This special bumper issue was a 24page, colour extravaganza. The theme was 'So this is Christmas, what've you done?'. A big thanks to the contributors in this final issue: Andy Goodridge Camilla Grey Chris Baréz-Brown Dave Bedwood Emma Sexton Flo Heiss Helen Walters Jamie Coomber Max Fraser Michael Litman Mike Reed Nick Farnhill Nicolas Roope Nille Svensson Rhiannon James Simon Gill Simon Manchipp Yates Buckley

1. ___ / 100
December 2010
Contributors in this final issue a big thanks to:
Andy Goodridge
Camilla Grey
Chris Baréz-Brown
Dave Bedwood
Emma Sexton
Flo Heiss
Helen Walters
Jamie Coomber
Max Fraser
Michael Litman
Mike Reed
Nick Farnhill
Nicolas Roope
Nille Svensson
Rhiannon James
Simon Gill
Simon Manchipp
Yates Buckley

2. Garrwick Webster invited me to create a piece for a beautiful
book called ‘Memories’; a book aimed at telling the stories
from those who’ve suffered directly from cancer or from a
loved one.
10 years / 10 months / 10 projects
For my piece, a response to Garricks moving story about
his own father, I created a 300mm x 400mm canvas.
A video showing the whole process of me making the
canvas can be seen on Vimeo at:
www.vimeo.com/10009333
contributors, thank-you:
Dear Reader,
First of all a heart-felt thank-you emotionally upsetting, physically draining of
to everyone who has contributed to this my entire life. For personal reasons I won’t
Andy Goodridge: @andygoodridge
special twenty-four page, colour(!) issue. bore you with, but suffice to say that I have
Camilla Grey: camillastore.com
When I started Project10 it was to learnt an awful lot about myself this year.
Chris Baréz-Brown: uppingyourelvis.com
try and make ten projects in ten months Beyond the confident slash arrogant
Dave Bedwood: leanmeanfightingmachine.com
in this the year of two thousand and ten. creative within I have also learnt that I can
Emma Sexton: emmasexton.com
The year that also marks my tenth year cope with some extremely overwhelming
Flo Heiss: thisisdare.com
of operating as Plan-B Studio. It was not situations. I can make tough decisions. I can
Helen Walters: helenwalters.wordpress.com
about ‘giving something back’ or even be extremely organised, committed, and that
Jamie Coomber: freshenmeup.com
donating my time for free (although I have I care and love my son more than anything
Max Fraser: londondesignguide.com
in all cases). It was about challenging else in the world.
Michael Litman: litmanlive.co.uk
myself again. It was about getting out Regarding work... I’ve learned that it is
Mike Reed: reedwords.co.uk
there and meeting new people, finding time to challenge myself once again. Explore
Nick Farnhill: pokelondon.com
collaborations and making the time to do new options. Go out there, seek out and
Nicolas Roope: plumen.com
them. develop new relationships, collaborations. I
Nille Svensson: nillesvensson.com
Here in lies the first hurdle: making will read, write and learn more. I will make
Rhiannon James: @erj57
time. Not finding time. Making it. Carving more time for my R&D projects; namely a
Simon Gill: @skinnybouffant
it from the typically busy schedule that fascinating paper on Women in the creative
Simon Manchipp: SomeOneInLondon.com
is all our lives. If we’re not in meetings, industry and the wider affects and changes
Yates Buckley: unit9.com
we arranging them, or in conference that female roles in industry is having on
calls, brainstorms, new business pitches, society; there’s a PhD in there somewhere.
looking after existing clients, tweeting,
updating our status, replying, deleting,
I will work on bigger projects with
bigger clients, using someone elses money. I
contribute/contact:
accepting, liking, disliking... The list is as will step back from the day-to-day runnings Would you like to contribute to next months
consuming as the content that requires of my own business and concentrate on being instalment, or perhaps you want to discuss
actual focus. creative, perhaps elsewhere. a project, or a feature in your lovely
Lots of the contributors asked I will continue to be a committed and magazine? Use any of the following:
me in response how my year has been. loving father, to make those six f lights email: project10@plan-bstudio.com
Those close to me will know that Two a month to see and pick-up my son from twitter: @planbstudio
Thousand and Ten will go down as Norway (until he moves back to London in phone: +44 (0)7971 207 276 - Steve Price
probably one of the hardest, most Jan 2012). I will listen more, speak less and
trying, earth shattering, exhausting, do more hopefully with you.
Yours Sincerely,
creDits:
Art direction & Design: Steve Price
(www.plan-bstudio.com)
Editing: Claire Selby
produced by: printed by:
www.plan-bstudio.com www.newspaperclub.co.uk

3. eat. anD sleep.
