Thought for the week

“Despite a tough economic backdrop, we are making progress. We all know there are no easy answers to problems built up over many years, and I can’t promise the road ahead will always be smooth, but by continuing to confront our problems head on, Britain is recovering and we are building an economy fit for the future.” George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, responding to news that Britain’s economy had grown by 0.3%  in the first quarter of 2013, beating the 0.1% analysts had predicted. Is anyone else getting a feeling of deja vu?

Weekly high

London design consultancy Berg has brought the digital and physical worlds even closer together this week with the announcement of #Flock. In short, these cuckoo clocks contain the company’s own wireless interface technology, which (when linked to your Twitter account) makes the birds inside chirp on the hour, and whenever someone in your timeline retweets or replies to one of your posts. Here’s a video to prove it.

Weekly low

The world is on the bring of environmental catastrophe. You don’t need to tell us that. The need to lower the carbon output from vehicles has never been more urgent, and any car manufacturer trying to reduce its impact on the planet should be rewarded. Apart from Hyundai, a firm that decided the best way to show off their “100% water emission” model by launching a viral video depicting a man trying to kill himself. Far too far.

Things that might happen in the next week…

On Wednesday Switzerland will begin to enforce a new immigration cap to limit the number of workers that can move to the country from other EU nations in search of a job; several newspaper groups including News International, Telegraph Media Group, and Associated Newspapers will prepare documentation ahead of taking their own non-government sponsored press regulation reform bill to the Privy Council; and the editor of a free London paper may be asked to apologise (at least) for comments in print suggesting some people should be ‘banned from breeding’.

Just in case you missed it…

Twitter is set to expand its advertising offering significantly following a new deal with Starcom Media Vest Group, a division of Publicis, one of the biggest of the U.S. industry players, with the latter’s clients having access to the most preferential commercial space on the network. The social media giant’s revenue is expected to leap from as a result. 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!

Thought for the week

“The best way for us to react is to push ahead with the (London) marathon on Sunday, to get people on the streets and to celebrate it as we always do in London — and to send a very clear message that we won’t be cowered by this sort of behavior. I think this is one of those incidents where the best way to show solidarity with Boston is to continue and send a very clear message to those responsible.“ British Sports Minister Hugh Robertson, discussing this weekend’s London Marathon in the wake of Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Weekly high

Video games have come a long way since the Amiga. But, despite the advent of Grand Theft Auto and interactive, immersive 3D environments, many people still carry a torch for the old school legends. Pac-Man being one of the most popular. Don’t  believe us? Take a look at this building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which was transformed into a giant version of several retro titles to encourage people to play via their iPads.

Weekly low

We’ve definitely been here before. Which is a huge shame, and an indictment on marketing and PR morality. Following the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon this week food website Epicurious decided to suggest recipes in honour of the horrific event. Needless to say, it’s not exactly in good taste, with the decision coming under fire amid accusations of exploiting the devastation. An apology was quickly issued.

Things that might happen in the next week…

The London Marathon will go ahead as planned on Sunday, with an increased police presence following the terrorist attacks in Boston, Russian President Vladimir Putin will engage in a live Q&A with the public on Thursday, and the European Court will begin a ‘clarification’ process after the UK Supreme Court ruled browsing articles online should not put the user at risk of breaching copyright law.

Just in case you missed it…

The Mail On Sunday’s new culture supplement, Event, launched last weekend. Doubling the newspaper’s capacity for arts and entertainment content, it’s a rare new start in an increasingly sedentary print world. Take a look at our review of the magazine pull-out 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!

Thought for the week

“Whether you were for her or against her, Margaret Thatcher set the agenda for the past three and a half decades of British politics. All the debates that matter today in the public arena, whether in economics, social policy, politics, the law, the national culture or this country’s relations with the rest of the world, still bear something of the imprint she left on them in her years in office between 1979 and 1990.” The Guardian newspaper, in response to the death of former PM Margaret Thatcher on Monday.

Weekly high

If you’re unfamiliar with the book Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, or the Francois Truffaut cinematic adaptation, then it’s a dystopian vision of a future wherein the fire brigade breaks into people’s homes to incinerate literature, the traditional source of knowledge. An outright classic, despite owning a copy we’ve also ordered this new U.S. edition, which comes with match and striking strip on the side so it can be burnt. How daring.

Weekly low

OK, so you need to be patient with this one. The video below shows a brave Swedish journalist embarking on a taste experiment whilst visiting the headquarters of international brewing giant AB InBev, based in Belgium (responsible for the likes of Stella Artois). He hits the streets of the surrounding town, and collars the marketing chief in order to ascertain if anyone can actually tell the difference between the aforementioned brand and other common lagers. Hands up if you can guess the conclusion?

