Animal Madness

April 30th, 2012
lion cubs 16

The comedian, W.C. Fields, is credited with the line, “Never work with children or animals.”

Normally I’d agree (hats off to the patience of teachers) but …. working with the animals at Knowsley Safari Park (our brand new client) has suddenly made by job even more exciting.

There is just so much to talk about, let alone the incredible opportunities with the animal images (I never imagined I’d have a ‘lion cub’ file), and it’s making post work chatter interesting as i share stories on elephant training, rhino roaming space, and giraffe feeding.

I am enthralled by wildlife facts and myths, … watch out folks, I’ll be the next David Attenborough before you know it.

A tip, should you ever find yourself face to beak on a bird of prey shoot – don’t wear your favourite five inch stilettos .. it can get a bit mucky!

Kony 2012: The story continues…

March 20th, 2012
Jason Russell

I watched Kony 2012 over the weekend. The video posted on YouTube by US advocacy group Invisible Children, had been shared by many a friend on my Facebook wall during the past week, telling me to ‘just watch it’, so I did just that.

Fascinating piece of propaganda it is too. If you are not one of the 80 million + who has already viewed the 30 min long film on You Tube, here’s a brief synopsis:

Jason Russell visited Uganda 10 years ago and ever since has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of the LRA- a rebel group led by Joseph Kony responsible for the abduction of thousands of children to build his guerrilla army in central Africa. After setting up Invisible Children, Russell’s efforts were eventually acknowledged by the U.S. government who agreed to deploy special forces to support the Ugandan army in efforts to track down Kony so that he can be brought to justice. ‘Kony 2012’ was created in Russell’s own words to “make Kony famous”, citing that as long as people know who Joseph Kony is, the US will continue their military support in central Africa until he is found. The video says it will only be streamed for 2012.

Watching the video you are encouraged to make donations to the cause, buy a trackable bracelet and on April 20th take part in an activity called ‘Blanket The Night’, in which we will all wake up in the morning to find our cities plastered with images of Kony.

What’s fascinating is how the whole episode is now escalating. Jason Russell has suffered from an incredibly public nervous breakdown in the midst of all the hype/ criticism. Meanwhile, Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has gone on the PR offensive using the same social media platforms stressing that Kony is no longer in the country, bizarrely tweeting celebs including Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, inviting them to visit.

Regardless of your political view, thoughts about the creator, and opinions on the cause, it’s an extraordinary story to follow and an astonishing demonstration of the power of social media. Jason Russell has literally got the world talking- who could have predicted to what effect?

It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens on April 20th. I’ll be honest, I’m probably not going to make a donation, nor buy a bracelet, neither will I be getting up at 3am to stick a poster up in Beech Road park. But I am now aware who Kony is. Objective achieved.

The value of passion

February 13th, 2012

Every agency will claim to have passion. Passion for the agency they work for, passion for the clients you have and passion for the ones you’re keen to win.

Passion is the difference between a great idea, and a great idea that delivers results. A team member willing to go the extra mile because they want to and not because the agency contract included the sale of their soul.

Today TedX Manchester began with a forward by former Radio One journalist and XFM presenter Mary Anne Hobbs on how passion took her from Garstang to become one of the most influential music journalists in the UK.

From living in a bus for 12 months with a band and surviving on one bag of chips a day to begging editors to get her first break in writing.

Passion, often considered a puff word on a CV, is increasingly under valued and yet passion can transform the impossible dream into a living reality.

Online trick Miista be working

January 10th, 2012
Unknownshoe

The highstreet and retail in general is going through a tough time, with high street stores and online retailers failing quicker than a celebrity marriage.

Retailers are having to work harder in terms of customer service, quality of product and audience engagement, to capture the imagination of the audience that they rely on to survive. Luxury products can’t just sit back and rely on their items, the customer needs to enjoy a unique experience to warrant the expenditure and budget items can’t just be about the price point, the market is saturated and people expect a certain level of design for their dosh.

It isn’t easy to find the next ‘new’ thing on the block for fashion where it comes to retail, but the campaign by relatively unknown shoe brand Miista has taken an existing model – tweet and the price will drop and given it a little tweak.

