Looking back at 2008 it’s difficult not to deploy spectacles that have been tinted with some horribilis of the annus variety – it has been a pretty crappy year for just about everybody…

The local newspaper sector in the region has been thoroughly pillaged (some would say raped), the credit crunch has munched through multiple marketing budgets and even our favourite soap operas seem to have come to an abrupt, although most would say satisfactory, conclusion.

But here at How-Do it’s not all doom and gloom – oh no, we’re far too drunk for that – and we thought you might fancy a little effervescently fizzy fix of festive relief.

So, instead of plodding through the fields of negative stories with boots that grow exponentially more leaden with each shuffle, we thought we’d take you on a quick skip over the twenty most popular news items of the year.

Uncle Arthur Porter

We hope it’s a little bit of music to your eyes…

20. Crain’s and the art of delineation

Why is every one and their PR partner so interested in Crain’s? Is it because of the boldness of their ambition? The resources they have at their disposal? Their rather bullish approach to the problem of attaining advertising?

Or quite simply the fact that Arthur Porter is the most avuncular looking character on the North West media and marketing scene?

Arthur, if we could sit on anyone’s knee this Christmas it’d be yours.

This story of changing the online/subscription model for the title had you lot clicking through in your thousands and bun-fighting a plenty on the comment board.

Play nice now kids… you don’t want to see Uncle Arthur when he’s angry.

19. Martin Freeman comes to Manchester

Befuddled boy about screen Martin Freeman gets struck by lightning and somehow swaps bodies with a glamorous female fashion journalist played by an alumna of raunchy lesbian costume drama Tipping the Velvet.

You couldn’t make this crap up could you?

Well, somebody did.

18. Ditchy brings back the dead

A big 'doh' from Ditch

17. High school musical show hits bum notes with How-Do

Slayed by the critics, routed in the ratings and called into question by a How-Do reporter that temporarily forgot that we’re meant to be neutral when reporting on news stories, Britannia High had a difficult arrival on to the broadcast scene.

Thankfully things improved for the Gary Barlow backed ITV production when it got picked up by a host of international networks, ranging from MBC in the Middle East to the mighty HBO Latin America.

They were dancing on the streets of Tegucigalpa when they heard that news.

16. Londoners don’t fancy moving North, or do they?

Take five departments, hundreds of millions of pounds and the biggest media development anywhere in the world ever (probably) and you’re bound to get the odd rumour doing the rounds.

The sober minds here at How-Do decided to investigate this particular snippet of speculation thoroughly before publishing a piece on the BBC’s move North and the problems posed by the relocation of staff, particularly Five-Livers.

However, when our one phone call went unanswered we thought sod it and hit the ‘publish’ button anyway.

15. The Darrener in ambitious mood… everyone else just furious

Holland: ambitious

What it was actually doing was taking a bucketful of unmentionables and throwing it towards a large fan, situated in a wind tunnel, that it was standing in… open mouthed.

39 comments flew in (more than for any other news story this year) decrying the payment practices of said publication, its speling mistaks and the dynamic duo of Ted Ward and Peter Holland at the paper’s helm.

A genuine case of ‘bad press’, it would seem.

By the way, fresh updates on The Darrener would be gratefully received. It all seems to have gone a bit quiet.

14. Paver Smith gets to work at Factory

Hands up who doesn’t like Dougal Paver. The world, especially (arguably) the marketing services world, needs more characters and Paver is nothing if not one of the biggest on the regional scene.

Unabashed in his ambition, Paver says what he thinks and isn’t slow in coming forward with what can seem like quite outrageous claims for his business and its growth, before inevitably following through on them.

If clicks through are a representation of regard, then you lot seem to hold him in high esteem – either that or you’re just keen to see the next chapter in this most intriguing of character plays.

The Factory acquisition story was the best-read PR piece this year.

13. Spooky goings on with Paranormal launch

Fielding: small, but scary

Other than the launch news the channel seems to have been as elusive as the spectres, ghouls and goblins it attempts to document – so any updates on activities, paranormal or otherwise, would be warmly welcomed.

12. Naked bloke Driven to distraction, as Body World’s comes alive on the town

Newly formed ad agency Driven – we’ve given up on writing it with a small d, it’s just too confusing – took to the streets of Manchester with a guerrilla marketing stunt featuring a young man devoid of even his very own birthday suit.

The idea was to promote the real life horror movie that was Gunther Von Hagen’s Body World’s exhibition and it certainly seemed to get people talking, particularly on the How-Do comment board.

Even Angela Rippon and David Icke got involved… what more could you ask for?

11. Penk’s Revolution begins

Driven: dead clever?

Why else would the owners have been so eager to offload it to original prankster Steve Penk?

However, as soon as the evolution of the Revolution got underway those supporters showed the depth of their passion by hijacking How-Do with a flurry of 34 comments (largely) in support of the former indie/alternative format.

They now await the coming of the Radio Republic, while Penk (free of kidney stones we hope?) endeavours to turn around ‘the Rev’s’ fortunes.

10. We can thank Google for this one

Surely the reason why this story has made it into the top ten of our most viewed news items of the year is that it’s, how shall we say, somewhat search engine friendly.

We mean no disrespect to the story’s central character, now at Big Spark, but we think the fact that the headline contains the phrases ‘beevers’ and ‘Daily Sport’ means that it’s been a popular one with semi-illiterate Googlers the world over.

