I am getting excited by the imminent arrival of an Apple Newton, and the year is 2008. This is not normal behaviour, I grant you, so let me explain.

A small museum is growing in the London office of Last Exit - mainly mobile phones, Apple Laptops and iPods - to which I dream of adding some of the earliest Macs - from the 128k through an SE to a Colour Classic. It was while researching these on eBay that I stumbled upon some Apple Newtons. For some reason they have never really been on my radar - but looking back I am not sure why? But they are on my radar now and beeping loudly.

Whatever you may dislike about the Internet I defy you to say that eBay and Wikipedia are not wonderful. eBay has an early Apple MessagePad 100 for sale, complete with box and all the toys, meanwhile Wikipedia tells me all about them. It didn’t surprise me to learn whilst reading the Wiki that the creators of this early Apple user interface went on to found Pixo, the firm that developed the iPod interface. What did surprise me was reading the results of a 2006 comparison test between a 1997 Newton and a 2006 Samsung’s Q1 PDA running Windows mobile. The Newton, by then nearly a decade old, won. That is impressive.

As for that Newton, it might just fill the size gap between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, and it will be just the job for note taking in meetings. In other words, it is not going into the museum when it arrives but back into service.

If you happen to be a client, looking for a new media agency (and we are experts in some modern things, too - like Papervision 3D) then please feel free to request a meeting and I’ll bring it along.

I think I need an ethernet card for it next… I’ll let you know how I get on.

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Can anyone tell me what this is about? I have absolutely no idea.  I thought comedy was all about … , … , … timing.

Maybe all will be revealed in the 2nd installment.

On another subject, those pretzels they give you on airplanes… what’s up with those?

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The lead article in todays Ad Age Daily news covers, in part, a study examining the effects and possible contribution to the rapidly growing (excuse the pun) obesity epidemic in the US. With particular focus on the African-American community, it suggests that marketing to this group has been squarely focused at fast food chains and not healthier options and complains that in poor neighborhoods all you can find to eat is bad food.

My concern with this kind of research is simple that it doesn’t capture the broader picture, e.g. that fast food, and in particular budget meals at fast food chains, is targeted at poorer people generally not just poorer African Americans. It also makes a very relative and unquantifiable statement, that the marketing “contributes”.

Well, how much does it contribute? Is that contribution 50% contribution to other socio-economical shifts, or is it a tiny/negligible amount?

So, my point, though more of a political one is that we are constantly moving towards a system or blame and lack of responsibility for oneself. Ignorance may have a part to play here: is it McDonalds’ fault if a person picks up a scalding hot coffee from a drive through, places it in her lap and subsequently burns herself as she pulls away? No!  And it’s also probably not their fault when people get fat because they eat McDonalds at every meal (including more than one sandwich, fries and a soda).

Of course I do appreciate that there should be boundaries: I don’t agree with soda drink manufacturers sponsoring schools and planting their vending machines in every vestibule, or misleading advertising. I also agree that we haven’t done enough, particularly in the last 8 years, to resolve our extreme poverty problems here in US, but ultimately, people must take responsibility: to educate themselves (the only way to improve your status) and to keep yourself fit and healthy. You don’t need an Equinox membership to do that.

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I did have to look twice at this banner ad.  At first I thought it was some reference to the Mojave Experiment.Interesting problem to try and reclaim the word ‘Vista’. 

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According to Bornstein Research, ad dollars being directed to the web by car manufacturers did not fall in Q1 of this year.  The industry has had a rough year and much it has to do with a lack of innovation and sudden panic to play catch up with the rest of the modern world, as I wrote in a previous post.  The good news is, that most of the manufactures and their brands are shifting gears and pushing marketing dollars behind smaller, fuel efficient models.  So, if your agency is currently working with an auto brand (as we are), you should be in good shape.

See the full article at eMarketer.

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Haha, and just as I’m writing about the noise in email campaigns, eMarketer posts and article outlining the shortening gap between email and search. Read the full article here and if you’re not already registered yet, do it now, it’s a great news source for our industry.

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Sadly this video was taken down and we can’t find another copy

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OK OK, I really am slow to post but I just got a bunch of work done and we just won a really big pitch and I’m only now catching up with a bunch of reading and enjoying some truly entertaining advertising.

Cadbury’s new internal production company has certainly produced a wonderful piece of work and I might find it particularly entertaining as I am, myself, a drummer and though I hated Phil Collins once he got of the drum stool after Peter Garbiel left Genesis in ‘74, I did like many other drummers play along to this track. The burst of double fisted beats introducing the percussion element of the song is explosive and I never before related it to the chest beating of a 600lb gorilla. I have a beautiful kit set up in the office and when everyone has left at the end of the day, I think I might relive it myself.

Regarding the message, I guess it’s quite simple; ecstasy? Though if cadbury are committed to quality, they’re going to have to stop licensing the product to Hershey in the US. YUCK!!!

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Sipping Pinot Gris at the MediaWeek ‘Re-Launch’ party on Wednesday night, I was flush with the feeling that the good times seemed to be rollin’ in again. Launch parties, new magazines, sushi, champagne; happy times.

I was, however, hoping that this second surge into the digital world would be far more measured but the latest $numbers being thrown around Slide, I have to wonder whether the crazies are all back!!

On the bright side though, I met a smart, witty chap called Jeremy Greenfield, Editor of Post Advertising and enjoyed an hour of industry backlash with him. I promptly starting reading his digital ‘zine. Totally unabashed, unadulterated, insightful and humorous: www.postadvertising.com (Do you think that will earn us a story one day?)

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It’s early here at Last Exit and I didn’t sleep enough last night. So, yes, I’m a little cranky. Nevertheless, I have to complain about something: Ad Age. The industry gurus are really starting to piss me off. I read it, like countless other, because I feel I need to keep track of what’s going on on Madison ave and I’ve become increasing disenchanted with the rag.

I just watched a report from Cannes, where the main news seems to be that US agencies are not demonstrating the quality of other nations. Odd because they end the story boasting that 2/3 shops up for the big prize are from the US!

My biggest gripe here though, as with much of the ‘zine generally, is that there seems to be little explanation as to why things happen. Where’s the knowledge, intelligence and insight that I need to understand the trends that might dictate the wow and flutter of what is perceived to be “quality”? If anyone can tell me, I would appreciate it. In the meantime, you’ll find me in the thick of the pages at AdWeek and Post Advertising.

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