The Curator News Feed: May 10, 2013
Could someone really go a year without Internet? Did you know that Disney Princesses parallel women in PR? What are brands doing to leverage this Mother’s Day? These are just a few of the questions that are answered by our favorite articles from the week. See them all here in our latest link roundup!
Lip Sync-Off with John Krasinski, YouTube. From this day forward, I will just close my eyes on Friday and let John Krasinski take me away... – Shawn
I'm still here: back online after a year without the Internet. The Verge. Most of us couldn't imagine being without the Internet for a full week, maybe only a day. Paul Miller just got back online on May 1, after abstaining from the Internet for an entire year. If I summarized his thoughts in these couple of sentences, I would ruin it for you. There's lessons about the Internet, but more importantly how we function as people. This one is definitely worth your time. – Maria
Five Simple Rules, and Additional Tips to Make Yourself into a True Travel Warrior. LinkedIn. Whether you're traveling internationally or not, for business or pleasure, Paypal's President David Marcus has some pretty worthy advice on how to make traveling efficient and the time you have before, during and after a trip feel like you never skipped a beat. – Maria
Taking The Long View: Social Media's Real ROI, WTIA Community Blog. If you do any kind of social media analysis or SEO work in your job, you (hopefully) know that Ian Lurie is one of the brightest, clearest voices in that space. Here's the thesis of his latest post, which you should read immediately and not save for later: "If you’re measuring every dime spent on social media and expecting a clear ROI, you’re doing it wrong. Social media doesn’t generate near-term ROI. It fixes rattles and makes people happy. By doing that, it helps you secure long-term ROI." Seriously, if you were only to ever read one blog post about social media, this would be a great post to pick. – Paul
The End of Traditional Ad Agencies, Harvard Business Review Blog. A Vespa dealer in Lexington, Kentucky, came up with the concept of "No Cages" for the Harley Davidson campaign and a guy from Tukwila came up with the concept for Stereotypical Harley — both through a crowd sourced effort from Victors & Spoils. We're obviously believers in curation here and this concept digs deep into the theory. I was really intrigued by this article and had good conversations with our team. Lots to ponder with this one. If you're the CMO on the client side does it matter where the spark of the idea came from? The agency will still have to bring it to life and make it strategically smart. Part of me likes this a lot for the right brand. What do you think? – Scott
Microsoft Buying Nook Reported $1B Deal Would Escalate Amazon Rivalry, GeekWire. I own a Kindle. My wife does, too. My mom owns a Nook. And we have an Audible.com subscription for audiobooks. Needless to say, we like the printed (and sometimes spoken) word. As such, all this who’s buying whom in the world of digital books is interesting to us…and may just impact our next purchase decision. It’ll be interesting to see how this shakes out from a marketing perspective, as well, and how both Nook and Kindle customers will react. – Dan
Seizing the Crown: Disney Princess PR Parallels, SmartyRants blog at TraversCollins.com. I'm not entirely sure I fit the Princess mold, but am amused that we're now comparing our careers in PR to the plights of our favorite Disney leading ladies. Any of my fellow Curators willing to share who they best identify with? – Jennifer
Why Floundering Abercrombie Should Reconsider Snubbing The Full-Figure Set, Forbes. Here's a how-to on alienating consumers. Ironic that the very segment of the population that this brand is shunning from its stores, could in fact help boost its market share if the brand embraced it. – Noelle
My Mom Always Said…, Pinterest. Leading up to the 2012 London Olympic Games, Procter & Gamble released this touching “Best Job” video as part of its global “Thank you, Mom” campaign. As the brand shared, they’re in the business of helping mom, so this video celebrated moms around the world who have given so much. Last week, perfectly timed for Mother’s Day, the brand began asking for great pieces of motherly advice from the Thank You Mom, by P&G Facebook page and Twitter handle. I played along and contributed my own mom’s advice, and there was some nice engagement through the week via Twitter. Yesterday, they revealed a Pinterest board full of clever graphic posters of the real-mom advice that people shared with P&G. I love how the brand invited engagement across several channels where I connect with friends and family and created an opportunity for me to celebrate my own mom. Nice work, P&G. – Ann Marie
Seattle’s Best Brunches, Seattle PI. Are you panicking because you didn't make plans for Mother's Day? This article from Seattle PI may just save your skin. – Liz
Twitter Vines Get Shared 4x More Than Online Video, AdWeek. While I have yet to make my first Vine, I’m on it a lot looking at my feed of friends and brands alike. I think it’s an awesome concept and I love how some brands, like Lowes, are using it to showcase products, events, services and culture. I also enjoy the creativity some people are using, like this great compilation of Vines of Ryan Gosling refusing to eat cereal. – Chelsey
Warby Parker Customer Service, YouTube. Some companies are really known for their customer service on social media. Warby Parker just blew it out of the park though when a customer tweeted he had a crush on the customer service rep he just spoke to over the phone. Most companies would probably ignore it but not Warby Parker. Original tweet here: https://twitter.com/Mister_Wang/status/330062442098987008. – Brooke