Throttle - what a wonderful word!

Throttle. Marvellous. It sounds & feels satisfying to say. It conjoures up images of Spitfires and the early days of aviation for me. You know that someone knows about engines when they refer to a throttle rather than an accelerator or some other comparatively banal terminology - perhaps a racing driver, but definitely a Spitfire pilot and certainly my Dad. I also like the fact that more throttle means less restriction on the fuel supply, so technically less throttling being done! Presumably the issue the throttle was created for was to limit the speed of an engine rather than increase it. Here's a Wikipedia description for those wanting some technical detail.

Reverse Graffiti

This is hilarious - a chap creates graffiti by cleaning urban surfaces. The authorities are in a right mess! - link (from Boing Boing)

Simply Moronic No.2

It only gets worse with the linked banner at the oddschecker.com website. Words fail me. What happened to creating a debate in the customers' head? What happened to intrigue, to telling the joke, not shouting "I'm funny"? What happened to crediting your customers with a modicum of intelligence. I want to cry. "You're stupid if you don't check your bets with us." Oh really? Now kindly f*** off.

Simply Moronic

I spotted this on the London Underground. Please can someone tell me why this isn't the most moronic ad I've seen in a long time. What sort of unintelligent life-form produced this and thought it was good?

Latest Trendwatching - Status Skills

Here's the latest from Trendwatching.

Embryonic Chugging Initiative

Chugging. Charity Mugging. Face to face donor recruitment. Whatever you want to call it, I hate it. It's Urban Spam. However I realise that this is an entirely personal and subjective view. So I intend to develop a more objective viewpoint. I've created a blog to chart my progress at ihatechugging.blogspot.com. And also a Squidoo lens to act as a repository for chugging information at www.squidoo.com/chugging.

Simulation & Advertising

A thought provoking piece about how providing "simulations" can be a more powerful way to demonstrate your brand than any ad - link

This quote used in the post sums up why - “You can’t influence people. You can only put people in a position to influence themselves”. Simulations as described are much better at doing the latter - "People trust their senses. They don’t trust ads."

In many ways this harks back to an Jeremy Bulmore adage that I found (via the Staufenberger Repository) in this 1970s document - a comedian doesn't convince an audience of his comedic value by telling them that he's funny, he does it by telling a joke.

Brand Aura

On a recent holiday I went to visit the Bayeaux tapestry. The medieval relic that depicts William the Conqueror's accession to the English throne (William the Bastard before he won the battle!). It is the sort of thing that every English person know's about - it's practically imprinted into our genetic code, certainly a fundamental to junior history lessons. Simply seeing it is magic - there it is, right in front of you, the actual thing, nearly 1000 years old!

However, to someone who didn't know the history, it could be incredibly dull. It is after all a tapestry. The story that goes with it makes the difference, giving it that aura of fascination. It is a fundamental part of the story of England - William I is the first King you learn about - it's the beginning of the history of England.

There's also an issue of relevant here. The tapestry is relevant to me as I am English and have a vague interest in history. Someone not English given the same story and shown the cloth is unlikely to have the same reaction.

The parallels with brands do not need pointing out.

There's a related blog post here from Pink Air.

How To Be Unpopular With Airlines

A wry observation about reactions to the recent terror alerts in the UK - link