Community Server

3D Is The New Black For Media And Sport

Matt Bourn — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:50:00 GMT

News has broken today that the Augusta National Golf Club will be allowing the production and distribution of the 2010 Masters tournament in 3D. I experienced the Sky 3D in effect at last month’s Broadcast Video Expo and was intrigued by how it worked to differing levels for different sports – rugby v tennis, boxing v football etc. And despite the Oscars ignoring Avatar, 3D is the only thing worth viewing according to the cinema industry who are using it as a means to counter piracy and secure bums on seats.

What’s clear is that for media and sports businesses looking to engage with viewers, 3D is the new black and we’re sure to see more 3D ‘firsts’ as the year progresses.

INTERVIEW : Rob Bates (Travel PR Specialist)

Paul Armstrong — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:08:00 GMT

This week being British Tourism Week I thought it a good time to take a look into all things digital to do with tourism - there must be more to it than price comparison websites and 'staycations', right? Rob Bates thinks so and is giving clients increasingly integrated and 'digitally-savvy' solutions to answer real business problems and objectives. With over ten years of experience and working with numerous destinations, travel boards, tour operators and hotels Rob is currently an independent specialist fully versed in all aspects of communications from crisis comms to social media and digital asset creation. Part of the BGB Travel Consultants Network Rob also consults for agencies. Follow Rob on Twitter here.

What is social media usage like amongst tourist boards?
Slow but growing. Some US tourist boards are more advanced but are primarily focused on domestic travellers. Most tenders now include requirement to recommend social media strategy which is a positive signal, although there are still some tourist boards who seem are unsure of the benefits - the necessity - of including social media in the holistic PR mix. Tourism is agnostic when it comes to new technology until its commercial benefit is abundantly clear, so an app that enables booking via Tweet could deliver an industry eureka moment. VisitBritain leads the field on Twitter.

How could they do a better job?
Move faster and trial something. One issue is that many tourist boards' online and social media strategy is run centrally and this can slow down ability to respond to that social media opportunities. There is still a lack of knowledge in the sector - I recently explaining Google Alerts to a hotel rep and happily enough she reports that simple step has changed her life!

How do you control the firehose of information?
Don't be scared. Use the best tactics and tools available. My associates at bgb and I have attended conferences, mercilessly picked as many expert brains as we can and have trialled more than six social media monitoring tools to help clients with social media campaigns. Check out communities like Tourism 2.0 that provide a space for travel brands to share best practice and research - users can see what may work for them. Here are some online PR basics that a hotel, resort or destination should consider: www.slideshare.net/robertmbates.

What is the level of knowledge in the industry - who's getting 'it' and who needs to call you?
There is a huge variance from client to client and it's not an age thing, it's an attitude: it is not always the usual suspects who don't have the knowledge and vision. There is definitely an "I can't keep up with this" feeling from some marketers. I'm surprised by how few people realise PR can provide an integrated solution - it's not about putting "online" into a silo in one department.

How do they measure it - the language differences must make monitoring difficult?
I find tourist boards with local market representatives monitor on a local basis and report in whatever language is required.

Are review sites an opportunity for destinations/countries or a major headache?
A huge opportunity. Tourist board staff are fountains of knowledge and an often underused asset to their organisations - engage them online. Of course, when an incident happens in the destination, it pays to already be engaged on the media platforms that the eyewitnesses are using. Some tour ops are ahead of the pack and generating PR around reviews: TUI found last year that while half of holidaymakers consult review sites only one fifth post on travel company sites, so they launched a campaign to encourage more of their customers to leave comments.

What's changed most radically with tourism pr?
It's not all about press trips and press releases any more! The opportunity to converse directly with customers through online media is a change that unnerves some PRs, but seizing the opportunity for online galleries, video content and forums brings huge rewards. Also, the ideas that 'we're all journalists now' - see SimonSeeks.com where travel reviews by holidaymakers are posted alongside those written by published travel writers. What has endured is the absolute need for PRs to have expert destination knowledge and flair for spotting a strong story.

Kinetic Typography : Google 'The Hungry Beast"

Paul Armstrong — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:53:00 GMT

Another perspective giver.

