Date: Summer 2008 review
Weather: Not raining
Entrance fee: Occasionally
Catering offer: More often than not
In-field entertainment: Frequently
Average dwell time: 2.25 hours
Total spend: £182.35
Total number of items bought: 93
Average item price: £1.99
Average booter rating 3.5 stars
Bought before the start of this season's Car Boot Bulletin:
(Not included in statistical data but shown as a visual resource for future reference)
Vintage transistor radio - 60s, Sony TR 84, coral pink, with original price tag $69.95, not working
Advertising promotional item - 50s, Exide car battery desk tidy, bakelite, bits missing
Vintage Toy - 60s, Sutcliffe submarine Sea Wolf with box, tin, clockwork, bit missing, not working
My wife used to be a closet News of the World reader until she got upset at their 'outing' of a cross-dressing bank manager, who subsequently lost his job and probably a great deal more too, after which she, my wife, refused to buy or read the newspaper ever again. I must admit it did confuse me rather as I thought that that was the kind of story she read the paper for in the first place!
However, whilst I'm a great believer in freedom of speech and I support the concept of free press, it does piss me off terribly when on the receiving end of incorrect media reporting, as happened to Fox Kalomaski recently at the hands of the trade press. There is a fine line between responsible reporting and creating news for news sake and it strikes me that some journalists, hopefully the minority, don't give a monkey's what happens from the fall out created when they lob a misquoted piece of editorial into the marketplace.
It was
always my belief that journalists wanted to do their jobs in the first instance
to help inform the public about the real things going on in life all around them
and if they continue to report inaccurate stories, which basically means they're not doing their jobs properly,
then I strongly suggest they should apply for a fictional scriptwriting job on
Eastenders.
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Date: 29 June 2008
Weather: Cloudy
Entrance fee: Yes
Catering offer: Hot snack outlets - burger vans and soft beverage bars
In-field entertainment: none
Dwell time: 3.25 hours
Total spend: £12.20
Number of items bought: 16
Average item price: 76p
Most expensive item: Shorts - £3
Cheapest item: Vintage toy tank - free
Bought this week:
Shorts - New, Ten West, Black, size 38, 100% cotton
Toy tank - 60s, made in Hong Kong, plastic
Hand held game - 1986, Casio Trap shooting, made in Japan, plastic
Toy car - 1962, Corgi Ford Thunderbird convertible, die cast metal
Model kit catalogue - 1972, Tamiya, 36 pages
Coffee table book - 2003, History of the automobile, coffee table not included
Booklet - 1945, Hitler passed this way, 170 pictures, 2/6 old money
3 x DVDs - assorted, The Missionary, Mobile Suit Gundam, Manga Python
Paperback book - 2001, Harry Potter, Order of the Phoenix, the story of a school boy wizard, fiction
3 x children's books, 1962 copyright, assorted, Dr Seuss, illustrated
Toy Space ship - 1999, Thunderbird 3, die cast metal and plastic
Toy robot - 2003, Gundam, (see DVDs above) painted soft plastic
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Date: 22 June 2008
Weather: Sunny with chilly wind
Entrance fee: No
Catering offer: Hot snack outlets - burger vans and bbq plus greengrocer
In-field entertainment: none
Dwell time: 1 hour
Total spend: £29.75
Number of items bought: 6
Average item price: £4.95
Most expensive item: Toy tank - £22
Cheapest item: Vintage cutlery -5p
Booter rating 3.5 stars
Bought this week:
Toy tank - 50s Dinky Centurion, with box, tank has been in wars, made in England
Travel cutlery - 60s, four pieces in vinyl pouch, foreign
Hand held game - 1976, pocket bagatelle, Spiral score, space theme, made in Singapore
Vintage board game - 30s, Motorace, complete, British made
Wrist watch - 2001, Swatch, blue, made in Switzerland
Comic strip book - 1999, Dilbert, Don't tread in the leadership, printed in Frome
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Euro 2008 was not on my intended TV list viewing list this weekend but it became the only tele that I consumed and enjoyed, mainly due to the wonderful performance of Holland over France on Friday which I sat watching with my son (he who still insists on wearing his M&S pants on display ('Fashion - It's Pants' blog April '08).
