How to hijack the topical issues

Lots of hijacking going on out there this week. First of all, on the back of Jacqui Smith and ‘porngate’, check out the top ten things to watch while the missus is away, courtesy of Virgin Media, purveryor of pornography to expense-swindling civil servants.

As a fellow Virgin Media customer I'm actually amazed Jacqui Smith's husband could keep it up long enough to order the movies in the first place. By 'it' of course I mean the company's TV and broadband service, which in recent weeks has gone down more than often than an actress in a... well you get the picture.

However, when it comes to hijacking the Jacqui Smith story, the top prize goes to Television X, which I'm told is a channel offering pay-per-view adult entertainment on cable television. They've taken out an ad in at least one of today's tabloids claiming its service is 'By request of HM Government'. Nice touch and quick turnaround.

And one of the other big stories doing the rounds at the moment is Google Streetview.

Now, I’d believe this whole ‘Man caught cheating via Google Streetview’ story a lot more if there were some names attached to it. But ironically if there were, that would surely represent an even greater infringement of privacy than anything Google’s up to.

At the moment however, I can’t help thinking it represents little more than the coming together of opportunity (the level of media interest in Streetview) and motive (“top lawyers” like the publicity + newspaper editors like a good saucy scandal). I could be wrong of course.

The World's Leading is back with a bang...

Good to see The World’s Leading has come out of retirement, hopefully for the long haul. It seems PR Week’s post modern tome to the art of self-congratulation – The Power Book - finally flushed him out of the long grass and he could bite his lip no longer.

Jacqui Smith and the curious case of Ocean's 26

The media are having an absolute field day today at the expense of current Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and her husband, Richard Timney (contrite, right). And fair play given what Smith has been enjoying at everybody else's expense of late. Without doubt it's one of the media stories of the year and will run and run until Smith loses her job during the next spate of bad-news burying (riots expected later this week, you say?).

Obviously the fact Smith has tried expensing her husband's fancy for porn is at best embarrassing at worst a huge blow to her career prospects. The fact her constituency majority isn't the strongest could also mean this scandal poses a long-term threat to her ability to fleece the electorate for expensive sinks and pornography. While Smith's fellow MPs are being more light-touch when it comes to throwing stones from the privileged position of their glasshouses, the media now have tasted blood. The second home thing was dull but worthy, now they've got sleaze in their nostrils and the pack is circling.

I suspect all the crisis management in PR-land couldn't save Smith now. Paying back the money? £21? The taxpayer would rather have the pound of flesh at this point I suspect. As for the comment from a family friend that Smith's husband will be "sleeping on the sofa for a while"; Smith might like to confiscate the remote control before leaving him alone in the living room.

But all that aside, has anybody else taken a good look at the less eye-catching items on the itemised phone bill which Smith clearly expected the taxpayer to pick up on her and hubby's behalf.

Has anybody seen Ocean's 13? Yeah? me too. Has anybody watched it twice? No, me either.

Yet Smith's phone bill shows the pay-per-view movie was ordered on consecutive nights. That seems not only a little wasteful but also really throws taste and intelligence into question, alongside ethics and honesty.

As for Surf's Up, it may well be one of the best animated films about surfing penguins but I'm at a loss to see how that is essential view in the line of her work for the UK's Home Secretary.

If you want to be a newspaper columnist you MUST have a point

Following my earlier post about the Daily Star, I've noticed an interesting trend among the newspaper's staff.

If you want to be a columnist for the UK's cheapest newspaper you must have a point.

Literally; you must be able to point your finger in one of two ways: 1) The 'hey you're just like me and we're both a bit cheeky' point, or 2) The 'what the hell's THAT all about' point.

Ooh! Aah! Daily Star Forum... and how to get your voice heard

Each morning, a group of us in the office huddle around the day's papers, discuss the issues and the way they are covered, flagging client opportunities and coverage and generally encouraging all at the agency to understand the way the media works.

In recent weeks however, I've been increasingly drawn like a moth to a flame towards the Daily Star's 'Star Forum', featuring readers' text messages. It's normally found around the middle of the paper (I'd say it also often includes a pic of a girl in her undies but I'm really not narrowing it down much if I do).

The 'Star Forum' is an eye-opening barometer of modern Britain - a hotbed of comment on everything from Jade Goody to Our Boys in Iraq, via burning issues such as Jade Goody and Our Boys in Afghanistan. If you've ever had a taxi driver turn to you and begin a sentence with "I know I shouldn't say this, but..." then what follows is almost certainly the kind of gem you'll unearth in the Star Forum, all held together with a unique blend of traditional humour and rare moments of common sense.

It's become a must-read for me in recent weeks but this week I decided it was finally time to step over the white line and switch from spectator to player and aim for inclusion with my own pearls of wisdom.

The trick as I saw it was to pick a subject the Daily Star has covered and which is likely to have driven some discussion among its readers and offer a bluntly unambiguous opinion. Another approach is to conjure the kind of one-liner a forgotten generation of comedians would be proud of.

For my first attempt I decided to submit two entries. I decided I'd go strong on the new series of The Apprentice and I'd go light on the news that Google Streetview has captured an image of everybody's favourite space alien E.T. hiding out in New Jersey.

And I'm curiously proud to say that at the first time of asking I have made it in, twice. (I'm 'Will' and 'WS' towards the bottom of the right hand column). I think I've got the hang of this.

Next up I will aim for 'Text of the Day'... I think it may need to involve squaddies.

I sink I've seen this photo story somewhere before...

Interesting spot in The Metro today, flagged by a colleague.

They've only gone and covered the very same sunken cabin cruiser today that I had up on my blog yesterday.

For sale: Boat, possible leak, would suit fans of 'Titanic'

In years to come, look in the dictionary under 'optimist' and you may well see this picture.

I spotted this in - rather than on - the River Thames the other day and it made me chuckle.

Yes, the piece of paper on the window really does say 'For Sale' (click to enlarge). The note goes on to explain the boat may have a 'possible leak'. Now whatever makes them suspect that?

Very much a case of 'buyer collects' but good luck to the seller... and anybody who buys it.

Guardian kicks up Twitter stink over education reform

The Guardian has kicked up a stink in the blogosphere and beyond over its coverage of suggested education reform that would see children encouraged to use Twitter and blogs as a source of information and communication.

Well, heaven forbid education reform should ever move with the times! The picture on the front of the paper suggests it’s more important children understand Wikipedia than Spitfires and Queen Victoria. The horror.

Surely children coming to terms with online communication tools and information now is no more pernicious than their elder brothers and sisters being shown how to use a search engine or their parents using a language lab or a BBC Micro for the first time, or their grandparents getting their own text books for the first time.

We’re talking about the medium and method here. The proposed guidelines do not suggest children will be marked on whether they know who founded Twitter or Wikipedia, but rather they will be shown how such tools can be complementary to their learning, which is undoubtedly true.

I'd also argue that of course it is equally important children can type now and navigate a computer keyboard as it is that they can write longhand.

Updated: Daily Mail so desperate to put the boot in to Twitter it will pay £300 for sob stories

A freelancer for the Daily Mail is offering £300 to anybody willing to claim Twitter "ruined their life".

Expect to see that feature in the next few days then and when you do just remember how it came about.

I'm sure many small businesses and individuals would discuss for free the benefits of Twitter but what are the chances the Daily Mail would be interested? Zero...because Twitter gives you cancer and rots children's brains.

Updated: The same journalist has just issued a further call for comment, this time offering just £250 but impressively asking for "any twitter stories - good or bad". Let's see which the editor leads with.

Why Google Streetview rocks my very small world

I can’t work out whether I am more disappointed my house isn’t on Google Streetview than I would be aggrieved if it were.

And while the privacy debate rages on and a brief adoption curve flies speedily through ‘how cool’ on its way to ‘now what do I do with it?’ I quickly found an excellent reason to use Google Streetview: context.

Context is more important than we realise when it comes to search.

Search has too often lacked context. I can find the address of a pub, but is there a curry house or a bookies nearby? If I’m meeting a friend in Bristol, what’s the nearest pub to the station – does it look rough as boots - and is there somewhere between the station and pub I can grab a newspaper or buy a birthday card? Is there a cashpoint on the way?

Knowing these things won’t change the direction in which the world spins but it is all useful stuff. Yet gathering that information would previously have required multiple searches and many false positives en route, and in truth I’d probably just not have bothered. However, while Streetview isn’t bang up to date it does promise to provide much of that context and more.

A small example - which could certainly be more interesting but at least illustrates my point. Last night I met a good friend for a few drinks at The Loft bar on Clapham High Street. Before heading off I looked it up on Streetview to establish what the nearest curry house looked like and whether there is a cashpoint between Clapham Common tube and the bar. There were both but I also saw the bar is above an Evans Cycles (though white van man was doing his best to thwart me you’ll note).

This isn’t something I knew or something I would have found out just by doing an address search. Google pushed that context to me. But armed with this fact – and knowing I needed to get a new bike pump (it’s 24 rock and roll my life) – I set off a few minutes early to catch the shop before it closed.

I didn’t reinvent the wheel in the process, or discover a new way to split the atom. But such lifestyle tools are certainly useful and I did get a new bike pump...

...and OK, I didn't actually get a new bike pump because the queue was taking forever so I put it back and walked out and will now have to buy one online - but that's not such a good ending is it.

The most important story of our age? The secret to eternal life...

I have no idea why this story is tucked away on page 11 of The Metro today - it could be the most sensational breakthrough in this history of modern science.

Scientists have found a proven way to REDUCE "the overall risk of dying", according to The Metro. And it requires nothing more than eating chicken.

Since homo erectus first walked the earth the risk of dying has been an unequivocal 100% for all human beings, however eating chicken can now reduce "the overall risk of dying" by 8%.

Bad news for red meat eaters however, the risk of them dying is actually higher than 100%, meaning many may actually die more than once.

A deer do for Streetview

You will have seen this story already in any number of newspapers or online.

A Google Street View camera car ran over a deer and posted the images on the internet, according to The Telegraph. The Metro even has the telling before and after shot of the deer.

But what got me, was this line in The Telegraph, apparently without source: "Although stunned, the deer managed to stagger to its feet and ran off before the local police arrived."

Putting aside any inference the deer had a reason to scarper before the coppers got there, I find myself asking: "Says who?"

Not to go all JFK on you, but it strikes me the Google car driver was the only witness mentioned in any other article I've read.

Apropos of nothing, here's a recipe for venison casserole.

Goody's public life and death sheds light on the fickle finger of Fleet Street

While the media focuses its attention on Jade Goody, following her death, I think it worthwhile to reflect on the tabloid media's changing attitude towards the controversial reality TV contender. The media circus which built around the self-styled celeb more starkly than anything exposes the shifting foundations upon which the tabloid press is built.

Just look how dramatically attitudes towards Goody changed when it was revealed she had cancer and - importantly - would be prepared to die in front of the media's lenses. Just compare the 16 page souvenir pull-out in today's Sun with the same paper's own description of Goody just two years ago (left).

For me, this puts into perspective just how fickle the media can be when a more profitable agenda presents itself to an editor willing to cash-in on any situation and when nudged along by somebody as influential as Max Clifford, Goody's PR advisor.

After all, what actually changed since The Sun branded Goody "a vile, pig-ignorant, racist bully" and ushered her back "under the rock from where she crawled"? She developed terminal cancer, which is a tragedy for any young mother and her family, of course.

That news didn't make her a different person but, importantly, it did change the opportunity for the media. The improbable beatification of Goody became a more saleable prospect - not least of all because it would feed the nation's morbid fascinations and its need to grieve vicariously (whether for Goody, Baby P or Diana et al) and would also stir a reaction from those less sold on Jade's redemption or her inexplicable fame.

