Five things on Friday #302

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, September 1st, 2019.

Newsletter #302: Introduction


Hello and welcome back to Five things on Friday. Hurrah.

The self-imposed two-month writing hiatus is at an end and, as promised back in June, I have returned!

I hope you’ve had a nice summer. As I write this first draft of this opening I am in Italy (edit: I am no longer in Italy – but I’ll come back to this at the end). It is early and I am awake. So I write. Sorrento really is a magical part of the world. I cannot emphasize enough how lush it is – and how you should all visit. Shout if you do, I have reccos.

What else can I tell you?

Ah, yes. Yonks ago – maybe two years ago or so – the understated creative thinker, designer, and writer Robbie Dale (hi Robbie) made my header for me. That yellow one, up top. I found the original brief for it the other day. That white line? That’s a noodle. To represent… noodling on things. The squiggliness of it all? That’s your journey through Five things on Friday. THESE THINGS HAVE MEANING.

Anyway, I found the brief (and the amends – what japes). Which meant I found the work. Which meant I found all variations that Robbie made me (I’ve switched MacBooks since they first came in so they disappeared from my desktop). And lo, the header has changed. Only slightly. As it has done before (but none of you noticed last time so I’m giving you a heads up this time around) and as it will do again.

I’ve missed you.

I’ve missed writing.

I’ve missed the back and forth that springs from my inbox when a handful of you go ahead and HIT THAT REPLY BUTTON.

It’s been so long in fact that as I write these words I wonder ‘What if I don’t know how to write this anymore?’ But then, who am I kidding? When I first started this thing I was working on a one year, one year off policy. That was a TERRIBLE idea. TERRIBLE.

Breaks are good.

Absence, as they say, makes the heart grow fonder.

To the newbies I say WELCOME. The fifty or so of you that subscribed at some point over the TEN WEEK break, and having not read issue #301, have probably been wondering what kind of thing it is that you’ve subscribed to… well, this is it. This is Five things on Friday. A weekly newsletter that offers up five things of interest as designed to be of interest by yours truly.

There are two rules:

Rule 1. There will always be more than five things.
Rule 2. But they won’t always arrive on a Friday.

Clear? Clear.

So. Enough dilly dally. Shall we get on with this thing?

LET’S.

1. THOUGHT STARTER

Continuing the Robbie Dale love-in from the intro, this section is about the company/movement he has co-founded with an equally clever brain that I admire, Daianna Karaian.

Introducing, Thought Starter.

I asked Robbie and Daianna to give me a rough overview of what Thought Starter is and what it is about and they sent me the following:

Daianna:

“Thought Starter creates solutions for people and organisations who want to change the world but don’t quite know where to start. Everything we do, say and write is about giving you simple tools and resources that make it easy to start taking action on something you care about.

Our Thought Starter Kit takes you from intention to action in minutes. Our newsletter takes one news story each week and tells you one thing you can do about it. And our social media provides daily nudges on how to make today better than yesterday. Because change only happens when we take action.”

Robbie:

“Thought Starter is for anyone who’s thought about changing the world, but isn’t quite sure where to start.

The world is in turmoil, that’s fair to say. Whatever your values, whatever your perspective, whatever you deem to be good and right… you probably feel it’s under attack. But what are you going to do about it? In 2016, as politics and society began to flare up in hitherto unimaginable – but reflectively understandable – ways, we asked ourselves that same question. And the answer we can up with, was Thought Starter. Things don’t change and get better by thinking and planning and hoping and praying. They change and get better when people take action.

Starting as a simple kit of six paper tools (inspired by Martin Luther King’s six steps of social change), Thought Starter provides ways and means for people to go from idea to real action easily. The kit can be used by anyone in any situation, but it also sits at the heart of workshops we deliver to organisations and at events. And for every kit we sell, we also make one available to a school or youth organisation to support social change by young people, empowering a generation of doers.

Beyond the kit, we’ve tried to make it easy for people to take action in their everyday lives. Today Do This is a simple tool that lives on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and suggests a daily nudge towards making the world slightly better today than it was yesterday. While the Thought Starter “feel better about the news”-letter takes one disheartening story that’s been making headlines, and suggest one thing individuals can do about it.”

—

On the Thought Starter website it says ‘Changing the world two people at a time’. Daianna and Robbie are doing just that. You should try it. And Thought Starter. You should try that too.

(Their newsletter is excellent).

2. THREE DECENT INTERVIEWS I HAVE READ RECENTLY

Playboy, Vogue, and Rolling Stone…

DECENT INTERVIEW ONE: The New Rules of Feminism With Chidera Eggerue.

Aka ‘The Slumflower’ – this article is interesting for a few reasons. One, it’s in actual Playboy. Two, the interviewer challenges Eggerue re: her comments on male suicide (this passed me by the first time around so I was glad to be brought up to speed). Three, whether you agree with her or not, the positive impact The Slumflower is having on the young women of the world is inarguable and that can only be applauded – naive opinions and all. Read it.

DECENT INTERVIEW TWO: Florence Welch On Addiction, Eating Disorder Recovery, And Finding True Happiness In Her 30s.

I mean, the title kinda says it all BUT, as an FYI, I read this one a fair few weeks ago now. I knew then it would be going into the first new edition of FToF — for this passage alone:

“Most of the friends that I drank with have had to stop. They wash up one by one like driftwood, and we stand together on the shore in shocked relief.”

There is something so achingly poetic about that. I read that and I am there. It’s the morning after the night before. Too much has happened. Light creeps in through the curtains the stark, worn skin of yesterday longs to leave. In shocked relief. As if to say ‘Holy hell we made it – and Christ knows how but we did and what were we ever doing out there, drifting, for so long?’ – I’ve been there. I have seen this. I see it now. Not through drug addiction or drinking but through the advent and change that comes with growing up. With the life changes that make you human.

It’s a beautiful read.

DECENT INTERVIEW THREE: The Eternal Sunshine of HARRY STYLES.

This is SUCH a good read! For the music cues littered throughout (Rolling Stone put together its own playlist for the interview but it didn’t include New Young Pony Club so I won’t put it in here) it is worth your time alone. Surreptitious aural pleasure aside, this piece is just so WHOLESOME.

Try it.

3. ROBERT PATTINSON

This almost belongs in THING TWO but it is so wickedly wonderful that it swings its way into its own thing.

And rightly so.

The above image is taken from an article that recently appeared in THE CUT. It was called:

“I Think About This a Lot: The Time Robert Pattinson Blatantly Lied on the Today Show”

AND IT IS A WONDERFUL, SUPERB, and DELIGHTFUL read.

So do yourself a favour and go read it.

Robert Pattinson is going to be the new/next Batman (which may or may not include Joaquin Pheonix as JOKER – TBC). And I love the idea of a young Bruce Wayne just getting off on this stuff…

4. POOLSIDE.FM

This is old AF but I love it.

Click on the image.

Go to the website.

Hit play on the music.

Then be immediately transported to an early 80s poolside chill and funk.

Go now.

5. I SAY DEEP YOU SAY FAKE

There have been a TON of these lately. A TON.

The most recent one that may have pierced the bubble of your individual newsfeeds might have been the one with the guy deep-faking himself onto Leonardo DiCaprio’s face using nothing but an app.

The app’s name? ZAO. And you can read all about that over at The Guardian.

But that’s not what I wanted to share. No no, that’s just background. The thing I wanted to show you was this bad boy.

DID YOU KNOW that Will Smith was originally offered the part of Neo in The Matrix? No? I wonder what kind of movie it would’ve been with him as the star.

Well, there’s a deep fake for that.

I mean it, hit the image and go watch the YouTube video.

This stuff is INSANE.

I mean, forget being weirded out by just how well Will Smith’s face maps to Keanu Reeves. Forget how weird it is seeing Will Smith act like Keanu Reeves (let’s be honest, there’s no way that Will Smith would’ve played it the same way). Forget all that. Let’s just spend a hot minute talking about how dangerous this stuff is and how the legislation to protect us from it is barely here…

Isn’t that exciting…?

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS LINKS FOR YOUR BONUS EYES TO CONSUME. BONUS.

FOR THE NEWBIES OR THE FORGETFUL, THIS IS THE LIST OF STUFF THAT I HAVE LEFT OVER AFTER PICKING OUT THE BEST OF THE REST. THERE’S ALWAYS GOOD STUFF HERE. SO IF YOU’VE JUST CLEARED A BUNCH OF TABS ON YOUR BROWSER, I’M SORRY-NOT-SORRY ABOUT THAT…

And I think that’s where we’ll leave that for this week…

Five things on Friday #301

Things of note for the week ending Friday, June 28th, 2019.

Newsletter #301: Introduction


Hello and welcome to issue #301 of Five things on Friday.

I have good news and bad news.

This fortnightly thing is an easy groove to slot into, I can tell you. But it won’t last. The good news is: the fortnightly rhythm is a phase (promise). I had a lot to do this time last week and the damn thing just wouldn’t get done – and you know these newsletters are rarely a rush job.

The bad news, for the newbies at least (who don’t know anything about what it is I’m about to say), is that this edition, FToF #301, WILL BE THE LAST EDITION OF FIVE THINGS ON FRIDAY UNTIL SEPTEMBER.

Clear? Clear.

Now look, don’t get upset. For those of you that don’t know, I take three months off writing FToF every year. Two months at the summer, July and August, and one month (ish) at Christmas/New Year. It is HEALTHY and, for the other newsletter writers among you, WHOLLY RECOMMENDED.

So yeah, I better make this one a good one, right?

BESIDES, it’s not like I don’t have a GAMILLION EMAILS TO REPLY TO (which I promised I’d reply to before this edition went out so I know what I’m doing once I hit that schedule button tonight, dayam) IN MY INBOX AFTER THE MARATHON REPLIES I GOT FROM #300.

Jeez Louise.

More on that later (spoiler alert: you’re all lovely).

What else can I tell you?

Oh, that’s right. I’ve had to reinstall Twitter on my phone for ‘a thing’. I’m not happy about it but it is what it is and, for the time being at least, it is how things need to be. The upside (?) of it is that I guess I AM BACK ON TWITTER NOW AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT (I’m trying to limit my time on the platform but I’m embracing the actual Tweeting thing again because why the hell not).

So yeah, given that this is the last Five things on Friday, for the time being, you can find on THE TWITTER talking about great topics such as:

You might’ve noticed: I’m trying to keep the interactions and input as meaningful as possible. Trying to, at least.

So yeah, over the summer months, I’ll see you there.

Until then, we have a newsletter to get through.

Shall we?

LET’S.

1. MONEY MONEY MONEY

Last time around, to celebrate the 300th edition of FIVE THINGS ON FRIDAY, you all voted to buy me a pint to say ‘Thank for all the things!’ – I said that if a lot of you did that then I’d probably take a pint out for myself then give the rest of the money to CALM.

In total, y’all gave me £158. I’ve got a glass of cider next to me as I type, so I don’t need the pint, so instead of taking a bit of money out, I put a bit more money in and topped it up to £170.

According to CALM’s donate page, £170 keeps one phone line open from 5pm to midnight for one whole evening. That’s an extra person, on the line, for one night, answering calls from men who have nowhere else to turn.

And when people call CALM, they’re on the edge. They’re looking for help. They’re looking for a reason to stay alive. Which means you, dear reader, have potentially saved lives.