There are two issues that I pondered after watching a brilliant recovery by Turkey over Czech Republic (will Petr Čech ever live that fumble down!) that endorses the fact that English football is overrated and the players overpaid. The first is the clear difference in the lack of fouls that seem to be commited by European players (OK, I know that most of the top player in our league are foreigners but when they play for their national sides they seem to be more respectful and restrained) and the games I watched just flowed and were thoroughly entertaining. I can't remember the last time I ever thought that about an England game.
The second thought that bothers me is not just that the England team were not good enough to play at this international level, but that it seems that they couldn't give a damn about it. Where are the players who should be standing up and admitting that they didn't do their best for their country in qualifying, but that they will try harder next time, and setting the kids of today an example that whilst it's OK to fail there is pride in representing your country and it's not just about the money.
Maybe I'm wrong and it's all the Manager's fault and if it is then let's hope Fabio Capello can do something worthy with his collective of millionaires that call themselves footballers.
Date: 15 June 2008
Weather: Sunny with chilly north easterly wind
Entrance fee: Yes
Catering offer: Hot snack outlets plus bread and vegetable retailers
In-field entertainment: 3 bouncy slides, a bouncy castle and a tannoy system
Dwell time: 2.25 hours
Total spend: £11
Number of items bought: 9
Average item price: £1.22
Most expensive item: James Bond PS2 game- £4
Cheapest item: Vintage paperback -50p
Booter rating 3.5 stars
Bought this week:
Vintage tin - 50s, Peek Frean's Cheeselets, biscuits not included
Paperback book - 1959, When the gangs came to London, unabridged, 2/6 old money
Dexterity game - Tomy Aaaaghh!, size C battery included, challenging
Toy car - 1971, Matchbox, Citroen SM, red, needs respray
Vintage tile - 60s, fish pattern, green, abstract, felt on reverse
Board game - 30s, Waddingtons 64 Milestones, board missing
PS2 game - 2005 James Bond, From Russia with love, RRP £34.99
Boot shapers - new in box, Dasco, Aaromatic velour with Actifresh®
Bird food - 4 bags of seed, assorted
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It’s that time of year again when men of a certain age ease their cherished classic car out of the garage, give it a comprehensive polish and then cruise down the highways of Britain to park in a field and break out folding chairs and a period picnic basket. Conversations often start with “you don’t see many of those these days” and “that’s a nice one” Then you drive back home and put the car back in the garage until next time. All very civilised, but these jaunts could be coming to an end. With the way fuel prices are going, taking a ‘60’s Rover 3.5 coupe that does less than 15mpg further than the end of the drive could become too expensive for many enthusiasts. Sad because pottering around in old cars is a great British day out.
To give you an idea of how much fun you can have - here is a photo of my Humber Sceptre MkII at Bewl Water in Kent.
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Exercising and stretching regularly leads to a more relaxed, happy and alert individual. So how do we do this when we're sat at our desks all day long?
Easy we thought - desk exercises anyone can do under the privacy of their own desk as regular as you like
Here are our 5 (one for each day of the week) suggestions to help improve your Work and Wellbeing level
Day 1 has been removed due to health and safety.
*Kim's (our in house aerobics expert and Head of Client Services) disclaimer:
Please speak to your doctor before undertaking any new kind of exercise regime or if you have any injury or condition that might affect you participating in exercise classes. The exercises depicted here are just a bit of fun and are not intended to be copied literally. They may actually do you more harm than good. Either way, probably about time you stopped watching videos and got on with your work. If you really want to get fit - go to the gym!
]]>Except we didn't get home until three hours later as we missed the last train home at 1.45a.m.
Why? because the infrastructure for leaving Wembley and getting on public transport is simply awful, unstructured and painfully inept. How are the public supposed to get home from the Olympics in 2012 when we can't get people home from Wembley today?
The whole process is flawed, build it and they will come, but God help them if they want to leave.
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Cycling to work saves you money, impacts less on the environment and enhances your wellbeing and fitness.
So, think about this, by doing one thing, riding to work more I can reduce my travel bill by leaving the car or oyster card at home, decrease my monthly outgoings and at the same time I can benefit the planet, my wallet and my fitness right now.
Now, who’s looking forward to that sweaty journey home on the tube…
Location: Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Date: 8 June 2008
Weather: Not a cloud in the sky
Entrance fee: no
Catering offer: none
In-field entertainment: none
Dwell time: 0.5 hours
Total spend: £14.20
Number of items bought: 9
Average item price: £1.51
Most expensive item: Bakelite desk tidy x 2- £5
Cheapest item: Bakelite beaker - 20p
Booter rating 2 stars
Bought this week:
Toy car - 50s, make unknown, rusty
Board game - 1969, L- game by Edward De Bono, mint in box
Dexterity puzzle - 60s Baffleball by Joyment, maddening
Inkwell - 30s Glass and bakelite with spare green lid by Vetos
2 x Desk tidy - vintage bakelite, maroon, British made
Reference book - 1984, World war 2 in pictures, over 500 stunning illustrations
Beaker - 30s, coloured bakelite, as new
Children's book -The bad tempered ladybird, colour by Eric Carle
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Now, it goes without
saying that I was shocked with what I encountered when entering Bravissimo’s
three floors of prime west end retail space.
I could not believe
that the top heavy store was actually not so top heavy! The large basement was
split into spacious changing room space with comfy sofas for bored boyfriends –
fair enough I thought (whilst sipping chilled water and flicking through a
magazine). The ground floor was superbly racked with essential merchandise like
lacy bras, leopard print thongs, corsets and other luscious lingerie plus
extremely helpful sales staff.
Finally, I walked up
the stairs to the top floor and was shocked to find an area solely dedicated to
the history of Bravissimo’s marketing campaigns. I felt a right tit going up
there to have a closer look – but that was purely accidental! There was not a
suspender or pair of panties in sight, just leaflets and posters displaying
Bravissimo’s lingerie advertisements from the early days to the present. The
marketing material was extremely interesting though, (I was particularly drawn
to the summer 2007 bikini photo shoot – who knew that triangles could stretch
that far?)
However, for a place
with such great assets, surely the vast top floor space could be used more
productively? What about adding another revenue stream? How about adding a
coffee shop? Or a perfume counter? What about displaying more stock? Or maybe
even a pole! I’d encourage you all to go down there this weekend and judge it
for yourself. By not utilising their retail space effectively I feel they are
making some really big boobs!
It's a sad day when innovative thinking is overcome by poor market conditions. The untimely and sad demise of Silverjet, following closely on the heels of EOS and Maxjet, is sure to get more than its fair share of boardroom and dinner party conversation time. Those who originally doubted the fortunes of the innovators will be clucking "I told you so" to anyone who'll listen and those who admired the spirit of originality and the daring-doers will be mourning the loss, however what would be interesting is to determine how many of us admirers ever actually bought a seat with any of these airlines. And, no doubt, British Airways, Virgin and all the other corporate airlines will embrace the small hole left by these competitors and the probably reluctant return of those business passengers.
In the mid 90's a friend developed a business plan to launch a company specialising in private air charter only to be scuppered by the Gulf War and concerns that people would stop flying, which, on commercial routes they did for a relatively short period. Fast forward a few years to the early 00's and a TV news programme reported on the success of a private air charter company called Air London. This company had been going a few years before the Gulf War but it attributed its rapid rise and recent business growth to none other than the Gulf War itself. When private individuals and companies were reluctant to fly corporate airlines during that particular era of conflict the safe choice for them was private charter. Bad market conditions for the airline industry during the mid 90's played right into the hands of the innovators and entrepreneurs of that time but my friend lost out on a great opportunity. As they say, timing is everything.
The fact that the model for the business class only airline has suffered a major blow at this particular time in history is possibly just a case of appallingly bad timing. Let's hope that market conditions will, over the years ahead, allow the innovators and entrepreneurs back into the market.
Location: Basildon, Essex
Date: 1 June 2008
Weather: Overcast
Entrance fee: no
Catering offer: Hot and cold snack outlets plus fruit and vegetable retailers
In-field entertainment: Bouncy castle
Dwell time: 3.25 hours
Total spend: £13.50
Number of items bought: 10
Average item price: £1.35
Most expensive item: Vintage toy car - £7
Cheapest item: Vintage car brochure - 20p
Booter rating 4.5 stars
Bought this week:
Toy car - 60s, make unknown, battered
2 Model kit catalogues - 70s Matchbox, 50 pages, well thumbed
Paperback book - 1945 The Aerodrome, Penguin, fiction, unabridged
Car brochure -Mid 60s Renault Dauphine, small
Toy car - 1976, Batmobile, plastic, with dynamic duo, missing part
Puzzle - 1978 Incredible Hulk, tile type, tricky
Space ship - 1980, Corgi Buck Rogers fighter, missing missiles
Reference book - 1997, Matchbox toys, A guide to... 112 pages
Watch strap, new old stock, leather, black, chrome finish
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If you didnt see it, here it is
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Having just returned from a three day break to Bruges and Brussels I want to tell you that the train has to be the future for European (at least) travel. Excepting security delays that are the blight of all foreign trips it was difficult to fault the train experience. However the final nail in the proverbial coffin for air travel will be when all major destination stations are of the St Pancras standard of customer comfort. Unfortunately most rail stations remain dark, miserable and rundown locations with no toilets, shopping or edible catering. Get this right and goodbye airlines for me for ever.