Just look at the Google trends chart (left) which shows how the clamour for news on Goody (top blue line) fed and was fed by the hike in media coverage (bottom blue line). As a media event, her death clearly outstripped even the furore around the Big Brother race row which at the time we were led to believe was a national disgrace by the very papers who so quickly forgot it when a better story came along.

Whether people believe they loved her or hated her, or are wracked with massive indifference, there's no denying Jade Goody had a remarkable effect on the tabloid and celebrity press. She proved the unfathomable selling power of somebody who could be famous for being famous. The total lack of substance in all but the reality of her death is so incredibly disproportionate to the levels of coverage she has created over the past few years we must concede she will be remembered, for better or worse, as a key figure in the evolution, or the spiraling decline - depending on your viewpoint - of the media.

Google Streetview launches ...oh look it's my office

Expedia car hire: FAIL!

"We offer a huge range of deals... and our holiday car hire packages include flexible pick-up and drop-off options to suit any holiday itinerary." So says Expedia's car hire page.

But try as I might the website just won't let me do it - and I've just spent the best part of my lunch hour assuming 'it's not you, it's me'. So I resort to the dark ages and pick up the telephone:

Me: "Your website won't let me book a hire car to pick up in one place and drop it off elsewhere despite claiming to offer 'flexible pick-up and drop-off options to suit any itinerary', so I was hoping you could help me book that over the phone."

Expedia: "Yeah, no we don't do that I'm afraid."

Me: "...oh, but it says on your website you do."

Expedia: "Yeah, well we don't do it I'm afraid."

Me: "Thank you very much for your help."

So now I know... they mean that kind of "flexible" - the rigid, immovable sort.

Ryanair: Porn to be wild on the PR offensive

Today it was revealed on the BBC that: "Some of the biggest no-frills airlines, such as Ryanair ...are the slowest to pay up when they lose or damage baggage."

Now, I'll let that fact sink in, for those of you shocked to hear Ryanair is a bit shonky.

But in case anybody worried such negative coverage might steal the headlines from the publicity courting no-frills airline, check out this from The Sun:














Now I'm sure it's true. This is The Sun after all. But I can't be the only one who thinks the timing of this find is at least a little fortuitous.

Don't get me wrong, she definitely works for Ryanair, she was in the 'Girls of Ryanair' calendar. What more evidence do you need?

Is “some of my best friends are black” defence a PR own goal?

Am I missing some biting satire from The Times? I was going to post the below yesterday but I’ve been trying to find out in the meantime whether ‘Max Clifford’s Diary’ which appeared in the paper on Sunday is genuine or a work of subtle satire. Incredibly, I’m tending to assume it's the former.

In which case, this would appear to be how Max Clifford most recently explained away those persistent allegations of racism against his client Jade Goody: “She’s not racist. Some of her best friends are black.”

He didn’t? He couldn’t have.

Rarely, in the history of the English language, have words of denial ever been so inextricably linked with guilt. As Deborah Orr writing in The Independent, around the time of Ron Atkinson’s outburst in 2004, stated: “It's well known to be the racist's first defence, the one that proclaims that "some of my best friends are black".”

Rory O’Connor, writing in The Guardian in 2007 described this well-worn defence as: “one of the most laughable explanations of all - the old "I can't be a racist, because some of my best friends are black" excuse.”

Of course that doesn’t mean anybody saying those words, or having them said on their behalf, is racist by default. It certainly doesn't mean Jade Goody definitely is racist, but you’d have thought an experienced PR maestro such as Clifford would be aware of the connotations and history of that phrase.

Is putting journos on a tighter leash great news for PR?

Apparently The Guardian is reining in its journos’ expenses. That’s bad news for local restaurants, bad news for old school journalism and therefore bad news for The Guardian too in the long-term.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. This is sounding like very good news for the kinds of journalist contacts who pick up the lunch tab. And very good news also for those who stand to benefit from journalists being even more deskbound and reliant on inbound leads.

So, that would be good news for PR and PR.

Thanks to Peter Kirwan for flagging that one on Twitter.

