Will the advertising of the digital book ever beat out the physical version? Will we live in a world where real life bookstores like Barnes & Noble on Sunset Point do not exist?  Will all books exist only online and people will only read through devices?

I mean...I hope not. Real books have a magic, and a scent, and a texture which no matter how technological we get, we can never replicate (barring digitally/chemically simulated sensations). Wandering a library, like the Clearwater Library, will always be a unique and nigh-mystical experience for those of us literary inclined.

But, the advertising of the digital book has a lot of bullets to its gun. And, as I finished one such book on my phone a few hours before I wrote this (using iBooks, which is my reference point), I figured it was time to address all the things the digital book has as a perk.

Also, though I am talking about books here, keep in mind a lot of these concepts are not exactly inapplicable (if logically altered to fit) to most products to make them more appealing.

Now, the first of the benefits of the digital book is that it saves your place. It remembers where you are in the book. This makes it remarkably easy to pick up the book at any old time, even if you only have a few minutes, and plunge right back into the story.

The next part, which I don’t feel the advertising for digital book hits as hard on as it should: is the matter of there being a dictionary. If you don’t know what some word means, or even what something looks like (which I’ll admit happens to me a lot when someone describes clothing in a book) you can search right on your phone—like you might for any passing curiosity.

You also get benefits like how lightweight the device is, how you can scroll down—and don’t have to take the time to flip pages—and how having it on your phone, as I mentioned before, makes it so it is always with you anyway, as most people carry their phone on them regardless of their reading habits.

But the part which appealed to me, and made me have a little crisis, was when I realized digital books (despite the advertising again not focusing on it as hard as they could) is that you can shift around the word’s size and even color. White on black, for instance. And this made me read faster. I was chewing through one hundred pages in a day. And I mean real pages, not the shortened ones.

The advertising for the digital book would be right, and it would be smart, if it pointed out how much more efficient it is than a physical book. And though I harbor no intention to stop filling up my personal physical library, I get how someone could prefer the alternative.

And if it makes it possible for publishers to advertise that more people read again—because it really is super easy when you have it on your phone, and sometimes cheaper—then that is nothing but positive for the world.

Reading is good for people. It is good for the brain. I’m advertising that, and so is the new-ish technology. And that is something worth writing about. Even if it makes me somewhat uncomfortable.

Because stories need to continue to live. For the sake of everyone.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com

The point of many of my articles is to give attention to the effective and positive PR certain groups manage to garner through clever methods. And, I’ll also, in most of those same articles, talk about the fringe potential or active controversies of those same effective PR methods.  

Well, now we are on the big one. The positive and negative aspects of this topic are so huge it would, and could, take multiple articles to talk about—but a lot of this you should already know and understand just by being a person in the modern day. So, there’s no need to go over it in extreme detail.

Because I’m talking about the internet. Not that that wasn’t obvious from the title. But, seriously, the internet is a beehive with a lot of stingers and honey.

PR is how the world perceives you. And everyone perceives the internet. It’s not a company, it’s not even a single entity, but we all brought it into our lives and we can’t live without it now.

If we were hunting for the biggest success story of anything...well, ever, then the internet fits the bill to a tee. The world fully warped by its existence, can’t get larger than that.

The internet changed how people live, think, and understand their environment. While our attention spans and memories might grow weaker, we now have the collective expertise of all human knowledge always right there, interconnecting us. Being ignorant of something, anything, in the post-internet age is a willful act of ignorance.

To not know, is to not want to know.

But, of course, that leads to problems. PR or otherwise. Now, let me clarify: the internet could produce spiders from random monitors every twelve days, and it would still not stop being used. We literally cannot live effectively in this world anymore without it. Doesn’t matter if you work at a restaurant like Kara Lynn’s Kitchen or even at any of Clearwater’s public libraries.  But that does not mean it does not have problems. You can’t go into someone’s brain and steal data (yet anyway), for instance, but take someone’s passwords... and well...

Since we let technology be a part of our lives, we live with the tradeoff of having dangers which come with our lives being somewhat digital. Which can be scary.

But, instant communication, collective human effort toward a goal regardless of geographical location, and an intense amount of storage space, among many other benefits, makes the PR too great for the internet to falter—ever.

