Things of note for the week ending Sunday July 9th, 2023.

Three hundred and fifty editions eh?

Not bad for what started out as a weekly exercise in writing discipline way back in 2011 is now a regular an occasional newsletter with over 4000 subscribers.

Absolutely nuts.

I know I always tend to start these things off with a thank you but I am truly so grateful that literally anyone takes the time out to read this thing.

Cheers to you.

Also, these stats are pretty insane y’all.

So yeah, THANKS. You’re all very beautiful and actually quite lovely.

x

What else can I tell you?

Ah yes, in last week’s edition I ‘swapped things’ with of . One of us had to go first and that was me. So a few hours after FTOF #349 went out, Rob published his edition featuring yours truly.

So if you want to read what I said in response to the brief ‘What quote or idea consistently helps you either slow down, or keep going’, then you just need skip over to this edition of Salmon Theory to find out.

More broadly, Rob’s newsletter is great. He is really good at articulating what it means to be a planner/strategist. And if you ever need to feel like you’re not alone in this job, go read Salmon Theory.

x

Right. With all that out the way, shall we get to this week’s things?

LET’S.

1. THE INEVITABLE POST THAT EVERY SINGLE NEWSLETTER HAS OPENED WITH THIS WEEK

Yes, I am on Threads.

It’s a sorry state of affairs when your preferred choice of social media* ultimately comes down to which billionaire you despise the least but alas, that seems to be where we are. Better the devil you know (Zuck) vs the devil you don’t also know but is probably actually an all out sociopath (Musk), right? 😬

Rumoured to be dropping for a while now, all hell broke loose earlier this week when the US + UK (and some VPN’d Europeans) had Threads teasers drop in their respective Instagram accounts. So heavy was the draw that I actually put the IG app back on my phone for the first time since 2019.

At the time of writing, Threads user #1 confirmed that the platform had already secured 70 million sign ups. Sign ups are one thing, retaining those sign ups into DAUs and MAUS, therein lies the challenge.

(want to know your user number? Head to your Instagram profile and look for the number under your profile photo. I’m user #56821. Not bad).

So far though, I’m liking it.

The onboarding was simple, the friend-finding algorithm is working well for me (YMMV), and as soon as it launches a few more things such as a decent search, trending topics, and a web interface well, that’s me done with Twitter for good I guess. Oh, I also like the carousel default for photos – (you can/brands will have fun with this). Guess all we need is a embed integration now eh?

For what it’s worth, I thought John Gruber’s take over on Daring Fireball – ‘Threads’, – was v good.

For me personally, I’ve been looking for reasons to give up Twitter for a while now. Not having a ‘home’ was one of the reasons I stuck around.

With the app/service closing in on 100m sign ups in its first week (!!!), I think this might be where I find my people again.

FWIW, given the meta-ownership, I’m also going to remain semi-active on Bluesky (it’s so chaotic, I love it) but for now, me and Threads are tight.

Give me a web interface to Threads and I doubt I’ll ever go back to Twitter again. I’m so done with everything it’s become. Advertisers are leaving/have left in their droves and the biggest man-baby in the world has destroyed everything about it that I loved.

Threads it is then.

See you there?

*where my friends and community are. Bluesky/T2/Mastodon et al, are all great – but the user numbers, and frankly the people I know and have followed for years just aren’t there. FWIW, I’m probably going to keep my Bluesky profile active. The community there is mega chaotic and seemingly just KIND. Again, YMMV.

2. THE BEAUTY OF HUMANITY WHEN WE THINK NOBODY IS LOOKING

It’s Nice That, writes:

Rachael Wright views the image as one that demonstrates the pull of the sea. “The sea is such a mysterious, powerful draw and the more I wonder why people stand and stare at it, the more possibilities I come up with.” Other moments that stand out for Rachael are moments of joy – like the image of Buddhists monks jumping into the waves; “a reminder that we all have an inner child who longs to come out to play.”

I love these.

They remind me of home.

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

Not much to report this week. Honestly. Really. Truly.

Tell you what though, this piece ‘Opening a Cannes of Worms’, from my friend and pal, Jonathan Stringfield, on whether or not the 70th edition of the Cannes Festival of Creativity finally signalled the arrival of gaming in the marketing world is very good.

And I absolutely recommend you read it x

What else?

Oh yeah, I noted that Wimbledon launched a new version of its ‘Wimbleworld’ in Fortnite this year (vs Roblox last year) What with Nike doing the same (opting for Fortnite v Roblox for Airphoria) just last month well… 🎵 Times they are a-changin’… 🎵

UEFN (Unreal Editor for Fortnite) is THE game-changer.

You just don’t know it yet.

(it’d be lovely for UEFN to be on Mac but well, they had quite the falling out)

Speaking of Fortnite, you’re a player of Fortnite – or Fall Guys (or another Epic Game that features an in-game currency) – and you’re in the UK, Canada or Mexico then you may have received an email like this:

That’s right, thanks to our good friend, inflation, the cost of in-game currency is going up. For Fortniters, that looks like this:

Like pretty much everything else right now, even the price of virtual currency is going up. If you’re smart (and have the dollar to spend), stock up on v-bucks now.

—

The last thing I think that’s worth a mention is, according to this redditor, Valve – makers (among many other things) of the Steam games platform – is not willing to publish games with AI generated content anymore.

reddit.com/r/aigamedev/comments/142j3yt/valve_is_not_willing_to_publish_games_with_ai/

I am pleased about this

PS. Headed to Gamescom this year? Me too! Catch up?

4. WHO KILLED GOOGLE READER?

My heart still weeps.

Can you believe it’s been TEN YEARS since we lost the world’s favourite web app?

It was so perfect. So so so so so perfect. Ach. I miss it.

The Verge has a fantastic if ultimately truly saddening reflection of a service that started off life as a happy accident but was ultimately killed by Google’s relentless obsession on apps that serve billions (vs millions).

If you’ve never even heard of Google Reader before, then I cannot ask you enough to please read this article. It’s a great glimpse into something that was so ahead of its time… us ex-GReaders still mourn for it.

5. THE ENCOURAGEMENT MANIFESTO

Substack is lovely. Last week, after sharing the growth successes of FToF with the Notes community over there, I got into a nice back and forth with . After some friendly exchanges, I inquired after which of their newsletters I should look into and they recommended this:

The manifesto newsletter.

And now I’m recommending it to you 🙂

PS. Why not read how it all started as well?

BONUS SECTION

THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS BUT DUE TO SUBJECTIVE REASONS ENTIRELY OF MY OWN MAKING ARE REDUCED TO LINKS AND PITH ONLY.

• Another Cannes thing, ‘If Cannes wasn’t about the work, it’s your own fault’ – I like this. Cannes gets a lot of flack but if you’re there, and you look past the crap, you can find gold in dem hills. But its on you to find it (or just shut up about it if you can’t be bothered to put the effort in)

• ‘I miss the internet’ – timely.

• Related: ‘So where are we all supposed to go now?’ from The Verge hit me right in the feels.

• Roblox wants to shed its ‘metaverse’ label.
  (IF ROBLOX IS SAYING IT THEN WILL YOU STOP SMASHING IT ALL OVER YOUR DECKS PLEASE MEDIA AGENCIES THANKS X)

• Related: the Metaverse Study for the European Parliament [PDF link] is some thoroughly mental reading. Mainly because under the page marked ‘Definition of Metaverse’ – it first just lists a bunch of them without committing to any but then, later, takes a full 145 pages to actually say ‘well, it’s everything really’ (!) – plus it quotes that ridiculous McKinsey ‘$5 trillion’ figure (you know the one), rendering the entire report utterly useless. What a waste of time.

• Related, again – everyone seems to be waking up to the metaverse being over. Reminder: I wrote this in MAY 2022. ‘The metaverse doesn’t exist, you’re talking about gaming’

• A great interview with the co-founder of Popbitch, Camilla Wright (made their first mobile app, y’know – years ago. On Symbian. That’s how long ago). Side: did you read THE EMAIL? Incredible.

• Claire Hollands and I did the Marketing Academy together (many moons ago). She’s now CEO over at Mullen Lowe and this is a great interview.

• The art of portraying power, wealth, and entitlement. From the FT. Excellent.

• Meta’s ‘System Cards’ are interesting.

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

There is still time to sponsor me for August’s Tough Mudder. If you’ve ever found literally any value from this entirely free newsletter. Then please do express that value with real world money to help a real world cause – War Child.

Additionally, if you liked this 350th edition of Five things on Friday, then please do recommend it to a friend, colleague, or department. This thing has grown by word of mouth ALONE so the more people you tell about it, the happier I get.

That’s nice isn’t it? Go on then. Off you pop.

In the meantime, thanks for reading (thanks for donating).

And thanks for being awesome.

Whatley out x

PS. Last thing, promise. If you’re having a bad day, don’t worry. It could be worse. You could be that person on Linkedin that told me Google Maps was the metaverse.

I wish I was making it up.

Things of note for the week ending Friday June 23rd, 2023

No things this week just Lions.

12 shortlists.

Seven Lions.

Four Gold. Two Silver. One Bronze.

Seven Lions awarded at the peer reviewed and judged Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity.

All seven for the OREO x Xbox partnership (aka ‘Cheat Cookies’ or ‘Unlock Playfulness’ – market depending), that launched at the turn of the year.

I led and sold in the strategy for this project when I was at Digitas, working with the amazing team at Saatch Saatchi Dusseldorf, in my role as European Strategy Lead for Mondelez bakery .

I cried.

Clients have been amazing.

And my old team have sent a million selfies.

I know it sounds mad but for me, this shit is important.

When it comes to the advertising industry, winning a Lion is IT.

Like that is IT.

People care about all the other awards, sure. But the big one, the one that really chuffing matters – it’s the Cannes Lion.

Winning a Lion at Cannes MATTERS.

I know this because the only other Lion that I have on my CV is the Bronze I’m credited on for the 2014 Expedia activation: Travel Your Tweet Interesting.

And I have always been proud of that.

But y’know what, I don’t talk about my upbringing that much (Dad was a carpenter, left when I was six or seven, Mum worked two jobs – in a pub and a supermarket) – I was recently sent a book called ‘Making it in the creative industry: A practical guide’ and it reminded me that actually, I’ve been really effing lucky to get where I am.

I grew up in Essex. I didn’t come into the ad industry knowing someone. I didn’t go to private school (I got my GSCEs at Castle View, Canvey Island, Essex). I had free school dinners (had to queue up at reception every lunchtime and get the little bus ticket voucher). I didn’t go to university and I don’t have a degree. No one paid for me to get anywhere. No one opened doors. I’m a white cis-het male and so the system is easier for me to navigate – there’s privilege there. I acknowledge that.

Today though, I acknowledge my background. My working class roots. I’m a member of Jed Hallam’s common people and proud.

And today I’ve got four gold lions.

You may not care about Cannes. And y’know what, if you’d asked me before this week, I probably would’ve said I don’t care as well.

But then we won. And I sobbed. Sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. Uncontrollably! Sobbed for the validation of my peers. Sobbed for achieving the heights on a campaign strategy and idea we believed in so much. Sobbed for all those bastards that never really knew what to do with me when they found me working in their team.

And yet here I am. With FOUR GOLD Lions.

Speechless. Utterly speechless.

…

Normal service will resume next edition.

I’m done now.

Whatley out x

PS. Watch the case film.

PPS. Those Lions in full:

GOLD: DIRECT, FOOD & DRINK
GOLD: CULTURE & CONTEXT
GOLD: AUDIENCE, SOCIAL INSIGHT & ENGAGEMENT
GOLD: BRANDED CONTENT, INSIGHT & STRATEGY
SILVER: ENTERTAINMENT FOR GAMING, PARTNERSHIPS
SILVER: GAMING, DATA & TECHNOLOGY
BRONZE: BRAND EXPERIENCE & ACTIVATION

Things of note for the week ending Sunday June 18th 2023.

