National print, radio and TV cover the launch of Duerr’s easy open jar lid.

April 14th, 2011
Picture 2

This week, Democracy got people talking about our client Duerr’s with coverage on Daybreak, The Mail, The Express and Radio 4. The revolutionary product launch – a new easy open lid – will bring an end to jam jar opening misery for millions.

Dr Hillary described the product live on Daybreak as “fantastic for people with arthritis” while beefy Adrian Chiles was concerned that his place at the family breakfast table as ‘strong man’ might be over.

Full coverage list to date (6pm, 14 April) as follows:

At 6am ….

Duerr’s Orbit cap on Daybreak from Democracy PR on Vimeo.

And again at 7am ….

Duerr’s on Daybreak, take 2! from Democracy PR on Vimeo.

Daily Mail
Daily Express
Scottish Daily Express
Radio 4 You&Yours
Radio 2 Drivetime
BBC Radio Bristol
BBC Asian Network
BBC Radio Jersey
BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Northampton
Key 103
BBC Radio WM
BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Northampton
Manchester Evening News
How Do

THE MAIL

THE EXPRESS

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Gmail Labs: Preventing you carbon copying Harry’s email nightmare

March 31st, 2011
Gmail labs

You can’t have missed the widespread news reports over the recent email ‘mishap’ involving one bitter ex giving permission to his buddy to ‘have a go’ at his former girlfriend. The inappropriate male banter would probably have remained between the two of them … until he accidentally cc’d the ex into the email(!)

Although the two chaps could not have predicted that a private conversation about a potential conquest would make a full page in The Sun, we’d like to think that he’s learnt his lesson and will never make the same mistake again. Should you ever find yourself in the same situation, we thought you might like a few tips to help avoid the terrible mess.

Tip 1: Migrate your email account to Gmail and activate a few handy ‘labs’ functions to help keep your discourse secret.

Tip 2: Install ‘undo send’, a personal lifesaver, allowing a 15 second window within which to cancel the email and save yourself from a very public dressing down.

Tip 3: Install ‘Got the Wrong Bob’  meaning Gmail learns from previous emails and highlights when you include someone unexpected.

These three tips could have saved him (and may save you one day), but with the backlash against him flooding in from all corners of the UK I imagine he might want to take a look at some other Gmail labs to help him out of this mess.

Hint 1: He should enable ‘Message Sneak Peak’ allowing him a quick glance at emails without opening them to decide whether it’s an email from the boss or vitriolic hatemail in his inbox.

Hint 2: Finally he should enable ‘Smart Mute’ so that once he hides an email it stays out of sight. Better keep those spiteful emails locked away hey Harry?

Sadly there’s no ‘auto-grovel function’ or ‘apologise to all’ but given the OS nature of Gmail it probably isn’t far away.

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Does my bum look big in this?

March 30th, 2011
imagesCA6H9QT6

When I first watched the 90′s hit ‘Clueless‘, I immediately fell in love with the thought of a wardrobe that helped me pick out what to wear each morning (I am only indecisive about my wardrobe choices!).

I’ve lost count of the amount of times that I’ve been shopping on my own and desperately wished that I had my best, straight talking buddy with me.

You know… the sort of friend who will always tell you the truth, no matter what: ”I’ll get you the size up shall I?…. that is NOT your colour… you’re not 18 anymore Hannah!”

Well, now your lonely shopping days are over.  ‘GO TRY IT ON’ is a website where you’ll get an honest answer to your shopping dilemmas.  Upload an image of yourself with a brief description of what you need the outfit for, and ask the simple question “what do you think?” to the fashion savvy community.

You can either ask for opinions on your own outfit or help others with their shopping woes, but do remember that you are opening yourself up for the comment that no woman wants to hear, ”yes… your bum does look big in that!”.

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Sheen joins the twitterati

March 3rd, 2011
sheen

Some actors will always be known more for their wild eccentric ways and drug addictions than their work, and this certainly applies to the aptly named ‘Charlie’ Sheen.

After a continuous stream of  drug and women fueled wild behaviour, the actor’s show ‘Two and a Half Men’ has been suspended by CBS and Warner Bros.

After a whirlwind of media appearances saw him on the Today Show, ABC, Howard Stern, and countless other radio shows to discuss/rant about the injustice of his suspension, the actor looked to twitter to try and gauge the real height of his popularity.

Without a single tweet, he managed to amass 500,000 fans… Maybe there’s some truth in his comments on the Today Show that he has “tiger blood, and Adonis DNA“, well either that or we are all suckers for a little bit of crazy in our day!

Apparently he has had enough of  interviews for now, so maybe he’ll start speaking directly to his  (thanks to his now 12 tweets) 738,162 followers through twitter?

Size isn’t everything when it comes to twitter (I’m talking about followers btw), but Sheen’s rants in 140 characters? Oh go on then.

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Spotify valuation is music to my ears

March 3rd, 2011
spotify

Spotify has recently been valued at $1bn following a recent drive for investment and for me it brings some sanity to the current digital media market that has seen big social media sites receive valuations that seem to be based on guesswork alone.