Things that might happen in the next week…

David Cameron flies out to Germany today for a rare visit to Chancellor Angela Merke’s country residence, Margaret Thatcher will received a state funeral on Wednesday, with full military honours- angering many members of the public- and the EC competition commission will consider Google’s proposals to label results that link to its own services, an offer that follows a year of negotiations and perpetual criticism aimed at the tech giant.

Just in case you missed it…

Last Friday we attended the launch of a brand new culture magazine aimed specifically at the North West, or perhaps more accurately Manchester and Liverpool. The Skinny lays claim to 91 issues to date in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with the well-respected regional newsprint title looking to establish a similarly good name for itself in this area of England. Take a look at the website here, or pick up a copy in city centre shops, bars and venues next time you’re in one of our two biggest towns.

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!

It’s never good for business if one company controls the market, hence the Competition Commission. Evidently, though, things work a bit differently when you trade online.

As our Blagger’s Blog quoted recently, some experts claim Google has contravened several legislative measures that safeguard competitiveness. By no means the first accusations of this kind, despite this the firm continues to expand its influence, often causing a minor furore amongst smaller rivals in the process.

Of course I’m not saying this is a monopoly. When a critic rounded on Google Play recently after it emerged that highly sensitive data about users is being given to developers for no good reason, the firm made him tone it down. As such I’d prefer to avoid rash statements, especially given a U.S. court absolved the world’s biggest search engine of antitrust back in January, and the UK is a libel hotbed.

John M. Simpson of the American advocacy group Consumer Watchdog feels differently, mind. Following the legal ruling he told TechCrunch: “Google clearly skews search results to favor [sic] its own products and services while portraying the results as unbiased. That undermines competition and hurts consumers.”

Elsewhere, Business Insider ran a story on forced Google+ sign ups to access services like Gmail and Docs. Whether David Beckham would have 4,846,384 UK followers, more than any other celebrity on the network, without the gun-to-head incentive is unclear, unlike the reason for this policy. Google-dominated online advertising increases in value as public targeting gets more accurate. The best way to do that is by cross-referencing search habits with online social behaviour.

Google’s Penguin algorithm update, used to rank pages, has also been the subject of controversy. By actively penalising sites that fall foul of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines with ‘black hat SEO’ tactics, the hard and fast rule seems to be fall in line with what the search giant wants or drop off the world wide web altogether. Plummeting traffic and absence in results being terribly bad for non compliant businesses. That said a push towards better quality content on websites and more naturally earned, relevant links makes sense for general internet users.

So we need Google more than Google needs most of us, and at least for now we’re stuck with the status quo. This means trying to fool the monolith with unapproved optimisation tricks or opting out altogether aren’t viable options. Instead, on-brand digital storytelling via regular creative content- built for people rather than machines- is the only policy I ever advocate. Unless, of course, you want to play an expensive, perpetual game of cat and mouse with the powers that be. Trust me, there can only ever be one real winner.

Image (C) Jokeroo

If YouTube was a country it would be the world’s third largest by population. Culturally it’s just as significant, helping launch the Arab Spring (along with Justin Bieber and Psy). Which isn’t bad, for an eight year old.

Needless to say, plenty has changed since it launched. Not least Google’s acquisition, for $1.6billion, within months of go-live. A shrewd investment, the network is currently thought to be worth 45 times that amount, with video content becoming the most sought after online content between then and now.

Two years later, the American TV broadcaster NBC was amongst the first to be concerned about pirated recordings, demanding content be removed. A direct precursor to official terms and conditions regarding royalties and intellectual property, ironically the television station quickly u-turned, entering into a deal to screen promotional clips for forthcoming shows on YouTube. The first of many similar agreements, and another sign of things to come.

With Virgin Media subscribers and Apple TV owners now having the network wired into their package, and firms like Red Bull streaming live events on the platform (like that record-breaking stratospheric skydive) the original video social network is more like a multi-medium content channel these days. Mobile devices, PCs, plasma screens, and interactive sets all offer access to the website and its filmed treasures.

From amateur enthusiasts to major corporations, by the time U.S. Congress and Vatican City YouTube channels opened- in 2007 and 2009 respectively- the mainstream potential of the platform was more than evident. The popularity and perceived value of video began to increase exponentially too; everyone wanted to watch something, and businesses wanted to exploit that demand.

Having grown alongside the demand for video YouTube’s position as number one isn’t surprising. However, it’s no longer a one horse race. Rivals like Vimeo are slowly gaining ground, with 5million new members joining in the last 12 months alone. The closest competitor here in the UK, it still has plenty of catching up to do but exclusive deals with bands, brands and events prove those in charge understand what incentives will get people tuning in. And then there are the niche networks.