I snapped this Crown Plaza ad at Heathrow Airport last month. It’s in the corridors as you pass through security. If you made this, I only have one question: what the actual ever loving f*** were you thinking? Thanks x

INTRO

It’s been a minute. How have you been?

I’ve been: busy with work (more on that later) on holiday (ten year anniversary with the Mrs – Sorrento, was lovely), and then down and out with covid (do not recommend).

As I write to you it’s 942am on Sunday 18th June. It’s Father’s Day. The kids have delivered gifts, coffee, and cake (cake!) and so I’ve been left to relax in bed.

And here I am, writing to you.

I hope wherever you are in the world reading this you are well and happy. Life is hard at times. Sometimes it feels like it all of the time. The most important thing is that you stay. You are loved and appreciated more than you will ever know by people close to you and people who you’ve met only once but left a lifelong impression on.

So… if you take one thing from this week’s edition it’s this: stay.

What else can I tell you?

Oh yes! Thank you so much to the FToF readers that have kindly donated to the my Tough Mudder attempt (less than two months away!) – we’re still a little way off our target so if you enjoy this entirely free newsletter, and can spare a fiver or two FOR WAR CHILD on payday (stick a reminder in) then please donate here.

There’s been a lot going on across my broad spectrum of interestingness since we last spoke so I’ll try and keep this edition of THINGS tight and brief – we both know that won’t happen. But there’s no harm in trying, right?

Shall we?

TO THE THINGS!

1. 100 BARRINGTON

A dear friend of mine happens to be in charge of a ridiculous event space in South London called, 100 Barrington.

A few weeks months ago, and in the name updating their marketing material for ‘23 and beyond, 100 Barrington hosted one hell of a party – this one in fact.

Yours truly- along with some other VERY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE -bagged an invite and, as it was such an amazing evening, I made a promise to the hosts that I would gladly let you all know about it.

So in case you are looking for an events space in Brixton – for a summer party, a wedding, or planning ahead for Christmas – Give 100 Barrington a call.

Ask for Dan. And tell him James Whatley says hi x

2. OK LET’S TALK ABOUT THE METAVERSE VISION PRO

(I wasn’t going to write about this – it’s been done to death already and so many others have done a better job; I liked Ben Evans’ take. But a few people have asked and so OK fine).

On June 5th, Apple announced Vision Pro. A beta programme first generation mixed reality headset that will be made available from early 2024.

The price for this beta headset starts at $3499.

A few things.

Let’s talk about what the Vision Pro is:

• IT IS the start of a new category: consumer facing mixed reality device.

• IT IS a phenomenal amount of tech squeezed into what is basically curved glass.

• IT IS (in textbook Apple behaviour) a smart application and combination of existing technologies + some Apple magic. eg: eye-tracking and foveated rendering (the technology that only keeps high fidelity focus on the areas of the screen your eyes are looking at, delivering energy and memory efficiencies) has already been in PS VR2.

• IT IS v. exciting purely from a future-gazing entertainment perspective. The Disney+ integration (easily the best part of the entire presentation – casual Bob Iger) is great but I highly doubt it’ll stay VP-exclusive – so I look forward to that rolling out on other VR platforms eventually.

• IT IS (again, textbook Apple) a great communications exercise in how to root technology advancement in human-centric situations.

Let’s talk about what the Vision Pro isn’t:

• IT ISN’T anything to do with the sodding metaverse. And you can take Apple’s word for that. In fact, the M word wasn’t said, presented or inferred once throughout the entire 2hr WWDC event. Telling. More on this shortly…

• IT ISN’T – with its reported battery life of 2hrs – going to let you watch Everything Everywhere All At Once (2hrs 19mins) on a flight anytime soon.

• IT ISN’T going to change anything for at least 18-24mths. The US release date is scheduled for ‘early 2024’ with more countries to follow later in the year. Volume targets are low (and lowering) so don’t expect the THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR device to do iPhone numbers ay. That said, this early announcement specifically at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC – the clue’s in the name) gives devs a decent run up to get familiar with the tech and get some banging apps ready. So that’s exciting.

• IT ISN’T going to get families wearing these goggles during family events (that whole section was proper Black Mirror / divorced dad y’all).

So yeah, that’s the Vision Pro. A glimpse of an exciting/immersive future.

It’s mega premium, classic Apple, and dick all to do with the metaverse.

Related: the AFP asked me for some commentary – you can read that here – and Jamie East invited me onto The Sunday 7 to chat about it too, you can listen to that right here (from about 4mins 40).

IN OTHER NOT-THE-METAVERSE NEWS

• I spoke to Alex Hern at The Observer about bad consultants selling terrible experiences for his piece, ‘Is Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse over?’

• If you think your life is bad, it could be worse – you could’ve been the one that signed off ‘the Skodaverse’. Or worse: PWC in Decentraland.

• The Voice announced a ‘Roblox-Style’ metaverse called The Voice Studios. The only catch? They built it in Decentraland. How crap must the experience be in DCL if your own press release has to use Roblox to get press coverage? 😂

• Shed a tear for early retirement of the Chief Metaverse Officer role. According to AdAge, even the godmother herself has broadened out the title (print friendly link).

• Meta announced the Quest 3 (who for?) and didn’t use the M word (are they shying away now? Finally?)

• Everyone (well, everyone pictured in the middle of the image at the top of this section) says gaming is the ‘entry point’ to the metaverse, so why did the entire summer of gaming / Not-E3 / #SummerGameFest pass without a single developer or publisher mentioning it?

• And of course, throughout Apple’s entire WWDC they didn’t say ‘metaverse’ once.

Hilariously these last two points were noted and raised to me by a client (I have the best clients).

To quote Ben Evans: it is impossible to know what someone means when they use the word ‘metaverse’. It is a meaningless joke. A waste of time, breath, and usually, money.

With the entire gaming industry, Apple, and now seemingly Meta itself finally moving away from the word, will 2023 mean we’re finally binning the metaverse word off for good? It’s nearly been a year since I stood on stage and told you all it was waffle.

Glad everyone has caught up.

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

It’s been quite busy in the world of gaming. A whole host of announcements in/at Summer Game Fest meant that players will FEAST over the next 12-18mths.

Xbox by far and away had the best presentation of the show (you can watch the showcase, along with the Starfield direct deep dive right here).

I’m not going to go into the details of everything but overall highlights for me were:

• Fable (amazing trailer, no announcement date)

• Star Wars Outlaws (the gameplay trailer at Ubi Forward was great)

• New Prince of Persia (2.5d refresh, I’m in)

• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (rescue choppers, DUNE DLC!)

• Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga (I cannot wait for this)

• Starfield (seriously, looks nuts – No Man’s Sky and so much more)

• Jusant (‘climb, fall 23’ – is a great line)

• Assassin’s Creed Mirage (new AC based on old AC? Sign me up)

• Still Wakes the Deep (creepy af)

• Dungeons of Hinterberg (love the style and setting)

• Cyberpunk 2077: Phanom Liberty (I hope this is good)

• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (I am unashamedly a fan of all things Avatar so will absolutely be all over this)

AND THAT’S JUST OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD AND THERE ARE STILL ANNOUNCEMENTS TO COME.

There has never been a better time to get into gaming.

Lovely.

Next question.

What am I playing?

• I finished Jedi Fallen Order (excellent – this is a good article on the game’s main mode of transport) and downloaded Jedi: Survivor to play but didn’t get around to playing it because…

• …I went on holiday and finally finished The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the way and then immediately picked up Tears of the Kingdom upon arrival (I’m three regional phenomena down, one to go) along with Advance Wars. Its inarguable that TotK is not a great graphical experience but the physics and the story are incredible. On this point specifically, Jonathan is excellent.

• Then Street Fighter 6 came out and I’ve struggled to put that down (global ranking of Bronze + 2 stars and 3517 – wanna fight?)

• AND THEN Diablo IV came out and I’ve been playing a ton of that too.

And while I’m still doing regular raids with the gang, I’m really behind on my Destiny 2 story beats. I’ve got a pitch next week so hopefully some time will free up after that…? MAYBE?!

What are you playing?

…

AND FINALLY IN THIS GAMING SECTION

A big thanks to the people and PR team at PLATFORM BAR. A few weeks ago they invited (and paid for) me and a pal to their brand new venue in Canary Wharf (right by Crossrail) for an evening of pizza, beers, and gaming.

With a boozy gamer-themed cocktail bar and pizzas (along with vegan options for the dairy intolerant massive), each booth has a PS5 and Nintendo Switch on hand to play a whole ton of different games while you booze.

Like I said, Platform paid for our whole evening – I have to declare that – but the way it’s set up and ran (by clearly a bunch of awesome nerds – and it’s ace), we had such a great evening (I don’t have to say that).

Want to know more? Here’s the website (there’s one in Shoreditch too, natch).

4. HERE, HAVE SOME AWESOME WORK STUFF

I know this is all tangential/adjacent to the above thing but we’ve got so much in this edition I felt like it needed to be broken out on its own.

Sorry, I can’t get enough of this.

Briefed by Activision, designed and rendered by Diva (in Unreal Engine 5, no less), painted by Global Street Art on media bought my Rapport WW – this is some of my favourite work we’ve every produced (not just London either).

It’s just stunning. More here.

We also did this sick bus for Square Enix and their incoming launch of Final Fantasy XVI (free demo available right now).

I think flames might be a thing.

MORE STUFF COMING SOON.

Other stuff of note from Diva towers:

• Paul Weedon on Minecraft and mental health is worth your time.

• I spoke to Business Insider about Twitter’s plans for doubling down on video (tl;dr: it doesn’t matter what it does, if Twitter doesn’t fix brand safety, the platform is dead). Print friendly version here.

• The Drum on EA FC’s (nee FIFA) rebrand (feat. me).

5. SPIDERVERSE LEGO AWESOMES

Took the eldest to see Spider-Verse last week and in the minorest of minor spoilers, there is a moment in the movie where it spins a web out to a Lego-variant Spider-Verse. This alone is awesome. The story behind it is even better.

‘How a 14-Year-Old Came to Animate a Scene in ‘Across the Spider-Verse’

BONUS SECTION

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

ENJOY.

• The new Babylon 5 animated movie looks fun.

• Twitter is dying. David Wilding managed to capture what’s keeping me there. For now at least (playing a lot in Blue Sky these days). Read ‘Small Twitter’.

• LOST Illusions: the untold story of the hit show’s poisonous culture is essential reading.

• Catastrophe is now available on Netflix. Not watched it? Watch it!

• Gaming. It’s a thing. (Related: thanks but no thanks).

• Rami Ismail on ‘surviving the indie apocalypse’ (smart stuff)

• Also from Ismail, ‘the publisher’s lie’ – also excellent.

• What strategists want from work.

• The OREO x Xbox Cheat Cookies work picked up 14 awards at the Art Director’s Club in Germany last Friday. It’s the most awards piece of work in the home country of the creatives that developed it. Well done, gang. Proud. Oh, and at the time of writing, it turns out its been shortlisted at Cannes too. Incred.

• Where are all the unempowered women?

• The FTC has told Facebook/Meta it really shouldn’t be monetising kids – but Facebook/Meta has allegedly been doing it anyway.

• Ikea – ‘second best’ – is great.

• The best printer review perhaps ever.

• The Notre-Dame fire has revealed some amazing innovations.

• Any excuse to watch Chris Morris.

• Daft Punk foreveeeeeer.

• What’s the opposite of Triggers? Glimmers.

• All praise our new orca overlords (orcalords?)

• The Bandwagon. A great read to end this with.

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

There’s no way I’ve covered everything off I wanted to cover but I woke up this morning and wanted to write. Thanks for indulging me. It’s 15:58 and I’m writing this final section to you.

