Shake your tutu

English National Ballet have hijacked the harlem shake to make their own video that is going viral - great example of using opposites (shake versus pirouettes) to promote your brand and riding a viral wave.

The write way into a PR career

So what do PR employers want from PR graduates? Their skills in dealing with social media? Their digital native outlook on digital media? No, the old fashioned skills are still the most important.

When asked which skills were most important for a graduating PR student, an overwhelming 86% of the 113 respondents chose "good writing skills", with "good communication skills" following at 33% and "social media" coming in at no.3 with only 21%. This is all from a paper from Paskin soon to be published in Public Relations Review (accessible via UWE library if a student).

When ranking 23 possible options, traditional skills such as knowing how to plan/evaluate campaigns, and think strategically and write well, occupied 12 of the top 13 spaces. So, if you're considering a career in PR it's worth building up your writing skills - read more, write more, start a blog, go on writing courses.

Newsjacking

Newsjacking. I can't believe I hadn't heard this word until the Superbowl power outage - but it's great.

When the lights went out at the Mercedes-Benz sponsored MBUSA stadium for the US's biggest sporting event of the year, Audi tweeted "Sending some LEDs to the @MBUSA Superdome right now...". Brilliant. A controversial 'burn' directed to their competitor's biggest night of the year garnering over 10,000 retweets.

Meanwhile Oreos were on the ball with a near instant Facebook update with this image: winning over 20,000 likes... Oreo are pretty good on Facebook.

Hijacking news events and riding the publicity wave is a core PR skill, for B2C, B2B and corporations - and it's so much FUN. Whether it's these funny takes on national (or competitor) events, or more serious use of events to remind people of your brand, the newsworthiness of your story gets a boost from the free publicity wave - effectively hijacking someone else's news. And social media is the perfect medium, making this a relatively new skill where the fastest responses are the winners. So, ear to the ground everyone - who's news can you steal?

See the hubspot site for more examples.

Findus find themselves in the 1980s

Findus seems to be a brand stuck in a time warp - their products, their packaging and their crisis management strategies seem to have changed little since the 1980s.

Great article on The Drum about how media have moved on while Findus' methods of dealing with crisis have not. Where once a brand could weather the storm and wait for the waves of negative publicity to die away, now social media fuel ever enlarging ripples of rumour, rage and recriminations.

Here is Findus' response:

"We understand this is a very sensitive subject for consumers and we would like to reassure you we have reacted immediately. We do not believe this to be a food safety issue. We are confident that we have fully resolved this supply chain issue.”

Findus were aware of the issue in their supply chain for days before it became a crisis for them in the media (python crisis), while Tesco had much less time to react (cobra crisis) yet Tesco responded rapidly and proactively.  Findus almost blame consumers for being 'sensitive' by implying that they do not share the concerns, and fail to state what they are DOING about the issue. Contrast this with Tesco's apology, published in national newspapers at great expense. Note their acceptance of responsibility - while still fairly implicating the supply chain - and their explicit promise of action. Note how they invite two-way dialogue in person, in store. Tesco went on to set up a Facebook page and continue to create dialogue. This is crisis management in the modern age.

Boeing and B2B - trust, risk and reputation

The charred remains of a Dreamliner lithium ion battery

As the new Dreamliner aeroplane is grounded around the world, Boeing face the task of rebuilding the brand's reputation amongst airlines and passengers, assuring both that the Dreamliner (Boeing 787) is a safe and viable alternative to well established Airbus A350.

After problems with burnt out lithium batteries during routine flights, airlines around the world began to ground their Dreamliner fleets, until the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration took the decision to ground ALL Dreamliners around the globe. The Dreamliner is the world's most fuel efficient airliner - a mid-size aeroplane carrying 210-290 passengers and designed to compete with Airbus A350.

Boeing convinced 57 B2B customers that they could trust the brand to deliver a safe and efficient flying experience that kept passengers, regulators and the their accounts departments happy. However that trust is on the line as airlines replace burnt out batteries, face public scrutiny and lose sections of their fleet for perhaps weeks - with ongoing scepticism of the plane by future passengers who may fear flying in them. A great example to support the B2B lecture on this module - and to watch for how Boeing handle this crisis. Would you risk millions on a Dreamliner? What do Boeing need to do claw back the trust these batteries have burnt out?

Polar opposites?

You may have seen the ads on TV, or perhaps shared a link on Facebook or tweeted about it, as Coca-Cola and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) unite for a campaign to combat climate change. The Arctic Home initiative encourages consumers to use and waste less energy (reducing carbon dioxide emissions) - and to donate money to the WWF to fund climate change research and initiatives.

From a PR point of view the WWF are clearly getting extra coverage financed and crafted by the excellent marketing minds at Coca-Cola - and Coca-Cola are building on the polar bear that became a perhaps unexpected emblem of their brand through their 1993 Christmas ads and later campaigns. The polar bears have recently resurfaced in new wintry commercials, and even a short film directed by Ridley Scott.

It's unclear whether this film was designed to set up the WWF campaign, or if the WWF collaboration and the film were designed to counteract the backfiring of the iconic polar bear imagery. Last October, the Center for Science in the Public Interest collaborated with animators and musicians to create a film about 'The Real Bears' - polar bears who drink sugary drinks and suffer the effects...weight gain, diabetes, tooth decay... The two bears in bed are particularly sad but perhaps the chainsaw amputation is overkill. In the US, sugary drinks are the main source of calories in most Americans' diets, and the soft drink manufacturers are seen as key culprits in the US obesity epidemic.

Furthermore, Coca-Cola is embroiled in a debate about their latest ad, which sought to tackle this thorny issue and the role of sugary drinks, by highlighting their low calorie alternatives, smaller portions and clear food labelling. 

And now they are supporting a charity and the fluffy polar bears with CSR on a topic that seems little related to their core business... And it is perhaps a surprise that the WWF would risk their own image being linked to such a brand, that is in no way universally loved, despite their deep pockets. Is this perhaps a defensive move, well away from controversial brand issues for Coca-Cola? Seemingly talking about the polar opposite to what everyone else is talking about when it comes to Coca-Cola?