Mine goes to eleven.

Jag har skrivit om det här manuset förut, men produktionen har dragit ut på tiden. Nu är dock boken på väg in i tryckpressarna. Här är bilder från bokens mittuppslag. (more…)

Häromkvällen var jag på fest hos Camitz & Lindberger, företaget bakom den nya succén Camitz sparkling vodka. Där kom jag i slang med en beundransvärd man vid namn Harry Drnec. Han har just gått in i bolagets styrelse efter att ha avgått från vd-stolen på Red Bull UK där han suttit sedan 1995.

Harry har en energisk personlighet. Möjligheten finns att han kan ha smittats av energidrycken Red Bull, men troligast är nog motsatsen: att hans energi har gnuggat av sig på Red Bull. För under hans ledning har märket ökat sin försäljning från 6 miljoner till 300 miljoner burkar. Och han har sammanlagt skrapat ihop en vinst till Red Bull på i runda tal 450 miljoner pund, vilket har gjort att märket nu är Storbritanniens fjärde största kolsyrade soft drink.

Harry kommer ursprungligen från Chicago. På den södra sidan. Den fattiga delen, där bluesen dominerar. Efter skolan hamnade han i amerikanska flygvapnet och blev senare stridspilot i Vietnam. Tanken var att han skulle fortsätta flyga i den kommersiella flygindustrin, men råkade få ett jobb på Anheuser-Busch som marknadsanalytiker. Där stannade han i åtta veckor för att sedan bli handplockad som marknadsförare. Karriären fortsatte därefter via Gallo, tillbaka till Anheuser-Busch men den här gången i London. Till hans resumé ska även tilläggas att han marknadsfört en rad andra kända varumärken som Beck’s, Sol och Snapple. (more…)

The world has always toiled between the conservative and the radical. While one wants to control and maintain, the other strives to revaluate and reformulate. The first approach brings out continuity, the second renewal. And if truth be told we need both.

Little by little, the people of the twenty-first century have started to see that the world is balanced over a steep ravine between two idea cultures. We are on the way out of one of them, the one that belongs to Mr Spock and his hard-boiled cronies. The other one is marching forward. It is Gump’s world, the heart’s and art’s great comeback.

The problem, that many overlook, is that one side is often emphasised at the expense of the other. (more…)

If you have read thus far you should have a pretty good perception of what Camitz vodka stands for. You have got to know the people behind the product, including their strengths and weaknesses, dreams and nightmares. You know all there is to know about the brand’s shape, function, quality and performance – including the shortfalls. You should also have gained an insight into the significance of the brand, the feelings it creates and what it means to you.

You have also been given a description of the brand. Not an ordinary description, by any means, it is actually a much more personal and genuine description than you usually come across.

It is only the moral of the story that is lacking. What does the story want to tell us? Are there any fundamental practical elements that we can put to good use and implement in our daily life? We are coming to the theoretical crunch. We are about to take a leap into the complex area of management philosophy and brand strategy.

Let’s not make it more difficult than it really is. It is best to start from the beginning, from the only thing we are certain about, namely that modern brand strategy is based on five simple standpoints: (more…)

The hard-boiled, investigative journalist sat with his legs up on the desk throwing grapes at the cat. His self-respect had taken a tumble. Where had his critical eye gone? Had he lost control? Become feeble?

That last chapter had had a strange effect on him. A stubborn subconscious thought had made the laborious climb up the soul’s slippery stairs and tried to attract his attention. Why was everybody so excessively positive to the vodka? As soon as anybody opened their mouth a torrent of words and tirades of empty advertising rhetoric buzzed around the ears like flies round a cow’s arse.

In pure defiance, he went over to the wine rack and uncorked a Rioja, full to the brim of esters and other rotgut, which is taboo in the production of vodka. He poured a healthy glass and sat ruminating.

Every writer with self-respect must safeguard against being manipulated. It came to him after a few swigs of wine that he had actually persisted in asking about the projects teething problems and other mishaps. The mistakes they had remedied, but it was essential that he had taken a critical stand and not just soaked up all PR bumf that was thrown at him.

This must be examined in depth, he thought. It must undergo some kind of personal field study. He picked up the phone and dialled the numbers to two of the craziest party animals he knew. They both had sophisticated tastes and styles as well as being nigh-on impossible to drink under the table. The writer has tried on countless occasions and always failed miserably. They would be perfect for his investigative task. He reached for the phone. (more…)

Stockholm, Februari 1996.

