Reinventing the Wire
In 1978, a small news and pictures agency was founded in Bristol providing news and pictures to local and national press.
Almost 40 years on, SWNS is the biggest independent news wire in the UK supplying some of the world’s most hard-hitting content to major newspapers, magazines, broadcasters and websites employing more than 100 editorial staff across offices in London, Plymouth, Cambridge, Birmingham, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Yorkshire.
The commercial success built on the back of SWNS’s growth is evidenced by the wealth of coverage secured for our clients on a day-to-day basis. Using the first campaign as a case in point, Harris Brushes were able to secure coverage in the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Mirror, among others, because national and regional press trust our content and trust that we can supply them with material that works across all their platforms.
But the digital generation has shaken up the media industry. Our research revealed 76 per cent of people now consume media ‘digitally’ and almost one in ten consume more than 16 stories a day, with the average Brit consuming 5.9 media stories a day.
Our thirst for media and our ability to digest various forms of media - 95 per cent of respondents said they consume media on multiple platforms 48 per cent take a multi-channel approach to media - has given birth to a wealth of new digital platforms that aren’t easily serviced by the traditional news wire.
Which is why we reinvented it.
Bloggers, vloggers, digital editors and influencers can now source content on our new digital news wire that caters exclusively for online publications. The emphasis is on rich, visual content and news releases that encourage social sharing, with news copy, images, audio and video bundled into one downloadable file.
The wire has been launched as a one-stop-shop for editors on the hourly hunt for news, with a simple, four-click solution to capturing the story and publishing it. This ensures that we appeal to time-poor bloggers, editors and influencers by delivering content in a timely manner.
Since its launch, hundreds of users have registered with the Digital Hub for survey news, lifestyle content and releases from across the web and social media. With a target to get that number into the thousands in the near future, the hub is steadily becoming the go-to place for digital media outlets.
For 72Point clients, that means that not only do they have a pick of the national press, but also of the increasingly influential online publications that have surfaced in its wake. With the lion’s share of media consumers taking a ‘multi’ approach to media, having all the bases covered is a surefire means of receiving unparalleled coverage.
To find out more about the Digital Hub, click here.
To download our Generation Editor report, click here.
The Social Media Election. Was this it?
Five years ago, at the time of the last general election, I was studying for my undergraduate degree. For the first time ever I felt the election buzz. Although I personally wasn’t that interested, I found myself surrounded by people who couldn’t shut up about it, and everyone, of course, was voting Lib Dem.
This time around things are different. I’m back at home, fully employed and paying attention due to my own genuine interest. This is in no small part down to the role of Social Media (and hours of TV satire and a determination to not let full time muppet and general pain in the arse, Nigel Farage have any sort of power). The role of social media in this election has been much anticipated. We’ve already seen how social media can be used to reflect the way votes are likely to go in our own light-hearted infographic. However it is the use of social media to attract and persuade voters and to promote the campaigns of individual parties which has stirred up all the fuss.
The 2015 election has been dubbed ‘the social media election’. This was partly due to the speculation and anticipation due to the rise in Social media’s popularity over the last five years. 5 million people have joined Twitter alone in the years since Britain last went to the polls. This has been key for political parties. It meant that parties and politicians had a direct way of speaking to people without having to trawl the streets. This was good for two reasons. Firstly it meant that the powerful elite of our society didn’t have to go into areas where people shop in Aldi rather than Fortnum and Masons. Secondly, it meant that they could target specific demographics at the touch of a button. In particular they could target youths, or as they’re known in Westminster, ‘bloody hoodies’. Youths are not a group politicians normally go near for fear of being mugged or stabbed but now they could talk to them without fear of physical contact.
The televised debates in the last election boosted turn out by 65%, but only 44% of young people (aged 18-24) turned out to vote. It would therefore be amiss of parties not to take advantage of a primarily young person’s medium to reach this audience. It was revealed fairly early on that our current lord and master, Mr Cameron and his Conservatives had spent £100,000 pounds on Facebook advertising, ten times that of Labour and 1000 times that of UKIP. A recent article in the Guardian stated that Facebook has the potential to reach 9.2 million young people with one post and with UK adults spending a minimum of 1.33 hours on social media, spending obscene amounts on these platforms isn’t exactly a bad idea.
But it’s not just paid promotion and it’s not just Facebook. Politicians have taken to Twitter to personally promote key party policies (or at least their social media managers have). This means for the first time in living history, politicians have been forced into giving short concise answers and policy announcements.
