Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

The Giga Om blog credits the phrase to the New York Times’ David Carr as a way of describing the relationship between Wikileaks and the mainstream media partners involved in disclosing the Afghanistan war logs.

…the source of information is also a publisher, but also works together with traditional media to make secret data public for society’s benefit.

Cross-posted from my personal blog.

Information wants to be free has been the rallying cry of the greatest thinkers from the online world. It actually comes from a keynote speech that Stewart Brand gave in 1994. The free has been interpreted as ‘free as in beer’ but it can also be ‘free as in speech’. With that in mind I decided to have a look at the media I pay for. I was looking for ten media titles and ended up with 11, but that includes publications that I only buy very occasionally. There were three broad reasons that I bought media.

• Information that I can’t get anywhere else (easily). With the exception of the Telegraph’s MPs expenses scandal or the Washington Post’s Top Secret America projects most newspapers sell a commoditised product. Their sources are similar: global television news networks or wire services such as the Press Association, Agence Presse France and Reuters have filled in the gaps as newspapers cut back on having their own on-the-ground people
• Aesthetic pleasure - some publications are beautifully laid out and printed on nice paper or on a well designed website. There is a real tactile pleasure to reading a nice book or magazine
• Part of a ritual - having the media has become part of my behaviour, this is trickier to create because it is personal in a lot of contexts

I have split the media into two sections, first media that I consume on a regular basis as I subscribe to them, then the titles that I consume on a irregular basis, much of this is down to context - where I am usually, or where I am traveling to:

• Wired (US edition) magazine - Wired used to be at the forefront of typographic design when it launched with neon and metallic inks and text that spiraled on the page. Now it is a bit more prosaic-looking generally. What it still is, however, is a good zeitgeist measure of technology and innovation moving forward. Reading the print edition of the magazine with a white chocolate mocca on a weekend morning in Roastars is a monthly indulgence
• South China Morning Post (SCMP online) - Despite the best efforts of the international business press such as the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and The Economist; they are still woefully poor at covering the Asia Pacific region. Part of this I think as to do with an old order editorial mindset. This isn’t likely to change soon so I pay my annual subscription to get access to the SCMP online
• STRATFOR - produce current affairs insight for the likes of mining or oil companies and military contractors. It is staffed by a mix of bright young things and ex-spooks. Subscribing to their service is like having your own think tank in your back pocket and makes The Economist look like a dessicated version of a Time Out guide
• PR Week (UK) - I don’t pay for this directly, but instead it comes as part of my CIPR membership. Whilst it is often given short shrift within the industry, it is the closest thing we have to a publication of record. It is said that when Lord Chatsworth was thinking about how to deal with the forthcoming recession, he sent in a recession to comb the PR Week archives looking for answers in terms of what action agencies had previously taken during downturns and who had been the most successful. That may be all conjecture, but it proves the value of the publication if its true
• Monocle - an entertaining read that covers current issues as well as The Economist, Monocle has a definite opinion and tone-of-voice. I also like that they don’t print on cheap paper and keep the design standard of the magazine strong
• Econsultancy - for the cost effective market and tools reports. The compendium of internet statistics come in handy for client presentations. Subscriptions to the likes of Emarketer or Forrester aren’t affordable to an individual

The irregulars

• The Irish Times - Ireland being a neutral Euro-centric country has more of an open worldview than portrayed by the UK media, combine this with gaelic games sports results and you have the prefect short haul flight paper for me to read
• The New York Times - I have a particular soft spot for the weekend edition. The paper has a particular charm in the way it rigidly sticks to its outmoded print design. Alongside breakfasts (which is the height of American cuisine), The New York Times print edition is something I enjoy leafing through when I stop over in the US
• MILK magazine - Hong Kong’s MILK is a source of constant amazement to me. Not only is it a good resource for shopping tips in both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, but I am also stunned by some of the blatant commercial things they pull off like the issue celebrating the fact that McDonalds restaurants are open around the clock. I get friends to bring me a copy when they are coming from Hong Kong and I like to pick it up at the newsstand when I am there
• Financial Times - I occasionally like to leaf through the weekend edition of the Financial Times and find the product pr0n in How to Spend It quite fascinating because it is so ridiculous. How to Spend It should only be enjoyed in print as the online edition has the most appalling user experience and a technology | gadget section that tries to pretend that Apple doesn’t exist
• DJ mag - I have been picking the occasional copy of DJ magazine up since it when it was called Jocks. Alongside Update its still a great resource for finding out about records that should be on my shopping list

This is cross-posted from my personal blog.

