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".