Issue 53 - December 2006

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.  Every year instead of sending out Christmas cards we donate the equivalent ofthe card and mail expenses to a charity.  This year we will again be making a donation to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. 

Karen Morath

To mark the end of the year, here's a light-hearted look at language for those of you who share my love of words.  They were sent to me by a reader under the heading ‘lulus for lexophiles’, beyond that I cannot cite a source. 

• A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
• A will is a dead giveaway.
• A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
• When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
• The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
• Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.
• A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
• The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.
• When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
• If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.

3. The power of the newspaper

The average age of newspaper readers is 55, according to a Public Relations Society of America roundtable and in Australia ‘Marie Claire’ is more influential with Generation Ys than any unread broadsheet, so what is the future of information dissemination and public relations?

Newspapers are static and staid to some and lack interactivity and in the instant gratification generations, the fact that newspaper news is 12 hours old is not exciting or relevant even.  People didn’t turn to the newspapers for information about Steve Irwin’s death but they did read the newspaper coverage over the next days and weeks that celebrated his life.

Asked about what information sources people trust, the number one answer is newspapers. 

They are also valued as the best sources of local information, especially as newspapers and news services around the world syndicate and publish‘broader appeal’ more generic news.

The news winners will be those, irrespective of format, who can maintain a connection with a readership.  News needs to deliver real information to real people and do it in their language, on their local turf and be trustworthy and reliable. 

4. This month’s book review

You inc. How to attract amazing success into your life and business by John McGrath, Harper Collins 2003

This book has been around for a while and I have probably reviewed it before.  Neither matters.  It is a great book for this time of year.  I plan to re-read it over the summer along with Stephen Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’.

You inc. is really well written, which is a nice change from a lot of what is being written at the moment, and it is very easy to see the sense in some of the author’s more challenging suggestions.  He has a disarming logic.  A lot of the book is written as if for business owners but the ideas apply equally to anyone in charge of their own piece of the world.

To buy You Inc at Amazon click here.

Gratuitous plug

Last month M Power  -

• spoke about 'how communication can empower you and your organisation' at a national conference in the Blue Mountains
• published a full colour business magazine 
• advised a client on a direct mail campaign 
• produced a number of electronic newlsetters 
• counselled new clients about positioning and public relations strategy 
• wrote copy for a corporate brochure 
• developed a line extension for a retail product range 
• and finalised a comprehensive communication audit for a client. 

How could we work to empower you or your organisation?