Five things on Friday #244

Things of note for the week ending January 7th, 2018.

Howdy.

Did you know, if you SUBSCRIBE to the Five things on Friday newsletter, you are 100% guaranteed to get MORE STUFF (eg: a proper intro and probably some more gifs) than reading it here on whatleydude.com.

So y’know, SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

ONWARDS!

For now, here’s a taster of what you would find within.

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1. RUSSELL HOWARD + JOHN OLIVER 


I had no idea these two were mates.

And, because they are, this chat between the two is really great watching.

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2. OOO AHH, OGILVY TRENDS WEBINAR

Remember that Ogilvy Key Digitial Trends document I was wanging on about last year? Well, with around 90k views and counting, my esteemed friend and ex-colleague, Marshall Manson and I are getting together on Jan 11th for a couple of free webinars that YOU dear reader can join (hopefully covering enough timezones that mean no matter where you are, there’ll be an option for you).

8am – 9am GMT, register here.
4pm – 5pm GMT, register here.

If you want to join the webinar, you must must must register. To manage expectations and stuff, what you’ll see is the same old deck linked above (except in a higher res and the occasional gif) with the added bonus of being able to hear Marshall and I chat about the thinking behind it all. Oh, and you can ask questions using the webinar interface as well as on the hashtag, #OgilvyTrends2018.

See you there!

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3. YOU SHOULD ALL BUY THE POLPO COOKBOOK

A couple of weeks before Christmas the lovely folk at Google invited me and a few other agency people to a lunch at Polpo at the Ape & Bird. The goody bag at the end of said meal contained this beauty:

It has sat on my kitchen side for the best part of a month until, this weekend – in fact, yesterday – I decided to open it and start seeing what I could make.

AND HOLY HELL WOW WHAT AMAZINGNESS LIES WITHIN.

LOOK!

More photos.

The main thing to take away from this is that the dishes made (also made a chili prawn thing but I ate them all before I remembered to take any photos – oops) were just so darn easy. Literally spent less than 20mins on the pea/prawn thing. AND IT WAS SO GOOD.

Anyway, I managed to get through this whole thing without telling you how much I am a fan of Polpo (and have been for years) and that Russell Norman is a top bloke too.

So yeah - buy the book.

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4. THE SECTION OF MY 2017 BESTS

When I started drafting this section I had a great vision of writing a huge list of all my 2017 bests.

My plan was to start off with the always fantastic Hype Machine Zeitgeist playlist (maybe put this on before clicking the next link) but then I tweeted most of it. So instead of doing that, here’s that list, but with added context:

BEST MOVIE – BLADERUNNER 2049

I saw this at the IMAX in Stockholm with a couple of pals and it just completely and utterly blew me away. I think it’s probably going to be the only Blu-ray I buy this year purely because, when I watch it again, I want it to be as pure and as perfect as it was when I first saw it. And pumped through the surround sound so loud that the neighbours complain.

This film was BEAUTIFUL to look at, INCREDIBLE to listen to, and SUBLIME to experience. If you disagree, tell me. But don’t expect a reasoned response back.

BEST VIDEO GAME - HELLBLADE: SENUA’S SACRIFICE

I’ve covered this in previous editions (for most detail, see item 2 on issue #241). Hellblade is a PHENOMENAL game, with a strong female lead, great design choices, and above all, a deft grasp and representation of the mental illness its protagonist suffers from.

Honourable mentions to Horizon Zero Dawn (wow) and a late contender, Mario Odyssey (just pure fun).

BEST SONG – BEAR CLAWS, THE ACADEMIC

This song first came into my head after I featured it in a FToF a while back for having a super music video that took advantage of the delay feature on Facebook Live. You remember it. Anyway, it became my most played song on Spotify. Meaning, by default, it was my best song.

BEST STREAMED THING ON TV

1. THE OA
2. 13 REASONS WHYY
3. STAR TREK: DISCOVERY

A bunch of people I told about The OA told me it was pretentious guff and that I had no idea what the hell I was talking about. To those people, I say you know nothing. I thought it was courageous, unique, and compelling.

13 Reasons Why I saw at an interesting time in my life and it utterly destroyed me at the end. Please watch it.

Star Trek: Discovery isn’t really Star Trek but nor is it not Star Trek like Nu-Trek, it’s something different – and it’s actually great.

