Smoking Gun PR shots Clever Campaign

Smoking Gun has just launched (November 2012) a smoking hot integrated campaign for the Kennel Club. 

The core elements are the competition ‘Crufts Factor’, which aims to find Britain’s most talented dog and is supported by Britain’s Got Talent Winner and Young Kennel Club member Ashleigh Butler, and the Discover Dogs event.

Dog owners who think their pooch has the Crufts Factor, can upload a video of their star through a Facebook app. The audience will have the chance to vote and elect three finalists. The three lucky doggies, together with a wildcard entry, will then show their talent at the event in Earl’s Court. The final winner will finally perform on the global stage at Crufts in March 2013.

MY OPINION

I might be slightly biased because of my love for dogs (my favourite pet), but I think this campaign will be extremely successful. We could say that there is a celebrity endorsement element in this campaign, which will definitely help its success. However, I think that the competition and the extremely shareable UGC will ultimately be its X (= winning) factor.

What do you think? Am I too biased?

** Apologies for the rare updates - I am working 9-5 and have no access to the Internet at home, which makes things complicated. It will all go back to normal in a few weeks.

Zynga Tries to Use the Back-door

What many companies fail to understand nowadays is that ANYTHING can affect their reputation, even how they handle redundancies. And this is even truer after the digital revolution, in a world where the word-of-mouth can reach a much wider public in a very short time, thanks to social networks such as Twitter. You know what I'm talking about, right? The Zynga case, of course.

(taken from here)

WHAT HAPPENED

Right on the day of the launch of the iPad Mini (during the launch itself!) Zynga communicated to more than a hundred of its employees that they had two hours to leave the premises, as they were being made redundant. Such a coincidence huh?

And of course someone started tweeting...

The result? Share prices dropped and no one really liked Zynga's behaviour. 

MY OPINION

So you see? Reputation is something so wide that can be influenced by so many factors... a company should really give a tiny little thought about it before doing any action that affects any of its stakeholders. This brings me back to some of the lectures I followed last year, where I was told that PR should influence a company's management, in order to guarantee the sake of its reputation. This has never been so true today. I'm not saying that PRPs should be called for every decision being made, every single detail being fixed; however, asking the opinion of a PRP (in-house) before making such a major move, would have benefitted the company. 

And if it was the PR department that made that decision, in order to try to hide the redundancy news, I think the whole department doesn't really know anything about what's going on nowadays. I mean... Making 100 people redundant during the Apple's launch and getting away with it is not even slightly realistic.

In conclusion, I believe organisations should behave at their best (i.e. as if they were in the spotlight) in all circumstances, most of all when any of their stakeholders are involved, AND that PR considerations should be taken into account before taking any major decisions. Also, something to keep in mind is that employees, future employees, and ex employees are powerful stakeholders of a company that have opinions, friends, and social media profiles - it's not all about the media and journalists.

I'd really love to hear your thoughts about this case and any reflections you have to offer about it.

Waterstones and The Pleasure of a Bookshop

I know this is not PR - it's advertising - BUT given that I love books very much and still cannot deny the pleasure of browsing a bookshop and secretly smelling the new books (I can be a weirdo, yes), I want to dedicate a little post to Waterstones' new campaign. I mean... it's everywhere and every time I read one of their ads I cannot help but smile and nod. Also, advertising has to focus on key messages as much as PR, so we can learn something valuable about campaign messages and single minded propositions, too.

THE CAMPAIGN

Taken from here

The campaign, by Legas Delaney has one clear message: you cannot renounce to the pleasure of browsing a bookshop and the tactile qualities of physical books.

The tag lines are spread across London and include "Books you can't put down are much easier to find when you can actually pick them up". I find most of them quite witty. Some focus on mocking online book shopping - like this one: "A browser. Much better to be one than to use one." It is obvious that the campaign aims to contrast online shopping, which caused a decrease of sells for bookstores.

MY OPINION

I think it was clear since the introduction but... I love this campaign! The key message adds brand value and makes a clear statement. The idea is simple, nothing new. However, the execution is great. I think the tag lines have a strong impact on readers and believe that this is exactly the right message Waterstones should be sending out. Why? Because according to Mintel, one third of readers still prefer browsing the physical store. Legas Delaney definitely did their research before doing their brainstorming. Well done. 

What do you think about this campaign? Do you still buy physical books from the bookshop?

