SUSE AND THE CITY

News and views

2009-04-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

Two great blogs this week that have had me giggling away to myself:

Matt on ten ridiculous stories about Twitter and Drolgerg on how to annoy people via Twitter

Happy days.

Of course on a more serious note there have been two really big stories today - the pirate bay ruling and the Digital Britain conference.

The pirate bay story has caused a big stir but the main thing that seems to be coming across is that there are plenty of other torrent sites that we can use in the meantime. It's a step up from jailing kids for illegal downloads, but it's still not really effective.

On another note, Digital Britain was apparently off to a cracking start this morning with the video links to journalists failing...so we're really getting to grips with digital then!

Word of the Week

2009-04-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

This weeks WotW is brought to you from Dictionary.com:

ephemeral

\ih-FEM-er-ul\, adjective:

1. Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; as, an ephemeral flower.
2. Short-lived; existing or continuing for a short time only

Love it.

The War in Education

2009-03-25T02:29:00.000-07:00

A story in the Guardian this morning has caused a bit of a stir. Boldly headed "Pupils to study Twitter and blogs in primary schools shake up."

"Has the world gone mad? Guardian says primary school kids to be forced to learn Twitter..!?" @ruskin147 (aka Rory Cellen-Jones of the BBC) declared on Twitter itself in response.

My problem is less with the fact that the proposal to change primary education includes new technology as it is with the way this story is written to make the changes sound more dramatic than they are and create a negative out of what is actually a pretty positive change.

Example one:
The journalist states - "However, the draft plans will require children to master Twitter and Wikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes."

But then goes on to say - "The proposals would require: Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell."

So which is it? Do the kids have to 'master it' as the journalist tells us or is the suggestion that children should be taught the basics of new forms of communication in the same way we were taught about newspapers and pupils now learn about the internet?

Example two:
The journalist says - "Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned."

But again goes on to say - "The proposals would require:Children to be able to place historical events within a chronology. "By the end of the primary phase, children should have gained an overview which enables them to place the periods, events and changes they have studied within a chronological framework, and to understand some of the links between them." Every child would learn two key periods of British history but it would be up to the school to decide which ones. Schools would still be able to opt to teach Victorian history or the second world war, but they would not be required to. The move is designed to prevent duplication with the secondary curriculum, which covers the second world war extensively."

Fair enough, no? It's not saying don't teach these, it's just opening the options to avoid duplication with what pupils will learn in secondary education.

Hmm, seems to me that the Guardian went for drama over substance to get people to read this story. At first glance I was with Rory Cellen-Jones - why on earth would kids need to learn about Twitter at school? But in context it seems to me that the plans merely bring education into the 21st Century, teaching kids about important technologies that are shaping our culture, not least in the way that we receive and interact with news.

Fresh Air

2009-03-24T02:24:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, as of Thursday 19 March, I now work for Speed. No, I haven't moved company, Lighthouse and Rainier are now one and the same under a new brand along with Mantra, BMA and Custard. We have also moved into some rather lovely offices in Leicester Square.

Now that the sun is shining a little more often I have decided that rather than stuff myself onto a packed tube train in the mornings I'll walk from Blackfriars. So far so good, the walk takes me along the river and then up through Covent Garden and it's a lovely way to start the day - aside from the bit outside the Walkabout bar on Embankment where I have to side step piles of vomit from the night before!

It's actually surprising to see how many people run, cycle and walk to work. Surprising in a good way. Unlike my counterparts on the tube, these people smile, don't walk into you, help each other out when items get dropped and are just generally much happier. There is a small part of me that will miss the stories of the people on the tube who stand in the middle of the doorway refusing to stand aside to let me off, or the person who stood with their elbow in my back for two stops, but as I'm still getting the overground train I can still enjoy the people who stand in front of the ticket barrier and look for their tickets.

Ah the benefits of fresh air and sunshine, I'm nearly not grumpy in the mornings.

Councils leaders are finally on my side

2009-03-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will no doubt know that one of my pet peeves is the use of meaningless jargon. So you can imagine how chuffed I was to see this story on the BBC

WOO HOO - finally the council is on my side for something ;-)

Social Media Validation

2009-03-04T08:49:00.000-08:00

I may be a bit late to the party on this one (unlike me I have to say, but I heard it wasn't a free bar) but I've come across some really interesting research (via the wise Mr Stallard) from Forrester validating the importance of social media in the B2B decision making process.

Great news for us social media champions it seems. But wait! There is an interesting debate forming as Dave Raffaele of Quaero points out. He says - and I paraphrase - that marketers get it but until there is a visible ROI they are too busy to engage in what is a time consuming new communications channel until there is a clear value. Dave is a supporter of Social Media, he's just explaining a clear industry viewpoint - please do read his piece to get the full view on the valid points he puts across.

I agree with Dave to an extent, there are early adopters who are up and running with social media and for those that aren't quite up to speed it can get pretty annoying to hear these buzz words bandied about. I'm a Facebook and Twitter user but it still annoys me to hear about them in conversations and news articles at times.

Like it or not Social Media is here and everyday it is proving its value more and more both within the business environment (relationship building) and outside of it (news communication) but with the research from Forrester so clearly demonstrating that decision makers are at the very least observing Social Media channels it seems to me that those who aren't getting on and getting involved may be the victims of " you snooze, you lose".

Weak story week '09?

2009-02-26T01:33:00.000-08:00

It's been one of those weeks where I feel all I've been doing is shaking my head and sighing over what seems to qualify as news. First there was the Daily Mail front page shock story that using Facebook could increase the risk of getting cancer and then several stories about Twitter including this gem from PR Week.

The first paragraph of this story in the Register pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject.

Social media is growing and is becoming more important particularly for those of us in PR as it is another great way to build and manage relationships. And yes, it does sometime generate news stories - when someone sends news of a plane crash via Twitter first, that is news. But writing about it for the sake of it is, well, pretty naff.

There is a lot to be said for Twitter and when I heard that PR Week was running a story on Twitter (via Twitter from @david_singleton, news editor of PR Week) I kind of expected something a bit more in depth than a fairly weak piece of research based on the number of users within PR agencies.

Bring back real news and analysis!

Word of the Week

2009-02-25T02:29:00.000-08:00

Contamacious

Pronounciation: KON-tuh-may-shuhs

Meaning: stubborn, insubordinate

Making a hash of pitching releases via Twitter

2009-02-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

@UKTJPR is trying to start a Twitter trend to try to simplify life for tech journos who want to be pitched via Twitter but not overloaded...a fine line we know. @charlesarthur seems keen but @alanburkittgray does not.

It seems like a good theory in a, so far, experimental pitching environment. All you do is add a #techrelease tag to your Tweet and it'll be easily searchable.

However, to me, Twitter is a relationship building environment. I put out comments in general most of the time and directly at others depending on what I have to say and who it's relevant to. For example, on a non work related note, I put out a comment about the upcoming Six Nations in general but sent @robkerr an individual note, as we chat about rugby when we meet up.

While some journalists do like being targeted over Twitter as it's more concise I think adding the #techrelease tag risks making your comments come across as spam and will largely mean they get glossed over by your targets.

It's early days though - let's see how it pans out.

Where has your focus gone?

2009-01-28T05:37:00.001-08:00

Firstly, apologies to those of you kind enough to read this blog for my recent silence. January has been something of a whirlwind. I'm not complaining. I consider myself very lucky to be so busy in what is, undoubtedly a difficult time for many people.

Those of you who know me will not be surprised that I am once again refusing to see the downside (2009 is the year of positivity! - in the words of that weirdo T-Bag in Prison Break "I will not be in the captivity of negativity") and I've actually noticed an interesting, positive trend coming through from my clients in the past couple of weeks.

In PR, the end and start of the year are traditionally times for reviewing budgets and plans, and the 2008/2009 transition has been no different. Amongst all the talk of belt tightening and how to make the most of social media outlets such as Twitter has been a discussion about where we should be focusing our outreach in the media.

Many clients have, up until now wanted some coverage in trade publications but really pushing for "glory" coverage in national publications such as The Times and The Guardian. But I'm seeing a change. No less than three of my clients have told us in the past week that national coverage is not only not a focus, but it's not even considered a nice to have, with one CEO actually refusing to do anything other than trade interviews.

Without advocating anything as extreme as not chasing any national coverage, it is good to see companies realising that targeted PR can actually be an important tool in targeting customers and driving vital sales.

One client showed us a chart he had compiled recently which reflected a higher hit rate on the company website as a direct correlation to online coverage in trade publications, but where we had interviews on Sky and BBC there was nowhere near the same kind of spike.