BEST REAL THING ON TV – WOULD I LIE TO YOU

Consistently the funniest thing on TV, Would I Lie To You (or ‘WILTY’) never fails to amuse. It is quintessentially British and relies on wit, wordplay, and absurdity to keep it moving. Three things that I adore.

If you’re not watching it, you’re missing out.

BEST NEWSLETTER – WEB CURIOS

Matt Muir is a great wordsmith. Counter that with a healthy disdain for all things ‘advermarketingpr’, as he calls it, and you have about 1/6 of what makes up one of the best things I read every week.

A very well deserved second place to Jed Hallam and the ESSENTIAL music newsletter, Love Will Save The Day. I listen most weeks and I am never disappointed.

I could link you but if you read this often you’re probably subscribed already and if you’re not, well, you know how to use Google.

….

On that note, I am tired. It is late. And I need to get this finished. The rest of the list is here – any questions, email me.

Ha.
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5. THIS WEEK, IN INDUSTRY LAND

Here’s a bunch of links to do with the work I do. All are interesting. Some more so than others.

  • ‘Diageo halts Snapchat advertising over age concerns‘ – was the headline. But, to be fair, the real headline should read ‘Diageo halts Snapchat advertising after realising it couldn’t get away with it for much longer as the ASA had started paying attention and we all know Snapchat is a) for the kids and b) fairly light when it comes to audience data.
  • BBH on EXCELLENT form here: ‘Have we lost the ability to make what we make interesting?‘
  • On a related note, the Chinese shoe company hair-on-Instagram trick is as genius as it is telling of the disease that has gripped digital marketing.
  • Speaking of awful digital marketing, this piece ‘Towards a bra-free Instagram experience‘ is gut-wrenching. Glad the campaign for real beauty is had such a long-lasting impact, you guys. Side note: when I get time, I’m adding ALL of this is Instagram Ads Are Awful.
  • The ASA is investigating the tea-bagging tweet from Poundland. There’s a line I never thought I’d write. I started forming an opinion about this when it first happened, and then I thought ‘Y’know what, they’re in it for the angry tweets – I can’t be bothered’. Reading that headline, above, though, did remind me that the ASA is mainly utterly useless when it comes to social media advertising. Will it be April when we find out that the ASA thinks the tweet should be deleted, do you think? Sigh.
  • Not quite industry-related but still something that I think belongs in this section: Mark Zuckerberg has said that his ‘thing’ for 2018 is to ‘fix’ Facebook. There are a few things here. First: if Facebook needs fixing – and if Mark Zuckerberg SAYS that Facebook needs fixing – then Facebook is BROKEN. This is a BIG DEAL. Second, previous ‘things’ from MZ have been stuff like ‘meet more people’ and ‘build an AI assistant for my home’. Like, a side-project or something. One can’t help but wonder ‘Dude, if your SIDE PROJECT is fixing Facebook, then what in the actual hell is your day to day?!’. AMIRITE?
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PRE-BONUS ESSENTIAL READING: 

Only the essentials. 

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THE BONUS SECTION OF BONUS-SHAPED BONUSES: 

Bo-nus, ba-ba-ba-ba-bo-nus.

Last thing: in the final edition of last year, I told you about a play that my friends Emma and David were trying to crowdfund. Well, with no thanks to me (I forgot to link the damn thing) they’ve funded! So please do support them and go see the show. It’s on until the end of Jan. So y’know, do a nice thing.  

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YOU ARE NOW AT THE END AND MAY SOON CLOSE YOUR EYES TO SLIP INTO THE EXISTENTIAL DREAD OF CONSIDERING WHAT 2018 MIGHT BRING TO YOUR LIFE. 

Thanks for reading, gang. A bit of a hodge-potch this week (it’s my first week back on the horse – give me a break).

Hi to all the newbies etc. I hope you all have a productive and awesome week.

See you next Friday. Ish.

Whatley out x.

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Author: James Whatley

Chief Strategy Officer in adland. I got ❤️ for writing, gaming, and figuring stuff out. I'm @whatleydude pretty much everywhere that matters. Nice to meet you x