An unlikely pairing

I like Mary Portas. Mostly, I think she talks a lot of sense.

I also like the fact that she's teamed up with Clarks to launch a shoe range (available at House of Fraser, along with her new clothing range.) It's a brave move. Clarks isn't the coolest of brands - and not exactly what you'd call 'aspirational', (which isn't a word I like but one that would doubtless have been flung around by Portas' team as they mulled this one over).

But someone has recognised that Clarks and Mary Portas both have a little of what the other one needs: Portas the high fashion edge which Clarks has tried (and largely failed) in recent years to inject into its range and Clarks, downright practicality and the trust of British women. We all know Portas knows fashion. But she's actually in danger of being a little too inaccessible for the masses - that impossibly sharp bob, those impractically high heels and a wardrobe full of top designers are not within the grasp of most women.

But in roping in brands like Clarks, Radley and Charnos as partners, Portas assures her target market that she's got their back. Not to mention reducing her own risk. Yep, I reckon she might actually be as sharp as her own hairdo.

Mary Queen of Frocks is available on 4oD. 

Question du jour

Why don't estate agents use QR codes on their For Sale boards? Surely this would be one of the few genuinely useful applications for the little blighters*.

Anyone who's bought a house knows how it works - you drive around the neighbourhood, checking out the nice roads and trying to note down the addresses of anything that looks hopeful so you can get home and check it out on Rightmove. How much easier if you could just scan a code outside and immediately have access to property particulars and price guide on your phone?


*Here's the best one I've seen in action:



Image: Diana Parkhouse

Bring back the brief

I have found myself on several occasions recently wondering if a client would react badly to my sending them a brief template, with simple instructions on use. Because some of them seem to have abandoned this little tradition. In fact, I'm not sure some of them have ever actually seen one before. Maybe I need to go in there and give them a bit of a crash course?

Is it me or are clients in general getting worse and worse at briefing?

Don’t get me wrong, we’re not expecting a fully formed piece of insightful, inspirational genius to drop into our laps every time you send us a job – that's what the planners are for – but something more than a spec would be nice.

And even if you can't be arsed to give me the background, and really can't be sure what the proposition should be, you must have a vague idea of what the objective is. Because something has motivated you to send me that charming two line email demanding concepts.

So, I'm on a mission. Make briefing cool. Let's start a Facebook page. That should do it.


Here's a really good presenatation from Dare on creative briefing (go to the website and read the speaker notes too.)

Creative Brief Workshop

View more presentations from Nick Emmel

Very clever

Anti-social

Who told Tesco they should have a Facebook page?

I just don’t get it. Surely, they already know more about their customers than virtually any other retailer on the planet, and have one of the most successful DM/loyalty programmes in the form of Clubcard.

Yes, they’ve got lots of likes, because they’re Tesco. But the most exciting thing that seems to have happened on the page is a giveaway cock-up back in July.

In fact, the only reason I would visit the page is to complain.  

I'd love to know what Tesco think they're gaining here. Yet again, proof that just because social media is easy to do, doesn’t mean it’s easy to do well. Or that everyone should be doing it.

A rare beast

A standout piece of sports sponsorship, spotted at the weekend (Wales v Argentina rugby).

Cinemagraph

Someone sent me this today which I thought was super neat.

The blurb on the website says
Visual Graphics Artist Kevin Burg began experimenting with the .gif format in this style in 2009 but it wasn't until he partnered with photographer Jamie Beck to cover NYFW that Cinemagraphs were born. Marrying original content photography with the desire to communicate more to the viewer birthed the cinemagraph process. Starting in-camera, the artists take a traditional photograph and combine a living moment into the image through the isolated animation of multiple frames. To quote supermodel Coco Rocha "it's more than a photo but not quite a video".

Check it out. The animated gif appreciation society would surely be impressed.