There is gold in them there hills!

by Nathan Lane

I spent Friday speaking at an event for Foreign Direct Investment bodies organised by Red Hot Locations . The audience came from across the UK, Europe and North America.

The range of speakers covered topics from branding to design and the current seminar darling – social media. All the speakers covered similar themes, albeit coming from different areas of the marketing spectrum.

Three key themes from the day:

1. Authenticity
2. Engagement
3. Narrative

These themes should come as no surprise. I recently re-read the marketing classic “Scientific Advertising” by Claude Hopkins. It was written in 1923 and is still relevant today. In 1923 it was important to walk a mile in your customer’s shoes and address their needs. Listen to your customers and analyse advertising activity to target more effectively and generate better results.

Authenticity was important in 1923 and it still is today. Promoting a product or service on its essential truth will ensure that the customer experience is reinforced at the point of purchase. The impact of product or service not living up to its marketing promise is even greater today. In 1923 you may have told ten people about how unhappy you are but in 2009 you can tell 1,000s, and they can tell 1,000s, and they can tell 1,000s.

Brand news can go global in a day and this provides great opportunities for the marketing professional. The threat comes if you have a crap product or service.

Engagement used to come at a number of touch points from the newspaper ad to the purchase in store. The list has got longer but the problem isn’t more complicated. It remains the case today that the best brands provide a consistent voice across all areas where it interacts with its customers.

Social media presents greater opportunities to listen and interact with customers in real time. This is a huge asset to any business where you can grow relationships with customers before they even come in store. Post purchase the relationship is maintained and without having the costs associated with a print based CRM plan.

The best brands have a narrative, a story to tell, that will stick in the minds of customers. These brands become iconic with a raft of legends around them. Virgin, Ford, Apple, Ben and Jerry’s, Glasses Direct, Innocent – we can all recall a story about the brand that allows us to engage with them on a deeper level.

Buyology by Martin Lindstrom makes the point that in a world where we are subjected to so many messages, most brands become white noise. It is the brands with a story that stick.

I was asked on Friday “how will social media change my business”? There is no answer to that – it depends on what you want it to do. You can find stats that will tell you social media is the biggest thing since the industrial revolution or a total waste of money. More than the technology the biggest impact on the effectiveness of social media is the talent of the people running the campaigns, the resources applied and the goals that are set.

My view is that social media is another tool in marketers box and a bloody useful one that, if used in the right way, will drive out cost while getting you closer to your customers. We are now able to listen, engage and respond to our customers in a way that was impossible (other than face to face) five years ago.

From a PR perspective it is the stories that generate the media interest (print, broadcast, digital, social media) and get talked about. It is talkability that sits at the heart of any successful PR campaign – and it did in 1923.

Tough day at work dear?

by Simon Brown

Somewhere between getting home last night, putting Master Brown to bed and grabbing a beer from the fridge, I had the usual post work catch-up with Mrs Brown, which included the obligatory ‘how was your day dear?’ question.

Normally I’d lay it on thick about what a tough day it had been hitting deadlines, generating results for clients and making my share of the coffee. However, despite the fact that my day started on board the 7.40am British Rail train (or East Coast to give it it’s new name) to London, I’m not sure even I could make yesterday sound like a tough gig.

I spent the majority of the day with the world no.1 snooker player, Ronnie O’Sullivan, as he officially opened The Money Shop’s new Romford store. I’m sure my client won’t mind me saying this but it wasn’t the most arduous day I’ve ever had at work. I’ve been extremely lucky to work with many high profile sports stars over the last few years but I’m struggling to think of one who is as easy going as Ronnie.

The Money Shop has sponsored Ronnie for the last two seasons and has worked hard to develop the relationship and Ronnie has repaid them by being a fantastic ambassador for the brand.

He proudly displays The Money Shop’s bright yellow logo on his playing waistcoat which generates an enormous amount of TV exposure for the brand. However, what is arguably more significant is The Money Shop’s ability to use this relationship to directly engage with its core audiences. Through a carefully crafted amplification programme additional value has been generated for The Money Shop, and not just via media exposure.

By simply providing tickets for customers and staff to see him play, activities such as yesterday’s meet and greet at a new store and one-to-one tuition sessions at his local snooker club, the sponsorship has become much more than simply a ‘name on a shirt’ and engaged on a meaningful level with internal and external audiences.