I won’t be sending it til later though – it’s Father’s Day and the kids wanna play Fortnite. I’ll see you again soon gang.

Big love,

Whatley out x

Things of note for the week ending Sunday April 23rd 2023

INTRO

Good morning from 11:28am on a gentle starting Saturday morning. The kids are playing Fortnite and Cult of the Lamb and I am booting up Substack to see if I can get a newsletter out at some point this weekend – shall we see how we go?

How are you?

It’s been a good social week. Caught up with some of the old Digitas lot (bye Lauren!), managed an extremely rare pint with my brother, and then ended the week cooking a steak dinner for (and opening a significant amount of wine with) some dear friends who hadn’t all been together since before the Covid times.

A heart-filling few days.

As an aside and perhaps as your first bonus thing for this week’s edition, I came across this smoky Brussels sprouts recipe as an interesting side dish to go with the steak and it turned out to be deeeeeelish. So if you can find a reason to give that a go, do so 🙂

While I’m here, here’s a huge thank you to everyone that pledged their support for the Diva Agency/Warchild Tough Mudder attempt in August. Times are tough and with the London Marathon this weekend I am reminded of just how much people are giving already.

At the time of writing there are 3623 subscribers to this newsletter with a 48% open rate. If you all gave one pound then that’d get us well over halfway to our target in an instant. Donate now.

PS. There are a bunch of us doing it from Diva so if you do donate, please yell something like ‘Go Whatley!’ in the comments of the page so I know that one was for me 😉

Where were we?

Ah yes, the newsletter. I hope this edition of Five things on Friday finds you well and healthy. Spring is springing – AT LAST – and the sunshine is warming the soul. I’ve no idea what we’ve got in the link bank this week but let’s open up the ol’ inbox and see what’s what.

Shall we?

TO THE THE THINGS!

1. WHAT, IF ANYTHING, DO WE WANT FROM SOCIAL MEDIA?

With Twitter going through the motions of its dying days, there are new potential platforms and old beckoning beacons popping up all over the place – all trawling behind the slow motion death of the blue bird to see how and where they might attract departing users.

Artifact, Hive, Post, Mastodon, Notes, Blue Sky… (and these are just the ones from memory) – there are a lot. FWIW, judging by feeds this weekend, Blue Sky is the current attempt du jour that everyone is talking about. It was Notes last week, it could be something else in May. It’s not going well, is it?

The reality is, there won’t ever be a single and complete replacement for Twitter. Its growth over time – from piss poor presidents to newspaper celebrity sourcing – will never be repeated. Its original journey from micro-blogging platform to ‘town square’ to news platform, took well over a decade to happen. And while I don’t doubt that new platforms could experience overnight success (hello TikTok), what Twitter was is gone.

Which leads me to the question headlining Thing One this week:

What, if anything, do we want from social media?’

An indirect quote from Bob Merberg, author of the Substack , it’s a question that I have kept coming back to all week.

What do we want want from social media?

Twitter has been such a huge part of my life (and frankly: my career) for so long, I am finding it hard to let it go.

Instagram I gave up on in 2019 (here’s why). But truth be told, with so many of my friends active over there I have been considering a return. Then I think ‘Hang on, what is it for?’ Do I need to go all in on what Rabbi Jeremy Wieder calls ‘Conspicuous Consumption’. Nah. That’s not for me.

One of the reasons I’m enjoying dipping in and out of Substack Notes so much is that the content and the community is completely different. It feels small – and that’s OK – but the conversation is good, engaging and – for me at least – it feels wholesome. But it’s not (old) Twitter.

But then what do I need / use Twitter for? News updates. Friends being funny. Writing. Photos. The sense of connection. I follow a well pruned list of people that talk about such a wild varied bunch of topics – with a handful of opposing opinions thrown in for good measure – that I nearly always enjoy reading it (as a result the new ‘For You’ tab has been broadly very good IMO but that’s literally it).

Last year, in an article I wrote for The Drum about gaming, I recalled social object theory as a way to put all the garbage about the metaverse (vs video games) into perspective.

In 2005, tech founder and investor Jyri Engeström coined the term ‘social object theory’. Building on the work of sociologist Karin Knorr Cetina, Engeström came up with – and subsequently implemented – this theory as part of his explanation as to why some social media networks succeed and some fail.

Social media networks need objects. Or, as Jyri put it: ”Social network theory fails to recognize such real-world dynamics because its notion of sociality is limited to just people.”

Simply ‘connecting people’ is not enough. For example, Engeström argued at the time that much of the success of Flickr (remember Flickr?) was because user-generated photography served as social objects around which conversations of social networks could form. And he was right.

This perhaps goes a long way to explain the success of Instagram (and, if we had more time, would no doubt provide a decent foundational argument for the vacant pornography of trauma that you see displayed on LinkedIn every day). However, we’re not here to talk about that.

The point is: when online, people need something to talk about. They need ’object centered sociality’. If you’re gathering, then the reason you gather needs to have purpose. On Instagram, it’s that amazing photo you took at Coachella. On Facebook, it’s your nan’s birthday. In Whatsapp, it’s the memed version of your best mate’s most recent terrible opinion. Posting images, videos, links, news stories, the latest misinformation from your Next Door community… it’s all what brings us together.

I’m reminded of that every time someone says ‘What about Linkedin?’ which, while I do think it has improved of late, is nowhere near as valuable for me personally (as I guess it is professionally – but then, that’s the point, right?) – so I’m not hauling ass that way anytime soon.

(as an aside, if you are, then Mat Morrison is very good on what does and doesn’t work over there – algorithmically speaking)

All this and I still don’t have an answer to the question.

The Mrs and I work hard to keep our kids off social platforms (like, I think I can count on one hand the number of photos I’ve personally shared). Instagram babies, they ain’t. And why should they be? Imagine realising your face was already been scraped for AI tools before you turned 13? Or finally being allowed on Facebook and realising the platform already knows everything about you before you’ve even hit publish on your first update. Big yikes.

I wrote about this in 2008 (!)

However, one does wonder, in the years to come when the newborns of the late noughties find their way into school, will a new elite group be the rage in the playground? The Facebook Kids — whose parents embraced this new digital wave completely, and used it to track the entirety of their youngling’s lives to date…

And when the time comes, will these ‘Blog-Babies’ be given the logins to their blog like some twisted digital version of the keys to their first car? Or the first $100 from their lifelong trust fund? Of course, but only when they come of age, so to speak.

Could the parents become precious over this personal history?

‘My child ruined/deleted his blog’ is a Jerry Springer/Jeremy Kyle show waiting to happen…

Swap out ‘blog’ for ‘Facebook’ or even ‘TikTok’ and we’re not far off where we are today.

And I still don’t have an answer to the question.

But you know what, maybe we don’t need a definitive answer.

Maybe it’s just a good question to hold in your head whenever you’re hovering over that share/post/publish/toot/tweet button?

Try it for a week and let me know. I’m interested to hear what happens.

What do you want from social media?

2. PODCASTS FOR YOUR EARS

Confession: I don’t listen to that many podcasts. I don’t. Being able to sit and listen to something for 35-40mins is a luxury that I rarely get*. Occasional solo long drives or train travels tend to be where and when I get to indulge, and even then that’s when I remember (and not seat dancing to whatever’s on the radio).

To that point, I’ve had to go in and out of London a bit of late so I’ve been catching up. So here are a few decent things I’ve heard recently:

1. First up, Dr Menaal Munshey on the excellent One Question podcast addressing a response to the question ‘Can we rewrite the rules of leadership’ through the lens of female leadership (aka: the best leadership) and what leadership means working as an immigrant living between countries while at the same time battling on the frontlines of the climate crisis. This is really bloody good.

2. Jo Arden on Uncensored CMO is quite great and worth a listen. Sad we never got to work together when we were both at Publicis, she sounds brilliant and I’m pleased as punch Ogilvy has a decent CSO again. They’re lucky to have her.

3. And finally, for something a bit left-field, I can’t remember how but I happened upon an episode of Conan O’Brien’s podcast ‘Conan needs a friend’ and of the small handful that I’ve listened to, it’s really well put together and the guests are great.

These are all Spotify links, obvs. But they’re all available on Apple and almost certainly literally anywhere else where you get your podcasts.

Enjoy!

*It’s probably why I’m still only on the October edition of Season 10’s (aka 2022’s) excellent Midlife Gamer ‘Year of Shame’ podcast. Sorry lads.

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

I mean, I can’t kick off this week’s gaming section without SCREAMING about the drop dead gorgeous EDGE COVER that the amazing PR team at Diva managed to secure for HYPER LIGHT BREAKER.

You can check out the gameplay trailer right here – and I believe Early Access is coming to Steam later this year….

Way back when video games magazines did front cover freebies the amazing and much read/missed Nintendo Magazine System gave away an actual Street Fighter II VHS on the cover. I was in school when this happened and I’m fairly sure I even had the video as well – and back then I was such a Nintendo boy through and through, I remember when this was on the shelves. Retro news experts Time Extension has a great piece on of how all that happened.

Side: there’s a FREE Street Fighter 6 demo inbound. It’s available right now for PlayStation owners and Xbox and Steam follows next week. GET IT. Game is out in June so this is a good way/time to get on top of the new systems…

What else can I tell you?

Quick Game News + Updates

• Cult of the Lamb DLC has finally been dated. It comes out ON MONDAY (April 24th) and is a FREE UPDATE! Yes!

• This is a great interview with the CEO of Black Girl Gamers.

• There were a couple of 20+ minute long publisher broadcasts that are worth catching up on if you missed them: Indie World Showcase from Nintendo and a Final Fantasy XVI focused State of Play from PlayStation. The former is great for just a ton of new indies coming soon to Switch and the latter is, of course, a deep dive on the all new all different FFXVI. I haven’t properly played a Final Fantasy game since Crystal Chronicles on GameCube so I’m looking forward to this. (I should say: Square is a client but I think y’all know me well enough by now to know I’m not being paid to write this 😁). Check out both broadcasts – anything interesting there for you?

• Diablo IV is getting another open beta next month.

• If you have an older Nintendo Switch you might have a joy-con that suffers from stick drift. I do – well – I did. It’s past-tense because Nintendo just announced (in the UK at least, I think they’re doing it elsewhere too) that it will repair any joy-con, for free, no matter when or where it was bought. Details are here. I sent mine off this week and it was EASY. UPS turned up less than 24hrs later and it’s currently being repaired at Ninty. Lovely.

• Must watch: occupational burnout in video games.

• Pokemon Sleep – a game which you play BY SLEEPING – is coming this year!

What am I playing?

I finished DREDGE (details on that in last week’s edition). It’s a great game and you should play it. I found it to be reminiscent of the Fighting Fantasy Adventure books from my school days and that can only be a good thing. Well written, relatively short, and quite chill at times. It’s the sleeper hit of the year – don’t miss it.

Next up, I’ve decided to take one final swing at getting into Jedi: Fallen Order. If you don’t know, JFO is an in-canon story that takes place shortly after the events of Revenge of the Sith (Order 66 etc – IYKYK). With the sequel, Jedi: Survivor, due any day now, I thought ‘Why not give it a shot?’ (I’d already tried it 2-3 times and just didn’t get on with it – turns out, as quite a few people told me, the first hour is tricky to get through but you’re off planet and exploring, it really picks up).

Well. I smashed through the first hour and…

I am in love.

More photos at this thread.

If you haven’t played JFO, this is me recommending you should.

If you have played JFO, were you a fan? Are you getting Survivor?

Hit that comment/reply/notes button and tell me.

4. A COUPLE OF METAVERSE BITS BECAUSE WHAT IS LIFE IF YOU CAN’T HAVE A LAUGH FROM TIME TO TIME?

I’ll keep this brief.

