In addition to their article on the topic, PR Week’s podcast adds weight to the discussion of the Guardian’s new editorial code. Our chief exec Adrian Brady shares his views.
Archive for the ‘Media & Marketing’ Category
No promos, no plugs. Adrian Brady discusses the Guardian’s PR crack down
August 11th, 2011 by Anthony
Cannes you believe it?
July 1st, 2011 by Louisa
Myself, Vicky and Phil are officially old ( I know, a shocker). After a mammoth sojourn to the Cote d’Azure we are all feeling the pains of no sleep and beaucoup de vins. It’s an awful job but someone had to do it.
The jam packed schedule started the moment we hit the airport where we met with Gemma Greaves, Marketing Director of The Marketing Society to talk serious business (well more the best restaurants, parties and bars, it was imperative to visit).
After dumping our bags we hit the Croisette for a spot of steak tartare and bumped into no other than Tim Hipperson of G2. Vicky then had a meeting with MEC and Phil and I co-created probably our most glamorous comment piece ever (in terms of location) with Christoph Becker at Gyro. No rest for the wicked (and no planned nap) we headed off to the back of town to catch up with The Brand Union following their stupendous installation, The Big Book, which had pride of place at the foot of the Palais. And yes our photos could be found amongst the pages, much to our delight. Although we still haven’t forgiven Rankin for not recognising our photographic genius by failing to select them for the top 11 (eleven is the new ten, apparently). Never mind, we don’t hold a grudge (much).
Supper was a lovely affair at a beautiful garden terrace, where we spotted none other than Robert Redford – although on closer inspection, I suspect it wasn’t really him… although has anyone else noticed the distinct resemblance to John Hegarty???
And then to the Gala Party, followed by the Gutter Bar where they ran out of beer – outrageous. I think we crawled to bed at 5am.
Bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning (going via a pharmacy for Phil, who managed to lose his voice the night before), we grabbed a coffee and awaited the arrival of another client, Alchemetrics. Given it was their first time at Cannes, the weeks previous we executed a campaign nattily entitled “Cannes You Find Us” through LinkedIn and Twitter. This culminated in a photo shoot by The Big Book, which challenged delegates to come and find us; the prize a free lunch. We were “found” but we promised not to reveal by whom – they don’t want anyone to know they like free lunches! (But it’s sooo tempting). After a long lunch in the old town we were joined by the lovely Caroline Barker at Momentum and Gemma from the Marketing Society, where the “after, after party” was conceived, brainstormed and agreed. Amuse bouches (not sure that’s the plural) were a key feature.
Caroline and I then went to her interview with Adforum.com and then had a wander around the amazing Japan exhibition, a collection of fundraising creative activated by adland in response to the earthquake. Here we spied Michael Roth and the Japanese Ambassador to France. On to The Big Book cocktail party where we entertained journalists from as far afield as Australia.
Again shunning a nap we hot footed it to the Campaign Party (sleep is for wimps) and hobnobbed with Phil Smith, Sara Kimberly, Jeremy King, Suzanne Bidlake amongst others. Without a doubt a fantastic event (although I probably would say that!), not least because I had my first paddle and met a super new business lead. On to supper and then another session a la Gutter alongside Momentum who had just finished organising one of the parties that everyone wanted a ticket for. So exclusive was it, even we didn’t get a pass (!!!). Then to Bed. Selflessly we had given up one of our rooms to the plight of a journalist so Vic and I shared a rediculously small bed – it’s a good job we like each other (and I think we still do, Vic?).
The following morning we sorted out our Shots tickets, caught up with a few more journalists, harassed Phil Smith, who happened to have the misfortune of staying in the same hotel, and then hung out on the Carlton Terrace to people watch. Then off to the Ogilvy party which had the most magnificent aerial acrobats amongst flowing cocktails and plentiful sausage rolls. Contentment is a party called Ogilvy. The battered mars bars were a big Eulogy! hit.
We then decamped to The Shots Party, which was absolutely heaving and at capacity by 12.30am. An apparent record. Big thanks go to Attilio and Hayley for looking after us so wonderfully.
And then because it’s the law, a stint back at the Gutter. Where the prices had magically increased by 7% on the night before. We are seriously in the wrong business.
Not only did we meet and spend time with some great people, but we also learnt masses too. Watching sessions such as the debate between Murdoch and Sir Sorrell were invaluable, not to mention listening to the controversy caused by Will.i.am’s exertion that “Ad agencies are yesterday”, innit.
Another festival over, but it was without a doubt the busiest I have seen in recent years and the mood exceptionally buoyant. If that’s anything to go by, hopefully the industry can look forward to a more positive year than last.