The advertising world is beautiful and glamorous. An existence that feeds on the dreams of the consumer to constantly upgrade. A glittering show that pulsates with grandiose egos and empty adjectives.

Under the surface there is a cynical circus directed by money, power and the media. On the floor the duel continues uninterrupted. Brand versus brand. Creative director versus creative director. The victor is offered a place centre stage in the vivifying spotlight. It is a world where nothing is quite as it seems. A world where the sense of security demands more and more money, more power, more control and more media coverage for every day that passes. A world where insecurity is a cancer-inducing phenomenon, where impotency is pushed aside to make way for a highly-polished surface of steel. A world where humbleness is regarded as a weakness.

It is the kingdom of the wolves.

Jhoan was a roe deer, who in order to hold his own had to cash in on his weaknesses. He trusted one excellent strategy of nature.

Humbleness.

(more…)

(More news on my new book Let’s get gorgeous.)

The story begins with one of the main characters is killed by a dead man. At the same time, his friend Mattias, and his older brother, Peter are sitting in Stockholm, finding themselves in ecstasy as they believe they have just come up with a brilliant idea. From that moment and onwards, the story about Camitz Vodka CO2, continues in leaps and bounds, between hope and despair.

The story is about two men and a ghost. The two men have the completely mad idea of challenging the world of vodka with their own brand, a pure sparkling vodka. Peter is a living cliché of an inventor. A hyper-intelligent, introvert mad man who would rather ponder over difficult problems and dream about thunder storms, hail and lightning. Jhoan, the ghost, is the renowned commercial film maker who’s life ended at the height of his career. (more…)

The content of my new book Let’s get gorgeous:

THE PLOT.
About isolation, cowardly monopolists and bothersome molecules.

1. What if…?
2. No!
3. Shit!
4. Damn!
5. Help!

(more…)

Here’s the first chapter of my new book ”Let’s get gorgeous”:

In a dark, draughty kitchen in the west wing of Rudboda manor house, a stone’s throw from Kyrkviken in Lidingö, inventor Peter Camitz sat on a chair starring at a birthday present he got from his mother over twenty years ago.

Neither the picture of the soaring gulls against the bright blue sky, the distant sound of the children’s excited screams as they jumped for joy through the ice-cold sprinklers, nor the chugging of the boats’ motors on their trip out to one of the thirty-two thousand islands, islets and rocks that form the unique Stockholm archipelago, could move a hair on his neck. None of these impressions had a glimmer of a chance of breaking into his wing alongside the huge 19th century house. Not even the tiniest fragment of this magnificent summer’s day could get his attention as he sat on his chair daydreaming about storms, hailstone and rumbling thunder.

Peter Camitz is one of a kind, to such an extent that society cannot decide whether to push him away or embrace him. The curriculum of his school years was far too narrow to cover the extent of his personality. The problem with Peter was his unusually high IQ; probably triggered by developing the ability to read att such an early age. A popular belief in the fifties was that children could be inattentive in later years if they learnt things too quickly and in the wrong order. And so the six-year old excentric had to sneak around and read the bible on the sly for fear of getting caught by his mother.

It was not too surprising then that the case of the young oddball, Camitz, was discussed keenly in the staff room during his schooling. Some found it hard to swallow that he showed fleeting glances of being a real genius, while at other times he reminded them of a retarded jerk. Rarely was he anything in between.

For the most part he felt like a fool. (more…)

Two guys, a ghost and a bottle of booze: The story about Camitz Vodka CO2.

By Per Robert Öhlin.

Powerful men and women in the international liquor establishments are cringing and cowering ahead of the inevitable humiliation of once more being put firmly in their place by a small Swedish company, a company that no one has even heard of.

The last time it happened was when Absolut redefined the world’s liquor map. Change is, of course, not at all to the liking of the liquor executives, especially when it comes from a little upstart like Sweden.

Let’s get gorgeous is on the surface a story about two guys, a ghost and a bottle of liquor, a battle to realize an idea that nobody believed in, a case study of modern marketing without dosh.

The subtext concerns the eternal conflict between common sense and emotions, money and innovations, profit and comradeship, security and the dream of doing something completely amazing.