Parties have also embraced the ways of YouTube. As you can imagine this means a lot of clips of speeches and cringe worthy videos of politicians looking to camera giving heart felt speeches “to you, the voter” *VOM*. The Conservatives channel is particularly bad for this. The video of David Cameron welcoming you to the channel actually makes me physically look away as if I were watching a man on Embarrassing Bodies with some disgusting skin complaint. Labour’s channel is marginally more watchable. It displays a great deal more personality. For example the featured video is of Miliband playing pool with snooker favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan. In fact celebrity support is something that Labour play on quite heavily with their channel featuring videos from people such as Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan and Jo Brand. The Lib Dem videos on the other hand focus very much more on the general public. Their featured video is the Clegg Meister visiting a school, followed by a video of him visiting animals. Everyone together now…awwwww.
Despite this use of social media many say that the ‘Social media election’ never came to fruition. The build-up has even been described as ‘routine, predictable and over cautious’. If that weren’t bad enough much of it has been unpleasant.
This is particularly evident on Twitter . Twitter as a PR and marketing tool can be and has been successful. For example a recent Twitter campaign prompted the petition to get leaders from smaller parties involved in the leaders’ debates. However much of the party campaigning consists of mocking and bitching about other party leaders. A perfect example of this is the Twitter feed of the one and only Boris Johnson. Bo-Jo’s feed consists mainly of jibes at Miliband, with his tweet referring to Miliband’s wall of policies being a personal highlight (see image). 
Obviously all parties’ campaigns feature a certain number of put downs but this election is being referred to as one of the ugliest campaigns in history. One therefore has to wonder whether Twitter is doing nothing more than making things worse. After all with Twitter you get trolls. The only thing that gets met through the Twitter bitching is the hope that there is a Malcom Tucker figure behind the scenes taking control of people’s mobiles and blasting them with a particularly taboo outburst.
I think, on reflection though, social media has played a huge part this time round. Yes it might not have been ‘the Social media election’ that we were all promised but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. If nothing else, it has shown how seriously we should take social media as a platform and the benefits of social media advertising. That’s something businesses can take out of this election regardless of the outcome. If Twitter promotion and campaigning is good enough to get you to run the country it’s good enough to get you some business and get your message out there.
Furthermore Stephen Coleman, professor of political communication at the University of Leeds, commented that traditional methods of party promotion, primarily newspapers, are being disregarded time and time again by readers who are desensitised to it. This also applies to the mounds and mounds of party leaflets we get through our doors which seems to have reached frankly ridiculous levels this year. Therefore it makes sense that other methods of campaigning should be introduced, if only to pump a little fresh blood into the election build up. Remember the last election, the so called ‘TV election’ that saw the first ever live TV debates that boosted voter turn out by over half? What I’m essentially saying is that when it comes to getting your message out there you can no longer just rely on one platform to do so. It’s very much a multi-platform world that we live in and as a result campaigns, political or not, can only benefit from multi-platform content. Just remember to make it nice. The place for trolling is in fairytales. Not the internet. Or the Hopkins residence.
(All of the above views are mine, not the company’s…or are they?! Yes, they are.
Lessons in Storytelling: Aesop, Samuel Johnson and Prehistoric Life
Storytelling isn’t new – as a form of communication, it’s existed for over 40,000 years.
It’s been a durable format, fulfilling its purpose from rock painting to hoop dancing, mythology to fables - all the way to the printing press and our current marriage of mobile tech and social media.
However, the core principles of telling a good story haven’t changed in all this time, and it’s worth raiding this 40,000 year legacy to see what we can learn from the best and boldest storytelling practitioners
Here are three such examples, with my thoughts on how to apply these creative lessons from history to modern news generation, branded content and publishing strategies.
Cave paintings
Cave paintings date from prehistoric times – the oldest examples, found in Indonesia and Australia, were created over 35,000 years ago.
Though they may have religious or ceremonial connotations, the primary purpose of these paintings were to communicate news, warnings and stories of heroism to the next group of settlers in the area.
In spite of being distributed disparately throughout Europe, Asia and Australasia, most cave paintings are remarkably similar and share characteristics such as drawings of animals, depictions of weather patterns and the use of human handprints.
Cave paintings weren’t always located at the mouth of the cave – they were sometimes found in less accessible locations were only the initiated would know where to find them.
