The PR place

I'm moving to a new blog, FeverBee.com

2008-01-23T17:58:00.000Z

I've waited long enough for Google to make Blogger good. They haven't done it, so i'm moving to a new Typepad blog.

Please join me at www.feverbee.com.

It's not a great design yet, but it's something fresh that I can build on. I hope to see you all there.

www.feverbee.com

2 new clients

2008-01-12T21:41:00.000Z

Good news! Despite my youthful looks, I have two new clients!

The first is HLTV.org - a company which has developed a unique software allowing thousands of people every week to watch competitive gaming matches online. This one could be huge.

The second is Hazina. Hazina is a charity aiming to improve the life of villagers in Tanzania.

Things are going to get busy. I'm also soon to be moving to a new Typepad blog, stay tuned.

The curse of age

2008-01-11T22:18:00.001Z

I was in a pub-meeting with a client today, and I got ID'ed.

There is something mighty annoying about that.

Finding influential Facebook groups

2008-01-06T21:27:00.000Z

There's a Facebook group called Cheltenham Nightclub/bar news. It's simply a group where Cheltenham residents share the latest news/rumours and gossip about the nightlife here in Cheltenham. Recently the group celebrated it's 1000th member.

This is a really influential group, it's played a major role in the the success of many new bars and clubs in this town. For anybody interested in opening a pub/club here in Cheltenham, they need to get themselves mentioned on this group (even local newspaper journalists take news from it. This presents a few problems then.

1) How can we find these Facebook groups? There isn't any uniformity in the way amateur enthusiasts name these groups. A variety of searches on Facebook might fail to dig them up, and they certainly wont show up in PR Planner.

2) Which industries are likely to have them? Nightclubs do, hotels don't. Gardeners do, teachers don't. The construction industry has facebook groups, the manufacturing industry doesn't.

3) What's the ethics about launching a generic group with a single view to enhancing your client?

4) How can you get your news on this group? There's plenty of blogosphere info on pitching bloggers and journalists but little about pitching influential members and groups of online social networks.

Late notice on a decent placement job opportunity

2008-01-03T17:55:00.001Z

This is really late notice, but Make Your Mark are looking for a social media intern. It's based in London, and based upon the job description, the intern will report to the Digital Guru.

Make Your Mark is an organisation helping young entrepreneurs make their ideas happen. For anyone looking to gain some experience in the application of social media (to make money), this is a decent opportunity. I can testify that a speciality in this field is useful in the future.

The only catch is the deadline is 10am tomorrow.

Incidentally they are also hunting for a head of campaign for their Coventry office. Deadline 14th January.

Who reads PR and Corporate comms journals?

2007-12-15T20:44:00.001Z

I'm slaving away on my final assignment of the year, a review of the corporate communications surrounding this summer's Foot and Mouth crisis (related thought, is there too much focus upon Crisis PR in education?). Naturally the academic nature of this assignment means I can only use academic journals and broadsheet newspapers. I'm not entirely against this. My simple question is:

How many of you practicing PR professionals read these journals?

Who reads Corporate Communications: An International Journal?
Or Journal of Communications Management? How about Public Relations Review? Possibly International Public Relations Review?

If there are any avid journal readers out there (Richard and Philip perhaps?), what do you make of them? Should more PR types be reading? Or is the information lacking in practical value?

Is this hit too opportunistic?

2007-12-08T13:21:00.000Z

Does this PR hit strike anybody else as an impressive piece of opportunism?

"The mystery disappearance - and shock reappearance - of canoeist John Darwin has people wondering about his apparent choice of hideaway haven - Panama.

The story has put the Central American nation in the spotlight.

For Britons looking to start a new life, the lure of Panama extends beyond the 300-plus sunny days a year in the wisp of a country that lies at the crossroads of north and south America.

Once considered the world's premier tax haven, Panama still has much to offer those looking for a retirement below the radar."

A big problem on the graduate job trail

2007-11-21T00:47:00.000Z

Right now most of the popular graduate employers are accepting applications from students - but only those with outstanding A-levels. Several of the top employers demand UCAS scores of 360 (3 straight As) to even read your application. Which, for academic underachievers and vocational overachievers like me, proves a little problematic.

Rather than studying for my A-levels, I was busy running large-scale gaming events at Earl's Court, ExCeL and Sheperd's Bush, and travelling around the world writing for gaming magazines, or managing a £100k AMD marketing initiative to crack the early adopter market. And, at the expense of coursework, growing huge online communities and social hubs for various companies.

In short, my teachers weren't too keen with either the quality or promptness of my work. I always assumed that this was a worthwhile sacrifice as it would give me a huge advantage when trying to get a job.

Only it doesn't.

After a frustrating browse through many of the top business/marketing student employers in the top 100 graduate employers, i've found UCAS scores are used for the purposes of applicant-screening. And by this I mean several companies even have signs specifically to draw attention to the required UCAS score needed to apply.

Are the links between A-Level achievement and corporate talent really so clear? I've read several studies which beg to differ. So, what is the solution? Is there one?

Help appreciated.

Billboard advertising in games

2007-11-20T15:19:00.000Z

Even more annoying than in real life. There has to be a better, more integrated, way forward than this. Why is there no reward for the top players of each game? Discounts on Intel products perhaps, or invitations to test/review/comment on new Intel products? If this is the best that a top company can manage, then it's a huge disappointment.

In the "heat of the battle" I'm going to be busy shooting people - not reading Intel slogans.

Apple PR takes a hit over damaging C4 video clip

2007-11-19T01:21:00.001Z

Gizmodo posts about Apple's PR force field.

Essentially Channel 4 were interviewing Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing (what a long title) Phil Schiller. The interviewer touches upon the subject of Apple's iTunes monopoly and at a nod of the head, Apple's PR team literally stand between the interviewer and the interviewed.

As Gizmodo notes, this clip does seem out of context, but that's not the point. The point is Apple's PR team is supposed to be one of the best. The media hangs on its every word. They should know that everything is being filmed, they should know that these type of clips can be released into the public without any context whatsoever.

Perhaps the solution is they need to be filming their own version of these interviews. They need to ensure they are able to launch an instant video response if out of context clips are leaked onto the internet.

Via Peter Himler.

Beating Psycho Slime

2007-11-18T21:21:00.000Z

Whilst researching some copy for a client, I came across my favourite flash-based game of all time, Slime Volleyball.

Slime Volleyball was a school PC lab favourite, but no-one could ever defeat Psycho Slime. Countless coursework hours were sacrificed conquer this evil foe. But it never happened. So as our paths now crossed some six years later, I decided to take him down.

Alas, i'm no better now than I was then. However this is the social media age, within minutes I had found a thriving Slime Volleyball community. This community even has its own Wiki and several YouTube videos on defeating Psycho Slime. Some people are even offering their expert advice for a small fee.

The niches and opportunities never cease to amaze me.

I still can't beat it mind. Think you can do better? Click here.

Refreshing Press Releases

2007-11-12T12:48:00.000Z

Reading my bloglines against for the first time in a while i've come across Tod Maffin's Media 2.0 post calling for a new way of writing media releases. Note, this is not referring to the social media release.

It's a good read, he's revised a press release from Bell Canada and you can download his updated version

Much of my experience comes from regional newspapers and specialist magazines. These are filled with staff which really wouldn't know what to make of a social media release, they would probably find it a complete waste of time. They prefer traditional press release format, which they can rewrite into a news story.

However they note there is a huge gap between what PRs want to say, and what their readers want to read. This often prevents good news releases from making its way into print. There are obvious gains then for PR agencies writing news releases in a lively and refreshing style. The challenge isn't rearranging the structure of a press release. Cutting the sections into a story summary, quote, background isn't going to work.

I believe, for regional/specialist PR at least, the opportunity is about taking a different angle entirely. Delve a little deeper, ask about the other interests and hobbies of the people concerned. Most importantly, try to write about people, not companies. Try some fun and humour, get a professional photographer and experiment with a range of images. Use short sentences, clear language, unusual headlines.

Five thoughts on the infamous PR list

2007-11-08T20:09:00.000Z

I've only just had the time to catch up on most of my blog feeds. So I've only just been reading up on Chris Anderson (Author of the Long Tail and editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine) and his recent PR outburst against PRs which spam him.

In his outburst he published the list of over 600 PR professionals he has blocked from contacting him. The list noticeably contains the e-mail addresses of most the bigger PR agencies.

My thoughts:

follow up post

Also read: how not to conduct yourselves. Thanks Ed

I didn't threaten TWL with legal action

2007-11-02T13:33:00.000Z

Some people are looking at the timing of my last post, the timing of TWL's decision to quit blogging, and coming to the wrong conclusions.

In short, I didn't threaten TWL with legal action. As readers of the comments to my last post know. TWL removed me from the Flackenhack categories, apologised both on his, Sally's and my blog. He even dropped me a few e-mails under his own name.

And no, I don't intend to reveal the name (many people know anyway).

I don't know what caused TWL's decision to stop blogging. It is a shame, TWL did a great job of holding many silly PR practises to account.

Online bullying of PR professionals

2007-10-17T00:23:00.000+01:00

I should really take this with good humour. I should brag about being nominated for an award, giggle the it's for 'the biggest PR fuck up' in the tech PR industry, buy myself a ticket and encourage everyone I know to attend.

That's how my first post about this went, but it just not how I feel. Honestly, this latest stunt from TWL has gotten me seriously frustrated. So frustrated that I've had this post saved whist I went to the gym.

Some history

For blog newcomers, here's some history. Back in February I wrote a post which included a sentence suggesting PR had been eroded by a recent influx of femininity. It was a stupid, poorly-worded, ill-thought, sentence in which I came off as sexist. TWL rightly called me out on it, and I learnt a valuable lesson blogging.

People make mistakes, and learn from them. I can live with that.

Then it went too far

After attacking me in another two posts, it went too far. TWL ran a photo competition about me. Readers were invited to send in their funny captions (two of which bizarrely went to my e-mail address, they joined three previous items of hate mail based upon TWL's attacks). The winner won with "I can see right up her skirt".

Online bullying against young PR professionals

Now, TWL has rather maliciously attacked young PR professionals on more than one occasion. Often just for being inexperienced, is that a problem?

My problem is that the more I look at it, it's just starting to strike me as anonymous online bullying. Don't get me wrong, TWL does often put out some great insightful posts, and is one of the few that calls people up on their mistakes - which is great. But that element of encouraging your readers to attack a young PR professional just strikes me of online bullying.

Even since this i've exchanged an e-mail or two with TWL, and things have seemed relatively ok.

Am I the Biggest Tech PR Fuck-up?

So today I learn from Alex that i've been nominated for 'biggest PR fuck up' at the Flackenhack awards, these are the awards TWL and Fullrun have set up for fun to cover the great moments of the UK Tech PR/Media industry. I take this nomination as a malicious, rather than comical, attack for 3 reasons.

1) My entry is the longest of all 24 nominees.

2) This nomination is based upon the sentence I wrote in February? Is this 'fuck-up' in the top 3 against the daily writings on TWL's blog?

3) My personal favourite. The one that gives an indication how personal some of these attacks from TWL's tech PR blog and tech PR awards have been.

I've never worked in Tech PR (and if this is the sort of people that most industry types encourage and leaders like Edelman are happy to endorse, I never will do).

Where to draw the line with unwilling participants of PR stunts?

2007-10-01T18:58:00.000+01:00

BBC News reports mysterious stone heads keep turning up in the "dead of night" around Yorkshire villages. On the back of each head reads a note: "twinkle twinkle like a star does love blaze less from afar?"

As one village correctly guesses, it's a PR stunt. At what stage does doing something exciting to generate interest become a nuisance to villages? Are these villages the target for this PR campaign? Or rather are they an easy route to scoring hits with mainstream media?

There is no 'opt-out' opportunity for these villages. If those that receive the heads don't talk about it does the village receive more heads, or less? If this PR campaigns turns out to be entirely irrelevant to these villages, how will residents react?

