30 novembre 2004

Blog Tops Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary Lookup List in 2004

No word has been looked up more often this year in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary.

Incumbent, electoral, insurgent, hurricane, cicada, peloton, partisan, sovereignty and defenestration (!) are numbers 2 through 10.

George Bush visits Ottawa

This is a minuscule story in the US but a huge one up here. 24-hours news channels are covering this intensely.

Anyways, since Canadians are generally anti-Bush (the same way most countries around the world are) they're preparing a pretty important protest in front of the federal Parliament.

The Hill Cam shows the real time gathering. Heh.

This is a picture that was saved a couple of hours ago.




The CIBC screws up (IMHO)

The Globe and Mail tells us this morning that a whole bunch of PR/crisis counselors agree with me that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (commonly known as CIBC) is screwing up it their treatment Wade Peer, the scrap dealer in West Virginia that received all that confidential information.

At least the headline is amusing.

29 novembre 2004

Un Blog Talk montréalais?

L'idée de Marie-Chantal est presque devenue un Tout le monde en parle des carnetistes montréalais branchés (incluant Sébastien Paquet, Michel Dumais (qui s'offre comme organisateur en chef), Sylvain Carle, Martine Pagé et plusieurs autres). Un wiki et un blog (avec un fil RSS) sont déjà en place.


17 novembre 2004

Pessimistic Canadians

Do you think you are at risk of losing your job in the next year? 28% of Canadians say yes.

Out of the 18 countries Right Management Consultants surveyed, we're 16th on the optimism scale (only Hong Kong and Germany fare worse).

Mmmm.

13 novembre 2004

BUSINESS WIRE: The Global Leader in News Distribution

Earlier this week, I blogged about Nortel. In said post, I wondered if Nortel would file its numerous late fillings on time in mid-November as promised.

Well, now we know: no, they can't. It'll be sometime in the next 30 to 60 days, or so they say. Like I'm going to believe anything they say.

Shame on you Nortel.

9 novembre 2004

Rupert Goodwins and promotional t-shirts

Tell us what you really think there Rupert.

Let me start over. Rupert Goodwins is a columnist at ZDNet UK. In his latest comment, he skewers a PR agency for sending out a media release printed on a t-shirt. Yes that's right, printed on, not accompanied by.

We' ve had some daft things through the post here.
(Note: that means the mail.)
A couple of years ago around this time, we got a set of loose fireworks as part of a PR campaign. We're not sure how legal that is -- oh, who are we kidding, we know exactly how illegal that is. But the office is festooned with cuddly chameleons, stuffed penguins, comedy hats, half-empty bottles (they don't stay that way for long), novelty mouse mats, novelty mice, half-full USB key drives (this year's toy of choice) and many other PR gizmos ranging from useful to tasteless.

T-shirts are a perennial favourite. The best ones are big, black and have discrete logos -- which is why most of them are small, white, festooned with ugly designs and useful only as underwear. However, I have in front of me what must be the least good idea in promotional T-shirts. Ever.
The least good idea? (How about the worst idea?) Anyways, does anyone know any worse idea in promotional t-shirts?

If so, email me or leave a comment.

IBM Press Room Uses RSS

The IBM Press Room now offers its content via RSS feeds.

That's nice.

8 novembre 2004

"This is the Way. This is Nortel."

By way of Business Wire, we learn this morning that Nortel has:

  • launched a global branding initiative
  • focusing on the uture
  • that kicks off with an ad campaign.

If I can be very clear about what I think of this initiative, this is stupid.

Couldn't you guys start by getting your financial act together? You still haven't restated your 2001 results! To say nothing, obviously, about every other result since. Just last month, you had to announce, with significant egg on your face, that you would "not be in a position to file financial statements by the end of October 2004 as previously announced."

"The Company now expects that it and NNL will file, in mid November 2004, financial statements for the year 2003 and the first and second quarters of 2004, and related periodic reports."

We'll see next week what comes of it.

Credits for the campaign go to The Richards Group out of Dallas.

3 novembre 2004

Post-electoral quotes

From Doc Searls in The New Florida:

(To) the heartland, Bush is Reagan. The vast red states are more than metaphor. They're the country. The intellectuals — including, I would guess, most of us here in the blogosphere — are the fringe. We're a minority that did about the best it could do, considering. We tried to "take back" the country. But it wasn't there for the taking.
From Zogby:

“We feel strongly that our pre-election polls were accurate on virtually every state. Our predictions on many of the key battleground states like Ohio and Florida were within the margin of error. I thought we captured a trend, but apparently that result didn’t materialize.

“We always saw a close race, and a close race is what we’ve got. I’ve called this the Armageddon Election for some time—a closely-divided electorate with high partisan intensity on each side."
And that, my friends, is spin.

2 novembre 2004

Anything to learn about the election

The New York Times writes that Advertisers Learn From Candidates.

The takeaway (also applies to PR):

  • Act now - right now
  • Blogs are big
  • Stand by your brand
  • Loyalty is royalty
  • Forget the box
  • Let me see if I got this right...

    Frontline, PBS's flagship public affairs show is presenting "an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar "persuasion industries" of advertising and public relations and how marketers have developed new ways of integrating their messages deeper into the fabric of our lives" and not one PR executive accepts to go on the program!

    Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising, Doug Atkin, of Merkley + Partners, and Naomi Klein are all part of the piece that'll be aired November 9th. News release is here.

    Thanks to Jeremy Pepper who got it from O'Dwyers.

    The growing impact of consumers' web publishing

    Read what AdAge's Rance Crain thinks about consumers calling the shots. Excerpt:

    So marketers want consumers to be in control, do they? "Truly the consumer wants to be in control, and we want to put them in control," General Motors marketing executive Roger Adams told the Association of National Advertisers' annual meeting.

    Be careful what you wish for. What most marketers haven't come to grips with is just how much consumers are now calling the shots. They have the ability to change the way ad messages are being received -- and even come out with their own counter-messages.

    Well, he is right. Most marketers haven't come to grips with how much consumers are calling the shots. Maybe it's time they wake up and smell the coffee.


    1 novembre 2004

    Burger King Restaurants Have Tomatoes

    Okay, this is a funny news release.

    Seems that the Florida storms, the California rains and the Mexican pest oubreak have conspired to raise the price for fresh tomatoes so much so that some people out there think there might be a shortage some time soon.

    Whopper and tomato lovers can sleep better now :-)

    La publicité des élections américaines

    On prévoit que plus de 600 M $US (plus de 700 M $CDN) auront été "investis" en publicité (radio et télé) dans la campagne électorale fédérale américaine. Considérant que ce montant a été dépensé dans un relativement petit nombre d'États (les swing states), c'est un montant incroyablement élevé, et le triple de ce qui a été dépensé en 2000.

    La surprise, c'est que c'est le parti démocrate et la campagne de Kerry qui a le plus dépensé (250 M $ vs. 240 M $) ainsi que les groupes de gauche plus que les groupes conservateurs (70 M $ vs. 40 M $).