Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.
Reading is fundamental—that much we learned as children from
RIF. The same can’t be said of explaining a book to someone who has yet to read it without ruining the story or plot twist. Turns out, where RIF left off, our good friend GIF picks up.
Whether it’s something your colleague missed from our
summer reading list or an industry
must-read they’ve yet to fit into their schedule,
Retreat by Random House offers a visual example—using “
The Dinner” by author Herman Koch, as well as the Web’s animated image format of choice—of how to recap a book without spoiling it.
RELATED: 10 books every PR pro should read
It didn’t take anyone to spoil the plot or ending to “Lincoln.” In fact,
The Atlantic Wire recounts how the Oscar-nominated film actually inspired further research by one moviegoer that helped Mississippi finally ratify the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
RELATED: 4 ways to overcome setbacks, from the writer of ‘Lincoln’
While a trip through the history books proved beneficial to the “Magnolia State,”
Book Riot outlines 10 things we probably never learned about various authors and books that we were supposed to have read in high school.
RELATED: What children’s books teach us about PR
Meanwhile, second-graders got a lesson in writing and grammar reading the tweets of professional athletes. (via
Deadspin)
Practicing his own writing, an eight-year-old who recently went on a Disney Cruise took
Reddit by storm with a well-worded
letter expressing his disappointment with the trip, particularly the ship’s lack of “cool guy” Disney characters. Don’t fret, Walt—it could have always been worse. Isn’t that right,
Carnival?
Although not as poignant,
BuzzFeed collected 20 of the best notes ever left on car windshields that easily demonstrate how to quickly communicate a point.
Writing was also a topic of conversation on LinkedIn, where
Network for Good COO/CSO Katya Andresen shared
a piece on her personal and professional love/hate relationship with creating prose.
Once you get comfortable with your grip of the English language, perhaps you’d like to learn Russian. Then you can translate this anthology of 1970s and 1980s Soviet Union advertisements for us. Reports
Boing Boing, the commercials are the work of the USSR’s sole advertising agency at the time, providing viewers with an interesting glimpse of the ad industry during the regime’s reign of socialism, as well as the media’s absence of both private ownership and competition.
That video is nearly 54 minutes; I can’t help but think about the number of “Harlem Shake” renditions I could be watching instead—approximately 108. Opinions on the viral craze aside, according to the
Strongman Digital blog, the dancing phenomenon provides brands with a lesson on how to connect with customers.
RELATED: ‘Harlem Shake’ dances its way into viral history
It was a video featuring
Luke Brower Leonardo DiCaprio that wasn’t exactly intended for U.S. customers. According to
Uproxx, the Jim Beam spot aims to sell affluent women in the Asian market on the idea of adding clear liquor to their diet. Quite frankly, the notion makes about as much sense as the ad does. Watch:
Speaking of the overseas marketplace, you’ll never guess what they call Burger King in Australia.
Business Insider has that answer, as well as a number of other notable brands that apparently identify by other names in countries outside of the U.S.
RELATED: 5 lessons for brands from the Burger King Twitter hack
Is there something you think we should include in our next edition of #TheDailySpin? Tweet me @iquotesometimes with your suggestions. Thanks in advance.