Klaas van der Horst, 10th May 1946 - 8th September 2020. I love you dad, rest in peace.

I haven’t updated my website, kept writing or recording podcasts, or videos (aside from Teaching Tangents, that has still been going strong, thanks to my friend and co-host James D’Souza.

I have been busy with teaching classes in a formal setting for the first time (with ISCOM, Higher Institute for Communications and Advertising), and more or less set other projects to the side for the past few months. I probably just needed some time, which I think is fair and fine. Grieving is a process, as is mourning.

As the title indicates, my father, Klaas van der Horst, died on the 8th September 2020 – just a few weeks after my aunt Arlette died. They were in different health conditions, but to make it short, both died of cancers that were diagnosed after the COVID-19 lockdowns in the spring of 2020.

Some family members and close friends couldn’t make it to the funeral, and 2020 being as strange as it is, I set up an international video conference of the funeral ceremony that took place on Monday 14th September 2020, and I recorded it too.

The audio and video quality are pretty dreadful, though if you’d like to watch the actual video, you can click here and make a request for it to be privately shared with you. My mother and our family wanted to share it for others who couldn’t be on the conference call and may want to see it, and simply to share the eulogies told during the ceremony, both in writing, audio, and video.

Klaas van der Horst’s funeral ceremony

This Dutch folk song played as people entered the room; Ik Hou van Holland (I love Holland):

His son, Willem (I acted as master of ceremony, the following words were spoken in French, translated in English here)

Hello, welcome, and thank you for joining us here today – in person, and this being 2020, also via video conference. We are gathered here to celebrate Klaas van der Horst’s life, with his wife Azucena; his children, Björn who is in Sri Lanka, Willem right here, Morgan, and Saskia. His grand-daughters Anahí, Mei; and his nephews in the Netherlands, Iwan and Mark Nilsen.

(the following was said in English) And welcome to all the English speakers attending via the video conference, and thank you for joining us in celebrating Klaas van der Horst’s life. Though we will conduct most of the ceremony in French, emotional language doesn’t need translation – and there will be a few bits in English too.

My father was a pragmatic man. He appreciated punctuality, accuracy, common sense, as well as humorous puns, and witty play on words.

I wasn’t with him in person, though I like to believe he would have appreciated that the time of his death, Tuesday 8th Septembre 2020 at about 3:40pm, coincided precisely with the moment his heart stopped beating.

74 years, 4 months, and 4 days earlier, the exact same heart, a little younger, started beating on the 10th May 1946 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

His was a full life, fully lived, all the way to the end.

We will paint a picture of Klaas through a few words, stories, songs, memories, and sensations.

My father was a man of few words.

Words were precious to him, so I think he used them sparingly.

He had a big heart and a huge presence. Qualities curiously combined with a grouchy, grumpy personality, sometimes even difficult to be around.

The technical term his friend Gene came up with describes it best, it’s being an Asshole – International Asshole, even (those words said in English during the speech).

As a point of proof, our childhood friends used to be terrified of him.

I remember the biggest party I’d organized at home as a teenager, I was sixteen. Over a hundred people in and around the house, in the far parisian suburbs where we grew up, in Neauphle-le-Château.

I had organized things so that my parents had given me the green light for the party, and were saying at a friends’ place for the night.

Except my father changed his mind about that, and showed up as the party was roaring, around 3 or 4 am, and loudly declared the party was over.

In short, thanks to his big and grouchy presence, all my friends fled in terror.

And then he told me I had to clean up.

He settled in a sofa, and watched while I cleaned and mopped the floor, pointing out any dirty spots still left, whatever wasn’t impeccable, till dawn.

Suffice to say I wasn’t thinking of his big heart at that particular moment.

I experienced it at plenty other moments though. He loved his wife and children, simply, and fully. He was happy with us and didn’t need much else.

I lost my biggest fan. He listened to every episode of my podcast, read all the articles, videos, and images I posted on my website or on social media.

He was a traveler, as am I. And he absolutely didn’t want to us to worry about him.

We chose one of his favorite John Denver songs for this last trip of his.

His nephews, Mark and Iwan Nilsen (patched in on the phone from Rotterdam, spoken in English during the ceremony)

Klaas,

You cannot say that your life was only doing the same each day.

Quit a person who was doing his own thing and following his own path.

I do not know exactly, but you went from Rotterdam, to Switzerland, to London, to New York, and from New York, to just outside Paris – Neauphle-le-Château.

And so when we were kids we would visit him in England, the United States of America, and France for example. 

For us this was very interesting, and as we grew up we remember the good conversations we could have with our uncle. He was never afraid to tell you the truth or how he thought about certain things. 

We had many laughs and good glasses of wine during these conversations that we will never forget, thank you for that.

The death of our uncle Klaas came very sudden and unexpected, we hope he has not suffered very much and we want to wish our aunt Azu, Björn, Willem, Morgan and Saskia and their children a lot of strength to get over the great loss together.

Now between me and you one last sentence in Dutch: Het ga je goed daar schele en ik hoop dat je je zus tegenkomt en jullie samen kunnen lachen.

His sister-in-law, Alba (spoken in French, translated in English here)

While looking for a word that might qualify best to describe who my brother-in-law was, for me at least, excess is the one I’d pick.

An excess of laughs, good times, and beer in our youth and my holidays in Rotterdam; excess in his tone of voice over the lively discussions we had; and excessive silence in these last few years, following painful losses. And in an ironic height of silence, your way of shutting up your suffering, probably as a way to protect those closest to you. I often heard you grumble Klaas, but never complain.

Another side of you I remember is your… How to say it? Adventurer? Nomad?

Rotterdam, Perpignan, Cambrils where you first met Azu and I, TOulouse, Rotterdam again – married this time around, Lausanne, London, New York, Neauphle-le-Château, Paris, Lausanne, and Perpignan.

From professional adventures to a beautiful family adventure, you built your life in both commitment and risk-taking, while always finding the wherewithal to bounce back in tough times.

You headed a beautiful family and you were able to share your enthusiasm, humor, and work ethics with your children.

These last few years, your grand children’s presence gave you solace as your health diminished.

Perhaps never letting on or showing any issue, and never asking for anything were rules you had set for yourself. I’ll never know.

Ne rien laisser paraître d une possible défaillance et ne jamais rien demander pourraient être des impératifs que tu t étais fixés… Je n en saurai jamais rien…

Klaas, thank you for passing on those family values.

Rest in peace.

Hi wife, Azucena (Azu) (spoken in French and English, all translated in English here)

I asked to speak after my sister, because without my sister, I would have never met Klaas. I was shy, timid, and in front of him I became audacious.

You invited us, the whole crew of young people we were, to get on a pedal boat. No one accepted, but me. You and your friend Kun spoke a language I didn’t understand, but I was never afraid of going with you. Straight away, I was clear that I already knew you.

You showed me everything from your childhood. Rotterdam, the warehouse where the bananas were ripening. And then one day you decided to change jobs. And throughout your career, the different jobs you had revolved around the market: the produce market in Rotterdam, the money market in Wall Street, and the farmer’s market where you sold your olive oils in Morges. The only differences were the number of zeros in the figures.

You ripened 50 to 60 tons of bananas, I forgot for how long. I learned with your mother, your sister, not so much with your father’s family, we didn’t really know them, aside from an aunt, Annie.