So far the story has only been picked up by BBC News and the Daily Mail - but I suspect more will follow.

Best not to get spotted dropping off stone heads on CCTV

Who is your weakest PR link?

2007-09-26T10:56:00.000+01:00

I missed an eBay bill whilst I was away, and the e-mail address listed on the site is one I rarely check. So I've missed their reminders about paying it too (it's sorted now). Last week their debt collection agency began hassling my parents at an old address (no longer listed on the website) in a very unpleasant manner for the money.

Now debt collection agencies have a job to do, but the manner they go about that job reflects upon their employer. The success/failure of a debt collection agency doesn't depend upon an individual/business ever using their employer again, but rather whether they can get that money from the individual/business. This creates a PR problem.

Looking at the eBay forums there are numerous unanswered complaints about the practices of their debt collection agency. The complaints detail suspect-looking characters trying to force their way onto properties without the necessary legal documentation. This is eBay's weakest PR link. The link which lowers eBay's reputation in the eyes of its public (this is the stuff people talk about).

Consider the money you spend on your PR (or that of clients). Have you supported many social causes? Has you CEO been featured in an uplifting profile piece in the local rag? Did you finally get a story in national news?

Now imagine how quickly all that could be ruined by a receptionist in a bad mood or a suspect debt collector stubbing a foot in the front door and refusing to leave the property.

Who is your weakest PR link?

Managerial lessons from Arsenal (sorry!)

2007-09-24T14:13:00.000+01:00

Sorry, no PR today. Instead something that occured to me after I read this story.

This summer Arsenal, who haven't won a trophy in two years, sold Thierry Henry (their star player) to Barcelona for £16m. Most predicted a terrible season for a team lacking in experienced players. Instead Arsenal have won 9 of their 10 games this season and are top of the Premier League with a game advantage.

So how did this happen?

"Henry intimidated us," 20-year-old Fabregas told the Daily Mail. "He is a great player but it was not easy to play alongside him.

"We were a bit inhibited by him - dependent on everything he wanted to do and his demands. Now it is different."

Do you have a star salesman, PR pro, manager unwittingly intimidating and inhibiting the rest of the team?

Should a PR agency create a business community?

2007-09-20T18:00:00.000+01:00

Here's a quick question. Has any PR agency launched a Facebook/Google Group and invited all their clients yet?

I suspect that there are a lot of advantages by creating a small business community with a PR agency at it's core. Were I running an agency I would arrange monthly meets in a pub every Sunday to swap ideas and banter.

If anyone has given this a go, please do let me know how it went.

Of course if you hate your clients, or your clients hate you, this is probably an idea best avoided (and worry about more important issues).

The backwards PR model from Birmingham

2007-09-18T15:54:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine at a Birmingham agency explained that she's spent the last week trying to find out which blogs journalists in a certain industry might read. She is hoping to skip pitching journalists in favour of pitching the bloggers. Journalists will then report it from these bloggers, naturally.

The problem is that this just seems to be too many middlemen.

Client > Agency > bloggers > journalists > public.

A better model should work more like:

Agency > Client > public > bloggers > journalists > more public.

The agency should help the client do something really significant/newsworthy with just a few members of their target audience. This target audience will begin talking about it, a blogger or niche publication will pick up on it. As it grows then journalists will give it some coverage. But really, by that stage, you might not even need journalists to spread the good word.

Are the McCann's abusing the 'Find Maddie' fund?

2007-09-13T18:31:00.000+01:00

The Guardian reports the PR advisor for the McCann's stepping down.

It seems likely that Phil Hall, former editor of News of the World and Hello! magazine, will be hired to handle the negative publicity the couple are now receiving.

I have an issue with this. Where is the money coming from? The parents aren't poor, but certainly not in a position to hire a PR advisor from their own finances. My assumption would be that this money is coming from the 'Find Madeleine' fund.

I've read as many reports as I can and it's clearly stated that the fund will not pay for any legal expenses (they've recently been given suspect status by Portuguese police) to defend themselves. There is absolutely no sign that though this fund wont pay for their reputation. And really, do they still need a PR advisor?

A PR advisor may have been necessary in the early days when the couple were in Portugal trying to find their daughter. But now this sort of PR has been replaced by more of a crisis media style PR to handle the negative publicity, it's wrong that money to find their daughter might be used to defend themselves from a bad reputation. That's what the courts will determine.

Predictably dull PR

2007-09-11T16:51:00.000+01:00

Last week The Worlds Leading wrote this. Today this appeared on BBC News.

For those that can't be bothered to click the links, a week ago The Worlds Leading slated PR agencies that would use a predictable survey tactic regarding how some new technology or upcoming event would cost UK businesses. TWL even used Facebook as an example.

Today BBC News ran a story about the cost of employees using Facebook.

The PR industry and the media are supposed to keep eachother on toes, make sure both are sharp and dynamic. Today they both failed.

- Just noticed i'm not the only person to pick up on this.

Anita proved how companies can have a great reputation

2007-09-10T23:49:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of blogs posts, I've been on holiday in Lithuania.

It's sad to come back and read about the death of Body Shop Founder Anita Roddick. She was an inspiration to many. Heather Gorringe of Wiggly Wigglers, a former apt client, was even able to get her on the wormcast for a brief but direct chat some time ago.

There are going to be many fitting tributes and biographies about her over the coming hours and days. I wont try to match those.

Anita Roddick proved if you want to have a great public reputation, don't hire a PR agency, just use your company to do great things.

Lessons haven't been learnt from the music industry

2007-08-28T21:21:00.001+01:00

I can't watch the latest Arsenal goals on YouTube anymore. The Premier League has teamed up with NetResult to stop users posting their favourite football clips. I can still watch them on plenty of other video sites though, so that's OK. It's only YouTube and the Premier League losing out.

The problem is the same as the response of most media to change, fighting against it. But you cannot fight change. The genie is out of the bottle. You can't uninvent technology and you can't make the public forget that it's possible to watch football clips on the internet anymore than it's possible to download music from it. The music industry learnt this the hard way. Rather than trying to pioneer online downloads, record companies spent millions on lawsuits trying to shut the sharing networks down. It cost them millions, perhaps billions, and allowed Apple to slip in and dominate the industry.

So why when there's a huge number of people WANTING to watch the Premier League online, would the Premier League decide to stop them? Why not go with the flow and embrace this change. Why not put good video clips on the Premier League site for everybody to see. Why not license the most talented YouTube contributors (and passionate football fans) to create online videos for the league. Why not copy Chelsea and establish a YouTube channel presence. More eyes seeing the Premier League's sponsors.

Are less people going to watch football games just because the clips might be posted on the internet? No. Watching a game, a game you care about, is a far different experience. The majority already know the score before they check out the clips. The clips are just great memories for passionate fans. Since Saturday Night Live sketches on YouTube increased viewer figures significantly, most USA TV networks have realised the benefits of letting people share and mix their content. The same is true of sports.

What change in your industry are you ignoring? Are you fighting it? Why not pioneer it? Change is not something to be afraid of, it's a time of exciting new opportunities.

Getting tourism clients onto the big screen

2007-08-27T13:19:00.000+01:00

Hogwarts or Gloucestershire Cathedral?
It turns out that attractions featured in films suddenly become more attractive. Who could've guessed?

It was a side project of mine at apt to get two tourist attraction clients featured as film locations. I didn't succeed, but I like to think i've increased their chances.

Unless you're a PR rep with Hollywood connections (in which case why aren't you doing something glitzy in Hollywood?) the most you can do is register your client as a film location with the array of various organisations. The local council/governing body is the obvious place to start. Find out what lists they offer to prospective filmmakers.

Then also go for the industry organisations such as Location Works. A long shot is also to approach a few film studios and find out what their location-hunting process looks like.

The biggest success I had was a response of "I don't think we'll be able to use [client] as a film backdrop, but it looks perfect for accomodation during filming".

Publicly naming bad PRs is the only way to make them take notice

2007-08-26T16:38:00.001+01:00

Why do so many PR and journalist bloggers criticise press releases and pitches they receive without naming the company?

What’s the point?

The only way that company is going to improve is if they know that they’re being criticised. The second these PRs are named is the second they’ll take serious steps to be better at what they do.

People don’t intentionally go out to do bad work, many simply don't realise they are doing something wrong. I’m going to use the latest posts at GettingInk as an example, but this could be applied to many more.

As for confidentiality, well, these PR agencies want this news out in the public sphere anyway right?

You can't take responsibility

2007-08-25T18:50:00.000+01:00

Here's a new rule, if you "take responsibility" for an error your company has made, you ARE responsible.

It beggars belief that "taking responsibility" is often seen as a noble act by a brave manager. Instead of what it is, a cowardly line embraced by managers who often have the audacity in their apology [excuse] to explain how, in fact, it wasn't their fault whatsoever.

Very soon the public will tire of this line, I know I have.

You're either responsible or you're not, you can't "take responsibility". Saying "I take responsibility [...] I should never have hired Mr. Scapegoat" still makes it entirely your fault. Not his.

I suggest in the future we only accept the line "I am responsible".

Incidentally look who takes up the first page of Google results for "I Take Responsibility".

Advertisers should use Facebook for its purpose

2007-08-21T11:27:00.000+01:00

It's bewildering that advertisers were 'shocked' when their Facebook adverts appeared next to undesirable groups (i.e. British National Party). Did they really not understand the advertising structure behind Facebook? Or the structure of Facebook itself?

These companies, such as Vodafone, are incompetent for not realising that their adverts can easily appear alongside a 'I hate Vodafone group'. New Media Age got a great scoop by using BNP as an example when many more less desirable groups could have sufficed. I would also suggest that the advertisers weren't shocked at all and only pulled the adverts to avoid showing support for the BNP.

Really though, every single penny spent on advertising through social networks should instead be spent boosting your own employees profiles on social networks and connecting with the influential people in your industry. But when advertising and PR departments/agencies have their own budgets, is this really likely to happen anytime soon?

Would you like to advertise on my house?

2007-08-11T19:28:00.000+01:00

If anybody fancies 'sponsoring' my student accomodation's £3500 gas & electricity bill please do let me know. We'll hang your company banner outside our house for the entire year (good advertising space, right opposite the regional Bowls championships and the student bus stop).

Also, if anyone can fathom why this bill dates back as far as 2004 (2 years before we came to the house), that might also be pretty handy.

How I Upgraded Myself

2007-08-10T13:24:00.000+01:00

I sat down on the flight with the most vacant expression I could muster, it was a blend of tiredness and boredom. It was an act of course. This was quite an exciting moment for me. This moment represented many hours spent cursing economy class flying and wishing I had the courage to walk on flights and sit in empty business class seats. I’ve heard from various sources who have ‘gotten away with it’ in the past, and it’s something I’ve always fancied attempting.

So when my flight began boarding, I bought a medium-sized cappuccino and waited. for almost everyone else to board the flight. Then I strolled on, walked through first class (I’d stand out amongst the suited crowd) and sat in the last of the four empty business class seats. When the first Stewardess walked past I asked for a copy of China Daily newspaper. Not because I wanted to read it, it was just to give the impression to the Stewardess that I was comfortable in Business Class and not trying to avoid eye-contact.

And that’s how I flew from Beijing to Paris in Business Class.

Anyhow, I’m back in Cheltenham for a few weeks before heading out to Lithuania. So once I catch up on a little sleeping and plenty of reading, I should be blogging about PR again.

Immodium, Pollution and the Silk Market in Beijing

2007-07-31T11:02:00.000+01:00

So i'm now in my second week of learning Mandarin in Beijing. It's coming along well, by no means will I be anywhere near fluent by the end of this 3 week shindig, but I should finally be capable of asking for Immodium without resorting to visual depictions. This is especially handy when the only English label of any container in the pharmacy read "Lamb Placenta".

