Last night Maxus fielded a team of 5 (aptly named “One for the Road”) at a Mercedes + agencies endurance Go Karting competition at the Daytona racetrack, Milton Keynes. With what appeared to be limited experience amongst the drivers, there was some initial hesitation. Little did we know how event filled the evening would be.

The evening kicked off with a practice session, during which time all team members had to complete at least one lap. At this point Milly discovered ballet pumps were not suitable go kart shoes and that borrowed, oversize trainers give you the kind of cramp that means you cant move your feet to operate peddles. The go kart spent a large amount of time with its nose firmly rammed into crash barriers.

Straight after practice, the heavens opened to what can only be described as a monsoon-like lightning storm. We thought that must be game over. We hadnt counted on the astonishing persistence of the track owners and within 20 minutes of the rain stopping they’d got the track ready. Team Maxus were back on the grid, lining up for the real race – the endurance section, 90 minutes of constant racing, aiming to clock up maximum laps.

Little did we know Paul Capleton was the secret Go Karting weapon. From a starting grid position of 14th, he shot us up to 2nd place during his spell on the wet track (“like driving on ice”). A red light and required ambulance break (nothing serious) somehow resulted in us moving up to 1st place. Victory was in Maxus’s sights! An ambulance incident was certainly not enough to stop the race for long and soon we were back in the car, moving onto to the rest of our drivers. Without  naming and shaming, things got a little slower from here, with one black flag incident from Team Maxus (“arms and feet out of car”) incurring us a time penalty. We fell down to mid table. With a burst of speed in the final few laps, we clawed back up the standings to finish a respectable 7th – and, crucially, ahead of our agency rivals.

A good time had by all – and those few precious minutes where we were ahead of the longstanding Mercedes champions can be reminisced about for a long time …

In the UK, as globally, social media usage is growing exponentially, making its importance as a consumer touchpoint within a marketing strategy ever increasing.

To quote John Burbank (CEO of Neilsen Online):

“Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience.”

In the UK roughly 1 in every 6 minutes spent online is on a social networking site. Accordingly all BBC News journalists have been told social media must now be used as their primary source of info with the Director of BBC News telling them: “…If you don’t like it … then go and do something else because it’s going to happen. You’re not going to stop it.”

With some brands this seems to have translated into a race to create presence within the social sphere. The challenge we face is ensuring our clients understand exactly what social media means, the pitfalls and principles of usage as well as the potential benefits before they dive in.

A recent case study – for Nestle – can be held up as a clear example of “when social media goes bad.” The gist of the tale is that the brand – who have not been without their share of controversy in the past – apparently asked for YouTube to remove a Greenpeace video which had quite graphically suggested how Nestle’s use of palm oil harmed orang-utans. YouTube did.

In enraged response to this removal Greenpeace supporters took to Nestle’s official Facebook site in droves. These new “fans” covered Nestle’s Facebook wall with angry commentary, with some changing their profile pictures to nasty variations of the consumer giants logo. Nestle, perhaps having missed the 101 on how to behave in the social sphere, responded on its own Facebook wall to tell “fans” with altered logos that their posts would be deleted, that Nestle in fact had control over their own Facebook page so they could delete as they saw fit and adopting a tone that some commentators have called “juvenile; heavy-handed and insulting.” This approach activated one of the key benefits of social networking – the exchange spread like wildfire onto Twitter, Blogs and Wikis creating a serious PR headache.

Whilst Nestle have now capitulated, publicly apologising on their Facebook page for being rude and confessing that they are “learning” about social media, they still have some 100,000 fans on a Facebook page full of anger to determine what to do with. So how could they have handled this better?

There are some basic principles they should have considered in the first place:

- What are you trying to accomplish with social media?

- Why social media?

- How will it incorporate into the overall customer experience?

- How are you setup internally to deal with it?

- Are you prepared to let go of some control?

- Are you looking at it as a long term project?

- How will you measure and evaluate the results?

It is the “control” element that seems to be the particular fail for Nestle, from the YouTube incident onwards. It is also suggested that, internally, they gave the maintenance job to a junior marketer, hence the tone used in their comments. This should act as a cautionary tale that we can pass on to all our clients – make sure you are prepared before you enter the social media sphere.

The final “Celebrity” Big Brother closed its doors on Friday with Jordan’s better half crowned champion to the delight of a reasonably substantial 4m audience. Not quite to the levels of the Shilpa Shetty series but no-one in this years had the same audience pull that you get from violence and racism.

Now, all we have to do is get through a final series of regular punter Big Brother and Channel 4 can finally lay this demon to rest.

For about the first two series, Big Brother was a geniunely interesting programme that could justifiably be described as a social experiment. For a good 5 or 6 series too long its dragged on to easily fill their Summer schedule, with increasingly wierd contestants looking for a platform to dubious fame (Kinga “bottlegate” Karolczak / Michelle “i now present on the adult channels” Bass for starters).

My hope is that, for this Summers they’ll return to a mix of people who aren’t the most bizarre fame hunters in the country, have a bit of fun with it, wave it a fond farewell and get back to some cutting edge, exciting programming for Summer 2011.

Or does anyone disagree and are going to be sad to see it end?

Gcse and a level time has rolled around again and- bring out the trumpets- its the best results ever. This obviously provokes the annual debate. Are the kids of today the cleverest ever or are exams getting easier?

I’m sure some of you will disagree… But its got to be option2 for me. Education is so geared towards exam results that you can be pretty much told what the questions are going to be and, if your enterprising witha good memory, learn a response by heart to trot out in the exam. That’s all very well and good for nailing that a* but how practically useful is that type of learning in the real world and isn’t there some relevant skills that should be taught that would equip kids for the rest of their life?
E.g. In maths- why don’t they teach you about getting a mortgage and balancing debt rather than algebra?

