Just a nice, innocent viral marketing video

I rather like this viral marketing video doing the rounds from HP, so just thought I would share it even further. Really is the key to viral marketing videos - keep it simple, clever, entertaining, fun and something that makes you smile and want to share with others. This does the trick ... and my post is evidence of that.

Stitcher

This just might be genius.

US-based company Stitcher are launching a customisable radio facility for use on mobile phones. Initially being rolled out on the iPhone, the player will allow you to syndicate audio content that you want to listen to - a bit like an RSS reader for audio, I guess. Quite rightly so they're pitching this at commuters, offering them a way of getting digests from their favorite audio content sources back to back while on the move. Check out the 'about' section on their site, and also read the Mashable blog article about this.

Daytime delights

Apologies for the little absence from the blog over the past few days. I've been poorly for a few days and, unable to stare at the computer screen without feeling nauseous (nothing to do with the content, purely to do with feeling ill, I might add). So, I've had my feet up and been off-and-on enjoying the delights of daytime TV. I thought I'd just share my top 3 daytime TV observations/moments from the past few days:

1. The home makeover show where a man had painted his 3-year old daughter's bedroom the same colour (all over) as the Pickle Jar Communications logo. The 'stylist' referred to it (in Canadian accent) as 'advocado barf' (barf as in 'puke' not 'bath'). Perhaps not so good for a 3-year old girl's room, but, hmmm, where can I buy some for PJC HQ?!
2. The fact that on 'Bargain Hunt', the programme where two teams have to buy items that then get sold on at auction, seems to celebrate people making a loss! I forced myself (forced, I tell you) to watch 3 or 4 episodes of this bizarre gem of British TV and not once did any of the teams make a profit or break-even. Boy did they celebrate their loss-making wins! What a great way to teach out-of-work people great business practice - make a loss and get a big pat on the back and told how well you have done. I think they need to bring Alan Sugar in to guest host an episode or two.
   
3. Trevor Williams, Chief Economist for Lloyds TSB on the lunchtime BBC news on Monday wearing the narrowest vertical stripes in just about every direction he could. I really need to get my hands on this clip for my 'What to Wear' sections of my 'Working with Broadcast Media' training sessions. Not good for the nauseous viewer though.
   

Facebook Chat

Facebook have announced the launch of Facebook Chat, the instant messaging service for facebook users to communicate with their friends logged on to their profiles. I have to express a few reservations, however, about this new service.

First and foremost, I'm already a fairly avid user of Windows Live Messenger. I have a handful of contacts set up and that's about manageable. These tend to be fairly close friends or colleagues. For me facebook serves a completely other purpose - keeping in touch with people that I'm not necessarily likely to have (or want) daily or even weekly conversations with. As such, I'm not entirely seeing the point of Facebook Chat. I can understand why they have done it, and admit that I may well change my mind in a few months time once I have a go, but for now I remain a little unsure.

Be Patient

Do 'patients' exist any more in the UK health and social care sector? I've been out of the office for most of this week working on a video project for the health, social and child care sector and not one of the people working in health care were allowed to refer to the people that they work with (or on behalf of) as 'patients'. Instead, they are referred to as 'service users', 'clients' and 'customers'. Yes, I appreciate that the NHS wants to foster a culture of 'customer service', and rightly so too, but what's so wrong with the word 'patient'?

What a clog!

Julia Finch reports in today's Guardian of yesterday's drop in share prices at Tesco being largely the consequence of a little too much information provided in Simon Uwins' 'Fresh & Easy' blog. According to Finch, traders blamed yesterday's drop in share price by 11.25p on Uwins' blog post of 26 March, Pausing for Breath at Fresh & Easy. Tricky one from a communications point of view. Uwins is suggesting in his post that the reason they are slowing down the new openings of new stores (or 'taking a break') is to allow them time to listen to customer feedback and respond or make the relevant changes. Good PR practice on the one hand. In fact, excellent PR practice following the correct 2-way communications, feedback, revision, rollout cycle. Perhaps not such good PR practice from a business point of view though if his post genuinely did assist in the fall of the share price. What a lovely case study for a PR student somewhere to take a look at! Hint: there might be something slightly amiss at stage 3 of Cutlip, Center and Brooms' PR planning cycle in this case study.

Digital Media for Business

As part of the work we've been doing for Ideas for Life TV, we were recently involved in a conference on digital media for business hosted at Alton Towers (18 March). Working with Ember Regis, we interviewed the key speakers from the event. Two of them were specifically speaking about how digital media can be used to communicate science and can be used by business. Both videos are available below. The first features Magic Lantern Chief Executive, Anthony Lilley, while the second is an interview with Adam Rutherford, online editor for Nature.