Do You Do Diffusion In 2009?

Nearly 6 months now since I joined Diffusion and it's gone pretty damn quick...guess it's all that stuff about time flying when you're having fun and all that.

I've had an amazing time working at Diffusion Towers seeing our company grow and it's been really refreshing to be part of a growing team that's working for some really exciting brands and digital companies...but before I continue gushing, tears come to my eyes and you all start reaching for the nearest bucket, I need to come to the crux of what this blog post is all about....

The boss has asked that I harness the "immense broadcasting power" of my little blog to highlight the fact that we're looking for some new bright sparks to join the team.

Please see the job information below which probably explains it all better than I ever could - it's also on the career's section of our beautiful website if you want to have a peak.

"With a new year ahead of you it’s perfectly natural to be contemplating whether you are in the right job. Are you working for clients you love, in a culture that is constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries of PR? Is your career where you want to it to be and can you see a clear path to promotion ahead of you? Is your employer investing in you to make sure you have the digital communication skills which are essential for effective PR today?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, perhaps now’s the time to see what fresh opportunities are out there? Here at Diffusion, we are looking for another Senior Campaign Executive to join our seven-strong team in early 2009. After 18-months in PR, you will have a Blackberry bursting with media contacts across the digital media, marketing, technology and national press. You will have a real interest in how brands are using the web to engage with stakeholders and a real desire to represent clients across a wide range of industry sectors, from hot digital start-ups to global consumer brands.

At Diffusion, you’ll not only get job satisfaction from doing brilliant work with great colleagues for fantastic clients, though we think that always helps. Through our commitment to Talent Management we offer fast-track career development to the brightest and a tailored training programme. And it goes without saying that your hard work and commitment will be rewarded with a market leading salary and benefits package. So if you want to spend 2009 and beyond working for one of the fastest-growing and most talked about agencies of 2008, we’d love to hear from you!"

If you fancy joining us at Diffusion Towers then feel free to drop me a note on Twitter but the best person to speak to is our glorious leader Daljit Bhurji who you can reach through the following address daljit.bhurji@diffusionpr.com

Shoestring Inspiration

I was asked this week by the venerable Stephen Waddington to continue a meme passed on to him by Ged Carrol on what inspires him to keep up his blog posts.

I have to say I feel in part this tag was itself inspired by a quick look at my shabby old blog which hasn’t been updated for a while so first and foremost let me apologize...

So inspiration....I think the main one has to be what other people are writing on the blogs I read. I Really enjoy reading the thoughts of others on industry issues – Becky’s, Stephen’s, Chris’s, Drew’s and of course the boss’ blogs all ones I enjoy reading regularly and where I can find something mildly intelligent to add to the debate I will – only problem recently is that I’ve been doing too much reading and not enough responding...

Looking back through this blog since I started it – I guess the other main inspirations have come from the various forms of websites I’m reading on a day to day basis whether it be the trials and tribulations of Tottenham on white hart pain or music and gigs on sites like NME. Aside from that it’s really the events that I go to and the people I meet at them.

I guess one of the main problems I have found with this particular blog and why it has therefore been so neglected has been the lack of personal experiences I’ve been able to put into it...

I therefore have recently started a side project called Shoestring Spirit borne out of jottings and that dreaded word ‘poems’ I’ve put together since my spotty teenage years – it’s refreshing to get feedback from and meet other people online outside of the traditional ‘tech PR blog world’ and in a way it gives me inspiration to keep blogging in another realm outside of the professional – and get people to see some of these thoughts which (while often rubbish) would otherwise be left stewing in a dusty desk draw.

I’ll pass this little meme onto Drew, Becky and Ben

Three Memes For Whitney

Oh Jed Hallam you give me such a warm feeling fuzzy feeling with your meme love I feel compelled to continue this lovely if slightly odd trend of meme chains - sorry it has taken me so long Jed - wanted to make sure I did a proper job...