Just like that.

Like I said, if you bought me a pint or a coffee (or in one particular case, a nice meal) off the back of the last edition, then you can give yourself a little pat in the back and go about your day feeling good about the world.

Let’s see what we can do when we get to #400, eh? 🙂

2. OUT OF OFFICE

Let’s talk about something dear to my heart for a hot minute.

In #300 I mentioned how much I was [no longer] quietly judging the absolutely TERRIBLE Out of Office replies I get from y’all, week in week out.

And it seems I touched a nerve.

FIRST THING TO DISCUSS:

Ten points to FToF reader, Skip, wrote to tell me that after reading the OoO moan on #300’s closing note, he decided to be the change he wanted to see and changed his Out of Office to the following:

“In last week’s edition of the Five Things from Whatley email newsletter, James Whatley encouraged his readers to write more interesting out of office messages. Why am I telling you this, because I will be on holiday from the 16th of June through the 21st. While I am gone, I would strongly encourage you to sign up for the newsletter. http://eepurl.com/UtW8r

I cannot promise that you will be able to read the whole thing every week but I can guarantee there will be at least one fascinating article that will make you smarter.

Oh and about your message, I may reply this week if the weather makes going out too grim but if I get lucky then I will reply to your email when I return.”

I know this to be true because after Skip emailed me to tell me he was doing this, I replied to say thanks and I GOT THE ABOVE TEXT AS HIS OUT OF OFFICE.

That, my friend, is progress.

Speaking of reader responses, FToF reader, Rishi (who is also owed a breakfast date – it’s coming, Rishi), sent in this really good read from the BBC, ‘What would you really like to say with your Out of Office?‘

You should all read this at once and get some goddamn inspiration, you hear me?

AND IF EVEN THEN you still need some actual examples of what inventive and different out of office replies can look like then I will tell you a little story about when I worked at a word of mouth marketing agency called 1000heads.

At 1000heads we liked to get people talking. Difference, interest, intrigue – things that gave people, and I include clients in that list (CLIENTS ARE PEOPLE TOO), things to talk about.

I can’t remember who started it (it was probably Molly) but the staff started writing decent out of office responders. Sometimes something brief ‘I’ve gone to Greece, sorry’ – and sometimes something super long and massive that gave you something to read and laugh at while you were chasing a PO or whatever. Point being: it was fun.

After a while, I started a Posterous blog (remember them?) to capture them. Posterous is dead now, so that blog is too, but thanks to the wonder that is the Internet Way Back Machine, you can browse this amazing piece of history RIGHT NOW.

So why not do that? You might spot someone you know.


PS. Make your Out of Office replies better. You owe it to yourself.

3. TURN ON FOR EIGHT SECONDS

I am a little late to this party but screw it – I love this so much.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about or what the image above represents then I AM ABOUT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Watch this with your eyes. With sound on… and see how long you last.

PS. Thanks to Jamie ‘Did I mention I’m going to Glasto’ East for the link.

4. A FEW ADLAND THINGS OF NOTE

First up, we have the long-telegraphed (and perhaps well overdue) update to the advertising CAP code re gender stereotypes.

It states:”Ads must not include gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence.”

Along with the accompanying guidance:

“Advertising Guidance on depicting gender stereotypes likely to cause harm or serious or widespread offence includes five subsections, with scenarios, which support the rule:

Subsection 1. Gender stereotypical roles and characteristics
Ads may feature people undertaking stereotypical roles or characteristics but advertisers should take care to ensure that ads do not suggest that stereotypical roles or characteristics are:

always uniquely associated with one gender;
the only options available to one gender;
never carried out or displayed by another gender.

Subsection 2. Pressure to conform to an idealized gender stereotypical body shape or physical features
Ads may feature glamorous, attractive, successful, aspirational or healthy people but they should take care to avoid suggesting that an individual’s happiness or emotional wellbeing should depend on conforming to an idealised gender-stereotypical body shape or physical features.

Subsection 3. Ads aimed at or featuring children
Ads can be targeted at and feature a specific gender but should take care not to explicitly convey that a particular children’s product, pursuit, activity, including choice of play or career, is inappropriate for one or another gender.

Subsection 4. Featuring potentially vulnerable people
Ads should be sensitive to the emotional and physical well-being of vulnerable groups of people who may be under pressure to conform to particular gender stereotypes.

Subsection 5. Featuring people who don’t conform to a gender stereotype
Ads should avoid mocking people for not conforming to gender stereotypes, including in a context that is intended to be humorous.”

I say again: this is long overdue.

That said, let’s knock a thing because it was late, let’s celebrate a thing because it has arrived. This is a GREAT thing. Well done, ASA and CAP. Well done indeed. You can read all about these changes – the exact wording, the background, the research that underpins it – over on the ASA website.

I mentioned at the top that these rules were first mooted six months ago. Basically giving the UK ad industry a decent amount of notice to get their act together. This might seem a long time but anyone who has ever worked on any kind of masterbrand will know sometimes six months is a SHORT runway for work that you’ve got coming down the pipeline. Not kidding.

Working for 18mths for one client and never making any work? BTDTGTTS.

So that’s interesting. If you work in adland you should probably familiarise yourself with these changes and make sure they’re held up in the future.

—— —— —— —— ——

The other quasi-legislative thing that happened recently, well tangentially so, was the first set of interviews with the DCMS’ inquiry into immersive and addictive technologies (Alex Hern with a solid write up here). The main outtakes are kind of six of one and half a dozen of the other.

The ministers on the DCMS committee are sometimes laser sharp on the questioning and sometimes REALLY NOT.

The representatives from the gaming world therefore sometimes run circles around the ministers and sometimes wrap themselves in knots completely.

Examples of which can both be found in the write up linked above. The most amazing thing to come out of the whole thing however was the Electronic Arts rep’s attempt at rebadging ‘loot boxes’ (ostensibly a game-based form of gambling – something that is a hot topic across Europe and is under review stateside) as ‘ethical and fun surprise mechanics’ that probably caught the most headlines.

So many in fact that it is now an entry on KNOW YOUR MEME.

Ridiculous. And, along with gaming-apologist publications laying into the DCMS, doing the industry no favours whatsoever.

One to watch.

5. THE ENGAGEMENT WEDDING

I’m hoping that you’ve almost definitely already read this story (originally broken by The Atlantic) but if you haven’t you definitely should.

My only questions/comments on the whole thing are:

1. This stuff ain’t new. Anthea Turner and OK Mag springs to mind.
2. I wonder if any of the partners used insisted on #ad being used anywhere.
3. This is, once again, the tragedy of the commons.

I’m interested in your take.

Hit reply and give me your opinions.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS LINKS FOR YOUR BONUS EYES TO CONSUME. BONUS.

THERE’S A LOT HERE. SO LET’S DIVE IN QUICK.

Five things on Friday #300

Things of note for the week ending Friday, June 14th, 2019.

Newsletter #300: Introduction


Hello and welcome to issue #300 of Five things on Friday.

The keen-eyed among you would have perhaps noticed that this did not go out last week, as originally promised. Alas, it was a long week (of illness recovery) and weekend (went to Manchester to Muse, more on that later) and when it came to sitting down to write the latest effort, given the significant number, I figured it deserved a more considered approach… over and above my standard last minute Sunday night rushing – AMIRITE?

Exactly.

Truth be told I hadn’t noticed the number sneaking up.

Most weeks, I draft this thing in TextEdit, copy and paste it all over into MailChimp, add links, and then update the numbers before hitting send. It was only when a handful of you (you know who you are) wrote back after like, issue 295-7ish, saying how much you were looking forward to the 300th edition did I then realise…

‘WHAT WILL YOU DO TO CELEBRATE?’ They asked.
‘Celebrate?’ I replied. ‘I’ve no idea’

A few suggestions came back and I put it to a poll.

This entirely scientific (representative of about 5% of readers) said ‘Buy Whatley a pint’ – which is super lovely of you. No, really – thank you.

So what do you do when people say they want to buy you a pint?

Three things.

First, I looked at Ko-Fi (a platform that I use to buy coffees/pints for devs that I like (hello Ishtar Commander and Braytech). I tried that and while I now have a Ko-Fi page where you can legit buy me a coffee, it turns out that, upon testing it, we realised that PayPal takes a good 50p or so before that coffee gets to me. So we’re looking at a single espresso… tops. So that’s out of the window.

Next, I found out this week that you can set up monetary contribution pages via Monzo. I got a Monzo account forever ago but rarely (read: never) use it. But, thanks to a collection for a leaver at the office this week, I found out that I have a page that you can just throw money at. That page is right here. AFAIK no one takes a cut of this one. So if you wanted to buy me a pint to say thanks for the newsletters, here is another way to do this.

NOTE: if a lot of you do this, I’ll probably buy one pint out of the pot then give the rest to CALM.

Third, and finally, I figured that maybe, if you’re in the UK then maybe you might want to grab a pint IN PERSON. If that sounds like something you might like to do then hit reply to this email and we’ll get something in the diary.

NOTE: this might be in Q3/Q4 (breakfast is better).

So there we are.

That is about as much as I’m going to do for FToF #300.

You can:

– Buy me a pint (and give to PayPal). Or don’t.
– Buy me a pint (and give to charity). Or don’t.
– Buy me a pint/breakfast/breakfast in person. Or don’t.

Or just passively read this newsletter and enjoy the free fun as much as you like (this was never part of the value exchange in the first place anyway) 🙂

Thanks for reading, thanks for subscribing, thanks for replying (to those that do). I guess here’s to the next 300 issues.

Right, enough faff (for now at least), let’s crack on…

WITH THE THINGS!

1. THIS WEEK AT FACEBOOK

Another week, another negative story about Facebook.

This time rumours ABOUND that the reason why Facebook is so keen to get a deal settled with the Federal Trade Commission is that there is a concern that perhaps the FTC has got its hands on some emails which might, as the Wall Street Journal states ‘would be harmful to Facebook’

This is interesting for a few reasons.

1. Facebook’s earlier behaviour coming back to bite itself on the backside again? Shock. Horror.

2. I pitched a piece about Facebook and how the feed is changing forever (when the new version rolls out in the next few months) but within a few days of getting the nod, the fire went away because I just went off the idea of writing about Facebook-for-brands completely. It’s a bit ‘Are we the baddies?‘. Y’know?

3. It reminds me, again, of how the politicians are coming for the platforms and I wonder if on this occasion at least, the FTC might be minded to not chase the easy settlement and instead make life difficult for the Zuck-machine instead.

One to watch.

2. BIRKENSTOCK IS NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR COLLABORATIONS

Let’s talk about long-lasting brand value.

To be clear, I am not a fan of ugly-chic shoes like these – the first part of their descriptor should tell you why… but!

This collection of points from multiple stories/interviews with Birkenstock really is a gold mind of excellence.

This one is particularly on point.

“As [they] told the Financial Times just this month, “What most [brands] do is create short-term buzz by putting logos on commercial products.” It’s prudent to be picky, he argues. So, the company turns brands down … big name brands like Vetements, for example, the pet project of Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia. Birkenstock also turned down a collaboration with Supreme, which could very well be the buzziest streetwear brand in the world, with its bouncer-flanked stores and incessantly sold-out wares.

