Our task highlighted just what you can do with video content and how you can make your message more memorable.  If a picture is worth a thousand words then video has the potential to pack an impressive punch.

According to recent research by Google’s DoubleClick, rich media generates somewhere between a 400% and 700% increase in viewer engagement and response rates compared to static content. It’s no surprise when you can condense pages of text into a short snappy video of a minute or so.

Not only this, but it can also help cultivate your online community. The number of online video users is expected to double to more than 1 billion people by 2015. So, there’s certainly a captive audience, looking to consume and engage with video content. And with video is becoming increasingly favourable in the search engine rankings, it’s well worth investing in some eye-catching videos for your website or blog.

TMIM has featured a video series looking at using video beyond conventional public relations so that it generates leads as well.  In terms of PR, video can really bring company to life and set your company apart from the crowd. Overall it gives you license to deliver your content in a much more creative way.

But the smart thing to do is create videos that both enhance your reputation and generate leads. Existing and new audiences can be reached through a medium that has engagement at its heart, so why not make the most of it and deliver compelling content that features real life case studies that demonstrate the benefits your business brings, with personable spokespeople that can deliver the key messages?

Engaging video content presents a more credible view of your company and customer endorsements will boost your reputation and result the all-important sales.

Is this a nanny state gone mad or are there interesting points things to learn for PRs and marketers?

There’s one thing that’s obvious, it’s completely different for consumer and B2B brands. B2B brands are given almost free reign to make all sorts of claims about ‘industry firsts’ and ‘market-leading’ products and services, whereas consumers are constantly molly coddled by government run authorities. Whilst it’s true that buying a software solution for your business might not effect specific individuals if it goes wrong, why is buying a holiday based on someone else’s recommendation any different?

Perhaps they assume that the business world is more discerning. They might be right there, you’ve got to jump through a lot of budgetary, management and contractual hoops before buying a new business tool, but surely you’d do a lot of research before buying a holiday and in the case of the L’Oreal advert everyone knows that one face cream is more or less the same as another… What’s the difference? Probably mass appeal I suppose and the Government’s obsessive need to protect the consumer.

It’s a bit pedantic, but whether we like it or not, that’s the way of the world. But in my opinion tighter regulation is a good thing. It should actually make us all better marketers. Be more imaginative, more creative, gain audience and customers through being cleverer than the competition and pushing your marketing department to be braver with their campaigns. Don’t stick with the classic we have the best x formula, create your own brand by using the millions and one channels that are available. Video, podcasts, live events, social media, whatever, make your marketing and PR count.

This week it’s all about video. Do PR agencies know enough about video? Do they know how to do it right? And do they know how to make sure the content works on video? We are inclined to say that PRs do not know enough about video but we all know (or should know…) how to put compelling, written, pieces of content together. What’s stopping us from going a step further and being creative with these words?

Speed’s MD, Steve Earl, highlighted what video can be used for and examples of where it’s worked well and other where it hasn’t gone quite to plan. We also learnt the importance of lighting, framing and sound – a video without these in high-quality should really not be seen. Our resident video production company, Blueprint, talked us through some top tips, such as no fidgeting, no chequered shirts and filming next to a window – natural sometimes is the way forward! And then we were split up in teams; our team had to create a video on the value of video… oh the irony!

If you want to find out more about the challenges of video, the ample benefits and some top tips – please watch our Video PR: How To.

Thanks!

Image via Flickr

Finally, production on ‘Bond 23’ has begun after long delays caused by studio bankruptcy. Over one hundred reporters from around the world congregated at last week’s press conference, where the film’s title, ‘Skyfall’, was confirmed.

The franchise is desperate to get back on top following unfavourable critical reactions to 2008’s ‘Quantum of Solace’. Daniel Craig’s previous Bond outing, ‘Casino Royale’, was the most lucrative Bond-movie ever, raking in £385m worldwide.

So, with just under a year to go until Bond is back, what can we expect? Will this be a return to form? How is the hype going to be driven?

1. Strategically creating distance from ‘Quantum of Solace’

Keen to let bygones be bygones, ‘Skyfall’ is being plugged as a standalone adventure, cut free from any association with its predecessor ‘Quantum of Solace’. Whilst this isn’t a reboot and we don’t have a new actor filling Bond’s boots, the new movie will arrive after a four year forced hiatus and is keen to roll with the ‘fresh-start’ feeling. Creating distance from ‘Quantum of Solace’ is a sound strategic move. Disappointingly, though, we can’t seem to shake Judi Dench as ‘M’.

2. Making the most of great, British brand loyalty

3. Engaging the press and fuelling discussion

At the star-studded press conference, Director Sam Mendes remained teasingly enigmatic, refusing to reveal solid character information. Speculation especially surrounds Naomie Harris’ casting as ‘Eve’, a character whose surname has been concealed. This secrecy has fuelled predictions that she is a new version of Miss Moneypenny, something which has already delighted the tabloids – the Daily Mail has even gone as far as ‘confirming’ it.

4.       Getting Q-branch up to speed with social media

Launching a social media offering on Twitter and Facebook last week, fans can now follow @007 and access unique video content on Facebook. In sync with the press conference, the synopsis of ‘Skyfall’ was revealed as a Twitter exclusive, paving the way for further fan and press engagement via the social network over the course of the coming year. This is an excellent way to maintain engagement with potential cinemagoers and a perfect platform for publicising the promotional content we can look forward to, such as trailers, sneak previews and the theme song. I’d personally like to see Muse penning and performing the ‘Skyfall’ track.

Here’s the synopsis, as exclusively unveiled on Twitter last week: “In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.” …Did I mention that Judi Dench is a terrible M? *rolls eyes*

All in all, there’s plenty to keep us keen. Here’s to Bond bouncing back in 2012.

