apt blog

Refreshingly Vay-ner-chuk

Energetic. Original. Inspiring. All words that have no doubt been used thousands of times to describe Gary Vaynerchuk, internet celebrity and star of Wine Library TV.

If you haven't yet caught one of Vaynerchuk's blasts of inspiration then you should. This guy practices what he preaches. And who can argue with him?

He's built up a his family business from a $4m turnover New Jersey liquor store into a $50m wine industry powerhouse. And all by the age of 30!

His unique brand of no-nonsense, in-your-face motivation may not be everyone's cup of tea. If you have the stomach though, it's a powerful and refreshing tonic.

Finally it's official!

Yes, the recession is officially upon us. Now the media can start being really negative. Wait a minute, haven't they been unbelievably negative for the last six months or more anyway?

Well now it's different. Instead of talking us into a recession, they can talk about us actually being there. Whoopee! It's finally happened. Can we all try and move on now please? 

What is the logic in nurturing this fear and siege mentality in the easily influenced 'general public'? If only we could start talking positive and motivate people to act but it's doubtful that will happen.

I realise that there's real substance to the 'crisis' and the media didn't create it. However, it's a shame that we'll never know what a positive impact the media could have had over the last year.

To slightly redress the balance, here's some good news that jars with the media agenda.

Goodbye Bush!

A mastery of product placement, this ad is enjoying rapid global spread via office email, blog posts, tweets et al. Thought we'd share in case you've been hiding under a rock.

The viral reach this has generated undoubtedly far outweighs the ad's initial impact. Veet have certainly found a way to make their budget stretch that bit further. For that, we salute them!

     

Captain fantastic

Just found this article on the impact of social media following the recent US Airways crash-landing in New York.

The impromptu 'campaign' focuses on a fan page for the 'heroic' pilot Captain Chesley B Sullenberger. It could be argued he was just doing his job. Admittedly very well, but none the less...

Anyway, the stats are certainly impressive, with 350,000+ fans on the facebook page for a start. A good demonstration of SM's instant reach, achieved by tapping into the public consciousness.

So, will this bout of Social Media, sure to die down over the coming days and weeks, be good or bad for US Airways?

Well (as the article indicates) crash-related stories do not sit well with airline bosses, clearly, no matter how positive the outcome. Unfortunately for them, these kind of stories no longer disappear quickly.

One thing's for sure, Captain Sullenberger's personal brand has been elevated beyond what most could reasonably expect in a lifetime.

Are newspapers dead?

Not technically. They're still breathing.

The latest post from our favourite marketing guru ponders life without newspapers, giving an interesting analysis of content and how (almost without exception) the web does it better.

It's difficult to argue that newspapers aren't dying but they're certainly not dead yet. Nevertheless, the balance has shifted hugely and will continue to do so.

The challenge for PR people isn't in getting on board with this philosophy; pretty much everyone is there (or getting there) already.

The real obstacle is convincing clients that the web is where their budget should be. It's difficult to re-programme the warm glow that's achieved through seeing your name in print.

The simple truth is that print media, while good for the ego, isn't where it's at.

Are you in the mood?

As usual, Seth Godin has pointed out something that's right under our noses. We can learn how to do almost anything from the web. What we collectively lack is the motivation.

Nevertheless, people and organisations across the world procrastinate because of that missing piece of 'knowledge' that eludes them. They/we/you need to just get on with it.

Taking it a stage further, perhaps the mass of information and instruction is compounding the problem. People are so overloaded with ideas, they don't know which one to pursue first.

So, not only must we be 'in the mood', we also need to focus.

e-resistible client offer

We recently started working with e-resistible, an online takeaway portal offering customers a choice of quality takeaways in their local area.

This exciting student start-up is growing rapidly and has over 150 restaurant sign-ups in major cities including Birmingham, Bristol and London.

Anyway, to get 9% (apt for 2009) off your next takeaway purchase, go check out e-resistible and use the code JAN09 when paying by debit/credit card. You can also check out their blog here.

Fancy throwing a sickie?

Just picked up this little gem from Mark Borkowski's blog. If you haven't checked it out yet you should; fascinating insights from one of PR's true masters.

Anyway, this campaign comes from giants of the cough-medicine world, Benylin. It's a wonderful example of marketing and PR working in perfect harmony and has been hugely criticised by employers...apparently.

The site at the centre of this manufactured 'controversy' offers remedies, advice on how to email/call in sick, an online game to play, and even what to watch on telly during your 'Benylin Day'!

Clearly a bit of light-hearted fun, but Benylin's agency certainly knew the reaction it would get. They must have been rubbing their hands with glee while watching this BBC news report.

See the ad below, and click for the campaign website that's causing all the fuss.

Virgin makes it '84 again

Unless you've been nursing a New Year's hangover of gargantuan proportions, or have been lucky enough to escape the UK on a post-Christmas break, you can't have failed to notice Virgin Atlantic's cracking new ad from RKCR. Here's a refresher in any case...

Celebrating 25 years in business (has it really been that long?) Virgin Atlantic has released a Heathrow-based ad stuffed with 80s references, some subtle, some not so.

With appearances from long-forgotten brands like Our Price and Wimpy, along with cars of the period, miner's strike references, yuppies, stilletos and the archetypal 80s soundtrack, it's almost like being back in '84!

Anyway, here's the ad in all it's glory. Well almost; this YouTube version is pretty poor quality, though it adds to the authenticity I guess! Enjoy it here, or visit the Guardian website for a high-quality version.

New year, new us!

Happy New Year! Hope you had a good one.

   

"New Year, New You" is a heading that causes much merriment in the office. A filler for January forward features across the country. The worst, most unimaginative feature title ever.

Our heading has another purpose though. It signals that we're kicking off 2009 with a new-look blog. It's an annual step we take to keep things fresh. We hope you like it.