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Location: Chigwell, Essex
Date: 24 May 2008
Weather: Sunny spells, windy
Entrance fee: no
Catering offer: Hot and cold snack vans
In-field entertainment: Yes - Country and western singer
Dwell time:2.25 hours
Total spend: £19.20
Number of items bought: 11
Average item price: £1.74
Most expensive item: Shooting stick - £10
Cheapest item: Robot puzzle - 10p
Booter rating 3.5 stars
Bought this week:
Shooting Stick - newish by Gamebird of England
Clock Radio - vintage 70s electronic made in Hong Kong in original box
Robot Puzzle - vintage 70s plastic made in Hong Kong
Reference book - The Dumpy book of Aircraft with over 1200 illustrations
3 Paperback books - assorted fiction
Phrase book - 60s Italian, non fiction by Collins
Graphic novel - Batman volume 2, fiction
Carpet bowls - vintage 50s, 'The indoor carpet game', complete
Board game - 1968 Saga as selected by the Design Centre London, complete
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Location: Ashley Heath, Hampshire
Date: 18 May 2008
Weather: Cloudy with sunny spells
Entrance fee: yes
Catering offer: Burger vans plus Italian coffee and pizzeria van
Booter rating 4 stars
Bought this week:
Toy car - vintage 1972 Matchbox Speedking Bandolero
Toy tank - vintage 70s tinplate and plastic by Buddy
Board game accessory - vintage Scrabble Scoreboards, complete in box
2 Graphic novels - Aliens and Judge Dredd - fiction
Plant pot - vintage 60s, china by Hornsea
Money box - vintage postbox design, metal, made in England
When I was young, fashionable and trendy meant looking smart and we proudly wore a range of clothes from mohair suits to Crombie overcoats, two-tone and Sta-press trousers, brogues and loafers, Ben Sherman and Brutus shirts. They were fashion statements and we looked the part.
I'm sorry but I can't get my head around what my son and too many boys aged anything from 11 to 20+ think as fashionable and trendy i.e. wearing their trousers around their knees! I understand the jailbird analogy (no belts or laces) but it just doesn't look good to or on anyone, apart maybe from Paris Hilton and even then...
It seems that a different pride mentality rests with the many of today's youth and maybe this is part of the problem that we're facing in the streets of London at this time i.e. a lack of pride.
I must remember to ask my son how proud he is of showing the world his M&S pants.
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These predators include the well
known “Taxious Inspectoratum”, which can spot a 10p tax break at a
thousand feet. Of course, even when safely inside the security of its
travelling nest the consumer is never safe from the “Petrolia
Stationaria”, this predator has a particular unsavoury way of swiftly
draining consumer’s pockets then laying the blame elsewhere.
Predators
come in all shapes and sizes, and the ever vigilante consumer must
always keep one eye open to protect the nest, especially from the
“Televisionphoneinious”, this predator actually enters the home nest
and influences the poor consumer to interact with it via a mating call,
which so often is wasted and pointless.
The predator I watch out
for comes when it is least expected, when we consumers are off guard,
feeding and relaxed. It is known as the “Fifteen percentum
servicechargegrium”. What a monster, it just takes and takes, but
rarely gives anything extra in return.
So I caution all
consumers who are out searching for bits and bobs for the nest, watch
out for predators, spend wisely and always save for a rainy day or a
bad winter.