There is a place for targeting high profile national publications but for those of us in Tech PR it seems now is the time to refocus our attention on the publications that are specifically aimed at the IT manager. In the past I have worked with people who have ignored this sector in favour of national coverage and it is those who will suffer as they result of neglected relationships.

Ooh Ahh just a TwitterBit

2009-01-06T05:36:00.000-08:00

I have a New Year dilemma. My client made a product announcement which was picked up by VNU. Excellent.

However, the journalist also referenced the story on Twitter. Double score - after all we're looking to make sure our clients reach goes far and wide over new Internet sources.

The question is - what do we call this?! In a publication or on a website it's coverage. Is this "Twoverage"? Is it a mention - or a "Twention"? My favourite suggestion so far is from Matt who has put forward "TwitBit".

I'm tagging Wadds, Earl, AtoE, Becky and Dom in the hopes that they'll join in my debate!

New Year thoughts

2008-12-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

As we head into 2009 a lot of the chat in the PR blogosphere of late has been looking at what the future holds for our industry. Yet what occurs to me is that there isn’t a lot of focus on where we are right now. Over the last year there have been some changes in the way in which we approach PR. Now, more than ever, our online personalities as agencies influence our customers, staff and competitors.

Steve Earl looked over the best of the PR websites earlier this year. And it was a surprise how many agencies still aren’t using their websites as an interactive facility to attract talent and custom. Many are not only static sites with the usual blurb about what makes them special (often the same as what makes everyone else special) but they are often out of date.

Wadds made his first Twitter hire – picking up our budding star Matt Watson via the social blogging site.

And I started my very first blog!

At its heart, PR is still about strong written and verbal communications. Making sure journalists in our key media have access to our clients when they are working on relevant stories and building these relationships is vital. However, the way in which we communicate has evolved.

It’s not enough now to know which day is press day and if your contact prefers phone or email contact. Now we have the ability to know so much more about these people. Do they have a blog, what do they blog about? Are they on Twitter, what are their interests?

I don’t think you could honestly say there has been any one significant change, and we certainly haven’t abandoned any form of communication in favour of a new one. Ok, you could argue that snail mail has lost out but I’d have to disagree, pointing out that many PR’s still use the post to send hard copy invitations and freebies out to the media.

We are in an industry which constantly evolving – and thank goodness or my two minute attention span might give up the ghost.

Heading into the New Year I’m looking forward to seeing what lies ahead and having grown into new tools like Twitter, I will be doing my best to get on board early with these things and make sure I can use them to better communicate for my clients, my agency and myself.

Happy New Year to you all.

A genuinely fantastic end to 2008

2008-12-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

At the end of last week I had one of the single best days of my working life. My client Interoute let us know of a serious disruption to the subsea cable network - impacting Internet connections throughout the Middle East and South East Asia. We were literally able to set the news agenda by letting journalists know what was happening and being the first to offer comment, both canned and through two spokespeople who were free to talk and travel to interviews.

The team at Lighthouse had so much fun - the three of us were on the phones from 10am until the end of the day organising calls, hosting interviews, sending pictures and updating the client.

This is why I love my job. I just wish there was more of it :-)

Not content with the 29 pieces of coverage we had generated by the end of the day, from BBC to FT, I woke up on Saturday morning, albeit still slightly intoxicated from the celebrations and went on to secure a slot with BBC News 24, which was syndicated to the BBC News at 10 and led to an interview request on BBC 5 Live.

What a great way to end the year! I'd love to take the full credit but there is no way I can. We were luck to be able to use some great intelligence from our client and communicate it though some really talented people on the team.

The story was not only picked up by traditional media, but there were over 50 blog hits - including this piece on the Times Online blog which then led to the news piece! We also had 19 Twitter references.

A full-on integrated digital and traditional PR success!

Happy Christmas to you all - bring on 2009

Christmas Spirit is all in the giving

2008-12-05T08:08:00.000-08:00

Feeling rather smug today as I've almost* finished my Christmas shopping. This year I've done much of it online - thanks to people mainly wanting books and CD's - and it's given me a chance to really make the most of The Giving Machine. This nifty site allows you to nominate charities you want to donate to, what percentage you want to give to each and then, simply by clicking through to the online retail sites they get money based on what you spend.

As I said to Mark Clark - not only my trainer at the jfdi course this week but also founder of the site (which I was using before I met him I should add) "Why wouldn't you?"