Spending time meeting customers, posing for photos and signing autographs (Ronnie, not me!) may not sound like a tough day at work but you can’t argue with the results. Happy customers, happy staff and a very happy client.

So how was your day dear?

The tale of the tape – prepare for all eventualities

by Terry Gilligan

This week was a big week. The team delivered a cracking event for client Alibaba.com and with it being our first event for them, we were obviously keen to impress.
 
The central idea was to deliver a thriving, vibrant marketplace to help launch Global Entrepreneurship Week. The venue was the open piazza outside the British Library in London.
 
A collection of ten fully branded authentic market stalls manned by some of the brightest entrepreneurs the UK has to offer ranging from a ‘posh Geordie’ martial artist [with the biggest hands I’ve ever seen] who specialises in bespoke punch bags to a serial entrepreneur from Manchester who’s latest brainwave is a green Christmas appeal involving desktop Christmas trees.
 
So to the morning of the event. All week I had been nervous about the weather. London had been hit by squalls, storms and a plague of locusts by all accounts on the Saturday. But I was prepared. I had my new, waterproof jacket and was armed to the teeth with orange [client’s corporate colour] golf brollies. But deep down, I didn’t want rain. This was an outside event afterall and I needed people to venture outside from the comfort of their cosy indoor conference to see what was going on.
 
I awoke at 5.30am keen to get stuck in and peered out of my 10th floor hotel window to see pouring rain. You know the kind I mean. Heavy rain x 2. The kind that soaks you to the bone. I tried to force down a cooked breakfast while watching the rain cascade down the restaurant window facing out onto the Euston River, I mean, Road.
 
By 7.45am the rain had ceased…just. This meant we could go, go, go. We were already 45 minutes behind schedule. Up went the market stalls in record time. On went the vinyl branded roofs. Then came the wind….Strong wind. The kind of wind that makes it difficult for things to stay down. Like things that you might be arranging to put out on a market stall display! And pull up banners.
 
But again I was prepared. We had come armed to the teeth with tape. Sellotape. Insulation tape. Gaffer tape. Parcel tape. Even velcro. If it could be taped or stuck down we had it covered. Everyone on the market wanted tape. Tape was now in very short supply. Such short supply in fact, that any enterprising tape salesman passing by at that point would have made a killing.
 
At 12.30 pm we were ready to start trading. The stalls were ready and everything was securely taped or weighted down. I have never seen fresh oranges used before as ballast but they work! Our entrepreneurs were ready. The sun even came out at this point and things finally started to swing in my favour. We even managed to coax Dragon Peter Jones onto our market for photos, interviews and a quick mooch round the market. Trade minister Lord Davies went one better and even bought a punchbag emblazoned with the New York skyline.
 
The entrepreneurs were happy. They had brought Global Entrepreneurship Week to life with their ideas and enthusiasm. The client was pleased as we had exceeded the original brief of creating an outstanding and memorable external event. The team was relieved that everything had gone so well and despite nature’s best efforts we were determined not to be beaten. The 45 brollies I bought as a contingency didn’t actually make an appearance.

In this job, I’ll never cease to be amazed about how the simplest of things can really save the day….I guess you could say we had this event covered. In sticky tape.

         

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

No Tea For Me

by Beth Stallman

According to the usual internship guidelines, I was fully prepared for my first day as the new work experience girl at Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger. I could file papers virtually at the speed of light, I was a whiz-kid on the photocopier and I could make a mean cup of tea, or coffee, according to a range of preferences. ‘Rich roast with a splash of milk and half a teaspoon of sugar you say? Coming right up!’

So you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the (very cool loft-space) office that first morning and after being shown to my desk – which, for the record, was not in the gloomiest corner of the office (the MD has that spot!), as tends to be the favoured abode to seat a lowly intern –I was asked to write a press release for the agency. A press release? I thought I’d have to make at least a month’s worth of tea before I was allowed to write one of those!

But in the short time I have been at Ptarmigan I have already produced a photocall notice, helped evaluate a press campaign, gotten to grips with industry related computer software such as Mediadisk and Lexisnexis, explored social networking sites to map audiences for a current campaign – there is definitely no Facebook ban in this office as online social media is now an important part of PR! – and of course, written a press release.

For any wannabe interns out there I have compiled a short list of things I have learnt so far for getting the most out of a PR work experience placement:

1. Keep your ears open – Listen to what people in the office are saying, whether they are discussing a current campaign, new campaign strategies or are on the phone to journalists or clients. Listen to the way they handle different people and situations and the way they adapt accordingly. You will be sure to pick something up or will at least familiarise yourself with some PR-jargon.

