This Friday the University of Sunderland talk series: “Delivering the New PR” comes to a close with a second event in London.
The event has all the usual suspects: Chris, Elizabeth, Neville, Nicky, Philip, Stuart and the gang from Don’t Panic.
The event takes place in at the Marriot Hotel, Regents Park in London this Friday, November 10th 2006.
More information here.
If you’re reading this blog, chances are you read other PR blogs.
If that’s the case it’s probably fair to assume that you know there’s a lot of interesting online developments out there that promise to have a major impact on how we communicate – all of us, not just PR pros.
However, the problem is that we still don’t know how a lot of this technology will actually change communications in the long-run.
Luckily some kind-hearted folks such as Trevor Cook are taking the time to provide a gentle introduction to the tools that are already emerging.
Others, such as Todd Defren are already seeing these new “media” outlets creating unexpected client issues.
Hysterical discussions of “old” media going away should be avoided – it’s not reality, but there are changes coming and where are audience go, we must follow. It’s fair to say that there’s not enough audience-centric discussion going on at the moment – but then we don’t have the answers.
I echo Mason Cole’s thoughts on Todd’s issue above:
I need to adapt better to all this. We all do. It’s where the industry is moving.
We all need to adapt but there’s still time. Focus on the channels that are already popular, namely blogs, podcasts, RSS, search engines etc., get out and talk to your audience. Are they engaging in the “online conversation”? That’s the acid test. It’s not too late, you haven’t missed anything.
We should all keep an open mind, remain inquisitive, don’t be afraid of new things, and get involved where it makes sense. Sounds like good ‘ole PR to me.
Trevor also has a link to a great piece from the UK Daily Telegraph on how we’re all becoming big babies. This is something that has annoyed me for quite some time. I disagree with the nanny state, that’s why we have free will. Since when do we all expect to be spoon fed? Grow up and get over it – that’s life 🙂
One of the perils of a role that encompasses community relations is that every so often you have to actually do as you say rather than just insisting everyone else does as you say.
The result is that I am now sporting the somewhat bedraggled look of someone who went out for an evening and didn’t come back for a week…
For the month of November, I’m participating in a local fundraising initiative called “Tache for Cash” for the ISPCC. It’s simple really, you grow a moustache for a month to amuse everyone else, and you go raise money.
Sorcha’s none too pleased and so my “Tache for Cash” has evolved into “Beard for Cash”. She’s still not happy but is at least willing to be seen in public with me – it seems that the idea of a bright red moustache was just too much 🙂
tags: Community, Tache+for+Cash,
So, Messrs. Hobson, Holtz, Jaffe and Chapman have taken the wraps off their new enterprise: crayon.
The company will be formally launched this Thursday (you can guess where).
According to Neville:
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“We’re not an agency nor a consulting practice as is traditionally defined. What we are is whatever you want or need us to be… that combines the best in traditional and new thinking about marketing, advertising and PR….. Our methodology pivots around conversation and transformation above communication.”
According to Shel:
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“We’re not an agency or a consulting firm, but we do bring the best of what those types of companies have to offer. We’ll approach our assignments with fresh eyes that see the new environment in which traditional marketing and advertising is failing so dismally.”
I wish them all the very best with their new venture. It’ll be incredibly interesting to see how things develop.
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I give up. Honestly, I’ve tried my best, but this Second Life stuff just won’t go away 🙂 If it’s not pesky podcasters it’s the pesky commenters!
In four years, Ireland has managed to generate three PR-related blogs (and one of those only started in the past month), yet an Irish PR firm is currently building out its presence in Second Life.
Is there no escaping it?
Of course, statistically speaking (lies, damn lies and…) that means that in Ireland for every three PR blogs there’s a PR firm with offices in Second Life. Finally an online statistic where Ireland looks impressive… well kind of….
I was chatting with Jane McDaid of Thinkhouse PR, a consumer agency here in Dublin, and their new shiny Second Life office is now under construction. It’s great to see an Irish agency experimenting with new online media. It’s also great to chat with someone incredibly passionate about the potential of new media – but then that’s a common trait I see among all the Second Lifers.
I suppose I’ll eventually have to concede and take a wander one of these days. I hope they’ll go gently on me.
tags: PR, Second Life, Thinkhouse, Ireland
While undoubtedly there’s a lot of excellent discourse taking place around the most recent Edelman snafu, a lot of the commentary is little more than rubbernecking.
I’m always nervous of taking a holier than thou position in these situations as it doesn’t take a lot for it to explode in your ever so smug face – unless you’re anonymous of course, but, then if you are anonymous what value has your opinion?
Let me digress for a moment. If you are posting anonymously, how can you criticize the manner in which other people are getting involved in the conversation? Anyone spot the irony?
Edelman screwed up. It’s a little more surprising because it’s strike two and if memory serves me correctly the first episode also concerned Wal*Mart.
But is it the end of the world? Nope.
I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Two pieces of advice I’d give them (if they were listening) are firstly they took too long to come clean and give a statement – I doubt they’d wait so long for a client – particularly as they had all the facts! Secondly maybe it’s me – and I do NOT want to be picky but I’d highlight this comment from Edelman’s post:
Let me reiterate our support for the WOMMA guidelines on transparency, which we helped to write. Our commitment is to openness and engagement because trust is not negotiable and we are working to be sure that commitment is delivered in all our programs.