“It was never about function for them, just logos,” Klaus Baumann, Birkenstock’s chief sales officer, speaking about Supreme, which regularly draws long lines of consumers outside of its store every week on Thursday when it “drops” new products, including collaborations. “These were not product people.”

Birkenstock’s management is seemingly unimpressed by such antics.

Not mincing words Baumann states, “If I put a bouncer outside our doors on Saturday and regulate letting people in, I too could have a queue outside.”

Wonderful.

3. SUBMITTED WITHOUT COMMENT

Almost.

The first poster for WONDER WOMAN 1984.

HOOK IT INTO MY VEINS.

IT IS GLORIOUS.

Bring it, Patty.

4. GOOGLE STADIA

Google announced its first proper and meaningful foray into gaming, Stadia, back in March. Last week however we got an in-depth look at what to truly expect, a release date was punted, a price point was dropped, pre-orders opened and well, the thing is actually real now.

It promises a lot. And for not much initial layout at all.

And I am FASCINATED by it.

The newly announced ‘Founder’s Edition’, gets you three months of Stadia Pro (think of this like Netflix but you have to pay for the movies as well as rent the streaming to get them – an interesting proposition that may or may not work, we’ll see), a three-month buddy pass to share Stadia with a friend, the controller, a Chromecast Ultra… oh, and the complete version of Destiny 2 (including Shadowkeep, for those paying attention at the back).

Let’s review:

The game and the Chromecast Ultra on its own is just shy of £100. The Stadia Pro founder’s edition is £119. That’s the controller, the three months of streaming, and whatever other goodies come with it when it launches for £19. Not effing bad.

If you’ve a passing interest in gaming and (most importantly) have a decent internet connection, then I’d strongly recommend taking a look at this.

Worst case, it ends up in the Google Graveyard.

Best case, it turns out to be amazing AND gives the incumbents a kick up the backside to truly deliver when it comes to next gen. So far so good…

OH, and in case you’re wondering – yes of course I’ve pre-ordered.

I’ll be on Stadia in November. Come find me.

PS. You can find out more about the whole thing on this 30min ‘Stadia Direct‘ video.

PPS. I’m in the midst of writing another piece about total brand experience, Google, Destiny, and Sony PlayStation – I’m 1500 words in and I don’t think I’ve cracked it yet – expect a link to it here at some point.

5. LESSONS FROM A NEWSLETTER WRITER

What? Did you think I was going to get to THE END OF ISSUE THREE HUNDRED without actually doing some self-indulgent w@nkery?! HA! What do you take me for?

Right, here be (as requested by at least four of you) three things of advice for budding newsletter writers.


THING OF ADVICE #1:

If you only take one piece of advice from this one section make it be this: just bloody do it already. It sounds so obvious. It is. But I know – TRUST ME I know – what it is like to think of a project and then just SIT on it forever and ever and ever and ever and never really get around to actually doing it because X didn’t happen or I couldn’t find time for Y or what if Z doesn’t like it… all of it is rubbish.

The number of meetings, coffees, ‘quick chats’ I’ve had with people who are all like ‘Y’know James, I’d really like to start a newsletter about [topic]’ – and my response is always ‘Go on then’. Just get it written.

If you’re reading this then you KNOW that this thing is never perfect when it goes out. EVER. Some weeks there are typos, links missing, once I forgot an ENTIRE section. Did anyone kick off? NO. Did I kick myself? Of course. But ultimately… IT DOESN’T MATTER.

Just get the thing out.

Writing is thinking is writing is thinking. So write it. Send it. Learn from it. Write another. And another and another and another.

For what it’s worth, Five things on Friday started off as a blogging project. Something that would keep me writing – and thinking (again, writing is thinking – did I mention?) – every week. It keeps me sharp. That’s where this has come from. So yeah, thing 2…

THING OF ADVICE #2:

What is your why?

Sorry to get all Simon Sinek on yo molasses but for real: what is your WHY?

Why do you want to start a newsletter?
What’s in it for you?
Why why why why why?

Keep yourself honest. You know my why.

What’s yours?

Know this and you can’t really ever go wrong.

THING OF ADVICE #3:

What was thing three? Oh. Yeah. Don’t give yourself a hard time over it. I mean this could be true of just about anything. BUT when it comes to newsletters, it doesn’t matter.

If you’ve signed up to this via the signup form, then you know I have small print. Hell, it’s even baked into the header image of every edition, it says:

“FIVE THINGS ON FRIDAY*

*It doesn’t always come on Friday but there’s always more than five”

Scroll up and check, you’ll see.

The point is, this whole thing is written within made up rules I’ve made for myself. I make, I break ’em. I want to take a week off? I take a week off. So relax. It doesn’t matter. Truth be told: what really does? If it’s not life and death then none of it really matters.

So thing 2. Then thing 1. Then thing 3. In that order.

And good luck.

Want more advice than the above?

HIT THAT REPLY BUTTON YO.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS LINKS FOR YOUR BONUS EYES TO CONSUME. BONUS.

THERE’S A LOT HERE. BUT THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I TAKE A WEEK OFF. BUT DON’T SKIP A THING. BECAUSE I TELL YOU SOMETHING, THERE BE SOME MAD CRAZY LINKS DOWN HERE AND YOU WON’T WANNA MISS ANY OF IT.

SHALL WE?

LET’S.

Five things on Friday on Sunday #299

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, June 2nd, 2019.

Newsletter #299: Introduction


It’s been a funny old week.

You may recall from last week’s edition that I was getting over some kind of flu? Yeah, it wasn’t flu. Turns out it was sinusitis and it absolutely wrecked me for days. Days.

Today, Sunday, June 2nd, I am finally starting to feel human again. The headache is on the outskirts, the blocked up is leaving the party, and overall, I think I might not take any tablets today. Rough.

Brilliantly I just had to pause for a second while I had a coughing fit. Amazing.

Where was I?

Oh. Yeah. Taking the extended break from Twitter has almost completely changed my relationship with the platform. For the newbies, I jumped off Twitter around the end of April. It was around the time Jack Dorsey had his closed doors with his chief profit-maker and world’s most dangerous man/racist/misogynist (delete where appropriate).

It felt sickie to me, so I took some time out. Only returning from time to time for work-related stuff or sheer boredom.

Here’s what that looks like from an analytics perspective:

Interestingly, those blue blips on the right are both occasional tweets from me and days with no tweets whatsoever but somehow they’re still earning ‘impressions’.

Whatever.

The point is, this self-imposed departure from Twitter genuinely changed my relationship with the platform. And I wholly recommend it.

Visiting less. Tweeting rarely. The shift in perspective between what is important vs what Twitter want’s you to think is important has been refreshing.

I’m still there, on and off. A reply here and there. But if it’s client-free thinking or writing, 99% of the time you’ll find that here first.

Maybe I’ll come back properly when Twitter figures out whether or not white supremacy is ‘a bad thing’. Not a joke.

And well worth a read.

Right, enough grumps.

Shall we crack on with this thing? We’ve got a few things to get through, as well as a fully unfiltered unpacking of my One Question notes right down at the bottom. So, no more faffing.

Let’s do this.

1. EVERYONE’S A COPYWRITER, RIGHT?

“Grammar “rules” are guidelines, not rules.
This will split the sea like Moses, but let us go ahead and say it anyway.

Much like design, copy is subject to the tastes, preferences and aims of the reader. Every now and then, you (as the copywriter) will come up against a self-professed “grammar nazi”.

It could be your client. It could be your co-worker. Heck, it could even be legal. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong, but most of the time…

They’re an idiot.”

The above excerpt is an early paragraph in this excellent piece from Clare Barry. The article is two years old. You may have seen it recently. I re-read it this week and it made me grin as much as it did the first time around. If not more so.

On point. And worth your time.

Read it.

2. QUANTUM LEAP HAD A SECRET ENDING WHAT

Be still my beating heart.

If the two men above MEAN NOTHING TO YOU then a) you may as well skip this bit and b) who even are you.

If the two men above signify one of the greatest TV shows that ever graced your television set, then carry on reading.

Way back in the summer of ’94, we were told the following information:

There were definite tears.

I remember being sat in English with my school friends discussing it. Paul, Richard, and me. In pieces. Couldn’t believe it. I think this might’ve been the first glimpse that sometimes TV shows don’t have happy endings. This is not how it was supposed to be?! It wasn’t! Surely?

Turns out, we might’ve been right.

According to iO9, there was an alternate ending to the fifth season of Quantum Leap. One that didn’t end the show there and then. One that instead set up a plot point for a never-to-be-made season six.

There have been rumours of this for a LONG time. But someone on Reddit (of course) has found the footage.

A glimpse into something that was never to be.

A glimpse into a different universe where season six got made.

A glimpse into a different universe where Dr Sam Becket finally returned home.

Go. Read.

And dream.

3. BED JUMPING ‘GRAMMERS MIGHT BE A STRANGE THING TO GET INVOLVED IN

Maybe.

Strap in, this one gets weird.

“Should you pursue with your article and publish it we will be taking action” is a GREAT way to quote any article.

David Farrier pursued.

And as promised, it gets weird.

4. INDIANA JONES AND THE BEST WRITING LESSONS FROM TOM STOPPARD

This week I learned that Tom Stoppard pretty much completely rewrote Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

And he did a bang up job too.

“Last Crusade was written by Jeffrey Boam, from a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes. So say the opening credits. Boam’s final draft, dated March 1, 1988 (ten weeks before production) differs drastically from the published script which reflects the released version of the film. Differences come as no shock, but with Last Crusade they aren’t just a few deleted scenes and some line changes. Whole sections of the Boam draft were reimagined, major set pieces were added, and the pacing and tone were markedly transformed. Whoever made these changes possessed a profound grasp of story craft.

So who was that? Spielberg himself made certain revisions, such as expanding the desert tank sequence from a few pages to over eleven – injecting some much-needed action into the story. Some scenes were filmed but omitted during the edit, like an extended chase through the Zeppelin in which Indy and Henry are pursued by a gestapo agent and a World War One flying ace.

And then there was the uncredited script polish by Barry Watson – you know, the Barry Watson? Never heard of him? Perhaps if we peek under his pseudonym… ah, yes: Sir Tom Stoppard, a four-time Tony winner who later bagged an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. Since we can’t know whose pen revised which pages (although Spielberg did say that “Tom is pretty much responsible for every line of dialogue;” avclub.com), let’s just call it a collaboration of some titans of storytelling.”

I had no idea.

The article that this quote comes from isn’t just a news update mind, oh no. It also goes into an eleven-point dissection of exactly thematic details that Stoppard added/removed/simplified.

And it is a masterclass. Worth a read.

5. ONE QUESTION

Regulars will know I am a fan of the event know as One Question. On May 14th I attended the most recent edition, ‘Does purpose really drive profit?’.

For this section, I’ve grabbed my [unfiltered] moleskine notes and typed them up. A collection of quotes and thoughts from the day. Some make sense, some don’t. Some are longer than others.

Either way, they are below, divided into their necessary perspectives and they are yours now as well. I’d love to know what you think.

Oh, and there’s a prize for being the first to spot me in the crowd. See me? Tell me. Prize. Actual thing.

