Commercialism.  So fleeting.  So transient.  So here today, gone tomorrow.

Yesterday’s article on Second Life in The Observer reminded us to have a look at how Habbo Hotel is doing.  Looking at the traffic to the site, it’s clearly doing well.  So we’re thinking of ressurecting an idea we developed for The Sorrell Foundation.  Their joinedupdesignforschools explores ‘how good design can improve the quality of life in schools by listening to the voices of the pupils’.  We thought it would be good for each school to have its own equivalent of Habbo Hotel a place where pupils were able to talk about fun stuff as well as sensitive stuff through their avatar rather than face to face.  We seem to remember approaching IKEA at the time to see if they’d be interested in backing the initiative (trading virtual IKEA furniture in the virtual school).  Might also be a good idea for Childline - enabling children to talk in confidence in a way they feel comfortable.

Looks like Dom Jolly is being well advised in the lucrative world of mobile content downloads.  I sense that this is an extremely well thought through PR campaign.  Whether the story about stealing secret recordings meant only for mates is true or not is irrelevant.  I bet they’re selling like hotcakes (a) because the content is good and (b) because the intended audience for this will get the extra reward of discovering it themselves.  Thinking about Russell’s piece in Campaign last week, I betcha it will all have been done for less than £10,000 and it doesn’t take many downloads at £1 per pop to recoup that kind of investment.

As relative newcomers to blogs, we liked Russell’s "blogging + stuff" Q+A.  But I really like blogs when they re-acqaint you with old muckers - like Gareth Kay who I’ve unforgiveably failed to get in touch with for months.  I didn’t even know he was writing a blog, so thanks Russell for putting us back in touch.  Gareth, you’re one of the best planners I’ve ever worked with and having read some of your stuff you’ve clearly not lost the ability to inspire. Speak to you soon.

In an attempt to be the first people to say it this year, it’s only 9 weeks to Christmas.  So we just thought we’d kick off a timely debate about perfume ads.  Can anyone explain them to us?  We’re really intrigued to speak to someone who can talk us through the creative development process.  Is there an art to making them so obscure?  How do you sell the idea when there often doesn’t seem to be an idea?  I saw this ad today which was little more than a black and white picture of a bloke wearing a pair of glasses.  There was another one in the window of Debenhams and I can’t even remember what it was for - but I knew it was for perfume cos there was a woman with loads of swirling hair photographed in super-saturated colour and stood next to a phallic shaped glass bottle.  And Alistair has just described a TV commercial where a woman is bursting through loads of doors being chased by a large cat.  (That might have been his favourite dream, but it sounds like a plausible perfume commercial). Clearly it works otherwise the perfume industry wouldn’t roll out the same approach every year. And who writes these campaigns?  I’ve honestly never met any creative who claims to have written a campaign for perfume.  Where do they come from?  Where do the perfume creatives live? Italy? Is there a creative agency called ‘the perfumery’ that does it all?  Please help.  This is clearly something we need to get to the bottom of.

We’ve got a big pitch this afternoon.  It’s the only time we can persuade everyone to tidy up (we’re playing at home, not away).  And for that reason alone, pitches are a good thing.

Talking of The Kings Arms, one of their founding clients was Ringspun and it gave us the opportunity to team up for the project.  Ringspun is one of those streetwear brands that has been bubbling under the mainstream for years.  David Mallon (the bloke behind Ringspun) has asked us to work with him to grow his business.  We really like spending time with David.  He’s one heck of a nard-nosed businessman and a tough ‘mother’ to keep happy - not to mention a wicked negotiator when it comes to extracting cash to do stuff - but you just can’t help wanting to do the best for him.  Most importantly, he’s got a great eye for creativity and he’s confident enough to let us run with our ideas.  The fashion business, more than any business we’ve worked on reminds us of the value of great ideas that make money.  We’re developing a creative approach that is completely ’self-liquidating’.  The more business we make through our ideas, the more money he’ll invest. (And no, the creative recommendation isn’t going to be an FCUK ‘me too’).  Here’s a picture of Lynton and Paul in the Ringspun office.  Business is so much more enjoyable when conducted on old leather sofas under the watchful gaze of a moose-head, dont you think?

Following the blog entry entitled “You Can’t Hurry LOVE”, we would like to stress that the credited author “Riggers” - aka Jonathan Rigby - does not actually like Phil Collins. This confusion came about after a technical hitch, and has now been corrected. The real author has been sacked. Although Mr Rigby admitted he has heard of the artist, he does not own any of his material and neither do his wife or any other family members. We would like to apologise for any embarrassment caused to Mr Rigby, whilst politely pointing out that he lists “Remember the Titans” as one of his favourite movies.

We realised today that we haven’t done a post about The Kings Arms.  Lynton and Paul (ex advertising creatives from TBWA) set up their new agency a couple of months ago.  They share our office space and we work together on stuff when the opportunity arises.  As we’ve said to them many times, we think The Kings Arms is a brilliant name for an agency - distinctive, memorable, less ordinary.  We really hope that one day their office is a converted old pub serving great ideas, cask ale and pork scratchings. Apparently, it took ages to get the name registered (something to do with ancient english law about royalty or something).  When they’ve set up their website (or blog), we’ll publish a link so everyone can see what they’ve been up to.

I like Phil Collins. There. I said it. I’m out of my Collins’ closet. Against All Odds, Two Hearts, In the Air Tonight, Another day in Paradise. Classic stuff. Also on the depths of my ipod (ok, it’s only 2GB, so depths is a bit of an overstatement) you’ll find Paul Simon (Graceland), Hootie and the Blowfish, and Pure Moods – that compilation from a few years back that has stuff like Tubular Bells and Jean Michelle Jarre on it.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m ashamed that I like these musicians, more that they’re not widely considered that hip, and it’s really none of anyone’s business what I listen to. So it came as a bit of a shock yesterday to find that someone docked my ipod in the communal stereo and pressed shuffle. Now, LOVE can be slightly snobbish when it comes to music taste – I’ve learnt that to get a positive response to the question “What’s that CD you’ve bought?” you generally need to reply: “Oh it’s by a six-foot transsexual from Manhattan” or “Yeah, it’s the second album by that depressed one-legged midget from Nebraska”. They’re basically a tough audience, and I was left praying that one of my ‘cooler’ songs would come on. (It really doesn’t get that cool, but I’m not going to get crucified for liking the Arctic Monkeys or something)

Track one: Can’t stand me now by the Libertines: Phew… got away with that one.
Two: Even after all by Finley Quaye: respectable, despite the wife-beating thing.
Three: Driftwood by Travis: draws a few looks and sniggers.
Four: Blue Orchid by White Stripes: ok, this isn’t so bad…

But then the inevitable happened: Paul Simon comes on with Call Me Al. It’s quite a painful experience when you’re able to actually hear what everyone’s thinking. I push myself down into my chair.

This isn’t a story like one of those American high-school rom-coms, where the geeky kid turns into the hero. This story ends with people still thinking I’ve got very bad taste in music – Call Me Al was followed several tracks later by Sussudio – but the experience was a good one, and it’s something that should be encouraged. It’s like the whole thing of swapping your ipod with someone for the day but on a more extreme level. Suddenly you’re the dj for the day; you’re stood there butt-naked with nothing but Serious Hits Live to cover your modesty. Go. Try. Enjoy. Just maybe make sure you remove Phil from your playlist first.