We have a lot to learn from the internet—and it will learn from us as well once artificial intelligence is up and running efficiently. And one of the best lessons we are already getting is humans, as social creatures, desire the connection to other people perhaps above all else. Any product which makes that more possible is likely to have a lot of want and need for it—as humanity somehow feels less and less “really” connected because of the lack of physical contact inherent to digital spaces. Somewhat paradoxical, I know. But that’s what people can feel sometimes.

Anything a businessperson or layman can come up with which aids and promotes interconnectivity on the internet (or in other places) holds power, and if not too many deviants use that newly created connection to do harm to others during its initial run, you have an automatic PR boost. So many people are trying to make the next Facebook or Twitter for this reason—and of course to make money. I’m looking at you Snapchat.

But that boost is only nigh-guaranteed if enough people see these efforts to create interconnectivity. Then you get the success. But, luckily, there’s already a platform to get out that sort of thing to a wider audience.  And you already know what its name is.

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com

Everyone wants to be healthy—if the advertising around the internet is any sign. Though, that logical inference was obvious without a banner ad to confirm. But the controversy over what is and is not healthy is so raging and so fraught with pitfalls that we have conflicting answers to the simple question of what will help us live longer.

The fact it includes that aspect, by the way, the bit about living longer, makes it even more likely for people to be irrational on the subject. Add to the cocktail the fact a basic hamburger is often cheaper than a decent salad and you get an economic-laced powder keg likely to explode if you talk to anyone, anywhere, for more than a few minutes about health.

Between Vegans and Vegetarians and Paleo people, and all those who actively dislike those types, you’ll get so many opinions that even when science claims a concrete answer—like the food pyramid—people won’t listen/care.

And, partially, the reason for this problem is that each body is different. It really is. If that wasn’t true, then why so many arguments? Some fad diets worked for a few, but that does not mean it will work for everyone.

But people want the easy answer. And Nature’s Food Patch on Cleveland Street and Whole Foods attached to Countryside Mall both have the inherent advertising that if you go to them you don’t need to think nearly as hard about the things which might be healthy for you. Their food, by design, barely contains any of the boogeymen of the culinary world. And even if GMO is cool for the human body, like some argue, you don’t have to take the risk at those stores.

And being the safe choice is, yet again, great advertising. No one wants the added stress of if their body is doing okay on top of the usual worries of the world.

Sure, some blessed people can eat ice cream on a whim with no lasting weight shifts. But for the rest of us, we are in a constant battle for health. Not always a brutal fight—thankfully—but a fight nonetheless. And the advertising which offers the easiest solution will get the sale.

Now, I am not saying for some scam artists to benefit from this—though some people clearly already are, “snake oil” is a term for a reason—but if you have a way to help people, if you can make some people well, you owe it to your own wallet, and to humanity, to put yourself in a place where they can see you and your product. This stretches beyond health too.  

But, health, especially, is a big enough concern for enough people, that if you really can help, then use the benefits of advertising the world has already to get as many feet in your door as possible.

Until someone works out a machine which can tell what is good for each person, and then dispense food made to that specification, even down to the exact quantity—along with regimenting exercise—this is what we’ve got. Until we live in a science fiction future of organized health, we must rely on the right people, being offered the right reigns, and always being better seen than a scam.

Don’t just do what a celebrity said to do, is what I am saying. And don’t think the restaurants of the world are inherently okay for you because the FDA lets them serve. All that means is that it is edible.

Listen for the right advertising for you.  Being healthy is possible. Even if the world makes it hard sometimes.

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In the modern world, we are a part of branding. We, the people living in modern society, shout our spending habits and brand habits to the world without saying a single, solitary syllable. You, the person reading this, are saying, are promoting, a brand right now, almost for certain. Unless you are the most generically dressed person in the world.

If you are in a public place, look around: and there it is. Logos on shirts, logos on pants, apple-shaped pictures shining on the backs of phones, hats with sports logos, even possibly brand names on wristbands.

We wear companies like we are living advertisement banners. And this is, of course, not limited to the confines of normal brands—it’s also fandoms and media franchises. Over the course of a single day, I saw more Star Wars and Star Trek shirts than I own (and keep in mind I am a nerd).

