The McCluskey Blog

Veruca Salt: Still Demanding

Fans of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory will love www.stilldemanding.com, a site created by Virgin Holidays. Virgin has enlisted Julie Dawn Cole, who played the original Veruca Salt, and sent her off to South Africa to make some videos.

It's an innovative idea and we think it works really well. Although we might have suggested some additional activity around it - some podcasts, a Facebook page, put all the videos on YouTube...

Just as a footnote, while searching around for links to write this post I came across an article by Hank Williams (not this Hank Williams) who argues that by behaving just like dear Veruca, we are all responsible for the torrid state of the economy.

Ah well. Watch the videos on Virgin's site and they might just cheer you up.

New Year, New Mexico!

Happy New Year everyone. The old blogging got a little slow towards the end of 2007, but let's not allow that to happen again, eh?

I just know you're all going to love New Mexico's advertising campaign. New Mexico, if you didn't know already, is going to be home to Spaceport America, the world's first space port. Yes, really! Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic will take off from the facility in the New Mexico desert from 2010.

Add to that the fact that New Mexico has a long history with space and aliens - charting back to the story of a supposed UFO crash in the desert near Roswell in July 1947. The military said it was a weather balloon, but that never stopped the tale from establishing a spot in science-fiction folklore.

So, what better theme for their TV advertising campaign than aliens from outer space? Click here to visit New Mexico, Earth. The ads show how office-bound aliens deliver the message that New Mexico truly offers the best vacation experience in the universe.

There are two ads to watch, and also a peek behind-the-scenes.

Gridskipper & The Guardian

The Guardian has put one of our favourite blogs, Gridskipper, to the test - asking them how well they know their own city, New York.

It's an interesting article - as writer Benji Lanyado says, blogs "could have been invented for travellers. Candid, up to date and, most importantly, on the spot, they are increasingly popular with people who can't wait around for the next "fully updated" edition of their favourite guidebook".

Gridskipper has, in turn, blogged about the article to complete the circle...