Here Be Monsters|blog

What can bloggers learn from The Apprentice & Eastenders?

I’ve been working up this theory on writing for blogs to support a presentation and possibly create a new revenue stream for us.  So I thought I'd share my thinking with you guys see if anyone wants to contribute.

It’s about blogging - I'll share my thoughts on tweets later - and how brands should approach it in a more focused way

Right now brand blogging in the UK is in its infancy and because it’s cheap and quick and readership numbers are currently relatively small for most brand blogs, it gets treated with more contempt than this years BB contestants.

However, a quick glance across the pond will tell you that that doesn’t have to be the case. In fact a well-written, focused blog that serves and articulates a purpose, one that rewards readership can and does deliver a meaningful relationship that can be incredibly valuable to the brand.

But, this will not happen if you treat it as a freebie bolted-on to the main campaign because, well it’s cheap, trendy and so now, and that’s the kind of brand we are, so why not do it? Plus there’s a box here I have to tick, right next to the iphone app and the facebook widget. And, anyway, isn’t that what interns are for?

So the outcome is something that resembles a personal diary packed with minor milestones such as –

The sun is shining today, so why not go out and buy one of our new limited edition range of choc-ices. There are 3 to choose from lemon and lime, mango and multi-berry. Hurry and do let us know which one is your favourite. Yummy.

All written by someone who loves to replace full stops with :-) and can’t wait until a computer allows them to dot i’s with smiley faces.

The alternative to this, of course, is the dullard who thinks people love to read instruction manuals about products.

In short then, the kind of thing that no sane person can tolerate. And so a self-fulfilling prophecy that blogs aren’t important or effective.

And so, the next campaign gets the same blog treatment.

Now consider an alternative approach. Consider one where a blog is given a real purpose or positioning in a campaign, with a real benefit to consumers and is skilfully constructed and written by someone who understands narrative structure and the power of the written word.

What would that look like?

Well, I think a blog closely resembles two modern day narratives. Those of a reality TV show, like say, The Apprentice and that of a sitcom or soap.

How so, you say?

Well, a reality TV series is built around a script that is flexible enough to incorporate the unpredictable, the reality element, it doesn’t dictate the outcome but does add structure and order where there possibly isn’t any.

Characters are selected based on their personality traits and assigned a potential role in the series (the fool, the bitch, the quiet one who will flourish etc).

These roles are then clearly defined in the early stages and reaffirmed in subsequent episodes. So the dimwit character is edited to confirm his dimwittedness, the nasty bitch has only her bitchy acts included in the final edit and so on. Now established these characters can play their role in a pre-determined - albeit loosely plotted - script that has been drawn up from the beginning.

A manipulation of  reality, but a reality none the less.

Having become familiar with the characters we the audience can sit back and enjoy the drama unfold, safe in the knowledge of who is who and how they will react in certain situations.

Not too dissimilar to characters in a sitcom or soap. 

In this genre the characters have clearly defined personality traits that don’t change. It’s one of the few genres where this happens. Normally in a film or other drama, the lead character goes on a journey, a character-arc that changes him/her in some way forever. The workaholic at the beginning of the film discovers the importance of community and/or family. The idealist gets dealt a blow by fate preventing him from escaping his past and leaving him resigned to accept his lot etc.

But not so in the world of Soaps and Sitcoms. The reason they don’t change is because familiarity is what makes a soap a Soap, a sitcom a Sitcom. Dell Boy has to always chase the dream of being a millionaire, it’s that that determines the comedy. He can never become one nor can he change and discover less materialistic goals.

Likewise, Phil Mitchell of Albert Square is doomed to forever be the violent petty criminal he is. So, whatever situation he finds himself in he must act accordingly – not for him the enlightenment of learning the power of arbitration and peaceful compromise.

The reason both of these genres follow this path is because of why they are viewed and their relationship with the viewer.

They rely on repeat and frequent viewing, so they need to be consistent - people enjoy and need this familiarity, it allows them to build connections and feel a sense of loyalty to the characters.

And these character can’t be too complex and instead need to follow a simple human desire or personality trait because these genres also need to stand alone as pieces of entertainment and drama in their own right, so that infrequent or new views can easily grasp what is going on and quickly decide for themselves whether this is something for them.

What does all this sound like from a user experience, well to me, blogs.

