Corporate social crap?

It's generally taken as read that corporate social responsibility (CSR) improves the reputation of your company...right? But it turns out that if you are a 'socially stigmatised' firm it may in fact do the opposite. So, if you're a tobacco firm, an alcohol firm, or a firm with an otherwise less than sparkling reputation it may be that your CSR efforts are perceived as insincere and may not help your brand at all. Sometimes known by sceptics as 'whitewashing', such CSR can be seen as merely painting over the cracks in the rest of the organisation. This is also called  'greenwashing' if regarding environmental issues - such as this ad for Shell.

A paper by Steltenpool & Verhoeven in this month's Public Relations Review isn't the strongest piece of research ever but it's an interesting view on a topic that is generally accepted as indispensable in modern day corporate comms.

Shut that laptop...and get creative

Yep. Stop reading this blog. Go on. And no more checking your emails. Or texting. Turn off, tune out and switch off if you're trying to be creative. Or hire a hideously expensive hotel room in a really boring place.

These are just two of Belinda Lank's ideas for sparking creativity  - a vital skill if you're working in the modern marketing world. As Seth Godin points out, if you want to stand out in today's cluttered world you need to be either very bad or very bizarre. And 'bizarre' means so novel it's weird.

For PR, we're not talking creative images and words as much as creative strategies: it may be a weird and wonderful photo op ('Bruno' landing in Eminem's face to promote new movie), or a freaky new product (breast milk ice cream anyone?) - but it has to be DIFFERENT.

Belinda's ideas are useful strategies for that creative step, after the hard work and background analysis is done and you have to take a leap of the imagination to create something exciting...try it next time you're in the shower.

Sponsorship reaches for the skies

As Felix Baumgartner teetered in the doorway of a balloon capsule 24 miles above the earth, a planet of people peered back up, hearts in mouths - and many with fingers on keyboards.

The footage segued between Felix in his Red Bull branded suit, and 'mission control' with Red Bull branded background, all watched through around 8 million concurrent streams on YouTube. As he landed, Red Bull published a photo of 'Fearless Felix' on his knees via Facebook, which was shared 29,000 times within 40 minutes, with 216,000 'likes' and over 10,000 comments. Meanwhile Red Bull solicited questions via both Facebook and Twitter, promising to ask three from followers in Felix's first press conference after landing.

Every 'like', comment, and shared link, every moment of news coverage and every photo in every magazine sears Red Bull into our minds, but remember they have spent millions of dollars sponsoring this jump. So, in terms of ROI...who knows? Forbes estimates that for every dollar spent Red Bull have received perhaps $20 worth of coverage, but in terms of credibility and brand image the impact is immeasurable.

In the popular psyche 'Fearless Felix' stands for bravery, pushing the boundaries and not a little bit of madness - qualities Red Bull happily associate with their brand, while Red Bull increasingly stand for extreme sport, drive and, much like Felix, a touch of madness. A match made in heaven - or at least the edge of space...

The colour purple...

...belongs to Cadbury's apparently, well at least if it's Pantone 2685C that is. Freakily, I mentioned this purple in todays' PR tutorial and pointed to its use in Cadbury's comms (whether a drumming gorilla or an eyebrow dancing duo, and ads and packaging since 1914) as shorthand for the brand.

So it was a great bit of PR for Cadbury this week as they and Nestle fought it out in court - Cadbury's succeeding in stopping Nestle piggy-backing the brand by using the exact shade on their Wonka products.

Read about it in the Telegraph, Guardian and Marketing. However remember that the first brand to trademark their shade of purple was Silk Cut, the cigarette brand, who perhaps were the most successful brand ever to use a colour. In the run up to the 1990s ban on branded cigarette advertising in the UK they ran a slick campaign of ads featuring silk, in their distinctive purple, slashed with a simple cut. After the ban the ads continued to run without branding yet proved indelibly recognisable. Great marketing, whatever you think of the product.

The art of the photo op

This is the first in a line of blogs for this year's new PR students to cover some basic PR approaches.

Ahhh, look at the cute penguin! He's on some scales! Bless! It's at London Zoo! They're doing their annual audit! Haven't been there for ages...looks much cleaner and nicer than I remember...may pop in next time I'm in London...

This is the art of the photo op (opportunity): an image that a journalist or blogger wants to use in a newspaper, mag, blog, Facebook stream, twitter feed...any medium, because it makes their readers happy. It makes the reader happy because it makes them smile, gasp, wince, cry, gawp, lust, grimace, laugh or have some similarly emotional rush in an otherwise dull day and, ideally, share. That makes the journalist or blogger happy because happy readers want more and will continue to come back and maybe even pay for the privilege. And it makes the brand, in this case London Zoo, happy because they just got pages of coverage in largely credible media for the cost of a digital photo.

Here's another good one. Ordinary guy on the left, yep? Wait there, is he wiping his face on or off on the right there? That's weird. Oh!! He's the guy out of that Lady Gaga video, Zombie Boy (aka Rick Genest) who has all the skeleton tattoos and the concealer make-up is actually the stuff that make him look 'normal'. Dermablend you say? Wow, that stuff must really work... And there it is in the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, on fashion blogs,  and across the internet...

And how to make the most of your photo op? The beauty of this Dermabland one is that it is clearly about the BRAND - and it shows how well the brand does its job.

Some brands - those already loved by the public - can simply get away with light hearted and prominent use of their imagery (see Homer Simpson nestling up to the Cerne Abbas giant down in Dorset for one great example timed to launch the Simpson's movie). Others need to use celebrities, famous places such as the Thames in London, the latest fad or fashion, or an image that provokes a strong emotional response - because they're trying to be newsworthy and get space in a competitive media environment. More on that at a later date...

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words - and as long as those words include your brand name in a favourable light, you should be very happy.

•