February 28, 2007
social media tart for hire
My friend Lloyd Davis, a self-proclaimed "Social Media Tart", is looking for work. He's based in London. I know him well, and regard him highly. Besides that, I've also hired him in the past, and was delighted to have him around. Here's the skinny.
[Bonus Link:] A well-respected journalist writes something fairly non-contentious on his employer's blog and loses his job overnight [Non-contentious as in, the guy's entitled to his opinion, even if you disagree with him]. David St. Lawrence explains.
[Answer to the question:] "Do A-Listers have a responsibility to link to Z-Listers?" I think not. Even if you've got a huge amount readers, it's your blog, not the blogosphere's blog.
February 27, 2007
February 26, 2007
February 24, 2007
free weights. bliss!
This New Year's I made a resolution to get my old body back. You know, the one I had back in New York eight years ago, when I was training in Kung Fu four times a week and bench pressing well over 200 pounds.
My evil plan was severely marred by a repetitive strain injury on my right hand [It was agony for 3 weeks in January], then an extremely arduous and unhealthy road trip for 3 weeks, making the Stormhoek films.
No matter. My hand seems to have mostly recovered, and today I finally went and joined a gym, used the free weights [i.e. barbells, instead of machines] and had my most intense workout I've had in years.
Nothing fancy- just bench press, dead lifts and squats. This was after a long jog in the park. Besides the pain I will no doubt be in tomorrow morning, I feel terrific.
I've done a lot of sports in my life- rugby, Kung Fu, running and tennis being the main ones. But it was always weightlifting that gave me the most joy. I know it sounds boring, but there's something very meditative and Zen-like about hefting heavy objects around.
The other thing I like is what I call "the burn", when you feel your muscles constantly rebuilding themselves, all over your body. And let us not forget the highly addictive endorphin rush.
I've never been into body building per se, I've always just like the process of lifting free weights. I find it extremely therapeutic. Plus it comes in handy when friends need help moving furniture or whatever.
I see Jason Calacanis has started a new exercise regime. Good luck to him with it. From what he seems to be saying, I don't want to lose weight so much, I've weighed pretty much the same for the last 15 years. How much of it was fat and how much of it was muscle is the real issue to me.
Protein shakes. Yum.
[UPDATE:] Jason Calacanis launches The Fatblogging Movement. I'm in.
February 23, 2007
bedale's wine bar
1. Roo Reynolds summarizes a great night out earlier this week at Bedale's Wine Bar over in Spitalfield's Market. I was there, Dennis Howlett was there, James Governor was there, Roo and some of his IBM colleagues were there.
2. PSFK has a nice write-up about Bedale's here. Hey Guys, losing the free wifi was a BIG mistake. Re-install it. Seriously. You'll thank me later.
3. In terms of blogs with relatively small readerships, Dennis and James have among the best business models I have ever seen. Well done, Lads.
stormhoek's jason korman interviewed on winecast
[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc. Licensing terms here etc.]
Jason Korman, Stormhoek's Head of Marketing, is podcasted by Winecast. His best interview for a while.
Also, a one-minute phonevideo Q&A of Jason and me, from Edelman's David Brain.
[Bonus Link:] "Hugh MacLeod’s talk at the 2006 it@cork conference." The best part is the Q&A session, about 17 minutes into it [Note To Self: Lose the beard, MacLeod.].
February 20, 2007
using blogs to boost the bottom line:
[Today I'm speaking at the Online Traffic Optimisation conference in London. Here are my notes:]
So you want to use blogs to boost your bottom line. Here are some thoughts, in no particular order:
1. The First Rule of Blogging: "Blogs don't write themselves." Be prepared to fail. Blogging is a work in progress. Blogging is experimentation. Blogging is more about "The Porous Membrane" than direct selling.
2. Read Robert Scoble's "Corporate Weblog Manifesto". Most of it is dead on. Also worth a read is the book, "Naked Conversations", which Robert wrote with Shel Israel.
3. Read Seth Godin's blog. Every day. Just shut up and do it.
4. Ditto for Jeff Jarvis.
5. Ditto for Kathy Sierra.
6. Ditto for Guy Kawasaki.
7. Ditto for Doc Searls.
8. Ditto for The Cluetrain.
9. Ditto for Steve Rubel.
10. Blogs are a good way to make something happen indirectly. I proved this to myself once and for all with the work I did with Stormhoek, a small vineyard in South Africa.
