September 2nd, 2010 by Rebecca Gregory

Stig, speculation and surveys – surely the ‘silly season is over?

The Stig at the British International Motor Sh...

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It’s September, surely the ‘silly season’ has officially ended? Despite Blair’s book being all over the news today, the rest of the news has been dominated by the revealing of the real Stig (not Schumacher after all – yes, I really believed that), rabid speculation over Hague’s alleged homosexual affair (based on no evidence in particular, and should we really care?), and many surveys. In today’s Daily Telegraph, there are no less than four surveys in its news pages (which also cover Blair, the Stig and Hague).

The PR industry is often berated for a perceived overuse of surveys and so it’s interesting to see that they are considered worthwhile by some journalists – front page fodder no less. Naturally the news angle has to be strong and the stats powerful – let’s examine them:

Front page: ‘Happiness begins at 55’. The usual ‘fun’ survey. Is it telling us anything that we didn’t know? I’m not certain, but it certainly contributes to a general perception that Brits spend the majority of their life massively stressed. However, we know not where the respondents are based – are they country or city folk? I suspect the latter.

Page 8: ‘£1 a minute to eat at top restaurants’. What consumers find annoying when dining out. Hardly earth shattering, but a big name brand is behind it which always adds kudos. The country’s ability to be irritated by anything and everything no doubt contributes to general life doom and gloom, as referenced on the front page.

Page 9: ‘Fox attack leaves 1 in 5 afraid of wildlife’. A third of city dwellers now perceive wildlife as ‘dangerous’ rather than ‘harmless’. This is not Australia. With a propensity to be so wimpish it’s unsurprising we’re stressed out as a nation, thereby contributing to general life doom and gloom, as referenced on the front page.

Page 9: ‘Family meal replaced by two dinners’. Parents and children are missing out on valuable family time. No doubt that’s because everyone is so stressed and working overtime, thereby contributing to general life doom and gloom, as referenced on the front page.

Regardless of what real value these surveys bring to our general knowledge, we should be thankful they exist as a news filler – otherwise we’d have piped music (see 1930) or the test card.

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May 10th, 2010 by Rebecca Gregory

The littlest iHobo

Homeless charity Depaul UK has launched a controversial iPhone app that enables you to download your very own iHobo. As in a homeless person, not a suspiciously intelligent Canadian German Shepherd dog.

With iHobo, you download yourself a young homeless person and pay real cash to provide them with essential basics such as food, a sleeping bag, and

Your iHobo asking for emotional comfort

emotional and financial comfort. This has inevitably (and no doubt deliberately) invoked a significant amount of upset comment about the tastelessness of the app and its name. Without a doubt, the use of the term ‘hobo’ is inappropriate (as well as annoyingly Americanised – but that’s a whole other issue), akin to the flippant yet incredibly offensive use of the term ‘pikey’.

Depaul UK has said that the naming of the app ‘iHobo’ was intended to “question the labels that are placed upon young homeless people and the misconceptions that surround them”, but I suspect that the subtle subtext might be lost in download. (As an aside, the quality of the active live action video footage makes it a tempting app for those more interested in the technical advancement side of things than engaging in a heated moral debate.)

However, the fact is that Depaul UK is a homeless charity and so more than most understands the negative outlook faced by young homeless people today. Despite the inappropriate name, this is a rather clever idea from Publicis London to help Depaul UK not only raise its profile amongst a difficult to reach audience, but also to raise money. Every time the user buys food or other comforts for their iHobo, a percentage of that goes direct to Depaul UK.

The controversial nature (and quality) of this app means it has real potential to go viral. In times when charity giving is at an all time low and charities have to fight to grab peoples’ attention (and their money) this latest app venture could prove to be a very profitable revenue source. Publicis and Depaul UK are betting on iPhone users finding it easier (or, dare I say it, being more willing) to spend money on iPhone apps rather than donate directly to charity. And they might, just might, be on to something there.

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March 30th, 2010 by Rebecca Gregory

CERN – the best Twitter stream ever?

CERN today used its Large Hadron Collider to achieve a world record in doing the thing that they do, which no one really understands. Despite a (seeming) common lack of knowledge, CERN’s use of twitter through its handle @CERN made for gripping reading for scientific and non-scientific audiences alike (as well as a strange feeling of being in an interactive Star Trek episode where you’re expecting @CERN to say “Beam me up Scottie…”)

Where else can the words stabilise, beams and collisions be so enthralling? Never has a one word tweet: Collapsed!! – extorted such an explosive reaction across Twitter?

