Periscope – See the world through different angle or Share your experience with others

Tags

#communications, #digital, #engagement, #periscope, #socialCEO, #Twitter, pr

Hello,

I hope everyone is doing well and having a great week!

I was studying hard for my first exam, which is tomorrow so wish me luck and fingers crossed. I’ve decided to share some thoughts with you and write about my new favourite platform ‘Periscope’, which I consider as an engaging way for sharing content. It can be applied to PR as a great tool for communicating with key audiences, not only B2C, but also B2B.

People are crazy about it and as I read only for 10 days Periscope gained 1 million users, which is incredible success.

Information about the creation of Periscope:

• Mother of Periscope is Twitter
• Twitter launched not only Periscope, but also Meerkat (both apps to broadcast live-video feed to your Twitter followers)

It is an innovative platform to deliver content through engaging way, useful for distribution, reporting and sharing. The exciting part is that you are streaming everything live. I like the fact that you can be wherever you want and meet different people from different countries doing different things such as ‘watching’ the sunset in New Jersey or ‘walking down’ the streets of New York (being next to Empire State Building) or be in an PR consultancy office (where the person is writing press release), or talking with influential people (CEOs, celebrities) from different areas.

    

Advantages of Periscope used in PR sphere:

1. Taking social media to a whole level – as PR is using more and more social media rather than traditional, this will be a great opportunity to engage people and influence key stakeholders through this new platform distributing different messages in a creative way.

2. Changing public communications globally – Great potential for PR to develop on different scale of using video impact. It can share key moments, speeches and events and getting instant feedback from the public (as people who are watching the video can comment throughout).

3. Major impact in managing internal communications – having staff live streaming on the workplace will engage and encourage them to be brand ambassadors of the organisation itself. (Of course, bearing in mind that this will be included in the social media policy of the organisation and employees should know what is kept confidential and what is not.)

4. Useful way to communicate with journalists/ also Citizen Journalism – It is advantage for journalist, but also for PR practitioners, who are seeking to get coverage or distribute key messages, stories.

5. Using it as a narrative tool in PR – PR practitioners are storytellers (sharing company story – values, mission, vision, goals).

6. Social CEO – PR practitioners could encourage CEOs to adopt social media habits and engage key audiences as using Periscope.

Do you like Periscope? What do you think – is it a momentum success or this is the future of digital communications?

XOXO

Creativity = Problem Solving

Tags

#creativity, #lionfishinvasion, #problemsolving

Hello everyone,

It is been a tough week, because I am preparing for exams and did not have enough time for blogging. However, today’s post will reveal how problem solving could be facilitating using creative ways as giving an example of one campaign created in very original and impressive way.

What actually is creativity? According to Oxford English Dictionary creativity is “The use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness”.

Steve Jobs claimed that when you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they did not really do it, but after a while they realise it. Being creative enables to connect experiences you’ve had and combine it with new things.

Why creativity has a huge value? Because when there is no answer or solution to a situation, creative people are there to help as coming up with an idea that sticks and that is why creativity assists in problem solving.

One technique we’ve learnt at University to foster creativity is Brainstorming. This gives you opportunity to generate ideas and then identify the strongest ones.

Personally, I think that everyone could be creative – Just be brave, because creativity takes courage. The good thing in being creative is that there is no right or wrong answer. Using your own thinking and linking it to things of life you’ve had experienced will be the best way.

Creativity = Problem Solving

Here is the campaign example:

Client: Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
Product: The Lionfish Invasion

Problem solving question:

What do you do when there is an invasion of lionfish in your country’s surrounding waters, threatening to kill hundreds of species?

Situation:

What local people say about it? One predator – The Lionfish – invaded the Caribbean. It is endangering hundreds of species and it reproduces very rapidly. The Colombian President considers it a threat to national security. It eats as many as 30 fishes in 30 minutes.

What chefs say about it? Lionfish is delicious and you can eat it. Turning the Lionfish into desirable dishes.

Solution: One simple, but creative idea to end up this menace is to EAT IT. Generating a cultural shift by working with Colombia’s top chefs and creating a cookbook with recipes for cooking Lionfish.

Turning it from exclusive to popular! Everyone loves to eat it.

XOXO

Social media can and should be measured

Tags

#barcelonaprinciples, #evaluation, #planning, #socialmedia

Hello everyone,

Today’s post will be about the importance of evaluation as putting more emphasis on that social media can and should be measured.

