Let's face it girls can't compete

This morning I was watching breakfast TV where I fleetly overheard the young lady announce that UK girls are one of most unhappiness in Europe, this announcement obviously drew my attention as you see I have 3 girls of my own. Under the screams each morning on who's got the hair straighter to the regular early morning door slams. (Fair play to the person who hung my doors as they are still on there hinges) Anyway I though this was all normal but the announcement from the presenter did get me thinking; are my girls happy? And if not why not? We went through it, you know growing up and all the pressure that came with it, but it’s now moved into a much more microscopic environment, thanks to social media platforms especially Instagram and Snapchat, the pressure to always'look pretty' or 'on flick' as my eldest says is never ending. But it doesn’t stop there, at school, there's pressure to be 'sporty'(As you see the boy's like this and if the boy's like you then the rest of the girls like you too) Mustn't have'puppy fat' but 'thigh gaps' are all collective acceptable. If the boy's don’t like you, then the girls take more selfies trying to gain more 'likes' and ‘heart-shapes’ while snapping away they're chasing that dream for perfection and acceptance. As a parent the whole thing gives me the shits and so says someone who works in the business! So you can see how I felt when this appeared later on that day:

This picture was created by cosmetic surgeon Dr De Silva which combines the nine most requested features in one 'perfect face, that appeared in today's (31st Aug 2016) Daily Mail I just shook my head and was raging (My daughter wanted to Snapchat me as she never seen my face so red) but god almighty what hope is there when this type of stuff is appearing? It's constant. So can I make one request to all media types please please stop publishing this tripe otherwise what hope have they got? I try to do my best as a dad and someone who works in the industry I avoid producing stuff like this. As we all know to try to be 'perfect' and chasing that continued dream, ends in unhappiness. It becomes a nightmare you only have to look at the rise in eating disorders and self-harming in the UK to see the damage we are creating. Let's start by helping our kids to face up to things in a more positive light, let's not compare but let's celebrate our kids being themselves. PLEASE.

Reinventing the wheel, literally

Here is a wonderful piece of engineering and what can I say, this has literally reinvented the wheel, well how we harness it anyway, massive backing from Kickstarter and a reasonable RRP, a real wheel of fortune for the maker me thinks.

Tetris bookcase

I love ideas that: Combine offline with online. Are visually appealing and functional. Are playful hacks made by super smart geeks. Thank you Oyvind Berntsen who added LED's to his bookcase and made them programmable. Genius.

Too Cool

Literally the coolest book ever. Breezing through the pages of this handy flip book offers the illusion of standing in front of a refreshing fan as it cycles back and forth. The idea is the first published book from a company called 72 and Sunny from their CD. (I'm guessing he or she is an art director?)As the writer would have dismissed in an instant as it's not available as an eBook. For me playful but practical. In my book always a good sign of an idea.Have a great weekend.

Very Krafty

Towards the end of last year, Kraft decided to renove all articial flavours, perservatives and dyes from its popular Macaroni and Cheese product. But when Kraft informed its customers of the imminent change, it was met with strong resistance. Social media lit up with moans and complaints from fans saying they will stop eating the product if they change. Now for the Krafty bit; with advice from their agency CP&B - their response? Don't tell them!! So what did they do? So for 3 months around the end of 2015, Kraft quietly started selling the new product in the old packaging, and the changes was only announced in very small type on the packs. Kraft sold 50 million boxes, which is standard in 3 months, so no complaints, they then launched the campaign' We'd invite you to try it, but you already have' - the whole idea was don't advertise (How ironic coming from an ad agency) That’s what you call real problem solving in marketing - not trying to over analysis, or use tech for tech sake, or do a big old production number – it just comes down to one thing; smart thinking.

Sign of true problem solving

I came across this on Twitter and wanted to share this invention for two important reasons, the first is; it's a brilliant idea. (Yes it's still in development and needs certain things to be ironed out but it's still a great idea especially an idea that has come from students so young. Both Thomas Pryor and Navid Azodi are undergraduate students at the University of Washington (UW) studying Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering and Business Administration, (Bet that looks good on your CV :) The two met in their freshman year and connected over a shared interest in invention and problem solving. The invention idea came from a personal experience of Navid's. During the first seven years of his life, he used non-verbal communication. Notice their interest in 'invention and problem solving' this gets onto my next important point; how can we in our multi-million pound industry of ‘digital transformation’ or ‘digital marketing’ or ‘engaging content’ whatever we decide to call it, try to replicate that sediment when in reality the work that is been produced is such pointless, worthless crap?

Rob Campbell a spanner for anyone outside the East End it's Cockney slang for Planner. Anyway Rob at W&K wrote a brilliant blog piece last week canning the industry for producing dumb ideas such gems as the ‘smart peg’ worth a read for me this was bang on. And the reason why? The big problem with our industry is we aren’t problem solvers anymore we are just confused. (The industry is changing at such a rapid rate we are desperate to find a meaning on what we and our brands are about). There was a small few but now we have heaps of people who think they are really solving problems, they think they are super clever but in reality they are so wrapped up in their little bubble, they are blinded to the fact they are producing utter bollocks. It’s not and repeat not ‘digital transforming’ (By the way there’s another phrase that has surfaced that’s adding to the bullshit) I do honestly believe it hurts our business and screws a brand and a company’s reputation as most people in the real world just think; WTF. A casing point last week I read that some company ‘invented’ an umbrella that tells you when it is about to rain. Please just stop and just fuck right off. Really? I read it thinking it was a joke but sadly it wasn’t. Now just push the creative pause button. Let’s stop what we are doing and look at ideas like SignCloud and celebrate that people are out there really trying to change and transform people’s lives, we as an industry have so many smart people it’s time for us to channel it and produce work on a par with SignCloud – the bar has been risen, and for many in our industry they won’t be able to compete and keep pace in innovative thinking. The others can so make a difference and seek them out and create brilliant ideas.

The future of shopping is now