The food here is becoming a problem, it's too cheap, nice and greasy. A most lethal combination. I'm bulking up quite nicely. Exercise of any sort is difficult too, Beijing is usually covered in a thick smog which keeps the heat in and makes it hard to breathe. It was not until today that we finally saw the sun through the smog for the first time. The shockingly visual level of pollution has surprised me most. You can see it nearly all the time. Sometimes the smog is so thick that it's impossible to see buildings just 100m down the road.

Yesterday a few of us went into the infamous 'silk market' as tepid negotiating amateurs, and emerged hard-nose vultures. Truthfully, the naivety of some of the students here amazes me. I hear frequent comments like "I negotiated these [fake] Nike Trainers from over 1000 Yuan down to 100!". No-one seems overly concerned they're still only worth 20 so long as they negotiated a great deal.

I think it's arrogant to feel smarter than those selling in the silk market. I assume that anyone that spends nearly every waking hour of nearly every day negotiating with westerners looking for good deals on fake clothes is going to sell at whatever they price they like. Generally, if you want to pay 50 Yuan for trainers you will only pay 50 Yuan for trainers, but you'll have to stand there and banter for about fifteen minutes as the seller very gradually reduces the price. This is the concept that they all get, they bargain their prices against the resource Westerners care about a lot.

Of course to get that price you'll have to endure flirtation, insults, and perhaps begging. It can be tricky to pursue lower prices when you're told "but I have to eat tonight".

It was tricky getting back from the silk market last night. Our return coincided with the biggest storm Beijing has seen in a few months. When we tried to get a taxi back to the hotel we were told by shrewd economist taxi drivers "No meter! 200 Yuan". The same taxi back usually costs 15 Yuan (roughly 1 pound). So we decided to sit down under some shelter and get a coffee...

Sitting Down: 100 Yuan.

I can only speculate how much prices will rise during next year's Olympic games.

Ni Hao!

2007-07-25T05:11:00.000+01:00

'Ni Hao' my flooded and not so flooded friends back in the UK.

Things are progessing quickly here in Beijing, we've now started 5 hours of very intensive Mandarin classes a day. Given the limited time available, it's tricky for the teachers to keep students from such a wide variety of Universities (which induct students upon academic gifts) to keep going at such a speed.

I'm finding Mandarin a healthy challenge, my mouth and tongue need to combine to make sounds i've never had to make before. So it's never dull.

I've also been given my Chinese name. Mi Rui Cheng "Lucky Success"

I'm guessing "Top Gun" was taken.

Living a dream, just 16 years too late...

2007-07-23T03:21:00.000+01:00

It's 12:56pm and our coach back to the hotel leaves in just 4 minutes. I'm standing at the highest point of the Great Wall of China (which, as far as walls go, isn't too shabby).

There is simply no way we can make it back to the coach in time. Or so we believed until we stumbled upon a beautiful construction of infant dreams. Amongst their greatest wisdom the Chinese had seen fit to build a humongous slide all the way to the bottom.

Barring an Olympian-sized scalectrix-track around the great wall (which judging by this huge slide might be a faint possibility), this is as happy as tiny tots and 'big kids' like myself can be.

What a ride, the slide took approximately 3 minutes to get from the top to the bottom. How perfect is that?

Pity about the 30-minute queue though.

I'm in Beijing, China

2007-07-20T16:39:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone.

Just a quick note to say that i'm in China until August 10th. So don't expect too much blogging here. Oddly enough I can make posts, but can't view my own blog. Censorship perhaps?

I'll be spending these three weeks learning Mandarin thanks to a funding program from DfES.

So far, i've been very impressed with this city.

Wish I could write more but this cafe is closing soon.

Bye!

Will PR move in on Digital Biography territory

2007-07-16T23:11:00.001+01:00

I spotted a piece on BBC News about the quickly evolving profession of Digital Biographers. These are people who undertake, say, Social Networking on behalf of a busy person. Generally, such people are needed when a busy-business type recognises the potential benefits, or even necessity of social media, but can't find the extra hour or 3 a day to get involved themselves.

So they hire others to do it for them. It's not new, politicians and even some celebs must have been doing it for a long time now. It's just now spreading into the business world in a way which could see PR agencies moving in and offering digital biography as a service to clients.

Here's a quote:

"People expect me to have a profile on all the social networks - Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn," he explains. "I've got 12,000 connections on LinkedIn, 8,000 on Ecademy and now 500 on Facebook.

"I get up to 500 messages a day on the networks - and that's before my e-mail. It is very time-consuming, so I have to outsource it."

Ethically, it's going to split people. However, it's hypocritical to be in favour of any form of ghost-writing and not in favour of ghost-blogging or ghost-anything. Whether this will ever be called digital biography is unlikely.

David Petherick charges £369 just to carry out what he calls a "profile makeover" but there is no shortage of demand.

Public Relations? Really?

2007-07-16T19:58:00.000+01:00

How many people working in PR ever physically speak to any members of the publics they're trying to influence?

How can PR teams respond to bomb threats?

2007-07-15T02:10:00.000+01:00

The Tesco PR team have got a curveball to deal with at the moment.

Someone has been calling in bomb threats to Tescos stores.

Naturally, Tesco evacuated all stores and alerted the police. Presently it is thought that these calls did not originate from extremist groups, but more likely disgruntled stakeholders.

So how do you work that story? How do you convince your customers that your stores are safe, and explain why someone is so upset with Tescos they would go as far as phoning in bomb threats that cost the company millions of pounds.

Perhaps, speculatively, how would you handle the issue if it had been from an extremist groups, if terrorists did begin targeting the UK's largest employer. How could you possibly convince the public that your cheap prices are worth customers risking their lives?

Why I used to write rubbish press releases

2007-07-13T11:41:00.000+01:00

The first few press releases I ever wrote, were terrible. They were filled with superlatives, one actually used the phrase "the uk's leading...", and they contained plenty of industry jargon. The problem was that I really wanted to write good press releases and hit the ground running at my placement.

So before I started my PR placement, I read about 20 or so press releases from the PR Newswire service. I noted how they were written, the tone they adopted, the similarities and common phrases amongst them.

In short, I picked up a bad habit by studying press releases. My error was to assume that the majority of the industry would be good at writing press releases. One of my first posts here was on this very topic.

I got better, quickly, largely thanks to advice on PR blogs, notably Richard Bailey, Matthew Stibble, Copy Blogger and BadPitch Blog.

It's natural then that people come into PR with a view that press releases ought to be dull, corp-speak. Which means that I really shouldn't be surprised that PRs and journos are slamming press releases again. GettingInk has written two highly readable posts about headlines in press releases. Meanwhile Stephen Waddington has actually got an intern to count common words in 150 press releases. 68 from 150 releases used the word 'best', many had a headline longer than 30 words.

Have to pity the poor intern given that task though.

Some ammunition for PR pros to suggest social media campaigns to clients

2007-07-12T13:33:00.000+01:00

David Wilson has blogged about a Social Media expirement where someone was paid $10 an hour to undertake social media work for an entire year. This person brought in 93,207 hits over the course of a year, whereas Google Adwords brought in 2,057 visitors.

In summary, Social Media Optimisation visitors cost $0.04 each, compared with the $61 from Adwords.

Pretty nice figures huh?

So why is this important?

This is important because it gives PR agencies some ammunition to suggest social media campaigns to clients. Rather asking for retainer fees in exchange for press releases, fire-fighting, feature pitches, it could instead be a retainer for engaging with communities to bring traffic to a website. That's even a measurable result, something that most PR isn't.

It also demonstrates that there is a growing market for people who know to get engage in online communities. Is this a market for PR? For marketers? For a new breed of community managers?

Read David's post, it's important.

Your dream PR agency

2007-07-10T12:22:00.000+01:00

I've recently finished reading Seth Godin's Purple Cow. By no means a new book, but one that's been sitting on my shelf now for a good six months. I'd recommend anyone on a marketing-related degree to read.

It's got me thinking, how could you create a Purple Cow PR agency? Here in Cheltenham for example, there are plenty of PR agencies that try to stand out by being regional, and in doing so they blend perfectly with every other agency.

So think, if you owned your own company and had to design your dream PR agency for your business, what would it be like? Here are a few ideas:

Charged by hits achieved, not by the hours spent "developing relationships with journalists".
Your work was only handled by senior staff members
Offered plenty of free advice and ideas to improve the public image of your business
Could easily introduce you to key contacts (both journalists and WOM advocates) within your specific industry
Agency members were respected figures within your industry

Any other ideas?

The World's Leading Competition

2007-07-09T15:38:00.000+01:00

One of my biggest fans, TWL, is holding a competition in association with Edelman.

"Competition entry requirements could not be simpler. We’re after essays of up to 600 words on the future of the UK PR industry and, specifically, the role that PR will play in the world of social networks, user-generated content and all things online.

Take as wide or as narrow a view as you’d like; sector-specific or general; conservative or entirely outlandish; serious or, umm, not so. There are two categories: one for those of you aged 27 or under and one for everyone else. The only other rule is that you must be working in PR (agency, in-house or freelance) or a student of PR. That’s it.

Well, almost. The deadline for your entries is August 31st 2007."

Sounds like a good opportunity for a young PR pro to get noticed by one of the world's biggest PR agencies.

What would you like my dissertation to be about?

2007-07-09T14:00:00.000+01:00

My University results came out today:

A - Press and Publicity
A - International Marketing
A - Research Methods
B - Marketing Communications

..and i'm disappointed.

But only because my Marketing Comms was a hideous 1% from being an A. I scored 80% on the coursework and foundered upon the exams. It's always the revision that gets me, I just can't face the prospect of re-reading the same units of text until they're engraved to memory. The problem is that memorising Kanter's six corporate PR principles isn't about to make me any better at PR. But then the PR degree debate belongs elsewhere.

Anyhow, it's a good semester and puts me on course for a First degree.

Time to think about the dissertation

Now I'm searching for a dissertation topic. It can be almost anything within the field of Marketing. Social media would be an obvious choice, or at least a niche within social media. But i'm open to any suggestions.

So, dearest readers, is there anything in social media that needs exploring over the next 8 months?

Learning quickly and earning quickly

2007-06-30T21:01:00.000+01:00

I'm rapidly learning that mastering new technologies for marketing purposes is the easiest way to get freelance work at my age.

I can't believe that University doesn't teach any of this, nor why so many students aim so low when looking for part-time jobs.

Timothy Ferriss: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9 - 5, Live Anywhere, And Join the New Rich

2007-06-28T13:25:00.000+01:00

Tim is a clever marketer and has fully managed to get the blogosphere buzzing about this book. It's easy to see why, it tells people what they want to hear. That working less, earning more and living a satisfying life IS possible.

This book bills itself as a step-by-step guide to luxury lifestyle design. Luxury lifestyle design is about sitting down and deciding what you want from life. Tim wants to travel, learn languages and fight at a competitive level. From these early decisions you work out how much it will cost, in terms of cash flow. Then you set about finding ways to earn that money.

In short, you don’t need to be a millionaire to live the millionaire lifestyle. You just need to know what you want, and then begin setting step by step goals to getting that. Because by the time you’ve retired, it’s too late.

The Good

This is a very resourceful book. It inspires the idea and belief that people don’t have to be a slave to 9 till 5 labour. It offers alternative and innovative ways of saving money, thinking what you want from life, and getting more work done. The chapters on liberation from the office environment might also work for a lucky few.

For those willing to start their own company this book offers great advice. How to cut corners, source products, test products, marketing, advertising and much more.

It’s also packed with practical and almost instantly applicable advice. For busy managers it could easily save them a lot of time simply by applying the 80/20 rule and considering Parkingson’s law.

The Bad

The argument is suspect. Tim’s own company, Bodyquicken, has a very suspect website and it’s not such great PR for his company, especially the “how to be an expert in 4-weeks” chapter. Also, this book makes several assumptions through Tim’s own perspective. For example, this book presumes that people aren’t content and happy with their current jobs and arrangements. It assumes that everybody reading the book wants to work less, travel more and have “mini-retirements”. The whole purpose of the book is related to achieving those aims. Those that enjoy their jobs and like the social and challenging environments the workplace can create will find this book rather redundant.