And then we had this whole time in Paris, during which you followed me at Landmark, and then you did what I never expected you to, you committed in participating with the Hunger Project, and you created it in France, with Brigitte among others, and I will read what Brigitte wrote on Facebook.

“Klaas, you will always be in my heart. With your great soul, so full of love and generosity towards everyone, with your humor, and your commitment.

Thank you for all those good times together, those exploits where we created infinite possibilities.”

I saw you in those days, leaving in your suit, that team along with you, crisscross the streets of Paris, asking people to sign a piece of paper, a card. There was nothing to give, other than a commitment. Commitment was a leitmotiv for the both of us.

The commitment was to say that chronic hunger would have disappeared from this planet before the year 2000. You’re Dutch, and projects should be successfully led to the end.

I need to keep dreaming of it, while you did not accept that in the year 2000, what you found out was that even more people than ever were going hungry. We tried explaining that it was juste that there was a lot we didn’t know and understand previously. You threw the baby out with the bathwater. Later on, you’d always tell me: “But that was a long time ago.”

And now what I’d like to celebrate is your generosity, the fact that you enjoyed a good party. We threw parties all the time.

(Spoken en English during the ceremony) I don’t know if you guys are looking, but you guys in Wall Street, you’re the ones who had the funnest times together. I don’t think I have anything else to say, I don’t know who is on the line, and from those days. 

And I want to acknowledge our son Björn, who is far away in Sri Lanka.

We continue having paperwork, paper problems, and even here in Perpignan, we have been continuing, I am continuing. 

There’s not so much else to say.

I love you. Ik hou van je. Je t’aime. 

Merci.

—

George Carlin on death (segue, I said this – Willem)

My father liked to laugh, and George Carlin was one of his favorite stand-up comedians. He had a few good words about death, and what is said of people who just died. (3 min audio from the following video)

His sister-in-law, Violette (spoken in French, translated in English here)

We always needed to specify your Dutch origins whenever mentioning you, or your first name, Klaas.

I’m 5 years old when you show up in Toulouse to marry my sister. You gave me and Hélios a book about New York, among other gifts. Later on you invited me to Wall Street, and then in London’s City.

I’m 10 years old, you gave me my first flight, from Geneva to Toulouse. I loved the place ride. It’s decided, I’ll make it my career.

I’m 15 years old, on the way to London in your big American car, the black Cadillac, you stop and take photos of all the cows we happen to come by. I learned much later that there are no 2 identical cows.

Faithful to your origins, close to painting, an art you will practice throughout your life.

You begin learning to play the piano later on in life. In this, once again, you hold on and succeed. Music is always with you: Frank Sinatra, Leonard Cohen, Joan Baez.

Tu commences l’apprentissage du piano à un âge avancé. Là, encore, tu t’accroches et réussis. La musique toujours t’accompagne : Franck Sinatra, Léonard Cohen, Joan Bez.

Thank you, Klaas. Good-bye, Klaas. For your last trip, on to new shores.

Rest in peace. Totzins. Daar Klaas 

Hi son, Morgan (spoken in French, translated in English here)

Dad, we did so many kilometres together. You gave me so much love.

We did so many kilometres together, laughing, and crying.

We did so many kilometres together, til only just a few weeks ago, to go and contemplate the sea one last time.

We did so many kilometres together, to get where we are now.

You always lived this way, as if there were plenty of kilometres left to travel.

And then the end of the road appears, unexpectedly, like when arriving at the entrance of the desert.

I just want to say one thing right now: I’m proud to be your son, dad. For ever.

And now we come to a fork in our roads and we go separate ways, I want to remind us of a quote you loved: “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”

Salut.

Hi daughter, Saskia (message written by our dear family friend, Françoise, and read by Saskia, translated in English)

To Klaas, Azu, and our children,

It is still a time for tears, though also a time for memories that come along, and with it, smiles, and happiness.

Klaas, 

I knew you were nearing the end of your life, but your death shook me greatly, and saddened me profoundly.

Over 30 years of friendship can’t really be summed up in a mere few memories, but evoking them make me smile for the first time in two days.

You’re there again, and your absence that I now know is definitive doesn’t weigh on me as much.

Klaas, I’ve loved going past your damn character and you rebuffs to keep talking with you when you didn’t want to talk to anyone.

I loved forcing your door open to share your grumpy silence.

Klaas, I loved walking through your door when it was wide open to sharing.

We have celebrated so much together!

I loved sharing our introspective conversations about our own self knowledge and the infinite opening of possibilities in our lives. And we created so many!

Klaas, I loved sharing your joy of cooking, and Ioved enjoying the small dishes you silently prepared with for us all, or specially for me.

I loved being at your table in the numerous houses you lived in.

In over 30 years of respective house moves, and moving further away from one another, our two families stayed in contact, linked with threads of friendships weaved by each one of our family members.

To encourage you to settle in Perpignan was a great joy for me.

I loved having the possibility of seeing you every year.

The last time we met, in February, we didn’t know anything of the illness that would take you away. We talked about healing, I urged you to take care of your health to get past the post-stroke period, a time I knew from experience can be tough.

And for the nth time, you gave me my favorite recipe: the chicken saté skewers with peanut sauce you made for me so often.

I succeeded in making them, they were delicious!

I’ll keep feasting in your memory!

Klaas, I will love regularly opening this memory door to you.

Thank you for all this and so much more…

Farewell, my friend.

Loving and tender thoughts for every one of you.

I will be with you in thoughts from Portugal.

~ Françoise Haubert Machado

His son Björn (patched in on the phone from Sri Lanka, the text was read in English)

Merci Papa,

You gave me life.

You opened a world of possibilities…

A vast, borderless and beautiful world…

Thank You

From the extensive global travelling to the always present copies of National Geographic and The New Yorker that piled high around the house you opened this world to me, and nothing was impossible. 

Thank You

You took me on the Concorde.

Thank You

You took me to the Bahamas, we snorkelled and I ate the most delicious BBQed Barracuda with a wedge fresh lime…I can still taste it.

Thank You

You played the piano with me to keep me motivated.

Thank you

Through watching you Papa, I learned how to throw a party and how important close friends are.

I learned how to play music really loudly.

I learned how to laugh and tell a story and a joke and a little lie…

I learned how to be at a restaurant table…Beautiful Benihana comes to mind…

Thank You 

I learned how to not drag my feet. Klaas did not like the sound of scuffling feet. There was a very public scolding in the streets of Manhattan that cured me of dragging my feet.

Thank you

Your generosity had no limits at times excessively so…almost to a point of ridiculousness…I too have that flawed gift…

Thank You

You introduced me to the finest things – foods – clothes – 1st class travel – shipping ridiculously large American cars to Toulouse…all very show offy of course…but hey! Who cares? It was the 70’s and 80’s…

Thank You

But more than all of those things…

You taught me that the most important things are not things…

You taught me to be a man…a big one…

You taught me to be a father…a just one…

You taught me to love unconditionally…

For everything and for who I am today…

Thank You Papa…

The stars will be happier now that you are dancing amongst them.

They Thank You.

That’s Life – Frank Sinatra

We closed the ceremony over Frank Sinatra, setting colourful flowers on his casket before it was taken away to be incinerated.

We plan to spread his ashes in Holland, hopefully some time in 2021, whenever the COVID-19 pandemic will allow the necessary travel plans to be together.

