Clarion shortlisted for two CIPR Excellence Awards

Clarion is pleased to announce we have been shortlisted for not one, but two awards at this year’s CIPR Excellence Awards.

The Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding work of individuals, teams and consultancies across the UK and overseas. The two categories we have been shortlisted in are:

Consumer Relations Campaign -  Aunt Bessie's chicken v beef in the battle of the batter

To get mums thinking about serving Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Puddings with chicken – the UK’s favourite roast - we approached the world’s most prestigious debating society,  The Oxford Union, and asked them to debate the merits of serving Yorkshire puddings with chicken instead of more traditional beef. Blanket national coverage, widespread debate and a 3.2% sales increase was the successful result.

Diversity and Inclusion in Communications Campaign – Pride in London's ‘#FreedomTo’ Campaign.

Working on a pro bono basis, Clarion developed a fully integrated PR campaign for Pride in London 2014 working alongside the Pride in London team. Utilising the #FreedomTo campaign creative, Clarion created a programme of news generation, feature placement, stunt activity and live interviews with celebrities from Graham Norton to Sir Ian McKellen and Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst.

The coveted awards will be held at Old Billingsgate, London, on Wednesday 3 June 2015. Now for us just to decide what to wear…

Lindt EXCELLENCE Chocolate & Wine Pairings Masterclass

This week Clarion organised an exclusive press review of the Lindt EXCELLENCE Chocolate & Wine Pairings Masterclass that will be held at Vinopolis throughout 2015. The preview went off without a hitch with 15 broadcast and consumer media and bloggers attending. Everyone was given the chance to learn the art of tasting and sample different varieties of Lindt EXCELLENCE chocolate and superior wines and ports, all handpicked by Lindt Master Chocolatier Stefan Bruderer and wine expert Tom Forrest.

The Lindt EXCELLENCE Chocolate & Wine Pairings Masterclass will take place at Vinopolis at 7pm on the last Thursday of every month throughout 2015.  

By Emma Pointing, Account Executive, Clarion Communications

The Implications of Social Media Growth On Brand PR

We all know how far & fast social media has grown in the past few years – but what does this mean for the way in which brands PR themselves? I think there are four key implications:

Picture Credit

1. Storytelling. PR people have always been storytellers - whether creating stunts, staging photos, concocting spoofs, or simply spinning yarns about their clients’ brands. Social media requires our storytelling skills too, today more than ever. Consumers are getting fed up with being sold to or talked at or interrupted online by brands & their representatives pumping out commercial messaging. They want to be engaged and entertained. They want to be told stories. The PR storytelling skills that have always worked for traditional media work brilliantly for social media. 
2. Cut-through. The ‘Youniverse’ macro-trend (where consumers feel an emotional desire to be seen as unique) has led to a massive outpouring of self-expression on social media platforms. With a huge and growing volume of social media conversations it is vital to identify what really counts among all the noise and how to cut through as a brand – who are the key digital influencers, which are the key brand mentions, and what are the best ways to engage.           
3. Imagery. Psychologist Albert Mehrabian demonstrated that 93% of communication is nonverbal. The success of Instagram, Pinterest, Vine, twitpics,  infographics and viral videos shows how much this primal appetite for pictures and images applies to social media. I think PRs do sometimes use a thousand words when a picture would do, but we are getting better and are now increasingly using imagery to tell brand stories.
4. Transparency. There’s nowhere to hide in the social media world. Brands must be truthful and honest in their proactive and reactive communication with consumers or they are likely to be exposed and ridiculed.

By Gary Freemantle, CEO, Clarion Communications

Building Sales in a New Age of Independent and Convenience Retailing

The Clarion Advisory Board is a unique collection of independent experts and thought leaders in fields relevant to our clients' work.

Here, Nick Shanagher, Managing Director of Newtrade Publishing and member of the Clarion Advisory Board, gives his thoughts on how to influence independent convenience retailers, a disparate audience that is becoming increasingly important for FMCG manufacturers. Combined they are as significant in size as a major multiple, but a tailored approach is needed to reach them as individuals.

Independent convenience stores have a 13% share of the UK grocery market, says the Institute of Grocery Distribution. Sales will rise from £22.2 billion today to £29.4 billion in 2019 at a much faster rate than the grocery market as a whole. The growth story is driven by changes in how UK shoppers behave and also by the better store standards achieved by most independent retailers.

Picture Credit

The challenge for FMCG marketers is how to effectively be a part of this growth story.

There is so much variability in the way that these shopkeepers operate. They are promiscuous buyers prone to chasing the best price available and from a wide range of suppliers. Even the many distributors, wholesalers, buying clubs and symbol groups between the manufacturer and the retailer have limited control over what is presented to the shopper.

Reaching the independent retailer

Many marketing disciplines developed in the multiples are exported to the independent channels. However the results are difficult to measure. Promotions through symbol groups and field sales activity are popular. However, FMCG marketers must consider that most independent shops operate with a large assortment of products but small volumes of each. The implications of this fact makes using retailer marketing services, such as trade press advertising and PR, attractive.

Analysis of chocolate bar sales helps to make the point. For example, take Twirl with a £15 million retail sales value according to Retail Newsagent’s What to Stock analysis of data from 2,200 stores as compiled by EDFM. Twirl 43g is available in 95% of these shops and is the top seller. Even so, this means the average shop sells 9.3 bars a week. While FMCG companies want to think in terms of selling pallet loads of confectionery, the average shop needs to buy just 10 outers from their wholesaler a year to meet demand.

What this means is that in order to optimise sales in the independent channel, manufacturers need to focus on eliminating out-of-stocks and in ensuring their brand is present at the point-of sale.

A tailored approach

Working with the independent channel requires an understanding of the factors that drive shopkeepers to make decisions. You need to give independents information in a way that is relevant to how they operate. While pushing promotions through the independent channel is important, the key marketing strategies should be focussed on building distribution, ensuring the retailer keeps your brand on sale (puts your product on his shopping list) and displays your brand effectively in store.

Advertising, effective PR and promoting best practice through peer reviewed case studies are great ways of building brand awareness. Our research shows that retailers trust messages more when validated by Newtrade and are more likely to respond to them.

Empowering independent retailers by giving them quality advice and information is essential to take advantage of the massive opportunity in the independent channel.

by Nick Shanagher, Managing Director of Newtrade Publishing and member of the Clarion Advisory Board

Enjoying the World Cup Bandwagon

Much like April Fool’s Day, the quadrennial football feast that is the World Cup is a golden opportunity for PRs to create stories and campaigns (that for many have just the slightest relevance) around this global sporting occasion.

However, what’s been more noticeable this year (certainly for me anyway), is the amount of smaller, more interesting attempts to create a bit of standout amongst the usual suspects bombarding the news desks during June. While we can’t ignore some of the inspired and quirky executions by the big boys – quantum physicists, giant football boots, octopuses and even our own activity for Ladbrokes with Rachel Riley – players medals should also be awarded to some of these unusual activations: (especially too as they obviously aren’t official FIFA sponsors):

Devon man creates giant wall chart: Not content with a DPS wall chart pull out from his daily newspaper, a clearly talented and football mad sign writer from Honiton in Devon decided it would be good for England’s chances and his business if he made a giant version – on the side of his house! Not only did his handy paintwork last longer than England, it also attracted attention from The Metro and his local BBC TV news!

Credit

US Pub creates ‘favela’ themed beer garden:  Literally, as the title says, a pub in Milwaukee courted a bit of controversy with their creation of a colourful, favela inspired beer garden to drive custom during the tournament. While it may not have got the kind of attention they were hoping – Twitter was abuzz with criticism for the stunt – it certainly raised their profile in the local community!

Credit

Beer stadium: While beer and football go hand in hand, this miniature creation by a gifted group of warehouse workers (with a lot of time on their hands) could be classed as a work of art. It’s amazing how something as simple as stacking crates of beer in a slightly angled way can create so much excitement on social media!

 Credit

Pink Pub: Last but not least is the effort of makeup company Benefit, who appeared to have taken a bit of a ‘Carlsberg’ approach to the world cup - with a pop-up pub designed for girls that is complete with garish pink interior, beauty treatments while you watch along with wine tastings and stand- up comedy! Though clearly not a small stunt, the team behind this have to be praised for simply convincing Vice Magazine to come down and cover it and posting a fairly good review!

 Credit

More importantly, as correctly predicted by Rachel Riley, Chile are still on course to go all the way this year…

Matt Stokoe, Associate Director, Clarion

The Media Has An Insatiable Appetite for Food Stories

Sugar, salt, obesity, junk food, diets.  Food has a major impact on the nation’s health, so it’s not surprising these stories are high on the media agenda.  But journalists  counterbalance ‘hard’ news with the light, and their hunger for creative and fun food stories is irrepressible.  Here are some of the latest and old favourite themes making the news recently…

INSTANTLY TO HAND

Innovative ways to get products to consumers are making the news, and tapping into the growing consumer desire for involvement, customisation, personalisation and instant gratification.  From the launch of the UK’s first automated village shop to the New York bakery that dispenses cupcakes, these innovative vending machines have captured the media’s eye.

STATE OF EDUCATION

Consumer knowledge – or lack of it! – when it comes to food is an ever popular subject.  Recently a survey by Meat Trades Journal highlighted a lack of consumer knowledge  around ordering meat and created a quiz to make the story more ‘meaty’.  Clarion’s recent study for Potato council revealed that 20% of us think root vegetables grow on trees, a story which captured media attention.

SMARTFOOD

Consumers have become accustomed to services that preempt and fulfill their needs. Innovations that enhance our food experience appeal to our geeky nature. Clarion commissioned the design of the world’s first Heated Knife to solve the age-old problem of spreading butter from the fridge. And recently, the fork that adds flavour to your food was grabbing column inches.

SUPERSIZE ME

Biggest, tallest, most expensive, cheapest, rarest… Add a great photo to a headline-grabbing superlative and.. 

by Philippa Wynn-Green, Board Director

How Instagram Clicked With Social Media

Melissa Clayton, PR assistant, Clarion Communications

Online photo-sharing and social networking service Instagram has taken the world by storm. To date there are over 100 million users uploading pictures to filter and share amongst other devoted ‘instagrammers’ every day - the most popular of which rack up ‘likes’ into the five figure bracket or more.