Twitter’s Vine lets you work with six seconds of footage. Similar to Keek’s 15-second idea, along with a host of other Apple and Android integrated equivalents (from Socialcam to Viddy), these short and sweet mobile options probably don’t pose an individual threat to YouTube. But collectively they could. There are only so many hours in the day, and the more people spend on rivals- most of which come with far less intrusive advertising- the less they have for the biggest fish in this saturated pond, meaning much more work will be necessary if it’s to stay in pole position.

So spring never really sprung. Instead we had snowdrifts and sub-zero temperatures. Still, with another two awards, a fantastic new client, more faces joining the team, and a major digital launch, we’ve had plenty to do indoors.

First up, we’re delighted to welcome onboard Beth Livesey, our new Account Executive, who brings with her impressive experience working for major consumer leisure brands. A perfect addition to help with the rather sizeable office workload following a string of successful pitches, it’s our pleasure to have her take up a desk and start beavering away on her Mac.

That’s not our only new signing, either. Smoking Gun PR is now handling PR duties for Manchester United Soccer Schools. Offering football training, unprecedented access to the world’s most illustrious league side, and English language lessons in conjunction with Oxford University Press, we’re happy to add another global brand to our burgeoning list of clients. Check out the global Facebook competition we’ve currently launched to find the School’s first ambassador.

Animal lovers are likely to be interested in two more of our recent client wins. Mysocialpetwork has now arrived in the UK after its German inception and does exactly what it says on the tin. From rats to cats, rabbits to horses, the new social network has already proved popular with pet owners and we’re predicting much more growth as the months go by. Meanwhile, a host of national media coverage and a slick video talent competition for Crufts evidenced how good a job we did with publicity for The Kennel Club’s legendary dog show.

All of which just about leaves enough space to mention that we picked up no less than two awards at the Golden Hedgehog ceremony in Manchester earlier this month. Our work for Nissan Shows It Cares picked up Best Consumer PR Campaign of the Year, meanwhile our celebrated staff took home Small Agency of the Year. More hard-earned success, it’s deserving of a pat on the back, albeit all hands are currently on deck representing the brands we love. Back to it then…

What began with ancient Egyptians carving notices onto stelae has taken on various incarnations in the 4,000 years between then and now. Each time a new platform has been introduced- from print to TV- its predecessors have been marginalised, if not displaced altogether. But what happens if one of the most modern mediums is already on the wane before we have a suitable replacement?

Spurious, attention-seeking introductions aside, let’s get one thing straight. Online advertising is going nowhere. In fact, it’s on the rise. Nevertheless, a recent study conducted by eBay must make for troublesome reading in the eyes of web ad giants like Google, as one look at the digital media headlines this week goes to show.

If you missed out, basically eBay has claimed that removing paid for search advertising from its marketing mix made no difference to sales. Apparently, its customer base is loyal enough and the brand strong enough to guarantee a constant stream of customers who, with or without prompts, would end up on the website, whilst the company will always appear organically high on the results page.

According to Reuters, or what online search expert at the University of Washington Oren Etzioni told the press agency, Google, which brought in $30billion plus from advertising last year, and its rivals, should be worried. Furthermore, he also pointed to the fact that his own online shopping service Decide.com, a much smaller operation compared to eBay, found similar results when analysing the impact of buying advertising from Google.

So what does this mean? Countless small organisations use this kind of advertising, and without it internet users would be more likely to miss any online reference to their brand. If these firms had resources for a dedicated SEO team and great digital content then they would (hopefully) already be utilising that for better organic results, meaning this recent news probably won’t sway them from Google Adwords.

That said, the New York Times seems to think differently. In an article last October, the paper interviewed a guy named Tom Telford, who co-founded a holiday rental firm called Blue Creek Cabins in 2001, when it cost 60 cents per click on Adwords. Nine years later, his new firm, Cedar Creek Cabin Rentals, was paying $1.25, or $140,000 per year for the same service. The rising popularity of Adwords has led to increased competitiveness, and higher rates, along with bigger profits on the part of the seller.

Clearly then there could be an issue developing here. On the one hand, this type of commercial offering might not be best practice for huge companies. And they currently spend a lot- with Amazon reported to have shelled out $54million in 2010 on Pay Per Click. Meanwhile, smaller businesses are finding budgets increasingly squeezed when it comes to such digital endeavours. And there’s only so far this can go until something finally snaps. That may be some time down the line, but if the situation continues then surely it’s pretty much an inevitability?

