Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Do you remember when you were at school and you would come in on a Monday after a haircut dreading the inevitable pisstaking from your classmates? I’ve been reminded of that this week. Anyone would think I had come into work having sprouted horns (not entirely unreasonable; remind me to tell you the story of when I sold my soul to Satan in exchange for good exam results one day), but no, all it is is that I now have short hair. For those of you who don’t know me, I now look like this:

Me, with a friend, yesterday

Whereas before I looked more like this:

Yahoo Serious. Younger readers will have no idea who this is. FIE ON YOU, YOUNGER READERS.

Anyway, enough of this crap. On with the web-related crap instead.

The Year of Social Media Crises – My esteemed colleague Grant Smith has declared that this will be the year of the ’social media crisis’. He might well be right – couple of fun ones this week:

• Nestle – Technically this one was last week, as you will doubtless recall from last week’s Web Curios (if you don’t then just lie to keep me happy, please), but there’s been all sorts of wrapup and analysis of it since then; this one’s the prettiest, but this one gives better analysis. Just an object lesson on how not to behave online, basically.
• The Conservative Party – Ah, the Digital Election! How’s that working out for you, Dave? This week, on the back of the recent strikes, the Tories launched CashGordon – their stab at SLAMMING (I feel tabloid-speak is appropriate here) Gordon for being in the pocket of the Unions. I would link to the site, but it was taken down a few short hours after launch – you can read an explanation as to why here, but this graph pretty much says it all. Oh Dave! (graph by the very astute Meg Pickard)
• Oh, and a really good chronological list – updated regularly – of web-related PR crises can be found here (courtesy of Jeremiah Owyang)

A Picture To Break Up The Text

This photo is called marriage - I will leave it to you, dear reader(s) to interpret this.

The Most Amazing Thing I Have Seen This Week – This is my ‘if you only watch one thing this week…’ moment. The link will take you to a video on the ever-wonderful Slate Magazine site which shows how you can use Google to PUT ADVERTS ON US TV. Yep. Trufact. Think of the possibilities for messing with the heads of conspiracy theorists and stoned students on the other side of the atlantic, all for a few hundred dollars. People, I expect creative uses of this. More seriously, this incredibly under-reported feature has immense implications for the future of mass communications worldwide…

I Wish I Worked In An Industry Where A CV Like This Would Get Me Hired

22 Tracks – A very cool website showcasing some amazing new music, divided by genre. Updated by DJs from Amsterdam, who are doubtless sickeningly hip and would be appalled that someone like me knows about this. Oh well.

The Daily Mail Website Now Most Read Amongst UK Papers – Would the last person to leave the UK please turn out the lights? Thanks. On a less partisan note, a great example of how linkbait works; the reason the Mail has attained this exalted position is not because of its news coverage or its features writing (apart from a few exceptions – Jan Moir, I’m looking at you) – it’s because their website is increasinly like a UK version of Perez Hilton, except without the crudely drawn penises scrawled across the faces of the famous (though give them a few months…). Contrast this with The Times, who today launched their own bid to quickly become the least-trafficked website in the UK…

Microsoft Integrates Foursquare Information Into Bing Maps – I know, I know, I am continuously banging on about this stuff. Nonetheless, the fact that the world’s third-largest search engine has seen fit to start integrating information from Foursquare into its mapping functionality is big news. What this effectively means is that users searching for a particular venue on Bing Maps will, where relevant, also see comments and tips on that venue from users who recently checked in on Foursquare. Take a minute for what this could mean for venue marketers – both threats and opportunities. Done that? Good. ONWARDS!

A Service For Adults Who Want To Dress As Animals – For any of you webmongs who may be Furries, enjoy. *yiffs* (via Luke Mackay. Who is most definitely not a furry. So he says)

The Best Direct Mail Stunt I Have Seen In Ages

If I Were Rupert Grint of Harry Potter Fame, This Would Unsettle Me

And now, without further ado, the videos. Christ, this has been a long one. Sorry about that.

1) Akala – XXL: Great track, nice video, don’t let the fact that he’s related to Miss Dynamite(ee-hee) put you off

2) Girl Crisis – Come As You Are: a slightly fey cover of Nirvana’s classic which is better than it has any right to be

3) A robot, making coffee. Just watch:

4) The most random thing to go semi-viral this week. Next time a client suggests that they ‘want a viral’, why not show them this and then laugh in their POOR CONFUSED FACES?