Great blog post here from Mashable about 8 ways to keep employees - and thankfully it echoes much of what we say in the lecture and tutorials about employee ownership, two-way comms and the 'we' stories.
Point 8 is perhaps the most interesting: there is no one recipe for a successful company culture. Apple are highly secretive, Google all about the perks, yet each are successful in their own unique way. So every company deserves a different approach, depending on who and what they are - see the lecture for more on that.
This is just a short video about smartwatches that may help with your assignments - comparing brands and some predictions for the future, and you get to see this year's smartwatches in action. More interestingly as marketers, it will be interesting to see what apps develop over time for us to use to market other products - but for now we thought this might be useful for the PRiDA assignment.
First a quick welcome to the new PRiDA students for this year...welcome to the module and this blog, I hope it proves interesting, useful and inspiring. And we hit the ground running with an excellent example of crisis management and 'activism' from this week's news. Asda and Tesco have both issued apologies and withdrawn similar 'Mental Patient' and 'Psycho Ward' Halloween costumes after a furore about the portrayal of people with mental health issues. Failing to consider each and every aspect of their value chain in the context of modern (and much more open) attitudes to mental health, both supermarkets missed the PR timebomb that was ticking in their aisles.
While both supermarkets were quick to respond with abject apologies and sizeable donations to the mental health charity, Mind, this was an exercise in damage limitation as the 'unacceptable error' was broadcast on TV news, radio news, newspapers and, of course, the internet. A better PR approach would have been to spot the issue before the products even got to the shelves, emphasising how PR should be embedded at every level of an organisation. Meanwhile Mind have made the most of the supermarkets' blunder: with credible, qualified speakers on news broadcasts across the UK, great quotes in news articles, and the support of well-known public figures affected by mental health issues themselves. Stan Collymore, Alistair Campbell and others tweeted and issued statements - and every communication serves to reduce the stigma of mental health a step further. Even better, ordinary people who are affected by mental health issues took to twitter and published photos of them looking, well, ordinary, with hashtag 'my #mentalhealth outfit for the day'.
Effectively 'newsjacking' Asda and Tesco's mistake, Mind have snowballed national outcry at such insensitivity to mental heath to promote their agenda and raise awareness of the continuing stigma and misperceptions of mental health. For little or no cost, the charity has 'earned' millions of pounds worth of column inches and the airwaves, and a significant chunk of the twittersphere, to help achieve their overall aim of destigmatising mental health. And that, my friends, is the beauty of PR.
On PRiDA we talk a great deal about the role of social media in promoting democracy: stimulating public lobbying, raising awareness of issues and being the driving force behind much of the Arab Spring - eventually leading to some governments blocking Facebook and Twitter.
However this article by Kent (2013) (if you have UWE access) argues that PR practitioners fail to use these media to promote dialogue and democracy, and indeed their overuse of one-way comms could be stifling democracy. Kent claims that "connectivity to our "friends" on social media comes at the expense of isolation from our fellow human beings who live next door or down the hall".
Interestingly, Emily Bell on Radio 4 this week would argue the opposite.
I also argue that PR practioners even actively undermine democracy with private lobbying - using money and connections to have a quiet word in the ear of influential politicians... So obviously, social media are tools that could be used better by many mainstream practitioners, but charities and campaigning organisations may be much better at using social media for public lobbying and rebalancing the influence of the people with power and money - for instance campaigners such as Surfers Against Sewage using Facebook and this app.
So while social media may be great for the voice of the people, PR practioners could often be accused of doing the opposite, according to Kent.
This is the 'fatberg': a 15 tonne mass of fat, sewage, wet wipes and toilet paper that threatened to back up toilets, spill into streets and release the stench of raw sewage into the streets of London during the hottest August in 9 years. The story could have been framed as one of inadequate sewage systems, lack of upkeep, and stinky summer disaster, yet Thames Water turned this potential crisis into a summer sewage opportunity.
Instead of waiting for the press to report how they were struggling to deal with the fatberg, Thames Water turned the fat tide and proactively reported on how their employees were working around the clock, in horrific conditions, to blast the berg away. They named the key sewage workers who worked all hours to remove the blockage, giving a human face to this disgusting story. And, coming as it did in the 'silly season' of August when there is little 'real' news, they took the opportunity to highlight the issue of the indisposable waste that people thoughtlessly flush away, and so use the horrific footage and pictures to try and discourage people from doing the same in future. Great example of turning a crisis into an opportunity.
Great example of PR by Rentokil here, creating a pop up restaurant in Cheapside, London - serving up 'pests'. Whether its mealworms, ants or crickets, they've managed to serve them up in a burger - and there's even an option including London's most famous pests - pigeon burgers.
With coverage in the Independent, Daily Star, Daily Express, the Sun and Metro, a great example of how a gross human interest story can make the most of the news gap in August's annual 'silly season'.
Two Job Opportunities with Grayling - please contact them direct at addresses below if you are interested
Client Executive (Bristol) - You will be part of a dynamic team, established as one of the most successful PR consultancies in the South West. You will be working for a diverse range of clients across the public sector, consumer and business to business environments. The role will suit a recent graduate preferably with some experience of working within an agency environment. The ideal candidate will be driven, enthusiastic and have a genuine interest in the industry and digital and social media. Experience of engaging proactively with media, effective time management and good organisational skills are a must. It’s a fast-moving and entrepreneurial environment in which the right candidate will thrive and develop. Click here to view the full job spec. If you are interested, please contact Nasima.hussain@grayling.com for more details.
Client Executive (London) - The technology team (within the Corporate & Financial practice) is seeking an Account Executive to work on a number of key technology clients. The ideal candidate will be driven, enthusiastic and have a genuine interest in technology; a self-starter with experience of working on technology clients, ideally gained within an agency environment. Experience of engaging proactively with media, reporting to clients and good organisational skills are a must. The candidate will also be expected to play an active role in the new business process, and have a passion and knowledge of integrated digital campaigns. If you are interested, please contact Hannah Williams, Director, Hannah.williams@grayling.com for more details.
Great blog post here from Mashable about 8 ways to keep employees - and thankfully it echoes much of what we say in the lecture and tutorials about employee ownership, two-way comms and the 'we' stories.
Posts
