This week we discover the shocking truth about clickbait, hug a copywriter and delve into the technical wonderland of the Adobe Labs
Five amazing things you won’t believe about this week!
Here at FigDigEst we like to collect the most egregious examples of shameless clickbait. (There’s a cheeky auto-generator here. We just got ‘7 things Lady Gaga has in common with marketing’, which to be fair we’d probably read.)
This week Twitter got in on the action with #clickbaitbooks: classics of literature reimagined as pay-per-click links. It proved a fertile little meme. ‘9 shocking ways to kill a mockingbird,’ Tweeted @HuffPostUKCom. ‘No. 7 will surprise you!’ Jonathan O’Brien at Waterstones, who we chatted to last year, compiled some of the best examples over on the Waterstones blog. More pertinent for our purposes, however, is the danger of spammy content and its impact on search. Here’s a nice analysis from Contently on why brands should say ‘no’ to clickbait.
Leave it up to tech
It’s been a busy week for digital agency Code ComputerLove, who have unveiled not one but two new pieces of tech in the last seven days. The first, created for the new Apple Watch, is a free-to-download app called ‘Flip On It’, for when you just can’t decide if you should go with the humble cup of tea or something stronger. The simple idea is designed to look effective on the smaller screens of the new Apple device, and appeal to the quick glances and more immediate behaviours that will inevitably come with it. The user just needs to choose their coin, and then flip it for a heads or tails answer.
Code ComputerLove have also unleashed an ‘Election Bullshit Filter’ mobile site, aimed at young political thinkers or first-time voters, to help them come to a more informed decision about which party to vote for in next week’s General Election—irrespective of the distracting ‘bullshit’ that comes with it. The site is mobile first, and strives to be more fun and engaging than existing election tools. The idea is simply to answer a series of “Can you live with” questions and get your party recommendation based on this, eliminating the need for battling the political minefield.
Sounds great. But to be honest, we were planning to just flip on it. If only we had a coin. Oh, wait…
Climbing the Adobe Summit
This week saw the Adobe Marketing Summit take place at the Excel Centre in London. Speakers included Benedict Cumberbatch, Claudia Winkleman, Brian Cox OBE and climber Kevin Jorgeson who, earlier this year, made the first ever free ascent of the Yosemite Dawn Wall, widely considered the hardest climb in the world. Figaro Digital’s Estelle Hakner popped down to the event. Read her round-up here.
Support your local copywriter
While we’re on the subject of content, the DMA are currently promoting their Campaign for Great British Copywriting, which includes 80 scholarships to the Future Writers’ Labs. The sessions aim to connect the copywriting community and inspire work through experiments with the power of words.
“It’s all about generating real stories by real writers, innovating with the art and craft of writing, both in the lab and beyond into your real-world jobs,” says tutor Debi Bester at Reinvention Works. Copywriting, notes Chris Combemale, Executive Director at the DMA, is the backbone of all marketing. “Admen like Ogilvy, Gossage and Bernbach were all copywriters, and all learned their trade in direct. Advertisers and clients neglect copywriters at their peril.”
Neglected, however, is how many copywriters feel, according to a recent census by the DMA. Their survey into the state of copywriting and copywriters generated the neat little ebook Why Your Copywriter Looks Sad. (“I regularly describe myself as a ‘track-changes accepter.’” notes one.) If words are your world, it’s worth a read.
It’s not just admen, incidentally, who cut their teeth in the copywriting trade. Before finding fame as a novelist, Salman Rushdie came up with the slogan ‘Naughty but nice’ for cream cakes and ‘Irresistibubble’ for Aero. Dorothy Sayers helped conceive the tagline ‘Guinness is good for you.’ F Scott Fitzgerald, Don DeLillo and Fay Weldon also learnt the value of snappy copy while working as copywriters. Go find your company’s copywriter. Given them a hug. Then explain why, going forward, you’ll be reaching out to them on a regular basis and seeking actionable solutions to key communication challenges. Or maybe don’t.
Close to the Edge
A few weeks back we reported on rumors that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which will be retired later this year, was to be replaced with a new browser called Spartan. This week it was announced that the new browser will in fact be called Edge. We’ve always imagined U2’s guitarist to be an early adopter of new technology, but wonder whether there’ll be a special search function for users who still haven’t found what they’re looking for. A geolocation API, perhaps, for where the streets have no name? Or is it all part of Microsoft’s complex relationship with Apple, who gave away U2’s last album whether you wanted it or not. There’s a hands-on review of Edgehere. For users of sluggish office desktops around the world, IE remains a staple of working life. We’ll wait and see whether Edge proves even better than the real thing.
Backlinks – what we’ve been browsing this week:
BBC Magazine: Who Are the People in the Dark Corners? Jamie Bartlett asks why people troll
Harvard Business Review: Why Some Men Pretend to Work 80 Hour Weeks
Mashable: Networking 101: How to Make a Lasting Impression
Telegraph: English Language is Changing Faster Than Ever, Research Reveals
Guardian Technology: Click! Whoosh! What Annoys You Most about Technology in Our Lives?
BBC News: Apple Says Tattoos Can Cause Watch Problems
Written by Estelle Hakner and Jon Fortgang.