Location: Hereford, Herefordshire
Date: 11 May 2008
Weather: Sunny
Entrance fee: None
Catering offer: Burger van
Dwell time: 0.5 hours
Total spend: 1.50
Number of items bought: 2
Average item price: 75p
Most expensive item: Fan 1
Cheapest item: Flower pot 50p
Booter rating: 1 star
Bought this week:
Electric fan - vintage 60s Pifco, blue
Plastic flower pot - vintage 60s Dialene Bettermold, blue
and white
Location: Ross on Wye, Herefordshire
Date: 11 May 2008
Weather: Sunny
Entrance fee: None
Catering offer: Burger van and homemade cake stall
Dwell time: 2.75 hours
Total spend: 16
Number of items bought: 11
Average item price: 1.45
Most expensive item: Comic books 5
Cheapest item: Dexterity game 10p
Booter rating: 3.5 stars
Bought this week:
Board game - vintage 50s Skid-o by Pepys - not complete
Board game - vintage 40s Contack by Waddingtons
Board game - vintage 40s Millionaire by Sessions of York
Card game - vintage 30s Speed by Pepys - missing
instructions
Dexterity game - vintage There was an old lady who lived
in a shoe - round
Paperback book - fiction
Hardback book - fiction
Digital multimeter - new by Toolzone - working
Sticker book - vintage 1966 Horse and pony - complete
Comic books - 1992 Lobo Infanticide - Issues 1-4
Coffee table book - 1991 The ultimate guitar book by Doring
Kindersley
Has anyone worked out that when petrol reaches £2 per litre (or £8 per gallon or a mere £64 to fill up a Mini) that home deliveries will be so expensive that purchasing from the internet will become impossibly uneconomic...in many cases the delivery cost will be far more than the actual value of the goods. Does this mean that the demise of the 'white van man' will be concurrent with the demise of internet retailing? Or have I missed something in the equation? Or should retailers hang on to their bricks?
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Bought this week:
Tin plate car-vintage 60s Mustang
Biscuit tin-Vintage 50s Christmas theme
two way extension - white, working
Tea card book - 70s Brooke Bond, The Police Force, complete
Large Enamel sign - vintage, Paramount fireproof walling
Phenolic belt buckle - deco era
Hand held video game - vintage Sub Chase by Mattel, not working
2 paperback books - fiction and non fiction
Wrist watch - 60's Ingersoll needs attention
Model Airplane kit - vintage, Saab J21A by Heller unmade in box
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My son loves playing football, 24/7 if he could. Yesterday saw the culmination of a season of
dedication by a pretty ragged bunch of 12 year olds. The first few matches at the beginning of the
year gave them the experience of loosing by anything up to 8-0 but they bounced
back every time with boundless enthusiasm and energy and their manager and
coach both deserve medals for their belief in the boys and sheer
endurance. That belief and endurance earned
the team a place in the cup final this May bank holiday.
Meanwhile, on Saturday night I took the family out for dinner to a
restaurant in north London and my son was dumbstruck when he saw we were
sitting next to Arsène Wenger (Arsenal’s manager for those not in the
know). Rather than ask Mr Wenger for his
autograph for my son I asked for some wise words of wisdom to give a young lad
on the eve of his first ever cup clash. After asking what position my son plays
Arsène fixed him in the eye and spoke these very words (in a very thick French
accent). “When you wake up in the morning you will believe that you are the
best player on the pitch”. My son,
brimming with excitement from this encounter, sent emails and texts to his team
mates to inspire them with these same words.
The next morning the team met early for the 12:45 kick off. Arsène’s words conveyed, including thick
French accent, in the changing room and the boys were indeed inspired. I’ll save you the running commentary from the
game but it was great, even better than the Arsenal Everton match on
Sunday. They were indeed, to the very
last man, the best players on the pitch that day and deserved their 3-2 win and
the exhilaration of lifting the cup in their first ever final.
It only took Arsen Wenger a few seconds to inspire my boy with a very
few but well chosen words, if we could do something as simple and effective for
each other every day, just think what we might be able to achieve together.
The event had speakers from all different professions and backgrounds; some who were interested in the educational benefits, some sceptical of 'online' activity and some people like Danny and myself, seeing how this techonolgy can aid and push the world of retail, travel and leisure.
One thing that really interested me is a web site called dopplr.com
To explain it in the easiest way is probably this sentence from the web site itself:
"Dopplr lets you share your future travel plans privately with friends and colleagues. The service then highlights coincidence, for example, telling you that three people you know will be in Paris when you will be there too. You can use Dopplr on your personal computer and mobile phone. It links with online calendars and social networks."
SSo in terms of the travel industry I think this is a very clever and nice way to share your experiences. The thing I also like aout Dopplr is their understanding of personal data and people's concerns about it getting into the wrong hands. They address this in a very simple way, it's up to you how much information you reveal, who you share it with and best of all if you decide you don't want to continue using the service, you can 'delete' (not de-activate) your account and they send you, all of the data they have collected on you, but it's wiped from their server. Responsible.
