James Kirkham
banner
spoonybear.bsky.social
James Kirkham
@spoonybear.bsky.social
Brand Strategist. Broadcaster. Cultural critic. Public Speaker. Founder of ICONIC, Holler. Formerly Chief Business Officer Defected Records & COPA90. Ex-Global Head of Social Mobile at Leo Burnett.
Reposted by James Kirkham
I remember the 80s newsstand more clearly than the holiday itself. The Zante Beach Hotel had a heavy revolving door which would spit you out onto the sunlit pavement and into a small kiosk that smelled intensely of ink, Piz Buin and warm plastic.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/zakynt...
The Zakynthos Newsstand
I remember the newsstand more clearly than the holiday itself. Zante, mid-80s, long before Laganas became a tourist conveyor belt.
www.linkedin.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:15 AM
I remember the 80s newsstand more clearly than the holiday itself. The Zante Beach Hotel had a heavy revolving door which would spit you out onto the sunlit pavement and into a small kiosk that smelled intensely of ink, Piz Buin and warm plastic.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/zakynt...
The Zakynthos Newsstand
I remember the newsstand more clearly than the holiday itself. Zante, mid-80s, long before Laganas became a tourist conveyor belt.
www.linkedin.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:15 AM
The emotional meaning arrives in the conversations that follow, in the WhatsApp voice notes sent while waiting for taxis, in the long car journeys home. The aftermath has always been the place where memories are made.

www.thesubthread.com/featured/the...
The Aftermath Economy
In the “aftermath economy,” the real value of entertainment now lives after the broadcast – inside fan-led conversations, theories, and communal reinterpretations that complete the work and drive its ...
www.thesubthread.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:08 AM
2 hours of old school rave records and stories to warm you, we’re live on Loose FM from 11am-1pm 🙂https://www.loose.fm
November 20, 2025 at 8:52 AM
This week we record our first live radio on Loose FM, and to get you in the mood here's the new episode of Pipe & Slipmats. A summer slammer typically edited and finished just in time for Christmas. Worth it for the opening track alone. open.spotify.com/episode/1LQl...
8: Pipe and Slipmats Vol 8: the podcast for ageing ravers
open.spotify.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:46 AM
New episode of Pipe & Slipmats is out. The opening track is a Clissord Park rave classic. open.spotify.com/episode/1LQl...
8: Pipe and Slipmats Vol 8: the podcast for ageing ravers
open.spotify.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Scroll long enough and you start to live inside the ghost of your past behaviours like an algorithmic echo chamber whispering reminders of who you used to be.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/cultur...
Cultural Pollen
Certain aspects of culture often don't really have a defined launch moment you can actually find or recall, it all just drifts. It floats across platforms like fine dust landing wherever the air carri...
www.linkedin.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:33 AM
We won!! Nabbed best Branded Content for our Chelsea film It’s Our House 😍🤩😍🏆🏆🏆🏆
November 14, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Websummit in Lisbon 👊
November 13, 2025 at 5:04 AM
The magic of Blue 🪄🔵
November 13, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Trump, and the Conservatives own propaganda pamphlet the Telegraph, have somehow caused the removal of the head of the BBC - aka Farage loving Reform platformer in chief. If this now shifts BBC coverage back to near neutral, ie less Reform, it will be the most delicious irony.
November 9, 2025 at 7:06 PM
“If I told my teenage son there were once £5 notes in packets of crisps, it would seem like something from mad mythological folklore.” influenceonline.co.uk/2025/11/07/j...
As John Lewis Christmas ad lands, how to create a multi-generational PR campaign
influenceonline.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 6:31 PM
💾Sound of the underground
📰The anchor and the orbit
😴You never dream of your phone

www.linkedin.com/pulse/sound-...
Sound of the underground
In 2002, my agency Holler was just a handful of us in a converted clothing factory in Dalston. Back then, the place was so sketchy we'd be too scared to go out for a pint.
www.linkedin.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Reposted by James Kirkham
my friends, I am in a 10-person capacity record bar in Tokyo requesting songs and drinking Japanese whisky. the owners are a married couple chain smoking behind the bar, slinging cocktails, and spinning records.

this is heaven??? goodbye forever I have died ✌️
October 23, 2025 at 10:44 AM
⚙️ The algorithm will see you now
📰 If news is dead, long live the micro-editor
⚽ Welcome to the Third half of sport
www.linkedin.com/pulse/algori...
The Algorithm will see you now
I can still remember days when walking into somewhere like Black Market records in Soho mews, and trust a stranger behind the counter more than any chart or critic. They’d slide a piece of vinyl acros...
www.linkedin.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by James Kirkham
The 50th edition of my little newsletter. A conversation in a small corner of the internet built on curiosity, connection and occasional goosebumps. www.linkedin.com/pulse/fifty-...
Fifty Fridays
Somehow this little thing has made it to fifty editions. It started as a way to keep myself honest.
www.linkedin.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:31 AM
The 50th edition of my little newsletter. A conversation in a small corner of the internet built on curiosity, connection and occasional goosebumps. www.linkedin.com/pulse/fifty-...
Fifty Fridays
Somehow this little thing has made it to fifty editions. It started as a way to keep myself honest.
www.linkedin.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:31 AM
October 8, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by James Kirkham
My thoughts in today's Financial Times on pivots, and adapting to thrive through the lens of music, fans, and more. www.ft.com/content/28c6...
Strategic reinvention: adapt to thrive, not just survive
In unpredictable markets, resilience depends on more than efficiency alone. Here’s why leaders are remodelling their businesses before cracks appear – not after
www.ft.com
October 7, 2025 at 11:43 AM
My thoughts in today's Financial Times on pivots, and adapting to thrive through the lens of music, fans, and more. www.ft.com/content/28c6...
Strategic reinvention: adapt to thrive, not just survive
In unpredictable markets, resilience depends on more than efficiency alone. Here’s why leaders are remodelling their businesses before cracks appear – not after
www.ft.com
October 7, 2025 at 11:43 AM