Last week was Leeds Digital Week and I had the opportunity to meet and see speak to Stuart Bruce of Wolfstar, as well as attend his excellent seminar. Wolfstar are a unique PR company, in that they have a fantastic understanding of the web and how people interact with it.
What particularly impressed me was how they used bloggers and how they played to the strength of bloggers. A fantastic example of how they had done this was in the new Sony Ericsson Xperia. Traditionally Sony Ericsson phones have been at the bottom of the mobile pile and this is their first venture into the top end phones. Wolfstar created a forum/blog called inxperia, which would allow people to discuss the new phone and actively encourage comments. They also contacted some key technology bloggers and began to change the old perception of their client.
This is pure genius and so simple. The seminar was fascinating and really made me think about how brands can utilise the natural conversation that is happening online.
Check out this picture of the phone as well, very beautiful.
Posted by Tasha on Tuesday 4th of November 2008 at 12:04pm
Most of us these days are pretty techno-savvy. Children as young as four and five can take a decent digital photo and upload it to our online galleries, we keep our family memories on YouTube, Granddad knows how to use Sky+, and Grandma can use the Nintendo Wii with devastating effect!
It got me thinking where do we go from here? What does the future hold for home technologies? I don’t doubt home-automation is going to grow in popularity, we’ll all have HD Televisions eventually, and the continual integration of the PC/laptop/mobile/GPS all-in-one device will reach a point where it will do everything except make a phone call!
I recently found a couple of YouTube clips with some clever chaps taking some current technologies into new-found territories. These findings are going to have some great knock-on effects for the entertainment, television and gaming industries in the future.
The first is the ability for your television to know where you are in the room. Simple in principle with massive potential. Stick with it – the guy’s a bit wordy but the result is worth the wait!
The next is the ability for a projection to know exactly what it is being projected on to. In real-time, in multiple dimensions.
Following my excitement in the discovery of Asimo earlier in the month, I was delighted to read today that machines aren’t yet capable of passing as humans. They are getting close though. This weekend was the Turing test, which is part of the Loebner Prize. It seeks to determine whether a machine can pass as a human. Five judges each converse with one computer and one human and then have to guess which was which. As one of the judges reports in the Times today its not as easy as you might think.
Posted by Tasha on Monday 13th of October 2008 at 4:01pm
Do you remember the days when time capsules were buried by primary school pupils so that children in the future could learn all about how children lived in the past? I remember donating a lego toy, which would probably be quite an eye opener to modern kids as it’s not a character from a film or sponsored in anyway. (little dig at Lego)
Well now kids are sending messages to Aliens on Gliese 581c. Apparently it won’t arrive until 2029, so it must be pretty far away. You can watch the video on the Bebo site and find out more about the project.
Even though it was created by a kids social networking site it has the potential to cause some controversy. George W Bush is shown as a presentation of evil and Barack Obama illustrates goodness. I guess this depends on your political view point!
As an avid petrol-head as well as a designer, I have a great interest in automotive design. Of the many websites I keep in touch with, one of them is SeriousWheels, a great source of up-and-coming trends in automotive design, as well as looking back at tendencies from the past.
One vehicle that I’m always waiting to see is ‘the good-looking, green vehicle’. The one that runs on something other than conventional fuels, it might be a hybrid, electric, hydrogen, whatever. There seems to be a trend that small eco-cars must have a cute, smiley face to portray it’s non-harming, kitten-loving nature?!
Throughout the ages the general rule has been; the more powerful (and expensive) the vehicle is – the angrier and more imposing its face becomes.
For example:
Here’s the Nissan Nuvu; a zero-emission electric city car. With a face that seems to be puckering up to give you a nice big kiss on the cheek.
And here’s a Brabus Mercedes C-Class:
It laughs in the face of fuel consumption figures and has a face angrier than Mr. Angry himself.
There’s loads of studies into what different consumers read from this, its called geometric morphometrics. Many car manufactures use this system with both male and female subjects to rate certain traits on a sliding scale (such as “infancy” to “adulthood”). The traits represented maturity, sex, attitudes, emotions, and personality — all things that people infer from human faces at a single glance.