What brand storytellers can learn from prehistoric culture:
Universal truths and commonalities will resonate – young vs old, heroic deeds, the weather, health warnings….certain story angles will always get people talking and sharing. Any story that creatively incorporates these angles will attract more readers, greater shares, higher ad revenues and most importantly, the approval of journalists and editors.
Only stories worth telling are worth sharing – impact stories were written in the caves, there was no chit-chat or filler! If you’re three paragraphs into your story and starting to run out of steam, then it’s probably not worth telling. Consider handing it over to a journalist instead, who could help to provide that newsworthy edge.
Identify your audience then locate them – stories were left in caves for future generations, while tailored stories were painted only in areas where specific people (perhaps the young and agile, or the strongest) were likely to go exploring and find them. Before telling your story, think about who you’re talking to, where they are and which of their behaviours you’re trying to affect – then shape and distribute the story to meet these criteria.
Aesop
Aesop was an ancient Greek fabulist and storyteller - a body of work attributed to him is famously collected as Aesop’s Fables.
His existence has been questioned as none of his work survives, but numerous tales credited to him have been gathered across the centuries in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day.
The fables, morality tales that originate from the 5th century BC, have enduring qualities such as relatable characters (often animals with human characteristics) and universal, everyday dilemmas that still form the backbone of many modern movies/novels.
They also provided us with numerous maxims, such as ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ (The Fox and the Lion), ‘one person’s meat is another’s poison’ (The Ass and the Grasshopper) and ‘slow and steady wins the race’ (The Hare and the Tortoise).
Lessons we can learn from Aesop:
Relatable characters endure – find archetypes, case studies and relatable majorities (65% of Brits prefer ketchup to brown sauce) that mirror your target audience and your stories will be shared in greater volume and travel further.
Great stories outlive their sell-by date – uncover a story with a major hook or unearth a new, universal truth that a crowd can agree with, and your story will outlive its shelf-life and earn you more residual coverage.
The joy of the substantiated myth – Aesop may or may not have existed, but tales of his existence were substantiated by some fairly heavyweight sources – not least Aristotle and Herodotus. When creating your story, give some thought to who will endorse it by word-of-mouth in offices, shops, buses and over the garden fence – then shape the story to their taste and publish it in a place they’ll find it
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson – the most distinguished man of letters in British history – was the poet, essayist and moralist whose nine years of research gave us the inaugural English dictionary in 1755.
Though a sufferer of what would now be diagnosed as Tourette’s Syndrome, Johnson, a powerful orator, critic and quick-witted raconteur, attracted many pretenders to his throne.
Each week, Johnson and his entourage would meet at gentleman’s clubs to participate in what was essentially the earliest form of a rap battle, where a crowd would watch fellow academics go anecdote-for-anecdote with Johnson and try to outdo his stories for flair, originality and wit.
However, with payoffs such as ‘a man who’s tired of London is tired of life’ and ‘love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise’, Johnson always retained his crown us the ultimate literary end-of-level boss.
How we incorporate Johnson into our comms strategy:
Wit wins – there’s no two ways about it, the ability to make someone laugh is a powerful tool. Add a little humour to someone’s day with your story and you take a significant step towards engaging them with the brand associated with the story.
Original stories travel – with a proliferation of stories published daily, your angle needs to be unique – uncovering a new trend/behaviour or simply putting a new spin on a familiar tale will give your story cut through against the daily noise.
Great storytellers draw a crowd – Johnson drew a crowd based on reputation alone – tell consistently entertaining stories to the right audience in the right location and they will begin to proactively seek you out in the news.
Advertising Isn't Dead
In marketing and PR circles you are constantly hearing prophesies of the demise of one or the other. Advertising is dead! PR is finished! It’s a little like Monty Python’s renowned parrot scene:
“I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.”
“Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's, uh...What's wrong with it?”
“I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!”
“No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.”
“Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.”
“No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
The debate over whether advertising is dead and PR is set to take over is one I recently presented to delegates at the PR360 summit. Although I disagree that advertising is done – predictions are that ad spend in the UK will reach £20 billion this year – I do believe that it has had to adapt to digital, whereas PR has found it to be more of a natural fit.
Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, said at the IoD’s Annual Convention back in 2012 that in today’s crazy world strategy is dead, the big idea is dead and management is also dead. But that doesn’t mean marketing is dead. It just means marketing as we know it is dead.
Traditionally the ad world was obsessed with paid and owned, maximising media opportunities and activity on brand-owned channels. It gave co-creation and influencer outreach short shrift - or anything outside of the sanctity of the brand – and has thus fallen out of touch with the conversational, interactive nature of digital media that has been significantly influenced by social.
