The only thing that you can rely on is change. The 21st century is even more dominated by constant inconstancy than the previous century, which witnessed the fastest evolution of technology in the history of man. This century will make it appear pedestrian.

With so many elements of uncertainty conspiring to complicate marketers’ lives, culture becomes crucial as a means of navigating the future.

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SodaStream was a miraculous product to children in the Seventies and Eighties – lo, it transformed mere tap water into fizzy pop at the depression of a clunky lever. Oh how we were thrilled to hear the hsssshshft that indicated the alchemy was complete.

Now it is back, redesigned for a more design conscious and sophisticated audience with new flavours and even an isotonic drink. Check out the Karim Rashid limited  edition. The time has never been more right – it is more environmentally friendly than buying carbonates and easier on the pocket. Allegedly it has some health benefits too, but that is rather dependent on how heavy handed one is with the flavoured syrup.

We are delighted that one of us Blue Marliners spotted the potential for SodaStream prior to relaunch. Click here to read his observations: Out and About

There is something very, very wrong in the world of Westminster when the Government seeks the intelligence of Sun readers. And what an oxymoron that is.

The Prime Minister – or Dave mate, as presumably he wishes to become known – has teamed up with Facebook and The Sun to discover what the British public believes should bear the brunt of cutbacks to Government spending. No, really.

It would be funny if it were not true.

Maybe we should be thankful that he didn’t seek the views of Daily Mail readers. Send all foreigners back; cut foreign aid; leave the EU and do away with welfare – force the lazy, council-house dwelling, teenage single mother scroungers to work. Bring back hanging and National Service.

What will Sun readers want? Well according to the old adage, Times readers run the country, Guardian readers think they ought to run the country and Sun readers don’t care who runs the country as long as she’s got big breasts.

Have you seen Burger King’s new packaging by Crispin Porter + Bogusky? It is fantastic. Simple, beautiful, highly communicative, cute, single-minded, fresh, punchy – I could go on.

While McDonald’s has committed itself to environmentality and appears determined to ram that message home regardless of how unlikely consumers are to believe it, its arch rival has taken a decisive step in developing an ownable – dare I say likeable – graphic personality.

The joy of BK’s new look is that it exemplifies the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. There can be no mistaking what’s in the fries packaging. The Andy Warhol-inspired look does away with the need for words making it perfect for international roll out. The absence of words means reduced lead times and reduced costs as it does away with the need for market specific copy. It is effective and quite lovely.

And how often do you get to say that about a fast food chain?

It’s Groundhog Day. It’s 1993 and New Man, who only ever really existed in the minds of half a dozen designer-clad denizens of Adland, has been replaced with New Lad. Loaded rules. Traditional soft porn mags reposition themselves as lifestyle titles as men’s lifestyle mags get raunchier and raunchier. It’s like feminism never happened and the objectification of women is suddenly, seemingly, okay again.

Why, in 2010, is sexism in advertising rampant once more? In pre-Internet days few would’ve seen the commercial for a Russian budget airline featuring bikini-clad cabin crew suggestively soaping a jet plane. Now it has gone viral and practically everyone has seen the hostesses and their not very hidden talents.

Now King of Shaves is launching a viral campaign featuring its master barber, Diane Wood, dressed in nothing but expensive lingerie and designer heels shaving some random bearded bloke. Apparently King of Shaves wants to make the functional business of shaving desirable and sexy, and to emulate the success of the Lynx Effect campaign. First off, shaving is er, functional. Scraping a blade across ones chops is unlikely to become a sexy and desirable event – it is a chore and a bore. Second, someone in marketing seems to have overlooked the fact that the Lynx campaign works because it is wry and knowing.

Last week I received a report on the importance of personalised communications. Nothing unusual – we all receive no end of unsolicited crap through post and email all the time. But you know what I’m going to say, don’t you?

My name is Ruth, but I’m used to being approached by people trying to sell me things as Rose, Rita, Liz, Grace and, on one memorable occasion, Bruce (memorable because I had already spoken with the salesman and do not possess a particularly deep voice). My surname is frequently bastardised too, and for some reason my copy of The Economist always comes addressed to Mr Ruth Nicholas, but whatever, I’m secure in my identity, sexual and otherwise.

In this instance, the report on personalising your messaging proudly proclaimed that it had been specifically prepared for…my predecessor. That would be the one who left 15 months ago. Good thing it wasn’t a report on the importance of keeping your database up to date.