This data is then used as part of the design process that goes into many of the vehicles on the road today.
So when, if at all, will the crossover occur? Will we ever have an aggressive-looking electric city-car, or a cute and …
Keep your eyes peeled during the ad breaks on television tonight, you might just catch a glimpse of a big company rebrand that will either be a spectacular success, or a ‘why did we do that?’ moment in history.
Pizza Hut, who are 50 years old this year, have decided to spend £100million on renaming themselves as Pasta Hut. Apparently in the UK we now eat more pasta dishes than pizzas.
Do not despair, all your favorite pizzas will remain on the menu, with the addition of seven new pasta dishes. Strangely for a massive change like this, only nine of their 700-restaurant network will change their signage immediately.
So have they done the right thing? I’m not sure.
Going out for pizza, especially as a child, was always one of those ‘Saturday night, mum doesn’t want to cook, lets have something a bit different’ events. Come on kids, lets all go out for… er… pasta! doesn’t quite have the same excitement.
At first I thought this was a badly timed April Fool, until I saw pastahut.co.uk
So, what do you think? A thin and crispy clever move, or a deep-pan disaster?
Posted by Richard on Tuesday 7th of October 2008 at 1:03pm
There’s been a few discussions lately here at ICM towers about the intrusiveness and effectiveness of certain methods of advertising.
One thing that hit home when I saw this ad was it’s simplicity. A blindingly straightforward concept executed with great finesse. A prime example that whether you are looking for a new car or not, a brand can be lodged in the mind for a time when you are.
No in-your-face hard selling, no complicated targeting. Just a simple message.
Posted by Richard on Thursday 25th of September 2008 at 9:11am
So there I was aboard a magnificent tall ship thinking how absurd, a Yorkshireman aboard a ship that regularly travels the globe.
Than walking back through Falmouth town centre I stumbled across and exhibition of old photographs taken by a Yorkshireman, Geoffrey Robertshaw, aboard a tall ship over 70 years ago.
The photographs were taken on a Kodak Number Two Box Brownie, and, although they are around 75 years old, the quality is remarkable.
Geoffrey Robertshaw took pictures of his ship mates, rough weather, and general life onboard. He also kept his own personal diary which, being a seaman, he called a log. Every day of his voyages are recorded along with the date and ships position.
Alongside the photographs are entries from his log.
Day 14 Thursday March 8th 1934
At 4.30pm the sailmaker reports a cyclone heading straight for the ship and consequently all hands are called to make fast all sails except the two lower topsails.
All hands are completely tired, hungry and wet through to the skin, work like Trojans almost through the whole night.
It is impossible to explain what it is like to anybody who has not been afloat onboard a sailing ship deep laiden with cargo, the lee rails at times submerged, a deck standing waist deep in water, hail squalls incessantly beating down into their face almost blinding them, every man – mere boys – worn out.
The exhibition is an amazing account of a life that seems so far removed from anything today. It was enlightening to see that Geoffrey truly loved his way of life despite the adversity.
During my recent holiday in the South West I realised my break coincided with a great maritime spectacle that only comes to these shores once every decade or so.
I was lucky enough to board a racing tall ship days before setting sail for Funchal on the coast of Madeira in a race against 16 similar vessels.
As part of the regatta in Falmouth prior to the Funchal 500 event several ships were open to the public to get up close with a racing giant. My choices of vessel to board were Russia’s Mir – obviously the biggest and scariest looking craft (and crew!), Uraguay’s Captain Miranda – unfortunately closing for crew lunch, The Pelican – a pompous looking ship from Great Britain, or the extremely colourful Cuauhtémoc – the Mexicans.
These guys were far the most welcoming, enthusiastic and entertaining crew. Had an extremely well turned out ship. It was also lunchtime on board and the aromas from the kitchen were fantastic.