CommunitE!
May 17th, 2011 by Louisa
This week saw E! working with G2 Joshua on research about the opportunity community based campaigns afford brands.
Currently you can’t talk about community without tipping a nod to “the” wedding but now the bunting has been taken down, the trestle tables packed away, the chairs borrowed from the local village hall restacked, will that be it until another national celebration?
Not if David Cameron has anything to do with it. Not only did he flex his muscles in April by publically berating bureaucrats who were concerned the humble home-made scone could cause a pandemic of botulism, he also continues to promote his Big Society premise despite media derision over the last week.
Irrespective of whether the Big Society is working or not, consumer sentiment towards brands with a more societal mindset that goes beyond CSR is evident. Half of the people surveyed by G2 Joshua believe that companies have a key role to play in maintaining community spirit. Moreover, five of Trendwatching’s 11 Crucial Trends 2011 are related to consumers wanting brands to stand for something positive.
It’s not just consumers, but agency folk too. We’ve been working with ex-Proximity founders Elly Woolston and Duncan Gray to help them launch their new agency {United}, which is the first belief-driven offering that will work with brands that we’ve coined “not just for profit” – organisations with a distinct social conscience that want to give something back. {United} is based on Elly, Duncan and Steven’s (Dodds) conviction that a brand’s beliefs are a valuable marketing asset and their desire to help organisations unlock these for mutual benefit to the company and the consumer.
Another of our agency clients, gyro is also getting involved with community spirit by supporting BITC’s Give & Gain initiative which takes place on 24th June. It is the UK’s only national day of staff volunteering where employees of a company can donate their time and expertise during work hours to help support local communities in need. gyro will be designing and building a sensory garden and are also donating their PR budget, so during the rest of May and June the Eulogy! gyro team will be working closely with BITC to help publicise Give & Gain Day to help sign up other businesses.
We have also got involved with Start (Prince Charles’ sustainability charity), The Marketing Society and BITC’s Meteorite-devised campaign One Day. One Day is a mass call to action to consumers driven by the marketing community to initiate behaviour change. The aim of One Day is that on 1st November 2011 (1/11/11), all marketing communications should embrace one central consumer theme: Think about and do something sustainable today. The initiative aims to get a community of one million consumers to pledge to change their lifestyle in one small way that will make better use of natural resources. It hopes to have more than 100 top brands engaged from the outset to demonstrate the persuasive power of the UK marketing industry. It will be our job to help promote the initiative and we’re really excited by it.
The One Day initiative clearly shows the potential power that tapping into community can bring. With the might of the marketing industry awakening to these benefits it seems likely that our lives as consumers will be positively supplemented by brands as community focused campaigns become more prevalent, which in my mind is no bad thing.
Agencies the antidote to the dangers of ‘groupthink’
February 17th, 2011 by Louisa
This recession has been the catalyst for many a new trend. You can’t open a paper without reading about something that has been spawned as a result of the economic downturn (although to be fair, the PR industry is certainly partly responsible for this!)
One trend we’ve noticed at Eulogy! is the movement of public relations from agency to in-house, particularly in the B2B space, and drilling down even further – most noticeably within the marketing services and media sectors. Having spent over a decade agency-side and with no in-house experience to my name, I’m definitely not the person to write a well balanced appraisal of the pros and cons of each – I suspect if I did, agency would win. Yet, with a number of friends opting to move in-house over the last few years, and having worked very closely with in-house comms teams at organisations such as Royal Mail, GyroHSR and JWT I am not blind to the advantages that having dedicated resource affords a business (although would obviously argue voraciously against).
That said over the last few weeks I have noticed a series of articles within both the national and trade media focusing on the phenomenon that is groupthink – such as this one in The Telegraph, which blames groupthink for the financial crisis and this one in Money Marketing, which talks about the dangers of groupthink on policy.
Stepping down a bit from the recession and financial policy it is widely recognised that groupthink can also be a destructive force and a real issue for businesses. At its worst it stifles creativity and independent thinking often stilting development, which can ultimately impact the bottom line of an organisation. Typically, however, it manifests itself by championing a status quo and all too often businesses find themselves getting on with the day to day jobs without looking at the bigger picture and creating regular challenges. This I believe is where outsourcing (irrespective of discipline) can really add its value. Working with teams that know you well, but ultimately sit outside of the business, can help inspire and ignite ideas and forward thinking. This is precisely why we work with people such as the (marvellous) Amber Group, to challenge our thinking and assist us with our own direction. The fact that consultancies, such as PR, have this ability is what I enjoy most about agency life.
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