The Constant Gardener by Melanie Cook: July 2010

Why this blog?

A friend and I were having a debate on whether or not there was such a thing as a digital planner. Did being a good offline account planner automatically mean you could be a good digital one? What does it take? Since I love my job and the power it gives me to be a consumer champion I've decided to embark on a journey to prove that a 'traditional planner' can embrace the digital world.

Realising that I am going to be pulling from several sources who know what they are talking about and that there must be other planners out there in my shoes, I thought it would be worth blogging what I find. At the very least it's a good place to pull together everything for me. Without this I have a strange feeling that I will be as redundant as the banker who said 'yes buying another bank's bad debt is a really good idea'; wish me luck.

Monday 5 July 2010

John Lewis' v Robinsons' Britain

It's taken me a while to write this post as it's on the difficult subject of diversity in marketing. Being half Malaysian and half Guyanese you would have thought I would do this freely but living in the melting pot that is London, I've never had to consciously contemplate it.

For me the Britain I know is personified by the Robinsons Wimbledon ad. The whole spectrum of our society rooting for the same thing, no matter how far fetched the possibility of a British Champion. A collective ideal we can all be part of.

In comparison, the John Lewis ad which has gained so much notoriety leaves me out in the cold. It uses a White, middle class ideal-family life, from cradle to grave to illustrate the store's unbroken commitment to its customer. Unfortunately the ad's lack of diversity portrays a brand that is uninterested in engaging any other walk of British life.

I respect John Lewis for its decency in pricing and love it because it's an institution I felt safe with and relied upon. I saw John Lewis as the mum to B&Q's DIY dad.

Perhaps that's why I was so disappointed with the ad. I thought I was part of the John Lewis family, but now I am left wondering.

Friday 2 July 2010

Jargon for today...

I've learnt so much whilst wondering on my digital wanderings I feel it's time I can share a little. My mum asked me what an RSS stands for and I realised I know what it does but didn't know what it stands fro. So here we are:

RSS: Really Simple Syndication
Officially: Content that is published by an XML standard that is syndicated for (or shared by) other sites or read by others using RSS feeders like Google Reader or personalised home pages.

Unofficially: Help in spreading, sharing and splicing the word and proper kudos to for the author. Hint absolutely intended.

Wikily: RSS on Wiki

Visually: