jmelewis's posterous

1.Wholesome, simple packaging

Symptoms: Organic handmade approachableness, cartoony illustration, recycled brown cardboard, lowercase handwriting fonts, chatty 'Peter and Jane' style copy that reads like you're talking to a yummy mummy from Clapham.

'We're a bunch of ex city/media people who've married, moved to Cornwall and started a little food company. We love identifying how exruciatingly right-on we are and we're sure you'll buy into our brand of polite oaty goodie, because you want to feel like you're feeding the kids right and smartening up the fridge. And the packet will look great at dinner parties next to your Dualit toaster/Specialized bike etc. We'll gain too because secretly we want to take on the big players, sell out to McDonald's (we all remember Pret, Julian) and buy a Range Rover for the surfboards.

Hats off to the groundbreakers: Pret, Jordan's Mill

Culprits: innocent drinks, Dorset Cereals
 

Antidote: Coca Cola. Water. Alpen.

2.The Old Fashioned Englishy Winglishy Food Company Limited

Farm subsidies not up to what they were a few years back, gotta diversify, so we've gone organic. But wait a minute, says Grandad, this is how it was done years ago... *has 'I can see the light' Belushi moment*
I've got it, let's employ some fancy London types to rebrand us and package our stuff like it was designed pre-war! We can then sell it in a posh Sunday market or a shop up in town.

Cue Copperplate/Edwardian font and grey/green colour scheme. Add curly wurly logo and pictures of the farm helpers (from a distance). Decorate inside of shop with rectangular white tiles, have staff wear 'traditional' aprons etc
Maybe quote the double-barreled name of the Farmer's son who started the thing.

Hats off to the groundbreakers: Linda McCartney?

Culprits: The Thoroughly wild meat co ltd (yes that is their name), The Ginger Pig

Antidote: Smithfield Market, 4am

3.Working Class Food as Hip

And While we're at it, attach dubious placenames to ingredients to add romance (example: 'Ludlow sausage flavour - Tyrells crisps)

*Authors note: on visiting the Ludlow tourist information website, at no point does it even attempt to herald Ludlow as a recognised or celebrated region of Sausage makers, or having any kind of sausage making connection or history. Sounds good though on a crisp packet.

Hats off to the groundbreakers: The Eagle, Damien Hirst's beans on toast menu idea for Quo Vadis

Culprits: S&M cafe (sausage & mash), The Crown Tavern EC1 (fish finger sandwich), most Gastropubs in the UK.

Antidote: Kettners, Bar Italia, Pizza Express

So after much prompting I've finally put together a list of my favourite house tunes from 88-97, all of which have meant a lot to me somewhere at somepoint. Might not be to everybody's taste and I'm sure everyone has their own favourites, but these are some of mine. And before anyone writes off the hardcore tunes, hardcore is house music too, and needs love just like all the rest.

To be released perhaps on the 'Lewis has too much time on his hands' white label.

Let me know your thoughts!

Frankie Knuckles -  tears

Frankie Knuckles produced some of the most soulful American house music ever made. Probably the only true 'classic' on this list, and a rare example of when house music becomes a proper song. They're drippin n droppin...!

Rhythm on the loose - Break of Dawn.

A total tune, what can I say. Big rave, outside, people dancing on speakers as the sun comes up.

Urban Soul - Alright (Sasha Mix)

Takes me back to going to a house party in Brockley where my ex girlfriend lived, the taxi driver dropped us off and 20 mins later I turned round and there he was, dancing in the party. He'd decided to come and join in.

Electropeople - Technoboy 

Can't leave this out. Scouse hardcore from around 1992 which is just one of my favourites.

Unity - Krome n Time
You can't have a list of house music without a bit of hardcore. This is where it was going mental.
And this is where it all goes a bit hazy. Tudor Oaks. Eclipse. I think. A bassline and a break to remember. I had long hair then.

2 Bad Mice - Waremouse 

Darkness. Reminds me of moody car parks and big illegal raves like Equinox in Luton and Proper Stuff in Cambridge. Bonfires, strobes, rain coming in, puffa jackets, pitbulls, crack smoke.

Dee Patten - Who's the Bad Man

So we sacked off the hardcore trying to smarten up and be grown up listening to 'progressive house' drinking champagne and dressing up all shirts and shoes. This was a dark tune with the apache break and sample from 'the harder they come'. Never forget it.

George Morel - Lets Groove.

1993 A solid, groove driven club US garage track with a great repeating melody. Attitude.

Round Two - New day

Moritz Von Oswald made this total classic that for me is another 'tears' about 5 years later.

Mood II Swing - Do it your way

Total toss up between this and 'All night long' but this just pipped it. I'd like the female voice taking on it to contact me about being my personal inspirational life guru. One from my intellectual student days. US deep house that is difficult to better.

Libertylondongirl (Twitter, blog)

LibertyLNDNgirl oozes class from every one of the 140 possible characters she chooses to offer her 11000 odd fashion people twitter followers at that moment.

An excellently timed and entertaining campaign, she gives a compelling insight into the international fashion world, and leads visitors to her effortlessly elegant blog, which just makes me feel like walking down to Bond Street and blowing my millions on Hermés scarves this minute.

Reinforces my happy belief in style over substance.

http://twitter.com/LibertyLndnGirl

Malarkey (twitter)

Andy Clarke is who I would say changed my approach to web design.
Kind of one of the UK web design rock stars (er..that would be an interesting evening) he's been using twitter successfully for longer than most, with regular opinionated tweets that provoke, educate and entertain.
Currently nudging 10000 followers. Which for an essentially non-showbiz techie, is pretty impressive.

http://twitter.com/malarkey

Vicki McLeod (FB, twitter)

Vicki McLeod knows her marketplace, the British expat community of Mallorca and Spain, (she will probably correct me here) and has cleverly built a Facebook following based on what she knows: expats flock together, and love to feel involved in a chatty loop, part of the gang. Vicki sets her tone in a friendly pally manner, and has grounded herself as the 'girl to know in Mallorca' with a Facebook profile that is so many times the hub of information in her social arena, out-doing the so called 'proper' info websites for immediate news, advice, jobs, links, hints, tips and gossip.
How she crams it in is anyone's guess.

http://t.co/LRMFyN5

http://twitter.com/phoenixmediavic

Lots Road Auctions (FB)

Here's an example of a small business using facebook absolutely right. Chelsea auctioneers of all things unique and datey, Lots Road Auctions, with PR guru Andrew Derrick (Socrates International) has built a loyal following of LRA's customers by issuing extremely well written, informed design based product/offer comment on a weekly basis, plopped right into peoples walls, just the right amount not to be annoying. Which as we all know is the key to Facebook. And it's perfect for LRA's Gucci wearing ladies who lunch and jeep driving Fulham decorators for whom twitter would be far too techy.

FB: Lots Road Auctions

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/profile.php?id=100000345259007&ref=ts

Sophy Robson (twitter, blog)

Sophy is an example I've used many times to clients when they ask: "I'm a one-man band with a niche skillset, how to I digitally market myself?"

A shit-hot nail girl, her job is to paint nails nicely. But the point is, she uses an entertaining, well timed twitter campaign to lead people to her excellently edited blog, which forms her website, with a cool design (but not too cool) and just the right amount of extra content to keep you reading, even if you are a bloke for whom nails are slightly low on his list of daily priorities.

Definitely the coolest nail girl in town.

http://twitter.com/sophynails

If clients could have exactly what they wanted

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(Please note- this is not my work, don't know where it comes from so apologies to the author)