11. Passion. Authority. Continuity. Without those three, you have nothing.
12. English Cut, a blog I started with Savile Row tailor, Thomas Mahon is often cited as my first big blog marketing breakthrough. A couple of months ago I gave a list of eight reasons why it had worked so well. Here are three of them:
13. Love, respect, trust and goodwill are the main currencies. Cash will only get you so far.Continuity. He kept at it. He didn't expect the blog to transform his fortunes overnight. As I'm fond of saying, "Blogs don't write themselves". Based on our experience, if you want blogs to transform your business, I'd say give yourself at least a year.Focus. It was always about the suits. It was never about what he had for breakfast, Technorati rank or frothy gossip about other bloggers.
Thomas spoke in his own voice. Thomas is a straightforward, affable fellow, and the voice on the blog is the same as the voice you meet in real life. He never tried to misrepresent himself on his blog, nor try to create some over-glamorized image of his profession. He just told it like it is. And people responded well to that. As he once put it, "We're so lucky we don't have to create the brand out of thin air. We just tell the truth and the brand builds itself."
14. A lot of marketing people seem to be hoping for a proven blogging method that is (A) invented by somebody else, (B) easy to replicate, (C) easy to implement, and (D) easy to sell to their boss. Good luck.
February 19, 2007
microsoft revalidation center
[Disclosure: gapingvoid is more evil than Microsoft, but not as evil as The Head Lemur.]
more thoughts on customer engagement
[The current favorite for our next Stormhoek cartoon label. Every person in the trade that I've shown it to has loved it. Very cool.]
After an extremely busy 2006, and an even busier 2007 [so far], I briefly harbored what now seems like an insane idea- that once I got back from my Stormhoek Road Trip, I would take some time off. You know, maybe go down to the South of France and visit Sigurd for a while, and just generally chill out by the pool or whatever.
No such luck. Looks like the next month is going to be a busy one. There's SO MUCH left to do.
My new Stormhoek mantra is "Customer Engagement". I'm in the wine business, and it seems to me that if I want to be able to afford rent next month, I need to figure out clever ways to ship wine cases. Stormhoek is an outstanding product, and we seem to have have good relationships with all the big supermarkets, which drive well over 60% of the UK wine trade. Where I see the opportunity to grow the business is in the intensity with which we engage with the average supermarket shopper. There's many ways to skin this- everything from more road trips, sponsoring more blog dinner to yes, the label on the bottle. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to the ordinary Brit pushing a shopping trolley, and giving her what she wants. Everything else is secondary.
For all the fun and buzz of the road trip, what I personally got most from it was an amazing and deep first-hand experience of supermarkets. I sincerely believe that this will prove invaluable to me down the road.
congrats to dave!
[Dave looking quite cheery etc.]
Congrats to my old friend, Dave Mackenzie, for his movie, Hallam Foe winning a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
Late last year I organized a bloggers' dinner to see the movie. It went down well.
[UPDATE:] From "Scotland On Sunday", one of the big Scots papers:
Peeping Tom movie spies global success[UPDATE:] More news from GetYourPeople:A low-budget Scottish film set on the streets of Edinburgh is set to eclipse Hollywood blockbusters after attracting international acclaim and winning major distribution deals.
Hallam Foe has been catapulted to success on the back of its selection at Germany's Berlinale film festival.
Telling the story of a modern-day peeping Tom, it was written and directed by Scot David Mackenzie. It stars Jamie Bell, in his first British film since Billy Elliot, and Sophia Myles, who caught the critics' attention last year in Tristan + Isolde. Ewen Bremner, who made his breakthrough in Trainspotting, also stars.
Overall the festival was a huge success for us, we all enjoyed our time in Berlin immensely. The festival staff really know their stuff and our publicity team worked so hard to ensure all ran smoothly. Thank you all on behalf of Team Hallam! As well as picking up two awards, the film was well received by various international press critics and won a couple of significant distribution deals. Fingers crossed the next stage will be just as successful."An extraordinarily accomplished piece of film-making" The Scotsman
"A superbly tooled rites of passager.... Confirms Mackenzie as one of Blighty's most distinctive talents" Variety
February 18, 2007
gifts, god and particle physics
Two posts to brighten up your day:
1. An eloquent post from Robert Patterson about the "Gift Economy":
In a Gift Economy, the highest status belongs to those who have given the most. But what is most important, he says, is that the gift must always move. This idea was recently popularized by the terrific little movie called Pay it Forward.2. Tony Goodson talks about God and particle physics:Every gift is its own reward, but that reward is multiplied, without limit, when the gift, or any gift, is passed along to others.
