Cherryflava

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is directed by a South African

We remember Gavin Hood from that TV rugby drama called The Game and of course he was the Academy award-winning director of Tsotsi, but it seems that not many are aware that he directed the upcoming mega-movie; X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

For a Hollywood unknown with no action movie directing experience, that's a massive achievement which the local media seems to largely be ignoring.

Hood was as surprised as anyone when Jackman contacted him. "I got a call from my agent—I remember it as if it were yesterday—saying, 'Hi, Gavin, Hugh Jackman would like to meet with you about the possibility of your directing Wolverine.' I was like, 'Yeah, right, what are you really calling about?'" he says, chuckling.
But Jackman had seen and liked Tsotsi, "So I went along to the meeting, not knowing a great deal about the Wolverine comics. I grew up in South Africa and was exposed to the wonderful Asterix and Obelix [René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's long-running, French cartoon-adventure strip "The Adventures of Asterix," starring the titular ancient Gaul and his right-hand warrior], but I hadn't actually seen anything to do with Wolverine. I knew the [X-Men] movies," he amends, "but I'd watched them as a casual moviegoer, not as an avid fan." [via Filmjournal]

We should declare 1 May 'Gavin Hood Day'. Well done Sir.

More: Wolverine cast talks piracy, on-set stabbings - Wired

The 2008 Oxford word of the year is...

...,well in the American Oxford dictionary at least - The 2008 Word of the Year is hypermiling.

Hypermiling” was coined in 2004 by Wayne Gerdes.
“Hypermiling” or “to hypermile” is to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques. Rather than aiming for good mileage or even great mileage, hypermilers seek to push their gas tanks to the limit and achieve hypermileage, exceeding EPA ratings for miles per gallon.

Countries other than America [we simply call it driving efficiently] have been 'hypermiling' since cars were invented, but it's good to have the US finally on board.

More:
Oxford University Press blog
Merriam-Webster's words of the year

South African Old School ads: Making even more sense 20 years on

As part of the ongoing research we do in our hi-tech Cherryflava marketing laboratory, we sift through thousands of streams of information from around the world categorising and deconstructing all types of marketing tools to understand how and why they work.

Recently we've also started traveling back in time...to the 80s, to capture the essence of the marketing hits of those days.
Amongst our observations so far - jingles were hot (almost ever ad was a musical) and 2min to 6min mega cinema advertising productions costing crazy amounts of money were all the rage.

Cigarette brands were the marketing kings. These old Peter Stuyvesant cinema ads from 1985 are simple, but effective in the marketing job they did. Between the yellow Humvees, Concordes and bad hairstyles you can learn a lot from these classics.
It's not surprising that everybody jacked up a smoke back in the day.

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How acting like a 5 year old can help your creativity

Tim Brown from uber design company Ideo talks at TED about how kids will put 36 points past you when it comes to raw creative ability and how you can recapture your inner pre-schooler. Good warm up for next year's Design Indaba.

[Clip 28mins in length]

[via freshcreation]

Headlines: All the local marketing news...you need to know [Friday edition]

- Miniature, traffic light billboards with an 'underground' meaning continue in the Claremont area. This one, a clear follow up to the previous 'Coke Cat' cereal killer is now a little old and weathered, but still commands the power to keep us guessing.

- Oh dear - Virgin Mobile have announced that the status of the upcoming Virgin Festival has been marked as 'postponed'. [Tsk] According to the press release...

'The festival has been postponed to early 2009 in order to secure the international line-up that is more in line with what Virgin Festival stands for throughout the different countries.'

Apparently...

“Some of the bands that South Africans kept asking for were simply not available at that time of the year.”

- Bushmills, one of the premium brands we hold dear in the Cherryflava bar, [which by the way goes very nicely with a splash of red Grapetiser and a large Cuban] are running a new online campaign where you can win a 1966 MGB Roadster. The car is busy being restored to its original glory, which you can follow online at www.bushmills.co.za

- Eat Out magazine and Soweto have turned to The Grid [the Vodacom location-based cellphone social network] for some added value. Mobikasi is South Africa’s first geo-tagged documentary for cellphones, which explores youth culture in Soweto. Check out Soweto Youth Culture on your cellphone at [http://www.thegrid.co.za/mobikasi], which goes live Wednesday 5 November.

- Don't forget...the month of Movember is upon us! For those not up to speed with the term...

'Movember (a portmanteau of the words 'Moustache' and 'November') is an annual month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November.'

