PR Gossip

I have very fond memories of the Top 40 show on Radio One. I’m afraid it’s a very Peter Kay style story about me in my bedroom with an old fashioned tape recorder, trying to press pause when the presenters spoke so I had my very own Now That’s What I Call Music top 40 style medley.

I don’t listen to the Top 40 much anymore, but I was interested to hear they may have to change their system again. Only recently they started to include downloaded songs too, as the ipod took off and digital music downloads soared.

Now, with the introduction of Spotify, they may need to change it again. The Official UK Charts Company have said that music played on Spotify could start to be taken into account when compiling the Top 40. It’s going to take at last another year to develop this,. but it’s great they’re paying attention and noticing how music consumption is constantly changing. I suppose this will lead to other things like You Tube too - I know lots of my friends use You Tube to listen to music generally and as a karaoke tool on a drunken night as you can get videos with the words – it will be interesting to see how they incorporate these tools into the charts.

As part of my work for Wolfstar, we handle the social media for buggy manufacturer, Silver Cross. I really enjoy working on this account. Silver Cross is a great brand, that has proven it can retain its traditional and heritage roots, but update its product range and bring itself bang up to date – without compromising its identity.

Last week, we organised a special blogger meet-up for a selection of mummy bloggers at the Rainforest Cafe in London.

It was a little stressful trying to organise about 27 adults and 18 children in quite a small space with intermittent thunderstorms, but once we were all in it was really enjoyable.

It was lovely to meet all of the mums I’ve been working with so closely over the past few weeks – and obviously their adorable children!

To name just a few, I had chance to chat to and get to know Alpha Mummy, Wahm-Bam, NixdMinx, Noble Savage, Potty Mummy, Maternal Tales, And One More Means Four, Boozlebox, Home Office Mum, Diary of a Surprised Mum, Being a Mummy, Daddacool, Notes From Inside My Head, Thames Valley Mums, Part Mummy Part Me, Metropolitan Mum, Perfectly Happy Mum, London-Baby and the lovely Susanna who I’ve met a couple of times before too.

Thanks for a great day and I hope we can do it again soon!

It was recently my mum’s birthday and she was a bit surprised when she didn’t get a card from her mum and dad (my nana and grandad). Nana is usually really organised and wouldn’t forget a card.

When we went round for a drink the next week, my grandad asked her if she’d got their card. Mum said no and it transpired they’d sent her an e-card! My nana and grandad are both online, but their knowledge generally spans booking flights on Jet 2 and checking the cinema times. However, they’d done their bit for the environment and and sent an e-card.

Mum said no, she hadn’t received it and asked which email address he’d sent it to. He said, “I tried to send it to your work email address but it kept bouncing back. So I took your surname off and it worked fine!”

Mum and I tried to explain every letter had to be right in an email address and you can’t just make it up or delete bits. They didn’t really get it.

I think their ideas about email are based on the old Royal Mail system that if you get even half the address right, the letter will EVENTUALLY get there.

Nevertheless, I thought it was a cute story worth sharing. At 72 and 69, I think they’re doing pretty well when it comes to technology (my nana knows more text speak than me) and I’ll be sure to keep an eye on my inbox for my very own e-card coming soon

Technorati Tags: Royal Mail,email,ecard

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I’ve just read an article in the Guardian about Marks and Spencer introducing a new, more environmentally friendly receipt using “thinner paper and 8% less pulp.”

On the surface, this sounds like a great step forward and I think M&S should be applauded for their efforts to be environmentally sound (their Plan A campaign is brilliant). However, as a cynic - one who has worked in the retail sector - I’m a bit dubious.

Is it the law for retailers to provide a receipt? I didn’t think so - if you go to a small shop or market stall you don’t get one.

Surely, if the large retailers asked each customer if they required a receipt, they would cut the number the needed printing in the first place by hundreds of thousands. I personally have about 15 receipts gathering at the bottom of my bag from lunches, drinks etc that I will inevitably bin when I have the motivation to clear out my handbag.

The supermarkets have been under a lot of pressure to cut carrier bag use, and as such have taken steps to remove them from the tills. People have to ask for bags now and this has seen numbers drop dramatically.

Could they not operate the same policy with receipts? The article says they use a lot of paper for receipts – so surely any savings would be good for the environment and for their profits? It would be interesting to find out if this is possible, and if so, why more retailers aren’t doing it.

I stumbled across this video on You Tube today and think it’s quite a cool idea! From what I can tell, this is just something someone’s created at home for a bit of fun. It has had over 200,000 views though! It’s a simple but fun use of social media – even though the girl is slightly irritating (sorry)!

It got me thinking about ways in which brands could utilise this kind of thing. Maybe they could do a similar thing but use an even more interactive medium like Kyte to allow people to ask questions and choose where to look in real time.

