CHRISTMAS TIME, TIME TO SHOP ONLINE

‘Mega Monday’ a week ago was the start of what analysts believe will be the start of the busiest two weeks of internet shopping in the UK. Sales are expected to topple £3.7bn, an increase of 14% on last year according to IMRG, the trade body for the UK’s online retailers.

Last Monday I was one of them, purchasing some sunglasses for my fiancé. I could have feasibly trundled round Briggate in Leeds at the weekend  (once I’d no doubt fought tooth and nail for a parking space) looking in packed stores, comparing prices etc but instead in just a few minutes I identified just what I wanted and, particularly in these times of austerity,  the cheapest stockist online.

In fact I have decided that all my Christmas shopping will be done online, well maybe apart from the wrapping paper that is!

A good illustration of why I’ve taken this stance – termed ‘couch commerce’ – was when I needed to buy a new kitchen tap recently so popped along to my local Homebase thinking I could pick one up there and then ready for my plumber to come round and fit it as agreed the following week.

Having identified in-store a tap that would do me just fine, I then looked around for the box, ready to pay. Hmmm….no box in sight so I asked a member of staff, and to my astonishment was told it would take 6 weeks for them to get one in stock if I ordered it today. 6 weeks! For a tap?

So, I went online and found the same tap in no time, not only for around 30% cheaper, (a considerable saving as these things are not cheap) but also where I could receive delivery that same week. A no brainer!

This to me sums up the reality of in-store compared to online purchasing in many instances. Yes, now and again I might want to get an idea of what I want first by doing a little research actually in-store first, but I can then get what I want at a click of a button online and often for a fraction of the price.

To help stimulate my online browsing, the weekend newspaper magazines are full of must buy gift pages in the lead up to Christmas. I’m interested in these on two fronts.

Firstly I am on the lookout for some novelty presents instead, for instance of those ghastly magazine subscriptions for when you really have run out of ideas for someone or worse still a toiletries gift set or pointless gadget.

But secondly I’m also always looking for product placement opportunities for one of my clients for whom I have been undertaking ongoing blogger relations and seeding the product with journalists alike.

Portaski (www.portaski.com) is not only a great value, novelty gift idea that has had great reviews  but is only available online. There are many such products out there that will make great Christmas presents for someone.

Of course my client would love to sign an agreement with established retailers to stock the product too but if more and more people take my approach to shopping as the figures show they are doing, then what will really grow sales is to ensure the website is fully SEO optimised, something Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger can offer clients due to having an in-house specialist as part of the team.

So with products, cheaper, readily available and often more interesting online, what does this mean for the high street? Yorkshire has recently gained the unwanted title of the UK capital of empty shops. How our high streets will look in the future remains to be seen, but clearly many city centre’s have changed forever. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2011/dec/01/retail-leeds-empty-shops-bradford-birstall-huddersfield-bingley-rotherham-doncaster?newsfeed=true

I, for one, won’t be making a mad scramble to the post Christmas sales either, but I might well be up early on Boxing Day – online instead.

rstebbings@bellpottingernorth.co.uk

 

Why does astrological belief persist within contemporary society?

I recently tried to book to go see a psychic for kicks. My hairdresser was telling me about her experience with a reading coming true and this spurred on a rather amusing debate in the salon. I decided it would be a fun activity for me and best friend to go see a psychic and I was shocked to discover the psychic was fully booked until early summer- I couldn’t believe that many people would be interested in seeing a psychic and that they would book for as far away as July for a reading.

I started digging around on the internet as to why astrology still plays such a huge part in our society. What I discovered was astrology, like religion has guided people throughout the ages on how to succeed in all their endeavours. The 17^th Century however, marked a change in astrological substance, the rise of scientific developments and opposition met an alleged decline in astrological popularity. Yet, astrology still exists in our modern culture. The iconic figure of Mystic Meg, television channels and programmes devoted to astrology, horoscope columns and the paranormal still appear in newspapers and magazines today. The form of astrology has progressed over time from religious connotations into a type of entertainment; a product of our consumer culture.

