Talent imitates, genius steals

Push the Brief

My mate Ant and his mate Ash are doing something fun for the London ad community.

Details below - looks like fun - free booze and nice people - and the judges are all top notch minds.

[The rest of this is cross posted from Ant's blog - enjoy.]

It's FREE, there's FREE BOOZE, and we have some senior agency bods there who you can try and impress. If you're interested email themonkeypuzzler@gmail.com go to our Facebook group, and start goading the other entrants. Even if you don't want to compete, you should come down anyway to chat to people.

Here is the gist:

Brief2008 is an semi-serious ad-industry social event where teams answer and present back a brief in 2 hours, probably under the influence of alcohol.

=====Teams=====
that's you guys - made up of planners, account men, creatives, PR types, designers, strategists and whoever else. Get involved.

=====Judges=====
are senior creatives and strategists from some of the best agencies in town. Confirmed so far:

Iain Tait (Founder, Planning/Creative Partner, Poke)
Amelia Torode (Head of VCCP Digital)
Ben Milligan (Head of Planning, Holler)
Richard Knight (Creative Partner/Founder, Mission21)
Rachel Lawlan (Director of Integrated Strategy, DLKW)

=====Where and when is it=====
At the Design Council, Bow Street.
Thursday July the 17th, 6:30 pm sharp.

=====What's in it for people?=====
Free booze!

Chance to show off in front of senior people from top agencies.

A chance to meet other interesting people from all different sides of the industry. Who knows? You might even get laid.

=====GET INVOVLED=====
Email themonkeypuzzler@gmail.com , go to our Facebook group, and start goading the other entrants.

After the Influence

So I'm going to be at this WARC Influence Conference thing next Thursday, 3rd July.

It's right by this pub called Black Friar, which I will no doubt go to afterwards. Like around 6 or 7pm or something.

So, we could maybe have a cheeky Beersphere there, if anyone else fancies popping down for a beer.

Is it sunny in London? I'm looking forward to being able to drink outside, they won't let you do that here.

Collusive Influence

I'm speaking at the WARC Advertising and Consumers Conference on July 3rd in London. It's all, loosely, about INFLUENCE.

WARC says:

The programme is based on our belief that the old linear communication models have broken down – in today’s multi-media world, no brand owner can rely on winning the hearts and minds of an increasingly sophisticated and sceptical audience which continues to fragment, tag, stop, save, share and skip.

The old marketing mindset of ‘control’ has had its day. Emerging in its place is a new mindset of ‘engagement and influence’.

There are loads of great speakers, like Mark and Toby and another Toby, so it should be interesting and fun, despite my involvement. [Full list here.]

[Mind you, according to George Parker he finds inspiration on TIGS, and I wouldn't argue with him - thanks George, I shall buy you that pint as agreed - I had better think of something inspiring to say now.]

I wonder about INFLUENCE.

I imagine Toby 1 will be talking about OMD's new Influence Planning model - I'm interested to see how they conceive of it.

The thing about influence is that intuitively I feel it only works if people don't think it is working, but secretly want it to. You can't persuade someone to do something they don't really want to do, at least a bit.

Ask a used car salesman. People HATE being sold too - it smacks of coercion, which disrupts our notions of rational autonomy.

But people LOVE having external justification for their own desires.  Or a reason to focus their desires in a world of infinite choice.

When we talk about influencing consumers, it seems to suggests that we, the commercial persuaders, exert some power over our targets that make them do things they don't want to do.

But I suspect they collude. They are our partners in persuasion.

[Those of you who have seen Derren Brown influence people to spontaneously commit armed robbery may disagree.

[If you haven't seen it - go watch.]

But he repeatedly points out in his work that hypnosis is basically just getting people to play along. Persuasion requires tacit collusion. It needs to be tacit, otherwise other parts of your brain get involved and shut things down. That's why suggestion works better obliquely. Perhaps the reason that, in all surveys ever, most people think that advertising doesn't work on them is because that's a requirement for it to work.]

Once I work out what I mean by all that, I shall talk about it at the conference.

Do come and say hi.

If you want to.

Clio and Wave and The Littlest Hobo

I'm going to be moving around for a while.

[Not quite as much as the Littlest Hobo but I felt I had to use the theme tune because no one in New York seems to remember this seminal, landmark show of my youth]

I'm heading down to the Clio Awards in Miami tomorrow - I'm helping to explain our decisions in the Content and Contact category on Saturday morning.

[Short list is here - all worth having a look at]

And then I'm heading down to Brazil to speak at the Wave Festival in Rio - about being beta and the internet and brands and that.

Do come say hi if you'll be at either. 

After that I'm going to be on holiday for a bit - so TIGS might be quiet for a couple of weeks.

 

She Says

My mate Alessandra is starting monthly events in New York for women in the advertising industry, starting next Tuesday, under the banner She Says.

Details above.

Apparently I'm not allowed to go.

Toronto Bound

I'm coming up to Toronto on Thursday this week [April 3rd] to speak to the friends of the Broadcast Research Council about the FUTURE of media and brands and communication and that.

It's at the Spoke Club - if you fancy coming you can get tickets by emailing Taylor.

Taylor Kormann at the TVB: TKormann@tvb.ca

[Be quick though I think the deadline is today.]

I intend to meet Creativity head on.

I'm staying through Friday so I can explore 'Ronto a bit - so if you have any suggestions of things I should do or fancy grabbing a drink, shout.

Sweet and Vicious

Just a very quick reminder about drinks tonight at Sweet and Vicious - details a couple of posts below.

Likeminded Beersphere for PSFK

Since a bunch of people are coming into town for the PSFK conference on March 27th, we thought this might be an excellent reason to have some kind of likeminded beersphere type thing.

So, in the spirit of hanging out with nice people and becoming intoxicated, Noah and I will be drinking on March 26th and invite you all to join us - regardless of whether you are coming to PSFK or not.

Where: Sweet & Vicious, 5 Spring Street [between Elizabeth and Bowery]
When: Wednesday 26th March 7pm until drunk.

Come all, drink and be merry, for spring is springing and trends are trending.

Does New York Matter?

I'm moderating a panel at the PSFK New York conference about New York culture, entitled Does New York Matter?

[If you're coming then do come and say hi. We were thinking of going drinking the night before as a bunch of people will be in town - a likeminded beersphere type thing - anyone interested?]

The people on the panel represent a cornucopia of cultural nous - we have Sascha from Flavorpill, Jen from Gothamist, and Steve from Thrillist coming to share their insight into the Big Apple.

Since I moved to New York a few weeks ago, I should be an excellent moderator as I'll have very little to contribute to the discussion.

But in the spirit of preparation and collaboration - whether or not you are coming - is there anything you'd like to see them discuss?

PSFK NYC

PSFK is inaugurating 08 with a conference in the new home of TIGS - New York.

[It's going fine, thanks for asking. It snowed a lot yesterday. If you're a more established NYC resident feel free to suggest good places to drink.]

Piers is pulling together a bunch of interesting people from our world, and lots from elsewhere to help broaden our marketing myopic mind.