Image by Annie Mole via Flickr

Boris is under fire for accepting sponsorship from Wonga.com to co-fund free public transport on NYE. Apparently the company specialises in short term loans, seen as poor form during cash strapped festive times.

All sponsorship deals like this have an ulterior motive; it’s naïve and frankly, boring, to try and make a huge news story about it. I can’t help think it must be a slow news day now that the snow is melting in London (centre of the world don’t you know). Some thoughts:

1. Most people will be too drunk to remember getting home, let alone that it was free and who paid for it (who wants to place bets on the number of swaying, drunk people who will be trying their damnedest to swipe their Oyster card…)
2. If you’re strapped for cash and considering a loan, you’re going to do it anyway regardless of these ad
3. Previous sponsors include NatWest (money), Fosters and Smirnoff – surely the latter two are far more irresponsible on what is surely  the biggest night of the year for TFL for drunken customers

I tend to think it’s very generous of these companies to fund free transport for the whole of London all night long and fair enough to use it for self-promotion (that’s what advertising is after all).  I’m really not sure where I’d draw the line – probably Al Qaeda and Stringfellows.

Other news that could be discussed instead that is only slightly more important is that one mammoth fight is brewing between North Korea and South Korea. Now this is scary forecast for 2011.

On that note, Merry Christmas one and all!

(I know the picture isn’t entirely apt, I just quite liked it)

Sell it to the highest bidder that’s what.

Not only is the advertiser exposing its brand to the millions of visitors in the city, but also ensuring that it has a presence in the hundreds of millions of holiday snaps taken each day.

After all, I’ll never think of the Bridge of Sighs again without a fond memory of Coca-Cola.

This week, the winner of our ‘Wall of Shame’ competition (on the basis of the submission of this super snap), Simon Matthews, answers some suitably random questions about fetishes, football and the role of PR in today’s business climate.

Q – Tell us about your worst habit – throw in any fetishes.

A – I’m far too generous which has led to at least one of my friends owing me £600

Q – List the 3 most embarrassing things you’ve ever said/done – whilst sober.

A- Inadvertently accusing my step-step-grandfather (step-dad’s step-dad) of using inflatable sex dolls – in my defence I was young and didn’t really understand what I was talking about.

In ‘Nam I fell down an open manhole while walking across a field with my friends, after an interesting run in with some prostitutes who stole 100,000 Dong (about 5 of her majesty’s sterling pounds) – without any form of professional services being exchanged I hasten to add.

I once ate a habenero chilli in one mouthful because an attractive lady bet I couldn’t. I was successful in the attempt but my mouth was in such a state of pain and dribbling that I was rendered insensible.

Q – What’s your take on today’s business climate and the role & importance of PR?

A – It’s still a little rocky out there in places and PR is as important as ever – if not more so. A company with no PR will struggle for awareness in a competitive business environment, so they need us to put them right in front of their customers in a way that advertising and other marketing disciplines can’t.

Q – Are you a football fan? Why? Who do you support? Have they won anything?

A – Crystal Palace. Winning is for chumps.

Q – I hear match.com will soon have a new member – what qualities do you possess that one might…consider?

A – In the name of research, I have bravely volunteered to sign up to match.com. Apart from being generally great at everything, I’m a pretty good cook. All I can ask is that the ladies form an orderly queue.

Q – Name your top 3 Speeps and the reasons why you love them/don’t love them so much. We’re an honest bunch, don’t be afraid of the possibly hostile repercussions.

A – Very difficult to choose as I do like all of you lot, despite your best efforts – here’s an arbitrary selection:

Bex has to get a look in on this – she’s lovely and, as a bonus, hasn’t fired me.

John Brown – often looks quite dapper and is the source of many japes.

Nicole – lunch buddy extraordinaire.

IT PRO – Orange and T-Mobile merger given EU green light

Mobile heavyweights Orange and T-Mobile have been cleared by European regulators to go ahead with their proposed merger – one that will result in a combined UK customer base of just short of 30 million users.

The Guardian – Microsoft has started rolling out its browser ballot

It’s probably not a “phishing attack”: Microsoft Windows users in Europe are now starting to get a screen that offers them a choice of web browsers, as a result of an anti-trust settlement with the European Commission

The Guardian –  BBC’s iPlayer verification blocks open source software

The BBC seems to have started using a Flash player verification service that stops the iPlayer from streaming for more than a minute or two to unauthorised media players, hitting users of the open source XBMC

Computing – British Library unveils UK web archive
The British Library has launched its UK Web Archive to capture and record thousands of UK web sites, but has warned that the future of the project is at risk owing to copyright legislation.

CBR – Email scanning damned by UK consumers
Two thirds of UK citizens don’t know that if they sign up for a free email service their messages could be scanned for advertising opportunities. Of the 1,580 UK adults surveyed by GMX, a free email provider, 56 per cent said they were concerned by the practice and 19 per cent professed to be anxious. One in four felt they should be allowed to opt out of having their emails scanned.

Computer Weekly – Nominet votes for internet self-rule
Nominet members have voted overwhelmingly to accept changes to its constitution that should allow it to retain its self-regulatory status as the registrar of the .uk internet domain. At an extraordinary general meeting members voted in favour of resolutions to change the Nominet constitution in way that addressed government concerns about its independence and public-spirited ideals. The government is seeking to give itself the power to manage the .uk domain through the proposed Digital Economy Bill now going through parliament.

