Rule Number One

In a week when major retailers have been accused of being slow to respond to the ongoing horse meat scandal it was a pleasant surprise to receive a personal email from the group chief executive of the Co-op.


It’s entitled An Apology from Peter Marks.

He’s been well advised.

Rule Number One: When the …. hits the fan apologise - say you’re sorry.

And I quote:

“I believe that as a result of this food scandal we have let you down….I strongly believe that all food retailers must accept ultimate accountability for the products we sell to our customers. We cannot blame the government or the regulators, or even our own suppliers. At the end of the day, the buck stops here.”

In contrast, in an interview last week, Tesco boss Philip Clarke sidestepped Rule Number One and chose instead to focus on the importance of the trust that we, the customers, place in retailers.

And he made not just one but three promises, including the development of a new ‘field to fork’ website which I have to say sounds like a ratings winner. Come children, gather round it’s time for Buttercup’s Bolognaise Journey followed by Breakfast with Babe.  Not sure I really want to watch The Silencing of the Lambs though.

Other than that Mr Tesco promised that they’ll try harder and make sure we’re not out of pocket (although they’ve already been accused of increasing the prices of meat-free meals).

Asda boss Andy Clarke has also finally spoken, vowing to leave no stone unturned in order to get to the bottom of the scandal, while Iceland boss Malcolm Walker has described the whole episode as a ‘storm in a teacup’.

Although Waitrose appears to have sidestepped the horse-meat scandal it has admitted finding traces of pork in its ‘beef’ burgers. (Meanwhile Morrison’s (we own our own farms) is reporting a 50% rise in sales of fresh burgers.)

Anyway, from what I can see only Peter Marks has actually said ‘sorry’. Rule number one boys, rule number one.

Flying with the Dinosaurs

Go on have a bet – who do you think is more likely to embrace social media, Ryanair or Delia?

Well, if you said Ryanair then you’d be wrong!

In the week that Delia has announced she’s turned her back on the BBC in favour of launching her own online cookery school, PR Week reports that Ryanair has ‘dismissed the value of social media engagement’.

The new head of comms at Ryanair is quoted as saying that while other airlines have tapped into social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, the sites ‘would not be helpful to us, as we would have so many people looking for a response.’

Referring to the social network as a ‘two way tool’ Robin Kiely said that maintaining a dedicated account would probably mean hiring two more people just to sit on Facebook all day..adding that if customers wanted to get in touch the methods were there (i.e. customer care lines).

Oh dear, oh dear.

What’s wrong with having a two way relationship with your customers Ryanair? Or is the prospect of customers being able to easily get in touch and openly share opinions simply too frightening for words?

Shame on you.

Yes, us no-frills passengers understand that low fares come at a price - remote airports, very early/late departures, extremely strict rules and not so much as a free peanut.

But it’s outrageous that is this day and age a huge company like Ryanair has adopted such a head-in-the-sand stance. And I’ll bet that getting through on Ryanair’s helpline takes longer than it does to get through security at Stansted in the peak of the hen party season.

Or is this all simply another ruse to gain publicity for Ryanair (remember those plans to charge for spending a penny mid-air)?

Sometimes you just can't win...

It’s a real pleasure to listen to a radio interview when, regardless of what is thrown at him/her, the interviewee leaves with his/her credibility intact.

It takes a huge amount of skill and experience to handle a ‘hostile’ interview or to cope with the pressure of the media when something has gone terribly wrong.

Of course having a crisis communications plan in place helps to ensure that a business can cope with dramas and disasters. But what’s particularly unpredictable is when a journalist has a bee in their bonnet about an issue and appears determined to find a scapegoat.

Suddenly the tone of the interview changes and you’re on the back foot – not only fighting to preserve your own reputation - but the morals of the entire sector, or so it feels.

And sometimes you just can’t win. When Radio Four’s James Naughtie got his teeth into Asda corporate affairs director Sian Jarvis, the poor woman had no chance.

Regardless of what she did or didn’t say, with the best will in the world I think it’s extremely unfair to hold Asda responsible for ruining the health of our children. Their job is to sell stuff. They don’t give it away, people choose to buy it. Just like people choose to stock up on cheap booze or to indulge in fast food.

