For years, I’ve been a devoted reader of DailyCandy - a very snappy, well-written (and free) email service that infuses my often dull email inbox with a daily dose of trends, news, and deals for big cities (with editions dedicated to Boston, New York, Washington DC, London and many others - and versions focused on travel and kids).

I love DailyCandy. From weekend activity suggestions to the latest fashion trends to the invention of new words, it never ceases to entertain and enlighten. So imagine my excitement last week when my favorite trend-spotter spotted Copenhagen!

In Denmark’s the Spot, Copenhagen is all charm, style, and activity that makes you come back for more.

Sometimes, after spending the majority of our time on practical or work-related matters that don’t leave much time for sitting back and enjoying, it’s good to be reminded that we live in “Copenhagen — where dreamy bohemian meets cutting-edge modernism.”

Last Wednesday, Jonathan and I attended Mikhail Gorbachev’s talk at Børsen Executive Club. A week later, I’m still thinking about the former Russian president’s appearance so I thought I’d share the most lasting impressions.

I’ll be honest: I haven’t followed Gorbachev’s career since I left Moscow at the age of ten. When I think of him today, first I image the Russian nesting dolls depicting his face, then his current modelling stint for Louis Vuitton luggage. Not very political – so I was eager to learn where he stands these days. Is his heart in Russia or is he an expat fighting independently for his cause?

Last week’s event was enlightening to say the least. Not to mention surreal: Gorbachev’s distinctive intonation brought me back twenty years, to the Soviet television set where he tirelessly promoted Perestroika and glasnost’.

Gorbachev’s Børsen speech focused on environmental issues – particularly water. He called for ”global glasnost’’” – the only force that can help us overcome the environmental dangers our planet faces. The speech was informative and inspiring – and soon forgotten. As you can imagine, the questions and answers session following the speech took a u-turn towards politics.

And that’s where the fun began. Gorbachev spoke in Russian with a live translation in English. And boy did his advisor and interpreter of 20 years provide value-added service on the stage. Gorbachev flared up on several occasions, seemingly frustrated by naive Western questions about Russia’s political agenda. The translator toned it all down, taking his time to find the right words to – in my opinion – significantly de-politicize the dialogue.

The scene made it clear that Gorbachev has great interest in defending Russia. Not just because he used “we” on several occasions when speaking of his motherland. When Russia’s motives were questioned, he said the country would, as always, deliver on its promises to the world. Further questioning ruffled his feathers: the basic gist of one of his replies was “If you ask questions like this, it’s not really worth trying to explain things to you”. But that was in Russian. In English, this became a very diplomatic retort about how complex Russia is.

Gorbachev wasn’t afraid to step out on a limb a bit. When asked if he agreed with Putin that the US has lost the war in Iraq, he answered, ”That was lost the moment it began.” But it was only the limbs that were pro-Russia that he was comfortable with.

The last question was the most poignant – and the most telling. Gorbachev was asked about the West’s criticism of Putin and the future Russia’s democracy. With journalists being killed and no freedom of the press as the West defines it, where is Russia going? And here, it was hard to contain a laugh. Gorbachev philosophized: The US became a democracy in 200 years – you can’t expect Russia to do it in 200 days. It’s like asking a child to start walking and speaking German the moment it’s born: just impossible.

Let’s not talk about the fact that more journalists are being killed now than before. That there is no political opposition. That there isn’t a single TV program that comes close to criticizing the current administration. That the only free speech is on Echo of Moscow, a radio station whose broadcasts are only available to the select few – the old “intelligentsia”.

What is going on??

Is Gorbachev just as scared to speak the truth as the others? Or does he really believe in this shallow “growing pains” explanation? Is he taking on the environment because that’s the only safe ground where he can fight for his true beliefs?

Perhaps most importantly of our discussions of communication on this blog: Why is what he’s saying being so dramatically altered? Can’t we still speak the truth, even if it’s not what the world wants to hear?

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.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” they say. But what about its font?

A new Wordspin article reminded me of a pretty unfortunate literary experience I had a couple years ago.

Back in Washington DC, I went to a bookstore event where author Monica Ali read passages from her new book Brick Lane and answered readers’ pressing plot questions. No one questioned font choice.

I picked up a copy of Brick Lane just before moving to London for a year to study. The book was about a woman from India who had come to London and was adjusting to the alien new world around her. I wasn’t coming from India, but it still piqued my interest. And, by coincidence, I soon found a flat just off London’s famous Indian food mecca: Brick Lane.

The first few chapters were fairly engaging. I was enjoying the drama, the descriptions of otherness, her shock at coming face to face with revolving doors - it was good fun.

But then the letters from the heroine’s sister began. And they were all written in italics. Page after page of tiny text that looked almost hand-written. I struggled on for a while, thinking “Come on! I can’t be this shallow! I can get through this!” But I couldn’t. I got tired of having to re-read lines. My mind drifted. My eyes glazed over. I tried skipping the letters but then the story stopped making sense. And I never found out how Brick Lane’s heroine ended her London adventure…because of a font.

What about you - has formatting ever affected your experience with a written text? I’d love to hear about it!

Over the last few months, I’ve seen a lot of media buzz about Copenhagen’s status as a “creative capital.” In other words, a hot-and-happening European city that attracts creative, cosmopolitan professionals from around the world in much the same way that London, Paris, and New York have done for quite a while.

Sure, it’s been nice to hear that we’re surrounded by driven, adventurous, and international peers - whether they’re foreigners who’ve relocated to Copenhagen or Danes who’ve lived abroad. But now (finally!) we can actually meet each other.

