The Digital Age has been characterised as currently enabling individuals to freely pass information between one another. Yesterday I became truly enlightened and excited at the prospect of this digital revolution continuing to expand in an uncontrollable fashion across the world. It seems being fully aware of the power of social media just isn’t enough.

Kristal Ireland, Head of Digital at Propaganda quickly highlighted the importance of being current when it came to the digital consumer. The content of her presentation was memorable and intriguing, especially for budding PR professionals. I walked away with several things floating around in my mind: the next generation is the audience of the future; social media and digital technologies are becoming the main source of consumer influence.

As we have witnessed with the ballooning use of new social media, in particular social networks, there has been a significant shift in communication and it is technology that is driving this change. In order for PR professionals to connect with certain audiences they need to be aware of the New Digital Consumer. The internet has taken over TV. People are using the internet to do EVERYTHING!

Note to all PR students, professionals, practitioners…ignorance is NOT bliss.

As I am quickly realising, bloggers can literally write about anything. If you manage to get good reviews for your product, brand, event etc. great! If not…then you have no control over the negative feedback that will then spread across the internet like wild fire. Basically the message that stands loud and clear here is don’t underestimate the power of the blogging community. They are a communication army! Don’t upset them!

However, isolating the bloggers is not entirely fair. All consumers have access to online conversations. Uncontrolled, uncensored, online conversations for ALL to see. Online brand reputation can reach exceeding heights in seconds, but it can also be tarnished and ruined in an equal amount of time. With that in mind it is probably a good idea to employ an individual that is clued up on how to maintain and control customer communication sites.

Looking to the future. Up and coming PR professionals need to be looking to the next generation. And in doing so looking at the evolution of technology, as it is a powerful force that can be used to the advantage of major brands and a key PR strategy.

Search engine optimisation. Yes, probably a term many of you are quite comfortably familiar with. Me? Not so much. I knew it was a tool used to enhance website visibility, but how could this be useful in PR? Well, by embedding “key phrases” into press releases of course! Being successful in PR will mean working alongside the Digital Age, but certainly not controlling it.

What could be easier? You represent Woody Harrelson, all round kick-ass rock star of an actor, and he wants to promote his latest Hollywood output.  There just so happens to be an opening on Reddit’s AMA forum, allowing Woody to talk directly to the fans about what an amazing film it is, and why they should all absolutely go and see it.  Simple, yes? Well yes, but wise? Not so much.

Reddit’s Ask Me Anything sessions put famous people in front of millions of internet users, allowing them to literally ask said star Anything.  What this essentially – and most importantly to my point – means is that a PR company cannot use this social media outlet to specifically promote a film, product or event etc. etc.  So when the opening statement goes something like this,

“Hi Reddit, it’s Woody here. I’m in New York today doing interviews for my new film RAMPART, which opens in theaters on February 10th. I’ll be checking in from 3-4EST today and will get to as many of your questions as I can, so start asking now! Be back soon.”

It’s a little like throwing a lamb to the slaughter.  Users will continue to Ask Woody Harrelson Anything, including a wide range of topics not remotely related to ‘Rampart’.

When the responses are then less than engaging, devoid of Woody’s trademark edgy charm and quite clearly crafted by Woody’s PR team, this only worsens the situation.

I would go on, but I’m sure you get the idea of how the situation ended, i.e. badly.

It is an interesting case, which shows just how much caution is needed when stars choose to “expose themselves” (not literally) over the internet.  Such a medium as AMA can be utilised in a way that brings about positive outcomes for the celebrity at its mercy, but only when it is approached as a genuine link to fans, and not as a publicity machine.

Many cases similar to this in recent times have shown just how wrong such ventures in to the world of social media publicity can go.  Oddly, it appears to be those who approach their fans online in a frank, unassuming and most of all, a down to earth manner who come out on top, rather than those who attempt to navigate this dangerous territory with the guidance of PR professionals.

Personally, I have never followed English football, let alone American football. However, in the days leading up to the 2012 Super Bowl it became apparent from my Twitter feed that many of my friends and colleagues were celebrating and anticipating the game. I felt myself asking the question: should I be concerned that I’m not excited about this major event?

The Super Bowl came and went, without me witnessing who won. After a selfish feeling of missing out on a potential conversation topic the next day, a quick internet search felt necessary. I discovered that the New York Giants had beaten the Patriots 21-17, naming Eli Manning ‘man of the match’. Undoubtedly many sport fanatics would seriously bash me for missing out all that happened in between! Nevertheless…

The internet being the powerful source of information that it is, interestingly revealed other truths that surrounded the Super Bowl. The 2012 Super Bowl was the most watched programme in the US with an astonishing 111.3 million viewers. With that much attention and coverage, it is not surprising that the advertising during the Super Bowl held a significant role. In fact a fellow student, from Leeds Met, who is originally from the US, boldly stated that many American people only watched the game for the commercials.

