Tag: headlines

Sometimes to say nothing at all makes most impact

Posted on September 14, 2012 by

The French edition of Closer magazine has decided to print pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge topless while on a holiday. My first point has to be does anyone really care – I have no burning desire to see her breasts and can’t imagine for one second why anyone else would want to either.

My second point is that Closer magazine (and it’s important to get across that this is the French edition not the UK based publication) will sell out on all newsstands if not for the fact that they have these ridiculous images but because the British media are making such a fuss about it.

If the truth be told the very best way to handle this would have been to keep quiet and say nothing. The publishers will be rubbing their hands together in glee and doubling the print run to meet with demand and all because people are talking about something, which for all intense and purpose, has no news value what-so-ever.

Closer in France couldn’t have paid for this profile or the exposure that they get. Right or wrong there is definitely some truth in the fact that all publicity is good publicity.

Even Jeremy Vine has got in on the act, asking if a Princess should go topless at someone else’s house on his prime time afternoon show – I go back to my original point, who cares? She is a beautiful married woman who was on holiday. If she wants to sunbath topless at a private resort then it is her right to do so.

I’m not one to bang on about human rights and I do agree that when someone becomes a public figure they have certain expectations placed on them but there has to be a line drawn and this photographer, in my mind, have crossed it.

The best thing we could all do now is never mention the sorry incident again. Rather than giving the ‘story’ more kudos, we should simply ignore it and rise above it. No more statements, no more comments issued and certainly no more mention of the rag in question. I just hope that those who are responsible don’t earn enough money to retire as a result of a few tasteless pictures.

Can you weather proof your marketing?

Posted on July 18, 2012 by

You can’t really say that we’ve had a summer time yet, despite it being mid-July, in fact it feels more like some balmy extended winter. The only glimpse of sun we have had in the UK has been a random day here and there or if we really push it maybe a week.

The problem isn’t just flooding to houses and roads, burst river banks and floating cars, it goes far beyond that.  We work with a range of clients who rely on us to put together PR strategies and plans which meet with their briefs and deliver results, while achieving objectives. Not always as simple as it sounds.

As a PR and marketing communications agency, we do not profess to be all things to all people but we are a creative team and we come up with a range of ideas that the client can then choose from. Sometimes these ideas go beyond PR and include sampling, experiential and even, on occasion, suggestions for advertising campaigns or retailer engagement.

Working in this way allows us to put recommendations forward that we feel will work for the client and better still deliver a return on investment. We know that one theme can create an integrated approach, which can then be used in a number of different ways to achieve results. We also know that the ideas we propose have longevity, which can build over time, and ultimately create retention of key messages throughout the campaign period.

It would be unfair of us to suggest that we always come up with the ideas, as we work with a range of agencies and benefit from their insight and experience.  In order to make this approach work as well as it can, we hold agency days where all agencies come together and share their thoughts in order to agree the best ideas and creative routes, which are able to translate across disciplines.

So what has all this got to do with the weather?

This ‘summer’ has proven that an integrated approach to marketing and PR is absolutely essential. We have heard about the number of events that have been cancelled or rescheduled, which has impacted on sampling opportunities, sponsorship and outdoor activities.

There is nothing you can do about the rain, so in order to weather proof your marketing, by having a multi discipline approach, when one recommendation cannot be implemented as expected another can come into play, meaning a brand can have a contingency in place that will still deliver a return and build on the campaign theme.

As an example, if an activity cannot go ahead, PR activity can continue with features and press releases distributed to the media, sampling activity can take place in doors and advertising on cinema screens can reach an audience that are trying their best to get away from the wet weather.

I’m sure we are all praying for some more sunshine – and I don’t want to be the one to dismiss the fact that we may just get a summer – but on the basis that we do get more wet weather, we would advise that brands consider how they can work smarter to ensure they have a contingency in place.

The first step is to choose an agency that doesn’t simply look at quirky ideas that hit the headlines one minute and are lost the next or those who feel that winning an industry award makes for best practice – but an agency that delivers consistent results with the brand and business objectives in mind, while taking into account their disciplines and those of others.

Has ‘STOP PRESS’ taken on a totally new meaning?

Posted on June 29, 2012 by

Having worked in the PR industry for more than a decade I have been some significant changes, not least the move to more online mediums and methods of communication. There was once a time when you would draft, approve and print a press release before spending hours at a fax machine – not any more.