Today sees the disappearance of The Times and The Sunday Times behind the dreaded paywall. An introductory offer of £1 per week for the first 30 days, and £2 per week after that is the only way you’ll get to see what both news sites have to offer. But how likely are we to fork out for content, and will we really miss anything if we don’t?

The staff at The Times seem very confident – at a recent PR Newswire Meet the Media event Tom Whitwell, Assistant Editor of The Times with responsibility for online, saw no reason why the paywall would turn people away from the site. Tom suggested that peoples’ attitudes towards paying for content have changed drastically in recent years; people no longer have qualms about paying £9.99 for The Times iPad app or spending a cheeky 59p on the latest version of Angry Birds for their iPhone. What will attract paying readers to the site, according to Tom, is its wealth of specialised content and the feeling of being part of a closer relationship between the reader and writer. I particularly liked his comparison of paying for content to watching live music – would you rather see your favourite band for free at Wembley, or pay a small price to see them in a smaller, intimate venue?

But not everyone agrees with Tom. The Guardian recently published the result of two surveys into reader attitudes towards print and digital media, The first, from Ipsos, saw a meagre 11% of online adults stating they would choose to access their news digitally and only 3% saying they would opt for a monthly online subscription. An overwhelming 77% said they had no interest whatsoever in paying for news content online. The second survey, compiled by YouGov, had similar results with 83% of respondents saying they would refuse to pay for online content.

Quite contrasting views I’m sure you’ll agree, and as The Times is the first non-specialist UK newspaper to head behind the paywall, we have no real comparison to show who is right. I feel that there will need to be something pretty spectacular on the site to encourage me to pay – what about you?

We all have some things in our media consumption that are the informational equivalent of the perfect bacon sandwich (in my case: thick-cut processed white bread, smoked bacon grilled until it will shatter like glass and Chef brown sauce.) Here’s mine:

• Vice magazine Dos and Don’ts - Dos and Don’ts is kind of like sitting in a pavement cafe and doing people watching with a couple of good friends with a caustic sense of humour. A combination of snappy copywriting, great street style-book pictures versus Walcreature shots make this must-click viewing
• Ransack Your Dignity - when Popbitch, Holy Moly and People of Walmart don’t give me a a sufficient dose of schadenfreude Ransack Your Dignity usually hits the spot. An online pictorial scrap book of Broken Britain, the misadventures of the unfortunate people featured never fails to cheer me up
• RCRD LBL - back in the day when I used to DJ on a regular basis in Liverpool promotion agencies used to send me records, in return I would fax back my opinion and a list of tracks in my current playlist (which I would also submit to Mixmag | DMC). I got some great records out of it, but the one that sticks in my mind is the worst record I ever received; Italian techno remixes of Musical Youth’s Pass the Dutchie by Walter Cremonini put out by MCA through DMC to DJs. I wasn’t that tactful in my return sheet and the amount of vinyl I got from them moving forward diminished considerably. Overall, it was a good deal, I got to meet some handy people, do a bit of A&R work for an Italian record label and produce an unreleased track in an afternoon with a producer then on the roster of Loaded Records. RCRD LBL doesn’t give you much scope for real world adventures but does give you new music for free similar to a promo agency but without the filling out forms etc, so you can to can enjoy the lucky dip experience of new music
• JNKsystem - A Japanese-authored photo blog which happens to blog about street style, I particularly like the bit of randomness in the curation of the blog. Its not as focused as Swaggerdap or Format, but that’s part of its charm
• Rhett & Link’s video blog - Rhett and Link are a creative duo who put together some great comedy and do some interesting advertising creative work as well. They are also responsible for I love local commercials - I managed to discover the credit mack daddy through their site

What’s your media indulgences?

This was cross-posted from my personal blog.

If you live in London, you may have seen yesterday’s Evening Standard front page headline Gordon’s ark.

In the time of an election, rarely does a Prime Minister have the opportunity to appear truly Prime Ministerial, however in this very unique case, an opportunity has been served on a plate to Gordon Brown.

Copyright Evening Standard

The Evening Standard hasn’t been Brown’s greatest fan over the years, but this headline  and this story as a whole adds a whole new chaotic dimension to this election campaign. What is particularly novel about this crisis, is that no lives are actually at risk, it is all about inconvenience, granted it is incredibly inconvenient and could be significantly damaging to the airline industry. I would suspect however that many airlines will be given significant payouts through the EU to ensure they stay afloat.

