Yesterday, I was doing what should have been a very short bit of research. But in the end, it took me ages, absolutely ages. The reason was poorly described links.

I was on the Interbuild website. Interbuild is a big trade fair in the UK for the construction industry and I was writing material for an architectural firm going to the event. Quite simply, I wanted to check out some other architectural firms that were attending to see what they were writing. Should have been simple, no?

Not on Interbuild’s website. Conveniently, the website lists all the attendees alphabetically and each company name is a link to further information. BUT, the link is nothing but a company name. Fine if you know the company, but far too much random clicking if you don’t. What’s the point in giving a list of names if you don’t tell the reader what the names mean? These firms come from all over the world and every area of the building industry, there’s no way someone would know them all.

So, to my rant. I hate links that don’t tell you what you’re going to find when you get there! Please, please, please, if you going to send me somewhere, tell me where I’m going!

I just found this post which I guarantee will be of interest to anyone who crafts words for a living. So that’s pretty much anyone in the communications industry. And if you’re reading this, that includes YOU!

Simplicity sells!

Here’s an interesting story about how a huge global organization was brought down to earth (and nearly to its knees) by a humble blogger. And how it decided that instead of fighting against the tide, it would learn to swim with it.

For the full story, click here.

Today, I went to a fun and well organized family event, Mini Zulu Rocks, in Denmark’s national sports stadium, Parken. Several thousand guests enjoyed a wide variety of good young musicians and entertainers. There were kids of all ages – even new-born babies whose ears were being carefully covered from the loud music by worried parents. My wife and I were there with our two kids of 6 and 10.

It was all great fun – that is until Anna David, a popular and talented Danish singer performed live her infamous song called “F*** you”. I guess, over the last year or so, I’ve got used to hearing this song on the radio. The offensive nature of it is diminished somewhat by radio hosts and guests who use English swear words without a second thought.

But there was something grotesque and disturbing about seeing people singing along to Anna David’s song – every last obscenity included. It wasn’t only the kids, but also parents. Do kids know that swearing like this is unacceptable in many social and professional environments? As kids develop their language abilities, both native and foreign, do parents tell them that this particular way of coloring the language should be used with great care?

I’ve been in too many situations, including business meetings, where English swear words have been uttered in inappropriate circumstances to feel confident that people know how important this is.

For those of you who haven’t been there yet, it’s seriously worth visiting PostSecret. What started off as an art project has become ‘the largest advertisement-free blog on the web’ with well over 1 million hits. But that isn’t why I like it. I visit it because it’s human, funny and entertaining. And if I feel like it, I can take part.

Last night I went to a concert by the New Zealand-Australian band, Crowded House. They have a fantastic stage presence – so it wasn’t just the music that was good - the way they interact with each other on stage made it a really memorable concert.

I’d seen Crowded House perform live once before, at Roskilde Festival, years ago.

What was different last night was not only the venue (Amager Bio is slightly more intimate than the dirt patch in front of the Orange Scene), but the audience.

We’d all paid money just to see Crowded House perform, so of course there were some very dedicated fans there.

As I scanned the audience, I couldn’t help pick out people that had to be New Zealanders or Australians among the many Danish faces, and we seemed to be quite strongly represented.

It struck me, standing in the middle of a sea of people that even though the accents of the band members, their charisma and lyrics are distinctly New Zealand/Australian, the band’s appeal extends way beyond those of us who share the same cultural background.

When they sung the opening lines of a song about the small North Island town where both the lead singer and my father were born, everyone was getting something out of it and really enjoying it.

That’s why I like going to concerts. They’re a cultural leveller.

I must remember to get to more.

Most people (above a certain age) will recognize Dylan’s iconic 1965 video Subterranean Homesick Blues. To promote the release of Dylan’s greatest hits, the cue card sequence has been adapted so users can generate their own messages and send them to friends. Try it - it’s very neatly done.

So, will it work? My gut feeling is no. The average Dylan fan is around my dad’s age – and not computer savvy enough to send messages to friends through a pop video, however old the video is. No doubt the greatest hits album is aimed at new fans and people who simply want some Dylan in their collection, so the target audience for the ad campaign is not die-hard Dylan fans. But still, I’m not convinced. There are plenty of artists out there whose videos would be ripped by the million - but we’re looking at another generation.

By the way, I found out about this at MediaSoon – a great place to find out how the advertising industry is using new media and adapting old.