Is this what's wrong with Twitter...?

There has been much head-scratching of late, trying to pinpoint the biggest problem with Twitter. The Daily Mail suggested it could be the cancer-causing properties of all social networking sites, but for me it's those try-hard individuals who surrender pride in the pursuit of celebrity endorsement.

Like me you may have had to stop following a friend, contact or colleague who showed themselves to be inexplicably starstruck in the presence of Stephen Fry or Fearne Cotton's one-sided web presence. If not, trust me this is pretty much what that person's Twitter page looks like:

What a day! Kauto Star secures place in racing legend... Pays for my day out in the process

Recession, what recession? As predicted Cheltenham is packed...

As I previously suggested, despite the media's desire to see doom and gloom at every turn Cheltenham is a sell-out, packed to the rails and the rafters.

The Times calls for politicians to bury their heads in the sand, while the UK burns

Interesting piece in the The Times which highlights one of the greatest problems facing UK politics is as much the quality of political commentators as the quality of political leaders.

“Politicians twitter while the country burns”, sniffs the headline, before columnist Rachel Sylvester offers up the following astute observation on the Twitter phenomenon: “In this country, middle-aged MPs hope they will look youthful and “in touch” if they use the latest web tool.”

How embarrassing then that these dinosaurs should prove themselves to be far more forward-thinking and progressive than the writer, whose approach seems to be ‘how very dare these MPs waste tax payers money making themselves accessible to, er, tax payers”.

Heaven forbid our elected representatives in Westminster should create direct communications links to their constituents, or keep them updated daily – even with the trivial - at a time when people are concerned their MP has chosen the recession to go missing in action.

Yes, it’s a learning curve, yes, there’s an element of Dad-dancing-at-a-wedding about these middle-aged men using Twitter to get down with sections of society they have little in common with. But surely that’s exactly why it’s a good thing.

Hopefully MPs are also ‘listening’ as well as Twittering. By doing so it will help them break out of exactly the kind of ‘us and them’ mindset The Times seems to think laudable for constituency MPs.

The Times need not be afraid of Twitter, or even change. Communication isn’t new, and used well Twitter can be nothing more or less scary than an effective, scalable extension to platforms such as the MPs’ surgery.

Clearly fear of change is an issue however. If you’re interested to see the full range of The Times recent political reporting, check out Rachel Sylvester’s last two columns and the over-reliance on a hackneyed cliche:













That’s right folks she does both kinds of music, country and western.

Have sports fans really read the ‘Recession Handbook’?

The media this week are widely predicting a low turnout at the Cheltenham Festival, the jewel in the crown of the horseracing calendar. Inevitably the economy is to blame, as it must be for anything and everything at present.

The Telegraph paints a particularly bleak picture but is it presenting the facts in the fairest light? Certainly I believe the negative factors its piece cites, such as racing’s falling share of bookmakers’ revenues and the going into administration of Great Leighs can still be explained away more as anomalies than as symptoms of a greater illness.

Diversification into gaming, and increasing football revenues, explain in part racing’s shrinking slice of the pie – but are not mentioned. And a lack of feature races, a subsequent lack of interest, poor facilities and the prospect of a post-meeting night out in Braintree put pay to Great Leighs’ ambitions.

Of course there is probably some truth in the overarching conceit. Perhaps people are finding it harder to rationalise a day, or a whole week, at the races. Certainly it’s no fun without a flutter, and £2 each way just doesn’t set the pulse racing for some people.

Perhaps people find it harder too to look their boss (professional or domestic) in the eye and request time off to fritter money away on new shoes for their bookie's kids. After all, a show of disposable income "in times like these" doesn’t really show the right level of fear.

Or, perhaps a couple of years of dodgy weather also account for advance sales being down. And maybe recent concerns about race fixing have dented some people's enthusiasm for the sport. And maybe the bookies are naturally always a little 'woe-is-us' when it comes to their personal PR because they're never the most popular people on course, even in a boom time. Forecasts suggest they'll still be taking around £600m in bets this year and while some heavily back near-certainties could ruin their week, they'll be alright, don't worry about them.

