You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!
This is probably the best movie I’ve seen all year, and certainly one whose American trailer doesn’t do any justice to. The most endearing, human (& humane) way of portraying death as a part of life I have seen in a movie screen. No wonder it won the Oscar last year.
If you find it somewhere (I stumbled on it on Canal +) watch it. Absolutely unforgettable.
I was very lucky to get a ticket to the 3rd version of TEDx Helsinki, the locally-organised TED mirror event. You can find a small summary of the talks below.
Jody Turner Opportunity: Developed world vs Developing world means industrialised and ready versus human touch and in progress. Your passion is the most valuable thing you’ve got. There’s no ownership in innovation. Empowerment. The change generation is all of us.
Kaikki muuttuu paremmaksi (It all gets better, in Finnish) video premiere
Matti Posio: Future of Finnish culture. Culture is threatened by new culture. Media endangered by social media, if they don’t know how to use it unlike CNN. Finns believe in authority somewhat, Americans not really, which influences the way they approach media.
Alf Rehn: Love and raw materials. Passion for doing, extreme production. What can chefs teach of management: Linking strategy, esthetics, passion and implementation & Organized caos.
Mikko Hyppönen: Internet. Evolution leads us to Facebook =) . What threatens the net? Web crime.
Hannu Lauerma: Psicopathy. Antisocial personality disorder. Nervous system doesn’t react to stress like majority of people. Feelings missing. Can develop with lack of physical contact when young. Lack of empathy. Leading to crimes against humanity.
Itay Talgam Conductor video first, then live talk.
Video of 3 year old jonathan conducting beethoven 5th. How to do the same but different? Leaders are afraid of being ignored. Making people get out of their comfort zone. Build order and then destroy it. Empowering instead of command and control. Create metaphors and bring people into them. Customising message to relationship. Authenticity matters. Leadership is suspension of disbelief. Do it all wrong, but still get it right (think out of the box).
We were able to get tickets to the Gotan Project gig in Helsinki on Monday. I saw them live in Brussels in the summer of 2007, so catching up with them 3 years and one album later was really cool.
I was not able to take video of this concert, but you can see a video of 3 years ago (the song is “Mi Confesión”, one of my favourites) below:
One of the best aspects of attending industry events is the opportunity to exchange points of view with other participants. This was brought home during the last panel I watched at SIME, where some of us in the audience didn’t necessarily agree with the panelists in one small point.
Don’t get me wrong: great creative is fundamental to a well-run campaign. However, as a former sales guy I’m a little tired of the intense focus we have as marketeers on the creative and winning awards. Cannes Lions are a beautiful thing and definitely don’t do you any harm as a brand or an agency, but when evaluating a marketing activity I’m more interested in understanding four aspects:
Will the activity live after the first or second push (is it built to live, or built to die?), or are we just thinking about separate, ephemeral campaigns?
Are we measuring impact, and what were the results? Are we focused enough on ROI instead of bells and whistles?
How is this communication adding value to our audience? Why should they care other than because it’s really cool?
As mentioned, I was not the only attendee thinking about these topics after hearing the panel, and we had an interesting chat later on. Funnily enough I found a very relevant presentation of his on this topic below:
Warning: this is quite a long post about marketing. If you’re interested, get a big cup of coffee and a comfortable seat
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Scandinavian Interactive Media Event, SIME Helsinki for short. You can follow the real-time notes of the attendees in Twitter.While there was no streaming of it, I did take quite a few notes I’ll share with you below.
Introduction – Business as unusual (Ola Ahlvarsson)
Evolution of digital from Windows 98 & Wolfenstein 3D to MacOS & blogs to… the Matrix 😉
Facebook is the big opium of the people, growing faster than any web service ver.
Google branching its business into physical, mobile
Rise of apps
Traditional media mixing with new platforms: BBC on the PS3
Listening is more important than ever
Vision-based augmented reality emerging as a trend
Cloud computing
Cheap iteration
Easier access to international markets
Internet of things: robotic internet
Old industries (books, records) totally disrupted, but content is more alive than ever in the digital world
Games going social (sharing gameplay clips an emerging activity)
Branding is dead, or isn’t it? Originality more appreciated than ever.
Owned, bought, earned media model intro.
B2B going B2C
Measurement panel
What to measure, what not to measure, how they combine: good discussion but inconclusive.
70% of teenagers would rather go without sex than music.
Bring together music & lovers.
New bands sign in, get listeners and fans.
Social media workshop
Social media is a diffuse, container term
Engaging with as many people as possible… really?
Mass communication coming to an end.
Quality, not quantity communications
Number of communication messages everyday increasing times 10.
Internalise social media practices in your organisation.
Keep on developing, things never get out of beta.
Participate, don’t just enable if possible.
Sociology know-how important.
Aggregate & summarize (widgets, RSS, etc)
Package but allow unpackaging.
Data is owned by users, make it portable.
Absolute clarity for licenses and permissions is vital.
Monetisation is possible & can be planned for: make it free first, charge for additional services later. Made me think of the growth of SMS in the Philippines.
Segment product on different layers: Spotify basic vs. premium
Presence / status update important, becomes social currency.
The combination of social media and mobile has the potential of becoming very powerful, especially with its links to location (& even more, proximity).
Recommendations for companies getting started:
Start with content calendar.
Basic listening tools (Tweetdeck, Google Alerts).
Authenticity crucial: you have to be close to the essence of your brand/service proposition.
Customer care can be a great way of getting started if you do a good job. Look at it as cost vs. opportunity.
Don’t do external-facing communications if too stiff, but internal blogging/comms are also a great opportunity.
Don’t experiment, commit to do it well.
Marketing communications workshop: From one-night stands to meaningful relationships in marketing
The full talk from Hasan & Partners. Please make sure to check it first before reading the rest.
Heineken Milan Champions League case: One night stand using earned & paid media
Gatorade replay: Huge ROI, much more than a one night stand. Concept can be scaled up or down, and continue even if the brand is no longer behind it.
Livestrong, Nike Chalkbout: Post-digital executions. It’s all about you (reminds me of that Time cover)
Wrap-up and Conclusions
Change is not a choice, it’s a necessity.
All marketing is performance based.
Social media must be entertaining, useful and/or relevant.
Finns can make world-beating services if their vision is big enough.
E-health will be close to your heart 😉 .
Innovation is definitely accelerating.
Creativity in communication is more important than ever.
I lost my interest in American football ever since the Buffalo Bills lost consecutive Superbowls when I was a teen in the 90’s, but I’ve always appreciated the tactical complexities of any game or sport I more or less understand (which is exactly my problem with hockey as I’m not familiar with the tactical variants involved). I’m not a fan of sports movies either, as they’re usually cliched, tacky and generally drab.
This is not such a movie. Based on the unlikely true story of Michael Oher, currently an NFL pro with the Baltimore Ravens, it has brain, brawn and a lot of heart. The social context (inner-city poverty, class lines and racial separation in the American south) binds the plot together and the acting is very, very good. No wonder Sandra Bullock won an Oscar with this one (yes, the same actress who was driving a bus in panic in Speed with Keanu Reeves all those years ago). Listening to her speaking in a southern drawl is a delight.