2. Have a go – This is not an industry for those who need their hand holding through tasks. If you are asked to do a piece of work, have a go and then ask for feedback afterwards.

3. Ask questions – You are in the company of PR practitioners; take an active interest in what is going on.

4. Keep on top of media issues – “Did you hear about that…” is the start of oh-so-many conversations. You don’t want to be the only one who looks vacant when a current topic is brought up. If you know what’s going on you can form an opinion and actually play a part in the conversation rather than having to make do with the odd nod here and there. 

But if you’ll excuse me now, the chat time is over…I’ve got to get back to some real work!

Coughupforideas.com

by Terry Gilligan

So confused.com has offered to cough up for the creative ideas from a couple of the unsuccessful  agencies that pitched for its business recently.  If you work agency side no doubt you will have experienced it. You pitch a great idea to a client, don’t win the business and low and behold see your idea brought to life a few months later just as you had originally visualized!

It’s hugely frustrating when it happens but its part and parcel of the pitching process. That is until Confused.com offered to pay for ideas from three agencies after appointing one to handle its business. The problem here is a familiar one. The client doesn’t know what it wants. If a rounded campaign wasn’t suggested by the successful agency then why were they appointed? Why did their strategy and tactics need boosting by ideas from other agencies? It’s the PR equivalent of a pick n’ mix.
 
In my opinion, this cannot be good for the PR industry as a whole. The PRCA has welcomed the move though.

Any agency worth its salt should remain creative or proactive throughout the duration of the relationship. This demonstrates how important that client is to the agency and that the agency is keen to retain the business. If you believe in your own ideas you will also believe that nobody could bring them to life as you could. It all boils down to pride in the job. I would feel massively let down if a cracking idea was sold and then executed badly by a rival agency or inhouse team.

It’s impossible to put a value on creativity.  Especially in the context of a client inferring that ‘we love X idea but we’re not so keen on you.’ A pitch winning idea can come from anywhere in an agency, from the MD or an eager account exec.  But how do you put a price tag on that idea that could’ve taken shape in either a matter of seconds or over the course of a few weeks? Do you overcharge for a one off idea because you know that there’s no chance of building a relationship. Or do you undercharge in the hope that they will come back and buy more?

As an industry we mostly subscribe to hourly rates to cost things. Which works fine in most instances but not particularly well for the very essence of what we do and in reality what clients are prepared to pay the most for – coming up with creative ideas. The thing they appointed you for in the first place. What they liked about you. What set you apart from the rival agencies. Probably.

So how could this all pan out? With Christmas just around the corner, we agencies are keen to secure as much client business as possible. So keen that if we’ve come up with an idea that you particularly like and you are prepared to pay handsomely for it, we’ll give you another one. Absolutely free.

And if clients don’t like the ideas generated by one particular agency or it doesn’t deliver, there’s always the option to go and buy an alternative idea from someone else on the pitch list!

Our EuroMillions coverage reaches new heights!

When the Ptarmigan team enlisted the help of Europe’s tallest living man, Neil Fingleton, to reveal that tonight’s EuroMillions Mega Jackpot is an estimated £85 million, we had no idea he’d send our coverage levels through the roof!

Neil’s visit to Leeds made front page news and if you get lucky and scoop what could be UK’s biggest ever lottery jackpot, the next person to star on the front cover could be you. Don’t forget your ticket!

Ban alcohol advertising and special offers? Are you drunk?

by Terry Gilligan

All alcohol advertising, including sport and music sponsorship, should be outlawed to discourage young people from taking advantage of cheap drinks promotions.  So said the BMA this week. Seven days after I got the 2009-10 season Liverpool shirt. You know the one with the Carlsberg logo on. Boo. Then again, I’m 39 years old (just). No longer classified as a young person. The BMA obviously doesn’t care if I down 14 pints of Stella and half a dozen JDs this weekend. Yet, despite being a Liverpool fan I don’t drink Carlsberg (just export!).

The BMA is calling for a radical rethink of public health policy and even recommending prohibitions in bars, pubs and clubs which would see the end of happy hours, BOGOF offers and promos such as “ladies’ nights” when women drink for free.

