I did it!

I wrote 50,000 words of a novel this month during NaNoWriMo nd I am exhausted. It may be rubbish but I did it and sometimes that’s all that counts.

Pat Kane: Play as the very ground of the net

I like Pat Kane’s thinkings. Here are some he has recently presented at the digital labor conference in NY.

His position is that we underestimate the power of play to shape the way that the internet is developing. And there is also some interesting thought on socio-biological theories of play and how they relate to our relationship with the net.

Better to get it from the horse’s mouth.

 

NaNoWriMo 2009

I might be an idiot – you can be the judge – on second thoughts don’t bother – but I am going to attempt NaNoWriMo for the 3rd time in my life.

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, where 1000s of people commit to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days during November.

My first attempt in 2007 failed after about 6000 words. My second, last year, resulted in a 51,627 word children’s book which I am half way through editing. This year, who knows whether I will succeed or not, particularly as I have recently had an impingement in my right shoulder that  makes typing etc slightly painful…

But I am not daunted! I can honestly say that finishing my novel last year was one of the most pleasurable and challenging things I have ever done. It felt like a real achievement and the whole process gave me a great deal of enjoyment.

It does become slightly obsessive, and you feel a little bereft at the end, but for anyone who has thought they could write a novel and lies surrounded by the carcasses of novels started and never finished I would recommend NaNoWriMo as the most likely way you are going to get it done.

If you feel like supporting/bullying/checking in on my progress during the month you would be more than welcome, as one of the drivers to complete is the pressure of knowing you have declared yourself to the world and will fail publically. Shame is a powerful force my friends.

The madness starts this Sunday.

Developing mobile content for oneworld

I recently did a presentation at ad:tech on the work we have done for oneworld (ongoing) to engage business travellers through mobile content.

It’s been a fun project to work on and had great uptake but I think it also demonstrates the importance of getting the insight right. Here’s the presentation.

Evaluating blogging

So having returned from Frankfurt Motor Show I am now in the process of evaluating the activity of the bloggers over the 3 days that we were there.

They have all taken very different approaches to the show which is refreshing and makes for interesting reading. I particularly like Luca’s photos as well as his phillosophical and user experience focused stuff. There was a lot of interest in the Ford Focus BEV unsurprisingly and then for hte mommy bloggers it was all about the sliding doors and space in the C-Max Grande (oh yes and there is already a new facebook fan group for it!).

The question as always is which hard measures and which soft measures to look at.And in this case the soft measures are particularly important.

The number of bloggers wasn’t vast and therefore the potential for reach and the buzz generation is limited, though we can get a good idea of reach from their readers and Twitter updates etc. In many ways this is a pilot activity for Ford PR in Europe to answer questions like “how do we integrate bloggers from different European nations to deliver one experience?” “What will generate value for the online community?” “In what ways will the activity spill out into other areas?” “Where should we focus our attention in terms of demographics and markets?”.

Appropriately I am hosting a panel on Monday 21s September at Imagination about how you define and measure success. So I might get some further ideas from there!

More from the cat herder

The Focus Prototype Electric Vehicle

The bloggers have been hard at work all day and the latest posts are about the BEV or Ford Focus again.

Richard Lawton at thegreencarwebsite blog certainly liked it – but that’s no great surprise!

I have really enjoyed working with other bloggers, we even introduced two who had only met online via their blogs which I always like.

Anyway – here’s the post from Richard – http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/index.php/2009/09/15/ford-bev-development-at-frankfurt-motor-show/

Herding Cats

I am finally at the Frankfurt Motorshow with 5 bloggers from across Europe that we have invited to attend, courtesy of Ford. And now the press conference is finally over so they can now blog about the product and launch stories – which they have all been itching to do since yesterday.

Trying to arrange the various interviews, flights, and even recruiting has been a bit like herding cats! Because of course, unlike mainstream press they all have day jobs and they all have their own lives to lead outside their blogs. Equally all have different approaches and different stories and it’s been interesting seeing how they approach the event .