The horoscopes column is a direct extension of consumerism; it provides its readers with joy, comfort and advice like the majority of material commodities produced by capitalism. It also offers knowledge and understanding of our characteristics and human nature which can often provide ego boosts. It is often criticised that people recognise the hits and value these above the misses in a reading; meaning readers often believe horoscopes if one sentence relates to their life, despite the fact that the rest of the forecast may be vague and not applicable.

Television acts as an influential portal in further increasing astrology’s popularity and is embedded with paranormal propaganda. Dynamo, a Bradford-born illusionist who took to the streets with his magical tricks in recent years, has received a vast amount of media attention causing his popularity and fame to grow swiftly. In one of our recent weekly brainstorms we thought about using Dynamo for an experiential activity to create a buzz on the high streets and were not the only ones who have been inspired by the weird and wonderful. In 1997 car insurance company, Touchline launched the ‘Drivers’ Zodiac’, a campaign based on research which highlighted the type of star sign to make the most amount of claims and what they claimed. The research was collated in a press release which detailed drivers’ horoscopes for each sign, this was then issued to national and regional print and broadcasters. The results were a success, it was covered in The Sun, Daily Telegraph as well as a number of regional titles and trade magazines, it also went far and wide with regional radio stations.  Similarly, in 2010 Honda launched ‘The Honda Year in the Auto Zodiac’ based on astrologically led predictions regarding the purchase of a new car, which car was right for the buyer in relation to what zodiac year they were born in.

Astrology has increasingly become an important aspect of our popular culture; as one of the pleasures and entertainment elements in contemporary life which exist alongside the likes of music and television as aspects of diversion used by the public.

Natalie.owen@ptarmiganbp.co.uk

Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click (Google AdWords) have lots in common!

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is needed for a successful Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign.

Google has over one million AdWords users in 190 countries which generated Google revenues of over $28 billion ($28,000,000,000) last year.

When using online advertising tools such as Google AdWords to generate sales. I’ve found that it is easy for businesses to become complacent as AdWords can keep generating leads, which convert in to sales which is great for business right?

Wrong!

AdWords users who become accustomed to the easy win and successes of what the online direct ad marketing tool can offer will in almost 99.999% of all cases be overspending per click.

This is mainly because their websites and landing pages have not been optimised prior to starting a pay per click campaign. Search engine optimisation is the key to generating good AdWords quality scores and click-through rates, that ultimately save you money on your online marketing budget.

Many PPC campaigns are not broad, defined and segmented enough. Although, very time consuming to setup it is more important to be granular with keyword and keyword grouping with AdWords as it is the best ways to save thousands (£’000’s) of pounds.

Here is the but…

If your landing pages are not optimised you’ll find yourself paying over the odds “more” per click because of AdWords quality guidelines.

For example:

I have a landing page that relates to business, networking and events in London. I combine these primary keywords within my copy to target a variety of terms which will give me the best quality score for my overall terms. Some will be better than others as in the images below.

Keyword: Business networking Groups London

Because the landing page copy has been optimised for business, networking and events in London I get a pretty decent quality score.

Keyword: Marketing Event

This target term does not score well overall with Google AdWords quality score giving 3 out of 10 due to keyword relevance. Simply, that page is targeted towards terms surrounding business, networking and events in London but not marketing events. Although ads are displaying for this keyword I will be over paying per click via that ad because it is not really relevant for the on-page copy.  (Please note text on images doesn’t count, as great as Google is it’s not that good.)

Conclusion:

The below paragraph is directly from Google AdWords and I’ll explain it in a little more detail.

Because I have a page dedicated for terms relating to event marketing, marketing events, for business, business event marketing – I will direct the marketing event term to that page along with the correct ad copy, creating a powerful optimised landing page which reduces costs on online pay per click campaigns using AdWords.

AdWords click through rate

Click-through rate (CTR) is the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times that your ad is displayed (impressions). Your ad and keyword each have their own CTRs, unique to your own campaign performance.

The explanation.

Keyword CTR is a strong indicator of the relevance of your keyword to the user and the overall success of the keyword. CTR is also used to determine your keyword’s Quality Score. A low CTR may point to poor keyword performance, indicating a need for ad or keyword optimisation.