HEALTH ALERT: You might have Gofourbuzzwaverouletteitis.

Paul Armstrong — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:35:00 GMT

As SXSW draws to a close and the somewhat (!) negative murmurs it has gotten it got me thinking about the basics vs the hype. I get asked 'what's next' and 'who is the next Twitter' about three times a week and I give the obligatory answer 'If I knew that..." answer but more and more I have been asking people 'why worry about that, are you doing the basics well enough right now?'. Focus on that for a minute. Do you know the basics of all the tools out there? Do you know the advanced settings and tactics of the most important services. Should you be worrying about Fourquare or Google Buzz or both? Well the short answer is yes, or rather know (!) about them but maybe don't jump to implement them straight away. My best advice? Get an account and fiddle. Then fiddle some more and connect with a few people you know. Then, maybe, and this is a big maybe jump on that bandwagon if there's a seat and it looks comfortable (or not if that suits your client).

Are you covering the basics? What are the questions you need/want answered?

Earned media vs bought media

Matt Cartmell — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:31:00 GMT

Interesting view from Ashley Friedlein at Econsultancy: E-marketers are turning to valuable content as a form of marketing, i.e. to improve search performance. For instance, Tesco has launched its own foodie website.

This means that we’re seeing retailers becoming publishers… meanwhile publishers (News International for instance) are looking for ways to make money through e-commerce. Interesting times.

It’s being called ‘earned media’, as opposed to ‘bought media’ i.e. banner advertising etc. Sound familiar? PR people have been all about earning peoples’ interest via valuable content for years.

Global Search Interactive’s Massimo Burgio pointed out that when a company builds a social media strategy, it will have to listen to the differing needs from is senior level, its marketing department, its PR department, right down to sales and HR.

What it seems to mean is that you've got to use Google Alerts, Twitter, Technorati, COComment, Digg, Stumbleupon, Facebook, Blogger, Flickr, Youtube and Linkedin to fulfil all these requirements…

E-commerce and vintage bath tubs...

Matt Cartmell — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:49:00 GMT

Just sat through a session on e-commerce – not the most relevant for me, but a few interesting snippets:

1. In the US, while there’s now $229.1 bn of online retail sales a year, that still only amounts to 8 per cent of overall retail sales. It seems that the high street isn’t about to disappear just yet.

2. Search engine marketing is still the most effective way of attracting more online business.

3. While only 11 per cent of retailers rate social media as an effective customer acquisition tool, Vintage Tub’s Allan *** says e-commerce sites should be looking at what their competitors are doing on Twitter and Facebook. Direct engagement with customers over social media sites increases the potential for marketing messages to resonate and drive sales.

4. Global Search Interactive’s Massimo Burgio explains why people in Italy are so receptive to email marketing – it’s because they spend all day emailing their friends and playing on Facebook because ‘they’ve got nothing to do in the office’. So much for Italian levels of efficiency…

5. An overflow cover will add 3 inches to your bathtub.

Someone tell me how much Virgin Mobile paid to be in the Lady Gaga video.

Paul Armstrong — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:43:00 GMT

Because Lady G should have doubled it. Pay close attention kiddies this really is the future of the music industry (and beyond if we're smart). Placement AND integration. Once we've learned how to "refine and not blind" the viewer this will be more palatable for all concerned but until then soak up the glory that is "Telephone" from the always on trend GaGa and Beyonce. Nice play guys. Tease and release strategy worked really well here. I'll cover my butt and say NSFW...now.

Wired politics round up

Ged Carroll — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:57:00 GMT

No post today as busy reading the conservative technology manifesto. A number of my PA colleagues are trying to unravel the Liberal Democrat slogan "Change That Works For You. Building A Fairer Britain" which seems to be a mashup of the Conservatives and Labour slogans. Initial thoughts are that its not particularly memorable, only catchy in the way it could trip Lib Dem candidates up and doesn't provide a clear brand proposition.

Fake plastic trees...

Matt Cartmell — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:02:00 GMT

The event is located, rather curiously, in a multiplex cinema in a shopping mall, complete with fake palm trees.