If you weren’t lucky enough to see it live, here are a few brilliant tweets to show what you missed:

  • First time in the history!!!!!!!!!!!! World record!!!!!!!!
  • Experiment have seen collisions!!!!!!!!!!!
  • ­Now stabilizing the beams
  • ­Collapsed!!
  • ­The ramp is successfully completed! Beams are now accelerated to 3.5 TeV, the highest energy! Preparing for collisions now!!
  • ­Ramping up now!
  • ­Preparing for new injection from SPS, the smaller accelerator that brings particles to the LHC.

Genius.

Now, while we wait for those crazy scientist to work on transporting (“Uh oh. We’ve lost the eyes. Not the eyes!”) maybe surgeons could tweet operations in real time…“pass the pneumatic drill Sister, this cranium’s a toughie…”

You can still catch the aftermath by following @CERN or watch the scientists in action on their live webcast.

Of course, if the live feed goes quiet and the webcast blank we’ll know black holes really do exist.

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December 8th, 2009 by Rebecca Gregory

On the issue of charging for newspaper content and self-important email addicts

Last week I went to one of the very useful Gorkana Breakfasts – allowing PRs to put questions to editors of key publications. This time it was a chance to hear from the Wall Street Journal Europe’s renowned Patience Wheatcroft (Ed-in-chief) and Iain Martin (Dep Ed).  After talk about the structure of the paper, its audience, content and global capabilities (drawing upon Dow Jones and Financial News) the last 15 minutes was a freestyle Q&A allowing their more subjective opinions to come the fore.

Unsurprisingly, the topics of charging for newspapers came up. The overriding view was that charging for Sunday papers in particular would not generate revenue; with a big question over what value they can offer readers to justify a subscription fee. This led nicely into the Murdoch vs. Google debate and it was interesting to get the viewpoint of journalists on a subscription based publication.

Patience and Iain raised two good points: it’s not unreasonable for newspapers to ask money for the content that they put a lot of time, effort and money into generating; and, if good journalism is to continue, there has to be a compromise.

I can’t help but agree with the latter in particular. I for one won’t want to pay for easy, quick news; content that adds little to my existing knowledge. But I would certainly consider paying for intelligent analysis, properly researched and investigated articles that provide an insight I wouldn’t otherwise be privy too.

However, in this offline and online age, there are many types of reader. Those loyal to one paper alone, dutifully reading it everyday and no doubt happy to pay a subscription as they know they will access it regularly enough to make it worthwhile. But, what about those online readers (me) that like to dip in and out of two or three newspaper sites – picking and choosing articles to read. It will be interesting to see how the subscription models accommodate each type of reader.

On a completely separate note, I noticed that many of the suited & booted PRs who had taken precious time out of their day to come and learn useful information from Patience and Iain who had, in turn, taken precious time out of their day to impart this useful information, couldn’t tear themselves away from their beloved blackberries and merrily emailed their way through the breakfast. I ask; if you are so important that you can’t spend 45 minutes without tapping away, then why bother going at all? I don’t care if you say you can multi-task; it’s just plain rude and self-important.

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July 10th, 2009 by Rebecca Gregory

118800 – what comms strategy?

no cold callsFor the past few weeks BizComms has been following with interest how the 118800 story has panned out in the press, ultimately noting (objectively, of course) a complete lack of crisis planning.  118800 allows people to contact the mobile numbers of people they don’t already have – 118800 contacts the target on their behalf  for a price (£1) asking permission for the requester to call them direct, but not actually giving out the mobile number.

The comms strategy (nay, the entire business concept) was fated to struggle 18 months ago when the mobile operators refused to provide lists of mobile numbers, despite the threat of legal action from 118800. Ignoring this fairly strong signal that the service might (just a thought) be received badly 118800 continued with plans to launch the service which, impressively, seems to fill absolutely no gaps in the market (apart from that of aggravating human rights campaigners).  Telesales companies surely can’t afford the £1 per contact that is unlikely to convert into a phone call, let alone a sell.  On a personal level, if it is an angry ex or the freak from school who thought arson was fun, you’re hardly likely to accept a call from them are you? And, let’s face it; it’s not going to be the guy you fantasised about at school who has been trying in vain to contact you ever since – Facebook and twitter would have done that already.

To make matters worse for the 118800 comms team, on top of having to manage responses to backlash from press, rights campaigners and mobile operators about the privacy implications, the entire service crashed at its launch and 118800 was (allegedly) unavailable from comment apart from a canned statement.

What is interesting here is that the mobile operators appear to take privacy rights of its customers seriously and, that despite a proliferation of forms of instant online communication, people tend to treat personal mobile numbers as just that – a very personal means of contact that we choose to give out to the lucky few, not the highest bidder.

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