Tradhiptional Man

on Feb 12 in Digital, Frivolity, Strategy tagged by Peter Blackman

I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my metrosexuality.

Strong words I know. But necessary I feel if I am going to fully embrace my tradhiptional nature.

‘Tradhiptional?’ What on earth is that? You might well ask. I hope you do, because it’s a word I invented last night when I couldn’t sleep. I was musing on how to help my business do better, get a higher profile through what I do - which is basically talking and writing. Everyone else at Double Art can use Indesign and create beautiful things on large computer screens. Clients pay money for these artworks. It’s true that I often have to add words in. But I’ve still got a bit of time to blog here, tweet, post on facebook and LinkedIn. So what to write?

My thoughts turned to my metrosexuality, as they often do in the middle of the night. In particular how the global agency network Euro RSCG took the phrase, used it in client meetings and everyone decided how terrific it was and awarded them loads of new business. At least I think it was that simple.  So what might be our ‘metrosexuality’? What phrase or word could we coin, and then use to coin it in? Well, how about an analysis of the way that my character was developing as I got older. Based on a sample of one - lets start a global trend. So tradhiptionality is all about how I’m becoming less metrosexual. How the ’90’s phrase ‘Middle Youth’ is no longer appropriate to describe the frustrating and combustible combination of reactionary and revolutionary thoughts and behaviours that bubble away inside my head.

Middle Youth? WTF? Here’s a definition from The Independent, from 1997 when it was a broadsheet and still quite good.

“It’s an attitude thing. It is about accepting all the responsibilities that come with growing up, but not being a ‘grown up’. We don’t mind getting muddy in a field for a music festival, although we would be more likely to spend a bit of time and money on a bottle of wine than just drink something which got you drunk cheaply. We were probably punks or hippies in the late Seventies or early Eighties so rejecting traditional values still comes easily, but we now shop in Habitat, Nicole Farhi and DKNY. More than anything, we are terribly busy.”

Back in 1997 I used the phrase ‘middle youth’ in meetings. Oh yes I did. The clients lapped it up like hungry kittens at a bowl of milky zeitgeist. Now that I’m older and have no hair I used to remember those days and chuckle (in a sonorous, sophisticated way) at how I had become the man I used to present about. How I had a wife, children, a business. Obligations. Dependents. Yet I still dressed in a manner approximate to fashion. I was prepared to watch BBC3. I carried a laptop bag. Adopted technology with enthusiasm. Listened to new music without wincing. But going out recently, I realised that though I might look like a middle youth, I was actually much, much grumpier and older than I realised. This was a thought that profoundly depressed me.

Let’s take a social example. I was in The Lansdown having a pint with Dan Roddy, planning Ignite Bristol #1 So two men, not old, planning a hip and groovy evening of idea sharing as part of a global Ignite community. Did I feel hip and groovy? No - I felt f**king old! The rest of the pub was young, good looking, affluent and drunk as skunks. What’s more, I didn’t want to join in. To be down with the kids. I wanted them to shut up. Turn the music down and move on to whatever God  awful nightclub they were bound for. Not very metrosexual. Not very middle youth. But very tradhiptional - I looked reasonably hip (sorry, my buttocks clenched in embarassment as I typed that) and I was engaged in a reasonably hip task. But my thought process was traditional. Young people - be quiet! I felt guilty about it then. I feel guilty about it now. When did I get so old? I thought I was still hip and groovy. Clearly not. Because these types of thoughts and behaviours are becoming all too frequent. I wear a tweed cap. When in Soho I see young men wearing them too. This makes me feel good about the cap. But I also feel good about it because it’s warm. I feel I may wear it even when it is not ‘on trend’. I might vote for Gordon Brown because he looks old (and tired). I’m often tired too these days. I empathise.Of course, if Vince Cable was standing for Prime Minister I would go further and even campaign for his lovely old eggheaded, ballroom dancing self. You just can’t trust metrosexual middle youthers like Cameron and Osborne.

So I got up thinking were there others like me?  I was hoping yes. Because then I can become the man who gave voice to awareness of the tradhiptional mindset. I did a graph. I had to have some help in Indesign, but I did all the typing myself. I was pleased with it. Here it is:

And then I thought, I’d better just do a search on the phrase before I start to blog, tweet and post news of my genius everywhere. So I did, thinking, noone will have used such an odd conjunction of existing words before, would they?

Oh yes they have. Damn you Ayanbiri! Shakes fist impotently in direction of Africa. There you are with your unique drumming fusion of the traditional and the hip…“ Just as The American hip-hop star, Shakira sang ‘Hips don’t lie’, Ayanbinrin believes that hips can serve as a means of communication. In this interview, she says that playing the talking drum is her unique identity while the genre of her music is called, ‘Tradhiptional.’ “

CURSES! Still, it’s difficult to stay angry at someone with such a wonderful smile. Time to put some more thought into the description, into the word which will capture the imagination of the global online community. Still think the idea might be worth pursuing though. Or not. Anyway, off to a quiet pub for a quiet pint.