But that doesn’t mean marketing is dead. It just means marketing as we know it is dead.
That means explicit sales messages seldom work, there's no one-size-fits-all solution and provenance and the brand's values have become massively important, making PR a natural fit. Through its reliance on media relations and making connections with journalists, PR has organically recruited skills that met the need of outreach to bloggers, vloggers and influencers, and it owns this area as a result. But ad land is playing catch-up and is catching up fast.
So here’s the big idea.
It would be remiss of PR firms to rest on our laurels and not to learn from the evolution advertising is currently undergoing. We have to take note of what is happening across the pond and learn, else risk seeing the tables turn. PR is winning the race, but advertising is playing catch up. In a digital world, we have to be constantly adapting in order to survive.
"April Fools!": The Best of April Fools 2015
Some days throughout the year pass us by under a commercialistic, ‘you must buy this crappy card that you don’t want’ sick making cloud. Even some days that we enjoy, such as Christmas and Easter have become so much about the products and the gifts that they are beginning to fade in to insignificance.
April Fools Day is, on the other hand, one day that everyone can enjoy. It’s a chance for everyone to bring out their inner child and be as silly as you possibly can with the security of the “April Fool!” get out of jail free card.
Whether it’s cling film on the toilet seat, salt in the sugar or simply pretending you haven’t done something you were supposed to do, April Fools day pranks never disappoint.Unless, of course, you haven’t actually done that thing that you were supposed to do, in which case you’re probably due a smacked wrist.
Some of the best April Fools pranks, though, are done by the geniuses in the Marketing + PR departments of major brands and companies. This year we the general public have been treated to a veritable Smörgåsbord of pranks, including such treats as Clear Marmite, a self-tanning digital shower and even the birth of a unicorn in Florida.
Having researched this year’s pranks in detail in order to write this utterly entertaining piece of literature, I have decided that there are three main types of April Fools Stunts.
The first type are the pranks that are so ridiculous they couldn’t have been anything other than pranks. For example the RNIB (that’s the Royal National Institute for the Blind, if you didn’t know) announced the launch of #CATNAV. If you haven’t guessed where this is leading, no pun intended, I’ll tell you. #CATNAV is the proposed use of Cats trained to guide the blind or partially sited. My favourite thing about this stunt was the images of cats on leads.
Similarly the Clarkson Caravan from Freedom to Go was unconvincing, despite admittedly being quite funny. The caravan offers such features as pre-programmed Sat Navs directing Jezza to the nearest Job Centre and an abacus for counting to ten in times of rage. Actually in hindsight that second feature might not be a bad idea.
Other obvious, yet hilarious examples include the launch of the Ginster’s TOWIE pasty- chicken and chardonnay in a pastry case with edible jazzles; Homebase’s Rainbow Paint; Hunter’s Dog Boots and Hailo’s ‘piggyback’ feature, which yes, does involve people getting piggybacks instead of cabs.
The second type of stunts are those that are clearly fake but actually may have the basis of a good idea, or at very least make people think for a second.
My favourite example of a stunt which fits this category is the bouncy isles in Tesco. Being vertically challenged, the placement of items on shelves higher than the jolly green giant is utterly irritating. Obviously trampolines in the floor of Isle 12 has its safety issues but the idea isn’t without promise.
Then there’s the introduction of selfie spots for footballers during goal celebrations. Again, not without promise. I’m sure many of them would quite like a selfie. Remember the Steven Gerrard camera kiss celebration? I’m sure he would have loved to have captured that moment in the ultimate celebration selfie.
There’s also Hiive’s effort. Being an (not-so-secret) fan of 90’s/00’s boybands Hiive’s stunt made me giggle. The social networking site announced the creation of sister site 5iive, a professional network for former members of the boyband 5ive. Obviously silly as there are only 5 of them, well now 4, but maybe it’s an idea they could roll out to the Sugarbabes. That idea’s got legs.
I have decided that there are three main types of April Fools Stunts.
The third category of April Fools Stunts are the ones that you actually can’t determine to be pranks. For example, this morning I read an article in the independent that stated that Jeremy Clarkson was to become Cameron’s chief advisor for Transport. I admit that it may seem an obvious jest but I wouldn’t put it past them. They live in the same village. They both hate the Green Party. Plus the Independent wouldn’t lie to me, would they?! My suspicious were raised, however, when reading the caption for the image which stated that ‘The Top Gear presenter will have ‘all the steak he can eat’ at Westminster’. To be fair he probably would but that’s not a genuine caption.
