The Signifier

Celebrating supreme enlightenment...Wesak!

This weekend saw a double whammy in the world of London Buddhists, an open day at the recently revamped LBC in Bethnal Green and more importantly the most significant event in Buddhism; Wesak, when the Buddha attained supreme enlightenment.

As part of the celebrations, LBC are distributing these mini Buddhas and asking people to take a photo and upload it to the website. so join in, enjoy, see how far on the map they go, and whilst you're doing that, take a moment to be mindful you never know, you may feel enlightened!

A space for thought...

I've always loved the fact that nestled in the concrete of our Capital are small verdent spaces.Little hideaways on top of towers, a host to a verdant nooks and crannies.

The RHS opened up some of these secret spaces on the weekend, just for a few hours, but enough time to share these gems.

Most inspiring was the rooftop garden at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Ordinarily this is a place of quiet contemplation for families visiting their relatives in the hospital, small areas, secluded seating, inspirational writing on the walls and floors, all intended to allow personal thought and prayer...

 

It's mind over matter

How to make the impossible possible?
I wish I knew then what I know now! How I hated (with a passion) cross-country and the 1500m track event at school. I was that rather podgy boy at school, the kid who got used to the word "last" either "coming in last" or "being picked last"!  I couldn't really get my brain around the concept of what running was all about apart from something painful I wished to avoid at all costs.

It was of course many years later I'd learn the 'science' behind exercise, the application of NLP and the opportunity to 'switch off' and perhaps focus on just putting one foot infront of the other!

As I wandered around London on Sunday morning (the day of the 2009 London Marathon), I experienced many things that confirmed old thoughts and engaged new ones. A myriad of questions pinging round the old grey cells...here are just a few captured on from mind to screen:

Safety in Numbers: For those less confident in doing something, we take solace in the fact that other people are also doing the same thing.

The most important word in our language....is our OWN NAME: At mile 23, when the aches, pains, walls all try their best to slow us down, the power of hearing someone call your name out with encouragement is the best motivation known to mankind. Those savvy runners who write their names on their running vests probably recognise it's not free advertising, it's free encouragement!

Happiness is contageous (and so is depression!): All around London, one could hear the echoes of cheers, horns, hooters, bells. When we hear other people showing true signs of excitedness, it rubs off on us. They say a smiling person is more attractive than a frowning one...the contagion works for the other senses too!

Even in the busiest of places, we can feel alone: So many faces with focus on them, all looking at nothing but putting one foot infront of the other. The mind can really be the most powerful tool to our repertoire of life-busting arsenal.       

When brands reply to our tweets for help (listen-respond-learn)

A use for Twitter that's not an obvious revenue stream, but IS good for the consumer...whoop!

If I were sitting opposite Hayley right now, I'd be celebrating the fact that amid all the attempts to monetize Twitter and infiltrate with fake profiles, celebs etc. bubbling through the mud of ROI modelling has surfaced an ideal opportunity that frankly digital PR should have been onto years back when we were all excited about forums and blogs!

O2 worked some genius today in responding to the negative voices of consumers who,  frustrated with long waiting times on telephones to get customer support decided to tell their woes on Twitter.

So rather than the story ending up as "horribly ever after" Wendy McAuliffe (one of the said frustated customers) actually got her problem solved pretty quickly! Nice one.

Again, with a tone of frustration in my voice, this is where digital comes into the forefront of an integrated space. Why? Well because for every negative voice there is on the internet, there will be a number of people over time seeing that negative voice frozen in time UNLESS brands realise they need to  be listening in these (consumer drivenb) spaces (Twitter, Facebook etc.) and responding accordingly to assist and correct any wrong-doing.

Monetizers of all things digital...put that in your pipe and smoke it!

When we go to Heaven, what happens to our Blogs?

Sometimes amidst the traffic on the Information Superhighway, some things do stand still, even once we've gone....

I was reminded this morning with a thud about our own mortality and the power of words we share with people within a blog/tweet/facebook moment through a reminder of someone's funeral.

Mahanada (Andrew Serafinski) passed away suddenly on April 2nd having taken a lot of friends (real and virtual) on many of his travels and adventures around the world (and his mind).

This got me thinking about lots of things associated with the daily routine of orating our mental ramblings. For example:

• Who tends to our space?
• Does it disappear if not logged-into for a certain period of time or does it exist for time in memorium?  What do people conclude about the last thing we wrote?
• Without friends posting polite "he's died" notices, do people think we just got bored with talking?!

As I read throuhg Mahanada's last entry, I smiled with the words he'd written then, clearly not realising these to be his last...

"Yesterday the mercury bubbled and fizzed around 35 degrees C.
Humidity was a drenching 30%.
How I long for snow tomorrow!.....

....I hope to write more when I'm back at home, where I'll start on a long-overdue journey inwards.
What form despatches will take I do not know."

I hope his blog remains there for a good while yet. Although he's no longer with us, the journeys he took people on are still relevant, even to those who didn't even know him!

Amen

When everything around us tumbles, cling on to nostalgia!