by anDy GooDriDGe by camilla Grey
beyonD Driven
Sitting down to ref lect on my past year, two thoughts immediately
spring to mind: It doesn’t feel that long since I was last pouring over
Code Organ: how your site sounds www.codeorgan.com
application to support their fantastic work. MicroLoan is a charity
that helps women across sub-Saharan Africa by giving them loans
This year I learned that a film which makes your CEO
look like a ruthless jerk can only make people love you
I bought clothes and shoes and accessories and apps
and magazines and chocolate bars and stuff for my house
Amazon Christmas Wish Lists, buying the latest questionable pop to start their own businesses. The women repay the loans once their more. I learned that in an age where we’re obsessed and ingredients to cook and take-out so I didn’t have to
record or ‘Celebrity’ autobiography for my family; and 12 months can business is turning a profit. The loans are small amounts (the average with privacy, we’re actually sharing more than ever. cook. I loved Mad Men and X Factor and 30 Rock and Glee
seem a bloody long time when you look back through what has kept being £67.00) but they make considerable impact to the lives of these I learned how being on a horse changed advertising and celebrity gossip and Mexican food. And hated the
you head down and, to varying degrees of success, out of mischief. women, their families and their communities. When each loan is forever. I learned that having over a billion hits on cold and the dark and the early mornings. I saw my old
At the start of 2010 during a particularly drunken evening, it repaid it is passed on to another woman who needs help and so on. YouTube means you don’t have to worry about being friends and made new friends and worked with the best
dawned on me that no one had had the good sense to find out what The application is called Update and Donate and it allows users in the charts. I learned that touchscreen devices can and fancied the wrong people.
sound(s) a website could make. A perfectly reasonable notion I to donate 1pence for every status update they make. The application be beautiful. I learned that augmented reality still has
thought, and so the CODEORGAN was born. In just over a day or so is linked to Pay Pal for the donations to be registered, and polite some way to go. I learned that a new logo can divide “Booted up, started up, switched
we (me and some of my colleagues) had the site fully functioning reminders are sent every 50 updates to ask for a donation to be sent to opinion and that crowdsourcing in a crisis makes you
and it was launched with a few tweets. CODEORGAN was an overnight the charity. For 50 updates 50 pence can be donated to the MicroLoan look desperate. I learned it all first on Twitter. on, signed in, accepted, allowed,
sensation gathering over 200,000 visitors in the first few days and
getting coverage around the world – including an interview with CNN
foundation, which is a considerable amount for the kind of micro
finance provided by the charity.
I’ve blogged, tweeted, updated and checked-in. I’ve
Googled it, Bing-ed it, Yahoo!-ed it and gone back to
downloaded, friended, followed and
and being featured in Wired. Today CODEORGAN is still going strong
with over 4 Million URLs being played through its pipes. I always said
On a different part of the financing spectrum, Halifax asked
DLKW, my then employer, for a fun way to promote their Travel Money
Googling. I swiped, pinched, tapped and f licked. Booted
up, started up, switched on, signed in, accepted, allowed,
liked. I forwarded it, I tagged it, I
drinking was good for you. product. I’ve always been very interested in the way people use social downloaded, friended, followed and liked. I forwarded attached keywords and uploaded it.”
2010 also saw the release of ‘Let Me In’, Hammer Horror’s first networks to store information – how much can we tell about a person it, I tagged it, I attached keywords and uploaded it. I
Hollywood feature film since being taken over by Simon Oakes in just from the data they’ve accumulated on these sites? So I developed was always-on, on Skpye, on Twitter, on Facebook, on I have been energetic and excited and hyperactive
2007. I had the great fortune back in 2007 to be asked to re-brand the Holiday Matchmaker, a Facebook application designed to tell you LinkedIn, online. I declined, ignored and turned off. I and inspired and nervous and frustrated and absolutely
Hammer and to see the work aired on the big screen was a truly exactly what your perfect holiday would be just from the information was off line and IRL (in real life). exhausted… and so this is Christmas and what have I
wonderful moment. I have loved Hammer Films since I was a boy and you store on Facebook. I did 14 hour days, 10 hour f lights, 8 hour jet done? I’ve done my best and my hardest and with focus
to get the opportunity to re–brand them remains one of my favourite By analysing the content from your Facebook profile the Holiday lags, made four 2 minute films, and wrote seven brand and with passion and I’ve tried and I’ve failed and I’ve
assignments to date. It was also a great reminder that design doesn’t Matchmaker tells you where your perfect holiday would be, and then strategy documents. Gave two talks, got 5,000 followers tried again and I’ve succeeded. And I’m bloody glad it’s
exist in a vacuum; that it is just part of a process involving hundreds provides a tailor-made guide to this dream destination, complete with across 3 Twitter accounts and posted over 200 blog Christmas because I intend only to do two things til
of talented people, all working to bring an idea to life. It was great to recommended restaurants, bars, activities, weather reports and, of entries. I ate my 5 a day, topped up my Oyster, got my January… Eat. And Sleep.
see this released into the world. course, a recommendation of where to get your travel money. With Nectar points, paid my council tax, my mortgage, my
Writing and playing music with my three band mates in The over 10,000 downloads in the first six days of being live, it appears phone bill, my gas bill, my water bill, my car insurance,
Sweet Confusion resulted in the release of our second album Oaths that, yes, it is possible to work out your perfect holiday just from your my MOT, my parking permit, and waited 2 months to
& Promises (available to buy on iTunes and other reputable online Facebook profile. get broadband. I did coffee and lunch and dinner and
stores, he says shamelessly). It was recorded at Fortress in Old Street With other projects like the Christmas Snow Globe for DLKW drinks and networking and schmoozing and catch-
and mastered by the splendid Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios. (last year’s Guardian Media Agency Christmas card of the year), the ups and crits and conference calls and feedback and
Going to Abbey Road was probably the highlight of my entire year. Just ANAGR AM-O-TRONOMATOR, and Space-Face-Invaders, I’d say 2010 sign offs.
being there was an amazing experience, with the history of the place has been a busy and fantastic year. I have had the great pleasure of
literally crawling up the walls, let alone having our music produced working with some extremely talented, wonderful people and had
there. My overriding memory was spying a battered upright piano in enormous amounts of fun in the process.