Surely, I hear you say, it’s time people started taking responsibility for their actions – and stopped blaming everyone else for their problems. Good luck explaining that to the press – ever tried to get a bone off a dog?

http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Food-Safety/Asda-boss-in-PR-gaffe-when-radio-interviews-turn-nasty/?c=ktLArBcbayepAzZlD3Agcg%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily

Guerilla Marketing - Olympic Style

With headline sponsors paying a mint for official Olympic association perhaps it’s understandable that the organisers didn’t want every Tom, Dick or Harry jumping on the London 2012 bandwagon.

Let’s face it the likes of McDonalds wouldn’t have been too happy to see a repeat of the guerrilla style marketing techniques used so successfully at the last World Cup. Remember how a Dutch beer company upstaged the tournament’s official beer brand with its orange clad supporters?

So with church ladies forced to rename their ‘Olympic’ Flower Festivals and bakers banned from artfully displaying doughnut rings, it was clear that brands would have to be super inventive in order to align themselves with the event, unless they were prepared to pay through the nose.

But in the end it was a piece of cake for a small Birmingham bakery, where patriotism, timing, old fashioned hospitality and great baking proved a winner.

With Birmingham playing host to the Jamaican team, Sunrise Bakery baked a batch of welcome cakes for the team and also supplied a three tier cake, which was the centrepiece of a pre-Olympic gala dinner.

And sprinter Yohan Blake reportedly took such a liking to the bakery’s products he asked for supplies to be sent to the Olympic Village.

Bakery boss Errol Drummond said: “You couldn’t pay for this level of exposure. We’ve had calls from all over the UK and around the world from people wanting to know more about our products. Think how much McDonald’s paid for its Olympic sponsorship. And we’re just a small bakery in the West Midlands.

“We’re developing a link with the Jamaican track and field team. It’s early days but we’re hoping to use this to target a premium marketplace.”

And if it was gold for Sunrise then it was a silver for Birmingham – with Usain Bolt paying tribute to the city after winning his second gold medal.

An Olympic Challenge

Want to get in the nationals? No problem.

Success for some clients is national coverage – and the challenge for those of us in PR is to manage their expectations.

The truth is we don’t have a magic wand and some PR companies actually sit down with their clients and a pile of magazines/newspapers to jointly discuss where exactly they think they would 'fit'.

You might think filling all those pages and broadcast slots every day is tough, but the reality is most press releases/pitches end up in the bin. Having said that, the good news is that there are small armies of journalists out there urging us PR folk to get in touch.

The less good news is that they’ve usually got very specific, not to say imaginative, angles in mind.

Today for instance, you’re in with a chance if you:

• Got married to a man you weren’t madly in love with, but who you’ve grown to love deeply
• Are a woman living with HIV
• Consider your girlfriend more intelligent than you
• Look great for 40
• Spend a fortune to look good on holiday
• Had a whirlwind marriage that didn’t work out
• Are a super male slimmer
• A woman who hasn’t had sex for a year

It’s probably fair to say business angles are pretty thin on the ground – unless you’re quick off the ground and able to comment on something super topical such as cash-in-hand payments or employing people over retirement age.

I suppose the morale of the story is that getting quality coverage is never easy – it’s something that takes time, patience – and teamwork. Olympic tattoo anyone?

Off the Record?

A day or so ago I came across a quote “you can be friendly with a journalist, but a journalist will never be your friend” and it reminded me of a somewhat tense session with newspaper executives and a high profile celebrity some years ago.

Amongst other things, the editor stated quite categorically “there’s no such thing as off the record”.

So it was with some disbelief that I read an article in this morning’s Eastern Daily Press involving an email sent to BBC Radio Norfolk.

Not only did the email contain ‘off the record’ information, crucially it was also in writing – including the full name and contact details of the sender, who signed off with the request ‘please treat this as an anonymous tip off’.

Fat chance!

Needless to say the email found its way into various other inboxes…which led to the sender being suspended from his job…and the email being published in full in today’s Eastern Daily Press.

So, to repeat – never, ever assume you’re speaking ‘off the record’ when talking to the media. And if you want to whisper anonymously in someone’s ear then best avoid email…

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/conservative_political_assistant_at_norfolk_county_council_suspended_as_email_probe_launched_1_1385921

One Size Seldom Fits All...

Here's a very interesting article about how the world's largest technology companies approach PR:

The Guardian's technology editor Charles Arthur gives his opinion on the different PR strategies employed by the world's largest technology firms.


I've been writing about technology for a couple of decades now. Both technology writers and PR professionals face a problem in trying to produce coverage that will interest the average person: most people have only heard of a few companies, and actually care about even fewer.

