Neil Perkin

Does it make sense for an ad agency to launch an incubator for tech start-ups? You could (and many no doubt would) say that this was merely a distraction from the day job. An unnecessary aberration from what agencies are meant to be doing. Personally, I think it makes a bunch of sense. Here's why.

Whichever side you're on there's a lot to admire about this campaign from Greenpeace. A smart subversion of the Star Wars theme that VW capitalised on with the well-known (and liked) ad The Force. This morning saw some high profile poster sites being hijacked, quite a few Stormtroopers involved (which created a bit of a stir on the silicon roundabout it seems) and a site launched where you can 'develop your skills as a jedi to help further the rebellion'.

An interesting thought as part of the whole agile thing, is about how competitive advantage will increasingly come from not only being able to make an informed prognosis of the future, but an informed prediction of the present. Much market intelligence, and even important indicators such as retail sales data, are published weeks after the events on which they are reporting on have taken place.

I saw Sir Ken Robinson talk about this in person a couple of years ago and it was one of the best talks I've ever been to. Sir Ken believes that everyone is born with tremendous capacities, yet somehow we often lose touch with what we're capable of and spend much of our time far away from the place where our talent meets our personal passion:

I loved this short film that asked one simple question: "What Does 'Community' Mean To You?". As Maria points out there are some (perhaps expected) universal needs that seem to emerge including proximity and convenience, face to face interaction but the over-riding need seems to be for a sense of belonging.

Chris Anderson (the founder of TED, not the Editor of US Wired) has launched an appeal to help create an Email charter in an effort to find a solution to email overload. His point is a simple one. We're drowning in the stuff and every year it gets a little worse.

Such a good point made by Instagram Co-Founder Kevin Systrom in this short video (below), about how often it's not generating solutions to problems which is the hard part, but finding the right problem to solve. And as Ed Cotton says, planners have some highly relevant craft skills in this critical area.

I've been reading Seth Godin's blog for years and for all that time it has never been less than an astute, insightful and intelligent read. But for once I think he's got it completely wrong.

Serendipitous (as is so often the way) that the day after reading John's piece about time-lagged value on social networks, prompted by the news that Friendster is deleting backdated profile data so that it might change the direction and type of services it offers (and lord knows it needs to do something), I happen across this cautionary tale from Danah Boyd about the disappearance of her Tumblr account.

Here's a scenario. The CEO of your company needs to do a big review presentation to shareholders/analysts/investors/holding company bigwigs. So they brief 5 of their direct reports asking for contributions to help put it together, your boss being one.