A weekly roundup of talking points, sans effort

Worth the paper it’s printed on?

Last week’s light news success stories included…

… Celebrity Big Brother again, with 48 articles reporting on the series finishing with presenter and actress Denise Welch coming out on top, whereas just 29 reported on footballer Anton Ferdinand receiving a bullet in his mail…

…George Clooney, whose Best Actor Oscar nomination secured him 82 headlines, while EU sanctions against Iran only took 63…

…and finally, The Only Way Is Essex starting up for a new series, and bagging 47 stories in the process, far more than the 7 that covered the Yes vote on Salford’s Elected Mayor Referendum.

(Source: Journalisted)

Weekly high

The anti-superhero, lo-fi blockbuster Chronicle opened in cinemas this week. The film focuses on a group of friends who develop the ability to move things with their minds, amongst other talents, and soon discover one of them has pretty questionable intentions. To celebrate 20th Century Fox hired viral marketers Thinkmodo to fly pilot radio controlled planes made to look like people around New York airspace.

Weekly low

As the most valuable consumer IT company Apple is much loved. Clean, white, crisp designs suggest transparency, and the ‘everything in the box’ approach also supports this notion. It’s unfortunate to learn then that due to conditions in some of the factories owned by its Chinese suppliers there have been calls to boycott the household brand. There may be some explaining to do.

Battle of the tweets: Manchester vs London vs Johannesberg

Top Manchester #tags (seven days to 3/2/2012)

#mufc #mcfc

#lfc #towie

#10thingsthatareattractive #5thingsicantstand

#transferdeadlineday #cbb

#deadlineday #manchester

The window of opportunity for new signings in the world of football has now been temporarily closed (#deadlineday). Aside from sport use of #towie is back (as if it ever really went away), whereas this may be the last we see of #cbb.

One to watch: itvcorrie (Coronation Street – UK’s longest running soap; 5,5138 followers / 3,808 updates)

Top London #tags (seven days to 3/2/2012)

#lfc #5thingsicantstand

#mufc #10thingsthatareattractive

#towie #10basicfactsaboutme

#arsenal #cbb

#transferdeadlineday #afc

This week’s Twitter trends in London largely mirror those in Manchester, from the transfer deadline day to the comical combination of five things people hate and ten they love.

One to watch: bobbyllew (Robert Llewellyn- Conflicted wet liberal, amateur nerd, and every few years Kryten in Red Dwarf; 78,487 followers / 34,030 updates)

Top Johannesberg #tags (seven days to 3/2/2012)

#ausopen #dear6yearoldself

#djokovic #generations

#live #nadal

#mufc #useatwitterhandleinasentence

#lfc #3talk

The South African capital is getting in on the Premiership act with #mufc too, though Jo’berg residents beat the UK’s sports fans this week by actually noticing that Djokovic won the Australian Open with a blinding victory over Rafael Nadal.

One to watch: trevornoah (Trevor Noah- Stand-up comedian; 2,863 followers / 276,166 updates)

That was The Blagger’s Blog, a selection of statements, statistics and noteworthy newsies from across the media and social world, amalgamated, allowing the time-starved professional to start a conversation from thin air.

If there is a success story, blunder, or tweeting town you’d like to see included email hello@smokinggunpr.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!

The internet is abound with news today that the world’s largest social networking site is set to sell off the highest value shares ever offered by an internet company. Despite this the funds now expected to be raised are still only half of what analysts predicted.

As anyone who caught David Fincher’s slick feature film The Social Network (itself an adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires) knows, Facebook began life in a university dorm room. With that in mind floating the company on the stock market for $5billion (around £3.16billion) doesn’t sound like a bad deal, especially when you consider that gatekeepers Google only managed $1.67billion back in 2004.

Founding father Mark Zuckerberg- who currently owns around a quarter of the company- should be satisfied with these numbers. And no doubt he is, or at least the quotes currently being banded about concerning his re-emphasising that Facebook is more of a ‘global mission to connect’ than a business opportunity suggest he’s not quibbling over the odd billion dollars.

But one of the reasons why the social network in question isn’t going on sale for the price some had initially thought possible is its potential for future growth. With 845million monthly users, and some 400million daily users (give or take… again, who’s really counting when the numbers are this high) Facebook still has a long way to go before complete global domination, but profiles do not mean profit, and in the world of global trading margins are everything.

