Tag: Norway

4 percent of Swedish companies have corporate blogs

The Scandinavian based telecom operator TeliaSonera has done some trend watching which is presented in a report here (pdf). Among the findings are:

– One in four Swedes regularly follow one or more blogs
– Most popular blog topics to read about are everyday life (36%), diary/personal (33%), politics/society (28 %), computers/IT (27%), sport (21%).
– 4 percent of the companies in the survey have a corporate blog, an additional 6 percent are planning to launch one in 2007
– Of respondents under the age of 26, 73 percent would consider taking pictures if they found themselves in the middle of a news situation

Most popular blog topics to read in the other Nordic countris are:
– Denmark: everyday life (40%)
– Norway: diary/personal (35%)
– Finland: everyday life (42%)

Note: 1,404 of Telia’s corporate customers and 8,887 private customers answered the survey.

Tags: , , , . Ping.

IKEA in PR gaffe over sponsored links

The Swedish furniture giant IKEA is in a bit of a trouble in Norway. IKEA had bought sponsored links for “Stressless”, which is a registered trademark for sofas and armchairs owned by the competitor Ekornes. On a search for Stressless on Google, a link to IKEA came up on top, which of course upset Ekornes. IKEA pulled the ads and apologised to the competitor.

When the Norwegian news site E24 asks the Communications Manager of IKEA Norway if they had bought links to other brands owned by competitors, he hasn’t got the facts straight and handles the crisis situation very poorly.

– No, I am not aware of any, he says. But E24 does a few searches and finds that IKEA has also bought links for “Tripp Trapp”, a brand owned by Stokke.

Now, do you know if someone is mooching off your brand?

[Via Börje.]

Tags: , , , , . Ping.

Bits and bobs about PR and social media

Today I’m throwing you a smorgasbord of things to dig deeper into. Here goes:

Stathydro? Norskoil? Noroil?
In Norway there is a heated debate about the name of the new oil and gas giant that is the result of the mega merger between Norsk Hydro and Statoil. Branding experts claim that it will cost between 2.7 and 3.6 billion kroner to change name and that the brand Statoil is worth between 2.5 and 5 billion kroner.

Tech blogs in, conservative blogs out
Bloggers Blog compare the top 10 blogs at Technorati on Jan 1, 2006 and Jan 1. 2007. Via Kristine Lowe.

Busting myths about social media
PR agency Ketchum and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center have produced a report called “Media Myths & Realities, 2006 Media Usage Survey”. Among other things the survey deflates five myths about social media:
-Blogs dominate.
-Social networking sites are just for kids.
-Young adults don’t read the newspaper.
-Word of mouth cannot be managed.
-The company Web site is the best way to communicate.

Big ad, big love
The business man who paid 11,000 kronor (1,600 USD) for a large personal ad in Borås Tidning, has got replies from women from all over Sweden. Question is if any of them want to move to Borås… (More here in English).

Top 100 web 2.0 sites
Web 2.0 Magazine lists the top 100 web 2.0 sites in categories such as Video (#1 is YouTube), Music (last.fm), Chat (Meebo), Images & Photos (Flickr), Blogs (Blogger), Bookmarking (Digg), VOIP (Jajah) and a few others.

New free Swedish daily
Xtra Helsingborg is the name of Helsingborgs Dablad’s free daily. It will become the second freesheet in the city when distribution starts in about a month. Metro is already present. Circulation: Monday-Friday, 20,000 copies. Via Researcher.

Tags: , , , , , , , . Ping.

Google News in legal trouble in Norway

The kerfuffle surrounding Google News in Belgium might repeat itself, this time in Norway. Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association (MBL), which represents more than 160 newspapers, has sent a letter to Google demanding that the company stops using its members’ photos in the Norwegian version of Google News. And MBL is supported by Pressefotografenes Klubb (PK), the Press Photographers’ Association in Norway.

Terje Bringedal of PK tells Journalisten.no:
“If you haven’t got permission from the copyright holder, it’s just pure theft.”

A legal counsel at MBL says that they’re fine with the linking but that Google needs to obtain permission for photos. Bringedal encourages all media that find their photos on Google to take action.

Tags: , , , , , . Ping.

Best designed newspapers in Europe

Europe’s best designed newspapers can be found in Belgium, Norway, Finland, Portugal and Spain, according to the European Newspaper Award 2006. One of the category winners is Norway’s Bergens Tidene, which in September 2006 changed format to tabloid.

The jury writes:

“Bergens Tidende stands out against all other regional papers submitted to the competition by their use of white space – not only in the culture, sport or fashion section, but also and most consciously on news pages. Because of its tabloid format and the generous white space this newspaper looks very much like a magazine. In future we will certainly see more of those newspapers in this North European style.”

Tags: , , , , , . Ping.

“Muppets” – invective of the summer

I’m not sure what the Muppets ever did to the Swedes, maybe we were insulted by the Swedish chef? Either way, “muppet” seems to be the invective of the summer. First Microsoft’s PR Manager in Norway got called a press muppet by tabloid Aftonbladet’s Olof Brundin. Now, the Swedish Minister for Justice, Thomas Bodström, apparently compared representatives of the opposition to muppets. At least the Muppets are more likable than the Fraggles or the Teletubbies…