It’s not often we shout about advertising. After all, in our industry, there’s no contest between editorial and ‘paid for content’. However, every so often, an advert comes along which gets people talking and captures the mood of an entire
nation.

John Lewis’ Christmas advert, which aired during X Factor on Friday evening, did just that. Already, it has been dubbed ‘the best promotion of all time’ and clocked up over 620,000 YouTube hits. Its theme tune, a cover of The Smiths song Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want, is also on course for Christmas number one.

If you haven’t seen it (and I very much doubt that’s true), the advert follows a cute young boy who waits impatiently for Christmas. His eagerness, it transpires, is not because he wants to open his stash of presents, but simply
because he can’t wait to give a gift to his parents – cue the tears.

The ad had people on Twitter weeping into their iPhones on Friday night and was trending in the UK for nearly two days.

Maybe it’s the recession, but the ad taps in perfectly to the current zeitgeist of the nation – one that yearns for simple wholesome values, vintage nostalgia and a winsome family Christmas. Compared to the efforts of the other big retailers, it knocks the competition out of the water.

The ad is not without its detractors. Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker has said: “Anyone who wells up at that John Lewis ad is a monster” – and a mash-up the soundtrack of Stephen King’s The Shining has also been created. Still, it looks like John Lewis’ masterpiece is destined to be the advert, if not the soundtrack, of the season.

Expenses.  If it’s not the Government at the brunt end of criticism, it’s the BBC.  More revelations about the use of public money have come to light today in the form of taxi fares – and it doesn’t sit well with the BBC’s already tarnished reputation.

It appears that the big cheeses have raked up over £12,000 in taxi costs in just 12 weeks. The so-called fat cats identified in yesterday’s Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph are earning significant amounts of money – between £310,000 and £515,000 – and they’ve each claimed between £3,880 and £4,862 on taxis alone in three months.

Claiming expenses from your employer is not exactly a new concept so why does it rile people so much?  When it comes to the public purse, there seems to be a very thin line between what is and isn’t acceptable.  People become quite possessive over the organisation and can place an incredible amount of pressure on the employers involved.

Some might argue that they earn enough to foot the bills themselves even if they are incurred whilst on the job.  Yes they have large salaries but can we really expect them to pay for their own expenses when other employees don’t have to? I don’t think that’s fair. At what point would you ‘cut people off’? I certainly wouldn’t like to be the one who makes that decision.

It’s not uncommon for companies to have a transport policy dictating that employees should use the most cost-effective option where possible.  What doesn’t help this issue is the lack of clarity around whether the BBC even has one.

I’m all for accountability and outing those individuals who abuse the systems I financially support but let’s have some perspective – it’s not like they were claiming for duck houses or a second mortgage.

Reading through the press this morning, it’s clear that social media is being well and truly recognised as a legitimate marketing strategy for 2009.

Following the buzz that started in 2007, and grew rapidly during 2008, social media marketing is now flourishing in this tough economic climate.  I can think of a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, the process provides tangible results.  Due to the wonders of Google Analytics, we can track traffic sources and conversion rates.  ROI can be easily calculated and clients can see the impact the campaign is having on their bottom line.  This transparency has to be an attractive proposition for businesses.

Secondly, I’ve heard two buzzwords for success in 2009.  These are ‘honesty’ and ‘excitement’.  Social media provides both.  At its core, social media is about engaging with customers.  It’s all about creating an open and honest conversation between both parties.  It’s also about creating a buzz online about your product or service.  By engaging with your target market, you’re building excitement around your brand.

So is social media right for every business?  It helps if your business has a decent website and perhaps a blog – the perfect place to drive traffic to, and engage directly with your customers.

Clearly, your customers need to be online.  If they are, it helps if there’s a conversation already happening between them.  Are your customers the type of people who form communities and talk around the subject?  A little keyword research will help you find out what’s happening online in your industry.

I’m struggling to think of an industry that wouldn’t benefit from a social media campaign.  I’d love to hear your thoughts..

In boom times it’s easy to forget about employees and focus solely on the business but when things get tougher, it’s dedicated and committed staff that will see you through alongside a sensible business plan. People want to feel valued and know that their efforts aren’t going unnoticed.

Everyone needs to pull together and make sure that they go the extra mile. This is where small businesses can have the edge over their larger competitors and ensure they survive the recession. Having a positive attitude will boost any business and this becomes even more important when times are tough.

An immediate and aggressive cut in interest rates must take place and by at least 0.5%. However, a reduction alone will not solve the problem – far more needs to be done to boost consumer confidence and encourage increased spending. It’s only when people feel that they have more disposable income, that the risk of job losses has lessened, and the cost of living has also fallen, that the economy will truly begin to recover. The government needs to offload the heavy burden of tax on individuals and UK businesses and energy suppliers must immediately pass on any fall in energy costs to the consumer.

The media of course has a huge role to play as it can massively influence how consumers feel. PR agencies and journalists need to stop linking the last few weeks with the 1930s and focus on the positives. After all, an unprecedented amount of liquidity has been injected into the economy and the price of oil is tumbling. In addition, UK exporters face huge increases in the demand for their products as the value of the pound continues to plummet. Business opportunities do exist even when times are tough and PROs should highlight these as much as possible. The sooner that confidence begins to return, the quicker we will lift ourselves out of recession no matter how low interest rates fall.

The team at Peppermint were recently held (highly reluctant) hostages to an email-free couple of days, when our host’s central machine crashed. After an initial bout of panic and a barrage of anguished calls to our technical support team, we found ourselves feeling calmly liberated.

The amount of time saved during our two days on the outskirts of cyberspace was quite simply astonishing. Without a constant influx of messages we had a hugely expanded space in which to think, plan and talk. Much like mindless ‘interactive’ games that leave kids slack-jawed and glassy-eyed, being glued to a computer screen is the least conducive environment for creativity and strategic thinking.

The fact is that e-mail can be brilliant. Those long hours standing over a noisy fax machine that consistently chewed up copy weren’t exactly halcyon days. But I do resent the way email eats up our time with its endless, all too often pointless messages invading our workspace.

Now our email is fully back up and running and I’m once again confronted with a vast assortment of time-wasting rubbish, I’m rather missing our enforced break. It felt a little like the office equivalent of booking into a Buddhist retreat. So I for one am lobbying for email-free Fridays at Peppermint….now I just need to win over everyone else out there.