A new dawn?
I love my morning exercise.
A 30-minute, 8 kph power-walk.
Sometimes, I start at 3am. Usually 3.30am. But occasionally, like last Friday, I have a lie-in. I didn't set off till 4.30.
I turned the corner to start, and noticed a shop - closed since March - being set up to reopen.
At the halfway mark, where the pubs and nightclubs are, another shop being renovated.
Where I turn back - just before the CBD - another retail space being painted, freshened and prepped.
At this point, the sun was starting to peak over the roofs.
I thought: 'Three shops opening. Perhaps things are starting to change for the better.'
Is it a new dawn? Tides turning? Light at the end of the tunnel?
Let's hope so.
As I picked up in eMarketer this week, enough of the unprecedented times. Let's have some precedented ones.
Onto the stuff that caught my eye this week ...
64 million
An interesting piece in Fast Company.
According to a report in the UK's Financial Times, Britons send around 64 million unnecessary emails every day.
Those are the 'Thanks', 'Cheers', 'You too' and 'LOL' ones.
They've worked out that if each Briton sent one less email a day, it would reduce carbon output by 16,433 tons a year. The same as 81,152 flights from London to Madrid.
Pretty impressive.
And there's a Chrome extension, Carbon Capper, that tries to stop you sending emails with less than four words.
Wouldn't work for me. My emails are often one word. 'Sure'.
Webinars
Remote learning: copywriting courses, by remote. Got an internet connection? You can learn. Pick your topic, then contact me Nice idea, Jon ... >
US best brands
YouGov has released its annual survey ranking the best brands in the States.
Number 1: Band-Aid.
Then: Dawn, Amazon, Hershey's, Clorox, M&Ms, Netflix, Lowe's, Quaker and Home Depot.
An article on Marketing Dive says the list reflects behaviour changes caused by COVID:
'... an emphasis on cooking, cleaning, home improvement, e-commerce and streaming video while consumers spent more time at home.'
Wonder what an Australian version would look like?
Time traveler
From Merriam-Webster (the dictionary people) comes a great site.
A bit of fun if you love words.
Put in a year, and see what words first appeared in print during that year.
The year I was born (not saying when) was the first time the word 'ska' appeared in print. No wonder I like that stuff.
Also appearing that year was 'barf bag'. And 'garage sale'.
In 1552, the year my school was founded, the word 'blackmail' first appeared. As did the word 'skilled'.
Check it out. Goes back all the way to 1500 - and beyond.
QotW
Quote of the week:
'Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.' G.K. Chesterton
Workshops
• Maximum Copy: online and in-house
• Copy Ninja: the craft via Zoom
• Writing for Digital: about the web, over the web
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