Studio 2, tucked away in the corner playing host to a bass amp and It could be said that the closing chapter of my 2010 is the most
a mass of old cables. This was, as it turned out, the piano used by exciting and terrifying. After over 10 years of agency life, I’ve left the
Paul McCartney on Penny Lane – anywhere else it would have been corporate world behind to set up my own company, Beyond Driven. I’m
in a museum but Abbey Road is thankfully still a working studio and happy to report that so far I’m being kept very busy and eagerly await
things are there to be used, not treated with misplaced, white gloved 2011 at the end of which, I hope, I’ll be fortunate enough to review
reverence. some new exhilarating and absorbing projects. I suspect however
I was lucky and proud to work with the MicroLoan Foundation the contents of the Amazon Christmas Wish Lists will remain strictly
this year when I helped create and design a Twitter and Facebook within the family style guidelines.
Camilla Grey is about as switching on, plugged-in as you can be. She is
Andy was Director Digital Creative Head at DLKW LOWE before he (as he also a very lovely person. By day she works on Marketing/Strategy/Trends
writes) took the plunge this year and became a Director at Beyond Driven; for Moving Brands and by night dones a cape and saves small mice and
his new agency. God speed Mr Goodridge, God speed. voles from the evil cluthes of owls in Clissold Park. Apparently.

4. how to be more elvis
This year I have worked on fun gigs, some
by chris baréz-brown
him choke. Go and get your hands dirty; don’t just talk
‘A Poster for Jack’ As part of Project10 I designed a
poster highlighting a potentially common indication
of Autism. My aim; to print and sell the posters and
donate the proceeds to charity.
I spoke to my good friend, Paul at Generation Press,
who kindly offered to donate their time and experience
to producing 100 beautifully silk screened prints on GF
Smith Colorplan.
All the proceeds will go to helping a six year old boy
big some small. One will impact the lives He started to turn red, eyes bulging. about it, do it. called Jack Armstrong, a neighbour of Lucy Brown who
of 600 million teenage girls, another has Stunned, it took me a second or two to register (last weekend) rode her bike 57 miles to raise money
helped alleviate the suffering and price of what was happening. I then jumped into action, Buy less crap to support Jack’s parents and to help make sure Jack
our nations back pain (currently costing doing what he’d just explained that we should. We are devoted to accumulating crap. The media can attend another Intensive Sonrise course to ensure
us 1% of our GDP); one helped sell more I slapped him once on the back. Nothing. is constantly telling us we need new stuff, better his development continues. Every penny from every
fizzy drinks with burgers…… Next time was harder. Still nothing. I reasoned stuff, shinier stuff. When we go looking for that purchase will be donated to Jack’s family.
I have bought and sold a house, got that he was a big guy, so could take the force of a stuff and finally buy it, it satisfies a primal urge
fit, then fat, then fit, then tired, then third and harder slap, and frankly I wasn’t keen akin to that of a kill by a hunter. But just like the £25 (+P&P)
bouncy, then grateful but always happy. on moving to a Heimlich manoeuvre. It worked kill, the purchase is only brief ly satisfying – it can Available to buy from: www.plan-bstudio.com
Its an incredible time to be. I also wrote fabulously and dislodged the tissue. He gasped only fill a hole temporarily. We are then driven to
a book that’s published by penguin next fresh air once more. buy more.
June, here’s a wee sample.. My guess is that he was in control all the Many business executives never enjoy what
way through and his performance was nothing they have because they are forever focusing on
Live it, don’t think it more than great theatre. However, the way I what’s next, what’s bigger, what’s brighter. They
It’s all too tempting to spend our lives reacted was real – the surge of adrenaline, the become trapped in jobs that can never deliver
thinking too much, worrying about the feedback that I wasn’t hitting him hard enough. the lifestyle they want.
future or wishing things could be better. What I will never forget is the power needed to When people go to work in finance, they
When it comes to doing new and dislodge a tissue from a large man’s throat. It often say, ‘I’ll do it for ten years, bank a couple
different things our rational brain more was real and I had learned it for ever. of million, and then do something I truly love.’
often hinders our movement than helps. It also set up his next gag perfectly when Thirty years later when they have made tens of
Its ability to incapacitate is legendary. he asked for a volunteer. He was carrying a tin millions they are still f logging their guts out
It can spiral into a doom-laden scenario of paraffin and a Zippo and announced it was in the City. They’ve been caught on the lifestyle
with the smallest piece of data. now time to learn how to treat burns. Classic, old escalator and don’t know how to get off.
Instead of imagining it, live it. Do school; deeply memorable. Don’t become trapped by the same fate.
something real and try something out. Appreciate what a wonderful life you have. Know
The experience is often surprising. Get Stuck In that buying more crap won’t make you happy and
Most people find that when they try things Next time you find yourself sitting in a meeting that the richer people in the world worry about
out, the reality is so different from what debating the pros and cons of different plans how to manage all those houses and yachts just
they imagined that it is refreshing and and trying to predict the future, remember that as you worry about the weekly shop or saving for
freeing. So if you have plans that seem to you have two choices. your holidays.
have faltered, just carry them out anyway. You can carry on this intellectual arm- Next time you are tempted to buy something
See what happens and learn. At least then wrestling contest until every avenue has been that you don’t truly need, stop and think.