Has this been done before by any brands? Be interesting to see how it worked!

Well, I opened my facebook this morning to see an invite to a new event. I thought it might be a girlie night out or someone’s birthday. No. It was an invitation to a wedding. Someone who I’ve not spoken to or seen since I finished high school almost nine years ago has invited me to their wedding via facebook.

Now I love facebook and the way you can stay in touch with your friends, nosey at photos and easily invite your friends to parties with the click of a button, but surely this is too far.

Firstly, I suppose it brings up the old social media debate of ‘who is a real friend’ online? I have nothing against this guy, but we weren’t even close mates at school – let alone nine years on.

Secondly, since when did facebook become an acceptable way to mass invite people to attend the most special day of your life? Will he even recognise half the people at his wedding?

The event page wall is full of comments like ‘would love to mate but on a course’ and ‘nice 2 ere from u mate, soz can’t make it.’ Is this really a fitting rsvp for someone’s wedding?! Am I being old fashioned or is this the future?

Maybe it’s my fault for accepting the friend request in the first place. This has definitely made me think it’s time for a facebook friend cull. And when it’s my turn to get married, I’ll be sticking to hard copy invites in the post.

Conversations about brands are already happening, whether they like it or not. Brands can’t control their marketing and PR message the way they used to.

Consumers are in control and have an incredible power over a brand. Some companies are still scared about this, but it can be used to their advantage. By engaging with these consumers, brands can become involved in the conversation and built customer loyalty in a completely new way.

As social media gathers more momentum, marketers are integrating social media tools and using tools like blogs, social communities, forums, video content on You Tube and photo galleries on Flikr to add impact to their offering.

This means people can not only find out information about products, brands and services, but become part of the process. When it comes to building a community or outreaching to bloggers - an individual approach is key. You cannot generalise or use a blanket approach.

You must know your audience and this takes time. The space must be fully evaluated and the tools your audience uses, the things they talk about and the format they us must be noted. Only then can your offering be relevant and impactful.
For example, simply setting up a facebook group for a new brand or product is not enough. Social media (the clue’s in the title) is social. People love to talk about things they’re passionate about. If consumers are passionate about something, they’ll already be talking about it.

For example, Soap and Glory (who I’ve talked about before on this blog) have a facbook fan page with over 1,700 fans. This has been set up by consumers because they have passion for the brand.

Are Soap and Glory aware of this? It’s hard to say from the look of the page, there is a link to their website but that’s about the only clue. What is for sure is that they’re not using this tool to their advantage. There is hardly any content. No photos, no videos, no interaction or conversation with fans.

This strikes me as a wasted opportunity. Why not use the fan base as a research tool? Find out what they like about the brand, what new products they’d like to see. Or how about offering discounts and special offers?
The key to successful community building is responsiveness and personal engagement. Consumers want to see that Soap and Glory is a human organisation. If they engaged with their fans, they would increase their word of mouth online, have a direct line to their key audience and build a truly beneficial relationship with them.

Just been reading my feeds (a little overdue admittedly) and saw a great post for Michael Litman about a presentation he saw at the Social Networking World Forum by Dirk Singer.

It’s all about justifying social media in these credit crunch times. I think it’s really interesting and a good way to get the point across to clients etc without all the hype and buzz words they don’t necessarily understand.

I went to see Watchmen last night and really loved it. I didn’t know what to expect, not being a DC Comics fan I hadn’t heard the story, and I didn’t initially think it would be my kind of film, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a kind of cross between Sin City, Kill Bill and The Dark Knight.

The thing that impressed me most had to be the soundtrack. I absolutely loved it. The film uses a very Tarintino-style use of strange song choices to heighten the scenes and make the audience feel a bit confused or uncomfortable.

For example, the opening scene is a brutal and really violent fight sequence ending in someone being thrown out of a window. This is set to the beautiful ‘Unforgettable’ by Nat King Cole. To go from that to a montage of American history set to Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ has to be duly noted.

The characters were well developed and I genuinely cared for them (or was petrified of them in the case of Rorshack!)

There’s been a lot of hype about this film, mainly from DC Comic enthusiasts. The film’s online presence has been massive and really uniquely executed. I think their social media strategy has been fantastic. The main website links to a blog called ‘I watch the Watchmen’ which is totally interactive and a dream come true for fanatics (both social media and Watchmen).

There are a number of tools available including iPhone apps, a selection of character images so you can change your profile picture on your social networking sites, skins for blogs and websites, widgets, film clips that you can add yourself into and social bookmarking.

It’s great to see film companies and big-budget films using social media to engage with their audience and spread word of mouth online. I think these tactics will start to be used more and more often, which is great news because die-hard fans can totally immerse themselves in the film and feel part of the experience.

The Comic Relief song, Barry Islands in the Stream, has arrived. Full video as promised!