Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.
; ) A smirk or wink.
: ) Smiling.
: ( Sad.
: | Straight-faced.
: )) Double-chinned.
</3 Heartbroken.
o/\o High-five.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, emoticons take the ambiguity out of emails and texts. By joining disparate punctuation marks, and sometimes a number or letter, you can express emotions in a manner quicker than words ever could. So what if they
don’t have a place in PR. However, I’ve given little thought to the character traits of the individual punctuation marks that comprise emoticons. Thankfully,
Carrie Keplinger has done it for us with
her guide on punctuation social personalities. You can scroll to the bottom to view the guide in its entirety. (via
Doubleday)
RELATED: Clear-cut rules for hyphens
Punctuation can sometimes throw “Wheel of Fortune” contestants for a loop, but that wasn’t to blame for the game show’s most
recent fail. It appears someone needs to brush up on her Johnny Cash—or her
Reese Witherspoon filmography.
Reese, of course, won the Oscar for her role as June Carter in 2005. Someone who won’t be winning an Oscar, at least not this year, is Ben Affleck—or
will he? While the “Argo” director was snubbed by the Academy when nominations were announced last week,
The Hollywood Reporter suggests that a write-in campaign could be just the ticket to earn Affleck his second golden statuette.
RELATED: 4 ways to overcome writing setbacks, form the writer of Lincoln
Any artist campaigning for a Grammy will have to do it without the help of self-proclaimed “failed hip hop publicist” Sebastien Elkouby. In
an open letter, the freelance music promoter explains his decision to retire from the biz.
It was a cover letter that
went viral on the Web recently, bringing to mind the impervious task clients often give PR and marketing pros: make it go viral. While there’s certainly discrepancy over whether one can actually
make anything go viral, there are components that can help. Jonathan Muir explains on digital communications agency Bell Pottinger Wired’s
Noticeboard blog.
PBS has already
cracked the viral code, but there’s little it can do about Apple scooping it on episodes of “Downton Abbey.” That must be why the show is being so cool about the tech giant making three
season three episodes of the drama available on iTunes beginning Jan. 29—before they air on TV.
While PBS and Apple are sharing the magic of Dame Maggie Smith,
The Tokyo Newspaper hopes to persuade readers to share its print publication with children using a new smartphone app. (via
Ads of the World)
An ad featuring actress Mila Kunis for Rodial body cream is no longer being shared with anyone. After an email promotion in the U.K. promising consumers a “body to die for” prompted a solitary complaint of misleading advertising, Great Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority
banned the ad.
Claims of deception continued back in the States, where beverage distributor POM Wonderful lost its battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). According to
Advertising Age, the FTC found that the brand made false assertions in 34 ads and promotional materials about the health benefits of its product.
A different kind of beverage hopes to make a splash at this year’s Super Bowl, and it has enlisted the aid of creative mastermind Alex Bogusky. According to
USA Today, SodaStream, a device that turns water into various soda flavors, is going after Coca-Cola and Pepsi with a spot aimed at the environmental impact of plastic bottles.
Southern Comfort, which is often sold in plastic bottles, is making us anything but comfortable with the launch of its
“Comfortable Weather Guy” website. (via
Creativity)