why people don’t get much done in Cape Town

stuff white people like – blog of the week

whew. after a heavy weekend fielding emails from people telling me i’ve been ‘OWNED’ by posting 90dayjane (i’m not removing the post as it’s done great things for traffic and um, YOU’RE the ones googling it in any case) i’ve come across a gem of a blogspot location entitled Stuff White People Like. i’m not ashamed to say i’ve spent my sunday evening there.
do yourself a favour and check it out.

Vorsprung Durch Technical Glitch, OR You Should Know Better, Audi.

i just received one of those great spam emails: FORWARD THIS TO 5 PEOPLE AND YOU GET INTO A DRAW TO WIN ONE THOUSAND RAND. and then i got 6 more of those emails. the offer is apparently being run by Audi, so i pick up the phone and call the number listed, and get through to Audi East London, who informs me that indeed, this is a legitmate email offer. what?

so i took to oppportunity to ask whether they realised how utterly irritating it is to receive this kind of email, and just how much damage it does to the Audi brand.

“Do you think?” she said. Yes, I do think. Audi is not FWD FWD FWD spammer mails. Audi is Vorsprung Durch Technik. Right? Apparently not. Apparently Audi IS FWD FWD FWD, cheap-looking spammer mails, the kind of mail you can imagine a Frikkie in Port Alfred sending after a hard day selling insurance, a game of squash and a few beers at the local sports club that reeks of stale cigarette smoke. Ew.

a record of youth apathy / blatant bid for attention: 90dayjane

“About Me: I am going to kill myself in 90 days. What else should i say? This blog is not a cry for help or even to get attention. It’s simply a public record of my last 90 days in existence. I’m not depressed and nothing extremely horrible has lead me to this decision… My generation has had no great depression, no great war and our biggest obstacle is beating Halo 3. So, if I feel like saying “game over”, why can’t I? … Please don’t attempt to “help” me. If you want to truly help, please send me ideas on how to do the deed. thx-Jane”

she may do it, she may not. ’she’ may not even be real. but the blog is.

****Update: Blogger seems to have removed the site. Ah well.

seen around town

snapshots from the field: back to school

been out and about talking to a lot of high school kids lately. here are some snaps from Trafalgar High in Cape Town who kindly hosted us last week. brought back so many memories of being at school.

evidence of the mxit generation, these girls swop songs on their cellphones.

hallways, kids moving between classes.

window with some Tip-ex graffiti .

and a totally neat poster on packaging found in a classroom.

and this old nestle recall poster:

and the setting – very pretty.

new IG Jozi office

and it’s this beautiful old house at 52 Bompas Street, Rosebank, near to Fournos bakery. we share it with an ad agency and a production company. very cool since it’s central but still has that working from home feeling, plus a big old oak tree and a pool.

collaboration in print advertising

tore this out of last month’s elle. a collaboration between local designer Morgan and Opel Corsa. one of those ideas that looks great in positioning and strategy documents but then looks like a strategy document once executed. any thoughts?

the matterbox: most interesting marketing idea i’ve seen in a while, and it’s not virtual

the matterbox sends you a bunch of cool stuff from cool brands. best thing about it is it’s real, and it’s not junkmail. i’ve signed myself up for one. found via notcot. more about it on their fabulous site.

i’ve been on detox

drinking a lot of this stuff.

i like the 2 on the outside the most. the red one, not so much.