A story is a gift. Blogs are gifts. Ideas and insights and teaching and counsel are gifts. Conversations are gifts.
Two particles can communicate with each other at faster than the speed of light, over considerable distance!! The first thing I would question is the experiment. Is what was measured and observed accurate!! If it is then how the hell do we explain entanglement.And where does God come into this. Well for me, I'd rather place this stuff which is way out, in the realms of spirituality for the time being, rather than science, which looks to be struggling like a cornered Creationist, on this one.
blue monster update
The Blue Monster video has made it onto Netscape. Please feel free to "digg" it [i.e. vote for it].
[Thanks to Colin Donald for the heads-up.]
three thoughts on customer engagement...
Three thoughts on "Customer Engagement".
1. As somebody in the wine business, I find it odd that the industry, which has been bringing people together for thousands of years, is actually rather bad at "Customer Engagement". A lot of winemakers don't want a conversation with you, they just want to tell everybody how great they are. They just want to slap a picture of their chateau on the label and tell you how classy their family is. Boring, boring, boring....
2. It's not about how much your product engages with the customer. It's about how much your product allows your customer to engage with other people. As Kathy Sierra says in her brilliant post, "Success no longer has to be a meritocracy (or advertocracy), today it's just as much a loveocracy."
3. I find "Customer Engagement" much easier if I start thinking of the product [in my case, a bottle of wine] not as a "thing", but as a "Social Object".
[Semi-Related Link] Johnnie Moore talks about the "300" movie event we went to the other night:
I think if I'd not seen it in these circumstances, I might have been a bit more snarky about it... and I think that's interesting. These bloggy initiatives rip down some of the barriers between creator and audience; because the director was there, I thought more about the work that he'd gone through in making it, saw his passion for the work, enjoyed his quirky anecdotes about the challenge of getting it made. I made connections. In my eensy-weensy way I felt part of something. I like that.By opening up to the bloggers, Warner Bros help turn their movie into a social object. I guess the question is, how well does social objectification scale?
[Afterthought from Johnnie Moore:]
"Marketing 1.0 treats customers as objects of communication: marketing is done to them. In co-creation, everyone is a subject (in the grammatical sense) — an initiator of action, a creator. Your brand, and your marketing, are the objects everyone gets to play with - if you're lucky. Miss this point, and you may head the same way as the music industry..."
February 17, 2007
a valentine's story
"Why doesn’t Microsoft love me as much as Hugh MacLeod does? A Valentine Story."
It was this comment from Hugh's recent post that brought the pieces together,3. New Marketing Paradox: Vulnerability Equals Strength. JP explains it better than I can.Part of love is taking risk, being vulnerable and putting yourself out there for someone else and leaving your own sense of self importance aside.
The disparity between Microsoft’s Clippy approach and Hugh’s Global Microbrand approach to marketing caused my heart to sadden.
By experimenting with funny videos Hugh entertained me for awhile, and caused me to purchase a bunch of Stormhoek swag for Kelly and lithographs for my office. I can’t find anywhere where he is selling a good lithograph copy of my favorite Hughtrain image (which is my investment philosophy) but the Stormhoek ones are great for our the office wall at Project Ojibwe.
I ended up spending the morning checking out Stormhoek learning more about how they are building their microbrand. The entire time I was increasingly getting frustrated about Microsoft’s lack of humor, imagination and the wasted opportunity to engage and entertain me that they passed up.
thanks!
[The 300 trailer]
Thanks to all the bloggers for coming to the London bloggers' premier of "300". A marvelous time. Great movie. Wonderful etc. Thanks to Warner Bros and Simon Dunstan of Beatwax for putting it together.
