Thought for the week

“It is high time that the banks took their social responsibilities seriously. Since the start of the year RBS, HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds have announced plans to slash about 6,900 jobs. The industry almost caused the economy to implode in 2008 and now it is contributing to a jobs crisis.“ Unite national officer Dominic Hook, commenting after RBS announced 1,400 job losses over the next two years.

Weekly high

There’s nothing we like more than a socially responsible PR stunt, and as such this week Brazilian beer manufacturer Antarctica wins our top spot. In a bid to reduce the number of drink driving incidents, revellers attending the Rio de Janeiro carnival (which the drink brand sponsors) were allowed to use their empties as tickets on the city’s metro system, making public transport preferable to a boozy car journey.

Weekly low

It wasn’t that long ago when the news was filled with horrific reports following a mass shooting inside an American cinema. As such, when a mastermind at Capital 8 Theatres decided to employ fake gunmen to storm its screens in Missouri as a promotion for Iron Man 3, it’s understandable people were outraged. Despite the obvious issue, amazingly manager Bob Wilkins doesn’t seem to think there’s a problem.

Things that might happen in the next week…

The Castlefield Hotel hosts the Manchester Internet Meeting tonight, open for anyone even remotely interested in Internet marketing. Tuesday sees the Liverpool Dot-Art: Design Your Own Marketing Materials event take place at The Bluecoat, showing attendees how to create flyers, posters and more with free software (and their own laptops). On Wednesday the Leeds Enterprise Network meets at the city’s Metropolitan University, where graduate Anna Moss will discuss opening her own marketing company.

Just in case you missed it…

The Sun is to introduce a paywall from August 1st. Users signing up to the new service, dubbed Sun+, will receive seven day per week access to the website via any device they own, in addition to extras including Premier League football highlights. Read more on the story here, or watch this space for the Smoking Gun analysis next week.

If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!

If you’re looking for brand exposure then prominent enthusiasts, busily running their own weblogs, cannot be ignored. As such, understanding which are the most read, and held in highest regard, can be invaluable.

The problem is, like most things online, this realm moves and changes fast. Very few blogs provide a full day-to-day living for the people responsible, meaning everything from a job change or relocation, to simply running out of energy, can lead to popular domains dropping off the radar altogether. Add to this how fickle the public’s wandering eye is- not least in terms of digital- and you start to realise how important it is to keep abreast with what’s hot (and what’s not).

To evidence this point, the Huffington Post’s Taste section has a regular-ish roundup of the latest rising stars and ones to watch (or read), because of the steady influx of new contenders ready to replace those that fall by the wayside. The fact this feature isn’t monthly, but seems to be designed as such, supports the notion that regular, reliable content isn’t an easy thing to come by- even for one of the world’s most popular English-speaking websites- hence the constant state of flux any list of ‘top blogs’ will be in.

The Foodies 100 is probably a more reliable source, and takes the form of 100 links to 100 blogs, each ranked in terms of Google, MozRank, Inlinks, Klout, Kred, and traffic, every 30 days. As such you’re not only being presented with the most visited, but also the most influential and engaging, which count for just as much. Currently, April’s top offering is the excellent Tinned Tomatoes, run by Jacqueline Meldrum (who also has two other outlets, Little Tums and The Food Blog Diary- the latter of which is more news focused, and billed as “the place to find up-to-date foodie challenges, giveaways and competitions”).

As a writer, this self-trained baker and cook (who’s also a mother, hence Little Tums), has become something of a go-to woman for recipes, opinions, and other epicurean things. However, she didn’t make it onto the aforementioned Huffington roundup in May (or November, or October last year for that matter), wherein the number one spot is held by Yammie’s Noshery, which focuses largely on Japanese and Asian cuisine, compiled by 20-something Yammie (who was just 18 when she started the blog).

It’s worth noting that whilst Foodies uses a technical scoring system, the Huff is opinion based, and therefore although it’s worth keeping an eye on, from a PR perspective the top 100 list is far more valuable in terms of gauging targets for client coverage. And there’s no shortage of other websites compiling similarly subjective run downs of ‘the best’, either, from Woman & Home to a Suffolk pub called The British Larder. Depending on how niche you’re willing to go, none or all can offer some helpful insights.

Of course this is on top of the ‘majors’. The biggest blog dedicated to food in the UK right now is actually The Guardian Word of Mouth, with the likes of luxury concierge service Bon Vivant, and BBC Good Food also rated very highly. None of these appear on the Foodies list, presumably because they are parts of larger websites. They all offer a range of opportunities from a public relations perspective, though. As you can see then, there are as many ways to track down the best in the business as there are good quality blogs run by respected bloggers. Here are five of our personal favourites right now, feel free to let us know any we should have included…

Hale & Hearty 

Not just because it’s based down the road in Hale, this website, run by the eponymous Hale & Hearty food company, hosts great recipes and health tips alongside its own catalogue and in-house news. There are also opportunities for restaurant reviews.

NeverSeconds

Winning The Observer Food Monthly’s Best Blog of 2012 speaks for itself, and even if the same doesn’t happen this year, the combination of interviews, videos, opinions and news relating to school dinners (and more) is still well worth a bookmark.

Gin and Crumpets

As the name suggests, this is a celebration of all things British and edible/drinkable, and features a range of content from tasting session write ups to event reviews and longer features.

Food Blogger Connect

OK, so admittedly this isn’t really a blog as such, but it does contain a blog on food related things (including profiles of great indie bloggers). On top of this, Food Blogger Connect is also the world’s leading food blogger conference, which is well worth knowing about.

Cheese and Biscuits

Esquire rate the chap behind this one of the Top 5 food bloggers restaurants should fear, with the Evening Standard claiming he’s one of the ‘Most Influential Londoners’. As such it’s probably wise to check in from time to time.

Anyone who reads our public relations blog on a Friday will know that we take it upon ourselves to highlight media, PR, and marketing related highs and lows from the week prior. But, whilst this would certainly be a contender, we thought the example at hand was worth expounding on a little, as it highlights just how much care and consideration needs to be shown when dealing with customers and consumers.

As reported on in many publications yesterday, including The Drum, a situation has unfolded involving John Lewis, that most upstanding of British department stores, its Indian suppliers, and a UK overseas territory. The crux of the stories being that a globe showing the Falkland Islands as Islas Malvinas was found in a Sloane Square branch of the aforementioned retailer. That’s the Spanish translation, and given Argentina’s claim over, and 1980s invasion of this Atlantic archipelago understandably people have got quite worked up about the blunder.

Labelled as un-patriotic, and disrespectful towards the military men and women that fought (and in some cases lost their lives) in order to keep the islands under British protectorate, apparently the mistake came about when an approved design (containing the correct reference; Falklands) wasn’t used on a batch of stock at source. Once this was discovered, replacements were issued (with the right information on them).

Whilst this is no horse meat, given John Lewis’ reputation and projected image, the fact it uses suppliers capable of such a cultural faux pas is somewhat damaging, even if the initial cock up will be forgotten in a relatively short amount of time. Here at Smoking Gun PR we continuously reference the importance not just of creative brand storytelling and messages, but also consistency within those. Still, though, accidents continue to happen (albeit thankfully not amongst our clients), and this is a classic example. The actions- in terms of manufacturing, and wholesale quality control- didn’t match the corporate message, which is very much focused on attention to detail, trustworthiness, and respectability.

Of course nobody’s saying the highly regarded employer isn’t still one of the most ethical in the country, but nevertheless there’s no accounting for double-checking quality and accuracy. Least of all when you’re serving customers with a bit of disposable money to spend, who can afford to shop elsewhere. Granted, there are so many demands on businesses in 2013 there’s always a risk of oversight, it’s just that with more choice and voice than ever before, the public as a whole has never been more vehement in its reaction to such slip-ups.

Thought for the week

“Listen chums, this thing isn’t working for either of us. Your eurozone is causing all sorts of misery, plus the on-costs, the non-wage costs, of the way the EU has been running and has legislated and regulated over the last 20-30 years are making the whole area completely uncompetitive. We need a renegotiation.” London Mayor Boris Johnson, explaining how Britain leaving the EU would not be ‘cataclysmic’ on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.

Weekly high

After Alex Ferguson announced his retirement from the job of Manchester United manager several companies were quick off the mark with PR and marketing stunts. Unsurprisingly, Paddy Power went the furthest with scant regard for causing offence by putting this advertising hoarding up in Liverpool city centre. Still, there’s nothing like making a big impression.

