It's all about inovation today. Innovations of all sorts. It's quite timely because one of my colleagues, Adrian Barker attended a seminar on innovation this week. Charlie Leadbeater spoke - he's always thought provoking - and you can find his recent presentations - including those on innovation - here.
Drunk or just boring?
'Tis the season of office Christmas parties. And yes, I know it shows a flaw in my character, but unless I'm drunk, I usually find them dull, dull, dull. And ever since that last unfortunate incident, I've really tried to avoid overconsumption of alcohol in front of the people that sign my cheque.
But thankfully for seasonal revellers in the borough of Westminster, the City Council has got you covered either way.
With the Christmas party season underway, a new free texting service has been launched to help revellers get home safely from central London.
The service is part of a Westminster City Council's "Some things you only do when you're drunk" campaign All people have to do is go to http://www.somethings.co.uk/ to get telephone numbers for bus and safe taxi services.
And if making small talk with the boss is just too much, there is even an excuse text to help you get away from the boring office party.
What's that smell?
What's the smell that you usually associate with public transport or bus shelters? No, really - go on - close your eyes and smell that smell.
Now imagine what they could smell like, roses, freshly laundered sheets hanging in the sun, new-mown hay, warm chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven?
Via the Governing blog, I've discoverd that one need no longer imagine. Bus shelters in San Francisco are to smell like chocolate chip cookies - thanks to an advertising campaign by California's milk board. (See, you Brits think of biscuits then tea, but we Americans think of cookies then milk).
Christopher Swope writes of this advertising innovation:
I know how I'm supposed to feel about this. I'm supposed to mourn the passing of yet another of our five human senses into the advertising kingdom. Madison Avenue took sight (TV) and sound (radio) from us long ago. Taste as advertising is give and take -- I'm thinking free samples here. Now they're snatching smell from us, too. Only touch remains an ad-free zone, barring changes in law or social behavior.
But let's be honest: Bus shelters could do worse than smell like chocolate chip cookies. Much worse. As a teenager quoted in the Chronicle points out, "It's going to smell like cookies and bums."
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2 comments:
As it happened, Radio 4 educated me this morning on how I can use the traditional Christmas party to enhance my career prospects (or not):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6161179.stm
Tips included turning up early to the party and mingling with chief executives and the like, letting them know of your key recent achievements - ah but how to do it in a way that would seem really natural and neither 'I deserve a better job' nor 'buttering up the boss' ... And what do you know - DON'T dance on tables in a drunken state. Is that to suggest that if I do the locomotion at table height SOBER, I will get the promotion I so deserve...?
Too bad this advice didn't come a little sooner, Vicki as our holiday party was last Friday.
After speaking with our top bosses, highlighting my recent achievements, I left as soon as I helped Vicki up onto the table and whispered words of encouragement...
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