David vs Goliath: ding ding
My latest post for Forth Metrics takes inspiration from the recent BrewDog/Diageo battle, and explores how even a small business can throw big stones with the right strategy in place…
This week saw provocative craft beer company BrewDog hit the headlines, as allegations emerged that Diageo had abused its position as sponsor of the British Institute of Inkeeping (BII) awards to prevent BrewDog from winning Bar Operator of the Year. Misguided Diageo executives are thought to have threatened to pull all funding for the BII should its fledgling competitor beat it to first place.
Is DIM the new enlightened?
I’ve hooked up with inbound marketing experts Forth Metrics to write a series of blogs exploring best practice in modern PR and online marketing. Forth Metrics has developed a fantastic new blogger discovery tool, InkyBee (currently in beta), which aims to cut out the pain of finding relevant bloggers for an outreach campaign.
My first post reflects on the range of new tools designed to measure a person’s online influence, and asks if it’s really a worthwhile approach? Taster below…
Trust in digital media
My latest guest blog for the lovely folks over at Support Your Local Cinema examines the issue of ‘trust’ in digital media – how to win it from your followers, and in turn how to convert those followers into your biggest fans. Thank you to digital expert Ewan McIntosh for sharing some top tips and advice.
Here it is…
Exclusive interview: Sir Tom Hunter
The latest issue of Strathclyde People is out, and features an exclusive interview with Scottish entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter.
Strathclyde People is published by White Light Media for the University of Strathclyde, and I manage the editorial for White Light Media.
The autumn issue has an enterprise theme, and as well as chatting to home-grown billionaires, we have also visited Whitelee wind farm for a picture-led feature on renewable energy; explored the final frontier for a feature on space research; learned about business in the Big Apple and brought together a number of inspirational alumni stories.
Read the full issue. (copyright White Light Media and the University of Strathclyde).
New post on Hither & Dither: A decade later…
Ten years ago this month, I was 18 years old and packing all my worldly belongings into the back of my parents’ car, about to embark on the biggest journey of my young life. In terms of mileage, it wasn’t massive – 300 odd from sleepy Wick to the capital. But for little shy old me it felt pretty momentous. I was leaving home for the first time.
38minutes inspires Hungarian spin-off
38minutes, the social network I manage, has inspired a spin-off site for European entrepreneurs.
EU-funded business magazine Creative Growth has run a special feature on the importance of collaboration and networks, with 38minutes featuring as a key success story.
The article reports that 38minutes inspired Jozsef Gonda, MD of marketing business Forensys Communication, to create a network for entrepreneurs. After hearing about the success of 38 in Scotland, Jozsef decided to develop a website with useful information regarding tenders, EU funds, development opportunities, creative sector trends and opportunities for collaboration. “We wanted to emphasize to other entrepreneurs that cooperation brings opportunities,” he says.
38minutes also inspired the EU cinema network Support Your Local Cinema. Rachael Castell modelled the site on 38minutes after a recommendation from GFT’s Jen Davies that 38 was not to be missed. Jen has used the site for everything from marketing and recruitment to inspiration and blogging.
It’s great to hear that our small but ambitious network is attracting international attention!
Canongate.tv
Canongate Books is leading the charge into new media platforms with a vibrant new TV-inspired website canongate.tv. Working with the talented team at Canongate, I’m helping to shape the site, adding more exclusive video and audio content supported by inspirational features and blogs from some of the leading lights of publishing. It’s already shaping up to be a vibrant hub for book lovers everywhere.
Indie cinema
As a guest blogger on EU-funded social network Support Your Local Cinema, I get to wax lyrical about the meeting points between the arts and digital media. My first blog explored alternative content programming for independent cinemas, and since then I have reflected on the changing nature of storytelling and what we can learn from the habits of hardcore gamers. Please click on Portfolio for more, or check out the site direct at supportyourlocalcinema.com
A new chapter in storytelling
My latest guest blog on independent cinema network Support Your Local Cinema considers the latest evolution in storytelling: interactivity.
Here’s a taster:
Stories have been a part of human culture since prehistoric man first drew pictorial representations on cave walls – signs of “the beginnings of the modern human soul”, as Werner Herzog eloquently expressed it in his acclaimed film Cave of Forgotten Dreams. The earliest stories served less as entertainment and more as instructive tales of faith and morality. Through ancient religious texts, we adopted beliefs, rituals, codes of behaviour, laws and ethics. The great philosopher Plato famously set out his theories about the nature of human existence through a series of allegorical tales, and in medieval times fables provided miniature lessons in morality. In those early days of literary development, our storytelling was bound up in the pictorial and the performative, passed down orally through generations.
Superinjunction v Freedom of speech
Ah, in even the busiest week there’s always time for a wee rant about press freedom and the cult of celebrity.
Here’s a taster:
Is it just me, or has the 21st century been a tough old time for journalism?
First, the rise of digital media has in many ways undermined its status as the Great Conveyor of Knowledge. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for digital democracy and I tweet with the best of ‘em, but I take a very strong position on one of 38minutes’ oldest and most hotly contested debates: is journalism dying? The answer, to me, is a firm no.
Journalism simply needs to move with the times. Digital media feeds us an exhuasting array of information, not all of it reliable, and any professional journalist will apply their critical eye to the source and act as a filter through which only the truth will out. Well, in theory at least.
And how they report that truth has rightly moved on to new platforms and acquired an interactive edge. Again, a welcome development. But there has certainly been a ‘settling in’ period where the industry had a bit of a wobble: if every Tom, Dick and Harry can self-publish, where does professional journalism fit in?
Read it in full here on 38minutes.