Teaching Tangents #1 and #2

The tangential new show with a hotly debated title (it was Terrific Tangents, then Terrible Tangents, temporarily for now Teaching Tangents, and it might change again), though fortunately the most important aspect is the question asked by one of James' high school students and we had some great ones in the past couple of weeks. 

 My good friend James D'Souza is a business & psychology high school teacher in London, and he selects one question from his students for us to discuss live on Youtube every week on Sunday 10am UK / 11am Central European Time / 14:30pm India Time / 17:00pm Singapore or Hong Kong Time, on my channel. 

Please leave comments or contact either one of us if you're a student and would like us to maybe select your question for us to discuss in one of our next episodes! 

"What are the best next steps from A-Levels (high school exams) to going in business?"

"How Much do Middle & High School Results Actually Affect your Future?"

Teaching Tangents Pilot: "What's the Biggest Threat to Jobs?"

My good friend James D’Souza is a business & psychology high school teacher in London. A couple of weeks ago he told me his students had a brief that was both marketing and tabletop gaming related, and those being areas of speciality for my, we made a video to record some of my answers to the students’ questions about their business brief.

We enjoyed it so much we thought about trying to broaden the idea to answering young people’s questions, beginning with his high school students, and have a coffee and chat while doing so.

This is the first experimental episode of what we’re calling Terrible Tangents, and the first student question James chose was: “What’s the Biggest Threat to Jobs?”

Enjoy, and I’d love what you think of it if you watch it!

Tune in next Sunday 10am UK / 11am Central European Time for the next like episode of Teaching Tangents on my Youtube channel!

Introducing Playful Strategy

[Subscribe or listen to the podcast on: Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play Music, RSS feed. Please share with friends, and give the show a 5* rating and a review if you enjoy it!]

I can’t believe it’s already been nearly three months since the last episode I published for the podcast!

I’ve been spending time formulating what Ice Cream for Everyone is about, and finally got to a version I’m happy to share, and is on my updated website front page as well.

In the episode I’m quite simply sharing what I’ve been up to over the winter, this sort of manifesto, and a set of personal beliefs that I’ve been working on and helped me refine what the website, and this show is about – without changing much or anything of what I’ve been doing so far.

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IceCream for Everyone is a Playful Strategy Consultancy.

IceCream is often associated with happy thoughts and memories, perhaps ofchildhood, simpler times.

IceCream is also surprisingly complex chemically, technically an emulsion, acombination of two or more liquids that don’t normally mix together.

IceCream exists in a seemingly contradictory and ephemeral state, creating adelicious combination as a result.

Icecream requires the right ingredients, methodology, and temperature to go fromcomplex chemistry to a simple desert. Similarly, we use creativity, play, andcommunication to go from complex situations to simple solutions with ourclients.

Webelieve play, communication, and creativity are powerful assets for thedevelopment of businesses, brands, and everyone.

Webelieve dogma, bigotry, and blandness, are a hindrance to the development ofbusinesses, brands, and everyone.

Playfulstrategy is the application and use of structured play, and sometimes games, todefine and solve challenges in a business environment.

Playfulstrategy provides a recreational oriented state of mind fostering high levels ofreasoning, insightful problem solving, and empathy for participants.

Weplay with elements that don’t seem to normally mix together and combine theminto powerful ideas with our clients.

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A few of the things mentioned in the episode:

• Faris & Rosie Yakob’s Genius Steals Consultancy
• Willem’s Guest edition of the Strands of Genius email newsletter
• Sweathead podcast with Mark Pollard
• The Strategy Inside Everything with Adam Pierno
• Sam Harris introduces the Waking Up Course (10 min audio)
• Penguin Talks, The Future of Education with Pr. Yuval Noah Harari and Russell Brand (Youtube)
• Russian Doll (Netflix)
• Dave Made A Maze
• American Gods (Novel & TV Series)

Golden Triangles of Heavenly Splendour [Ice Cream Sundae]

Image Credit: Daniel Oines

This newsletter was first published via email on the 29th May 2016. You can also sign up to receive Ice Cream Sundae by filling the form on the right-hand side column or here (since then the newsletter format changed from long to shorter form).

I was just browsing around for writing inspiration and checked some of my first blog posts from 2007. I’d started a series about my favourite brands back then, it seems like a good idea to bring the idea back in an updated version. This is the first of new Sundae series about my favourite brands, starting with a guilty pleasure I’m pretty much addicted to: Doritos.

The name itself comes the charming Spanish word “doradito” which translates as “a little golden” or “golden brown”.

You’ll also be glad to find there are persistent themes in my interests given the product was originally created and sold at the Casa de Fritos in Disneyland in California. I am of course referring to the previous Sundae newsletters I wrote about theme parks and roller coasters. Apparently some day in 1964 they found themselves with surplus tortilla, decided to cut them up in triangles and fry them like the traditional Totopo Mexican chips. They added some dry powder seasoning and they became very popular.

They were quickly overwhelmed by the amount of people who wanted the addictive triangles and a couple of years later Doritos was born, the first tortilla chip brand to be launched nationwide in the United States. Now with a global 39% market share, Doritos is the largest tortilla chip brand in the world.

I’m a complete sucker for crisps (or chips, depending where you’re reading this), particularly corn crisps and these little triangles come first on my list. They crunch and taste amazing. It’s also a family thing: I have 3 siblings and whenever we meet, you can sure there’ll be a bag of them close by.

Of course you may be reading this and thinking they’re disgusting cesspools of fat and chemicals, and you may be right. Then again, put one in your mouth and you might reconsider. Maybe chemicals like flavor and conservation agents aren’t all that bad. Doritos got a lot of flack over the years for the potentially artificial nature of their ingredients. Years ago the satirical news website The Onion published a fun article about Doritos celebrating their “One Millionth Ingredient”.

From a product innovation, branding and communications perspective Doritos is consistently one of the most interesting brands out there.

They’ve been making interesting efforts for a long time, for example you might remember the legendary product placement scene in Wayne’s World includes Nacho cheese flavoured Doritos. I used to know every single line of dialogue of the whole movie when I was a teenager, if ever you were wondering what I was doing with my time back then, a few hours involved watching and re-watching Wayne’s World.

Doritos have been associated with the Super Bowl for a long time, the most watched TV event in the US and most expensive and anticipated from an advertising perspective. Recently the average cost to air a 30 second ad during the Super Bowl went from $4 million the past few years to $4.5 million.

I believe it was in 2006 they started the “Crash the Super Bowl” marketing campaign, as far as I know one of the first successful examples of crowd sourcing and getting fans involved in the creative concepts and videos advertising Doritos. It was organised as a competition, anyone could submit video adverts and the winners would be aired during the Super Bowl. Given how successful it became they reiterated the campaign several times, and Doritos ads are now among the most anticipated during the Super Bowl. They’re often weird, funny and quirky.

The first winner “Live The Flavour” aired during the Super Bowl in 2007, the first ever consumer created TV ad to appear during the popular sporting event and raked the fourth best ad according to the USA Today Ad Meter Poll. Subsequent research showed Doritos saw a 12% increase in sales in the month following the ad and close to one million people visited the website where they could see all the Doritos from other competition finalists. They were expecting about 200 competition entries for the first year and received over 1,100.

In a good example of demonstrating it’s not worth changing a winning team – a French saying: “On ne change pas une équipe qui gagne” – the following year Doritos attempted to change the successful formula to offer musicians to “Crash the Super Bowl” but that ended up nowhere near as popular as the previous year so they brought the ads back and have been doing it very ever since.

