MediaDiet: Andrew Knowles
ANDREW KNOWLES IS OBSESSED WITH A REGIONAL TVC FROM 2005
For our 10th issue, SKMG’s co-founder and partner, Andrew Knowles, has finally let the cat out of the bag and completed his own COMMPRESS: MediaDiet with all the gusto of a man with a point to prove… That he loves niche content almost as much as he loves K-pop. And that he digests a lot of both on a daily basis.
For the sake of the word count, we’ll cut the intro short and let you dive right in. Godspeed.
It’s 5.50am and we’re off to the races.
I believe a person’s alarm choice says a lot about them and this morning I’m kicking things off with a built-for-purpose song I had Suno AI make. It’s stirring, it sounds a little bit like D’Angelo and it personally apologises to my partner for waking her at 5.50am.
5.52am and I’m back in bed. Like all the best things, waking up takes persistence.
At 6am my second alarm goes off.
Alarm fatigue is a real thing so this time I’m waking up to an mp3 rip of this regional TVC from 2005.
If that doesn’t start your engine nothing will.
I’m making a more conscious effort to not get trapped in my phone as soon as I open my eyes, so after a cursory check of my notifications once I turn do not disturb off, I head into my office for a quick Korean lesson. I clocked well-over a 100-day Duolingo streak before starting to suspect learning phrases like “the racoon-dog looks for the fox’s cucumber in the library” might be a waste of time. It’s 너구리는 도서관에서 여우의 오이를 찾는다 if you’re wondering. Instead I’ve recently started working my way through the much more practical
After a 20 minute-ish lesson I throw on some workout gear, hop myself up on VitaGreens All-in-1 powder and sit on the couch to do my first email check for the day. I’m looking for major breaking stories, any client red flags and to get a general sense of what’s on the agenda. I reply to anything urgent but it’s mostly a skim. This early, the only two emails I consistently stop to read in any detail are The Monocle Minute and The New Yorker Daily. I’ve collected hard copy New Yorker issues for six years now and it’s beginning to become a storage issue.
Just before 7am I’m out the door. I drive to the SKMG office listening to Chapter 7 of W. David Marx’s Status and Culture. I’m also reading the book. I had this concept that listening to important content I’ve recently read will boost recall.
Now I’m writing this out loud it just feels sociopathic.
By 7.15am I’m at the office and run to the gym upstairs for a workout, my soundtrack choices for which are rarely an arbiter of what is typically considered “good taste”. Today it’s K-pop. Specifically NewJeans, Aespa’s Armageddon and the new Le Sserafim EP which, I concede, kicks ass. When it’s not K-pop it’s usually a punk playlist, but last week I had a big Oasis phase. I amuse myself imagining what Liam Gallagher would say about being listed next to Le Sserafim.
It’s nearly 9am and Sam has emailed to remind me it’s the greatest week of the year. I’m arriving at my client’s office, where I’ll be for the next few hours, and it’s time to start getting through emails.
If I have to scroll to see my whole inbox I get anxiety.
The reading list this morning included:
Ana Andjelic’s The Sociology of Business, today on product-led organisations
Ted Gioia’s The Honest Broker on Truman Capote’s 100th birthday – did you know his childhood neighbour in Alabama was Harper Lee?. I also got diverted to this piece on how pop culture stardom has a general shelf-life of 80 years, sorry Bob Hope
Letters of Note featuring a letter from Kris Kristofferson to Muhammad Ali
As seen by Ochuko with a really interesting take on Beyoncé’s place in culture as an icon but not a tastemaker
Freddie deBoer, of course
About 38 Deadline Hollywood emails
My favourite niche email to receive: A client EDM from Celine but entirely in Japanese ‘cause I bought some loafers in Tokyo one time
An update on Tempura’s second Eating in Japan issue
An email about towels from Provider Store that I spent too much time reading
And speaking of spending too much time, I love it whenever IDEA emails, which was also this morning. I resist the urge to buy the entirely sick Pirate Edition of Nadia Lee Cohen’s Women.
Once the inbox feels good, I go to our media monitor, Isentia, to see what’s rolled in about the clients (today it’s mostly ARIA Amplified) before skimming the media/marketing/creative/music/tech trades, the AFR, The Australian, The Nightly, The New York Times, The Daily Aus and Twitter. I refuse to stop calling it Twitter.