Every party would love to be able to make political gains because of this crisis, but at the same time they all have to be exceptionally careful not to appear to be doing so. If the Conservatives or the Lib-Dems attack Labour for not helping the stranded, than they can be accused of playing political games, likewise, Labour can’t appear to be too chest thumping about sending in the Navy to save British lives, especially when none are really at risk.

Only time will tell about how this plays out and whether the volcano keeps spluttering away, but this is definitely one of the issues that is making this one of the most exciting elections I’ve witnessed.

Cross posted with my personal blog.

Such excitement in this morning’s scanning meeting as the team pored over the papers trying to spot the April Fools stories. This year seemed to yield more stories than ever before with several clever advertisers getting in on the act as well.

Granted, in some papers it wasn’t so easy to spot which were the April Fools stories and which just fell under the normal brand of ridiculous reporting, with some of our colleagues even convinced that certain papers did not have any irregular features in them…slightly embarrassing not to spot that the Circle Line is probably not going to be home to another Hadron Collider. What?! It was early!

Anyway we thought we would do a roundup of everything we found - have we missed anything!?

Labour’s election strategy: bring on no-nonsense hard man Gordon Brown - The Guardian

Experts find way to stop us ageing - Daily Express

Labour’s election strategy: bring on no-nonsense hard man Gordon Brown - Guardian

If we are to believe The Daily Mirror and the Daily Express, our Majesty has fallen on tough times, and has taken to Flying with EasyJet…be honest - you did have to look twice!

Meanwhile, The Sun wondered how many people might be tempted by a lick of paper, the Daily Mail wowed us with stories of the AA’s new breakdown service.

In France it’s much simpler. Just pin a picture of a fish on someone’s back…. Poisson d’Avril!

For a full list of today’s Fleet St Foolery, click here.

A foreign client asked us recently:

 “We have been hearing so much about the UK General Election recently, could you clarify what is going on.”

 Oh dear, we all groaned:

 “The Conservatives were bound to win” he continues “and then their poll lead shrinks and then they are looking good again and then it’s definitely a Labour victory. Now we hear Hung Parliament. Each day there is a new story: What is going on?”

This is probably the most challenging question public affairs execs face at the moment. I dread it because everyone has a different opinion based on a poll they have read, which assures them of a certain scenario.

 This is being fuelled by newspapers and political blogs publishing a huge volume of headline opinion poll figures, which seem to directly contradict each other.

 But I actually do not agree that the picture is so cloudy. I actually think that the emerging polls are, in many ways, relatively consistent, but there are factors that are clouding the picture.

So at the risk of developing an eggy face below I explain what I think will happen at the General Election and what is clouding the picture:

 1. The ignored indicators - When you dig below the surface of tabloid headlines to less interesting polling numbers, a consistent picture of the General Election emerges:

 a. The Labour Party has lost a great deal of the voters who voted for them in 2005; the Conservative Party have retained most of their supporters

b. National polls have shown that since 2006 the percentage of people who want a change of Government has stayed broadly the same - 70%

c. Polls and indicators from key marginal seats, which if won would ensure a good election result for the Conservative Party do not tally with the fluctuations recorded at national level. From my experiences the situation is far more consistent and is positive for David Cameron.

 So why do we ignore these numbers:

 2. The Role of Newspapers - Each national newspaper realises that in Election season new polling figures create a great headline. The Sunday Times carried the story of the Conservative lead shrinking to 2 points and immediately had a hook that ensured their newspaper was picked up by inquisitive voters. Yet, these headline poll numbers are taken out of context. We rarely read the scale of the survey; the immediate context or the questions that people are asked. We just see the headline figure and absorb it into our consciousness, thinking it is definitive when it is not. Unless you realise the situation the poll was created in how can you tell what it means?

Weighing these factors up I believe that the Conservative Party are on to win the General Election with a majority. I do believe that the hype of the election campaign means people are fluctuating in their opinion of the national parties and their leaders when asked in national polls.

But I think that this ignores the fact that on Election Day people will be forced to choose who they want to represent them in their constituency and the signs suggest that they will vote for a change. Whether they will vote for the reformed Conservative Party is an important issue, but I think in order to facilitate a change of Government floating voters will be prepared to vote for the Conservative Party. I think people do want to get rid of Gordon Brown and want a new Government.

