Things are in my head; unformed thoughts with no shape or thread.
They shimmer and shake, become solid and break…
Brain fire burning, intense and blue.
Leading me somewhere, some place true.
Destined for things that have yet passed,
life taking shape, filling out at last.
We’re nowhere near done, but far from the start.
My ardent thoughts give me strength of heart.
— Moleskine Entry 26/05/10
I repeat, the iPad will not be the death of print.
Props to Rolling Stone, Steve Waddington and Jon Mulholland; three voices of sanity in a sea of madness.
Technology is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But people always seem to forget the practicalities. The feel of a good book in your hands, the smell of a fresh off-the-shelf comic book, the joy of being able to pass on that knowledge-imbibed article to the next suitably eager set of hands.
I think it was Russell Buckley, now a VP at Admob, who quite rightly pointed out that although mobile vouchers were indeed ‘the future’, nothing could prevent the person behind the till forgetting their glasses that day. The iPad overheats, it reflects poorly in bright light and it, just like every other new piece of media technology of recent years, is just another medium.
As Steve puts it quite rightly in his blog post:
The iPad will no more spell the end of print than any previous generation of technology. Radios, TVs, PCs, CD-ROMs and the internet were all at one time set to hasten the demise of print.
.
The iPad is simply another device in the ongoing narrative of an industry reeling from the shift towards advertising online, the internet as a low cost real time distribution platform, and competition for consumer attention from screen based media.
For the record, I quite like my iPad. But the death knell for all paper-based ocular consumption it is not.
We just found this awesome piece of content via our new favourite blog, Brandflakes for Breakfast.
The video, put together by Wieden+Kennedy for Nike, is called ‘WRITE THE FUTURE’ and well… it’s brilliant.
Enjoy.
Like it? Love it? Share it.
Have a great weekend.
UPDATE: Here’s a great piece of additional insight from Adam Vincenzi
I’ve just woken up in Cookham, just outside of Maidenhead.
Not Dubai, where I was last week, or in fact London – where I actually live. Nope. Today I am in Cookham.
Why? Allow me to explain.
A couple of months ago my old boss dropped me an email containing two words and one link.
“Dude, thoughts?”
– http://www.themarketingacademy.org.uk
I clicked…
The Marketing Academy, launched earlier this year by The Marketing Hall of Legends (UK), has apparently been created to “develop leadership capability in talented marketers through the medium of mentoring, coaching and experiential learning” and, by the looks of things, Scroggsy was asking me if I knew anyone he could nominate.
It was a busy day, things were piling up. I didn’t get much chance to look at it but I didn’t want to leave him hanging, so later that afternoon I sent back my reply –
“Can’t think of anyone, sorry.”
“Errrr you?” came the response.
Me? I looked again.
“Dude, I’d LOVE to do that!”
and again
“Actually, that’d be really freakin’ cool… Yes please!”
and again
“OK, so I’ve now read the entire website. Twice. Yes x1million.”
Three email responses in the space of ten minutes. Scroggs confirmed, I was going in.
Not. Bad. At. All.
So, being nominated in the first instance, we’ll call that phase zero.
A few days later, confirmation arrived. This time with details about the lengthy application process. With each phase being used to whittle down the numbers to the final 28 placements. They went something like this (I’ll try and keep it brief):
Phase one, we need – :
Phase two:
Phase three, psychometric testing & panel;
I made it through and finished the final part of it just a few weeks ago. I then found out the day before I went away on holiday that I had won a place onto the scholarship!!!
‘Over the chuffin’ moon’ doesn’t really do it justice. I’m ecstatic. <GRIN>
I’m one day in and we’ve still only just scratched the surface of what we’re here to do. The potential to learn, change and improve is massive and I am relishing the challenge before me. I’m sure there’ll be so much more to talk about once I’m up and running but for now…
Bring. It. On.
Before I sign off, some thank yous:
I’ll link you all shortly, I’m late for class!
It’s time for a much needed holiday.
We haven’t had a proper break since L.A. last April. So yes, almost exactly a year.
Busy times.
Alright I’ve travelled a fair bit since then but, as much as you might disagree with me, holidays they were not (weekend breaks don’t count).
I’ve got a few posts saved in draft backstage here at my happy place which, all going well, I’ll roll out when I’m back.
But for now no Mac, no phone, no Twitter and no blogs.
See you in a week…
Moleskine entry: August 23rd, 2009
“Hair and make-up sir?”
“Um… Oh… Er..”
“Is the anything in particular you want doing?”
“Um… A photo?”
“Ok well some boys want their hair and make-up done, some don’t. Some just want to walk on… eau natural.”
What do you think?
Am I a hair and make-up kind of guy or not? You know me, right?
No crazy exploits this time ’round.
No bonkers make-up or dodgy eyeliner, just some good old fashioned basic foundation, a friendly photographer and of course, a smattering of James Whatley.
Our very own Thom James shared this with us last week and we loved it so much we thought we’d put it on our blog –
“A clever use of ‘message as the medium'” – as Thom so rightly put it last week.
Powerful too. Good stuff.
Rough translation via Google Translate:
“On the occasion of World Water Day, BDDP Unlimited partner NGO Solidarity International, which specializes in coverage of basic needs (including water supply), has created an unprecedented public event: to better detect bystanders, the agency has devised a poster of a new genus, using water directly as a medium. A wall of water events was set in the very heart of Paris and delivered messages for one week causing the awareness of pedestrians on the damage caused by the non-potable water in the world.”
Last Wednesday, Really Mobile was invited along to Sagem’s blogger/press conference for their new and upcoming Puma Phone, so Vikki and I went along to see what’s what.
Available from mid-May, the Puma Phone is a bold step in a new direction from the world-famous sports brand – and at first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a misstep. Puma obviously aren’t known for their technology advances and I think I’m being more than fair if I say that Sagem aren’t exactly known for it either. To say I went in slightly cynical, might be an understatement.
Me & my Moleskine
Me & my Moleskine.
As taken by the marvellous Emily Webber at Dan Light’s VHS Movie Club.
Emily also takes photos of London Shop Fronts, they’re kinda cool too.
whatleydude.com 