MarCom Professional

Last week we worked with RoadTour to launch a new satellite navigation guide that advises parents on locations throughout the UK that are child-friendly. What was interesting about the launch was that an online launch the previous week using targeted distribution to blogs and online gadget and shopping sites hadn’t worked. We were called in to apply a bit of traditional media magic, and here’s what we did:

We recrafted the story, starting with devising a media-friendly name for the product: “Tot-Nav.”

Next, we assembled a list of 10 tourist sites that scored poorly with children. For this, we asked our kids to quiz their social networks – MySpace, Windows Live, Bebo, Facebook and text – for ideas for the list, along with their reasons why. This was extremely effective. Some of the kids have a network of more than 500 friends on MySpace alone and when you consider the vira More...

There was an interesting article by John Harris in the Guardian on Monday (The new seriousness) charting the decline in the circulation of long lead titles concerned with what he describes as “the invincible tyranny of celebrity culture” (Heat down 16%, Zoo down 13.6%, FHM down 10% and Closer down 7.5%). Circulation of the higher brow opinion-rich media on the other hand has seen an upswing. The Economist’s circulation is up 5.6% and Prospect’s is up 10.7%.

John Harris argues that consumers are seeking a more detailed understanding of weighty matters in a more complex and uncertain world. 

I’m sure this is the case judging by my train carriage test this morning (1 Newsweek, 3 broadsheets, a couple of trade titles, a copy of Foreign Policy Review and a Private Eye), but I think it also has much to do with changes to the way in which we are exposed to, and engage with, the news. More...

We've been working on a communications programme for Screwfix, sponsors of this year's Masters Football tournament on Sky Sports. 

The brief was to maximise Screwfix's sponsorship of the event and to find ways in which we could engage tradesmen, Screwfix's core customer base. 

We came up with the concept of a lookalike match, starting with a national campaign to recruit tradesmen who look a bit like famous footballers.  Tradesemen could email or text their pictures to Screwfix. 

The search was a major news story in its own right, attracting full page coverage in the Metro and the Daily Star and a half page in the Sport - all widely read by tradesmen.  We combined this with a pitch to regional radio, resulting in a string of radio interviews highlighting the competition. More...

Here’s a link to a profile in the Evening Standard of Ian Livingston, BT’s CEO. It’s an object lesson in how and why to inject humour, intelligence, humility and anecdote into a conversation with a journalist.

I had the good fortune to work with Ian at what was then the Dixons Group (now DSG international). I’d like to be able to say that I taught him something about media relations, but I didn’t, being a relative newbie at the time. Instead, I learnt a great deal through osmosis and observation – and much of it feeds into the advice I give clients today. More...

Perhaps it’s why we have one of the most adversarial fourth estates in the world: politicians of all persuasions just won’t say in crystal clear terms that they’re wrong when they’re wrong. There’s always some nuance in the language, some exit clause. It’s immensely frustrating to reporters, no doubt, and no less so to listeners and readers. A clear acceptance of error, an explanation – however codified - and a description of the route-map to fixing the problem has always been an effective way of moving on and taking the wind out of the sails of the critics. More...

A recent article in the New York Times, “Start Writing the Eulogies for Encyclopedias”, reminded me of the time that my dad momentarily abandoned his prescient insistence that there was no place for the encyclopaedia in the modern home because it was so prone to date. That was in the early seventies, and in caving in to our demands he allowed in to our home the 28 or so volumes of the World Book Encyclopaedia.

The encyclopaedia salesman was my 5th grade teacher, a lanky gnarled silver-topped Australian gent called Mr Deards, who routinely boasted that he was a mere 16 due to a birthday on February 29th. More...

This is the first of what will be a series of short films that examine the changing shape of the British media.

We intend to cover many perspectives, and I’m delighted that our first interviewee is Harry Wallop, the consumer affairs correspondent at the Daily Telegraph.

Harry has packed a lot into what is still a relatively short career, having been a business reporter at both the Telegraph and the Investors’ Chronicle. He recently won a prestigious industry award for his reporting and is rapidly building a reputation as one Britain’s leading consumer affairs journalists. More...

As a community service to fellow PR practitioners and marketeers, I offer this link to a site “lovingly” maintained by frustrated US hacks. The site lists a range of bête noire phrases, regularly featured in press releases that have crossed their desks en route to the waste paper bin.

It is worth a browse around the rest of the site. The Hall of Shame ought to be standard reading for new recruits to media relations and the PR profession. Read and weep.

Be warned, friends, and bear in mind that they have yet to get their saw teeth into the whole blog/social/network/two point whatever phenomenon. It’s only a matter of time….. More...

I dare say they did the minute calculations. “If you don’t wear one, Minister, it will look as though police are being diverted from their duties to protect you on the streets of your own constituency. If you do wear one, it will look as though you are afraid to walk the streets of Peckham without protection.” 

The arguments, I’m sure, were very finely balanced on each side. Advisors will no doubt have concluded that neither felt like the absolutely right decision. 

In cases like this, it is seductive to assume that fine balance in the arguments will equate to a similarly finely balanced reaction, with no scope for hyperbole, extremes of view, etc, leading in turn to a negligible, neutral reaction. At times like this, it is worth returning to the original “what if” statements and thinking again. More...

Further evidence of the power of opinion online today. The influential French-based venture capitalists, Banexi Ventures Partners, have today announced an investment in Reevoo, the online publishers of genuine customer reviews.

What's significant is that Banexi successfully backed Kelkoo, the price comparison site, that subsequently sold to Yahoo for nearly 500m Euros a few years ago. In the announcement of the investment, out this morning, Banexi have said the following:

“Online promotional strategies need to engage with what the customer is thinking and wanting. Other promotional mechanics, such as price comparison, have been damaged by a very mixed quality of execution. More...