to say hi!

…

What else can I tell you?

…

I saw a thing on LinkedIn week that said ‘Here’s how brands can help Ukraine with zero cost!’, it linked to this website and I don’t think I’ve ever reached for a sick bowl fast enough.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say: maybe the people of Ukraine need things like medical supplies, blankets, maybe even their homes back? Not their flag appearing on… ads? I mean, you all remember when everyone changed their Instagram profile to a black square and racism just disappeared overnight right?

Incredible. If it’s ZERO COST then HOW ARE YOU HELPING? UGH.

Lost. For. Words.

deep sigh

Charity should be private but if I’m going to criticise another’s attempt to ‘help’ then I should be open about how I have contributed. This household has donated to The Red Cross and to Rob’s thing, and we’ve sent care a package via one of the donation centres nearby.

The important thing here is you can still help.

And here’s an updated list of the many ways you can do just that.

…//

OK. Deep breaths. Calm.

Now then.

Let’s get to the things shall we?

LET’S.

1. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S YAY

As a reasonably good segue from that intro piece into the first Thing of the week, the best thing to come out of the annual platitude fest that is brands-on-international-womens-day was this phenomenal Twitter Bot.

The premise is simple: if you’re a brand on Twitter casually ticking the IWD2022 box in your annual content calendar and tweeting about hOw MuCh yOu SuPpOrT wOmEn then the Gender Pay Gap Bot will look up your gender pay gap on the government website and quote retweet you WITH THE FACTS.

If you were anywhere near Twitter last week it’s highly doubtful that you missed this so instead of showing you the best bits, I am going to suggest you go read this really nice interview with the creators, Francesca Lawson and Ali Fensome, over on VICE.

It, like them, is great.

Bonus: this whole IWD related thread is A⭐️.

2. BUY MY FRIEND’S MUGS

Speaking of great people.

Sara Barqawi, whose previous (and brilliant) writing has been linked to from this newsletter before, is a thrower of pots. And mugs too as it happens.

Handthrown Mug Medium in Buttercream. Proceeds to Carers UK. image 1

In her spare time, Sara has made a bunch of these mugs and is selling them to raise money for Carers UK.

In Sara’s words:

“This is a ‘Butter’ Hand thrown Stoneware Mug. Bigger than a flat white cup, smaller than a sports direct mug. All proceeds (except the bloody etsy fee) goes to Carers UK, a charity that helps Carers have a break. Also: no two items are the same, as they’re handcrafted. You may get a mug a tiny bit different to the photo.”

PS. SB is also about to go freelance. Need a brand planner? Go get.

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

Image

I did the thing that I said I wasn’t going to do and went and got a copy of ELDEN RING (there’s a whole other story involved in this that explains how it was bought for me as a making-up-for-falling-asleep-in-a-toilet present but that’s not for this newsletter – ahem), and it is as great and painful as everyone said it would be.

The main thing I wanted to tell you though is that, similarly to RETURNAL before it, ELDEN RING has made me dust off my old Twitch channel and stream all my efforts whenever possible.

I’ve got all of about 50 followers but if you go sign up and switch on notifications or something similar, you’ll get an alert every time I go live (it’s every other night at the moment but I’m sure that’ll eventually die off).

If you DO follow me on Twitch, you’ll get to watch this kind of VERY SWEARY action happen LIVE!

See you there?

4. FASCINATED BY THE METAVERSE (AND OTHER THINGS)

If you’re new here, Thing 4 has slowly become THE METAVERSE section. Mainly because it’s all a bunch of guff and it needs calling out.

I’ve written a lot about it (and Thing 4 in FTOF #321 is probably where that starts) and while I appreciate some technologists and strategists are all very excited about the future (as am I, believe it or not) there is an awful amount of snake oil being peddled out there. And we should a) not be encouraging it and b) be advising brands and businesses to tread carefully or else we’ll be right back where we were when Facebook told everyone to PIVOT TO VIDEO.

Ya dig?

OK, let’s go.

Only a few things to discuss on this topic this week.

The metaverse: What is it? | TechRepublic

Purely from a metaversal perspective, it’s interesting to me that the closer you get to this thing the closer it is just ‘mass adoption and integration of the hundreds of gaming worlds people have occupied for decades’.

As such, when you hear from veterans in the gaming industry talking about anything “metaverse” they’re nearly always the best people to learn from because they’re actually there making this stuff, day in day out.

They’re not, and let’s be clear on this, they are not agencies, consultants, or platforms getting all fizzy in the knickers because there’s a new way to ask ‘But what does it mean for brands?’.

