August 31st, 2010 by John Brown

Google’s priority inbox – end of the PR mailer?

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Google has launched a new ‘priority inbox’ service for its web-based email service, Gmail. Basically Gmail monitors a user’s email behaviour and ranks email’s in order of importance, bumping the most important and unread emails to the top of the reading pane.

This got me thinking, could a priority email service spell the end of the PR mailer? By PR mailer I mean a mass mailed press release with something like ‘Innovative, groundbreaking thought leader comments on market leading spanner’ in the subject line. As 99% of hacks would hit the delete button every time they received something like this, a priority inbox system would send this mailer to the bottom of the pile, meaning not even the catchiest of subject lines will make it onto the journo’s email radar.

Good PRs will always thoroughly scrutinise whether a story is newsworthy or not, select the right journalists that would cover that story and then contact them by their preferred method. Crap PRs will send a mailer to a Gorkana (replace with whatever service you use) list.

So in an industry under constant pressure to reduce spamming, a priority inbox could be the catalyst needed to encourage more sophisticated PR activity.

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August 27th, 2010 by Ruth Jones

The Stig gets mobile

Each month we look at a specific community and digest the popular content covered by the media and discussed in a range of social forums. In August, we looked at the mobile space, comparing how the conversations differ, which organisations are getting attention and what is making the headlines.

After identifying and monitoring the influencers, we use a variety of free social tools, such as Twittertim.es, to pull out the popular stories. Today, TopGear’s blog post on the BBC’s battle to protect the Stig’s identity topped our community paper, receiving the most re-tweets in the mobile social media community. This attention was mirrored in the media, driving traffic to all the major news sites.

However, content doesn’t always cross over from the traditional media to the social media world. With both the traditional and social media communities growing and evolving, we’re committed to getting to know how they tick.

Next week, we’re publishing some insight into the mobile content space, tweet @becdaniel if you’re interested.

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August 27th, 2010 by michael.frier

Top Tips for Live TV – or “don’t be a moron!”

Over the past few months there has been a series of high profile bugger ups on live news broadcasts. It is the role of a PR to ensure this happens as little as possible. PRs have the marvellous job of being able to push people in front of these cameras knowing that if they say the wrong thing the spokesperson not the PR will look a berk. PRs then get the joy of critiquing that person on exactly where they went wrong and why they now look like a complete buffoon. However, I thought I would help these Public Relation Advisors everywhere by including below my three favourite top tips (with glorious examples) of how to not look like a moron on TV.

Top Tip #1 – Live TV is not the time for swearing

After weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker stuck his middle finger up at BBC New’s 24 Simon McCoy it was then reported that he had previously called Glastonbury “Muddy Sh*te” rather than “Muddy site”. Though I am sure he was not wrong with this particular Freudian slip, it does lead me to ask: who ever put this man on live TV? He is clearly far too stupid! However, if he just followed the golden rule of not swearing on live TV then he may have avoided such criticism.

Top Tip #2 – Don’t try to ‘sex up’ serious news events

The weatherman with the silly name follows other brilliant live TV mess ups which have led me to ask the question: who put this moron on TV? This often comes when people try to make a news story that much more exciting. Kay Burley, in true Sky News style, is often caught out trying to make stories that much more headline grabbing. For instance, during Sky News coverage of the 9/11 attacks she somehow felt the need to hyperbolise the biggest news event of a generation by greeting viewers with this fantastic gem, “and if you’ve just joined us, the entire eastern seaboard of the United States has been decimated by a terrorist attack”. Kay managed to top this by asking the wife of Suffolk serial killer Steve Wright “Do you think if you’d had a better sex life he wouldn’t have done this?” Clearly the wife’s fault! I don’t know about you, but when I don’t get any for a while – I just have to strangle someone. Perhaps Kay Burley should have taken this tip to heart. Both these events were already huge stories; she did not need an attempt to make them bigger.

Top Tip #3 – If national news cameras are near you, behave!

This rule is a big one. If there are cameras around you, make sure you are not doing wrong otherwise you will be caught out and will look a moron. Remember ‘that banker’ who was watching porn on his company computer whilst a live TV interview happened behind him. He was nothing to do with the broadcast, just having a normal day at the office – and let’s face it, whose normal day at the office doesn’t involve the watching of pornographic movies. Sadly, he seemed to forget that this national news interview would be happening right behind his desk – he quickly became far more interesting than the actual story. What a banker!

And it’s not just everyday office workers who need this tip re-iterating to them 24/7. Who can forget the marvellous ‘bigotgate’. Although probably having little effect on the outcome of the election, it couldn’t have helped. Our own Prime Minister (at the time) Gordon Brown, surrounded by advisors, still forgot that national news cameras were listening in when he referred to Gillian Duffy as a “bigoted woman”.

Both Gordon Brown and our lonely banker really should have remembered that when you are near news cameras and journalists, you really should be on your best behaviour!

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August 26th, 2010 by Clare English

‘Speeps’ Profiles – Marie Efthymiou

This week, Marie Efthymiou (phonetic spelling available on request) entertains us with holiday anecdotes and suggestions as to how one might explain ‘PR’ to a four year old.

You’ve just got back from your holiday. Where did you go?

I had the most amazing two weeks! We started in not so sunny San Francisco (the best bit was visiting Alcatraz). And then onto Vegas which was out of this world and one massive party! And ended up in LA, which was all about soaking up the sun and celeb hunting (I didn’t see any, but I do have some very interesting snaps of Jennifer Aniston, Simon Cowell and Orlando Bloom’s front gates if you’re interested?)

What was your best meal?

I’m embarrassed to say but it was actually in a Greek restaurant on Long Beach – you see we’re not to dissimilar to you Brits, us Greeks will always sniff out the lamb kebabs.

I also became a little obsessed with their pancakes for breakfast. Everyday I ordered a short stack buttermilk pancake with maple syrup and bacon (very yummy, but thank goodness I don’t live there as I would be HUGE, it was near to impossible to find anything that resembled fresh fruit or veg).

What’s the one thing you have done on a holiday that would most shock us?

Being the good Greek girl that I am, I didn’t do anything that risqué or shocking. But I did take a liking to Harley’s and spent most of the time travelling around LA on one (on the back that is, there’s no ways I could control one of those big, bad boys).

How would you explain PR in three sentences to Steve Earls’ 4-year old?

We tell stories. And we try to make them as exciting as possible (which can sometimes be hard) so when we tell all the big bosses who work at the newspapers, magazines, TV and with computers they like them so much that they tell the whole wide world (well not always the whole world, sometimes just Basingstoke).

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title would be?

Good Greek Girls Don’t Exist

Why are manholes round?

Well it’s pretty common knowledge that round tubes are the strongest and most material-efficient shape against the compression of the earth around them. And obviously we all already know that it also needs to be round as human beings have a roughly circular cross-section.

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August 20th, 2010 by Clare English

‘Speeps’ Profiles – Ruth Jones

This week, Technology director, Ruth, tells us exactly how it is with her inimitable Northern flair…

What did you have for breakfast. And why?

Slightly burnt brown toast with marmite. Because I like it.

Describe your journey from BD1 to WC2H.

Did I take a wrong turn?

What makes a good PR person?

Somebody who is hungry for success.  It is all about the result (within budget).

Favourite lunchtime venue near Leicester Square?

Ben & Jerry’s

Sum up leadership in five words. Do you make the mark?

Vision-control-delegation-motivation-accountability

Sure. And, if I don’t, it is your job to fire me.

What pisses you off?

- Excuses rather than solutions

- Lack of proactive drive (don’t talk about it, just do it)

- Made up timesheets

- Opinions without foundations

- Unconstructive feedback

- Pointless meetings

- Timewasters

- Boo shoers

- Crap coffee


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August 16th, 2010 by David Bell

iPhone 5 to feature NFC?

Could NFC or near field communication be heading to the iPhone 5? Apple has just announced that Benjamin Vigier, a renowned NFC guru has been hired as product manager for mobile commerce. But what is NFC and why should we care?

In a nutshell, NFC is a tiny chip within a mobile device which allows us to pay for small purchases (say, under a tenner) by simply waving our mobile phone in the general direction of a NFC reader. Payments are instant and secure and mean that the days of digging around in our pockets for change whilst at the bar could effectively be at an end. No more shrapnel at the end of a night out, no more holes in pockets, no more coins down the side of the sofa.

NFC is not new, boffins at the Dutch semiconductor company NXP had the standard approved in 2003. Barclaycard users will be familiar with it through the innovative Visa payWave on certain credit cards. However it hasn’t taken off on mobile phones as planned, largely because the big players in the industry haven’t reached a consensus on how to deploy the technology.

Could Apple now lead the way and finally extend the benefits of this pretty cool technology to the rest of us?

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August 16th, 2010 by John Brown

Obvs this is pssng me off! – Why I hate people speaking in abbreviations

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So today I read an article on the BBC’s website entitled, “How the internet is changing language”.

If you speak to anyone around the office they will tell you that I have a deep and emotional hatred of people abbreviating when they speak. By this I mean ‘obvs’ for obviously, ‘totes’ for totally and ‘defs’ for definitely.

It’s like someone smacking me repeatedly in the face with a large, incorrect, dictionary. There is just no need for it.  My life, and I imagine the speaker’s life, is not going to benefit in anyway from the millisecond ‘obvs’ will save if said in replacement of ‘obviously’.

I can assure you I don’t have such a hectic and incredibly important life where those milliseconds can all be racked up so that I can spend more time discovering cures to terminal diseases or solving world hunger. To illustrate this, I spent four hours yesterday playing Batman on the Playstation, in my pants. I can safely say I have enough time on my hands to listen to the full word rather than its abbreviated backward cousin.

While the BBC article gives examples of where abbreviation has helped, or in some cases is completely necessary (take Twitter for example), this shouldn’t mean that people go about life speaking as if they only have 140 characters with which to get the message across.

I guess that is the thing that irritated me the most; there is no practical reason why people are now saying ‘actch’ instead of actually. It’s just some Paris Hiltonesque language that began with OMG and has slowly evolved into this dumbed down version of an already dumbed down language.

It’s a way of communicating that needs to be met with anger and a point blank refusal to acknowledge the sentence that contained the offending abbreviation.

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August 10th, 2010 by John Brown

#speedkids Bring on next year (I’ll dress as a clown)

I admit. I was anxious. Nervous. I would even go as far to say that I had a a furrowed brow of worry at the thought of the office being overrun by mini versions of my collegagues.

However, all these fears were quickly dispersed over a game of office football.

Speed had a ‘bring your kids to work’ day today and I thought it was fantastic. The kids ranging from truly minature crawlers to walking, talking, cappucino drinking little adults; gave the office a cracking atmosphere today.

The impromptu rugby tackles, random hugging and continuous medium paced jogging were complemented with a fantastic media consumption survey done with the older kids and of course a huge amount of sugar.

The little ones were full of an energy that sparked me to do my first half paced jog since 1992.  I think even my press release pitches were enhanced by letting journalists know that, this time around, the burp they heard was in fact a toddler rather than me.

For me, I found learning the media habits of the 10-12 year olds fascinating. All of them knew about illegal downloads and all said they would never take part in such activity. There was a general conscensus that Spotify was a better music access format than iTunes and BBC iPlayer was an invaluable tool for catching up on Doctor Who. @wadds will be putting up a video of the session soon so you can learn from these minature media moguls.

All in all I really enjoyed today although now I do feel a little bit like this little fella:

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August 5th, 2010 by Clare English

‘Speeps’ Profiles – Chris McCrudden

This week, Speed’s revered creative director, Chris McCrudden, talks rainbow socks, the definition of ‘fugly’ and why the best ideas in life often crop up in the bog.  (Some parts of this profile may have been edited to protect the guilty)

How is the leg?

Broken.

You head up the Creative Team here at Speed. Any pointers for those faced with a seemingly boring/conservative client and want to inject a bit of creativity and pizzazz into the account?