The morning session has been focused on mobile comms, which, Ericsson’s Allen McCaskill tells us, is where the Internet was ten years ago – in its infancy.

It seems like the ad world has its work cut out with mobile – only 32 per cent of UK users trust ads over mobile.

However, the opportunity for the ad world is for more targeted content to customers – the vision is that dad could be watching a device in the living room and getting car ads, while his daughter is in her bedroom getting Barbie ads. Seems slightly sinister.

But as Gene from Anomaly Incorporated has revealed, the mobile agency landscape is fragmented and the traditional big ad agencies are having trouble keeping up. Specialised shops, specifically mobile development specialists, are taking over. Again, it’s like the Internet ten years ago.

That spells an opportunity for all kinds of smaller, sharper creative agencies - PR included.

The other thing I’ve learnt is that the Icelandics’ word for their financial crisis is the ‘Kreppa’. When spoken in the Icelandic accent it sounds pretty apt…

FIRE BRIGADE! Social Media gets a new owner. Kinda.

Paul Armstrong — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:30:00 GMT

"Owning" social media is a common argument I am increasingly hearing from both clients AND agencies. I'm not sure what's driving it (shifting budgets, better ROI, increased need, keeping up with the Jones') but whatever it is it's clear it's not going away which is a pity because it pretty moot in my opinion. Sure we all have budgets but it's time to grab this and throttle it dead. Social media is not communications or marketing's responsibility it's everyone's. Full stop. All have something to add and points of view to consider. That said it's important to note the limitations on departments and companies needing to assign budgets and resources but it's time to stop thinking in silos and combine forces. It's time to work smarter together. Blue sky thinking? Perhaps, but I'm working with clients who are looking to change their perspectives and be better businesses daily. The gang were divided but pretty clear...

What do you think of The Fire Brigades responses? Duke it out in the comments!!!

**** The Fire Brigade is recruiting! Email prweekblog@gmail.com to sign up! *****

"No one is owning it now and maybe one discipline never will. PRs can increase their influence by remaining strategic - providing counsel on social media in the wider communications context."
- Adam Lewis / Burson-Marsteller

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"There is so much overlap between what is PR and what is social media that it makes sense for a PR or Comms department to ‘own’ social media for a company. A good comms person knows how to do both anyway."

- Kevin York / Voce Communciations

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"Unfortunately, I feel that a proportion of the PR industry still do not have the required skill sets to adequately understand, implement and measure a digital campaign. Social media is just that ‘social’ – in other words owned and driven by people. That said, PR plays a significant part in driving, leveraging and adding to these social interactions that happen online and offline."

- Abigail Harrison / The Blue Door

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"NO CHANCE! Social Media is bigger than PRs or media buyers. 'LOL'. The best social media people understand SEO, UX, they understand how to communicate where others only know how to broadcast. There’s still a publication called ‘Broadcast’ right?"

- Rhys Howell / Social Medium

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"The lines are blurring between advertising, PR and marketing. Where does one stop and the other start? In years to come they will all become one. In the interim, advertising agencies may be best placed to take things further forward because they have greater budgets and can effectively just buy up the talent they want from PR and own it themselves all under one roof."

- Michael Litman / Dare

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It's free and easy... just like...something free and easy! : email prweekblog@gmail.com to sign up!

I'm here...

Matt Cartmell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:15:00 GMT

Great to be back in Reykjavik after 5 years since my last visit. Despite the odd random pile of snow, the place is warmer than the UK... Go figure. Good to see the Kaffibarinn bar (part owned by damon Albarn) is still there too.

I'm here for the Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference (www.rimc.is/en/), a one day conference which is looking at areas such as SEO, online PR, social media and mobile comms.

Looking through the conference schedule, I'm particularly interested in hearing what Ashley Friedlein from Econsultancy has got to say about the latest trends in internet marketing, and also Massimo Murgio of Global Search Interactive's talk on selling over Facebook/Twitter et al.

I guess the things I'm interested in getting from this trip are:

1. An idea of how the internet is drawing together marketing and PR, and seeing what similarities/differences there are between the 2 disciplines in the methods they are using over social media etc. In particular, as this is largely unattended by PR folk, it will be good to get a feel for how much the world of marketing/e-commerce/SEO is appropriating PR skills... i.e. stealing PR business!