Among my favourite finalist videos over the years two deserve particular mentions and are worth checking out: Goat 4 Sale and Finger Cleaner.

Doritos are known for a wide variety of flavours they test for different markets around the world and adapt their flavourings to better suit tastes in various parts of the world. They brilliantly leverage the product for promotion and advertising purposes as well. I believe that started with the X-13D Flavour Experiment campaign. As per their current brand tagline “For the Bold” it takes being bold to decide it would be a great idea to remove your branding and packaging to release a mystery flavour and open it as a competition for consumers to guess what the flavour is. The bag of chips was just plain black with “X-13D” in large white print on the packaging. Youtube and Facebook were just rising in popularity at the time and thousands of people posted videos of their tasting the mystery chips, which turned out to be cheeseburger flavoured.

People love Doritos and there are hundreds of thousands of videos on Youtube taste testing and reviewing all sorts from the brand, such as testing these Japanese Clam Chowder flavoured Doritos.

Doritos regularly plays around with flavours, Roulette is one of the latest from a couple of years ago and that they now bring back as a seasonal special flavour (I’ve seen it in shops in London last week). It’s a bag of Nacho Cheese chips with the added twist that one chip in every handful is a really hot chilli flavoured one. The ad here with furries for some reason.

Dorito Loco Taco is  hailed as one of the most successful products in fast food history.

I haven’t tried them unfortunately, though I’m afraid I might be as disappointed as every time I try a special large chain fast food item. I never find them as exciting as the ad claims. These speciality items are the result of a partnership between Doritos and fast food chain Taco Bell. It’s basically a taco in a Dorito shell including the original branding and flavouring. One of the stories in an article I read and linked to mentions someone who drove over 900 miles to get their hands on one of those when they had just launched in a few restaurants in California to test the market. A couple of years ago they were already selling over a million of these every day, over a $1 billion worth of revenue in sales in 2014.

In 2013 Doritos updated their logo, packaging design and adopted their first global campaign line and theme to be consistent across all countries where the tortilla chips are sold: For The Bold. Before the 25 different packaging designs existed around the world. The brand believed in today’s connected world where everyone accesses pretty much the same social media platforms it didn’t make sense to try and modify the product for different countries.

They are activating the campaign with a yearlong effort to find people ready to beat 50 different world records, all involved Doritos chips in some way. Examples provided are “Tallest house of cards made with Doritos” or “Farthest distance of Dorito chip tossed into mouth”.

Of course Doritos are to be consumed with moderation. I’m feeling a little peckish after writing about all this. I think I may well have to walk down to the shop later today and get myself a little bag of Doritos.

If you read last week’s edition about classic video games, I mentioned Game Camp London. Now I’ve published my first live audience recording for my audio podcast, it was a fun conversation. It’s here if you’d like to check it out.

If any of your friends are Doritos lovers too, please forward this Sundae over to them, they might enjoy reading more about their marketing and branding efforts.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

All the best,
Willem

Spring in Full Swing: Bond Villain & Branding May Day [Ice Cream Sundae]

Image Credit: Takashi .M

This newsletter was originally published via email on the 1st May 2016. You can also sign up to receive Ice Cream Sundae with the form on the right-hand side column or here (The newsletter format shifted from long to shorter form since).

Sometimes the date is helpful to avoid spending that much time wondering what I should be writing about. Easter was the last seasonal event I wrote about and I’m gladly going with the easy route here making this Sundae about May Day.

About help, I just found out the Mayday distress signal used mainly by aviators and mariners come from the French “m’aidez” Short for “venez m’aider” (Come and help me). A radio officer in London Croydon Airport invented the procedure in 1923. Much of the air traffic was between London and Paris at the time, so they wanted to make sure they came up with something everybody could easily understand. When used, the signal is to be repeated three times to make sure it isn’t mistaken for another similar sounding word.

May 1^st is a public holiday in many countries, including the UK. When I moved to London I remember asking colleagues what the May Day Bank Holiday was celebrating and none of them knew. The consensus seemed to be that I should be happy it’s a public holiday and enjoy it without asking so many questions.

One of my all time favourite operas, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, was performed for the very first time in Vienna on May 1^st 1786. 

The beautiful overture is an excellent excuse to provide a musical theme while you’re reading this. I’m listening to the whole opera while writing this.

May Day is an ancient spring festival celebrated in many European countries, rooted in pagan traditions. It apparently comes from Floralia, the Roman spring festival in honour of Flora, Goddess of flowers. In Latin, it was called “Ludi Florae” The Games of Flora. You probably know by now that I like games so that got my attention. The Roman festival celebrated flowers and fertility in a pleasure and fun seeking atmosphere. The Games were organised for the people of Rome, and remaining texts from that time tell us the entertainment in 68 AD featured a tightrope-walking elephant. In case you’re wondering what that looks like, here’s a video of an elephant walking a tightrope in a Thai zoo. I’m not sure what they have to do to train the elephant or if it’s a good thing for the animal altogether.

As mentioned, flowers are an important part of the celebrations. In France, it’s traditional to buy and gift a few strands of “muguet”, lily of the valley. Legend says giving the small white bell shaped flowers goes back to the 16^th century. French king Charles IX was visiting the South of France with his mother Catherine de Medici in 1560, their host Chevalier Louis de Girard de Maisonforte gave the young king the flowers from his garden for good luck. The king appreciated the gesture and decided to make it a recurring event. He would give ladies of the court lily of the valley every spring. The tradition quickly extended to the whole country and is alive and well to this day. There’s a folk song about it too.

A slightly mysterious recurring tradition of May Day celebrations is the Maypole erected in the centre of the festival.

Typically a wooden pole, sometimes decorated with greenery, flowers and ribbons tied to it. It is primarily found in Germanic countries, and people dance around the maypole during the spring festivities. We know the origins of the practice are old, dating from days of Germanic paganism of the Iron Age (Which includes Norse religions and more).

Unfortunately the exact significance of the maypole was lost on the way, even though the tradition remains. Folklorists continuously debate the meaning of the maypole. Some believe there is a relation with the Norse cosmological tree connecting the nine worlds, Yggdrasil. Others think it is a symbol of the world axis. Some ideas are also related to the pole as a phallic symbol and related to the idea of fertility associated with spring celebrations. Unsurprisingly people like Sigmund Freud supported these ideas.

As far as I know it is the rare seasonal holiday that doesn’t boast much by way of promotional marketing stuff. Some stores have sales going on but advertising symbols don’t immediately come to mind as they do for Easter or Christmas – speaking for myself in any case.

I wonder what the promotions or advertised products and services could look like for May Day.

Pizza Hut spring flower topping special? KFC Zinger spring chicken combo? How about a Durex branded maypole? That might be a step too far. To keep this on safer grounds, McDonalds could make up a May Day Menu featuring a spring onion burger.

These may or may not sound like fun. If I were to devise a marketing and brand strategy, I would start by identifying and specifying the challenge to solve or opportunity to take advantage of. Until this is clearly established there is no particular frame of reference to evaluate whether spending your marketing budget on sponsoring a series of May Day village fetes may or may not be a better idea than organising a competition for a lucky customer to win a dream summer holiday.

