Nice to see one of our recent wins (there are quite a few!) has made the news:
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/890729/Avis-appoints-Acknowledgement-Web-Liquid-pan-Euro-DM-business/
Really proud of Team Acknowledgement!
The week before last I was lucky enough to attend a read-through of a new film script with my friends Keith and Jen – both of whom are involved in the actual production of the film being read through!
I’m always keen to try new things, and the event was given an added gravitas because a well respected director had not only agreed to direct the film but was also going to be at this read-through.
I rushed there after work: as usual my day was busy and it was hard to get all the things I needed to get done by 7pm done but somehow I managed to make it into a cab and across town to arrive at RADA with minutes to go till the 7.30 start.
Legging it in through their doors just off Gower Street I was furiously replying to people on my Blackberry and checking a voicemail I’d missed, when I suddenly realised I’d entered a whole (great) new world.
I managed to stop myself from announcing to the security guard that I was “from Acknowledgement” just in time and instead didn’t even need to give my name before being simply directed through to a big area at the back of their reception.
In this area no-one was on their Blackberry. Or their Iphone. In fact I didn’t even see an Iphone. I sheepishly put mine away.
No-one was walking around having loud mobile phone conversations. On the walls were pictures of current RADA students and also alumni.
This wasn’t the kind of building reception I was used to! Where were the client logos, marketing press, campaign showreels and yellow pencils?
A bar in the corner momentarily reassured me that I had in fact walked into an ad agency after all. But people seemed to be drinking in moderation: what sort of place was this?!
Before I had too long to contemplate these things, the evening kicked off and I found myself being captivated by the actors young and old who expertly brought the script alive.
The actors were (I later confirmed) doing this for free: to act to an audience is what they love doing: and despite having only spent 3 days with the script they put in a fantastic performance. In the Q and A afterwards I was really impressed by how much they had thought about the character they were playing: what that character’s motivations and desires were, and what, perhaps, had happened to that character in the past to explain their actions in the script.
The actors weren’t dressed in the latest designer gear or sporting fashionable haircuts. In fact I don’t think I spotted a single “credible” label in the whole place. But some of them were certainly young and fit enough to have been ad agency account management fodder and their intensity and dedication to their craft coupled with such confidence in delivery meant they didn’t need any such props to win the audience over.
Throughout the evening various bright young things (current students I assume) tiptoed in and out on their ways to other parts of the building.
Who were these people? Where were they going? How did they get here? I was asking myself all these questions!
So the evening worked for me on two levels. Firstly to hear the script read aloud really brought the story to life and made me understand it on a deeper level. It was a triumph for all involved and a milestone on the road to the film doing great things.
But Secondly the evening also reminded me that despite living here for almost ten years I don’t know London at all.
I know MY London.
But my London works in advertising or media. Hangs out in Soho or Shoreditch. Maybe Farringdon. Drinks at the Ten Bells or The Endurance or Soho/Shoreditch House. Lives in North London. Works 9ish to 6ish. We listen to similar things, wear similar things. We know who Joel Veitch is, of course we are on Twitter and yes Mum and Dad we saw that viral 5 days before it made The Sun. Hell, we might of even made that viral.
And there is nothing wrong with any of that: human behaviour is at it’s total base inherently tribal.
The first time you meet anyone new you immediately try to discover the tribes they belong to: where do they work, where did they study, who do they worship (“no-one” is the biggest tribe of all!), what football team do they support, do they like boys or girls (it’s confusing these days…), what music are they into, what food do they consume, where did they grow up, etc etc
You use the answers to work out where this new person fits on the big venn diagram of your own tribal allegiances.
But this evening reminded me just how many tribes there are and how many I’ve not even touched despite being in London ten years.
There are acting tribes. Political tribes. Student tribes. Parenting tribes. Music tribes. The cool cat 25 year-old advertising guy who likes The Hoxton Pony and MGMT is represented in a parallel universe by a young Tony Blair type who drinks in the Cinnamon Club in Westminster, goes to the Barbican lots and vaguely knows Price Harry. In another parallel universe the 25 year old is an aspiring song writer and performer playing the Hope & Anchor in Islington and living in Camden. Or maybe he’s a junior doctor actually doing something important, like saving lives!
All those people rushing around London, heads down, ipods on: what do they do? Where are they going? Are they students, actors, lawyers, rent boys, unemployed, athletes, on the way to hospital treatment, politicians, medics, on the run? The answer of course is that they are all of the above – and much more besides.
It’s so easy to think your world is the only world: that what matters to the people around you is the only thing that matters to the world at large.
Advertising folk talk of “cut through” all the time: and this night at RADA did just that for me: it reminded me what a great city London is. How great all cities are. How great life is. But how little I actually see of it.
I love London: You can make a million pounds in a week in London. You can find the love of your life in a week. HOW you do it is another question, but it’s possible – it’s all out there.
You can go to some of the best clubs in the world, or see some of the best theatre and music there is. You can eat the best food, or volunteer for charity and also see the worst poverty.
When I first came to London I walked through the streets with sheer wonderment as to the potential this city had in store for me. Ten years later I’d started to kid myself I’d conquered it and have spoken to people about being bored of London.
Bollocks! I realise now I’ve maybe seen 1% of what this city has to offer. The London revival for me starts again right here right now.
London is a city I want to rediscover and find new things in. And that’s what I’m going to do! And you blog reader are coming along for the ride.
More soon!