Also the world could have lived without Tim’s interpretation of the Meaning of Life. Especially pg284 – 285 where he claims to have received an enlightening e-mail poem written by a terminally ill girl in a New York hospital, titled “Slow Dance”. I hope David Weatherford (who did write the poem) doesn’t press copyright charges.

Worth buying?

This is still a book worth reading, not for the philosophy and overall message of the book, but for the giblets of time-saving ideas and resources Tim offers.

A recruitment video that makes great PR

2007-06-26T21:47:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine at Justgiving pointed this out to me. I've never wanted to work for a company so badly.

Great PR for Connected Ventures and they have no shortage of people offering to work for them. You do kind of wonder who's running the place mind.

Kudos: nfp 2.0.

Early Summer PR debates

2007-06-26T13:34:00.000+01:00

I love summer. For students it usually means getting a 9 - 5 retail job and saving up some money for the next semester. I’m fortunate that I work on writing/marketing/entrepreneurial projects from my bedroom in my own time. So find myself with more freedom to pursue my own interests. As previously mentioned, I’m not doing a lot of PR work, so I’m bloggging less. However there has been some interesting PR-related posts in the past few weeks.

Copyblogger - Do you believe in what you're selling?
Roberta Rosenburg discusses if copywriters need to believe in what they're selling. Very relevant to PR. Do PR execs need to believe in their products? What if you don't? Personally i've always felt it is the responsibility of those above me to make ME believe in the product before I try to make others believe.
The Future of PR is Participation, Not Pitching
Steve Rubel outlines the future for PR execs. Perhaps the best advice from this is to pick an industry you want to work in, and begin participating within that community BEFORE you enter PR. Build up your own blog within that industry, network in it, participate on the bloggers of others. This will give you significant leverage when you apply for a job.
The brand that saved baseball
Seth Godin: change the rules of sponsorship, and you will find better sponsorship opportunities.
A Manifesto for the 21st Century Public Relations Firm
Grab a coffee, turn off the PC, get comfy and give this a read.
Duct Tape Marketing - My Daughters Are So Pissed
Facebook offers so much potential to small business marketers.
Scanning
Stephen Davis, now up the M1, makes some observations I couldn't agree more with. So many bloggers are blogging so often to become experts in their field. This makes it ever more difficult to keep up. Expect more niches to appear.

Pick the right week for your client

2007-06-20T19:16:00.000+01:00

Did you know that it is National Microchipping month? National Microchipping Month is organised by the Kennel Club to "Highlight the importance of microchipping as a means of permanent identification and ensuring customers details are up to date in the holiday season". A most noble goal indeed. One might dubiously suggest that this event could be an ideal opportunity to promote their own microchipping products.

Sadly National Microchipping month is battling hard for attention, it is also Everyman Male Cancer Awareness Month and First Feet for Animals Month. And these are just the organisations battling for June as a month. When you look at this week the competition for our attention becomes even more fierce.

This week is Homeopathy Awareness Week, Architecture Week, Motor Neurone Disease Awareness Week, Bike Week, National Childminding Week, Learning Disability Week, Mad Hatter's Week, Refugee Week and Child Safety Week. That's a fair few organisations that have staked a claim on this week.

Perhaps just aiming to conquer a single day is the best to get attention, it's only World Refugee Day Today.

There are three points to make about all this.

1) It is very useful to stay abreast of upcoming events, even those organised by other organisations. Journalists are far more inclined to write about your Childminding products during childminding week. It is a way of making untopical clients, suddenly topical. I used to get some good hits through this.

2) Is it worthwhile making your own week? If your client sells burglar alarms is it worthwhile to suddenly create "Home Safety Awareness Week" or "Burglar Alarm week"? Consider who else is staking claim to your week.

3) Is the mass number of weeks claimed by so many different organisations making all these events and weeks a little redundant?

Note: Count Me In offers a good comprehensive list of events.

I'm going to spend three weeks in Beijing

2007-06-20T01:28:00.000+01:00

This is a great way to celebrate my 200th blog post. I've won a place to study in Beijing for three weeks this summer. Over 1200 people applied for 200 DfES funded places, so i'm quite pleased to be going.

The classes will take place for either one morning or afternoon a day at Beijing Normal University, with the rest of the time given to optional activities (Tai Ji, Calligraphy, cultural trips) or pursuing our own interests. I will thus be away from July 18 to August 9th, so don't expect too much blogging during this time.
I'm hoping, aside from the obvious perks of this trip of meeting new people and exploring new cultures, that this really is a well taught course to helping us to make the most of a great opportunity.

The timings are tight. I have until Monday to send through confirmation that I have booked the tickets, and then less than a month to sort out VISAs, vaccinations and other arrangements. So two busy months ahead.

Getting caught spinning discs

2007-06-19T01:07:00.000+01:00

Noticed this quote:

"Just one week ago the North American HD DVD Promotional Group issued a media release broadcasting that HD DVD "HD DVD is significantly ahead in the dedicated consumer electronics player market with 60% of all high definition set-top players sold." However, the announcement that the Blockbuster video store chain will stock only Blu-ray titles in its remaining 1200 stores after an initial 500-store trial exposes HD DVD spin for what it is."

Why lie? Consumers are much smarter than those in these marketing/PR professions give them credit for. When do we cross the line from being a savvy consumer to snobby marketers?

Bud.TV

2007-06-14T13:18:00.001+01:00

Why do beer companies usually get it so right?

Generation Y: Time to get some satisfaction

2007-06-13T14:05:00.000+01:00

If I wanted to read a book telling me everything I wanted to hear, I would read Brazen Careerist. After writing about Penelope Trunk last month I dropped her an e-mail asking if she had any review copies going spare. This is the review.

I still can’t make my mind up about it. It’s either a dangerous book telling me to do everything I want because “Generation Y has changed the rules” or it’s the most essential career advice I’ve ever come across. I’m going to assume the latter, but I’m biased.

Essentially this is street-smart 21st century career advice, most of the stuff that Universities wont tell you. The key theme of the book is that us generation Y types aren't as concerned about money as us parents. Money, is important, only to ensuring we can meet life’s necessities, after that we need to pursue career and life satisfaction, and this comes in many different ways.

This book is divided into 45 easily digestible chunks of advice, each lasting roughly 3 pages. My favourite three chapters of the book are those on Starting Your Own Business, Don't Be the Hardest Worker and Getting a Promotion Is So Last Century. Largely because these are the three that might best apply to me. Which brings me to a big praise of the Brazen Careerist. What this book nails down, more impressively than anything else I’ve come across, is exactly what I WANT TO DO.

Put the job hunt on hold to travel? Hell yes!
Start my own company in my 20s? Sounds great!
Change jobs 8 times before I’m 30? Sure, why not

There is also some dick-dastardly controversial stuff here. The sexual harassment sections will spark a fair bit of debate. In fact, i'm suspicious that the whole chapter on sexual harassment is rather irrelevant and only included for the purposes of courting publicity for the book, especially targeting female readers.

This book has two other minor drawbacks. The first, is that it is naturally targeted towards American readers, not just by language, but some of the advice is not directly transferable to UK readers. The second is that there is that it is highly critical of the career opportunities available to those working for in internal PR for large corporations. Penelope might well be right, but I couldn't write a review for a PR blog without mentioning it.

I have read a fair few business books so far this year, none though are as directly applicable to my life as the Brazen Careerist.

Also check out Penelope's career blog.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PR PLACE!

2007-06-07T21:04:00.000+01:00

Happy birthday dear blog.

This blog is now one year old and is very unlikely to last another year. Primarily because Blogger is inexcusably rubbish for what I want to do with a blog, so I'll be moving this over to my typepad account. And also, because PR is too broad a topic for a blog these days. Thus in the near future I'm going to launch a "marketing to students' blog. I might keep this blog going, but certainly nowhere near the volume of posts seen in my first year.

Looking over how some other bloggers have commemorated their first year of blogging, it’s common practice to highlight your favourite 5 – 10 posts. How cliché. Instead I’m going to highlight what I believe are my five worst posts. It certainly hasn't been easy, there have been some wonderful stinkers. However after a careful consultation process, I've narrowed it down to these five.

The insomniacs playground
A rather pointless debate about insomnia which began nowhere, went nowhere and finished nowhere.
Agency life
A post that manages to make the rather exciting experience of working in a regional PR agency, sound suicidally dull.
Automatic, systematic, hydromatic
An utterly unfunny account about my life which concluded by mocking a client. Dumb.
'English' English in Lithuania
I succeed in upsetting the inhabitants of my girlfriend's home country. Dumber.
Clients should be getting more for their money
I make a lot of women (and TWL) very angry by suggesting PR has been eroded by feminism. An unemployably silly post.

London 2012 Olympics logo

2007-06-04T21:25:00.001+01:00

This is the new £400k London 2012 Olympics logo unveiled by Sebastian Cole today.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said: "This is a truly innovative brand logo that graphically captures the essence of the London 2012 Olympic Games - namely to inspire young people around the world through sport and the Olympic values."

These are a few of the logos designed in less than two hours by BBC News readers.

What would you pick?

Too much pressure on big agency execs?

2007-06-03T14:12:00.000+01:00

Getting Ink notes this poor use of e-mail from a big tech PR agency.

So, this hack has started receiving calls from one or two of the bigger tech agencies saying: "I noticed you deleted that email without reading it. Can I ask why?"

[...]I can well understand the temptation to call some muppet journalist who has missed the story of the Century by deleting your precious press release - but is this really likely to increase the chances of getting coverage? Is it going to further your relationship with the publication? Thought not.

Why do we continue to misuse all the tools we're given?

I would guess that the PR types from big agencies which make these calls are under a great deal of pressure to follow up every press release they send out and produce a report detailing if it was used (and it's publication date), or why it wasn't used. Putting "press release was deleted before it was read" doesn't make for a good report.

Is the pressure on execs in larger agencies really so great that they need to ignore their instincts and make these calls?

McCanns appoint PR advisor to find missing daughter

2007-06-03T13:43:00.000+01:00

It has been revealed that Kate and Gerry McCann will appoint a paid advisor in preparation for an "advanced publicity strategy" to find missing Madeleine.

For those outside the UK or unfamiliar with the story, Madeleine McCann vanished from a Portuguese villa (presumably taken) on the 3rd May 2007 whilst her parents ate at a nearby restaurant. This abduction has since received widespread publicity including a call for donations which has raised £400,000. The paid advisor will be paid from the £400,000 donated by the McCanns by the public across Europe.

There are a lot of issues here. Plenty of children are abducted every day, but why don't they receive similar publicity? Why is a fund needed, aren't the police forced to do this anyway? When do the McCanns awareness visits through Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Morocco etc soon going to be perceived as free holidays? Is this publicity having an adverse effect? If she's still alive it certainly limits the options open to her captor(s).

Regardless, the biggest problem facing this publicity advisor is that there is very little news coming from the investigation. For the first three weeks the McCanns were able to gain publicity purely by stating how upset they were or saying they were "encouraged" by any new development. Now the attention is dying down.

So without developments in the investigation the publicity manager is going to have the job on their hands to create new story angles and generate publicity. It's not going to be easy. At the same time the publicity manager also needs to continue raising donations so s/he can continue to be paid.

Is this laying the groundwork for future police investigations? Whereby rather than relying upon the police, the victims turn to PR managers to get what they want?

Consider it, someone steals your car, rather than relying on the police you embark on a PR campaign to find the culprit. As Philip Young noted a while back, we are setting a dangerous precedent for ourselves.

Offending sensibilities as a PR tactic

2007-06-02T13:22:00.000+01:00

Most might have already heard about this reality TV show in the Netherlands. The premise of the show is that a terminally ill female patient has to choose between three people who to give her kidney to.

It's shocking, outrageous, and a frightening glimpse of the ethics-shirking direction that reality TV is taking. But the show creators had a twist (no, she wasn't born a man).