I linked you to Tencent’s take on it a week or so ago. This week I’ve got two more Metaverse opinions from the gaming industry for you.

First, Gabe Newell, co-founder, Valve, being interviewed for PC Gamer.

“Most of the people who are talking about metaverse have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. And they’ve apparently never played an MMO. They’re like, ‘Oh, you’ll have this customizable avatar.’ And it’s like, well… go into La Noscea in Final Fantasy 14 and tell me that this isn’t a solved problem from a decade ago, not some fabulous thing that you’re, you know, inventing.”

I mean, that’s pretty clear cut to me.

Second, fresh of the press this weekend, former Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé with this absolute belter for Bloomberg @ SXSW:

Reggie Fils-Aime

“Facebook itself is not an innovative company,” Fils-Aime told Emily Chang at the South by Southwest event in Austin, Texas, on Saturday. “They have either acquired interesting things like Oculus and Instagram, or they’ve been a fast follower of people’s ideas. I don’t think their current definition will be successful.” 

The word ‘definition’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Additionally, in both instances, do click through and read the whole thing. Having this kind of perspective when it comes to talking about “the metaverse” will only help you when discussing the concept (and it is only a concept at this stage) with clients.

Remember: there’s no such thing as the metaverse.

Metaversal activities? Yes, they absolutely exist. Defining what they are and how we should talk about them? That’s a piece for another day… (noodling).

On a tangential NFT note:

5. WHEN MOLLIE MET JODIE

Mollie Goodfellow is great. Jodie Comer is great. The two of them met so the former could interview the latter and the end result is just… great.

Go read!

BONUS SECTION

THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS BUT DUE TO TIMING AND SELF-IMPOSED WRITING RESTRICTIONS ARE LIMITED TO LINKS. SORRY.

ENJOY.

YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.

Friends. It’s Sunday. I’m yet to start the potatoes. So I’ll keep this brief.

Thanks for reading, thanks for subscribing, and – for those that do – thanks for replying too. Your indulgement of my geekery really is lovely.

I appreciate this space in your inbox, much.

Whatley out x

Five things on Friday #324

Things of note for the week ending Friday March 4th, 2022

INTRO

“There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”

Hello friends.

It is hard to write anything without first acknowledging the absolute state of the situation in Ukraine.

You can help in a number of ways.

If the cost of living is such that you’re unable to donate then consider reaching out to colleagues or checking in with your European friends. You may be surprised at how many Ukrainians (and Russians) you know…

It’s OK to feel helpless.

It’s OK to be afraid.

And as it’s all too easy to lose yourself in the doomscroll. It’s OK to put the phone down and not think about it if it means it’s better for your mental health; you still need to function.

Take a breath.

If you’ve done all you can.

Take. A. Breath.

🇺🇦

….


As for Five things on Friday, well, a lot of it is pre-written over the days leading up to publication. And as I’m sure you get enough of honestly just too much of everything every single day on the news, in your feeds, and in your chatgroups, let’s try and show you some other stuff to think about. OK? OK.

This week’s things are close, they’re super nerdy and… we shall put them off no longer.

Shall we crack on?

Let’s.

TO THE THINGS.

PS. Fair warning: Substack told me this email was too long to send. So we’re clear: Substack is not the boss of me. Sorry not sorry.

1. BEING THE NEW BOY

I started a new job this week.

After three years of being an integrated brand strat/unicorn @ Digitas UK, and ten (10) years of doing the big network agency thing, Tuesday, March 1st was my first day at independent full-service specialist games agency, Diva.

The job: Chief Strategy Officer.

The job: build the strategy offering to help clients present, (PlayStation, Netflix, Bandai Namco) and future (insert your brand here), build better campaigns, title launches, player engagement, and brand partnerships in the worlds and communities that live in gaming and beyond.

Diva has been doing advertising and marketing for games developers and publishers for over 15 years and has done some incredible work.

This is unsurprising really, given Diva describes itself as ‘gaming native’. I’ve been working from the Bristol HQ all week this week and have seen up close the credibility, the industry know-how, and frankly the sheer quality of creative product – it’s been fantastic.

And I guess that’s what it comes down to really: credibility and creativity.

At this point in the lifetime of all things GAMES, it’s a proper exciting moment for two reasons.

First, with technology, popularity and let’s be honest, the social acceptance of being “a gamer” (there’s no such thing as gamers), now is the time for games to push out even further into popular culture.

Second, as more and more brands wake up to the fact that all those metaverse presentations and decks are mostly about gaming, they’ll want to push in and start playing around with these huge online communities.

