increasingly, we're being told that we should find some 'thing' for brands to own and associate with - a context for people to tell stories around. Here is a well articulated territory that is just waiting for a brand to seize. It starts here (this is a thread from the LondonByLondon newsletter):
RE: GENTLEMAN
'A friend of mine was telling me something about an eccentric
old down-and-out gentleman who is rumoured to actually be a
very rich property owner. Apparently this guy lives on an
island on the Thames up near Hammersmith. The council have
been trying to evict him but without success... and so on. Is
my friend pulling my leg again? He used to be a journalist so
you never can tell.' - Fivesight
...
Sorry, Fivesight. While I don't have categoric proof, I have
rowed on the Thames for 15 years and not once have I even seen
anyone even vaguely resembling a down-and-out, let alone an old
eccentic, on the eyot upstream of Hammersmith. The houses near
there are very nice, so you would have to be quite mad to prefer
the salt-marsh-i-ness of the island. Not to mention to barrage of
rowing coaches going past quite frequently hurling advice at
their crews ...
- loaf
...
Fivesight, I don't know about your island man but it does bring
to mind this chap in Hackney, William Lyttle, aka The Mole Man,
who has dug loads of tunnels under his and neighbouring houses. I
think he recently got into trouble because the road outside was
on the verge of collapse. Only in Hackney...
Can anyone else think of amusingly-named single men with unusual
living arrangements, eh? Come on readers, write in with your
humorous anecdotes! Each one published gets a *credit*!
"amusingly-named single men with unusual living arrangements" seems like a really good, rich, eccentric ground, full of stories and quirks. At least enough ammo there for a fairly long lasting campaign. A brand like Pimms, but maybe less posh - a eccentric supermini with lots of space in it?
I'm going home now.