These days, more and more PR practitioners underestimate the need of evaluation. It is part of the planning process and it is the last stage, which should not be missed. There are a lot of advantages of evaluating at the end of the campaign such as demonstrating how effective the communications were or where you need to focus your efforts. However, people do not realise this and do not practice it due to lack of time (it is time consuming process), there is a lack of knowledge of techniques and sometimes lack of budget because it is known as an expensive process. Evaluation demonstrates results, whether they’re bad or good, receiving feedback, which will be helpful in the future.

This year, we had a whole separate topic for evaluation and we looked through the Barcelona Principles. The 6^th principle stated that: ‘Social media can and should be measured.’

Actually, why it is so important to measure it?

First of all, to understand the effectiveness of what you are doing and knowing where to invest and concentrate your efforts. Evaluating the activities and the campaigns helps PR practitioners and gives them   insights. Organisations and people are out there on social media, they can share and comment or like no matter what or where. Afterwards measuring the quality and the quantity is critical.

Second of all, evaluating give us insight on the behavioural change we are seeking to influence. Measuring social media assists us to understand our audience and its perceptions towards campaign/product/initiative. The audience on social media is a key stakeholder (part of the Gregory’s planning model), however we need to be aware that sometimes people are sharing things on social media that could not be prevented and which are inevitable part, such as the value of a tweet.

Thirdly, as PR has moved online, the opportunity to measure results and effectiveness has increased. Now, it is not all about evaluating coverage such as press cuttings, PR practitioners moved to a new different level to real time planning and evaluation.

And last, but not least, conducting social media audit will help to analyse the consumer insights deeper and find out more of what people think about the organisation you represent. Evaluating and gaining inights will help to plan your communications for the next campaign.

Share what do you think – is it important to evaluate, and more specifically do you need to measure social media or not?

XOXO

Using Visual in PR

Tags

#digitalisation, #engagement, #impact, #persuasion, #visualisation, #visualthinking

Hello everyone,

This post will be about visual, visual and again.. visual.

Why it is so important these days to include visual communications in your job as a PR practitioner?

It has been proven that using visual is more persuasive, powerful and it can reach everyone. Someone once said:

We live in a world where people are far more influenced by what they see rather than what they hear or read. The role of digital media is an important major part of PR and it can be used both in traditional and social media. The best way of distributing the message to the right target audience through different channels is using visualisation. The power and the impact that it has is huge, and it can appeal in different ways bringing emotions to the audience. The influence of a video itself can produce “new realities” in a creative way.

Visual content is one of the most influential tools and has a great impact on people’s attitudes. Additionally, PR practitioners embrace it and include it in its strategy due to its advantages and it assists in achieving effective communications with the public. Using visual media engages the audience and benefits all PR efforts to build relationships and ensure mutual understanding as well as involving more and more people, which leads to sharing the content itself. Another advantage is the emotional impact that images and more specifically videos have.

Nowadays, the evolution of the digital world offers the great opportunity for PR practitioners to develop and craft their skills. Including a visual part in the campaign ensures success due to faster distribution of compelling messages. Using visualisation allows PR practitioners to be creative and to drive attention to a specific target audience inspiring it to act and to be involved in the project itself.

XOXO

Feature Writing

Tags

#article, #feature, #featurewriting, #journalism, #storytelling, #writingskills

Hello everyone,

I know I haven’t posted in a while due to the fact that it was end of the term and there were a lot of deadlines due to yesterday. However, I am back now and this post will be different. I am not going to write about the usual campaign post and my impressions of it. I will share my experience from one of the pillars I needed to create for my portfolio, which was to conduct an interview and then write a feature.

In the beginning, I taught that this pillar will be the hardest one. There are a lot of challenges, but afterwards I find out that I really enjoyed writing the feature. It is not an easy task to create an article, which will intrigue the target audience. It is really important to have relationship with your readers, being aware what they want to know or need. Writing an article is not about dry facts and hypothesis, but sharing a story to a specific type of audience, trying to present it in a unique way. I consider that it is essential to possess time-management and planning skills. Therefore, I prepared myself as contacting my interviewee at an early stage to arrange the meeting in advance. The atmosphere in the place we met was pleasant without disturbing noise and it was easy to talk. The conversation was flowing without any tension. However, one of the challenges I consider is not to take personal view on topics and questions and to have both neutral and at the same time thought-provoking tone. This is my first real interview and I don’t have enough experience in this process. I definitely will do it again and I like the fact that writing an article is not always about showing the positive side of the person. On the contrary, it shows the real character of people and it is difficult to draw someone out. While conducting the interview I took down notes and I was purposeful in terms of what I would like to ask and find out. I prepared my questions in advance and I have succeeded to receive all of the answers. Additionally, I made up a couple more following questions during the interview leading from the general ones. When I was composing the feature it was a bit of challenge to sift the information and to evaluate what the chosen readership will be interested in and how the article will attract their attention. However, I enjoyed it and I consider that as a future PR practitioner I need to be aware what it is to be on the other side, not always showing the positive nature of the issue or the character of a person.

