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Reaching Generation Y: what PR consultants should know about today’s young people

8 December 2011
by Sharmee Mavadia
Tags: communicators, digital, marketing, PR consultants, PR top tips

Following on from our recent post on PR top tips, “how to reach Screenagers”, we were intrigued to learn about how fast digital maturity is catching on around the world for this group of savvy young communicators.

According to a Digital Diaries survey, by the time most kids in the west turn 11, they have already moved onto mainstream social networks like Facebook and Twitter. In Italy and Spain, digital maturity starts as young as 10 (wow), a time when many of us Fireflies remember playing ‘I Spy’ or ‘Hopscotch’!

This young and very unique generation represents a new consumer force, with their buying, spending, trendspotting and trendsetting prowess. They are the first to be fully ‘wired’, meaning they cannot be ignored anymore and need to be fully understood in order to be reached. PR consultants need to ensure that any campaigns are tailored to, and suitable for, this audience.

Young people definitely have much greater awareness of what’s going on around them now, than they did eight years ago. They’re seeing the news on their computers and cell phones. They also have the latest products, the trendiest fashions (you only had to look at the number of teenagers queuing outside H&M stores for the Versace launch recently); and now, the must-have Christmas present is the iPad.

Marketing to this generation is something to be handled with care. For one, brands need to ensure that any campaigns adhere to CIPR guidelines regarding direct communication with children. However, with this age group being as digitally savvy as they are, there is certain inevitability in them being touched by many large-scale PR or marketing campaigns. So bearing this in mind, here are our tips on how to do it properly:

• Children typically have short attention spans and are drawn to new things. Make sure any campaigns are kept short and sweet, and easily formatted for smartphones, social media and online usage.
• Children love to spread news. This is a huge area to tap into. Kids are obsessed with coolness, new things and forwarding messages. Brands can engage kids through social networking, virals, videos, competitions and forward-to-a-friend options.
• Children are the biggest buyers of music. Where relevant, brands can incorporate music-related marketing. For instance, an online screening of a music concert or sponsorship of bands will appeal to this generation.
• Avoid obvious marketing: this is a clever group of consumers who don’t want to be overtly targeted, but are happy to pick and choose the information they receive. For instance, they don’t want to be bombarded with information, but are interested in hearing what a brand is up to. Make sure all communication is consistent and up-to-date.

Are you trying to reach Generation Y? Make sure you talk to us about how we can help with understanding and reaching this audience.

European Tech start-ups need effective public relations

22 November 2011
by Sharmee Mavadia
Tags: PR events, public relations, reputation management, Start-ups

Last week I volunteered my PR organisational skills to assist at the The Europas, TechCrunch’s annual awards for start-up technology companies. It proved a great place for PR consultants to network and find out about emerging technologies that can be used towards effective public  relations, corporate communications and reputation management.

The TechCrunch Europas are at the forefront of raising awareness and elevating the profile of unknown brands touting cool, new technology.  The event started with a bang as Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch rode into the Carbon Bar on the back of a Harley Davidson motorbike, wowing the 500-strong crowd —a real who’s who of Europe’s start-up scene – including VCs, angel investors, PR companies and of course, technology start-ups.

The event itself was more of a networking do, with everyone knowing everyone in this community of like-minded people. It was all about helping each other and promoting goals through knowledge-sharing. There was even a short welcome video recorded by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who encouraged start-ups to set up operations in the city.

It’s a great place for PR professionals to learn more about upcoming technology that can assist with providing digital PR services to clients; but it’s also a great way to meet interesting companies. Although many of these companies will have limited (if any) PR budgets, they are interesting and may someday grow into the Facebooks, Spotifys and Twitters of the world, so are definitely “ones to watch”. Of course, Firefly has a rich legacy with start-ups, having worked with bebo and launched LastMinute.com and Give as you Live.

The awards were the highlight of the event, with winners determined through public voting and expert judges. The coveted Grand Prix award went to PeerIndex, the social ranking service, who showed market traction against larger competitors despite fewer resources, and demonstrated a clear appeal to both business and consumer customers. UK companies such as Conversocial, Pusher, OneFineStay and Mixcloud took home coveted prizes and there was also a clear sign that start-up innovation remained strong across Europe. Start-ups from Berlin (Amen, EyeEm, 6Wunderkinder), Belgrade (Nordeus), Copenhagen (Podio), Stockholm (iZettle) and Helsinki (Rovio, AngryBirds) won in their category or were highly commended.