In a similar fashion to the kind of freedom the School of Communications Arts 2.0 students I’ve been recently mentoring have, May Day is an open brief here so I can make up whatever I want as long as it sounds plausible.

I could choose a specific brand and think about the marketing activities they could run at this time of year. As strange as it may sound, in this case it sounds like more fun to imagine for a moment I’m in charge of the brand called May Day. My next steps would be to ask many questions, such as: What are the values and attributes of this brand? What does May Day represent for people?

I was also reminded May Day is a James Bond villain’s henchwoman in A View to a Kill, the 1985 film starring Roger Moore, Christopher Walken as the villain Max Zorin who wants to destroy the Silicon Valley. Grace Jones plays May Day, Zorin’s lover and chief henchwoman, apparently ridiculous strong. While an interesting anecdote, it’s unlikely to be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of May Day as a brand. We can probably safely remove it from the equation.

As stated earlier on, May Day is about springtime. It’s about the revival of life after sleepy winter. It’s about days getting longer, the sun getting slightly warmer, bright colours, flowers and fertility. I could keep writing more concepts and in a professional setting I probably would because there is interesting meaning to consider tied to all these ideas. This is an enjoyable part of my job that brings us into the territory of semiotics, that is the study of meaning-making, sign processes and meaningful communication.

The main message of May Day as a brand could be something like: “spring in full swing.”

The mood is merry, chipper.

The function is to celebrate life.

The action involves dancing.

The effect is infectious fun.

The result is fertility, the creation of new life.

If we were designing a logo and branded materials, we’d likely choose green as a dominant colour.

This would be the start of defining the May Day brand. If we pursued this into strategic territories, we might consider the place of that event in the yearly calendar and how it differs or resembles other holidays like Christmas or Halloween. This is only one of the many aspects we could research to further develop this as a brand strategy.

While I’ve occasionally heard people tell me this kind of branding exercise is a lot of hot air (and admittedly in some cases I agree with them), when taken seriously and done well the brand strategy can and should form a strong foundation for any business. This can meaningfully inform all the business activities from product design, distribution, human resources, internal communications, marketing communications or customer service.

Possibly and ironically jarring with all this branding and marketing jargon, May 1^st is also the International Worker’s Day.

It’s a celebration of working classes and labourers promoted by international labour movements, socialists, communists and anarchists. The date was chosen in 1889 by newly formed Second International in Paris.

The date was chosen to commemorate the Haymarket Affair, the aftermath of a bombing that took place during a labour demonstration on May 4^th 1886 in Chicago. What started as a peaceful rally of workers striking and demanding eight-hour working days turned ugly when someone threw a dynamite bomb at the police. Seven officers and at least four civilians were killed, and many more wounded. May Day has become focal point for demonstrations by various worker’s unions, socialist, communist and anarchist groups.

When I lived in Perpignan last year, the building of the largest union in France, la CGT (General Confederation of Labour), happened to be across the small street from my room. That’s why on May 1^st last year loud recording & chanting of The Internationale by a group of unionists suddenly woke me up. That was followed by several speeches reminding me of all the progress acquired by workers over the years, from eight-hour long working days to paid holidays, as well as what was left to struggle about in their view. Speeches were interspersed with partisan and revolutionary song favourites like Motivés, Bella Ciao or La Cucaracha.

This is a whole different direction you could easily go in for a May Day brand strategy, worker’s have been associating meaning to the day for over a century and some parts of the world brand idea associations with worker’s rights and struggles are perhaps stronger than ideas of spring time and fertility.

There is rarely only one best answer to developing a brand strategy. In the meantime, whether you associate today with spring or with worker’s rights, have a fantastic Sunday however you celebrate it.

If you’d like to check out more Ice Cream content, I’ve published a fun conversation with Alexis Kennedy and Cash DeCuir from FailBetter Games who design and develop a fabulous online subterranean Victorian Gothic narrative game called Fallen London. The game is available for free online and now on iPhone application as well if you want to check it out.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this newsletter and know a friend who will too, please forward it on to them.

Till’ next week!

Best,
Willem

Sex, Dopamine & Roller Coaster Rides [Ice Cream Sundae]

Image Credit: Doug Letterman

This newsletter was first published via email on 24th April 2016. You can also sign up to receive Ice Cream Sundae by filling the form on the right-hand column or here (since then the newsletter format changed from long to shorter form).

Spring is taking its time to show up here in London, the weather has been relatively chilly, alternating cloudy drizzle and sunshine for the past few days. Fortunately I don’t mind the weather, I’m happy to be back in London.

I’m still looking for a new freelance project to work on, and keeping my eyes out for full time roles in case something interesting comes up. In the meantime I started mentoring at the School of Communications Arts 2.0, a fantastic opportunity to work on exciting creative briefs with students. In addition to writing the weekly newsletter I’m slowly working to build a library of drafts for future editions as well. The podcast takes time too: scheduling and recording interviews, editing existing episodes and publishing weekly. Throw in some time to catch up with friends, do a few interesting things around London and my week is pretty full.

Sometimes I wonder how long I’ll be able to sustain writing these weekly essays with everything else, but so far so good. I’m contemplating the idea of seasons, like for TV series. I might take a break over the summer for a few weeks. This is the 30^th Sundae; 30 weeks in a row, rain or shine. I’ll give myself a pat on the back for that. There, done.

Last week’s Sundae was pretty serious (for me at least), so this week I’m revisiting another one of my informal thematic series, those of you who subscribed a while ago might remember I wrote about theme parks in a series I called “A few of my favourite things”. Cue tunes from the Sound of Music. You can think of this new one as a companion piece. Last time I wrote about theme and amusement parks in general, now I’ll dive more specifically about some of these parks most important rides: roller coasters.

In France and much of continental Europe, they’re called Russian Mountains (“Montagnes Russes”) because that’s where the idea originally comes from.

“A good roller coaster is better than sex.”

~Michael Quinn, Letters to the Editor, Oui Magazine, January 1978

Depending on sources, the first Russian Mountains seem to have been built in the 17^th century. It was a winter entertainment activity, essentially giant adult sized ice slides. They would build two facing timber towers, generally around 21 to 24 metres high (70-80 feet) but the highest on record was 60 metres (200 feet)! They’d ice 60 metres long (200 feet) slope on a 50-degree incline supported by wooden beams. Riders would sit on small sleds, most often just a block of ice with a rope to hold on to. They would come to a halt thanks to sand spread at the end of the slope, and then they could climb the stairs of the opposing tower for another go.

Catherine The Great liked these so much she asked for a summer version to be designed and built at her private residence. Instead of ice and sleds, it had rudimentary wheeled carts on grooved tracks. In the early 19^th century, the French took the idea of the Russian Mountains and improved on them. They developed many improvements of early roller coasters, including the first loop in 1846.

As mentioned in an earlier Sundae about childhood fears, I was really afraid of roller coasters when I was younger. Now I love them. I started researching the hormonal mechanics of fear, pleasure and thrill seeking, though I’m probably only touching the surface for now.

I love this anonymous quote from a roller coaster designer:

“My job is basically to get as close to making people poop their pants as possible, then have them step off in ecstasy and want to go again.”

