I'll write at a slower pace

For a number of reasons, I've been blogging a lot less.

Partly lazy. Partly because I've been using internet on an iPad which while amazing for reading and watching the internet - is not so great for typing. So I wasn't writing much. And Google Reader doesn't work so well on the iPad, so wasn't reading many blogs either.

I was still looking around for all the wonderful things I'd been finding on blogs by folks like Dave Trott, Grant McCracken etc but found myself using twitter looking for these nuggets. The other thing I realised is that most of my blog posts were simply sharing stuff I stumbled onto. Stuff I liked. Not very much of my own.

Consider this. If I saw a TV ad I liked, I could share it by grabbing some youtube video code, embedding into a blog post and adding my own thoughts. I considered this a fast process. In fact, at the time, I was amazed at how easy it was to share.

Today, sharing is a Retweet.

So. I'm going to continue blogging. Because I like writing and a blog is a good place to articulate a viewpoint. But I'll write at a slower pace. (I already am actually). Not once a week. Perhaps only once ever few weeks. This is not considered best practice blogging. Not by a long shot. But this is my plan. And I'll use continue to use twitter to find and share stuff. Different tools for different needs I guess.

By the way, I found an iPad app called Reeder as a way to read the blog posts, so am back reading them. And happy about that.

Your arm's broken. Your back's wrecked. And all you can think is...

Press Ad for Liberty Mutual Insurance, by Hill Holiday.

The insightful copy on the left page reads - Your arm's broken. Your back's wrecked. And all you can think is 'Getting my car fixed is going to be painful'

I am part of a lost generation

Thought this was clever. Via Paul Isakson

Words are important

Image via Greg Gladman

I have over 70 feeds in my Google Reader. I don't read them all. I'd like to. But don't have enough time. Instead, I tend to flick through them - at lighting speed - and stop at the articles or posts that grab my attention.

As a rule of thumb, the blog posts that grab my attention have title headlines that interest me. Sounds obvious but how much effort do we put into our post headlines?

They often have striking images too. I really like this one by Greg Gladman. But personally, my decision to read on is often determined by those first few words in the post title. So for example, I suspect more bloggers would have stopped to read this post in their RSS reader if the headline shouted "One simple way to increase your blog readership today" instead of "Words are important". (I didn't use this headline because I thought it was an overpromise and it also sounds a bit naff.)

So chances are, I probably miss loads of interesting, insightful posts because I don't get beyond the title headline.

I think it was David Ogilvy that once said that the "headline is the ad for the ad'. The most important part of a press ad was the headline. And therefore requires the most effort, work and thought.

Words are important. And the words we use in our title headlines can make a difference.

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere...

Via PSFK

I went through 19 CVs this week.

Image courtesy of Fiona Rae

I went through 19 CVs one night this week.

In search of somebody that loves advertising, has some experience in it and is willing to work hard. Could I tell from the CVs? Nope. Not one had a blog or a link to a portfolio or previous campaigns either.

I couldn't help but wonder how individuals with marketing backgrounds, working in the field of communication, do not sell themselves better.

The CVs were mostly full of stuffy language and clichés. "Maximise this. Productivity that. Works well in groups. But also independently". This is from folks pursuing careers in persuasive communication.

How refreshing would it be to get a CV that starts with "I will work into the long dark lonely hours of the night to make sure my advertising campaign is something W+K, Crispin Porter, Alex W. White and David Ogilvy would all be proud of"?

This one sentence tells me a lot...You love advertising. There is a good chance you know the basics. You understand that advertising needs to sell. And you are ready to take on the necessary long hours. That would be enough to get an interview.

If you're good, don't hide.

How to recognise fraud

Russell Davies noted that this online bank notice is obviously fraudulent. Why? Because it feels like it was written by a real human. Banks don't tend to write like humans, unfortunately.

Although RaboDirect.ie do. They have a nice tone.

When you want to show you're angry.

I learned many years ago never to write in caps. They are difficult to read. But you have to admit - nothing works better in an email when you want to show a colleague that they just PISSED YOU OFF.

Great inspiration poster. Thanks Emer for this.

Funny how a typo can change our entire perception

Funny how a typo can change our entire perception of a brand. Thanks Emer for highlighting this. (No doubt you won't be welcome back now).

Does anybody actually talk like this?

Saw this sign in Dublin Airport at the weekend. Does anybody actually talk like this? I think we should ban the words "To ensure...".

A nicer, more effective message could be "Tired after your flight? Please use our trolleys. Just drop them back to where you found them - so others can use them too. Thanks so much."

Another example of how business people write like idiots.

Why business people speak like idiots

Found this via Helge Tennø

Fight the Bull is a website dedicated to eliminating business jargon. Some nice stuff here.

You can even download a toolbar that will scan your document and take out all the bull. With the Bull Composite Index, you can see how jargon-filled your Word doc or Powerpoint slides are.

The bit I like best is their Mystery Matador. If you get an email from a colleague that is full of bull - you can paste it into the Matador and anonymously send your colleague's email back to them from this site, with a score on how much bull was in their original email.

Let the fight begin.