Weekly low

Charles Ramsey, the American guy who rescued two imprisoned women and a child from his neighbour’s house in Cleveland, Ohio, should be commended for his efforts. As he explains in the interview below, before hearing cries for help he was eating McDonalds. Less admirable is the fast food chain’s ‘sensitive’ tweet (also below), seen by some as using the horrific event for marketing. Worse still, according to Time magazine, the hero of the hour actually has previous domestic violence convictions, proving brands need to look before they leap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axCn04iXkBg

Things that might happen in the next week…

The F.A. Cup Final will be played at Wembley stadium tomorrow, with Wigan taking on the might of Manchester City, and as a result don’t expect seats on the Piccadilly Euston service until around midday. Many teenagers will begin their GCSE examinations on Monday, following news grades should be set higher as of autumn (hardly encouraging for those imminently sitting tests). UK Government departments will look to advertising partners and sponsors to help fund campaigns following a change to legislation.

Just in case you missed it…

Samsung has won Brand of the Year at The Drum marketing awards, whilst UM London- the firm behind Royal Mail’s Gold Medal Winner Stamps for last the 2012 Olympics, has bagged the Grand Prix. Read more on the story here.

If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!

Sometimes you can’t help but be proud of where you live. This week we’ve stumbled across two articles about Smoking Gun PR’s hometown, and as they both involve major developments on the local (and international) digital media frontier it seems only right to share our newfound knowledge.

First of all then, whilst no longer the top team in England, Manchester City has cemented its place as the nation’s most technologically advanced club following the decision to implement a Wi-Fi network in its stadium at Eastlands. Not for nothing, the Cisco equipment will have all the obvious benefits of reliable, fast wireless Internet in a situation where- 4G or not- there’s every chance if all 47,000 people tried to re-buffer a web page at the same time they could experience a little slow down.

Better yet, 02, who will be delivering the service, also intend on installing kit to boost mobile reception for everyone inside, eliminating the same problem when it comes to making a call (or sending a text). Whether you believe football should still involve standing on terraces and waiting for Match of the Day highlights or not, there’s no denying this is a first for any Premier League side.

Apparently, the Wi-Fi will also facilitate Stadium Vision Mobile, which allows business owners- in this case the stadium bosses- to co-ordinate content between big screens and the mobiles logged on to the network. Even more impressively, they can also filter this down to individual devices, meaning it would, technically, be possible to receive a direct personal message from one of the players, coaching staff or similar whilst at a game. Needless to say, there’s marketing potential there in spades.

Improvements to Manchester’s digital infrastructure haven’t gone unnoticed elsewhere, either. As we read in the Financial Times, the city is now something of a ‘magnet for tech pioneers‘. Out in Newton Heath, The Sharp Project- a development of affordable, creative office spaces that is fast becoming another TV and production hub- has some prestigious new neighbours, with EON Reality setting up its European headquarters in the area. The 3D tech giant already has bases in Singapore and Sweden, with this new address set to boast a Virtual Reality showroom, and Entrepreneurial Coding School, which will welcome 500 students every year.

The same article also references the growing cloud hosting industry Manchester has managed to develop as further signs of the region’s healthy future prospects. EON Reality chairman and founder, Dan Lejerskar, explained to the FT: “No other city in Europe has invested as much in its digital media and content operations- with billions being spent on creating a global hub for creative industries. Manchester is perfectly placed to be the UK’s digital city.” Needless to say then, whilst the warm weather may have subsided (hopefully only for a short while), the skies are grey and the rain falling outside our window, there’s plenty to be upbeat about from our perspective.

Public relations in the 21st Century is all about storytelling. And, as anyone with a background in art history, literature, and film will know, there is a limited number of tales available to use as inspiration.

According to innumerable theorists, there are only seven original stories. From those, every other yarn is spun, meaning we can loosely file plots under headings like ‘Odyssey’, ‘Tragedy’, or ‘Rebirth’. The specific titles vary from pundit to pundit, book to book, but nevertheless you probably get the point. Interestingly enough, according to the Harvard Business Review earlier this year, there are exactly seven popular uses for mobile media when it comes to members of the U.S. public. These were described as:

‘Self Expression’ (participation in hobby or niche interest- 1% of all interactions via mobile handset, excluding email, SMS, and voice calls)

‘Discovery’ (news and information- 4%)

‘Preparation’ (planning activities- 7%)

‘Accomplishing’ (managing finances, health and productivity- 11%)

‘Shopping’ (12%)

‘Socialising’ (interaction with others- 19%)

‘Me Time’ (relaxation and entertainment- 43%)

The information was garnered from the Seven Shades of Mobile study, conducted by InsightsNow for AOL and BBDO in 2012. The first stage of the research saw 24 users complete an individual seven-day diary, and partake in lengthy interviews. In the second phase, 1,051 U.S. users ages 13 to 54 were surveyed, with data from 3,010 mobile interactions collected. The mobile activities of two-thirds of those users were also tracked for 30 days.