What do you think?

XOXO

Salvation Army – #Dressgate

Hello everyone,

I had weekend off to Amsterdam, but now I am back. My aim as a blogger is to post every week and this post is going to be for one powerful campaign, which was launched on 8^th of March – International Women’s Day. Considering that today is one week later from this day is kind of late. However I really wanted to write and share with you the #Dressgate.

This month one trend became really popular and everyone was talking, posting and commenting about it – the trend called The Dress. It was a fierce debate what is the real colour – some saw the garment as white and gold, other as black and blue. Even celebrities took part in the debate and share opinions on Twitter. Taylor Swift wrote:

“I don’t understand this odd dress debate and I feel like it’s a trick somehow. I’m confused and scared. PS it’s OBVIOUSLY BLUE AND BLACK”.

I find it useful, and more important things must go viral, rather than this dress’s colour. However, I am happy to share that the garment has been used for good cause and The Salvation Army did that. They used #Dressgate to launch a powerful campaign appealing with emotional message. It is about the domestic violence, which is considered to be crime. The organisation produced an image of a young woman covered with bruises and cuts. She is wearing THAT dress with the version of white and gold. The message of the campaign is: “Why is it so hard to see black and blue?”

In addition there is a slogan stated: “The only illusion is if you think it was her choice. One in six women are victims of abuse. Stop abuse against women.”

There are statistics in Britain, which demonstrates that two women every week are killed by a partner or former partner.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said:

“Domestic violence is experienced by hundreds of thousands of women every year, but many feel unable to tell anyone because they think that they won’t be believed or that people won’t understand.

“These women live in an invisible prison: controlled and harmed by the person who should love them most.”

This campaign had a huge impact and there were a lot of positive comments on social media.

@JonathanRBlades share on Twitter:

the Salvation Army taking the silliness of #TheDress to make a powerful point. that is how you jump on the bandwagon #TheSalvationArmy

I am impressed from the campaign and how The Salvation Army manage to transform one silly trend into something meaningful, which has emotional appeal and at the same it encourages women to report this crime.

XOXO

The Tiger Running Challenge

Hello guys,

Before starting my post this week I have a few questions:

Can you be faster than amur tiger, that runs 20 km a day?

Do you think you can do it? It is a quite challenging, right?

This is all about the fair competition. One project, which is launched by WWF Russia. This campaign is created because of the reason that only about 450 amur tigers left in Russia. It is one creative idea, which I found really clever and it engages a lot of people into this project, without harming these animals.

It is known that human has been always fighting with tigers by poaching them for their skin, bones and teeth. This causes a decline in the tigers population in terms of intensity of farming and building roads, which leads to destroying their habitats.

This project is created by the crew at Hungry Boys in Moscow and the idea is to have a competition between a human and a tiger using running apps.

You will be put in a test to see if you can beat them. You have the opportunity not to race with a friend but with something more competitive, which is ..  a Tiger.

And now when you are reading this you are asking the first question, which comes to your mind, which is:

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!

The answer is: a GPS tracker. They have placed a gsp tag on one of tigers in wildlife to track his position. I know – it is really clever!

All you need is to:

1. Go to the special platform.

2. Connect your account.

3. Just RUN!

And the only catch, in case if you lose the competition, is that you will automatically donate to WWF.

Share this creative content and ask more people to join the project! It is amazing how it is created something, which provokes people to compete and at the same time to contribute for a good cause. It think the creative team for this campaign did a really good job bearing in mind that people like to be challenged and they can also be engaged in this project as participating in it, not only watching it.

Visit the web-site: http://run4tiger.com and create our own account.

XOXO

Burberry Kisses campaign

Hello everyone,

This week’s post is for one of my favourite luxury brands, which is Burberry. It became a leading brand in digital communications and it is developed as digital pioneer. As one of the most prestigious fashion brands in the world, Burberry has climbed completely on board with digital and embraced innovative marketing techniques blurring the boundary between its online environment and physical stores. Burberry is also involved in digital engagement and brand building through its use of music. Its vision was to be “the first company who is fully digital”. I admire the fact that the brand succeeded to create and build own digital culture.

Burberry CEO said: “Technology is an intrinsic part of most people’s lives. All we’ve done is make sure to weave technology into the fabric of the company. This is how customers live, they wake up with a device in their hand and life begins.”