I think this story needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt, not least of all because I question whether 1) sports fans have ever paid much heed to the chapters in the recession textbooks about non-essential spend, and 2) whether they would ever consider their sport of choice “non-essential” anyway.

It boils down to one question: do sports fans make economic or emotional decisions? I tend to think it’s the latter. 360 days of the year the media would have us believe sports fans are blindly passionate about their teams or the sports they follow. I’m not sure therefore a case can be made for these people becoming astute economists for the other five days.

As a football fan I used to travel a lot following my team, Liverpool – away games across Europe as well as domestic fixtures. One season I went to every away leg in Europe as well as the final. At the time I was working for a dot-com haemorrhaging staff. The reality of the situation – impending redundancy - was not lost on me but nor was the fact recessions come and go, eventually, while sport throws up far more fleeting and unique moments which could happen but once in a lifetime.

I don’t actually travel for the football anymore. I guess I’m just not that big a fan. But the economy isn’t even on the list of reasons why, and I still have friends who would sell their first born to buy tickets for the right match before conceding the economy – of all things – had got the better of them.

The Telegraph claims “Cheltenham's challenge is to offer some hope that racing can ride out the recession”.

Hopefully that sparks debate, because there are problems within the sport. But ultimately I hope nobody takes too seriously a comment which exists really just to use the "ride out" pun and to further exploit what has been identified as the selling power of recession stories.

The Onion layers into Blockbuster

Following recent mentions on this blog of Blockbuster Video - and the ongoing debate around whether I am simply showing my age referring to it as Blockbuster Video - somebody flagged this clip from the always excellent The Onion:

Is topical comedy becoming a victim of the economic downturn?

Comedians are probably still doing pretty well out of the recession all told. After all, in any situation where 'if we didn't laugh, we'd cry' you either want to be the person telling the jokes, or the one selling the tissues.

But you only need to trawl through today's - or any day's - papers (and let's aspire to a world where comedians all read the quality press) to see that other, topical material is certainly drying up.

I was in Wimbledon last night for a comedy night (featuring the excellent Will Smith and a great MC, Lewis Schaffer who appears to relish in walking a fine line between being disarmingly un-PC and dying on his arse... check out either, or both, if you get the chance.)

However, it did strike me the comedy world may be a little short on material currently, as the economy has clearly wiped all before it. And try building a routine around quantitative easing.

Perhaps it was just an unfortunate coincidence but three out of the four comedians all did 'a bit' about the opening ceremony at London 2012 and how, inevitably, it will prove a moment of great national embarrassment made all the more stark by Beijing's impressive spectacle last year.

Do we really have three years of this? But what else is there?

If nothing else, the newspapers tell us what is in the public consciousness and therefore what might be drawn upon by stand-up comedians. So three of them tackled the Jade Goody story but that material has an obvious shelf-life. Weeks rather than months we're told. And then what?

Could the answer come from an unlikely source? Could our reaction to the recession actually throw comedy a lifeline?

I ask because it seems one possible result of the economic decline is an increase in heckling by those looking to get more bang for their buck. Last night there was more than I'd heard in a long time. Perhaps those shelling out £12 per ticket think they have a right to be part of the show at that price rather than just another audience member.

The only problem: it's just a shame the people who heckle are normally educationally sub-normal, last night being no exception. But some witty to and fro between stage and audience could certainly help mask the shortage of material and keep the subject away from the London Olympics... at least until 2012. Though I suspect the London Games will be a punchline in its own right. And one so monumental no comedian would dare follow it.

Blockbuster Video (continued): Your century needs YOU

Following my post last week, defending my right to call the company "Blockbuster Video" in the face of unreasonable, and it transpires incorrect, age prejudice, I'm now seeing Blockbuster Video shops everywhere I look. The photo here was taken in Wimbledon last night... it definitely still says "Video". And this got me thinking. If you have one nearby, take a picture and email me, including location.

Spring has sprung in London...