you will have perfect data, real feedback. explored and all in the room are beautifully aligned If you have decide that you really need to buy
Whether your plan succeeds or fails, you in their divination of what the forthcoming years crap, buy the best crap available. Get something
will at least know. will hold. Alternatively, you can just get stuck in that is exceptional, something that costs a lot and
I once arranged a first-aid course for and try things out and know that the feedback in which you can take great pleasure for years to
my team. They are all top-f light facilitators you get from those experiments is real. You can come. At least the crap you own will have class
and must be rather intimidating to train adapt those approaches depending upon what and durability. And if you buy the best there is,
as they spend their lives developing the you learn. you can’t be tempted by something better.
best talent around the world. The trainer Many companies avoid experimentation And after you’ve bought it, solemnly
we had was unf lustered and taught us not because they believe there’s a risk to their swear not to buy any more crap for at least
only how to save lives, but to have more brand. That is fear-induced rubbish. What they a month.
impact. are really scared of is getting things wrong and
He must have been in his late fifties how that would look.
and was old school in style. His opener If your brand is so weak that some
was to draw a ship hitting an iceberg on innovative experimentation will damage it for
the f lipchart. He then asked what it was. good, you’d better spend more time on your
Someone said the Titanic, to which he brand. If the truth is that you hate getting things
replied, ‘Yes, breaks the ice, doesn’t it?’ wrong, you’d better wake up to the twenty-first
We were struck by his cheesy confidence century, where things happen so fast you don’t
and bad gags; he started to win us over. have a chance to polish the idea, to test things
On day two, after explaining how to perfectly, to guarantee that every segment of
deal with choking, he asked one of the team every demographic is happy with your offer. You
to turn on his mobile phone and be ready need to do it now or you’ll be lost.
to call the emergency services in case his If you are clever enough you can always
demonstration went wrong. He then dipped find a reason why things won’t work. If
Chris is an Author (How to Have Kick Ass Ideas), Speaker and Facilitator
a tissue into some water and inhaled it, you do it, you can always find ways to make of More Shine in Business Folk. He’s also a charming and brilliant human
so it became stuck in his throat and made it better. being. He has recently founded a new venture (the logo and web site we
worked on together), Upping Your Elvis: www.uppingyourelvis.com

5. What HAVE I done? Of course being self obsessed and shallow and a digital oldman
I asked Google. And this is what Google said: Type “Flo Heiss 2010” into Google
image search to get the images to this list (you don’t have to of course).
1. On January 1st a lot of people started 23. See 19.
blogging and writing about what digital 24. Creative Showcase. Definitely NOT this year.
marketing would be like in 2010. I 25. The equipment needed to catch
made this my motto for the year. the moth from number 11.
2. View out of a taxi in Vancouver. 26. Me. Smaller. B/W.
3. A little infographic I made about an 27. Snap from a thing I did at
infographic that got send round. A lot. D&AD (Apple a Day).
4. In October I ran a workshop with the 28. See 15. by jamie coomber
you
Watford advertising students. This is an 29. Halloween. Oh yes. We go What have I done? Mainly learnt a big old lesson if you save money then you’ve fucking nailed it.
image from Tony Cullingham’s website. to town on Halloween. that if more clients were to ‘do time’ working a This is when I was also exposed to little insights
5. My twitter icon with double rainbow. 30. Much loved and thumbed print out stint agency side to understand how they run, such as “We only work with networks so tell me
6. Nothing to do with me. of Stephen Fry’s Fry Chronicles. We and more importantly to realise ‘you only get who you want to work with and the network will
7. Based on the fact that infographics seemed did an app for him this year and I went out what you put in’, we might all start speaking buy them”. And also “XXXX agency isn’t in our
only
to be all the rage in 2010 we made our own through this manuscript to tag “Fryisms”. the same language and who knows, something network so buy the idea off them and we’ll give it
moving infographic for Dare’s grad scheme. I was terrified to lose it on the train amazing might happen! to our agency to make”. These were statements
8. An interview I did. Not in 2010 before the actual book came out. I started the year working for Poke; expressed without a single sense of irony or
9. This is Bill Oddie in a wig. It’s 31. The IA for our allotment. undoubtedly one of the best agencies around, sarcasm. But, this isn’t all clients and it’s not all
in a book about sketchbooks. 32. We are baking cakes. working with such a bright (and utterly lovely) entirely a criticism. How can clients be expected
10. Me 10 years ago. 33. Ashwell in the winter. Playing bunch of people. I’d been working for digital to understand the blood, sweat and tears that
Get
11. A convolvulus hawk moth with the Hipstamatic filters. agencies for over a decade and was increasingly go into conceiving and producing an awesome
I caught in a light trap 34. The Gutterbarometre iPhone app. We got becoming aware that more briefs might as well campaign if you’ve never done the 8am starts
12. In September my in inbox it done just in time for Cannes. It’s a mini simply read “Here’s my pig. Here’s a lipstick. with the 4am finishes whilst living off a stable
suffered from a total melt down. The Four Square for advertising peeps drinking in Go nuts!”. Now, of course I’m generalizing, diet of Deliverance, Haribo and Budweiser? You
images it produced looked ace. the Gutterbar in Cannes. Pointless. But fun. this isn’t all clients. I have worked with some can’t.
out
13. Another moth. 35. In March we launched Dare West in Bristol. great ones, ironically more towards the end of Now this isn’t all about client bashing as
14. An image from a book about 36. Ben in a pub. my agency stint, but I really needed a change I got to work with some very smart people, but
weird squids I bought. 37. Lasso. Interesting Magazine. and wanted to get further up the food chain of likewise I got to see things from their perspective.
