Moustache - HIDING A STIFF UPPER LIP FOR OVER 37 YEARS.

This has nothing to do with advertising, marketing, photography or anything else I usually blog about.

So that’s a first.

On our ill-fated trip from Antalya to Göreme, where we nearly missed the bus, we met Dilaver at the bus station.

We met him again at our convenience stop during the middle of the night. He was on a different bus but traveling in the same direction.

We thought no more about this chance encounter until he turned up at our hotel in Göreme. He had tracked us down and wanted to have us back to his house, in the next village, for dinner on Wednesday.

Unfortunately we were due to leave on the Tuesday so we politely declined.

All this was communicated with his broken English and our non existent Turkish.

Not to be put off by this he decided to show us some of the sites that were off the tourist beat.

We went racing around the Cappadocian country side in his little Russian car, up and down dirt roads and reversing along major highways.

The communication between us was elementary and this was highlighted in a most unconventional way.

We told him we had visited Gallipoli and got into a discussion about how ferocious the fighting had been there.

He then produced a small service revolver and removed two bullets from the clip and touched them together.

We both immediately realised what he was demonstrating, recalling the story we had heard about bullets colliding mid air during the heat of the Gallipoli battle.

Now Dilaver is a Turkish policeman and one of the warmest, most welcoming people we have met.

We hope that any further brushes with the law will be equally rewarding.

When Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in 1967, I rushed out to get the album.

I still have it.

One of the songs that intrigued me most was When I’m Sixty-Four, by Paul McCartney. I was interested in it, not for the lyrics or the music, but the idea that anyone could be that old.

Even my father wasn’t 64.

Looking back on the words, it’s easy to see that they were written in a very different time to now.

A time before Email, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.

A time before iPhones, iPads and MacBooks.

Hell, even a time before Apple.

When I get older losing my hair,

Many years from now,

Will you still be sending me a valentine

Birthday greetings bottle of wine?

If I’d been out till quarter to three

Would you lock the door,

Will you still need me, will you still feed me,

When I’m sixty-four?

oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oooo

You’ll be older too, (ah ah ah ah ah)

And if you say the word,

I could stay with you.

I could be handy mending a fuse

When your lights have gone.

You can knit a sweater by the fireside

Sunday mornings go for a ride.

Doing the garden, digging the weeds,

Who could ask for more?

Will you still need me, will you still feed me,

When I’m sixty-four?

Every summer we can rent a cottage

In the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear

We shall scrimp and save

Grandchildren on your knee

Vera, Chuck, and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line,

Stating point of view.

Indicate precisely what you mean to say

Yours sincerely, Wasting Away.

Give me your answer, fill in a form

Mine for evermore

Will you still need me, will you still feed me,

When I’m sixty-four?

Whoo!

When I’m Sixty-Four was recorded in December 1966.

I Was Only Nineteen, but that’s another song.

Steve Jobs was a modern day Leonardo da Vinci, a technical visionary with an aesthetic taste for art, design and typography.
Every time I turn on my Mac, answer my iPhone or listen to my iPod, I will think of him.

Back in the day, when we were travelling in Europe, you would get your supplies of paper towels and toilet paper from the loos along the way.

I found this sign in the public convenience at Minnipa, South Australia.

It seems that nothing has changed, except the locals have now realised where all the paper products have been going.

Marketing 101 states that a brand needs to connect with the consumer.

This can happen on many levels.

In the 50s and 60s the ugly VW Beetle was made acceptable by advertising that was honest and used self-deprecating humour to highlight its benefits.

One of the longest running campaigns of all time, Dulux, employs the lovability of an Old English Sheep Dog.

Not so lovable but just as effective is Sam Kekovich for Aussie Lamb, now into his eighth year.

The one thing they have in common is this ability to find a place in the consumer’s heart.

Apparently the same format is employed by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

A recent SBS documentary, ‘Conservation’s Dirty Secrets’ has revealed the marketing strategy of the WWF is all about promoting an emotional connection with certain animals. These are known as ‘charismatic mega fauna’.

Animals such as lions, tigers, apes, Polar bears and of course the WWF’s trademark, Giant Panda.

Oceans cover 71% of the world’s surface, yet just 1% is protected. Apart from whales and turtles very little is mentioned about the conservation of marine life, yet many ocean species are also in grave danger of extinction. Not to mention the thousands of cold-blooded, land based creatures that are also under threat.

The truth is they are just not cuddly enough.

I wonder what the impact on donations would be if the WWF logo looked like this?

This is great for the person who has the mate and probably great for the mate but it can be very costly for business.

“I’ve got a mate” is usually associated with a client who has a mate who he believes will be able to save him money by getting a job done more cheaply.

The opposite is usually true.

The mate probably doesn’t want the job, because he knows he will have to do it for cost.

He therefore cuts corners, doesn’t ask questions and just wants to get the job out of the way.

He might be the totally wrong person for the job but does it because he’s a mate.

He could even be charging far more for the job because he isn’t set up to handle it.

But yet he still goes ahead, because he’s a mate.

So many jobs that are handled by mates turn to disaster.

It’s not the mate’s fault but a misguided belief, by his mate, that paying the right money to get a job done professionally isn’t good business.

How do I know all this?

My mate told me.

Hayden’s latest app, Water, Water Everywhere, has just been made the Guardian Newspaper’s Consumer App of The Week.

That’s great news for the cause and for Hayden, as the app was praised for its ease of use.

It’s worth going to the comments section that’s down below the main article.

There are the usual trite comments on the pros and cons of using tap water but there is one interesting little battle that is being fought.

Apparently there is a ‘rival’ to Water, Water Everywhere called tapwater.org.

Now they may have very good ideals but they are, after all, ultimately trying to flog a drinking bottle.

It’s worth continuing down the comments because in an act of accord, Ben Kay, the creator of Water, Water Everywhere, has suggested they collaborate and share their locations.

Here is where a noble act could be perverted by a commercial imperative.

This remains to be seen.

What is more important than any of this, is the fact that many of us are still drinking bottled water, when we don’t have to, and that bottled water is costing us money and damaging the environment.

Surely the battle should be about reducing the consumption of bottled water and not about who’s got the best app or the most locations.

Hayden has just developed another iPhone App.

This one is for ‘Water, Water Everywhere’ and is designed to show where people can get fresh, non-bottled, drinking water.

Here is part of the blurb that’s on the app.

“Bottled water is a huge unnecessary expense and creates massive environmental damage all over the world.

So why not use tap instead?

The Water Water Everywhere app shows you thousands of locations around the UK where you can ask for free tap water.”

It’s a great app that allows you to add places where you can find free, fresh, water.

At the moment all the sites are in the UK, which is useless for people who don’t live there.

So why not download it and add your own fresh water sites as you find them?

Here in Australia we have some of the best drinking tap water in the world yet so many of us buy bottled water.

It is now up on the Apple Apps Store.

This app is also an excellent example of collaboration as the idea came from Ben Kay in London. The graphics came from Crystal Lee, I guess she’s in the UK as well, and the development came from Hayden in Barcelona, then it was tested here in Australia.