Curator News Feed: August 23, 2013
There's never a dull moment here at Curator. This week, I was equally inspired, informed and amused at the crews' link submissions. So, no matter what mood you're in today, we've got something for you.
Party on Germany’s Air Force One, Der Spiegel. There are two reasons to include international news organizations to your list of daily reading. First, it will keep you in the loop on international stories that don’t make the cut on American news stations because of other pressing news, like an American Idol eliminations and celebrity drug scandals, for example. The second reason is for headlines like this: “Man in Underpants Partied in Merkel's Jet.” Yes, a marijuana and ecstasy influenced body builder in Cologne, managed to break into the German equivalent of Air Force One while it was parked in a military section of the airport to stage a four hour dance party of one. No, this is not an Onion story, but it’s just as funny. Enjoy! -- Matthew
Hank Bought a Bus, Blog. Love this project, the blog and the photography — just some good inspiration on a Friday. Enjoy. -- Scott
Brave school clerk talked man out of U.S. School shooting bloodbath, Chicago Tribune. After reading this story I started thinking of all the things that would've happened if this woman wasn't able to console the shooter, including the media frenzy that would've followed. Then, I'd hoped that this story gets the same or more coverage than if the shooting would've taken place. One woman saved hundreds of people from tragedy in the least violent way possible. She's a true hero. -- Maria
10 Rules of Influencer Marketing – And Why You Should Commit to Them, Fast Company. So many thing drew me to this article. The piece does a pretty impressive job at linking the “Princess Bride”, marriage, and influencer marketing together and somehow it all makes sense. As just recently hopping on the “Princess Bride” bandwagon, celebrating my 1 year anniversary this month, and understanding the importance of engaging with influencers in our world of PR, this article seemed perfect for my pick of the week! The key takeaways for me is to remember that, like a marriage, each influencer marketing program is unique and your strategy should reflect this. This will ultimately be guided by understanding the objectives of each campaign. Secondly, “be prepared to morph.” In the process of developing smart influencer programs, you may become an influencer yourself. Understanding the community you’re targeting will allow you to make an even larger impact. But, to truly understand how the “Princess Bride” fits into all of this, you’ll just have to read the article! -- Annie
How Zara Ballooned Into a Multi-Billion Dollar Brand Without Advertising, AdAge. I love Zara and was totally surprised by some of the fun facts in this article. Most interesting was to read about how Zara has grown with little to no advertising. While reading this I thought about it and even in Europe, I've never really seen a flashy campaigns or even heard much about the designers behind the brand. I thought it was also interesting that the article claimed, "One of its biggest marketing moments was an upaid placement: on the Duchess of Cambridge, the day after her wedding." The fact that they put so much focus on "the beauty, historical appeal and location of its shops" rather than traditional advertising has proven to be a very successful tactic. Goes to show the power of word of mouth and building a competitive business model based on the quality and feel of the brand. -- Chelsey
Seattle Police Continue Being Awesome by Handing Out 1,000 Bags of Doritos to Stoners, AdFreak. Regardless of how you feel about Washington state’s laws on marijuana, legalized pot is here to stay. Seattle PD engaged with tens of thousands of people at this year’s Hempfest, and handed out 1,000 bags of Doritos including a sticker with the Do’s and Don’ts of marijuana use under I-502. This idea was brilliant in its simplicity. They went directly to their key audience, shared something useful (I mean the stickers, but the Doritos were good, too), and got a ton of positive attention leading up to and post the event. And it didn’t cost much more than 1,000 snack bags of chips! -- Ann Marie
Tesco to Launch own version of the iPad, DesignWeek. Tesco is coming out with a new tablet that is rumored to be up to par with the ipad and the kindle fire--with a bonus: it will be preloaded a digital downloading service similar to Netflix. Tesco hasn't yet commented on if they will be releasing a completely new operating system for a tablet or if they will be upgrading one of their previous tablets. -- Kendra
Like A Cut Out, Instagram. A friend showed me this Instagram profile this week and thought it was pretty funny. It appears that this woman is taking photos of a Madonna cutout around NYC and often includes a random lyric as the caption. This person has a relatively small following, but I thought the concept was entertaining and imagining someone setting up these photos is awesome enough. I spend an embarrassing amount of time on Instagram and love to find new accounts to follow! What are some humorous Instagram accounts you've found lately? -- Chelsey
Bunkr Is The PowerPoint Killer We've All Been Waiting For, TechCrunch. If there's one thing sure to kill a meeting or pitch, it's a horrible PowerPoint presentation. Frankly, it's not PowerPoint's fault; a lot of people just don't know how to put together compelling presentations. Bunkr is a web app that's aiming to fix all that, though. It combines what appear to be equal parts PowerPoint, Evernote and Pinterest to make the process of building a deck much more intuitive and creative. You add web content to a database as you go, finding bits and pieces for your presentation, and when you're ready to start building, you just head to Bunkr where everything is collected and waiting for you. Check it out next time you're due to present to a group. -- Paul
Penguin Being Tickled, YouTube. Just because it's Friday, and I like penguins…enjoy! -- Noelle
Move Over James Bond. Here Comes a Jetpack for the Rest of Us, Entrepreneur. Hold the phone: jetpacks may finally be a reality as early as next year. The Martin Jetpack not only looks like something from a movie, but it'll cost you up to $250,000. Cue the #ifiwon the lottery tweets! -- Megan
Stepping It Up – Eight Hot Career Tips from This Year's Rising Stars, Council of Public Relations Firms. Finally! A list of pro tips that I actually find insightful. Given the fast-paced nature of our business, it's easy to forget about the little things that, in the long run, make a big difference. -- Jennifer