After we walk to get lunch, I usually like to eat at my desk while I read some of the longer-form pieces I’ve had open as tabs for days on end. There’s also a few articles I bookmarked in the trades earlier.
This New Yorker article was a highlight, discussing whether talking to an AI bot can be considered a conversation. A question near the conclusion has lingered with me: “If it was OpenAI’s priority to help me remember to think of you as a computer tool rather than as a person, why would it have gone to such lengths to make you personable?”
Neil also sent this after someone tried explaining to us that “who moved the cheese” was a well known phrase. The video offered no clarity.
Before I’m done eating (the kale pesto rice box with chicken from Four Ate Five) I get through these:
AdNews breaking down a decline in Australia’s Cannes Lions performance
A Popeye newsletter from last week. I need a solid bit of time for this given it involves copying and pasting a bit into Google translate because as much as I struggle admitting it, I can’t actually read Japanese.
This Piece from Reggie James that seems a little late to the party but is nonetheless a handy recap
I had to stop not far into this but I really want to read it. I finally watched Fallen Angels on the weekend and I’m 30 years late to the Wong Kar-Wai party.
Mid afternoon I grab a coffee and sink into some prep for a meeting with a new client. I’m brushing up on SaaS and autonomous multi-agent AI, which is more exciting than it sounds. Here are three of the pieces I’m looking at.
At 4:42pm Sam sent me this.
At 6:30 I head home listening to How Long Gone, a podcast I could talk about for hours. Alas, I’m starting to fear I’m already over the word count. Their recent episode with Bright Lights Big City author Jay McInerney was a standout.
After vagueing out on reels for a hot minute (highlights here, here and here) I’m trying Ben Lippett’s take on the steak frites from l’Entrecote. Mine is sans frites. Frites on a Tuesday somehow feels wrong. Ben Lippett rocks by the way, subscribe to his newsletter.
Normally I cook to one of these three playlists, but tonight it’s the new Bilal album that I’m really enjoying.
At 8.15pm on Tuesdays I have a piano/guitar lesson over Zoom with my friend Lloyd in London. He tells me he’s got a spot coming up on Jools Holland with this album he co-produced. This is the coolest thing I’ve heard all day. We geek out over a Barry Harris video and keep working through Ryo Fukui’s Scenery album which is my all-time favourite. We also briefly discuss this regional TVC from 2005.
At 10pm I have a shower and go watch the end of an episode of Culinary Class Wars with my girlfriend. There’s so much the Western canon could learn from Korean reality shows but that’s a dissertation for another time. Having said that, we’ve also been rinsing the new season of MKR.
In a perfect world I’d then get into bed, keep reading Haruki Murakami’s IQ84 and listen to this, but I’ve fallen asleep on the couch again.
SCREEN TIME:
Oh no no no no no.
SOMETHING I WANT YOU TO LISTEN TO:
This regional TVC from 2005.
SOMETHING I WANT YOU TO READ:
For The Culture by Dr Marcus Collins, I tore through it after meeting him in Cannes this year and it’s hard to understate how much it’s impacted my approach to work.
SUBSCRIBED TO:
(In addition to those already mentioned, here’s a long list that will not be linked because no one has the time. Look them up yourself.)
Jason Stewart
The Food Scene from The New Yorker (Helen Rosner I love you)
The Face
FOUNDNY
The Paris Review
Christopher and Tom at SOTA (this is an incredible publication that would have got a lot more time if it landed in my inbox today)
Read Max
Forbes
Billboard
Popbitch
The Hustle
Six at 6 by Billy Oppenheimer
Paddy Gilmore
STRATSCRAPS
Brian Morrissey
Pierce Abernathy
StoryThings
Sonder & Tell
The Media CoPilot
VeryGoodCopy
AN UNEXPECTED GOOGLE SEARCH:
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT I’M LOVING RIGHT NOW:
I’m reading through my recent follows and want to name @antoniogaryjr for his blistering insights but I’ve just seen @macaronifunkyclub and my answer is @macaronifunkyclub.
A LINK WORTH FORWARDING: