Friday Find: The Only Prescription Is More Cowbell

The summer games are upon us, and I cannot get enough. I've still got Five Ring Fever (v. contagious) like crazy.

Double-fisting my #rio2016 coverage with my two favorite sports. I love, love, love the summer #Olympics! (USA! USA!)

A photo posted by Caitlin Hannah (@thecopycait) on Aug 6, 2016 at 3:38pm PDT

Rio 2016? Rio 2016! Simone Biles is showing us all who's boss! Michael Phelps is being Michael Phelps! Leslie Jones is going ham (language may not be SFW, but it's worth experiencing her infectious spirit) and everyone loves it! The pools are turning green and the man behind the curtain claims it's fine! And we haven't even gotten to track & field events yet!

I'm in a Facebook group to chat about the Olympics (of course I am), and I'm following all of the happenings on social media. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are some of my favorite moments and memes so far. 

Variations of this tweet that I've seen all over and can't stop chuckling about. I volunteer to do the uneven bars so that we can all witness the HANG IN THERE kitten poster come to life.

Every Olympic Event Should include one Average Person Competing for Reference.

— Shower Thoughts (@TheWeirdWorld) July 24, 2016

These recaps on Elle's site are somehow both delightfully asinine and perfectly poignant.

This infographic showing Rio by the numbers, and covering a variety of topics, from kilometers of fencing used, to reported cases of Zika, to tons of dead fish removed from the lagoon where rowing and other water sports will take place.

There's been so much good stuff flying around the internet that my weekly Friday fun post can hardly capture it all—I'm sharing more over on Twitter if you want to keep up, or come share yours!

Marketing Monday: Fruit of the Loom

Fruit of the Loom has had some really terrific ad campaigns over the last few years. This one about appropriate underwear gift-giving cracked me up with its poignancy when it first hit the small screen a couple years back. (Raise your hand if you're a married, 30-something woman whose mother still gives you undies at Christmas.) (Hi, Mom.)

More recently, this ad makes me laugh every time it pops up. The thing with clever marketing is that if it doesn't help you remember the brand or product, what's the point? Fruit of the Loom nails it because they manage to be funny, memorable, and brand-appropriate while highlighting the features of the product. No easy feat for many brands, but particularly impressive when marketing unmentionables.

Enjoy!

Bonus: these aren't bad, either.

Marketing Monday: Grammarly

Working for yourself as a marketer and copywriter means also being your own editor (and accountant and HR department and...). I touched on this lightly in a recent post, but I think editing woes are far from uncommon. I'm always looking for new tips and tricks to better edit myself. If I can print something out and edit with a pen, I will. If I can look at something in a different medium, I will. If I can sleep on something I've written and then return to it a day or two later with fresh eyes, I will. Even sitting in a different chair or a different room helps shift my perspective and see things I otherwise missed. Reading aloud helps me as well.

All of that said, of course, I'm not perfect. I cringe when I spot an error in a published piece. I'm always looking for ways to better my writing and recently discovered Grammarly. It's an app and desktop plugin that highlights mistakes you've made and makes suggestions for correcting them. It's a little like having your English teacher looking over your shoulder and clucking her tongue as needed. A red line pops up under a mistake, and you can then view suggestions for fixing it. Sometimes the rule doesn't work and I use my judgement to override it, other times I'm grateful for the direction. As with spellcheck, you're still responsible for your writing, but it will help you catch some errors and think more carefully about what you're saying, and how.

Grammarly will also send you a weekly progress report with tips and stats that highlights what you're doing well and where there's room for improvement. I'm currently struggling with the incorrect usage of the progressive tense, but my vocabulary is more dynamic (unique/total) than 72% of Grammarly users.

The basic version of Grammarly is free, but you can pay for an upgraded version that identifies more complex issues as well.

Sorry, Ms. Webster. I'm working on it.