A lovely example of how copyright owners can interact with and benefit from unlicensed content users. The future of copyright and content use was demonstrated by Sony when a Bride and Groom filmed themselves and their wedding party dancing up the aisle to the song 'Forever' by Chris Brown. The clip uploaded on youtube has recieved nearly 13 million views and 65,000 comments. Instead of blocking its use, Sony 'added a simple pop-up overlay that offers users a chance to purchase the song from iTunes or Amazon. According to YouTube, in the last week, the year-old song has risen to #4 on the iTunes charts and #3 on Amazon.' A sign of things to come.

A belated thank you to everyone who came to the Summer Recruitment Tweetup a couple of weeks ago. Particular thanks must go to my co-organiser Jamie Leonard (now working at The Ladders) and our generous sponsors TwitterJobSearch and 1Job.co.uk We’ll be looking to do another one in October or November so if anyone has any good ideas about formats or venues please get in touch. For those of you who couldn’t make it on the night this is what you missed…..

Leave Management is one of the most important HR processes, that consumes a small but significant portion of managerial time. While managers are usually overloaded with projects & hunger for resources, approving subordinates leaves is a tight rope walk. On one hand HR has to ensure compliance with leave policy & ensure availability of sufficient [...]

I have been working closely with two K-12 school district customers that are in contention for a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  The category?  Improving teacher performance.  In a nutshell, it’s about working with some progressive, large … Continue reading →

The wet weather did nothing to dampen the spirits at the Paramount Club last Friday night, when over two hundred people turned out to launch RecAid. Steve Halford chaired a lively auction, with holidays, drink and a cricket bat signed by the England team among the items for sale: the bat is now very probably priceless. Andrew Wilkinson, Mark Horley, and three Simons (Barrow, Bolton and Howard) also went under the hammer for varying sums; we will attempt to bring you news of how wise and valuable these investments turn out to be. Full Story on RI5 The RecAid total now stands at just over £10,000, of which £8,000 was raised at the Paramount. It's a great start but there's a long way to go. Already there are plenty of ideas for other events and many offers of help, as well as donations arriving at the RecAid website. To donate...

Now’s your chance. On Friday 17th – tomorrow night – some of the biggest names in the industry will auction off their services in aid of RecAid, the fund set up with advertising charity NABS to help those hardest hit by the downturn in the recruitment advertising industry. Simon Howard, Andrew Wilkinson, and Simon Bolton are amongst those taking part. Other Auction prizes are: Fully paid weekend in Classic British hotel worth £500 Cases of wine worth £200 Premier League football tickets worth £1,000 Week golf holiday including £250 flight vouchers worth £ 1,500 All inclusive Safari Holiday worth £3,000 Signed Chelsea football worth £400 And many more….. Plus lots of Raffle prizes too! To bid, you have to be at the fundraising party to launch the fund, which will take place at the Paramount Club in Centre Point from 6.30pm to 1am. Tickets are a donation of £10 (feel...

well - maybe not really, but this is a very involved, high production piece that is clearly aimed at going viral promoting the Pomegranate Phone "the one device that puts more things in the palm of your hand than you ever thought possible." I don't want to spoil it for you so go have a look - I'll post an observation about it as a marketing piece later. Will you be chucking in your outdated smartphone to upgrade to a Pomegranate?

RECaid Help for the Recruitment Advertising Industry RecAid was launched in July 2009 by a group of senior managers and leaders from across the UK’s recruitment advertising industry. Formed in response to the plight of former employees of Barkers, the world’s oldest advertising agency, which went into administration the same month, it is designed to help people from the recruitment advertising industry who find themselves in financial difficulty. The immediate aim is to raise £100,000 to help those who were hit when Barkers went into administration. Although the company was bought out of administration, saving many jobs, up to 250 former employees of the company lost their livelihoods and the redundancy pay that they were promised, leaving many facing severe hardship. The fund has been launched in partnership with NABS, the National Advertising Benevolence Society, which will oversee the management and use of the fund. However, the fund will be...

So we may all remember the supreme Ferrero Roche 'Ambassador's Party' TV ad - 'Delicieux'...'excellente.'...'Monsieur, with this Roche, you are really spoiling us!'. Ah - Ambassadors - it's generally recognised that your employee's are/can be the best ambassadors of your employer brand. A lot of my Aunts's and Uncle's worked in Marks & Spencer's when I was growing up - they were lifetime employee's and I remember they were the very best ambassador's a company could hope for- they weren't shy about telling you all about the benefits (and trials and tribulations, of course) of working for what was certainly a premium employer, back in the day in Belfast. It's no coincidence that so many companies are using their staff in their TV advertising - Sainsbury's with their Mum returner to work character - brilliant dual branding ad for the employer and consumer brand. B&Q with all their regional staff...

Recently we were asked by “People and Management” a popular HR magazine in India to explain Web 2.0 and SaaS to their readers who are mainly senior HR Folks, CEOs and other management profiles. Our thoughts were published in the magazine as an article titled “Web 2.0 and The SaaS Factor for [...]