Saturday 16 July 2011

Blog - "Successful Failures

So, I've decided what my next column series will be based on. I'm going to do 'Successful Failures In Marketing'.

This might sound oxymoronic, and that's the point in a way, but in another way it isn't. While you have some wonderful failures in music that ended up being marketing wonders (anything Axl Rose does tends to make Slash look absolutely fantastic, as an example), it's also very easy to take this consideration away from music. Perhaps the most infamously successful marketing failure would be Paris Hilton and her fabled sex tape, which made a dull, sad, selfish, whiny bitch a minor celebrity that the world could very much do without.

Box office flops often become infamous in their own way. Firefly, a series cancelled for increasingly poor ratings, has become a cult hit. An ancient and inherently flawed programme named 'The Prisoner' was recently re-made with Ian McKellen. In addition, any footballer constantly in the newspapers will earn noteriety. Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard have both features in sex tapes of their own, and Lampard's one of the good ones (comparitively). Wayne Rooney wore shoes that weren't made by his new sponsors, and thus he was plastered all over the front pages, earning a lot of attention for both the old sponsors and the new ones.

Music is admittedly still supposed to be my focus, but I'm not exactly where I was when I started Marketing Methods. I'm having more trouble thinking up musically related concepts for it. I can likely write seven hundred words on The Who, and Jimi Hendrix. I'm also considering conversing over certain rumours that surround Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. You know the ones. Everybody knows the ones. (If you don't know the ones, please Google the ones, as I think everybody should know the ones)

Then there's the Wii: a stupid name that propelled the console to becoming the single highest selling gaming platform to have ever existed. I mean, come on, it's called the Wii. You know, like wee.

To finish, I might make mention of Matt Bellamy and Kate Hudson's (Almost Famous definitely being my favourite film of hers) newborn child: Bing. That's got to be a piece of genius somewhere down the line.

It has to be, right?

Friday 1 July 2011

Blog - "A Drastic Change"

There is a rather big thing about to happen on Monday; something that I am very nervous about. For the first time in seven years, I am about to have short hair.

Now, for a lot of people, I wouldn't imagine that this is a big deal, but, for me, it is. My long hair has been one of my defining features. Before I had long, black hair, I also didn't have a partner. The hair has done wonders for my popularity and has made me a wonderfully distinct character. At this point though, I'm a little bored of it. Seven years is a long time.

My inspiration for the cut style is a rather generic one. I'm hopefully going to be getting some pictures done then and there as well. I am a little worried, but with all of the additional effort I've been making on my appearance, I do feel that the laziness required to have hair like I do is no longer about. I originally decided to grow my hair purely because I was sick of having short hair. Now, after many years of it being part and parcel Tom Colohue, to the point where it was the first thing in the lead up to the name change, it's time to put it to rest.

That said, I'm still a bit scared it might not go right. More often than not, mirrors are not my friend but, sometimes, I quite like it. What if it goes wrong?

Little scared.