As Kathleen Smith, principal of IPO investment advisory firm Renaissance Capital, told BBC News- Facebook is more profitable than predicted, but then “what new areas of business is it expecting to pursue beyond display ads?” Longevity is something people are still sceptical about when it comes to dotcoms, and so far the exponential increase in Facebook users hasn’t done much to ease concerns, with the phrase ‘burning yourself out’ coming to many minds; similar sites have come and gone in the past.

There’s also an even bigger gamble here; user numbers have fallen in some areas, if this happened on a large scale the implications could be grave, and with more advertising a likely outcome of the impending floatation it’s easy to imagine a worst case scenario on that front. Meanwhile, the advertisers will need to start seeing some regular large returns to warrant injecting the amount of cash into Facebook that currently supports the overall company worth (between $80-$100billion).

That figure is under a quarter of Apple’s value, less than half of Microsoft, and $87billion short of Google. Considering the strength inherent in those brands (and the fact all they all produce ‘physical’ products, not simply online services) Zuckerberg’s web based pension plan isn’t doing too badly at all. But it’s where things go from here that could well be the real baptism of fire, as ever then only time will tell how this one pans out.

Thanks to Flowtown & Column Five for creating this infographic.

To paraphrase a Greek goddess, Just Do It. Be bold, be brave and be the best you can.

It seems simple, but really it’s all too easy to become paralysed by fear, and for that I blame the media. The Daily Mail and Robert Peston in particular.

To borrow the much used (and I never believe them!) football manager mantra – avoid reading the papers. Or at least turn on your anti-pessimism filter if you want to get ahead.

Sure, the cold winds are once again blowing quite literally and metaphorically through the economy. But there are always reasons to believe, shoots of optimism to be grasped and every situation creates opportunities.

So if you want to make a difference this year, personally and professionally, you’re going to need to show some Olympian spirit by remaining ruthlessly focused and determined to hit your own objectives. And this is where another reason for the nation’s paralysis kicks in.

There’s a lack of clarity and fear of change being shown by so many. The number of senior business people I meet who know there are fundamental issues to solve in their business (communications or otherwise), but are so fearful of making the wrong decision or implementing any changes at all in case they end up turfed out and on the dole queue that they end up doing nothing, worries me.

But then the status quo will always be the easiest option. It’s the comfy armchair in your lounge, your safety blanket. Make no mistake though, when you stand still you’re actually falling behind, because your competitors have been busy identifying the threat and opportunities the current climate offers.

They’ve redeployed staff, upskilled workforces, launched new products that ride the zeitgeist and approached their sector from a new angle to disrupt the market. They have further supported this with the requisite financial spend and investment. They’re looking to come through the other side with a stronger share of a consolidated market when the tide finally turns. And it will.

Not everyone will succeed of course, but those that do stand to move forward and capitalise to the benefit of their business and stakeholders. So be bold, be brave, and be the best you can, because while predictions reign supreme throughout January, and as we approach the end of 2012’s first month this trend appears set to continue, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen such mixed messages before.

The analysis of the Christmas retail trading period alone raised many eyebrows, and before the boffins had finished offering their twopenneth we discovered January’s retail sales had hit a three year low – a mini boom and bust cycle in action.

Looking closer to home the PR sector came under review in the annual heavyweight marketing IPA Bellwether report. In all honesty it’s the same case as with so many integrated marketing meetings, wherein public relations gets the equivalent of a rushed five minutes at the end once the media bods have finished their 800th slide of penetration and reach, it being lumped into the ‘misc’ category.

We therefore must take such analyses with a pinch of salt, but even a committed sceptic can see that with budgets and profitability down for Q4 it doesn’t make pretty reading. Please allow me a moment of navel gazing to end though.

I’m pleased to report that we managed to buck the trend and Q4 was our most successful yet for the business, which saw us finish the year 50% up on 2010, a magnificent achievement and testimony to the sheer hard work and no lack of inspiration from the team. We intend to make 2012 an even better one, and for us that doesn’t just mean hard work. It’s also about focusing on the positives and not getting hung up on the negatives, seeking out opportunities and offering insightful, exciting communications solutions.
I for one can’t wait to roll my sleeves up and get stuck in!

Take care,

Rick

PS- It would be remiss of me not to mention the recent return of the acclaimed BBC re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes, to which our business as well as this e-newsletter owe their name. For fans currently missing the clever drama, check out John’s infamous blog http://johnwatsonblog.co.uk/  – I really don’t know how he has time to keep it up to date alongside his Case Notes for Smoking Gun…

Crabs in vending machines, shops in shipping containers, and credit card computers. Here’s why 2012’s biggest mobile innovation may not be the iPad 3.

Live crustaceans sold as ‘fresh’ food in Far Eastern snack dispensers isn’t so much the height of technology as it is a regional delicacy. But this area of street-side marketing is home to a more fitting example of how portable developments are becoming engrained in everyday life. Introducing the Ubox application.

In China people are already used to topping up e-commerce accounts online through systems like Taobao (as we do on eBay), and Ubox is an extension of this idea. The application runs on Android, iPhone, and Java devices, and links to (what the developers hope will become) a national network of vending machines. Credit your account at home, then make a selection from any machine via your phone and payment is taken automatically. It really is that simple.

Sticking in the world of food and drink retail, though applying a broader definition to the term ‘mobile’, Stockbox Grocers is an innovative model and sign of the times currently being trialled Stateside. Crafted from reclaimed (and therefore also recycled) shipping containers, these autonomous shops are designed to be delivered to any destination, unloaded, and immediately opened for business.

Better yet, if footfall in the area drops off the premises can be moved, wholesale, to another site. The first store has already opened in Seattle, and the concept may be rolled out across America this year, so watch Britain’s streets for the inevitable arrival soon after that. The success of ‘pop up stores’ in high priced city centres provides numerous examples of why this idea could be so lucrative.

Stockbox UK might not be confirmed, but one revolution guaranteed to be seen on a high street near you in 2012 is Object Recognition (OR). That is, of course, if you haven’t noticed it already, as many smartphones already pack this functionality, allowing users to catalogue images as viewed through a mobile lens. Just hold the device so as to capture the desired object in a photograph, then drop the stored image into a compatible application.

The result means performing tasks like searching online for a sofa using a photograph taken seconds earlier will easily be possible. Like Augmented Reality (see our blog post on The ‘Half Naked App’), this is the next phase of camera phone use, one of many ‘smart’ developments currently taking place on the mobile tech frontier. But most of us still don’t know much about how a basic computer works, so many of these advancements can be quite confusing.

To try and solve this problem boffins at Cambridge University have invented the Raspberry Pi Computer. This new PC is the size of a credit card, can network with numerous devices (laptops, flatscreens etc), and will cost £15. Admittedly it’s no Power Mac, with estimates gauging that its processing capabilities are similar to an average desktop circa 2005. Nevertheless, when something’s this small and cheap those specs sound impressive to us.

The idea is to re-engage young people with computer science by having them learn skills like programming on these portable, affordable devices. Revolutionary in the same way old BBC machines were four decades ago, the notion of putting technology back in the hands of users is fitting in a discussion on mobile developments, and confirms this is an era in which microchips are universal, and have become integral to our lives, as such understanding them is now vital.

On December 4th the UK’s only pair of giant pandas arrived at Edinburgh Zoo from China. A momentous occasion for animal lovers, this also represented a unique prospect for one of our key clients. Here’s how the brand seized its opportunity.

The connection between Panda Liquorice and panda bears is pretty obvious. The name says it all, but as we’ve already shown in our posts on brand affiliations successful partnerships result from analysis that takes several more factors into account. There’s nothing worse than a poorly conceived link, not least when it leads to embarrassment for either company involved.

In this case the potential for our beloved snack to be affiliated with these rare namesake creatures only became more pronounced with further investigation. Panda Liquorice won the Best Healthy Treat award at the Your Healthy Living Best Products Awards last year, and its policy of ‘no nasties’- whether that’s artificial colours or added sugars- fits in entirely with the image of panda bears living happily on all natural ingredients.

Branding exercises are useless without a great campaign, and here the company tied in a new price point, fresh product, and high profile PR launch to celebrate its deal with Edinburgh Zoo. The success of these initiatives is no real surprise, what with a prior two year relationship with Chester Zoo and a cherry flavoured liquorice red panda tie-in. Nevertheless, few could have expected the new campaign to go quite so well.

This time round Panda introduced Strawberry flavoured treats shaped like bears. Sold in smaller-than-usual 80g bags, the line represents a move into a new niche marketplace, targeting customers on the go and children. The £1 price tag also means Strawberry Bears are competing with different brands when compared to the manufacturer’s other ranges, meaning support through an affiliate campaign was a great idea in order to take this bold step.

The ability to promote a link with a high profile endangered species on packaging is priceless for public recognition; the giant pandas made national headlines, liquorice, on the whole, does not, so new customers will have been introduced to the product. At the same time, donating some of the resulting profits to the costly upkeep of the bears further cements the brand’s reputation as ‘good’.