Anyone who cares about clarity of communication should rejoice in the inception of an Academy for English. Set up by the Queen’s English Society to uphold the rules of grammar, the academy faces an uphill battle with a gnr8n of ppl who spk txt and several generations who have only a nodding acquaintance with the rules of our language.

I appreciate that to some the academy sounds like a quibble of pedants gathering to split hairs. But, you know, like, it is so totally important to be understood when you talk, yeah, or, OMG, when you write IMHO.

Headline from The Times - June 7 2010

Grammar is not a punishment meted out by sadistic teachers to screw up children’s brains with split infinitives. In fact, English grammar has not been taught as a formal subject in England for so many decades that many teachers don’t know their elbows from their independent clauses. Grammar facilitates understanding. It shines the light of lucidity into language. It makes meanings intelligible.

Language has become the bastard child of the digital age. The Internet changed the game for the written word; suddenly everyone could publish their thoughts unedited, unpunctuated and unexpurgated. The upshot is that now not even national newspapers bother to use that and which correctly, which is a great shame.

The Guardian recently published a photo caption “World Cup stadiums in South Africa”. Stadiums? Stadiums? The plural is stadia you illiterate bunch. How often do you read about something being “totally decimated”? Really, honestly was the opposition reduced by precisely one tenth? Oh and literally, as in: “At the start of the second half the team literally exploded onto the pitch.” No they bloody didn’t, otherwise there would be entrails all over the place.

And don’t get me started on less and fewer. The Stella Artois poster headlined “Less glass, less carbon emissions” makes me want to scream. It’s fewer, damn it – less glass means fewer emissions.

Then there is “if I was you”. Arrgghhhhh. It is “if I were you”. I could go on. And I probably will. I’m out of the closet; I am a grammar nerd and at least now I know that I am not alone.

Greenpeace activists replace company flag at BP headquarters

The global fury directed at BP since the calamitous Gulf oil spill is well founded. The company has been the focus of scorn, derision and anger from the world’s media and environmental groups and rightly so. The whole mess could have been avoided if it had acted on advice to invest in a simple, relatively cheap upgrade of its equipment.

Herein lies the rub. BP tried to set the standard for corporate responsibility in its sector and to have failed so spectacularly underlines the fundamental fact that repositioning only works if an organisation does so from the inside out.

The corporate mission reflected in its Green Helios rebrand signalled a paradigm shift in how oil and energy companies conducted their business in this new era of corporate social responsibility.  For us in the branding business, it was a clear articulation of the power of corporate identity as the public face of a company’s mission and essence.

The Gulf spill demonstrates just how important it is to align your corporate identity with, and to deliver on, your corporate mission. Greenpeace has done a brilliant job of turning BP’s livery on itself to show that best intentions are not enough by enlisting the public to reinterpret the logo – the results have been brilliantly articulate and bitingly insightful. Let’s hope management takes heed –  for all our sake.

As I watched the Masterchef contestants frantically putting the final touches to their Black Forest gateaux I was reminded of the parallel to the craft of design. All three cakes were presented alongside a professionally made and very tasty looking one and it soon became apparent that this challenge was no piece of cake…To make a cake truly good enough to eat was not something that came easy and it was obvious the professional’s experience and knowledge made a huge difference to the final outcome.

It reminded me of the challenge of making brands truly desirable to consumers. With more and more brands being unveiled each day, the importance of being eye-catching is paramount. Whether this is the latest Nike trainer or luxury chocolate, target consumers must feel that deep down ‘this company knows what I want’. Crafting brands that have are inviting and relevant creates emotional engagement with the consumer.

Similar to the cakes on Masterchef, the ones that looked dry or didn’t have enough oozing cream make for a less appetising offer. It seems obvious to say that if a brand looks worthy and relevant the pull towards it can be magnetic.  Add an inherent idea into the mix and the end result can be truly irresistible.

Yesterday, the NY office had the pleasure of viewing a radical presentation by Eben Bayer, cofounder and CEO of ecovative.

An expert in engineering and biology, Eben has invented a way of growing a Styrofoam alternative. His unique process uses waste agricultural material (refuse from cotton mills or grain husks from cereal plants) to grow mushrooms in darkened warehouses. After just 7 days he harvests the mushroom root fibers, packs them in molds, gives them a brief cooking session and them ships them out to clients.

The ecocradles, as he calls them, are 100% biodegradable and compostable and extremely durable– perfect for packaging heavy but fragile electronics and furniture.

Check out the website here and keep them in mind for future projects!