These days, those few companies tend to be in the US. So both journalists and PROs have a challenge getting to the people and the stories. Time zones and travel schedules fight you. I often envy colleagues in politics, or media, or sports such as football, whose interviewees are (comparatively) right on their doorsteps.

Things are changing. For example, the explosion of Tech City in London in the past few years is making a big difference. But the big money is still in the US (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), creating the continual problem of getting a quote out of someone who actually knows.

In writing my book Digital Wars, about Apple, Google and Microsoft and their many business battles over the past 15 years, I had plenty of time to reflect on the different companies' PR strategies. One of the first things I did was to seek formal interviews. They mostly turned me down. But that wasn't an obstacle: if you're on LinkedIn and have Skype, you can track down pretty much anyone who used to work anywhere. And I still had my contacts inside the companies.

In contrast to the 'big three', the typical technology company - and someone doing their PR - has the opposite problem: getting people interested. With dozens of topics jostling for attention all the time, you need either a 'fancy that!' story ('my website is actually powered by cats' - no, I made that up) or to grab the coattails of a topical subject. From the number of phone calls and emails I get, my impression is the struggle for coverage can be desperate. Especially if you've over-promised how much national print coverage the client will get.

The three big tech companies - Apple, Google and Microsoft - however, have rather different PR strategies. Here's my take on them, as someone on what you could call the receiving end.

APPLE - SECRETIVE

Apple's PR approach is, generally, 'we'll say what we want, when we want, to whom we carefully choose'. People think it's a silent monolith, which it often is. But it was like that back in the days when the iPod was new and Apple was comparatively tiny. Its approach has pretty much always been to let the products speak for themselves. In addition, secrecy is a big part of its success: Apple gets a giant publicity boost from letting expectation build up ahead of a new iPhone or product. Just look at the fascination about the possibility of an Apple TV. There's no 'background briefing' ahead of time. Apple is completely silent about it.

Despite the fact that people - well, journalists - love to focus on the cult of personality around (previously) Steve Jobs and (still) Jonathan Ive, partly because people give better interviews than gadgets, the company itself doesn't play ball.

Its PR team is also very small compared with the level of interest in the company, and with the company itself; Apple has the biggest market value in the world and, last Christmas quarter, the biggest quarterly revenue. But the media team isn't singled out for low recruitment; Apple has incredibly small teams proportional to its size and sales everywhere except its stores. Also, requests often get bounced back up to the mothership in Cupertino, California. Even when a subject is important, Apple may choose not to respond.

For example, despite my having sought a response in plenty of time about the iPhone storing a 'map' of phone masts users had linked to - effectively a map of where they had been - the company decided simply not to comment. The story, when it came out, led to questions in the US Congress and, soon, changes to the iPhone software.

I think Apple often prefers to see how big a story becomes and then react. It's the classic problem for big companies stretched over continents.

Social media: There are no official Apple blogs. It doesn't have an active presence on Facebook or Twitter (apart from some auto-tweets from the iTunes Store). Marketing chief Phil Schiller is on Twitter (@pschiller) but doesn't interact much. Many other Apple staff are, but keep very quiet; no beans are ever spilt.

GOOGLE - OFF THE RECORD

The modern Google hates to leave fingerprints. I've been dealing with it since it was a comparatively small company back in 2003/04. Google started out not being interested in PR - co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin used to chat to journalists in the very early days, but they didn't really see the point in marketing. Like Apple, they thought the products should speak for themselves.

That's changed as it has got bigger and come into more direct rivalry with Microsoft and, more recently, Facebook.

Page and Brin give the occasional high-profile interview (Brin recently with The Guardian, Page to Businessweek). But it's not the plucky little start-up any more; it's the big beast - so big the EC is deliberating over whether to launch an antitrust action, as it previously did with giant names like Microsoft and Intel.

It has also had to work hard reassuring people over privacy, given the rows in the past couple of years over YouTube and copyright, Google Maps and Google StreetView (with satellite pics of people's homes), Google StreetView's Wi-Fi data capture (a horrendous privacy gaffe that hasn't gone away), and most recently the changes to its privacy policies, rolling them into one.

There are few public faces in the company. And even in briefings, it prefers not to stick its head over the parapet. Read stories about Google in any country, and in time you'll find the magic phrase 'sources close to', which actually means 'the company, but unofficially'. The company itself offers few quotes. Instead there's plenty of 'guidance' on offer for journalists, which of course can't really be challenged in any formal way. No fingerprints, no traceability. Intriguing, for a company whose mission is 'to organise the world's information and make it accessible'.