2. How Iceland is faring post-banking collapse - interested in getting views from speakers at the event as to how Iceland's reputation could be improved on the global stage, perhaps there's a role for digital comms?!

Also will be interesting to see what the 'vibe' is on the 'street'. Just had a wander around town and its quiet (no one seems seems to do an awful lot in Iceland until the weekend, then they go completely wild), so I haven't yet come upon any post-banking collapse anti-Brit sentiment. Last time I was hear everyone was very jolly, so I hope that hasn't changed!

Who do you trust?

Ged Carroll — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:38:00 GMT

Christine Tran has collated research from Nielsen, Trendstream and the Edelman Trust Barometer. On the face of it looking at the coverage Edelman's data would seem to be erroneous with consumers having increasing trust in experts, but as Christine points out perhaps its just all the social media and CSR programmes are starting to work: so hopefully for the PR industry it makes sense for clients to spend more money on it. Surf over to her blog to find out more.

5 things that will help you legally protect yourself with unmoderated communities. [Tempero]

Paul Armstrong — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:43:00 GMT

NOTE: This is the first in a series of posts over the next few weeks about legal issues and social media. You asked. I listened. Then researched. Then researched some more and realised I needed a lawyer and some other cookies of the legal beagle variety to help. Watch this space and send your questions to prweekblog@gmail.com ... END OF NOTE!

PR and community management increasingly seems to be becoming intermingled (well to a few people at least) so I thought it only right to get some smarter people to give their ten pence on some legal do's and don't of running an unmoderated community. Here is... that ten pence. Suffice to say running an unmoderated community has its advantages (potentially better signal, real responses/behaviour patterns etc etc) but nine times out of ten avoid, avoid, avoid. You are likely just asking for trouble. Have a system that you manage, not that manages you and if in doubt it is usually best to make sure the thing behind you is well covered. Good advice for life really, no?

What's YOUR top tip, legal or otherwise (but keep it clean/legal!) when working with unmoderated communities?

Top 5 things to protect yourself legally when setting up an unmoderated community:

1. Complete a risk assessment to evaluate potential liability (e.g. will the community be used mainly by young people? Then special legislation applies) and issues unique to your business.

2. Create robust Terms of Use and Community Guidelines. Have these reviewed by a legal advisor.

3. Develop an effective Report and Take-Down process. Set a minimum turnaround time to remove content flagged by officials (like the Police or Home Office) as well as members of the public, then work out how you are going to deliver e.g. alert emails are better going to a group email address than an individual who may move on from the company or be out-of-office when an alert comes in.

4. Build in a clear, and easy to use, Report Abuse system. If the community is for young people this needs to be age-appropriate.

5. Develop a list of external agencies you can contact with queries such as the NSPCC or Home Office. Many of these are available to offer guidance on individual concerns.

User-generated content and the law

The Tories get Wired

Simon Redfern — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:10:00 GMT

I caught Rishi Saha, the Conservatives’ Head of New Media, in conversation at a Public Services Trust event at the RSA this week. There is only one word. Impressive. And he’s in this month’s Wired… does that make him… cool?

I was struck by how a-political his style was. Many of his ideas, about using Government data to build communities of shared experience creating social capital, work across party lines. When he talks about the post bureaucratic age the content chimes almost exactly with David Miliband's phrase 'double devolution'. The Co-operative Party claims the same space for mutualism.

But no party has yet harnessed the power of online communities to build civic activism and social organising. It’s a big idea for sure. Saha’s getting there and fast.

I'm not sure there are any votes in having a more slick website than the the other lot (yet). But what Saha and colleagues Craig Elder and Sam Coates have achieved is a singular culture change at CCHQ which has far-reaching consequences. Wresting control of the website away from the press office, giving it life as a channel in its own right, were just the first steps. From there the party's website and the sister site, myconservatives.com, has started to inform debate, collect money and provide a backdrop to that blue thread in Tory policy: the post bureaucratic age.