Mind-bending drugs. Seriously, did you know the ‘work’ and ‘play’ bits of your brain are diametrically opposed? You’re not going to come up with a wonderful idea staring at a screen – that’s why we always do brainstorms in the creative area. If you’re stuck, go for a walk, or the loo. You always have the best ideas in the bog.

What is the weirdest suggestion you have had in a brainstorm that a client has considered or gone ahead with?

A very early experiment with social media that involved blogging about office ‘ghost stories’, way back in the days when we still thought Livejournal was a good idea. Like its subject matter, it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

What would you consider to be your biggest achievement so far in your PR career?

Winning Symantec was pretty awesome. I wanted that account for years. Oh, and persuading Sir Ian McKellan, Michael Caine and Anna Ford to part with ties for a charity auction.

What is the most irritating consumer trend you are seeing today?

Not so much a trend as an idea that won’t die. Men wearing big cargo shorts and flip flops. Fugly. Do not do it.

That said, I’m totes hearting the shoulder padded jacket, skirt and t-shirt look that East End girls are working at the moment. It’s identical to what my Mum wore to work in the early 90s.

You are usually in close proximity of some historical tome. But what newspapers/mags/tv programmes do you regularly read/watch?

I don’t watch TV if I can help it, but have a shameful addiction to The Archers (a soap opera on Radio 4 about sheep farming, for the uninitiated). And that’s only for the gin soaked old fag hag who runs the pub. She’s amazing. Other than that I read National Geographic occasionally, and steal the consumer team’s copy of Pick Me Up (it’s only 79p) when I want handy household tips and true life features on spousal battery and incest.

We have seen your feet come in an array of colors. So what advice would you give the men at Speed when considering purchasing a pair of socks?

If you wear artificial fibres on your feet you deserve all the athlete’s foot you get. And never wear a tie and socks in the same colour – it’s too matchy-matchy.

If you could give Nick Bishop one gift what would it be?

My thanks for nagging me into actually finding out I have a broken leg.

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August 5th, 2010 by Clare English

‘Speeps’ Profiles – Simon Matthews

This week, the winner of our ‘Wall of Shame’ competition (on the basis of the submission of this super snap), Simon Matthews, answers some suitably random questions about fetishes, football and the role of PR in today’s business climate.

Q – Tell us about your worst habit – throw in any fetishes.

A – I’m far too generous which has led to at least one of my friends owing me £600

Q – List the 3 most embarrassing things you’ve ever said/done – whilst sober.

A- Inadvertently accusing my step-step-grandfather (step-dad’s step-dad) of using inflatable sex dolls – in my defence I was young and didn’t really understand what I was talking about.

In ‘Nam I fell down an open manhole while walking across a field with my friends, after an interesting run in with some prostitutes who stole 100,000 Dong (about 5 of her majesty’s sterling pounds) – without any form of professional services being exchanged I hasten to add.

I once ate a habenero chilli in one mouthful because an attractive lady bet I couldn’t. I was successful in the attempt but my mouth was in such a state of pain and dribbling that I was rendered insensible.

Q – What’s your take on today’s business climate and the role & importance of PR?

A – It’s still a little rocky out there in places and PR is as important as ever – if not more so. A company with no PR will struggle for awareness in a competitive business environment, so they need us to put them right in front of their customers in a way that advertising and other marketing disciplines can’t.

Q – Are you a football fan? Why? Who do you support? Have they won anything?

A – Crystal Palace. Winning is for chumps.

Q – I hear match.com will soon have a new member – what qualities do you possess that one might…consider?

A – In the name of research, I have bravely volunteered to sign up to match.com. Apart from being generally great at everything, I’m a pretty good cook. All I can ask is that the ladies form an orderly queue.

Q – Name your top 3 Speeps and the reasons why you love them/don’t love them so much. We’re an honest bunch, don’t be afraid of the possibly hostile repercussions.

A – Very difficult to choose as I do like all of you lot, despite your best efforts – here’s an arbitrary selection:

Bex has to get a look in on this – she’s lovely and, as a bonus, hasn’t fired me.

John Brown – often looks quite dapper and is the source of many japes.

Nicole – lunch buddy extraordinaire.

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