I can’t remember for sure the first roller coaster I went on and enjoyed. I think it was at Parc Asterix near Paris, known for a few good thrill rides, in particular Goudurix, a steel coaster open since the beginning of the theme park in 1989. It held the European record for the greatest number of inversions until 1995: 7. It’s known among enthusiasts as a rough and uncomfortable ride. I still loved it. I loved the traditional wooden coaster they built a few years later even more, Tonnerre de Zeus. Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris was also one of my favourites for a long time. As opposed to the traditional ride in America, this one featured a launched train rather than a lift, so you start the ride going really fast, and inversions.

Different people have different reactions to fear and excitement, in particular our brains release more or less of the hormones generated by instinctive fight or flight reactions. Dopamine is probably the most important one, usually called the pleasure or reward hormone. While complex in a way I admit to barely understand, dopamine has also been a hot topic in the world of branding and marketing these past few years. I may have already mentioned Simon Sinek’s Start with Why talk and book where he talks about dopamine release, pleasure and reward.

Brands aspire to generate a positive emotional trigger among consumers going above and beyond the functional or rational purpose of the products or services they promote.

I’ve been listening to this interesting podcast episode about branding and marketing from the perspective of the Cracked comedic website team. Another great classic reference is Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout. The book treats with the idea of positioning a brand with meaning in the heads of people to the level of belonging to a collective unconscious.

What are the first words that come to mind when you read Coca-Cola? How about Volvo? And Nike? A brilliant visual example is the brand tags experiment, a simple idea showing how brands exist in people’s heads. It shows both some of the ideas the brand intentionally wants associated with them, like Coca-Cola and love, or Volvo and safety, and notions people have like an idea association between Nike and child labour. The site has 1.7 million tags so far, you can go and add a few more if ever you’re bored.

Back to roller coasters and thrill seeking in general. As I said, some people get more dopamine, adrenaline and endorphins from experiencing those kids of thrills. That’s why some people like them, others less so. And then one more ingredient is essential to end with a pleasurable experience: safety.

A truly safe environment is the key to really enjoy a scary roller coaster ride or a similar thrilling experience.

It’s a fine line between the safe environment giving us the confidence boost that follows the exciting or thrilling sensation of a roller coaster ride, and the ‘real’ experience of fear. Safety is the most important aspect of roller coaster design and where they naturally spend the most time. I feel reassured and apprehensive in about equal measures getting on board a roller coaster; the restraints make me feel like I’m in safe hands to enjoy the thrill of the ride.

Even for all the safety work that goes into roller coasters these days, there are still accidents, as the tragedy crash that happened last year at Alton Towers in the UK and cost two women their legs. Just this week they admitted the crash was due to human error and health and safety features. There is risk involved, but then again there’s risk involved in living any day, every day. According to this article you are way more likely to die or be injured while fishing than riding a roller coaster. In fact, if you’re in the UK somehow they calculated that your average chance of dying of any cause today is one in 41,667. Pretty gruesome, though luckily we don’t have to think about that all the time or else we would probably stop enjoying every pleasurable vice in life.

I recently learned from a friend that her parents first met on a roller coaster ride, and while researching for this Sundae I also learned there is a belief associated with some research in neuroscience stating you are more likely to be attached or attracted to someone if you meet them for the first time in a strongly emotional situation, fearful or happy. We associate the memory with the people we shared an experience with.

I rode the oldest roller coaster still operating: The Cyclone on Coney Island, New York with my brother and my little nephew back in 2003.

It was built in the early 20^th century, opening in 1927. It makes a ridiculous amount of noise, the old carts are rickety and only feature lap restraints. It was heaps of fun. I loved it! My little nephew was absolutely terrified at first and then started to enjoy the ride. As per the earlier quote, by the time it was over he wanted another go.

The last theme park I visited with friends was Universal Studios in Singapore a few years ago and it doesn’t have that much by way of roller coasters, though there are two racing ones based on a Battlestar Galactica theme that were good fun. I’d love to go back to a theme park soon. Summer is coming up, maybe a visit to Alton Towers, Port Aventura in Spain or maybe even somewhere in the US could be a fun idea. If you’re into the idea of joining me for this, please give me a shout!

I’m sure the opening quote about roller coasters being better than sex is debatable. Talking about sex, I published an interview with Cindy Gallop in my podcast this week if you’d like to check it out. She is a renowned public speaker in the branding and advertising industry and also has a business called “Make Love Not Porn” dedicated to promote and talk about sex in a different way than pornography represents it. We had a fascinating conversation, though of course I’m biased in recommending it.

If ever you have any feedback or questions for me about the newsletter or the podcast I’m always happy to hear from you and reply. Lastly, if you know a friend who likes roller coasters and might appreciate reading this, please forward it to them.

All the best, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Cheers
Willem

Peanut Butter Cookies & The Sad Time I Was on TV [Ice Cream Sundae]

This newsletter was originally published via email on the 17th April 2016. You can also sign up to receive Ice Cream Sundae with the form on the right-hand side column or here (The newsletter format shifted from long to shorter form since).

Early in my career, I worked as a production manager for Landmark Worldwide in Paris.

It’s an international personal and professional growth, training & development company.

I first did an adapted version of their flagship course, the Landmark Forum, for young people when I was 9 years old.

I don’t remember that much of it now. The chairs were kind of uncomfortable, and I loved the giant peanut butter cookie I had at lunchtime.

I’ve been considering writing a Sundae series about my experiences with Landmark Worldwide for a little while now.

They offer courses for individuals and businesses, the main intention being that participants create new possibilities for success, fulfilment and greatness, whatever their goals may be.

Over 2.4 million people have participated in Landmark programmes from around the world.

The Landmark Forum is a practical enquiry into what it means to be human, questioning areas we all have in common like how we listen, how we relate to our family or colleagues, or what we complain about. It offers a methodology to achieve personal and professional results beyond what looks usual and predictable.

Many celebrities, authors and famous business people have talked about the benefits they received from these courses, like Neil Patrick Harris, Chuck Pahlaniuk, Michael J Parker or Peter Diamandis (in this episode of the Tim Ferriss Show).

Their business branch is called Vanto Group and their client list boasts names like Apple, Reebok, ExxonMobil, GSK, Microsoft, NASA and JP Morgan Chase. Paul Fireman, former CEO of Reebok, said the company’s price stock jumped “from the $6 or $7 range to $25 to $30 range” after he introduced his employees to the Landmark training.

From my perspective as a marketing & brand strategist, it’s interesting that for the most part Landmark successfully relies on word of mouth marketing.

Word of mouth marketing is the most valuable, cost effective and most likely to drive sales form of marketing.

According a recent Nielsen market research study, recommendations from friends and family remain the most credible form of advertising globally. 83% of respondents across 60 countries say they trust the recommendations of friends and family.

To improve your own word of mouth marketing you need to build a foundation for it, bake it in your product or service (to steal the words from Alex Bogusky and John Winsor from their excellent book, Baked In: Creating Products and Businesses that Market Themselves).

Word of mouth marketing is only as good as the quality and trust customers place in your product, service and brand.

In the case of Landmark, I admire the fact this seems to be designed in from the ground up. When I get great results or achieve new goals in life I naturally talk about it with my friends and family.

For example, I stopped smoking while doing a course with Landmark in Singapore a couple of years ago. I told people around me that I’d stopped smoking, they’d ask me how and so I’d talk about the course and recommend it.

The tried and traditional approach to increase word of mouth marketing is simply asking customers to recommend your products and services.

Landmark is open about the fact that participants are going to be encouraged to participate in another course or invite friends to find out about the Forum.

