Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.

Technology has changed everything, from the strategies that PR and marketing professional deploy to the things college students’ value most. But what influence would technology have had in the past—say, I don’t know, in the publishing world? If it’s too difficult to imagine, don’t fret. CollegeHumor has already done it for you, depicting literary favorites if they were penned by the Internet. From “The Great Catsby” and “The Reddit Badge of Courage” to “Spamlet,” view all of the inspired covers and titles here.

[Related: It’s not over yet: Books you can still read this summer]

Like the (faux) books mentioned above, Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network” was fiction—perhaps someone should explain that to NBC play-by-play analyst Bob Fitzgerald. During Team USA’s gold medal game against Spain on Sunday, a shot of the crowd at the basketball arena revealed that the actor was in attendance, prompting a mistaken Fitzgerald to declare: “We've got every executive of note worldwide, it seems, attending these games.”

But NBC has bigger problems than a case of mistaken identity, like finding the person who approved a sexist Olympics video that was intended to be a tribute to female athletes, but instead felt more like a creepy ‘80s porn.

Speaking of the Olympics, while the torches in London have gone out, there remain a few unsolved mysteries from the Summer Games that The Daily Beast still wants answers to. If only we could still call upon Robert Stack.

In case you skipped last night’s closing ceremonies for the Roseanne Barr roast on Comedy Central and want to know what you missed (aside from the Spice Girls), E! News has you covered.

And now the headache of hosting the Olympics Games falls upon someone other than Her Majesty. Already, people are looking ahead at the long and agonizing journey that awaits Sochi 2014, as well as Rio 2016.

With Mitt Romney’s V.P. selection in place, people are also looking ahead at what remains of the 2012 election campaign. If this collection of newspaper headlines from swing states after the unveiling of Paul Ryan is any indication, it’s going to be a tight and perhaps curvy road to November.

[Related: Paul Ryan unveiling a PR victory for Romney campaign]

Thus far, the Romney campaign has experienced its share of flubs. If it wants to avoid any further bumps along the way, the campaign might want to take Inc. magazine’s advice and avoid putting a 23-year-old in charge of its social media efforts.

As social media savvy as millennials are, no generation has been more acclimated to digital technologies and online media than children today. Perhaps that’s why Advertising Age has deemed them “Gen S”—“Generation Screen.”

Of course, brands must be careful when targeting any age group that’s too young. Take, for example, how alcohol ads are targeting kids, despite parents’ best efforts to shield their children from marketers’ influence.

Meanwhile, childhood favorite LEGO is marking its 80th birthday with an animated short about its story dating back to the 1930s.



The story of Apple might be one people with which people are more familiar—as they are with parodies of the company’s advertising. Case in point: Stride’s new campaign featuring Olympic snowboarder Shaun White for its “Mintacular” gum, which feels all too familiar to Apple’s often-mimicked marketing. In a word—“Intelligisity.”



You know what they say: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, that imitation often starts with innovation, similar to how Facebook changed the very way we communicate, or so Buddy Media co-founder Michael Lazerow tells Mashable.

Nevertheless, being the first to do something also means being the first to confront challenges when they arise. Facebook is finding that out as it works to overturn a judge’s ruling that “likes” aren’t considered Constitutionally protected speech.

Is there something you think we should include in our next edition of #TheDailySpin? Tweet me @iquotesometimes with your suggestions. Thanks in advance.