You probably all know Scott Monty’s work in engaging Ford further in the social media space which has really made Ford stand out but I think this European blogging outreach also says a lot about how Ford approach social media. They think globally, they aren’t afraid to experiment and they understand how social media works.

Anyway – here are some of their posts – but you might have to use Google Translate  for a couple of them:-

http://www.ubergrun.de - Green lifestyle blogger from Germany who has focused (unsurprisingly) on the new Focus BEV and Tourneos.

http://www.havealovelytime.com/2009/09/frankfurt-motor-show-says-wikommen-to-wwwhavealovelytimecom.html - Who asked all the readers what questions they wanted answered by Ford

and

http://www.lucamascaro.info/blog/eventi/iaa-2009-diario-viaggio-international-motor-show-francoforte.html - A design and usability focus for the Italian market/reader.

I have managed to get some great video of the beginning of the press conference involving a flautist/beatboxers – I kid you not. You might have seen him at Glastonbury.

But first – coffee.

Blogging at Frankfurt with Ford

I am rather frantic at work this week – which is nice in some ways! – because I am out of the office for 3 days next week  hosting bloggers at the Frankfurt Autoshow.  Ford have invited some bloggers from across Europe to visit the show and use the stand as a base for their blogging and I am going to be there with them. I have only been to autoshows in England so far, despite the fact that Imagination works on shows worldwide, so I am really looking forward to the experience. And also to the idea of blogging all day!

Well… not all day but you know what I mean.

I think it’s just another example of  Ford’s integrated approach to their communications and the fact that as a business they really do understand the social media landscape and see how it allows a more open interaction between themselves and their customers.

Non-planning books for planners – The Player of Games

I have just spent a happy half in Waterstones buying various books (a book about Malborough for my husband, and The Owl Service by Alan Garner from their 100 years of children’s fiction selection amongst my stash) and it reminded me I have been thinking for ages about creating a category on here about books for planners that are not traditionally about plannning/marketing/business etc. So here is my first recommendation:-

The Player of Games by Iain M Banks

Science fiction is one of my not-so-secret passions and one reason why is the ability of science fiction writers to envision futures long before any trend analyst or futurologist has spotted them blooming. What they are actually doing is picking up on something in the environment and asking “What if…” and then spinning narratives out of that from a greater distance than the trend hunters. Iain M Banks is of course one of the greats and I find this book particularly interesting because it examines a society in which gaming and play are not simply diverting entertainments but the means through which individuals advance, gain political authority and power etc.  It’s really the academic and social importance that gaming is given in his books that I find particularly relevant to Western society at the moment.  A way of looking at our societal development that resonates with current developments and could help us to imagine futures.

Alsoit happens to be my favourite culture novel -  because I just like games.

Intern at Imagination

We have an intern with us for two weeks. His name is Tommy Willis and he is working on three briefs for clients including one social media activation for Ford of Europe. I like the fact that his picture coordinates nicely with my blog colours. But that’s not why we offered him the experience.

We did it because he made an articulate approach to us and could demonstrate he was already interested and knowledgeable.  And because we had some genuine work we felt he could contribute to.

Here’s his blog – http://engagingsocialmedia.blogspot.com and Twitter feed http://www.twitter.com/tommymwillis

It’s nice to have someone around who can bring fresh perspectives and really contribute a new angle to our work. And he’s doing a great job.

And for anyone who is  still looking for opportunities I found this resource from Seth Godin’s blog. It’s  written by a grad called Charlie Hoehn http://www.slideshare.net/choehn/recessionproof-graduate-1722966 and is about getting a job in recession.

But if your key problem is that you have no idea what you want to do then have a read of this article by me that comes from the internet past. I wrote it 8 years ago and there are many dodgy links but it has some good learning in it from when I was desperately trying to work out what I wanted to do with my life after I graduated during the recession of the early 90s (pass me my pension book) Not for me the dynamic career path, striving towards that planning job I had always wanted. Instead I had no confidence and no clue. But I guess that makes me living proof that things have a way of working themselves out… http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/B/brilliantcareers/multiplayer/frontline/sunday.html