I’ve participated in a number of Landmark courses; I always learn a lot and receive great value from them.

My mother first participated in these kinds of courses in the late 70s and 80s. If you’ve watched the TV show The Americans, you might have heard Susan Misner’ character Sandra Beeman mention going to her “EST course”. EST stood for Erhard Seminars Training and got pretty big in the United States then. Big enough to be mentioned in a TV show produced now, anyways.

It was designed and founded by Werner Erhard, recently dubbed “The Father of Self-Help” in a New York Times article. As explained in the article above, a controversial episode of the 60 Minutes TV show in the US destroyed Werner Erhard’s reputation in 1991. He stepped down and sold the company to a group of employees who rebranded it as Landmark.

All the controversial content from the show was later proven to be false. According to this other cited article, that 60 Minutes episode was so riddled with discrepancies that CBS deleted it from their public archive.

Growth, training & development companies and performance coaching has been going mainstream in the past 10-15 years.

I talk about Landmark courses and what I get out of them in any number of situations from job interviews to board level client meetings and conversations with friends.

I had lunch with a professional acquaintance just a few months ago and we talked about how interesting it is that openly talking about this kind of performance coaching, training and development used to be a little taboo, while now it’s pretty much accepted across the board.

Meanwhile, other people aren’t interested in this stuff and that’s fine, of course.

What’s less fine by me is when people, or more often the media, go as far as discrediting and slandering this type of work with little to no evidence.

I’m absolutely for objective criticism and rational discussion for everything, including Landmark or their courses.

I trust if you’ve been reading this far you’re smart enough to evaluate this story rationally.

In 2004, a prime time investigative journalism show called “Pièces à Conviction” aired an episode about Landmark. The episode was titled “Voyage au Pays des Nouveaux Gourous”  (“Journey to the land of new gurus”).

I was working for Landmark in Paris at the time. We were 4 employees in the Paris office, and we had just moved to a smaller office to save money on operating expenses.

About 2-3 days before the show was programmed to air we received a call from the production company in charge. That’s when we first learned about it.

I think they were legally obliged to tell Landmark they were airing a piece, though I understand they waited the last possible minute to call. No representative from Landmark was invited to participate.

We learned a guy had been filming with an undercover camera for the past 4 to 6 months.

He’d done a few different Landmark courses and came by the office regularly too.

We all thought he was a nice guy, I’d chatted with him a few times.

To this day, I have a hard time believing he really thought there was anything particularly controversial going on in the office or in the course rooms.

A few days later we gathered to watch the show in the office. I was hoping the show would be objective, but the chances seemed fairly slim.

As soon as the Halloween style horror music kicked off, it was pretty obvious they didn’t have rational criticism in mind.

For more on this, this excellent episode of Film Riot explains how music can shape and manipulate a film scene for the audience.
Additional visual editing elements included coloured image overlays with targets. I think this was because the vast majority of hidden camera content wasn’t particularly exciting or offensive (people talking about their lives in a hotel room or in the Landmark office), so they had to ramp up the excitement factor somehow.

Suffice to say the whole show was highly critical of Landmark and its activities.

At some point in the show, I recognised myself with one of those black labels over my eyes, hiding my identity as effectively as glasses hide Superman when posing as Clark Kent.

At 24 years old, I was devastated to see myself on TV, suspected of being some kind of weird cult guru.

It is one of the saddest and most insulting experiences I’ve ever had.

If I remember correctly all I was doing was talking to the undercover camera guy about his career because he’d asked for coaching. At worst I was doing my job and promoting a course.

It wasn’t a very long scene, nor was I the main target of the show.

Still, definitely not an experience I wish on anyone.

I’ve never been the guru of anyone or anything in my life.

If you know me at all, you realise how ludicrous that idea is.

I’m certainly not saying Landmark is perfect. I really don’t think anyone or any company is perfect anyway.

All I’m saying is I can vouch for the quality of their courses from my personal experience as a participant and former employee. If ever you have any questions about it, I’m always happy to talk.

The damage from the 2004 French TV show about Landmark is done but I hope there will be more chances for balanced and objective reviews of their courses in France in the future.

Fortunately it’s not all doom and gloom. Trustworthy media outlets such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Huffington Post, Psychology Today, Forbes,The Wall Street Journal and many more have published objective articles and reviews about Landmark courses.

Thanks for reading, as always I really appreciate your time and attention. I hope you enjoyed it!

Whilst we’re on the topic of word of mouth marketing, please share this with a friend 😉

To finish on a completely different note, if you want to check out more Ice Cream stuff this week on the podcast I had a fun conversation with Tom Williams, the founder of A Door in a Wall, a London based murder mystery treasure hunt gaming events.

Till’ next week!

Cheers
Willem

Playing Football With Care Bears in Tanzania [Ice Cream Sundae]

This newsletter was originally published via email on the 10th April 2016. You can also sign up to receive Ice Cream Sundae with the form on the right-hand side column or here (The newsletter format shifted from long to shorter form since).

I first found out about The Great Football Giveaway thanks to a post in my friend Neil’s blog, I think back in 2008 if memory serves. I was immediately hooked by the simple and compelling idea: 1 ball = £10

Thanks to donations from supporters, The Great Football Giveaway organises trips to go and give footballs and netballs directly to children to play with, in poor and remote areas of rural African countries. I highly recommend watching this short video about the project; it really says it all and more. If your heart doesn’t melt watching it you might be on your way to become like Professor Coldheart, I’m afraid even the Care Bears can’t help you.

Quick parenthesis to give you the chance to read this Sundae along with music; last week my good friend James recommended checking out an event his friend John was putting on at The Social in London. He used to organise large Afro-beat parties in China under the name No Go Die a few years ago. The music was excellent for dancing and appropriate for this Sundae about Africa. Here’s a good No Go Die mix, I’m listening to it while writing this.

Back to our main topic, I loved the simplicity of it: £10 = 1 ball.

Stripping down an initiative to an extremely simple proposition, getting to the essence of a message is exactly the kind of challenges I tackle as a marketing and brand strategist. This is the kind of clarity I aspire to as a result of my work.

You know exactly what you’re getting and what is being done with the money.

Moreover, you’ll be shown. Supporters get updates about each trip as it’s taking place: photos, videos and even their personalised messages on balls. Supporters know exactly what happened the day the ball they donated £10 for was given.

Nobody says it’s going to solve the world’s toughest issues.

It’s not feeding the hungry or curing diseases.

It is however going to make the day of one or several children in rural Africa who likely only had bunched up plastic supermarket bags tied with string to use as a makeshift ball until then.

It brings play and the widest smiles on faces you’ve ever seen. The joy is infectious, whole communities, schools and sometimes even entire villages join the kids to play ball and have fun.

It’s serendipitous.

It’s a gift.

It’s sheer happiness.

After all, what else are we after?

And if you can afford it, that’s definitely worth £10.

I also find this kind of project fascinating because it’s a positive difference made on a micro-scale, for one or several kids somewhere in rural Africa.

Of course it doesn’t replace initiatives that I’d qualify of acting at a macro-scale; large non-profit organisations like Save the Children or UNICEF being good examples. I’m no expert on the way they operate, though I understand their goals, infrastructure and methods are anchored in a long-term and large-scale view of humanitarian and developmental assistance. We could say it’s more of the “top down” view of making a positive difference.

