Angus Whines

Bikes

Cycles as a explanation of the ageing process. Sweet.



Via Charlotte Cramer

Fetishising

A lovely blog post by Martin about insights.

Information

Lovely infographics.



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Via Simple Complexity, Six Revisions and Social Media Changer

Time

The American Time Use Survey asks thousands of American residents to recall every minute of a day. Brilliant.



Via Kat

Revelations

"If you find anything masquerading as an insight on a strategy, in a document, in a research debrief, in a creative brief or in a conversation that does not appear to you to be a revelation get rid of it immediately."

Well fucking said.

Hot

Apparently, if you want to make a good impression on someone, get your target a cup of coffee.  Researchers have found that there is a strong link between physical and emotional warmth - people who held a cup of hot coffee for 10 to 25 seconds warmed to a perfect stranger.  Holding a cup of iced coffee had the opposite effect.

"Our mental processes are not separate and detached from the body," said John A. Bargh, a Yale University psychologist and co-author of the current study.

That said, "if I had a nice, warm cup of coffee with Adolf Hitler, I'm still not going to like him," Bargh said.

Excellent.

Via Neatorama

Analogies

There's far too many analogies in advertising for my liking but this is an excellent use of them.

Blackboard Pro

Smart thinking (again...) by Russell.  Blackboard paint on a laptop...

Mum

What a mum says in 24 hours, condensed into 2 minutes and 55 seconds. Awesome.

Via Mrs Tulip

Powerpoint

The future of agency presentation skills training, from this year's SXSW... fucking brilliant, I want to do this....

Green

I'm linking, but I won't mind if I don't get a free book.  I'm often too late with these things and it's a worthy cause anyway.  Even if I couldn't see Mr Grant at the launch, for all the tall people in the room.

Creativity

I adore this man.

Focus Groups

This is superb...

Thanks Scamp.

Mercury

Jesus Christ, a client just showed me a "needstate thermometer"....

Truth in Advertising

Yes, yes, I know most of us have seen this before, but I promised I'd show it to someone who hasn't...

The full 12 minute version can be found here.

Data Visualisation

Smashing Magazine has a fantastic article on data visualisation with some wonderful examples and their various sources, such as:

Munterbund

Trend Map

Newsmap

Time Magazine

If anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself...

Courtesy of the often affable Mr Brown comes this lovely little video about my chosen profession...

Consumers Lie

There's a fabulous video from Malcolm Gladwell on http://jaimediskin.blogspot.com/ about why we can't believe what consumers tell us.  Well worth watching and remembering...

Neuroscience Meets Advertising

Prediction: This blog and blogger will be the next big thing. Not that he needs any more fame. He's a copy writer, if you please. God help us when he eventually runs an agency. If you're not trying to poach him you're an absolute fool (he's in London). Big thirsty brain muscle indeed.

Innocent Innocent

There's been lots to read today regarding Innocent and McDonalds.  Which is a good and brave thing in itself.  Some of it makes me feel sad for some lovely well-intentioned people and some of it I agree with, in empathetic wariness. 

But it's comforting to know that amongst all of the tidbits and diatribes, one can always find humour, like this little snippet from someone called Alison:

"I've been thinking about this a bit more and it feels like how you must feel when you thought that you were part of a really happy and cosy family where everything seemed rosy and then you find out that your uncle is a paedophile."

I love a good analogy.

Three Billion

Interesting video from Three Billion...

Renaissance

Courtesy of Fredrik Sarnblad:

Cry Me A River

From David Bonney comes this article on a 'crying boom' in Japan.

Fascinating stuff.

"Typically, the stressed businessman will travel to a café, in which they rent out an intimate room by the hour and watch a Tear Movie. After a sob, they feel refreshed and emotionally cleansed. Some prefer to watch with company so that they can share their feelings afterwards."

I wonder if this new outlet for emotion and supposedly decreased repression will result in a lesser focus on things like the weirdness that is Tentacle Porn in Japan....

Thumbs Up

Another ripper from Indexed...

The ABCs of Sinning

Fabulous, as always, from Indexed...

Jack The Ripper

I'm a ripper.

A tearer. A slasher. A shredder. And a hoarder. Not of everything - just all that I rip. If it survives the trip home.

I am forever freaking people out by loudly tearing pages or parts of pages out of magazines or newspapers. I am methodical and brisk. With magazines I read the whole publication and fold over pages that interest me and on reaching the end revisit each folded page and tear them out, after a brief double check to ensure I wasn't tripping. With newspapers I tear as I go, little bits. That get torn to buggery in my handbag while I carry them home to file in my Filing System 2.0.

To be fair, there are times when my Filing System is 0.3 but at times it's 2.0 and highly efficient, and useful.

I'm having troubles now however balancing my paper system with my del.icio.us system. I hate that I have two competing systems. Del.icio.us is incredibly practical, but I refuse to give up my ripping. I LOVE being a ripper. Life wouldn't be the same if I couldn't lug around folders of things I found interesting and might potentially find interesting AND helpful in the future.

The Exorcist

I have tears running down my face.

I am watching Mexican focus groups and have a translator next to me who is so into his job that it's as though he has been possessed by a forty two year old Mexican woman. I feel as though I'm in the Exorcist.

I cannot wait for this afternoon when he looks set to be possessed by a nine year old boy.

Subliminal

I've loved this video for ages and didn't realise it was floating around on youtube. Thanks to Jon Howard for pointing it out to me...