Saturday 20 December 2014

Je suis un Rock Star !

Je suis un Rock Star ! 
J'avais un residence, 
J'habite la, in the south of France

Those of a certain experience will recall this cheesy franglais lyric from a surprising Bill Wymann chart hit.

Le Rock Star ? Justin O'Brien
Of course I don't, the commute to our stunning Egham campus makes this dream unrealisable on my senior lecturer salary and dwindling pension.  But the song has been knocking around my head for a week now...why ?

Because I was described recently as a rock star, and before you get in there NOT because I just rock up to things, but for some imagined celebrity draw when applicants are thinking about applying to uni.  Not really me, but the breed I am now associated with, the media profile academic, or teleDon.


Of course even my two boys can't stand my singing and I really should monetise my awful crooning voice by inviting sponsors to pay me not to sing, a bit like that guy in US reality hit show Jersey shore who Abercrombie and Fitch asked not to wear their clothes in a self serving PR stormette.


New Profile Photo Creates Ripple
I have also been pleasantly surprised at the social media ripple created by my social media photo update.  Yes, I am wearing a trademark flowery shirt that emphasises my metrosexual and creative brand values.  But I sense it is more to do with the power of the facial image in engendering engagement on social media platforms.  Nota bene marketers.

My MBADirector blog's most popular post on fast fashion features a profile head and shoulders close up of guest speaker Pete Shonbeck that stands on the shoulders of giants with its number of hits it has collected.  I have struggled to understand why until recently.  We are working with Brighton based NetNatives on an innovative digital campaign and they advised that in social media split testing (using multiple variations of a handful of images, headlines and copy and seeing which gets the best click through rate) close up images of faces were the best.  Intriguing, methinks.


I spotted this amusing mirror decoration (below) outside the loos in a trendy Dublin restaurant.  Clearly I don't get out enough as I found it not only chuckle worthy, but good enough to whack out my phone and take a snap.  It was certainly the feeling I had last Saturday after my first radio chat show "down the wire" with financially feminist Victoria Hollingsworth on ShareRadio.  Office neighbour Professor Chris Hackley recommended me for the 30 min show that discussed Christmas advertising, of course the main feature was John Lewis and Monty the Penguin.  Having apprehensively accepted the unpaid offer, it went ok and I decided that I would seek out more opportunities for such activity going forwards.  


Zut alors, c'est vrai !  Je suis un Rock Star ?