When we get a ‘hit’ it makes us feel amazing but the effects soon wear off. We’re constantly looking for that next big buzz, without giving much thought to whether it’s doing us or our client much good. What’s more, we’ve been dealing this drug to clients over the years, so that they’ve become addicted to coverage too.

But the sad fact of the matter is that no matter how much we get or how much more the client needs, coverage is just not enough. This week Speed hosted its ‘Brand Anarchy’ event where speakers such as Alastair Campbell and Will Whitehorn were discussing how coverage and controlling the traditional media is just not cutting the mustard anymore. What’s more, we’ve seemed to have lost our heritage as public relations practitioners in favour of becoming media relations practitioners.

In our pursuit for our next coverage fix we’re ignoring the one thing that made this industry so crucial, actually communicating directly with the public or target audience – in a bid to influence. We’re so fixated on coverage numbers that whether or not we’ve achieved any influence after getting that splash across The Times is merely an afterthought. We’re just high on the fact we got the coverage.

So am I saying that coverage is bad? Of course not, however there are just too many PR programmes that are solely evaluated on the volume of coverage gained and the number of times the brand is mentioned in a national. We need to break free from this and rehabilitate ourselves out of the addiction to coverage by evaluating the success of public relations through its impact on commercial objectives, direct engagement and influence.

Editorial content is of course critical, but this should be part and parcel of a well thought out reputation strategy not the sole foundation of the whole programme. What’s more, editorial content should be running alongside other content that addresses all communication channels, from live face-to-face engagement through to the virtual world.

Coverage should be just one of the many successes of a well thought out engagement and reputation management plan, not the ultimate end-point.

Image by larryosan via Flickr

Hello everyone, it’s been a while. I can assure you that despite my increasing waistline I have been working rather than just sat on my bulbous arse.

But here is a question, what have I been working for?

It’s something that I think PR people need to ask themselves more regularly. In fact, just asking why more often, I believe, will improve our work

Why?

Well, it’s incredibly easy for PR folk to fall into the trap of meeting coverage numbers and just churning out ‘results’. Coverage targets are a PR person’s security blanket. We may not have done anything spectacular, properly engaged with our target audience or produced award winning work, but look, we’ve hit coverage numbers. So what?

Equally the type of coverage you get, might look great on a Foamex board in your client’s reception area, but has it made any impact? And before people start saying, ‘oh he means get more national/broadcast coverage’, let me assure you I don’t. If your target audience picks up Underwater Basket Weaving Weekly more than The Guardian, then which is more valuable to be featured in? If your audience is primarily based on social media sites and rarely pick up a paper, then why do you have coverage targets at all?

So, here is my top five list of self exploring questions that I reckon would help anyone in PR:

1) Why do I think this PR opportunity is useful/valuable for my client/business?

2) Why am I saying ‘we must engage on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn’?

3) Why am I allocating a coverage target to this campaign – could it be measured more effectively?

4) Why do I think these PR results are great?

5) Why am I doing PR for this client/my business?

Image by thekenyeung via Flickr

Today’s Monday Interview in the FT is with one of the most refreshing characters in a crowded, noisy and somewhat monotonous cloud-computing/software market. Marc Benioff, founder, chairman and chief exec of Salesforce.com has most certainly carved out a name for himself as not only being one of the most successful pioneers of today’s pay-as-you-go business IT world, but also as a chief exec who is not afraid to give the media what it wants; contentious comment, honest opinion and perhaps most importantly, his time.

So is Marc Benioff the perfect media spokesperson? He certainly fits the bill in terms of having a great background story that is of great interest to the press; one of the youngest people to be given a vice-president title at Oracle, launches Salesforce.com, a multi-billion dollar company, from his apartment, donates a proportion of his company’s revenue to charity and what’s more he’s a keen paddle boarder and yoga fan.

But it’s perhaps the time he devotes to raising his media profile that makes him a press darling. Apparently Benioff devotes his Friday afternoons to the media – making himself available for interviews and comment with many journalists having access to his direct number. The benefit this would bring to his PR  teams would be immense. Imagine knowing that a CEO you represent is ready and waiting to engage with the press every week and has devoted time to do it. The time spent negotiating PAs, Outlook calendars and other obstacles would be drastically reduced, leaving his PR team to focus on getting column inches.

This availability, coupled with his commitment to deliver messages and comment that make people sit up and take notice, make Mr Benioff an example of a great spokesperson. While his competitors will say that he dishes out over-hyped messages and likes to stir the pot with soundbites such as “I’m sorry, for those of you who didn’t make it into the cloud…we’ve moved on!”, I can’t help think that his fellow chief-execs are a little envious of his PR approach.  Would it be such a bad thing if a couple more followed suit?

Image via Wikipedia

If you were to ask anyone at Speed towers for a single sentence that described me I’m 99 per-cent sure that they would respond with ‘style icon’.  Today, as I sit at my desk in a well-worn pair of flip-flops, three-quarter length shorts and a seven-year-old tee-shirt, it’s obvious why my colleagues would reach this conclusion.

I’m so far ahead of the fashion curve that people sometimes confuse forward-thinking dress with poor taste and a lack of self-respect – the fools. However this has got me thinking, is PR an industry where looks count for so much more than in other professions?

Take, for example, the simple suit. A staple in the wardrobes of those that walk the streets of the financial districts across the world, as well as the halls of power at the Whitehouse and the Houses of Parliament. And what’s more, my older colleagues tell me it was, up until recently, obligatory to wear a suit within the PR industry as well.  Yet suits are largely ignored in our profession today. Why is that?

Well my thoughts are that we’re expected to emanate creativity and personality – and we bloody love playing up to that. Not only that, the industries we work with are also becoming more relaxed and casual, and we want to say to them ‘look, we’re just like you too! Only a touch more creative’

I have a hat fetish for example, and proudly wear a variety of headgear to client meetings, launches and day-to-day activities. I think it adds character and shouts, ‘this man is confident, smart and probably superb in the sack’ – others think I just look like a tosser.

I once worked with a learned gentleman who was immaculately dressed every day, donning the latest trend superbly. He was also famed for his blindingly bright-coloured, natural fibre, socks (can you guess who it is yet?).

While this sort of ‘extrovert’ dress sense would be instantly berated at the Bank of England or Downing Street, clients have become largely oblivious and almost expectant of wardrobe sensations from their PR consultants.

Of course there are exceptions to this and still the suit gets a dusting off as and when required, but largely those working in the PR industry will each be striving to show just how creative and on-trend they are from tip-to-toe.

Still it’s not all bad.  We could be web developers. They take this whole debate to an entirely new dimension.

A month ago I was introduced to Prezi by someone I regard as brilliant.  Now I’m sure there are many out there yawning and thinking ‘gosh how slow are you’ as they finger their iPad2, sipping a Chai Tea Latte in anything other than a Starbucks. But regardless of this ,I found out about the tool recently and I have fallen in love with it.

Prezi, is a web based presentation tool (although you can download to desktop) that allows you to zoom in and out of slides to either show the big picture, or depict key bits of detail. It gives you the ability to emphasize points easily, as well as group key thoughts or concepts by framing words, pictures and other media together.

Perhaps most importantly, Prezi gives you the ability to create a presentation that visually takes the audience on a journey – something that I believe is crucial for many PR professionals.

I presented in Prezi for the first time to a client this week, the response was great and I really felt the tool brought to life the big journey. In a Peter Kay-esque fashion I thought to myself “It’s the future!” I cursed the day I every encountered Keynote or Power Point and then promptly went to another presentation where I presented with a Keynote deck lovingly produced by a colleague. The result was the same. The Keynote perfectly depicted ‘the journey’.

I wish I could write that one tool was better than the other. I had more fun creating Prezi than I’ve had creating traditional slide decks, so perhaps that counts for something. But the fact of the matter is, Keynote did the same job beautifully. So unfortunately the onus falls on us to put the tools to good use and work with whatever is the most suitable.  There is no saviour presentation tool for us out there and I’m sure there are a host of crap Prezis just waiting to numb our braincells.

Related articles

• Prezi, Not Quite a PowerPoint Killer (customerthink.com)

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The Wellcome Trust has offered £1bn to buy the Olympic Park, following the Olympics next year. It’s a sizeable bid from a reputable charitable foundation which has a great heritage in investing and supporting technology start-ups.

Could this be the landmark bid that Prime Minister Cameron has been waiting for since his unveiling of the East London Tech City Scheme?

Without a doubt, the Wellcome Trust has been helping fast growth technology companies secure the investment they need to grow and flourish.  Only last month the foundation invested an undisclosed amount into short-term loan firm, Wonga and has also participated in a round of funding for digital music service Beyond Oblivion.

Wellcome’s portfolio also expands well beyond the realms of internet based businesses. The organisation’s commitment to improve life for humans and animals is reflected in a wide variety of investments into biotechnology firms as well scientific research projects.

Start-ups need access to a variety of things but perhaps most importantly they need a constant stream of sound business advice and cash. It’s great to have the big brands take notice and invest in the area, as has been the case with Cisco to name just one, as it opens up opportunities and new networks for these fast moving businesses.

But it’s equally important to see more investment firms and expert consultants, outside of just pure-play technology, to have a greater presence in the blossoming London start-up scene and work with these organisations and entrepreneurs to nurture and develop them.

A lot of people should feel very positive about the move made by the Wellcome Trust and I hope that this will encourage similar organisations to take part and work towards a very exciting start-up future.

Related articles

• Wellcome Trust puts in £1bn bid for Olympic Park site (guardian.co.uk)
• Wonga Raises £73m In Series C Funding To Double-Down On Massive UK Growth (techcrunch.com)

Last night I sat on the sofa, with a mug of tea in hand, turned the TV on and waited for the rage to wash over me. What was I watching? BBC Question Time of course!

Nothing beats an hour’s worth of screaming at the box as politicians, authors, PR folk and Apprentice candidates (WTF?) try and win over our hearts and minds with the best soundbites media training can buy.

Actually something does beat that. That something is #BBCQT. Because of Twitter I’m not only enjoying a good rant at an inanimate object, I’m actually airing my views to real people who in turn are dishing out their, sometimes rib crackingly funny, opinions. In fact, it’s as if #BBCQT is our own little version of the show.

I know I’m not alone when I say I get a little warm feeling inside when one of my sarcastic #BBCQT remarks gets re-tweeted a few times. I imagine it’s the same feeling as the guests get when they receive a ripple of applause from the audience.

But perhaps more importantly than the benefit it has on my own ego, #BBCQT is actually making the show more engaging and entertaining than ever before. Last night’s show was, by all accounts, distinctly average.

The guests were either dull or irritating, the questions were very tabloid (a quarter of the show dedicated to Andy Gray’s sacking is a bit much) and it seemed to drag on a bit. However, over the course of the hour, the show’s hashtag received 12,000 tweets. Katie Hopkins, a woman that up until last night I didn’t know existed was even trending for a moment; which I’m sure will secure her a place on Dancing Whilst Singing and Basket Weaving on Ice.

Despite the very grey programme, I was having a thrilling time reading some hilarious comments and having some banter with a few friends as we batted about our thoughts on the show. Without that community, I would have switched off and gone to bed after 10 minutes of enduring Will Self’s monologues.

But I was hooked.  I needed more fuel for my tweeting and wanted to see the fantastic comments from others unfold. Basically Twitter saved Auntie’s arse last night – I’d be writing a very different blog post had the community not been there.

Perhaps some clever sod in Broadcasting House knew that by putting odd guests on the panel, Twitter would be buzzing with #BBCQT, potentially attracting even more to next week’s virtual gathering.

If you were to ask my colleagues and friends the type of people I tend to idolise, there will probably be an even split in responses between organic farmers and Ray Mears.

