…TWL isn’t back.  But The Flackenhack Awards are.  Or at least that’s the plan.

Yep, after the storming success of last year’s awards we thought we’d have another go.  Well, Peter Kirwan of Fullrun did and he can’t do it on his own so he’s roped us in.

We thought that a good first step would be to convene a meeting to scope out the parameters of this year’s event.  Perhaps we could develop a framework within which to execute?  A face-to-face interaction would be our preferred strategy for achieving our initial objectives.

So we’re going down the pub to discuss.  Wednesday 9th July, the Dog & Duck on Bateman Street from about 7.00pm.  If you fancy sponsoring this year’s awards, or helping to organise them or just attending, then join us for a beer.  We’re interested in any thoughts on how it might be bigger and even better in 2008.

I’m afraid you’ll have to finance your own drinks unless you’re a prospective sponsor…or turn up with a trophy from last year’s awards (genuine mind…not a cheap copy.  If that were in any way possible).

 Over and out.

…I think it might be time to hang up the cheeky monkey suit.

I’ve got stuff to do.  Like make a living.  But it’s been a wild ride.

This might not be the end of TWL…after all, I’ve never been the only one involved…but it’s the end of me as part of the whole crazy shooting match.

Posting might become rather less frequent, but there’ll be someone here to pick up your emails so don’t stop sending them in.  And if you fancy getting involved or taking it on, do drop a note to theworldsleading@yahoo.co.uk.

Don’t cry for me Argentina.  The truth is, I’m not Argentinian.

…oh, it looks like you already have.

I would love to see the episode of Dragon’s Den where this one comes up…

“Hello.  I’m looking for £150,000 for 15% of my company which takes a perfectly serviceable pair of Marigolds, chops most of them up and attempts to flog the rest to iPhone owners…”

“iPhone owners you say?  I think it’s a winner…”

Read more about Phonefingers here.

News reaches us this morning of a piece of old school PR stuntery the likes of which we thought had died with the Millennium fireworks (though recognise that, now and again, people still insist on projecting things on big buildings).  It’s the type of tactic that you just know immediately means you’re dealing with a company that has absolutely nothing newsworthy to say.  It was also described (brilliantly…though perhaps a little strongly) by the hack who emailed us as, “possibly the worst, most morally, ethically and intellectually bankrupt piece of PR”.

The company’s called Arkadin.  It’s into audio, web and tele conferencing technology.  As you can tell by the hue of the company’s website, Arkadin has recognised the green bandwagon passing its door and jumped aboard with gay abandon.  Travelling to meetings on planes, trains and automobiles will kill the planet; Arkadin’s technology will save it.  Or something like that.

So, what stunning piece of PR did the company employ to highlight this fact? 

It chose to post 8×8 inch cardboard boxes to the tech press.  Each box was marked with the legend “Meetings can generate a lot of hot air…” which, when the lid was flipped, continued, “…save money; time; hassle and the planet”.  And then there was an inflatable plastic globe as a physical representation of Arkadin’s planet-saving credentials (and some additional PR guff, including a postage paid envelope and a tear off “request further information” slip.  How very quaint).

According to the postmark on our hack’s box, it left Arkadin’s Hammersmith HQ and travelled via Crewe, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports and then Portsmouth’s postal depot before arriving at its final destination….presumably using planes, trains and automobiles spewing out any number of tonnes of CO2.  Rumours that our correspondent then filled the globe using a can of hairspray are as yet unconfirmed.

Arkadin recently launched a series of web conferences called Green to be Great.  Matthieu Tilquin, Director of Product Management at Arkadin, said this: “Arkadin has a long-time commitment to environmental issues and business…[its involvement in] the web conferences is just one offshoot of our overall commitment to be green and also help our customers meet their own environmental and sustainability priorities.”  Which is nice.

No mention of a PR company in all the guff, though Weber Shandwick gets a mention on the bottom of a number of Arkadin press releases.  We’re sure it wasn’t involved in this though.

Media confirmed? Check. Flights booked? Check. Squeezed 12 months’ worth of news releases onto a branded USB stick? Check. Flights all sorted? Check. Reminded the journos they’ll need their passports? Check. Arranged visas? Eh?

Instead of waking up today in a plush hotel, with the sun blazing outside, a bunch of the UK’s finest tech journos woke up here in the cold and grey.

They were expecting to be entertained by Indian IT company HCL as part of its annual conference in New Delhi .

HCL had arranged to sort out the visas from the Indian High Commission in London for the hacks, except had cut things a bit fine. So fine in fact that in frantic late calls on Friday pm, Hill & Knowlton, HCL’s PR outfit, was promising to courier passports back to the hacks Saturday evening (ready for the Sunday morning flight).

It seems that some visas/passports arrived in time but others were written off to ‘problems at the High Commission’. Oh dear.

It’ll be interesting to read the phraseology under the ‘red lights’ section of H&K’s weekly report…