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Over 3 years ago Ashley and I appeared on the UK property show Escape to the Country.

All these years later, it’s STILL getting repeated (must be more than 10 times now so they’re getting their mileage out of it) and every time I find out through social media.

The above was taken by our friend Katie who lives in Sussex and she posted it to her Facebook page tagging me saying “AGAIN!???”

Another friend, Carey, posted:

But these are friends. People that know us.

What about people who don’t? Well when I know we’ve been on, I love to see what people are saying on Twitter:

All pretty innocuous right? But good fun to eavesdrop on complete strangers’ viewing habits.

Then:

My next favourite things is to reply to people who say things like that:

To which I got an immediate reply:

And then:

Now this was all a bit naughty of me and the lady then got chatty and was very nice (that’s why I’ve scrubbed her name out, although you could easily work out who she was) but it just goes to show what kind of feedback social media can provide and just how people react when, as she says, they are “rumbled”.

Food for thought for brands on a bigger scale?

BTW if you’ve seen the show, we couldn’t afford any of the houses as the house market had crashed between when we applied and when we did the filming. It was good fun and Alistair Appleton was a lovely man!

Personally never used anything else. This new campaign for IE9 might persuade you to go the same way. Nice use of Tumblr too……and some very funny diagrams!

When my brother-in-law Josh suggested the whole family go to a place called Pioneertown for a few days, we weren’t too sure what we were letting ourselves in for.

By “we” I mean Ashley, Maggie and me, Josh and his wife Colleen and toddler Julia, their sister Aubrey and her husband Chason and the sisters’ parents Bob and Nancy.

Yes, in all TEN of us!!!

We had a blast.

Pioneertown is in California, about 30 minutes from Palm Springs and near the Joshua Tree National Park. It was built in the 1940s to be a set for western films and TV shows.

We were staying at the Pioneertown Motel who looked after us very well. Eccentric but clean rooms, they provided little kitchenettes, coffee and water even though we were only paying about $60 per night!

The main drag was pretty empty when we got there. This saddle-maker was open at the weekend and there’s a really good pottery that sells some nice wares, but all in all it’s generally a tourist destination to visit for a few hours, or somewhere to use as a base to explore the park, which I’ll write about in another post.

The highlight for me was the night we spent at the local BBQ restaurant which is in the town and only open a few nights a week. Pappy and Harriet’s does quite the most amazing food. The chef told us they get through over 500lbs of beef a week!

Josh and I cracked out our Outlier set and did 3 songs at the Monday night open mic spot which was great fun……..before we got stuck into the tequila and the rest is a bit of a blur!

Being there in March was great as the days were very warm (75 degrees), but as soon as the sun went down it did get chilly.

Thanks from all of us to Josh for his enthusiasm in getting us all to go down there. Really recommend a few days at the motel, if only for the novelty value and a fantastic steak at Pappy and Harriet’s.

If Pioneertown doesn’t grab you, Joshua Tree National Park will, so check back in a few days to read about that!

Remnants from last night…

Ask me yesterday how many St. Paddy’s days I’d celebrated in England over the last 40 years, and I’d have replied precisely “zero”.

We just don’t do it. I don’t know anyone who does.

But in America?

By the time the England v Ireland 6 Nations Rugby game started yesterday (10am PST) the lovely McGilvra’s, in Seattle’s Madison Park area, was starting to fill up with people wearing green tops, socks and even green fingernail polish.

These people were not there for the rugby – we beat the Irish on their special day in case you were wondering – they were there for the craic.

By the time the game finished the place was starting to burst for lunch and was doubtless thumping well into the night.

Later in the day, Ashley and I ended up hosting 10-odd people for dinner – corned beef and cabbage cooked fabulously by her sister Colleen – and we got through a good amount of Guinness and (my favourite stout) Murphy’s.

For a Brit whose heritage is most definitely Irish on at least one side of the family, I find the whole “holiday” thing surrounding St. Patrick’s Day astounding and endearing.

For such a proud nation, that leaps to its feet at the opening bars of the Star-Spangled Banner, the fact the whole country seems to turn green on the 17th March every year (even if the person in Gaelic fancy dress has “zero” connection with The Emerald Isle), just shows how relaxed they are about the cultural melting pot they’ve become and how up for a good time they are.

Since I’ve lived in the US, I’ve been to Jewish festivals, Greek festivals, Halloween parties, Oktoberfest shindigs and the obligatory 4th of July party. For most of them, they were firsts for me.

Although I initially balked at the thought of “celebrating” St. Patrick’s Day through my in-built British sense of “ but that’s for them”, I’m glad I did, as we all had a blast.

Now I’m looking forward to St George’s Day on April 23rd which I’m going to be proud to celebrate with my new Seattle family.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding anyone?

Overjoyed to announce that the website to accompany our book Pioneers of Digital has now officially launched.

Designed by Kean Richmond who works for the fabulous Dave and Becky Naylor at Bronco, a UK-based Web Design and Search Marketing agency, the site includes the usual “About” areas and also an advertising blog where we’ll be writing about our adventures writing the book as we run up to launch in October 2012.

We’ll be adding sections highlighting each of the pioneers too, plus a video gallery which should make it a useful, informative and engaging place to get some digital inspiration.

Do take a look and let me know what you think and thanks again to Kean, Dave and Becky!

We’re also building up a following on Twitter and Facebook, so you can pick up all our news there too!

Just putting the finishing touches to the book now, so stay tuned!

It’s just been announced in Miami that the IAB has recognised this ad format – The IAB Mobile Filmstrip – as one of its rising stars.

This short and sweet video show’s we’ve definitely moved on from the pop-up (people still mention those to me when I say I work in digital advertising) and are providing rich, immersive and engaging solutions for brands to show their wares to consumers in a way that adds value.

Well done to the team for this well deserved accolade!

This is a great a example of being agile in marketing. The #SmokedByWindowsPhone videos have been so successful, Ben Rudolph and team have turned them into ads. #Genius!

Check out the Microsoft Advertising Blog next week for my interview with the great man that we recorded last week!

He’ll talk about this challenge as well has role at Microsoft and other stuff.

What do you think of the Windows Phone ads?

Love this ad from BA in time for the run up to The Olympics. Makes me feel a bit home sick actually. That coupled with imagining little Maggie as that little girl…….sniff…..[reaches for tissues]!

Update: Check out their Facebook Page too. There’s a great competition going on there right now for free flights: http://www.facebook.com/britishairways

Now my wife Ashley reminded me that this blog’s four or five readers have not had some Maggie action recently, so I thought I’d rectify that with this videoette.

We’ve seen Maggie laugh for the first time, and bounce, we’ve even heard her sing, but nowhere in the same video have we seen her giggle and then jump about a bit, so this is a real treat…….I promise!

Are you sitting comfortably?

One minute and fifty-four seconds of yummy rich media goodness, showcasing the IAB Rising Stars and some fabulous executions on MSN including the Filmstrip, Pushdown, Billboard and Sidekick.

Great to see there’s more on the way too!

Can’t see the video? Click Here!