Give me a (Day)break

September 7th, 2010

This week saw the launch of ITV’s new flagship breakfast show Daybreak.

Oh, sorry, didn’t you already know? Hadn’t you heard Adrian and Christine were being reunited? And everyone is an Editor of something?

Course you had! I would have been surprised if you’d somehow escaped the onslaught of the publicity surrounding the launch.

So what does Daybreak bring to the table apart from a scarily-polished looking Bleakley?

Well, as a PR person attuned to spotting opportunities for our clients, there’s the obvious ‘Something Cool Before the Kids go to School’ slot which screams out for product placement. And of course, the Holy Grail of the ‘5 a Day’ – I’d be brimming with pride if any of McCann’s PR stories made this line up of the day’s top stories.

The content team also seem to have found room for Daybreak exclusives – offering opportunity for really engaging investigations and reports – perfect for a meatier PR campaign; even better if it includes a little human interest.

And apart from that? Well, Alexandra Burke in her knickers was a lovely treat over my Corn Flakes, but that aside, it’s inoffensive enough.

Perhaps, in fact, it’s not the show itself that merits the less than favourable reviews, but in fact the setting-up-for-a-fall publicity campaign that launched the show. Which leaves us with our foundation-rocking thought for the day: When it comes to publicity and media-cynical Brits, is there a point where enough is enough?

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More musings on life as a PR work experience student

August 31st, 2010

Well doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? It’s now nearly the end of my placement at McCann Erickson PR and I can’t begin to explain how valuable it’s been.

I have done a variety of tasks in the last four weeks including media sell-ins to national and regional newspapers and consumer and trade magazines; I’ve written press releases; organised media sampling to launch two new products and even been in charge of content management for a client’s website!

I’ve discovered that it gives you a real buzz when you’ve worked through the seemingly never ending media list on a sell-in and then get a big piece of coverage! I was over the moon and really excited when I saw that I’d secured almost a full page in Birmingham Mail, not bad for my first month in PR!

Even though I feel I was quite a confident person before, I think that the placement has made me much more confident, I don’t mind speaking on the phone now!

I am so glad that I entered the B-hive competition as this placement has not only given me a detailed insight into life in public relations consultancy, but has given me a taste of working life. I now cannot wait to get back to university and put what I’ve learnt into practice, top marks for me hopefully!

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Life as a work experience student at McCann PR

August 13th, 2010

With over 70 graduates applying for each job vacancy and those vacancies falling by a predicted 7%, I thought it was about time I improved my chances of finding work when I graduate from university next year by getting myself some work experience. Then B-hive came along! Because finding work experience can be a nightmare, I thought that this would be a great opportunity for me to gain the invaluable experience I need.

What is B-hive? Well it’s a competition to encourage students to show off their talents to Birmingham’s leading creative employers. To enter, I had to propose a creative PR plan that met the objectives of a brief. This year we had come up with a strategy to make Birmingham ‘greener’ and raise awareness of sustainability issues with local residents, businesses and visitors to the city.

I tried to find a different method to appeal to each market, whilst communicating the same message to keep the campaign consistent. My campaign proposed an online event for residents, with a cartoon character to appeal to children and money off vouchers for electricity as an incentive. I also suggested a CSR scheme for local businesses and the development of information packs that could be left in hotel rooms to encourage visitors to adopt the scheme whilst in Birmingham.

After submitting the PR plan I was shortlisted to present my ideas to the judging panel, made up of representatives from top Midlands agencies.

So here I am now, at the end of two weeks into my placement at McCann Erickson’s PR department, and I have found it really valuable so far. I have had the chance to write press releases for clients from a variety of sectors, tackled a few media sell-in’s and even secured my first piece of online coverage!

The key thing I have learned so far is importance of building good relationships with both clients and journalists. I’m sure that I’ll learn a lot more in the next two weeks. I certainly feel that having work experience will be invaluable to me when I enter the world of work next year!

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LEGO-Loving Beckham

July 19th, 2010

You could almost hear the audible whoops of delight coming from the marketing team at LEGO as David Beckham discussed his favourite hobby on Jonathan Ross’ last show on Friday night.  As the key draw for the finale to Ross’ 10-year reign at the BBC, the message would have reached millions of homes.

It would be interesting to see if there was a spike in sales of the LEGO Taj Mahal over the weekend.  Rather than being something that’s just for kids, Beckham made it seem a perfectly normal thing for a 35-year-old to do to pass the time.

It wasn’t the only brand to get some air time though, with Sprite, Coke and others getting a mention during the prime time interview.

Ever the pro, Beckham didn’t forget his obligations to Yahoo – he’s their global sports ambassador – and ensured they got a name check. However, he also used the web chat he’d done with Yahoo earlier in the week to bang on about LEGO some more!

Must go now, hear supplies of the Taj Mahal are running short…

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A General Election for the digital generation

May 18th, 2010

Without doubt, the 2010 General Election was one of the most closely watched for a generation.  From the opinion and exit polls to Gordon Brown’s resignation to the final agreement between Dave ‘n’ Nick which saw the formation of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, we have seen history in the making.

One of the most exciting features of the 2010 election was the role played by the media.  The traditional barometer of which-paper-was-backing-which-party seemed to lose some of the importance of previous elections thanks to the rise of broadcast and digital media.

For the first time, we had televised prime ministerial debates that gave the general public the chance to see the leaders go up against each other on the burning topics of today.  They also gave Nick Clegg the kind of profile that, although it didn’t translate into parliamentary seats, paved the way for the voting populous to be more accepting of him as deputy prime minister.

On election night itself and the days after, the coverage was constant and the debate became less about whether the Tories would get enough seats for an overall majority, and more about what was in David Dimbleby’s coffee to keep him broadcasting for 18 hours solid.  At 71 years old, he was the ultimate professional and anchored the BBC’s coverage perfectly throughout the night and into the following day. 

Sky News’ Adam Boulton, who came within an inch of hitting Alastair Campbell live on air in a fit of tired rage, should take note.

The rolling feed brought record hits to the BBC website and we had MPs, political commentators and journalists tweeting updates from inside and outside Downing Street as the debate about whether we would have a Con-Lib or Lab-Lib government reached fever pitch.  

Although the election itself was exciting, the rise of digital media meant that a new generation of voters was gripped from start to finish and, despite the fact that hundreds of people were turned away from polling stations, the UK saw its highest election turnout for 13 years.

From TV debates to tweets, the 2010 election had it all, and it will be interesting to see how the Con-Lib ‘marriage’ will play out in the glare of the new media spotlight.

 

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Will Adrian Chiles be a hit on ITV?

April 21st, 2010

We were a little bit surprised here at Comms House when we heard the news that Adrian Chiles would be quitting the BBC for ITV, and specifically for the GMTV sofa (meaning current presenters Ben Shepherd and Andrew Castle are to be dumped). 

Perhaps the writing was on the wall – he didn’t hide his disappointment when it was announced that Chris Evans would be presenting a new one-hour version of the One Show on a Friday, and it does now raise speculation that his One Show colleague, Christine Bleakley, will be joining him at ITV.

We can understand that as a big football fan, why he was tempted by the offer to front ITV’s World Cup, Champions League and England match coverage, but it will be interesting to see how Mr Chiles copes with the 4am starts at GMTV…

That said, we will miss his laconic, sarcastic approach to the One Show, particularly when talking about subjects as diverse as colours on traffic light signals and baked beans.  We hope whoever takes over will be able to strike the right balance between serious and sarcastic that we have grown to love.

What has been your favourite One Show story?  Let us know here!

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The NIVEA Male Cheerleaders are back!

April 19th, 2010

Our campaign to support NIVEA’s partnership with Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life events has kicked off, and for the fourth year running, the NIVEA Male Cheerleaders will be performing at events across the country.

This year, we looked at new ways to promote the boys, particularly in broadcast and social media including using facebook and YouTube to create interesting content, such as cheerleader instructional videos and other pom pom and dance-related content.

However, our highlight so far as been a visit to the Radio 1 studios, where we taught DJ Greg James some of the moves.   Wearing very short shorts and using the pom poms to full effect, Greg is now an official crush of a few blushing PR people here at Comms House!

To see the hilarious footage of Greg’s stint as a NIVEA Male Cheerleader, just visit his pages on the Radio 1 website!

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Meeting Marco

March 9th, 2010

The HeavenChef team had a meeting with a difference last week, with restaurateur and Hell’s Kitchen chef Marco Pierre White.

Held at the suitably showbiz Frankie’s in Knightsbridge, the topic of the day was the brand new range of barbecues that Marco has teamed up with HeavenChef to create.  Also present was the sous chef from one of Marco’s latest business ventures to lend a second expert opinion.  

