What a donkey

Well, another year and another London marathon. Well, not quite ...

This year was slightly different as a mate of mine, Peter Muffett, decided to: a) run a marathon for the first time, and b) wear a really heavy donkey costume.

You had to feel sorry for the poor sod as he was overtaken by a dust cart on Tower Bridge - he took something like 5 hours to get there and that was less than half-way!

Think he's till running ... so if you've got a spare few quid, go to the charity site he's running for and give what you can.

Good on yer, Muff - you mad bastard.

Why do I love comparethemeerkat campaign? Simples

I suppose, like many, my first reaction to Alexandr was: "what on earth is going on here?".

But it's actually brilliant on many layers:

1) I defy you to tell me that you have not heard someone repeat the phrase "compare the meerkat.com" or "Simples" during your normal waking day ... catchy: and you just have to look at the insurance masters, Churchill and Direct Line, to twig the importance.

2) Research has shown that there is one overarching flaw common to all the price comparison sites = no personality, no humanity ... just a series of rational statements that you could copy and paste onto each other; here's a breath of fresh air and a hugely distinctive brand in the making.

3) It has recognised that it doesn't have to repeat all the functional benefits of PCWs ... it lets the others tell you what PCWs do and borrows all these assets by inference.

4) They've managed to challenge the core convention of insurance = making something so bloody dull actually quite amusing. Comparethemeerkat.com exists and will put a smile on your face

5) It has over 12K followers on Twitter

6) Nearly 370,000 fans on Facebook!

7) It's got legs ... Sergei (Head of IT) is up next!

8) It's still got banners through to the insurance site ... so it's not a complete brand whim.

Just love it.