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Archive for the ‘Public relations’ Category

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Jimmy does media

In Advertising, Digital, Marketing, Media, Public relations on January 7, 2011 at 10:53 pm

When Jimmy joins a new school and spots the girl of his dreams, he develops a communications strategy to get her. We’ve all been there. Haven’t we?

This is a guest post by my brother, Joe, a digital media planner in Edinburgh (but willing to travel. Tell me if you want to hire him – I’ll make him give me a cut).

Jimmy had just joined a new school, and as he was being shown around on his first day, he saw the most beautiful girl ever across the school grounds. She was also being shown round, and he couldn’t believe his luck; his future girlfriend had joined the same school on the same day.

After his first morning of lessons Jimmy was sitting at lunch when the girl came in and sat down just a few tables away. So infatuated was Jimmy that he decided that she must be his, and proceeded to develop an integrated communications strategy to get her. Read the rest of this entry »

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Can Forbes help brands do the write thing?

In Advertising, Digital, Journalism, Marketing, Media, Public relations on December 10, 2010 at 12:53 am

If Forbes is letting bloggers pay to write under its name, should we embrace this and let brands learn to engage rather than preach and plug?

I managed to run 10km today. But that’s beside the point. Except that it was on the way back from this run that I was listening to an Ad Age podcast that talked about how Forbes is selling its name to bloggers (you can read the article the podcast was discussing here). Read the rest of this entry »

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Special agents

In Communicate, Marketing, Public relations, Published journalism, Q&A on November 24, 2010 at 7:51 pm

Former ICCO president Jean-Léopold Schuybroek tells Communicate it’s time PR agencies stopped generalizing

Originally published in Communicate, May 2010

Jean-Léopold Schuybroek is the chairman of Interel, a Belgium-based PR company specializing in crisis and issues management and European public affairs. He has been president of the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO), the Belgian Association of Public Relations Consultancies, and the Public Relations Organization International (PROI), a global network of independent agencies (see “Join the PRty,” page 26, Communicate, Dec. 2009). He now heads up PROI’s international development group.

On a visit to Egypt, Schuybroek tells Communicate that as public relations develops internationally, it is becoming more important and central to the companies it services. But as agencies evolve, they can no longer afford to cover all aspects of communication. The time will come when independent PR firms must choose areas to specialize in or be forced out by international networks – if they don’t join forces first. Read the rest of this entry »

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Join the PRty

In Communicate, Public relations, Published journalism on November 24, 2010 at 3:52 pm

As a network of independent PR agencies, the APRN is a new concept for the region. Can the alliance of local consultancies face up to international giants?

Originally published in Communicate, December 2009

Last month three PR agencies – Active PR from Dubai, 4PR from Cairo, and MPR from Riyadh – came together to form the Arabian Public Relations Network (APRN). The agencies, which have worked together in the past through “a loose set of affiliations and memorandums of understanding,” according to Active PR’s joint managing director and freshly elected chairman of APRN, Louay Al Samarrai, hope that formalizing those relationships will allow their network to take root and grow. Read the rest of this entry »

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Chat’s the way to do it

In Communicate, Dubai, Journalism, Opinion, Public relations, Published journalism on November 24, 2010 at 3:43 pm

Communicate joins the Ramadan feeding frenzy and finds that focus-free feasting will serve a good host well

Originally published in Communicate, October 2009

“It was like the buffet was a wounded gazelle and the marketing folk were starved lions,” says one friend of Communicate, talking about an iftar to which we weren’t invited (This is unthinkable, don’t they know who we are?).

Well, it’s reassuring to know that we journalists aren’t alone in being, “a bunch of good-for-nothing freeloading gannets” (in the words of the same friend) during Ramadan. For many in the press pack the Holy Month is all about getting fed, and in these strained times the frenzy for freebie food has seemed even more desperate than usual. And rightly so – this could be the only dining out most of us manage all year. Read the rest of this entry »

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Weber 4.0

In Communicate, Public relations, Published journalism, Q&A on November 23, 2010 at 5:50 pm

PR guru Larry Weber talks about the future of the Internet. And golf balls

Originally published in Communicate, February 2009

In 1987, Larry Weber founded the Weber Group, which grew – as Weber Shandwick – to be one of the biggest PR businesses in the world. And in 2004, he started out again, with W2 Group, which specializes in digital PR. He has long been a proponent of the Web, having worked with Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing it, and has been called “the town crier of the Internet.” Communicate caught up with Weber when he was in town to be a keynote speaker at the PR Congress in Dubai. We took the opportunity to find out what he’s been up to, and to gauge his thoughts on PR, the region and technology. Read the rest of this entry »

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The legend of Spamalot

In Communicate, Dubai, Journalism, Marketing, Public relations, Published journalism on November 23, 2010 at 5:43 pm

We look at the unsolicited mail in our inboxes, and see who’s jamming our computers with junk

Originally published in Communicate, September 2008

As journalists, we thrive on information, and a lot of this comes via our inboxes.

Unfortunately, to get to that information, we have to dig through piles of irrelevant rubbish, much of it sent by PR professionals.
So we fired a warning shot last month, when we warned we would name and shame the worst offenders. (See Letter from the editor, page 3, July-August 2008.) Read the rest of this entry »

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Press conference saves babies

In Communicate, Dubai, Journalism, Marketing, Public relations, Published journalism on November 23, 2010 at 1:40 pm

P&G vaccinates 100 newborns for everyone who attends campaign launch

Originally published in Communicate, July 2008

Communicate (and some other journos) saved some babies yesterday. By going to a press conference.

We were intrigued by a press release from IPN, on behalf of P&G’s Pampers diaper brand, inviting us to attend the launch of their “1 large pack = 1 tetanus vaccine” campaign, run in partnership with UNICEF. It promised that, “P&G has pledged to donate 100 additional vaccines towards the campaign for every person who attends the press conference.” Journalists were encouraged to bring family and friends to further boost numbers at the presser. Read the rest of this entry »

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The main event

In Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Public relations, Published journalism on November 22, 2010 at 11:29 pm

In the UAE, where every business wants to appear the biggest and best, firms are turning to event marketers to make their functions stand out

Originally published in Communicate, December 2007

In Dubai, everyone has something to say. Even when they don’t. Press conferences promising “important announcements” or “pioneering developments” are a daily occurrence. Showing off, it seems, is an important part of business culture here.

Companies, then, need to do something special to make their announcements and corporate events stand out. Read the rest of this entry »