Digital technology and new ways of working mean you can have a press release drafted and out of the door in a matter of hours. It isn’t just ways of working that have changed however with more newspapers featuring online content that can be viewed and then shared with millions of people around the globe at the touch of a button.

Despite how easy it is to go online I can’t help but feel a little sad that we are losing the tangible benefit to having a paper and more importantly, in my opinion, the experience that print media delivers; getting a cup of coffee, opening a paper, looking at the supplements, smelling the print, turning the pages, cutting pieces out for reference. It all adds to the whole experience of buying and reading the news.

There will be many people in the PR and marketing industry who will be shouting that I’m in the dark ages and to get with the times, after all you can bookmark or share articles in the same way you could cut out clippings and its simple and easy to turn on an iPad or even access the media through a smart phone while having a coffee but that’s not my point.

We still find that when given the choice a client would rather see a full page printed piece in a regional or national newspaper, rather than a URL to a piece online. This may well change over time as people become more receptive to online news, who knows?

One piece which caught my eye recently featured in The Drum, a trade publication for the marketing industry. The headline read ‘The Guardian moves to deny ‘absurd’ rumours that it will go online only next year.’ Despite moves by the paper to contradict this suggestion, it would seem to me there is no smoke without fire and that perhaps their plan was to implement their five year strategy sooner.

It’s a shame that the print industry is in decline. Not only because of the process that I feel is so heart-warming when you buy a newspaper but also because there is a whole industry reliant on that income – beyond the sale of the papers themselves.

If we consider printers who have spent years in the same role, machinists who are professionals and passionate about their work, maintenance technicians who know the presses inside and out, designers who set the copy and imagery and then let’s not forget the paper boys / girls it paints a very gloomy picture to consider that all of these people will be without work.

I don’t personally want to see printed papers become a memory of times gone by and I hope that others feel the same way. The problem is that being a time poor society, trying to make ends meet during difficult economic conditions, for many of us the choice is made – free online publications at your fingertips in seconds, or a paid for printed version, which requires you to go to the shops or take out a subscription.

Long live print is what I say! However I get the impression that ‘stop press’ is going to take on a very new meaning over the next few years.

A tale of two very different headlines

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

There have been two very different stories which have hit the headlines recently yet both have led me to ask some questions about their positioning within the media. Both seem somehow, in some way, to have missed the point.

The first is the Leveson inquiry. Unless you have been living in a hole for the past six months plus, you will know that phone hacking, ‘close’ relationships, text messages and Christmas / office parties have all been discussed at length during this trial, leading to days of coverage across all media.

The inquiry itself is enough to shock and presumably has led many to question what has been going on and how the media machine ever thought it would be possible to carry on regardless, knowing how information was being ‘researched’.

It isn’t the political element to this story that shocked me most – but the fact that the presenters on the news on Friday morning were questioning how Rebekah Brooke would cope when asked direct and ‘difficult’ questions.

No one seemed to realise that as former editor of the News of the World she is one of the best trained people to handle this situation. She was surrounded by high profile comments and good and bad practice to call upon, while also being media trained to within an inch of her life. If there was anyone who was perfectly capable of dealing with this fall out it was her.  People who work in the media are perfectly aware of the way it works and there was never any doubt she would provide very factual comments, which would go into as little detail as possible, while ensuring she ‘answered the question’.

The second story to catch my eye was the final of Britain’s Got Talent. I have to admit that this show is my guilty pleasure. I think the auditions are simply hilarious and the talent is something that we should all be proud of. Although I thought all of the final acts were deserving of being there – I don’t believe that dancing dog Pudsey should have won.

Before you get cross and ask what I’m talking about – of course a performing pouch and their adoring owner should take first place – what got me was the way that a reference to animal abuse was used not once but twice during the judging.

Although I find animal cruelty abhorrent, I didn’t think the reference was necessary and would go as far as to say that as a result more votes were generated for that reason than for the talent itself.  In my opinion Charlotte and Jonathan were outstanding, a true celebration of British talent and two young people who for all the right reasons deserve to be rewarded for their efforts and their amazing performance.

So what do you think? Is there news value in questioning a former editor’s ability to cope with serious but direct questioning and what about that dancing dog – it will be interesting to see how both stories continue to hit the headlines and what angles are taken forward from here.

There will be little doubt that Rebekah Brooks will trend again across social media today as she finds out if she will face charges but what about that dog. One suggestion is that as a result of half a million Pudsey will finally drop his owner and take to the circuit as a solo act. Hey, it can’t be any more bizarre than some of things that are currently hitting the headlines!