PR and industry insight from our flies on the wall.

Communication: Far more than just the right words

2 February 2011
by Charlotte Stoel
Tags: Communication tools, digital communications, foreign languages, Google goggles, Google translate, media relations, PR

I studied French at university and to help me on my way I was armed with my trusty dictionary and the not so trusty Google translate. Today, Google has become a lot more reliable (although not fully). There are many tools available online to help us learn a language – from translations services, to pronunciation software and communities of online native speakers. Google has even launched Google goggles which uses pictures to search the web and can translate road signs and menus while you’re abroad – pretty cool, huh?! 

However, my question is: are these tools really helping us learn the language or are we just getting by? I was sad to see that foreign languages took a hit last week with UK state schools reporting years of steady decline in GCSE take-up. Could this be linked to our over reliance on technology to do all the hard work for us? Are we lazy linguists?

In my view, the authentic experience of learning a language is invaluable. In order to successfully communicate in a foreign language you need to be aware of cultural differences and the mindset of a native speaker – it goes much further than simple translation. You need to go the country and/or interact with a native speaker offline – body language can be so important when you’re having a conversation.  

Much like communicating with journalists, using the right words is all well and good, but understanding their environment and pressures is much more effective.

Similarly, language tools are great but can only serve to compliment an already existing ability. Bring back compulsory foreign language GCSEs at school!

Will this be the year to weave kindness into your PR campaign?

21 January 2011
by Charlotte Stoel
Tags: 2011 trends, flash mob, guerrilla kindness, International Free Hugs Day, PR campaign, random acts of kindness, small act of kindness

Far from a ‘charity begins at home’ attitude that you might expect in hard times, the gloom is bringing out the good in people. Imaginations have certainly been captured in Japan, where a small act of kindness has snowballed into a new craze for giving.

The concept – guerrilla kindness – is based around surreptitiously doing something nice for someone else, without expecting anything in return.

Be it big or small, another example literally crossed my path a while ago when a friend and I were stopped at Charing Cross Station and given hugs. I found it nice and somewhat intriguing (and my purse was still safely buried in my handbag)! Having Googled the act a bit later, I found out that it was International Free Hugs Day.

The year 2010 was the year of the flash mob and PR campaigns across the country embraced this. Is guerrilla kindness, as an identified trend by trendwatching.com, set to capture the imaginations of PRs in 2011?

Would you, your company or your clients have anything at all to offer, on a random basis, to someone who would so appreciate it? That’s the key, giving the random act of kindness to an appreciative and worthy recipient.

A sprinkling of selfless kindness goes a long way.

Everyclick selects Firefly to promote Give as you Live™ online shopping

20 January 2011
by Firefly news team

Firefly London has been appointed to launch Give as you Live™ , an ambitious and innovative new online shopping application powered by Everyclick. Give as you Live™ has the potential to raise tens of millions for the charity sector in 2011 by turning every pound charity supporters spend online into funds for their favourite cause.

The campaign has a six-figure PR budget allocated to inspire the nation to Give as you Live™.

63 charities are already using the technology with the number of charities signing up growing every day. Those involved in the current pilot include The National Trust, Breast Cancer Campaign, ZSL Conservation, Tommy’s The Baby Charity and Starlight Children’s Foundation. These charities are already using social media campaigns and toolkits, supported by Firefly, to help recruit supporters to Give as you Live™.

Polly Gowers, CEO at Everyclick, says: “Firefly is an agency which understands our business model and the potential it brings to fundraising. Through our online and offline campaigns Firefly will attract retailers, charities and most importantly consumers. New unrestricted revenue streams are opening up for charities that take advantage of proven online behaviour, delivering unprecedented returns with an immediately positive ROI.”

QR codes going mainstream and how to integrate with PR campaigns

by Claire Walker
Tags: barcode, digital integration, FT, PR campaign, PR strategy, QR codes, Starbucks, The Metro

Whilst on the tube this week I noticed how The Metro has tentatively embraced QR codes (QR means quick response). These funny little squiggly square boxes are popping up in poster ads, on cartons, cans and bottles, and on business cards – I notice more and more every day.

And there is more evidence of mainstream barcode use with the Starbucks story in the FT today. In the US you will be able to wave your mobile at a scanner, instead of a loyalty card. Hallelujah! I can never find my loyalty card.

QR codes have been around a while, but are becoming mainstream. We’ve been monitoring this for a while and when relevant, building QR codes into our PR strategies for event details, competitions, helping people catch the information the moment they see it. Through all our research, this is what we found:

Easiest, fastest and free QR barcode generator – http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/

Easiest, fastest and free reader app – http://www.i-nigma.com/i-nigmahp.html

And this is me….

At 100, Michelin Guide still leaves PRs’ mouths watering

19 January 2011
by Ana Mangahas
Tags: Michelin guide, Social Media, traditional PR

A new Michelin guidebook for the UK and Ireland comes out this week and with it, much celebration and criticism. Celebration amongst those restaurateurs who will have their very first taste of being ‘Michelin-starred’; and criticism because in some circles, many are asking if the Guides Michelin are still relevant in a Web 2.0 world. Has the big rubber man lost his edge?

Think of the brilliance of the initial concept: publish a handy guide for a specific audience (motorists) about a topic on which you are expert (quality motorist services, including where to eat) published under the name of venerable brand (Michelin). Tyres-to-food is not such a tenuous link when you think about what Michelin wanted to achieve. Tony Naylor writes in the Guardian: “(Jean-Luc) Naret’s strategy… was to cash in whatever brand value they had, expand quickly, and see whether they could establish some sort of position.” In short, Michelin don’t really have to do much of their own PR these days, because the restaurants do it for them – by the champagne bucket-full.

Fast-forward to 2011 and the Michelin Guide is dogged by reputational issues: of being too stuffy and secretive; of being in denial about the Web (however, I see that @Michelin_100 has made 98 tweets and has 575 followers) ; and perhaps most dangerously, of diminishing relevance. Does it kowtow to big chefs? Possibly. But its traditions are so veiled in secrecy, one might never know for sure.

Personally, I think it’s premature to think that so many years of brand equity could be dissolved overnight. But I do believe the Guide would do well by turning its notoriety for aloofness into something more easily embraced. Like appealing more to young, old and aspiring foodies alike . And it should note that, because we are an ageing society, we’re also a lot less pliable and willing to take things on face value, especially when discovering and collecting various points of view is far more fun.

Will you be ordering your 2011 UK and Ireland guide?