The Trafigura debacle

When ethics and PR collide, a lesson for business and communication students: Own up to your mistakes and proactively remedy the situation you created instead of attempting to conceal it. That stuff worked when we had a handful of TV channels and a few newspapers, not with millions of citizen journalists. Great account on the Guardian.

Climate Cover-Up by Oil lobby

The American Petroleum Institute increased its lobbying budget by 82 percent in the second quarter of 2009, relative to 2008... Makes you think.

Climate Cover Up: the crusade to deny global warming

In his new book, 35-year public relations veteran Jim Hoggan chronicles the history of unethical PR through the years, using the attack on climate change science as the most relevant, contemporary example. Watch this video interview where Jim talks about what he calls the "Philip Morris theory" – a strategy corporations use to cloak their spin with the legitimacy of science.

Federal Trade Commission to force bloggers' endorsement disclosure

"Bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service." At last... BBC News. Disclosure: I have no connection with the FTC or the BBC.

Top 10 bizarre wine names

This was sent to me by my friend El Blogador. In order of bizarreness?

• Fat Bastard (I tried the Shiraz. Quite good and affordable)
• Bitch
• Le Vin de Merde ("the shitty wine" in French...)
• Oops
• Arrogant Frog
• Elephant on a tightrope
• Frog's piss
• Cleavage Creek
• Mad Housewife
• Blasted Church (this is probably banned in the US. See my next post).
  

Full post and label pictures available on Oddee.com.

Carrier pigeon beats Internet in race to transmit data

Fantastic PR stunt from a South African IT company frustrated with their local ISP.

Top 8 Apple spoof

Hilarious.

Men lose their minds speaking to pretty women

"Research shows men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function"... My wife probably put it on my poor English. Telegraph again.

Youtube to stream movies?

At last, a legal way to watch on-demand movies online. The $4 price tag will not be a deterrent if streaming quality and speed is higher than the current alternatives. Will the movie moguls play ball? Telegraph.

30 things about art and life, as explained by Charles Saatchi

Saatchi talks to the Guardian.

The best diving spot in Asia?

The Cacao Pearl island is located off the western shores of Busuanga in Northern Palawan. It would be presumptuous to say that it is the best diving spot in Asia but it is probably the best-kept diving secret in the region. Palawan has over 2,000 kilometers of irregular coastlines, dotted with 1,780 sugar white sandy beaches islands, islets and rocky coves. It also hosts two world heritage sites for diving enthusiasts:

o The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site) features a large limestone karst landscape with one of the World’s longest underground navigable rivers (8.2km). The site contains a full mountain to sea ecosystem.
o The Tubbatha Reef Marine Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site) covers 332km2 including the North and South Reefs. The site is an excellent example of a pristine coral reef with a spectacular 100M perpendicular wall, extensive lagoons and two coral islands. (tie in with my section on Tubbatha)

Most divers come here to explore shipwrecks. During WWII, the American fleet sank 24 Japanese warships in the area, 12 of them in conveniently shallow water, including swim throughs, technical and Nitrox dives and shallow novice dives and all within a 1.5 hour boat ride in a wide arc around the south side of Busuanga Island. Turning a former war theatre into a divers paradise.

The Cacao Pearl is the ideal base to explore the region’s diving hotspots and indulge in all kind of environmentally friendly marine activities. The Cacao Pearl island hosts eight beaches, secluded coves and crystal clear waters with 30 feet plus of visibility. We have and extensive fringe reef system, allowing you to leisurely slip into the water right off the beach with your snorkel and mask on, and straight into warm waters and a cornucopia of exotic fish and coral. Spot and swim with gentle whale sharks, playful dolphins and a variety of underwater residents such as dugongs, clown fish, lapu-lapu fish, squid, parrot fish, lion fish, glass shrimps, turtles…

The resort will host a PADI 5 star accredited dive centre with resident diving and surfing instructors. Marine activities will include deep-sea sport fishing (catch and release), non-motorised water sports such as house reef snorkelling, kayaking, hobie cats, surfing, kite surfing and wind-surfing. Guests will enjoy regular dive expeditions to the only marine World Heritage site in Asia, Tubbataha reef and the world famous Apo reef located in the Mindoro Straight as well as snorkelling safaris to ancient and protected fringe reef systems, walls, caves, shallow World War II wrecks, and turtle and dugong (manatee) feeding grounds.

A pier and mooring buoys will welcome visiting leisure crafts.

Fiat building first consumer generated car

I am a great fan on how Fiat, which was left for dead a decade ago has reinvented itself and is now reinventing the industry. Just saw this on my Facebook feed, from old colleagues at Aegis Media:
"Working with Sao Paulo-based AgenciaClick, part of Aegis Group's Isobar network of digital agencies, Fiat started a website this month requesting ideas for the work-in-progress Fiat Mio." Fiat's marketing director in Brazil said "There are small things that don't cost much and bring great satisfaction to consumers, but haven't been given much attention. A lot of their ideas will end up going into our cars." Full article in AdAge.

First Video ad in a print magazine

First appearance on US publication Entertainment Weekly on September 11 (odd choice of date...). The specs: 2.7mm thick screen with 320x240 resolution, 2 inches by 11/2 inch display size, the rechargeable battery lasts for about 70 minutes and it has a chip similar to those of these annoying greeting cards. No mention of speakers. Advertisers are CBS and Pepsi. From the BBC, MediaPost and CNET.

5 reasons why I like to read Monocle

o Founder is also the founder of Wallpaper, arguably the most influential design & lifestyle magazine.
o It is not about fashion (fashion is for suckers) but about style - and about business, current affairs, culture…
o Finally, a magazine that recognizes Tokyo as one of the coolest cities on the planet. And I won’t use the word “sick” to mean “cool” as I am comfortable with my age.
o It launched when everyone thought print media was dead.
o Its website doesn’t give away much, if you want the stories, buy the magazine. A model for other publications struggling to adapt to the digital age?

Social Mention: Total social media metrics solution.

Social Mention is a “social media search platform that aggregates user generated content from across the universe into a single stream of information”. It includes Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, blogs… I haven’t delved down into the methodology behind passion, sentiment, reach and strength but I like the dashboard and the breadth of sources covered. So far the best I have seen for free users and marketers on a budget.

Above is a screenshot of a social media search on "Cacao Pearl", our flagship luxury eco-resort project.

Why does your english let you down?

A Guardian article about the longest running newspaper ad, for the Practical English Programme, a distance learning course on written and spoken English. Since the 1950s, 400,000 people have taken the course and the current MD reckons that despite several trials with new adverts, the original ad copy is still the most effective.

Times and Sun to stop free for all online model

"Quality journalism is not cheap," said Murdoch. "The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites." Article on the Guardian. If Rupert manages to pull this off, as I think he will, many media organizations and A-list blogs will quickly follow suit. I wonder how this will leave bloggers who quote articles or subscribers to feeds who automatically post on their blogs?

Everything you always wanted to know about the Cacao Pearl, in 90 seconds.

Relax for a moment, turn on the speakers and enjoy the new Cacao Pearl website.

MomDot's hypocritical weeklong PR blackout

MomDot: "our site, and many others, are inundated with hundreds, if not thousands, of product requests each year resulting in massive obligations and deadline stress"... "MomDot is challenging bloggers to participate for one week in August in a PR BLACKOUT challenge where you do not blog ANY giveaways, ANY reviews, and Zero press releases."

Looks good on the surface but MomDot looks more like a commercial venture to me than a blog, judging by the amount of self-confessed PR relationships, advertising on their site and the option to subscribe to be part of the "premier community for moms who blog". So basically the team wants to take a holiday in August to get away from the stress of running a commercial publication. Needless to say that MomDot can always refuse to follow-up on a press release if they don't want to. I turn away dozens a month and never talk about them. The whole PR Blackout call looks more like a PR stunt to me. I would support the initiative if it wasn't so hypocritical.

Boost world happiness: join Richard Wiseman's mass experiment

Log-on to Science of Happiness. Fill in a short questionnaire. Watch a video that will teaches you one happiness exercise. Practice for a week. Input your email and receive another questionnaire a week later. The results will be published on the 11th of August in the Times.