There is plenty of other insights and ideas that I will share with you once I can decipher my notes.
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To see live video footage streamed live from the event via my mobile visit my qik page
A blown tyre, torrential rain and sleeping on a roundabout, well not literally, but close enough to know the difference between the sound made by Pirelli and Goodyear! So a sound night sleeps ready for some brain stretching talk on Social Media!
Wow, it's lunchtime and my brain needs a break and some time to digest this morning's intro, it has been very illuminating while not quite what either Niki or I was expecting. Matt Locke has run the introduction seminar/presentation in a Richard and Judy style chat on sofa's with experts given 5 minutes to profer their point of view on online and offline social interaction and 'space'.
Strangely, there is a strong contingent against social networking, in its present form at least which has surprised me, but has actually made a lot of sense. Are Friends Electric queried Matt Jones of Dopplr, Matt holds Facebook et al in contempt, the fad of joining all the social networking sites sumounted to little more than an online popularity contest, accepting friendship requests from those people that were not even your freind when you knew them in the real world is not the way forward - purge your friends now!!! Dopplr and Matt's ethos is based on connecting people around an interest or goal.
Session 1 - The expert panel
James Wallbank of Access Space in Sheffield vehemently argued against online networking and relationships, attributing poor social skills and society's youths inability to hold a conversation in the real world as the fault of the rise of online communications! Access Space revloves around technology however, just bring people together to share interests and skills in the real world.
I thought I was here to hear how amazing Social Media is?! Oh well, James made some sound points however and as was the ongoing theme of the weekend, we, the users, will and need to balance our online with offline interactions, transactions and relationships.
Gerd Leonard, repeatedly summed up the back lash to the internet and the way it is changing the world in the simplest terms, "It's new, deal with it". Gerd, a media futurist, discussed 'The end of control' as move from centralised owners of knoweldge and content to nano-distibution. How do corporations control their product, particularly relevant to the music industry, and similarly how do brands control what is said and how people use their brand? Gerd is confident or current knee jerk reaction to the expanding and sharing internet will all be sorted out in the 'shuffle'.
I'm not 100% sure when and what this shuffle is but I like the sentiment.
We also heard from Shannon Spanhake on utilising the power of the many through technology; Chris Heathcote from Nokia, discussed the future of mobile and Ravikant spoke of the emancipating effect of user generated content such as blogs and forums in India to bring a voice to the lower classes.
We we're working...see
We attended the Urban and Social Media talk this afternoon which focussed on how the concept of 'space' and how humans interact within given spaces, rural and urban, and how this alters the way we live our lives. With over 50% of the worlds population now living in Urban areas (there are now 27 megacities, cities with 10 million people or more) how is this affecting our relationship with 'space'. And subsequently how are we begining to link the outside world with the virtual world through technology, for example the use of GPS and geo tagging images and reviews, places of interest, structural warnings etc etc as well as the change in the way we connect with the city via laptops and mobiles. We are now able to talk to inanimate objects and make decisions on the spot based on their response!
This seminar really opened my eyes to practical and hugely beneficial ways of using social media technology. Shannon Spanhake's scheme to use mobile phones with tiny air pollution monitors demonstrated the benefit of scalable technology, rather than have 3 air pollution monitoring sensors for a city of 8 million Shannon was pioneering the use of thousands in South America. An amazing example of the power of the 'crowd' to change social policy.
And so we once again listen to the rallying cries of the politicians for whom the streets of London are paved with gold.
It would seem that those in the centre will vote for Ken and those on the outside for Boris. Why?
Because the media say Ken appeals to the countless minorities who live and work in inner London and Boris represents the affluent majorities that do not? I do not think so, practically that must be rubbish. I think it is simply because Ken puts two fingers up to everyone and Boris doesn't. Remember we are all mere sheep silenced by the sound of the wolf when he howls...
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Graffiti is a complex and controversial art culture that has taken a massive revolutionary turn in recent years. Once perceived as a a defacing nuisance it has now, with the fame of street artists like Banksy and Obey, taken a complete 360 turn to become a fashionable form of outdoor art, commissioned for major advertising campaigns such Coca Cola's Sprite can design launched a few years ago and Volvo's new ad campaign launched just recently. Some may say commercial exposure is a good thing for street artists while other's claim it's defeating the object of the graffiti culture - a rebel's sport. What are your views? Are we simply glorifying public sabotage?
