hackbash

Earlier at work I chanced on the latest issue of Marketing Magazine. The second story is a survey, commissioned by the mag, which trumpets: “British Airways’ YouTube videos win public favour“. Which is total cock. The story explains how BA responded to the first of two cabin staff strikes by publishing videos on YouTube which, [...]

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An interesting post on Antony’s blog has drawn me into a thread about the commercials behind journalism. In essence, Roy Greenslade has challenged Philip M Stone’s “heretical thought” that papers return to print-first publishing, but he doesn’t suggest an alternative revenue model. Antony notes iCrossing’s experiments with new models of journalism. Meanwhile, Paul Bradshaw (in [...]

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Web 2.0 is great. No, really. Here’s the kind of awkward PR run-in that I’m sure has been happening for donkey’s years. Off-message Channel 4 News reporter Ben Cohen dares ask an iTunes question on an iPhone day, and Apple’s PRs move in for the kill. Admittedly we don’t see the context, and the Apple [...]

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This blog’s got quite a scoop – it appears to be the first site anywhere on the internet with the low-down on the 2008 Product of the Year. There’s some hardcore investigative journalism for you, but I guess it’s all about connections. The Thats [sic] News article is written in the kind of no-nonsense language [...]

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Busy week, sorry for the lack of posts. Been writing a story based on a report by Experian that makes some interesting, if not entirely original, predictions about the rise of the “super advocate” in 2008. Basically, the idea is that the opinions of influential figures within an online community will dictate how a company [...]

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Last week Dave Lee picked up on Spannerworks’ advert for a new journalist, and drew our attention to the fact that it was, frankly, rubbish. I hope that Charlie’s reply to Dave’s follow-up post explains a bit more about how we work and what we’re doing in a marketing agency. We’ve spent plenty of time [...]

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There’s a set of responsibilities incumbent on a journalist that needn’t trouble a copywriter, PR executive or marketing assistant. The latter are generally assumed to have an agenda, with a message to sell or place, and their words regarded accordingly. The former should be writing for the reader. Given the above, it’s not always surprising [...]

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One of the things that troubled both Charlie and me before we came to work at Spannerworks was the very idea of a journalist working for a marketing company. That and the idea that we’d never again be able to listen to Bill Hicks and laugh without reservation. Neither of us was sure exactly how, [...]

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There are people starving, others dying of disease and many millions who are oppressed and victimised, but if there’s one thing that people seem to give a shit about it’s technology. I’m utterly at a loss to explain why. This isn’t the grumbling of a marginalised old-timer, I should point out. I may (dimly) remember [...]

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