Filed under: Comment
I love technology.
That doesn’t mean I’m a geek or a nerd … I just love tech.
Of course, when I say that, I don’t mean intellectual tech that can make a massive and positive difference to mankind, I mean the sort of tech that ends up producing robot rabbits, dogs and pretty much any other animal you’d find in the farm of Old McDonald 2.0.
With this in mind, it won’t come as any surprise that I read a few tech/gadget mags, of which 2 – T3 & Stuff – are particular faces.
While at their heart they’re pretty much the same, T3 is a bit more serious whereas Stuff is a bit more cheeky.
Or said another way, T3 is for tech connoisseurs whereas Stuff is for normal people who like gadgets.
This difference has never been clearer than when they launched their latest editions.
While both have done James Bond specials and dedicated their cluttered front pages to the fact … one has executed it in a way that captures the spirit and mood of Bond whereas the other just feels like a very bad impression of what someone thinks Bond is about, even though what they’ve ended up with looks – and feels – like a magazine on the gadgets of Austin Powers.
The thing is, there are occasions where the information and data you have will be the same – or at least very similar – as everyone else, so what these covers demonstrate is that the role of a planner isn’t just to furnish their colleagues with insights and context about the issues/views/considerations/habits of the audience – but to also explain the brands spirit, voice and point of view, because as I’ve said many times, the talent of a planner should be evaluated on output, not their carefully crafted powerpoint presentation.
21 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
what these covers actually fucking demonstrate campbell is this.
1. there are no half decent designers at either fucking magazine.
2. the editor has no editing fucking skills whatsofuckingever.
3. or it could be the sales managers fault.
4. you dont understand how clever the fuckers at t3 are, because they know techtwats (technical term) have never been with a woman so any photo of a chick, even a ropey manchester chav holding a camera like a gun on t3 magazine, is going to make them hard as fuck and get them to hand over their cash for an evening on one armed personal entertainment.
5. i am a planning colossus.
6. youre a techtwat.
at least you take responsibility for giving creatives stuff that can make the work better not just fill their mind with powerpoint shite. just a shame no fucker pays any attention to what you fuckers do. and by not seeing the reason why the bird cover was better than the bond cover, its no fucking surprise why.
Comment by andy@cynic October 25, 2012 @ 6:31 amEat your heart out Freud.
Comment by DH October 25, 2012 @ 6:46 amNothing I can say will top either of those two comments…
Comment by Rob Mortimer October 25, 2012 @ 9:08 amDon’t limit yourself to just being a colossus of planning Andy. You’re much better than that.
Comment by DH October 25, 2012 @ 6:47 amof course im fucking not. a planning colossus is like being a slightly above average shelf stacker at radio shack. the factory outlet. in wyoming.
Comment by andy@cynic October 25, 2012 @ 6:56 amYou caught me bang to rights.
Especially point 4. The sort of sound twisted logic that you know I love. Even though it can also be explained as simply ‘knowing your audience ridiculously well’.
Of course, the other way of defining them is simply as the “google appls development team”.
Comment by Rob October 25, 2012 @ 9:53 amA tech magazine distributed on paper. How delightfully ironic.
Comment by DH October 25, 2012 @ 6:45 amYou may be interested to learn that Apple have a product called the iPad (in both full and mini formats) that enables you to buy and read magazines like T3 and Stuff right off the amazingly vibrant and colorful screen.
For further information, please contact the 21st century.
Comment by Bazza October 25, 2012 @ 7:42 amfucking hell, bazzas gone rogue.
excellent fucking work. i might buy one of your samsung clones now. when i say buy, i mean look at one in the shop and then bug you till you finally hand one over.
Comment by andy@cynic October 25, 2012 @ 8:03 amNever have said this before, but that was brilliant by Baz.
Comment by Billy Whizz October 25, 2012 @ 8:11 amI wish I could tell you to fuck off Baz, but that was good.
Comment by DH October 25, 2012 @ 8:34 amBazza Bites Back.
