Very well executed!

What stands out are a lot of guilt-induced charity donations.

The L/R comparison MP3 of cats vs. Glenn Gould is going into my iTunes.

It isn't a good sign when 'Wieden' is misspelled twice.

The Parable in Charlie Wilson's War: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/01/04/charlie_wilsons_zen_lesson/ ''People think I'm loaded," he said. ''I'm broke. That's why I'm still working." http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/12/29/winning_isnt_everything/?page=full

'All's well that ends well' is of course Shakespeare; whether you want to interpret Christianity through its lens depends on whether you see faith as primarily about winning. The concept of forgiveness does give everyone a chance to end eternity in the win column, although sinners like me might not see it that way. The second phrase is the tagline for the New York Lotteries (and a piece of DDB New York work.) Blaise Pascal would have had no problem combining Christianity and the lottery: his faith helped found game theory. If God might exist and believing is free, why not bet on God existing? The payoff is infinitely greater than the cost of the bet. Or, 'Hey, you never know.'

I think the version of the parable you reference was also featured in the movie 'Charlie Wilson's War' as a warning on the perils of not investing in peace. I'd rather read it as, 'Hey, you never know, maybe things will work out after all' or 'All's well that ends well'.

Hi In the old system several of my comments were mislabelled as 'posted anonymously' (even though I used the same e-mail address and URL as my TypePad profile). Is there a way for me to 'claim' these old comments? The ones I posted to my own blog would be really nice to get onto my new nifty TypePad profile page. Connect is a great idea and makes all the TypePad blogs I've visited with it more useful and better layed-out, so a big thanks!

That would be a good addition, as people do remember it, and it moves some metal. It gets the craftsmanship message that Skoda needs (even if I'm not sure that I would feel safe in a car made of cake.)

I'm not as big a fan of 'The Impossible Dream'. Most of the creative energy goes into making it ironic: the American voice, the use of the Perry Como, the man in a jumpsuit and biker facial hair. The wavering tone of voice - straddling between Honda triumphalism and British apology - just isn't as likeable as 'Cog' or 'Hate', I think. As for the entertainment value, let's just say the new genre of ironic-road-trip-lip-sync-montage isn't one I normally volunteer for. What did you think of the other ads in the playlist?

@Amelia, the all-important comma is probably what started me on this post. If the line instead made the claim that O2 is 'better connected' then it might be a spot-on positioning. As it stands, it's just a bland statement about humanity: 'we're better, connected' reads, 'We're better when we're connected.' I suppose 'We're better, connected' might also be misread as 'we're better' (again with that troublesome comma). When you read it that way, it feels more like a boast and less a positioning. Even when you remove the comma I don't think that the executions don't necessarily back up to the new line. I thought that the work that preceded the latest campaign felt a bit more grounded; the treats campaign at least delivered a message about what you get for staying an O2 customer. The happy houses leaves me wanting more. How is O2 better connected? Isn't it just BT service re-packaged? Whatever the truth, I'm not feeling it. Of course, I really shouldn't be casting stones, given that we have that troublesome 'Das Auto' for Volkswagen in our portfolio. That line and probably a dozen others by us build a very nice glass house to blog from!

Thanks, German. Happy New Year to you as well. Hope all is well at Anthropreneur.

Here's the Tribal DDB Christmas card, starring planner Chris Wood, who came up with the idea. It was sent out, but I had already left the country on holiday.

Thanks Bob - will change it.

suzannacharisma, I did see the multitude of comments on the EUTube channel regarding the 'comments' feature being shut down. And I did struggle with my post. Overall, I would still say that EUTube is better than the non-existent effort from the US. I understand that this might be a rather low standard I am setting, but looking at this from the EU's point of view, at least information's getting out there, filling the vacuum. I, too, wish that they had left the comments section on. Even with all the negative and angry comments that would flood YouTube, it would at least show that the European Union was confident enough to speak out in the open. May be with enough efforts (such as those comments from you and others on the channel page) it will do better. Until then, I don't think it's a failure. In the early days of public diplomacy it feels like a wobbly first step to engaging in public conversation.

'Blogue Noir'? Maybe. 'Fun and fire' don't come easily. If you subscribe to my feed, I've tried to add some my interesting web visits via Del.icio.us. And I'll give it another try in a few weeks. Thanks, German!

Erin, thanks for the words of encouragement. I'll try to get back into it. Things have been pretty hectic. How are you doing? I've been reading your blog lately and am wondering if you've found a place.

Thanks, Matt, for the comment - I guess the future might be a mix of all three of your ideas for this blog. I don't often stumble onto things worth writing about, but that might be a best way to get back into the blogging habit again!

I can't think of a better way to spend a Monday planners' evening. I'd go just to hang out with the organisers. Faris, of course, but also Carl and Johnny, who were once legendary account men and now are innovation partners in one of the world's most interesting agencies. Are they interesting and nice to talk to? All I can say is that they are paying for the beer. Do you need further proof of their humanity and integrity?

I think I will pass on the debate. The topic has been covered to my satisfaction in the postings. I find myself weirdly OK with bad planning blogs. I don't agree with them, but I also need to know what I'm up against. And I often see these as warnings of what I could become if I'm not careful. I guess I have always seen myself as that sort of planner, deep down; this often shows in my blog. The ranting, bad planning theorist is a good sort to drink with, surely. I love a good rant now and then. And sometimes the pint glass becomes more a mirror than a distorted lens. In vino veritas.

Amelia, thanks for the link. Danah Boyd has a point about marketing pus, but it seems that we have a different relationship with marketing and brands that we had done before. It's not so cut and dried I suppose, when a NASCAR jacket is acceptable wear, but corporate blogs aren't.

I can't tell without damaging my plannersphere reputation further (especially since I don't have any damning photos of the event to prove it.) And it can't hurt me to have more posts on this blog anyway! See you at the next one.

I am on the road, suffering through client briefings. Thanks for getting all of us together. And thanks for relegating my drunken, rude gesturing to Flickr (and not the higher traffic front page of your blog!) It will be interesting to see if "cubemate" searches end up there, though. Let's drink and rant again soon.

David, I too have admittedly worked with idiots. But I'm finding fewer and fewer of them. Maybe the industry is getting better, or the shops I work at are improving!