The PR Handover - a lot like a big cake…

Niall Hughes, senior account manager, Clarion Communications

It’s gone 8pm, you’re still in the office and you’ve been working solidly for nearly 10 hours - but you’re not stressed out, you’re not frantically pacing by the printer waiting for your press packs for tomorrow’s event to come out, or slowly clearing time ahead of tomorrow’s big national sell-in...

Can You Measure PR?

Alexandra Gerolami, senior account manager, Clarion Communications
 
Most people outside of the industry don’t really have a clue what PR is - and few can say how we are able to ‘physically’ show the success of a PR campaign.

TV’s Best Ever PR. Totally.

Howard Bowden, head of news, Clarion Communications

For the last 20 years, Edina Monsoon - you know, ‘Eddy’ in TV sitcom Absolutely Fabulous - has been the default setting in the minds of the Great British Public when it comes to picturing a PR person in all her or his glory.  As comedy characters go, she was pretty good, and as a caricature for the excesses of PR-dom - particularly for anyone who doesn’t actually work in the industry - she was even better.  Yes sir, no-one could top Eddy as TV’s ultimate fictional PR person.  Until now.

Please, Please, Please Show Me Your Portfolio

Matt Stokoe, associate director, Clarion Communications

How many times are we told by the media that it’s tough going when it comes to getting a job, especially as there are currently 2.61m* people out of work?

Unusual Briefs Are the Norm in PR

Sean Miles, director of prototyping, Designworks

We get our share of unusual briefs here at Designworks, but we recently had one from Clarion that stood out...

One Size Doesn’t Fit All in the World of PR

Cat Cambridge, senior account executive, Clarion Communications

I started my PR career at a small agency in Reading four years ago and when I say small, I mean fairly tiny - I was one of only five.  I loved my time there for many reasons: it felt like a little family, everyone always knew what everyone else was doing and best of all I gained a lot of experience very quickly.

William Hague or Ferris Bueller: Who Holds the Answer to Economic Austerity?

Jonathan Smith, associate director, Clarion Communications

Foreign Secretary William Hague recently declared there is only one solution to Britain's economic problems: hard work.  While the same week I attended a training session in which we were told to stop rushing and think more. And that got me thinking…

Getting Started

Sophie Dee-Shapland, intern, Clarion Communications

“Gherkin? Banana?”
“Gorkana”
“Ohh, G-o-r-k-a-n-a.  Er, what’s that…?”

Words that are commonplace to PR professionals are foreign territory for newcomers.  And nearing the end of my work placement at Clarion, I realise that I’ve learnt a lot in a relatively short space of time.  The past few weeks have been my first experience of PR and so initially I didn’t know what to expect.Reminiscent of the childhood experience of starting ‘big school’, the first day was a learning curve.  In fact being shown around a new office is a bit like learning the dynamics of a high school, minus the Mean Girls vibe.  I tentatively awaited my initiation but thankfully - apart from learning to use industry-standard media database Gorkana - there wasn’t one.  

The 10 PR Commandments

Louisa Jarvis, account director, Clarion Communications

We take PR very seriously. You might even say religiously. So we’ve applied the famous biblical principles of good human behaviour to the life of a PR professional - to help PRs like us stay on the right side of He Who Must Be Obeyed*.

Who’s Winning Gold in the ‘Summer Sporting Event’ Sponsorship Awareness Stakes?

Niall Hughes, senior account manager, Clarion Communications

With the world’s biggest sporting event taking place on our doorstep shortly, most PRs will have worked on at least one activity tying their clients to ‘the games’ - but is there room for everyone, and as PRs should we be advising clients to stay away from the branding bloodbath?

The Importance of Maintaining a Work/Life Balance

Laura Jones, associate director, Clarion Communication

PR is more than a job - in fact it’s often more than a career, and can sometimes become all consuming.  To work in PR you have to live it, and you have to love it - but this can sometimes leave us burning a little too much midnight oil.

When a Day Job Turns into a Hobby: A Wine PR's Take on Her First WSET Class

Katy Jameson, Senior Account Executive, Clarion Communications

WSET is the Wine and Spirits Education Trust - renowned throughout the Drinks trade as the school for anyone whose enjoyment or association with all things alcoholic goes beyond just drinking it.

PRs In London Need A Short Sharp Slap

Gary Freemantle, CEO, Clarion Communications

I could just leave it at that I suppose, and there'd be a few nods of general agreement. But what I'm referring to is the ‘London bubble’: walk down any central London street of an early evening and you'll find people spilling out of pubs, even on a Monday (and don't even attempt to buy a pint on a Friday). Try to book a fancy restaurant for a celebration and they can probably squeeze you in at 6pm on a Tuesday in November if you vacate the table by 6.30 AND leave a 90% deposit. Because of course London is a country within a country, an international mega-city still increasing in global popularity, fuelled by the City and by massive investment from prosperous countries around the world.