Whatever...

Band Aid 40 for text neck?

By Astor Sonnen

Its official, having friends is bad for you. OK, not quite, but a new study has revealed that constantly staring at your phone all day does affect your spine. “Text neck,” as its being called, has been described as the first world’s epidemic (expect Bono to have his say imminently) and doctors are worried that the next generation will suffer from serious back issues from an early age.

As a slightly-taller-than-average man, I spend a lot of my time looking down anyway, so I’m destined to be only able to look at my feet by the time I’m 65. However, while this study is supposed to shock people into becoming more conscious about their posture – are we likely to see people on the train holding their phones at eyelevel or higher? Probably not, a train is an awkward enough place without giving people more reason to stare.

Ultimately, the report will change little and will simply become something parents cite when trying to stop their children from playing on their phones all day. Indeed, it’s ironic that in a day of multiple health apps, perhaps it’s the device that is running them that is causing us the most harm. 

The advert that dared to spark debate

By Lindsey Challis

Sainsbury's launched its Christmas advert this week to much debate.  For some it showed a courageous moment in history when human nature won out over the brutality of battle, for others it was the epitome of capitalism and ‘glorified war’.  As the debate about the TV advert stirred on social media, it also showed the integrated digital world we live in.  More than ever before opinions are made and aired on social networks such as Twitter, giving companies great insight into public opinion and the image they have created. 

A company which celebrates special moments in our collective history or one which disrespects millions in the trenches to ‘flog more groceries’? 

In my eyes, the advert is brilliant.  It’s interesting, it stimulates debate and it’s honest.   It might not show all the horrors of World War I, but it was never meant to be a documentary.  It might not have much moral difference to two Nazi Holocaust victims exchanging gifts in a camp, but it is an iconic story that, though not every soldier’s experience of The Great War, reminds us that there is a degree of human nature that binds us all.  As Thomas Hardy so brilliant explained more than a decade before World War I: 

"Yes; quaint and curious war is!

You shoot a fellow down

You'd treat if met where any bar is,

Or help to half-a-crown." 

So what image has Sainsbury's created?  I think it’s one of respect for our ancestors, compassion for human nature and timeliness with the centenary.  It could have been badly done, but I don’t think that is the case.  Above all, Sainbury's has shown its personality, it has sparked interest and got people talking.  The true mark of great promotion. 

My Great-Grandad died in the trenches in World War I and I for one am glad that Sainsbury's has had the guts to do something interesting, despite the potential controversy.  The best stories can be found in history and I’d much rather an advert stirred emotion because I respect its significance than by kissing penguins. 

The best irony of all is the advert alongside this particularly damming article to ‘click to order’ a book about public opinion during World War I.  What’s that you said about not ‘exploiting the World War for commercial gain’? 

All that’s left now is to see what Gogglebox has to say! 

What does Will Arnett pointing at dogs and Tom Hanks wearing cat ears have to do with good PR?

By Oliver Fischer

For as long as I can remember, everybody I know has watched ”Wetten, dass..?“, the biggest German-language game show / talk show / Saturday evening entertainment. If you’ve never heard of ”Wetten, dass..?“ – which means something like “Wanna bet..?” – chances are you haven't lived in the DACH area in the past 30 years, and didn’t see Will Arnett's interview on Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks ago.

After that interview, I realised for the first time that the show might actually be quite unusual for people who didn't grow up with it, and weren’t used to seeing a bunch of guys trying to change tires on a driving car, or a man undressing his wife with an excavator shovel (unfortunately, there’s no video available of this, but it somehow got stuck in my mind…). It’s true, the show is far from as good as it was during its peak in the early 90s (as is German television on the whole), and it seems that the weirdness and inappropriate moments have increased a good deal over the years, but for me, it is still the show that allowed me to stay up longer on Saturday nights.

To be honest, I was also rather baffled, because it was quite obvious that nobody had briefed Will Arnett. In our profession, we often have IT executives coming to Germany for press events and one key task for us is to provide excessive briefings to avoid possible hiccups. And here we have big Hollywood stars with no briefing whatsoever? Well, if that was the case, then we all can learn a lot from Will Arnett’s experience (and Tom Hanks’ before him):

1. If you want to promote your project on German television, expect people to speak German! Germans are normally quite good with speaking English, since we learn it early, but what do you expect when you go on national German television? Of course the presenter is going to speak German, and of course you will need a translator
2. Know what kind of event you are visiting! If you go on a press lunch, you should be willing to eat. If you go to a German beer fest, you should be willing to drink beer. And if you are going on a show that revolves around betting and wagers, you are likely going to be asked to bet on something. Indeed, there have been actors that have had to box against the current light heavyweight champion because of a lost bet, so don’t complain if they make you wear a silly hat
3. The internet is an amazing invention that provides us with copious amounts of information and funny video clips – so use it! “Wetten, dass..?” has been around for the last 33 years and is probably the most popular German game show. Amongst its international guests were people like Michael Jackson, Elton John and Robbie Williams. Also, as stated before, the core concept of the show is that Germans do really unusual stuff in front of a camera. So just Google it (or have someone Google it for you) and you will find loads and loads of videos that give you an idea of what to expect
4. Know who you will meet! “…This 90 year old former German soccer player…” That’s Horst Eckel you are talking about, one of the guys who made the Miracle of Bern happen. Show some respect, man!

So, all questions about the show’s recent quality (which are completely justified) drop aside, the big lesson to take from this is: if you come to Germany to promote something, or to do PR, ask someone to explain the basics to you, or you won’t know – to quote Mr. Arnett – “what the **** is happening”!

 

Everything is bigger in America

By Flora Haslam

We hear it a lot, from food portion sizes to cars on the road, we’ve come to expect it big in the United States.  Last week, some of us were lucky enough to spend a week in northern California.  A lot of the companies we work with are based in the San Francisco bay area so it’s not that unusual for us to head over that way, but this time it really did seem that everything was on a grand scale... 

We started off with a very warm welcome from our new Finn Partners San Francisco office – along with a fabulous view from their meeting room:

 
Of course no visit to the States is complete without a hire car – I’m sure this is bigger than the ‘saloon’ we booked (note that is Claire in the picture, not a small child):

Despite the size of the car, we did some of our commuting by train – while the service frequency (or infrequency) is a bit of a shock to us Londoners, it’s fair to say that you do not want to be too close to the edge of the platform when one of these comes through at speed.

I’ll spare you the food shots, but this pumpkin weighs 1707 lbs – which possibly explains why it is surrounded by a cordon – yet is still a way off this year’s winner of the local pumpkin weigh off.

And finally, we were in the city when the local baseball team won the World Series – obviously they’re called The Giants!