On the Podium – there must be an angel…

It has been foggy all week at Podium towers. In fact, if our metaphorical Podium was a real one, you’d barely be able to see the top step.

You can’t see a thing from here: we’re just relieved SEO isn’t affected by the blanket of grey outside our windows.

On the plus side, it’s nearly the weekend and we have another selection of fantastic On the Podium entries to clear away the murk.

With no further ado:

Third place: Morrisons and KFC

It was announced this week that Morrisons and KFC were going to start giving away food that could no longer be sold, to worthy causes, where safe to do so.

Colossal amounts of food is wasted in the UK each year, and at a time when so many families rely on food banks, this seems like a triumph for common sense.

Sceptics have accused the brands of just responding to public pressure, only making arrangements to give food to charity because they featured heavily on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s latest crusading documentary (crusadamentary?) about food waste.

That may well be the case, but you can’t ask companies to do something good, then complain when they listen.

Other people have suggested that the donations might be tax deductible. Again, if that’s the case, so be it.

The amount of food wasted by supermarkets is bordering on criminal when so many people go hungry. We have to applaud what Morrisons and KFC are doing, regardless of any hidden motives, and hope other food retailers manage to find a way to follow suit.

Second place: NASA’s PR

NASA is coming out with a load of cool stuff at the moment. Loads of announcements (and announcements of announcements) from the Mars Rover, Curiosity.

(Did you know they found a Martian cat? Sadly, Curiosity killed it.)

This is something of a ritual, of course – the US presidential elections take place next year so, depending on the outcome, NASA’s funding could be up for review. So the organisation routinely embarks on a monster PR campaign to convince everyone that it is worth continuing to fund.

This week, NASA has confirmed that it is now recruiting for a manned mission to Mars. However, that’s not what caught our eye. Instead, it’s this utterly jaw-dropping video of the sun. It’s filmed in 4k if you have a compatible TV or monitor. Even at ‘normal’ HD, it’s amazing.

First place: Angels Tears Vodka

We’re never shy about giving a crafty plug to one of our clients (it’s what we’re here for) – so when a new client not only decided to get on the podium, but also send us several bottles of its premium vodka, we thought it was only fair to shout about it.

Podium will be working on the social media launch campaign for the exclusive Angels Tears Vodka – which stands out on the shelves thanks to its incredible, and totally unique, angel-shaped bottle.

So, this week started with a tasting session (naturally), and then a fantastic photoshoot to provide material for the forthcoming Instagram feed.

OffthePodium: David Cameron. He could be here most weeks at the moment, but he attracted ridicule this week after someone in his team saw fit to Photoshop a poppy onto the Prime Minster’s Facebook profile picture. It was hastily removed, but not before social media responded in the way it knows best.

What an idiot.