One Question, May 14th, 2019.
Does purpose really drive profit?
The Marketing Perspective

Kantar interviewing Tom’s (Shoes)

– ‘CSR shouldn’t be that hard’
– ‘Profit should drive purpose’
– Tom’s is a for-profit business that has a purpose at the heart of why it exists.
– ‘We describe ourselves as a social impact company’

There is an interesting dynamic here between walking the walk vs talking the talk. More so in Tom’s case as what they’re saying is that you can walk it as much as you like but the talking part – having a POV on the world, telling people what you are actually doing – suddenly that attracts attention and pisses people off.

HSBC example cited regarding the airports work, talking about the water charities HSBC supports in under-developed countries – but then asks ‘Does HSBC sacrifice any profit in the name of its Together We Thrive purpose and refuse to invest in companies that may work against the issues that its ads highlight?

Lisa Hogg – ‘Growth and Comfort don’t co-exist’

Love is an action.

You are what you do.

The Gillette issue. How different would it have been if they had started with the pricing? If you decide to go high with a statement, make you your business acts that way as well.

‘Relevance retention’ is nice – play with that.

The Advertising Perspective

Tom Roach, Managing Partner and Head of Effectiveness at BBH. “We fucked it up” he says, straight off the bat. We, advertisers, have ruined the future utopian dream with ads that follow you everywhere. Which leads you to brands with purpose. Conscious Capitalism vs PR. When you ask the question, the one question for the day, the answer is simple: yes it can be but not always and mostly it doesn’t.

Advertising about giving school kids training for interviews sells more mortgages than advertising about mortgages (citing a BBH/Barclays example). It doesn’t make sense. Roach suggest a model of three concentric circles of businesses that may pursue any kind of purpose. Founder-led businesses, those born with purpose. Then you have your corporate converts in the circle thereafter and then, outside of that, you have ‘woke’ advertising – the fakers. The likelihood of success decreases the further you get away from the middle. A good lens to apply when looking at any kind of purpose-led advertising; where would it fit in this model?

The other additional point that Tom made was the correlation of cultural commentary around advertisers and the current market themes around purpose:

“Brand purpose is arguably a result of advertising execs being told for nearly 150yrs that we are liars”

Purposeful marketing is an existential cry for help – ‘We matter, honest’

Given the way that advertising is nearly always portrayed in culture, is it any wonder that they’re embracing this new-found purpose way of life? Tom ended with the very end of Mad Men. The coke ad one (LINK). Makes sense to me.

The Health Perspective

The entirety of the NHS is (obviously) built on purpose.

This is very tech focused. NHSX mentioned. Good.

Discussion regarding reducing the high number of people that go to see their GPs every week (something like 12% of people see their doctor over 250 times per year – who are they and how can we use data to reduce, reassess, and better triage their needs.

The Environment Perspective

Tom Kay, Finisterre.

“Profit should be a result of purpose”

There’s an interesting dissection on purpose as a broad macro trend and the underlying companies that are already in existence that have been smashing it for years.

‘Success is 99% failure’.

‘Sea Tuesday’ is a thing at Finisterre. Come in at 10am but spend your morning at or with the sea. Bloody love that.

The Media Perspective

Not many notes taken. What is the purpose of the media? To inform to patronise? Media in the western world is free. We don’t realise how lucky we have it, I guess is what they’re saying.

Tortoise chap doing a great job of talking about Tortoise. Daily Mail woman being very Daily Mail. This is one third about Tortoise, one third a training course on how to sound more important than you probably are, and one third a debate on the purpose of The Media. Kinda fun.

An interesting trio of opposing forces put forward:

  • Identity Politics vs Freedom of Expression

  • Sustainability vs Capitalism

  • Democracy vs Populism

Best comment/question from Fred Bolza ‘This sounds like supply side anxiety’ – he was, of course, completely right. It was. And it was fun to watch.

Side point, there’s crunchiness between paying for journalism vs paying for information. Where do you draw the line?

The Human Perspective

Major Andrew Fox. Parachute Regiment. C-Company. His one slide was of him doing a backflip out of an aircraft. Standard.

When the purpose is the safety and security of the country, things change an awful lot. The ‘profit’ in this instance is the same as the purpose. So the answer to the question is a yes because, in this instance at least, the two are so intrinsically linked you can’t tell them apart.

A theme developing.

Major Fox was so incredibly out of his comfort zone but handled it like a pro and was one of the most humbling and brilliant speakers of the day.

The Political Perspective

Joe Twyman + Saradi Peri

Second talk of the day that redefines what it means to ‘profit’ – in this case, profit = votes/power. Eg: Nigel Farage, while having never held a parliamentary seat, ever, in fact has consistently lost, has proven to hold a huge amount of power and influence over the politics of the nation.

The constant pendulum swing of politics. Broad themes of trust throughout.

My pen ran out as this started and I missed a fair old chunk of it. Annoying.

The Business Perspective

Pamela Hutchinson, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) @ Bloomberg.

One quote and one quote only:

“You won’t get the value of diversity if you don’t value diversity”

The Brand Perspective

Alex Weller + James Scroggs

“Is purpose a realisation of the privileged?”
“Business for good”

“Being who we are while understanding that we are not perfect ourselves” is one of the best things said all day. It’s really interesting to hear and understand how Patagonia, oft-mentioned as the standard-bearer for purpose-led marketing, does not (and cannot) always opt for the sustainable option over making a product. And if/when that is the case, they will embrace the product over the ‘right’ choice, every time. At the end of the day it has to make product to make profit.

However, Patagonia ensures that if it has to take a push somewhere in the supply chain, it turns it into a magnified pull elsewhere. For example, using a non-carbon neutral supplier at point A but enforcing carbon neutrality on all suppliers by point B means that Patagonia takes the hit now but there’ll be a 10x output with the suppliers at a later date. For all the output, not just those that go to Patagonia. Smart. Leve-headed.

“This is who we are”

“Sometimes the own goals are there and you just have to kick it in”

There’s and elasticity to purpose it seems – and that’s OK.

——

One Question is the best event in the calendar every year. Bar none.

You should go.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS LINKS.

A FEW ADLANDY THINGS TO KICK US OFF AT FIRST THEN WE GO HEADLONG INTO THE RANDOM SHIZZLE THAT’S BEEN IN MY NIZZLE THIS WHIZZLE

Five things on Friday on Sunday #298

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, May 26th, 2019.

Newsletter #298: Introduction


Well hello there.

It’s ten past seven on Sunday evening and I’m booting up Mailchimp to get this thing out to you. Believe it or not my intention was to actually publish on Friday this week (no laughing at the back) alas my daughter got sick and then, of course, I did too. That was not a fun end to the week.

Sweats. Shivers. Rubbish.

Fear not though, I am feeling better. Behind on my correspondence somewhat but definitely on the up.

We even made it out of the house today. To Whipsnade. Driving back from the afternoon out with the family, windows down, the sun and breeze perfectly entwined, and Queen playing on the radio…

‘This too shall pass’ I thought.

Longtime readers will know that this is a philosophy for life that I lean into. It is so often invoked in the bad times. When things go awry. It helps you stop and take a breath. Realise this is just a moment in time, and move on. And that is right. And that is good. It helps.

“[it comes from a] fable of a powerful king who asks assembled wise men to create a ring that will make him happy when he is sad. After deliberation the sages hand him a simple ring with the words “This too will pass” etched on it, which has the desired effect to make him happy when he is sad. It also, however, became a curse for whenever he is happy.”

However, if you believe the origin above, then to give light to these words in times of happiness then surely sadness will follow in its wake.

But that isn’t true. It does the opposite. All it does is bring that feeling of happiness into a much richer focus. An appreciation sets in. ‘I cherish days like these’ I said out loud shortly after. And I do.

You should too.

Shall we get on and do this thing?

Let’s.

1. THE BEST MEMES OF 2019 SO FAR

Yes, yes. I know we’re not even halfway through the year but there have already been some belters and this almost-mid-year list from TIME is actually alright.

In fact, more than alright.

I lol’d. Twice.

Celebrities as things could go on and on forever as far as I’m concerned.

2. POSITIVE DISOBEDIENCE

(AN UPDATE ON THE TOILET STUDY CALL TO ACTION FROM LAST WEEK)

Well, this is an update I didn’t pull together so quickly but Christ on a bike you lot are bloody lovely when you want to be.

If you missed , Thing 5 was dedicated to a thing called The Toilet Study. A look at (and comparison of) the graffiti in toilets across London.

Two sentences stood out in the study.

7% of all female messages in toilets were uplifting statements. That’s 5 times more often than from men.

I then wrote something like this:

First off, a bunch of you wrote back with suggestions on what to do next.

Why not put a hashtag on it?
Why not ask readers for more suggestions on what to write?
Instead of putting uplifting statements, why not put suggested links to sites (CALM or The Samaritans maybe)?
Why not get the statements printed off onto sticky labels and whack them up whenever you can?

ALL OF THESE ARE GREAT SUGGESTIONS.

Well, apart from the hashtag one. The jury is out on that for me. I’m still mulling on it (sorry, Shane).

I guess, and bear with me on this one, I don’t want it to become a CAMPAIGN. Campaigns are easy to spot and perhaps easier to ignore. This stuff, this stuff needs to be subtle. And individual. Something that just looks like the other stuff. It’s SUPPOSED to be wallpaper so you don’t realise what you’re reading until you’re reading it.

So yeah. Anyway, where was I?

OH.

THAT’S RIGHT.

ONE OF YOU HAS ALREADY BLOODY DONE IT AND SENT ME A BUNCH OF PHOTOS BECAUSE HOLY CRAP YOU ARE AMAZING AND I CRIED WHEN THEY ARRIVED.

There’s thing about the person who tries to do something. A thing about that person not being the mad one. The mad one is the mate stood next to them who says ‘Yeah, OK. Let’s do this’ – that person is the mad one. Without that second person to lend credibility, to give it a push, the first person is left screaming into the void.

Thank you, to the nameless individual who (as far as I know) was first off the marks with this. From the bottom of my heart. Truly.

Which leaves only a handful of things to say.

If someone has done it already that makes it easier for you to do.
If you do it, take a photo of it.
If that photo makes it to me, in whatever format, it will appear here, completely anonymously, in Five things on Friday.

What are you waiting for?

3. IGTV NOW SUPPORTS LANDSCAPE VIDEO

Ahem.

LESS THAN A YEAR SINCE…

Instagram has this week announced that its long-form portrait-only ‘TV’ platform, IGTV, will now support landscape videos.

Quote:

“Today marks yet another change for IGTV – and it once again comes from listening to our creators and viewers. We’ve heard from creators who want to upload landscape videos for IGTV. Similarly, we’ve heard from viewers who come across landscape videos in IGTV but want to watch them in a more natural way.”

A MORE NATURAL WAY. Amazing.

If only people had said something at the time (as the kids say these days: THREAD).

Fair play to Instagram. Listening to its creators (who are clearly saying: let us create once and post to many, NOT thanks for creating a new format for us to try and create for oh and what’s that, you’re not quite sure the audience is ready for it either, what?) is a good sign that it wants the platform to develop. It has a long way to go though. A very long way. I’m still COMPLETELY not sold.

Video at Facebook is great in-feed and in Stories. If you’re Facebook, do you invest more into making WATCH work, or IGTV? Well, now the latter supports for the former’s aspect ratio, it doesn’t have to make that call.

