A weekly roundup of talking points, sans effort

 

Thought for the week

“It is high time that the banks took their social responsibilities seriously. Since the start of the year RBS, HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds have announced plans to slash about 6,900 jobs. The industry almost caused the economy to implode in 2008 and now it is contributing to a jobs crisis.” Unite national officer Dominic Hook, commenting after RBS announced 1,400 job losses over the next two years.

Weekly high

There’s nothing we like more than a socially responsible PR stunt, and as such this week Brazilian beer manufacturer Antarctica wins our top spot. In a bid to reduce the number of drink driving incidents, revellers attending the Rio de Janeiro carnival (which the drink brand sponsors) were allowed to use their empties as tickets on the city’s metro system, making public transport preferable to a boozy car journey.

Weekly low

It wasn’t that long ago when the news was filled with horrific reports following a mass shooting inside an American cinema. As such, when a mastermind at Capital 8 Theatres decided to employ fake gunmen to storm its screens in Missouri as a promotion for Iron Man 3, it’s understandable people were outraged. Despite the obvious issue, amazingly manager Bob Wilkins doesn’t seem to think there’s a problem.

 

Things that might happen in the next week…

The Castlefield Hotel hosts the Manchester Internet Meeting tonight, open for anyone even remotely interested in Internet marketing. Tuesday sees the Liverpool Dot-Art: Design Your Own Marketing Materials event take place at The Bluecoat, showing attendees how to create flyers, posters and more with free software (and their own laptops). On Wednesday the Leeds Enterprise Network meets at the city’s Metropolitan University, where graduate Anna Moss will discuss opening her own marketing company.

Just in case you missed it…

The Sun is to introduce a paywall from August 1st. Users signing up to the new service, dubbed Sun+, will receive seven day per week access to the website via any device they own, in addition to extras including Premier League football highlights. Read more on the story here, or watch this space for the Smoking Gun analysis next week.
 
If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!