This doesn’t invalidate organisations and projects working on what could be called “bottom up” initiatives like The Great Football Giveaway. On the contrary, every time they have an occasion to collaborate, larger charities are delighted to get footballs for kids to play with.

TGFG also focuses on remote areas that don’t have as many visits or activities from other charities, an important point of difference. These kinds of initiatives can also be amplifiers of larger charities working with children who might be lacking in simple and playful fun.

Fast forward to 2010; Neil is looking for volunteers to go to Tanzania with him.

Fast forward a couple of years to 2010 and Neil announces on his blog that he is forming one of the first teams of volunteers to raise money for balls and then go give them directly out to kids in rural Tanzania. He was hoping to find two people adventurous enough to follow him; eight of us raised our hands from a variety of backgrounds: advertising, media, coaching, hospitality and sales. Hugh who appeared on my podcast was one, and later my brother Björn and his wife Justine also joined the team.

We raised money through our personal networks and organised a fundraising event in London. In the end we had about 2,000 footballs and netballs, almost as many hand pumps and just under two weeks to go and give them out. We were given a broad geographic area to cover and a one-page sheet with a few bullet-point guidelines about the best ways to give the balls. Things like: “Always give the ball directly to a child, not an adult unless you’re certain they are in a position to give the ball and let the children play fairly (like a school teacher). Other adults might sooner take the ball from kids and play themselves, or sell the ball for cash.”

The rest of the planning was pretty much up to us. The area was the Southeast of Tanzania, one of the country’s poorest. Most of the international attention and assistance in the country goes to the capital, Dar Es Salaam and Arushanear Mount Kilimanjaro. After a little bit of research I suggested we make the small town of Kilwa Masoko on the coast our main base, from there we’d split out to cover more ground in three separate teams in different directions.

We also took a few days to drive down to the town of Lindi, approximately 150 kilometres to the South, and give balls on the way.

The whole experience was so mind-blowing that for months I didn’t know where to start or what to write in my blog about it. It’s definitely one of the best and most exciting things I’ve done in my life. While we don’t necessarily see each other very often, nor are we necessarily close friends, I know the nine of us on this trip remember it dearly. From the first drink we shared after landing in Dar Es Salaam we kicked things off laughing and taking the piss out of each other as if we’d been friends for years. We formed bonds and memories that will last for life.

We all saw the opportunity to contribute to something exciting and fun. We were also all in some kind of important transition, like changing careers or thinking about it.

We improvised and learned on the go. We had three four-wheel drive jeeps with local drivers to also help us translate and make recommendations about the best places to go. The container of balls had been delivered to Kilwa. Every day we’d stop at the container to fill the back of the jeeps with deflated balls. The two sitting in the back would start pumping them full, ready to be given and played with. At least in my jeep, the person in front usually decided where we’d be going, often randomly, or with instructions from a previously met person.

In the jeep we’d say things like, “Hey look, a dirt path there! Let’s turn left and see where it goes” or “I think I spotted a school to the right, let’s check it out!” Whether we’d come across random groups of children, schools, or remote bush villages each day was filled with joy and surprises.

Online research had yielded little results as to other non-profit organisations we could contact in advance, as we had been told this area of the country wasn’t particularly visible or known. Still, Neil had located and contacted an orphanage South of Dar Es Salaam that we could stop and visit on the way to Kilwa. The joy and happiness of the kids playing ball was beautiful. The establishment specialised in getting orphan children off the streets of the capital to care for them and provide them with an education.

Play is vital for children but with a tight budget essential amenities are of course prioritised; footballs, netballs and hand pumps that they couldn’t afford were welcomed and loved.

We organised playful competitions with the children to “win” the balls for the orphanage. In similar circumstances we’d talk with people in charge at the orphanage or schools to quiz the children on lessons they had recently learned. Other times we’d come across a few kids playing and stop to just throw a ball at them.

We were emboldened and excited by our first day, thinking we’d figured this whole thing out. The following day we thought we didn’t planning, closed the large map Neil had set on a table and just pointed on the map to the nearest town, Kilwa Kivinje.

It was a Sunday morning.

We hadn’t paid attention to the day of the week.

It was a chilling experience.

From the moment we showed up and gave a first ball things didn’t go as hoped – it was immediately was stolen from a larger teen who ran away, we saw adults adults stealing balls and fighting over them It was either mass or market day so the centre of town was busy with people, quickly driving a raving crowd to almost assaulting the jeeps of these crazy Mzungu giving brand new footballs away.

The feeling going on was nothing like what we intended, it was aggressive, greedy, with a hint of violence in the air.

We retreated, a little shaken and confused.

We stopped on the way of the town, close by what seemed to be a makeshift football pitch. Some of us started talking about what went wrong with the drivers. Meanwhile, I think it was Darren and Hugh, took a football from a jeep, walked up to the pitch and starting kicking the ball. That attracted the attention of a couple of nearby kids. They invited them to come and play. In no time we had a several groups of kids playing and having fun with us on the pitch.

The drivers helped us organise a quiz to give away a few balls, having the children promise to play together. The magic was back.

We put more thinking into our planning after that. We organised our days around going to schools in the area as a main objective, and branching out from there if we saw random kids, or heard of other worthwhile establishments to visit.

On our way to Lindi we drove by another jeep with a Save the Children logo.

We flagged them down and learned they were a small unit providing pre and post-natal care to women in remote bush villages. We gave them a bunch of balls so they could give them in the much further away villages we wouldn’t have time to visit ourselves. I’d write messages and take photos of all the balls my friends had donated money for, so I could tell them exactly where the money went.

In the evenings, we’d regroup and talk about our experiences of the day, trying to make sense of it all – from sometimes feeling kind of useless with meagre footballs in the face of so much needed in the country like health care, education, infrastructure, clean water, and more. And the following moment, one of us would share one of the magical moments we kept having of sheer happiness of these kids playing. We also had memorable laughs and stories around the dinner table and drinking the local firewater with the actual image of a fire on the label; Konyagi.

We weren’t helping solve tough issues yet we also knew that whatever we were doing was so emotional and magical that I’m certain it was valuable.

I guess this could be what I’d like to leave you with for this newsletter. As we grow up and become adults, we might occasionally take too much of a serious approach to what’s important. We worry about our work, taxes, paperwork, healthcare, retirement, etc.

Of course these are all important but ultimately not the best indicators of happiness or even fulfilment. In your planning of everything serious and important for your life, make sure to leave room for play too.

Whatever play you enjoy: kicking a ball with friends or children, playing a game, finger painting, playing a musical instrument, or even fun behind closed doors with your partner.

Happiness is never far away from play, and that’s kind of invaluable.

If you have £10 to spare or more, why not give a ball to a child somewhere in rural Africa?

Thanks for reading, as every week I really appreciate your time. If you’ve enjoyed it and know someone else who might, can you forward them the email please? Sharing it on social media also works, look to the bottom and you’ll find buttons to post it on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin.

If you’re looking for something to listen to as well, this week I published a fun and fascinating conversation with Anjali Ramachandran for my podcast. Anjali is the Head of Innovation for a global media agency and also co-founded an online support network for women in technology and business, Ada’s List.

To finish, I’ve officially completed my last client project, if ever you hear of anyone looking for a brand & marketing strategist (preferably in London) please keep in touch, I’d be glad to be introduced and find out how I can help.

Till next week!

Cheers
Willem