On Wednesday we found ourselves at the epicentre of the maelstrom following the announcement by our client, Clinton Cards Group that it was expecting to go into administration.

Such situations are fluid and fast moving, and test any PR professional’s mettle. We had 11 minutes of calm from the moment the RNS (release to the stock exchange) was posted to the storm of media enquiries, the first which was predictably from the Today Programme.

From that point until the time that administrator Zolfo Cooper formally took over media enquiries in the afternoon, the Speed corporate team handled more than 80 media enquiries.

Every call was slightly different, many we could not help with – apologies to the dozens of local and regional journalists who were left disappointed by our polite refusal to break down information to local and regional level.

But it was at times like that, when media relations was at its most raw, that you appreciate the generally good natured relationship between journalists and PR consultants.

The majority of journalists, most of which I had been speaking with and met with on behalf of Clintons over the last few months, would start the enquiry with well-meant sympathy.

Several even mentioned how sorry they were that we would no longer be working for such a great corporate client; as is normal in administrations, the administrator is handling corporate media enquiries.

That general attitude, during an otherwise hectic day, made a difficult job considerably more straightforward.

Over on The Kernel I discuss a little experiment I recently did On Manufactured Influence.

I gamed Twitter followers with the intention on seeing the effect on social capital measurement services, like Klout and PeerIndex. I paid for a drastic increase in followers, but my influence scores didn’t budge.

As I discuss in the article, what did change was my real life influence, an increase in real people following me, based off of my apparent popularity. There’s no denying that having more Twitter followers makes you look more important.

There is a huge market for these types of services and it costs very little to appear influential. As more preferred treatment, career opportunities and perks become available for those with large follower numbers, the temptation to fake it certainly increases.

As Wadds said in a recent blog post, “Much of the information created on the web, especially the social web, is utter nonsense… Everyone needs to be their own information analyst and be able to question the authenticity of content.”

As well as the content, the same “crap detection” should be applied to how we see the online profiles of people themselves.

Half a year on, what’s changed?

Not a lot, in fact despite increasing Twitter followers by an average of 68 per cent in six months, and pumping out more tweets than ever before, engagement with followers is poor and overall levels of influence remain exactly the same as they were.

What’s clear from the study is that only companies that are genuinely innovating in social media are performing well. Typically these organisations comprise elements of each of the following within their engagement with audiences on Twitter:

Informative – they Tweet genuinely interesting information about their company and the industry they’re in

Participative – it’s not a ‘broadcast only’ channel, companies invite feedback from their followers –even if that can sometimes be negative

Fun – they lighten the mood every now and again, competitions are a good example of how to engage audiences and keep an informal but still business-like tone

Image via CrunchBase

If you’re a managing comms for a software brand and would like to take a look at our analysis, see how we’re using Twitter as part of a fast-changing media mix for our clients and discuss how best to evaluate what you invest in this area, do get in touch (mailto:socialmedia@speedcommunications.com).

This week, Marvel Comics’ latest big screen adaptation, Avengers Assemble, has arrived in UK cinemas to rave reviews. It marks the beginning of the summer blockbuster season and, with The Dark Knight Rises and Prometheus coming up, the competition is set to be fierce.

Behind the scenes, Hollywood’s business brains have for a long time turned to research firms and Box Office gurus to poll consumers and to track awareness in the lead up to a new release, in order to forecast a film’s success and adjust marketing budgets accordingly. Now, in the age of social media, a far more sophisticated methodology for gaining this business insight is becoming increasingly popular.

Alongside the release of Avengers, the FT reported that the film’s studio has brought in social data analytics in order to predict and track the movie’s success. Fizziology, which trawls through tweets, blogs and other social network data, has been able to forecast to a relative degree of accuracy, just how well the blockbuster will fair financially. “Why are you asking people for their opinions when they are offering them voluntarily on social media?”, asks Ben Carlson, co-creator of Fizziology. He makes a good point – there is so much data out there which is just waiting to be harnessed for the benefit of businesses and consumers alike, across a wide range of industries. Around 12 terabytes of Tweets are created daily!

Allowing patterns to be uncovered in vast amounts of information, ‘Big Data’ has been dubbed as one of 2012’s major business trends. But it’s not just the volume that earns Big Data its title, it’s the variety – and that includes the social data being scanned by the likes of Fizziology. This sentiment analysis relies on the public’s broadcasting of amateur reviews or shared thoughts with friends and connections, all part of the internet’s fostering of citizen journalism. We enjoy getting up on the soapbox which social networks offer us. Do you tweet or post on Facebook as you leave the cinema? Have you thought about how the sentiment you express online becomes a part of a bigger picture?

Here at Speed we’re based on London’s Leicester Square – home of the film premiere. We’re looking forward to the red carpet rolling out again and I’m sure we’ll be tweeting our thoughts on the likes of Avengers Assemble as the blockbuster season begins in earnest.

This weekend I attended The Gadget Show Live at the National Exhibition Centre. Inspired by the Channel 5 programme, it’s the UK’s largest consumer technology exhibition and lets visitors have some hands on fun with the very latest and upcoming technology. Here’s my top five from across the halls:

1. JCDecaux – future of outdoors advertising

This set of cutting edge advertisements included a McCain’s jacket potato bill board which regularly sprayed the scent of freshly baked potatoes at unsuspecting passers-by before distributing vouchers from the base. This reminded me of the artificial chocolate smell pumped out by M&Ms World just across from Speed’s offices, designed to lure shoppers in. This exhibit also featured an interactive advert which you can ‘explore’ with your hand movements.

2. NeuroSky – mind-powered toys and tools

NeuroSky were demonstrating technology that responds to brainwave impulses, including a ping pong ball assault course. With the use of a headset the player can alter the air levels to guide the ball through the obstacle course by increasing and decreasing mental concentration accordingly. The technology senses electrical brainwaves and processes them into digital signals which power the use of games, computers and ‘investigational medical applications’.

3. O2 – NFC ‘Treats on Tap’ and ‘Wallet’

O2 were showing off an NFC (Near Field Communication) vending machine which allowed certain smartphone handsets to make touchless payment for goodies. Also on show was the forthcoming app ‘O2 Wallet’ which brings mobile money payments, online shopping/comparison (like the Amazon iPhone app) and location-based and user-tailored offers, into one place. After some delays, the app is currently being piloted and is due to launch soon.

4. Using the force with Star Wars Kinect

Using the XBox Kinect console, which replaces traditional hand-controller for body recognition gameplay, the new Star Wars game allows players to manipulate the force, wield light-sabers and captain spacecraft – with your own movements. A geek’s dream come true!

5. Super Theatre

Hosted by The Gadget Show TV presenters, the show featured explosive stunts, challenges and in true Gadget Show style, an epic competition which set chosen tweeting audience members against one another in an epic battle on stage. Too many lasers, robots and flying machines to mention, but a great way to round off the jam-packed line up!

There are several reasons why using a celebrity is a great way of generating cut through when launching a campaign or increasing brand awareness.

So what are the benefits of using a celebrity?: 

• They can deflect from the purely commercial objectives out of the story and help increase the number of coverage opportunities:
  • Sometimes it’s hard to get a plug for your brand, and using a celebrity can give your story a glossier edge and more appeal. Getting big A-listers can be expensive but if they are the right fit for your brand it’s worth the investment. For those of you that aren’t working with a high-end brand and don’t have the budget for the likes of David Beckham, Jennifer Lopez and Kate Winslet, have a look at popular reality TV stars. Although they may have a short shelf life they do generate a lot of interest with the public after they’ve made their first public appearance. This is why consumer publications like Heat, OK! and Now will jump at the chance to get a quick interview. In terms of generating more coverage opportunities you also open the door to news desks, picture desks, celebrity news desks, and features in print and online media.

• They provide credibility, sparkle and/or glamour:
  • Think about what celebrity fits with your brand. When you think of Kate Moss you instantly think of Top Shop and Rimmel and the symbolism of everything British that this incorporates. The reason she fits so well with these brands is that she is a British model so she gives each brand the prestige that is associated with her career successes. One of my favourite PR moves in beauty last year was when Nivea introduced Rihanna to assist with one of its campaigns. For the average consumer it was deemed a strange partnership as Nivea mainly targeted a ‘traditional’ audience. By bringing this hip and edgy R&B star into the brand it was clear it was targeting a younger audience which, in my eyes, made Rihanna the perfect fit. 

• More branding opportunities:
  • When you have a celebrity endorsing your brand you are more likely to get your logo in images and your brand mentioned in print. By negotiating with a publication you are able to get the most for your client, especially if you are offering exclusivity. Although it may seem obvious, make sure you get your agreement in writing, so that if the publication uses your exclusive interview opportunity and doesn’t give you your agreed coverage you have something to fall back on. It can be difficult to achieve the balance between celebrity publicity and promoting your brand/campaign. One of the key things to remember is to get the agent on board and be honest with them. You will know which publications will feature your brand. If you are working for a supermarket brand then the likelihood of someone like Tatler or Easy Living featuring you is very slim. They may take the celebrity and an interview but then there is every possibility they’ll leave out all association of your brand/campaign so have your credit ready and a negotiation in place before the activity takes place.  

Next steps…

So you’ve found a celebrity/expert that fits with your brand. The worst case scenario is you’ve encouraged your client to part with money and don’t generate any cut-through. To prevent this from happening one of the golden rules to remember when hiring a celebrity/expert is to see what they have done in the past. If they have done a lot of campaigns and have been featured quite a bit in the press there is a good chance they won’t be used in the way you intend.  

The following rules should be taken into consideration when signing a spokesperson to work on one of your campaigns: 

• Confirm your cost and allow for hidden extras. Good celebrities don’t come cheap so when you’ve set their cost aside also take into consideration that they may expect for you to pay for their hair, make-up, lunch and overnight accommodation in a plush hotel – it all adds up
• They should not have participated in another campaign at least one month before
• Make sure they are available for pre-records the day before your campaign launches as some broadcasters will want the content for their breakfast shows
• Make sure they are available first thing on the day
• Ensure any restrictions are ironed out in advance
• With radio interviews ensure they are happy to be interviewed in and out of the studio 

Now the contracts are drawn up and you’re ready to go make sure you’ve taken the following points into account: 

• Make sure they have a separate briefing guide and ensure you both have in-depth knowledge of the subject
• Simplify everything and outline each detail so everything is clear in their mind beforehand
• Ensure there are no surprises on the day. Is it a pre-record or live interview?
• Never allow editorial control and confirm the plug you are getting for your brand
• Pick three key messages you wish to get across and make sure at the very least one of them is picked up in the interview
• Consider your audience / readers – who are they, what are they interested in?
• Ask for the questions/peg/angle beforehand – this will reduce surprises
• Ask if there are going to be any other interviewees – is your interview part of a bigger story

 Good luck 

On Fridays, I send an email around the company sharing some of my favourite links and things from the week. Sometimes it includes new developments in social media, or just things that I find neat or are new to me. It is never earth shatteringly insightful, and is usually just a selection of things I’ve favourited on Twitter or saved from my RSS feeds.

Not everyone has the time to check in with Twitter or blogs every day, so some people find my emails as a usful summary. Wadds keeps asking me to post them as blog posts. I have been able to resist, but this week we’re low on blog content, so here you go:

Things Dan Learned This Week

I didn’t learn much this week. So it is just a quick email. Dedicated to Lottie, because she mentioned that she actually reads these things.

Add images to your blog posts please: Double Your Page Views by Adding an Image

This explains why Steve doesn’t follow Laura: Twitter’s Unfollow Bug

Spring clean your iPhone

The perfect social network for Wadds and Earl: Pair

5 LinkedIn Apps For Power Networking: CardMunch is my favourite

Draw Something. Neil blogged about it. He asked, but I couldn’t contribute an image because my screengrabs are mostly of inappropriate caricatures. Anyway, better than Draw Something is Paper http://www.fiftythree.com/paper

Facebook new terms of service will ban you from using the words: FB, Face, Poke, Book, Wall and “32665”

Radian6 has 30 ideas for your social media campaign. It is all pretty basic, but sometimes you need basics.

FAVOUR FOR DAN: If you have a spare second, can you please visit this site, and “like” the idea, or comment, or tweet. (A video plays automatically when you open the link, so turn the volume down).

This made me laugh: What’s the difference between being a real mayor vs. a Foursquare mayor - video

And my favourite thing this week:

Go The Fuck Home: “Do your work, at work. Get off Facebook. And just do your work while you’re there. Be focused… And go the fuck home when you’re done.”

(pic via @bengarvey)

When you take a look at Draw Something’s numbers, it seems that OMGPOP should have held out longer and for a lot more money and that Zynga got a bargain.  While I don’t disagree that OMGPOP could have got more money, overall I think it was the right call, given the turbulent and unpredictable nature of App Store success and the potential longevity of Draw Something.

From much of the reporting, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Draw Something is an overnight phenomenon, but in actual fact OMGPOP launched the web version of Draw Something (Draw My Thing) over a year ago.  It’s not until the game hit mobile that it blossomed and since then, it’s had some truly extraordinary numbers, as Business Insider has reported:

• The app is six weeks old
• Top app in 79 countries
• Downloaded over 35 million times
• Generating £250k of revenue per day

There’s no doubt these are fantastic numbers, generating $250k of revenue per day is astonishing, but it’s when Business Insider talks about the time it took for Draw Something to reach 1 million users that when you look in to it, a different story emerges:

• It took AOL nine years to hit 1 million users
• It took Facebook nine months
• It took Draw Something nine days.

Obviously you have to look at all this in perspective. To me this isn’t just down to the success of the app, but the mass adoption of mobile. Smartphone adoption in the UK is around 60% at the moment Draw Something is a new app yes, but as a game, it’s been around online for over a year. It wasn’t until it launched on iPhone and Android that it really took off.

This is less about an app and more about the power of mobile. Obviously when you hark back to the days of Freeserve and AOL, it naturally took longer to acquire users, but as more of the world came online, the process naturally quickened. By the time Facebook rolled around in its initial closed form, it took considerably less time but was still reliant on fixed web (PC/laptop) access. The Draw Something app was able to hit a million users in less than nine days simply due to the mobile effect. If you want to reach the highest number of potential users in the shortest amount of time, the most effective medium is mobile.

To put this in to perspective:

• Last June Angry Birds was hitting 1m downloads a day
• Within three days of launching, Angry Birds Space has registered over 10m downloads.

The same piece from Business Insider, also reveals that Draw Something took about five weeks to hit 20 million downloads, which actually means that it hit 15 million downloads in one week, which is a huge accomplishment. However Angry Birds is a force unto itself and i can only imagine the latest iteration of the franchise to hit 20 million before the week mark. The Angry Birds phenomenon is….well just that really and for Rovio to be talking theme parks now is just astonishing.

All this takes me back to my original point about taking a deal when it comes to apps. The apps ecosystem is so unpredictable and inconsistent for the most part that today’s success story is far from being guaranteed tomorrow. If you haven’t read Chris Steven’s book ‘Appillionaires’, I would really, really recommend it, as it outlines just how difficult it is to make money from apps and delves into the how the very few developers that have made their fortune, did so and how a rather substantial part of it was just right place, right time and a healthy dollop of luck.

For OMGPOP’s Founder, Charles Forman, given the fact it’s reported he had around $1,800 in his bank account before selling to Zynga and now his stake in the company is apparently worth “way more than $22m”, it’s a case 36^th time lucky and a good time to take the cash in my opinion.

Congrats to all at OMGPOP.

Working in the marketing industry makes you all too familiar with the great lengths and money spent by brands to attract the attention of children and build brand loyalty from a young age. But is the money and time invested always worth it? Does it pay off for all brands?

Cincinnati graphic designer, Adam Ladd, put brands to the test by asking his 5-year-old daughter Faith what she thinks of when she sees the logos of some of the world’s biggest brands. The filmed content records her reactions and is adorable at the very least, thought provoking and provides a rare peek into how much we bombard young children with advertisements, labels and logos.

According to researchers based in America, the average three year old will recognise up to 100 brand logos – an astonishingly (albeit a little heart breaking) high figure, one that I can safely say I would never have matched as a toddler.

In the case of Faith, some of the world’s most recognisable brands failed the test – the Olympics logo is humorously described as a “baby’s toy”, whilst Puma, Greyhound and Jaguar all feature cheetahs in their logos! And she associates the Google Chrome logo with a brightly coloured beach ball.

She clearly spends a lot of time in coffee shops with Mum and distinguishes the Starbucks logo almost immediately. She enjoys trips to McDonalds, describing the ‘M’ as being designed with French fries – I couldn’t have provided a more literal interpretation of the logo if I tried. But her most obvious awareness comes when she confidently states, “that is the Apple store logo”.

Apple’s logo obviously doesn’t have anything to do with computers, but they’ve created a brand around the logo that evokes such a strong connection it’s instantly recognisable, even by young consumers. Which only goes to validating why Apple has taken over Google in the number one spot for world’s most valuable brand.

Ladd’s video has clocked up more than 1.5 million hits on YouTube, and prompted a UK version by London agency Grain. And yes you guessed it – Apple came up trumps here too.

Working in PR means that being in tune with the news (and hopefully one step ahead) is a key part of my job. When I first started out, this meant kicking my day off with a mass paper reading session while discussing the main headlines with my colleagues – usually alongside a large cup of coffee. Not so anymore. Now I need to be able to monitor the news constantly, and long before I even reach the office and get my hands on the papers. This often means getting out of bed a little earlier, which some would view as a complete tragedy! Lucky for me i’m an early bird and I’m okay with this – but what does this need for 24 hour news mean for news organisations and journalists?

I don’t think we stop and think about this very often – about where our news actually comes from, who puts it together for us, where do they have to go to do that? We just absorb it without really considering those things. The sad fact of journalists losing their lives in Syria seems to have really brought it to the forefront of our minds though, and has put a new value on the word ‘news’. Hopefully we will stop seeing it as something that is just there, and really start to appreciate what it means and what it stands for.

I’m going to get off of my soap box now, but I will be back next week to give you an update on the actual event which sparked all this thinking off…..