So, before establishing a blog, define it’s role, define the narrative arc - what’s it’s purpose, what is it offering, what’s the story (know the beginning, middle and end). Establish who the characters are (people or product points) and what their role in the story is.

Oh and finally, give it to a writer. Someone that wants to write and who understands these things (which is why we have been quietly recruiting screenwriters, gag writers, comedy writers, journalists and novelists to write treatments and plot narratives for clients blogs).

Then you might have a blog that will attract considerable loyal readership who will engage and return to it time and time again and share their experience of it with others  – much like a good Soap or Sitcom

If this does or doesn’t make sense, or you want to challenge it some more, or you fancy joining the writers’ database, feel free to get in touch.

And now, just for fun and as way of a thank you for getting to the end, a completely unrelated video clip, other than featuring Alan Sugar, I present Cassetteboys best

New ads coming your way soon #8

You can just see it now. Everything from computers, phones, games manufactures, insurance, even a COI excerise more campaign, all joining the race to use this first.

The photographer is Christophe Beauregard. His aim is to explore the ways in which technology has shaped our body language “to the point of creating new codes, new signs.” By removing the physical gadget from his photos he leaves just the interaction.

More here.

Writing comedy

There was an article in The Guardian at the weekend, featuring Paul Fieg sharing his wisdom on comedy writing. It was pretty lightweight if I'm honest but there was still one or two gems of wisdom which would benefit any copywriter about to  tackle his/her next script

Stuff like:

There are so many comedies that portray people living in the suburbs as living ridiculous or hypocritical lives. But I grew up in the suburbs of Michigan in midwest America and tend to think that everyone is just trying to get through life as best they can. You don't have to sneer or poke fun at them to get a laugh."

"A great comedy is about real characters who make you laugh because you appreciate their personalities and how they react to particular situations. They have to be believable human beings, not just vehicles for gags."

"If you're trying to make a great comedy, most of your time and effort should go into casting. Find the right actors and let them do their thing."

Once again, I'm reminded of a particualr bug bear of mine. The lack of time and effort that contemporay ad agencies spend on the craft side of what they do. And yet, this is for me is where the effort needs to be applied especially now, especially the written word.

I get down from my soap box now, before this becomes a full on rant

You can read the full article here.

Where Madison meets Vine

I've been aware for a while now, about this trend appearing. The Americans have a name for it,of sorts, Madison and Vine, it's the combination of advertising and entertainment. And the rightly awarded and previously commented on here back in January, The Queensland Best Job in the World campaign is the latest example.

This Thursday at 9pm the BBC are showing an hour long programme covering the final round of the competition, when an English lad called Ben is selected from the final 16.

Currently, I haven't been able to find out much behind the production company behind it, but if this wasn't conceived and made by, or at the very least pitched to production companies by CumminsNitro then it bloody well should have been.

Either way, a smart conclusion to a smart campaign.

With TV desperate for content this is definitely a trend that is going to go from strength to strength and yet another example of the return to a pre50's ad/comms model.

Bastard

Meet Jonathan Harris, he's an artist and computer scientist and the sort of person that makes you feel perhaps you're wasting your life. Not that he's smug about what he's doing, it's just that it's so vital, full of energy and relevance that whatever it is you're filling your days with becomes a little more pointless in comparison

His work celebrates the world's diversity even as it illustrates the universal concerns of its occupants. His computer programs scour the Internet for unfiltered content, which his beautiful interfaces then organize to create coherence from the chaos.

Here he is talking about storytelling

And here he's the We Feel Fine site

Now, Murdoch, if your newspaper sites resembled something like his, you could put me down for a paid subscription
.

It's the long cuddle of the law

I like this, it's a little whimsical and odd, but why not. I like the fact that I don't know if it's an 'offical' ad or some quirky personal film. Either way I think it approaches the subject matter in a very fresh way - which is always a good thing. I also love the fact that it gets the message across very clearly without using words.

New ads coming your way #7

Richard Funch so rocks. Expect to see him on billboards very soon, maybe for BA, maybe for AT&T, maybe even Sony PSP. Don't move along, plenty more to see here

Many things of beauty

Jessica Hische is a designer, illustrator and typographer from Brooklyn, she's also very talented. enjoy.

