My thoughts on strategy, communications and digital and technology, and how it’s creating opportunities and transforming service delivery in businesses and governments.
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Nic Newman summed up the impact that social media is having on journalism when he said that based on volume and time spent on site, “Facebook was six times bigger than CNN.” People today spend more time on social networking sites than on news sites, with industry commentators citing this to highlight the reason for the supposed death of news and quality journalism.
The BBC launched its much-anticipated ‘Democracy Live’ online service on Friday. Offering ‘live and video on demand video coverage of the UK’s national political institutions and the European Parliament’, the site brings politics to the public. Giving people insight into government and how our elected representatives and institutions work.
“Be human, all this is still experimental” is how Media140 founder Ande Gregson summarised everybody’s expectations of Twitter and social media at the end of the Media140 Brands conference in London this week. And he is right.
Remember when iTunes was released way back in January 2001? Really, do you remember? At it’s launch Steve Jobs was confident. He knew what he was giving us and how it might transform our music listening and buying habits. At the unveiling at Macworld Expo Jobs said: “iTunes is miles ahead of every other jukebox application, and we hope its dramatically simpler user interface will bring even more people into the digital music revolution.” With that straight to the point statement the landscape for the music industry and other associated creative industries changed.
The MacTaggart Lecture took place last week with News Corporation’s James Murdoch deciding at long last to take the stand at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International TV Festival.Murdoch wasted no time in setting his stall out to get support as he painted a grim picture of the state of the UK’s media industry. Pointing the finger at the BBC, Murdoch described the corporation as a villain that had a “chilling” hold on the UK media landscape.
Britain is a country with little focus on customer care. In fact for many UK businesses rewarding customers for their spend and loyalty appears to be an after thought. Rarely do companies invest in their customers so to get them to do the ‘word-of-mouth’ sale on their behalf, which as we know is the best endorsement and way to get new customers in.
However you want to describe it, online and social media is playing an important part in shaping the reputation of brands around the world. It’s been doing so for some time now, certainly a few years. The issue at hand though, the one that New Media Knowledge (NMK) raised at their ‘What happens to online PR?’ event last week was if the Public Relations industry was best suited to lead clients through the ever-changing digital media landscape.
Bookmakers Better Bet have signed former Arsenal player Paul Merson as their new Brand Ambassador. An interesting choice given that Merse claimed some time ago to have lost £7 million on gambling, which led to him being declared bankrupt in 2007. So why appoint a self-confessed [former] gambling addict as the face of a bookies? Surely appointing Merson is like appointing La Winehouse as the brand ambassador for the Colombian Tourist Board.
The Government recently unveiled an advertising and communications campaign to promote the export opportunities that exist to British industry. Some might consider the timing to be odd given that the nation is in the middle of the worst recession in living memory. But a recent UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) conference in London at the beginning of the month proved otherwise.
Never doubt how Social Media can help develop and drive a brand. To give you an example of its power you need look no further than Spotify, a company that’s taken the online community by storm since it was founded in 2006 and launched in the UK in October 2008. Six months on and at a OpenMusicMedia event in London last week Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek confirmed that the company had just days before secured its millionth subscriber, with tens of thousands more joining by the day.
It’s been a busy time for Fashion PRs. With London Fashion Week coming to an end tomorrow we have been entertained with the latest designs from established and up and coming fashion-makers.
A fashion soap opera befit of catwalk kings and queens enters its next episode when London Fashion Week starts this Friday and takes over from where New York left. But these days aren’t just about the catwalk shows, with celebrities’ guests, young talent and great after-party shows.
Social media appears to be growing up. The Financial Times ran a special report on Digital Business this week with a lead headline that said it all, “Business starts to take Web 2.0 tools seriously”. Jessica Twentyman’s article highlighted how, “far from being frivolous distractions, social networking tools can help streamline processes”.
The Government yesterday released its interim Digital Britain report. No surprises on the content of the Green Paper– broadband for all, improving how television content is distributed online and cracking down on illegal file sharing.
Morph will today be celebrating with Champagne after securing what we can only dream off, to appear on the cover of men's magazine Esquire.
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has decided to keep us waiting for their interim ‘Digital Britain’ report which was due out today, 26 January 2009. A spokesperson confirmed that it’s been delayed until the end of the month, which to us is the end of the week. Anyhow, the long awaited report, which won’t be finalised until late Spring this year, is expected to outline the Government’s vision for, er, a Digital Britain.
I have seen the end of travel guidebooks, and I saw it in Vietnam. Travelling in Asia for over three weeks with a stack of paperback guidebooks, a Mac and an iPhone with Apps such as Trip Advisor’s Local Picks and Wikipanion for Wikitravel information, the end of the guidebook was affirmed.
Channel 4 are currently running a great fly-on-the-wall documentary on Heston Blumenthal’s attempt to rescue the once iconic Little Chef roadside restaurant chain. The ‘Big Chef Takes On Little Chef’ programme appears to give an insight into the challenge that Heston faces in reinventing this once great roadside diner.
You just can't stop wondering how Apple keep picking the best, catchiest tunes for their ads - let it be for their Macs, iPods or iPhones. The thing is that they always appear to choose tracks that fit with their products and get us head-banging down the street and fall further in love with Apple.