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?

What?

‘SpeedLIVE is a service that creates, plans and delivers compelling brand events with high impact, turning real time experiences into content which helps widen the net of influence. Focusing on integrated events, SpeedLIVE events deliver influence way beyond the day itself’

That’s what is says on our services page

What it means in practice is that we offer a defined events service – delivering the whole project from concept and planning, though to management and content distribution – with a dedicated Head of Practice. For our clients this means a fresh pair of eyes joining the core team to help create a fully integrated event with depth and a link to the wider PR plan. We also believe that events should be created as more than the sum of their parts, offering output that takes the experience to the widest possible audience, via compelling content for online media and social networks.

Why?

Events are established tools of the PR armoury. They offer brands an opportunity to make direct contact with their audiences and helps make marketing more real for the attendees.

However, events are often treated as separate parts of the plan to the core PR activity, or fall outside PR all together, being identified as Brand Activation or Experiential Marketing. In fact, events cross over many disciplines, but when they are conceived, planned and managed by a PR team there should be a wider PR benefits. Events create emotional connections between brand and public, but they should also generate content to take the experience, and that emotional connection, to a wider audience – those who could not attend the event in person, but still have enough interest to engage remotely.

Finally, we think that events should also bring new insights to the brand itself. Having spent all that money on one day, or event just a few hours, if there is nothing more left at the end of an event day than props and staging to take down, then where is the long-term value?

How?

SpeedLIVE approaches events in a different way. We work to the Speed mantra of Success, Sooner and we develop events as brand accelerants: they deliver impact fast, and create content which engages the wider audience more quickly.

We also focus on the 3D (please excuse my wanton band-wagon jumping) by looking outward to the wider audience and beyond to ensure value after the fact.

Who?

Get in touch with me if you would like to talk to us more about SpeedLIVE. You’ll find my contact details are on the People section of the Speed website.

It takes a brave PR person to tell a journalist where to shove it, but an even braver journalist to take them up on the offer.

I wanted to share this brilliant article from the Telegraph this week on bowel cancer.

The research team that my wife works for released the results of their research earlier this year which has been called a “breakthrough” by Cancer Research UK’s chief executive. Flexible sigmoidoscopy screening is a new screening that can detect and prevent the development of colorectal cancer, the third most common form of cancer in the UK. And, best of all, in trials not only did people find the procedure less intrusive, the test cuts down colorectal cancer mortality by 25 per cent!

To see just how intrusive a camera at the end of 25 inches of tube really is, the Telegraph journalist worked with Cancer Research UK and volunteered to try out the test and had her large intestine explored by a nurse.

The article is a part of the Telegraph’s Christmas appeal for Cancer Research UK and can be read here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8178770/On-the-trail-of-a-common-killer.html .

It is awesome that the journalist actually tried out the test, but it does have me thinking, how awkward were the PR department calls when setting this up?

Lucky for us, they were able to take a few seconds out of their hectic schedules to share their pearls of wisdom with us. View the comment for yourself below and have your say on the subject too (#ifiwasincharge)

NB. We had some technical difficulties uploading the videos to the site – @DavidBell76 Productions plc needs some more training – but you can view them on our YouTube channel (here is Wadds and here is Steve), or we’ve summarised for you below:

@mynameisearl said: if I was in charge, I wouldn’t have had gone at it like a bunch of lily-lizard left-wingers. I would have gone straight for the kneecaps like a good old fashioned Spanish centre-half

@wadds said: bid team did a fantastic job getting the Prince, Boris Johnson and the Prime Minister involved and choosing Newcastle as a host city. FIFA is looking a gift horse in the mouth

Take a look at the page now and let us know which places you think are fantastic -  http://on.fb.me/dFzmkv

And of course, feel free to follow us on Twitter. We’re @PR_Eats!

With such potential, it can be quite tempting for PR folk to try and harness some of that power and promote a brand, but is there any place PR on reddit?

Well, it depends on the sub-reddit. There are thousands of them out there, discussing topics like programming and the economy, as well as more “niche” areas, and each one seems to have their own rules and level of acceptance for self-promotion. A good list of sub-reddits can be found here: http://subreddits.org/search.html

There are a few common rules, as well as points of common sense that apply across most of reddit when it comes to promoting a brand. There are some rules in reddiquette, reddit’s list of community values, which apply to promoting links:

DO:

• Link to the direct version of a media file when the page it was found on doesn’t add any value.
• Feel free to post links to your own content (within reason). But if that’s all you ever post, and it always seems to get voted down, take a good hard look in the mirror — you just might be a spammer.

Browse reddit for long enough and you’ll observe brands who are getting it wrong and some who are getting it right. You’ll see criticism being raised against users that seem to be posting only stories from one website, not contributing anything to discussions and perhaps, worse of all, not being completely transparent about their connection to a website. These users are called out for not contributing anything interesting and only looking to drive traffic.

Those that promote their blogs and articles successfully have a few things in common. They don’t spam reddit and only post articles of interest to the community, they don’t link to ad-heavy sites looking to profit from increased traffic and most importantly, they don’t only promote their material, they contribute other articles of interest and comment on other stories.

While reddit can be a hostile place for those looking for shameless self-promotion, for those with authentic contributions to make, there can be some great benefits to sharing interesting work on behalf of clients. And who knows, while you are there you might even learn something new.

That said, it always gives me a tingly feeling when I see a link to a press release or blog I’ve written posted to reddit organically. For that reason, I don’t post client work to the forums I visit, and personally feel that the best way to get the most out of communities like reddit is to help clients announce really interesting news.