Our new client at Adnams put me on to the wonderful games designed by Bart Bonte. Full Moon is a work of genius that requires both lateral thinking and clicking dexterity to progress. Beautifully simple – like most things that are good in life.
Tim Moore
Strategist
- Loves: Snow & Mountains, Noisy Music, West Ham United & Jelly Babies
- Hates: The Circle Line, Tea, Dishonesty
- Inspired by:
- My granny
- Ordinary people doing extraordinary things
- Apple product design
- My links:
simple, Raffle, GoogleWave, Colour, genius, Playful09, Google, Winner, Facebook, Bart Bonte, games, Cancer Awareness, Aero Film, Wave, Playgroup, Waver, Docs, Social Media, New York City, Full Moon, Tilt-shift, Fans, Sam O'Hare, Email, Adnams, GoogleDocs, Brand, Venn Diagram, The Sandpit, Trending Topics
Interesting 'social product development' business. The wisdom of the crowd again. Check out the back story here.
Utopian view of the world? Not in my book.
I've tapped into a rich vein of reading lately. The next one on the list is by my new hero Sir Ken Robinson. It's called 'The Element – How Finding Your Passion Changed Everything'.
I know, I know... it sounds like a namby pamby self-help book but its not really in that genre. It's really a celebration of different types of creative capability talent and how to discover your passion and maximise your creative potential.
Good read so far... will let you know how I get on.
My dad has just introduced me to Sir Ken Robinson - writer, inspirational speaker and creativity expert.
This clip is three years old now but still thought provoking and very funny. He argues we need to rethink our view of intelligence, reprioritise creativity and reinvent the way we educate our children – I agree.
Incidentally, he is speaking at Cumulus Conference 27-30 May hosted by Ravensbourne College.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I've been reading the brilliant book 'Play' by Stuart Brown which I've discovered should come with a health warning.
It can put you into the kind of deep, contemplative mood where you start to ask the really big questions in life – especially if you are a person of a certain age.
You may have a challenging job, a big mortgage to pay, a family to provide for or maybe run your own business with employees to consider. At times like this, if you're not careful, you can feel crushed by the weight of responsibility from it all.
As Brown puts it, you may "suffer the same crises of the soul that comes from pouring every moment of your time and every ounce of your being into others' expectations".
You start asking questions... What happened? Where did the 'old me' go? Is this all there is?
The good news is there is a simple antidote to these conundrums. Play.
Play is the book I wish I was capable of writing. Stuart Brown M.D. dissects the intuitive principles of play that underpin Playgroup with analyses from psychological and neuroscience perspectives but that not what its about. It's actually a survival guide!
Brown describes how play prepares us for the challenges thrown at us in our business and personal lives. It is an inspiring and optimistic book and I highly recommend it to everyone.
If you want a great summary of the current rules of brand engagement, look no further than What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis.
But don't hang around... they'll soon change again!
On the 10th of March I am joining colleagues Sean and Keely climbing the 800 or so steps of BT Tower as part of the BT Red Nose Climb.
I'd like to say my primary motivation for this was my generous spirit or unwavering commitment to support our clients in everything they do. But to be honest, I'm driven to do it because Mike thinks I can't.
If you would like to encourage my apparent imminent death then please make your pledges in the comments below.
Thanks in advance!
Right now, nothing gets my goat more than hearing or reading the words 'in the current economic climate' or similar.
Every sales email I receive informs me how in the 'current economic climate' I can't afford to be without a particular product or service. (And yes I can actually). Newspapers are full of gloomy 'current economic climate' stories. You can't switch a TV on without hearing of layoffs as a result of the 'current economic climate'. If you Google 'current economic climate' you get around 2,670,000 matches.
Client and colleagues are at it too – my mailbox has 62 matches – and that's without all the emails I deleted.
It's almost like the world is in depressing unison at last. Nations stand united, complicit in the biggest excuse in the history of the world "yes, we are performing badly... but in the current economic climate..."
Wherever you come across 'current economic climate' you might as well read 'it's not my fault'. But to every short selling hedge fund manager, banker that has enjoyed the bonus culture, and consumer burdened with debt after buying all that stuff, yes it is your fault. Face up to it.
So I say bollocks to the 'current economic climate'. I refuse to indulge it any more. Let's be innovative, service our clients better than ever, be more competitive and raise our game. And if it does all go pear-shaped lets be honest and accept that we made mistakes or just weren't good enough and not blame the 'current economic climate'.
At Playgroup we advise clients on 'employee engagement' issues. We bang on about the importance of honest communication, the power of collaboration and robust HR systems.
But nothing does more to bring a team together than a good night out or better still a trip away somewhere.
Last week half the company went on a subsidised ski/snowboard jaunt to Morzine, France. If you really want to get to know your colleagues try sitting around in your long johns swapping stories of how you broke your ribs or your chair lift catastrophe or exaggerate the 'hugh air' you pulled (well... a couple of feet anyway!).
The 'teachers' enjoyed teaching, the 'learners' enjoyed learning and a jolly good time was had by all. Any shared activity is fundamentally engaging but this type experience, where individuals really collaborate in playful activity, pushing their personal boundaries and building trust between each other really delivers long-term brand engagement benefits. Even for those that broke bones!
And then there's the Après-ski - but that's another story!
Meanwhile, the non-skiers that chose to stay behind exacted their revenge by organising an all expenses paid night on the lash at a comedy club.
Next year we'll see if we can get the whole team away together. It's a good brand investment.
See pictures of the trip on our Facebook page here.
I was in Oslo, Norway last week ahead of Playgroup opening an office there.
The people we met epitomised Playgroup values – playful, collaborative and genuine – and you really do get a sense of a creative, thriving, innovative business community.
Maybe it was this spirit that came up with the idea of recycling human poo to power the cities buses while cutting CO2 emissions!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/27/biomethane-energy
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/01/oslos-buses-to.html
The trial goes live in September.