One of my favourite blogs is Steven Poole’s Unspeak, in which he continues the deconstruction of corporate and governmental rhetoric begun in his book of the same name.

In a recent post, ‘Standard procedure’, he examines the killing of an ape which had escaped its cage at an English zoo.

When asked why it had been necessary to shoot the chimp, the zoo authorities responded that it was ’standard procedure’.

As a copywriter, I find Steven Poole’s work extremely valuable because he makes me think about every single word I use. He reminds me to avoid complacency, and, above all, to question what my words are telling readers.

The zoo’s somewhat lazy reference to ’standard procedure’ not only indicates alarming inflexibility, it also reveals how in thrall we are to the power of certain phrases. Terms such as ’standard procedure’ seem to draw a line in the sand beyond which further questioning is prohibited.

The response they elicit is almost invariably the same - no further questions. As a copywriter, this effect is something of a paradox. Yes, we seek language that is supremely authorative but we don’t want it to turn off the ‘think’ button in our readers’ brains.

I’m thinking of words like optimize, cutting-edge, value-adding, enhance, core competencies and best-in-class. I’m as guilty as the next guy when it comes to falling back on these old favourites but I’m wondering if overuse has now diluted their effectiveness irreparably.

Overall, I find much corporate messaging lacks spark and humanity. And while I’ve already posted some general thoughts here about how marketers need to adjust their thinking in order to remain relevant in the global marketplace, I’m also wondering if we have a specific problem with our reliance on ‘corporatese’.

Are companies so focused on churning out benefit-led messaging that they are failing to spot that people are less and less inclined to trust corporations which lay on the spin a bit too thick?

As I tend to, I am diverting off down a series of blind alleys here when all I really wanted to say was sometimes ’standard procedure’ isn’t necessarily the right procedure.

A new site from The Nielsen Company could mark the beginning of a beautiful friendship between the public and movie, TV and music producers. The social network site gives users the chance to comment on, review and rate entertainment. The site then collates the reviews and general media buzz to produce star ratings for the shows, films and songs.

There’s nothing new here, until you look a little deeper. The beauty of Hey! Nielsen is its promise to unite the public with decision-makers in the companies that produce entertainment.

The Hey! Nielsen website claims:

“…the exclusive access and power of Nielsen means that your opinions not only reach millions of people via the web, but may also reach the media moguls who decide what goes on the air and on the web. The more heat your postings generate, the greater the chance your opinions will land on the most influential inboxes in the biz…”

The site is supported by Nielsen’s sister sites Billboard.com, HollywoodReporter.com, and BlogPulse.com, some of the most influential sites in the industry. So there’s a good chance that users’ opinions will be read by powerful people.

Could this collatable SMO approach be beneficial for other industries? Sure, few things create as much public interest as entertainment. But imagine having such a simple, one-stop barometer for consumer goods. Apple might have benefitted from this kind of feedback before locking down the iPhone (which led to numerous bad reviews, like this one from Gizmodo). Or in other industries, from paint coatings to switch manufacturing, a tool for collating public opinion could give producers insight into what people want, like, dislike and need – like easy to manage focus groups – enabling them to create the right products to suit their customers.

Sound neat, huh?

Recently, I was contacted by an American friend who has to give lots of presentations. He’s an experienced speaker, so what was his problem?

He had too much information to put on his PowerPoint and the slides were getting really dense. It’s no secret that PowerPoint slides can severely hamper an audience’s ability to take in information (for more on this, check out this article from The Sydney Morning Herald). My friend knew this, but couldn’t seem to stop himself. It’s a common issue.

PowerPoint is in danger of killing the art of presenting. Not because people are getting worse at speaking (my friend is a great speaker), but it’s changed many people’s approach to presentations. People tend to prepare the PPT slides and then ask: what do I say as the slides come up?

The result is a set of well-prepared slides that no one can read during the presentation – and a talk that doesn’t inspire. So, what’s the solution?

The key is to remember that you’re giving a presentation. You are there to speak and people are there to listen. PowerPoint should be treated like any other visual aid. It should be used to support your words; not dictate what you are going to say. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you need slides for everything. Instead, prepare the presentation as a speech. Then think: what visuals do I need to support my words and make my message stronger?

Approaching things this way round, you can get the most out of PowerPoint. Use a few slides with graphs, diagrams, images or a couple of words on them to highlight key points or demonstrate the idea in action. And don’t ignore the other visual aids: draw diagrams on the white board or pass a mock-up of the product around the room. Even bring in a potato if it supports your message.