Word is: Facebook/Meta’s has reportedly stopped pitching metaverse rubbish to advertisers. Instead it is said to be focusing on selling in AI as well as buffing its Instagram-based TikTok clone, Reels (with deep discounts up to 25% off).

I am shooketh.

Look, I’m not saying you shouldn’t believe a single thing that they say but y’all remember the pivot to video, right? You remember the ol’ ‘over-inflating view counts by about 900%’ routine, right?

Facebook’s er… ‘loose’ …relationship with the truth (and the above just one example, there are many many more) has never been something I’ve been comfortable with and so when the metaverse thing came along I was like ‘Wait, what?’

It only took five years for the pivot to video to be pulled apart as a pack of lies. The wheels coming off its metaverse announcement has only taken 18mths. Things are improving!

It’s almost like spunking a load of money and time on a thing that nobody wants or has asked for with no proof or measurement of any real or meaningful ROI whatsoever has been a complete and utter waste of time. Almost.

‘OK James, but when you say ‘a load of money’, how much are we talking?’ – that’s a great question. Well, it’s a LOT. And to put it into perspective, let me borrow a slide from Ben Evans’ excellent February 2023 presentation ‘The New Gatekeepers’.

Ell. Oh. Ell.

Related: Facebook has a new ‘opt-out’ form. Here’s how well designed that is. I think they might’ve done it purpose? I can’t be sure.

5. WHAT IF WE WROTE ABOUT DADS IN THE WAY WE WROTE ABOUT MUMS?

The Grudge Report

What Kind of Dad Are You?

Hey, beautiful, badass Dadas! Whether you’re a Workin’ Dad or a S.A.H.D., there are so many different kinds of new fathering styles to read about, it can be downright overwhelming! And we get it: Bumping into other judgy, “perfect dads” (with perfect bodies) at preschool dropoff or at the grocery store can definitely get you doubting yourself and your li…

Read more

8 months ago · 58 likes · 4 comments · Bess Kalb

No further questions, your honour.

BONUS SECTION

THERE BE GOLD IN DEM HILLS.

• Hannah Waddingham getting a Christmas Special is honestly the best news ever and if you don’t know why this is, I’m about to change your life.

• This week I learned about the RMS Carpathia – and now you will too.

• I’ve been relatively careful about not doing too much stuff on Elon’s Twitter. So many others do it better (Casey Newton, for example) and frankly, the less time I spend on it the better off I will be. That said, a net uptick of 28 new Twitter Blue subscriptions is just embarrassing, right? Oy.

• The Mandalorian made ‘The Volume’ famous. I’ll never tire of seeing it explained.

• Hedda Gabler is my favourite Ibsen. Did it once. Seen it a few times (best one was Sheridan Smith at the Old Vic ten years ago) and reading about Tessa Thompson doing a new version of it has made my week. Bring it the hell on.

• Actually, here’s Casey again but this time looking at Snap’s most recent Partner Summit. Good analysis.

• The power of being an outsider.

• This crisps are horrendous.

• Some [more] good notes on Substack Notes.

• Tom Watson has a level / different take on Dominic Raab. Hasn’t changed my mind about the man but it’s good to be challenged.

• A Substack about digital memorials. Fascinating AF.

• Dishwasher fish?

• My old head of strategy at Digitas, Charlene Charity, did a Strategy Diet interview for Contagious Mag and not only is it brilliant (I LOVE HER) but she also – and entirely unexpectedly – recommended this newsletter. So if you found it because of Charlene’s lovely words, thanks! Hope you like it! Also, nice one boss x

• Taylor Swift did more due diligence on FTX than most thought leaders, celebrities and ‘experts’ lol. Amazing.

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

As I start to wrap things up on this week’s edition of Five things on Friday, it’s coming up 915am on Sunday April 23rd.

The Mrs is away this weekend so it’s been Dad Club this weekend. The youngest wants to make a bolognese this afternoon so I think we’ll have to get up and head to Tesco shortly. Might watch Superman II as well.

Let’s see how we go.

Thank you for reading this week’s edition. If you enjoyed reading it, please forward it on to your team or your friends and maybe I’ll see you next time.

Whatley out x

Things of note for the week ending Friday April 14th 2023

INTRO

Sup gang.

Welcome to #345 of Five Things on Friday.

This week’s edition is brought to you by the letters ‘W’ for winner winner winner winner winner winner and ‘P’ for ‘physio’ and ‘pints’.

An especially lovely welcome to all the new subscribers that found FToF via Substack’s new Notes feature (more on that in a bit). I hope you like what you see and, for the record, just because THIS edition has arrived on a Friday, please do not let that set any expectation that future editions will do the same. Fair warning.

Wherever you are in the world, I hope this finds you relaxed and well. If you’re neither of those, then take a big deep breath – and start over.

All will be OK.

This is Five Things on Friday. I am James Whatley.

Why not stick around for a while?

TO THE THINGS!

1. A BIT ABOUT SUBSTACK NOTES

Like 99% of every other Substack user/reader/author this week, I’m opening with a bit about Substack Notes.

If you missed the announcement (it’s here), Substack Notes is Substack’s new (but definitely not an attempt to replace Twitter but almost certainly is that because oh my god have you even seen it) ‘social’ platform.

Billed as a way for Substack ‘writers to be able to post short-form content and share ideas with each other and their readers’, so far it feels like a strong start.

Here’s some early thinking on why

1. Notes feels like the early days of a few of the original truly social platforms (Friendfeed, Jaiku, Twitter 1.0, etc). Familiar faces, early adopters – yes – but also the novelty of a new platform that is still figuring out what it is and allowing its users to help define that. This is a good thing.
   

2. Notes also feels like a lighter lift than other services but with potential for deeper connection. Substack has said itself that it doesn’t want Notes to be like ‘legacy social networks [where] people get rewarded for creating content that goes viral’ and as a result the content there has a completely different vibe. The dopamine driven commitment to the constant. checking. of. notifications. is non-existent. And we all need less of that in our lives.

   
   It also means: no ads. The business model is subscriber driven. Not ads/views etc. So y’know – no crypto bros trying to scam you every 3rd or 4th tweet.
   

3. Writers reading, reading, recommending and subscribing give Notes an air of Google Reader (RIP) and I have missed that ever since Google dispatched GReader the ol’ Google Graveyard in the sky. On the that similarity alone Notes is worth checking out.
   

4. ‘Yes James, but what what we really want to know is: what does this mean for brands?’

   
   I’m telling you now, this is almost certainly the wrong question to ask.
   
   At a personal level, I think Notes could be a great discovery engine. I do! For those that use it at least. From established writers and authors through to industry or category leading thought leaders, Notes is already working for me in either finding new content from people I already knew (but didn’t know they published) or finding great new people/content, recommended by people whose content and opinions I already enjoy and trust. And that, again, can only be a good thing.
   
   From a professional standpoint, I am sure there will be a bRaNd AcTiVaTiOn on there by the end of the month (‘Consumer? what consumer? I want trade press!’) but that would be missing the point of the platform. This is about great content written and published by talented people. I’m hoping that continues.
   

5. Finally, Notes is the new kid on the block. With platforms suffering from their own issues (whether thats egomaniacal ownership, crap like-driven content, or simply a terrible onboarding experience – there are more and I could list them but I’ll run out of room before we get to Thing 2), having options is both welcome and healthy.

Substack is not without its own problems (Casey Newton is good on this) and it will need to get a lot sharper on its content moderation policies if it intends to get ahead of the game. In the short term, having a 35m install base is a pretty good head start I’d say – and if they make enough noise, the policies will follow.

Notes is a thing.

And I’m giving it a go in earnest.

As I have Noted below:

If you’re in, you’re in.

If you’re not, then maybe it’s worth a go? I think so.

Depends how you feel.

My profile is here (vanity URLs, when?) and I’m checking the notifications tab on the reg. So… Let me know, yeah?

2. ALL. OF. THE. TRAILERS.

I have no idea what happened between now and the last time we spoke but honestly suddenly everyone just went: ‘Oh, summer blockbuster season is it? You all better have some trailers then’

BARBIE.

Before we move onto the next trailer, we need to give out some points. First, ten points to The Mary Sue who shortly after the trailer dropped put out this perfectly executed MCU-esque ‘How to watch the Barbie movies in order’. Outstanding.

Second, whomever is in charge of the Barbie marketing has got themselves some wicked talent on their team. The make-your-own Barbie post was a stone cold slice of fried social media gold genius.

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

I really hope they smash this one.

One day I’ll tell you a story about this film. Not today (maybe after the third one drops – movie, not trailer).

BLUE BEETLE!

SECRET INVASION!

AHSOKA!!

SEASON 2 OF VISIONS!!!

Points to Aardman for just Aardmanning the hell out of their effort.

There’s probably more that I’ve missed. What’s are you most looking forward to out of the above? Hit reply! Leave a comment! Sent a Note!

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

Some great stuff this week. Let’s get into it.

EA Sports FC has released its new branding and I LOVE IT. Regular readers will know how closely I’ve been following the EA/Fifa (Fifa who?) fallout and I’ve been keeping keen eyes on every single development as it happens.

So when the new brand logo and lockup dropped earlier this month, well – I was excited.

Based on the ever-present triangle that has floated above FIFA EA Sports Football games for decades, and in a world of balls and boxes, this feels fresh and different yet already familiar. I really really like it. Great job, gang.

As David Jackson, VP of Brand at EA SPORTS FC put it:

“Triangles are the shape through which the modern game is most fluently expressed, from intricate passages of passing play, to the tactical genius of Cruyff. ‘Cause, effect, response’ are the three sides of how the game is played best. Triangles are also essential to EA SPORTS most famous football experiences, from the isometric viewing angles of our very first 8-bit experiences, to the player indicator symbol above every athlete in every game – even the smallest atomic unit of our games, the polygons that construct everything you seen on screen – are triangular.’“

Join the club at the official website or if, like me, you want to go deep on the branding side of how this came to be, this is an excellent post on all that.

It’s gorgeous.

Game news bites

• A playable pop up book!

• Xbox made a partly recycled controller ‘Remix special edition’ – this is a good precedent! More please!

• Memories of E3 (RIP).

• Netflix’s gaming ambitions continue to grow, this latest development hints at games moving from the mobile app (yes, you have games in your Netflix mobile app), putting them on your TV, then using your phone as the controller. Swish!

• Cyberpunk’s Ray Tracing Overdrive Mode is SIIIIIIIIICK.

• Go and see the Mario movie! It’s supposed to be great IF YOU REMEMBER IT’S A KIDS FILM FOR KIDS, apparently (I’m seeing it tomorrow – will report back). In the short-term, Jonathan is good on this.

• There’s a new Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer out y’all.

• The global game audience has reached 3.7bn. Important note in this about the difference between the ‘core’ audience and the more mainstream ‘people that play’ audience. Something we’ve been using a lot internally at Diva and pleased to see it’s being picked up elsewhere.

• Related, Ukie released its UK Consumer games market valuation report earlier in the month (I did a mini-thread on it at the time). Main headline: 5.6% down overall but still 17% up on pre-pandemic levels.

The interesting thing about the Ukie thing is that it is REAL data. Instead of the Linkedin HYPE about ZOMG GAMING IS LIKE THE TOTALLY AMAZING (AND CLIO AWARD WINNING) THING YOU SHOULD ALL BE INVOLVED IN RIGHT NOW and the post-web3 nerds suddenly yelling about how they’re the most important people to talk to right now… the Ukie data actually paints a realistic picture of of the broader opportunity at large.

And that’s something real marketers should genuinely be trying to get their heads around. You can call me AT ANY TIME btw. You know who you are.

Video Games x Tipping

I think I mentioned this last edition but the Razer Kishi I picked up in the Amazon Spring sale really turned out to be a fantastic purchase.

