Week Notes // 18th September 2023
Walking from London Bridge tube into Borough
The topic of ‘interesting-ness’ seems to be having a bit of a moment in industry discourse. Some people are talking about how to make dull categories more interesting. Some are focussed on how being dull costs brands money. Some are questioning where the imagination has gone and whether the tools and systems and frameworks we have relied on so heavily have resulted in a ‘cookie cutter conformity’.
Collectively, it feels like there is a growing disquiet, that we’re starting to prod and poke at some widely accepted beliefs. Beliefs about efficiency. Beliefs about algorithms and optimisation. Beliefs about attention. About the rules we have subscribed to. And in prodding and poking at these beliefs, we’re able to question whether there might be a more interesting, powerful and effective route available to us as we seek to build brands and deploy communication on their behalf.
Russell Davies is trying to help people be more interesting. His new book makes a compelling case that being interesting isn’t some genetic gift, but instead it’s a process. Being interesting is a decision, he says. In the book he gives the reader 34 different techniques, tools or avenues of exploration to help you make interestingness a habit.In doing so, you’ll be more creative. More engaged and aware of the world around you. You’ll see things differently, perhaps. Davies has been banging this drum for ages, long before the current ‘resurgance’ of interest in interesting. Here he is talking to the APG on the topic of inspiration about 10 years ago.
One of the techniques which I’ve found most appealing from his list is that of ‘Week Notes’: “A review of the week: some noting down of events, some reflections, some gratitude. Whether you’ve learned something big or noticed something small, a weeknote is a good place to put it”. (Davies, p.104, 2023)
As the content on this website is testament to, I’ve found a great deal of value in taking time to write down what I’m thinking about. However, I’ve not always been able to write with the frequency that I’d like and not everything that I’ve found interesting or useful is big or stretchy enough to shoulder the weight of a few hundred words. More and more I’ve used the posts on this blog as a point of reference: things I’ve written now often inform my work or act as an aide-memoire. So in that spirit, I feel like week notes might be a useful addition to the content I post here.
As an effort to write more frequently: each keystroke creates compound interest.
An effort to notice more about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.
An effort to join the dots between the various stimuli that make up my week and to unearth new perspectives, new ways in and new ideas.
To start, some loose rules:
I’ll aim to post on a Sunday night. Unlike the other, more fully formed posts I write I’ll not share them to social media, but they’ll be available here for people to read if they’re stopping by and taking a look around (I’ll evaluate them differently too).
The notes will be made up as a list of bullet points arranged broadly under the headers of things I’ve done, things I’ve read (and watched) and things I’m working on. In time perhaps I’ll find a way of categorising the content more robustly.
I’ll try to include a picture or two of the things I’ve seen during a week too. I need to get better at using my eyes, lifting my head during the day and being a bit more present - not just marching from point A to point B.
Week Notes // 18th September 2023
Reading & Watching & Listening
I’ve just finished Martin Amis’ Koba The Dread. No other author has his range. Frankly, it’s remarkable when you think about it. It brought to mind this podcast/article from the LRB about David Foster Wallace. DFW was an essayist who had aspirations to write quality fiction (is Infinite Jest actually any good?) Amis appears to have no such blind-spots. Since he passed away I’ve made an effort to go back to a number of things he’d written : bits of London Fields, bits of The Rub of Time and The War Against Cliche and then some of the parts of his work which I’d manage to neglect entirely like The Information and Koba. The subject matter of the latter is depressing and relentless. But, for an author who has done more than many to focus on the grotesque components of human nature, perhaps it was inevitable that he would find something of interest in this subject.
Started reading Naomi Klein’s The Doppelganger.
Really enjoying some of the podcasts from The Ringer Network. Rewatchables is providing me with a route back to watching films more frequently, both by reminding me of old favourites but also providing the impetus for watching things that I might have overlooked. The Town and The Watch are both useful as references for ‘big M’ Media: a reminder about the commercial, structural components of the world of content, media and distribution. Sometimes the plumbing needs attention. Also worth mentioning When It Hits the Fan from the BBC. An examination of crisis management and PR. This week, Russell Brand.
Spent far too much time with Palace Skateboard’s back catalogue of films and videos. Whilst the CK collaboration might not have yielded the most exciting clothing, the videos (here and here) that accompanied this drop are superb. The cameos, the music and the writing are all impeccable (“The sun is going down, but morale is up”). I wonder if there is a case for the brand being London’s best creative agency (though I’m sure Uncommon and 4Creative might argue against this). Enjoyed the Beta Blockers film too. Again, the soundtrack is immense. Not often do you find Dire Straits alongside John B and Radiohead.
Learnt about why Keith Haring’s estate licenses so aggressively.
Doing
Ate lunch at Eliot’s in Borough Market. A good spot to watch the world go by from. Always an opportunity to drink some interesting things that you might not find elsewhere. Natural Wine is to winemaking as Craft Beer is to brewing. Emphasis (for me, at least) is less on knowledge and ‘permanance’ - and more on trial and experimentation. Labels and artwork become as big a navigational tool as price and provenance. Embrace the fact you may never drink the same thing again.
Went to the Modernist Book Fair at Vitsoe. Reminded of Dieter Rams Ten Principles for Good Design. You’re able to substitute the words ‘design’ for ‘communication’ pretty seamlessly.
Swimming, Bowling, Cinema, Park and Reading Fantastic Mr Fox with the boy. Remembering how macabre Roald Dahl is.
Played golf. Badly. Not a great end to this year’s competitive season, despite making some very good progress in terms of scoring and handicap.
Working
Finishing my preparation for a meeting in Dublin next week. I’m presenting at a client conference answering a brief to explain ‘what is happening in media, what should we be doing about it….’ It’s a broad brief, but gives the opportunity for some interesting exploration around the forces driving change in the media landscape. Have spent lots of time with the Love The Work case study library (Love Island, Hunger Station, Clash of Clans all worthy of time and attention) as well as unearthing some stuff on Gerard Pique’s The Kings League (here) and A24 films (here). Both are great examples of brands and products which are deliberately trying to reframe the discussion in their categories. The Kings League especially interesting in the context of LIV Golf. One seems to have spent their budget on talent. The other on distribution. Unsurprisingly, distribution wins.
Wrote a thing about ‘quiet’ media. I’d been looking for a vehicle to write about Todd Field’s Tàr for a while. A thought emerged from the intersection of a quote in Matt Klein’s excellent Zine newsletter and a quote about the way streamers are thinking about attention that I discovered during my research for the client meeting referenced above.
Looking into Attention and how the various companies leading research in this space operate. Thinking about how we can build a product in this space which moves clients through stages of maturity and proficiency in a steady, measured way rather than dropping them straight into the deep end.
The bench in Cubitt’s in Borough Market
Blibliography
Davies, R. (2023). Do: Interesting . Do Book Company.
