May 2024
Crushing Creativity?
At a time when creativity in schools is under threat with pressure on resources and some schools having to reduce subject offerings, Apple has produced an iPad advertisement showing musical instruments and children’s toys and games being crushed under a hydraulic press. (YouTube link below)
The message is meant to be that all those items can be ‘played’ on the iPad which contains access to making music, gaming, creativity apps etc.
The execution makes it look like the items are crushed because we no longer need them.
The advertisement has divided opinions and some say it has polarised people by age. A quick poll of my three late teen/early twenties children suggests that not all young people are behind it either!
What do you think?
Links Regarding the Apple Advertisement
BBC News, 09 May | Apple apologises after piano-crushing ad backlash
The Drum, 09 May | hates Apple’s new iPad ad. Has the criticism gone too far?
Links Regarding Music Decline in Schools
House of Lords Library 05 Oct 23 | Access to Music Education in Schools
Schools Week, 21 May 24 | A Quarter of Schools Missing One-Hour Music Target
Super Fast Website Updates
Have you reviewed your website recently?
Do you know which elements of copy are out of date?
Here are some common issues which are quick to fix and make a difference towards giving that slick first impression
Copyright Date
Is the copyright date on your website showing the current year?
So many websites have the copyright year in the website footer showing an out-of-date year. Here are three anonymised examples from schools I came across this week.
If you have a website CMS, this should be a 2-minute job to update. Leaving it out of date may lead people to expect the rest of your website content to be outdated too.
Blogs and Case Studies
-Is the last blog you posted more than a year ago?
-What message does this give to your audience?
If you are writing blogs, set a regular cadence - monthly or, quarterly, that works for you and can be maintained with engaging content tailored to your specific audience(s). Similarly with case studies.
Add relevant and engaging newsletters or case studies to your website, showcase supportive customers and how they have benefited from your product or service. For schools, ask parents if they are happy to do a testimonial either written or on video, I’m sure many will say yes!
Social media
Does your website show social media feeds on the homepage?
If so, do they show recent content?
Many websites have social media feeds on the homepage with no recent posts.
If this is your website, taking the social feed down may be better until time is available to plan engaging and relevant social content.
It will be a quick job to reinstate it!
30 day social media plan
In an ideal world, your social media posts are pre-written with beautifully created graphics or images to go with each post for at least a month ahead. Then you can schedule them to post at a pre-determined time and date throughout the month.
This is hard to achieve as day-to-day pressures and immediate actions can take over and push planning down the list.
With a tried and tested planning template, it is easier to write posts, create graphics and schedule updates giving you more time to concentrate on pressing items.
Our template includes a results table where you can record data on engagement. If you would like a FREE copy of our 30-day social media content planner, please email lucy@mktlab.co.uk.