10 Downing Street: 636,508 talking about this

I recently came across a page on Facebook for '10 Downing Street.' I'm not sure if this page is official but it certainly has a social media presence with over 23,000 likes and 636,508 people talking about it when this blog was published.

We all know Britain has a culture for actively slagging off politicians, when you mix this with the anonymity of Facebook you get an interesting result. Scanning through the comments and discussions on this page, it is clear that there is not a positive word to be said about the UK government (surprised? I didn't think so).

Whether this page is official or not, it's certainly not doing any good for the government's reputation. Given the popularity of this page, it might be an idea for the government to take a more active role in social media. The government could encourage positive debate and opinions from young people who are taking an interest in politics. If 10 Downing Street employed somebody to manage the page and give a response to some of the negative comments people would feel like they were being listened to and the page would not be left to become a forum of hatred against the Conservatives.

Just type 10 Downing Street into your Facebook search bar if you want to see some of the comments.

Wesker & Son Human Butchers

A new pop-up butchers has opened in Smithfield Market London selling fake but extra gory human body parts that is set to shock many. The butchers has been opened to help publicise the release of the new Resident Evil game and I'm sure it will be successful at causing a stir - I will definitely be going there to take a look. This is a really creative PR stunt and I'm sure this will pick up tons of coverage.

After all, it's personal.

Starbucks is the largest coffee house company in the world with 19,435 stores in 58 countries. Due to Starbucks mass-scale success they have often been the subject of negative PR. During Starbucks rapid growth in the early 2000s, they were criticised for driving out smaller coffee firms with fierce tactics. Starbucks have suffered from many controversies since they started business which is why they now know the importance of PR as a strategic business function.

Starbucks latest strategy is to ‘listen’ to their customers and then coincide this with a marketing campaign. Through customer feedback Starbucks found that UK coffee drinkers liked their lattes stronger and decided to put an extra shot of coffee in every latte. This move has gone hand-in-hand with in store promotions claiming ‘it’s personal.’ Starbucks now write every customers name on their cup and promise to make the drink perfect, if it isn’t they will make it again until it is.

Listening is an important aspect of business and making customers feel special will make them come back again and again instead of going to one of Starbuck’s competitors. This strategic move will no doubt add to Starbucks continuing success as the world’s largest coffee shop.

Game Over

The struggling high-street shop GAME has announced that it intends to go into administration.

The gaming industry has had a tough 12 months, with no new console releases and no reason for gamers to hit the stores, what has been described by GAME as a "cyclical low point in the industry." After buying out 'Gamestation' in 2006, the company have 1,275 stores worldwide, including 600 in the UK. GAME was reaping the benefits of new game and console releases, with fans queueing over night to buy 'Call Of Duty' and other block busters until the market came to a halt. It is now predicting an underlying pre-tax loss of about £18m for the year to the end of January.

The latest big-selling game release was 'Mass Effect 3' yet GAME were unable to stock it as supplier Electronic Arts would no longer do business with them. The company have admitted that buying into Game Station may have been an over expansion in hindsight.

It's not just GAME that have been struggling on the high-street, many other shops are being threatened by online websites such as Amazon and Play.com and supermarkets pose a real threat with their discount prices. Gamers are opting to download games instead of owning a physical copy, following the footsteps of the music-industry. The gaming industry will need to look for a solution where they can embrace the digital world and use it to their advantage.