One thing is for certain, expect to see more what you might describe as traditional YouTube content on IGTV. We had the first sign of that gear change earlier this year. With this new update, those flood gates will be wide open.

PS. The dates on these two headlines absolutely kill me.

Aaand I’m done.

4. DEEP FAKES, PLATFORM POLICIES, AND THE LEGISLATION OF THE FUTURE

This happened.

From the article:

Manipulated videos of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that made it seem as if she were stumbling over and slurring her words continued to spread across social media on Friday, fueled by President Trump’s feud with the Democratic leader.

One of the videos, which showed Ms. Pelosi speaking at a conference this week, appeared to be slowed down to make her speech sound continually garbled.

The video has been viewed millions of times on Facebook and was amplified by the president’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who shared the video Thursday night on Twitter. “What is wrong with Nancy Pelosi?” Mr. Giuliani said in a tweet that has since been deleted. “Her speech pattern is bizarre.”

Mr. Trump himself tweeted a separate video of Ms. Pelosi on Thursday night, an edited clip from Fox Business that spliced together moments from a 20-minute news conference and emphasized points where she had stumbled on her words. “PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE,” the president tweeted.

By Friday, the social media giants, already under pressure to fight online disinformation, were forced to respond.

—–

And it’s that response I’d like to examine and discuss here (repeating and expanding upon some stuff from Twitter yesterday).

Before we do, please please please spend 8mins 35secs watching this interview between CNN News Anchor, Anderson Cooper, and Facebook’s VP for Product Policy and Counterterrorism (there’s a whole other thing here about IF YOU NEED SOMEONE IN THIS JOB THEN YOU CLEARLY HAVE A PROBLEM but it’s not for now).

Watch the interview.

OK, so. I think I’ve watched this interview about ten to fifteen times now. Each time I get more and more fascinated by it.

First off, it is an astonishing marker for how the three main individual platforms (and companies) are handling this situation.

(I’m reluctant to use the term ‘deepfake‘ (we’re not yet at Hader-as-Pacino levels – a must watch, btw – we’re not far off it) but this case makes an excellent if alarming bellwether for when it happens)

YouTube (Google) has declared it is actively taking the video(s) down. OK, great.

Twitter, at the time of writing, is leaving the video up, taking no action, and is also refusing to comment on the situation. Way to go, Jack.

Facebook, on the other hand, is taking action. But not quite the action you would want. Bonus points for what is becoming absolute textbook behaviour for big blue, in doing so has made the story all about itself.

The other thing that sticks out about the interview is that it constantly refers to the videos as ‘misinformation’. This is patently false.

The dictionary defines misinformation as “false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead.” And it describes disinformation as “deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda.”

Watch those films again and tell me where you fall down.

An interesting sidenote here is that the UK Government recently moved away from using the term ‘Fake News’ to help implement clear communication guidelines regarding misinformation vs disinformation (more on that on Page 7 of this report).

If we are in agreement that the video is disinformation, not misinformation, then that difference must be made clearer not only by the journalists reporting on it but also to those put forward to defend its presence (in this case: Monkia Bickert – whose media and legal training shines through with brilliant darkness).

Speaking of which, while I buy Facebook’s attempt at creating policy to help navigate situations like this (eg: ‘It’s not harmful, so we downgrade it instead’), Facebook will always, ALWAYS, as the interview shows, end up tying itself in knots as the line will never be clear.

‘Harmful’ is so incredibly subjective. No one is in physical immediate danger, fine, I get that. But how else do you define harmful?

Is this harmful to any one individual? Maybe.

Is it harmful to US democracy? Probably.

Is it, as argued, part of ‘political discourse’? Absolutely not.

And in fact by even bringing those two words into the conversation, Facebook is complicit in normalising doctored video as part of western politics. ‘Oh, well, this is expected now’ – No. UGH.

What I don’t understand is, per Anderson Cooper’s well-argued logic, is that if independent fact-checkers say it’s false, then why keep it up at all? Aside from to make money from ads served against it? That’s a few million people that have now seen that video. Thanks to Facebook. That’s a lot of eyeballs.

Maybe the answer is in the question.

The other thing to point out, and I think this is probably one of the most important parts of the whole exchange is that that’s a bit about halfway through the interview where Cooper rightly points out that video content works harder than any text or copy around it.

This is something Facebook pushes to brands every day.

I want to say that maybe the left-hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. The problem is, we can see both hands (and so can Mark Zuckerberg).

The defence of ‘Oh, we won’t take it down, we’ll just put some labels around it, people will see those and make their own informed choices about the video’ just doesn’t stand up against any kind of scrutiny. And that’s based on over five years of having this stuff being sold and sold and sold in, over and over again.

smh.

Which leads us to the last part.

It is almost inconceivable that we’re having this discussion about western democracy in 2019 HOWEVER what this situation has shown is that the social media platforms we rely upon simply aren’t ready for any kind of potential deep fake content attack that might happen in the next 18-24mths.

  • YouTube is almost there.

  • Facebook absolutely isn’t.

  • Twitter? Have a laugh, mate.


It’s clear that financially-orientated companies, in the main, cannot be relied upon to enact policy that is in support of a clearer, deepfake free society.

Legislation is looking consistently like the only answer.

At the start of the year, I put forward the idea that ‘The politicians are coming‘, citing the lack of trust in the companies that hold the majority of our waking time, the constant data leaks, and the potentially addictive nature of the services they offer.

It looks like I’ll need to add ‘protection against deepfakes’ to that list.

The Malicious Deep Fake Prohibition Act of 2018 is currently moving through Congress. An act that would make it illegal for Pelosi video to be made in the first place. But Congress takes time. So don’t expect it soon.

In the UK, to the best of my knowledge has nothing in place or even ready to go. If only we hadn’t spent the last three years arguing with ourselves over Europe then maybe we might be a bit more forward focused.

I give up.

The point is: everything and everyone is woefully unprepared for what happens next and it is sobering af.

Brb, I’m going to write to my MP.

Something light now? OK!

5. THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Vanity Fair has a fantastic on-set preview of the next STAR WARS movie and they’ve only gone and got bloody ANNIE LEIBOVITZ to do the photography.

Just go and read it.

It’s gorgeous.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS LINKS.

THERE ARE SOME GREAT THINGS IN HERE THIS WEEK. GOOD LUCK.

Five things on Friday on Sunday #297

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, May 19th, 2019.

Newsletter #297: Introduction


If email admin and tales of stupidity bore you, skip straight to the robot emojis.

If not, well…

I am an idiot.

Regular readers will know that I’ve been toying with the idea giving the FToF subscriber list a good clean this summer. Well. Earlier this week I booted up Mailchimp to be presented with a screen that said the following:

‘24% of your subscribers open your email ‘Rarely’, would you like to target them with a campaign?’

‘WHAT GOOD TIMING, MAILCHIMP. I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS!’ – I thought, naively.

Being the well-mannered bean that I am, I thought it might be a nice thing to let people know that I was going to unsubscribe them before I did so, just in case they changed their mind. AND I AM REALLY GLAD I DID.

Mailchimp, in its infinite wisdom, had failed to allow for any NEW or RECENT subscribers in its segmentation.

Cue around forty-odd emails from people (all lovely people – hello, thanks for not leaving) all telling me that I had emailed them by mistake, that they had only just subscribed, and this email (entitled ‘I am unsubscribing you’) was the first they had received from me.

A few things then:

Thank you to everyone who got back to me explaining my/Mailchimp’s mistake and hello to all the lovely new subs (I hope the hassle proves to be worth it).

Final thing on this, and then I’ll shut up forever*.

If you want to unsubscribe, please scroll down to the bottom of this email and his the ‘unsubscribe from this list’ link in the footer.

I will not be offended. Even if it happens to be a tit-for-tat thing because you’ve spotted that I’ve unfollowed you on Twitter (not that anyone would ever do that). I now know how to use Mailchimp segments properly (learnt the hard way, innit) and the other 1500 or so of you who were completely unaffected by any of this can crack on with the things as per.

If anyone fancies chatting further about the goddamn intricacies of managing a segmented mailing list, then by all means hit that reply button. If not, maybe we should get this thing moving, right? OK.

*by ‘forever’, I mean ‘at least until after summer’.

🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖

Having spent most of the intro unpacking my major mess up of the week, I’m going to keep the actual intro short. We do, as ever, have a lot to get through.

Aside from the email shenanigans` above, it’s been a good seven days. I feel like I’ve come back up for air over the past week or so – given the prior fortnight’s workload at least. And it has been refreshing to get a good view of things once more. I also managed to get a day out of the office to attend the always excellent One Question event. In its fourth edition now, ‘Does purpose really drive profit?’ is the perfect question for our current climate, one I’ll get more into probably next week once I’ve gotten around to writing up all my notes (but hey, here are some photos).

Today (Sunday) also marks the end of Mental Health Awareness week. I broke my Twitter fast to raise the flag up for anyone who wanted to talk (thanks to someone who I’ve been talking to on and off since I did the same thing last year reminding me!) and a handful of people have taken me up on it. It is humbling. Beautiful. And I am so bloody happy people feel OK to say ‘Hey’. The one thing I keep coming back to, with everything and everyone, are those three words that make a fire truck load of difference when you say them out loud.

Those three words are ‘And that’s OK’.

Life is hard.

It is. No matter which way you look at it. Sometimes you wonder how on Earth everyone is actually even managing to make it out of bed in the morning. Because if you look around, the world is falling to pieces and you, you feel like you’re not adding any value to anything or anyone. And you feel sad and hollow and depressed… and that’s OK.

Allowing yourself to feel something is OK.

Don’t shame yourself, hate yourself, or even beat yourself up for not failing to achieve the perceived societal norms for what ‘happiness’ is. I said it last week and I’ll say it again for all those that replied to say thank you and for all those that didn’t or need to hear it again: you are an unreliable narrator in the story of your life.

The world is not out to get you. But if you feel like it is, if you feel like nothing is going your way and you’re pretty down about it then for love the of God allow yourself to feel that way.

I’m sorry to wang on about this but it’s important. I’ve had too many conversations this week with too many people where the first step is a variation of the same thing: allow yourself to sit in how you feel. Soak it up. Let it wash over you. Because the more you fight it, the worse it will get. But if you let it come, open the door to it – and acknowledge it. It takes the pressure off. It really does. I speak from experience.

Did I mention that you can hit that reply button anytime?

🙂

OK. What was it I was saying about keeping the intro short? Damn.

Let’s do this.

1. VITA COCO NO NO NO NO NO… YES!

I mean, sure you must’ve seen this photo by now?

‘Address?’

No? Missed it? Educate thyself. This phenomenal response (to someone saying ‘I’d rather drink your social media person’s [actual wee] than touch Vita Coco’) is just great.

Imagine having the freedom to do that?

I’ve worked on brands where we’ve pored over every aching detail going to the SIMPLEST of replies, to witness this kind of comeback, is just GREAT.

Well done Vita Coco Water. From the social media team to the CEO, to be able to do this involves proper bravery and belief from those in charge and it is RARE AS ROCKING HORSE MANURE to see.

In a world where Burger King UK can seemingly stand up for your rights [to throw milkshakes at facists] and then pedal backward at speed a mere four hours later, this stuff puts the fresh into refreshing.