I’m not belittling the hard work that goes into achieving good exam results, it just doesn’t seem the best way to advance the race.

Just a thought. Now where’s that gordon brown?

I’m not one for faddy diets.

I’m actually not one for diets at all – a basic philosophy of “eat less move more” seems to work well.

The thing about media, though, is that due to its incredibly social nature it sometimes leaves you feeling, how can I put this nicely, a little bit horrible inside.

So when a currently unnamed colleague suggested following the cavemans diet. I figured, I cant properly slate it until I’ve given it a go. The principle is, you eat like a caveman would  – nothing processed. So – wave bye bye to the bacon sandwiches, dim sum lunches and platter dinners. Hello fruit, meat and… well… anything which has only just left the animal / tree.

This morning I had a banana and an apple for breakfast. I’m already hungry again and its only 9:20. A week? Already feels like a lifetime……

I think this may even have appeared in the BJKEshed before but it makes me so cross wanted to revent. I dont know about everyone else but I get masses of post every week which goes straight in the bin which is driving me crazy. Prime suspects are:

> £500 day “book now last chance for this great price” conferences on some obscure piece of marketing strategy
> Poorly thought out media owner promotional material – how many cardboard pen holders can I possibly make use of on one desk?

Now I know people have to promote themselves … but in this age of online technology is it totally necessary to make me chuck reams of material away every week? Couldn’t a little bit more imagination be used?

Grrrrrr

I distinctly remember a time in my youth during Sociology when we debated the merits of online dating. Without making me sound old (which in media years I am now) – 13 years ago when this conversation was had internet dating was very much in its infancy. The younger and more judgmental me dismissed it as something for losers who cant meet people in a normal way.

Fast forward to 2009 and now – particularly in London – meeting people via internet dating is absolutely the norm. Sites like match.com / Sarah Beeny’s mysinglefriend have not only made online dating cool but are huge media properties with big marketing budgets to match.

Recent conversations have, however, re-ignited a couple of negatives in my mind about online dating::

1 – it takes away the rule of “opposites attract.” Because it allows you to be so specific on criteria and do extensive window shopping before you try you might instantly disregard someone who, if you’d met by chance, could have sparked up something really interesting (“Loves motorbikes and photography and is excellent marriage material,,,, er no thanks!).

2 – the grey area of when you should stop dating other people. I have a friend (yes really a friend and not me) who is internet dating 3 / 4 guys. With a couple of these guys she is up to 3+ dates. When I asked at which point it becomes a relationship she sort of shrugged says she’s not really keen on any of them for a relationship and they’re probably still dating other people too. Very difficult etiquette rules that I dont understand!

Anyhoo. Other than that – I would say online dating has been one of the major plus points about the invention of the internet. It certainly gets around the awkward re-meeting of someone in a bar when you’re praying they actually looked ok and that they werent an axe wielding maniac because lets face it, you couldnt’ really remember either way on both counts.

Your thoughts?

The Grosvenor Park Lane had its tables set, the guests were all dressed up to the nines in black tie gear, there was even a celebrity turn-out for the debut of “MAXUS” at the WhatCar? Awards 2009 last night.

Yes, ok, some people may have been keen to know who was Car of the Year, or to hear Jo Brand’s witty banter, or to hear our esteemed Mr Gordon Browns take on the recession and the automotive industry…. but im pretty sure that ours was the best new entry….

I can comfortably say a good time was had by all (maybe too good by some people – and a very happy birthday to Charlotte Grove) – and despite several mentions of the dreaded “credit crunch” there was no recession gloom on display.

So – thanks Haymarket – same time next year?

Most of you should be fully aware of the BJK&E charity book club venture – old books for sale available for the bargain price of 50p to Marie Curie in Katy’s Office. And we’re not talking car boot sale style ancient yellow paged books that nobody actually wants to read, these are actually decent acclaimed novels like as We Need to Talk About Kevin.

So in the spirit of book club sharing, I thought I’d blog about the book I’m reading now…. except … I’ve been reading the same book for the last 6 months and I dont think I can bring myself to read anymore. Its called Overtaken by Alexei Sayle. Reasonably witty, reasonably engaging, intelligent enough but nothing in it has gripped me – I would honestly rather be enjoying some trashy chick-lit. I feel wierdly committed to slog through the rest of the book and force myself to find out what happens even though I’ve forgotten all of the characters names already. Why is that? Although, lets face it, nothing’s ever going to be as good as Harry Potter.

What are you reading? What would you secretly rather be reading? Or what book has left a big impact on you?

Big news in the world of Media appointments this week is that Absolute Radio has poached Chris Lawson, Bauer Performance’s digital media director, for the brand new role of brand director on the station soon to be formerly known as Virgin Radio.

Virgin Radio Holdings Ltd (including the radio station) was bought in May 2008 by TIML (Times of India Group) – India’s largest music and ents group for £53.2million following its sale by SMG.

Lawson’s responsibilities will include making an announcement on the new brand name for Virgin Radio, expected within a fortnight. So the big debate, BJK&E and friends is – what would you name it and why? Consider:
 - The station has to keep the same genre as previously in accordance with its licence
 - The station will still be located in Golden Square
 - There is no need for it to have an overt link to “Times of India” in the name
 - The “DAVE” phenomenon of TV (if you dont know what I’m talking about read my retrospective futures article) – name can be everything!
 - So the name needs to befit one of the UK’s biggest commercial stations
 - Albion will be helping create the new name so no cheating and asking them

Best / closest answer gets a prize. Possibly.