It’s not all doom and gloom, mind. The same NYT story also suggests local and niche companies, or rather local and niche targeted advertisements containing stand-out (not to mention highly relevant) content, fare best when it comes to Adword success. Unfortunately, this means everyone and their one man operation is now obsessing over fine tuning and perfecting copy, design, and keyword focus, so the marketplace remains ferociously aggressive, but the fundamental point is the service can still be made to work well for certain businesses. But, in a world wherein reduced profits of any kind can mean dramatically falling share prices, not last in terms of dotcoms, what would even a marginal drop in revenue mean to Google as a whole?

Image (C) Ceris42 on Flickr

Thought for the week

“The idea that you can measure the success of a programme by a series of integers, it feels as if you are being treated like a child.” A BBC spokesperson responding to the suggestion DJs on Radio 2 should be rated with marks out of ten.

Worth the paper it’s printed on?

This week’s light news success stories include…

…Cara Delevingne’s presence at London Fashion Week, as reported in 37 articles, in contrast Britain’s top maths students have now fallen behind their Asian peers and only made it into 11…

….Frank Ocean walking away with a Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist, and appearing in 17 stories, whereas the Syrian opposition boycotted talks as a protest against perceived ‘shameful international silence’ and only 2 headlines ran…

…and, finally, Lincoln’s 12 Oscar nominations, which inspired 6 articles, beating the Scottish Government education agency SQA’s controversial contract with Bahrain despite accusations of the latter country’s human rights abuses, as featured in 2 pieces.

(Source: Journalisted)

Weekly high

We all know the job market is a tough cookie to crack right now. With this in mind, a U.S. marketing type decided to approach applying for positions in a truly unique way, by sending this chocolate bar to would be employers, with the wrapper acting as an alternative resume.

Weekly low

Environmental activists can be a pain for big businesses, particularly firms that pollute. As such it’s no surprise EDF Energy isn’t seeing eye to eye with protestors that scaled a power station chimney and occupied it for three days. However, suing them for £5million isn’t really going to help matters, not least when nearly 50,000 people sign a petition to say ‘don’t do it’- nearly five times more than EDF’s total Twitter follower.

Things that might happen in the next week…

Tensions will mount in Iceland between policy makers and free speech advocates following proposals to ban pornography from the country, Mission Mars will begin scouring the globe for a willing middle-aged couple to travel 500 days in a ‘tin can’ to visit the Red Planet, and half of Britain’s population is expected to stream David Bowie’s 24th album, The Next Day, via i-Tunes ahead of its official released on March 11th.

Just in case you missed it…

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB is now the UK’s second biggest broadband provider after signing a deal to buy the British Internet arm of Telefonica, knocking virgin media off the number two spot by almost 300,000 subscribers. 

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!

As we featured in The Blagger’s Blog 4th January 2013, a U.S. court recently cleared Google of charges amounting to biasing search results following a two-year investigation. All seemed well, kind of, and with fears over one organisation being responsible for delivering so much information to so many people on the wane we got back to our jobs here at one of Manchester’s best social media and public relations agencies.

Between then and now, though, further events have transpired suggesting all those concerns surrounding the online giant’s potential to do harm may still be valid. Recent headlines haven’t been kind to Google, what with the revelation that Google Play app developers are being sent the email address, area of residence, and name of every customer that downloads their software. Worse still, the customers themselves weren’t told about this, and didn’t consent.

And the situation gets worse, as it was later revealed Google asked the publication responsible for revealing the scandal- News.com.au-  to ‘tone the story down‘. Apparently, the word ‘flaw’ was put into inverted commas regarding the problem with the process, ‘huge’ and ‘massive’ were removed in terms of the size of the issue, with back-end SEO headlines were altered to change search results.

Then we read another story. As discussed on media blog jimromensko.com this Tuesday (written by the U.S. journalist of the same name), a PR pro (presumably Stateside) seems to be offering to write stories for journalists, with ‘expert’ quotes from clients (of course), for free. Needless to say, it didn’t take long to consider the similarities; in both cases business interests are threatening to take precedent over the provision of facts to the public, and realistically neither should be excused.

Of course there will always be some bad apples- from public relations practitioners without principles to lazy or over-streteched writers. And long have press releases wound up as news stories practically un-edited. However, there’s a distinct difference between the influence any marketing entity or editorial title could have with some advertorials dressed as features and the number one service on the planet responsible for aggregating news and information forcing people to alter negative reports about its actions. In this recent instance, Google ensured one article was altered, but if that approach to reputation management were more widespread what would that mean for our trust in the information it provides? And no, the answer probably won’t be found in Yahoo or Bing (we never seem to get the same results).

This week’s infographic rounds up how users interact on Pinterest and features some interesting stats including the fact that visitors referred from Pinterest spend 70% more money then visitors referred from non-social channels.

So, what do you think? Is there potential with Pinterest when it comes to brands?