Keep it up.

PS. More here.

PPS. If you see any articles, hot-takes, LinkedIn posts or anything at all that features the words ‘What can brands learn from Vita Coco’s jar of urine?’, just close the tab and walk away. ‘Be braver’. There, I just saved you 750 words x.

2. GENDER SWAPPING ON SNAPCHAT BUT POSTING EVERY OTHER CHANNEL INSTEAD

Or as The Verge put it:

“Snapchat has become a content creation tool for Instagram and Twitter users“

It kinda has a point.

I go back and forth on Snapchat a LOT. The constant innovation is definitely the defining factor of why it is still interesting and it is of course by no means a dead app. User numbers are not growing, revenue is, and the feature set is siding with the latter, not the former.

Did you hear about the filter on Twitter first? In the news? Or did someone upload one to Instagram? Like Miley Cyrus? Snapchat, like Vine, like TikTok as well to an extent, is become a content creation tool for sharing on other platforms. I don’t know if that’s a bad thing. It’s interesting. But not bad. As long as it’s monetizable then I guess they’ll be OK, right?

OK, ignore what happened to Vine.
…

As a closing side, this look at the technical ability of the gender-swap filter is EXCELLENT.

3. SKY WANG INVESTIGATION REAPS TRANSCRIPT GOLD SHOCKER

Thanks to one-time FToF author, Matt Jones, for this beaut.

Do you remember a couple of years ago there was a big hoo-hah stateside about a couple of Navy pilots drawing a giant penis in the sky?

No?

Well, it looked like this:

You’ll be pleased to know that the Navy Times (no relation) executed a perfect example of why the Freedom of Information Act is so important AND GOT HOLD OF THE TRANSCRIPT FROM THE DAY.

And, like the sky phallus itself, is a sight to behold.

“Balls are going to be a little lopsided,” the pilot advised.

“Balls are complete,” he reported moments later. “I just gotta navigate a little bit over here for the shaft.”

“Which way is the shaft going?” the EWO asked.

“The shaft will go to the left,” the pilot answered.

“It’s gonna be a wide shaft,” the EWO noted.

“I don’t wanna make it just like 3 balls,” the pilot said.

“Let’s do it,” the EWO said. “Oh, the head of that penis is going to be thick.”

And that’s not even the best bit.

Go read the rest – and wear that grin for the rest of the day.

4. JUST BUY THE F***ING LATTE

A solid deconstruction of why the ‘you-can’t-afford-a-house-because-you-buy-too-many-$5-coffees’ BS is simple that: BS. Reminds me of a podcast my friends threatened to start once: just eat the damn rice.

Point is: it’s all BS. All of it.

“This isn’t about the lattes. It’s never been about the lattes. Or any of the other ways we women are told we’re deficient around money. It’s about changing the narrative to recognize the real challenges we face as women and tackling real issues. It’s about demanding a fairer playing field from our institutions (paid maternity leave, anyone?). It’s about holding the companies at which we work accountable by demanding that they report out, and close, their gender pay gaps. It’s about giving all of our children the tools to live the lives that they deserve. It’s about balancing out our existing power structures. As Gloria Steinem has said, “We will not solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth.””

Good reading.

5. THE TOILET STUDY

This has actually given me an idea.

And I’d like your feedback on it.

But first, the thing: The Toilet Study bills itself as a dirty little peek into the mind of the opposite sex by comparing what women write in public bathrooms vs men.

It goes on:

“The messages found in over 100 public bathroom cubicles from men and women were documented, analysed and then finally compared. The following is a unique look at how the sexes privately differ on everything from sex and politics to spelling and pop culture.”

And it’s great reading.

‘Oh that’s great’ you’ll find yourself saying.
‘Hilarious’
‘Typical!’

All completely fine and normal responses to the lol-content herein.

However.

I got to these two charts and I stopped.

That’s not very good, is it?

I mean, I know men’s toilets aren’t exactly the most social of places to hang out but still, if we can’t try and help each other out when we’re having a moment on our own, then what’s the bloody point?

So I had an idea.

And I want your help.

In the name of Mental Health Awareness week, I want better messages for men’s toilets.

I know you probably know this but eff me does it deserve repeating: suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK today. I know people that have attempted it. I have lost people too. For what it’s worth, I count myself in the ‘attempted’ category. I’ve not said that out loud before. Not here at least. So that’s out there now. It’s coming up on the three year anniversary and I reckon it’s probably time. For now at least, it’s a story for another day.

Right now I want to talk about writing better messages in men’s toilets.

I work in the creative industries. That means I am fortunate enough that at any given time I am within 3m (max) distance to a Sharpie (I normally have at least two in my bag and one in my pocket) and, well, I want to start putting them to use (outside of meeting rooms).

So I’m going to.

And I want you to too.

So here’s the pitch. Go grab a Sharpie. Next time you’re in a public toilet – and it’s safe to do so – write something better than the guff featured on the above study. Anything. I’m going to start with the basics. Stuff like:

‘Things will be OK’

‘This too shall pass’

‘It’s OK to feel the way you’re feeling’

‘Try talking to someone about it’

(these are all mainly pants but I’m open to suggestions)

Once you’ve done it, take a photo of it, then reply to this email with it as an attachment. I’ve no idea if it’ll make a difference. But it’s a start. And Christ knows we need one.

Caveats:
I am definitely not telling you to break the law (I am but you know what I mean). This is completely at your own risk! Any photos I upload will not be tagged (unless you specifically ask me to). Please do not put yourself in danger. And don’t do anything stupid / get yourself barred from any pubs or bars.

It was around this time last year that Scott Hutchison, lead singer of Frightened Rabbit, chose the long-term solution to a short-term problem. One of my favourite lyrics of his is simply ‘And while I’m alive, I’ll make tiny changes to earth’ – this, what I’m asking of you right now, is that.

Try it. And see.

Hit reply and let me know how you get on.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS LINKS.

STOP. BONUS TIME.

Five things on Friday on Sunday #296

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, May 12th, 2019.

Newsletter #296: Introduction


Well. That did not feel like a four day week at all.

Hello. I hope you’re having a nice day. I write to you from the sofa. Brunch (it’s 13:35 on a Sunday. It’s lunch. But there’s bacon, and avocado, so it’s brunch) is sizzling away, the doors are open, and a soft spring breeze is tickling the hairs on the back of my neck.

Normally, I write this thing in dribs and drabs. Notes here, an email to myself there; more often than not a TextEdit window stays open on the desktop permanently throughout the week gathering the moss that’ll become Five things on Friday. Normally.

This week however has not been normal. An obscene amount of work sat on the To Do. And given that we here in England started the week with a Bank Holiday, that five days of work was compressed into four which, thanks to an abundance of meetings, in turn, compressed into three. I say again, that did not feel like a four day week at all.

This edition, I fear, will take most of today – on and off. We shall see.

Yesterday I had bottomless brunch (again, this was definitely lunch (the place doesn’t open until 12 pm for crying out) but the alliteration doesn’t work so brunch it shall remain) at Aqua Kyoto off Oxford Street. My friend Ross is visiting from Australia and what better excuse to go and eat a lot of sushi, drink copious amounts of bubbles, and laugh a helluva lot? Precisely. It’s recommended by the way. If only for the gamut of human that decides that brunch at Aqua Kyoto is a good idea. It is, by the way. A good idea. Did I mention?

What else can I tell you?

Thank you to all the people that have written back and/or hit that reply button over the past week. You’re all so bloody lovely (I say that fairly regularly I know but it is true) and the spread of connections that live among the subs list really is quite something. And to those of you who wrote specifically to ask not to be removed from the mailer – simply by reading this note right now you are immediately removed from the pool. So don’t panic. All will be fine.

Where was I?

Ah, that’s right. It is a peaceful and relaxing Sunday. Grand Budapest Hotel is on in the background as I write. And like a warm coat on a cold day, I am wrapping up in it while I go looking for the Five Things for this week.

So shall we do this thing?

Let’s.

1. PUNK AF

Alex Myers. He’s a decent bloke. When he says something like this (pictured), about a client his agency has had a fairly long and famous relationship with, you know something is up.

Kinda stinks, right?

Worth clicking through on the image and reading the thread. Brewdog James tries to reply. Alex rightly responds with detail. Also, perhaps tellingly, the founder [of comms agency] Mr President responded with a similar story.

Since tweeting about it, Manifest has published the original ideas and concepts and while I don’t think there will be any kind of legal recourse (or payment for the idea), I do applaud Alex and his lot for going public with this issue.

It is, sadly, something that happens all too often in comms/marketing/advertising. I’ve seen it first hand and it really stings (especially in FREE WORK / PITCH LAND – which is generally insane).

2. AGNOTOLOGY AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL FRAGMENTATION

You had to read that a few times, and probably say it out loud twice, before it went in, right? Me too.

“Epistemology is the term that describes how we know what we know. Most people who think about knowledge think about the processes of obtaining it. Ignorance is often assumed to be not-yet-knowledgeable. But what if ignorance is strategically manufactured? What if the tools of knowledge production are perverted to enable ignorance?

In 1995, Robert Proctor and Iain Boal coined the term “agnotology” to describe the strategic and purposeful production of ignorance. In an edited volume called Agnotology, Proctor and Londa Schiebinger collect essays detailing how agnotology is achieved. Whether we’re talking about the erasure of history or the undoing of scientific knowledge, agnotology is a tool of oppression by the powerful.”

Tell you something I read a few times: this transcript of a talk by danah boyd. Its title, as above. Be warned: it is not fun reading.

But you should read it anyway.

Related: ‘What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right‘ is equally sobering (and do please read it).

(via Boing Boing – further reading there also)

3. PLAYLIST STUFFING AND SEO. GAMING THE SYSTEM.

This is really, really interesting.

One Instagram leads to one playlist that leads to a rabbit hole of SEO and streaming gamification and monetisation.

Almost like it was done on purpose…

4. PRISON CONSULTANTS

I haven’t read any Tyler Cowen for a while but this article from the BBC reminded me that yes, indeed, there really are markets in everything.

5. FENCING. ANXIETY. PERFORMANCE.

‘I’m an Olympian and I can’t even f***?’

Three and a bit things about tha amazing Jason Rogers.

1. He’s a silver medallist Olympic fencer (and a hero to my brother).
2. I used to work with him at Ogilvy.
3. He’s a bloody good (and courageous) writer.

Read more about point three in this article in Men’s Health.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS LINKS.

STOP. BONUS TIME.

Five things on Friday on Sunday #295

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, May 5th, 2019.

Newsletter #295: Introduction


Well hello there.

Here are a few things in my head for the week of Justin Timberlake’s annual search bump on YouTube (completely true).

First thing in my head as I look toward the summer break (newbies, I tend to take July and August off writing FToF), is probably using some of my weekly email credits to give the newsletter mailing list a decent clean. I’m coming up on 2000 subscribers which, for those in the know, is tipping point over into Mailchimp Pro. The open rate hovers around 50-60% each week meaning there’s at least 500 or so folk who just aren’t reading – and why should I contribute to their email overload?

How exciting is newsletter admin? Not very, is the answer – so I’ll probably delete this whole paragraph (if I remember by the time I get to the end of this).