 

New ads coming your way #6

This is just one of those lovingly executed ideas that is so going to have it's heart ripped out and end up in an ad. My money is on mobile communications, or maybe a broadband offering, but don't be surprised if you see a car logo or the COI dangling from the end of it.

lovely, simply lovely

Ornamental Life are a Danish design company, who have taken some chipped white plates and painted the most delicate of little flowers on them. Thus turning the flaw into a feature. I think they're beautiful. If you do too and want to see some more, you can do so here .

Is this the funniest headline ever written?

cadbury's ads

I wasn't going to join in with the love-in that is blogging about the new Cadbury's ad. But so few people have offered anything other than uncritical praise for it that I feel compelled to add my view, if only to annoy those who believe love is blind.

I have nothing but praise for the craft behind the ad. Quality casting, great track and the addition of the balloon is genius, but for me something critical is missing, something Gorilla had in spades. And that is.....

...... anticipation. (see what I did there?)

So much of the impact of that ad is in the waiting.

loving this site

I absolutely love this site. It's called Pretty Loaded and while celebrating the loading bar, it manages to show that if you be bothered to care and love your craft, every element of your website, even the most mundane ones, can be an opportunity to engage and delight.

Visit and enjoy.

Great t-shirts

One of my intentions for this blog in 2009 is to become a dumping ground for inspiration, so I no longer have to bookmark stuff all the time.  And I think this site which is a blog can kick it all off, it's all about the t-shirt - which are starting to rival the paperback book in fine design.

useful tips on writing via kurt via ben via dan

Dan recommended Ben. Ben recommended these words from Kurt. I think they can be applied to most writing that's short in length. Like the stuff we do.

Great film trailer

In what seems like another life now, I once spent 4/5 years in the film industry and boy is it dominated by fear, conservatism (possibly the same thing) and more fear. Which is a pity because there are some really sharp people working really hard trying not to make it so. So when I saw this remixed trailer from addictive tv, my heart was lifted a little. I love it.

Once you get away from the agents'/artists' contractual obligations and studio executive notes, a trailer can actually be a thing of interest, enjoyment and information. 

I was also lucky enough to see the film over Christmas (nothing dodgy, just one of the many benefits of being a member of BAFTA) and loved that too.

The next wave of TV ads coming your way soon - 1

There was a time when creatives could steal a smart idea from any number of sources; a student's graduation film, some obscure art house nonsense, a pop video, and the like - safe in the knowledge that few would know the source and so their originality could be lavished with money and awards.

In two memorable cases I can think of, the only contribution from 'inspiration' to ad was literally just adding a company's logo - okay so they made the connection between what they saw and a product). And both won loads of awards.

But that was before YouTube hosted everything and made it available to everyone. Which has made being a creative both so much easier and so much harder - oh, the irony.

So, I thought I'd start an occasional series showing the inspiration for ads hitting your screens in the coming months. (Feel free to join in with your own suggestions).

First up is for a sauce, something with the endline:  Make your meal a masterpiece, or something about an artist's palate (getit?!)

See this and/or this

Just a matter of time.

A little more on ideas

Just wanted to add this from The Before and After blog to the debate on ideas.

Quoting Voltaire, Good is the enemy of great.

Oh so true.

rejection

Had an interesting conversation with a client this morning, all about being a creative. And he was surprised to hear me say that being a creative is mostly about rejection. Well, if you care about what you do it is.

You reject your ideas. If you're still working in a team, your partner rejects your ideas. Your boss rejects your ideas. Planners, account people, research groups and clients reject your ideas.

So, if you're going to work as a creative, and you should it's brilliant fun at times, then you should grow a thick skin, quickly and embrace rejection.

Reminds me of something someone said to me about sportsmen and women. The best lose more than the rest.

Something for the weekend

Turns out to be a good week for work. Here's an impressive online game full of wit and style from a partnership between North Kingdom and Goodby Silverstein and Partners. I love the attention to detail and the depth of the experience. This was obviously put together by people who cared. Full credit should go to the California Milk Processing Board for stumping up the cash.

rock n roll

I don't know much about Nine Inch Nails. I know I don't like their music. I know I love their marketing  skills.

To launch their new album, Year Zero, they included URL clues on their tour t-shirts which lead fans to websites that described an apocalyptic vision of the US. Memory sticks were found in toilets with tracks on them. Samples of tracks were played on radio stations unannounced in the wee small hours. Telephone numbers appeared on fan sites. All very clandestine, all very brilliant. All very I love Bees.