Just as the terminally ill lady was about to announce her decision, the presenter revealed that she was an actress, and that the three involved really do need a kidney donation and were aware of this from a start. The show was to highlight the number of people in the Netherlands which need organ donations to survive.

Personally, if they wanted to draw as much attention to the issue as possible, they have succeeded admirably. It's an idea that is reflective of society, mocking of reality TV attention, and drew comments from the highest echelons of the nation's government. They turned disgust at the show and contemporary culture into a huge PR coup in seconds - and I bet they did it with the night's highest television ratings too.

Ethically, it's rocky ground. Do the ends justify the means? Can you trample over people's sensitivities for a 'good' cause? If I'm putting my opinion on the block, then I think yes. I think this is a very valid attempt to get your 'good cause' message out there in a very noisy market.

Expensive press stunts are a waste of money

2007-06-01T23:45:00.000+01:00

I think that expensive press stunts are a waste of money which could be better spent on other PR activities. Whilst the quantity of coverage can be extensive, the type and quality of the coverage of poor. I'm riffing a bit on what TWL covered a few weeks back here.

Here’s my case study. Some time ago I reported about a PR pro from who was accompanying Rod Baber on his trip up Mount Everest to make the world’s highest mobile phone call. This was a PR stunt by Edelman for Motorola.

I can’t begin to fathom how resource intensive this trip must have been. But did Motorola really benefit from it?

Chances are that Edelman can show their client a lovely selection of cuttings in many major media outlets. Certainly Justin seems more than satisfied. But of those cuttings how many mention Motorola in a substantial light?

Looking at some of the online news articles now, I see that some publications haven’t mentioned Motorola at all when covering the story. Baber, probably advised by the client, was even smart enough to mention Motorola within the text message: “One small text for man, one giant leap for mobilekind - thanks Motorola”

In some cases this stunt has generated negative publicity, emphasizing the distressed caused by people taking mobile phones everywhere.

Daily Telegraph - Is this really the type of coverage Motorola need?
The Times - does this coverage really help increase sales? Note: Look at second comment – genius.
Daily Mail - Mentions of Motorola, but is it in the manner that is really going to make me buy a Motorola phone?
BBC News - Two mentions of Motorola, was it worth it?
ABC News - extra kudos here for deliberately omitting the Motorola part of the text message.
The Sun

Disclaimer: Just noticed that Rod Baber is quite local to me and runs a company called Head 4 Heights – which is a competitor to a former apt client.

Why is May a lot like Christmas?

2007-05-27T20:47:00.000+01:00

It feels a lot like Christmas for me at the moment. Well, this past Christmas anyhow. I'm snowed under with work. Only rather than co-ordinating press invites and convincing media reps that there's more to Christmas parties than a free bar, I'm finishing up my final two assignments and looking forward to exams.

The first assignment is a 4,000 word research methods project on how event managers can adopt new information and communication technologies within their marketing strategies. The aim of the module is to prepare me for my dissertation next year (see below).

The second assignment is to create a press pack on a company of my choosing (real or imaginary) for my press and publicity module. The press pack must contain four inserts (again of my choice) and front-cover artwork. I completed this assignment in a single afternoon. Which, unfortunately, isn't as boastful as it sounds. The assignment brief was extremely vague giving far too much leeway for the whole class to create companies with fab news stories requiring little research. One member of the class invented a company that has created the world's first time machine...

Blogging to recommence tomorrow.

Small agencies - the joy of being a big cog in a small wheel

2007-05-21T21:58:00.000+01:00

As i've recently mentioned, this time next year I’ll be seeking employment. I’m an ambitious, city-loving, type and will probably be heading back towards London (or hopefully abroad - opportunity permitting). I might apply to several of the bigger agencies and hope to work with some of the most creative minds in the country. However given my background I worry this could prove an extremely frustrating experience.

First, my background is with apt marketing & pr, a regional PR agency based here in Cheltenham. I loved working at apt marketing & pr. With a smaller number of staff I know I made a difference. At any one time I had between 5 – 12 clients for whom I was responsible and worked on everything from getting hits through to new business strategy and implementing a heavy social-media element to the business. I loved the freedom and opportunities offered at apt marketing & pr (and the agency’s not-insignificant steps to nurture me and accommodate my more hair-brained ideas helped considerably too).

Is it better to be a big cog in a small wheel? Or a small cog in a big wheel?

Would I get this at a large PR agency? Or would I suddenly find myself limited in what tasks I could undertake? Would it be endless media clippings? Or tirelessly re-writing press releases to pass through the law department? Would I find myself given a story angle to push through? Or a distribution list to follow up?

Long term working my way up at a larger agency offers the best opportunities. Working with the best in the country is an exciting prospect, but the time, energy and perhaps frustration of getting there be more of a short-term sacrifice than I’m willing to make.

Is PR a bad career choice for introverts?

2007-05-19T14:08:00.000+01:00

Introverted people, like me, are quieter than our extrovert counterparts. We’re more reserved, we don’t waste our words, and we prefer socialising amongst smaller groups of people. We’re certainly not an asocial bunch, we like talking to people, but we’re just as happy to sit back and listen to the conversation amongst others in big groups.

Given these character traits should we be working in an industry that demands non-stop communication between a range of parties? An industry where we might also be required to entertain and educate sizable groups journalists and cold-call media with suspect news stories. Is this really the right career for introverts?

These tasks seem naturally suited to outgoing extroverts who spend much more of their time communicating in larger groups and are more comfortable speedily cultivating friendships with strangers.

So what do introverts have to offer public relations?

Speaking personally (and certainly not encompassing all introverts) I make sure I’m someone that people can trust to give them what they need. Rather than building great relationships through being extrovertly friendly, I cultivate relationships through being reliable and trying to exceed expectations on the work I provide. So perhaps a key difference is that introverts and extroverts build relationships in different ways.

I generally also spend longer on my written communication. I believe that every e-mail pitch or press release is good enough for its recipient to use and I don’t try to push through weak stories. Nor do I rely upon follow up calls (I avoid these unless absolutely necessary).

I’m biased towards introverts, I can’t hide that. So, any reading extroverts, let me know what you think.

A rare glance towards my future

2007-05-15T22:41:00.000+01:00

Like many students, I occasionally give some thought to my future.

Generally, by this time next year, I hope to have some idea how I'm going to be happy in my life after University. This means answering some important questions. E.g. What do I want to do to earn money? What city/country do I want to work? Do I want to work for a big or small company? What lifestyle do I want? Should I take a post-grad course?

At times I do feel sucked or nudged down a career path beyond my control. So it is with some of these questions in mind that I ask others in my position to read Guy Kawsaki's Ten Questions With Penelope Trunk. I've picked out my two favourite answers below:

Question: How much money does it take to be happy?

Answer: It takes about $40,000. It does not matter how many kids you have or what city you live in—that’s splitting hairs because peoples’ happiness levels are largely based on their level of optimism and the quality of their relationships. So as long as you have enough money for food and shelter, your optimism level kicks in to dictate how happy you are.

Question: Will getting an MBA or any other type of advanced degree be a good use of time and money since I can’t find a job?

Answer: No. If you can’t find a job, then you should invest in something like better grooming, or a better resume, or a coach for poor social skills. These are the things that keep people from getting jobs. Instead of running back to school, figure out why you can’t get a job, because maybe it’s something that a degree can’t overcome.

It's through this interview I've also discovered Penelope Trunk's fantastic career blog. Give both a read.

Two press releases for a pound?

2007-05-10T10:55:00.000+01:00

This is just the sort of thing that could anger PR bloggers.

But it shouldn't, it's just sort of amusing really. This is a chain of PR stores in the USA. Tom Murphy adds:

"For example under the category: “Press Releases” (ahem) they detail their PR services:
Read-All-About-It! Press Release™
Profile Feature Article™
Informer Press Kits™
MAXimum Impact Article Reprints™
OP-ED It! Editorial Articles™

The trademarks are all theirs"

Via Jeremiah

Does being from a PR agency hurt your chances of getting coverage?

2007-05-10T01:31:00.000+01:00

PR, ironically, has a bad reputation. Our reputation is especially bad amongst journalists. Us PR types are famed for spamming journalists, interrupting them on deadline, and generally being the creators of poorly-written, irrelevant, releases who wouldn't hesitate to lie to a journalist or buy them lunch to secure some coverage.

So I've often wondered if e-mails, phone calls and press releases would gain more coverage if they appeared to come from the clients, rather than evil PR agencies. Any thoughts?

For example then, would a pleasant phone call from Great Country Hotels MD with some news about an upcoming event or offer be more effective than a PR exec beginning "Hi it's [Name] from [Agency] phoning with some news about Great Country Hotels...

Likewise is an e-mail from the client's address going to be more effective than from a marketing or PR agency address?

Dirty PR tricks create suspicious minds

2007-05-08T00:40:00.000+01:00

Chris Clarke discusses an attempt by a "very large PR firm" to solicit confidential information about an event his agency is putting together.

"I just got a phone call from someone asking for information on an event we help organize and put on nationally for one of our clients. I didn’t have the answer, so I passed it along to someone in the office who did. An hour later that person walks into my office and tells me that the person who was on the phone was from a very large PR firm who represent one of our client’s competitors. They were calling us to see if they might get us to give up information in order for their client to benefit from our blunder."

Like Chris, if someone asks me simple questions about an event I'm helping to organise I would try to be as helpful as possible. But then like other young PR pros I'm less cynical and more trusting in human good nature.

This isn't restricted to murky waters of public relations neither. It's an issue for all young professionals entering an office (or many other) environments. We're a vulnerable breed who will continually be duped by any trick not described in text books. Hopefully, so long as we never get stung by the same trick twice, we should be OK.

Sadly that still means we're going to fall for them all the first time around.

Expert PR observations are usually nothing of the sort

2007-05-07T15:59:00.000+01:00

Peter Himler touched upon a slightly comical topic about Paris Hilton's stint in jail (AKA. The Simple Life - prison special). Peter noted that expert PR observations usually offer nothing more than what we knew anyway. Generally, it doesn't take Max Clifford to state that if a politician gets mugged whilst walking through an area known for homosexual activity, it's going to "hurt his reputation".

PR isn't alone here, take the ex-sport stars come guest commentators who insist on making comments like "they'll want to win this game" or "it's vital they make a good start here".

My all time favourite was on the final of the UK's Survivor two years ago. The previous year's winner was asked the implications when one of the two current finalists was given a notepad and pen to practice her final speech and the other was not. She thought for a moment and then explained: "it means she'll be able to write things down".

The PR pro who went up a mountain...and will hopefully come down again

2007-05-07T11:12:00.000+01:00

This is the most extreme press trip i've ever heard of. Edelman's Justin Westcott is trekking 6,400m up Mount Everest. He says:

"The press trip is in support of Motorola (the client) and its sponsorship of Rod Baber to climb to the summit of Everest and set two world records (highest land based mobile call and text). I’m obviously not going to the top but planning to get up to ABC which sits at a nose bleed enduing 6,400m. But give a thought to Rod who is hoping to make it to 8848m."

If you know of any tougher press trips than this, let me know. Good luck to Justin.

Via Drew B.

How to use case studies in PR

2007-05-06T12:36:00.000+01:00

Matthew Stibbe has a great piece about writing case studies. PRs should give it a read.

Having written a few case studies last year I can't stress enough how important it is NOT TO FOCUS ON THE PRODUCT. Focus on the issue, focus on the controversy and the tension in your story. If there isn't much controversy or suspense then don't write a case study.

Matthew nails it when he states that case studies need to be written as something people want to read.

The other issue is that now there are many alternatives to written case studies. The podcast/youtube age gives everyone the opportunity and ability to broadcast to the world. Video case studies could be an especially powerful tool when embedded within a company website.

I've been hired

2007-05-04T13:20:00.000+01:00

I've been quietly busy since I arrived back from Morocco.

It's because I've recently been hired by a Birmingham company in the PC gaming sector to undertake a large social media project. It's got huge potential, pays more than enough to cover Uni expenses and means I now have a client of my own.