A Really Disguised Campaign

Have you spotted anything unusual around London last month? I wish I wasn't on holiday, because I've missed it! But I'll get over it by writing about it. It seems like a good way to let it go...

THE CAMPAIGN

In September 2012, lifestyle TV channel Really created a camouflage campaign to launch Covert Affairs, a new drama TV series. What did they do? They've invaded London with secret spies! 

(Images taken from here)

Teaming up with artist Carolyn Roper, Really used urban camouflage to promote the new series. On 16th September, a number of spies hid around London, blending with background elements and shocking passers-by only when moving. The stunt evoked the TV series' CIA drama theme. The 'special agents' hid all over London in iconic locations such as a London red bus in West London, a black taxi outside the Royal Albert Hall, and a stall in Portobello Road. 

MY OPINION

I simply love this series of stunts! I believe this was a very creative and evocative idea to symbolise the TV series' theme. A stunt needs to shock, it needs to create that buzz. I believe this is definitely an example of clever PR. It captured the attention of the people passing by and generated good media coverage. Moreover, it makes a statement about Really - it marks the TV channel's image as innovative and intriguing, with an artistic flavour.

However, I might be biased because this campaign involves urban art, which I love.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the stunts!

Facebook's Bad PR

Let's talk about some bad PR, for a change.

In the last few days some rumors about Facebook private messages being published on users' timelines were spread online. 

Users raised concerns to Facebook's staff about this phenomenon; however Facebook denied repeatedly.

They declared:

“A small number of users raised concerns after what they mistakenly believed to be private messages appeared on their Timeline. Our engineers investigated these reports and found that the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the users' profile pages” (Taken from here).

As a Facebook user, I can say with no doubt that that some of my private messages were published as posts at the beginning of my timeline. These were private messages from a year and a few months ago - I deleted them promptly, of course.

Why is this bad PR?

I think that denying everything was a great mistake. Not only because I am sure that the rumors were true, but also because it is never good to minimise an issue that several users reported. All the users who complained have a network of friendships on Facebook (and offline), so the news spread quickly. I saw various statuses changing into warning messages for other users to read. I couldn't really give an estimate, but I believe quite a lot of Facebook users know about the leak.This is demonstrated by the fact that some users cancelled their accounts and Facebook's share price fell 9.1 per cent. As I previously highlighted here on the blog, denial is never a good PR technique in the age of social media.

What do you think? Is this is an example of bad PR? Why?

Sleep tight with Travelodge

Today I want to talk about a campaign that is very clever and that has inspired me in the past when working on campaigns for my MA. I'm talking about the 'Sleep tight' campaign that Grayling did for Travelodge. 

Image taken from here

In 2010 Travelodge faced a more competitive environment in the hospitality sector and therefore needed to stand out through differentiation and to generate brand recognition. Grayling very cleverly thought that positioning Travelodge as 'sleep specialists' would guarantee newsworthiness. And they were right! Lack of sleep is something we discuss very often with family, colleagues, and friends. Moreover, lack of sleep and its consequences are often mentioned in newspapers and magazines. 

Grayling established a conversation with the public by collecting a 'sleep census'. Once the issue of the lack of sleep was made known to the audience, Traveldoge was suggested as the solution to the problem. The whole campaign aimed to promote Traveldoge as retailer of sleep; a 'Sleep Manifesto' was even created. 

Since the huge success of the first campaign, the concept has been expanded and developed further in the last two years, it has been used in other campaigns by Travelodge.

MY OPINION

I believe this campaign is simply brilliant. What Grayling did was exploiting an already newsworthy item, in order to suggest that the client was the solution to it. This is a great technique to make a company stand out. I feel like I have learnt a lot from this case study. If we can relate a client to something that is newsworthy per se and we can cleverly and creatively exploit it, half of the job for the media coverage is basically done. The news releases almost sell themselves, the online conversations are more or less guaranteed, and the TA's interest is assured. I think this technique is one of the most effective PR strategies - at least of my knowledge :) .

What do you think? I'd love to hear some of your thought about this PR technique :)

#AskLondoners

I came across this nice idea McCann Health had the other day and wanted to dedicate a small post to it, although there is not much information about it out there. I'm talking about the #AskLondonders campaign. 