Amazon also cashed in on the tomfoolery with the launch of their new feature ‘Amazon Dash’. This is a little button that you press when you are running low on something, such as washing powder or shampoo, and then sends an reminder to your phone to remind you to order it. The interesting thing about this prank was that, apparently, it wasn’t a prank. That’s right it was so believable that it was true. The PR World were left debating whether the timing of this announcement, in line with April Fools was a touch of genius or simply fool hardy. Personally I think it’s a stroke of genius. People would look at something, wish it was true then find it out it was and do a little squeal.
What all three types of stunt have in common is the demonstration of how creative marketers and Comms Teams are. Also how embracing your inner child and simply looking at things in a silly, light hearted way can actually help creativity. I guess the moral of this story is don’t over think stuff. Some of your best creativity comes when you simply have a laugh.
To paraphrase Doc Brown in Back to the Future, if only we could somehow harness that creativity and churn out such innovations for real on a daily basis. If nothing else it would make Dragon’s Den more amusing and, more generally, the world would be such a happier place. No pressure Marketing. No Pressure.
To see more examples of this year’s hilarious April Fools tom foolery visit our Pinterest board https://uk.pinterest.com/72Point/april-fools-2015/ .
If Facebook hosts news, I'm hiring...
Humans are inherently lazy - and product managers are aware of this.
The swiping motion with which we command our phone screens reduces us to the basest of motor skills we learn virtually at birth, while voice commands have superseded even the remote control as our preferred way to interact with entertainment systems in the home.
I mean, why would I read a whole IKEA instruction manual when I can just watch a video instead? (Just kidding - I don't shop at IKEA).
Facebook, never one to miss a trick where the user experience is concerned, is in talks with media groups about hosting news content within the social network, enabling users to consume entire stories without tapping out to external hosts.
While such an alliance presents obvious gains for Facebook and publishers alike, most of which concern economics and reach, it also throws up plenty of positives for content suppliers and the humble reader too.
As a supplier of branded news, I can see demand for our content growing in-line with audience expectations on the channel and the increased needs of the news outlets we provide to – so more video, more visuals, more copy and more stories in general to meet increased publisher outputs. Happy times.
Additionally, and I may be getting a little ahead of myself here, if Facebook were to pull a Vice and launch a standalone Facebook News sub-brand, then it gives me yet another outlet to sell stories in to and potentially partner with - plus they really don’t come bigger in terms of audience size and segmentation.
Back to the user experience and it’s still good news.
Facebook hosting will make shaping content for social consumption mandatory for publishers, ensuring all outputs are visual, digestible, shareable and mobile – marry this to the convenience of consuming content from multiple outlets in a single space (while also doing all of your social housekeeping) and we could easily save 10-15 minutes a day on our reading time.
Finally, and this is of benefit to reader, platform and content supplier alike, Facebook hosting will lead to deeper engagement and all-round satisfaction – longer reads, greater dwell times, more sharing, increased content performance, happier authors and happier clients.
And for those who fear Facebook dominance, there will always be an alternative – there always is.
Just think of this Facebook/publisher partnership as being one of several labour-saving devices delivered over the years, enabling us to open our ever-expanding daily procrastination window to more cat gifs such as this one and Tinder freaks (I don’t use Tinder).
Sledgens and Legends: The 2015 Cricket World Cup in Tweets
At the risk of sounding like a bitter Englishman, the 2015 Cricket World Cup has been a bit of a laborious affair. Ever since that fateful day in Adelaide when England failed to overcome Bangladesh (BANGLADESH!) to reach the knock-out stages I have been huffing and puffing about the long-winded nature (irony of ironies for a cricket fan) of a tournament that has served only to draw attention to the gulf in class that divides India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand from the rest of the world.
But despite there being a distinct lack of momentous games, there has been no shortage of momentous moments. New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori defied the laws of physics with a spectacular one-handed catch at the boundary this weekend, Windies all-rounder Chris Gayle mirrored Sachin Tendulkar with a double century, Pakistan's Wahab Riaz bowled a mesmerising innings against the Aussies and Martin Guptill’s 237 runs from 163 balls are just a few of many moments that match the gravitas of a World Cup.
