I blogged a few months ago about Sao Paulo’s decision to ban billboards, in the context of the Culture Jammers’ campaign against what it calls the “mental pollution” of advertising. But it’s one thing to read about a different future, and another to see it. Now Advertising Lab has pointed me towards two videos - [...]
According to new figures from Ofcom, 4 out of 10 of British internet users now use social networking sites - and those that do spend more than 5 hours a month on social networking sites, and return 23 times a month. Usage is heavier than elsewhere in Europe, and above the USA, but behind [...]
The notion that on-street advertising - ‘outdoor’ as it’s known - is a blight which might damage the public’s “mental environment” was floated by Culture Jammers in the last decade - as part of a wider critique of the impact of advertising. It was one of those weak signals of change which seemed unlikely [...]
There’s so much ‘noise’ coming out of the music industry sector, pun not intended, that it is still hard to discern what the trends are, but one seems to be becoming clearer by the day: the half-century long boom in long-format music, which has made the industry so profitable, is coming to an end. We’re [...]
I spoke in June at the ‘Creative Summit‘ in Bristol - the event was hosted by the South West Regional Development Authority and designed to help develop the creative sector in the region. As well as doing the presentation, I was asked to contribute an article to the website, summarising my argument.
I’m a huge fan of professional cycling. I love the toughness of the sport, but also its tactical complexity. I don’t like the drug-taking (even if some of the best stories about the sport are about drug-takers being found out: “I have good news and bad news: you’ve passed the drugs test but you are [...]
The Wall Street Journal interviewed Rupert Murdoch earlier this month (in the middle of News International’s takeover campaign for the WSJ parent Dow Jones). It’s long, and more interesting for his views on newspapers than online, but he’’s clearly convinced that Google is going to destroy the newspaper advertising base, and doesn’t seem so sure [...]
Jeff Jarvis has a column in The Guardian - and also on his blog, buzzmachine - in which he argues that the success of Facebook is down to the fact that your (tangible) identity is at the heart of your Facebook identity. He says it better than I would explain it.
My friend Nick Wray has a theory about the unfeasibly long Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (At The World’s End) which runs for 2 hours and 48 minutes. He thinks the increasing length of big budget films is down to an anti-theft strategy by the studios, to prevent DVD cloning.
The film Taking Liberties, which I mentioned recently and which opens in London this weekend, seems to be a sign that the economics - and maybe culture - of the film market are changing. It’s the first time, as far as I recall (corrections welcome) that a documentary with a clear British (rather than US/global) [...]
