An obsessive Twitter maniac has been served with a writ stopping him from constantly broadcasting every detail of his eating habits. But the Supper Injunction could be contested by lawyers for FourSquare, Twitter and other powerful lobbyists from the pyramid marketing community.
Social media guru Andrew Lentice has been accused of living every minutes of his life through the Internet. He tweets about which restaurant he's about to visit, who he's meeting, which table he's been allocated, where his friends are now and issues minute by minute reports on whether he's caught the waiter's eye. The only limit to his output is his keyboard speed. He even asks his followers where the toilets are. To many people he's a self indulgent little arse. "Someone follow him into the toilet and flush his head down the toilet," said one online critic.
But the formula has worked for Lentice, who now has over ten million followers. Marketing Week magazine hailed him as the 'most important commentator on seating arrangements since Rosa Parks.' Now advertising managers, marketing directors and people who aren't embarrassed to use words like zeitgeist and 'brand beckham' are queuing up to give him money. "The man's a genius, marketing gold," said Trevor Beatnik, CEO of CNUT Marketing Global. "He's got two million followers - ALL with proven levels of gullibility."
"Once people talked to God. Now they have conversations with leading brands," said Jim Crowley, CEO of Herts based direct marketing agency Brand Utopia.
But Lentice is about to become victim of British society's age old problem with successful entrepreneurs. Yesterday morning, while Tweeting from the toilet of Nando's in Richmond, bailiffs slipped a writ under the cubicle door. Assuming it was an autograph request, Lentice signed the writ and passed it back to the agent of the court. The document he'd signed, with all the casualness of a software licensing agreement, was a piece of history in the making. Legal experts say the Supper Injunction will restrain Lentice from talking about his eating habits, restaurant visits and favourite foods. It has been described by constitutional experts as "The Internet's Magna Carta".
Last night, reporters we're trying to get hold of Dragon's Den's internet guru Julie Meyer, so she could say: "We just don't like winners in this country do we?" or something about Tall Poppy Syndrome.
If interviewed a branding expert might say something along the lines of, "Why don't people wake up and smell the Java? Everyone has a personal brand. Ghandi? Don't tell me that whole robe and sandals look wasn't a Statement Outfit."
Last night, a branding expert took time off from Mobile World Congress to respond. "I'm in a tapas bar in Barcelona. Wow! Chorizo is really cool!"
LENTICE'S TOP TWEETS
"Hi, I'm having an unremarkable burger"
"Hello everyone, I'm sacrificing my dignity to promote this restaurant"
"I love having conversations with top brands! COOL!"
"I'm SO not sacrificing my credibility in the hope of a two-for-one deal on an overpriced burger."
"Everyone has a personal brand. Allah is great? Come on, that's branding."
