I’m still working on a few technical ideas (Note: I am in no way a technical guy, so this is taking slightly longer than usual) and putting together some initial content for the new look and feel of this blog so, in the meantime, I thought I’d give you all a little clue…

Here is something I penned for the UK blog of new energy drink SoBe Spirit…any guesses?

…and yes, I’m aware that this cliche sob story has been told a hundred times before on blogs that were far better than mine to begin with.

However, fear not my blog reading friends. For there is a new content strategy idea afoot – one that will hopefully be much easier to naturally integrate into my current London life.

I can’t say too much (as it’s going to be a bit of work before I can get it off the ground), but I hope it will be an idea that will prove useful to a few of you when you next find yourselves in London.

Then again, if you’re reading this five months from the date it was published, you’ll know it was apparently too much work.

(…but let’s all cross our fingers that that’s not the case)

Watch this space.

B

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2010. If those were steps, it would have climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa 4 times

In 2010, there were 11 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 33 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 38mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was September 1st with 63 views. The most popular post that day was This will only take a minute, but worth every second.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, facebook.com, expatexplorer.blogspot.com, waxingunlyrical.com, and Google Reader.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for nme magazine covers, nme magazine, gumboots, the boy in the bar, and nme magazine cover.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

This will only take a minute, but worth every second September 2010
2 comments

About July 2010
5 comments

A Holiday, A Wedding & Moving On Up September 2010
2 comments

Blog CPR and Some Digital Inspiration November 2010
1 comment

Belated Festival Post #1: The Isle of Wight August 2010
1 comment

Those of you who read this blog will know that I am a ‘semi-regular’ blogger at best…very best really. Not because I am necessarily lazy, but simply because when I started this blog I always wanted to keep it as something just for me – somewhere to jot down my thoughts, not constantly nor to ‘build a brand’, but simply when I found something that inspired me to do so.

Tonight I had yet another rare chance to meet a chap, on a rare trip to London, who did inspire me and needs no introduction in the global world of comms, digital or creative in general – Mr John Bell. For those not in the creative world, or simply unfamiliar with John’s work, he is the Global Head of Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence Practice – the social media marketing arm of the vast worldwide Ogilvy network.

My connection to John, though tenuous, came first through my ongoing work blogging for US Comms, Social Media & Measurement Maven Shonali Burke and, through my relationship with her, I was lucky enough to be introduced online to fellow Ogilvy guru Rohit Bhargava, and then in person when he also visited London some months back. Through my connection to Shonali and Rohit, both first online then in person when they were over from the US, I first came across John.

First of all, for anyone reading this that is in the creative fields or has an interest in digital – from student to senior practitioner – I strongly urge you to check-out John’s blog The Digital Influence Mapping Project. Why? Because, quite simply, it is one of the greatest online sources of free, educational content that is both highly informative and constantly kept at the cutting edge of the digital communications industry. Seriously, go have a look. Don’t worry, I’ll still be here but won’t mind if you don’t return for some time…Lord knows, if I had more of it it, I’d spend far more time on that blog than any other.

So what’s the man like in real life? To be perfectly honest, a gentleman. Both interested and interesting, and made me feel welcome despite being one of the few non-Ogilvy employees in attendance (though – as John was in London to teach a variety of Ogilvy digital employees from across Europe – I did enjoy standing in a room with fellow comms folks, from various backgrounds and disciplines, spanning over 10 countries).

So this brings me back to the title and point of this post – the word ‘Influence’. One of the most overused in our industry, mostly by those within it. Tonight has taught me, once again, that this word – in its true sense – should be interchangeable with ‘Education’.

Why? Because sadly many of us from a PR background still view it in terms of a leverage point used to gain something. In reality, influence is not something you command but something you earn by quietly getting on with the job at hand, constantly looking for new ways to improve your methods of performing that job, engaging with your community (wherever they may be) to help you along the way and then sharing your learnings with those around you. Essentially, the use of the word ‘Influence’ in our industry is often a contradiction – because those that have it rarely have to use it to leverage anything. Why? Because, as a direct result of their intelligent approach and work to date, the people they need to reach are already listening, and this is because they have usually already offered value to those people time and again. Not for any personal gain, but purely because they value knowledge-sharing and education over personal brand building or ego.

What struck me about John, as it did with Rohit, was the feeling that – in an industry that is still often marred by ego in many areas – those people who are truly gifted at what they do are not the ones shouting it from the rooftops but, rather, they are quietly seeking the best ways to excel and the best ways of making their knowledge available to the rest of us. They are interested and interesting.