In return Edinburgh Zoo is now promoted on packs of Panda Liqourice sold up and down the country, and will receive an additional income as a result of this association. During the first weekend the new pandas went on public display we were on site in the Scottish capital handing out Strawberry Bears, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. As such we can say this is another example of brand synergy and well executed PR leading to a truly successful affiliation.

It’s traditionally the slowest month of each year, though you wouldn’t think so to look at our diary. With keynote speeches, youth project work, charitable gestures, and another two award nominations the last four weeks have been hectic as ever.

Happy New Year, if it’s not too late already now January’s done and dusted. So 2012 is well underway, and if national news opinion polls are anything to go off it’s going to be another tough 12 months for businesses. The recession has already run our economy ragged, and by all accounts we may be about to fall back into a similar, double-dip situation. The jobs market reflects this, and with the increasing cost of university to boot we’re delighted to be involved with Bigdog.co.uk.

More and more young people are now looking at alternatives to higher education. Big Dog offers advice, tailored job and apprenticeship searches, event notices, and articles for 16-24 year olds on the hunt for vocational routes into a career. We’ve been working to raise the website’s profile amongst the public and would be users alongside founder Nick Chadbourne, a chap who has already helped some 5,000 young people train for work in just over two years.

Back in December we decided to donate a percentage of last year’s profits to the Starlight Children’s Unit at Wythenshawe Hospital in South Manchester after doctors and nurses there cared for a critically ill child of the Smoking Gun directors. Now Panda Liquorice is also getting in the charitable mood by sending a proportion of the sales from its new Strawberry Bears to Edinburgh Zoo, after successfully shaking hands on an affiliate deal tied in with the arrival of two giant pandas- click here for more on that story.

We’re also delighted to say Panda Liquorice, our favourite health food manufacturer, will continue to use our services for all press office and digital PR responsibilities this year. After a successful partnership in 2011 that resulted in award wins for both Smoking Gun and the all-natural brand, each party understandably has high expectations for the coming months…

…and what better way to kick start 2012 than with another award nomination for the Panda-Smoking Gun team, with our Giving Nasties the Blues project up for Freshest Social Media Campaign at the Fresh PR Awards. On top of this we’re in the running for Freshest Small PR Team too, so fingers crossed for March 1st.

Elsewhere we’ve also been called upon to offer industry wisdom and help bring another group of business people up to speed for the New Year. At a recent conference of the British Confectioners Association Smoking Gun MD Rick Guttridge was called in to advise on trends in cultural events, technology, and media for 2012, with more professionals benefiting from our sector-specific knowledge of marketing and PR tools.

So January’s not been very sleepy at all, but then we wouldn’t have it any other way. Aside from all this following our recent succession of new client wins we’ve been busy conjuring up some typically innovative campaigns for the future, whilst more major contracts currently sit on the table. So much to do it’s probably time to get back to it, with all eyes set on what already looks like another standout year.

Much like our weekly Friday morning Blagger’s Blog, we scour the web to keep you informed of the best, hilarious and occasionally useful content distracting us right now!

How to turn a page with a hamster and a hairdryer. What last year would look like if social media controlled the news. It’s amazing what you find on the internet in just one month. These are some of our recent favourites.

Statistic of the month
The average American teenager sends 75 text messages per day.

Cult clips
This Google-produced short detailing 2012‘s highs and lows ranked Number 1 in the viral charts. Yes it’s over-sentimental, but it’s also quite well made…

…in contrast the equivalent video from electronic card and ‘sendable’ manufacturer Jib Jab pokes a lot more fun, and is probably far more accurate.

Sometimes even reading a newspaper is too much effort. With the help of this handy, easy to install invention such pains will become a thing of the past.

Multimedia resumes are nothing new in the creative industries. Here’s one done properly by Eileen Sweeney, and yes, there is another detailing her experience.

Infographic of the month
Social media gives us a wonderful insight into what individuals think the burning issues are, not the mass media news agenda. As this informative image proves.

A weekly roundup of talking ponts, sans effort

Worth the paper it’s printed on?

Last week’s light news success stories included…

… Celebrity Big Brother again, with 92 articles reporting on the series dominating UK audiences, just a few more than the 88 that reported on Wikipedia temporarily closing down amid piracy fears…

…and Amanda Holden wearing heels whilst pregnant, the crux of eight stories, the same number that covered the fall of Tom Harris, an ex-Scottish Labour MP (see below).