I have become quite adept at stalking organic farmers at various markets up and down the country; however tracking down Ray Mears has been more of a challenge.  A couple of weeks ago I found the king of bushcraft at the Outdoors Show and attended one of his lectures.

The lecture was, for me, fascinating.  However one thing that really stuck in my mind was one of Ray’s trips to the Arctic where, despite still retaining their hunter/gather skills, the indigenous people had access to a high-speed Wi-Fi network, Playstations and other technology you wouldn’t necessarily associate with living in the Arctic wilderness.

There were of course gasps and shaking of heads in the lecture theatre. Especially as the Wi-Fi was provided by an oil company that had set up shop nearby. While this was undoubtedly a bit of CSR by the oil company, it has had a profound effect on the local community.

Vital supplies can now be ordered over the internet, emergency services can be accessed but perhaps more interestingly a world of information can be found. While these are positives, I imagine the gasps and disapproving whispers upon hearing this news was due to the belief that the key skills used by the local population for centuries, would be lost in a sea of World of Warcraft and tweeting.

Or will they? As the local community becomes more proficient in finding and perhaps adding to information on the web, will we see those that retain the ancient skills post Wikis for all to learn from? Could a geo location map be uploaded highlighting the key hunting areas for other local communities? Perhaps an online charter of how to make sustainable use of the land and its resources could be drafted and adhered to.

Personally, I do get a warm feeling when hearing about the more traditional way of handing down knowledge from father/mother (no Andy Gray here) to son/daughter. However, access to the online world could help those living the more ‘pure’ life cement their legacy and teachings online. And perhaps teach the rest of the world something in the process. I’d love to learn from them and I’m sure others would too.

I’ve found that I’m not alone in this obsession with these turkey based delights, in fact what I’ve discovered is a raging debate between which festive feast is the more delicious.

I decided to set myself the arduous task of eating both sandwiches over the course of my lunch break and taking tasting notes and scoring both. The results and winner (can there be one?) are below.

Merry Christmas (can I say that yet?)

M&S

Price: £3.25

Texture: firm and satisfyingly chewy – 5/5

Bacon quality: sweet cured, tasty but could perhaps do with a little trim – 3/5

Turkey quality: delicious. A rich turkey taste – 5/5

Condiments: Good mix of sweet and sour with the chutney, not too soggy as a result of sauce – 5/5

Stuffing: Good taste to the stuffing, quite herby but not overpowering – 5/5

Size: a hearty sandwich – 5/5

Distribution of ingredients: excellent, a bit of everything in each bite – 5/5

Overall taste: There is a Christmas party in my mouth and everyone is invited – 5/5

TOTAL SCORE:  38/40

Pret

Price: £3.25

Texture: firm, with a good bounce – 5/5

Bacon quality: a little bland – needs to be either smokier or sweeter – 3/5

Turkey quality: not bad however quite bland, gets lost in the taste – 3/5

Condiments: heavy on the mayo, cranberry sauce is a little light on the sour side – 4/5

Stuffing: good size but surprisingly bland– 4/5

Size: a hearty sandwich (but smaller than the M&S one) – 5/5

Distribution of ingredients: again excellent 5/5

Overall taste: There is a Christmas party in my mouth except this time it’s got a few dull people there– 4/5

TOTAL SCORE:  33/40

AND THE WINNER IS: The M&S Christmas sandwich! It had more flavour to the Pret one.  All the ingredients tasted better and married well, with each unique flavour coming through. And it’s bigger.

Later on I made an excel document showing competitors’ press coverage and journalists’ contact details so Claire could get cracking on some client briefings. After finishing a monthly coverage report I began writing a blog entry for a client. This should be my forte seeing as I’m doing an English degree so I hope it’s okay!

I had a chat with Simon about the research we did on music in the cloud services and we discussed which ones could be potential clients. It’s really great to be a part of it. If one of them is interested in using Speed as a PR agency I will feel very important!

Thank you everyone for making me feel so welcome. I’ve had such a lovely time and all of your efforts have helped me gain so much from this placement. I owe all of you thanks individually but here is an overall THANKYOU for all your help.