They also had this great notice before boarding:
Posted by Richard on Wednesday 17th of September 2008 at 2:54pm
Finally I get round to reporting on CERN and the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). The science is all great, but what was better was the amount of online hype surrounding the launch. To be honest I’m not sure which I was more excited about!
First off, CERN themselves had a live web feed of the actual event, which was so busy on the morning of the launch that I couldn’t get onto it. They had a twitter page, which meant that those of us who couldn’t watch the webcast could be easily kept up to date via the rss feed. It also prevented too much disruption to work ;)
Google created a special logo, with a link to the CERN website. Have you ever heard of better internet marketing? Their website was actually linked to the Google logo, a science site!
On radio 1 they had a reporter on site who updated us on the world not ending. The BBC’s guide to the project was excellent and very in depth.
It went online on October 25th 1994 and shows how far web banners have come today. But are they effective and as we’ve become inundated with adverts online do we still take notice of them? According to a lot of research a vast majority of surfers ignore banner ads. There’s even a term for this phenomenon called banner-blindness.
However, is this any different from the way in which any advertising works? Many people switch to another channel during the TV ad breaks. People invariably throw away direct mail and completely ignore newspaper advertising. Of course it is much easier to measure the effectiveness of banner ads so companies know exactly what their ROI is. They also know what percentage of people who saw the ad clicked on it.
I suspect that like all advertising, if the ad is targeted at the right people, then it will be effective. There are a lot of bad banner ads and very annoying ones and I find that the decent ads stand out. If I want the product or am looking for the product then I will click.
Posted by Tasha on Tuesday 9th of September 2008 at 12:05pm
Here at ICM we like the idea of having some fun in the office and dressing up so when the “Dare to Wear It Pink” package arrived on my desk I knew it would be something that we should get behind and get invloved in.
“Dare to Wear It Pink” is the big end to the Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and is taking place on 31st October. People pay £2, which is donated to the Breast Cancer Campaign, to wear something pink for the whole day – this could be pink socks to a whole outfit made up of different shades of pink!
I am a big fan of pink here and am therefore going to be encouraging everyone here at ICM to get involved so we can do our bit for a worthy cause.
Check out the website, www.wearitpink.co.uk, if you would like to get involved as well!
Posted by Sally on Wednesday 3rd of September 2008 at 3:32pm
A fundraising cycle ride from John O’Groats to Land’s End passes through Headingley today.
Mike Tomlinson and daughter Rebecca are repeating one of the events which first catapulted Jane Tomlinson to public attention. They are cycling the 1400-mile route almost exactly five years after Jane completed the same incredible journey while suffering from terminal cancer.
Averaging 50 miles each day and being flanked by family, friends, well-wishers and fundraisers, the pair should reach the southwest in couple of weeks.
Mike is blogging the ups and downs of each day courtesy of The Yorkshire Post, you can catch up with the latest news here.
Posted by Richard on Monday 21st of July 2008 at 2:56pm
2 – Go to Random quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. You may want to hit refresh to get something that really fits your band name.
Lumiere was set to be Europe’s tallest residential tower until it was announced yesterday that building work has been stopped.
Property developers KW Linfoot have put the site on hold during the ‘credit crunch’ until the market stabilises, adamant that this decision is merely temporary and the project has not been mothballed.
Indications of this latest decision were noticed back in may when the proposed 24 storey Spiracle Tower, to be built on the former Leeds International Pool site, was scrapped.
As much as this news is disappointing, I can’t help but wonder why it didn’t happen sooner. As I travel into the west of the city by train every morning I pass towers of empty apartments and commercial units that have completely tipped the supply and demand balance on it’s side. Yet other building sites are as busy as ever?!
I feel it would be a real shame if the project doesn’t go ahead, architecturally it’s a fantastic looking building and for Leeds it would be a great landmark – similar to that of Manchester’s Beetham Tower which can be seen for miles around.
This news is not necessarily the end of the world however, Bridgewater Place, the current tallest building in Leeds, was put on hold and redesigned delaying its eventual construction by several years.
