Anyone fancy driving a van to St Emilion (that’s in France, not Essex) over the coming May bank holiday weekend?  Some very good friends are doing a charity bike ride from London to Bordeaux and I was going to help out by doing some driving of the support vehicle.  Due to unforeseen circumstances I have had to pull out - much to my shame and the distress of the cyclists.  So, let’s see if the interweb can help (in a Here Comes Everybody kind of a way) - anyone available for a few days over (and after) the bank holiday weekend and fancy a leisurely drive through France (and back)?  All expenses paid etc etc.  Let me know.  I can guarantee it’ll be a whole load of fun.

This afternoon I was having a discussion with the very brilliant Leo, our European planning director (he comes from the ad industry so wears cool glasses, wears *enormous* headphones and thinks a lot) when he suddenly came up with a nugget of total genius.  I was rabbiting on about the massive importance of search as relates to (digital) advocacy, when he said

then traditional PR is surely about offline search optimisation.

Which is quite a big thought.

…but i’d rather call it a film. Stunning *film* from Schweppes.

Hat tip to Mr Clayton. Music by the way by The Cinematic Orchestra - the real star.

…is this.  Brilliant.

Hat tip to Simon Waldman (welcome back, sir).

Wow.  Check this out.  Scares the living poop out of me.

Courtesy of Holy Moly.

A while back I wrote about the Radiohead and NIN music distribution developments.  I still maintain that it’s only already established big bands that can do this and still make megabucks, but anyway…  Came across this just now.  User generated video production, courtesy of Radiohead.  You can make a video for Radiohead.  And you can win some cash.  Don’t know about you but this doesn’t sit terribly comfortably with me.  Can’t quite put my finger on it.  Are marketers beginning to try the patience of the ‘produsers’?  What’s the difference between harnessing creativity and exploitation?  I have been pondering on such matters for a while and my discombobulated thoughts may well manifest themselves in a post in the next day or so.  In the meantime, I refer you to this quote from Bash.org:

Q: Please describe web 2.0 to me in 2 sentences or less. 

A: You make all the content.  They keep all the revenue.

…we’ve just started working with these guys: Workology.  It’s a free professional social network for all you portoflio careerists (non-traditional workers?  freelancers?) out there.  Brings you together with relevant work opportunities at the same time as connecting you with like-minded people - or other flexible workers that can help you run your business (like accountants and so on) - allowing you to manage your own workstyle.  Focused on variety of industries, including marketing and PR.  The site quasi-launched in an invite-only beta late last week.  They’re in pre-launch mode and are after feedback, so please give it a go and let them know what you think.  If you want an invite, let me know (or simply register on the site).

Crikey, it’s dusty round here.  Never mind.  Nothing a squirt or two of Cillit Bang can’t sort, I fancy.  The really good news is I am musing on a couple of interesting posts and - given that for the first time in about three months I don’t have a pitch this week - these ones may even see the light of day.  Who knows.

In the meantime - and I’m pleased to say this is becoming a familiar refrain - we are hiring (as the boss indicated a week or so ago).  I am increasingly desparate for some smart, willing, senior digibods to help service all the business mounting up next to my desk (and secure even more global/regional opps, natch).  I have projects on the go in the consumer, healthcare, technology, online, government and corporate arenas (arenae?), plus lots of digital video activity bubblnig away too.  Something for everyone.  If you fancy broadening your horizons and joining a team at the heart of this magnificent company’s future, get in touch at jwarren [at] webershandwick [dot] com.  Alternatively, direct Tweet me @jamesdotwarren.  You know it makes sense (and even if you don’t, try it anyway).

For the past couple of years I’ve been banging on to anyone that will listen that Google will own the future of TV.  Not from a content point of view, but a ‘programme search’ and tailored advertising point of view.  Well, they’ve made the first move here it would appear.  It’s interesting that the assumption is that Google wants to shove ‘internet content’ into our sitting rooms.  I think this is fundamentally wrong - I believe they’ll make it easier to find stuff that’s already on TV (and of course elsewhere too).  Don’t think internet, think content and advertising - then I think it begins to make a great deal of sense.

I anticipate seeing the Google interface when I switch on my TV, so that I can search for stuff I want to watch.  It will check what related programmes are on now, in the future (so I can tell the box to record them), what’s available on-demand (free or paid), what I’ve Sky+ed, what I have in my digital/DVD/video collection… even user-generated content.  Sponsored content - which would be contextual, dayparted, connected to the rest of my life and even linked to searches I’d made earlier in the day via Google at work - would be clearly differentiated from real content.  And the ads in between programmes would be similarly tailored to my life/needs etc…

I can’t see anyway that this wouldn’t be absolutely brilliant - for me, for broadcasters and for advertisers.  I can see Apple edging ever closer to a similar solution - but the advertising-funded model that Google can provide will beat any iTunes-based solution, I think (although iTunes content will be among the search results spat back, of course).

Perhaps I need to get out more?

I’ve been tagged.  I hate it when that happens.  But seeing as on this occasion it’s El Pincenzo and he had the good grace to put me and the family up (and show us a magnificent time, to boot) over New Year, I feel I ought to respond.  So here goes: FYI, it’s all part of the Seventy Seven My Month In The Media gubbins.

What I’ve read.
I’m reading Shantaram at the moment - recommended to me by Darren who runs our Shanghai office and is Australian, while walking past a Delhi shanty town at night (the significance of which will be lost on you unless you’ve read it).  It’s fantastic, beautifully written and an amazing story.  I can’t put it down - which makes typing a chore, frankly.  I also read Alex James’s autobiography which was just wonderful.  The man is a national treasure.  Am also reading a book about Winston Churchill’s witicisms.  Very fine.

What I’ve watched.
Sweet Fanny Adams on TV, to be honest.  The Christmas special of Extras was on while I was cooking and the little of it I did see was very good (the George Michael monologue tickled me in particular “It was bloody Stewart Copeland’s skip - before we knew it the Police had turned up…”).  Some football (top of the league, ithangyo).  That was about it though.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang enthralled the kids.  Cars too.  Away from TV, I’ve been mucking about with the BBC iPlayer - although seven hours to download The Best of Top Gear last night was a little steep, I thought.  Oh and I can highly recommend Ratatouille at the cinema - the best Disney film for years.

What I’ve listened to.
Again, very little.  As a whole 2007 was a bad, bad year for music.  December just awful.  High School Musical 2 was on most in our house, which tells you all you need to know.  The first Harry Potter book, read by the excellent Mr Fry, accompanied the family on our drive down and then back up France.  On the eve of my birthday I tried listening to The (eponymous) Stone Roses and, as my Twitter followers will have discovered, didn’t enjoy it - for the first time evah.  A sad, sad day.   The beloved bought me a portable DAB for said birthday, but I can’t get no reception (no, no, no) at home and it doesn’t work on the train, so it’s going back.  Shame.  I really must listen to more music in 2008.  In fact, I think I’ll review an album a week here - there, I’ve said it in front of both of you, so I’ll have to do it now.  Quick caveat, for the bank manager: the albums may not necessarily be new ones.

Where I’ve surfed.
I hugely enjoyed not opening my laptop for almost two weeks over Chrimbo.  I’ve realised I don’t really surf anymore - in fact, I appear to have disappeared up my own RSS.  Which may or may not be a good thing.  However, I dearly hope that someone somewhere works out how to better aggregate the news I want to read and presents it to me in a more convenient format than is currently the case.  By the way, I seem to ’surf’ more on my mobile than on my PC.  The mobile internet is becoming almost bearable, and is, as any fule kno, the future of everything.

Merry new year.