Considering I had been in total darkness and perhaps slightly ignorant towards the Super Bowl, the internet failed educate me in the information I wanted. Immediately I was distracted by other related news headlines. This online conversation about commercials and advertising seemed much more interesting then finding out how and why the New York Giants had been victorious.

Now we all know who Madonna is, the ever evolving pop Queen, who has been globally idolised by many. Could it be possible that she was more internationally intriguing than the American sport itself? Using myself as an example then the answer was, yes. Therefore could it be possible that the use of “Madge” for the half time performance was a PR stunt in order to generate more viewers worldwide?

The game was not just a platform for the creative commercials from a profitable angle, but for all the PR and marketing that then surrounded the game in other countries.

The influence of social media as a marketing tool during the Super Bowl enabled local businesses and major companies to remain attached to the ‘buzz’ post event.  The hash tag on Twitter was used to unleash quick stories on the topic, which is a classic PR strategy!

We are hiring! An excellent opportunity has arisen for someone who has 12 – 18 months PR and/or marketing and communications experience (agency or in-house) who would enjoy a challenging, stimulating role within a dynamic and creative team in a long established out of city consultancy.

We require a person with PR & Marketing skills that include:

-     PR & marketing planning

-     Event management

-     Client communications

-     Copy writing and dealing with the media

-     Client sourcing and development

The ideal candidate would also have the drive, attitude and enthusiasm to work as part of a team to make things happen.

In return we can offer a competitive salary, a profit share bonus scheme, a great place to work and excellent career prospects.

To apply for this position please send your CV along with a covering email to margaret@conceptpr.co.uk

On January 18 2012, we all got a taste of the bitter medicine that happens when the internet gets angry, so to speak.

When web browsers went through their daily ritual of logging into their virtual lives, they were faced with profound messages from internet giants like Wikipedia and Google, alongside many popular blogging websites such as WordPress, blog Boing Boing and Mozilla; it even stretched to as far as the popular online gaming website Minecraft. They all either fashioned a censored black block such as Google or the whole website was set to dark, along with a link to sign a petition.

This viral revolt was to take a stance against the very controversial anti-piracy legislation. If the law is passed, this could see the end of the freedom of the passing of information from one source to another via the internet.

We would then all bare witness to the day our communication pathways take a direct hit. It goes without saying the many social networking platforms will be the most affected.

With this knowledge the fact that one of the most recent communication tools Twitter did not stand by their fellow social networkers, has left many internet savvy gurus puzzled. If this law was passed, Twitter’s life span could be very short lived.

I leave you with one thought with more and more elicit pieces of gossip being passed and shared via the internet and laws becoming much tougher on such communications. Will viral strikes become a way of life and not just a way to start the New Year?

Some jolly nice news at Concept this week – we’ve been shortlisted for a national award for our work with Barratt Homes Manchester.

Working with Barratt, we launched a CSR campaign for them called the Barratt Legacy Programme. Through the programme we work to set up links with the communities in the areas Barratt are developing. So far, the programme has seen, among other things, formal educational partnerships created with schools and colleges, a reunion held at a former girls school, a sensory garden installed at a primary school and a giant Barratt wendy house built at a school in Staffordshire.

The award is titled Freshest Community Relations, and is part of the Fresh PR Awards, an industry-wide national brand. More info about our entry is here:

http://www.freshdigitalawards.co.uk/pr/Home/Entry/1219

The work on the Legacy Programme is hugely rewarding, and Barratt themselves are a great, forward thinking client who are always looking to do more for the communities they work in. The Legacy Programme provides them with an opportunity to do above and beyond the traditional ‘£250 donation’ school of altruism, instead focusing on leaving genuine, long-lasting legacies for communities (hence the name!)

The award night is being held in Manchester on March 1st.

Fingers crossed!!!

The attraction of social media is considerable for big brands and for social networking site Twitter, it enables businesses to connect with consumers in real-time. Businesses use Twitter to quickly share information with people interested in their products and services, to build relationships and reach an engaged audience. Often social media campaigns reap great rewards for companies large and small, but sometimes, these campaigns can take on a life of their own, whether it was an ill-advised campaign or not, leaving companies wishing they’d stuck to handing out flyers instead.

McDonalds’ recent Twitter promotion backfired last Thursday as Twitter users ‘hijacked’ the #McDstories hashtag to share their less than flattering fast food stories.

The fast-food giant began its promotion with the hashtag #MeetTheFarmers, in a campaign meant to draw attention to the brand’s guarantee of fresh produce.

However, later in the day, an ill-advised vague hashtag was used by its communications team: “When u make something w/ pride, people can taste it,” McD potato supplier #McDstories” which revealed horror stories for its consumer.

McDonald’s was accused of making its customers vomit and serving burgers containing a finger nail. The list goes on, but some stories can be found here.

It wasn’t a great day for McDonald’s PR team, but I’m sure they will recover as with over 33,000 restaurants worldwide, the food can’t be that bad, can it?

Certain sayings seem to follow certain industries: I know from my time as a reporter people would say “a good reporter never lets the facts get in the way of a good story!” Absolute nonsense, shrugged off with an ‘if only you knew how much copy I had to churn out last week’ smile. Now, working in PR, people say things like “no such thing as bad publicity”, which got me thinking about the truth in that saying.

