ACM’s Distraction In Action #2
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ACM’s Distraction In Action #2
New websites, popcorn thrillers, and Ozzy Osbourne: five links that are dominating our chat
Welcome to your second Distraction In Action email from All Conditions Media, where you get a look at the links and talking points from our team chat, so they can successfully distract you from work just as much as they did us…
1. OUR OLD WEBSITE IS IN THE BIG BIN ICON IN THE SKY 🗑️
Months and months (and months, and months) of planning, researching, referencing, designing, editing, re-editing, collaborating, and re-re-editing finally feel like they’re coming to a close, as we’ve just hit delete on our beloved/loyal/outdated allconditionsmedia.com. Were we sad to see it go? Nah, not really. Because what we currently have in its place is a taste of the mammoth ACM redesign that we’ll be rolling out in the coming weeks. Ask the team what their favourite part of the new holding page is, though, and they won’t say it’s the amazing colours, refreshed logo, empowered new brand motto, or clever animations. Nope, they’ll rave about the fun thing that happens when you move a mouse cursor around the page. Approximately 75 hours of team time have been ‘invested’ into ‘testing’ this little tech flourish since we launched the site. See if you can resist it at allconditionsmedia.com.
We learned: how to massively improve dwell time on a website using a simple mouse-tracking tweak.
2. OZZY OSBOURNE WOULD FIT IN NICELY AROUND HERE
The chances of us ever staying up to watch the Super Bowl on a Sunday are thin. Sifting through the halftime ads with our colleagues the next day, after an early night and a good eight hours of quality sleep? We’re into it. The first to get shared into our team chat on Monday was Workday’s rock-studded commercial, where Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, and more used their telly-hurling, stadium-filling, (alleged) bat-biting credentials to cuss out the corporate shirts that call their colleagues “rock stars” at any given business “win”. Seeing as our new tone of voice guide holds an entire page dedicated to roasting stinky marketing jargon and wafty cliches, we obviously absolutely loved it. So much so that we might even “circle back” on the link later on today. No, sorry, awful. Sorry.
We learned: Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley’s middle name is Bert. Quite surprised.
3. NEVER START A RESEARCH PROJECT (WITHOUT READING THIS)
At the tail end of last year, we polished off a research project for adidas Five Ten that, ultimately, led a selection of our team to believe they sounded like Zippy from Rainbow. Turns out, this is the sort of lasting effect you can expect from transcribing more than 30 hours of your own voice - enough to dent even the steeliest of human psyches. Luckily, the project was all about BMX and MTB cultures, and the results were intriguingly unexpected, so the small identity crises came good in the end. We still talk about that project, and how proud we are of the work that went into nailing such an industry-changing piece of research, on the regular.
We learned: BMXers might be the last bastions of the nu-metal genre, if the quotes we gathered from pro and amateur riders are to be believed.
4. ARC’TERYX > NETFLIX THIS WEEKEND
Netflix has started palming its billy club again, with more threats of cracking down on password-‘borrowing’ subscription dodgers. It means the days of using your ex twice removed’s streaming account might be numbered. Never mind, though! After their massive For The Love Of Winter film tour (that stopped in London, Paris, Munich, and Oslo, before finishing at the Freeride Academy in St. Anton), Arc’teryx has just released a whole lazy weekend’s worth of adventure viewing from the event. Our hi-tech algorithm (aka the account managers on our team) has settled on Sunbirds as your Friday night cinematic treat, Good Medicine as your Saturday hit of wild escapism, and Yours Truly as your Sunday back-to-work energiser. Five popcorns out of five, all round.
We learned: Canada’s Chic-Choc mountains (as seen in Sunbirds) look as fun as they sound.
5. WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU
While you were frantically thrashing your mouse across our new holding page to outrun that streaming tail of outdoor images, you may have seen the words Take Action To Inspire pop up. Those four words are the all-encompassing ethos at the centre of our repositioning, and the inspiration for Action Inspired, our upcoming event for press and media - a feast of new products from our family of clients; editorial opportunities; and general real-life hangs with the ACM team - that we’d love to see you at. We’ve spent reems of group chat on making it an absolutely FOMO-inducing day, so drop charlotte.tsp@allconditionsmedia.com a note if you’d like to RSVP, or hear more.
We learned: We might be the first agency to throw a press day in a venue that boasts reedbeds and wildflower meadows.
CREW TO-DO LIST
Every fortnight, one ACMer reveals the tasks that’ve been getting their head cogs whirring, so we can all make sure they’re working hard enough introduce our hyper talented crew and showcase what they bring to our creative process. This week it’s the turn of our camera-shy chief après charger and ACM Account Director, Charley…
You made it all the way down here? Here’s a gift for your troubles:
END OF THE ROADER’S BONUS NUGGET
A warm welcome back to The Money Toilet: an antidote to crap Super Bowl adverts.
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