When advertising online it is usually measured by click-through rate (CTR), conversions (Leads or sales) and then return on investment (ROI).  Not getting your click-though rate right first time could hit your pocket hard and is one of the main reasons why new advertisers to AdWords switch off. This is just because they have not got to grips with going granular enough on keyword targeting and on-page optimised copy for their landing pages.

Search engine optimisation

Ultimately conducting a search engine optimisation campaign first is the most important building block to start an online marketing campaign. It will save you money in the long term, ensure the right calls to actions are in place for website visitors and conversions are achieved by measuring ROI via all sources.

If you have any questions on this post please feel free to call or email me.

Kind Regards,
Joseph Gourvenec
SEO and Search Specialist
Bell Pottinger North
T: 0113 2372827
M: 07888850444
E: Joseph.Gourvenec(AT)Ptarmiganbp.co.uk
W: www.ptarmiganpr.co.uk
W: www.bellpottingernorth.co.uk

Professional service firms need to get online with social media

Yesterday was a shock to my system for a few reasons:
1. It was the 1st November – ALREADY!
2. I had to get up at 5am to drive to Manchester (MAJOR shock to the system!)
3. And someone told me that they see social media as a waste of time and they can’t have their employees spending the majority of their day “messing about on Facebook”.

Now, let me put that into context for you. I was presenting to an audience made up of professional services firms about social media, and the importance of the professional services sector understanding how they can engage with their audiences across social media platforms.

It’s fair to say that the professional services sector is further behind the curve than others in terms of understanding and utilising social media, and maximising their presence online through SEO. My presentation highlighted the importance for managing their brand reputation online, and how they can engage with conversations taking place.

The Q&A session was great as the audience posed insightful questions and shared ideas of what they were each doing as a firm. However, I was shocked when one legal partner said his firm didn’t have time for social media and that he didn’t want his fee earners “messing about on Facebook”.

He very much saw social media as something that got in the way of the day-to-day job and he viewed it as a trivial thing, rather than an integral part of his marketing and communications strategy.

I asked him if he actively encouraged his fee earners and business development team to go out and network face-to-face. He said yes. However, with the birth of social media, conversations are no longer only taking place offline. And in a tough business market place, companies need to be embracing every relevant platform where conversations are taking place and build a presence.

The professional services sector needs to start embracing and thinking about their online presence, and quickly. Some are doing it much better than others, but all firms need to stop thinking that social media is ‘just for kids’ and put it at the core of their marketing strategies. New tools can be an asset for the future and help firms accelerate growth – no easy thing in the current climate.
But ultimately firms need to remember that conversations will be taking place online with or without them. For the future of their business, they need to need to part of them.
Sandrine.powell@ptarmiganbp.co.uk

 

Edgerank! What’s that got to do with Facebook?

Edgerank! What’s that got to do with Facebook?

Ptarmigan Public Relations - Facebook Page

Edgerank, Facebook’s Newsfeed Algorithm

I’m sure you’ve heard all about Facebook.

What you possibly have not heard of is Edgerank.

Edgerank is Facebook’s social network algorithm which supplies you with the social newsfeed relating to all your friends and likes.

As search and social algorithm’s go it is a pretty simple one in the way it does its tracking to learn what you like and makes you tick in your online social networking world.

Now, when talking of algorithms Google could be the first thing that pops in to your mind and the recent algorithm update called Panda. I really want to be clear that Facebook and Google’s algorithms have similarities but fundamentally different.

Edgerank, Facebook’s Newsfeed Algorithm

- How it works

Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm works by learning about what makes your tick! What you look at, who you search for, the fan pages you look at/like/visit, what comments you like, comments you make, status updates you post and the contextual reference to the status update and when you change your search/view pattern.

Edgerank could be referred to as your online big brother supplied by Facebook. It has no interest in protecting you from a bully and has no limitations about the content that it’ll server you unless stated otherwise.  Edgerank will only display content like friend suggestions, ads, status posts, etc you have indicated as has an Edge that you’re interested in.

Ad example: Clicking on a Facebook Ad about dating will then show you more ads about dating services, click on music again ads about music providers, etc.