And to do that meaningfully, in a way that matters, in a way that works – they’re going to do need the right skills, the right strategy, and the right creative partner.

Hi, I work for Diva. We should chat.

…

That’s the job.

And I’m excited AF.

For what it’s worth, I will miss my gorgeous lot at Digitas. We’ve parted on the best of terms – and they’ve all been genuinely lovely. The work is was always as wide as it is varied and I can honestly say there’s no way I would be ready for this kind of role without them.

I do a bit of mentoring from time to time and one piece of advice I often fall back on is ‘Move towards things, not away from things’ – and this move for me was 100% a step towards an opportunity, and Digitas gave me its full blessing as I left to follow my dream.

Not many people can say that about any employer, let alone a big London network agency. That. Speaks. Volumes.

Thank you – especially to Dani, Matt, Rafe, Charlene, Marius, Laz, Lou, Ian and so many others… for the time together. I would not be here without you xx

If you’ve been around this newsletter for long enough, you’ll know that gaming is where my heart is.

And sometimes when your heart calls, you just have to follow.

Apparently, this gaming thing is quite popular.

Who knew?

Go follow Diva on Twitter and I’ll see you there.

2. THE BATMAN

No spoilers here.

On February 23rd, and as an entirely on-brand leaving present from my (now ex-)clients at Mondelez, I was invited to attend the world premiere of THE BATMAN.

And I am here to tell you (now that the embargo has well and truly lifted) that THE BATMAN is a bloody fantastic addition to the best icons of Bat-film history.

First thing to know is that THE BATMAN is brutal. I mean, surprise surprise it’s a 21st century Batman film so of course, it’s going to be dark (as a side note: I’m kinda bored with people saying ‘Oh, why does it have to be so dark? Can’t we have a lighter Batman for once?’ NO DEBBIE, WE CAN’T. WHEN THAT HAPPENS, WE GET BATMAN FOREVER/AND ROBIN. HAVE YOU EVER READ ANY OF THE BOOKS? NO? RIGHT THEN. HIS NAME IS LITERALLY ‘THE DARK KNIGHT’. GET IN THE BIN) but this time it’s actually properly D A R K.

For a start, the BBFC has rated it a 15. We’ve not had a 15-rated Batman movie in the UK since Batman Returns (and to be fair, Penguin chews a woman’s nose off in that film so y’know, IT’S DARK).

Our young Bats is barely two years into being Batman. The bat-signal is a thing that exists, as does his relationship with a certain James Gordon. So the establishing job is skipped over. There’s no origin story here and the film is better for it; you arrive in an established moment in time and you’re away with the characters – quickly.

And what a brilliant cast of characters they are.

Robert Pattinson is a great Wayne/Batman (called it). Brooding. Angry. Laser-focused. Not perfect – by any stretch. But committed to the cause. We actually see ‘the world’s greatest detective’ start to earn his stripes. And about time too.

Paul Dano SHINES as a superb and utterly deranged Riddler. Your skin will crawl every minute he’s on the screen and yet when his scene is over, you’ll wish he was back again. That’s a skill.

Zoe Kravitz as the cat-burglar Catwoman is the most realistic take we’ve seen of Selina Kyle and the energy between the Bat and the Cat leaps off the screen the moment they first lay eyes on each other.

The supporting cast: Jeffrey Wright (world-weary Jim Gordon), Colin Farrell (unrecognisable scene-chewing Penguin), Andy Serkis (an Alfred that leans in), John Turturro (a slithering Carmine Falcone) – all of them (and more) just STEP THE HELL UP. THE BATMAN really is an ensemble piece – I haven’t seen a cast this well put together since KNIVES OUT.

What else can I tell you?

Gotham is fully realised, and the links back to the multiple books that the story touches on (to name them would be spoilery, I think) are as long and deep as they are well-chosen and remixed.

Truly, this is not a Batman we’ve seen on screen before. And while it is not without its faults (it’s arguably about 20mins too long and there’s probably one scene I’d remove completely) it belongs up there with the greats.

Timeless yet of its time, I genuinely can’t wait to watch it again.

There’s more I could say but I don’t want to give anything about the story away.

Two other things of note:

  1. The cinematography is outstanding. The premiere was at the BFI IMAX and my seat was CLOSE to that massive screen. There were more than a few occasions where my jaw was wide open just amazed by what I was looking at.

  2. The director, Matt Reeves, was interviewed on the red carpet and let slip that HBO has commissioned a series for Farrell’s Penguin. I am going to watch the hello out of that. He’s great.

So yeah. the tl;dr is: see THE BATMAN.