Posted by Richard on Thursday 10th of July 2008 at 10:39am
We were saddened and shocked to hear today that Poulters, one of the oldest agencies in Leeds, are to close. It is always sad to hear about people losing their jobs and the nature of Leeds means that some people within ICM will have had connections with the company.
This is one of the secret passages below Leeds Town Hall. The image is from a blog I came across yesterday while joining a Facebook group called Secret Leeds.
Having only moved to Leeds about six years ago and never having lived in a city before I am always fascinated by the urban landscape and how quickly it has changed over the last 100 years. Just in the time I have lived here sections of Leeds have changed rapidly, not just building, but also disappearing below the city. I remember a bar in the Merrion Centre called Bar Phono, which is now a newsagents and the entrance to bar is blocked up.
For three decades, George Plemper’s photographic record of South London working-class life gathered dust in carrier bags, only disturbed each time he moved home.
He hoped that one day the images might be recognised as a significant social record of a community and a landscape. At the time, in the late 1970s, this was not a fashionable photographic subject, so Plemper’s hopes seemed as unlikely to be fulfilled as his mother’s fantasy that he might become chairman of ICI.
It would be nearly 30 years later, with the emergence of a new media platform that gives us the potential to be producers, broadcasters and exhibitors, that Plemper finally unpacked his bags.
The turning point came with the launch of Flickr, the webpage that does for photographs what YouTube does for home videos and Facebook for friendship.
Following on from my post last week about the most complained about adverts in 2007, the corresponding news article (including my two-pence-worth) was in the Yorkshire Post last Thursday.
For those that missed it, the article can be found here.
Posted by Richard on Wednesday 7th of May 2008 at 11:19am
Just read about this on Brand Republic. Burger King are to offer an £85 burger.
The world has gone completely insane, what are they thinking. Stick to what they know, their customers don’t want this, they want cheap food quickly. Hence, it’s called fast food.
Posted by Tasha on Tuesday 22nd of April 2008 at 5:04pm
Just started at icm so thought i’d say hello, so HELLO...
Everybody has made me feel welcome and complimented my tea making skills so many thanks to my new work mates. I’ll post some stuff soon, and hope it’s of interest to somebody.
bye for now!
Posted by Ben on Wednesday 12th of March 2008 at 11:42am
This weekend Louise and I went to Blackpool (my favourite place in the world) to attend the ABCUL conference. ABCUL are the Association of British Credit Unions Ltd, the trade association that represents credit unions in the UK, lobbying the government for better legislation to help credit unions and offer training and support.
This is the second time that I have attended and this year, as I did last year, I got carried away with the enthusiasm and passion of people within the movement. After welcoming speeches and ensuing debate I was off back to university to study economics and then work towards financial inclusion for all. Maybe something for the distant future once I’ve conquered the world of design and marketing!
Louise gave an excellent presentation on branding on Sunday morning, which caused heated debate on how ABCUL should rebrand themselves. She was also funny, which always helps.
All round a very successful and enjoyable weekend, even the wind and the fact we were in Blackpool didn’t dampen the experience.
Posted by Tasha on Monday 10th of March 2008 at 4:26pm
Hey everyone
With summer hopefully on its way Maria and I are going to sample the delights of Winter! Down Under. So I am placing this interesting piece on the interwebthingy to see if anyone out there can recommend any sights or activities (legal, please!) we should check out.
We will be posting a regular blog diary while there so you can all keep up with our exploits (as if you care).
Our route will take in Brisbane, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Cairns, Blue Mountains and finally Sydney. After seeing the video below I don’t think I’ll be doing much swimming on the Barrier!! What do you think?
Posted by Matt on Friday 22nd of February 2008 at 12:11pm
I do understand that it will be an extra match, but surely this undermines the whole structure of the league and the tradition of football. The idea is that each team plays each other home and away. This money making exercise will have a negative effect on football and alienate loyal fans like myself, especially if my club supports the proposal.
It was bad enough when Ashburton Grove was named Emirates stadium. How much longer do I continue to spend hundreds of pounds a year on my love of football?
