Bike to work / soul fodder

I’ve been biking to work for years on and off and probably the last three or so continuously.  But it was only when I switched my road racer for a mountain bike last winter that I’ve really discovered the joy of getting back to nature on the daily commute.  I’ve been slowly exploring unknown paths – working with the philosophy that if I see a path I’ve never been down I should explore it – and finding ever more off road ways to and from work.  I can get from home (in Chapel Allerton, Leeds) to Swamp (in Headlingley) in about 10 mins on the road if I give it some wellie, but prefer to spend a 1/2 hour to an hour going roundabout ways off road, currently preferring to take the Meanwood Valley Trail up to Adel Woods, a green corridore of around 7 miles stretching from Leeds City Centre to open countryside.

Photo by Paul Mallett

As well as being practical, keeping me fit and providing me with a smug sense that I’m ‘doing my bit’ for the environment it’s a real creative boost to the mind.  You’re experiencing daily the gradual changing of the seasons and on a bike you’re exposed to nature in a really visceral way as you pound your way through it.  Working in advertising and marketing it’s important to keep tapped into the cultural and media world that surrounds you, especially on a commercial level; you should listen to the top 10; check out what MSN are peddling on their home page; go and see the odd opera.  But a daily nature fix grounds you in the bits that make us all human and reminds you of many of the things that make us all the same.

Strangely the bit where I pause and find that I can think most clearly is on a small bridge over a weir in Meanwood Vally where the rushing water makes the most noise.  Though, funnily enough, on the route back to Chapel Allerton from Adel there’s a footbridge I take over the Leeds ring road and if you shut you’re eyes there the audio effect is quite similar.

 

Interesting article today in the Guardian about whether it should be compulsary or not to wear a helmet.

Long forgotten folders

I’ve been searching for videos today in the dark, dank recessess of old folders on long forgotten servers.  While doing so I came across this little gem of a viral we made to promote Red Nose Day 2003!  The theme that year was Big Hair is Back.  See if you can spot the punchline before it appears. 

Just as a perverse name and shame excercise the hairy backed gentleman in question is my financial advisor (hello Peter!) who just so happens to also be a family friend.  The masseuse is the CEO’s (Simon Wadsworth) missus!  Music courtesy of long time collaborator Dr Matthew Fulton

Swamp Movie

Thought I’d share a promo vid we made to give people a sense of what it’s like (or what we’re like) here at Swamp.  We wanted to make something that wouldn’t date, wasn’t department or person specific and created a sense of difference to distinguish our culture.  The two aspects we decided to focus on were the passion and creativity and the fact that we all live in a big old house (Moorfield House in Headingley, Leeds).

I wrote the script and did the animation using cell shading techniques in 3D Studio Max 9 with the music being created by Paul Mallett and the voice over by our Online Media Director, Ally, here’s a link to Ally Manock’s Online Marketing Blog.

Here you go:

StrategiCreativEffective

We just made a double sided poster to show off our design / creative vs. strategy approach here at swamp and how much development and work we put into both those areas.  One side shows the design development and thinking behind developing an iconic campaign for Umbro which went across all things digital.  If you look around you can see the influences and mood boards as well as loads of the final bits of work. 

The other side is made up of graphs, charts, powerpoint slides and spider maps which are all generated as a result of our strategic approach to KPIs, return on investment, usability, ecommerce, ecoupons and SEO which all go into the way we design many sites – a process we call intelligent design.  This is segues with our approach to marketing which is called the customer journey.