a new address

hello you lot,

Just a really quick one to say that after 18 months of blogspot blogging, I've decided it's time to have a bit of spring clean and think about the layout etc a bit more.

After an evening or two trying to get my head round the dizzying amount of options I've plumped with wordpress and gone and done the slightly egoistic thing of buying my own url - yes that's right, I've hit the big time

so...from now on you'll be able to find all the usual noise and blurry images nonsense over at www.hughdewinton.com

any feedback much appreciated

Cheers

Hugh

"change"

When I leave my office to get some fresh air I can't walk for more than 50 metres without bumping into a photoshopped picture of David Cameron looking angry or a typically nice fluffy statement about how we all need 'change'. So they won the most seats and once they come out of the 45th meeting with the Lib Dems and pay their pret delivery bill they will hopefully have decided how to take things forward.

Below are a few observations on the last 5 weeks from a bloke whose life really won't change dramatically whoever gets elected but nonetheless found the whole thing fascinating.

1. You'll never agree with all of a parties policies

I was occasionally amazed by the assumption that there should be a party that should align themselves exactly with the way you think, act and behave. It's up to the individual to think for themselves about their priorities. People who get angry because they haven't found a party that represents a soul mate who you'd sit up all night chatting to and eating cookies with don't get it.

2. People don't read manifestos. Fact.

OK so we had the odd short you tube friendly film to outline manifestos but we had far too many times during this election when Nick/Dave/Gordan said 'well, if you read our manifesto'. Apart from Nick Robinson and a handful of journalists who's job it is to read them, manifestos (the actual books) are bonfire fuel, the ideas are not. Parties need to rethink how they communicate their core ideas in a way that is actually interesting and engaging to read.

3. Real change doesn't just come from Government, it comes from mobilising and inspiring people

Yes, we all agree that it's not the sole responsibility of Government to improve living standards, community cohesion and the country as a whole but the sentiment attached to 'big society' was very vague. It seemed to imply that if you get out of the way, the community will take ownership and get on with things. The real battle is instead persuading people that 'doing stuff' is rewarding, this is the hard bit however and one I'm not convinced the Tories wanted to approach head on. I for one, know I should be 'doing' more, whether it be helping other people or helping myself but the barriers in the way are not Government imposed but usually personal. It's going to take some seriously radical policies to get me to start planting geraniums in Battersea park for the good of the community. Show me some kind of tangible benefit and I'll be more inclined.

4. The value is not in the word 'change' but in the actual 'change' you're proposing and how that will affect the voter in the real world

To me the conservatives 'Change' communication said 'we need something different, these guys have been crap for you'. It was intertwined so heavily into everything they did that it didn't allow a great deal of time to actually explain what the change was. This won over the suburban Tory faithful who don't need any persuading when it comes to Labours incompetency but did it do enough to inspire those floating voters who perhaps voted labour or Lib Dem for the first time during the Blair era? well not enough to win a majority. Change isn't inherently good in itself, (the BNP also wanted change), it's the actual change that's going to win over middle Britain that matters in the long term.

brand utility

A useful guide to the brand utility

View more presentations from Ingmar de Lange.

telling a story

As much as I like this....



I can't help it was influenced by this

transparency vs concealment

Found this on Colin Drummonds excellent blog. It pretty much sums up the concerns of an old guard that once viewed secrecy as one of the main pillars in the creation of a successfull business. How it now competes with all this talk of transparency is fascinating, especially as it's never been harder to hide things even if you wanted to.

I'm not convinced you can dabble with transparency, if taken on it should be a major identity trait for a brand and something that runs through not just communication but every artery of the business. It should be visible in everything you do. By only partly endorsing it, a brand risks further embrassment further down the line. When I see a brand being honest, I assume it's an all encompassing message, not something that merely applies to a sector of their business where they've got nothing to hide.

A world without planes

I've been searching around for the ultimate wise man take on the ash cloud shenanigans that have consumed much of of our collective storytelling / moaning over the past week or so. Alain De Botton takes first place with this:

In a future world without aeroplanes, children would gather at the feet of old men, and hear extraordinary tales of a mythic time when vast and complicated machines the size of several houses used to take to the skies and fly high over the Himalayas and the Tasman Sea. The wise elders would explain that inside the aircraft, passengers, who had only paid the price of a few books for the privilege, would impatiently and ungratefully shut their window blinds to the views, would sit in silence next to strangers while watching films about love and friendship — and would complain that the food in miniature plastic beakers before them was not quite as tasty as the sort they could prepare in their own kitchens.

Sometimes it takes the pause button to understand and appreciate what we all view as 'normal'. Maybe it's a button we should start pressing ourselves a it more, it's an underrated option.

c/o bobulate

how to promote music volume 1

Logorama

Logorama from Marc Altshuler - Human Music on Vimeo.

the dream team

FULL SCREEN
The Sounds of VTech / JRocc at Timeless SXSW

RIP Steve Reid

baby elephants

BBC website 1997

I've just read this fantastic piece on the development of the BBC website since it's inception in 1997. Above is the original homepage.

For me, this picture says so many things about the state of digital in 1997 but also just how important and progressive the BBC has been in understanding the potential of online as a platform for its complete spectrum of output.

In a weird way it's made me a bit nostalgic. Never again will i have to spend 5 hours on Napster to download one james brown track or ask my parents if I can 'dial up' and then have to explain what I'm doing on there anyway. It's easy to forget how much has been accomplished in such a short period of time.

put a smile on your face philly style

this is the kind of big, ambitious stuff that just makes you want to head out to Philly on the next plane. love it.

c/o kitsune noir

A Love Letter For You from Megawords Magazine on Vimeo.

the web wasn't built with ad breaks

Heard a lot of good stuff about bud caddell and mike aruz's talk at SXSW. here it is in all it's glory.

Web Video Thunderdome: Branded vs Unbranded, You Decide – 2010 SXSW Interactive

View more presentations from Bud Caddell.

just a thought

All the comments below the ad suggest the song is part of the shoes identity - why can't the song come with the shoe?

Age of Conversation III

Shameless plug alert...

I've been lucky enough to be part of the fantastic Age of Conversation series which I'm sure some of you are already aware of. For those that aren't, my contribution is one of 300 contributions from marketeers, thinkers, writers from around the world all commenting and adding their two scents to the ongoing discussion surrounding social media and the dynamic between brands and people.

Just looking down the list of contributors, I've got a gut feeling that this is going to be a unique and immensely relevant book release for anyone with even a remote interest in the role of brands in an increasingly interactive and social landscape.

You can find out more here - book out in April

Full author list to go up soon

cash gordon fail

courtesy of meg pickard. Also worth checking made by many's stance on the whole thing.

django django - storm

my tune of the week.

a matter of time

a nice idea but a couple of questions:

- is there a problem to solve in the first place?

- will this make the process more time consuming than it already is?

- Do people want to sign up to another social network? don't they want to simplify their digital socialising bringing it into one space?

- people will still leave the site to google locations if they haven't heard of them where they will be confronted with a mixture of aggretagated amateur reviews and foodie/journo reviews - how could the site get round this issue of inefficiency?

a life of gaming

related to my gaming post of last week, here is some more chat on the concept