Tech entrepreneurship is alive and well across Europe. While Silicon Valley is the undisputed home of tech industry behemoths, European tech start-ups are grabbing every opportunity to reach global markets. The awards were described by Ben Rooney in The Wall Street Journal as, “(a) bit chaotic, all a bit of a seat-of-your-pants thing, but executed with huge amounts of energy,
enormous good will and mutual support.”

In my view, there is no better summary for tech start-up culture, itself.

“What should I wear?” Firefly sets trends, as it parties for Give as you Live

21 November 2011
by Fiona Hughes
Tags: Christmas, online communities, PR campaign, Social Media, Twitter

Firefly has organised four Christmas events for client, Give as you Live this Christmas. Three are still to come, as this week, we prepare to take over a beautiful room in Liberty department store to educate our print, broadcast and digital press on charitable giving via Give as you Live (if you’re in media and would like an invitation, get in touch!).

But one of the events has already happened, and happened on a big scale, taking over TweetDecks worldwide.

Last week, on behalf of Give as you Live, Firefly partnered with mummy blogger network, BritMums to host a Christmas-themed Twitter Party. The aim of the partnership was to engage Britain’s biggest parent blogging network with our easy way to increase digital donations for UK charities. With Give as you Live, thousands of stores will donate money from online shopping baskets to a nominated charity, at no cost to the consumer.

Using the hash tag ‘xmastips’, BritMums started the Twitter Party discussion, encouraging tweets of advice for getting prepared for Christmas amongst their mummy blogger community.

Within an hour, almost two million (1,945,462) impressions were achieved, with 1,040 participants in the conversation. Thirty minutes into the hour-long Twitter Party, #xmastips was trending worldwide at number two, and @giveasyoulive had received 195 related direct tweets.

Like any good party, the buzz continued long after the event itself. Tips were continually being posted after the party ended. Conversations on the topic and related links continue to this day. And most importantly, our clients have seen hard business results. Give as you Live enjoyed a significant uplift in hits to their website and an increase (by more than 100) in Twitter followers. During the day of, and days immediately after the party, Give as you Live’s average daily shoppers increased by 65 per cent.

With the Twitter Party, Firefly helped Give as you Live to own the Christmas shopping conversation, which so many big brands are clamoring to be a part of.

And like any good party, we were talked about. You can read about the Twitter Party success in PR Week’s Week In Technology.

Want to get involved?
So do Vogue, who are working with Give as you Live to power online charitable donations during Online Fashion week, as well as Mumsnet, who have created a Give as you Live Christmas gift guide.

This Christmas, like us, you can create your own Give as you Live Wish List. With your Wish List, you can both request the gifts you want and specify the charity you want to benefit. Then, when anyone buys an item from your Wish List through Give as you Live, a donation of up to 10 per cent of the cost of the gift will go direct to your charity of choice. All this, without costing the shopper a penny more, since it’s the retailer who gives the donation.

And for that extra bit of festive cheer, Firefly urges everyone out there to do their shopping through Give as you Live this Christmas. That’s Christmas partying the entirely guilt-free way.

Ho, ho, ho! For PR consultants, it’s always an early Christmas

10 November 2011
by Claire Walker
Tags: campaign, Christmas, Consumer, PR

There may be a recession looming, but according to research commissioned by Give as You Live, more than half (57%) of Brits will be spending a total of £200 on Christmas gifts this year. Eight is the average number of people gift-givers will be buying for, making the average gift value £25. Not bad: this should go a long way towards avoiding the “worst-ever gifts received” which according to the GAYL survey, included used toiletries.

It’s a 21st century maxim that our economy needs Christmas. I imagine many retailers are already wringing their hands over some Christmas 2011 forecasts. But what’s the impact of Christmas for communicators?

The Consumer PR Juggernaut

I’ve worked with some great consumer public relations talent over the years, and I think most would agree that during the Christmas rush, preparation and an organised mind are just as valuable as the bright, shiny object you’re trying to place in Stuff, Stylist or Self.

Good PRs have gotten Christmas down to a science:
• The broad tactics will have been developed and agreed with the client in the first half of the calendar year
• Consumer tech product launches will be optimally timed for the period between CES and spring, to make that product the must-have item come Christmastime, following an aggressive product review programme
• Late summer is when the Christmas countdown will officially start, when longer lead publications are sent gift guide ideas to run in October/November issues
• “One hundred days ‘til Christmas” is another popular wrapper for seasonal pitches and events
• And right about now is when PR folks are revving up the gift guide engine once more, in time to reach weeklies, nationals and onlines

And this is just a partial list! The devil is in the detail: everything from product photography, to the user guide, to the international pricing details must be pitch perfect weeks and months in advance.