15. I spoke at this conference. I don’t It never got published. the marketing process where I might be able to Being client-side my days were often taken up
think it was in 2010 though. 38. Illustrations for a little book make a difference. with meetings, which as an agency person used
16. An image from a blog post about my of Bavarian Café stories. I decided to go freelance to see if I could to give me rage. Being on the other side however,
what
obsession to find the perfect sketchbook. 39. See 37 dabble in client side without having to make a I can see that meetings ARE your job. This is the
17. My only ever real viral I created. Twitter 40. The meaning of life. Meat and bread on long-term commitment. I was lucky enough to time when clients make the decisions in order
Fire Action. Based on a safety sign in our old plate. Dimensions variable. January 2010 get experience both with small start-ups and big to take things forward. There are often so many
office. This image has more views on my Flickr 41. See 31 corporations and oh my god, being on the other people who need to buy into an idea, that actually
stream than all my other photos put together. 42. A basket to catch Lobsters. Norfolk. side was a real eye opener. I’ve realized just how complicated this can be to
you
18. The very first website I designed. Ever. 43. Benskeletor Now, you might know this already, but the manage and how diplomatic you have to be in
Part of the “Everyone Starts Somewhere” 44. Ben writes his name for the first time. things that are important to an agency, do not order to make a difference. I honestly believe if
exhibition at D&AD New Blood. 45. Yawn even feature within a clients mind. We all know clients could each spend a week working within
19. New Dare. 46. Digital Advertising, Past Present Future. how important the brief is for example, whereas an agency to see how they run, what is needed
20. A scan of my favourite book by Book I am in. Published by Creative Social. on the ‘other’ side I’ve managed to stop 6 pagers to get good work out and to generally really get
Mr Eno. The reference is about Belgian 47. Oh dear. I did this for a good cause. going out stating they want to achieve “this and to grips with why they can’t have that deck/idea/
put
people. It’s on my ex Sony No, really. Check “She Says” this and we also need to do this and then there’s report at a fucking moments notice we’ll all be
Ericsson client’s blog. He’s Belgian. 48. More moth things. that all the time we need to make sure we’re able to do a better job.
21. This is Simon Veksner aka 49. See 5. Only smaller this time. speaking to them, and those people, oh and don’t So, all in all having started the year at one
Scamp. I am in his book. 50. Yeah. It’s enough now. forget these”. On that particular brief I had of the best agencies in town I’m ending it at
22. See 2. 51. I did a talk at BIMA. This chap runs it. no idea whatsoever what they were looking for one of the best clients. I saw that I could really
in
but have also heard the fallout of a similar brief make a difference client side and I am now the
when the agency “really didn’t deliver what we first digital person for the new Converse office
wanted, so maybe we should pitch”. in the UK. I’m hoping to show that the when
I also realized that ‘economies of scale’ is great clients and great agencies work together
deemed as the biggest success ever. Forget good magic happens. It’s been some year but for me
work or getting more people to love your brand, the journey has only just begun.
Jamie was the Global Digital Brand Manager for Bacardi after being Digital
Strategist at Poke and Head of Innovation and Engagement at Profero.
Flo Heiss is the brains and brawn (a.k.a.) Executive She has just embedded herself at Converse as Digital Manager. And Yes I
Creative Director at Dare. did get most of this from her Linkedin profile.

6. Time To puT up
and shuT up
by helen walters
It was, let’s be honest, quite a year. Recession So I quit. I decided enough was enough. Helen Walters is a writer, editor and researcher.
roiled, unemployment rose, currencies stuttered Enough of the nonsense. Enough of the pretence. Formerly the Editor, Innovation and Design for
Bloomberg Businessweek. She lives in New York
and the west continued its steep, inexorable Enough of the madness. It was time to become
and is also a Contributing editor for Creative Review.
decline into a mire of its own making. In the an active participant in my own life once more.
U.S., Politicians bickered, turned a blind eye to And in July I handed in my notice, packed up
the ravages of a warming world and continued my stuff and left the building with my head held
to wage unwinnable war in distant lands even as high.
the nation’s own infrastructure crumbled. So that’s why I now get to tell stories of
On a personal level, I found myself ensnared traveling around Japan, where I headed to clear
in a beleaguered industry filled with bewildered my mind and where I failed to understand even
professionals who’d lost their passion and a fraction of that nation’s bewitching, confusing
understanding of what they were doing, how culture. That’s why I now get to tell stories of
they should do it or even why they should try. being daubed in clown makeup in order to take
Journalists struggled, the mainstream media on a bit part in a Badly Drawn Boy music video.
stumbled. Shoulders slumped, brows furrowed That’s why I now find myself working on books,
and all too often yet more would pack their making my own deadlines and forging my own The ACE Club
Walking away from the last ever V&A fete on a barmy
things and go. path. And that, I’m sure, is why I find myself
summer’s evening in 2009, me dressed like a World
And yet, thank god for 2010. feeling closer than ever before to those who War II parachutist, Badger like a cowboy we got to talk-
It is said that there are three common really matter to me. ing about how the spirit of the V&A Fete could live on.