I wish I'd done it.

there's more than one funny

I was watching TV on Sunday night, Channel 4, all about the 100 best stand ups, it was okay, just like all those of other 100 best programmes, but what did strike me was that there is an awful lot of different comedy out there. I mean, a massive variety in comedy tone. And a lot of it is very funny. Maybe all of it.

Then it occurred to me that in ads, with very few exceptions, there's only one type of humour, spruced up in different clothing for different markets, but it's still only the one type of humour - the sliced white loaf of humour. At best it's funny at worse (most radio ads) it's awful, but it's all from the same vein. Even when comedians are used to appear in ads or voice them, they're very seldom do 'their humour'.

I wonder if there's a comedian's version of Groucho House Club, and if there is I wonder what they say about the ad jobs they're doing?

A breath of Fresh Air

Above is a freebie magazine from Vice. It's for students and while I most certainly can't claim to be one of them I dis pick it up and had a read. And I'm so glad I did.

Not since the first time I picked up an Innocent bottle have I been so impressed by the writing - no lazy adspeak here, no lame jokes, no pandering to the lowest common denominator. No siree, this was a joy; original, funny and risk-taking.

And before you start, well of course, it's for students, it's a niche brand, they can get away with murder  blah blah blah- that's simply bollocks and I'll produce any number of student, niche brand marketing material to prove it.

Sure it's not a tone that's suitable or desirable for a lot of brands (although it is one that's exactly right for them and their audience). But that's not what I was excited by. It was the freshness of picking something up and actually being engaged enough to read more.

Vice writers. I salute you.

A WISE LESSON FROM AN OLD AD

This is a bit like finding a fiver in the pocket of the pair of trousers you've just put on, or discovering an old jumper in the back of the cupboard whose style has just come back in fashion.

An old much loved ad from the past that I had completely forgotten about until I bumped into it on Youtube.

A lesson in life in 30seconds and yet it still does remembers who's paid for it for the brand. Can anyone think of anyother ad that occupies this space. Possibly Adidas, impossible is nothing. Any others? I wonder if you could put a self-help book together made up of only ads?

Shaming the pros?

Some very smart, very stupid or just plain lazy creatives working on the Chevy account over the water came up with the idea of letting the general public come up with an ad to be played out during the superbowl.

As if it's not tough enough convincing people that being a creative in an ad agency isn't one long lunch and/or coke binge but a very demanding and difficult job that requires considerable skill and talent rarely found in mortal form.

All a bit like Faking It. Can you spot the commercial from someone who until two weeks ago didn't even know ads are in 30sec segments?

So, have we creatives been exposed as charlatans, or can we sleep better tonight safe in the knowledge we have been vindicated?  Well you decide.

WHY COULD THIS ONLY BE AMERICAN? | 3

Some time ago I posted about the Apple ads being quintessentially American, and doubted that we English could get the balance right. Well, now they've gone and recreated them with English comedians so, you can judge for yourself here.  Personally, I think they confirm my argument. The charm, the rhythm, the gaps in dialogue, even the slight of performance and gentleness of delivery have all been lost.

Here's one of the originals that has been copied. I'd love to know what you think.

steal

Where do ideas come from?  There's a great, simple book of that title which was given to me by Paul Arden. I want to post about it sometime soon. But in the meantime, I was pointed to this article in the New York Times (but lost the by whom, sorry) and thought it worth pointing the more curious amongst you to. Enjoy.

There's more on it here, too.

I LOVE SIMPLICITY

I love the simplicity of this.

IN Praise of Hard work

Okay, so you work long hours, but does that mean you're working hard? Because, "long" and "hard" are now two different things. In the old days, we could measure how much grain someone harvested or how many pieces of steel he made. Hard work meant more work. But the past doesn't lead to the future. The future is not about time at all. The future is about work that's really and truly hard, not time-consuming. It's about the kind of work that requires us to push ourselves, not just punch the clock. Hard work is where our job security, our financial profit, and our future joy lie.

It's hard work to make difficult emotional decisions, such as quitting a job and setting out on your own. It's hard work to invent a new system, service, or process that's remarkable. It's hard work to tell your boss that he's being intellectually and emotionally lazy. It's easier to stand by and watch the company fade into oblivion. It's hard work to tell senior management to abandon something that it has been doing for a long time in favor of a new and apparently risky alternative. It's hard work to make good decisions with less than all of the data.

