London Calling

The state of the internet

David Brain, President and CEO, Edelman Europe — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:53:58 +0000

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Top tip….play on mute as soundtrack is deeply annoying. Hat tip Andy Lark

An Englishman’s Castle

thenakedpheasant — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:31:23 +0000

It used to be said that an Englishman’s castle is his home and certainly it was from a privacy point of view. A great deal has been written on the nature of privacy in the social media age recently but the scale of the change was brought home to me by the tragedy of Ashleigh Hall, [...]

Beckham is a PR genius …

David Brain, President and CEO, Edelman Europe — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:36:49 +0000

… or very well advised. Not an easy thing for lifelong City fan to say (they are a client too…I love my job). But last night’s ‘impulse’ gesture to pick up the green and gold scarf of the anti-Glazer fans was just that. Even though he is distancing himself from the ownership debate this morning, a picture paints a thousand words. And the picture on the front of the Times (not just the sports pages mind you) and all over the other papers is Beckham in the colours of the fans. So why get involved, other than to make sure your picture is in the papers rather than Rooney’s? Call my cynic but if you assume he is looking hard now at what he does after he stops playing, which could be after the summer or one last season in the US, his thoughts may be straying back to Manchester (even if Posh’s are not). The Glazers don’t look like they will be there for ever and Fergie has to stop soon……so if you fancied a Manchester United ambassador role in the future (ala Bobby Charlton), why not embellish your steller playing record and your global brand recognition with a bit of gritty ‘man-of-the-people’ stuff by picking up the symbol of democratic fan rebellion? I thought he played very well on the field last night, but his best move was off it.

Taking Games Seriously

Luke Mackay — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:10:00 +0000

A month or so ago I attended a really interesting session in the hallowed halls of Westminster. Hosted by Tom Watson MP, Taking Games Seriously sought to prompt a discussion “on the place of video games and virtual worlds in modern society – the lessons we might learn from them, their dangers, and why the [...]

Sean Boyle

David Brain, President and CEO, Edelman Europe — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:04:12 +0000

In the mid 90’s I lived in Singapore and found myself working in an Ad Agency (the legendary Batey Ads, creator of the Singapore Girl amongst other things) as a Brand Planner. Given I had zero experience of either advertising or planning, this was a little puzzling to start with but enjoyable and very useful for me as it turned out. My planning partner for two years was the very creative and clever Sean Boyle. He was apt to rant a bit was our Sean. He still is apparently, but that has not stopped him being one of the top planners in Asia, Australia and now in New York with JWT. Here he is at some advertising conference berating the industry he loves. This was pretty much the way in which he talked to clients in meetings too I seem to remember.

Platforms and hosting – where does responsibility lie?

thenakedpheasant — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:33:14 +0000

A frightening precedent was set in Italy last week, which outside of the country itself seemed to have nominal impact in the press, but which could undermine the ‘net as we know it, at least as far as content hosting and delivery is concerned. The initial incident in question occurred in 2006, when an autistic [...]

The serious business of casual gaming

thenakedpheasant — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:03:19 +0000

Love it or hate it, when you log on to Facebook you probably can’t help but notice that some of your ‘friends’ are keen for you to build a farm with them or herd some cattle. But rather than this being a semi-idyllic request to escape the rat race and do something outdoorsy, it is [...]

Mobile World Congress 2010 recap

Jonny Bentwood — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:06:26 +0000

We’ve just come out of another Mobile World Congress in Spain—now the largest and most influential mobile/telecoms trade show in the world. Mobile continues to grow in strategic importance and is at an interesting cross-road where digital content, the Internet, faster mobile networks, better phones, and heightened consumer awareness/engagement are coming together to fuel some [...]

The Mind of the Machine

thenakedpheasant — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:52:41 +0000

Marisa made some really interesting points recently about “young people today” and the way they think. It got me thinking and I wonder if anyone can identify with what I’ve noticed. Remember the days when you could remember phone numbers? You knew all the important people by heart. Remember the day when you could [...]

teenagers brains being rewired by the internet…

thenakedpheasant — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:43:49 +0000

A recent study directed by David Nicholas at the University College of London showed that young people are losing their ability to concentrate because of the internet – as if, on hitting adolescence they don’t already have enough to deal with? The study showed that adolescents are losing the ability to read and write long [...]