Far cleverer people than I would maybe argue it’s true – a story which recently caught my eye involved the manufacturer of a peripheral for video games controllers. This peripheral was made with the disabled gamer in mind, all very altruistic. However the way it came to my attention was via a series of stories outlining the massive PR failure caused by their agency.

In a nutshell, a customer had been left waiting on delivery of one of the controllers, and had written to the company to see when he could expect to receive it. The reply, written by a misguided PR exec, was beyond belief. This poor kid asked a simple question and got it both barrels from the pugnacious PR chump.

The situation escalated to a point where one of the leading games websites in America got involved, threatening to blacklist the company from future trade events.

The story’s here, if you’re interested: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/feeds/ocean-marketing-pr-implodes-with-poor-customer-service-emails/4476

It culminated in the PR employee being fired, with a crisis-PR expert airlifted in to mop up the mess. However one of the departing exec’s comments got me thinking. He said: “If it wasn’t for me and this situation, nobody would have heard of the product so really I’ve done them a massive favour with all this (the argument)”

In a way he’s right. Sure enough, after reading initially about a PR failure I found myself intrigued by what this product was. I looked at the company’s website and there it was – a great product with a genuinely unique selling point. So he was right; even though what he’d done was bring negative attention to the product, it was attention none the less. The strength of the product alone turned that into positive attention, and potentially even a sale.

Think about Jeremy Clarkson. Do you think his comments about ‘shooting striking public sector workers’ were anything other than a PR stunt? He knows his audience, and knows what to say, what buttons to push, to make them buy the DVD he coincidentally released a week or so later.

Of course, the other argument is that there is an unwritten level, a plateau, after which negative publicity becomes irretrievable. I’m thinking Ratner’s, Tiger Woods, Gary Glitter… No amount of crisis PR or brand rebuilding will help them, so I guess not all publicity is good publicity.

Francesco Schettino, the Captain of the 4,000 passenger Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia which ran aground and capsized after crashing into rocks in Italy, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter and abandonment. This is one of Italy’s worst maritime disasters.

This tragedy has so many implications. The families of the missing and dead are having to cope with the stress and grief, the global cruising industry are having to manage negative publicity at a time of year when their customers are booking their 2012 holidays but particularly difficult is the handling of the publicity surrounding liability and reputation management.

As reports of an unplanned change of course and a terrifying and chaotic evacuation process have multiplied, the firm has been quick to distance itself from the captain who, it said, had made “serious errors of judgement”.

It’s been suggested women and children were not given priority for lifeboats when the Costa Concordia capsized. And so the negative publicity rages on.

It is unusual for a company to blame its employee at this stage – it is more normal for a review to take place before blame is apportioned because of the legal implications.

I would imagine that the parent company, Costa Crociere are in hourly talks with their PR company, and if they are not then they should be.

I’ve been working in PR for the past two years and because of the nature of the industry, I’m also very interested in advertising, marketing and social media.

I’m exposed to many ads on a daily basis – especially with my love for TV. It’s difficult not to be struck by the creativity on show – the quirky conceptual ideas, the originality and the humour. Good ads to me certainly have to be memorable and easily recalled. I also enjoy ads that connect with their audience and don’t scream ‘buy me!’

Some advertisers rely on special effects, but some of the best ads are just a clever idea, simply executed. Who would have guessed that in 2007, a man in a gorilla suit playing the drums to a Phil Collins song would have been one of the most talked-about ads of the decade?

I have picked four of my personal favourite ads of 2011, and my LEAST FAVOURITE ad. See if you agree:

1. ALDI Tea: A gin-loving pensioner tells us her husband likes nothing more than a nice cup of tea – be it PG Tips or the supermarket’s own – before sneaking a glass of her own favorite ‘tipple’ from behind a packet of PG Tips and declaring: “I don’t like tea. I like gin.”

2. Volkswagen’s ‘The Force’: A young boy dressed as Star Wars villain Darth Vader attempts to apply the power of ‘The Force’ on numerous household objects – including his pet dog. This is one frustrated Darth Vader – until he encounters his dad’s Volkswagen Passat!

3. Compare The Market’s comparethemeerkat.com: Aleksandr Orlov and his IT technician and tea-maker Sergei present users of the insurance comparison website with their very own cuddly meerkat toys. Humorous and Simples.

4. Coca Cola Christmas: Without fail, every year I hear (and say) ‘it isn’t Christmas until I see the Coca Cola advert.’ The adverts have been running for over ten years and simply don’t age.

AND, my LEAST FAVORITE advertisement goes to…. GO COMPARE!

At the other end of the scale is the Go Compare advert, (you know the one with the irritating opera singer?) I may not be the only one who does not rate the ad, but the campaign’s objective has certainly been achieved. When we see the rotund opera singer on our screen, we don’t only have a panic attack trying to find the mute button on the control, we know its representative of the Go Compare brand.