It is this steadfast focus on constantly seeking to improve not only their own practices, but also those of the rest of us, that finds them truly deserving of the term ‘Influence’ because – regardless of industry or sector – the old addage still holds true: Education is the key to success.

In fact, I’m in rather a lot of trouble.

You see, unbeknownst to me there a few of you lovely people out there who actually read this thing. And, of those few people, there are actually even a few of you who enjoy these nonsensical ramblings to the point of asking me why the hell I haven’t written anything for a few months now?

So, I decided I had better try to perform some long overdue ‘Blog CPR’ and explain where I’ve been.

Essentially, for the past seven or eight weeks, I have been working in a new role. As you might suspect with any new role, it’s been a bit crazy and there’s been a whole lot of new stuff to learn and people to meet. It’s also involved doing PR for a new sector – namely, the media/advertising/creative/digital sector. OK, so that’s probably more than one sector but you see what I’m getting at.

Anyway, it’s been an exciting new challenge but it has been rather full-on and so I apologize for my absence. The good news, however, is that part of working in this new sector is being exposed to some fairly cool content and general goings on around the traps.

For example, take a peek at this very cool video from the clever kids over at Dentsu London. This was not made for a client, or for anyone else, but just to really explore what’s possible when you take some brilliant technical minds and try to create something that echoes your agency’s mantra of ‘Making Future Magic’…

For me, there is something very cool about this and I suspect that it’s precisely because it is not a piece of client work, or something for shameless self promotion (though it did end up making it on to Newsnight, where even Mr Paxman seemed impressed). What impresses me about this is more the fact that it comes from an agency that is clearly staffed by very clever people (and, I’m sure, as a result has some very large clients on the books), but also encourages these people to explore their creativity and gives them the resources to experiment.

So, if you will permit me to continue down this path for just a bit longer, I want you to imagine that video you’ve just seen is the preview or trailer of what might be possible in our future…

…and then I want you to watch this, courtesy of Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence:

Though I can’t claim to know everything about the constant advancements in technology (I’m not exactly a luddite, but you’ve got to admit there is a lot going on and it’s evolving constantly), or the increasingly merged world of digital and wider forms of communication, but when I watch content like this I can’t help but feel a hint of excitement that this is the world in which I am working. And I am very much looking forward to seeing how this world develops.

As a final send-off, in this already video-heavy post, for anyone who missed it (or the secret fashionistas among you) – on Nov 10 in NY and London, this is how Ralph Lauren celebrated 10 years of digital innovation.

It’s good to be back. Sorry I took so long.

For those who haven’t seen it, enjoy!

The ceremony was beautiful, in a small coastal town called Zarautz just outside of San Sebastian, but it was also something of a personal moment of reflection for me. This is because it was, at this moment, I realised just how far I had come from those first days out of uni as a very green PR in Melbourne just trying to figure out what exactly I was meant to do as a new-found professional.

It was also at this moment that I realized that all of this was made possible for me because of Paul’s guidance, constant mentoring and – most of all – belief that I had what it took to do the job at hand (as the first employee of a start-up agency) when even I didn’t believe it myself. These days, I love the media relations aspect of my job – namely, because I enjoy meeting new people and communicating with people who fundamentally shape not only the news agenda, but also to a large extent public opinion – but I didn’t always. In fact, very far from it, I still remember the feeling of sweating at my desk, terrified of picking up the phone to pitch to a journalist.

However, I believe it is very rare that we get a moment to appreciate and thank our mentors – without whose gentle guidance and encouragement, we would simply not be able to succeed – because most of the time we don’t realise just how much they’ve done for us until long after the moment has passed (hindsight has a funny way of doing that). For me, it was slightly surreal watching the guy who first interviewed me in baggy jeans and a t-shirt (while I, clearly over-dressed, nervously sweated in a suit), who taught me valuable lessons about PR that I still pass on to junior PR’s to this day, marry his Spanish girlfriend from his own time living in London. A guy who never shouted or lost his cool,  always led by example rather than barking commands and always kept his word.

You see it was in that very first interview that Paul asked me whether or not I wanted to travel. Having never had a gap year or managed to escape for any extended period of time, I was desperate to do so at the time, and he said to me that if I gave him two years of hard work he would make sure that there was a job waiting for me in London. Two years to the month I arrived here, and I’ve never forgotten that. Not only am I a much better PR for having met this man, but I am also living a dream of working and travelling overseas that I have had for years.