Silicon Valley confidential

Ged Carroll — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:35:00 GMT

Sun's Jonathan Schwartz like Yahoo!'s Jerry Yang is a former technology company CEO for whom history will be kinder than the media have been when all the stories come out about their time at the top. Unlike Yang, Schwartz isn't leaving history to chance, having launched a blog (and possibly a book later on) which promises to talk about the things he couldn't discuss in public prior to the Oracle acquisition. Just four posts in and it is already starting to make interesting reading, it has the promise to be more insightful and revealing than Robert X. Cringely's blog and book about the Valley.

Google Street View Best Streets Awards

Ged Carroll — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:26:00 GMT

Back in the day I worked on Yahoo!'s Finds of The Year awards to generate coverage about what you could discover (via Yahoo! products) on the 'net. It was nice to see Google take that PR idea in a new direction with the Google Street View Best Streets Awards - including a best fashion and foodie street respectively. I have only one criticism in that it needs a bit more visual 'bang', but then that would probably un-Googlely.

You have something to recite...

Paul Armstrong — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:28:00 GMT

Whilst I find it strange that a site that tracks what people rip off other people's site wouldn't brand their own content (and possibly not their fault as I snagged it from GigaOM), but it's a lesson to us all brand that sucker when you send it because you never know who's reading your stuff or where. You can only monitor if they click. That said, Tynt, call me your tech sounds interesting. Ok so the research, basically don't give up on email sounds like sound advice but when was the last time you suggested a newsletter or an email campaign to reach key influencers or stakeholders? We use it everyday and yet most people are utter plebs when it comes to communicating with the thing but we forward billions of emails every day (and their ads if you use Hotmail or Gmail). Whilst the numbers against Facebook are impressive (and growing) it gives a clear bit of perspective that most pros could do well with reciting about a bazillion times. All users are not created equal and the same user acts very differently depending on the site he/she is on.

Knowing the trends and media consumption (and regurgitation) remains the key to success right now. What's your strategy going to be if you don't know that people don't share x or y on site z?

90 minutes is a long time in politics

Chris West — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:26:00 GMT

There was much debate over the weekend as to how the three Presidential-style debates will run, and what tactical approach the candidates should adopt.

Speaking on Sunday, Charles Kennedy recommended his successor “take risks” against an expectedly cautious position from his opponents. Though Lib Dem MPs defending small majorities would no doubt advise against a cavalier “nothing to lose” approach.

The real difference to the US equivalents of course is having three parties not two. With a cast of two, its more straight forward – beat the other guy. Though there is still a decision to make about how aggressive to be (a particular issue in the Vice Presidential debate, where commentators forecast the experienced Joe Biden losing popular support if he was seen to be “beating up” on Sarah Palin, a much less accomplished speaker), it’s a lot simpler when there’s only one person to deal with.

With all three parties represented, how the three interact with each other is a grey area for party strategists. For example, though Labour and the Lib Dems aren’t on as close terms as there were during much of the nineties, a recent Newsnight interview between the three Health Spokespeople saw Burnham and Lamb gang up aggressively on Lansley. Yet when the debate moves on to the Government’s record, it’ll be the Lib Dems and Conservatives who are naturally joining forces.

With the three debates lasting for 90 minutes each, it could well be that interest starts to wane towards the end. For long periods, the US Presidential debates involved the candidates giving long detailed answers to the presenter, rather than having a direct debate with their opponent. If the upcoming debates start to turn into extra long episodes of Newsnight, they’ll miss their objective of re-engaging the public in the election process.

So maybe so creative formatting is required? Final debate set out like the Jerry Springer show, maybe? “Please welcome David to the show, he’s fed up with Gordon telling everyone he’s posh, and says he should focus on why all his colleagues are scared of him…”

Trust Us...

Neil Flash — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:35:00 GMT

Really? Having looked at the evidence I am sure you can understand why I won't.

