One Night In Buda-fuckin-pest

Have you ever been to the capital city of Hungary? Not yet? Then give it a try. I did - together with my girlfriend Zuzanka - we went down there on the 19. 7. to see the only Robbie Williams concert in central europe. 60 thousand screaming Slovaks, Czechs, Polaks, and, of course, Hungarians. What an amazing concert, what a great show, what a perfectly delivered marketing experience we saw. No kidding! Robbie Williams is for me one of the world´s biggest motherfuckers in today´s showbusiness :) He´s an egoist, a crazy guy, megalomaniac, macho, and a fop, all in one perfectly branded package which undoubtedly deliveres on the brand promise. Some might say his concerts are more an entertainment (even a comedy) than musical performance (singing). It´s definitely a mixture of both - the fun and the musical art. Some may love it, some may quite hate it. But if you want to be successful, to be recognized and loved by the crowd, you´ve got to win the crowd. And the best way how to do it, how to win the crowd is to work with it, to interact with people. That´s valid no matter if you´re a pop-icon or if you´re giving a presentation. Robbie Williams knows the drill very well indeed, so being at the stage and performing live suits him (not surprisingly) well.
As for "Buda-fucking-pest" itself (Robbie´s own words :), one can get lost quite easily there I assume. One has some hard time to even pronounce names of some of the streets, bus/metro stations etc. Let alone remembering those names... We were lucky we found our decent hotel without major "recon" activities in the enemy territory ;) But then we were a little bit surprised at the end of the day anyway, since we had to face the Hungarian reality of not providing the after-concert crowd with enough public transport capacities. Subway just didn´t run after 11 pm. Hereby I´d like to thank an unknown taxi driver who got us safe to our hotel for a bargain price of 15 EUR. God bless this wise man.

T

Here some pics from the concert.

Zpátky do reality?

Přestěhoval jsem se po opravě elektroinstalace na naší ubytovně přespolních robotníků zpět do svého původního pokoje s čímž je také spojen jeden příjemný benefit ve formě fungující přenosné televize s úhlopříčkou asi tak 10cm (nejspíš víc, ale zdálky to tak vypadá) a veškerou bohatou infotainmentovou i entertainmentovou nabídkou která to s sebou v těchto dnech obnáší. Nemohl jsem si mimojiné nepovšimnou jedné divné věci, nevim jestli jste si všimli taky, ať už pustím bednu v kteroukoliv denní dobu, dávají tam nějaký fotbal. Na českou ligu to rozhodně nevypadá, ta už podle mě dávno skončila, a tak jsem nabyl podezření, jestli se náhodou někde nehraje nějaký větší turnaj přespolních družstev (např. včera Petr Čech vs. Ghana, což je rozhodně přespolní manšaft). Ale ne, vážně, ještě k tomu našemu druhému zápasu - přemýšlel jsem, jestli nezačít dnešní příspěvek ve smyslu "svět se zbláznil, Ghana zvítězila nad Českem 2:0." Ale to by byla blbost, vždyť to jenom my si často a často dost naivně myslíme, že jsme mistři světa amoleta a pak brečíme nad tím, jak si nám ti škaredí, zlí Ghaňané dovolili dát gól hned nazačátku, takže nás tím dokonale překvapili a my jsme tak "nemohli hrát svou hru." Že se fotbal hraje celých 90 minut už nikoho v našem týmu evidentně nezajímá. "Fotbal Češi hrají kvalitní. Nesmí teda dostat prvního góla."

V této fotbalové nečekané šlamastice lituji především naše voliče. Fakt... Co nadějí musí lidi u nás vkládat do hrdinů s křivýma nožičkama a číslem na zádech poté, co našim politikům před pár týdny rozdaly karty způsobem více než rafinovaným. Člověk se těší na to, že nebude muset myslet na politiku a užije si taky jiných, svátečních kratochvil a oni to ti naši hoši v zápase s Ghanou nějak nepochopili. Co se s náladou v národě stane ve chvíli kdy skutečně definitivně vypadneme, nastane-li ve čtvrtek tato situace, o tom můžeme pouze spekulovat. Byl by to asi pořádný návrat zpět do reality ve stylu "divné počasí" a v televizi hádky Paroubka s Topolánem o tom, co bylo dřív, jestli kuře nebo vejce. Nejradši bych dal oběma červenou kartu.


TG

Rozhodneteto.cz

Some of you maybe know, some of you probably not. There´s general elections in the Czech republic next month. Our relatively young democracy has been struggling with relatively low elector´s attendance, especially among the younger voters between 18 and 25 years of age. In my country, people are literraly sick of politicians, of their unrealistic promises, corruption scandals, and arrogance. Many just don´t believe one can really change something by going to the poll station and making his or hers vote count. At least we don´t HAVE TO go there, but we can go there. It´s up to everybody´s decision, whether he or she is going to use the right to vote. But could it really make a difference?