Persil become the next brand to use the power of nostalgia in times of financial chaos!
I read a report recently that suggested Brands who adapted their messaging to reflect the current financial climate would be more likely to survive the tough times and emerge when the green shoots of recover finally do emerge.

It's now become a game for me to observe the shifts brands are taking. Already the Army has played on the 'stable salary, roof above your head, bills paid' lifestyle of the British Army and now next on the list is Persil. Sainsburys have started their 'making meals out of left-over' recipes, rather than throwing Jamie on screen with more expensive prawn ideas!

To the untrained eye, what you're looking at is merely an advert made up of old adverts under the storyline of "we've been protecting you for all these years" ; a cost effective move itself with not having to film/edit/produce brand new content. However, those clever folks behind the advertising are actually playing on the fact that amid times of chaos; where our day to day life is a struggle to survive, we subconsciously look for something well established, that sturdy oak tree that's not going to topple like everything else. Hovis hid theirs under a big anniversary celebration, but it's the same notion..."for 100 years, we've been tough but gentle too"!

To see the retro ads in full (I've not yet found the online version of the latest advert!)

All that *glitters* is not Gulf

Voices emerge and break the myth of the Middle Eastern Dream
Today, like every other, part of my morning routine is a catchup on the world and a glimpse into the lives of people I've met over the years to see what's happening in areas of my past.

Ordinarily, this activity is a quick affair, scanning through lots of injections of what people have thought, smelt, tasted....everyday stuff that in most parts is nothing new or surprising. Now to the untrained eye, something like this (a report from journalist Johann Hari) would be considered just a bitter review of a trip to this glimmering city. However, what you're in fact reading is a brave voice emerging from a mission to find the REAL Dubai.

Already, the wheels of PR and loyalty are turning (AmazingWomenRock article) with an interesting "two wrongs do make a right" approach, pointing the finger to the rest of the World who treat their citizens in a similar fashion! Interesting considering that for a long time, the Emirates smugly announced they've built the city of Dubai using the lessons/mistakes made by the Western World as a guid of how NOT to do it!

Which Credit Crunch Profile are you?

What's the secret of success in the Credit Crunch?....I'll tell you!

We really can't ignore (still) the talk of Credit Crunch and the gloom and doom effects it's having on the economics of our country (and the World!). Mid February I woke up and decided I would no longer listen/watch the morning news on TV before heading out to the daily grind. Instead I would eliminate the talk of 'who is next to crumble?". Don't get me wrong, I wasn't avoiding the climate, I was just trying to level the amount of bad news floating round my head first thing.

However, one thing I did wish for in this resolution of 'switch off', was for once every so often for there to be some good news amid the bad, some minute granule of 'happy' for us to look at and praise.

Interestingly enough, a survey this week in Marketing now deconstructs our nation into levels of OPTIMISM amidst the crunch! Those who have reacted in a way as to just go 'safe' and those who are (trying) to take the stances of "life goes on...so shall I".

So which profile do you fit into, you're one of eight possibles:

• "On the up" (4%)
• "Life goes on" (13.3%)
• "It's worth it" (14.5%)
• "Occasional treats" (12.5%)
• "Cutting back" (20.4%)
• "Trading down" (18.7%)
• "Life on hold" (9.2%)
• "Trading off" (7.7%)

Make a wish list this year...

Continuing on from my previous post, it struck me in a conversation I had this morning our new year plans need to be things we WANT to do not feel that we HAVE TO do. With this in mind and taking on board all that has been considered as 'lessons learned in 2008', I'm making a list now, it's a combination of things I've been scribbling down (year on year) in my notebook, alongside some new dreams.

If anything, it's going to be things "I hope to experience in my post-40 years....

2008; That was the year that was.....

I know it's something we all do come close-down of the year, but that retrospective of the last twelve months is subconsciously the insight we use to put down our resolutions for the coming months of the new year.

If this is the case, then 2009 should be a year where mistakes, lessons and newnewss from 2008 make it one of the best. In my mind, that's quite fortunate, this being of course for me where traditionally 'life begins'.

So what were the good things to take from 2008 and take along with me on my trip into 2009?

• To never stop being content with oneself
• To have conviction in those instincts/spiritual rumbles that tell us things are good or bad
• To celebrate music and the many senses it pings
• To recognise why people come in and out of our lives
• To be honest with oneself, one's limitations & strengths

Easier said than done? Perhaps so, but we're never too old to make mistakes and learn from them...I can honestly say 2008 will be one year to remember for all the good things I come out of it knowing.

 

TV or not TV...that's the reality!

During a recent post-meal conversation I entered into a debate about the definitions of TV programming. The crux of the debate was that (perhaps foolishly) as a viewer, I made a comment about 'yet another reality tv programme' was about to be aired....

The big question is "What makes a TV programme a reality one?" Is is the fact there is a prize (?), is it one whereby over time, we slowly cull a list of prospective candidates (?), is it a one-off where we put two extremes of Joe and Josephine Public together waiting for the car crash to happen(?)....

Today I've set the challenge in various forums to see how people are defining 'reality TV programming'. I think what's happened is that if it's not fitting into one of the traditional content buckets of 'situation-comedy','soap', 'Documentary' etc, then it has a high propensity of becoming 'reality'...