What I am referring to here is the results of the Quality Care Commission (QCC) report due to be exposed on tonight's Panorama entitled: "Trust Us, We're an NHS Hospital" (BBC One at 20:30). Each year, hospitals are asked to rate themselves on four key inspection areas. Last year, the QCC looked into approximately 20% of England's acute hospital trusts and found that 60% of inspected hospitals were not accurately assessing their own performance. As summarised on BBC Online:

Nine hospitals got their self-assessment wrong on one of the four
Another six were lacking in two out of the four standards
In two instances, trusts failed in three of the four standards checked

As fas as excuses go, one chief executive wrote: "What it has proven is that our evidence in collecting that paper evidence of quality of services hadn't been as good as it should have been, we've been putting that right now." and Health Minister Mike O'Brien said: "...the health service is much less secretive about local hospital performance than it has been in the past, but, he added, there is room for improvement."

Who are these people kidding? They should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. I bet they will still both be in jobs tomorrow though...

Films and the internet

Ged Carroll — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:41:00 GMT

The Oscars are over and fanbois like me have moved on already to the forthcoming Tron and Iron Man 2 films. The excitement about the trailers for these films neatly encapsulates the dilemma that the film industry has with the internet. On one hand it is a great way to reach cinema-going audiences, on the other hand piracy and scoops can blow the structured PR campaigns out of the water. They need to remember that it is the end of control, roll with it and you will get on much better. Enjoy the new Iron Man 2 trailer here.

FIRE BRIGADE: Community Manager or PRO for 'sho?

Paul Armstrong — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:04:00 GMT

Having played both sides of the client/pro relationship this was an interesting topic for me. As the media landscape fragments and PR (and the skills it requires) constantly evolves (or perhaps mutates?!) I often find thoughts of future pros and their job specs often knocking around the old hat rack. As I write job descriptions and speak with people at all rungs of the ladder it often strikes me that pros are becoming less gatekeeperish and more like community managers enabling and encouraging sharing, spreading information to niche, interested parties and correcting information rather than the traditional smile-and-dial, protector route. So I put it to the Fire Brigade (sign up by emailing prweekblog@gmail.com). This one touched a few nerves...

"Community management is a new skill that PROs need to consider adding to their armoury, but PR will never just be about managing a client’s social media presence. Just as PR was never just about media relations. Online and offline tactics, old and new skills all need to be integrated to create an effective campaign."
- Kerry Gaffney / Porter Novelli

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We are simply going full circle: recognising the immeasurable value of building important relationships. The great PRs have always been community managers, now there is just a contempoarary title for it.

- Adam Vincenzini / Paratus Communications

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"I think the term ‘glorified’ understates the potential impact of managing communities and how they can be used for discrete purposes well beyond what we’ve all seen thus far. That may not look like traditional PR but it is absolutely one of the ways the function should continue to evolve if it’s to capture relevance across other areas of business."

- Joseph Kingsbury / Text 100

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"PROs are in danger of becoming jack of all trades and master of none. Community management takes specialist skills and training, as well as links to moderation and legal redress if necessary. Working with community managers is important to PR, though: PROs create conversations and manage reputations, and nothing will damage a brand’s reputation like persistent community offenders."

- Kate Hartley / Carrot Communications

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"PROs are going to become respected, knowledgeable influencers, or change their jobs."
- Luke Brynley-Jones / Our Social Times

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Did they get it right? Duke it out in the comments!!!

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It's free and easy... just like...something free and easy! : email prweekblog@gmail.com to sign up!

Apologies for no Fire Brigade today - will be up Monday instead!

Paul Armstrong — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:40:00 GMT

*** Normal service will be resumed shortly! ***

Is the desktop web disappearing?

Ged Carroll — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:48:00 GMT

The Guardian has coverage of a Google speech describing the desktop as irrelevant in five years. I don't think so.

3 videos that every pro needs to see.

Paul Armstrong — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:32:00 GMT

Even music videos need to do more these days.

Say hello to magazines and books in about a months' time.

Obligatory internet stats video. (Weep you aren't a video nerd that can make these because they = bank!)

Is a Blackberry bad for PR agencies?

Ged Carroll — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:08:00 GMT

This was the first thing that went through my mind when I saw this research on how Blackberry devices add a further 10 working days of effort per year. Overservicing has been a perceived problem for agencies for as long as I have been in the industry and mobile technology exasperates it further. Should we bin the Blackberry and downgrade from iPhone to iPod? Discuss