(Taken from here)

This campaign is all about enhancing the relationship between Londoners and tourists. The idea is as simple as brilliant: Londoners who wear the Ask Londoners badge will be available to talk to tourists about the best places in London and what activities they can do while staying in town for the Olympics. 

I think the direct contact guaranteed is full of potential. I'm sure tourists will remember this for a long time and will do some word-of-mouth, too. Imagine being 'lost' in a city and being given prompt advice from a local, who suggests you places to go and things to do. I'd feel very happy and satisfied when walking away! And I would for sure tell the anecdote once home, too. Great idea McCann Health! It's full of positive feelings.

What do you think? :)

Adidas + Ajax 'cheeky' stunt

Last month (July 2012), Adidas came up with a 'cheeky' idea to promote sales of the new-season Ajax kit. 

Fake fitting rooms were installed in the Ajax Experience club shop in Amsterdam. A two-way mirror was present in each fitting room. On the other side of the mirror, Ajax players were watching the fans trying the new merchandise on. As soon as the fans wore the brand new  Ajax t-shirt, the mirror opened and revealed the crowd behind it.

What do you think?

I think this is a creative stunt and it is pretty funny to watch, too. It is mildly newsworthy and  certainly gained visibility on the PR and marketing scene. What is really good about it is the experience offered to the fans - meeting their champions was certainly a great experience for them. This stunt has probably generated positive word-of-mouth.

Chick-Fil-A and a BIG PR Disaster

What is worse than getting your reputation ruined? Trying to restore it by creating a fake Facebook account, of course!

Chick-fil-A is an American fast food chain. A few weeks ago (July 2012) the company's reputation was affected by CEO Dan Cathy's anti-gay marriage allegations. Just a few days later, Chick-fil-A declared it withdrew kid's meal toys produced by the Jim Hendson Company, as these were defective. 

The outbreak started when a Facebook user publicly invited the company to avoid pretense of coincidence. At this point, a new user called Abby Farle advocated Chick-fil-A claiming to know for certain that the toy manufacturer had ended the contract much earlier than the CEO's anti-gay marriage stance became public.

(taken from here)

It was then discovered that Abby Farle became a Facebook user just hours before the discussion started and that images of a girl who looked exactly the same as her were available on Shutterstock. What a coincidence, huh?

The company denied its involvement in the Facebook discussion and invited its fans to spread this version of the story online. 55,000 people liked the post; however the mayors of Boston and Chicago have declared they wish to deny the chain licence to open new shops in their cities. 

MY COMMENT

How many coincidences! 

I think this is a typical example of a 'social media suicide'. Denial is an approach to crisis and issue management that I do not like, at all. I think that it is the worst response to a crisis in a highly connected world like the one we live in now. People talk, bloggers have a great influence, and common Facebook users can become revolutionists. Lying is not affordable anymore and companies should just accept it. Stakeholders prefer an organisation that admits its faults, apologises, and learn from its mistakes. I think denial is the worst move Chick-fil-A could have made. And the fake Facebook user is simply a no-no in PR! In this case, restoring the reputation would have been challenging because of the homophobic allegations alone. However, now the task will be even tougher, as it will be difficult to regain the trust of the publics and customers.

empty13

Today I want to talk about empty13, the campaign that aims to bring together communication experts from different fields for a stimulating debate. But what is it all about?

The campaign was launched by Bite Communications on 19th July 2012 and aims to generate a debate around the lack of 'big events' in 2013 and the meaning this has for brands.

Advertisers, PRPs, journalists, agencies, anyone involved in the industry can join the online conversation using the hash-tag #empty13 on Twitter. The agency opened the @theempty13 account to generate interest and awareness. Moreover, a website was created in order to offer the participants an open space where to discuss in further detail the topic. Anyone can in fact publish a post on the website.

The conversation has already started both on the website and on twitter.

MY OPINION

I find this campaign very clever and stimulating. I really like the idea of an extensive online conversation amongst experts from the different industries and the sense of community this can generate. I am in love with the name 'empty13'; I find it very powerful and memorable. I also believe this campaign can lead to more engaging topics such as the continuous need of generating stories and news for brands and organisations, following the digital revolution. It is not the first 'empty year' for the marketing industry - marketers always need to create new stories around brands. This is an undeniable truth.  It would be sufficient to think of the famous smoking campaign launched by Edward Bernays in the 1920s. It would be interesting to hear how experts feel about this constant need for newsworthy material and how they deal with it in their day-to-day lives.