responses to fear. There’s fight or f light, of And that’s why 2010 gets to be thanked. It That conversation turned in to many conversations,
course. And then there’s freeze. And that was marked an important moment of no return. No meetings, plans and more meetings. Over jugs of ale
usually. It was the first project that I enrolled in to my
me. For too long, I’d been in a state of suspended more f loundering. No more waiting for someone
Project10 roster and finally it become known to us all
animation. Perhaps by keeping perfectly still I else to show the way. No more imagining that as The ACE Club.
would avoid the gaze of the hatchet man making surely everything will be alright eventually. It The logo (above) was the brilliant design realisation of
the rounds with the P45s. If I didn’t move a will be, of course, but because I will make it so. I Nicky Gibson (currently doing a sponsored walk across
both the North and South islands of New Zealand).
muscle then surely that would guarantee that I’d fear it sounds like I swallowed a self-help book,
It is still in planning phase because like all good things,
escape the indignity of screwing up in the worst but I’m grateful for being able to recognize that it comes to those who wait. or in our case, those who
business environment of a generation. we have one life, so best start living it sharpish. can fit it in when they can.
And yet the situation got so ludicrously Yes, bills need to be paid and responsibilities All we can say is; think a touring train of caravans,
intense in 2010 that the ice began to crack. That have to be faced. But no more of the hamster customised to be transformed and at a festival
near you.
such deliberate inaction was leading directly to wheel. The viable economy of all our futures will
atrophy of the mind finally became undeniable. be built on the passion and talent of individuals. If you are interested to learn more, want to volunteer to
My fervent unwillingness to do something, Time to put up and shut up. Bring it, 2011. be involved or you fancy sponsoring it email us:
anything about a working condition that was
lilchefis@theaceclub.org or badgeris@theaceclub.org
clearly untenable finally became a problem I had
to deal with. And as we all know, acknowledging
you’ve got a problem means you’re on the way to
solving it. Accepting that this situation wasn’t
going to get any better any time soon finally
became an opportunity rather than a terrifying
challenge of monumental proportions.

7. So this is Christmas...
Which brings with it the delight of the agency Christmas card brief. Last year, we managed
to kill five tropical fish. A long story. This year, in an attempt to move away from murder,
suggestions have included: GBH, anal rape and terrorising OAPs.
We chose, in the end, to hide a short naked fat man inside a snowman.
People have to guess which snowman he is hidden in. Then a young teenage hoodlum boots
your chosen snowman, thus revealing the answer.
Loose change
Concrete proof, if any were needed, that the quality of work skyrockets, when you’re the by emma sexton
client...
And what have you done... We made three things that got on the national news:
Our Dr Pepper idea (pictured above) certainly did very well on Facebook. But then a stupid
mistake regrettably landed on a 14yr old girl’s facebook status. From there it made its way
to a hysterical mumsnet.
It’s final death rattle was witnessed via a six minute piece on Sky News.
The Dr Pepper facebook fans didn’t mind; in fact they loved the campaign, but the damage
had been done.
If only we had a pound for every time someone’s said to us “What’s the worst that can
happen”. We all know the answer.
If you don’t like it change it. And that’s what I did. At Then suddenly things started to evolve at triple the Emma not only has the best
After that bad shit came some good shit: the Domestos Flushtracker. An idea to promote
that’s what I always do. Clothes, friends, jobs, boyfriends… speed and I felt like a print dinosaur. All the years of surname, she also has the
Domestos and its involvement with World Toilet Day; a serious thing, not a joke, which most best job title I’ve ever heard of:
they all need a review. Is this working? Is this helping learning and developing and now suddenly digital was
people think on first hearing it. Head of Expression, for Added
me become the best version of me? Selfish? Probably. the new thing and I knew nothing about it. I had to Value. Among other past-
We allowed people to track their ‘flush’ through google maps; thus highlighting the incredible
Necessary? Definitely. change. There was a big bit of me that didn’t want to times that she swore me never
sewer system in our country. The fact that 2.6 billion people have no sanitation at all, their
Changing things throws up new things. Most of which change. I liked what I knew and knew what I liked. to mention she is also one of
shit literally goes no where, became that little bit more potent. the crew behind the brilliant
will be really good things. Life is full of really brilliant Digital has become a whirlwind of possibilities and
It did well on twitter, over million page views, and under its own steam got into the papers She Says organisation.
stuff but only so much of it will come your way if you discoveries with new stuff happening every week,
and a five minute slot on Christian O’Connell’s radio show.
are just sat there, doing the same thing, with the same maybe even everyday. What is really amazing is that it
people in the same space in the same way, day after day. has put all of us on a level playing field. We all have
And last, but not least, my rocking chair. I’ve had a rocking chair in the agency for a few
This year I made a change. I got a new job. So what? Well access to knowledge and to the internet. We can all be
months now. Very comfy it is too; thanks for asking.
normally you get a new job because you’re pretty fed up ‘digital’. Yet how many people and companies are still
One snowy morning I was working out of the office. By the time I got in, around 2pm, everyone
with your old one. But I wasn’t. In fact the role had been struggling with this change? I am sure some of them
seemed in an unusually pleasant mood.
one of my career highlights to date. I loved my team and think that it is still a magical, mystical thing that only
Around 3.30pm, I just missed a call from my wife, but she left a message saying she’d just
the great work we were making across print and digital. someone ‘digital’ can understand. Most people ignore
seen my rocking chair on ITV news. It was being ridden by a creative team down Primrose Hill.
It was all really brilliant and fun and... comfortable. change instead of welcoming it in but ignoring it just
It’s not that comfortable is a bad thing, after all my bed makes it a much bigger thing in your head than it ever
Another year over...
is comfortable, my home is comfortable, my slippers needed to be.
