Words are powerful things. The mere act of learning a new one can send you down some fascinating lines of enquiry, about the very nature of our different media experiences. Read more »
Authors
David Brennan
ALGORITHM AND BLUES
I have been talking and writing a lot lately about the limitations of ‘big data’ (the ‘ ‘ denotes irony, but I can’t bring myself to add the capital B and D), so it’s good to see a reasonable dose of scepticism handed out from the likes of Emanuel Derman (‘Models Behaving Badly’) and Eli Pariser (‘The Filter Bubble)’; and David Brooks’ recent NY Times column on what big data can’t do is particularly worth a mention. Read more »
The Stop-Start Journey Between TV and Online
When the presents are put away and the Christmas tree begins to shed its needles, most people enjoy the restful period before work starts up again with the occasional snooze in front of the telly. I tried to do the same, but as soon as the ad breaks kicked in, my work mind began to ask awkward questions. Such as ‘how many ads have a call to action these days?’ and ‘where do they take you if you respond?’ Read more »
Tip-toeing Towards A Multi-Screen Future
I was asked to chair a session at the excellent Future of TV Advertising Forum earlier this week. It was held at the Kensington Roof Gardens, scene of quite a few debauched nights out in the early 1990s, and it was strange to be there when sober, but hugely enjoyable nonetheless. Read more »
TALKING IN TEHRAN
Since I formed my consultancy just over a year ago, I have been to some strange and esoteric places. My overseas travels took me to Tehran last week, where I presented at the 4th World Advertising & Branding Forum. (When I mentioned to my host that it was a world event attended only by Iranians, he replied “well, the Americans call their baseball championships the World Series, so why not?”) Read more »
How Did It Feel For You?
“People will forget what you said…
They will forget what you did…
But people will never forget how you made them feel” Read more »
BACK FROM THE PLANET IBC
I’m currently sitting in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, waiting for my flight back to London after a couple of fun days at the IBC Conference, mixing with the tech community. I’ve only ever attended IBC twice before – across twelve or so years – but it never ceases to amaze me by its scale (at least twelve exhibition halls and over fifty thousand attendees) and also its consistency in constantly claiming the death of everything in the wake of the great god Digital. It was only last year that one of IBC’s keynote speakers – ex Channel 4 Chairman Luke Johnson – was predicting the imminent demise of broadcast television. Read more »
The Ripple or the Drill?
I’ve learned that if you stick around long enough, fashions will always come back. My 13 year old son is taking a keen interest in my late 1990s wardrobe and record collection, which is a worrying sign in itself. Meanwhile, maybe it’s just coincidence, but I’m starting to see echoes of two phrases that infested the dozens of ‘new media’ business plans I had to wade through in my channel development role during that first 1990s dotcom boom; “if we build it, they will come” and “killer apps”. Read more »
One Screen Or Two?
One of the most frequent questions I am asked these days, when I am presenting on TV’s future, is whether Smart TVs will replace 2-screening. There is a common perception that 2-screening is an interim solution, and as TV sets themselves become connected – either through Smart TVs or attached devices – many of the functions currently carried out on laptops, smartphones and tablets could migrate to the big screen at the centre of the living room. Read more »
TV LOSES SEX APPEAL – OFFICIAL!
Before their careers took off, both Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn were told they were simply not sexy enough to make it in Hollywood. Being sexy is obviously in the eye of the beholder, which is just as well for TV. Read more »
