It's April Fools' Day: Do Not Let Propaganda Fool You!

Dear Readers,

Thank you so much for reading me again. :) It's like I am now a perfect example of a student not being thrown on the street without any job opportunities, but a happily working young professional. :) If you Google 'I got hired', guess what appears on the first page? (although, if I was to choose the most creative graduate to get hired, this would be this genius LEGO fan).

As all of you may know, one of the hottest trends around the international media now is Ukrainian-Russian crisis (read: Russian occupation of Crimea, Putin using the whole country to satisfy his imperial ambitions and so on). I did not initially want to write anything on this issue, because I am not a political expert, but I am Ukrainian and I cannot keep calm. :)

Thus, I thought I would just share a number of valuable English-language sources on Ukrainian issue, that might shed some light on the crisis (these are actually the official trusted sources that do not participate in propaganda and bullshitting and simply cover facts). However, once again, these are my sources of choice, so they reflect my vision of objective media.


















By the way, if you are a journalists you can email me anytime to get details and media contacts.

So here they are:

1.  StopFake - not sure if the news is real, visit this website and check it out
2. Ukraine Crisis Media Center - all the official press-releases and news from the most influential speakers
3. KyivPost - English language Ukrainian newspaper covering events on the ground

A couple of stories to check out:

5. An open letter of famous Ukrainian writer on the protests in Kyiv
6. My interview for the Glasgow's alternative press - amazing brand new source The WeeG
7. Very thoughtful piece from journalism.co.uk explaining the whole media situation in Ukraine

International media to provide great coverage of the issue:
8. Mashable - and yes, this is my most favorite source and everything they do, they do brilliant!
9. The Economist - featured great article on Russian propaganda and many more important subjects
10. The Guardian - deliberate journalism, great analysis and debunking of propagandists' plans

Of course this is just a tiny little list, so it is not full. If you think there is something valuable I have not mentioned - let me know.

P.S. I would appreciate the English language sources or those that provide translation or subtitles.

P.P.S. HIMYM ends with the death of Barney's Granny... ;-) ... more like a :-(
Happy first day of April to you guys!

The Crazy Ones: 3 Lessons to learn from the new TV show

Friday post has arrived! Hi guys :)

So yeah, I promised to update this blog according to a schedule, but it turned out (I mean research showed) that Thursday is the best day for publishing serious stuff. Therefore, I guess will have a slight change.

It's gonna be:

• Friday for Fun (I do hope you will find today's post cool and fun)

• Tuesday for Teaching (PR Basics blog pst to learn something valuable)

• Thursday for Therious Thtuff (does not seem to work this way, does it? I mean 'Serious Stuff). 

The Crazy Ones: 3 Lessons from the new TV show

Here we go, today I am going to share with you something that I have recently discovered - a witty TV show which can shed some light on how the industry of (creative) advertising works. It's like we already  know about media industry from the brilliant 'Newsroom', we also know about PR and ads from 'Mad Man', lets make something slightly different!

Is there anything else left to say? Apparently so! In just 3 (or 4, I have only watched 3 of them) episodes 'The Crazy Ones' - new comedy show on CBS starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar - not only made me laugh, but also provided with the inspiration for this blog post.

In a nutshell, and for those, who are going to watch this show soon (so I will not to give any spoilers here) - the show is about this creative agency that helps a whole range of clients to make their ads stand out. The agency is family run by very charismatic father  with quite an unusual managing style, and a daughter always trying to keep his crazy ideas closer to Earth. There are also other people in the creative team, such as hilarious Lauren (Amanda Setton's character -  u would probably know her from 'Gossip Girl'); charming Zach (James Wolk who appears in 'Mad Men') and a poor-thing Andrew (Hamish Linklater whom you have probably seen in 'Newsroom').

I believe there are three lessons one can learn from the first three episodes of the show.

1. Charisma is THE thing

Maybe I am not the one to judge (not yet), as this like my second year of working in a real PR industry; however, I have already observed that the most successful people in media/marketing/PR/advertising are those with an outstanding charisma. I mean of course you have to be capable of critical analysis, perform some strategical thinking actions from time to time and be able to see a bigger picture, but isn't the bigger part of those professionals everyday routine a simple communication? Meeting people, talking to them, trying to sell the story, persuading that this is THE idea client needs to implement and so on. You can be great in writing news, you can be brilliant in SWOT analysis, but if you lack that little (in fact huge) gift of charisma, oh man, you are stuck...

(By the way, do you know this joke:

- What do you do if you see a Spaceman?
- Park your car, man! )

It may only happen in movies and TV shows, but there is a chance that in reality your charisma may compensate a disasterous campaign, presentation or client meeting. As my boss likes to say: 'In the end, it is always about whether you would want to have a glass of wine with this person or not' (c).

2. Crisis is not always a challenge, but chance

If you don't know this yet, let me tell you that in Chinese the word 'crisis' or more specifically the two signs representing this word mean 'danger' and 'opportunity'; and this is a very smart way of looking at the crisis situations.

Thus, on the one hand if something goes wrong, the company/campaign/product may end up in a serious trouble. Whilst on the other, crisis can be played around in a way so the victim becomes a winner.

This situation is brilliantly illustrated in the Episode 2 of 'The Crazy Ones', where the coffee shop launch campaign and the massive outdoor installation created a real disaster not only for the creative agency, but the whole city. Luckily, the crazy ones have found a wonderful solution, making the disaster a great story for the new viral video (I guess I just told you the most of that episode, sorry:).

3. Importance of research

Yeah, you should always do your homework and be prepared. Even if you are not a sociologist (luckily I am, I mean...tend to), it is viral to remember that 6th sense, grandmother or whatever/whoever allows you making the right decisions quite often may let you down. On the contrary, a real solid research never will. Thus, in marketing/PR/advertising etc when the object of your work is aimed at people and more specifically their perception and reaction, testing, researching, evaluating and cross-checking is the key element.

This might seem funny and a bit silly, but marketers sometimes do rely on their own thoughts only - this is what is illustrated in the Episode 3 of 'The Crazy Ones'. Thus, Robin Williams' character came up with this idea for the commercial based on his past personal experience, but the reaction of the focus group participants' proved him wrong.

Moreover, I came across this situation while doing that online course in brand management, when students were asking questions like :"I don't agree that soap X is the most valuable brand this days, because I never buy it and it smells terrible. In fact, my friends never buy it either. Do you think your data may be incorrect?' Oh well, sociologists never lie (appart from when they tell us that one obese person plus one starved-to-death person makes it two 'normally-eating people'). To sum up, always test your ideas and strive to make them better and more effective.

Enjoy watching 'The Crazy Ones' and thank you all again for reading me! :)

Ever Mine,
Ever Thine,
Ever ours :)