According to 3 czech top notch advertising and movie directors and also according to my own own believe, it CAN make a difference nontheless! Having this in their mind, the 3 artists have joined their efforts and came up with the project called Rozhodněte to (You´ll decide): voting is sexy. They´ve created 3 different commercials and placed them on the web under www.rozhodneteto.cz where everyone can either watch a stream video or download the commercials. The aim here is simple: to bring more people to polling stations, thus decrease chances of the far left or far right extremist parties (especially the Communists), as in the Czech rep. we do have a proportional voting system (the difference between a proportional and "majority rule" voting system is described here). (A proportional voting system means that political parties with relatively higher elector´s attendance disciplin could score better results if the overall attendance is low).

I can only tell you this - visite the site, give it a try, read through the case story behind this unique project, and have a look at the spots. You´ll laugh A LOT. I did. My sister did, and also my family to whom I showed the site too :) You can even place your own comment under each commercial. Maybe you´ll then see things differently, maybe not, but one thing is clear - this idea is a good one. In fact it´s the first proffesional atempt to make the elections a bit more sexier to the undecided and younger voters. Pity it has not received any airing time in the massmedia thus far (beside the local music station Ocko). It´s going to be aired in cinemas across the country though.

So what do you guys think? I´m quite looking forward to your opinions about this one :o)

"Rozhodnete to. On 2. and 3. June 2006 @ your polling station." ;-)

TG

Kinda Busy Time...

It´s been quite a while since I posted my last "article" here.. The reason is that I´ve been quite heavily engaged in work-related activities. In the last 20 days or so, I´ve overseen 2 major projects in 2 different countries, flown with 7 airplanes through 6 airports, been to cca 20 different shooting locations, met around 50 wonderful people--most of them production professionals--slept in 4 different hotels, and lost 1 sunglasses somewhere on the Fuerteventura beach. Shooting of the Roomster campaign. Quite exhausting, yet unforgettable and tremendous experience from which I will benefit quite significantly in the long run.

Believe me or not, I´ve also begun to like "my" car ;). The new Skoda Roomster. True, when I joined Skoda Auto almost a year ago, I wasn´t even 100% convinced that Skoda´s aim to launch a new carline in an MPV segment and expand the brand in areas it had not been operating and had not have any experience whatsoever was the right thing to do. Then I first saw the car itself, I think it was in autumn 2005, and it came to me as I was looking at an ugly piece of design in which 2 completely distinctive concept "sort of" mixed together in one "gestalt". But you know what? I´ve been with this car for quite some months now. I´ve seen it standing in the studio in full light, driving by down and up the hill, parking under the Table mountain in Cape Town, making curves on a reef during sunset in Fuerteventura - with its cornering fog-lights turned on. Having realized it fits perfectly to Skoda brand and the direction towards the brand is heading, I´m now very much happy with the distinctive design of the car, for there is one think I learned some time ago: it´s better to have the crowd devided than to have a crowd that doesn´t care.

Anyway, presenting the car in a way the customer would like to see it and (possibly) like it at first sight, that´s exactly my job. That´s why everything have to fit together from the marketing point of view. From the car´s benefits through its positioning to how it will be communicated and "sold" to our prospects. I can´t tell you more details at this moment, but what I can tell you right away is look forward to a top-notch campaign, with the nicest print and tv ads in the 2006 advertising buzz.

The Hedgehog Concept

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
Archilochus (7th-century b.c.e.)

Basically, human beings are categorized as either "hedgehogs" or "foxes". Hedgehogs' lives are embodiment of a single, central vision of reality according to which they "feel", breathe, experience and think - "system addicts", in short. Examples include Plato, Dante, Proust and Nietzsche. Foxes live centrifugal than centripetal lives, pursuing many divergent ends and, generally, possess a sense of reality that prevents them from formulating a definite grand system of "everything", simply because they "know" that life is too complex to be squeezed into any Procrustean unitary scheme. Montaigne, Balzac, Goethe and Shakespeare are, in various degrees, foxes.

In his famous book--Good To Great--the leadership expert Jim Collins argues that those who built the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs. They used their hedgehog nature to drive toward what we came to call a Hedgehog Concept for their companies. Those who led the comparison companies tended to be foxes, never gaining the clarifying advantage of a Hedgehog Concept, being instead scattered, diffused, and inconsistent.

I've been thinking a lot about the material in Good to Great by Jim Collins. I'm wondering if his theory of a Hedgehog Concept, as he calls it, can be used for corporate strategy as well as personal decisions. Collins is sure of it and has devised his own theory built upon the hard and soft data he´d gathered before writing Good to Great.

Here´s the deal:

















"To quickly grasp the three circles, consider the following personal analogy. Suppose you were able to construct a work life that meets the following three tests. First, you are doing work for which you have a genetic or God-given talent, and perhaps you could become one of the best in the world in applying that talent. (“I feel I was just born to be doing this.”) Second, you are well paid for what you do. (“I get paid to do this? Am I dreaming?”) Third, you are doing work you are passionate about and absolutely love to do, enjoying the actual process for its own sake. (“I look forward to getting up and throwing myself into my daily work, and I really believe in what I'm doing.”)
If you could drive toward the intersection of these three circles and translate that intersection into a simple, crystalline concept that guided your life choices, then you’d have a Hedgehog Concept for yourself."