I found myself feeling remarkably chipper yesterday. So much so a colleague even commented on it, which I think is shorthand for "you're usually a cynical old misery, Will".

But that was nothing compared to today.

Spring has officially sprung, in London and in my mind. I left for work in bright sunlight for the first time in about five months and I could feel a deeply ingrained case of the winter blues lifting like a spring mist.

Such was my mood I found some uplifting tunes on my iPod and stayed on the train to Waterloo, for no reason other than to leave myself a decent stroll back to Millbank, along the river.

There can be few better walks in any city around the world than almost any mile-long stretch of either Embankment through Central London. Most of the time I walk around the city with my head down, if not literally then figuratively, but looking about you as you stroll through London is a right and a privilege I feel very lucky to enjoy.

And what's more, my great sense of levity was in no way deflated by the sight of Peter Mandelson having custard thrown over him.

Today is a good day. Enjoy.

Oh what a brand name… Blockbuster Video…

I was laughed out of our morning press briefing earlier this week for discussing the demise of Blockbuster Video. The laughter wasn’t directed towards my assertion that the business clearly cannot survive in the movies on-demand and LoveFilm / NetFlix era. We were largely agreed on those points.

The hilarity was all because I called the company “Blockbuster Video”, which in terms of carbon-dating me placed me somewhere between the dawn of the dinosaurs and the birth of Jesus, according to our account executives and grads for whom the VHS tape machine is a historical, if not mythical, artefact akin to the Ark of the Covenant.

Now, I’m sorry, I’m really not convinced the fault is with me here, as much as it's all good sport to ask those of us born in the seventies what rationing was like, and whether we were evacuated during the war.

I took these photos just last night (5th March 2009) in London (if like me you're very old, you can click the images to enlarge).

Now, clearly the name stands out as a screaming anachronism but the fault is surely with the company, not with me or my apparent fondness for a yesteryear when youngsters knew the meaning of respect and you could buy a pint of ale for a shilling. It definitely says 'Video'...even my faltering eyes can make that much out. (Never let it be said I don’t bear a grudge... you know who you are!)

Interestingly, this branch of Blockbuster Video, yes, I said Video, was just around the corner from my other branding pet peeve – Carphone Warehouse.

How does that work?

“Hi, Carphone Warehouse? Do you do home broadband?”
“Yes sir, we do.”
“And do you do mobile phones?”
“Yes sir, we do.”
“And do you do carphones?”
“Do we do what…? How old are you sir?”

Microsoft Surface demo: Touch-screen-tastic [client plug]

All the apps shown in the demo are developed Avanade, a client of mine. Interesting stuff for the hospitality industry.

PR agencies successful in bid for Times top 100 listing

Congrats to those PR agencies who’ve made The Times list of 100 top small companies to work for.

I believe the award is based entirely on anonymous employee feedback from those companies who applied for inclusion. So assuming nobody was held at gunpoint to fill in their form - and let's assume they weren't, as it tends to sit badly with HR - that’s a great accolade for seven UK agencies (or the UK office of larger companies). Take a bow: Blue Rubicon, Nelson Bostock, Brands2Life, Text 100, Shine, Golin Harris and Lexis, in that order.

I’ve been fairly critical of ‘league tables’ of late, so thought I’d better redress the balance.

Sky News: Reader comment of the week...

I'm not sure if Sky News failed to spot the obvious sarcasm here, or a frustrated staffer published the comment exactly because the pointed irony is an antidote to the channel's own coverage, but I just spotted this reader comment on a Sky News article about the ongoing Jade Goody saga:

It claims to come from somebody calling himself Matoobo, but I've got my doubts:

"Dear Miss Jade. I live in the northeastern Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Life here is hard. The soldiers come into our village every day and commit rape and steal our children to make them into soldiers. We try to find food and water but it is hard. Malaria is widespread and we used to pray for a deliverance from our hardships. But since hearing of Jade It has made us realise our problems are so small. We follow your storys every day and are so proud you make lots money out of wedding. God Bless you Miss Jade."