Some people prefer the ‘Backbone’ but same same and, as throw it in your bag and forget about it until you need it portability goes, the general concept and execution is a lot lighter than a Switch or a Steamdeck (and considerably cheaper to boot).

It got me so into Dead Cells (picked up ‘free’ as part of Google Play’s ‘Play Pass’ subscription), that I ended up double dipping on console – getting the base game as part of PS Plus and then shelling out £20 for the complete DLC collection.

It reminded me a topic of conversation that came up recently in March when I appeared on a panel for JP Morgan (I haven’t written about this here yet, maybe I am now). We were talking about payments and how the concept and culture of tipping (while inherently US-centric in the level of expectation placed around it) does not exist in video games.

I made the point at the time that the player equivalent of tipping devs for their game is arguably what is known as in gaming nomenclature as the ‘double dip’ – buying a game again (oftentimes but not always) for another platform.

Dead Cells was that for me. I got the base game and DLC as part of a sub but I wanted to show the dev my true enjoyment so I ponied up another £20 to let them know. Spiritfarer, one of my all time favourite games, I’ve bought on ever single platform I own (a not uncommon among the hardcore ‘triple dip’). That game had such a profound emotional impact on me, I felt I had to let the developer know somehow. Double/triple-dipping was the way I did that.

Now what if you didn’t do that? What if on a digital store front, on Xbox or PlayStation for example, after you’d completed a game, you got an option to thank the devs further. I don’t know. There are other options, right? Of course there are. Buy more games. Buy merch. Buy the season pass. Whatever. I get it. But for the smaller fry, ‘buy the devs a cup of coffee’ – that’s something else, right?

It’s different way of viewing the developer/player relationship. One that I’ll gladly return to another day (more so if you’re reading this and think – yeah, actually, let’s make that happen).

What am I playing?

• Still bashing through Dead Cells (the Castlevania DLC – wheeeeee!)

• Picked up Terra Nil on mobile via Netflix Games. An excellent little game. And the concept art is terrific.

• I finally pulled the trigger on DREDGE (leader image of this week’s edition) and I am loving it.

• The kids are nuts into Cult of the Lamb (ahead of the DLC dropping, thanks for that, WASD (see FToF #344).

What are you playing?

4. DIVA DOES TOUGH MUDDER

Way back in 2013, this happened:

Me and my old Expedia UK team from Ogilvy London completed Tough Mudder and raised over £1000 for charity.

You can read: Team Ogilvy takes on Tough Mudder on Whatleydude.com – a blog post! What year is this?!

Rooting around in the cupboards this past Christmas, I found my old 2013 Tough Mudder t-shirt and thought ‘It’s 2023 this year, a ten year bookend to the last time I did this would be something wouldn’t it?’

And, well, one thing led to another and here we are.

At the last count FOURTEEN (!!!) muddy funsters from Diva have signed up to walk/run/climb/complete the 15k Gloucestershire Tough Mudder in August (only four months away – yikes) and the tension is building.

Earlier in the year, once we had our team locked – we each discussed what charity we would want to support as a team and, after a very quick/virtual show of hands we landed on War Child.

Diva has a history of supporting War Child (raising money through streams and charity events in the past) and, the combination of this year being the 30th year of War Child’s charity efforts alongside the ongoing situation senseless war in Ukraine, we felt this would be the right place to put our efforts.

So with that in mind, we finally got around to setting up our Justgiving page this week and while I absolutely acknowledge times are tight, if you’re able to sponsor us even just a little bit, it would be very welcome.

And hey, if you’re up for running with us – you can sign up here.

Please sponsor: Diva does Tough Mudder (will you be the first one?) 🙂

5. OREO + XBOX FTW X 6

Late on Wednesday night my phone started going slightly nuts as the OREO EU team picked up SIX Clio Awards for the Xbox ‘Cheat Cookies’ campaign and partnership.

You can see the case film over on the Clios website but for those wanting the detail, the strategy work for this campaign was literally the last thing I finished and handed over before I left to start my job at Diva.

At the time I was EU brand lead for Mondelez bakery for Publicis, part of a blended team of Digitas UK (strategy) and Saatchis Dusseldorf (client and creative), and we all worked so so so so hard to get this over the line.

Giving a 45min presentation on the cultural significance of the XYBA buttons to convince the bigwigs to make the not-insignificant investment on SIX different cookie embossments is not something I’ll forget in a hurry 😁 – and actually, thinking on it now, makes winning SIX Clios taste that little bit sweeter. 🙂

Well done to the whole team (from the dedicated blended international agency team to the bold multi-market clients across MEU) that played a part in this one. Well. Earned.

It takes a village, right?

BONUS SECTION

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

ENJOY.

• Ben Affleck’s latest, AIR, is getting rave reviews. This interview with the writer behind it has a lovely story in it about Affleck made sure credit was given where credit was due.

• Liquid trees are fine, actually.

• People putting ‘Look at the future of tech and AR!’ crap on Linkedin is hella boring. Except for this one.

• Remember when, oh I don’t know, way back in FToF #337, when I said Wal-Mart’s idea of launching TWO branded Roblox experiences at the same time was A TERRIBLE IDEA because, quote, doing so was ‘a great way of diluting your audience and your message and ensuring one or both completely fail.’ Guess what? They closed one down.

• Dungeons and Dragons is getting RIDICULOUS reviews. Here’s one of them.

• The placement of ‘metaverse’ on this chart is as pleasing.

• This, with Marcus, is lovely and excellent (good reading).

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

Well here we are.

Congratulations!

You made it to the end.

…

But our princess is in another castle.

See you next time,

Whatley out x

Things of note for the week ending Sunday April 2nd, 2023

INTRO

Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

Welcome to #344 of Five things Friday. Thank you to all of you (literally none of you) that wrote back to tell me I got the number wrong on the last edition. I clocked it after I hit send and then changed the web version but couldn’t amend the email. So if you’re here and wondering what happened to issue #343 well, you’ve already had it – it arrived last week. OK? OK.

What else can I tell you?

It’s been London Games Week this week so a VERY BUSY WEEK INDEED (probably why I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon) and also a VERY ENJOYABLE WEEK AS WELL. More on that and more, below.

Speaking of below, shall we jump right into The Things?

LET’S GOOOOOO!

1. OK BUT JUST LOOK AT THESE MANTISES

I mean COME ON.

My Modern Met writes:

Macro photographer Pang Way captures the delicate dance-like movements of a variety of mantis species. From an up-close point of view, he depicts the insects as they balance on their long legs with wings splayed in a fan-like fashion. We’re able to admire all of their incredible characteristics, from the brilliant coloring to the delicate webbing over their wings. It offers a new appreciation for these elegant creatures that live throughout the world.

Uh huh. And they’re WONDERFUL.

2. MAD WOMEN

From Channel 4:

“Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of WACL, (Women in Advertising and Communications, Leadership) Mad Women (1×60 mins)  will, for the first time, explore the role women have played in advertising across the past century.

From the creation of Shake n Vac with its unforgettable jingle and the Levi’s launderette ad with Nick Kamen to the Flake girl in the bath and the bikini-clad women falling over men because of the Lynx effect; this film meets the pioneering women behind some of the UK’s most iconic ads.

Starting in London’s late 70s – in a world evocative of Mad Men – we meet those who broke into the industry and started to break down the stereotypes that had been in place for decades. We’ll discover the ground-breaking adverts they engineered and the battles they had to endure to get them onto our screens.

In a world now unrecognisable from the heady days of Mad Men, we’ll also meet some of the most senior women working in the industry today to find out what’s left in the world of taboo breaking. Is it the role of adverts to reflect trends or to create them and what can we expect next from the current generation of Mad Women?”

In.

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

tl;dr: WASD was great.

As I write this to you it’s Sunday April 2nd around 12:55ish. Yesterday and Thursday (with an amazing wedding in Nottingham in-between) I attended the superb WASD Video Games Expo in London.

Thursday was a work day and I didn’t get to play that many games but I DID have the enormous pleasure of giving an updated and super fresh update of the metaverse talk at the excellent London Dev Conference (that was being held in the same building).

After that I did managed a very quick go on the new Cult of the Lamb DLC, ‘Relics of the Old Faith’ – which is more Cult of the Lamb + some new skills and levels. Given Cult is immensely playable, is of course very welcome. And I also managed a handful of rounds on Street Fighter 6 – continuing to be my most anticipated game for 2023 (yes – really). The absolute highlight was scoring a PERFECT! round against my sworn Street Fighter rival (aka Diva ECD, Stuart O’Neill. DONE YA!).

Seeing the team on the ground meeting our friends and clients at Maze Theory, Bandai Namco, Gearbox (hello Have a Nice Death!), Ninja or Die, Super Rare Games, Activision, and more… well, it was just lovely. Follow that by an excellent Diva hosted/sponsored after first day show party, well… it was awesome.

We went back as a fam on the Saturday and the games we tried and enjoyed include:

• Heave Ho (riotous four player couch co-op fun)

• Road 96 Mile 0 (an skateboard runner with mental levels)

• Cult of the Lamb: Relics of the Old Faith (see above!)

• Alien Hominid (high energy platforming fun)

• Viewfinder (really something quite special)

• Street Fighter 6 (IT’S STREET FIGHTER)

• Stick it to the Stickman (hilarious mental beat’em up)

• Have a Nice Death (gorgeously designed platforming heaven)

We didn’t play any VR unfortunately but I heard v good things about Peaky Blinders (Meta Quest 2) and The Last Worker (PSVR2) more on the latter shortly…

Other gaming-related news/links of note:

• The truth about “gaming disorder”.
  Last week there was a whole bunch of scaremongering press about ‘hundreds’ of children being treated for gaming disorders. Headlines everywhere. Ex head of comms for Ukie, George Osborn (not that one) breaks it down.

• E3: cancelled.
  Sad to see but inevitable, really. Post COVID, post Geoff Keighley (moving in on the turf with Summer Games Fest), E3 never really had – or gave itself – a chance to recover. And let’s be honest, if you’re a developer or publisher who has spent the past three years doing controlled streams of your games announcements, why would you go back to a world where you’re breaking the backs of your devs to get a playable/buggy vertical slice of your game ready for an in-person event? That’s not to say that games events are over (obviously not with the success of WASD above and GamesCom last year (265k attendees!), it’s just perhaps the role of these events has changed, irrevocably. And there are those that have recognised this and changed with it and there are those that haven’t. E3 feels like the latter. GI.biz has more.

• This, from Heineken, is a great ad. People that play are everyone. People that play are everywhere. The fact this is out NOW and just ‘oh, here’s a covid ad’ makes it just that little bit more special, y’know?

• Fortnite now shows you how many people are playing on each island.
  This is good/useful data! Basically, with the roll out of UEFN (see last FTOF), this is an important way for Fortnite Creators to see how well their creations are doing – especially up against Epic’s own islands such as BR Solos, Duos etc. Yes, Epic is sharing its own numbers too. Hooray!

• The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was a REAL April Fool. Amazing.

• Xbox has stopped its £1/$1 Game Pass trial offer which is a shame (I used it a lot in presentations about democratised access to games) but that doesn’t make the service any less compelling – as I’m sure many of you already know.

I’ve run out of space to speak meaningfully about the BAFTAS but I will say ROLLERDROME picking up Best British Game was a high point for me – it’s such a great game. You can watch the full replay of the BAFTAs over on Twitch right now.

What am I playing?

• Still plodding through Marvel Suns (made it to Act 3 – wooo!). The game loop is really nice.

• I picked up Dead Cells after seeing the Castlevania DLC drop (Castlevania was a huge part of my early video game years on NES and SNES). A great little game that.

• Related, I also picked up a Razer Kishi in the Amazon spring sale – and it has become an instant luggage companion. Dead Cells is great on it AND best of all? It’s compatible with Game Pass. Yessssssss.

