Sledge Blog

The ease with which recorded properties can be copied is greatly enhancing the value of live, not just from a commercial point of view but also from a consumer perspective. The inherent value of recorded content seems to diminish as its ubiquity increases. Some how a scheduled episode of the Sopranos doesn’t seem quite as exciting when you know that you can watch any episode you like, when you like, through an on-demand channel. These changes mean that consumers are increasingly turning to live to get their kicks.

A magical book called Spectacle explores live happenings, experiences, events, festivals, parades, displays from around the world. When you work in this area it is easy to forget the wonder of live. Spectacle covers everything from Burning Man to Spain’s Tomatina festival via the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, the Kumbh Mela in India and Olympic opening ceremonies. One of the author’s is architect David Rockwell who is fascinated by the creative risk taking that the brevity of a spectacle demands; other contributors include Muhammad Ali, Quincy Jones and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte. The book contains great insights for anyone charged with creating experiences, but beyond this Spectacle is a photography book and is worth picking up just for the pictures.

Wisdom of Slowness

If you find your blood pressure rising when a web page takes more than a second to download or you get agitated waiting for a traffic light to change, then you should put some time aside to read Carl Honore's book, In Praise of Slow.

As the pace of life grows ever faster we are in danger of speeding past some of life's essential pleasures. A growing tide of people are rebelling against the frenetic pace of life; Honore explores everything from the Slow Food movement to Citta Slow, an organisation dedicated to ensuring towns and city's develop in a way that ensures they are communal and pedestrian friendly.

The book recognises the need for speed and the importance of deadlines, particularly in the workplace, but argues that for optimum performance a balance needs to be struck between fast and slow. The brain has two modes of thought, fast thinking and slow thinking...

"Fast thinking is rational, analytical, linear, logical. It is the way computers think and the way the modern workplace operates; it delivers clear solutions to well defined problems. Slow thinking is intuitive, woolly, creative. It is what we do then the pressure is off, and when we have time to let ideas simmer at their own pace on the back burner. It yields rich and subtle insights. Relaxation is a precursor to slow thinking."

Milan Kundera talks about the wisdom of slowness and in his book Perfect Pitch, Jon Steel makes it very clear that the ideas that win pitches come through slow thinking. Winston Churchill  was a particular liked to slow things down with an afternoon nap ... "Don’t think you’ll be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion helped by people who have no imagination. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one – well, at least one and half"

So it's time to slow down and achieve more.

Jez

I have just finished reading Joseph Jaffe’s Life After the 30-Second Spot. Despite a rather annoying writing style - paragraphs frequently have expressions such as ‘Go figure’ tagged on the end  - and a very US-centric focus it is a useful book.

The first part is a full-frontal attack on TV commercials, this is done with such tabloid zeal that you end up almost feeling sorry for the poor old 30-seconder. The book then explores the exciting alternatives available to marketers - and this is where it becomes more interesting - sections on Long-Form Content, Consumer Generated Content, and Search amongst other topics, act as useful introductions to these often confusing areas of marketing. At the end of each section there is an easily digestible case study written by someone responsible for a pioneering campaign. The section on Experiential Marketing includes a great case study on Hewlett Packard’s HYPE gallery campaign – a wonderful example of a highly experimental piece of marketing.

The message of the book is that in order to get consumers’ attention (Jaffe talks about ROA) you need to break the monotony of traditional marketing. If agencies don’t push this agenda they are in danger of being completely removed from the loop, because already there are entirely independent brand conversations going on that bypass both brands and agencies, an example of  is the phenomenon of consumers making their own ads. The most famous example of this is the film  made by a guy called George Masters for the iPod. Jaffe really just uses the 30-second spot as a convenient icon to represent traditional marketing. The TV commercial isn’t dead but like everything else in marketing its role is being redefined and reappraised against a backdrop of new technology and changing consumer behaviours.

Jez

Book Club

If like me your good intentions about reading work related books remain just good intentions, then this site  might help. It is an online book club on a blog aimed at people who work in the broad church of marketing. First you vote on a shortlist of books, once the book has been chosen you have a month to read it and can then join the discussion about the book on the blog or simply observe from the sidelines as others give their opinions. I'm hoping that by getting involved I will feel a strange obligation to actually read the book. The shortlist of books look nice and broad and not too geeky and theoretical. Anyone fancy giving it a go?

Its not how Good you are...

A few words of wit and wisdom from Paul Ardens…Its not how Good you are its how Good you want to be. A pocket bible for the talented and the timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible.

The book gives original and logical answers to everyday questions. Much of it appears obvious when you read it, but aren’t all questions easy when you know the answers.

‘Its better to fail in originality, than succeed in imitation’
Herman Melvile

‘Better nouveau than never’
Groucho Marx

‘Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm’
Winston Churchill

‘The first thing to decide before you walk into any negotiation is what to do if the other fellow says no’
Ernest Bevin

The Long Tail

Just finished reading Chris Anderson's book The Long Tail. Lots of people are raving about this book and it really is brilliant. As the jacket  says, the author shows that 'the future of business does not lie in hits - the high volume end of the demand curve - but in what used to be regarded as misses - the endless longtail of the curve.' From Amazon to Youtube to Love Film this book explores how the internet is practically eliminating storage and distribution costs. Rather than having a small number of hit films, songs, books and tv shows foisted on us all, we are now able satisfy our individual niche tastes. It shows how search and social networking mean that increasingly we can find the entertainment that is right for us; however obscure our tastes may turn out to be.

This book helps you find your bearings in a fast morphing world. It makes sense of the changing economics of culture and commerce and does it in a hugely optimistic and exciting way.