Here are some other comments on the subject and check out Temper Does Grafitti
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I was wondering what it would be like to live in a world with no outdoor advertising, wouldn't it be boring? What would I read on the tube? What would distract me when I'm sat in a traffic jam? Or what would decorate the boundaries of our favourite sporting events? Wembley would look somewhat bear without any hoardings!
If there was no outdoor advertising there would be a lot of empty space in need of some care and attention, outdoor posters and alike seem to me to be the laminate floor of the outdoor space; cheap, easy to lay and looks good for a short time! Very soon it becomes tatty though - what could we use these spaces for if outdoor advertising were banned permanently, and we had no 48 sheet posters to paper over the cracks.
I hear many folk (mainly those that don’t work in advertising) complaining about advertising interrupting their TV watching experiences, how exposure to billboards, fliers, posters, press advertising etc is saturating not only our personal spaces but more and more our social spaces. Would we be better off with less or no advertising confusing and dirtying the enjoyment of our open and outdoor spaces like they have in Sao Paulo.
Despite the headache we all get from all this visual clutter and the associated estimated 3,000 messages we see each day, perhaps advertising is actually a release, a form of art and expression, one which can entertain and amuse, and even be interactive, even when you're on the street. These Ads that were on the streets of Sao Paulo are very intriging, adding to thr social space
We are always going on about cut-through and unless your outdoor ad features cutting edge design, then despite how useful the information is, it is unlilely to grab their attention and be retained, you must entertain, amuse or inspire just like Nokia have managed with this interactive bus stop.
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Now of course, there's not a single answer, and many a director I know could write a book on the subject, especially when presenting to the board on current poor performance.
From the well accepted "its the weather factor", through the old stand-by of "consumer spending is currently restricted due to higher domestic costs such as fuel, food, mortgages, baccy and booze",to the sophisticated, "consumer reactions are proving unfavourable to seasonal ranges supplied", and if all else fails there is always "a resurgent Marks and Spencer is buying consumer market share", however, one of my favourites is "if you think we're doing badly lets compare ourselves with company X".
However, I do wish, that more often in board rooms across the country, those with the power to make a difference would simply say "You know what, part of the problem is that we are just not spending enough time, energy or money into training and developing our most important sales aid, our people".
We can all tell tales of poor customer service that's easy, but people are for the most part, generally hard working, conscientious and enjoy their jobs, so I ask those retailers who are currently suffering poor sales, rather than look for excuses, look at your people and ask yourselves "are we really giving them the right tools to do a great job?"
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Recently, while killing time waiting for a train, I conducted (by default) my own price comparison research at a central London rail station in shops quite literally within spitting distance of each other, I found the same Innocent Smoothie priced at £1.79, £2.00, £2.09 and £2.25 in four different stores.
Now, on this particular day I had time to browse and compare prices, but that's not the point… surely the owners of these shops want to be seen to be offering 'value', (of differing levels of course), but that said, the store selling the Smoothie with a 46p premium isn’t offering a higher value/better quality product than the one flogging it at £1.79. All I can see it is offering is a way to rip me off. And maybe that store is ripping you and me off on other products as well.
Perhaps commuters who are stressed and harassed just don't care as much as the supermarket shopper. But I think it’s more likely that the retailers are quite prepared to premium price their, normally, time-poor commuters! Congratulations, however, to Innocent on their comprehensive distribution!
I spent a lovely family Easter weekend in the Gloucestershire countryside, walks with the dog in the country, quiet village 'gastro' pub lunch on Saturday (the restaurant was packed), popped into another remote 'gastro' pub in the just as remote village of Sapperton for a drink with the wife and dog early on Sunday evening to learn that they had had a full sitting at lunchtime and every table was booked for dinner that evening too.
The previous week I frequented a very busy wine bar in Charring Cross on Wednesday and a packed pizza restaurant on Thursday. I can draw three possible conclusions from this short piece of consumer research: a) everyone is following me to the best places to eat and drink b) the credit crunch hasn't crunched yet for middle England (or middle London) or c) everyone is drinking and eating themselves into oblivion as the end is nigh!
Which brings me on to the piece in Saturday Mail by an octanagarian scientist who warns that we're too late to halt the damage to the planet and that by 2048 the world will have changed beyond recognition and that we should all emigrate to Australia or Canada. Could be a good opportunity for Tourism Australia to create a new campaign entitled "Where's the bloody ozone now"?
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