Barry did a nice write up of it here:
I loved how incredibly stylish Sin City was so I wondered how a greatly more violent story would come over. I was rather impressed at how cinematically beautiful it was even though there was an obscene amount of digital blood all over the show. It is such a boy film, battle after battle, an ancient Greek version of Hamburger Hill or Full Metal Jacket, with the odd glance of nipple or fantastic monsters (harkening back to Jason and the Argonauts that I watched every Christmas); but the violence is there to support the story, not an add on for giggles. Of course the story itself is very stylised and rewrites the historical view of Sparta (for example they say they're fighting for freedom and democracy whilst history tells out the Spartans had slavery and the endemic bisexuality was skipped over completely (Zac did comment that the studio had banned any shots of dangling genitals).I pretty much concur with everything he said.
Rock on.
February 16, 2007
why microsoft?
Michael Gartenberg explains why he just left Jupiter for a new job at Microsoft, as an "enthusiast evangelist":
I firmly believe that Microsoft is the only company that will enable the seamless transition for users to move in and out of the different aspects of their lives. In short, no one else comes close to presenting a complete, unified and integrated view of the digital home of the 21st century.After two years of asking "What's Microsoft's next big idea", this is the closest thing I've gotten to an actual answer. Well done, Michael.
building a relationship economy
Building an Relationship Economy, by Doc Searls:
Is there something new that open source development methods and values can bring to the economy? How about something old?I think the answer may come from the developing world, where pre-industrial methods and values persist and offer some helpful models and lessons for a networked world that's less post-industrial than industrial in a new and less impersonal way.
back in london
I'm back home in London, after an incredible 2 weeks on the road.
I haven't been so knackered since finals week in college. Heh.
Serious kudos to both Cath and Colin.
Tonight Cath and I are going to see the blogger's London premier of "300". Thank to everyone who requested tickets.
Sadly, the number of people who asked for them far exceeded the number of seats available, so not everybody who I would have liked to come along, will do so. Drag. Simon Dustan will have forwarded you an invite if you're on the list. I've also asked him to send a "sorry" note to everyone else who didn't get a seat. But thanks so much for your interest.
February 14, 2007
colin editing
Colin editing a film in the hotel lounge. It's been like this all month- a tremendous adventure, all done on the hoof, and yes, utterly exhausting.
There just the three of us on the road, doing what ordinarily would require five times that number. But the extremity of the circumstances is what gives the whole exercise its edge.
And edge is where the action is, these days...
meeting the tesco execs...
[Jason, Cath, and Richard.]
[Watch the YouTube Video here.]
This was actually quite nerve-racking. I got to meet Jason and Richard, the two senior wine buyers at Tesco, for the very first time, in the wine aisle of all places. This was after two weeks on the road, getting up to all sort of crazy stuff...
In case you didn't know, Tesco is the world's largest wine vendor [Yes, bigger than WalMart etc etc]. They are the global wine trade's biggest customer, without exception. I frankly wasn't sure about how they would react to my evil plan... so meeting them in person was quite interesting, shall we say....
I'll be at the London Eye tonight at 8pm, handing out schwag [T-shirts and whatnot], if anyone's in the vicinity... We'll be filming the romantic climax to this tour... with a bit of a twist on the end, I have to say... It all ends tonight. Or does it? [SFX: Evil Laugh]
February 13, 2007
not long now...
1. The road trip ends tomorrow. It's been an amazing experience, and I imagine returning to civilian life ["Back to old clothes and porridge", as they say in Scotland] will be a bit of a chore. We're all exhausted.
2. I see this exercise more as a conversation starter, than a conversation in itself.
3. Thanks to Edelman CEO, David Brain for the kind words:
They are hosting an admirable social experiment that is not without a little risk. Pilloried as many things, by many people, this little explosion of humanity, humour and existential angst (will Hugh get a date?) is helping to personalise their brand on a store by store basis. It’s picking up lots of local press and radio coverage and the buzz factor from these visits (always difficult to quantify but always a big plus) is building. I really hope that the national media pick up on a truly personal quest for love (and a pretty good national video survey of what we think that THING is) rather than the usual diet of re-hashed Valentine stories.4. When I began the road trip, I assumed the main point of the exercise was to sell. Wrong. It turns out the main point of this exercise was to learn. And I did a lot of that.
5. Methinks the next five years or so will be an incredible adventure. I shall be based in London, as far as I can tell. But after that, who knows? A year ago life was far simpler, and generally a lot easier on the ol' constitution. One makes choices.