Call me a spoilsport but I believe when prohibition was introduced in 1920s America it caused a few problems. Many of Chicago’s most notorious gangsters, including Al Capone made millions of dollars through illegal alcohol sales. By the end of the decade Capone controlled 10,000 speakeasies in Chicago and ruled the bootlegging  business from Canada to Florida. Widespread theft, murder and other crimes were directly linked to criminal activities in Chicago and elsewhere in violation of prohibition. Not a good move then.

Fast forward to Britain as we emerge from the noughties in a drunken stupour. The problem occifer (hic) is that our attitudes towards drinking need to change. As Vic Reeves warned us in the mid nineties, “You can’t give booze t’baby!” Well that baby is now a Burberry clad 15 year old keen to sample life and all that it has to offer. Sex. Drugs. Rock n’ roll.

Taking the Carlsberg logo off my Liverpool shirt or changing T in the Park to Ovaltine in the Park won’t make a difference in my opinion. Everyone knows that excessive alcohol consumption and binge drinking in particular is hazardous to health and the very fabric of society. I don’t doubt that. Or the enormous strain that it exerts on a beleaguered NHS literally bursting at the seams with people who can’t stop scoffing Big Macs. But banning advertising and price promotions (which appeal to all drinkers, not just young ones) will only compel people to find other ways to get their alcoholic kicks. You can keep your toffee vodka though!

Life is all about experiences and the very thing that put me and my mates off overdoing it was downing a bottle of Southern Comfort. Stupid. Yes. Definitely not big. And not very clever. Twenty-five years later if I even get a whiff of the stuff I get this unpleasant queasy feeling and the whole horrific episode comes flooding back. Vomit. Legs don’t work. Fall. Head injury. Stomach pumped. A week long hangover that no fried breakfast will ever get the better of. Here’s a revelation or a radical thought for you – binge drinking is not new! It’s a British sport. And we’ve always been good at it. World-class athletes in fact.

M-O-D-E-R-A-T-I-O-N.  This is what the kids and young people need to learn. And yes, maybe even the hard way like I, and no doubt millions of others, did. We’ll never be like the French. ‘Cultured’ drinkers who think we are animals. But don’t take it out on me because someone 20 years my junior can’t take their drink. And at least this way I can still take advantage of a box of 12 Peroni in Morrisons for under a tenner. And I promise it will last me the weekend…

Multi-media panic stations Springfield style

by Nathan Lane

The Simpsons is funny because it holds a mirror to the world. When the citizens of Springfield face any sort of difficulty they usually fly into a blind panic that ends in a riot and every father will secretly see a little of himself in Homer.

The media world is in a panic of Springfield proportions. The recession has accelerated long term structural trends to leave many media owners with some tough decisions to make about their future directions. Declining audiences for many media brands has reduced revenues and driven the need to reassess how they interact with consumers or even if they have a future. 

The omnipresence of content in a digital world means that we can all tailor our consumption to our whims. Want to watch six hours straight of Top Gear or a channel dedicated to fishing? You’ve got it. Want to read this mornings news in San Francisco? You’ve got it.

The consumer can access infinite content, in a range of formats, 24 hours a day and they can remove the adverts if they wish. The soothsayers are having a great time. It’s the end of TV, social media will rule the world with citizen journalists holding the line against corporations that are too scared to use their hard won brands. 

The truth is that radio didn’t kill print, TV didn’t kill radio and the web won’t wipe out all that has gone before and make Perez Hilton the most powerful man in America.  The savvy media corporations have engaged with today’s reality to realise they are media brands and content owners in a multi-media world. National newspaper brands have raced to distribute content through paper, mobile and the web. It probably won’t belong before we get Guardian TV and The Observer starts its own TV channel for foodies.

The challenge for business is to understand how to reach customers in this multi-media world. The choices are baffling and laced with pitfalls that have landed some of the worlds biggest brands in trouble when they have stepped into the wrong social media conversation.

These pitfalls should not lead to paralysis through prevarication. If you turn the problem on its head the proliferation of media presents a huge opportunity. People have never consumed media in such great quantities in such a diverse and often immediate way. Get the approach right and the benefits to business can be immense.

There seems little point in predicting what the media world will look like ten or even five years from now. There are plenty of commentators out there trotting out the same hackneyed points of view. The pace of technological advance will continue to accelerate as manufacturers scramble to out do each other. Eventually the iphone will be yesterday’s news and I am sure Apple has planned it that way.