So I've put allot of thought into this (all five minutes of it)...but I'm not going to make you wait a minute longer...without further ado...Ladies and Gentlemen...I give you my three for three

Top Three non-work websites

1. The Daily Show
2. Facebook (sorry in social media circles it seems like the equivalent of admitting I enjoy McDonald's...)
3. White Hart Pain - just about sums up my Saturdays


Top Three Karaoke Songs

1. Elton John - Bennie & The Jets
2. Whitney Houston - I Will Allways Love You
3. Elton John & George Michael - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (as sung with Ivan)

Top Three Weekend Cocktails

1. Ladyboy Chasers
2. White Russian
3. Mojito

And the three people I will choose to pass this on to are:

1. That Chap
2. Lewis Webb
3. Will McInnes

Go on I dares ya....share the love....

Please Please Vote

I don't think I have many American friends....hey I don't think many Americans even read this blog...but I thought I'd do my bit - if you are in the US, know any Americans...whatever just register to vote...please....for Barack Obama if you can....

The 9 Lines Of Twestival

The little idea
We dream't up in a pub
Evolved into
Something so much more special
Thanks to a little help from our friends
It was great to meet so many new faces and
Value our friend's support
And despite a sore head on Friday morning, I'm
Looking forward to seeing everyone soon to do it all over again.

MP Wanted

Far be it from me to join the Obamamania that seems to be sweeping every corner of the earth except the US particularly Brazil where not 4, not 5 but 6 politicians have taken it upon themselves to rename themselve's Barack Obama. (an odd and perhaps not the most novel way of boosting your search rankings and general popularity) but hey if it's working for them well good luck to them...

But all this madness did get me to thinking that perhaps we should do a similar thing in the UK. No not rename our Gordon Brown and the rest of the cabinet Barrack - I don't think their sports skills would quite match up to his for a start...

However instead perhaps we should send open invitations to unsuccessful presidential nominees (the good ones anyway) to take up roles in Westminster. I'm sure Barrack would love a nice cosy constituency perhaps in the south hams, perhaps Al Gore wouldn't mind running Glasgow South and hey if they like it - what's stopping them getting their full citizenship and running the country!

However seriously, behind all the razzmatazz which I feel we like to cynically snigger at - what the Americans are good at producing is leaders and politicians that inspire and cause debate - clearly I dont agree with Sarah Palin's view on a number of issues especially the Bush doctrine, what ever that is...but what she has done is brought another dimension of debate to the election and has made more interested in what she has to say - more so than our own party conferences taking place at the moment in the UK - instead our party conferences tend to be bogged down with headlines more often than not dominated by infighting or cross party squabbling than anything of real significance.

Policies are important (and clearly the huge scale of an American election has an effect) but there needs to be an added dynamism to our politics - I may not have always agreed with Tony Blair (and was too young to witness Maggie in action) but there was generally an ounce of interest in what decisions they were making which I feel is wholly absent today.

We need people that inspire people - current coverage of UK politics often feels like the skies of August this year - relentlessly grey and disappointing.

So good luck to Barracks everywhere from Illinois to Rio and hey if it doesn't work out then there's always a backbench seat in the South Hams a waiting....

Worgle

Well I've done my duty and downloaded Chrome and yes it's a web browser, not a lot more to say as far as I'm concerned - not exactly going to change my world for the moment but hey...

I did like the way that even Channel 4 seemed to fall for the story that the news was 'leaked' hmmm....I rather agree more with Drew Benvie's take on the story - a story this big...published by accident..I'm not so sure...

Anyway while the A-Ha inspired Take On Me cartoons seem to have got most people's attention a quick wordle of Google's bog post seems to suggest that the key aim of the new browser seems to be to be to push their applications more and more and more...not bad as for the most they are pretty useful...

as for the browser...meh...it's a browser at the end of the day...seems to run pretty fast and of course...people who know their stuff will have more in depth views on the good points and bad points..but to me and my housemates as users (after 20 minutes) it seems pretty similar to most browsers...

anyway...enough of this boring post...it's all about enabling an enriched multimedia experience apparently so here is a taste of what people might be watching on it...