The term “which we helped write” jarred with me for a couple of reasons. Firstly is he trying to promote thought leadership in an apology? It was unnecessary. Secondly if you helped to write them and you’ve already fouled twice on the same issue… that raises questions n’est pas?
Anyway, no big deal, move on, and for the love of all that’s holy get your act together.
PS: Fair play to Mr. Edelman, he’s posting his socks off in the comments…
tags: Edelman, Transparency
This something I wrote about before. The Interweb is a large connected world. Mistaken identity occurs all the time, particularly when your parents didn’t appear to spend an awful lot of imagination naming you 🙂
It appears that there is another Tom Murphy online blogging in Ireland, he’s the brains behind Santa Strike Force, and he’s the man that’s been nominated for the Net Visionary Award in the social contribution category. Much deserved by the looks of things.
There were a couple of Tom Murphy’s in my school, there are three I know of in Microsoft, it’s always fun….
I’ve finally caught up on a lot of recent RSS reading – I have to be honest coming back to a full RSS reader is often as stressful as a full inbox – so here’s some of the more interesting stuff. Some is older, some irrelevant. You be the judge…
I think Edelman deserve a lot of kudos for their committment to the new changing world of online communication. It could be argued that any agency “pushing the envelope”, so to speak, has a higher probability of hitting some speed bumps – however we could also be moving from careless and silly to stupid if they keep grabbing the headline – albeit the bloglines.
Trevor Cook | Neville Hobson | Shel Holtz | John Wagner | Kevin Dugan |
Even with a booming technology sector (booming for about 20 years at this point), Ireland remains behind the curve when it comes to new technology. This includes blogs. I’m delighted to see that there’s no a third Irish PR blogger, long-time technology and finance PR guru Ronnie Simpson. It goes without saying that the ever industrious Piaras Kelly of Drury Communications was the second.
Mason Cole takes a stab at some PR myths.
Mike Manuel provides bloggers with some advice on how to approach corporations. It’s first time I’ve seen such advice provided and it’s a great idea though obviously will be ignored.
Probably a little off-topic and definetely straying in adolescent humour, however John Collins’ post on unfortunate corporate URLs made me smile.
OK so I have previously been a little hesitant in supporting the whole Second Life thing. I certainly don’t (yet!) share the passion it’s generating among certain PR commentators but it continues to crop up all over the place and is worthy of a mention. (Still haven’t registered or visited it).
You can listed to Paull, Kami and Georg’s discussion on the Forward Podcast here.
Shel Holtz takes on Dave Taylor’s assertion that a CEO should never blog. I have to say I agree with Shel, there are of course CEOs who should never blog, but some CEOs will find it incredibly successful.
Read all about it… [Via Jim Horton]
“However, too many PR folks either think we don’t mean it, or don’t bother spending enough time on the site to realize we don’t want press releases. You think we plan to pay attention to either type of PR spammer? We’ve had our fair share of posts highlighting stupid PR practices in the past, but (of course) the worst offenders don’t actually read this site — they just spam us. It’s not surprising, of course, to find out that we’re not alone in feeling this way.”
tags: PR, Second Life, Social Media, CEO Blogging, Press Release, Public Relations
England take their football/soccer very seriously indeed. They recently appointed a new manager for the national team, Steve McClaren, who it’s fair to say wasn’t a popular appointment – among the fans or the media – and their 2-0 loss during the week to Croatia has created something of a firestorm among the tabloid media.
No suprise then perhaps that McClaren was the lead story in the sports section of Saturday’s edition of the UK Daily Mail, except the subject of the story was something of a surprise. The headline read:
Then the sub-head explained he had been fired by his PR advisor (not his employer). You know things are getting bad when the flack jumps ship – and when it’s the lead story. Of course the fact that the flack in question is one Max Clifford explains a lot…
“In the early stages Steve certainly seemed to understand my advice and I think a lot of the things I talked about, he would like to have done but it just didn’t materialise.
“The relationship now is virtually non-existent. If I can’t take part and I can’t contribute then there is no point in me staying involved. What was made very clear to me in the beginning was that the FA were very unhappy with my appointment.”
PS: It appears Mr. McClaren’s job is fairly safe. The ruling body of English football are still paying £13,000 per day compensation to their previous manager so it’s felt that they are committed to avoiding having to pay McClaren the £10 million compensation they’d have to if they fired him. I want one of those jobs.
tags: Max Clifford, McClaren, PR
I was having lunch with a friend of mine yesterday, who mentioned in passing about the Irish Internet Association’s Net Visionary awards.She asked how come I had been nominated? Huh? Then followed five minutes where she wouldn’t believe that I knew nothing about it. It appears I have been nominated in the category of: “Social Contribution”. Someone forgot to tell me, but then given real bloggers like Bernie Goldbach and Tom Raftery are in the running and I think I’m the only nomination without a biography or link the words ‘hell’ and ‘snowball’ come to mind.ÂÂ
A PR guy making a ‘social contribution’ – what is the world coming to?
Murphy's Law 