According to our experts...

One of this morning's news headlines is a report from Billmonitor that claims the UK's mobile phone users are spending almost £5 million per year more than they need. Billmonitor is a mobile tariff price comparison site that's been approved by Ofcom, which helps them stand out from the crowd. However, what's also being mentioned in reports is that the company was "invented by mathematicians in Oxford". (For example, the BBC refers to "a group of Oxford mathematicians behind a start-up firm called Billmonitor"). Whilst the company is indeed based in Oxford - and I don't doubt the involvement of mathematicians - I can't help but notice how the public positioning of Billmonitor differs from that of other comparison websites. I doubt that similar figures would have been given as much credence if they'd been presented by Gio Gompario, Aleksandr Orlov or even Omid Djalili.

Tenuous connection?

I like this blue plaque, mainly because the connections seem so tenuous. Not only is it remembering a house that's no longer there, it's celebrating two people who didn't live in the house.

"Immediately to the south of this building stood the house occupied by Hester and Henry Thrale where Samuel Johnson and Fanny Burney were frequent visitors"

Have you tried Whiskas?

Have you tried Whiskas Oh so...

A range of tasty and nutritious meals containing succulent whole pieces of meat and fish you can see.

No, I haven't. This is because (a) I prefer not to eat cat food, (b) I don't consider a lack of invisibility is a great way of differentiating the product, and (c) the phrase "whole pieces" appears to be an oxymoron.

Oh, and if you really are targeting this at cats, I don't think their literacy rates are particularly high.

Copywriting mercenary for hire

Hi, I’m freelance copywriter Mark Bridge. You may know me from such classics as “Digital music… it’s nothing to be afraid of!”, “Photography on your mobile”, “April Dealer Bulletin”, “The Buyers’ Guide”, “Business Plan version 2”, “Revised microsite” and the all-time favourite “Security Network Manager”.

Actually, no, you won’t. You may have read them but they won’t have had my name on them. In fact, at least one of those was credited to the authorship of a cartoon character. Such is the anonymous life of the freelance.

Truth be told, I’m even reluctant to use the word ‘freelance’. I prefer free agent, as suggested by Daniel Pink. Freelance and mercenary are pretty much interchangeable. And ‘copywriting mercenary’ isn’t necessarily what you’d expect on a business card. Although I might give it a go.

So how does a free agent copywriter promote himself?

Spam email from David Cameron?

The least-plausible email I've ever received:


Our ref: ATM MasterCard/5404/IDR
Your ref:...Date: 12/02/2011

IMMEDIATE PAYMENT NOTIFICATION

I am The Rt Hon David Cameron MP,Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service British Government. This letter is to officially inform you that (MasterCard Number 5404 5000 0041 0640) has been accredited with your favour. Your Personal Identification Number is 4724.The MasterCard Value is £2,000,000.00(Two Million, Great British Pounds Sterling).

This office will send to you an ATM MasterCard that you will use to withdraw your funds in any ATM MACHINE CENTER or MasterCard outlet in the world with a maximum of £5000 GBP daily.Further more,You will be required to re-confirm the following information to enable;The Rt Hon William Hague MP First Secretary of State for British Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
begin in processing of your MasterCard.

(1)Full names: (2)Address: (3)Country: (4)Nationality: (5)Phone #: (6)Age:
(7)Occupation: (8) Post Codes

Rt Hon William Hague MP. First Secretary of State for British Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Email; bfca@ globomail.com
Tel: Tel: +44-7466-712-795

TAKE NOTICE: That you are warned to stop further communications with any other person(s) or office(s) different from the staff of the State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to avoid hitches in receiving your payment.

Regards,

Rt Hon David Cameron MP
Prime Minister

Food cats would naturally choose

"Food cats would naturally choose" says the box. The picture shows carrots. Now, I'm no animal nutritionist, but isn't that rabbits you're thinking of?

The Year of the Rabbit has arrived!

Year of the Rabbit from Frater on Vimeo.