Second thing in my head is, of course, all the Facebook news. We’re at the end of the week and I would argue that most of the hot-takes that came in so soon after F8’s early announcements seemed to have missed the one major underlying sub-plot: the newsfeed as we know it is coming to an end. I’m still noodling on this and it might make its way into the trades next week (Hi Stephen – I have a pitch for you). We’ll see. I guess the underlying point is: if these changes come as a surprise then you’ve not been paying attention.

More to follow later in the week (maybe/hopefully).

Third and final thing. It’s Sunday at 733am as I write this section. It’s Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK. Meaning one thing and one thing only: if, like me, you have a Mon-Fri alarm set on your phone, now would be a really good time to turn that off.

Shall we crack on with the things? Let’s.

1. TONY SLATTERY

Growing up in the 90s and staying up late on a Friday night to watch Whose Line Is It Anyway was always a highlight of the week. Seeing Proops, Lawrence, and Slattery absolutely kill it week in week out in improv – IMPROV! – was a joy to behold.

Then Tony disappeared off our screens and, well, this is what happened next.

The best thing in the newsletter this week by a mile. Read it, then go and say hi to Tony on Twitter. He’s enjoying a resurgence right now – and long may it continue.

Here’s to Tony, here’s to Mark Michael Hutchinson, and here’s to unconditional love.

2. A SECTION DEDICATED TO A HANDFUL OF TUBE ADS I’VE SEEN RECENTLY

Changing jobs means changing commutes. The Digitas office over at Television Centre is reachable a number of ways the majority of which require a Tube journey.

Here are three ads that I’ve caught my eye recently. For no other reason than when you’re standing for 20mins and this is all you can see, you can’t help but think about where this stuff comes from and the choices made behind the work (well, I can’t).

AD ONE: THE BELGRAVIA CENTRE

There’s a lot to love here.

The white background. The arbitrary Month 1, Month 4, Month 8 steps. The weird growing font (actually maybe that’s a product message maybe).

The best bit? The social icons. From left to right we’ve got, Trustpilot, Facebook, Twitter, Google (Plus? – I mean it must be but it can’t be, surely?), YouTube, and Instagram. I mean, I acknowledge them as icons but they look like buttons I can’t push. ‘Click here to go to our Twitter page’ on a Tube ad. What do I use them for?

I’m so confused.

AD TWO: MORTAL KOMBAT 11

‘CRUSH SKULLS. NOT CANDY.’ – Great line. Liked that. A lot.

My brain went:
‘Oh because everyone is so used to playing Candy Crush on the Tube they should sort themselves out and play a proper game – like Mortal Kombat 11’.

But it went:
‘Yeah but it’s a console game so you can’t play it on the Tube, therefore, the comparison isn’t that great. Oh no hang on, it is headed to Nintendo Switch (or as the small print calls it ‘Switch Format’) and that is portable so the comparison does actually kind of work but the ad purposefully making the PS4 version the hero here and the ‘switch format’ release is only mentioned in the small print as coming out three weeks after everyone else – ugh, why am I over-thinking this?’

In short: nice. Does the job. But realistically, no one carries their PS4 on the Tube.

AD THREE: JUST EAT

‘Oh look! That one’s got my name in it’

Then I went down the rabbit hole of CAN YOU IMAGINE IF THIS APPEARED ON FACEBOOK? AND YOU HAD ACTUALLY SPOKEN ABOUT KFC THAT DAY? ALL KINDS OF MAD SHIZZLE WOULD BE FLYING AROUND YOUR HEAD, AMIRITE?

But it wasn’t on Facebook. It was on the Tube. Meaning it was just a coincidence.

Imagine that?

—–

Seen any good Tube ads lately? Have a strong opinion on some Out Of Home? Send it over. I think I’ve just about recovered from . So yeah, let’s give this one a shot.

3. ELLIPSES

This week, the Quartz obsession is three little dots that have come to mean so much and yet so little.

Fun fact: the first use ellipsis can be dated as far back as 1588.

Every day’s a school day.

Go read the obsession. Educate thyself (and be nerdy at parties)…

4. APPLE WANTS IT TO BE ILLEGAL FOR YOU TO FIX YOUR OWN PHONE.

“In recent weeks, an Apple representative and a lobbyist for CompTIA, a trade organization that represents big tech companies, have been privately meeting with legislators in California to encourage them to kill legislation that would make it easier for consumers to repair their electronics…

The lobbyists brought an iPhone to the meetings and showed lawmakers and their legislative aides the internal components of the phone. The lobbyists said that if improperly disassembled, consumers who are trying to fix their own iPhone could hurt themselves by puncturing the lithium-ion battery…

…In the past, Apple has lobbied against so-called right to repair legislation—which would require Apple and other electronics companies to sell repair parts and tools, and make diagnostic and repair information available to the general public.”

Those pieces there taken from this Motherboard article reporting on the lengths Apple will go to own the customer experience: rolling out consumer lock-in at every available opportunity.

Absolutely mental.

And completely par for the course for Apple. The ‘Right to Repair’ movement (how this is even a thing I don’t know) is why you all read about farmers in Nebraska hacking their tractors with Ukranian firmware (FToF #248) 18mths ago. And now it looks like the bill is on hold thanks to the vague fears that Apple + co has allegedly planted in the aforementioned lawmakers.

I read something yonks ago about how a new generation of hardware is changing repair shops across the globe (FROM a piece of tech put together by people and machines that can be taken apart, tinkered with and put back together again TO a sealed glass artefact that can only be accessed by the right plug and software) and now even the new tools are being suppressed… it does not bode well for the future.

Reminds me of when yours truly used to hang out at the Tuttle Club and repair people’s phones in the corner…

Pasty little fella back then – can you name the phones tho?

Point is, specialist skills and repair knowledge is becoming sparse and the arbiters of the tools required are now at the point where they’d *use actual legislation* to prevent people (that SPENT OVER A THOUSAND DOLLARS on a piece of technology THAT THEY OWN THEMSELVES) ever actually getting under the hood of the thing. Yeah, as I said – completely mental.


Can we ever trust technology? Forget the tech, it’s the people behind it all that should have you worried…

5. REUTERS, NETFLIX, AND THE PROBLEM WITH BAD HEADLINES

Last week this headline was everywhere:

If you’ve not seen the show or heard of it before, the Netflix series is a teen drama about a girl who takes her own life and leaves 13 cassette tapes explaining her reasons why. It is mostly experienced through the eyes of her best friend, Clay, who listens to all of the tapes episode by episode and gets to understand the series of events that led to Hannah’s decision. That decision – the act and the impact thereof – is not shied away from. I’ve seen it and it is a hard watch.

Speaking about, dealing with, addressing suicide in any way is really hard. Of course it is. Media representations even more so. In the few brushes I’ve had with it in my life, the damage it can wreak is unconscionable. The pain and subsequent scarring it leaves behind – physically and mentally – are almost impossible to address. It is hard to quantify. Hard to qualify. The guilt. The anger. The loss. All of it.

When 13RW first arrived on our screens, there was a bit of press pushback ‘This will romanticize suicide!’ they said, and at first take at the headline above, it would seem it has done just that.

But that is a bad headline. Because while correlation MAY have been found, causation has not. Reuters does eventually explain this in the article *in the fourth paragraph* – however in the only-read-the-headline-quick-better-tweet-that-and-get-people-stupid-angry* online world of today, this is irresponsible reporting. In short: you kinda expect more from Reuters.

Buzzfeed News on the other hand? They went with this:

An infinitely better headline that gets to the point at hand faster and with care.

I told you about Danny Wallace and his thing about how we’re all reacting more, thinking less. This story – this headline – is one of those examples where that has happened. Irresponsible click-bait is bad. So it falls on us, the consumers of this media to think more, react less.

The Buzzfeed piece is worth a read by the way.

Suicide btw? Not great.

You wanna talk about it ever, there are sources online for that. But if you want to talk to someone else other than CALM or The Samaritans, and maybe compare notes or whatever, you can hit that reply button.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

YOU’RE SO CLOSE TO THE END YOU CAN ALMOST SMELL IT. THE THINGS ARE GONE, WE’RE PAST THE ESSENTIALS, WHICH MEANS YOU’RE INTO THE FINAL SLOG. THE ENDGAME. THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS THINGS.

LET’S DO THIS.

Five things on Friday on Sunday #294

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, April 26th, 2019.

Newsletter #294: Introduction


In news that will surprise almost none of you, I saw AVENGERS: ENDGAME this week and absolutely loved it. WHAT A FILM. What. A. Film. A truly once in a generation moment. So much on-point fan-service. Such a perfect ending to the 22-movie set. I couple of niggles – all entirely forgivable.

It’s not over. But this volume certainly is. And what an incredible journey it has been.

That is all I will say. If you’re reading this and you HAVE seen it, then hit that REPLY button and tell me your favourite bit (and I’ll tell you mine – so many!!!)

What else can I tell you?

Oh yeah, I’m kinda off Twitter at the moment.

Well, trying to be.

I still have to go there for work/library reasons (if you ever want a preview of what’s going to be in this week’s edition, a dig into my Likes should serve you well) but creating tweets, spending any length of time on the platform etc… that’s stopping.

Not for distraction purposes. Nor my annual two-month break or anything like that. This is different. For some reason, this past week, the whole Jack-Dorsey-meets-President Trump thing that happened really left a sour taste in my mouth. Blegh.

To be clear:

Twitter the product is amazing. It has completely changed the way the world communicates and has brought news and people genuinely closer than ever.

Twitter the company, I’m sure is fantastic – and I know a fair few people who love working there.

Twitter the platform for inciting hatred and enabling abuse? That I am not so much a fan of.

When Twitter’s CEO participates in a conversation at TED (well worth a watch btw) and they have to turn off the livestreams because too many people kept asking him when he was going to get rid of the nazis (almost a true story) you’d think that might be a problem (the sigh that Jack gives when he is actually asked this question is telling).

When the platform is unable to stamp out white supremacy due to it sounding remarkably similar to some of the more well known / right-wing members of the GOP, you’d think you might have a problem.

And when the CEO decides to take a closed meeting with arguably the most dangerous racist in the world, you’d think you might have a problem.

This is in the same week that Twitter reported its revenue was up again (we’ll come back to the specifics shortly). Revenue that turns a profit is great. This has been consistent for a while now. Since about two years into Trump’s presidency. That golden goose, man. That TOS-breaking, hatred-inciting, Twitter-revenue-generating Golden Goose. What a doozy.

If you’ve heard me give a trend presentation over the past few years, you may recall me comparing Donald Trump to Ryan Giggs. In short, I’ve long believed that with Trump, global Twitter is having its own Ryan Giggs moment

Let me unpack that a bit. A few years ago I wrote about how the now infamous Giggs superinjunction drove UK users to the platform. And that in light of recent user growth slowdown, maybe it needed another.

Trump is to global Twitter today what Giggs was in the UK then. Every single media publication around the world reports on what Trump tweets. Driving more users to the platform, meaning more ads can be shown, and more money can be made.

It’s no wonder that Twitter is now ending its reporting of its monthly active users (MAUs) and instead is focusing on monetizable daily active users (mDAUs).

And when it’s your eyes that are being monetized. To help Twitter make money, to help Twitter make money when it simply refuses to enact its own policies on the golden-spray-tanned goose that laid the golden egg…

Well, as I said, it kinda leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Will I end up tweeting again? Probably.