Don't worry, I still work freelance for apt marketing & pr, it just means I can sleep more comfortably at night...on very expensive bedsheets.

So, it's all rather exciting.

I'll talk more about this in a few days.

Did we accept the views of Terrorists too easily?

2007-05-01T17:38:00.000+01:00

It’s worrying when you see familiar locations or even familiar people on the news. Not famous locations or famous people, but, for example, your former school, or Tilgate Park (about 5 minutes away, where you played on many occaisions), or classmates convicted for plotting terrorist attacks in the UK.

I’ve just been talking to my brother about the convictions of five men convicted of plotting to use fertiliser to blow up various locations. My brother and I have a keen in the story, we went to school with two of the convicted and the acquitted.

This isn’t the first time my hometown of Crawley, nor my secondary school (and six form) has made the news on this debate. It’s just something I need to get off my mind at the moment.

Hazelwick School has stated what normal boys they were and how they had no indication that they would be drawn into such extremism. I don’t believe this is strictly true. Both prior to and subsequently following the September 11 attacks I recall many debates where Muslim class members said they supported what Bin Laden had done. They were glad that the fight had finally been taken onto American soil. In a debate discussing our role models, some even said Bin Laden.

The reaction of the rest of the class, including the teacher, was acceptance. We were proud in our school to accept the views and opinions of other people. How much has that changed I wonder? Any pupil who today claimed to support Bin Laden (especially in Hazelwick School) would attract a great deal of interest and attention. Would anyone really be able to treat a Bin Laden supporter without wondering if he might be plotting to blow up the school? What would the parents do if they were told a pupil at the school had such views? It would get very messy I suspect.

What was great about Hazelwick School, given its wide cultural diversity, was how well we all got along. In my six years at the school, I can’t recall a single incident relating to racism (or extremism). We were proud of this; proud of how, as a school, we could accept the views of those that thought the terrorist attacks were a positive thing. But then we never could have guessed any of those with these views would later decide to take action.

Stupidly simple PR for small businesses

2007-04-29T17:21:00.000+01:00

Take a break from creating newsworthy angles for your client and take a look at this tactic taken from Jay Conrad Levinson's Guerrilla Marketing manifesto.

"It was just before a storm when she came up with this PR tactic and public service. Why not announce their closing like kids schools do when the weather gets bad? Most everyone listens to the news during a storm and every time they get a really big storm, Margaret's computer training company has to think about calling off classes. Also, calling students by phone takes time and money.

Margaret put together a local media list and send out the "school" closing notice. She let customers know they could stay home for the day and she got many mentions in the local media."

Stupidly simple, has anyone tried this? Does it work? Could small businesses benefit from releasing statements to the radio announcing that the shop is closed but you have setup a special customer hotline for orders.

Being controversial to score hits

2007-04-29T12:14:00.000+01:00

A thoughtful piece on Inc.com. Be sure to read it. I want to discuss this snippet about using controversy as a PR tool:

"When it comes to making news, you have to recognize that one of the key elements of a compelling article is conflict. Businesses that are willing to acknowledge adversity can reap enormous PR rewards. Being covered in the media--even if the portrayal isn't exactly perfect in your mind--always confers more credibility on your business than even the most clever ad. Unfortunately, companies often shy away from making a pitch that reveals their vulnerability. That can be a big mistake."

I can recall many occasions when clients decided not to pursue a newsworthy course of action because it was controversial. They perceive controversy as "risky". In a way it is. If you or your company take an opposing view to someone else you risk being on the opposite side of popular opinion and also upsetting stakeholders.

However, when done right it can gain repeated widespread publicity and position your client as a thought leader in their niche.

How many PR stories can you spot?

2007-04-27T10:06:00.000+01:00

I've taken this BBC News screenshot to illustrate how many of today's major UK news stories are generated by PR.

Everything story I feel was generated by a PR person(s) is marked by a lovely green dot. I managed to spot 27.

What do you think?

Can you find any more?

A good day to bury bad PR opportunism

2007-04-23T19:22:00.000+01:00

Tom Murphy points to a press release every PR should read.

This really is "good day to bury bad news" territory. Product PR and national tragedies really don't mix. More so, attemping to take advantage of any national tragedy will (and is) creating negative PR for both the agency and client. See Peter Shankman, BadPitchBlog, Tom Chandler and Opinionated Marketers.

However we have been harsh to only single out US Netcom Corp. Many of their rival companies have done exactly the same thing (only slightly better written press releases). See:

Rapid Notification Critical in Emergency Situations

FM-Based Digital Alerting Available for Universities

Emergency Text Messaging Service Available Free to Universities Nationwide Following Virginia Tech Tragedy

What amazes me is the logic behind these releases. If you can't see your press release appearing in a newspaper (which, realistically, it wont when it's written like that) then it's not worth distributing. Did any of these writers honestly expect the journalist would print such a piece?

It's too easy to criticise without offering a better course of action. So lets take a stab at how these companies should have approached the situation. The issue here is not Virginia Tech, it really isn't. It's what emergency notifications plans are in place at other schools, Universities and similar establishments (aka prospective clients). There is going to be considerable debate in the future about how such establishments respond to emergencies - and that's the debate you need to be part of. So begin compiling your unique take and ideas - even if it doesn't directly reflect what your service does. Don't be afraid to mention competitors neither.

Perhaps also consider not using a press release at all. Consider speaking engagements/arranging a conference, a survey of the response times of different education establishments, inviting journalists or prominent education figures to a demonstration of response times of your product.

It would also be prudent to investigate how different establishments respond to emergencies and how contacting parents of young school kids differs from contacting students. Both in the means of communicating and the communication itself.

Any other ideas? I'm working on the assumption they haven't reached out to the media before - which might well have resulted in the media coming to them for quotes.

Where do PR pros take their holidays?

2007-04-23T13:57:00.000+01:00

I've just arrived back from 10 days spent in Morocco, and I'm thinking - is their any common theme about how/where PR pros take their holidays?

I ask this because of my entire trip, I loved the three days spent in desert close to the Algerian border. Which is ironic because I dreaded going into the desert. It was only the uncompromising demands of my girlfriend to spend some time in the desert which persuaded me to go. Why would anyone want to pay to be in the middle of nowhere?

Because it's so quiet. I can't begin to describe how refreshing it is to be in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sands and silence, or to wake up at 6am to watch the sunrise. It was an incredible experience. I'm very tempted to book another holiday in the future with the sole intention of spending an entire week in the desert. But would I have liked the desert as much if I didn't spend so much of my life processing information?

Sadly after a journey involving three coaches (two of which broke down), five taxis, one plane and even a camel I get to stare white-faced at the online bank balance, red-faced at a fully-spammed inbox and green-faced at the half-eaten pizza left in the fridge.

So I loved my holiday, the desert especially. My advice is if you want to visit Morocco (especially Marrakesh) do so quickly. It's coping with rising tourism at the moment, but it wont last long. Please forgive the obvious hypocrisy in advising people to visit Morocco before it becomes 'too' touristy.

I would love to know about other destinations PRs have found to get away from the information vortex.

Brief update from Morocco

2007-04-16T16:47:00.000+01:00

So after spending 3 fantastic days in Marrakech we took a six hour train to Meknes in the East of the country - craftily skipping Casablanca and Rabat.

Since arriving in Meknes we've explored the old medinas and various palaces, and will tomorrow head to Fes. Which is a much bigger town with huge markets and plenty of culture. After Fes we're planning on a nine hour bus journey to Merzouga in the Sahara. We intend to spend a night there before embarking on a dangerously ambitious camel trek into the desert - camping with the camels.

Few thoughts:

1) The Marrakech market at night has a better atmosphere than Las Vegas.
2) Moroccan tea is sweet, but quite a wonderful creation.
3) Taxi drivers will say anything to get you to pay more :-(
4) Don't let your girlfriend pick up the wrong bag from the airport - seriously!

Words of widsom from Meknes, Morocco

2007-04-14T18:52:00.000+01:00

For those that aren't aware, i'm currently on holiday in Morocco until the 22nd. I was planning for continuous updates along the way, but terrorists have a nasty habit of blowing up Moroccan cyber-cafes.

Time allows for a few quick words of wisdom.

1) In Morocco you learn to negotiate. Quickly. Generally aim for 1/3rd of the asking price.

2) Don't let your girlfriend pick up the wrong bag at the airport. It's hassle trying to take it back.

3) Everything is much, much, cheaper here.

More to follow when blogging is less life-threatening.

The death of the press trip

2007-04-09T15:53:00.000+01:00

Offering free trips is a common PR tactic to get coverage. PR company offers to cover the expenses of a freelance/staff writer in exchange for coverage (albeit sometimes unwritten). Everyone's happy. Journalist gets a free holiday, PR company gets a hit, client gets increase in sales from coverage.

Travel journalism, especially, relies upon reporters experiencing what they have to offer. However in these greener days is the extravagant press trip coming to an end?

Yes. According to Claire Dodd in today's Guardian.

Parry receives an offer of a foreign trip every week from PR companies looking for her to cover their products. One company, Rio Health UK, has been taking groups of journalists to the Amazon for the past 20 years to look at the plants used to make its products.

[...]The Times started off setting its emissions two years ago and has reduced the number of short-haul flights its writers take. It has even started turning down offers of travel from PR companies, such as that lunch trip to Majorca, which it feels it cannot environmentally justify.

So what's the solution? The easy answer would be regulation. Place limits on the number of flights journalists/publications can take, and the number that PR agencies can offer. This would force PR agencies to put more thought into their trip and how they best use their budget.

It would also make the PR agencies look at other ways of PR. Looking at social media perhaps, how existing companies are talking about their trips, engaging with potential customers, browsing interest groups. There is some great word of mouth potential here, potential which needs to be utilised.

Google $1 salaries makes perfect PR sense

2007-04-08T16:33:00.000+01:00

Does anyone else think that this story about Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin only being paid a salary of $1 is some very clever PR?

According to Brandchannel, Google is the world's favourite global brand - followed by Apple at 2nd, YouTube (Which Google owns) in 3rd, Wikipedia 4th and Starbucks at 5th. Over the years Google has been expanding beyond just a search engine and into pretty much everything tech. This includes e-mail (Gmail), Advertising (Adsense), blogs, desktop software packages, maps, shopping and an almighty lot more. A full list can be found on Wikipedia, a company with which Google has a curious relationship.

Google is anti-corporate, which becomes a problem for a company growing as quickly as Google is. Recently Google has been suffering some media backlash with headlines including "Google wants to take over the world".

Releasing this story about the company salaries now makes perfect PR sense. For the record this is the 3rd year they have only been paid $1, it's just the first time they've bragged about it. This story reflects the view at the top that the founders aren't worried about making money (who would be when you're worth nearly $30bn) and are still the anti-corporate company we love.

Direct Mailers - send money if you want my attention

2007-04-07T14:48:00.000+01:00

I received a letter this morning from World Villages for Children.

Attached to the letter was a yellow, hand-written, post-it note and 12p (in the form of two 5p coins and one 2p coin stuck down with tape). Also included was a donation form and a freepost envelope in which to send it back. This letter was one of the cleverest direct-mail campaigns i've seen in some time. It began:

"I am forwarding to you 12p because I am desperate, and must take the risk that some people may choose note to send the coins back to me."

The letter then continues to explain that the writer, Sister Michaela of a Children's village in Guatemala, really needs the money to keep her children's village open. She explains the case of a young child, Dion, with a horrible history who, like many other of her children, risk being evicted into poverty if I can't donate £10.12p - (cue the 12p) - which it costs to feed, care and education children for a week. If I do send this money, they promise to send me a colourful bag of six little 'worry dolls'.

I like this letter a lot because it works on so many levels. First the money gets my attention. I want to know why any company would send me money. I discover this money is coming from the people who need it most. They ask if I can send it back, and explain why. There's a strong guilt element if I refuse to send the 12p back to her, but if i'm going to do that it lets them know that a) The letter reached the right person and b) I read the letter and followed its instructions. Almost.