They are offering a bigger discount dependent on your Klout rating, (we’ll save the debate on the merits of Klout for another time) a clever way to encourage those with the highest influence online to get involved with spreading the word throughout their networks for the cost of a few pairs of shoes. The success of the campaign must have come as a shock to the technical department as the numbers to Miista crashed the site!

Will this approach work for Miista in the long run? Well, only time will tell, but if you’re looking to create noise about your brand, a hardworking, persistent press office combined with an engaging digital campaign is a good place to start.

Social Media … a love affair?

September 14th, 2011
Social media, mountain biking and motherhood

Being a virgin blogger, I thought that I should stick to a subject I know about. So that would be mountain biking. I know what the guys are thinking, what…not social media? Not PR or popular culture? Well I do still listen to Radio ‘bore’ and as I keep saying to ‘those guys’ it’s good to temper their youth and enthusiasm with some age and experience!

Better get back on [the metaphorical not single] track here if blogs aren’t supposed to wax lyrical and morph into a dissertation.

So I thought I could take a look at how technology and social media has evolved my mountain biking experience. Well first off, I read a review of the trail on t’internet, then used my sat nav to get there.

Then comes the sweet bit. Updated my Facebook status, received a couple of likes and comments. On arrival checked into the visitors centre; yep you doubters in the office – I am now using Four Square. Nobody had explained to me how cool it was. Able to score points, win badges, a bit like geocaching for girl scouts.

Ah geocaching.  Whilst on my ride I was able to plant one for our client @duerrs1881. And even email my colleague from the car park what I had done and where, in fact got the co-ordinates on my BlackBerry.

And now I can post this blog via a tiny URL on Twitter, on Facebook, on Linked in.  Wish somebody had told me all about this stuff sooner! ;o) [for those of you who don’t know that’s my catchphrase in the office].

All I need to do now is upgrade the Blackberry to an iPhone and I can start using trailguru.com , will it never end…..

In fact I think it has only just begun.  Pretty good start for a once-luddite.  Still trying to decide if social media has, indeed, taken over my life.  And for my four year old son, no doubt it will be a way of life. Much like being a mother, once you have fallen in love with it, there is no going back.

Democracy Loves Manchester

August 26th, 2011
Manchester

We have had a honking day at Democracy PR today!

It has been Love MCR Day , and our good friends at Stiff Rowlands decided to set up ‘Honk if you Love Manchester’ right outside our office!

Who would’ve thought that a simple board and two comedy horns would bring so much joy, but the lovely folk of Chorlton have certainly got into the spirit of things and have been honking our horns happily all day.

The riots created by a small and dysfunctional section of our community have driven the people of Manchester to shout loud and proud… I LOVE MANCHESTER (or in our case, honk it!)

Pride in Manchester and a feeling of community spirit is here in abundance … All in all, it has made me smile… a lot.

So, have a look at the video that was beautifully created by Stiff Rowlands and JMG Media and see if you can spot us getting into the spirit of Love MCR Day!

Social SnapTags – what are they all about?

August 22nd, 2011
FacebookTagRihanna

Last week I spotted a Tweet announcing that marketing tech company SpyderLynk have launched Social SnapTags exclusively in US Glamour magazine’s ‘Friends issue’.

Like QR codes, now routinely integrated into PR and marketing campaigns, Social SnapTags look set to become a useful way for brands to instantly interact with their market.

After a little research, it seems that what sets the tags apart from the QR code is that they link exclusively with a social media platform, in this case, Glamour’s Facebook page.

According to Glamour, user incentives include: ‘access to huge shopping discounts, scoop on the stars you love and insider advice from your favourite experts.’ It also allows readers of the magazine to shape the content they receive and control the conversation – accelerating an increasingly important trend for two way engagement between brand and consumer.

For Glamour, and the brands within its pages, the SnapTag is a valuable tool directing consumers to exactly where the brand wants them to be, giving brands the ability to use social media channels to their fullest potential.

Furthermore, as content is already on social media sites, it is much more likely that users will share it with their friends, and for it to become viral.

The SnapTag has a much wider appeal than the QR code – they can be ‘unlocked’ both by downloading an app onto a Smartphone, and, by sending a photo taken on a camera phone to a designated short code. This instantly brings a more mainstream element to the SnapTag and increases the number of people able to use them; meaning that SnapTags are more likely to be picked up, or at least trialled by more brands.