Today, working hard is about taking apparent risk. Not a crazy risk like betting the entire company on an untested product. No, an apparent risk: something that the competition (and your coworkers) believe is unsafe but that you realize is far more conservative than sticking with the status quo.

Richard Branson doesn't work more hours than you do. Neither does Steve Jobs or Alan Sugar or Julian Richer.

None of the people who are racking up amazing success stories and creating cool stuff are doing it just by working more hours than you are. And I hate to say it, but they're not smarter than you either. They're succeeding by doing hard work.

As the economy plods along, many of us are choosing to take the easy way out. We're going to work for a big company, letting him do the hard work while we work the long hours. We're going back to the future, to a definition of work that embraces the grindstone.

Hard work is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you'd rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, tunnel under that barrier, drive through the other barrier. And, after you've done that, to do it again the next day.

The big insight: The riskier your (smart) coworker's hard work appears to be, the safer it really is. It's the people having difficult conversations, inventing remarkable products, and pushing the envelope (and, perhaps, still going home at 5 PM) who are building a recession-proof future for themselves.

Author Seth Godin.

I share it because it sums up perfectly what we're forever banging on about alot at Here Be Monsters, the constant need to be smart in what we do.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM TV?

I've lifted this from an interview Creative Generalist did with Steve Callaghan, writer and producer of the Family Guy cartoon series. Here is how he describes the process of developing and writing a script.

"Well, as you might imagine, it is a highly collaborative endeavor. There are about 100 people or so who are in some way or another involved in putting together an episode. The process begins, of course, with the writing staff. My fellow writers and I will come up with a concept for an episode and discuss the general storyline that it would contain. The episode is then assigned to a particular writer who will write the first draft of the script. The whole writing staff then takes that first draft and, as a group, rewrites it -- improves jokes that might need some help, fixes any story issues, etc. -- before the show gets recorded by all of our voice actors. Once the audio has been recorded, then our animation team takes the baton, creating an animatic, which is a rough, pencil-sketch version of the show. Once we all screen the animatic, the writers take another pass at the script to address any remaining writing issues. A while later, the show comes back in color. We then do one more, smaller rewrite on the script before the finishing touches (music cues, sound effects, etc.) are added and then you've got yourself an episode of "Family Guy."

Now, compare that with how the typical creative team in the typical ad agency creates their script.

Account person and/or planner explain brief to creative team. They leave. Creative team spend anything from a day to a few weeks sweating it out. They present their ideas to the CD, who says yes, no, maybe, perhaps etc. What is very unlikely is that he will spend any time working with the team beyond this verbal input. Not through laziness, but because the script 'belongs' to the team. Work is then presented back to the account person-planner combo,  who are allowed to comment on it, but only within the confines of their job title remit. God help them if they mis judge this and over step into the creatives' domaine. Conversations between planner and account person, account person and client, planner and creative director, planner and client all take place in a isolation to one another. As a result nothing much changes in the script until a director is selected. Now the creative team will listen and make changes, because a) the director is also a 'creative' and  b) the team really want to be him.

I've been fortunate enought to have been a part of both processes and I know which one delivers the better work.

WELCOME TO WRITE CLUB

I've been spending more  time with clients discussing the craft of writing than at any other time in my career. Not that surprising really, more of them are writing more themselves. Several are doing company blog's or undating their websites themselves and another is handing their own newsletters.

In fact I'm going to go as far as say the craft of writing has never been so important in the communication mix in recent times as it is right now.

So, I thought I'd start Write Club, an occasional series on writing.

I got this email sent to me before Christmas, interesting enough proposition tucked away at the bottom - 'unusual gift no effort', but for Conde Nast that really wasn't the hook. They'd rather tell you how they feel rather what they can do for you, as a result they lost me with the subject line. Because frankly, it's for me to decide whether or not it's a generous offer.

I mention this not to pick fault (or a fight) with someone's work but to highlight a very common problem and that is clients and their agencies writing from their perspective (i.e. I'm sure Patrick thinks he's being incredibly generous). But in doing so he has completely removed me any connection I might have. It's like having a conversation with a chat show host or someone on cocaine.

(Possibly the finest example of this was when a senior exec at a agnecy I was at sent an email to clients notify them he was leaving with the subject title: Great News. Great news for who? The rest of the email was equally self-congratulatory.)

So, the First Rule of Write Club is;

Understand the perspective of the reader. And remember what interests you about your business probably doesn't interest them.