6. We still have two days to go on this trip, and then all the aftermath to deal with.
7. Recently I wrote that "a well executed blog campaign is an act of love". I find it edifying to learn that the same is true for traditional marketing as well.
8. Did I mention I was exhausted?
February 12, 2007
hallam foe in berlin
Hallam Foe is about to have its first big screening, at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday. The Director, my old highschool friend David MacKenzie [pictured above], writes about his pre-festival jitters.
I am very proud of Hallam Foe and I think it is a strong, vibrant and interesting film. But boy am I nervous about this first bit of public exposure - apart from a small bloggers screening and the cast and crew screening (which both went well) the film has never gone before an audience. I'm nervous because I know it is a strange gem of a film, but inevitably it won't work for everybody. My only hope is that those that get it and respond to the film will be the majority and those that don't (the really straight, soul-less ones!!!!) will be the minority. But who knows what will happen come Friday. All I do know is that I have to expose the film to audiences sometime and that time is rapidly approaching!Congrats, Dave. It's a great movie, and you should be proud.
Meanwhile, I've had about 100 people e-mailing me about Friday's London blogger film screening for "300". Thanks for the interest, Everybody. I'm just waiting for final confirmation from Warner Bros about how many people I'm allowed to invite.
exhaustion...
Revolutions tend to be magnets for people seeking easy answers. The Cluetrain is no exception.
big love number seven: "nothing worth doing is ordinary"
Cath speaks to camera a bit.
[All Part of my Evil Plan:] Jancis Robinson, one of the top three or so most influential wine writers in the world, gives Stormhoek a nice wee mention in the Financial Times:
Stormhoek Shiraz 2004 Western Cape at just £4.49 is another good wine – fragrant, extremely fruity and easy – and has the distinction of having been made by the company that has pioneered blogging as a wine marketing tool.It was Stormhoek that published online just before Christmas a 40 per cent discount voucher at Thresher, the country’s dominant chain of off-licences. (This was far from crippling for the company, which already prices their lines as though everyone will take advantage of their three-for-two offer, and resulted in a dramatic increase in sales.)
February 11, 2007
blue monster hot t-shirt action yeah baby
The Blue Monster has made it on to T-shirts. Very cool. Microsoft's James O'Neill explains:
If you look at Microsoft's Values you find "Taking on big challenges and seeing them through.". The PC - the Windows PC - has changed the world. So now what. Stop ? Or find ways to change the world again ? If we're not prepared to do that what are we doing here ? So Change the world or go home is part mission statement, part call to arms.I utterly concur. Thanks, James!
Yes. I know. By the time Upper Management spots the Blue Monster, it'll be too late. Exactly.
[UPDATE:] Robert Banghart left the following in James' comments:
"Change the world or go home" makes me happy to be a [Microsoft] partner every time I hear or see it. When I recently told it to one of my clients, he immedidately stole it for his own motto and he ends every telephone conversation we have with it.[UPDATE:] Microsoft's Steve Clayton has some Blue Monster T-shirts to give to a loving home etc. Rock on.
london geek night out- friday, 16th february
Simon Dunstan, whose company, Beatwax is doing all the online advertising stuff for Hallam Foe, just invited me to a new movie screening, and to meet the director. Cool.
He also told me I could invite as many of my blogger friends as I want... so, if you fancy coming to see a movie this Friday, drop me an e-mail and I'll put you on the list. Rock on.
If you wish to bring a date, by all means do so. And if you know any other bloggers who might want to come along, please let them know. [Just so you know: If you do come, you are under no obligation whatsoever to blog about it, natch.]
Here's the blurb:
You have been selected to attend an exclusive sneak preview screening of the film 300, the epic Spartan battle based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director Zac Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) .So... anyone up for it? See you then!
300In cinemas 23rd March
It is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army, drawing a line in the sand for democracy. The film brings Miller's ('Sin City') acclaimed graphic novel to life by combining live action with virtual backgrounds that capture his distinct vision of this ancient historic tale.
[Official '300' site is here.]
This is a free, private and exclusive screening/Q&A event, solely for influential bloggers such as yourself.The director Zack Snyder will be flying in directly from the film's launch at the Berlin Film Festival to come and present his film 300 to the blogger's world.
SCREENING DETAILS:
The Apollo Cinema,
Regent Street, London
Friday 16th February
6.30pm for 7pmDrinks and nibbles will be served after the film and Q&A
We very much look forward to seeing you there.