For me though, the main draw is that the tag, a neat circle with a logo inside, is much more aesthetically appealing than a QR code. The familiarity of the logo evokes a sense of trust and is explicit about the tags purpose, so hopefully the user will be more inclined to use it.  In choosing Glamour’s female audience to trial the codes rather than a technologically focused publication – Spyderlynk was easily able to highlight the wide appeal of the SnapTag.

I can’t wait to get snapping!

The secret life of Vogue – or is it?

August 12th, 2011
blog

The Devil Wears Prada’ gave us an ‘unofficial’ hint as to what it would be like to work in the glossy fashion mecca that is Vogue, depicting scenes of backstabbing, designer clothes, bitching and beautiful people – Conde Nast may have thought that with the movie done and dusted, the public’s curiosity into the famously cut throat world of fashion had wained…. Then, along came @condeelevator!

The tweets claimed to be accounts of conversations overheard~ in the lift of Vogue’s HQ in New York sent out jus 36 tweets but managed to amass 68,485  followers (to date), all looking for an insight into the everyday life of the ridiculously stylish.

The tweets were hilariously entertaining, and whether they were real (which appears to be the case as they have stopped – before the fashion police could catch them!) or fabricated, in my movie-tinged mind, that is exactly how Vogue US is. “Woman #1 to Woman #2, holding an omelet: “What’s the occasion?” Woman #2: “…huh?” Woman #1: “I would need an occasion to eat that.”

A Conde Nast spokeswoman said in an statement to ABCNews.com ”We have no idea if this is real or made up and don’t know who is behind it but it certainly suggests that many people care a great deal about what happens at Conde Nast.”

Vogue’s reputation has survived untarnished by the 2006 movie, and the 2009 September issue documentary that depicted Anna Wintour as a bit of an ice queen (I love you Anna!), so I hardly think that this twitter insight would do them any harm, but nonetheless, @Condeelevator account has died a twitter death, with the last tweet stating “Girl or Guy #1 [in elevator alone]: This got really crazy. Love my job. Better stop. #sorry

Hopefully that’s not the end… what I’d do to be a fashionable fly on that  elevator wall!

 

 

Social media: for good or evil?

August 9th, 2011
Picture 14

The riots on the streets of London over the past few nights have chilled us – how can our fellow citizens wreak havoc on their community? Where has morality gone? What fresh horror will tonight bring?

Yesterday, the police blamed social media – highlighting how Facebook, twitter and BlackBerry Messenger have all been used to help organise attacks and keep rioters ahead of the police.

This 21st century equivalent of shooting the messenger, the police statement ignores the reasons behind why people are rioting and highlights how much the police needs to get a grip on how the way people are communicating has had a significant impact on society.

Today, we’ve been cheered by the communities set up to encourage people to take to the streets and reclaim the pavements, roads and buildings as they clean up and start the rebuilding process. We’ve just watched an interview on BBC News with a man from Birmingham explaining he set up his clean up action group because he felt this was his town too.

So is social media a force of good or evil? The answer … well neither. Social media simply is a way of communicating. It’s what’s being said that makes the difference.

Brands have been quicker to realise that they need to understand what’s being said and to act or react accordingly – now is the time for the police to stop making vague statements and listen, learn, and act.

A Fashion Fabulous Day!

May 27th, 2011
fashion

It’s only Wednesday and I’ve already had THE most fabulous, productive and successful week (if I do say so myself!).

Yesterday was a media visit day of the most glamorous variety… fashion darling, talking nothing but beautiful clothes with our fashion fabulous client Jo.

Our day started with what could have been a very normal train journey down to the ‘big smoke’… a coffee, muffin and Grazia (my little train ritual), as I eagerly flipped to The Fashion Charts… I spotted the lovely Zoe Karssen tee and a link to BWD the result of lots of hard work from the Democracy team!

We whisked our way around London to meet Grazia, Emerald Street, Stylist and Drapers, with a bag full of exclusive designer clothes and stunning accessories.

Relationships strengthened …. it’s time to hit the phones and covert those visits to column inches (or live links).