(Source: Journalisted)

Weekly high

Scandinavian Airlines have a been responsible for several successful interactive, social media, and digital campaigns over the years. The company’s ‘Couple Up to Buckle Up’ QR initiative is no different, as this typically smooth case study video from the firm confirms…

Weekly low(s)

Tom Harris resigns from his post as Scottish Labour MP after creating a spoof video comparing First Minister Alex Salmond to Adolf Hitler in another one of those Downfall based clips. The result means the internet is now full of reactionary work such as this…

…meanwhile the private sector ensured we had to include two cock ups for the price of one this week, as McDonalds launched a Twitter campaign inviting people to share their #McDStories but instead received jibes, abuse, and the following PFSK headline. Fail.

Battle of the tweets: Manchester vs London vs Sheffield

Top Manchester #tags (seven days to 26/1/2012)

#mcfc #mufc

#cbb #lfc

#30thingsaboutme #manchester

#youknowyouredrunkwhen #thingsicantstand

#supersunday #takemeout

The last week of January has played out much like the rest of the month in Manchester- quietly. That is, of course, apart from the city’s two Premier League teams both beating London sides, in the capital no less.

One to watch: gemsmaquillage (Gemma – You Tuber/blogger on makeup and beauty; 12,773 followers / 27,744 updates)

Top London #tags (seven days to 26/1/2012)

#cbb #30thingsaboutme

#lfc #arsenal

#mufc #mcfc

#afc #youknowyourdrunkwhen

#thingsicantstand #takemeout

Understandably Arsenal (and no doubt Tottenham) fans have been Tweeting about the weekend’s double loss against Manchester’s big two, elsewhere Take Me Out and Celebrity Big Brother are high on the agenda, while others reveal personal secrets. No change there then.

One to watch: sbtvonline (SB TV Online- The UK’s leading youth broadcaster; 61,264 followers / 52,697 updates)

Top Sheffield #tags (seven days to 26/1/2012)

#cbb #swfc

#30thingsaboutme #sufc

#youknowyouredrunkwhen #ntas

#takemeout #mcfc

#sheffield #127hours

Both Sheffield teams are enjoying good times too, albeit in League One (United and Wednesday). Aside from that the recent screening of 127 Hours, a film about a guy stuck in a rocky crevice with his arm trapped under a boulder, also seems to have made an impression.

One to watch: swfc (Sheffield Wednesday FC- Official Twitter profile for the football team; 16,115 followers / 10,892 updates)

That was The Blagger’s Blog, a selection of statements, statistics and noteworthy newsies from across the media and social world, amalgamated, allowing the time-starved professional to start a conversation from thin air.

If there is a success story, blunder, or tweeting town you’d like to see included email hello@smokinggunpr.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!

In many legal cases to stand by and knowingly allow someone to commit a crime is, in itself, a crime. Similarly, to aid in the transportation or storage of stolen goods is tantamount to theft.

Online though the same rules don’t apply. Because there’s no emotion, or morality, at work in an inanimate search engine, and so it’s difficult to accuse these service providers of a criminal offence. Google, et al, are designed to do what we ask, with the only prejudices involved coming from our own history and pre-set preferences. Until now, maybe.

As Media Guardian reported today Google and Bing, two major search engine players, have both been accused of pointing users in the direction of illegal film and music downloads, while making it more difficult for people to find official, paid-for equivalents online. This has all come from a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act which contains suggestions made to Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications, and Creative Industries, by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Publishers Association, the Premier League, and Pact; a trade body for independent film and TV producers.

The proposals include a voluntary body charged with removing illegal file sharing and file hosting sites from search results, and are really just the next stage in what has so far been a lengthy process of ‘cleaning up online piracy’, a task that’s still only in the earliest phase. Recently Google introduced a fast-track service for those wanting to request a website to be removed from results page, which is an improvement from a licensees perspective but the biggest move may have more self interest at heart.

With Google’s overall reach in the world of web things nothing short of comprehensive (it’s one of the only brands with a finger in almost every online pie), the launch of a new Google music service, allowing people to search for, stream, and download songs, is a move into one of the few untapped territories. It’s already a highly competitive marketplace though, so if there’s any hope of taking on the big guns some serious cash will need to be invested. Now ‘pirate sites’ have become a direct competitor it seems unlikely some of this money won’t be spent on more drastic steps to reduce their presence, making for an interesting potential turning point.