Even when we don’t wear stuff with specific logos emblazoned like a flag for a company, we still refer to clothing by their brands. At the higher end of the spectrum, we know of styles by the places who make them. For instance, go to Macy's in Countryside Mall, and if you were to ask for just “jeans” you’d have a huge wall to deal with; the communication is understood—if vague. But, say something like “I want Calvin Klein,” and they can lock right onto the exact thing. There is a specific zone for them. Specific shelves.

And the fact we appreciate people, or at least envy, those who can wear the super nice brands, the ones who go around in Gucci’s, is a success of marketing so deep and stunning it’s kind of scary to examine the implications (which could be an article by itself, so I’ll leave it alone for now).

Though, as a disclaimer, funny enough, this sort of brand connection can go too far. Branding can be too successful. Remember that Kleenex, and Xerox, and Google, and Coke, are all brand names which can also be used to mean “a face/nasal wipe”, “to copy a paper”, “to search online”, and “a sugary carbonated beverage”, respectively. They need not mean the same brand as to where the trademark belongs, at least in common parlance.

But, the fashion industry for now does not have this problem. Yet. No one I know of refers to all jeans as “Calvin Klein’s”...yet. We must wait and see: I suppose. For now, though, fashion’s branding success shows to the average company the power that can come from doing one thing well and being known for it. When your name is on the lips of someone looking for quality: that’s a super power. When a shopkeeper is more than likely to know a brand’s name just by (positive) reputation: that’s a sure sign of success.

All companies want this—even if they do not sell clothes. And, to achieve it, the methods are: going for quality, having a visually strong logo, having a catchy clever name, and getting in front of the right target eyeballs. Sell shirts, sell mugs, sell things with your brand on them—and make them known for their use or esthetic. Make a product or a service someone can brag about having—even if you must make it somewhat more expensive to make it look and feel right.

And trust me, like the brands like Star Wars, if you do it well enough, people will become walking, talking, word-of-mouth spreading, preachers of your company’s quality. They’ll advertise for you. They’ll meet your branding goals halfway. Which is already plenty for success.

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The problem with being young after 2016, and perhaps it is also a blessing to promote as such (if only to lessen grief), is I had no exposure to most of the celebrities we lost, and thus do not have as deep a connection to them as I could. Some were just names to me—no matter how special they may have been.  No matter how important. I did not grow up listening to David Bowie, for instance. The only loss I felt strongly was Alan Rickman—and that’s because I am a nerd.

But, for today, I understand the loss. Because I’ve seen the work of John Hurt—deceased on the 25^th of January, 2017. I knew him. I knew of him because he was on Doctor Who. As the War Doctor.

But he was more than a character.

He was a person.

And, the problem with fame is we sometimes forget that. And I wish I could say more on his real-life portion. Promote the humanizing of these people we love to watch.

But, since I am in no position to speak on his personal life, I can point out this man was a legend among nerds. He is part of nerd culture as thoroughly as Alan, as Gene Roddenberry, as Nimoy. In case you did not know, here’s a quick list of some of the iconic shows and movies he was a part of:

The voice of the dragon in Merlin.

The wand maker in Harry Potter.

The guy the alien came out of in Alien.

He was in V for Vendetta, Hellboy, and, per IMDB, he was even in Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs.

That is a huge contribution. The fact of Alien alone, as the person who had the chestburster do its namesake, makes him a permanent and enduring part of cinema history. A cultural icon, a part of the media landscape, one anyone going into Cobb Theater at Countryside Mall will know by heart.

He was also prolific. This was an actor who just kept doing roles no matter how old he got. I can’t speak for certain—again, I didn’t know him personally—but that promotes he had dedication to his craft. A love of being in art.

He was even in movies yet to release—if indeed they do release. Sometimes they aren’t, in respect for the actor.

So, with all this said, I thank you, John Hurt, with one voice of a nerd, and I hope echoing many. I thank you for giving life to the characters we loved, and lending joy to people who may have needed it more than we or you knew. As I’ve said before in voice and in articles, the arts are important—and you gave a huge part of your life to keep them going.

Another one of the greats fell, now in 2017, instead of in 2016, and I hope we’ve finished with that trend. Start over fresh. I promote, to the utmost degree I can promote such a thing, that the rest of this year is full of spectacular people doing incredible and artistic things, without so much loss.

And I think everyone can get behind me on that one, not just the nerds of the world.  

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If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com