Posted by Tasha on Friday 8th of February 2008 at 1:36pm
It’s arrived again, once a year without fail. I’ve brought mine in from the cold but it’s going no further than the front porch – I don’t need it.
Others leave their dinosaur outside and at this time of year it tends to get a bit soggy.
I wish there was someone I could inform that I don’t need my annual dinosaur.
You’ve probably guessed by now I’m talking about the Yellow Pages. Which in our house serves the single purpose of a three inch booster placed on top of a chair to replace a light bulb!
Like many, I’d prefer to use yell.com, google, multimap, the local newspaper and even (this might sound crazy) word-of-mouth – especially if I need a skip/plumber/washing machine repair man.
Around 28 million Yellow Pages were delivered in 2007 and I can’t help think that’s a lot of wasted paper and ink, power to print and finish, fuel to deliver etc, etc. that could be saved if we all had the option of yes or no.
I appreciate that not everyone has access to the internet and some people still prefer to use the Yellow Pages book rather than go online, but wouldn’t it make sense for Yellow Pages to only deliver the book to those people who requested it, rather than the other way round?
Posted by Richard on Friday 25th of January 2008 at 12:27pm
So it’s day two of a wonderful rail-replacement service between Shipley and Leeds stations due to flooding. The coaches provided are fantastic, almost too good – you could travel across Europe in one of these beauties!
Unfortunately the drivers of these luxury liners don’t seem to have been to Leeds before, something you would think Northern Rail may have enquired about before hiring them?!
Yesterday was just about bearable, two hours of solid traffic through Shipley, Calverley, Rodley, Kirkstall and Leeds centre, after which I was almost ready to kill.
Today was different altogether.
I’ll get up earlier, I’ll jump on a coach earlier, the traffic through Kirkstall will be quieter, I won’t feel the need to kill just a I greet my workmates!
How wrong could I be?
Things started well, the driver turned the right way out of the station car park, all was quiet (it is still before 7am) and then all of a sudden the electronic voice of an ill-programmed satnav piped up with “turn right then right again”.
More silence. I thought to myself ‘he won’t turn right, that’s Bradford, he’s probably left it switched on from his journey into Shipley earlier’.
Again, how wrong could I be?
The driver, obviously a romantic old fool, thought it would be nice for us to watch the sunrise behind Emley Moor transmitter. And so we all get a chance to see it, he used his mighty Tomtom to navigate us into one of West Yorkshire’s busiest traffic interchanges at Birstall!
After much more stationary traffic (called the M621), he obeyed the satnav to the very last yard and brought us into Leeds by the busiest route possible.
Upon nearing Leeds station, one passenger towards the back of the coach (it’s always the one’s at the back) obviously was beginning to lose it – ‘...
Now don’t get me wrong, I like my macs and sexy gadgets. But if I’m spending a serious amount of cash on a laptop I at least want to know it’s in my bag!
Spend more and more to get less and less?! Where will it all end?
Posted by Richard on Wednesday 16th of January 2008 at 9:10am
Not a question many of us ask often, but according to a chap called John Titor it is possible, since he actually claims to have traveled back in time from 2036 to fetch something from the past, or rather from our time. He returned to the future in 2001 and since this time people have spent much time discussing whether his story is true or a hoax.
I only found out about this today and we have been busy discussing it since (as well as working hard!) and so I thought I’d blog about it and hopefully get other people thinking about it. Some of his predictions are crazy, but if any of them come true then this could possibly prove the existence of time travel.
During his time during our time in 2000 he joined some forums and chatted with members of the online community about the future and how he acheived time travel. This all seems very unlikely, but what if it is/was/might be/not yet known true?
Posted by Tasha on Thursday 3rd of January 2008 at 4:36pm
I suppose someone had better say Happy New Year on the blog.
Crikey 2008, so what’s in store for us all this year?
Well, we’ve got the olympics, it’s a crazy leap year, it’s international year of the potato, it’s the Chinese year of the rat, there’s a total lunar eclipse on Feb 21st, Bill Gates will retire in July, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory will open in Switzerland and Cyprus and Malta will adopt the Euro as their currency.
