Laura Branigan
Laura Branigan and a remix of her 1984 hit Self Control was my soundtrack of this week. It’s available as a free download. Laura Branigan was covering an Italian record recorded earlier in the year by Raffaele ‘RAF’ Riefoli. The RAF version had a heavier baseline to it than the Laura Branigan version. It was remade by Harold Faltermeyer, who had worked with Giorgio Moroder on Donna Summer’s Bad Girls. Both the RAF and Laura Branigan versions were popular songs as part of the Balearic scene.
Modern dance and digital art
I love this modern dance performance that integrates with a digital experiential artwork
UNION
I have been working long hours on a new business pitch over the past couple of weeks and this video by Canadian agency UNION resonated more than it probably normally would
John Lewis
The John Lewis ad sparked a discussion in our team today, was it just excessively twee or really bad? I am inclined to go with really bad. John Lewis don’t seem to have learned from their previous years adverts that get picked apart for some form of offence. Previous years were accused of animal cruelty – with the family dog left in the kennel, despite harsh winter conditions. This year you have a child that largely seems neglected by his mother. If you’re a certain age being a latch key kid was a way of life. But nowadays it would be enough to spark an intervention by child services that may result in the child being taken into care. This article by the BBC shows how latch key kids are frowned upon, despite acknowledging that a good deal of this down to a ‘moral panic’.
CBS News
Finally CBS News new 24-hour streaming news channel is the closest manifestation to TV advertising on the net I have seen. There is no clickthroughs or interactivity. However with the rise of the likes of the Apple TV may make this a more sensible option.