Considering the complete armageddon of the first few months, I’m still not glad to see the
are comfortable. Comfortable doesn’t signal bad, or By changing my job I threw many of the familiar things
back of this year. We all know, when it comes to your agencies history; the tough times add
good, or anything. It is almost devoid of emotion and in my life up in the air. Suddenly I didn’t know where I
to the fabric just as much as the successes. It’s impossible to do great work unless you risk
you don’t even have to think about it. Comfortable is not would be in 6 months time. Would it be brilliant? Would
some big mistakes (obviously, I’d rather those mistakes didn’t involve pornography, teenagers
simulating and inspiring, it is familiar and safe. it be the worst move I had ever made? To be honest, I
and facebook).
We all have a ‘comfort zone’. As wikipedia describes it didn’t care. I was willing to take the risk knowing that if I
“the comfort zone is a behavioural state within which a wasn’t happy I could change it and I would keep changing
And a new one just begun...
person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using it until it felt right again. I embraced the change which
So what’s in store for 2011? Who really knows; the amount of talk about the future of
a limited set of behaviours to deliver a steady level of is something us humans find really difficult. Six months
advertising is nearing insanity levels. It certainly doesn’t need anymore help from me.
performance, usually without a sense of risk (White on and I feel inspired and excited. Things are different
Come the new year we’ll just try and do the same old thing; write ideas that have something
2009)”. but it feels great. I feel uncomfortable again.
interesting to say, have a bit of wit, sharpness and insight to them.
Have you noticed that as we get older our comfort I am learning, pushing my boundaries and working my
Because, if they don’t have that, no new format, platform, buzzword will ever save them
zone decreases? Remember when you were young and brain. Being uncomfortable is much more comfortable
from being completely ignored by those awkward, tricky little bastards we call consumers.
fearless, invincible even? The whole world was waiting for me.
to be discovered by you. Then we get older. We get nicer As we speed into the new year I want to encourage you to
And so this is Christmas...
places to live. We get ‘commitments’. We slowly, yet be uncomfortable, to experience the wonder of change,
Which reminds me of another Christmas; in 1997. Sam and myself were driving back to
surely, get comfortable. Then that dream of packing of shaking things up and being uncomfortable and then
University, before leaving for our respective homes over the festive period. We stopped at a
your bags and going traveling or working in New York you will see what a positive difference it has made to
petrol station near Marlow; when none other than Chris Rea pulled into the forecourt, in a
becomes just that, a dream. you. Life can change before you know it and you will
kit car.
I am a graphic designer by trade and started out in print adapt. It’s human nature. We all need to be adaptable.
We had our picture taken with him, and asked whether he was driving home for Christmas.
design. I spent 14 years learning my craft in the design We do not all need to be comfortable.
He grunted a smile, jumped in his kit car, stalled it, then finally wheel spun off. Ah memories...
industry. Back then things evolved rather than radically Things change, and 2011 is going to be no different. Get
changed so you could gently get used to the latest with it.
Dave Bedwood... Where does one start? He’s from Birmingham. I hope you have fun...
software update, people wanting a website designed
We both recently realised that not only did we grow up around Because if not; you’re not doing it right.
the corner from one another, but that we went to the same (which back then was essentially a web ‘presence’).
schools. He’s now Creative Partner of Lean Mean Fighting Everything was calm and transitional.
Machine. The boy done good.

8. creation + curation = brilliation
by michael litman
When you were at school, do you remember how long How many times have you ‘marked all as read’ in your Google
“We’re swamped with
and drawn out the autumn term seemed? I recall Reader because you couldn’t bear to see the unread number
moaning to my mother about it as she increasingly
rise exponentially by the hour? Right. So you’re with me on information. It’s a
this one then. We’ll never read everything there is to know.
lost her patience with my tardy morning routine. She We’re swamped with information. It’s a bottomless pint, bottomless pint, but
but you’ll never get drunk. It’s almost a full time job just
would often state, “Enjoy it while it lasts. Life only keeping up to date and in the know. Wait, for some it is a full you’ll never get drunk.
speeds up the older you get.” time job. There’s just too much good stuff. While I admire the
creators just the same (let’s not forget, a year ago, I was a
It’s almost a full time
job just keeping up to
silence anD
Half a lifetime later, by jove was she right. intense concentration. Well, the solution was to rampant creator) something changed.
As my instinctual ‘autumn term’ hibernation take myself off to my family house in the middle- I sensed an uprising emerging and it was from a different
kicks in and I ref lect on 2010, I feel genuinely of-nowhere in France for a period of lock-down. breed, the curators. Those people that find the good stuff, and date and in the know.”
bemused as to where the year has actually gone. Rather self-indulgently, I was consciously deliver it to your inbox, willingly. They find that needle in the
the Distortion
I don’t sense I’m alone in this feeling. Is that removing myself from the world that is out haystack for you to read, not for money, or indeed love but
a symptom of my age and my mother’s words there. Instead, I had plunged myself into a space purely for the enjoyment it brings. The comments, the likes,
in action? Or has 2010 been a year of running of silence. Boy, did I get some solid work done. the retweets, the kudos. I’m talking about the likes of Devour,
around in a haze of hysteria as we busily try to And whilst I was working hard, I also found that Swiss Miss, PSFK, Design Milk, Brain Pickings and, well, now, I
of time
by max fraser busy ourselves in the stark post-recession light I had created more time for myself to think, to guess, me too. And you could argue that every blog/publication/
of day? breathe and to assess. whateveryouwanttocallit has an element of curation in finding
And so I turn my attention to technology It struck me that the modern day dilemma the good shit to write about, so let’s not see curation (compiling
for, as I write this, a number of pings and alerts lies in a certain fear of silence. That somehow, the goodness that’s already out there) as this lazy way out of
appear all over my screen. Shall I finish typing your silence is a public indication of withdrawal writing their own stuff. It’s really not.