And given the shit we’ve thrown in his direction lately, we probably deserve it. Emphasis on the word ‘probably’.
Comment by Rob October 25, 2012 @ 9:54 amNeither are good at all. Has there ever been an issue of T3 without a lightly to very lightly clothed woman on the cover?
Totally agree of course on the output point.
Comment by Rob Mortimer October 25, 2012 @ 9:11 amI love that scene in James Bond where he’s mislaid his matt black gonad protector and a naughty chap is smacking the hell out of his nuts. This is how MI5/6 treat people. For example Mr. Belhaj in Libya who MI5 assumed would never see the light of day again but then the West had to bomb Libya for oil so that meant killing Gadaffi and now Belhaj is interior minister and he’s suing the British government for their ability to betray and sell out if money is involved. Naturally most British know that Bond is a fantasy figure because he’s too good looking for real life but I’d say the movie presents the gadget loving spies in a way that distorts anything close to reality. Here’s Bond getting what he usually does to others but is rarely reported. http://j.mp/UEyLdq
Comment by Charles Edward Frith (@charlesfrith) October 25, 2012 @ 9:13 amCharles!
How wonderful to see you on here, how the hell are you?
Hope all is well.
In-keeping with your ‘Bond is too goodlooking’ comment … there’s a book by Christopher Brookmyre called ‘A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away’ that in the opening chapter, has a great take on the ridiculous nature of James Bond and why the last thing a genuine super-spy would do is be devilishly handsome, wear the finest clothes and drive a high powered, high profile super car.
It also makes incredibly cutting observations of people who like to pretend they’re him when they’re on their way to their job as an insurance underwriter in a 2001 Nissan Sunny.
I think you’ll like it.
You can check it out – and the opening chapter – here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Boy-Away-Abacus-Books/dp/0349116849#reader_0349116849
Comment by Rob October 25, 2012 @ 10:06 amYour final paragraph is very important Rob. It highlights the importance of breadth, opinion and collaboration. Excellent.
Comment by George October 25, 2012 @ 11:17 amIt also highlights the need to be interested in a hell of a lot more than advertising.
Comment by northern October 25, 2012 @ 9:21 pmBy the way, speaking of data, it also highlights the fucking pointlessness of ‘big’ data.
Everybody can get big data these days, everyone can tell you if you’re pissing too much, driving too fast or eating too many calories. Not everyone can use their imagination to make me even less indifferent than I was before.
I don’t need a brand or app to do that,I have a wife, i don’t need people stalking me accross the web still selling the thing I browsed and chose not to buy (or even dafter, actually bought) I do sometimes like to be surpised and delighted because someone has done something because it’s great, not because I can.
By the way, I has a passive aggressive hour with the CEO’s wife and we agreed I could drink from my own mug. Unfortunately, we didn’t agree that she as useful for careful nurturing of brands and understanding what clients are looking for as Gary Glitter and Jimmy Saville are to a babysitting community. She actually quoted a brand onion as a good thing.
fuck me its looking bleak isnt it, as you northern monkeys like to say. you have no other option than to fuck her. maybe when shes experienced how utterly fucking horrible you can make 12 seconds last, shell leave you alone to your tea and youporn favourites. that is if she can feel you waving your little wand inside her big, echoey cave.
what about that for mills and boon sexual innuendo. fucking magic.
Comment by andy@cynic October 25, 2012 @ 11:20 pmI prefer wizards sleeve to echoey cave
Comment by northern October 25, 2012 @ 11:23 pmbefore any fucker gets their panties in a twist, especially nycs finest, it was a shit fucking joke, aimed at taking the piss out of groper, not mrs ceo.
maybe using northerns “groper” nickname isnt the most fucking appropriate when i made an inappropriate joke about his sexual underperformance.
sorry mrs northern.
(yes, ive apologised. call the fucking papers)
Comment by andy@cynic October 25, 2012 @ 11:24 pmyou dont want to say that when youre in prison.
Comment by andy@cynic October 25, 2012 @ 11:25 pm