As my main man Howard Gossage once said; People don't read ads, they read what interests them and sometimes it happens to be an ad.

the most excellent CR blog

There's some great stuff over at the CR Blog right now, gawd bless em.  For starters there's Micah Wright's satirical remixes of WWI and WWII propaganda posters.

And if that's not enough, they've done a round up of their favourite videos of 2006.

quality

I love this as an idea. So what if it works better on YouTube than in real life. It's just a lovely, lovely idea. And one I wish I'd done. Even more so since I've discovered I'm going to be spending a lot of time in '07 working on a major sports brand.

peter callesen

Just been sent to Peter Callesen's site by my friend Mark. If you have the time, please visit. Enjoy.

getting in touch with my inner-geek

Ever wondered what the plastic bits at the end of shoe laces are called? I love it when you find there's a word for something that you didnt know had a name.  And here's a list of 33 such words.

toy story requiem

Toy Story 2, was wonderful and Requiem For A Dream is one of  my favourite films, so a mashup of both trailers was always going to work for me. But this is also one of the best mash ups I've seen.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Toy Story Requiem.

I will possibly burn in hell for this

Young man, there's no need to feel down.
I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground.

Well, it made me laugh. 

And it is an original use of an iconic image that has been around for over 2000 years, which just goes to show that all you've got to do is take the time to look at things differently.

Which in turn reminds me of the late and great John Webster. One of his greatest talents was to be able to look at something he'd written as if it were for the first time, this allowed him to rewrite and rewrite a script until it was as good as it could possible.

In Hollywood there's a phrase used amongst writers, If you want to improve your script, kill your babies. It basically means, that if you're stuck and can't move forward the problem is likely to be your favourite scene, so get rid of that bit you've fallen in love as it's likely to be holding you back.

(Alison if you're reading this, it doesn't apply to ones' personal life.)

 

I heart work

There's a great post over at Noisy Decent Graphics that talks about the love of being a designer. You don't have to be a designer to appreciate and recognise what he's saying, just someone who is passionate about what you do.

So if you don't recognise yourself in this, shouldn't you be looking for another job?

After all, if you find a job you truly love, you'll never have to work again.

why could this only be American? | 2

Roger was kind enough to let me know that there are Japanese versions of the Apple ads I've been taking about and so I clicked over to YouTube to see them. (Isn't that brilliant. I can now, in a matter of seconds, find material that was referenced in a post to me. Every now and then I get an overwhelming sense of the enormity of the change that the Internet brings. And when it does, I find myself loving life that little bit more. My son on the other hand will only know a world connected to wide web, in the same way I've only ever known a world with flying, I wonder what huge changes he'll experience?) Anyway I digress.

Putting to one side the cultural and language differences. Doesn't it seem altogether less authentic to you?  The wardrobe, the casting, their performances - all seem to lack the comfortable, lived-in feel of the original. And so lose charm, the very essence of what makes them appealing. The PC character in particular seems completely fake, lacking any of the appeal/authenticity of the original character.

I thought the Japanese version helped make my point - that the skill sets and sensitivities required to make these particular ads work in such a familiar/intimate way could only come from Americans. Not unlike the writing of Sopranos, WestWing and The Simpsons, now I come to thing of it.

Why could this only be American?

I'm a big fan of this campaign. Partly I'm sure because I'm a big fan of all things Apple - seldom do they get things wrong, everything from the packaging to the stores to the products to the customer service is an articulation of the brand. But mainly I'm a big fan of these ads because they're so, well, charming.

Imagine the script; Open on an empty set. Two men stand side by side talking directly to camera. Hmm, doesn't sound that interesting. But when you watch them they ooze charm. The music, casting, wardrobe and performance, the rhythm of the language, the direction - all make the whole thing very watchable. But also very American.

No other country could have made this, like this. Could it be that as inventors of the modern language of film it just feels right by association and familiarity? Is it that culturally they have more respect for film and a better ear for dialogue because they haven't been brought up in the shadow of a theatre culture?  Or is it simply that because of its size, they have a larger pool of talent to draw on than other countries? I've heard arguments supporting each of these, all of which were compelling, none of which were wholly convincing though.

