There’s a nice post from Blonde here about a recent bit of tactical digital work they did for IRN-BRU. It’s a cute idea and a great example of turning something round really quickly to capitalise on the heat (or not) of the moment.

But back to the point. Higgidy - excellent customer service. Hence their swift reply to a pointlessly fawning email from me. The Apex Hotel in Dundee is my other favourite example of the moment. I stayed there last night after groups. I love staying there though I can’t quite work out why. A nice enough hotel. Great location, comfy beds, nice enough food. All the basics are right. I hadn’t been there for a while before last night and I’m normally up and down there fairly regularly. So yesterday, on arrival, an envelope in my room:

Dear Miss Wood,

We are always pleased to welcome regular guests back to the hotel and in recognition of your loyalty we would be delighted to offer you a complimentary movie package….

Delightful indeed.

Now as it turned out, the DVDs were Into the Blue (Treasure has its price was the sinister strapline) and An American Haunting. Anyone that knew anything much about me would not have chosen these two films as my evening’s viewing but obviously that isn’t really the point. Some old tired DVDs that no-one really wants to watch anymore did indeed make me feel like they might care a teensy bit about the fact that I hadn’t been there for a while. And I liked that a lot. Hats off to them and their CRM strategy.

Yet again. Delightful.

My favourite newspaper article this weekend. Dear Lucy Mangan. I thank you for brightening my Saturday.

I saw a cracking show last night. Wall of Death by the National Theatre of Scotland. For those of you unfamiliar with the fairground attraction, motorcyclists crazily race around the innards of a vertical drum at marvellously horizontal angles. The NTS have kidnapped one of the last touring troupes of “Wall of Death-ers” and built a bit of show around them.

This isn’t the place for theatre pedantry so I shan’t muse on how successfully it serves up a theatrical experience. But there’s a nice little storyline knitting it together: performance artist Stephen Skrynka sets himself the challenge of learning to ride the wall. There’s a dollop of history: how the wall first came about and then survived the ensuing years. And there’s charisma in spadeloads from head of the troupe, Ken Fox, his brave (and beautiful) two sons and oldest son’s fiancé, super cool (ex horse-riding instructor!) Kerri Cameron. And then the shamefully visceral thrill of whether or not they’ll topple when they take to the Wall itself.

It’s an hour long. It’s on at the Royal Highland Centre. Two shows a night at 6:30 and 8:30 til Friday and then a few scattered over the weekend. And then that’s it. They’ll set off on their touring way again. It’s lovely stuff. If you can’t make the show, check out Gary Margerum’s photos here (one of which I stole to sit here - thanks, Gary). But if you’ve ever had an inkling to run away and join the circus, could be best to avoid them…

But (and hold your breath, readers for this is shameful) I’ve just taken an old paper cup, purchased from my local organic wholesome coffee shop, back into the shop to be replenished with a new latte. Not only that but I carefully circled the cup in advance with a little cardboard hoop that stops you burning your hands. This from Starbucks. The ultimate absurdity is that the cup itself from my local organic shop is some super dooper container that is entirely made from recycled materials and is then fully compostable. Really, I deserved it to dissolve in my hands on refilling.

But you can not say that I am not living Ernie the elephant’s dream.

So apologies for being a little late in the day to draw your attention to this rather superb campaign just produced for Know The Score. Bundles of research with 18 to 24 year olds, the biggest users (mostly) of cocaine, demonstrated that:

- they were, by and large, blasé about the dangers of cocaine
- the only health risk that they took half seriously was the possibility of cocaine causing a stroke
- telling them that they might have a stroke as a sole advertising message was felt to be stretching credibility
- but presented as part of a handful of effects, some familiar and others (self-evidently) less so, built belief in the possibility and so encouraged them to question their previous perceptions

Six months of research in six lines.

Chris and David have done an absolutely cracking job with the creative. Thanks to them and to Gillian for her ever patient, pro-active and positive account handling. Judge the end result for yourselves here. And be sure to listen to the digital ads for spotify. I’m a bit biased - but they are magic.

My kind of place. Shame they’re (for the time being) in Amsterdam.