For better understanding, Colling continues by stating the following: "to have a fully developed Hedgehog Concept, you need all three circles. If you make a lot of money doing things at which you could never be the best, you’ll only build a successful company, not a great one. If you become the best at something, you’ll never remain on top if you don't have intrinsic passion for what you are doing. Finally, you can be passionate all you want, but if you can’t be the best at it or it doesn’t make economic sense, then you might have a lot of fun, but you won’t produce great results."

For me, the above mentioned hedgehog x fox theory is not something one has to take for sacred truth. It is clever and provocative though. Take it or leave it. I´d recommend to simply sit down for a while, think, and then try to draw your own three circles. A bit of your time and inwards thinking, that´s all it requires. Good luck!

Hope You Had a Wonderful Christmas

Slowly but surely, this year´s Christmas are history. Here in the Czech republic for example, the 24th will be remembered as the day with the most sent sms messages in the history of our country--almost 60 mil. pieces in total--which makes it cca 6 messages per every single Czech, no matter how old he or she is. Well, as you can observe, we´re indeed no more a developing country. In fact, we´ve become the mobile messaging tiger! What do cultural stereotypes say about this? Foreigners with czech girlfriends or boyfriends, be prepared for everything. One day, your czech partner could propose to you his/her own way - witn an sms :)

Dear friends and colleagues, I hope you spent your Christmas as best as you could, no matter where, no matter with whom.

One hour ago, I got an email from one friend of mine living in Vancouver. This guy has influenced me a lot. In his email, there was one sentence which I found quite...publishable if you like: "this is the time of year where I sit back and evaluate how things went last year, and where I want to go for next year." What do you think? You know I really liked what that guy wrote to me, since it actually made me think that way too...

Rath a Zvěřina by to mohli dát dohromady

Zase poruším své vlastní pravidlo (od čeho už ta pravidla jsou..) a nedá mi to než vyslovit jedno vážné podezření k panu ministru (abych byl korektní) taky "doktoru" Davidu Rathovi, novém českém rekordmanovi v počtu podání žalob na svou osobu během doby co se stal ministrem zdravotnictví. Jestli pan ministr v něčem vyniká, pak je to právě tato "disciplína." Ach málem bych zapomněl ještě na jedno - pan ministr je prvním českým ministrem, kt. se otevřeně hlásí k mnohoženství. Ale to už je jiná kapitola.
Zpátky k Petru Zvěřinovi. Dal jsem si jej do souvislosti s panem ministrem proto, že, jak se mohl národ na ministrově poslední tiskovce po jeho zvolení Pražským lídrem ČSSD, rozhodně "taky voe nepřijel do Prahy na babetě voe." Svého hlavní soupeře v tomto nadcházejícím klání, předsedu ODS Topolánka předem ocejchoval jako "valacha" odkudsi z prd... republiky (Topolánek pochází z Valašska) a podle jeho názoru určitě vyhraje, padž "mí Pražané mi určitě rozumnějí a nebudou volit cizáka, kterého s Prahou spojuje jen to, že si tady koupil byt." Trochu panu ministrovi uniklo, že samotný vůdce ČSSD Paroubek kandiduje v Ústí ačkoliv pochází z Olomóca (což je podle mě na mapě ještě dál a navíc - nemá tam ani ten byt). Aha?!
Zmíněná ekvilibristika pana ministra nese jasný rukopis baviče národa (v negativní smyslu slova) Petra Zvěřiny, který jako první tento těžký, vážný, tzv. "babetový argument" použil jako první a snad na něj vlastní i práva. Zatím jsme se nedozvěděli, kde to pan ministr vlastně bydlí, jestli taky přímo na Václaváku nebo někde jinde. Nedivil bych se, kdyby to ti dva spolu táhli nějak dohromady, leccos spolu mají společného, hlavně přesvědčení, že civilizace končí na pátém kilometru D1 směrem na Brno (a to jsem optimista). Petr Zvěřina by mohl být skvělým ministrovým mluvčím např. Nebo rovnou asistentem, koneckonců "Zvěřina" zní tak trochu jako veterinář :)

Řekl bych, že mu snad i to jeho mnohoženství leze na mozek. Ono totiž všeho moc škodí. A o Rathovi by se to dalo říct dvojnásob. Premiér Paroubek, který si díky Rathovi našel svého předvolebního kašpárka a zlého muže sice zmocnil pana doktora k ministrování, otázkou ovšem zůstává, zda jej tím také neprozřetelně nezmocnil k tomu, aby s ČSSD prohrál jarní volby. Hulvátsví snad bude špatný volební program - i v u nás v Česku. Snad.