Once the fear of the Millennium Bug surpassed in 2000 a far more genuine threat surfaced in the form of IP (Internet Protocol) allocations. Every internet enabled device is allocated an IP address. IP version 4 provides approximately 4.3 billion addresses but with estimated internet enabled devices worldwide continuously growing (latest report indicates 16bn devices by 2020) due to an increase of... 

As a small side project as part of my Public Relations course at the University of Gloucestershire it is necessary to put together a short branding guide. For this task I decided to focus on how I have gone about branding this blog over the last 3 years. If you have any questions please leave a comment below. If you would like to know how I have technically achieved any of this then I can cover... 

When studying the theoretical ideals of any industry it is easy to get caught into a reasonable train of thought which is unjust to real-world case studies. This is the impression I received when reading the book by Laura Ries and Al Ries entitled, “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR” (Amazon Affiliate Link). It is a book based on ideals and bias which, in my view, is poorly interpreted... 

At Microsoft I had the opportunity to observe colleagues sell to clients and eventually it was my turn to upsell on pre-made deals. Last year I attended the Scotwork negotiation course and through a mixture of theory and practice I began to learn about how to run successful negotiations.   Be Honest When you are being sold something connotations of deception always enter my cynical mind. Negotiations... 

Transitioning to manage a digital campaign is a task many of us “dyed in the wool” marketers do not appreciate – it is difficult. In London you would be hard pushed to find an agency who has never run any online activity but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all the individuals who work at that agency understand digital branding, online promotion (Public Relations, Social Media & Advertising). In... 

Yes, I do online advertising for Microsoft but everything written here are my own views. Blah, blah, blah. Rubbish When one speaks of online advertising it is common to get lost in impression figures but what has been slipping for years have been Click Through Rates (CTR). The era of serving unsuitable advertising online has come to an end. Advancements in contextual targeting (most controversially... 

  Google Chrome has released an advert which works alongside Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project which is aimed to provide inspiration for teens dealing with depression, bullying and suicide. In this particular Ad Google examples how using Google Chrome and YouTube thousands of teens are being connected around the world to talk about their experiences and convince others that life is beautiful. For... 

“Advertising Week is North America’s premier gathering of cutting edge communications leaders. The Week is a hybrid of thought leadership and special event programming, uniting clients, creatives, media and inspiring figures like Lorne Michaels, Ludacris, Jon Bon Jovi, Jimmy Wales, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Reverend Al Sharpton, Donny Deutsch, Lewis Black, Chaka... 

One of those creative all-talented individuals drew the drawing below. Yup, it’s me. Can you recognise some of my traits and influences? Mexican Michael A piece of advice I constantly provide fellow University students with is to build up their social media portfolio. Such advice wouldn’t work well with every degree studied (eg. an online presence for a social worker might not be wise) but more... 

By definition car adverts are interesting, creative and usually tell the story of a personal relationship between car and owner. A symbiotic connection which only James Cameron’s Avatar has managed to portray. Cars are not just lumps of metal but instead an object given connotations within adverts as partners in your journey through life. Why is it then that I rarely see any social media campaigns... 

Last night I participated in the #CommsChat session on Twitter. More information about the sessions can be found on their website. If you are a PR Student or communications professional then I highly recommend you join in with the discussions. This blog post is inspired from last night’s discussions. The Rise of Gamification Gamification is a concept which has been around for a while but this year... 

Erratic but not usually boring. My internship at Microsoft has seen me delve into a whole series of tasks which has caused me to re-think skills, build skills and utilize skills. Everything is about skills, skills, skills. Yet knowledge plays a fundamental role each day. Taking notes is important but sometimes it is necessary to remember information first time round. Teaching the brain how to be a...