And in the spirit of all things charity - I'll be off on another run this Sunday in Christmas fancy dress! Just 4k this time for Isabel Hospice our local cancer hospice who recently cared for a very close family friend of ours. They do an AMAZING job. So even though I haven't run for so much as the bus since the 10k in Oct....the pain will be worth it!

Off to do some star gazing...at the one at the top of my wonderfully decorated Christmas tree** (and dog - pictured)

*if sister-in-law and father would kindly share their wish lists!
**nearly ended a beautiful marriage as husband is very precise in his tree decorating and I'm more of a haphazard, baubles made at primary school, kind of gal!)

Twits on Twitter

2008-12-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

Chaos has erupted (once again) over Twitter and whether or not it is a useful tool. As a PR who uses it regularly I'd have to say a big fat YES. But let's look at the arguments...because it's fun.

Nick Curtis has inspired a fairly heated debate with is article "Is Twitter the new Facebook?". The short answer is - No, Nick, it is entirely different. The article he has written is bizarre. Even from his introduction you can tell he's not into social networking and is highly sceptical of most of the 'hot' social networking sites. His point is actually not far off the way many people, myself included, felt about Twitter when we first heard about it. It seems pointless, inane and just plain weird to communication in 140 (not 160) characters with a bunch of people you don't really know.

However, once you start building a network you quickly learn how to effectively interact with people. I post the odd inane thing on there, I talk about football, I respond to people's comments and I use it to pitch both topics and new business with some success. It's still new to me but it's quickly becoming an indispensable part of my job.

Having said that, I also don't think it replaces traditional PR and email/phone as a means of communication. Sally Whittle makes a good point in her recent post pointing out that journalists may well have their preferred style of receiving pitches, but if they follow in the footsteps of bloggers like Dennis Howlett, who has stated he'd prefer to only be pitched by Twitter, are they cutting off their nose to spite their face?

140 characters is enough to tell a journalist what your client can talk about but hardly enough to make the point about why that is interesting and/or different.

It seems that email won't ever totally replace the phone and neither is quite the same as building face to face relationships, instead we have to build new communications methods into our existing ways of working. The truth is the ways in which we communicate are constantly evolving. There will never be one thing that comes along and totally changes the way we work but we do have to be open to change and try things seriously to see how they can benefit us.

All eyes remain on the debate. It's all good fun to watch.

jfdi - does what it says on the tin

2008-12-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

Straight into my end of year blogging resolution - I thought I'd share some positivity! I had an excellent training day yesterday courtesy of jfdi.

jfdi stands for....well, um, it's a lot like the nike slogan but with a rude word chucked in for impact.

I have to say it was a great session, all about thinking about your client in new ways in order to spot new business opportunities with existing clients to inspire organic growth. Mark Clark was interesting and relevant, using his own experiences to highlight what he was talking to us about.

I highly recommend them - and not just for fellow PRs. We had guys in from across The Loewy Group and everyone came out of it with really positive feedback. They've definitely given us some good tools to weather the proverbial economic storm.

Are we only happy complaining?

2008-12-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Wadds just pointed out that I've been a little quiet of late. I can't argue with that. The truth is I haven't really been inspired to rant about anything. Then I thought about that - I mean, a blog isn't just a forum to complain (unless it's specifically set up to be a whinging ground like Bad PR - which I love and get much inspiration from) but it just happens to be much easier to spout off about things that have ticked me off.

How very British I feel. I like to whinge and I dislike people who can't queue.

So I hereby declare myself back and not complaining - however hard that may be :-)

Facebook users compromised - Zuckerberg gets richer?

2008-11-25T08:15:00.000-08:00

The lead story on VNU at the moment tells us that Facebook has won a record spam payout after users of the site were tricked into parting with their confidential information and spammers were able to send out millions of spam messages.

The question is - what will happen to this money? Will the users who were affected see the compensation? Will they be offered training from Facebook in how to prevent such attacks in the future? Will Facebook invest in itself? Or will it further line Zuckerberg's pocket?

Safe to say the first two options are pretty unlikely.

Nonetheless, it raises an interesting question though about who has the right to this kind of compensation.

I'm bored with it - not of it!

2008-11-07T01:09:00.001-08:00

There was a story in Metro this morning that appealed to my inner pedant and gave me and fellow PR and friend Laura a good chuckle on the train. I stand firmly alongside John Humphreys when he complains about tautology saying it is the 'the linguistic equivalent of having chips with rice'. Brilliant.