An Edge is the interactive part of Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm and as mentioned this is when you add/update a status, like a comment or page, comment on your own or someone else’s status, upload a photo, etc. The more interaction “Edges” you provide or receive the more prominent your newsfeed will be about related topics discussed and in others newsfeeds too.

Example of how Edgerank works for you status updated:

I updated my status as: “Does your Digital Agency really know social media marketing and search engine optimisation? Ask me a questions and I’ll the answer 5 best relating to your website!”

This is an Edge!

I receive 10 likes and 20 comments these are edges too.

1. The status update is displayed in all my friends’ newsfeeds periodically through the day.
2. The 10 people who clicked to liked my status, that now shows up in their newsfeed and within their friends newsfeed “One’s that are not my friends too” because their friends are linked to them and their Edges are interaction. “If that makes sense”.
3. Now the 20 comments work similar to the likes, but I can see comments of people that are not my friends or connected with me directly. But are only connected to me via a 2^ndlink in the chain. “Kind of like the six degrees of separation, look it up here” I can then interact with them within the same comment edge.Do you remember the old customer service statement? One person tells 10 people, those 10 people tell another 10 people and so on.Well the same principle applies here but in realtime with Facebook’s Edgerank!Let’s say for arguments sake each Friend who liked or commented had 100 Facebook friends; those 100 friends also had 100 friends. Each now showing some part of the Edgerank algorithm in their newsfeeds which all spun from my great day at work status update.

   Now you see the potential to communicate a message with social media?!

4. When you create an Edge (Like or comment) you start to receive notifications about other likes or comments relating your own interaction “Edge” by friends. This is the same for the other people who like or comment on that status post, but only relating to them as a friend.

Edgerank Factors

- In its simplest

1. Visibility is a factor the more people who see it the better.
2. Interactions “Edges” likes, comments, etc. This creates the power of the Edge (i.e. Weight).
3. Time… Nothing lasts forever unless it is been interacted with! Time is a factor in Facebook’s Edgerank which calculates a decay rank from the moment the Edge saw published.

These 3 Edgerank factors “The ones Facebook has shared with us that is” generally make up the calculation of how you will be displayed in the newsfeeds around you.

Edgerank Calculation Example:

Status update x 100 friends x 100 views / time x 30 Edges “Interactions” = %weight + 10 new Edges (In 1 hours) / Change Time = New %weight + 30 new Edges (over 24hrs) = New %weight = Still in newsfeed timeline

Sub calculation: 1 status update + views + 70 Edges + %total Weight = Profile or Page Ranking

If that Edgerank algorithm calculation looks gobbledygook to you, it simple takes the weight of each Edge and calculates a total to attribute to you and that status, overtime the more interaction “Edges” the more weight attributed to you status posts in all newsfeeds.

Facebook Marketing

– Made Simple

Fundamentally the more interactive you are on Facebook the more prominent you’ll be in people’s newsfeed. The Edgerank examples work for local business, company, organisation, brand or product pages too.

Generate a good following on Facebook through Friends and Pages and scommerce will surely become one of your best friends and a powerful one to generate revenues.

Google and Facebook’s similarities

I mentioned above that these to services have similarities and I’ll just touch on Google’s Algorithm and explain why Google’s PageRank Algorithm (named after Larry Page and now does more than just a page rank calculation) theirs is much more sophisticated than Edgerank.

I believe Google’s algorithm looks at items in more detail and the ranking is also much more complex to do with the power to rank for natural terms in search results.

It looks at on-page copy, keyword density of that copy, in-bound links to that page and to the root domain, the domains overall authority, anchor text links, contextuality of links and on-page copy, brand references, social reviews like those from review sites and much more.

Plus now Google is moving to social indicators of its own just like Facebook’s Edgerank, using the voting system of the Google +1 button and taking in to account websites Facebook likes and Twitter mentions.

Google’s Matt Cutts has stated there is over 200 ranking factors and I believe the social element of Google Plus and the +1 button will become an integral part of natural ranking and search engine optimisation using social recommendation.

Let me know if you want to discuss how the Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger team can help you achieve social glory using Facebook and Twitter.