So if you've always wanted to look like Magnum - now's your time buddy. Grow that 'stache...blame the tickler on a good cause. See: Movember

Prediction: In 2009 there will be...a strong commercial heavy metal revival

In tough times, nobody wants to hear Usher ft Chris Brown croon about the bottle of Bollinger they just poured over some loose groupie in a lame attempt to make music that has meaning in a world filled with BMW repossessions and slumming it with Pierre Jordan Brut.

Metallica are back with Death Magnetic - easily the best album release of 2008 and now another 80's classic outfit AC/DC have hit number 1 on the Billboard chart with their latest offering "Black Ice" smashing that High School Musical drivel into submission.
What's next? Iron Maiden cracking the nod for the soundtrack of the next Bond movie - a proper Guns and Roses reunion resulting in the band strumming the backing track for the next Sony Bravia ad which features many multi-coloured Fenders getting smashed on an ice stage?

Somebody get Phil Wright to stop selling out by doing voice overs for Top Billing and back on late night rock radio. Stop disrespecting Barney Simon with an arb 30 minute show on GO and give the legend his Night Zoo slot back on 5FM.

Recession times call for something a little stronger. Forget slurping on an alcopop to take the edge off after getting retrenched for the third time, it's time for Jack Daniel's slammers with an Absinthe chaser delicately flava'd with a pack of Camel Plain.

No more Amy 'Whine' house - the real gods of rock are back.

Read: Heavy Metal clobbers High School Musical - NYTimes
And: Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan on AC/DC and music's latest sales model - Hollywood Insider

Will there also be a global brand value meltdown?

Companies around the world are on sale.

People are in fact so keen to sell their ownership of companies in every market around the globe that the stuff is going cheap cheap.
Cherryflava is by no means an authority on Wall Street commentary, but if you have cash on hand -  now would be the time to be pushing and fighting your way to the front of the queue ready to buy a small stake in some good shares when this dead cat finally stops bouncing...(or completely falls off the roof)

So considering that the list of world's best brands by value has only just recently been published by Interbrand, will we be seeing a brand new top 10 this time next year?

Merrill Lynch is listed at 34, Goldman Sachs at 38 and AIG [cough...splutter] is at 54...all of which will be very lucky to see it through to next week let alone have a brand to post on a fancy list in a year's time.
It's all starting to feel like bullshit baffles brains when you study this thing properly. Putting any of these logos on your front door today is a recipe for abuse from creditors rather than profit.

So what value then should you attach to a brand when the business behind it is bust? Our prediction is that this time next year, there will be a lot fewer American brands in the Top 100.

Read: Interbrand Top 100 global brands 2008
More: Dow plunges 800 points amid global sell-off - AP

Our morning coffee is turning into a billboard

Morning coffee during the drive to work is a quiet, relaxing time spent with a few foot-tapping, sing-a-long Slipknot tunes and a take-away latte.
But lately, our coffee receptacle is starting to look like Times Square. A subtle reminder of the premium brand we're enjoying is acceptable, but all these other logos and messages on every available space on the little cup...it's a bit much.

Come to think of it, we'd pay extra just to have the pleasure of not being sold something before the morning intake of caffeine.
Nerds and Virgins should patiently wait their turn for attention later in the day.

Global brands woo the Chinese - who ultimately decide who lives and dies

When the opportunity arises to sell products to over a billion new customers, it's amazing how quickly things like human rights records and other forgettable political blah blah can easily be forgotten.

This year's Olympic games is set to be the most marketed event of all time and big global brands can't scramble fast enough to get a slice of the commercial cake. It's so desperate - that most of them are running ads trying to convince the rest of us that supporting China is the best thing we can do.

Read more: Western Olympic Ads Cheerlead for China - NY Times

Do you want a sexy bank?

Barclays Bank in the UK have called on a retail design expert - responsable for designing a chain of American Starbucks-style open-plan retail bank branches, complete with khaki-clad concierges and play areas equipped with Gameboys - to redo the look of Barclays retail.

The new look apparently draws inspiration from Apple stores and Tesco [the UK supermarket chain].

The new Manchester branch is experimenting with a ying-yang-shaped queue, broken up by waist-height pillars housing computer games. The branch's space-age information desk is pure Apple store, while, according to Ms Dodd: “We're trialling a lot of different queueing methodologies - people do PhDs on this stuff.”

So would you prefer a fancy bank branch or a cheaper rates structure and staff that return phone calls?

Actually a nice cuppa Starbucks and a game of Super Mario on a Wii before we go suck up to the bank manager about that outstanding R300k installment we can't meet, may just calm the nerves somewhat.

Read more: Barclays banks on funky design to lure customers - Times Online
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