Which leads to the next point. If i'm going to make the effort to send the 12p back, I might as well fill in the form asking for a one-off donation of £10 right? Next, the letter reads well, it makes sense. The cost (£10.12p) sounds specific, more honest than just £10.

Finally I get a reward, these colourful 'worry dolls' which I could put in the house. "What are they for?" "It's for the Guatemalan children i'm helping through my charity work!".

Next, the freepost return envelope is always a good idea. Us students don't come by stamps, envelopes or even pens and papers, easily. If I was going to pick one slight hole in the letters logic, it would be that the currency in Guatelama is the quetzal, not the pound sterling. But that's just being picky.

On the whole this is a very clever direct mail campaign. Let that be a lesson to other companies sending me mail. If you REALLY want my attention, include money.

A PR Quiz

2007-04-06T18:52:00.000+01:00

Sally has posted a PR quiz. I wish I noticed it before she posted the answers. For the record I got 7 out of 10. In my defence, I misread question 1 and disagree with question 9 entirely.

Sally followed this up a with a proofreading test. I scored less well on the proofreading test, spotting only 6 of the 10 errors.

I would advise all young PR types to give both tests a go. If only to be aware of the tough writing examination they might face when applying for a job.

Charity challenge events are a stroke of PR genius

2007-04-06T04:16:00.000+01:00

This February I participated in the first ever charity challenge event organised by Computer Aid International. The event, a gruelling 400km cycle journey across Kenya, helped raise money to equip over 20 Kenya schools with PC laboratories. This meant that thousands of children every year can learn IT skills.

On the final day the head organiser mentioned in passing that he wasn't sure they would do another charity challenge event. He felt had he used the time spent organising this trip, into his traditional fundraising work, he might have been able to raise more money.

Indirect benefits

Whilst this might be true, I couldn't disagree with the conclusion more. These charity challenge events are a stroke of PR genius.

When you sign up for a charity challenge event you receive a fundraising pack, which includes the typical ways to raise money for a charity. This includes advice on hosting fundraising events, how to ask friends/family for neighbours and, most fantastically, a DIY PR kit. Which is where public-generated PR comes in to play. It includes information about how to write a press release, how to arrange radio interviews and plenty more.

Public-generated public relations

So say a charity has 30 people participating in an event, that is 30 people which then become the charities PR department. Generating news-worthy local media stories/angles, interviews, hosting events which raise awareness of the charity and spreading an amazing amount of word of mouth. Recent innovations like Justgiving website and blogs allow people to use technology to spread it further. This is the sort of brand ambassadorship that any other company would kill for.

Competing with natural disasters

This allows charities to raise awareness and generate considerable PR not by going after the big hits in national publications, but by going after the long-tail of local/regional/online coverage. It allows charities like Computer Aid International, which doesn't use starving children or natural disasters to raise funds, to compete with those that do.

Admittedly it also helped in Computer Aid International case that a fair few journalists from major IT-sector magazines went as well. But it would be a terrible shame if they failed to recognise the value of this coverage.

Working in the twilight

2007-04-06T03:48:00.000+01:00

It's Easter holidays at University now, I don't go home for holidays, but I do lose any sense of routine. Which usually means waking up late morning and working into the early hours. I find this a much better time to get work done.

I'm currently busying myself with some copywriting projects for apt marketing & pr, University work, a couple of pitch ideas to various publications and planning for my trip to Morocco next week.

Also, in truth, there isn't an almighty lot going on in the blogosphere at the moment, and i'm trying not to be a blogger who posts just to keep up the post count. I try to avoid echoing other news, so alas no debate on PR degrees or blogging deaths threats here.

Actually the death threat story does highlight the complete lack of attention attached to cyber-bullying. Especially in schools, where in this MySpace/Facebook world teachers could benefit greatly from checking up on comments between students and identifying possible problems.

In other news David Sifry has released the latest state of the blogosphere report. There are now over 70m blogs. This compares to just 55,000 active podcasts recently reported by Business week (up to 13% from 11% of the entire population in listeners from the previous year according to marketwatch).

Why is podcasting lagging so far behind? Is it technological boundaries? Lack of talented podcasters? Or less advertising money being thrown at podcasters?

Why I don't watch television

2007-04-01T20:52:00.000+01:00

I took this screenshot some time ago to help illustrate the prime reason why I don't watch television anymore.

Does anyone see anything worth watching?

However my housemates have been very impressed by Virgin Media's content on demand.

Revealed! - The identity of the World’s Leading Blogger

2007-03-31T19:45:00.000+01:00

Just joking, happy April Fools’ day!

Tomorrow is April Fools day, a day which should be Christmas for PR agencies (as opposed to that Santa-cursing, work-fest, we enjoyed a few months ago). April Fools’ day offers PR pros the opportunity to demonstrate what unrestrained creativity can achieve.

For one day a year, your client can do almost anything to gain attention. It doesn’t have to be true, just entertaining and believable enough to gain the attention of journalists and the public.

If it’s done right, April Fools’ day is a great opportunity to showcase the human side of your clients. Most importantly, if you have a choice between funny or believable, go for funny. The idea shouldn’t be to fool your public, but to use April Fools’ Day as an opportunity to entertain them.

If you are short on inspiration read up on the top 100 April Fools’ day hoaxes of all time.

I'm 22!

Also, the 1st April marks my 22nd year of existence. Not a particularly big milestone compared to 16, 18 or 21, but big enough nonetheless. Send your expensive gifts to apt's office and I'll pick them up from there.

Update: See Google's effort. Ah, and Neville Hobson has spotted some good ones.

Press Release vs. Feature Pitches

2007-03-28T18:51:00.000+01:00

I want to address the topic of writing feature pitches –vs- press releases, since I use both quite extensively at apt marketing & pr.

What’s the difference?

This shouldn’t really need any explaining, but I guess the feature pitch is open to debate.

The difference between the two should be quite apparent. A press release is an item of news which a company would like to announce. A press release is usually written by the agency, approved to the client and then fired off across newswires and distribution lists. Matthew Stibbe has great ideas about writing human press releases.

A feature pitch is the idea of pitching an issue-led idea (which involves your client in some manner) to the media. B.L. Ochman wrote some great tips on feature pitches a few years back. A pitch is written, the angle green lighted by the client, and then sent to relevant press contacts or pitched by phone.

Pros and cons

Press releases are the standard way of a company communicating information. Companies, for the best part, know how to write one and the media know how to use them.

There are several cons of using press releases.. The volume of press releases has, from many different accounts, risen considerably with the increasing use of e-mail Therefore it is becoming harder and harder to get your press release read. Press releases also have a bad reputation this is due to both the amount filled with clichéd inhumane corp-speak and lacking in news/substance. Standard writing errors don’t help matters.

From feedback from press contacts at my job (and I by no mean claim this is the same for the whole industry) feature pitches are used far less often. As a result it is easier (providing they are kept short) for the journalist to skim-read and decide if it is write for this publication. If they like this idea usually someone will be assigned to write it, or it is send back with a note asking for ‘800 words’.

Obviously there are cons with this approach too. This requires much more work from the journalist side. Instead of being provided with a news story complete with facts, details and contacts, they have to undertake plenty of investigation. There is also less idea over the message or the positive/negative angle the journalist might be taking.

Which should be used?

Personally, I favour feature pitches. I had a freelance writing background before my placement and loved the creativity of writing a concise pitch. In fact, my all my proudest hits at apt marketing & pr (GMTV, ITV News, Sun, Mirror, Daily Mail etc.) came from feature pitches rather than press releases.

However, clients on the whole were more keen (or I would argue, more familiar) about press releases than feature pitches. Quite often, a press releases just make more sense, event announcements for example. The important thing to note is that there are always more options. I don’t think the potential of using podcasts or vodcasts/vidcasts (what is the correct term for video casting these days?) has even begun to be tapped.

In the summer time...

2007-03-27T16:02:00.000+01:00

You never realise the importance of adjusting British Summer Time as when you stay up most of the night working on a University assignment and stroll into University the next day to hand it in with just under an hour until the assignment room closes.

Only to find it closed three minutes earlier.

Bugger!

Quick thought to type

2007-03-25T23:15:00.000+01:00

I bet most of us can all type without looking (touch-type) these days. If you're not sure, try it. Close your eyes now and begin typing. You might be quite surprised to find out you can do it very well.

If you get bored take the speed-typing test. My speed varies from 88 - 106 words per minute.

When two agencies try to write one press release

2007-03-24T17:34:00.001Z

One of the tougher things I’ve had to in PR is to work with another agency to produce a joint press release. In theory this should be easy, agencies are (hopefully) experts on producing quality press releases. Unfortunately, collaborative press releases can be a nightmare for both agencies and the client.

Common problems include:

1) A press release should always be written by one person and then amended/approved. When different people are writing different chunks of the release it quickly loses its style and focus. Sadly all agencies have different ideas of what does/doesn’t work.

2) Both agencies have the duty to get their own client/side as much coverage as possible. Expect constant tweaks, amends and debates.

3) Some agencies will make amends simply to avoid admitting they cannot do it any better. In a scenario where the client is being cc’ed in on the drafts, it can become quite hostile.

4) Contact details. Who should the press contact for more information?

5) Pictures. What pictures do you send with the press release and why?

6) Distribution. Who is responsible for sending out this press release? Who is going to be making the media calls and securing the coverage?

7) Clippings. Who’s going to pull these in? Who’s responsible if the release doesn’t gain any coverage?

In short, it can be an unpleasant task.

Greenpeace promotes BA's new flight route

2007-03-20T20:15:00.000Z

I've noticed this story from the Press Association.

Greenpeace offered 34 passengers on BA's new route from Gatwick to Newquay (far South-West of the country) free train tickes. They also offered free tickets to the 17 passengers queuing at Newquay for the flight to Gatwick.

Nice PR idea, only nobody took up the offer. Why would they? Going by plane takes 1 hour, by train takes 5 hours. Offering free train tickets to people after they've booked their flights is foolish. Every passenger knows that whether they took the train or not, the flight would still go ahead. Thus the CO2 still emitted.

The idea was wrong from the start. Did Greenpeace really plan to tell BA passengers that, rather than flying, they can take a five-hour train journey? This train journey has been the main option for decades. BA passengers booked this flight to AVOID spending five hours on a train.

What Greenpeace have inadvertantly succeeded in doing is to raise awareness of British Airway's new flight route. A route which provides an alternative to the traditional five hour train journey. Pick your battles Greenpeace.

Girls, Boys and Public Relations

2007-03-20T19:15:00.000Z

Scott MacDonald of Fuzzy Gloves, has started a debate on the Forward-Moving blog about the issue of gender within public relations. There are some interesting comments, so head on over and weigh in with your opinion. Here's a snippet:

"Recent statistics show that 70% of PR practitioners are female. This is up from 50.1% in 1980 and 41% in 1979. Based on those numbers, the trend is obvious. One could argue that this increase has occurred in many sectors over the past forty years and is not restricted to public relations. Still, 70% is quite high.
[...]Some of the most common beliefs:

Women are better communicators than men.
Public relations pays better than other female dominated fields.
The school system tends to push girls towards reading/writing and boys towards math.
In other words, girls learn the core skill set needed for public relations at a younger age than boys.
Women find public relations to be more welcoming than other business disciplines."

I'm taking a PR module at the moment with about 20 girls and 5 boys. What i've learnt is that, generally, the female perception of the PR industry is further from reality than the male perception of PR.

My own opinion is that it is bad for most industries to be dominated by just one sex.

Turn off the lights before you go green

2007-03-19T10:12:00.000Z

If there is one thing we're learning quite quickly, it's that people don't want to hear what you say, they want to see what you do. For PR, this means it's important to be green internally before attempting external initiatives.

