Mayer Hawthorne

Obscenely brilliant artist Mayer Hawthorne may look like the lead singer from the latest indie band fresh from the We Are Scientists and Young Knives mould via Fitzgerald's finishing school, but his music is soul so sweet it could melt through an iceberg.

Peter Preston (and me) on ETA

A really informative article by Peter Preston at the Guardian on the Basque separatists Euskadi Ta Askatasuna's (ETA) recent bombings. 

The Basque country is a fascinatingly enigmatic corner of Europe, it captured my attention during university, initially due to its connections to surfing (the region is home to some of the worlds best waves, Mundaka, Les Estagnots etc.) and since visiting last year I was lucky enough to study the region in one of my final politics modules taught by the mighty Prof. Jon Tonge. The Basque country is the black sheep of Europe, almost everything about the region is somehow skewed from the norm. Even the Basque language, Euskadi, has puzzled linguists for years with its muddled history seemingly pointing to an anthropological connection with the Celts of the British Isles and the Berbers of North Africa rather than with the Spanish or continental Europeans. 

The regions violent struggle for independence, by no means exceptional in Spanish history, took off under General Franco's oppressive efforts to homogenize and unite Spain under his dictatorship. In the face of violent reprisals by Franco's secret police and military and with their language outlawed they understandably took up arms. The account of several brave fishermen fighting a heavily armed battleship in the Biscay is a pretty stirring read, here. 

However, since the demise of Franco, the efforts of the Basque separatists seem increasingly desperate. Admittedly, the violent and illegal murder of leading Basque separatist activists, terrorists and sympathisers by the Spanish government did not stop with the end of Franco's regime. However, recently the region has enjoyed almost complete autonomy, wielding its own powers over tax and police force. This lurch towards constitutionally framed autonomy is reflected in the current trend amongst the population in erring towards unionism and consociation with Spain, finding political expression in the election of a coalition of the mainstream, unionist Spanish Socialist Party and the conservative Partido Popular. An unprecedented shift towards acceptance of Spanish rule. 

Why then are we still seeing the bombing of civic buildings and the murder of local government officials? I naively thought we were starting to get over nationalist terrorism in Europe with increased regional and international globalisation, and with new found moderation of nationalist political parties a la Scotland's SNP. After my brief study of the Basque country at uni I'm willing to place a large amount of blame on ETA's distorted view on the IRA's campaign in Northen Ireland: viewing Sinn Fein's acceptance into mainstream politics and the concessions it won as the direct result of the IRA's violent campaign, rather than as a result of their political defeat. A dangerous interpretation that needs to be rectified asap. 

A really brilliant bit of documentary by Orson Welles, with his trademark deadpan humour and inventive direction on the Basque region is one of the best bits of TV I've seen in a long time:

Yes youtube...

Adrian Ghenie

The Nightmare

I'm always up for a bit of dark, brooding and disturbing art, combine it with an old Eastern European country and its going to be a winner. Adrian Ghenie from Romania paints psychologically disturbing paintings of a new EU member state and it's inhabitants. The paintings remind me of films or memories, with the drips of paint, superimposed frames and layered transparencies like static; bits lost and distorted by trauma and the bluntness of life in the former Soviet Bloc. Well worth checking out, here.

Dustin Arnold

Found this guys work floating about: http://www.dustinarnold.com/ well worth a click.

Onwards

An absolutely brilliant piece of digital advertising by AKQA for Nike thats been floating around for a while:

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

It's tickling my fancy partly because I love James Jarvis' work and the animation is captivating in an MC Escher/Mobius strip kinda way. But, moreover, I'm smitten because it is the one of the first ads to bring running out from either the eccentric and slightly older image of the 118 man, or from the slightly technical and 'jockier' side that typified much of the previous advertising centered on running. Instead, it makes me feel an ounce cooler about running, a feeling that is often quickly dispelled by the onset of cramp!

Another that springs to mind (interestingly another Nike idea) is LCD Soundsystem's 45:33, the soundtrack to a good few of my runs over the North Downs.

45:33: Nike+ Original Run - LCD Soundsystem

If 'Onwards' whetted your appetite, the first part of a rather good documentary about James Jarvis' running and art is here:



and a slightly older, but perhaps more insightful into Jarvis' art, video by Alex Gould is also worth a look:

James Jarvis from Ika Zcha on Vimeo.

The Nature of the Digital Beast

In trying to pin down my thoughts on the job I'm about to take up, I noted out briefly how I see this tricky digital beast and its applications...

Digital as a communications channel that is offers more accountability, more accurate targeting and better value for money than traditional advertising, all sound (and popularly lauded), if rather bland, reasons for brands to use it in their marketing strategy.

Yet the advent of digital has the capacity for changing marketing much more profoundly. Previously, all marketing has been a one-way process, the consumer only present as an audience or, at best, sat in front of the one-way mirrors of research agencies. The opportunities offered by digital go way beyond just being another platform for a brand to commence another monologue. It presents a massive opportunity for creating broader and stronger relationships with customers.

Digital is unlike any other media; democratic, inconsistent and powerful but most importantly it is rapidly growing in popularity, ubiquity and size. This growth means that it is in a constant state of development, heading in a myriad of different directions at a dozen different speeds. This presents a big opportunity for us as advertisers; it gives us a huge degree of freedom when it comes to communicating with its customers beyond traditional methods. Social networking, mobile technology, and any other number of innovations in digital technology all offer their own unique advantages for brands. NikeID, Apple iTunes and BBC iPlayer are all old, well worn examples of innovative marketing tools that go beyond traditional digital banner advertising and branded facebook groups. It seems that to really succeed in digital, marketers need to not just adopt technology and methods they need to be at the forefront of their creation.

Google’s massive project to catalogue and open up the world’s information exemplifies another major point related to digital marketing: we are getting smart. We can log onto the Adbusters website and explore a brand’s dirty secrets; use product search engines to tell us where we can find a product for the cheapest price; and reading a friend’s opinions about a brand on his blog is more persuasive than a drumming gorilla. Brands have to acknowledge this and start to communicate more intelligently and openly to manage their relationship with their customers.

Change, the prospect of it, the pre-empting of it, the creation of it, is personally the most attractive aspect of a career in marketing. Advertising and marketing reacts to cultural, sociological and technological changes far more rapidly than any other industry. Indeed, good marketing pre-empts and creates change rather than just reacting to it. Digital is the area that is changing the fastest and offering the most exciting new opportunities for doing genuinely creative and innovative work and as a result is beginning not just to change marketing but to empower it.



top pic: darklorddisco bottom pic: mothmilk