And this year Twitter has been there to capture all the action after signing an agreement with the ICC to launch a host of innovative and interactive features. The move, which sets a precedent for future tournaments, positioned the social media platform as a central hub for match commentary, expert analysis and fan insight, transcending geographical and time limits to make the cup a truly ‘world’ affair with fans at the heart of the action.
In true cricketing fashion the Twittersphere responded with admiration and tactical intimidation in equal measure. Old rivalries re-born, fierce competition re-lived and passions personified as the highs and lows of The Imperial Game were played out across Australasia, all of which made great fodder for social media channels.
Here’s a review of how the Sledgend and the Ledgend lit up this year’s tournament on social media.
The Sledge
Australia (gotta love ‘em) initiated the sledging (a form of verbal intimidating) with a campaign by an online bookmaker advertising two cricket balls with the slogan: “Missing, Pair of Balls – if found please return to the English cricket team.” The ad ran before the home nation’s game against England in Melbourne and immediately became a social media success with the hashtag #MissingBalls trending in a matter of hours.
Our Digital Hub team picked up the social media movement and were quick to publicise. The first sledge of the tournament was soon up on the Telegraph, the Mirror and various other online titles who published the story as a good-natured exchange of banter.
But it doesn’t always work out so well. A club cricket final in New Zealand has recently made national headlines after it was abandoned due to one team refusing to play on, citing "bullying" from their opponents as the reason for pulling stumps. As the national team prepare for a feisty encounter with South Africa tomorrow could we see a repeat of the feisty 2011 World Cup quarter-final, or will the intimidating exchanges be left for the Twitterati to administer?
The Ledge
One thing we are sure to see as the semi-finals commence is a good dose of admiration for World Cup legends. The one day format differs from test cricket in that it propels individual performances into the limelight more than the team as a whole, a trait which is conducive to the 140 character limit on Twitter.
This year’s semi-finalists demonstrate this well. Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc is at the centre of social media hype in the run-up to their clash with India who have every chance of upsetting the host nation in their own backyard if the likes of MS Dhoni, Mohammad Shami and Ajinkya Rahane can repeat their heroic performances. And if New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill can #Guptill South Africa tomorrow he will become a social media saint overnight.
With three of the best games of the tournament yet to come, prepare to see a frenzy of social media activity kick off as the sledgend meets the legend.
Lack of Female Role Models for Girls in the Media
It’s painful just how hugely teenage girls obsess over beautiful celebs, isn’t it?
Even more painful is remembering being exactly the same way.
As an awkward pre-teen, the waist of my trousers still that bit too high, I directed all my adolescent envy towards two TV babes: Holly Valance (Neighbours fan – weren’t we all) and Frankie, of the highly-regarded eight-piece ensemble, the S Club Juniors. Pause for emphasis.
They were older than me; I guess around 14 - slim, clear-skinned and so unbearably good-looking.
Call me a shallow kid but if someone had said to me, ‘What do you want in life?’ I’d have thought, ‘Flick Scully’s complexion’ without pausing. I didn’t know what else to put my energy towards. School?
Perhaps it was a blessing then, that my only exposure to these girls was through music videos, CBBC and my monthly Sugar mag, so I was only mildly hateful of myself. Imagining what my life would have been like if I were 11 years old today….to endure the social media noise that teenagers have now… well that’s too stressful to think about.
It’s likely I’d be drip-fed a continuous stream of Holly and Frankie through their Twitter feeds; lapping it up as they churned out duck-faced selfies, holiday pics strewn with product placement, bikini mirror shots - at a Kardashian regularity. In a misplaced brainwave I’d probably have uploaded a ‘vlog’ of myself re-enacting a Fast Show sketch with a toy panda or something, which, years later, I would almost kill myself trying to remove. I might have even… enjoyed Zoella. It’s frightening, what might have been.
Imagining what my life would have been like if I were 11 years old today….to endure the social media noise that teenagers have now… well that’s too stressful to think about.
But the next generation – the millennials (apparently I might be a millennial, a fact I’d rather hide away from)- live each day in this media frenzy, which is barely being contained. We’re only beginning to see the dark side developing from this parallel world - the Instagram culture, the trolling, cyber bullying, revenge porn – and what an obsession with narcissistic, selfie-addicted reality stars might do to a teenager’s sense of self.
The problem lies in the fact that the really cool women – the explorers, zoologists, scientists, entrepreneurs, are NOWHERE to be seen. And the Kardashians, the Jenners, the cast of Towie - who are solely famous for publicity and looks, are EVERYWHERE. They aren’t particularly admirable, aren’t representing a viable career move and are spreading their own message of ‘you don’t look good enough’ to their young fans like a disease.