The old marketing truths remain so today. If you take the time to understand your audience and develop a message that engages them in a more compelling way than the competition you will gain market share. You can keep your customers closer than ever before thanks to their digitally enabled lives.  

Take the time to understand what information your customers want, when and in what format. In our own experience recent months have seen this approach build Facebook groups of over 10,000, with no incentives to bring people to it, enabling the business to communicate with its customers at minimal cost.

The only certainty is change and the businesses that succeed will embrace it and put constant innovation at the heart of their business model and their marketing programmes. Get it right and the riches of Mr Burns are there for the taking.

Last one out turn off the lights…

by Simon Brown

Yet more depressing news for regional newspapers this week with the release of the latest ABC figures showing that all regional dailies saw a drop in circulation. Throw in the recent news that the Birmingham Post looks likely to go weekly and it paints a pretty depressing picture for regional news.

So why are circulations dropping so much? Is it all the fault of free, instant news on the internet or are newspaper readers, like bitter drinkers, an aging bunch with younger folk preferring the instant ‘hit’ of a flaming Sambuca?

I may be showing my age but I remember when there were only four TV channels, there was no internet and Bruno Brookes ruled the airwaves (ask your older brother). Until recently newspapers, particularly regional ones, were the ultimate force in news delivery.

The question now is whether or not regional newspapers still have a role to play? The need for dedicated regional news isn’t in question; it’s the method of delivery that is open to debate. Online news consumption presents two major headaches to regional newspaper – cost and timing. The fact that I can now access all the news I want, such as reading the latest news about my football team, instantly online means I no longer have to wait for tomorrow’s newspaper. But perhaps more crucial than the timing is the fact that this online content is free.

Regional newspaper organisations now provide comprehensive online services. The big issue now is how to turn this online content into cash. Rupert Murdoch recently reignited the cash-per-clicks debate. Is charging for online news really that outrageous? After all, we’ve paid for newspapers for years. The problem is that a unified approach by all media organisations would need to be agreed because whilst there is free news on the web why would anyone pay another provider for similar content?

I don’t have the answer but however they figure it out I hope the hardcopy regional newspaper is here to stay, if only because our street corners would be a poorer place without the traditional newspaper sellers.

Football shirt sponsorship is a sound bet for gambling companies

by Rob Stebbings

Football and betting – two of my passions I must admit, especially when you put them together. I’ll usually trawl through the weekend fixtures on a Friday, meticulously checking team news and form convinced that this WILL be my week!

Of course there’s always a surprise here or there hence why the phrase ‘it’s a funny old game’ has stayed the course and certainly applied last week in my first attempt to strike gold for the new season. Wigan managed to scupper my coupon with a shock win at Villa Park last Saturday – but I’ll be back this week for more.

Anyway, its not just me who has caught the bug (in moderation of course!). Texts are often flying around with friends in the lead up to kick-off pronouncing their winning line for this week and who can resist a first goalscorer punt just before the game starts to add that extra spice to proceedings?

It was therefore no surprise then that I’ve read this week that the emergence of more betting companies are apparently saving the Premier League shirt sponsorship industry from a second consecutive fall in value.

According to sports consultancy Sport+Markt, the value of shirt sponsorship deals in the Premier League fell from £69.2 million during the 2007-08 season to £68.2 million last season, after years of continuous growth.

However the value of shirt deals will increase slightly to £70 million for the 2009-10 season thanks to the emergence of new sponsors from the betting industry including 188Bet (Bolton wanderers & Wigan Athletic), Tote Sport (Hull City) and Sporting Bet (Wolves).

Whilst TV money will continue to dominate income streams for Premier League clubs, if we’re talking shirt sponsor ‘synergy’ – then for me football and betting is potentially a perfect match bearing in mind target demographics and the global reach and appeal of the Premier League.

It will be interesting to see just how the likes of newcomer 188Bet (the first company to be shirt sponsor of two Premier League clubs in the same season) maximise their deals with Bolton and Wigan as well as their non-shirt deals with Chelsea and Aston Villa.

Activation is the key to the success of any sponsorship as was the case when we managed 888.com’s shirt sponsorship of Middlesbrough FC for three years. By encompassing experiential, media relations and online engagement activity, an excellent return on investment was achieved way beyond mere brand recognition for the client.

In the meantime, back to my weekend coupon, free scoring Arsenal to beat Portsmouth looks a home banker, surely……..