Thought for the week

“We cannot afford to do those things”. U.S Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on why he supports cutting disaster relief funding.

Worth the paper it’s printed on?

Light news success stories in the papers this week included…
…X Factor USA, which despite only making 5 headlines managed to beat Ian Duncan Smith’s plans to cap the number of children a family can have…
…Made In Chelsea, and the posh types therein, who collectively grabbed 17 stories, in contrast claims that a former Prime Minister’s aide has links to a paedophile ring claimed no more than 12…
…and, finally, Gary Barlow accusing fellow X Factor judge Tulisa of cigarette breath, the crux of 7 articles, four more than the 3 found to be covering the fact smoking could well kill up to a billion people this century. (Source: Journalisted)

Weekly high

In order to show off the build and image quality of its new monitors, electrical giant LG set up this public relations prank. Suffice to say, it does the desired job well.

Weekly low

The problem with reactive campaigns is there’s not much time to judge what the public response will be. Here American Apparel show how not to find inspiration in news events.

Things that may happen next week…

The new leader of the most powerful nation on Earth will be announced via the U.S. 2012 elections, China- the world’s second superpower- will handover power to a new leader as decided on by the Communist Party (a sight to see once every ten years), whilst the Czech government may take one step closer to collapse thanks to a ruling party rebellion over a tax raising law.

Dates for your diary

Monday 5th November, Manchester- Digital Accelerator Training Course @ Malmaison; Workshops on the key responsibilities of an online marketer.
Tuesday 6th November, Manchester- MediaCity UK Social Media Surgey @ BBC Bridge House; An open invite for anyone from any sector to discuss how to do anything social. Wednesday 7th November, Leeds- Straight talking marketing @ The Rose Bowl; A look at the profitability of environmental businesses, focusing on Straight Plc’s marketing.
Friday 9th November; Manchester- Manchester Startup Weekend @ TechHub; Everything you need to know about entrepreneurship and building your own business.
If there is a success story, blunder, or tweeting town you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!