Here’s what caught my eye this week:

Divide & Differentiate – When crafting your message, don’t just consider what you stand for. Scott Goodson explains the pros of defining the enemy in What Is Your Brand Against?

Making Mistakes is Human – I love this story. It’s a reminder that we all goof up occasionally, but how we handle our mistakes makes all the difference in the world. Nice work Red Cross!

Context, Context, Context – Earlier this week Daniel Eizans talked about situational-behavioral context. The whole series about context in content strategy is incredibly informative, so read ‘em all!

The Social Media Stage – Collin Douma is a super smart guy. He’s also put out a great white paper called the Social Media Stage that outlines tools, best practices and protocols. Say no more. Download it.

Search’s Ugly Duckling – Link building has long been the tedious, uber-unsexy part of SEO. In case you missed it, last weekend JC Penney got caught trying to influence search rankings with old-school low-rent link techniques. This set off a flurry of articles about link building. I really liked Ken McGaffin’s piece about using PR to get links. And, Kelvin Newman has 51 essential link building tips.

Friday Fun
The Choddy: The Mullet of Advertising – Stop the Choddy is an movement to put an end to those formulaic commercials where celebrities and civilians stand in front of a bland background and advocate issues from starving children to chicken sandwiches. Still not sure what a choddy is, here’s a primer.  Watch the video.

Did you know that a staggering 89% of consumers started their holiday shopping online? Or that 60% of moms search for coupons and special offers?

Take a peek at this short, but statistic-filled, video from Google. It’s packed with insights about the power of search. The data was compiled from over 60 research studies to better understand how consumers are using the web.

Our numbers have changed. Not our eco-commitment.

Businesses move all the time. New business cards and stationery are ordered, and the old stuff tossed into the recycling bin. Well, here’s a clever idea…

When Liwa Advertising moved its office to a new address, the agency came up with a eco-friendly and original way to use its existing stationery and make a statement at the same time. A ‘recycle’ seal was created with the new telephone and fax numbers plus a subtle environmental message.

Advertising Agency: Liwa Advertising, Dubai
Creative Directors: Suhas Rege, Vijay Kumar
Art Director: Navkriti Shrikhande
Copywriter: Vijay Kumar
Additional credits: Sagar Rege

(Via: Ads of the World)

Here’s what caught my eye this week:

Just Say No to Marmot Wars - You can always expect greatness at Brain Traffic, and this is no different. Erin Kissane outlines why “Content Strategy is Not User Experience.” It’s a rallying cry to look beyond industry-specific tunnels and go past the marmot wars. (Read it, you’ll understand!)

Better Information Architecture = Better SEO – Wondering how a better site structure can improve your user experience AND SEO? Yoast’s Joost de Valk has the answer.

Smart Content is More Than Words - Thinking of blogging to help engage in a dialogue with your readers? You’re not alone. eMarketer reports that the percentage of US companies that use blogs for marketing purposes will rise to 43% in 2012, from 34% in 2010. Marketaire points out that companies need to brush up on not only their copywriting skills but also their content analyst skills, or, you know, you could always hire a Web copywriter like me!

Facebook Update - Facebook made some changes, and the very smart David Griner of Lucky & Company outlines 10 things admins should do RIGHT NOW.

Without a Plan, You’re Lost - I adore Kim Krause Berg’s blog at Cre8pc.com because I always feel a little smarter leaving it than when I arrived. Thinking of redesigning your site? Here’s a must-have checklist.

Friday Fun
I love the music of Joy Division, and absolutely appreciate the intricacy of stop-motion animation, but seeing the late, great Ian Curtis with a Playmobil smile is a little, well, disconcerting. You can compare it to the original here.

Let there be textural delight, let there be silken words and flinty words and sodden speeches and soaking speeches and crackling utterance and utterance that quivers and wobbles like rennet. Let there be rapid firecracker phrases and language that oozes like a lake of lava. Words are your birthright.

Stephen Fry

This might seem like an odd follow-up to last week’s “Let’s Use the Right Word“. Ironic, even. I assure you, it’s not. Like you, dear reader, I believe that rules have been put in place specifically to be broken.

The English language is joyfully messy. As a linguistic entity, it’s zoomed around the world hoovering up useful or delightful new words, so that we may happily sprinkle them into our everyday chatter. Shampoo, klutz, zombie, shock, champagne… all appropriated for our own means of pleasurable expression. (Although, if you are using those particular five on an daily basis, I urge you to write a book.)

We all have our peccadilloes. I get enormous satisfaction from uttering the word “craptastic”. (Go ahead, it just feels good to say it!) But, that’s okay. Language is not pure. It’s evolving, changing and beautiful. Please watch this delightful video by Matt Rogers and read the manifesto Don’t Mind Your Language by Stephen Fry.

Here’s what caught my eye this week:

When the Shoe Hits the Fan – In the “What Were You Thinking” department, yesterday Kenneth Cole co-opted a nation’s misery and struggle for democracy to move some product. The original tweet has been removed, but you can see @brandbuilder’s screenshot here.  The Toronto Star has a few of the responses and over at AdFreak, the reader comments are even better than the post.  And, this just in, the Kenneth Cole tweet wasn’t just a tweet, it’s also in stores as a decal. Kenneth Cole, now completely taste-free. As my friend Kathryn of Zoonini pointed out, the only good thing to come out of massive PR gaffes like this is the parody Twitter account: @KennethColePR.  If you ever want the collective Web to go berserk, this fiasco serves as a primer.

Better-Informed Decisions, Better Websites – Paul Boag’s podcast is consistently outstanding. In this episode he talks about making better informed decisions about your website.  If you’ve ever wondered how to get clear on setting business goals for your site, this is the answer.

Be the Go-To Resource – Lee Odden always has great advice and tips and this is no different. Find out how content marketing makes small businesses be BIG online. And, before you go churning out content, read this and think about how you are going to separate the wheat from the chaff.

So Cute, So Evil – This ad for VW’s new Passat is entirely too sweet for words.

Ya, But How Do You Pronounce “Hiybbprqag”? – Did you miss the Bing/Google squabble over search-results theft? Google apparently had some “Bing sting” operation going on that used the gibberish “hiybbprqag”. The search giant has claimed it caught Bing stealing its search results. This caused Bing’s Yusuf Mehdi to slap back, accusing Google of click fraud. The back and forth has reached such proportions that even Stephen Colbert commented that, “Evidently, hiybbprqag is a word meaning: you got served.” Now, a Google employee has used http://www.hiybbprqag.com to recruit new employees. Soon a whole cottage industry of hiybbprqag-embroidered tea towels and hats will emerge.

Apropos of Nothing – If you happen to be in East London this Sunday and feel like your soul needs a little uplifting –and you have an equal desire to surround yourself with clowns– well Dalston’s Holy Trinity is the place for you. If you miss it this year, no worries, it’s an annual event.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend, everyone!