P3 Contents Sports MAY:SGBGolf_NEW_template 01/06/2009 12:46 Page 3
Editor’s Comment
ISSN 1757-7276
Datateam
Publishing Ltd
Y
ou see some great things in my line of work, and journalists,
members of the press, can often enjoy some terrific privileges;
receiving press releases is often not one of those great things. I
got something in my inbox last week which was a press release about
how online 'forums' are boring and how their client's online forum isn't
London Road, Maidstone,
dull at all, because it has a different name.
Kent ME16 8LY. The release also stated that 'many web forums are boring', and how 12
Tel: 01622 687031
per cent of web sites have forums where people can hold discussions; not
Fax: 01622 757646
only that, but it states the word 'forum' is widely recognised and how
90 per cent of sites that have forums, actually call them forums.
Editor:
Now, I'm no marketing expert, but I'd suggest a number of
errors by the people that put out this release. The main one is, of
Jon Bruford
course, that forums are called that for a reason – it's because the
01584 877177 word forum actually means something. To quote the OED, it's 'a meeting or medium for an
jonbruford@yahoo.co.uk
exchange of views.' People know that, web users know that, and they understand that. If
they see the word 'forum' on a web site, they know what they will find and how it will work.
Changing that word for your own clever ends is… well, it's not clever. In general usage, sure,
Contributors:
forum can mean a few different things according to context. It could even mean 'powwow',
Jack Lynes: Sports Trade
and vice versa; but online, forum has a precise meaning, and unless you're changing the
nature of a forum to create something genuinely new, changing the label used by everyone
Robin Barwick: Contributing Editor
in the web surfing world to identify something is probably a bad idea. Such clever 'brand
Zöe Foster: Feature Writer differentiation' actually doesn't do anything for the brand it's working for at all. It's utterly
pointless, and leads to people like me questioning the sanity of the world.
Never mind that it states some forums are actually boring – who are they to decide this?
After all, forums are simply platforms for readers, users, for us, the general public, to use. A
Publication Manager
forum's interest level is directly proportionate to the reader's own interest, and can't really be
Paul Ryder
judged boring or otherwise by anyone outside the group it's aimed at. Suggesting otherwise
01622 699105
for the sake of a press release which is promoting a forum which has a different name is…
Email:
sgbuk@datateam.co.uk
frankly, pretty stupid.
Of course, you can argue that by writing this column I'm giving it publicity, and that no
publicity is bad publicity, but that's nonsense probably started by someone in marketing.
Subscriptions &
There is good marketing out there and good people working in it, but the very best efforts
are so good and so effective, we don't notice them. Bad marketing, however, is so glaringly
Circulation:
awful and obviously manipulative that it can act counter to a brand's desires.
Karen Wright
People appreciate honesty and direct communication in life, and the same applies to
www.sgb-sports.com
marketing. With that in mind, VISIT NISTEX ON JUNE 30TH.
01622 699109
Jon Bruford, Editor
jonbruford@yahoo.co.uk 01584 877177
Production Editor:
Brian King
bking@designandmediasolutions.co.uk
S p o r t s C o n t e n t s
Tr a n s c r i p t i o n :
Helen Farress
3 SPORTS NEWS 22 X-BIONIC
The latest stories, plus buying group This issue's brand profile looks at the
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published for the UK sports and outdoor industry. Subscribers to 10 TONY PRYCE
Professor Bodo Lambertz about his
SGB Sports and Outdoor are entitled to receive SGB Sports and
creation
A well respected independent retailer
Outdoor Newsline free of charge, to the weekly emailed news
– MD Adrian Giblett spoke with Paul
service, instead of paying £180 per annum.
Clapham 24 SCHOOL'S OUT!
Datateam Publishing Ltd 2002. All rights reserved No part of this
Paul Clapham looks at how retailers
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or 13 SUMMER RUNNING can use the National Curriculum to
transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
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Zöe Foster rounds up the gear to use
their advantage!
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when it's hot outside…
28 ARKWRIGHT
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