Closer to home, and another story regarding the number seven also caught our eye. This weekend, The Observer ran an article entitled ‘Social media: the next generation‘, which contained plenty of speculation concerning whether or not Facebook needs to be concerned about competitors.

The paper’s Digital Media Correspondent, Jemima Kiss, references a ‘lack of empathy for the true human condition’, and the fickle nature of web browsing as potential issues with the biggest network on the planet. Basically, it is impossible to predict people’s behaviour accurately every time, so no amount of algorithm expertise can give a complete view as to how the public will react and adapt to news events, not to mention new social networking options. Just look at MySpace.

Obviously nobody knows whether Facebook will follow suit. At the moment it certainly doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon, if ever, despite big problems in terms of both privacy and decency on the network- two more arguments in the article referenced above. Offensive content isn’t removed quickly enough, and nobody outside the powers that be truly understands how much information is being stored about them.

With every new app there’s an increased challenge for room on the home pages of mobile users everywhere, because most people only really use seven. These change as fashions and fads do, albeit some remain constantly popular (such as Facebook). But the point is all that’s needed to dislodge the current top dog is a shift in taste leading to a change in demand.

The blog ‘We’re not ‘appy. Not ‘appy at all‘ shows Britain’s Government recognises the investment required to develop an app is too great for the actual demand in most instances. People won’t use them, even though they use apps every day, because they only use a small number of apps compared with all they can buy from the digital Store or Market.

For business, PR and marketing, this doesn’t mean ignoring new social networks and other mobile downloads. Take a look at our recent newsletter story on niche social networks for proof that specialist digital offerings are on the rise. However, spending time getting to know which applications are the most popular overall for the various platforms currently available in the UK (i.e. Android, iOS) is a good idea if you’re considering using mobile to engage the public. From there, consider which would suit your brand, and then begin to piece together the grand plan.

Image credit: Leo Reynolds

Thought for the week

“Facebook is populated by mums and PR staff. No self-respecting young person would be on Facebook.” Radio 1 Newsbeat and 1Xtra editor Rod McKenzie, who instead suggests that Tumblr, Snapchat, Vine and Keek are the networks of choice those in the prime of their lives. Whether he believes those same young people want the kind of content produced by the two stations he works at remains to be seen.

Weekly high

Everybody loves being in bed. As a species we spend most of our time either at work or asleep, and having a good spot to rest your head is important. Or at least that’s what the latest advert from IKEA Sweden thinks, which manages to chronicle a baby becoming a man, with the real focus being on his relationship with mattress and frame.

Weekly low

PespiCo commissioned American rapper and video producer Tyler The Creator for a new serialised online ad campaign. His idea was a Mountain Dew-addicted goat getting in trouble with the law, but the latest instalment (now removed by the company amid accusations of being the ‘most racist commercial ever’) caused a furore in the U.S. thanks to its apparent stereotyping and promotion of violence towards women.

Things that might happen in the next week…

Both Liverpool and Salford are hosting similarly named but unrelated new music showcases over the next few days, respectively industry crowd puller Sound City and the more intimate but still impressive Sounds From The Other City. On Monday the Chartered Institute of Marketing will host Meet & Mingle for members, a free event which will be held at  The Leeds Club (3 Albion Place, Leeds, LS1 6JL). Ukip representatives will continue to celebrate a marked rise in popularity following a second place result in the South Shields by-election, whist Conservatives blame anti-coalition sentiment for the right wing populists’ increase in support.

Just in case you missed it…

Instagram has developed a brand new picture editing application, Photos Of You, with the idea being to make it easier for users to add people and objects to images. Read more on the story here, or watch the video below.

If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!

Thanks to intersectionconsulting.com for creating the infographic.

