4 Fuks Saké

Global 'Talkability?'

Positive word of mouth sells products. Brands and products that are talked about, shared, recommended or loved, sell. Brands and products that are ignored, fail. Marketers doodle on pads in meetings, thinking, "how do I secure positive word of mouth, or 'talkability' for my brand?"

For global marketers, there's a bigger question. How do I create positive word of mouth and fame for my global brand across different cultures, in different languages, through different media contexts?

Is it possible to create global 'talkability' for a brand or idea?

If so, how is it done?

Want to know? Click on the link and read Creating Global 'Talkability'. It's written by me.

The Hare Has Run Its Course For Frank

News from the UK. The world of greyhound racing was in mourning this week as one of the sport's icons bowed to the inevitable, and called it a day. Frank PR, owners and godfathers of Flying Frank broke the news earlier this week from their London HQ, and The Sun broke the exclusive.

Under the guidance of trainer John Coleman at the Calverbury Kennels in Essex, 'The Flyer' built a solid reputation on the dog track. He could never shake off a troublesome shoulder injury though, and with that, Frank had chased his last hare.

Frank's achievements on the track were miniscule compared with his efforts off it. Flying Frank was a giant amongst greyhounds - his tireless work to secure the long term future of Walthamstow dog track capturing the attention of celebrities and national media.

Flying Frank attracted celebrities of the highest profile (within a 500mile radious of London), such as Brian Lara, Frank Lampard and Ms Dynamite. None of them were available for comment. All of them are gutted.

Flyer - keep on running son. Don't stop til you catch that final hare. 

Text Me If I'm Fat

And in Japan, Digitalworldtokyo again gives us another example of how Japan is leading the world in mobile phone applications.

Japanese foodies, stressed about calories can now turn to their mobile for dietary advice. You can simply photograph your food and send it off to a team of nutritionists who will analyse it, and tell you to put the Big Mac back.

For once there's a flaw. It takes three days for the pics to be analysed and feedback given. By my reckoning that works out as a 'meal lag' of an estimated 6,000 calories?

Digital Or Death

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd actually publicly admit to respecting - even liking the Daily Telegraph. I'm aware I'm getting older, but I've got to face up to a few things.

I was just to about to shut down and head home for a Friday evening of a big red and England v West Indies when Media Guardian's RSS headlines distracted me. The Telegraph's editor, Will Lewis, has called his rivals 'arrogant' for their treatment of digital.

Got a lot of respect for him, he's a businessman wrapped up in journalist's clothes. The Telegraph had a choice. Wait for its old, reactionary, retired colonels of Kent readership to die. Or more sensibly - find a new readership. So they've done a smart thing and gone digital to capture a new wave of young, thrusting, rich right-wingers who'll one day - many years from now - turn into retired, reactionary estate agents and stockbrokers, living in Kent.

Their digital approach (so I've read elsewhere) is remarkably simple and gimmick free. Readers want audio when comatose on public transport in the morning, video whilst eating their Pret sandwich at a desk at lunchtime, and print to read on the 5.44 out of Victoria. (You can download a pdf at 4pm). Within all this, there's a normal print edition too.

Simple. Smart. Makes sense. Which is as it should be. 

Disclaimer: the only reason I like it is for the sport.

Forget the cricket, watch for a PR superpower...

Pick up an airport-racked business mag, and you'll only be a few pages away from an article trumpeting the rising economic glory of India. We know they're knocking out microchips and software at an alarming rate, but closer to home I think it's worth keeping a watching eye on India's public relations talent.

Indian simply loves to communicate. The country has 23 official languages and over 200 dialects, which are said to change every 5km you travel. In 2 years of regional gatherings, forums and meetings the Indians contingent is usually pretty similar. They love to debate, they love to challenge, they love discussion - they are constantly curious. They are the master story-tellers. And Jesus - do they get angry when their cricket team fails to deliver.

My three days in Goa last week allows me to make some sweeping generalisations. Whilst the Indian PR industry - to me - appears reasonably focussed on the basics of media relations, if ever there was a country that has the opportunity to elevate itself to a global player in PR, it's these chaps. I agree with David Gallagher's comments here on 'glocalisation.' He's right, globalisation doesn't mean white PR people making more money all over the world. These guys can kick our asses - all it'll take is experience and application. The raw ingredients of PR - curiousity, empathy and story-telling - they're all there.

And they do a mean Aruyvedic massage - one that brought back uncomfortable memories of a naked penetrating shower in Evian.

It's Not Easy Being Clever

Some of the perceived big clever thinkers of the world probably don't like the phrase 'social media.' For people like Will Hutton, the former editor of The Observer and high profile UK political, media is becoming anything but.

Once Will simply submitted his 1,000 word think piece on a Friday for Sunday's paper, sat back and enjoyed his weekend. Now pressing 'publish' is just the start for the poor man. Look what happened when Will brought the subject of rural China and India's gender gap to his readers this Sunday. The comments - or rather challenges - go on and on and on.

One of the great lofty hopes of social media - for me anyway - is that we are watching the crumbling of intellectual elites. The big society-shifting ideas are no use on paper or in someone's head, they need to be exposed, and ultimately executed. Social media - one would hope - will allow bigger ideas see the light of day, to be embraced and executed. Ideas will be less reliant on position, access, influence or privilege to bear fruit.

As society gets to grip with technology, maybe we are shifting to an era of intellectual meritocracy. A sort of intellectual version of Digg? Naive, I know. Open to abuse - for sure. But intellectual meritocracy is an attractive thought. Especially if it means well-paid journalisyts have to be work that little bit harder.