I could be proved wrong, but I agree with a politician who told me recently that: “when the British people decide they want a change, they normally make sure it happens”. This is what the polls suggest and this is my prediction.

This is the follow up post to the advocacy ads blog I posted yesterday.

The vast majority of these ads are from the USA and generally from Republicans. Like them or loathe them, they do campaigning very well, especially during the Karl Rove era.

First up however is one of Obama’s ads. He never created “great” ads, but a good deal of his involved just him, speaking directly into camera to the audience. This has the benefit of giving a personal message and engaging directly with the viewer. In this ad, he also personalises the story of his mother’s death and the extra pain of her death due to the insurance system in the US. He then brings that story back to the personal lives of everyday Americans which is vital for a successful visual engagement strategy.

If only he was still showing this ad in the last 6 months.

This Carly Fiorina ad is bizarre. Nick named the Demon Sheep ad, it has become the object of ridicule but also fascination. It is weird and out there and I guess that is its charm. I don’t think it will work, it’s too long, appeals to a fairly small part of the population (the Tea Party) and most importantly, it doesn’t actually target the candidate that is leading the race. This is an attack ad for a spot of the Republican California Senator ticket. Fiorina attacks Tom Campbell, who is a leading member of Governor Arnie’s Cabinet. They are both losing ground to Republican Chuck De Vore, a State Assemblyman who is know for his ultra conservative stance. No wonder she was rated as one of the US’s top 20 worst ever CEOs.

George Bush Senior’s attack ad on Michael Dukakis is one of the most infamous ever. Drew Westen describes it as “one of the low points in American electoral history.” Willie Horton was a felon of the worst order and whatever happened for him to be released was clearly a mistake. The ad however has become part of history. Using emotive, almost subliminal written messaging such as Rape, Kidnap, Stab, stuck in the heads of the public. Fear is everywhere in this ad, the frightening statements, the scary mugshot, the fact that you could be the person stabbed, kidnapped and raped under a Dukakis Government. It is enough to frighten anyone. In fact, this ad wasn’t even an “official” Bush Campaign ad. It was made by the Americans for Bush arm of the National Security Political Action Committee (NSPAC).

Willie by the way wasn’t his real name, he went by William, but that’s not as scary either.

Hilary Clinton’s 3am ad made a big difference during the 2008 primaries and was one of the reasons why she stayed in the race so long. Questioning Obama’s ability and experience, she came up with a pretty powerful and effective ad. It preyed on the fears of parents and grandparents alike. It gave her a good boost in the polls, but let’s face it, the rest is history

Gough Whitlam was the Australian Labor Prime Minster from 72-75 after 23 years of Liberal-Country Government, mostly under Sir Robert Menzies. This ad may seem a tad naff now, but at the time, the ad and the slogan “It’s Time” was hugely influential. Delightfully simple, the slogan simply pointed at the last quarter of a century under a Conservative Government, similar to the Change slogan used by the Obama campaign. No one over in the UK would realise, but the singers are all Australian celebrities and politicians. Australian’s might notice a young Jack Thompson, Jackie Weaver, Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton singing away. Whitlam however only lasted 3 years before he was controversially sacked by the Governor General Sir William Kerr. Whitlam, on the stairs of Parliament House then made the statement “God Save the Queen, because nothing will save the Governor General.” Thus started the first big push for an Australian Republic.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jykIqQxEOw]

Ronald Reagan put this ad out for his re-election campaign in 1984 and it is brilliantly simple. Patriotic, conservative and a vision back to the halcyon days of America. He doesn’t even appear or speak in it, but at the same time he seems both Presidential and grandfatherly.

Just like his father, Bush Junior wasn’t officially behind this ad, but it was paid for by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. There were plenty of memorable negative ads that hit Kerry hard, but this was particularly effective. Kerry made a big deal out of his Vietnam veteran status saying in a time of war, it was important to have a Commander and Chief who had proper military experience. Kerry won two Purple Hearts and one Silver Star for his heroism, but there were controversial circumstances surrounding this award and this came to the fore in the 2004 Presidential campaign. Kerry also immediately came back to the US post the war and began protesting against it. His initial campaign strategy was to portray him as a war hero, but not long after, these swift boat vets came out and hit Kerry hard. Again, the rest is history

Cross posted with my personal blog

In response to the Robin Hood Tax ad, which is one of the best campaigning ads I have seen for a while, I thought I would post some historically very effective political and advocacy ads. I’m also currently reading The Political Brain, by Drew Westen that looks at the role of emotions in political campaigning. It has been an eye-opening read, so this also gave me some inspiration for this post.

