Technology has created some mind-blowing ideas of late.
One rather disturbing development I have come across recently is the Digital Beard. The use of male facial hair as a digital storage device.
Klaus Von Strutenberg a digital pioneer in California has successfully transferred data from optical fibres to the strands of human hair.
Strutenberg's research found that men's beard hair and optical fibres have a very similar molecular structure and they behave in very similar ways.
In 2012, Strutenberg successfully uploaded a Mariah Carey music video to a single bristle.
Tom Yoravinmeon, a volunteer, had his films, playlists, photos and personal information uploaded to his beard via an adapted bristle port and cable.
Strutenberg said, "I know this sounds implausible, but I see the day when Netflix will be able to stream direct to Bluetooth beards. All personal ID, like passports, CV's and bank details will be stored on a hairy chin. Facebook will actually be on the human face."
The trials have not been without controversy. Female scientists and groups like WAB, Women Against Beards, have attempted to disrupt Strutenberg's trials on the basis of inequality. A group of female lawyers, backed by Gillette, have filed a petition to stop the trials on the grounds of sexism. Women, or most women, are unable to grow beards. In response, the research team have tried to digitalise a woman's hair with disastrous results. Strutenberg found the electrical negatively charged impulses from the brain interfered with the positively charged digital information.
One female volunteer's head caught fire when Spotify, (a major sponsor of the trials), tried to upload the complete discography of Dolly Parton to her ponytail. Another volunteer's ears melted when the researchers tried to upload Kim Kardashian's Twitter page to her lustrous bob. An extreme female activist group called Bye Bye Beard, ( The BBB), have been attacking men in San Diego bars with shaving foam. Unperturbed, Strutenberg's team are continuing with their trials and they expect the Digital Beard to be launched in 2018. During the research trials there was one notable discovery. Any advertising or branded content was automatically rejected by beards. The advertising content remained on the hair follicles to be removed later with a fine beard comb. It appears that beards are natural adblockers. Here is a quick film that was smuggled out of Strutenberg's Labs.
In 1994, two students Zane Radcliffe and Graham Davey knocked on my door.
"We got an idea Tone. Can we borrow the whiteboard stand?", they said. "Use it well. Bring it back", I replied. Off they trundled with the portable whiteboard and a few marker pens. Later that same week the boys pinned up an idea for Hornby model train sets at our Friday Review. The campaign showed how they put the whiteboard to good use.This is what they did.
The idea showed many skills. It showed the team could write witty headlines. It showed how they could steal up on an audience and grab their attention. It showed they could write ads that didn't look like ads. It showed they could think in a topical way. Back then railway concourses then were awash with excuses for delayed and cancelled trains. It showed they had smart media thinking.
And it showed they had conviction in their ideas and a bit of mischief. Not many first term ideas at Watford make it to June.
The Hornby campaign did.
I loved the idea. So much so, that a few years ago I found the work in the plans chest. I laminated it and displayed it in my rooms. After Watford, Zane and Graham split. Zane formed a partnership with Mike Oughton and landed a job at Leo Burnett. The Hornby campaign was one of many great ideas in their folio. Zane won tons of awards in his 15 years in advertising. He left London and started his own agency in Scotland called Newhaven. He then left for Northern Ireland and became a best selling author. (London Irish and A Killer's Guide To Iceland were two of his bestsellers.)
In 2015, Zane came back to advertising and is now the Creative Director of AgencyUK in Bath. Zane wanted to inspire the younger creatives in his department to come up with simple, fresh ideas. So he went back into his own plans chest and dug out the Hornby campaign he wrote with Graham when he was a young creative at Watford. Zane also showed it to the Hornby client. The client loved it and bought the idea.
The idea took 21 years to go from the Watford pin boards to the real world. Zane entered the work for The Drum Awards 2015. It won the top prize, The Grand Prix. It also won the prize for headline writing. Good ideas will always be good. Hang on to them. You never know when their time will come.
