Rebecca Bolton, digital account manager, Clarion Communications
Every time I pick up a newspaper just lately there’s another story about Facebook - as the world’s largest social network it’s obviously going to attract controversy and last week was no different, as The Sun ran a story on how bookies are ‘buying advertising space which appears on children’s Facebook news feeds’. Even though, of course, children aren’t the target demographic.
(link: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article4787148.ece)
Habib Amir, head of digital, Clarion Communications
Five Ways Brands Will Drive Revenue From Social Media Over The Next 12 Months
Most brands have learnt how to reach consumers and build advocacy through social media, but to drive sales they need to set up the right online purchase routes relevant to their specific business. And digitally intelligent brands have realised that Likes, Followers, and +1s shouldn’t be the primary KPI for measuring social media campaign success. Measurement is set to become more sophisticated in 2013, and the industry benchmark for measurement will shift from community growth to revenue and profit through social media. Here, Habib Amir of influenceD predicts five purchase routes brands will increasingly be looking to set up this year to drive sales.
After the excesses of Christmas, the traditional January purge kicks off in earnest. Nicola Kemp picks 13 common bad habits that marketers should forgo this year.
Howard Bowden, head of content, Clarion Communications
Twenty-four and a bit hours later and I still can’t work out what’s more astonishing: that David Bowie is back, or the way in which he did it. Lets look at the facts: 1. With the exception of a four-piece guitar band from up north, Bowie is THE most important figure in British Popular Music over the past half a century (source: me). 2. With no live performances in a decade, no new music since 2006 and well documented health issues, the word was that we’d never hear from him again (as ‘confirmed’ to me by a national newspaper news editor the other week). 3. The last time I checked, the internet was a pretty big place, yet NO-ONE knew any of this was coming; no blurry cameraphone shots of him leaving a recording studio, no MP3s of demos leaked onto filesharing sites, and no slip-up by someone involved in its making on Twitter, as the excellent Alexis Petridis wrote in The Guardian. This really isn’t how you’re supposed to do things these days, you know.
It's Christmas party season - and just as I was getting to grips with the gym again, we’re once more in the middle of a booze and indulgence-fuelled five weeks of office, supplier and client dinners and drinks.
Overheard: a journalist saying ‘no more emails - my inbox has crashed twice in the last hour due to the number I’ve received about products for the gift guide I’m working on’…
Sam Payne, account executive, Clarion Communications
At a time of year when Westernised people are expected to lavish each other with gifts - some useful, some dubious - there’s potentially room to take advantage of the consumer when they enter the annual festive spending frenzy.
The battle of the best Christmas TV adverts has been as hot as ever this season - but I’m still talking with friends about the festive offering from John Lewis. Christmas cracker paper hats off to them for producing something different and fresh, as they did last year, which has successfully steered away from the traditional (and boring) glitz and glam of other Christmas ads.
Elizabeth Bateman, account manager, Clarion Communications
Yuletide greetings, savvy shoppers. And of course the particularly savvy shoppers amongst us will avoid the crush this year and do the bulk of their Christmas shopping online. It’s the easy solution to your festive prayers: no need to brave the cold, and you can beat the rush - and the elbow digs - to ensure all your Christmas parcels are signed, sealed, delivered and yours.
Habib Amir, head of digital, Clarion Communications
This month we’re launching Clarion’s new digital division - influenceD - which will work across all aspects of social media, social advertising and online PR. Why? Because clients increasingly want all their digital, social and PR needs satisfied under one roof.
Rebecca Bolton, digital team, Clarion Communications
Christmas can be fraught with customer service nightmares - from last minute present purchases and returns of unwanted gifts to the drama of the Boxing Day sales. And with 18 million people now using social media to contact companies over customer service issues, gone are the days of the polite letter to the editor, or contacting Anne Robinson on Watchdog over an incident of poor customer service.
Habib Amir, head of digital, Clarion Communications
You have to hand it to Facebook: despite ever more cunning attempts by social media newcomers, it continues to lead the field when it comes to reaching consumers online. Which is great news for any of us trying to get our clients in front of customers.
A lucky group of us at Clarion were recently given the opportunity to visit one of Britain’s national newspapers to get the inside scoop on how the other half work. And when I say other half, I mean of course journalists - we all know there’s a love/hate relationship between journos and us PRs, and although some don’t like to admit it, we do work hand in hand to help deliver news.
Sue Roberts, board director, Clarion Communications
This year we ran our fourth Nectar Savvy Family competition, inviting families from around the UK to share their favourite moneysaving tips with the nation and be judged for the crown of Britain’s Savviest Family. The response from the public was, once again, huge…
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...
Saturday 4th August was a huge day for me - not just because it was my birthday but because it was the day I started my first shift as a Games Maker in the Olympic Stadium Press Operations, Mixed Zone team.
Howard Bowden, head of news, Clarion Communications
Dear Clare, I admit it: I got you all wrong. We somehow never saw eye to eye in the past, because - and I’ll be frank here - I always thought you were a bit horsey, and a bit posho, and mainly because whenever I turned over to find you on BBC1 on a Saturday it meant I’d just missed Football Focus.
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.
Earlier this week, footballer, national institution and bit of stuff David Beckham posted this photo on his Facebook page to announce he has reached 20 million Likes. The pic was posted alongside a big thank you to all his fans:
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