Social media: Google has many blogs, while Page and Brin have their own Google+ pages. It eschews Facebook, but loads of the staff have blogs, are on Twitter and use Facebook.

MICROSOFT - BLOG SPIN

Of the three, Microsoft has the most businesses that can simply tick over. Windows and Office (which makes 105 per cent of its profits; five per cent then gets lost by various other divisions) don't really need much day-to-day PR. Most of its visible PR effort is around Xbox and Xbox Live and, to a lesser extent, its Windows Phone mobile software.

But once more, it's hamstrung by the sheer size of the business. A UK query relating to something about its general business - say, to pin down a rumour about the Xbox, or the Zune software, or Windows Phone - has to ping over to Seattle, and will often vanish into the vast maw of operations there. That's why so many journalists now rely on the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) blogs that Microsoft's engineers write, because they feel authentic. Of course, they're actually carefully vetted and checked before publication. The clever thing is that the MSDN blogs are the spin; the press office is the formal voice.

The company also sponsors some lobbying groups, without much success. It's too easy these days to follow the money and wonder if there isn't an obvious bias. Google could always neutralise them by applying to join, but it simply ignores them.

Social media: Loads of blogs and plenty of Twitter presence (PR chief Frank Shaw @fxshaw is often biting).

WHICH WORKS BEST?

Which approach works best? One can't be categorical - their different business models mean they need different approaches. Apple's secretive approach is ideal for its 'unveiling' strategy. Microsoft's more open form approach works to drip information out to its enterprise customers, who have long lead times and have to plan. Google wants to be a bit mysterious about its inner workings; it would hate people to see that there are just loads of folk typing code into computers, rather than a magic search bar in the middle of the internet.

I don't envy the modern PR professional trying to boost the profile of a technology company; nor those who look after the 'big three'. Interest is exploding, the number of outlets ditto, and trying to prioritise who to deal with must be mind-numbing. You have my sympathies - honestly.

Arthur's new book Digital Wars: Apple, Microsoft, Google and the Battle for the Internet is published by Kogan Page, and available through bookshops and online.

Brand Survival Techniques

PR colleague Emma Wright has been considering how brand owners need to think in order to survive these challenging economic times. Here’s a summary of what she has to say:

1. Continuing to build strong emotional connection and engagement will be key. Consumers are actively seeking brands that they believe in and want to be part of.

2. Online marketing and buzz is critical, with a focus on understanding niche markets. More and more programming/content/forums will be experience-focused and will develop around cultural and social trends – watch out for everything from ZUMBA TV to the Cheese Tasting channel!

3. Customer experience and brand entertainment will be one of the main battlegrounds to build and keep consumers loyal as our lives are led both on and offline simultaneously.

4. An internal culture will become more and more transparent to the outside world and if there are any inconsistencies in what a brand promises and then doesn’t deliver, this will be exposed with potentially huge consequences for reputation.

5. The holy grail for brands will be owning the end-to-end customer experience – customer service can no longer sit separate to customer marketing and PR continues to be the heartbeat of a brand's reputation.

6. Integrity and consistency of a brand's message remains key across all communications.

7. Brands will look to ensure their architecture is simplified, as they evolve/merge and acquire new businesses. Less really is more.

8. Do or die. Brands need to be passionate about what they stand for and stick to it.

9. Faking it. Brands must protect themselves from the worldwide threat of counterfeiting. Fakes can disintegrate a brand overnight, especially if the consumer isn’t aware it is a fake or starts to believe the price compromise is worth it!

10. Peer-to-peer pressure will become more important as we strive to hold on to the luxuries that were once seen as an essential part of our everyday lives and defined our social standing in society.

The Power of Facebook

Still not convinced by the power of social media? Well in the news today is a story of how Facebook helped a three-and-a-half year old girl to convince a supermarket giant to change the name of a popular product.

Young Lily Robinson suggested that Sainsbury’s Tiger Bread should more accurately be called Giraffe Bread.

And when her Mum posted copies of her letter – and the lovely reply from Sainsbury’s Customer Manager Chris King (aged 27 and a third) – on Facebook, word quickly spread. Soon the campaign for change had gone viral, attracting over 150,000 Facebook 'likes' – and now Sainsbury’s have officially re-named their loaf.

As PR campaigns go it’s a gem. People power has triumphed – and Sainsbury’s have had a golden opportunity to show off their soft side. Not only that – but now everyone’s heard of Tiger/Giraffe bread!