It’s mostly ‘the Kylie Jenner effect’ (the influx of girls getting lip fillers due to her sudden enormous pout) that made me write this post, as it got me thinking about idols. Aside from their own family members, not to be downplayed, and a stock list of historical figures like Marie Curie that are churned out in school, there are just reams and reams of glitzy celebs. Throw in a Karen Brady, a Michelle Obama and a Mary Portas and that’s it, really.
A space-travelling woman going to Mars may be mentioned in the news one day, or an athlete on another day, or a CEO on another And then she fades into obscurity as a ‘What has she done to her face?!’ story dominates the air time for weeks.
Put simply, there is no PR for the real idols girls need. No scientists, world explorers, chemists, psychologists. No web designers, charity workers, astronauts or business owners. And if we, as adults, don’t know anything about the women making real changes in the world but constantly seeing Kim Kardashian’s blonde mop gets a news headline, no wonder girls are chasing their goals right into the cosmetic surgeon’s office instead.
There is no PR for the real idols girls need
I want to hear about women that are worth looking up to and emulating, who have made something of themselves based on more than their cheekbones. Who have seen a problem and looked to solve it, through hard graft and innovation.
And we should research them, and talk about them, and share them, and give them the PR they deserve – but also (cue the Miss. World bit) because it’s what young girls deserve. The scope of what women are achieving isn’t bleak; they’re just humble enough not to be yelling about it. It’s up to everyone else to yell about them instead. It’s up to us change the situation.
International Women's Day is the 8th March. Don't forget to join the conversation using #IWD2015
PR Seminar: Dealing With the Press and Coping With Christmas
I’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone who took the time out of their busy morning to join us for our first ever northern 72Point seminar on Thursday.
It was nice to renew a few old acquaintances, catch up with our best clients from that part of the world, and also network with a whole host of people who we haven’t previously met.
The high-point for me was the bacon rolls, while the low-point was the moment I unwittingly ‘brought the house down’ during Sam’s talk in the form of causing the collapse of one of our banners.
I have obviously apologised to Sam!
I hope everyone who was there took something from it. We will find out soon I guess, once we receive your feedback via our online poll.
I did explain during my talk that I would happily pass on the hints and tips which I discussed at length, so here is a transcript of the interesting bits:
If you do have huge pressure to sell in stories in the run up to Christmas, call news desks early.
When I worked on desks we would start at 6.15am
But bear in mind conference is at 10.30am or 11am, and in an ideal world the news list will be complete by 10am or 10.15.
That means the busiest and most fraught time of the morning is between about 8.30 and 9.45am.
And guess what happens at that time in the morning. That’s when PR people call up.
People always say to me that journalists need PRs.
That’s not necessarily true.
Specialist reporters do. News desks don’t.
There is always more than enough happening around the world to fill 39 news pages, especially considering their over reliance on citizen journalism, social networking sites and Sky News, for their content.
So if you don’t want to be shouted at, ring up between 7am and 8am.
Whether you ring up or not, you must get your story over in the A.M.
After this most stories which arrive on news desks will either be spiked – which is effectively the waste-paper basket – or they will be cut very short to fit into a specific space on a page.
That’s because later on in the day, is not the quality of the story which is the defining factor. Space on the page is.
If you have to create a festive tale, be different. Forget ‘Dads get socks for Christmas’, for example. It’s dull and is probably the most common Xmas PR tale.
Try and think outside the box and try and ensure your story isn’t just a stat. There IS a difference.
Six out of ten dads will be asleep on the sofa by 2pm isn’t a story.
‘Six out of ten dads will be asleep on the sofa by 2pm – after consuming six pints of lager, three glasses of champagne and a creme-de-menthe’ – is a story, because it has the crucial five Ws and the H elements.
This sort of story then becomes about Christmas, booze and dads, not just Christmas. And we all like a drink at Christmas so it flicks a little switch of resonance.
This sort of intro also gives you somewhere to go with the subsequent paragraphs.
When did dad start drinking? What was on telly when he started? How long before that did he get up?
Did he sleep through the Queen’s speech?
How much does he drink over the entirety of the festive period etc etc?
AND this sort of story does not have to be told in a negative way. It’s all about the tone.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the MailOnline DO run Xmas stories, quite a few in fact.
So if you have one which you think will sit nicely on what is now the world’s biggest free news site, write it in the style they prefer.