Last week David Cameron (leader of the opposition) tried to pull ahead of Gordon Brown in the 'green' race by announcing several green schemes. Yesterday the Sunday Mirror front page had the fantastic headline "Cam's Bin Rumbled. This was a front page story about David Cameron's home recycling. Yes, they raided his bin to find out what he did or didn't recycle. The results didn't reflect well upon David Cameron. Gutter journalism? Certainly. Interesting story? Yes.

Earlier this month Al Gore won the best documentary Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. This document highlighted the damage of global warming and the importance of changing our ways now. Two days later it emerged that Al Gore's 20-room mansion in Nashville consumes more electricity in a month than the average American household in a whole year.

The Guardian's environmental writer Lucy Siegle put it quite cleverly a few months ago:

"I am merely conforming to a new, fun trend: picking holes in an A-lister's green aspirations by pointing out the glaringly obvious problem that they spend their lives jetting around the world, thus spewing out more CO2 than all the trainer factories in China put together."

In January Prince Charles won an award for his efforts in highlighting the environmental cause. Sadly he didn't see the hypocrisy in flying to the USA to collect his award. Could there have been a better opportunity to promote alternatives to meetings?

These are just three of numerous examples. As Lucy claims this is a new and fun trend for the media. Anyone that announces themselves to be green is going to need to do more than make an announcement and leave the rest to their publicists.

How will this apply to companies? Quite simply it means that before you announce your green schemes to the world, you had better have your ducks in a row. Check how employees are getting to work, check that the lights are switched off at night, check that your bins aren't full of recyclable goods. Today's public is bombarded with green initiatives, and they will look at what the company is doing will become far more important than what the company is saying.

Student placement opportunity

2007-03-16T14:26:00.000Z

I'm a big believer that placement students will benefit more from working at a small PR agency than a big one. In fact I would love to hear the thoughts of Richard Bailey (who visits many PR placement students) on this.

Sean Fleming of Clarity PR has contacted me with what seems like a nice opportunity to work at a small PR agency. From personal experience, it's hard work from the go. But it's fun. I asked Sean a few questions that a prospective placement student might like to know. Sean replied very quickly with some off-the-cuff responses:

What sort of work will any placement student be doing?
Everything from answering the phone, through to having a crack at writing, attending client meetings, researching new business leads, liaising with journalists, along with all the mundane admin stuff like cuttings, reports and so on.

What makes Clarity PR a great place to work?

We’re a small agency (very small – currently there are just two of us, but that’s likely to change. There were five people here just over a years ago – workload dictates headcount and at the moment we’re getting busier than we have been for two years). Small companies don’t suit everyone – there’s nowhere to hide if you’re lazy. But at the same time there’s not much danger that you’ll get left with all the drudge work; it’s a chance to get involved in everything that goes on.

Why are you looking for a placement student?

I’m a firm believer in trying to give people a leg-up, so to speak. Simple as that, really.

What are you hoping to find in a placement student?

The ability to listen. The ability to think independently, but within a set of parameters. Someone who can be trusted not to upset or offend anyone within minutes of opening their mouths. Someone who can behave in public (I kid you not, we had someone start here once who started taking her clothes off in the office one afternoon so she could try on some new clothes...)

How can students apply?

Email me with as much relevant information as possible.

Students should contact Sean directly to apply (0870 950 9670, sean.fleming@claritypr.co.uk, http://www.claritypr.co.uk).

Are all phone-in competitions fake?

2007-03-15T16:16:00.000Z

I was preparing some spiel about the competition phone-in controversy (Richard & Judy, Blue Peter, ITV Play), when John Walker wrote a brilliant post on the issue.

I especially love the following Talk Sport story, but you really should read the whole thing.

When I worked at Talk Radio, we had a competition that was run at about 5am every morning. A short clip of a famous song was played, and callers would phone in with their guesses as to what it might be. Surprisingly at that hour, we’d get a lot of calls, and it was my job to fill the six lines with five wrong answers and one right one. That made good radio. The presenter would then work his way through the calls until he got to a right answer, and a prize would be awarded. Of course, in order to do this I had to find five wrong answers, and if the clip was too easy, this could often be hard work. So there I’d be, pretending to write down the phone numbers of correct callers, letting them know they might get called back if they’re selected, trying to find those who’d got it wrong.

Once I had five, I’d then take the next right answer to come in, and stick him up there. It was as arbitrary as any other system of course, but all ridiculous nonsense from start to finish. Clever callers caught on, mostly because the presenter was so idiotic as to always insist on five wrong answers every single night, which made it stand out rather. They’d phone in with a dummy wrong answer, I’d put them up on the board with the answer they were going to give, and then on air they’d produce the correct name. The presenter would then trip over himself in confusion, flap about as he tried to find the winner’s sound effect he’d not thought he’d need to press, and then go apoplectic as soon as we went to adverts. The point being, even the most obscure and ill-placed phone in compos are faked. All of them. Get used to it.

Why are journalists struggling to find PR agencies?

2007-03-15T10:38:00.000Z

I'm signed up to several journalist forums and mailing lists. I would recommend most PRs sign up to at least one. It can be both a great way of getting contacts as well as providing some fascinating insights into the mind of a journalist (not just the bemoaning of PR).

What has amazed me on both the forums and mailing lists is the number queries for contacts. Not just freelance journalists wanting the commissioning editor at a magazine, but journalists wanting PR contacts of companies they wish to write about. It's amazing to believe that it can be so hard to track down who does the PR for any company.

A journalist a few months back was complaining that she had phoned a company twice for a PR contact but the lady at the front desk had no idea, nor did anyone around her. So then, PR folk, if a journalist wants to write about one of your clients, how can they track you down?

Is there a media contact address?
Do the people who answer the phones know who does the PR?
Does the client website list the PR agency?
Does your website list the client? Is this optimised [client/pr agency?]

Yes the role of PR is to work in the shadows somewhat, but don't be too arcane.

Should marketing degrees include an on-going marketing project?

2007-03-13T09:49:00.000Z

I like this post by Seth Godin. Seth is giving advice to people wanting to get into marketing.

"So, start your own gig. Even if you're 12 years old, start a store on eBay. You'll learn just about everything you need to learn about digital marketing by building an electronic storefront, doing permission-based email campaigns, writing a blog, etc. Who knows more about marketing--Scoble or some mid-level marketing guy in Redmond?

You don't need a lot of time or a lot of money. You can start with six hours every weekend. Over time, if (and when) you get good at it, take on clients. Paying clients."

This presents a problem for degree students like myself then. Why bother doing a degree if starting our own store's on ebay is an easier, cheaper and more effective route to getting the skills we need?

It's an old debate, experience -vs- education. It's a debate which has forced many degree programes to include a mandatory work placement year, for the very reason of graduates being able to compete with those who have the experience.

Perhaps rather than a placement, the degree should require all students to start their own eBay stores. Students could spend, say, six hours a week on these stores and receive a grade on their success at the end of the three years. Students are time-wealthy, and as the examples of Facebook, YouTube, Napster prove, they can achieve great things if they put this spare time to good use. Having an on-going and potentially lucrative marketing project throughout their degree might make students more passionate about their marketing degree.

Ten signs that Facebook is important

2007-03-12T00:04:00.000Z

You know Facebook is important when...

1) You find out two days in advance there is a house party at your house. No-one in the house thought to mention it because it was "clearly listed on Facebook".

2) Facebook becomes a verb

3) A housemate decides not to goto the student Union Bar because they are too busy on Facebook

4) At the end of a night, you overhear a guy asking a girl he likes for her Facebook name rather than her phone number

5) People look worried when you confess to not having a Facebook account

6) A change in someone's Facebook relationship status is the top topic in the pub

7) Friends arrange holidays through Facebook

8) There is a Facebook group for your University, main social group, lectures and even your road (scary!)

9) Facebook rockets past Bebo and MySpace in popularity amongst UK students

10) Friends begin complaining Facebook is "becoming too commercial"

Offering discounts to customers on a case by case basis is a bad move

2007-03-10T14:10:00.000Z

Virgin Media is offering discounts to customers (e.g. Me) that threaten to switch over to rivals Sky. Which isn't bad, only they're doing it on a case by case basis.

For those that haven't been following the UK broadcasting war, BSkyB has pulled its basic five channel package from Virgin Media customers.

Both companies have since launched a major PR offensive. Virgin is attempting to keep customers and promote it's video-on-demand content. BSkyB is attempting to get Virgin Media' customers. Analysts predict BSkyB needs to peel 100,000 Virgin Media customers to their own service to make up for the money lost from advertising/sponsorship. Which was done on an estimate of viewing figures.

Virgin Media is offering cash discounts to customers which threaten to switch to BSkyB on a case by case basis. News of this scheme was spreading through the University (nearly every student at Gloucestershire is with Virgin Media) long before it was picked up by the newspapers. The problem is that some have received discounts, others haven't. No-one is really sure what criteria is being used here. Is it time remaining on the contract? How angry you sound on the phone? Your location? Your loyalty to the company?

Almost every customer which now phones Virgin Media (if they get through) is either given a discount or a rejection. A rejection which almost certainly sends another customer to BSkyB. It's a bad PR move.

As I've previously stated, students don't care too much about the channels, but if they hear rumours that they can get up to £5 - £10 off their monthly bills simply by sounding angry on their phone, they're going to do it. I doubt this stops just at students either. I've already heard of claims which were first rejected and later accepted on the 3rd attempt.

Are these the top marketing moments of the last 75 years?

2007-03-09T18:23:00.000Z

Brand Republic (now free to everyone upon registration)features an article from Marketing listing the top marketing moments of the last 75 years. Here are a couple:

1994 - Sunday Trading begins
1994 - Unilever launches and withdraws Persil Power after clothes damaged
1994 - First National Lottery draw
1995 - WH Smith becomes first online retailer
1995 - Tesco Clubcard launches
1995 - M&C Saatchi opens its doors
1996 - Pepsi goes blue
1996 - Hotmail launches

It does seem to be missing important recent stuff. Google/search engines should be on there, perhaps also YouTube and even blogging/social networking. What would you add?

Disappointed with my PR module

2007-03-09T18:08:00.000Z

I'm disappointed with the press and publicity module I'm taking.

It is the first time I've studied public relations and this module is noticeably lacking in content. It's also the only module I'm taking which don't require me to buy a text book and/or undertake weekly reading/research.

The whole theory of the module is covered in five weeks under the topics of:

Week 1: Working in a press office
Week 2: Working with the media
Week 3: How to write a press release
Week 4: Information Design
Week 5: No Lecture
Week 6: In-House publications

The remaining 4 weeks are dedicated to guest speakers. Three of which wont be addressing topics covered in the assessments. Two final weeks are left over for tutorial sessions.

There are two assessments for this module.

The first assessment is to rewrite 4 page long briefs into 4 press releases. The second assessment is to devise a press pack. A big worry I have is that the assessment criteria is vague. So it's tough to know what the lecturers are looking for to get the really good marks. I really hope that gut feeling and instincts don't become part of it.

Clients should be getting more for their money

2007-03-05T22:59:00.000Z

There is a big problem in client/agency relationships which prevents clients getting the most for their money

The problem is that clients treat agencies like input/output publicity machines. The client supplies the agency with information about what they're up to, then expects the agency to magic up some great press hits.

Would clients treat other consultants like that?

PR agencies, for the best part, are PR experts. They know what will and what wont generate publicity. Most importantly, they can give great advice on the most PR-able actions a client can take. Sure some agencies can be creative and get relatively dull news some press coverage, but this is a waste of hours which could be spent hitting bigger fry.

It's not a secret that PR isn't what it was. The hard line consultancy gig has been eroded by a twenty year wave of femininity. This is never more clearly reflected that in the gender ratio of PR courses. But PR still retains a hardcore consultant element to it.

PR representatives should be in the meetings where decisions are made. It's their advice which should be sought right along with the law, finance, senior management and other departments.

It's a Utopian thought. Few companies will put PR at the heart of what they do. But it would save those at the end of the line, yes you frustrated Account Executives, pitching dull events to bored editors.