February 10, 2007
day nine: road trip notes
[Cath, Stormhoek's PR Ninja in front of the "Big Love" display at the Gatwick store.]
Nine days down, five more to go. Here are some thoughts, in no particular order:
1. So far the best moment for me was meeting one of the Tesco store managers, who told me the "Big Love" bottles were selling like hotcakes. If the product ain't moving, it doesn't matter how "cool" this film project is etc. Of course, this was only anecdotal evidence, but it's better than a slap in the face. And the bottles have only been on the shelves less than a week.
2. I very much doubt that this film project will end on the 14th of February. What we've learned these last few weeks from making these films, and how it affects our marketing [and for how much, let's not forget that] has been been fantastic. Personally, it's nice for me to see The Hughtrain working in action, with real products in real stores, as opposed to just online & theoretical. Colin, the films' director has done an amazing job. Though the poor guy is getting pretty sleep deprived. Editing in the morning, filming in the afternoons and evenings... it takes its toll.
3. New Marketing Paradox: Vulnerability Equals Strength. JP explains it better than I can.
4. I accept the fact that yes, these wee films shall not be seen by tens of millions of people, like your average Brad Pitt blockbuster. It's OK. I reckon that if we make them interesting enough, they shall be seen eventually by tons of people, especially [ESPECIALLY!] our competitors. Believe it or not, I'm actually a big fan of our competitors. Why? Because experience has taught me, if you can get your competitors talking about you, they suddenly transform themselves into your most powerful and efficient advertising medium. Thanks, Guys! [Look, I told you I was evil, OK?]
5. It's been hard hooking up with bloggers on the road. Our schedule keeps changing, due to the realities of editing a film from a hotel room and dealing with all the PR opportunities that suddenly land on our plate without warning. I've met quite a few so far, who I shall hopefully get the chance to write about later [There's JUST NOT ENOUGH HOURS in the day. Ouch.]. Though I will say, I was especially touched by Robert Bruce turning up yesterday in Newbury. Robert's a South African expat, and I was very touched by his telling me that the Stormhoek marketing we're doing is a very good thing for South Africa in general. S.A. was so isolated for so many years [I lived there as a boy, btw. My very first memories are from there.], and for it to prosper in the future it has to keep reaching out, harder, better, cheaper and faster than the next guy. Apparently he sees Stormhoek as a good metaphor for all this.
6. Nice thought from Tim Clague, a blogging filmmaker who I met on the Bournemouth leg of the trip:
What does this all mean? How did wine get linked to cartoons and then linked to the film industry? OR is it just the case that we must move out of our boxes and realise our passion and our skills are transferrable. Perhaps in the future we will divide people not by industry or job role but by approach.7. Making a documentary and marketing have one thing in common: What you begin with bears very little resemblance to what you end up with. Expecting the unexpected seems to be 90% of the game.Perhaps.
8. More.
9. Later.
February 9, 2007
gapingvoid: more evil than microsoft etc.
My evil plan goes public buah ha ha ha...
[Bonus Link] Johnnie Moore mentions the Road Trip:
It's all a million miles away from high-powered branding from the top down. You let go of the trappings of high office when you follow this path, and get down to the grassroots, taking the risk of having some ordinary, rambling conversations in the real world, instead of broadcasting brand mantras over mainstream media. There are no comforting stats of impacts-per-thousands spent this way, just the reality of a certain amount of grind. Of course it's not really a grind if you happen to like talking to people.
snowed under
[This morning's view from my Bed & Breakfast in the Cotswalds.]
As it blizzards outside, I'm blogging this from the breakfast room- Cath makes her usual morning round of 50,000 phone calls, and Colin edits the latest film. We'll be on the road after lunch, heading to Newbury, Reading and Abington...
We're snowed under with the amount we've got to do between now and Valentine's Day [No pun intended], but it all seems to be going well.
As always, my road trip itinerary is here. If anyone fancies meeting up at Tesco's, probably best phone me on my mobile: +44 (0) 770 309 9462.
[UPDATE:] The Head Lemur reckons, not unwisely, that if Stormhoek was to do an American road trip, Phoenix might be the obvious place to start [Tesco is opening its first American stores there, apparently. Click on the link for more info].