Kind Regards,
Joseph Gourvenec
SEO and Search Specialist
Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger
T: 0113 2372827
M: 07888850444
E: Joseph.Gourvenec@Ptarmiganbp.co.uk
W: Ptarmigan Public Relations
W: Bell Pottinger Public Relations
T: @josephgourvenec

Falling foul on Twitter

His name is Rio....

The sports world is desperately grappling with the use of Twitter, notably in high profile sports like football. Hardly a day goes by without a high profile sporting personality involved in a twitter controversy.

Sir Alex Ferguson said in May, shortly after Wayne Rooney had got in trouble for threatening to sort out  someone in the Twittersphere: “I don’t understand it to be honest with you… there are a million things you can do in your life without that. Get yourself down to the library and read a book.” 

However, many of the players seemingly certainly can’t live without twitter – and with some having a staggering number of followers, (Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand 1.4 million each) clearly we’re fascinated by their every word.

In an age when many Sports fans feel disconnected from their clubs’ stars they idolise who (well certainly in the case of Premier League footballers) are on exorbitant salaries, Twitter has made a huge impact.

Fans fascinated by the day-to-day lives of our idols can follow the every movement – and even if they are not, the media are doing it for us.

In reality social media etiquette should mirror the approach taken with other forms of media, and that’s exactly what we stressed when we provided a set of guidelines to our client Castleford Tigers for their players to follow.

The problem is as soon as anything controversial is aired like when Wayne Rooney infamously said after arguing with a fan on the site ‘I’ll put you asleep within 10 seconds’… it reflects badly not only the player but their employers and the game in general.

It comes as no surprise that clubs like Wolves have recently announced that a media law firm will be liaising with the club, warning the squad about the potential pitfalls of twitter whilst Newcastle have already  told their players they could be sued for breach of contract if they criticise the club.

Perhaps it won’t be long before others follow in the footsteps of Leeds United and ban twitter completely for fear of losing control over that the players are saying.

However I’m sure many avid sports fans will agree that Twitter has somewhat reversed the trend that the stars we idolise have become more and more detached from their team’s supporters so as long as they can be educated to communicate within acceptable parameters, long may it continue.

robert.stebbings@ptarmiganbp.co.uk

Groupon or group-off?

 

 

 

Ecommerce company Groupon is an internet coupon company boasting up to 95% discounted offers on experiences, products and getaways in over 50 cities in the UK and in over 40 countries. The web voucher sensation sweeping the nation has been subjected to much scrutiny in recent months due to allegations of misleading advertisements, such as, a recent teeth whitening voucher with a 94% discount, only for consumers to later realise further payments were hidden in the fine print tying purchasers into shelling out thousands more.

Well this week I decided to see what all the hype was about and downloaded the popular Smartphone application. I purchased a hair appointment for my hometown of York. The deal was for a full head of colour or half a head of highlights, an optional cut, a Moroccan hair treatment and a finish, all for £29, a discount of 58%.

Having not heard of the hairdressers before I wasn’t surprised to find it was a small family run business, and slightly dated. However the hairdresser was lovely enough and chatty as ever, in fact she informed me the discount service was a useful tool to build her client base being a junior stylist. After confirming what I wanted she went to mix the colours and then quickly applied it as her next appointment had arrived.

Thirty minutes later I discovered the Moroccan hair ‘treatment’ was actually serum applied before blow-drying my hair. Albeit feeling slightly cheated, I was still happy with the outcome of the colour and excited to get a fringe cut in, however after trimming my locks, the hairdresser proceeded to dry my hair and then fetched the mirror to show me the back…she was finished! No fringe, no ‘finish’, trying to remain polite and positive I asked if she could cut in a fringe and use the curling irons to style my hair much to her annoyance.

I finally achieved my desired outcome so she walked me to the till and then demanded more money for the extra dye she had to use for the thickness of my hair, safe to say I won’t be returning anytime soon!!

Despite the somewhat shoddy service and suspicious additional cost, I still saved over £100 but I couldn’t help feeling misled, however this experience is incomparable with those who find themselves tricked into paying much larger extra fees as part of Groupon’s ‘deal of the day’ fine print.