• C-Smash VRS on PSVR2 is excellent.

• And last night, after seeing a bunch of folk play it at WASD, I got home and immediately purchased The Last Worker. It’s really nice. Really nice. I’m pretty sure it’s on every/most platforms so go check it out.

4. THE MEH-TAVERSE

Because I am tired. Here are some more links about or relating to dead-trend-walking from 2022: ‘the metaverse’

• Wall Street Journal: ‘The Metaverse is quickly turning into the meh-taverse’

• Disney announced it was sacking its entire metaverse team. This is really sad and look, while I’m no fan of the rubbish and over-hype around the M word, anyone that crows about how good it is that people are losing their jobs is a dick. End of.

• Magnum here with its new ad: ‘Not available in the Metaverse’

I mean broadly, I really like this idea as a concept. Digital/animated character enters the real world via VR headset to experience real life – and the indulgence taste of a Magnum Ice-Cream. Strong Ah-Ha vibes. I get it. THAT SAID, I think the end line ‘not available in the metaverse’ is advertising for advertisers. A trap that could’ve been stepped over so easily. But they couldn’t resist. In doing so, it feels like the ad is about how clever they are vs how incredible it is to taste a Magnum in real life.

But hey, that’s just me.

• Apparently the metaverse is not dead (note: it would’ve had to have been alive at some point for that to be true), it’s just going to ‘take a while’ – don’t take that from me though, take it from Meta’s head of global affairs, Nick Clegg.

• Oh and thank you to the (now seven different) people that have sent me this link: ‘The Future is a Dead Mall’ which basically spends just shy of two hours pulling apart the myth of Decentraland and The Metaverse.

5. ENDING WITH A MEME FOR THE TIMES

BONUS SECTION

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

ENJOY.

• Starting this section this week with an excellent critical analysis of the Finnish Baby Box’s journey into the liberal welfare state [PDF link] and what that means for progressive public policymaking.

• The UK Government has scrapped its NFT plans. Can’t think why.

• This is a decent profile of Brie Larson. I am a fan.

• I have had to uninstall Marvel Snap (again).

• A good overview of the updated rules around creators, content, and when to use the #Ad hashtag.

• Next: if, like me, you’re still using Twitter AND you use the web interface a fair amount, then this link is worth bookmarking. Only the people you follow, in reverse chronological order. LIKE THE OLD TIMES.

• Funko laying off Mondo SUCKS.

• I still love same dot energy.

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

I hope you’ve had a restful weekend and are gearing up for a nice Easter. I’m in Bristol at Diva HQ next week and two four day weeks to cram ten days of work into… so unlikely we’ll see a new edition of FTOF this side of it all.

I tell you what, let’s regroup after Easter and share stories. Deal? Deal.

Much love gang, thanks for reading.

Hit reply and tell me what’s up.

Whatley out x

Things of note for the week ending Friday March 24th, 2023

INTRO

Two editions in January. Two editions in March. If I keep this up, we may get into some kind of regular pattern for this thing y’know? Amazing.

(No promises though babe)

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. The San Francisco Game Developers Conference (GDC) has been in full swing and I’m fascinated by the news and announcements that have been flowing out – more of that later in Thing 3. And I’ve also had a bunch of stuff go out all at the same time that was made all at different times over the past few months (Adweek commentary, podcast stuff, a speaker announcement) – and they’re linked in their proper places in this week’s edition.

Thank you, by the way, for the nice notes and comments from the last edition in regards to the words I wrote about taking on my first CSO role. You’ve all been super lovely and, well, I’m pleased. I wrote it to offer insight and to help 🙂

In a similar vein, the week after next I’ve got my first hire starting at Diva (WEEEEEEEE!!!). So here’s a little Twitter thread about that process – and ultimately why feedback is so important.

Finally, for the newbies – and strangely there are quite a few of you this week (hello!), this newsletter is a mixture of culture, news, advertising, video games, and just occasional random things I enjoy. Sometimes there are typos – but they’re there to test you. So if you spot one, let me know!

Right then.

Shall we?

1. SEE YOU AT WASD?

‘WASD’, Noun. Event.
/W.A.S.D./Wazz-da/Was-duh/Woz-dee/

Later this month see the return of London-based consumer and trade games show, WASD. We were there last year (I hosted a terrific panel of industry veterans talking about the future of the industry and played some fantastic games – see Thing 3, in, FTOF #328). This year, it’s back and bigger than ever – this time moving from Tobacco Dock to the Truman Brewery – and hosting so many more devs and publishers and their games. From Street Fighter 6 to VR2 and every indie inbetween, there will be a LOT to see.

Also, if you’re going to pop along to the London Developer Conference on March 30th (running in parallel and on the ground floor to WASD), I’ll be giving a talk about how devs can ready themselves for working with brands – in a refreshed update to the talk ‘Metaverse, what metaverse?’ – this new version be less provocative and more constructive. Promise. Ish. …we’ll see. 😁

Anyway, I’ll be there Thursday in a work capacity and Saturday as a punter with the fam. Hopefully see you there?

Tickets are available now.

PS. Work in the industry and don’t have a ticket to the industry after show party? Get in touch.

2. LAUGHTER & THE MAGUS

This week on Twitter someone shared the lede from the this 1993 excellent long read profile of the incredible Ricky Jay.

You should click through and read the opener (and then see if you stick around for the whole thing – it’s a great read). I’ve known and read loads of stuff about Ricky Jay before. The man is a master. Magic was a thing I used to do for a while (not like ‘I know a couple of card tricks’ magic, more… I was a magician’s assistant one summer in my teens and I did a couple of kids’ parties) and, well, when my friends and I used to trade tricks the ambition was never shock, or surprise – it was always laughter. If you could bring about laughter in another magician, then the job was done.

I’ve seen Ricky Jay do a lot of stuff. On YouTube videos on TV shows – and I’ve read about him a ton. The point is, after finding the article above and from the same Twitter thread, I found and watched this incredible film of a trick I’d not seen Ricky do before. I laughed. I laughed and laughed and laughed.

In awe.

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

Hopefully not that much this week given all the WASD stuff above but let’s see how we go…

There’s only one major thing to talk about this week and it’s this:

Epic’s ‘State of Unreal’ presentation at GDC 2023. If you are so inclined, you can go ahead and watch the full one hour twelve minute presentation over on YouTube right now – and honestly, if you have the time, I really recommend you do. The technology on display is truly game-changing. Literally.

This v short clip for Hellblade II for example, is just one clip of just how amazing the new standards of this tech truly this.

I can’t wait for Hellblade II. But also: Metahumans are insane.

So yeah, there’s that.

Then there’s the update to Fortnite. With Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) and Creator Economy 2.0. I’ve been saying to anyone that will listen that ‘You should keep an eye on what Epic are building’ – because frankly, Roblox stole their breakfast lunch and dinner and, well, GDC was a proper flex.

FORTNITE ANNOUNCEMENTS

• 500M players.

• Islands built using Fortnite’s creator tools take up 40% of the playtime on the platform.

• A new creator portal enabling IP ownership for development on platform.

• UEFN means you can make a ton of new games, and *while you are building them* your friends on your team can drop in – from any platform that runs Fortnite – and run around. WHILE YOU ARE BUILDING IT.

• From this week, 40% of Fortnite’s net revenue (billions of dollars every year) is going to be open and shared with the people developing and publishing games on the Fortnite platform.

• And so much more…

In short: Fortnite is getting bigger. Better. And for Unreal Engine, it is an incredible Trojan Horse.

But that’s not what I want to talk about (!) – what I want to talk about is, Epic’s CEO, Tim Sweeney’s closing remarks about Epic’s future vision.

Aka, what Epic is calling: ‘The open metaverse of the future’ (it’s a ten minute talk, and this link should take you right to it).

And I really like it.

In the talk, Sweeney ‘Metaverse inspired games’ such as Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, etc – collectively cover an identifiable audience of 600m active users – on a trajectory that will be in its billions by the end of the decade.

Tim says:

‘We can set aside the crazy hype cycle around NFTs and VR goggles… …and the core of it is something that every gamer understands: it’s you, and your friends, getting together online and going around as a group – on voice chat, having a fun time in social entertainment experiences. Some of these experiences are serious games like battle royale, some of them are going to a concert and dancing or chatting with friends and just having a good time’

Social entertainment experiences, something I’ve been calling metaversal activities sounds exactly like what so many other badly made platforms (Horizon Worlds, Sandbox, Decentraland) and terrible brand executions (like, I don’t know – just close your eyes and throw a dart) have been trying to do over the past 12 mths or so but doing it without any real idea of audience size or segmentation, creative nous, or understanding of what it is they’re trying to do and therefore achieving little to nothing aside from a few trade PR headlines.

But with the tools and platforms Epic is publishing I can genuinely see the path towards what they are calling the ‘open metaverse of the future’. And, in attempt to tick the ‘interoperable’ part of the metaverse definition, Epic also believes it should all be open and connected – ‘turning today’s game engines into tomorrow’s metaverse browser engines’.

Like I said: I really like it. It talks about social entertainment experiences and does so from the point of view of the player.

I do think the ‘m’ word is unhelpful (the definition is loose, at best) but generally, when people like Epic stand up and talk about this, it’s useful to sit up and listen.

A metaverse of games – connected via a backbone of Unreal tools and services – feels like something that will happen.

And I’m interested.

This is a very good follow up piece (with additional commentary and interview notes).

Other gaming-themed links of note:

• I spoke to Adweek about the research from Super Awesome showing how video games help steer purchase decisions in retail.

• Lego 2K Drive looks like a fun (if MTX-infused) mix of Mario Kart and Forza.

• EA is doing well.

• Amazon’s foray into video games streaming, Luna, launched in the UK this week. Prime members can play four free games every month via a laptop, phone, or Fire Stick – just head on over to luna.amazon.co.uk and you’ll be on your way. If this is news to you, don’t worry – it seems Amazon want to match Netflix in the amount of advertising it wants to put around its games offering (yes, Netflix has games).

• Everywhere (and Mindseye) looks VERY INTERESTING.

• The remake of one of the greatest games ever made, Resident Evil 4, came out this week and with it, this incredible series of cutesy anime shorts to support it. Honestly one of the best things I’ve seen this year.

• DREDGE looks kinda great.

• RIP Lance Reddick. The Destiny community will never be the same again.

And finally, towards the end of last year (November to be exact) I was asked on to be a guest on a new audio series from Kaspersky, called ‘Insight Story’.

Episode 1 was, of course, ‘What should you be doing about the metaverse?’

Apple links also available.

A good conversation that lays out what is and what isn’t worth worrying about if you’re a brand or an SME thinking about getting involved with ‘the metaverse’. I’m also quite happy that five months ago I was talking about the activities outlined by Epic above (in a similar context).

Would love to know what you think.

What am I playing?

• Diablo IV beta (phenomenal).

• Back into Destiny 2 (which is great – beat the raid! Earned a raid jacket!)

• Finally had enough tokens to get Knull in Marvel Snap and now I can’t put it down again.

• I’ve got Tchia downloaded and ready to go but haven’t had a chance to try it yet.

What are you playing?

4. ‘PROPER WHOPPERS’

Sharing this again because it’s just so good.

We used to do these for Kronenbourg 1664 at Ogilvy, years ago (and it might’ve got us in trouble once too) and so I know the effort that goes into these things.

The ‘Proper Whopper’ line was on the cover the Metro the day before and so less than 24hrs later, to have the ad space bought, the brief in, copy approved, and then lined up and published…? That is some herculean effort.

Well done to all involved.

Ps. For the non-Brits reading this. Our ex-Prime Minister is a proven pathological liar. And has been pulled over the coals for misleading parliament (about his lies when he was partying his way through covid lockdowns – fun!)

