Don't stop til you get enough

Can the Jackson brand rise again to the heady heights of the 80s? If tickets for his new London show are anything to go by, maybe. The ten initial dates announced at the O2 in London quickly rose to 50 by general sale, and each ticket was sold out in 11 seconds. It may have been twelve years since he last toured in the UK but baby dangling, criminal charges, court appearances and lack of music has done little damage to his popularity. There must be some worries about his performance (and that no body part flies off mid moonwalk), but if he gets it right, it will be some hell of a show. Not sure his merchandise will fare quite as well (who's gonna wear his t-shirt in public?) but when it comes down to it, the product is unbreakable and people will temporarily ignore the circus that is Brand Jacko. Aoww!

Design Week Awards

The book came through the post last week (not invited this year - pah!). Some great work as always. What immediately grabbed my attention was Johnson Banks' Mouse logo (the copyright symbol is just beautiful), Hat-Trick's Scottish Opera logo (simple, classic and therefore timeless), Purpose's christmas promotion for Greenford Press (Pantone + Food = Panettone), The Partners poster for Richard House Children's Hospice (witty and eye catching) and Pearlfisher's packaging for This Water (Innocent derivative in a good way). The digital category was a bit light, no-one was pushing the boundaries, despite what the Lynda Relph-Knight said. It's difficult to be impressed with a site and not by the technology behind it, Flash or video, and good old fashioned ideas are a bit rarer. I guess that's why Eagle Clean was the winner as there is a simple concept but it's a bit ho hum. Design Week doesn't seem to be keeping pace with digital developments.

Morph reborn!

As a subscriber to Esquire, I receive line-free versions of the magazine through my letterbox. Last month, the cover star was not either a most-lusted or most-wanted celeb, but the more understated but not underdressed Morph. He was the star of a fashion shoot, the first time he has been dressed, and his plasticine accessories (by Paul Smith, Gucci, Prada and Hermes, amongst others) were tailormade. The white leather gucci loafers were very cute.

And with Max Clifford like PR planning, he descended onto the Tate Modern for a very fashionable flash-mob to celebrate his mentor, the recently deceased Tony Hart. Tony (sadly without his sidekick, but with his agent) opened my degree show in the mid 90s and drew some pictures which were auctioned off for the college at the end of the private view. We have a frog at home somewhere.

Aardman Animations who look after Morph and Wallace and Gromit have severed their relationship with the Hollywood Sudios that funded films like Chicken Run, citing creative stiflement. Maybe its now the time to relaunch the very English superstar Morph back on our screens, but how long before he will be papped with crack and admitted to rehab?