Food for thought?

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Campaign-to-change-Tiger-Bread-to-Giraffe-Bread-at-Sainsburys/312008588836017

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2094564/Giraffe-bread-Lily-Robinson-3-gets-Sainsburys-change-tiger-variety-viral-letter.html

Think Before You Tweet

There’s something about the informality and immediacy of social media that seems to play havoc with common sense.

Just yesterday MP Diane Abbott was forced to apologise for racist remarks posted in a tweet.  And today The Telegraph has published its Top 10 Twitter gaffes:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8993204/Top-10-Twitter-faux-pas.html

Why do seemingly intelligent people forget that comments made via social media can ricochet around the world at lightening speed?

Social media has incredible potential to help brands and businesses engage with their public, but like any other form of communication, it must be handled carefully!

Skeletons in the Closet - An Olympic Issue

A row which has broken out over sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympics highlights an interesting issue.

It’s been 27 years since gas leaked out of a Union Carbide pesticide plant in India, killing around 15,000 people and injuring half a million more – an incident which the Indian Government claims is responsible for ongoing health problems today.

And it just so happens that Dow Chemicals – a major sponsor for next year’s games – are the present owners of Union Carbide – a link which hasn’t gone down well in some parts to say the least.

There have been calls for the Olympic Committee to drop Dow, with protestors reportedly burning effigies of top ranking Olympic officials.

But, as Associated Press has pointed out Dow didn’t own or operate the Union Carbide plant at the time of the incident. In fact they only became a major shareholder 17 years after the tragedy.

Nevertheless it seems they can not escape the legacy of the tragedy. The question is, at what point is a company allowed to move on? Could public opinion curtail the activities of Dow indefinitely, regardless of their current status and reputation?

If PR is about reputation management this is one hell of a challenge for the people of Dow.

And it’s a stark reminder that skeletons have a habit of popping out of the closet….

Cupcake Calamity

Did you read about the cake baker whose profit for the year has been wiped out – thanks to the popularity of a marketing initiative?

When Rachel Brown – a cake maker of 25 years – signed up to offer a Groupon deal, she probably imagined it would raise her profile and possibly win her some new customers. Well it’s certainly raised her profile – she’s all over the Daily Mail – but it’s nearly ruined her to boot.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2064208/Cupcake-calamity-Website-discount-deal-leaves-baker-swamped-orders-102-000-cakes-wipes-profits.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

From a PR perspective the coverage she’s achieved is a dream - and had she been running a different, less labour intensive, style of business then the Groupon deal could’ve been a massive marketing success.

My sympathy goes out to her it really does. Businesses are constantly being ‘sold to’ and it’s a challenge for anyone to figure out what’s worth pursing and what’s not.

I regularly review opportunities presented to clients and my advice is to take your time and make sure you know exactly what you’ll get for your money...

All credit to Mrs Brown, she took on extra staff and worked around the clock to fulfil as many orders as possible, determined to keep her reputation intact.  Let's hope some of those customers come back for more.  

Your Brand on TV - Guaranteed!

Of course you want to see your brand on TV – and now that product placement regulations have been relaxed new opportunities exist.

Nescafe was one of the first brands to strike up a deal – with its Dolce Gusto coffee machine on This Morning. And later this month Nationwide is set to make its debut in long-running soap Coronation Street with a cash machine in the corner shop - the first product placement in a UK primetime show.

The sums involved mean that product placement is likely to remain out of reach for all but major brands - which must surely add extra weight to the value of broadcast coverage achieved through PR.

It’s a fact that you don’t necessarily need big budgets to secure airtime – sometimes a little bit of creativity and PR magic is all it takes!

All Publicity is Good Publicity - Right?

Generally I’d agree, but sometimes you have to wonder how a business thinks it will benefit from certain types of coverage.

Take the trade press for instance. I have clients who could achieve coverage in a range of specialist titles very regularly. But they don’t want to. Why? Well, they’d rather concentrate on targeting media read by potential customers - rather than by their contemporaries and competitors.

It’s certainly more challenging getting these businesses into the local papers regularly, but the coverage achieved is worth a great deal. It helps to them to raise their profile, build their reputation and highlights their values – important marketing objectives.

Quality rather than quantity is what counts. A bulging cuttings book is worth little unless it’s been driven by clear thinking about key messages and key audiences.

As my former boss used to say ‘”f it was easy they’d do it themselves”.

