Op-Eds, B2B Levity And ...

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My last “grab bag” showcased donut drama.

No such alliteration (or glaze) in today’s segment.

Behind the Op-Ed Curtain at The New York Times

I’ve touched on this area before.

Landing an op-ed in a heavyweight target like The New York Times requires crisp and clever storytelling.

I just stumbled across a column in The NYT titled, “And Now A Word From Op-Ed.”

Even though the piece was published back in 2004, it still rings true with insights:

Our decisions about which essays to publish aren’t governed by a need for editorial variety alone. Among other things, we look for timeliness, ingenuity, strength of argument, freshness of opinion, clear writing and newsworthiness. Personal experiences and first-person narrative can be great, particularly when they’re in service to a larger idea. So is humor, when it’s funny. Does it help to be famous? Not really. In fact, the bar of acceptance gets nudged a little higher for people who have the means to get their message out in other ways – elected officials, heads of state, corporate titans. It’s incumbent on them to say something forthright and unexpected. Op-Ed real estate is too valuable to be taken up with press releases.

Love the line that encourages humor … “when it’s funny.”

Comical Cloud Computing

Not exactly.

But a graphic in the LSI paper “Cloud Computing, Hype or Reality and How to Tell” caught my attention.

cloud computing

You’ve got to like a B2B company brave enough to bring a pinch of levity to the wacky topic of cloud-based storage.

Wonder if any customers inquired about the interface requirements for a kitchen sink.

Storytelling in Sports

Some of the best storytelling in journalism takes place in sports.

Tim Keown from ESPN The Magazine profiled Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw with this vignette on Timmy:

Lincecum’s long-hair cool does a thorough job of hiding the fierceness within. The look, exuding casual disinterest, is part diversion, part lie. Deep down inside, Lincecum is an old-school baseball guy, Bob Gibson in skater-dude motif.

Superfluous Language

Glad Federal Express anoints its trucks with the word “ground.”

fedex ground truck

Wouldn’t want someone to think the truck might sprout wings and fly to Memphis.

That’s a wrap.


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