February 8, 2007
gay love in blackpool
Last Sunday we were in Blackpool, a rather run down seaside resort town in the North of England. Not unlike Atlantic City, I suppose, except the latter isn't known for being a favorite gay holiday destination.
We had a lot of fun filming that day. Lois, a lesbian Tesco employee we interviewed was as hilarious as she was adorable. And then there's the clip of me on the merry-go-round. Heh.
vote for your favorite stormhoek label!!!!
We've added a wee voting machine on the Stormhoek blog.
We're coming out with some new cartoon labels, so we'd like your feedback. Feel free to go vote for your favorite design. The cartoon with the most votes will end up as a new Stormhoek label, when we make our next production run. Very cool. Thanks!
February 7, 2007
geek dinner last friday in leith [edinburgh]
[Cath and Ewan, with me getting the drinks in.]
Last Friday, after making an appearance at Tesco's in Corstorphine [a genteel suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland] we had a wee geek dinner in Leith with one of Scotland's most respected bloggers, Ewan McIntosh.
Besides being a lovely chap, Ewan's created quite an impressive "global microbrand" for himself, becoming an authority on the role of social media within the Education profession. Very cool. Lots of traveling, lots of speaking engagements in America etc. Well done, Ewan. And lovely to see you again, and to meet some of your friends. A jolly night, all round. [Ewan writes the evening up here.]
[UPDATE:] Ewan leaves a comment below:
I wonder if I'll understand the Global Microbrand concept... no, I'll never understand *why* it works. But having a blog has really brought me more happiness, new friends and interesting journeys/experiences than any phone call, newspaper article or magazine piece ever has.Exactly.
notes from the road
[Click on image to enlarge/download/print etc. Licensing terms here etc.]
I'm blogging this from a motorway diner. We've been on the Stormhoek road trip for a week. Here are some thoughts:
1. Damn, I feel I know Tesco's very well now. I have spent so many hours in Tesco supermarkets in the last week I feel their brand has been surgically implanted on to the inside of my skull. This is actually no bad thing. Well over one third of the South African wine sold in the UK is sold at Tesco's, so knowing their business intimately on a shop-floor level can only further the cause.
2. I think I am well suited to life on the road. I have no trouble whatsoever turning up in a supermarket in a new town and promoting Stormhoek. Something abut connecting to ordinary people in the real world works for me in a way that old or new media just can't reach.
3. Valentine's Day is only one week away. And then I can sleep. Hurrah!
4. I'm enjoying being away from my usual "blog routine", I have to say. Though it's nice to have something which allows anything to to be published, by anyone, anywhere, into a global medium... like all media, to do it well is EXTREMELY time consuming. I spent five-odd years being sucked deeper and deeper into the blogosphere vortex [Current Technorati ranking: 86], and it's nice to come up for some air, at long last.
5. The story is about to change. As always, everything I do in the blogopshere is part of a larger evil plan [Disclosure: gapingvoid is more evil than Microsoft. Just so you know.] My real reason, my true M.O. for doing this road trip, is about to be made public [Hint: It's very, very evil.]. Can't wait to spill the beans.
my favorite image
This has to be my favorite image from the Road Trip so far- Dan and James, two lads who manange the wine aisle at Tesco's Stockport [Manchester], wearing the Stormhoek schwag over their uniforms...
woke up this morning in bournemouth...
[A view of the doll's house.]
We stayed here last night. One very tripped out Bed & Breakfast. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Jonathan and Simon for letting us stay...
Today we're visiting just one Tesco's- in Gatwick, about 30 miles South of London [Right at Junction 9 on the M23 Motorway]. This is to give Colin some time to edit some more film.
We're hoping th be there around 5pm. As always, if anyone in the neighborhood fancies meeting up today, probably best calling me at +44 (0) 770 309 9462.
February 6, 2007
too busy to blog today...
[Carie and me in Manchester last night.]
In Yeovil [Somerset] around noon today. In Bournemouth [Dorset] around 4pm.
If anyone fancies meeting up at Tesco's, probably best calling me at +44 (0) 770 309 9462.
It seems we've done the worst of our travelling. After today our itinerary takes us mostly around the M25 [the London ring road]. My full itinerary for the next week is here.