Let’s make it a good one.
Posted by Richard on Wednesday 2nd of January 2008 at 11:10am
I would just like to say on behalf of all the Directors at ICM a BIGTHANKYOU for everyones hard work this year. It has been a busy year for all and it has not gone un-noticed the fantastic contribution everyone has made. Have a great and well deserved Xmas break. Please come back next year!
Posted by Caroline on Friday 21st of December 2007 at 4:03pm
So there I am stood in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil, browsing through an issue of Yorkshire Life when I notice an article on my hometown, Skipton.
I thumb my way to page 54…
hehe, for a minute then I thought that was…
wait a minute…
that is me!
Here’s my closeup!
Posted by Richard on Wednesday 19th of December 2007 at 12:14pm
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, common sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old common sense was because the birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. Remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children are in charge).
The life of common sense began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 year old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Elastoplast to a student, but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common sense lost the will to live when criminals received better treatment than their victims, when people cannot defend themselves against burglars in their own home and the burglar could sue for assault.
But the final straw in Common Senses will to live was after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common sense was preceded in death by both parents – truth and trust, a wife…
Just a quick note to wish all the England lads the best for tonights crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia. I hope you will all be supporting them and willing them to win (even you Andy).
Posted by Darren on Wednesday 21st of November 2007 at 10:27am
I’m always searching the net for interesting articles about branding and so here is a really simple and effective way of explaining the principles behind building a brand: Click here
Posted by Tasha on Monday 5th of November 2007 at 1:48pm
If you’re like me every time you visit a car showroom or dealership you come away with at least one brochure – usually for the model you can’t afford – the one you will daydream about. Cars like the Alfa Romeo 8C for example.
But alas, Europe’s got involved – The European Commission could force the automotive sector to introduce CO2 health warnings on all advertising and marketing communications, which would occupy 20% of the total space in all mailings and literature.
Now hang on! For a 20 page brochure… that’s four pages of CO2 health nonsense that, like the warnings on cigarette packets, will simply be ignored.
These glossy brochures (and sometimes matt laminate, mmmmmmm…) are meant to be drooled over; fancy extras, alloy wheels, multi-disk CD changers, horsepower, torque curves. Not how many CO2s are being emitted.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my planet and hope that one day we’ll all be driving around in fantastically eco-friendly modes of transport, that hopefully don’t look like the G-wizz.
My problem is with where this health warning is being situated, what next – a flashing red Earth icon on the dash? Caution – over-revving may lead to dolphin-unfriendliness.
Posted by Richard on Thursday 1st of November 2007 at 10:13am
as more and more people expect music to be free (don’t get me started) a new label has started up.
myuzyk is a new netlabel, dealing purely in internet based label type activities, and give the music away for free under a creative commons licence. creative commons allows the music to be shared amongst individuals for free, helping the music get out there, and hopefully make money off compilations, advert usage and so on.
Posted by Phil on Tuesday 30th of October 2007 at 1:31pm
Did you know the government charges VAT on healthy fruit juices and smoothies and other foods, like hotdogs and chips, remain tax free? It doesn’t seem right. Not quite encouraging healthy eating, is it?
That’s why the people at innocent have set up a petition on the Prime Minister’s website to tell the government that they could help more people get to their five a day by removing this daft tax. To sign up go to:
I survived! No falling off, no punctures, no killer-cow attacks.
It was amazing how something as simple as riding at night completely changes your style of riding. Your world becomes nothing more than a 30 foot strip directly in front in which you need to evaluate speed, direction, surface-type and ultimately, risk.
I was surprised how relaxing it was, my grip on the bars became loose as the speed rose and tunnel vision takes over. On the slower, technical stuff, you begin to proiritise these factors to hold momentum.
Bring on the next night-ride. Which will no doubt be longer, darker and just as much fun!
A big thanks to the guys at Hope, for producing the brilliant light unit, a fantastic package – made in England too!