Public relations consultancies love receiving inquiries about new work. The very lifeblood of our business, without them we wouldn’t have much confidence in the long term future. It’s just a shame not everyone picks up the phone for the right reasons.

Here at Smoking Gun PR we are blessed with a book full of great clients, and it has to be said I consider our experiences in the pitching process to be largely positive. But the same isn’t always said at other agencies, meaning our position is fortunate (if not lucky). And even then I can still think of one or two nightmare examples.

Whilst many companies looking for public relations services do so with courtesy and an appreciation for the time involved in developing a new business proposal, this isn’t a universal truth. You can spend hours if not days, along with a notable amount of money coming up with ideas for standout campaigns. As such it’s more than frustrating when you hear nothing back, or worse still, see startlingly similar concepts rolled out by the requisitioning firm further down the line.

Nobody’s accusing anyone of intellectual property theft, but this kind of behaviour does happen, and will always be noticed by people working in the media. As professionals part of our job involves reading the news. Furthermore, we also expect to be treated like professionals. That means face to face meetings, open lines of communication, and feedback after unsuccessful pitches.

It sounds like a personal rant, but the crux here is anything but. Recent headlines have only served to prove how widespread these headaches actually are. Larry Franks, head of creative and branding agency Beige, was featured in PR Week earlier this month after he announced plans to introduce a new ‘letter of engagement’, effectively committing would-be clients to a contract following a pitch to avoid spending valuable resources on dead leads.

On the flip side, Sports Interactive’s best-selling game Football Manager is a lot of fun, however the same can’t be said for the developer’s attitude towards agencies. After inviting ten to pitch, three of which will need to do so again once the wheat and chaff have been separated, there has been a flood of complaints regarding the scale of the process and legwork required before any agreement to hire. One contender even dropped out, a move that may have been due to the amount of unpaid work involved. So, like I said, this is far from a complaint, and more of a request for what’s fair and reasonable.

This month we helped launch a brand new online community, designed for animals and people. Well, actually, pet owners and their pets. Far from a long-shot, it has already made national print and broadcast headlines, and represents a growing trend for this kind of specialist offering.

Mysocialpetwork makes good on the decade old quip that ‘the internet is mostly just pictures of cute kittens’. Its arrival in the UK follows on from Europe, with the site providing a place for owners to post pictures, status updates and more, on behalf of- or about- their furry, scaly or feathered friends. Two weeks after launch and our client has received hits via the likes of BBC 5 Live’s breakfast show, The Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday and The Daily Telegraph. That’s impressive, although we’re not particularly surprised.

For one thing, we worked hard on an innovative pre-launch campaign. Secondly, the rise of niche social media has been a long time coming. The major networks were not designed to serve a specific market, but specific markets exist, and they all need to be served. Hence Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg forking out $1million last year for a stake in SumZero, a community for professional investors.

No doubt many of those may well be members of another platform, namely Best Of All Worlds. Conceived by Erik Wachtmeister- a Swedish Count no less- it acts as an online meeting point for the wealthy and well connected. Likened by its creator to a members-only country club, imagine the powerful and prestigious talking to each other without worrying about the riff raff, as they always have, albeit with instant messaging and status updates, but sans century-aged Scotch.

Lady Gaga made headlines- and attracted plenty of attention from music pros- when she launched her own network last year. Little Monsters means you no longer need to be at a concert to know everyone in the vicinity is a die-hard fan. Make friends, arrange trips, buy tickets and share music is the mantra her management seem to have adopted, and the benefits are clear in an industry increasingly reliant on events as its core product. Understandably, other platinum sellers are already being touted as the next adopters.

In contrast to the decadent entertainment industry, Impossible.com is a more worthwhile variation on the same idea. Aimed at altruists rather than Gagaists, here people can offer their skills and expertise for free, either as a donation or in exchange for other services and items. According to Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia: “It’s the basis for an economy not based on money.” We’ll not be giving up on Sterling just yet, but it’s certainly an applaudable concept.

The list could go on, too. My Last Wish is a slightly macabre example, allowing you to find others with the same list of things they’d like to do before they die. Meanwhile, Untappd lets you check into any pub, locate those with comparable taste buds, and discover where they go to satisfy that thirst. In each case a gap in the market has clearly been identified, in the same way as fan clubs, specialist magazines, and forums have been doing for so long already. With that in mind, keeping an eye out for any relevant to your industry would be time well spent.