You won’t regret it.

Yours, a fan.

3. THIS WEEK IN… GAMING

Back once again by popular* demand, we have a lot to cover.

That said, gaming overload is a thing (this is from man who has barely touched his PlayStation in a good fornight and my goodness me I’m missing out on some games right now) so I’ll keep it brief.

*by popular I meant ‘zero people demanded it to return but no one said they loved the gardening bit two weeks ago either so I’m bringing it back because I like it’ – clear? Clear. The suggestion box is officially open for next week’s ‘This week in…’ – hit that reply button and tell me what you want to see here (if I have time and if nothing else better arrives, it could happen).

4. THIS BE THE (META)VERSE

Repeat after me: the metaverse doesn’t exist. And anybody who tells you otherwise either has no idea what they’re talking about or they’re trying to sell you something – or both.

When I was a kid, you’d go down to the beach with a pound in your pocket, turn it all into coppers (1ps and 2ps) and play on the slider machines until you’d doubled your money or lost it all. Walking around all day in a pair of jeans under the Canvey Island sunshine, you’d keep that pocket of smash gripped tightly in your palms. The sweat, combined with the copper, left a distinct whiff that would take a good day or so to disappear. Ask anyone that grew up near the arcades, they’ll know what I mean.

Anyway, just like that weird fishy/metallic stench that wedged under your finger nails in years gone by, this weekly Metaverse section just won’t budge.

What’s happened since we last spoke?

Tell you what, let’s kick off with a doozy.

Arjun Capital has filed a shareholder proposal for the SEC asking FB/Meta to commission a third-party evaluation of the potential psychological, civil and human rights harms of “the metaverse”.

The FB/Meta investors said they wanted to know if any harms could be mitigated or avoided or whether they are simply inherent to the technology.

You will be UTTERLY FLABBERGASTED to learn that FB/Meta doesn’t want the proposal to go to vote.

HAHAHAHA. I’m sorry, you trust these people? Lol, what?

Next!

I’m thinking about scrapping this section next week as well.

IT JUST MAKES ME CROSS!

5. “I SAW EVERYTHING AS A FIGHT”

I found the below in an old FTOF draft that I’d started but never got around to finishing. It’s from October 2020 and, re-reading the notes last night, it felt more relevant to share this now even more than it did then. I hope you find it helpful.

In the article linked, ‘I saw everything as a fight’, James opens up to Alex Moshakis about why his attitude to arguments has changed, what brought him to that change, and how that change will impact his way of life forever.

It is a profound read.

I’ve talked about my own mental health a fair bit in the pages of this newsletter and I must confess, there’s a section in O’Brien’s interview that punched me hard and when I got there; the tears came flooding back.

It was this:

“During one of his sessions, the therapist asked: “Why don’t you pretend that cushion over there is you, aged 10, having just come out of that study, having been brutalised by that man… Why don’t you tell 10-year-old you how you feel?” “And I did,” O’Brien recalls, “like it was the most natural thing in the world.” He looks half-sceptical even now. “There I was telling a cushion that everything was going to be all right, that you don’t have to pretend any more, that it shouldn’t have happened.” He realised that as a boy he had created a kind of armour, and that the armour had manifested as a tendency to argue, of letting nobody get the better of him, of always being alert to attack. “And look what it’s done to you,” he says. He is talking to himself again, weary now. “You can’t provide help and support to the people you love, to people who deserve it.”

I ask if he is capable of providing love now.

“Yes,” he says.”

When I was at my lowest, my therapist used this technique on me. ‘Remember that boy, that you were – remember how afraid he was – what would you say to him?’

It wrecks me now. Just had a little tear.

I wasn’t 10. I was a bit younger. But the armour that I built around me, to deal with my trauma, took me years to understand. To dismantle. And not only am I so much better off for it – but my friends, family, and loved ones are too.

It’s a short interview with James O’Brien but it is worth your time.

Give it a read.

As a post-script, it’s worth mentioning I replied to my namesake. Unexpectedly, he replied and, in doing so, underlined again why it’s so important we talk – why we all talk – about this stuff. Thanks James ❤️

BONUS SECTION

THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS BUT DUE TO TIMING AND SELF-IMPOSED WRITING RESTRICTIONS ARE LIMITED TO PITHY COMMENTARY ONLY. ENJOY.

YOU ARE REACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. MIND THE GAP.

This week’s edition has been particularly nerdy. The edges are harder to spot between the sections. Normal service will resume next edition.

As ever, thank you for subscribing. Thank you for sharing.

Until next time,

Whatley out x