The Daily Telegraph – Facebook voted best invention of the decade
Britons have named Facebook as the best invention of the past decade in a new survey. More than 1,000 people were asked to name their favourite three inventions of the Noughties, and almost three-quarters (73 per cent) included the social networking website among their choices. The iPhone was the second most popular (62 per cent), closely followed by networking website Twitter (58 per cent). 2 per cent even voted for X Factor’s twins John and Edward.

This year’s crop of Superbowl advertisers, however, are also maxing out their use of social media, trending hard on Twitter while sitting at the top of YouTube’s ‘Most Watched’ charts. But is there anything ‘super’ about the Superbowl ads themselves? Let’s have a quick browse…

Doritos

Doritos have clocked up more than half a million online views for this suite of four ads. All deploy the familiar trick of making snack food acceptable by suggesting that the heterosexual males who consume it are less intelligent than small children, dogs and psychopaths wearing samurai outfits made of corn chips. Hmmm.

Kia

“I may be a post-ironic cartoon mascot created to make a car manufacturer look cuddly and increase traction on social media, but I still like bowling. This makes me a regular guy.”

Prince Of Persia

Jake Gyllenhall’s first popcorn-movie starring role. Not that you can hear him for the explosions and ominous drumming. I’m not entirely sure this is a comment on the film itself, or the quality of his ‘English’ accent.

What have we learned?

They mightn’t be an inspiring bunch, but are the low production values of Superbowl 2010 ads a sign of shrinking budgets or changing channels?

Were the Doritos ads, for example, a TV campaign or an attempt to kickstart the viral sharing of ‘LOL! The kid hit him!’ moments on social networks? Given how hard they’re trending at the moment, it’s easy to see how effective social media can be at wringing extra value from your ad spend.

Take the hilarious story about a health club in Bristol which took it upon themselves to point out in an ad that
“When the aliens come, they will eat the fatties first”

Needless to say, the locals were far from impressed.

And earlier in the week, a story so bad that I am in two minds as to whether it was born from mind-blowing stupidity or mind-blowing genius:  dating site BeautifulPeople.com – which only allows new members to join if existing members deem them to be good looking enough – has axed 5,000 members for having posted photos of themselves showing weight gain.

And the official company quote?

“As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld,” said site founder Robert Hintze. “Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.”

Yes, you did read that right. “Letting fatties roam free”.  Somebody approved that.

I don’t know whether to be appalled or impressed, I really don’t.

Tiger Woods - finding fulfillment at every step

Another day, another celebrity makes a fool of themselves. This time Tiger Woods has been a bit of a naughty boy allegedly knocking up at least 10 extramarital notches on his bedpost. Not great news then for Accenture, the global IT services company which has sponsored the professional golfer since 2003, featuring him in much of the company’s print, broadcast and digital adverting.

It’s not the first time that a celebrity has damaged a brand by doing or saying something a bit stupid and it won’t be the last. But sometimes it’s not just the advert that can get companies in hot water; it’s where the ad has been placed. Marks & Spencer discovered this earlier this year when the company quickly decided to pull it’s advertising from the Daily Mail’s website after users spotted it appearing alongside Jan Moir’s homophobic article about Stephen Gateley’s death.

Only time will tell if Accenture, Nike, Electronic Arts and the other brands that Tiger Woods represents will continue to back the star. But what’s clear is that businesses need a contingency plan in place to deal with the transgressions of celebrities.

The internet generation are used to accessing content for free so may baulk at the idea of paying. But online publications aren’t pulling in advertising revenue like they used to so it’s no wonder there is an increase in those looking to charge for material.

However, those charging for content will need to offer something unique. It could be that a two-tier system emerges. Mass market media brands will opt for free content hoping for a large circulation to attract advertisers and other more specialist media will charge hoping that high quality specialist stories will attract subscribers. Whatever happens 2010 will see major changes in online content and the way it becomes available to us, with technology developments allowing us to consume more media content at a faster pace.

More importantly, Google, the bête noire of the publishing industry, has been extremely active with three new initiatives, one of which ironically involves moving written work off the web and into the real world. It obviously has a lot to of initiatives to release before the end of Q3………

First, it launched Fast Flip, which repurposes digital content into a magazine format online – see my colleague Wadds’ Blog for more details . As a follow up it revamped the ad exchange technology bought with its DoubleClick acquisition, promising a better experience for both advertisers and publishers.

However possibly the most interesting story from the busy bees in Mountain View actually moves content off the web and onto the printed page. A deal with On Demand Books will see 2 million out of print books scanned by Google available to print via On Demand’s Espresso machine. Essentially a mini-printing press, Espresso produces a physical book, with the Charing Cross branch of Blackwells installing one earlier this year. When I went in then it was an expensive option, but these new books will be around $8 a pop, which potentially makes it mainstream – and a nifty source of revenue for beleaguered high street booksellers. See the blog of the wonderfully named Brandon Badger of Google for a video of Espresso in action.

So the ongoing Googlification of the publishing industry continues – let’s see what next week brings.