Last year I wrote a piece and published it from Egypt while the population was engaged in an, ultimately successful, push to overthrow its president. Now I am back and writing this from Dahab, a town on the eastern coast of the Sinai peninsula where the desert meets the Red Sea.
Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
A postcard from the desert
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012When busking meets big business
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
In the eighties and nineties I lived in London and throughout that time, London Underground put buskers on a par with the small, grey, dusty mice running between the rails. That is, vermin ripe for extermination. Okay, maybe not extermination, but certainly eviction. Signs and notices festooned every station, threatening fines, arrests and stern words for anyone who tuned up within earshot of passengers.
On the ridiculous …
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
As things currently stand, wealthy business men are far more likely to face a mob brandishing flaming torches than the accolade ‘national treasure’. Even Alan Sugar is, at best, a rather grouchy figure of fun. But if there’s one glaring exception, it’s Richard Branson. With his silly mullet and toothy goatee, he’s the capitalist it’s still okay to like.
So how did Ricky B set himself apart from the evil, bonus-guzzling fat cats? What makes him so different?
Perhaps it’s his hippy roots, or his bottle blond roots. Or maybe it’s his ‘jeans in the boardroom’, call-me-Richard, relaxed approach. Yep, our Richard sure is the ‘People’s Tycoon’. Which is quite surprising because his enterprises tend to be … well … a bit rubbish.
BA’s twist in the tail
Monday, October 3rd, 2011
‘We’re painting it back on. To Fly. To Serve. These four words were on the tailfins of our early flights. Now we’re painting them back on. Because they’re not a slogan. They’re a promise.’ Oooh, look who hired a new copywriter to convey a reassuringly avuncular crooked smile! It sounds good, I’ll give them that. But it does beg the question of why, back in 1997, British Airways decided to get rid of the distinctive red, white and blue ‘Speedbird’ logo in the first place and rebrand their tailfins with what where, quite frankly, hideous, garish designs.
(more…)
Key notes
Friday, September 9th, 2011
It really gets up my nose when some Charlie Big Potatoes from the creative industry blogs, tweets or posts about some exotic location they’re visiting. They disguise the mention of Antigua or Paris with a dubious link to some project or other, but they actually just want you to know they’re living it up abroad. And you’re not.
Centre of the Universe?
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
So the BBC is flogging Television Centre in Shepherd’s Bush and the great and the good of the media are sobbing hot tears while spinning fond tales of this wonderful, vintage institution.
Bless.
However, truth be told, TV Centre is a rather ugly old pile with insufficient parking and the feel of a late 1960s hospital with budget problems. Most of the people who worked there had little good to say about the place and the nation’s favourite uncle, Terry Wogan, often called it ‘the deserted doughnut’. Now history is frantically being rewritten and the structure is presented as an emblem of an imaginary, golden era of broadcasting, long since abandoned to the garish vulgarity of reality shows and Sky 3.
The real deal. 125 years of Coca-Cola.
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
A double celebration this week. Not the wedding – that was last week. No, today we celebrate my 60th post to the Creativepool blog (a nation rejoices) and rather more significantly – 125 years of the brown, sticky, fizzy liquid that conquered the world.
Antti Laitinen is barking mad.
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
Antti Laitinen is a Finnish performance artist with an incredible commitment to his work. His latest exhibition entitled ‘Bark Boat’ is due to open on the 6th May at the Nettie Horn gallery, E2 and is a multi-media showcase of his latest solitary adventure which involved him floating across the Gulf of Finland in a homemade raft built of pine bark. Laitinen is no stranger to embarking on ludicrous self-imposed missions, read on to find out what else he has got up to in the name of art.
The Sagrada Familia – a major work in progress.
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
Today I am writing my blog from a friend’s apartment in Barcelona. This is my first visit to the city and I have been overwhelmed, as most others are, by the imaginative architectural style of the city and the detail which has been applied to the looming gothic structures. The city is of course home to Antoni Gaudi’s creations which were dreamt up during his lifetime of 1852 – 1926. Six of his buildings have become World Heritage Sites including the Sagrada Familia, perhaps the most impressive structure I have ever stood in the shadow of.
Do familiar brands make the world less exotic?
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012In reality, of course, nobody dropping in for a Big Mac in any territory, from Red Square to Rangoon, would be too surprised. Allowing for slights tweaks in the recipe (halal in Muslim countries, kosher in Israel) and, as in France, some creativity with the menu, Vincent would always find his dining experience reassuringly familiar. Indeed, this is the food chain’s whole market position: wherever you are, whatever you’re doing you only need to look for the golden arches to be sure of a reliable burger experience.
(more…)
Tags: 7Up, branding, brands, Coke, consumers, Fanta, globe, holidays, planet, snobbery, Travel, West, world
Posted in Advertising, blog, branding, Comment, Creative, Current affairs, logos, software, Travel, Uncategorized | No Comments »