These cases aside, Groupon has over six million members in Britain alone and their subscription figures have doubled since declining Google’s $6 billion takeover offer six months ago. Yet The Telegraph, FT and The Drum suggest trouble is brewing for the discounts provider due to increasing numbers of disgruntled customers foreboding the company’s reputation combined with the fierce competition from Living Social, Vouchercloud and Google alike what will become of this ‘deals’ market?

Watch this space.

natalie.owen@ptarmiganbp.com

The new X Factor judges and erm, Louis Walsh

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does The X Factor still have the X factor?

The start of a new series of The X Factor heralded the end of summer and the fact that it will be on our screens and all over the media until Christmas – which is a thought I find slightly depressing.

However, even in my melancholy state I tuned in as I wanted the answer to the question that everyone was asking this weekend – would The X Factor be any good without Simon Cowell?

Other questions needed answering, such as would Kelly Rowland be all cheerleader enthusiastic and grate on my nerves? Would Tulisa just do that N-Dubz ‘na na niiiiiii’ thing over and over? Could Gary Barlow overcome his monotone persona, and would Louis be anything other than that Irish bloke on the end?

With the exception of Louis, who was his usual “a million per cent yes!” self, I need not have worried. Tulisa was, I thought, fresh, fun and feisty and a good replacement to Cheryl Cole, and will no doubt appeal to the younger audience and help keep the viewing and voting figures up.

I thought Kelly Rowland was a bit of an odd choice for the UK X Factor judging panel and I had been sorry to see Dannii leave the show. But on Saturday Kelly showed herself to be warm, enthusiastic and likeable and had a genuine rapport with Tulisa – more so than Cheryl and Dannii ever had.

Which brings me to Gary Barlow, who has twice forged a career as the boring one in Take That. By taking Simon Cowell’s former seat, expectations were high when they should have been a bit lower.

However, Gary is clearly there to be the voice of common sense, with a few drawn-out metaphors as put downs to no-hopers like George Gerasimou, who then found himself being told off by Dermot O’Leary (which for some reason sent me all of a quiver).

And this brings me to good old reliable Louis, who still gets over-excited by contestants from Ireland and continues to trot out the same old stuff such as “you owned the stage”, when they clearly didn’t and will be gone by boot camp.

So am I missing Dannii, Cheryl and Simon? Not really. But will I be watching this year’s series all the way through to Christmas? When I have nothing else to do on a Saturday night, it will be some decent entertainment.

Sandrine.powell@ptarmiganbp.co.uk

Graffiti – Street cool or old school vandalism?

There’s no getting away from street art and graffiti at the moment. If you are interested in it (as I am) Channel 4 is a rich source of meaty content with its excellent Street Summer series. The various different forms are used in everything from creative experiential campaigns for clients to promoting the new Rambo movie and even the logo for the 2012 Olympics takes its inspiration from traditional street tagging.

As a creative agency we’ve used anamorphic or 3-D street art for client campaigns to create impact and talkability. We’ve explored other techniques for clients too – such as ‘clean’ advertising, beach art, grass and chalk advertising. Street art has made quite an impact and it’s use in PR and marketing has been profound.

The effect – whether it’s used to promote a brand or just for the sake of public entertainment – can be stunning as seen by street artist Julian Beever. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025506/Britains-pavement-artist-Julian-Beever-cheer-depressing-week.html

The trick for agencies is keeping it fresh and maintaining the element of surprise.

 

 

 

 

 

Urban guerrilla artist Banksy, who featured heavily in the programme Graffit Wars, broadcast last night (Sunday 14 August), has built up a mainstream following and even has celebs bidding for his work. He famously never reveals the location of his creations – until now.

An iPhone app has been created that offers a tour of the street artist’s work across London, along with instructions on how to reach them.

The creation of the app seemed to support one of the interesting strands of Graffit Wars. Among the hordes of authentic graffiti artists at work there is a feeling that Banksy sold out a long time ago. His works are preserved on the streets and bizarrely sometimes even restored by local councils whilst other artists have their works removed by street cleaning teams, who by their own admission can’t make the distinction between what is/isn’t art.

Graffiti Wars told the story of globally reknowned Banksy and the lesser known Robbo, a young graffiti artist who became a sub-culture icon for his tagging of London in the ’80s. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/graffiti-wars

In the wake of the riots and unrest on Britain’s streets, there’s something slightly unnerving about a documentary recounting the life and times of the balaclava wearing ‘King’ Robbo, who by his own admission is nothing other than a vandal at times.

