Up here, The Big Man likes to see his army of soldiers down on Earth fighting for what they believe in. Between me and you though, he also thinks strippers are pretty cool too. That’s why he recently sneakily set up a running battle between members of a church and workers from a lap dancing bar that exist across the road from each other in Ohio. The God-botherers have repeatedly urged the fallen women to come to the church and the dancers finally gave in – having parties on the grass outside with not many clothes on instead of going inside and singing boring hymns. Not that The Big Man’s all that bothered about the outcome – he’s too busy pumping iron ahead of a cage-fighting showdown with The Bloke From Downstairs next month.

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18 months after the city’s historic Templehof airport closed, Berlin’s mother of all airports has been saved from the threat of demolition, transformation into a cosmetic surgery centre or conversion into a giant mall, and instead been reimagined as a public park, Berlin’s biggest. It is now home to its own music festival, food market, sports events, and epic cycle tracks (formerly runways). What’s nice is how thousands of Berliners are making it their own. We’re seeing a parallel trend in India where real estate projects are popping up to exploit unused greenfields, changing the way we think about the business and social potential of aiports. In the UK, recent government promises to relax legislation around disused buildings mean that we could be looking at a similar scenario.

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This month saw the results of the first Gallup World Poll of 136,000 people in 132 countries published. The poll is the latest piece of research to tackle one of the most vexing questions for governments today – what makes people happy? (Read Richard Layard on this subject). Specifically, does money make us happy? The research found that rising incomes do lead to a greater sense of “satisfaction” but not to “positive feelings”, which are more strongly correlated with feeling respected and having autonomy. A simple way to make people happier might be to pay them by the hour – other studies have shown that when you’re on an hourly wage, getting paid more makes a big difference to happiness, unlike when you’re on a monthly one. Finally, Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, the superstar of 21st century science, has done his own study. He found that differences in income of over $60K actually made no difference to people’s daily moods. What did make a difference? A good night’s sleep (makes you happier) and tight work deadlines (makes you unhappier).

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On March 3 1991, George Holliday, a bystander, videotaped Rodney King getting beaten by the LAPD. That video and subsequent case made history, and since then citizen journalism has swarmed, transforming the media. At every major event in the world thousands of regular people use the web to report what they see, and a global audience turns to Twitter for instant updates from people on the scene. The potential for the amateur journalist to make a report that can do some real good in the world has never been greater. Human rights organisation Witness hope to capitalise on this trend but add a dash of professionalism to proceedings. Witness has set up a training program where they teach amateurs how to make quality videos that can be used as evidence in court. It’s a great example of how amateurs can be used to great effect when guided by the pros.

They don’t get out much, local estate kids. Disadvantaged teens don’t venture too far or too often outside the estates they live in. It means they get locked into a very insular social dynamic with negative consequences that we’re all familiar with. Part of the issue is access to and perceptions of opportunity. There’s often little to suggest that they can affect the course of their lives. Horizons narrow, and the future looks like it will be entirely played out within their estate. So it makes sense to invest as much time as possible learning how to operate effectively in this environment. Why go outside when you’re not really going to stay there? Dovetailing into this are issues of control. Human beings (those from individualistic cultures at least) are often happiest when they feel that are in control of the narrative arc of their lives. For disadvantaged teens, this sense of control is very hard to achieve within broader society. They often lack awareness of the norms and codes that enable people to make personal progress. It’s much harder and more frustrating to play a game whose rules you don’t understand. Is this likely to change? There’s an argument that the twin forces of rising broadband penetration and better, cheaper smartphone technology will have a role to play. They won’t solve everything but they’ll certainly help. Teens already exposed to one or both of these technologies are not only more confident about navigating cities and other diverse social environments, they are also hungry for new experiences to use as content for social media. That means getting out more.

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Fat people they’re just great aren’t they? They’re just like the rest of us but um, bigger, much bigger, writes ST’s Olivia Foster. Fat people absolutely fascinate me. I’m almost like a fat addict. I just love watching them. I feel like it’s almost like the modern day version of train spotting, except for they move an awful lot slower due to all the weight holding them back. Plus, as they’re everywhere you don’t have to look like a tosspot sat on a camper stool at a train station to be able to enjoy them. But, this brilliant sport does have its setbacks. Unlike trains, fat people get a little agitated if you stare at them for too long. Taking notes is virtually impossible, I mean, they know you know they know you’re just looking at them because they’re fat, you can’t make it worse by taking down size, shape details and location on your best Moleskin notepad.