Include up to six bullet-pointed sentences at the top of your copy.
This way you have a chance of them copying and pasting the copy – which they seem to be a huge fan of at the moment – without changing much of it.
Getting your story on a news wire is also important.
Up until around five years ago I would have said that if you were placing your story on a news wire you wouldn’t really have needed to call up and actively sell it in as well.
But these days there are so few people working on newspapers that it’s likely your story may be missed or overlooked, so I would say call up anyway.
It can do no harm, and might make the difference between success and failure.
When you call avoid introducing yourself. It won’t make a difference. They are busy people and they are under immense pressure. They don’t want to make friends.
So when they pick up the phone and bark at you, bark back. Just say ”I’ve got a story for you”. This will stop them in their tracks and they will take the time to listen to you.
Then read the intro of your story. Don’t use the words press release or survey and certainly don’t mention a brand.
Once you have read them the intro, if they haven’t turned the story down or hung up, read them the second paragraph.
If they then give you their personal email address, you are in. There is now a chance they will use your story.
If they say: ‘Send it to news@the-sun.co.uk’, that’s the bin, or it certainly was when I worked on the paper.
And remember if you get a bauble in the Daily Star give yourselves a massive pat on the back, because this time of the year any news coverage is GREAT news coverage.
Have a wonderful Christmas.
Thanks for listening.
The Power Behind the Rainbow Laces Campaign
Paddy Power never fail to disappoint when it comes to PR and marketing.
Previous examples of brilliance include their Luis Suarez advert, their break glass in an emergency Alex Ferguson, or their multiple world cup themed pieces.
Their latest marketing campaign however, although less comical, surpasses all previous attempts.
Working with sexuality charity Stonewall, Paddy Power have launched their#RainbowLaces campaign. The idea behind the campaign is to show solidarity for gay footballers and intolerance for homophobia in the sport by wearing, you guessed it, Rainbow Laces.
Although the campaign originally launched last year, it was accused of being merely another publicity stunt and has been redrafted with a more serious approach.
The campaign re-launched on the 8th September and has already found its feet.
The Metro produced a special Rainbow Laces edition of their paper which featured re-designs of well-known ads showing support for the campaign on behalf of dozens of household brands. The issue was even voted as Creative Review’s Ad of the Week.
Intelligent adverts being given a national showcase in the national press in which to convey their message is more than just a clever marketing trick. It’s a statement of how far society has come. It’s a reflection of what can be achieved if you have the right tools, support and platforms.
Notable examples of the above ads include Premier Inn who showed their support for the campaign with a rejigging of their brand name, changing it to Premier Out. Genius.
Smirnoff’s ad featured a rainbow coloured bottle of Smirnoff surrounded by the laces and the strapline ‘We wouldn’t change our recipe but we can change the game’.
This tied in with one of Paddy Power’s own ads which uses the line ‘it only takes two minutes to change the game’ and diagrams of how to place the laces in your boots in a style reminiscent of managerial tactic sketches.
Rather unsurprisingly Paddy Power have based all their advert designs specifically on football giving each a football punned strapline.
As well as the ‘change the game’ line above, other Paddy Power slogans include ‘now more than ever you’ve got the world at your feet’ and, possibly my favourite, ‘We don’t care which team you play for ’.
They even recruited the help of the Arsenal squad. It’s not the first time that Arsenal Football Club have shown their support for equal rights. In 2008 the club launched its ‘Arsenal for Everyone’ campaign to ‘ensure that everyone associated with the club feels an equal sense of belonging’. We live in a culture where, perhaps unjustly, footballers are idolised by a generation of young boys and girls, so who better to spread a message of equality.
The video, which shows certain Arsenal players list personal characteristics they can’t change, is worth a watch if you haven’t already. It not only reinforces the message that being gay is something you can’t change, but it also shows a level of self-deprecation and a sense of humour that, I for one, was unaware existed in football.
Highlights include the diminutive Santi Cazorla’s eyes peering over the edge of the camera unable to change his height; Mikel Arteta using more hairspray than is ecologically acceptable unable to change his ‘perfecto’ hair and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stating that he is unable to change that he looks like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Which he does by the way….Like, really does.
The rainbow laces campaign shows the true power of PR and marketing; using the power and influence of brands and influential personalities to spread a positive message to all age groups and demographics. My only concern is that it limits the campaign to football, after all homophobia has no place in any aspect of our culture or society but hopefully this is a step in the right direction.