5. NYC CABBIE AND HIS AMAZING PHOTOS

Ryan Weideman is an NYC cab driver that has spent the last 30 years taking photos of his passengers.

This is his story. And there are many photos.

BONUS SECTION

THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. BONUS LINKS THAT BUMP US OVER FIVE THINGS AND THIS WEEK CONSIDERABLY SHORTER GIVEN HOW MANY OF YOU COMPLAINED ABOUT BROKEN TAB

ENJOY.

• Missing: NFTs. Last seen: SXSW 2022.

• Will digital platforms change our musical memories? I liked this.

• How we spent Mother’s Day (and she wonders how we bred gamers)

• I missed this last month but the EU’s content moderation law, the Digital Services Act, is getting spicy for the VLOPS (very large online platforms). Good reading.

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

This week I’m signing off with a photo.

My good friend and old Ogilvy pal Larry was in town this week – extremely short notice and so, because the bugger lives in Amsterdam, I dropped everything and high-tailed it into Soho to see him.

We drank Guinness, traded stories, and took photos of each other because that’s what you do when you’re in your 40s reminiscing. Anyway, Lazzle Bazzle Pazzle (that’s his real name), took a photo of me that I quite liked and, because I’m never going to reboot my instagram, you can have it as well.

So here’s me, at 9pm on Wednesday night. Literally, happy as Larry.

Until next time,

Whatley out x

Things of note for the week ending Friday March 17th, 2023

INTRO

Hello friend. It’s been a while.

How the hell are you? Been up to much? Me? Yeah, I’m alright. Head down, cracking on – last quarter of the FY kind of madness. You know how it is. Plus, for those of you reading this in the UK, any idea when Spring is coming? Enquiring minds want to know. Thanks.

Where we we? Ah yes, that’s right. Welcome. Welcome to #342 of Five things on Friday – a semi-occasional/weekly newsletter of no real description other than ‘it covers stuff that James Whatley finds interesting’ – people seem to like it. Yourself included. So thank you for that.

I must confess, I think I’ve sat down to write this newsletter on three separate occasions this month (he says, changing the date on the header – again), which goes to show how non-stop it’s been of late. Be that as it may, the THINGS that have been wibbling away in the inbox since… January? are all still pretty fresh.

So let’s stop the waffle and get right on that, shall we?

LET’S.

1. A YEAR IN THE JOB

It’s crazy to me that just over a year ago I arrived into Bristol to start my new job as Chief Strategy Officer for the gaming native integrated creative agency known as Diva (see Thing 1, #324).

And yet here we are, one year later…

Madness.

The reason I’m telling you is from the moment I accepted the job – my first ever position as CSO – I got super introspective. I wanted to make sure I had done the prep work for the responsibility. It’s a big deal! I asked a few people for advice. And tried not to overthink it too much (narrator: he failed).

However, one thing I definitely did do at the time was try to capture how I was feeling about it. Like, what does a CSO say think and do in 2022? I never got around to editing it down to publishable length (although I did pitch it to some very patient editors).

A year on, and a new pal said I should revisit it and maybe publish it as is/was. So I booted up the old Google Doc, copied and pasted it over into Linkedin, and hit publish.

So here it is ‘LEADERS ARE WHAT YOU MAKE THEM’.

I’d love to know what you think.

x

PS. Thanks for the nudge, EML.

2. IT’S THE PHONES, STUPID

This, via the John Burn-Murdoch at the FT, is compelling reading.

“Something is going very wrong for teenagers. Between 1994 and 2010, the share of British teens who do not consider themselves likeable fell slightly from 6 per cent to 4 per cent; since 2010 it has more than doubled. The share who think of themselves as a failure, who worry a lot and who are dissatisfied with their lives also kicked up sharply. The same trends are visible across the Atlantic.

The number of US high school students who say their life often feels meaningless has rocketed in the past 12 years. And it’s not just the anglosphere. In France, rates of depression among 15- to 24-year-olds have quadrupled in the past decade. Wherever you look, youth mental health is collapsing, and the inflection point is ominously consistent: 2010 give or take a year or two — when smartphones went from luxury to ubiquity.”

It’s the phones, stupid.

The full article – along with more charts and analysis – is available here, Smartphones and social media are destroying children’s mental health.

Important reading.

And if you recognise the name, John Burn-Murdoch was the data scientist who led the work around the FT’s best in class covid-19 reporting.

Related reading:

• ‘Honestly it’s Probably The Phones’

• Influencer Parents and The Kids Who Had Their Childhood Made Into Content

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

Last time we spoke, we were getting very excited about the imminent arrival of PlayStation VR2. Well, since we last spoke, VR2 has arrived! And while I may have done a mini-review thread over on Twitter, I can safely say it is a considerable improvement over the original.

The highlight is, of course, Horizon Call of the Mountain.

It’s insanely good. As any first party launch title should be. But, truth be told I’ve not had that much time to play it (work/life being what it is at the moment). But the games I have played have been superb.

• No Man’s Sky (free VR2 update), is outstanding.

• Zombieland Headshot Fever Reloaded is super fun (disclosure: we made the trailer).

• Tentacular – cute as hell and it just works.

And while these games are excellent (and there’s more – I’ve not even booted up the likes of Rez, Tetris, or Gran Turismo 7 – and the other games announced for the ‘launch window’ also look great (The Last Worker is top of that list)), to my mind I think it’s still missing a few things. A few more updates would be good – speaking for my kids specifically, they’re missing VR painting games (like Tilt Brush) and the connection and carry over from older PSVR1 games – such as Minecraft.

(Seriously, Minecraft on VR2 would be amazing)

Beat Saber is expected to arrive soon but not here yet, Half-Life Alyx is highly rumoured (but nothing solid) and then maybe possibly a 3D interface for when you turn it on might be quite fun…

Point is: it’s great. Is it perfect? No. Will it get better? Definitely. One notable thing that does stand out mind is that VR2 is the first VR headset I think ever, that I’ve been comfortable wearing for a lengthy amount of time. Spending a few hours climbing around in Horizon or exploring in NMS is breeeeeezy. And quietly surprising with it.

OK, so what else can I tell you?

First off, I don’t know how many of you this is relevant for but in light of Google Stadia going bye bye back in January (BARELY A DENT WAS MADETH), the AAA games streaming options are now Xbox Cloud Gaming – via Game Pass Ultimate or GeForce Now (GFN), from Nvidia.

The former is handy if you want to go all in on the Xbox ecosystem (and want to play anywhere) but the latter, I’ve only really dabble with here and there. We’re not a gaming PC house so getting access to Steam stuff is… difficult. To get around this in the short term we’ve basically been using an Apple Magic Keybord, an Nvidia Shield, and an Xbox controller to play via GFN.

A bit of a faff.

But the kids liked it and it was a chance to experiment with some different games. HOWEVER. A couple of weeks ago I spotted, purely by chance really, that Nvidia had gone and released the GFN streaming app for my TV (the 2020 LG CX).

It’s nothing short of revelatory. App-based instant games streaming. We’ve got an old PS4 controller bluetoothed to the TV and we’re off to the races.

Downsides: you’ve got to buy the games via Steam first (this is where Game Pass has the advantage).

Upsides: all those PC games you’ve missed? Right here, right now. Can’t afford a AAA console or a (ridiculously priced) gaming PC? Sorted.

Among everything else going on in games at the moment, this continual lowering of the barrier to entry to AAA gaming is the one that’s most exciting to me.

A few of gaming articles of note:

• ‘I guess I’m a casual gamer now but who cares’

• Regular readers will know I’ve been following/covering the EA Sports/Fifa fallout quite closely. This latest update, from FIFA, is just hilarious. ‘Why yes, I quite like to play egames myself’… lol. The kicker? ‘As for EA, the studio is currently developing its own football game in the form of EA Sports FC, where it will retain over 300 licence partners.’ Good luck Fifa!

• ‘Why fashion houses are getting into video games’

• Season: A letter to the future – is a beautiful game.

• Good luck to all our BAFTA Games nominated clients.

• The 2023 Gaming Report is mandatory reading.

• This, from Maybelline, is outstanding – and rightly shines a spotlight on a well known (but rarely acted on) dark side of gaming.

• Helsinki is the mobile gaming capital of the world. Mobile? Helsinki? I wonder how that happened…

• Ignore the M word (that’s just trend surfing), its the Roblox earnings report you should be paying attention to.

• Charlie Brooker ‘How Video Games Changed The World’ – is TEN YEARS OLD.

Finally… what am I playing?

• Midnight Suns (Xbox). I can’t put this down.

• Destiny 2: Lightfall (PS5). I’ve sworn to my fireteam I will be raid ready by the weekend 😬

• Wario Ware on the GBA via the Switch. Why? Here’s why.

• Pedestrian (PS5) – really quite charming.

• And eventually… all the VR2 games mentioned above.

What are you playing?

4. THAT’S NO MOON!

This is kind of mental.

Reddit user ibreakphotos had a hunch that maybe Samsung might be doing something extra with its “space zoom” moon photos and, after digging a bit deeper and running a few tests, has declared that they are basically all fake.

“Many of us have witnessed the breathtaking moon photos taken with the latest zoom lenses, starting with the S20 Ultra. Nevertheless, I’ve always had doubts about their authenticity, as they appear almost too perfect. While these images are not necessarily outright fabrications, neither are they entirely genuine…”

tldr; ibreakphotes downloaded a high-res image of the moon, downsized it 170×170, applied a blur, then put the image on a monitor before turning the lights off and taking a photo from the other side of the room.

This is what happened:

Now look, there’s probably some VERY SMART AI/ML stuff going on in the background here but it’s not just scaling up, it’s seemingly adding detail as well.

Nuts.

Read the full thesis over on Reddit.

5. THE MATERNITY PLEDGE

Here’s a thing. It’s not often one of your best mates says something like ‘Yeah, so the wife has launched a new venture that I think is really bloody brilliant and you should look at it’

But when your best mate DOES say that, you should pay attention.

That’s why I’m sharing this with you today.

The Maternity Pledge is a free to join workplace pledge that supports employees who are pregnant, on maternity leave and returning to work. It also includes perinatal mental health support packs for employees when they confirm their pregnancy at work. 

Retention of working mothers remains a big issue – 60% change jobs after maternity leave. The pledge puts five simple pillars in place that start from pregnancy right through until the return to work. It comes with a handbook and tools to help implement the pillars really easily and a digital badge to indicate to current employees and new talent that you are supportive of working mothers. It’s great for smaller businesses who need some help with their maternity policy, and equally good for larger companies who may already be meeting the pillars of the pledge as the badge provides visual recognition of what they’re doing well.

The pledge also focuses on wellbeing. You can purchase perinatal mental health support packs for your staff. These expert-led unique packs focus on the emotional transition to motherhood. They’re inclusive (mother being an inclusive term as per 2019 UK law), can be given to expectant mothers or fathers, and include a free subscription to The Maternity Pledge members club which runs during maternity leave and includes coaching and guidance on returning to the workplace.

If you’d like to know more or join the pledge you can register at https://www.maternitypledge.com/join-the-pledge or email susannah at maternitypledge dot com for a chat.

So do that, yeah?

BONUS SECTION

THIS IS THE BONUS SECTION. A SECTION THAT THIS WEEK I MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR BECAUSE HONESTLY I THINK IT MIGHT BE LONGER THAN THE REST OF THE SODDING NEWSLETTER. SORRY NOT SORRY.

ENJOY.

• This has done the rounds a fair bit but it’s still worth sharing just in case you’ve not got around to reading it: TikTok’s Enshittification.

• You are not OK and tomorrow will come and you should eat a banana.

• Marvel’s Ant-Man & The Wasp in Quantumania was not the MCU’s finest hour (and the post-credits bits are easily the best thing about the film) but the stories that have come to light about both its rushed/changed/botched ending (it feels cheated) and the bland VFX (yawn) seem to help it all make sense. Word is Feige is slowing everything down to focus on fewer, better. I hope that’s true.