This campaign is the best example how Burberry has earned the reputation of a digital brand in the luxury industry. It was launched one year ago, but I find out about it these days, because I am researching case studies about digitalisation and how brand are developing their communications with its customers (more specifically with the new generation of Millennials) in the digital era as this is the main idea for my dissertation for the next year.

The campaign itself is called ‘Burberry Kisses’ and for this project the brand co-operate with Google. It is a really engaging piece of content and people are connected emotionally, which I consider is the most important thing for a successful campaign. It is known that Burberry is an old brand with a heritage. Its team aimed to introduce an emotion into technology, to encourage people to fall in love with the brand. It was created something that is very personal and at the same time everyone can take part in this interactive experience. And they taught: ‘What is more personal than a kiss?’

Burberry worked with Google to re-imagine how brands can deliver beautiful experience across devices and screens. The brief was to create an emotional connection between the Burberry brand and Millennial consumers through the lens of beauty products. The idea of this project is to send personal kiss to someone special for you and it doesn’t matter the destination – you can send it to everyone EVERYWHERE in the world. It is used a facial recognition technology that can detect the outline of a user’s lips through the webcam. To add a personal touch to every letter, it was used a location data, which brings the experience to life.

I LOVE IT! It is so inspiring and I am happy that Burberry had been transformed from ageing British brand to global digital brand, which engage its customers to the brand itself. One beautiful campaign that explores one universal theme of love, communicated in the most personal way – by sending a KISS.

XOXO

“Upgrade Challenge”

Tags

#AirFrance, #newbusinesscabins, #UpgradeChallenge

Hello people,

Today’s post is going to observe one campaign, which is an initiative of the well-known air company – Air France. The campaign was created for the launch of Air France’s new business cabins in Asia in the beginning of this month and it is about a clever mobile based game called #Upgrade Challenge. It allows people to compete for the upgrades to be in business class, while waiting at the gate for their flight.

I really love the idea, because Air France combines brand experience and brand loyalty in one in terms of targeting customers’ attention. The campaign is great, considering the way it engages people with its content. It affects people’s thinking and attitude towards the upcoming flight. They value the opportunity to have a comfortable flight seating in the first class. It is good that in terms of target audience it involves everyone.

The campaign started in two airports in Singapore and Japan where the brand transformed the boarding gates into a game arena. I consider that this is another advantage, which shows why this campaign is so good in terms of engaging. Air France cares about their customers’ satisfaction therefore the brand creates the perfect atmosphere. The passengers have only 15 minutes to play and all of them are from different age groups and different nationalities, but that doesn’t matter because one thing brings them together – the participation in this game. The rankings were displayed real-time on giant screens. At the end only the top scorers were instantly upgraded to Air France’s new business cabins.

Everyone can join this experience on these departure cities – Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Jakarta. You can also play the game anywhere at anytime, you just have to download it from the App store.

It is one creative idea, which is valuable by Air France’s customers and at the same time it engages them through a digital experience. It is perfect in so many ways! What do you think?

XOXO

Reality is Better Than Fiction!

Tags

#50GamesToPlay, #50ShadesOfGrey, #Durex, #Valentine'sDay

Hello World,

I was thinking about my new post and researching new campaigns, more specifically from this year. As everyone knows this week is Valentine’s Day and it will be released the film:  “50 Shades of Grey”. People are going crazy about it and it is believed  that the movie already has over 475,000 tickets sold in the UK.

And here it appears one well-known brand with its clever move creating an ad one week ago, before these two events. I find it interesting how Durex has this genius idea to develop this campaign as managing to take advantage from Valentine’s Day and the movie in one. I think that is the reason why the video gone viral for a few days and gathered more than 12 millions views on YouTube.

Actually, the campaign is inspired by “Fifty Shades of Grey” and it is called: Reality is Better Than Fiction!

I find out that before executing the ad, Durex conducted a research, which reveals that 65% of people prefer reality rather than fiction world. In regards to the sex theme, in the last research of 2014 by the British National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles people are having less sex than ever. There is decline rates, which show that the average number of times people have sex each month had dropped from five to three.

There was another survey by Durex, which discloses that, on any given day, people are twice as likely to read a book in bed as they are to have sex.

It seems that people are not inspired enough to experiment new things bearing in mind that over one third said that it’s been more than a year since they tried something new in the bedroom.

Durex created this campaign to change people ‘s perceptions and encourage them to try something new in the bedroom. It is also launched #50GamesToPlay Guide, a  handbook of sex tips and games to inspire couples to have some fun and to experience the real excitement of having great sex, not only reading about it in books.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9IJteTCIAAXQMi.jpg:large

The full #50GamesToPlay Guide can be viewed at http://50gamestoplay.durex.com/

XOXO