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According to Antidote, a blog on all things social by Mother Strategist Jon Miller, people often describe charity Amnesty International as a ‘bit of a cult’. In research, they’re described as ‘aloof’, ‘insular’, ‘closed’. You would suspect that Amnesty’s natural response would be to shift perception towards more acceptable modern values ‘transparency and inclusiveness’. But Jon poses the question – could being a ‘bit cult’ be a good thing? Noting that after all the research shows Amnesty is a bit cool too, and in fact it’s an attractive brand.  An article called Why cults seduce suggests there are four key features to consider when it comes to cults. Firstly ‘Boundaries’ – you are either in or out, the bigger the barrier the more passionate the solidarity. Then ‘Initiation’ – you have to earn your right to belong. Next ‘Customs’ – those that bind you to the group.  And finally ‘ideology’ – cults have a strong central ideology that fosters alignment and clarity. The article talks abou what marketing can learn from cults, and gives Apple as an example: the brand invented its own customs, interfaces, rituals and principles, and even has a founder/leader-figure. The early advertising read “Macintosh. A religion, a way of life.” Of course that was ten years ago, and Apple’s dreams have come true: it’s no longer a cult, but a global corporate religion.  Apple took on the Microsoft Empire, just like the cult of Christianity took on the Roman Empire – and became the Catholic Church. Perhaps it’s a good lesson: stay true to your counter-culture values, and become the new mainstream. So what about Amnesty International? The truth is, Amnesty is a bit of a cult. It has a clear ideology: to protect the human, to demand justice. It has a clear approach: ordinary people standing up for human rights. It even has the semi religious iconography. And Amnesty can learn from Apple: the best way of appealing to the mainstream is to stay true to your own story – everything follows from there.

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4Food is a new healthy fast food restaurant that opens in New York next week. We love it for a number of reasons. First and foremost the food they will be making is extremely healthy. All ingredients used are fresh, organic and seasonal. Their promise is ‘fast food that’s fresh, delicious, and nutritious’. They told trends website PSFK that they want to ‘Upgrade food that people already eat, by making it measurably healthier than existing products – and customising to individual and local palates’. Another reason we love 4Food is the fact that this fast food joint is socially networked. It uses a host of different web technologies to enhance the retail experience. Customers can order ahead online and are encouraged to customise their orders. Every customised dish can then be named and marketed, with it’s creator receiving $.25 worth of credit everytime someone orders it. Whilst in store there is a 240 Foot square monitor that streams Foursquare check in’s, Tweets and info from the restaurant. Get to the counter and the staff, whom have all been recruited from New York City’s work displacement program, take your order on the new Apple iPad. Combining a socially conscious take on food with a fresh adoption of location based technology will put 4Food at the heart of the local community. We expect it to be a sure success.


Thanks to Neil Bennett.

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In early 2009 Bill Gates and Warren Buffet organised a clandestine dinner party of billionaires in New York city. Since news of the meeting leaked, the world’s media has speculated about the agenda, intentions and outcome of that meeting, that is, until now. SFTW can’t claim to break this story, (it was Fortune) but we can give you a summary. Gates and Buffet took it upon themselves to address the issue of philanthropy amongst their billionaire peers. They’ve launched what can only be described as the most ambitious fundraising initiative ever. They intend to target billionaires, asking them to pledge half of their fortune to charitable causes, either throughout their life or at their death; because would your quality of life really change if your fortune changed from $60 billion to $30 billion? We love this initiative because of its simplicity. Bill and Melinda Gates tackled the problem of charitable giving in the United States by cutting to the 400 people who could make the biggest impact on their cause, the Forbes 400 list with a net worth of around $1.2 trillion. We talk a great deal about influencers, people who we can enlist with our creativity. It’s interesting how influencers are the natural progression from ‘brand advocates’ before them, but Bill and Melinda Gates, along with Warren Buffet have provided a timely reminder that communications influencers may be useful, but economic, cultural and social influencers can have a much more profound effect on any strategy.


Reference:
Fortune

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It’s a Mother tradition to do some sort of World Cup promo – we’ve done sushi fry-ups and toys for the trenches, but this year marked a maturity. We sent Mother’s football squad to South Africa to compete against a local team, as part of a bolder aim (“without becoming too Bono about it”, as Dylan put it) of forming a meaningful twinship with a namesake village. Coach/cashcow Oscar and strat midfielder Bruno were invited to discuss this on Radio London this morning (and got to meet Gaby Roslin!). What they found in our African twin town is that football brings people together but in a more communal way than perhaps it does in the more corporate world of UK football. At the risk of sounding a bit Band-Aid, the Mother match brought black and white people from neighbouring towns together for the first time. And it wasn’t just about sport, but music, dancing and socialising, a carnival atmosphere to the games we’d love to export back home. Which is why as part of the legacy we humbly hope to create, we plan to build a community centre for the local people, as opposed to just a pitch as was first thought. Mother went to play the game with a fair understanding that football can be a force for good, but left knowing that football might just be a simple solution to many of the complex issues facing those areas of South Africa ignored by FIFA.

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