GREAT CRM and the T-shirts aren't bad either

Got my new Howie's brochure this weekend. And when I saw it I felt excitement. I'm not saying I was singing from the roof tops, but I did genuinely smile. It dawned on me that I was looking forward to opening the brochure, not to see the clothes really but to read the other stuff. I wanted to know how things are with them, I wanted to see what random lists they've put together, I wanted to know if they've still keep their book lending going. I realised I actually cared about how they were doing. And that is some achievement.

Also, in an age when everyone is looking digital-based and away from paper-based, it dawned on me that there is real added value in being surprised by something in the post, to the extent that it can feel like a genuine gift.

the blog as soap or sitcom

Spent a fascinating time yesterday working with a client on different ways in which to use blogs. We had this thought that a blog could be treated in much a similar way as you would a soap opera or sitcom - a drama that's played out in regular episodes (posts). The more we looked at this and the more we looked at the structure of storytelling within the confines of a soaps and sitcoms, the more we thought we were onto something, so we're going to experiment around this and see what develops. If blogs can be streams of consciousness, diaries or gossip columns, then why can't they also be given a strong narrative structure? The big challenge as we see it will be to adapt the everyday events into story lines that will be both engaging and entertaining while still remaining true to the spirit and honesty of blogging.

So this weekend I'm going to be re-reading  Jospeh Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces

why?

Saw this on the tube last night and it really bothered me. What is it doing?  Who is it communiticating with? What does it mean, Yum/Young, Free and Single? I read the copy and it's about free puddings being given away, somewhere, sometime, but I can't remember where, but that's not what the line says. How did someone present this?

At least half a dozen people with the power to stop it must have seen this and not one of them did.  Why?  Was it really the best thing on the table?  I have no desire to belittle or insult people, I know how hard it is to create work, but while this ad obviously recieved a little tlc along the way, the idea didn't.  And I really want to understand why?  I got off the tube confused and depressed.

COMEDY AND COPYWRITING

The ads I hate the most are the ones that try and be funny. And the worst of them are radio ads. A shit ad you can ignore, but one where the team involved believe they've crafted something good, something worth listening to is the worst.

In fact I've long harboured a secret ambition to make a sketch show out of the sketches played out in radio ads. I hope that if creatives could see them out of context they would actually notice that what they've written is shite.

It's as if there is a comedy level in advertising that is way below the acceptable comedy level for comedians. As if ads don't have to exist in the real world. (Maybe there's some clue here as to why people have been falling out of love with them.)

As a result we get ads that are no more than weak sketches loaded with punchlines and puns. it's as if these creatives aspire to be of this world

It's as if they haven't notice that comedy, like everything else has changed and moved on. It's long become one of observational humour, of anger and social statement.  Today's face of popular comedy is

So why aren't creatives writing like them?  Could it be a lack of talent perhaps? 

QUOTES | A WRITER'S CRAFT

Saw this quote over at Ben's blog this morning and have decided we should stick it on our powerpoint presentations from now on.  Apparently, it came from those smart guys at base camp

Maybe it's because I'm a copywriter, but I love quotes. If for no other reason than, they are a fantastic reminder that even in today's 'visual world' well-crafted words still have the power to resonate in a profound way.

So it used to concern me that when I met today's student teams and asked them what they were you got the same reply from both, we're creatives.  Ask them how that works and who's going to write any words that are needed and you usually get something along the lines of; both of us, whoever's less busy, or the all encompassing, dunno haven't thought about it.

Digging a little deeper I discovered that all the major ad courses; St.Martins, Bucks etc. don't teach writing or art direction as a skill. They teach the creation of ideas.

All of which used to deeply trouble me. A lot.

But it doesn't anymore, because I was wrong and they are right (well, up to a point, it's the industry that's creative, not a person nor a department, but that's for another time.)

I was being lazy in my thinking.  Why are we asking people to articulate an idea in a particular medium and then once they have, expect those very same people to craft it all the way through?  The answer is, for no other reason than because that's how it's always been done. And that's no answer at all.

At Here Be Monsters, we're experimenting with a whole new structure, one that plays to individuals strengths and is loosely based on my experience of writing for Hollywood, where someone has an idea, another person writes it, another rewrites the funny bits, yet another rewrites the female voice etc. and it's all done under the watchful eye of someone (usually a producer) who has a very clear vision of what they want to achieve at the end of it.

And so if the solution to our client's problem requires written words we employ dedicated writers, people who feel the need to write; TV writers, comedy writers, script writers, copywriters, novelist and journalists to write them for us.

As I'm forever saying, now is the time for us to experiment.