Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Ali.
1. Blue Post Boxes
I had wanted this to be an entirely coronavirus-free space but alas, there is insufficient news that in one way, shape or form doesn’t relate back to the pandemic. Therefore, I shall try to bring you the positive and uplifting rather than dwell on the politics or the statistics.
First up are our beautiful blue post boxes. Royal Mail has been painting the post boxes as a tribute to the NHS frontline workers.
The locations of the boxes are St Thomas’ Hospital, London, Trafford General Hospital in Manchester, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and The Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. They were all chosen to represent the four nations of the UK.
The Royal Mail has also painted one additional post box to mark the incredible efforts of centenarian, Captain Tom Moore. The postbox, located in Tom’s home village of Marston Moretaine, Bedford, is marked with a special gold ‘100’ balloon.
2. Google Algorithm update
On 4 May, Google announced a new core algorithm update, which however unconsequential the effects, tends to send the SEO word in a spiral of panic. This does however appear to be a larger than average update and some are questioning whether it was a fair adjustment to make at such a significant time.
It is still too early to really understand the full ramifications: results are currently quite volatile which is partly because the roll out takes places over a number of days and can take some time to settle down, and secondly, because it appears that the update might affect several areas – local search, multiple languages and there is also debate about whether search intent has changed in light of Coronavirus.
3. What kids keep in their pockets
CashNetUSA is a US loans company who recently ran a quirky brand campaign: you might suspect that adults carry a little bit of cash, their phone and some house keys in their pockets, but in a sweet twist, the loans company investigated what it is that children keep in their pockets instead.
They asked parents from around the world to empty out their kids’ pockets and send pictures of the contents. The results were as cute and baffling as you might expect. From mini T-rexs to toy cars, conkers, shells, sweets and lego, it’s a real insight into what’s important to that child at that moment in time.
It has recently made global news, which just goes to show that good marketing ideas are not necessarily always costly.
4. Bud’s back with new ‘Wassup’ ad
In a creative twist, Bud has reinvented its famous 1999 ‘Wassap’ ad for the COVID-19 generation, encouraging people to check in with family and friends during lockdown.
The original video has been reused but a new audio has been recorded which replaces phrases such as ‘watching the game, having a Bud’, with ‘in quarantine, having a Bud’.
The company is also taking its ad online, which wasn’t exactly a ‘thing’ back in 1999, and using the #Togetheratadistance hashtag.
So pleased this is back on our screens.
5. The Great Realisation
Poetry seems to be everywhere at the moment, helping us through these dark times. There’s a daily reading on Radio 4’s Today Programme, and if you haven’t kept up with Brian Bilson’s brilliant lockdown rhymes, you’re truly missing out.
But what has captured many hearts, is London-based Tomos Roberts’ The Great Realisation fairytale video. It’s pretty clear that this is no average homemade video (he works in the film industry), but its simple message is truly endearing and is likely to give him a great career boost when this is all over.
