Podcasts are the Sh*T - My Top 5

I never realised that Podcasts were so awesome. They're totally free and unbelievably useful to me in my daily life and career. I'm not kidding. They give me a real advantage. I'm sharing this with you cause I wish more people had this advantage. Trust me on this.

Here are my Top 5:

1) Six Pixels of Separation 

This podcast by Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image, is probably the premiere digital marketing podcast (that i've listened to). Every week, Mitch interviews a quality guest dealing with another subject of digital marketing. The breadth and intellectual nature of the discussion really impresses me. I recently listened to a piece on the Collaborative Economy, which really opened my mind to this exciting new trend. Recommended for anyone, but especially useful for marketers.

2) The Art of Wrestling

Colt Cabana's podcast about professional wrestling is probably my favourite of the lot. Yes, it demands that one is interested enough in professional wrestling to listen, but whats really great is that it tells the amazing stories of pro-wrestlers from across the industry in an adult, mature and non-kayfabe (wrestling jargon for not-fake) manner. I really enjoy wrestling, i'm not ashamed at all, and Colt Cabana's awesome podcast reinforces my love for this sport.

3) Planet Money

A series of vignettes or stories that speak to an economic reality in the world today. Fascinating topics, global in perspective - i've really gotten into this form of podcast - short to the point, and highly interesting. Recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about the world and the different economic challenges that countries face.

4) The Engaging Brand / Marketing Smarts by Marketing Profs / Social Media Marketing Podcasts

I'm bunching these podcasts together as a total package for marketers. They are all extremely useful resources for marketers, and open up a variety of doors or new ways of thinking for the common marketer. I think the essence of what i'm trying to say about marketing podcasts is that i feel that listening to a variety of them gives me a real advantage in my career.  All 3 of these are really excellent quality shows that I recommend to marketers.

5) 1ESAMP (First ever South African Music Podcast)

These podcasts are produced in South Africa by Matt Klawansky of Othermother Productions. They offer a really interesting take on a variety of musical genres in South Africa, with the stated intention of exposing new artists and musical trends. It's also great to listen to and support local podcasts.

So how do you go about downloading podcasts?

Google them / or find them on itunes, and download them for free. It's that simple, and I promise you it will change your life.

DO EEEET!

The Marketing Apocalype - A thoughtstarter

My experience in the US has given me a new profound insight into the world of marketing. Looking around in this mass of consumerism, I see opportunities... but rather opportunities that require marketers, wherever you stand in terms of ATL, Digital, Activations etc, to take cognisance of a critical truth about our business reality.

Marketing as we know it is dead. As a doornail. As a doorknob.

We live in a world of unbelievable consumer choice, a world of unbelievable consumer power. Touching the customer at every point of their journey is not going to work anymore as consumer's are becoming overwhelmed and disinterested with marketing messages. They've evolved and become adept at tuning us out. No one cares about your marketing anymore. Brands that have not accepted the reality of the evolving consumer. Consumers are becoming hostile to brands, and are finding ways to monetise/publicise their own content on platforms such as Pheed.com. Direct Mail is pretty much finished, and E-Mail marketers are going to have to look to new ways to navigate around the new Gmail format that almost instantaneously places all marketing messages into a tabbed folder (also known as a spam folder). Getting the customers attention has never been more challenging and it's only getting harder.

This total apathy of the customer tied into the fact that marketers have to go to new levels of spin doctoring to prove marketing R.O.I to business executives, and are not succeeding. A 2011 study from the Fournaise Group have shown that a majority of CEOs (73%) feel that marketers do not have business credibility. This is a damning insight that has ramifications for marketers everywhere.

So if businesses don't see the value of marketing, and consumer's are tuning out of marketing messages, what can we as marketers do? Is the marketing apocalypse nigh?

(To be continued....)

A Workation in NYC #1

So I'm currently visiting in New York City on a 2 week work experience hosted by Wunderman New York! So far, so amazing. New York really feels like the centre of the world, and its a real experience to be immersed in the daily experience of this amazing city.

Here are some quick snaps:

An interesting poster I discovered upon entering the Wunderman New York Office, and something that I think ties up with the role of the strategist in a modern agency. One needs to be gutsy, brave and speak truth in a way that makes sense for clients.

My desk in New York. Was really cool to see that they had gone to the effort of printing my name out, and had left me a couple of cool gifts, which I will tell you about below....












I got a Wunderman water bottle, a purple ink pen, branded USB stick and Sunscreen with a purple bike lock! Very cool - really chuffed at the effort the guys went to in order to make me feel welcome!

The View from my desk. P-I-M-P-I-N-G.













A Nokia Billboard in Chelsea, which I spotted on my way to a meeting at Google's Office at the Chelsea Market. Cool to see Nokia trying to put its name out there, but interesting to discover how small a player they are in the US market.








A cool picture of PSY and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. Can you spot Stephen Colbert as Captain America?

Google New York has a slide! This is officially the best thing ever. They also have razors (scooters) that people use to get across the office space. Really a super cool office!

Pacific Rim

9/10

A couple of years ago, I was trawling Wikipedia, as I was wont to do back before the days of Reddit, when i discovered an article for an upcoming film called “Pacific Rim”. It had two major ingredients that got me really excited: Firstly, that it was directed by Guillermo Del Toro, one of my favourite directors, and Secondly, that it was about Giant Monsters vs Giant Robots, based on the greatest of anime traditions. So I waited patiently, and when the opportunity came, I grabbed the chance to win tickets to the pre-screening so I could see this movie before anyone else. (Thanks M-Net Movies – whom I must commend on their very interesting social strategy – maybe worthy of another piece).

Pacific  Rim is everything that I hoped it would be. An amazing visual spectacle, incredible action, awesome monsters fighting against awesome robots. The movie was chockful of moments that made me whisper “coooool” under breath and say “oh shit”, and to be honest, I haven’t had this much fun at the cinema since the Avengers – and that was a lot of fun. The whole film transported me back to when I would sit and watch Saturday Morning cartoons. A kid’s movie for adults!

I also appreciated the world building and this post apocalyptic world where these Jaegers and Kaiju live, but i would’ve appreciated a bit more effort in expanding the universe more. I would have liked to have seen more about how other parts of the world dealt with the Kaiju War. Also, sometimes the acting was a bit wooden, particularly Charlie Hunnam the male lead. But honestly, any criticism is just nitpicking – Pacific Rim is probably the most fun you will have at the cinema this year.

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