this sentence, or attend to the mundane demand from the race - a race no-one ever really knows Riddle me this, I now spend more time curating than I
of yet another goddamn email? Speaking of why they are running. But silence is one of life’s ever did creating. So umm.. there? (makes juvenile rasping
mundane, I should probably just update my great healers and it helps to thwart careless noise).
status quickly on twitter. Ooo, maybe I’ll just hurry and blind ambition. Once again, I could I’ve had my detractors since I stopped blogging in the
click on that youtube link. Ten minutes later, hear my mother’s wise words, for time had conventional sense and opening my blog up to the cool shit
surely I must counter such time-wasting with indeed slowed back down again. Amazingly, I had that everyone else is doing that I want to let you know about
something more serious, like today’s news on now achieved this out of personal choice. and don’t have the chance to always blog about myself. Some
guardian.co.uk. Oh look, facebook tells me it’s Don’t get me wrong, technology has think because of that, I’m cheating somehow. I’ve even had an
that “friend’s” birthday - better just say hi, even revolutionised the way my business operates. I agency MD tell me I have to stop and also withdraw my place in
though I haven’t seen or spoken to them for five couldn’t have disappeared off to France without the AdAge Power 150 because it’s not always my stuff anymore.
years... Wait, Skype message just coming in that the ability to easily transfer data with my You’d think he’d have bigger fish to fry. Yet I enjoy being a filter
requires my immediate attention. colleagues elsewhere, to efficiently facilitate the of information far more than I ever did endlessly adding to
OK, yes, I’m mocking myself but I suspect you project. And for that, I am ironically grateful to your information pile.
know where I’m coming from. While technology a side of technology that allowed me to retreat, So while I’m sat here writing this in the notes app on
has heightened our ability to communicate, albeit temporarily, into a place of calm. I should iPhone because i’m such a fucking hipster (or in other words
it has also laid our lives bare and created the add that no-one, except those closest to me, because I get distracted by cats, twitter and lols after 2 minutes
expectation that everyone is always only one noticed my absence. sat at my Mac) I wondered about that precious commodity, time.
click away. Such a demand is strangling our As we move into a new year, I would I just leafed through marketing magazine (no, I’ve still
right to live. By occasionally choosing to remove encourage you to embrace silence in whichever got no idea what a digital pluralist is either), whilst checking
ourselves from this noise, are we somehow way is appropriate for you. Find the time to twitter, whilst watching Match of the Day, (Nasri had a blinder
letting the team down? A tweet this morning escape the fanfare of 21st Century living and by the way). But now what do I do? What do I most value to do
says it all: “48 hour digital detox over. What did reconnect with that which really matters. As a with my free time?
I miss?” good friend of mine often reminds me, you need
Constant connectivity is proving to be time- to slow down to gather pace. Do I stay up and binge on Google Reader?
consuming, and the anxiety of being disconnected As exceptionally good timing would have it, Do I read Creative Review? Wallpaper? Twitter?
is energy-wasting. The need to be the ‘first to I am not alone in a quest for silence. Moments Do I get my ass kicked by a 14 year old yank online on FIFA 11?
know’ is becoming rather tedious and actually, ago, via my live twitter feed no less, came the Or do I just go to bed and switch off for a while?
who really gives a shit? Such distractions have Guardian headline: “Cage Against the Machine:
been known to eat up massive chunks of my day pop stars to stage silent X Factor protest. Pete None of the above. After all that, I’m going to write this instead
to such an extent that I sometimes ditch it all Doherty and Billy Bragg among those teaming up and add to your information pile.
and grab a pen and notebook (the paper kind) to record John Cage’s silent composition in a bid
and physically take myself somewhere else to for Christmas No 1.” Cage Against the Machine is Enjoy.
think. That is, until the red f lashing light on my a charity campaign to take John Cage’s infamous
Blackberry gets the better of me. 4’33” - a composition of pure silence - to the top After that, I’m off back to my happy place. It still says I’ve got a
This year, an unforgiving book deadline of the Yuletide charts. gazillion unread feeds. I thought I’d read them all.
For all the projects he’s involved with Max presented me with a mere 5 weeks to complete the
is a incredibly mild-mannered person. Michael Litman is one of the Tactical Planners at Dare and
manuscript (I write books about contemporary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E
That or he is brilliant at disguising stress. a member on the IAB Social Media Council. He does digital
You may well know him as the Editor and design by the way). I broke a sweat - how could http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y plannery type things on EA Games, Sony, Premier Inn, BMW,
Publisher of the London Design Guide. I I possibly achieve this daunting task amidst all The FA, Nestle and Standard Life.
also know him because we’re working on the noise and distractions of London? After all, And topping the carol charts? Silent Night. But I’ve known him for many years. I was at his Bahmizvah.
a project with him called ‘Joy of Living’. You see I used to date his beautiful cousin, Hannah. It’s a small,
writing requires solitude and long periods of
More on that soon. small world.