God bless ‘em all.

9. Second How-Do 100 gathers pace

Redmond does it again

The first ever list of the 100 most influential individuals from the North West media community was unveiled in November last year and has emerged as the most popular piece on the site bar none.

We therefore expect the 2008 run down, given some time and a growing momentum, to join it at the page impression summit sometime soon.

8. Carl Hopkins becomes a TV star

Former JDA head Carl Hopkins forgets about Alvaston and Agency Bods to slip into philanthropic mode and try his hand out at being a community warden in the depressed mining town of Easington in County Durham.

That switch made for feel good television (Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire) and ratings gold here on How-Do, as viewers and users alike warmed to the straight talking Yorkshire man and his desire to make a difference.

Something that he’s not always managed to do…segueing nicely into -

7. The Magazine rides again… albeit briefly

Hopkins left Alvaston Media, owners of The Magazine, before it re-emerged on the streets of Manchester after it’s

What can we talk about now?

In what turned out to be a shorter lease of life than just about anybody expected, the new incarnation of the title hit the buffers shortly after – spilling its cargo of long suffering staff and supporters and, we assume, finally coming to rest (in peace) on the embankment of shattered dreams.

A lot of How-Doers will no doubt miss it.

6. Rochdale Online gets into bed with Chronicle

While one publication was derailing another was hooking more carriages on and fast tracking itself into fresh business territory (sorry, this analogy is more tired than my eyes… I just want to get to the pub, Ed).

In May the Oldham Chronicle moved to take a chunk of Rochdale Online, investing in a firm that could update its own jaded internet presence while looking to exploit potential revenues from RO’s in-house web work.

Lovely long locks

Journeaux replied with derogatory comments about Garner being a big fat bugger… or words to that effect.

5. What the hell was all that about a spam dealing cat?

News of ITV shooting a drama in and around Manchester and Liverpool had How-Doers debating the relevance of ‘celeb stories’ on the site and going off at (surely drug induced) tangents about cats, spam and nipple twisting.

There are some very strange people out there.

Back in the real world (if fictional stories about £250m internet frauds can be regarded as ‘real’) Wired was a blast for some users and a complete bomb for others.

We didn’t see it, so full reviews (from anyone without feline/processed meat fetishes) are heartily encouraged below.

4. Rewards for the Awards

Deep into the belly of the top five now and you’re going to get suspicious.

There’s not one but two How-do related news pieces to come. But it’s not a fix dear reader - our stats don’t lie (no matter how much we try and make them) - so it must surely be an indication of just how much you love us and our unique initiatives. Ahem.

First up at four is this piece that revealed the results of our inaugural How-Do Awards at the Theatre of Dreams.

When combined with a separate snippet proclaiming that the awards were open for entries this was actually the most viewed item of the year. However, that’d be a bit of a cop out so we’ve lopped those 10,000 plus page impressions off, dragging this fella back down to fourth spot.

Kay: big on How-Do

You do love us though, don’t you?

Please.

3. Cross-dressing fat bloke crams ‘em in

Although the Large Hadron Collider that lurks beneath the Swiss-Franco border is awesome in its scale and power, it pales into insignificance when compared to the earth moving clout created when you combine a celebrity’s name with the magic wand that is Google.

With that in mind, as evidenced by the performance of this relatively throwaway story, we’re going to write numerous pieces on the marketing power of Britney Spears (especially when she’s naked) over the course of 2009.

Alexa, you have been warned.

Anyway, Peter Kay + Britain’s got the Pop Factor = third most read story this year. Incredible but true.

2. Claire Lane, you are a very popular young woman

So, we understand the Peter Kay phenomenon. He’s funny, he’s famous, people want to read about him – fair enough.

But Claire Lane? Has anyone outside of IPB Communications and its client stable ever heard of her?

The 28 year old former journalist joined IPB in January and, for some reason unbeknownst to us, has slowly crept up our page impression chart ever since.

We’re sure Claire is a very capable PR professional and a thoroughly good stick, but why do tens of thousands of readers click through to her story?

Why would they rather read about Claire than a seven figure account win, a story about mass redundancies, our old friend Mr Welch, or an opinion piece that basically calls all recruitment consultants parasites?

Is there another Claire Lane we should know about? What is going on?

Claire – don’t be scared – but do you think you might have many thousands of secret admirers out there?

1. And the number one most read story of 2008 is…

Yes, it’s a How-Do initiative again, but it’s about our readers not us – it’s the first ever run down of the region’s Top 100 marketers.

As this was the first definitive report of its kind maybe it shouldn’t come as such as a surprise that its clambered its way over competing pieces to claim the summit for itself.

After all, when you consider its appeal to the 100 individuals, all of whom would have been pleased to make the cut, 100 companies and, no doubt, a legion of marketing services suppliers either working with or keen to work with said folk, then that’s an embarrassment of potential readers forwarding the story on to their colleagues (and, we’d like to think, families and friends).

It’s a positive story too, which, when you consider the year the industry has had, is a cockle-warming conclusion to this run down of 2008.

Now, the pub is beckoning, my eyes are tiring and all that’s left to do is to wish all of you a very, very merry Christmas and an exceedingly prosperous New Year.

Enjoy yourselves everyone and we’ll look forward to seeing you again very soon.

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