NPD was top of the agenda, with some of the most adventurous and groundbreaking ideas coming from the Pierre White corner. HeavenChef’s R&D team will no doubt be kept busy re-creating some of the chef’s ambitious – yet genius – ideas which could be taking the industry by storm as early as summer 2011.

Next up was a full synopsis of Marco’s new TV show, Kitchen Burnout, which will be on our screens in April.  We heard all the details of the programme, including some of Marco’s notorious put-downs to the celeb contestants, which we could tell you – but we’d have to kill you.

Finally, it was our chance to steal the limelight as we presented two PR campaigns which will hit the headlines in the summer.  We breathed a big sigh of relief as Marco gave us the seal of approval on both.

And with a slight crush, and Marco’s mobile number in our pocket, we headed back to the office, giddy with excitement and with a story we can tell at dinner parties for years to come!

   

Marco and the BBQ

Marco and the BBQ

 

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Handling a crisis - top tips

February 5th, 2010

At McCann Erickson PR we have an experienced crisis team who can advise on and manage the handling of a wide range of issues.  Already this year we have been instrumental in the handling of a global product recall for a client and in the process have kept their brand name out of the headlines, despite a number of enquiries from national print and broadcast media.

 

Toyota is going through one of the biggest crisis of its history – it’s been all over the press and shows no sign of dying down soon.  Below are our top 10 tips for handling a situation like this.

 

1.       Clarify that Lexus is not part of the Toyota model recall, but confirm that a thorough investigation into the individual case is underway as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to the safety of its customers. 

 

2.       Divert attention to the current Toyota model recall and the safety measures Toyota is taking.

 

3.       Monitor online chatter closely, responding to concerned consumers and inaccurate comments, and ultimately steering traffic to the official Toyota recall website for accurate advice and information about Toyota models that are affected by the recall.

 

4.       Make full use of social media to keep the flow of information to consumers up to date.

 

5.       Ensure that messages and any ‘fix’ strategies are consistent across all markets to avoid confusion amongst consumers – the internet as an instant messaging environment is not conducive to separate market strategies

 

6.       Keep dealers and their staff, and customer services call centre operators, fully updated with latest developments – as the first port-of-call for many consumers, their knowledge and loyalty in the weeks and months to come will be key.

 

7.       Have spokespeople in each key market briefed and media trained – early preparation will be key.

 

8.       Remove from the Toyota recall website any links to old and now inaccurate blog postings – one link refers to the RAV4 model being part of the Toyota recall, which it clearly now isn’t.  Consumers will be looking for consistent information about which models are and aren’t affected by the recall – the seed of doubt will be sown if conflicting information is readily available.

 

9.       Be sensitive about the content of all Toyota and Lexus communication over the coming weeks – a statement referring to the 2009 sales success of two Toyota models affected by the 2010 recall makes for an uncomfortable read and Lexus ads aired on US TV have been deemed as distasteful.

 

10.   Monitor and share media coverage and online conversations between each market’s crisis teams via regular conference calls – this enables the monitoring of the increase or decline in column inches, and the sentiment of content so that PR strategies and messages can be developed on a daily, or if necessary hourly, basis.

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Why PR is more than just media relations

February 3rd, 2010

We read an interesting article in Monday’s Independent entitled ‘Has the British PR Industry Grown too Big for Journalism?’.    It raised the issue of whether the rise of the PR industry had lead to the decline in the power of the press, particularly many print media (national as well as regional) and whether ‘under pressure hacks, already filling in for redundant colleagues, can cope with the barrage of calls and emails from evermore PR executives flogging stories’.

What the article did well was to highlight that PR is now more than just ‘PR calls journalist with story – journalist tells reader’.  The stratospheric rise of digital media - including blogs and social networks – mean that a PR now has to have a much wider skills base than just having good journalist contacts.  Bloggers, forums and social networks such as Twitter and facebook are now hugely influential, and these are now an integral part of many PR campaigns. 

For example, the much-written about campaign to bring back Cadbury Wispa started as a campaign group on facebook.  ‘Traditional’ media outlets such as Sky and BBC have appointed Twitter or social media correspondents, which shows the impact it is having.

However, we believe that traditional media isn’t dead - it and social media can work together, both are equally important to the PR industry in terms of reaching key audiences.  There has always been a love-hate relationship between PRs and journalists, but both need each other.   And personally, there is still no better feeling than opening a national paper and seeing a cracking piece of coverage!

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