• Solid Ben Affleck profile.

• Is the metaverse already dead? (1. for something to be dead it had to have been alive at some point. 2. I NEARLY made it through this thing without mentioning it – nearly!)

• Inside the metaverse hype train at Mobile World Congress (this is phenomenally well done)

• I can’t believe this is happening.

• The legacy of Babylon 5.

• I’ve written an APG before. They’re hard. Shortlisted too. This insight into the judging is worth its weight in gold. Writing an APG? Read this.

• Rewilding attention… via RSS.

• Why not use data centres to heat swimming pools? WHY NOT INDEED.

• Hashtags are important, yo.

• Amazon doing subscription drugs in the US is HUGE. H U G E. I hope they absolutely gut that vulturous market to shreds.

• Fashion and fast food (come for the headline, stay for the amazing photos)

• ‘The McKinseys and the Deloittes have no expertise in the areas that they’re advising in’

• VR ≠ The Metaverse. Sorry.

• Almost a year to the day since they announced it, Meta quietly (?) killed off NFT support for Facebook and Instagram. It’s almost like they realised a grift that is only interesting for a few thousand people on the west coast might not be that important to the billions of people they serve every day. Almost.

• 100 questions.

• Mario Kart did it better.

• More than a third of UK workers would quit if they were told they had to return to the office full time.

• I don’t know why but I just really like this extension lead box.

• The phones that time forgot (this is great)

• Metaverse experts? They’re into AI now.

• Inside the world’s quietest room.

• VFX artists react to Avatar 2 CGI (seen the movie? Watch this)

• OK, last thing: how much do you know about the London Underground?

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

OK so hot damn, I thought this one would be a lengthy edition. If I lost you in the bonuses there for a bit, I’m sorry (I’m not sorry).

As is the norm at this stage of proceedings, I tend to say thank you. Maybe recommend a thing or two (new Mando is quite good; I’m slowly catching up with TLOU).

I’ve got some Destiny to play and a Raid to get ready for.

Until next time.

Whatley out x

PS. Hit that reply button – tell me your favourite thing this week 🙂

PPS. Here, have some potatoes.

Things of note for the week ending Saturday January 28th, 2023.

INTRO

Two editions in two weeks? Ambassador, you are spoiling us. What can I say? Sometimes the words come and sometimes they don’t. I’ve learned to recognise and embrace the former and make my peace with the latter.

No matter what, the words will come when they’re ready.

It’s funny, even writing that now – we had to submit something a few months ago, the words wouldn’t come. I knew they would, eventually, when they were ready but they didn’t for a long time. I had to have faith. Faith in myself, faith in my ability.

Faith in the words.

And sure enough they came. All 1200 of them. In one go. No edits. Madness.

…

Reading back over last week’s edition, it feels reflective – looking back a fair bit – at old links, older stories. The symptom of diving back into the unused link logs since October. The good news is that’s done now – so this edition is FRESH.

At least, I’m aiming for it to be.

So let’s find out if I’ve done it, yeah?

LET’S.

1. DEALING WITH LAYOFFS, IN TECH, GAMING, JOURNALISM AND MORE

Since Meta’s 11,000, Google’s 12,000, Twitter laying off 4,000, and Microsoft’s 10,000… and that’s before the swathes of journalists were laid off from everywhere from Adweek to the Washington Post this week, there are a lot of people looking for work right now.

Hard to dismiss this is a ‘post-covid rebalancing’ when so many livelihoods have been impacted (plus: it patently isn’t just that).

The point is: it’s rough out there.

Source: layoffs.fyi

Having personally been through redundancy a few times (on all sides of the table) it is a horrible experience.

From a purely gaming-based perspective, there is at least some light at the end of the tunnel. Over on Linkedin, the incredible Amir Satvat has pulled together some fantastic resources for those looking for new employment (including this superb community vacancies spreadsheet – featuring 13k vacancies!).

If you find this helpful or useful at all, don’t thank me, thank Satvat.

If you’ve been hit by any of the layoffs and need some help, with connections, CV help, just a friendly chat – whatever – then do please get in touch.

Xx

2. CALL OF THE VOID: SEVEN YEARS ON

The lovely Holly (hi Holly) shared this during the week and it is a fascinating read.

Written by a self-professed analyser of plane crashes, it looks at every inch of detail we know and pulls together a compelling argument for what truly happened to the still missing flight MH370.

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

This week: LOTS TO TALK ABOUT.

1. Xbox dropped Hi-Fi Rush out of nowhere (certified banger – oh and, as it turns out, one of the devs worked on Viewtiful Joe – what a game!)

2. Dead Space arrived to rave reviews (not my cup of tea – I don’t like scary games, OK?!)

3. Goldeneye re-released on Nintendo and Xbox (1997 nostalgia hit)

4. The PlayStation DualSense Edge (aka ‘the Pro controller’) landed on doormats for all pre-orderers (hello).

5. Aaaand vampire-teamup-killathon, REDFALL, looks all kinds of ace (10min gameplay video).

OK, so what else?

So look, I need to confess. Let’s just get this out of the way right now:

I am very excited about PS VR2

Yes it is a lot of money but a), I really want to play it (I’ve been saving for it and the other half may have offered to go halves with me for Christmas) and b) I can kind of (?) justify it because this is both in the interest of my job and my hobby/passion – and that’s that. If you’re unaware when this thing comes out, on tech specs alone, it should easily be the best VR kit on the market. Which is kinda nuts?

Game wise, there is a LOT.

Personally, on day one I’m looking at No Man’s Sky and Gran Turismo 7 (both free upgrades), Horizon Call of the Mountain (in the box), and almost certainly a paid upgrade for Tetris Effect. I’ve got a teeny tiny eye on Tentacular (it looks bonkers) and outside of that, I’m also keeping my eyes peeled for the heavily rumoured VR2 port of the critically acclaimed Half Life: Alyx.

I’d probably give a kidney for Wipeout upgrade path but that’s for another day.

Do you VR?

If so, which one? What do you play? Where? I’m interested. Let me know in the usual way (the reply button). Thanks x

What am I playing?

After describing my gaming funk last week, I’ve downloaded a few new games from Game Pass and PlayStation Plus just to give me an indie-shaped break from a heavy AAA completion.

First up on my list is: Jett: The Far Shore (on PlayStation Plus Extra).

Super lush. Super gentle. Super exactly what I need right now.

Hi-Fi Rush has arrived (see trailer linked at the top, available on Game Pass) just at the right moment also so I’ve got some really nice little games to tide me over until the next AAA eats up all my time.

Plus there’s the small matter of Destiny 2: Lightfall to look forward to next month. February is looking aaaaaall kinds of busy.

Might have to book some time off 😁

What are you playing/looking forward to playing next?

Fun fact/aside: something for the Warzone 2.0 players, you can refuel the heli at the gas station – who knew?

4. SOMETHING SOMETHING AVATAR IS ACTUALLY KIND OF GREAT?

TWO BILLION DOLLARS? WHAAAAAAAAAA.

And they said it would be rubbish.

They said no one would care.

And yet here we are and renowned cinematic pioneer and outrageously decent director of all movies that spend >50% of their time in the water, JAMES CAMERON, has delivered a corker.

I don’t care that the editing wasn’t that great. I don’t care that the story beats felt saggy in places. I don’t care about the moans and complaints that it wasn’t ‘that good’. Rubbish. It was magic and the dollars speak for themselves.

Sitting in the IMAX with my Mum and the Mrs the other night watching this for the first time – in 3D with HFR – I was completely and utterly transported back to Pandora. A place I first experienced for 15mins on ‘Avatar Day’ back in August 2009. A place I loved to visit in the way it was supposed to – in 3D IMAX. And at some points, in the water scenes specifically, it was like being in a God damn aquarium; I could not believe what I was seeing.

The pinnacle of special effects. A must-see for cinema fans. For event film fans. For everyone. I don’t care if you disagree, don’t even bother telling me.

I will only accept messages that say: ‘Oh damn, James, you were right’ – thanks.

Read more: Avatar to become only the 6th ever film to pass the $2bn mark.

5. MY BROTHER IN CHRIST, HOW IS IT 2023 AND YOU ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT THE METAVERSE?

We nearly did it. We nearly got through the whole newsletter without having to do it and look, I’ll be honest, I really wanted to write a newsletter without mentioning it.

But three things happened this week that made me think I had to do it.

First, the idiots at McKinsey are back at it again. This time with this rubbish:

It can’t even make it out of the first paragraph without misappropriating gaming success/moves for metaverse tosh.

Two thousand words of utter nonsense that not only manages to wilfully convolute the successes of Roblox (54m DAUs) and Fortnite (30m DAUs) with empty Web3 wastelands such as Sandbox (literally 700 DAUs) – I’m not kidding – but also manages to completely ship the bed with these amazing three ‘key steps’ for success:

1. ‘Start with Why. [Ask yourself] why does the metaverse fit into our growth and innovation agenda?’ – clue: it doesn’t

2. ‘Get Practical. Try not to be gimmicky’ – ummmm

3. Hire a Chief Metaverse Officer. HAHAHAHAHA I WISH I WAS JOKING.

I just can’t anymore with these guys.

—

Second, if the McKinsey piece made me laugh out loud, this next joke made me genuinely angry. I don’t even want to link to it.

HOWEVER if you’re going to write stuff like this:

‘As we all know, it is a hugely challenging time for the SME community amid the difficult economy and shifting consumer behaviours. This becomes even more pertinent for bricks and mortar operators who also have to contend with the ‘death of the high street.’

The good news is the metaverse have[sic] the answer.’

Just makes me so angry. If you’re a small/medium enterprise struggling with the death of the high street do not invest in sodding metaverse.

Irresponsible and dangerous idiocy.

And get a damn editor and a fact checker.

I’m not linking it. They don’t deserve the clicks.

—

Third and finally, as much as I do love an OREO love in (I spent two years of my life at Publicis working on the brand across UK and Europe), I wouldn’t be being true to my values if I didn’t call out this ridiculous piece of (admittedly US-centric (and fortunately nothing to do with the brilliant European team)) work that is this ‘OREO metaverse activation’.

Remember the golden rule: when people say ‘metaverse’, they either mean ‘video games’ OR they mean an empty 3D website.

Which one is the ‘The Oreoverse’ do you think?

I’ll let you decide.

BONUS SECTION

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

ENJOY.

• This week, in interesting transport links, here’s the world’s longest passenger train – over 100 carriages and measuring at 1.9km – it truly has to be seen to be believed. So… off you go then.

• Greg James on finding it boring being asked about children all the time. There’s a number of you that will enjoy this (non-paywall link right here if helpful).

• Tom Lehrer has given away all his rights to his music. This is worth a click for the song alone.

• If you’re leaving Twitter, here’s how to archive your Tweets via the Wayback Machine. Useful.

• A Ford dealer put the new SUV on its local equivalent of Deliveroo… and sold three of them.

• Building the 30-foot crocodile for Lake Placid.

• DnD back pedalling swiftly (thankfully). Someone tell me if I’ve got this wrong?

• Netflix thinks it’ll make $720m from banning password sharing. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see if it pays of for em.

• A belated 52 things I learned in 2022 (you may have seen this already but it’s still worth a revisit).

• Speaking of belated, I managed to complete 13 different games in 2022. Here’s a thread of those games (with mini reviews) in case you needed some inspiration.

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

It’s been nice to boot this thing back up again. I would make this longer but it’s now 9am on Saturday morning, coffee has been consumed, and the weekend chores are calling.

How are you doing out there?

Hit that reply button, it’d be great to hear from you.

Until next time,

Whatley out x

PS. In Bristol? We’re hiring: a campaign production manager and a senior account manager for the PR & Comms team.