This list is by no means definitive and if anyone wants to send links to some campaigning ads, that would be great, I’d love to watch them.

This post will focus on a few advocacy ads, starting with the Robin Hood Tax ad that has been the focus of the media of late. It is a very simple ad, two voices, one face but plenty of emotion. Bill Nighy plays a leading banker who ends up squirming in response to the questioning about why a Tobin Tax shouldn’t be created. Squirming bankers is something that reverberates with a good portion of the public at the moment. This campaign plays to the slightly divergent emotions of good will and revenge brilliantly.

This next ad scares the heck out of me, although I’m not sure how effective it is. Shock ads, as I have written before, have the tendency to decline in effectiveness over time simply because of people being desensitized. I’m not sure anyone would be able to put themselves in this guys shoes, unless they have been in the same situation.

This shock ad from PlaneStupid, the organisation that focuses on climate change issues caused by the global aviation industry, is different from the previous one however. Shocking - yes. Disturbing - definitely. Effective - most certainly. Polar bears dropping from the sky crushing cars and smashing into buildings may seem like an odd choice, but it is actually very clever. The stance is that every person on a trans-Atlantic flight creates 400kg of carbon. Most people can’t conceptualize what that means however. A polar bear, which is also an icon of climate change devastation, is imaginable. Therefore this appeals to our sense of wanting to save these animals, horror at their gruesome deaths but it also puts our carbon footprint into a physical and understandable context. It was filmed in Canada, but it could be any city, again personalising the imagery.

The final ad is one that has screened on UK screens recently and was the subject of a number of complaints, but is far more subtle that the polar bear ad. Act on CO2 is a non-departmental government body that is the public face of the Government’s climate change policy. This ad simply shows a father telling a bed-time story to his child, but it is a story of the effects of climate change and includes drowning pets and other disturbing results of unabated climate change. But this ad is clever in the fact that it appeals on a personal level to adults and children. This ad scares children, hence the complaints, but it also contextualizes climate change for them ensuring they understand the potential of doing nothing. It also will frighten adults on a parental level - how can I let my child live in a world like this, what can I do to prevent it?

As I said, this isn’t a complete list, but it just a tester. I’d love your thoughts and if you want to send me other campaigns, feel free. I’ll post the political ad blog in the next couple of days.

Cross posted with my personal blog

On the 4^th of January The Conservative Party launched their election campaign by releasing this new 15-ft wide poster, which is erected on 759 sites across the country. Already it has been one of the talking points of the election campaign and like marmite, people either love or hate it. So, I wanted to have a look at the key features that are drawing attention:

The face: The Conservative Party have conceded that the face has had ‘minor’ airbrushing. Left-wing critics have drawn attention to this saying it shows his preoccupation with style, whilst the Conservatives say the picture was chosen partly by Samantha Cameron as it was serious-looking.

The clothes: Cameron is shown without a tie, which has become a common feature of his leadership. Apparently this was developed by Steve Hilton, his PR guru, to show that he is both in touch and ready for business. Advertisers have said that this image gives off a strong message of his willingness to get on with the job of Prime Minister.

The text: The use of the term ‘I’ in the second sentence has been used to emphasise Cameron’s popularity over Gordon Brown, advertisers suggest. Combined with the photo it emphasises him rather than the party as the selling point to the voters. It is reported that Conservative polling suggests this is one of Cameron’s big pluses. Critics have parodied the big brother nature of the poster and said it shows Cameron is a modern element in an old-fashioned party.

The message: The message, highlighting the NHS, has been used to counter the Labour attempts to define themselves as a party of investment. It is also highlighting one of the cores of the Conservative election strategy - the size of the budget deficit.

Some people have highlighted the use of the term ‘cut’ in the same sentence as the NHS may impact negatively. The terms could be associated and seem too negative.

Reaction to the poster

Labour party figures immediately attacked the poster because it was airbrushed. John Prescott went on the attack parodying David Cameron and the Daily Mirror also criticised the poster.

But other advertising figures have said it sends a strong message and plays to his key strengths. Commentators also say that it shows the speedier start to the election campaign on behalf of the Conservative Party. This could reflect the greater funds reported to be at the Conservative leaders’ disposal.

So, bearing that all in mind, what do you think? Hit, Miss, Maybe?

For me it is a HIT - simple, effective and to the point. But I know others will think differently.