If you think this is all a bit much, consider that many companies count on a massive spike in revenues during the 9-12 week run-up to Christmas to make their annual numbers.

BSOs: Not the Only Path to Success

Savvy PRs have also mastered the art of working up pitches into eye-grabbing headlines. My favourite so far has been, “how to create an alternative Christmas”, which is intriguing enough to make you want to read further, without appearing totally self-serving. Media resources like Response Source or Gorkana Media Requests also give you an insight into angles that float the editor’s boat and are generally a great, complementary resource for the opportunity-hungry PR.

Even if you’re not promoting this season’s bright shiny object (BSO), there is hope for using the winter holidays as a reputation-booster for business-to-business brands. Sometimes, it’s a question of timing and opportunism.

“Christmas is a mixed blessing for us. Our main sectors, as reflected in the business and legal press, are a lot quieter mid December-mid January, yet traditionally this is a time when we sign big international contracts for the coming year,” said Andy Rogers, director of communications at the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), who provide professional mediation services to private and public sector clients. When communications are timed around the holiday season, Andy cautions that above all, PRs should be buttoned up and as organised as possible, to secure the best outcome.

“Over the holidays you have to be well-prepared for your activity. Whether a mailing or a press release, if you have really thought ahead, you can still successfully undertake most marcomms activities. You might not hit everyone but you will certainly be competing against less activity. On New Year’s Day, a story which might not make it on to page 23 of a national can stand a chance getting on to front page with the right sell-in.”

Last but not least, if you’re in a business that dispenses advice to consumers or other businesses,
or work in a generally forward-looking industry, having your 2012 predictions published in a relevant title can be a great way to demonstrate industry thought leadership. Just make sure they’re not a blatant pitch for your wares; and instead, offer insights into 2012 trends that will impact your customers or industry at-large, and communicate what you’re doing that relates to these future developments.

How PRs can be savvier about leveraging email marketing

by Richard Wright, Epsilon
Tags: communication, email, marketing, PR, press release

I recently celebrated the 40th birthday of a friend that shows no sign of slowing down (despite the advancing years) and I probably spend more time with them than my wife. This friend saves a lot of time, but sometimes bombards me with unnecessary information. A friend who I see every day at work and sometimes pops up offering vouchers, coupons and all sorts of tempting deals. This friend is often verbose, at times to-the-point, occasionally coarse and at other times tone-deaf. Can you guess who this friend is?

If you guessed email – or as it was then called, “electronic mail” – you’d be right on the money. Of course, commercial use of email hasn’t been around that long. This anniversary marks the date the very first email was sent by MIT graduate, Ray Tomlinson, over a network used by the US military. The first ever email message read, “QUERTYUIOP” and didn’t travel far, going from one computer to another one right next to it.

Tightly woven into the fabric of life and business

Since then, email has evolved into one of the most ubiquitous communications tools for personal and professional use. Pingdom reported that in 2010, 294 billion emails were being sent daily. The reason for its success is its sheer simplicity: the ability to send a communication in real-time to multiple people with full reporting capabilities.

Email has also evolved into a preferred marketing tool, appealing to the hearts and minds of receptive audiences. It has become an integral and essential part of the marketing mix, undergoing many changes over the years, including sophisticated designs, personalised content and user-friendly formats. By delivering email campaigns that convey the right messages, at the right time, to the right audience, email marketing can drive a reliable return on investment. It has also helped marketers move on from the ‘batch and blast’ approach.

This evolution has parallels with the public relations world, where gone are the days when PR consultants would “email blast” irrelevant press releases indiscriminately to hundreds of journalists. With the advent of highly customisable platforms like email marketing, not only can you reach the masses; but you can segment, inform, entertain and more effectively engage them.

Email maturity helps with ROI

As marketing budgets for digital channels such as social media, SEO and paid search fall, citing lack of return on investment, email marketing has actually seen growth in its investment levels. Its success, measurability and fast turnaround make it the most effective and preferred channel across campaign phases – from customer acquisition, retention, loyalty, up-sell and cross-sell, through to news, education and brand awareness.

Asked whether email would stand the test of time against social networking and other forms of digital communication, Ray Tomlinson (founder of email) commented: “I suspect possibly we’ll see a morphing of email and other, more instant methods. But there will always be a need for people to be able communicate asynchronously – that is, send messages that won’t be read or replied to immediately, and that’s what email allows you to do.” In today’s information-overloaded society this is probably more critical now than ever before.

Email marketing has come of age and as we continue to innovate, there are no limits to the possibilities. It’ll be interesting to see what the next 40 years hold. Love it or hate it, email is not going anywhere and is one of the most effective forms of communications.

Illustration: Dondy Razon