Each Monday from now on we will be sharing a weekly light hearted overview of the weeks news put together by Mike Wills who looks after strategy for our Ogilvy PR division.
How to media manage bad news = The results of the government’s investigation into the Nkandla expenditure were announced at short notice on a Sunday morning while Zuma was out of the country and Bafana Bafana were about to play a big game.
Word of the week = “Englishnisation” – a policy being pursued by Japanese firms to help them globalise – funny they should use a word no one who speaks English would understand or recognise
It’s a big week for …. troubled Blackberry (or the Research in Motion company which owns the name). On Wednesday they launch their new smart phones with “BB10 software”. Last throw of the dice for the once ubiquitous and addictive Crackberries?
Market segment acronym of the week = FBIs – fat, bald and impotent men – apparently this is a very important part of the online market as the FBI’s are too ashamed to shop in store for products which help these three things Via DailyMail.co.uk
Thinking of which = My favourite product name of all is Horny Goat Weed – it combines implications of sex, bestiality and drugs in one name – try asking for that discreetly at your homeopathic shop.
Hot tip of the week = Bradley Cooper to play Lance Armstrong in the inevitable movie (Lance by the way has rejected an offer to go on ‘Dancing With The Stars’)
Jason who? Jason Wu. That’s who. The 30-year-old American designer provided Michelle Obama’s inauguration gown for the second time (first designer to ever do that). The dress …. “deep red chiffon and velvet gown, cinched at the waist and detailed with ruching at the high, gathered neckline”. If, like me, you have not got a clue what that means, here’s a pic.
Thinking of the inauguration …. Beyoncé lip-synched the Star-Spangled Banner causing a bigger outcry than several school massacres.
Oh brother. At the American football Superbowl this Sunday (just about the biggest entertainment event on earth) the rival coaches of the two teams – the 49ers and the Ravens – are brothers Jim and John Harbough. Destiny’s Child will re-unite for the half-time show.
You should know about … American teenager Sloane Stephens who rolled Serena Williams at the Aussie Open and may be the NBT in tennis.
You cannot be serious – on sale this December the chewable iPad for babies. The InnoTab2 can download apps, has eBooks and music preloadedand comes in a case to protect it from being dropped (and chewed) – retails at R1000
Clever idea of the week – an interactive toughened-glass gym floor with automatically interchangeable line markings for different sports using LED lights.
For my next birthday ……. billionaire Saudi Prince Al-waleed bin Talal-al Saud has just acquired the world’s largest private jet – an Airbus A380 which normally carries 800 passengers – it will hold 20 state rooms , a marble-lined spa including a Turkish bath, a dedicated prayer room where “virtual” (computer-generated and GPS-based) prayer mats rotate continually for an accurate pointing to Mecca and a “well-being room” where the walls act as giant movie screen displaying views of earth’s surface as the plane flies over… oh, and on landing, the royal’s guests will experience an “Oscar” moment: a special lift descends from the belly of the plane onto an automatically unfurling red carpet. (www.celebritynetworth.com)
Sitting is the new smoking – a blog on the Harvard Business Review makes this claim saying that sitting too much makes you fat and then kills you. Does this mean chairs will have to carry health warnings?
Tech stat of the week – 40m photos are being uploaded to Instagram every day with 9,500 likes and comments being added each second. Instagram has a current user base of 90m.
The French for hashtag is …. mot-diese. The French language authorities are very particular about these things and do not like accepting English words into the vernacular so # = mot-diese, e-mail is courriel but they still say ‘le weekend’ (www.huffingtonpost.com)
Be glad you don’t live in …. the Russian village of Oymyakon which is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world, with the average temperature for January of -50C.