The reason for all this reflection you may ask? Well, the week I returned from the wedding was my last week at Mulberry – a fitting end to a fantastic agency journey, spanning two countries, multiple clients around the globe and three years and four months of my life.

This week, I have started as a Senior Account Manager for The Propeller Group in London. A very switched-on outfit that offers not only traditional PR and Digital but also in-house smart phone app development. As you can probably tell I’m very excited to be joining the team there and taking on my next career challenge.

I wrote a post recently over at Waxing UnLyrical about the very real role social media played in this recent job shift, but here I thought I might share the other side of the story – because both are very much the two sides of the same coin and I couldn’t have had one without the other.

So, for those of you reading this in the PR game (actually, for that matter, those of you in other games too), if you do get a chance take the time out to catch-up with your mentor, thank them, take them out for a beer or even just let them know what you’re up to. Most of all remember what they taught you, and then pass it on to those who, in turn, will work for you – because, one day, it may be your turn to change the life of someone else.

Recently, I came across such a piece of writing, that deals with an issue that is steadily on the rise but rarely discussed – male depression. More specifically, depression affecting young males. Depression amongst young males is a huge issue in Australia, especially when one considers the following:

Source: Beyond Blue

Sadly, the UK is not faring much better, according to the Mental Health Foundation:

Source: Mental Health Foundation UK

It is sadly all too rare to find this topic something that many young men feel they can discuss with their closest friends, let alone finding someone willing to go out on a limb and talk about it on their own.

It is for this reason, that I strongly support the courage involved in doing so and allowing others – through the written word, the online world, or public speaking – in the wider community to know that they are not alone. If one could choose to champion only one positive use for social media, then surely this would be at the top of my list – the ability to quickly and easily spread a positive message to the world, be it through hope, truth, knowledge, personal experience or a combination of any number of these.

It is because of this that I would please invite you all to take a few minutes out of your day and read the following post that was recently brought to my attention – leave a comment or simply forward it on. If for no other reason than, as the headline so succinctly states, it is A topic worth talking about.

Thank-You.

B

The poem, by D H Lawrence, actually struck me for some odd reason so I thought I might share it with you – perhaps because the last thing one expects to find on the Tube is something remotely interesting to absent-mindedly stare at, or perhaps it is because I rarely bother even reading the Tube wall ads in the first place because of this.

“PIANO

By D.H. Lawrence

Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.

In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.

So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.

1918″

Source: http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/piano.html

I was originally put in touch with Rohit via another dear social media friend from across the pond, that I now guest blog for, Shonali Burke. Even though our correspondence was limited to a few emails, I was struck by the fact that this chap – who is incredibly senior at one of the world’s biggest agencies – would take time out of one his no-doubt manically hectic days to offer advice to a random Aussie, living on the other side of the world, that he’d never met! I never forget moments like this, and I silently hope and pray that I will do the same in a few years if anyone ever seeks my advice. So you can understand how shocked and thrilled I was to suddenly be invited along to meet, and have a beer with, the man in-person over at Ogilvy’s Paddington offices.

To cut a long story short, the man himself is exactly the same in person as the man who took time out to help out a random stranger via email. Aside from being one of the friendliest and most down-to-Earth people I’ve met in recent years, there was something that stuck with me from our conversation and I thought I’d jot it down here.

As a PR in London, with a strong interest in social media, I do regularly read blogs and books by others who are far more advanced than me. Although I do a bit of guest blogging on industry topics, I never set this blog up to ‘build my own brand’ – as many seasoned bloggers advise when thinking about beginning a foray into blogging. I have always wondered if this might be to my detriment, so I took my rare chance to ask Rohit about this and what he said I’d like to share for any other bloggers, or potential bloggers, out there who might be reading,

“Even if you travel for 350 days of the year, for work or whatever, you still need a home right? Somewhere to keep all of your stuff while you’re away and somewhere to always come back to?”

I agreed.

“So that’s what your personal blog should be – somewhere to keep all the stuff that is yours, and that you want to write about”

This explanation, though seemingly simple, in one sentence answered so many questions I had about this new world that I’m now a part of. So I will continue to use this space to write about all manner of random things and I hope you find it interesting or that it might help you in some small way (whether it is with advice or simply finding something new in London). Most importantly of all, I hope that the words written down here stay as true to who I am in real life as I found Rohit to be. Regardless of whether he is engaged in a personal or professional interaction, he is both a gentleman and an inspiration to the rest of us.