As a PR bad grammar and the misuse of words is something that just shouldn't happen and fellow PR Steve Earl and journalist Sally Whittle are just two people who agree and blog about this topic regularly.

And so inspired here are a couple of my all time bugbear phrases that this article overlooked:

1. Blatantly obvious

2. To be fair

3. Bored of (trust me, it is with. A big thanks to my friend Barney for drilling that one into me and all my friends!)

4. At the end of the day (yes it's in the article but is just THAT annoying)

5. No word of a lie (thanks Claire!)

6. Oh yes, and any unnecessary acronym, like ITCEC

So, if you use any or all of the above - stop it.

That is all.

The dangers of sexy surveys

2008-11-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

Rory Cellen-Jones didn't think much of the news today (we think from uSwitch) that Granny's like Gaming.

The debate has also worked its way on to twitter with a few journo's slating flaky surveys - they've even slating the PR for trying to light-heartedly defend the survey - ooh er!

Not that I blame them. Yes, surveys have been the source of many a successful campaign for us (like this lovely one for a client) and, let's be honest, there is always a certain level of assumption with the stats as you are looking at a portion of the population, not the whole of the population. However, there is a fine line and in order to maintain credibility it is important that we don't cross it.

Note to self - no sexed up surveys!

Back to Business

2008-10-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Vegas and it was fantastic. Although it seemed like a short trip, just four nights, it was the perfect amount of time for us to be there. We did a bit of gambling (ok a lot, but we had to try Craps and BlackJack!), a trip to the Grand Canyon, saw Mystere by Cirque Du Soliel, visited a few hotels, went on the New York New York roller coaster (not with these guys!) and "Insanity" over the Stratosphere Tower.

Highlight - making big winnings on roulette although I didn't put it all on black as the odds were just 2-1, I made more by putting $2 on black 13 - I walked away with a tidy $70 from that bet.

Lowlight - celebrating too much on the last night and suffering turbulance through a hangover on the flight home!

Anyway, I'm back now. And I've come home to some great news - Rainier PR (sister agency) won the Tech PR agency of the year award from the Flackenhacks, Steve Earl tells us more.

What recession?

2008-10-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

Doom and gloom all over the shop means there is plenty of talk about how to survive the recession, no matter who you are. Sally Whittle has posted some tips for how journalists and Steve Earl offers his tips for PR's here.

It can all be a bit much sometimes, my tip is - find the news behind the recession. I've had a great week so far at lighthouse talking to journalists about the real stories of the moment, completely avoiding all talk of the financial crisis. It has actually proved a really good time to introduce some of my cleints to some of the traditionally harder to reach media as they are just so keen to talk about something other than the economic climate.

And on my positive note I will leave you all for a short time while my husband and I venture off to Las Vegas to make the most of the strong GBP, staying at the Bellagio and betting it all on BLACK!

Recession, what recession?

See you in a week!

Restaurant Review - Cocoon, 65 Regent Street

2008-10-22T06:55:00.001-07:00

I've just been for a lunch at Cocoon Restaurant and thought I would share my thoughts.

The entrance is tucked away just on the corner of Air Street, close to Piccadilly Circus. You go upstairs to the main restaurant which is surprisingly big. The food is sushi, sashimi, dim sum and bento boxes and there is a sushi chef man in view on the restaurant floor, which is nice.
Vegetarian and meat options are both good.

In terms of suitability for a client meeting - its great, very stylish and not too busy. The tables are perhaps a little too close for a journo briefing but having said that I didn't hear much of what the business men on the next table to us were talking about and they were the only other people near us!

Deffo worth a try.

We made it!

2008-10-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

Sophie and I completed the 10K at Hatfield House on Sunday in very respectbale times (Sophie much more respectable than me but it's the taking part that counts). Thanks to everyone who sponsored us, including Wadds and Steve and for the good wishes I got from everyone like Paul. It was all very much appreciated.

We had an amazing day and the 2000+ people who took part did their bit to raise over £100,000 for Cancer Research UK.

I just wish people would stop asking me to do the half marathon next!

It's finally here...

2008-10-17T06:17:00.001-07:00

...10K race time is this Sunday.

Spare a thought for me while you are relaxing on Sunday over your lovely roast dinners, Sophie Jarvis and I will be hauling ass round the Hatfield House 10K run for Cancer Research. I have to confess, my main concern is getting round ahead of my mum who is also taking up the challenge.

Of course we will be rewarding ourselves afterwards with a trip to the pub!

I'll let you know how we get on!