February 5, 2007
stormhoek schwag
Stormhoek has boxer shirts. And g-strings, t-shirts, baseball caps and of course, signed fine art prints. Jason explains...
random road trip craziness
[Matchbook doodle laminated on to business card. New York, 1998]
A very busy day today. If you're hoping to meet up with me at Tesco's, probably the best thing to do for the next couple of days is give me a phone on my mobile +44 (0) 770 309 9462. We're getting a lot of local media interest, which is a good thing. However, interviews are time-consuming, which interferes with our schedule, which is a bad thing.
The thing is, EVERYTHING we're doing is time consuming... turning up at the stores is time consuming. Doing press interviews is time consuming. Driving from place to place is time consuming. Editing the film footage is time consuming. Posting the stuff online is time consuming. Eating and sleeping is time consuming.
And with only nine days till Valentine's Day and a couple of dozen stores left to visit, time is the one thing we don't have lots of...
The good news is, the new bottle looks fantastic, especially on the supermarket shelf. It really stands out.
On one level, perhaps we bit off more than we can chew. On another level, this is a good thing. Sometimes biting of more than you can chew is exactly what you need, to make something interesting happen.
Whatever happens, this adventure does not end February 14th. Good things beget more good things. I'm seeing lots of different directions this random act of road-trip craziness could end up going, once this current chapter ends. Exciting times, indeed.
[Full Disclosure: I've always liked supermarkets. Always found them fascinating places. Bet you didn't know that.]
February 4, 2007
road trip diary, sunday
[York Minster is very impressive etc.]
[Blackpool in the off-season is an utterly surreal place...]
I am writing this from a small hotel in Preston. We're too tired to go out, so we're staying in and catching up.
first road trip video up
Colin just posted our first video, taken from yesterday's footage.
Looks great. I'm rather pleased.
udate from york
[Colin conducting an interview. Very professional etc.]
I'm writing this from my Bed & Breakfast in York [Probably the nicest one I've ever stayed in. Seriously. Their webpage is here. They have a four poster bed in one of the rooms and- this is what I REALLY love- they offer Craster Kippers for breakfast.].
[Cath, earlier this morning etc.]
We have four stores to visit today. It's going to be a very long Sunday.
We're getting A LOT of good footage. We're starting to get the editing done [Nice one, Colin] and should have some stuff posted on stormhoek.com really soon.
But it's only Day Three and we're just getting into the swing of things.
Tesco has been fantastic, and very supportive and helpful etc. Their supermarkets are huge. The one in Newcastle has 400 people working on one shift. 4 acres of floorspace. Wow.
We're getting into the flow of things. To think that three people [Me, Colin and Cath], armed with only a small video camera and a carload full of Stormhoek schwag can do amazing stuff for one of the largest businesses in the UK... well, that's the aim, anyway.
It's nice being able to put all the stuff one has written about for the last few years into practice. In a supermarket, of all places.
Gotta go. More later...
February 3, 2007
brief update:
[Colin outside Durham Cathedral this afternoon.]
Our trip since Thursday:
London. Glasgow. Inverness. Edinburgh. Newcastle. Durham. I'm writing this from York. About to go to bed.
VERY full days. Sleep has become the hard currency. More later.
February 2, 2007
passion's easy
[A wee drawing I cranked out this morning on the front of one of my embossed calling cards that I got from Smythson's of Bond Street...]
greetings from inverness...
[The view from my hotel's front door. Inverness Castle and the River Ness etc. A local told me this morning- in Inverness, about 5 people commit suicide per year by just going for a simple swim in the river. If the current doesn't finish them off, the temperature will. And it looks so pretty from here...]
Spent the morning doing phone interviews from my hotel room in Inverness, capital of the Scottish Highlands etc. I'm just off to the Inverness Tesco's in a few minutes to do my first bit of filming. Colin has been fantastic so far. Hopefully we'll have our first bit of footage up on YouTube by either tonight or tomorrow.
Then driving down to Edinburgh this afternoon, for another Tesco appearance in Corstorphine, then hopefully a geek dinner with Ewan McIntosh & Co. [My full itinerary is here etc.]
WAY TOO BUSY round here...
February 1, 2007
arrived in glasgow safely...
Arrived in Glasgow safely at lunchtime. Spent a wee bit of time putting Stormhoek love-themed stickers on the Range Rover. Colin is doing a brilliant job as director/boss man.
We're driving to Inverness this evening- about a three hour drive. More later...