Custom House - the collective of French, Italian and Japanese restaurants on the waterfront by Nyhavn (appropriately created and managed by London-based Conran Restaurants) - is taking on the task of gathering creative expat minds over tapas and wine.

Check out the invitation here. The upcoming event will be Custom House’s third - and the first two seem to have been a hit.

The evening sounds like a great opportunity to meet some fun people in what my Danish friend - who always seems to know the cool locals’ spot-of-the-moment - described as the place to be. If the location, ambiance and food are as good as people say they are, this expat night might turn into quite a popular trend - definitely worth a try.

Hope to see some of you at Custom House, Havnegade 44, at 18:00 on Tuesday, September 25th. The invitation is open to all internationally-oriented minds - and as you’re reading this on a site about international communication, that means you!

Newsweek’s article on Second Life struck me so profoundly that I got myself an avatar in the virtual universe the moment I got home. My navigation through the 3D universe still clumsy, I accidentally bumped into a “man” who took it just as seriously as if I’d pushed him over in person. The emotions were incredibly real, and I was amazed at how easy it was to get sucked in.

Like Harry Potter, sushi, Facebook, and other wildfire-like phenomena that suddenly attract the masses, Second Life is something you have to experience for yourself to understand the appeal (or lack thereof, depending on your taste for virtual existence).

It turns out that “a recent Dutch study found that 57 percent of Second Lifers spend more than 18 hours a week there, and 33 percent spend more than 30 hours a week.” But that’s not all. Gartner Research center estimates that “by 2011, four of every five people who use the Internet will actively participate in Second Life or some similar medium.”

Clearly, Second Life is huge - as is its potential for connecting people, companies, and ideas. When Harvard uses it to teach classes, you know it’s not just a fad.

So now that we’re blogging over there on Svanemøllevej, don’t be surprised if we soon come to a computer near you as a virtual Eye for Image cafe in Second Life! Will you be ready to join as the virtual you and swap some First Life time for a world where you can fly, travel the world in seconds, and alter your appearance as often as you like?

It’s always exciting to find a new tool that gets you out of your creative rut and helps you see things a bit differently.

For me, the tool du jour is Thinkmap’s VisualThesaurus.com. Sure, I’ve used Thesaurus.com and Dictionary.com for years, and can’t complain - I generally find what I’m looking for. But I’m not often inspired.

With VisualThesaurus.com, you’re inspired - and educated, and entertained. It uses a dynamic technology to map words that are related to one another. So they happily bounce to their rightful place on the screen, let you move them around and find out what they mean - and discover completely new directions for creative concepts.

Every day, I get a new “word of the day” from VisualThesaurus. I’ve signed up for these before but have always found them pretty stiff and formal. VisualThesaurus, however, defines words with fun examples and anecdotes. So you never get a definition full of yet more words you don’t understand.

So the tool is great fun, but I’m finding that the best thing VisualThesaurus.com may be its website. They’ve got blogs. They’ve got articles. Tips, tricks, and advice. Something new every day for marketing and communications people.

And most importantly, they are an outstanding example of how brands can expand, engage their audience, and give the sense of being THE hub for the latest and most useful knowledge. Something we can all learn from.

(If you’re curious about VisualThesaurus.com, you can download a free trial on their site.)

I’ll shift from our communications focus slightly to share a bit of news that’s made me extremely happy.

As a newcomer to Copenhagen (I’ve been here ten months now) I’m constantly looking for new entertainment and - for better or for worse - find myself comparing Copenhagen to other big cities I’ve lived in: London, Boston, Paris, Washington DC, Moscow.

You can imagine my thrill, then, when I discovered that Copenhagen has reached top-cosmopolitan status! That’s right - it’s now right up there with Paris and Milan. How did this happen? Apparently, in large part due to creative newcomers from abroad. It’s nice to think of Eye for Image’s staff as fitting into this category that’s helping Copenhagen get in a positive global spotlight.

An excerpt from Creative minds are flocking to Copenhagen: “Copenhagen has become a magnet for the creative class e.g. engineers, doctors, designers, researchers and programmers, who are flocking to the Danish capital like never before.”

The article quotes Mark Lorentzen from Copenhagen Business School who argues: “The change in Copenhagen has been tremendous. The capital is now in a class with cities like Milan, London and New York. Highly trained, creative people choose between these cities, and to them Copenhagen has become a place where they would like to live.”

Now I’m even more committed to discovering the creative gems this city holds. After all, the status is recently acquired, so there aren’t as much in-your-face marketing to promote social events as in cities that have had this status for ages. But I think that even in my short time here, there’s been a shift towards an ambiance that resembles other tourism and creativity magnets.

What do you think - is this status award long overdue? Or is Copenhagen still lagging a bit behind the Londons and New Yorks of the world? And finally, do you think the creative class in Copenhagen really is growing? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’ve heard a lot of great expressions in meetings lately. Some from Danes, some from native English speakers.

As a copywriter, I’m fascinated by the new words and phrases that creep into the English language. It’s especially fun to monitor language-invention in the marketing field, where new terms come in and out of style faster than you can learn to say them.

Here are a few newbies I thought you’d enjoy:

“I don’t even want to crystal ball that.” Meaning: I can’t predict what will happen.

“It’s borderproof.” Meaning: It works well globally.

“Live the message.” Meaning: Don’t just say it, do it.

“Eval stage.” Meaning: The evaluation, pre-launch stage of product development.

Have you heard any marketing gems lately?