Happily Spotify bucks this trend as it seems to be well monetized. Guaranteeing no advertising ‘wastage’ and offering a unique mix of audio and visual formats are huge revenue-generating tools. Spotify also offer their premium service which allows users  to avoid ads thereby generating money from people wishing to avoid ads they generate money from!

Now while I’m a complete convert to twitter’s microblogging service I don’t understand where the revenue is! Yes there’s a huge reach, but will Promoted Tweets bring in the dough? Does twitter have a viable business model to explain its recent valuation of £6bn on this year’s predicted sales of just £67m?

Perhaps I shouldn’t worry and just thank my lucky stars that there are seemingly plenty of backers willing to pay big money.

Here’s a video that asks a similar question

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZRd-xX5zk0A (check out the rise of Groupon)

Maybe you disagree? I don’t pretend to be an expert on the subject so if you can show me the light then I welcome your comments below, but beware-i’m charging 10p per comment!

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Google launches page to help Christchurch victims

February 24th, 2011
Picture 9

Sometimes the simplest of ideas show the impact that the internet has on our lives. With so much ‘clutter’ online, life changing innovations can get lost, but today we’ve been looking at the Google person finder page launched to help the people of Christchurch and the friends and family who know and love them.

The devastation after a 6.3 magnitute earthquake hit, has been called New Zealand’s “darkest day”. The haunting images of crumpling buildings and rescuers trying to dig there way to survivors is a swift reminder of human fragility. Regular lines of communication are severely disrupted at a time when those effected are desperate for information.

The Google People Finder was originally developed in 2010 to help with the earthquake in Haiti, the page was also utilised successfully after the earthquakes in Chile and China last year.

A simple interface avoids complication in a frought time, and lets you choose between “I’m looking for someone” and “I have information for someone”, you can then query the database or enter new information.

With 8900 records uploaded to the ‘person finder’ page (at this time), the death toll rising and hundreds of people still missing, Google has created something that is simple, effective and life changing.

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The Heat is on with Duerr’s

February 8th, 2011
Posh Marmalade

Following on from great coverage in the M.E.N, Duerr’s Posh Marmalade is featured in Heat magazine this week (12-18 February)

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Few bowled over by Groupon ads

February 8th, 2011
Groupon

Groupon find themselves in the news for the wrong reasons following ill-judged adverts aired during Super bowl 45.

Making light of the Chinese oppression of Tibet the advertising space, rumoured to cost 3 million dollars for thirty seconds, sought to explain its group purchasing power to an estimated 100 million viewers but the PR-gaffe could not have happened at a worse time.

Last week Facebook announced it will allow brands to issue vouchers to users who check-in on their GPS-enabled phones. While Groupon, who recently rejected a 3 billion dollar buyout offer from Google, is in a powerful position this badly judged advertising campaign has just given a PR coup to Facebook, the only platform that could topple it, shortly before it launches its new service in the U.S.

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Deck the halls with bows of… e-cards

December 16th, 2010
postman

Bing Crosby was crooning, the chestnuts were roasting and the mulled wine simmering on the hob last night at chez Lebon….. The only difference this year? A significant lack of Christmas cards wishing me love and prosperity as I put up my ‘Merry Christmas’ card holder.

Now, I have received a significant number of dancing elf and singing santa e cards, but I couldn’t hide my disappointment at the lack of physical cards, have people decided to give up on the tradition of Christmas cards in favour of the online counterpart?

Research has emerged that suggests that sales of Christmas cards are dwindling due to the rise of social networking sites and e-cards, with Oxfam predicting 141 million fewer cards will be sent this year. A significant loss of money for the charity.

Royal Mail, however claim that they have seen no drop in postage this year and have, in fact seen 750,000 letters individually mailed to Father Christmas (Reindeerland, SAN TA1 if you are thinking of sending one)

Anyway, if I’m to believe Royal Mail, I’m sure my sleigh full of festive letters are simply stuck in the snow somewhere, waiting to be delivered and hung on my currently bare card holder. I love the dancing elves, but there’s something familiar and comforting about an evening hanging up festive cards…. Our address is on the contact page, hint hint ;)

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Google knows if you’ve been naughty or nice

December 8th, 2010
santa-naughty-list

They see you when you’re tweeting, they know when you’re on brand, *ahem*, that’s quite enough of that.

Yesterday, google amended its algorithm to take into account the sentiment of your online chatter, after an article in a US newspaper published a story about a brand using negative reviews to boost their google ranking.

Any sensible marketer will already have been working under the assumption that when talking about your brand online, it’s important to manage and respond to negative messages or these can quickly undermine any positive messages being put out by a brand.

If the first thing a potential customer finds about you online is negative, that’s going to colour their future opinions of your brand. With some companies becoming obsessed with search ranking, a high volume of negative reviews can be a badly thought through shortcut to search heaven.

If it was ever the case offline, this latest move by google proves that online, not all publicity is good publicity.

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