Do I still have to visit the platform occasionally? Of course.

But I’m cross. So I’m switching it off and stepping away for a bit.

Which is nearly always the best thing to do.

——–
—–
——–

Right, where was I?

Oh. That’s right, I have a newsletter to write. Sorry. Went off on one there a bit. Guess I needed to get it off my chest.

Shall we do get on with THE THINGS?

Let’s.

1. BITMOJI BUT FOR GAMING

Well, I didn’t see that one coming.

In its ongoing fight for relevance…

Actually, no. I’m going stop being mean to Snapchat now. The landmark AR work – aka ‘Landmarkers‘ – I put in this thing a couple of weeks ago was superb and it’s great to continue to see Snap innovating – let’s try again.

Snapchat is back in FToF this week, arriving here with yet another innovation. This time with Bitmoji. Specifically, launching a Bitmoji for games SDK meaning that, depending on which publishers embrace it, you’ll soon be able to roll your Bitmoji out when you’re playing your video games.

This reminds me fair old bit of the Nintendo Mii product but a) infinitely better, b) cross-platform, and c) transferable. I may not use Snapchat that much (if at all) but I use Bitmoji a ton. And by adding this into gaming, this negates the need for any character-building layer upfront. Admittedly this will not work for all games (World of Warcraft is prolly a big no no)

If I recall correctly, Snap bought Bitmoji I think around 2016ish? It then started integrating into other services a year or so later I think. eg: I use GBoard on my Pixel and I can repsond with Bitmoji right in the keyboard – which is ace.

Point is: this is smart. And it’s good to see Snap pushing Bitmoji that little bit further.

More please.

2. GENERATIONAL THEORY, AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE AVENGERS (MCU)

Thanks to Matt Muir for throwing this one my way. It is so SLAP BANG in the middle of my interests. The title says it all and if that doesn’t grab you, then this link ain’t for you.

(it’s good long read, btw – make a cuppa).

3. ADS IN THE GAME

I think about in-game advertising a lot.

I work in the latter and the former is my hobby. Arguing with my personal confirmation bias re missed opportunities (eg: why don’t more brands advertise on Twitch? Answer: ‘We’re not trying to reach gamers‘ (which is the wrong answer btw)) and looking to see where else you can monetise/get brands in.

I mean, did you know Nintendo added a Mercedes to its choice of cars on Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U?

Definitely one of the weirder brand tie-ups I’ve ever seen but still. The options are there but the roads are paved with pain points.

Ad folk not understanding how games’ development works (and why should they?) means there can sometimes be a huge disconnect between desired outcome and actual possibility. Point being, I may or may not have had this exchange on several occasions over the years:

‘James, you’re a gamer, can we speak to publisher X to put this idea in game Y’
‘That game is out in three months, let me talk to you about crunch‘

So you go, OK, what else can we do?

Cosmetics? Check. See Mercedes (and more).

Branded appearance in live spaces? Sure, brands have been doing this for over a decade thanks to Second Life. Fortnite is the new Second Life (it really is) and Marshmello has done it, more will follow (although the less said about MM’s most recent collab the better).

Buy ad-space in actual games? There are solutions for that too.

There are a few examples (and more) in this decent overview from John McCarthy.

Features my mate Tim too. So give it a read.

4. GOT CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTOS ON FLICKR? IBM HAS PROBABLY USED YOUR PHOTOS.

This isn’t new news. In fact, I put the link to this story in the bonus section of . If you missed it then, here’s a handy primer.

So yeah, I mentioned it a month ago and wanted to do some further investigation before I mentioned it again.

If you’re on Flickr, or have ever been on Flickr, and your photos have been licenced under Creative Commons, you should get over to the NBC link and type your Flickr ID into the tool they’ve built. It looks like this:

Type your ID in and it’ll tell if your photos are being non-consensually used to train IBM’s facial recognition machine.

If you get a hit and you’d like your photos to be removed from the dataset, then the next thing you need to do is email DIF Reseach team on (difres @ us dot ibm dot com) and tell them so.

I emailed John R Smith originally (as named and linked in the NBC article) on Mar 13. I chased last week, he forwarded the email to DiF Research and they came back to me the same day.

We’re in touch and I’m assured they’re in the process of removing my photos from the dataset. So I can do it, you can too.

I’m all for future technologies changing the world for good. I’m also all for data being owned by its creator and permission being sought wherever and whenever possible. This is a broadly dick move from IBM but I’m pleased that it is fixable (for those that know how to fix it).

5. MICHAEL WOLF

Michael Wolf, who photographed skyscrapers minus, dies at 65.

HONG KONG — Michael Wolf, a photographer who was known for his vertiginous depictions of rainbow-hued skyscrapers in Hong Kong as well as the minutiae of everyday life there, died on Thursday at his home in Cheung Chau, an outlying island near the city. He was 65.

His death was confirmed by his longtime representative, Sarah Greene, and his studio manager, Pierfrancesco Celada. They did not specify a cause but said he had died in his sleep.

You should read his obituary over at the New York Times.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

WELCOME TO THE BONUS SECTION. IT IS A SECTION OF THE NEWSLETTER WITH BONUS LINKS. AND NOW IT SHALL COMMENCE.

LET’S DO IT.

Five things on Friday #293

Things of note for the week ending Friday April 19th, 2019.

Newsletter #292: Introduction


It’s Good Friday. A Bank Holiday. Day one of the four day Easter weekend. I nearly didn’t write this week’s edition. ‘It’s a Bank Holiday, Whatters’, I said to myself ‘take the day off!’ – I normally do. As in, FToF normally skips Easter.

I considered it for a short while but then I checked the #5things tag in my inbox and it turns out I have just enough to pull an edition together so, given I have the content and the time, I figured why the hell not?

That said, in light of the restful nature of the day (and weekend trajectory) that I am writing to you, this week’s edition will attempt to be a tad restrained. Respectful both of your time and mine.

I’m also going to dick around with some of the templating in this week’s edition. A lovely reader highlighted that the weblink to the email isn’t very mobile friendly and I think it’s a fleshy end-user issue than that of Mailchimp. So I’m gonna try and fix that this week.

To the regulars, do please let me know if things look a bit… funky.
Newbies (all 25 of you this week) don’t worry, it’s normally better than this.

Sidenote: quite enjoying the fact that we’re 290+ issues in and NOW I decide I might want to make the thing look nicer. Hilare.

What else can I tell you?

This week has flown by, I know that much. A fair chunk of work. Some resourcing. A bit of Graham Norton. Some mentoring. All in all, a packed out week. It’s funny how four day weeks seem to be a shorter amount of time.

I’ve eaten a choc ice and I really shouldn’t have done. Damn.

Shall we crack on?

Let’s.

1. WHEN DO YOU KNOW YOU EMOTIONALLY MATURE?

I’m fairly certain these 26 ways to figure this out are written by Alain De Botton (happy to be wrong, mind). The first one reads:

1. You realise that most of the bad behaviour of other people really comes down to fear and anxiety – rather than, as it is generally easier to presume, nastiness or idiocy. You loosen your hold on self-righteousness and stop thinking of the world as populated by either monsters or fools. It makes things less black and white at first, but in time, a great deal more interesting.

If that hooks you in then go and read the others. I enjoyed it.

Something to read and reflect on. Breathing. That helps too (in an entirely meaningful and not at all sarcastic way – for real – breathing. Deep breaths. Calm. In for five out for ten. That kind of stuff. Do that. And also read the 26 things).

This is one of the best links in this week’s edition, btw.

2. FINE. LET’S TALK ABOUT LUSH THEN.

Ten days ago you couldn’t move on the internet for hot-takes about THE HUGE MASSIVE NEWS of LUSH announcing it was LEAVING social media!

I mean, honestly:

First thing, look at the original tweet. Look at it. The gif literally says WE’RE SWITCHING UP SOCIAL. Not off. Up.

‘Right, makes sense – for Lush at least’ – I thought. Then I promptly forgot about it. Until about four days later the following week when my boss (Hi Dani) asked for a POV on it and I ended pulling on the noodle that I’d discarded to a corner in my brain which subsequently turned from a ‘Sure, I’ve got one – when do you want it’ to ‘Here’s the whole darn thing in an email – actually this is alright, should I write it up properly and pitch it?’

And so we did.

Now you can go and read the article linked above (it’s on The Drum so if you’re not signed up to its free wall, that might annoy you) the two key things to take out are this:

1. Take note of what Lush is actually going to do next.
Everyone went nuts when it got announced. NUTS. The subsequent (and if you ask me entirely obvious) announcement that followed sailed completely under the radar. What’s that? You missed it did you? Funny that. Lush is still making content. It’s just asking its stores and its staff (and its community) to share it instead. Big woop. Basically, the exact same strategy – just using different/more human signposts instead.

2. Lush is bloody good at PR.
A tiny policy change? Tens of thousands of words and headlines. Phenomenal.

While it is a touch self-serving, I genuinely would love you to read the thing that I wrote. I remember thinking at the time ‘Surely this is obvious what’s going to happen next, right?’ and it was.

The ‘clue’ was in the gif.

I don’t know why more people didn’t call it.

3. FOLDING PHONES ARE GOING WELL THEN

I quite liked this video review (from The Verge).

Must’ve been shot before they all started breaking. Aye carumba.

I reckon Huawei will be testing the living hell out of its foldable entry now…

4. DISKOAVER WEEKLY

This is great.

My friend Kibbe has a playlist that she updates quasi-weekly-ish.

It’s called DISKOAVER WEEKLY (nice) and a) I think Kibbe is awesome, b) Kibbe has great taste in music, and c) you should add it your Spotify/sub to her newsletter update that goes with it.

Fun fact: Kibbe HATES EMAIL. We had a fair old back and forth this week on whether or not the playlist should be a newsletter and I think… I HOPE… that where Kibbe bottomed out on it works out. There’s only one way to find out…. AMIRITE?

Go get the playlist and go get that newsletter.

5. THANK YOU, NIK BUTLER

This newsletter started out as a blog post series (true story). At some point in history, I added a ‘Publish to Mailchimp’ plug into my WordPress and then I had a newsletter. At some point after that the newsletter became more popular than the blog itself.

So much more popular in fact that at the start of the year I stopped updating the blog entirely and left a ‘Hey, come subscribe to the newsletter’ note there instead (go see)

In short: I don’t update the website anymore. And as such, I’ve not been updating plug-ins, or databases or whatever. And this week it seemed to be under attack. Random admins appearing in my back end, so to speak. It was not fun.

My guy. My man. The boss of all back-end ops that not runs the hosting but also set this whole thing up originally, Mr Nicholas Butler – aka @loudmouthman – has been phenomenal throughout. Fixing (or killing) anything that looked like a backdoor and basically being an awesome human.

Thanks Nik.

If you, dear reader, are looking for someone to help out on ANYTHING web/hosting/backend/security… or literally everything else I literally know nothing about then hit Nik up. Or reply to this email and I’ll connect you.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

WELCOME TO THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS FOR BONUS EYES. LOOK AT YOUR LOVELY BONUS EYES.

JOKES ASIDE, THERE ARE SOME ABSOLUTE CRACKERS HERE. STRAP IN.