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About this blog
The Firefly blog features news, views, buzz and ideas around the PR and communications industry.
Social trends, PR and social media tools, communications strategies, attention grabbing WOM campaigns, entertainment hotspots, running integrated and pan-European campaigns, safeguarding reputations and managing crises are just some of the topics we’re talking about.
Mark Mellor, Firefly managing director, dies aged 49
We are deeply saddened at the loss of Mark Mellor, Firefly’s managing director, who has died from cancer. He leaves behind his wife, Claire Walker and their three children, Toby (15), Robyn and Max (12).
Mark served Firefly for over 23 years, joining the fledgling company after just nine months of trading. He was instrumental in guiding, shaping and building the business.
Mark was a great businessman, an excellent PR operator and dedicated dad. He will be missed by many.
For those who would like more information or to leave comments, please visit www.fireflycomms.com/markmellor.
Mark Mellor 16.9.1962 – 28.1.2012
Firefly shortlisted for Golden Hedgehog for best social media campaign
11 January 2012
by Fiona Hughes
Tags: Firefly, give as you live, Golden Hedgehog, PR campaign, Social Media
by Fiona Hughes
Tags: Firefly, give as you live, Golden Hedgehog, PR campaign, Social Media
We are delighted to start 2012 with the news that Firefly has been shortlisted in the The Golden Hedgehog PR Awards for the work we’ve done for client, Give as you Live.
PR agencies like award nominations and wins for the same reasons that many of our clients do. They offer us (in no particular order):
- Respect within our industry, for the quality of our thinking and results
- A compelling proof-point, to help us grow and fulfil our ambitions
- Appeal to potential new hires, meaning we continue to attract the best staff
- Critical conversation – oh, Twitter, how we love thee when word gets out!
- PMA (positive mental attitude, hey Linford?) , upping morale and staff retention
Our Give as you Live Christmas campaign, which we talked about in a blog post back in November, has made the Golden Hedgehog shortlist. We’re honoured to be on the list with the likes of 1000heads for Nokia, Frank for Beatbullying and Splendid for Smirnoff; and we’re looking forward to hearing the judges’ verdicts in March.
But the shortlist itself, threw up some interesting observations amongst the Firefly team.
Firstly, that the shortlist for the ‘Social Media Campaign of the Year’ consisted of the maximum eight campaigns. This tells us that, according to the Golden Hedgehog shortlist, suddenly ‘Social Media Campaign of the Year’ awards are amongst the most hotly contended out there. That’s more shortlisted campaigns than in ‘Integrated Comms Campaign of the Year’ (a huge favourite of the early-to-mid 2000s, in response to our clients’ “360-degree campaign briefs”) and ‘Best Use of Research’. This is a landscape that even a year or two ago, would have been entirely different; these are truly exciting times for social media evangelists.
Secondly, we noticed that amongst the shortlisted entries three are squarely in the tech/consumer tech space, two are cause-related marketing, and all, including our own, seem to have been communicating to a consumer audience.
Why is it that, when it comes to social media, B2C campaigns are so ahead of the curve? Friend of Firefly Peter Thomson has some interesting points to make in his blog around why B2B businesses aren’t taking enough responsibility for their social media.
Interestingly, the myths that his post goes out to bust, are very similar to many of the myths that we have found ourselves tackling over the years with our B2C clients, too. Take for example, “social media isn’t about selling”. It can be, used correctly. Or, “social media doesn’t have a clear ROI”. It does – and it is our job to communicate it. “Social media can replace offline marketing.” Show us the brief – but we suspect it’s better used in combination.
We’re excited about our award nomination, as it helps us to tell the story of how we can help brands and businesses to use social media more effectively. And we suspect that the landscape will continue to change: next year, how about some B2B businesses fighting for those award nominations?
“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
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.
A celebration, a mourning and a full decade of PR contrasts
This week, I was fortunate to pick up the PR Personality of the Year accolade at the PRCA Awards. The award was ultimately decided by public vote, following a PRCA shortlist (how I feel for those X-factor and Strictly celebs), so a huge thank you to all those industry colleagues and peers who kindly supported me.
Winning this award brought back memories and highlighted contrasts within the public relations industry from another highly memorable PRCA Awards ceremony. A decade ago, I picked up a similar award – for best ‘old’ PR professional at a PRCA event on September 11th 2001. Soon after collecting my award, at about 2pm, chaos began to erupt. Some “geeky” PR folk (largely tech PRs, ahead of the personal technology curve, as ever) were getting texts about the events unfolding in New York. News got around verbally, in the main; the awards ceremony concluded early and the room emptied fast.
It is incredible to remember that – just 10 years ago – texting was geeky and a relatively new phenomenon. By contrast, at this week’s PRCA Awards, everyone was texting and being tweet-tastic, with smartphones littered on every table. For these PRCA Awards alone, there were over 5,000 tweets including a live commentary on the night.
Going back to the 11th September 2001, we were glued to our monitors in disbelief, watching the repeats of the falling towers on CNN over the internet. It was the first time many people had watched video news over the internet. Bandwidth crashed and PCs froze under the strain.
What a contrast to today’s world, where we film, edit and upload videos for our clients (and ourselves) without hesitation, and anyone can develop and build his/her own video content channel.
And how the PRCA Awards have changed! In 2001, the ‘PRCA Frontline Awards’ was a relatively modest event – perhaps 300 attendees, mainly for frontline executives (the under-30s); definitely agency-only, no celebrity presenters, culminating in a few drinks and a light lunch buffet. By contrast, this week there were 900 PR industry people dressed up to the nines, at all job levels, in-house as well as agency, partying the night away at the London Hilton.
The champagne flowed freely on the night, although we are in a very different economic climate, and it seems the desire for gongs, recognition, celebration and a rip-roaring night out is as strong as ever. There were tables in the aisles and walk ways — it was packed. The ticket applications were over-subscribed with 100 people were on a waiting list, many of them short-listed entrants.
Personally, I don’t see the hunger for awards changing for a very long while, so the PRCA should book a bigger venue for next year.
Do you judge agencies by the awards they win? And if you don’t enter, or don’t rate industry awards, why not?
Claire Walker Talks Apple to PR Week
The death of Steve Jobs was mourned across the globe last week, uniting strangers who loved his beautifully-designed inventions, the company he built by hand, and everything the Apple brand stood for. Here, fresh from an interview with PR Week UK, Firefly CEO Claire Walker discusses Apple, reputation management and public relations after the passing of one of the world’s greatest showmen.