Posted by Richard on Wednesday 3rd of October 2007 at 9:37am
As many of you know I’m a keen mountain biker, but my next ride will start with some very tentative turns of the pedals.
Tonight is going to be my first night-ride, starting at 7.30 for around two hours of off-road riding in the dark.
That’s really dark dark. Yorkshire Dales dark.
I’ve invested in some pretty good lights – twin 5 watt LEDs for those techies amongst you – and I know the route we’re taking, but doing it in the pitch black will add a totally new dimension.
I’ll keep you posted in the morning as to how it went, there’s still time to eat a couple more carrots before I leave!
Posted by Richard on Tuesday 2nd of October 2007 at 4:15pm
Why oh Why oh why do people drive in the outside lane when there is no other traffic on the road? Last night on the way home from work I was driving home when I came across a woman (now I’m not saying its just women) in her Mercedes oblivious to any body else on the road in the outside lane not over taking any body.
After a few 100 yards she then noticed me behind her and proceeded to move over into the inside lane. Once I had passed her and moved into the inside lane (meant for normal people) she then indicated and moved back into the outside lane causing more people to either be stuck behind her or do an illegal undertake.
WHY? Is it an optional extra that comes with big expensive cars that only allows you to drive in the outside lane?
Louise bought in her veil a few days ago so that Melissa could practice for her wedding. Good luck to Matt, her fiancee, she looks pretty determined in this picture and a little terrifying.
Posted by Tasha on Friday 14th of September 2007 at 3:56pm
Another Birthday celebration, this time for one of last century’s greatest authors. No doubt you all had your favourites; The BFG, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach.
As an avid reader of blogs from all over the web I read a lot of posts, good and bad, but today I read one that was particularly amusing. Not to build it up, but it’s in my top five blog entries ever.
gun crime, knife crime, race hate crimes and all the other ills that seem to plague modern society… all of these are laid at the door of self control, and a bit unfairly i think.
self control and self discipline, or the lack thereof is used as a tool to blame hoi polloi from those in power. So they try and enforce it, be it by ASBO, fines and imprisonment. You can’t coerce self control in this way. You can’t make people retroactively have self control. it’s just not possible!
obviously the rise in violent crime is partly down to people simply not caring enough about anything, let alone themselves, but it’s partly down to short-sighted-ness.
we live in a society that chases short term pleasure, waiting for the weekend, wanting THAT car, needing to live in THAT house (all the usual stuff trust fund trustafarians throw up when talking about society). Self discipline or self control is all about waiting. it’s about long term gain… not going on holiday for two years so you can afford a special one, that kind of thing.
we work hard for our wages, and we should be allowed to spend them how we like, this isn’t about that.
it’s not just ‘society’ that pushed the myth of short term happiness. Look at our governmental system… long gone are the days of vision, the parties standing for their beliefs, now crowding the middle ground as if it were the only place to be. we see them switch and change ideas and ideals like there was no tomorrow. how does this show us self control or discipline?
having worked in the public sector previously, i have lost count of the amount of amazing ideas or projects that never saw completion as political whims changed, often leaving communities wondering what the point was in the first place. this message is prevalent throughou…
Today we had one of our clients, Leeds City Credit Union, come to visit us to talk about their services. We are all very excited about investing our money with a not for profit organisation. Watch this space for news of our newly found riches.
This is our space to communicate our ideas, knowledge and questions about all the things we think about and discuss between ourselves. Some of us are on Facebook and MySpace, but not all, and we wanted something that was our own and would reflect the personality of ICM and the people that work here.
The inspiration for the blog came from Howies and Innocent. We were introduced to their blogs by Richard and since then we haven’t stopped reading, discussing and laughing along with them. What we really like is their honesty and humour and of course the way that they portray their brands, we are a design agency after all!
We hope you enjoy this blog as much as we do and if you ever agree, disagree, think we’re hilariously funny, or not, then let us know and leave a comment.
Speak to you all soon.
All the team at ICM
Posted by Tasha on Monday 6th of August 2007 at 5:56pm
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