The programme explored a deep rooted feud between Banksy and Robbo and rather than being a menace to society it highlighted the tit for tat reasons behind their fierce rivalry. The ‘my graffiti is better than yours’ one-upmanship is similar to two schoolkids trying to out dare one another and amounts to nothing more than a childish clash of egos.  

Robbo boasted of how his street art was all old school-style freehand and how Banksy’s technique of using stensils is ‘cheating’.  A view supported by many graffiti and tag artists.

One thing is for certain, the whole ‘business’ of street art and the aggro between Team Robbo and Team Banksy (Banksy’s PR agent even turned up at the opening of Robbo’s first exhibition!) whilst it might be childish and even petty it has certainly taken a sinister turn in keeping with the street culture that gave birth to it. In April of this year, King Robbo sustained a serious life threatening head injury just 5 days prior to his current exhibition, ‘Team Robbo – The Sell Out Tour’ at the Signal Gallery, Shoreditch. He was found unconscious in the street and remained in a coma in intensive care.  According to s statement from the King Robbo Trust he is now out of the intensive care unit and making small but steady progress.

As you would expect, the response from old school graffiti artists has been unanimous with some inspired get well messages……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tgilligan@bellpottingernorth.co.uk.

It’s good to be back……

Last Thursday night was a big night for Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger as it marked a significant milestone. Two years after becoming part of Bell Pottinger, Ptarmigan returned to award winning ways at the Drum Marketing Awards held in Manchester.

Account team and client collective delight

We were there thanks to our work with client NAAFI (The Navy Army & Air Force Institutes). Our campaign entry, ‘NAAFI – A Year of Celebration’ focused on PR activity for NAAFI’s 90th anniversary celebration year in 2010.

Having been shortlisted sometime ago excitement about attending the event was at fever pitch. The earlier part of that week had already seen us launch a new national energy company and the adrenaline was still pumping following the coverage generated and the feedback from our successful London launch event on the Tuesday. An award win would be the perfect way to round off what had been a long but already very rewarding week.

Having checked into the hotel and changed into our ‘lucky suits’ at lightning speed we arranged to meet our clients in the bar for a pre-award drink – just to calm any nerves of course. We then took to our seats and waited for the fun to begin – the dinner was preceded by singing waiters who were surprisingly good despite having seen them many times over the years and they amused the guests until the food arrived.

The wine flowed as easy as the chat and we reflected with NAAFI about how the campaign had really taken off – sometimes literally, as we remembered sampling activity on Blackpool beach sabotaged by howling winds and driving rain – destroying the NAAFI gazebo in seconds and challenging our wit and improvisation skills to the max. Oh how you can count on British summertime to upstage your experiential plans! It’s a good job our clients at NAAFI are a brave lot and were willing to persist with some of our more ‘creative’ ideas and for that we thank them.

So to the awards ceremony. We were in the very tight Best PR Strategy category which also featured entries from Debenhams, Europcar, Relentless Energy, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, Radox and RHS Garden Harlow Carr. The moment of truth was upon us….”Winners – Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger for NAAFI: A Year of Celebration!”

None of us can remember the music that was playing as the beaming agency/client team headed for the stage, something that has been bugging me for a whole week now! Maybe one day it will come back to me….

Check out photos from the event http://www.thedrummarketingawards.com/gallery/

Working with NAAFI for the past two years has been a great experience so to win an award for our activity just strengthens the bond we already have with them and drives us to do even better for them. What makes this award win especially welcome is the calibre of the judging panel. This year the panel consisted of senior marketing directors from some of the world’s leading brands including HMV, Honda, Microsoft, Umbro, Easy Jet, Dell and Thomas Cook.

Needless to say we celebrated the award win in the customary fashion…along with dancing through to the wee small hours and rather too many Alan Partridge impersonations. Back of the net!

The Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger NAAFI team is Nathan Lane, Terry Gilligan, Sandrine Powell and Adam Burns.

terry.gilligan@ptarmiganbp.co.uk