If you can do it yourself then fantastic, but if you’re too busy with your day job to get around to some strategically-driven PR then time to call in the experts! Or leave it until you find the time…..

The Emperor's New Clothes

Now, I’m sure you know it’s all about your USP – the bit that makes you stand out from the rest. Which is all fine and dandy if you truly do have a USP. But in some sectors it’s not easy to get across what really makes you different (accountancy, for instance).  PR and marketing can be quite tricky too, because everyone claims to be the best.

So it was interesting to read what born-again Norwich marketing agency The Line had to say this week:

“Too many agencies claim to have a unique approach; claim to be ‘different’ or use industry speak like Big Ideas or On Time, On Brief and On Budget – as if it’s a unique feature of what they do, as opposed to a fundamental aspect of doing their job properly. The irony is, they’re all the same as the other agencies saying virtually the same thing…..”

I couldn’t agree more – and I’m proud to say I share The Line’s approach to business:

“Our job is to bring objectivity, wisdom, honesty and commitment to our clients’ businesses, working with them to think creatively about the best ways to market them and build connections that will make their business more successful.”

You see, added value is difficult to quantify – but it can make all the difference, especially in these challenging times.

Pumping the PR - When Breast is Best

When an ice cream company opted for a PR-led opening for their new parlour in Covent Garden, creativity was called for.

And baby did they get it!

By producing the world’s first breast milk ice cream, ‘Baby Gaga’ sold out within two hours of going on sale, with sales over the first two weeks 500% above expectations.

Needless to say the stunt generated huge media interest – including eight TV pieces, 23 radio interviews, 22 print articles and over 1,000 online pieces.

Regardless of your views on the stunt – what this clearly shows that it pays to be brave – especially if you’re relying on PR alone to launch your new outlet.

Only in London!

Man Bites Dog

Managing client expectations is an integral part of the job for most PR professionals. The harsh reality is that most stories don’t end up on national TV news. (Remember it’s often bad news that makes national headlines, so be careful what you wish for).

Anyway, I’ve just read an article by Gordon Platt, a former US ABC News producer, who’s penned his ten commandments for media relations. And I thought a couple were particularly worth sharing:

Thou shall tell a story. Reporters don’t write announcements; they write stories.

Thou shall make news. Is your announcement really news? And is it new or does it simply rehash old information? Imagine yourself taking a look at the day’s headlines as an average news consumer. Would this story interest you? Remember it’s a reporter’s job to sell stories—first to his or her editor and then to you, the public. If you wouldn’t read it, it’s not a story.

Thou shall recognise the forest and the trees. It’s all about context. If it’s your company each and every announcement may be of crucial importance and interest to you, and that’s the way it should be. However, it may not be of monumental importance to the world or even your industry. What’s news to a trade publication may not be news to The Wall Street Journal. Take a deep breath; be as objective as you possibly can, and gauge your outreach—and your expectations—accordingly.

Thou shall know what’s happening in the world. In the media, as in life, timing is everything. What might make the papers on a slow August day will not make the cut on an August day when the stock market is crashing. If there's major national or international news and your story can wait, hold it. If not, well, that’s sometimes the breaks.

Twitter Power

With public sector bodies under increasing pressure to demonstrate their worth, it seems some have been turning to Twitter.

Tameside Borough Council recently held a 24-hour twitter-thon to shout about its everyday activities – from blowing up balloons to cutting bowling greens. Not exactly earth shattering stuff but a low cost way of highlighting what gets done in an average day.

Sometimes PR gets too creative for its own good – and Tameside's twitter-thon was an engaging, straighforward and effective way of saying “we’re doing a great job”.

So before you get too carried away, remember what it is you’re trying to say – and don’t make things more complicated than you have to! The simplest ideas are often the best.

Want to hit the headlines?

Do it first!

Pizza Express is basking in the glow of the media spotlight today, following news of their new ‘pay now’ i-phone app.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2004167/Pizza-Express-diners-use-iPhones-pay-walk-out.html


Contactless technology is of course big news and for Pizza Express customers the new app means no more waiting to pay at the end of their meal.

Regardless of how successful the trial is, it’s a great bit of marketing by Pizza Express.

Be creative – take a look at what you do, give it a topical twist and see what you can come up with. It might just lead to some great PR!

Get On TV!

The Dragons are hungry - and on the lookout for invesment opportunities.  If you've got the nerve then why not apply for the next series?

Regardless of what happens in the den it'll be great experience and could help you get your name out to millions of TV viewers. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/apply/