Sunday, July 31, 2011

HBI- Hertfordshire Business Independent (What i contributed whilst at my internship)

Over June and July i undertook the position of an intern at Media Jems an PR Consultancy in Norwich. They also edit and contribute to the HBI. Below is what i contributed to the magazine for the July/August issue.

Read Online- http://www.businessindependent.co.uk/

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Twenty Twelve... Brand manager from PR a joke


The Olympic “mockumentary”, Twenty Twelve is a 6 episode comedy programme running on BBC which follows the Olympic deliverance commission in the run up to the 2010 Olympics to be held in London. Siobhan Sharpe is a character played by Jessica Hynes who is the naïve and clueless brand manager from a PR agency who is constantly on her phone, rude and comes up with the most ridiculous suggestions; “for national heroes to be Olympic torch-bearers include Bruce Forsyth and Gok Wan, and she confuses the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy with the Welsh singer Duffy.” When a crisis occurs she does not deal with the situation but merely steers around it, when the 2012 clock in Tate Modern, does not work or know how to work it or why the artist created it a certain way, just a stunt with no information.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8380409/Twenty-Twelve-new-BBC-sitcom-mocks-Britains-Olympic-preparations.html

The brand manager is shown in a bad light, for years PR has constantly needed PR for its self as the perception they have is mainly spin. Although a comedy show, it does not help the insight of PR. Do we need filters on how PR professionals and the industry is portrayed, if we are always being judged do we need to constantly do PR on top, or will the stigma always stick?

Twenty Twelve is available to watch on BBCi Player online

My Week in Mobile Pics!

"Always a Leader, Never a Follower" Monster Beats

Beats was established back in 2008 in conjunction with successful rapper Dr.Dre and Monster Cable, it has now become one of the leading and recognizable brands in the headphone and music industry mainly due to its marketing strategy that has taken place globally. Providing an excellent music experience for all in a range of affordable prices, there are also headphone in the range designed by Lady GaGa, P.Diddy and Justin Bieber. Listed below are some of the channels of communication they have used in their strategy.

  • Media- Press conferences when launching a new product, music and lifestyle magazines.

Chrysler cars and Beats partnership press release- http://www.beatsbydre.com/press/docs/Chrysler-BeatsFinalReleasewithlogos_V2.pdf

  • Video- Having a live youtube channel and videos on the products website online presence with the target market the videos showing how products work, press conferences, speeches by the makers but also the music videos. They also use this channel for internal communication education retailers on certain products.

  • Celebrities- have been one of the main channels of communication for beats being shown in music videos, films, being endorsed by them, product placement. They have created a lifestyle what people want a part of and experience of the brand. Most of the placements are by the creators such as GaGa, Dr Dre and P.Diddy. Many athletes also endorse the product such as football teams whilst in South Africa for the 2010 world cup.

Beats Appearances;

· Dr Dre- Kush

· Lady Gaga- Poker Face

· Lady Gaga- Telephone

· Lady Gaga- Lovegame

· David Guetta- Who’s that chick

· Far East Movement- 2gether

· Far East Movement- Like a G6

· Nicole Scherzinger- Don’t Hold Your Breath

· Will.I.Am- Check it out

· The Book Of Eli- Film

· Black Eyed Peas- Current album cover and various music videos

· Kelis- 4th July

& numerous more

  • TV advertisements- with collaborations such as HP and again a celebrities endorsement by Alicia keys.

  • Blogs- There has been many blogs written about beats headphones both positive and negative. The negative aspect being are the headphones worth the large amount of money, is it for quality or the experience of having the product which turns heads.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/02/are-300-headphones-worth-it.html

  • Events- Beats set up their own events such as at the American superbowl they have a Beats stage where artists performed like The Black Eyed Peas who are big endorsers of the brand. They also sponsor other events by providing free products for prizes, an example of this would be the Flavor Battle DJ Competition held i n America.

It is no doubt that Beats have had a great response from the public, and the strategy they have used has reached the appropriate target market. They also widen the target marketing by having collaborations with many other products such as laptops and cars. It has defiantly become recognizable and leader in the industry. The question that is still unanswered at the end of the day is, is it worth it?

Location Based Networking

Location based networking (LBN) is a new form and trend of social networking using the location of where you are blogging/networking from at that point in time. It is mainly used with the use of smart phones and notebooks, individuals to big corporations have stated to this way of networking. Listed below are just some of the most popular and well known uses of LBN.

Foursquare- Application for smart phones and mobile devices that uses GPS to use your location. Foursquare allows people to check into certain places such as cafes, Universities, housing and many more. When checking into these places you gain rewards and points to build your profile up and build up your ranks like a game. It also allows you to view where your friends have checked in, and who is nearby your own check in. It currently has 7million users worldwide.

https://foursquare.com/


Twitter- A current new feature allows your followers to see where you have twittered. It is usually a link which comes up as a map and shows your direct location. Tweeters can
opt out of using the location feature. Twitter has a registered estimated 190 million users.

www.twitter.com


Facebook- On smart phones and mobile applications FB allows you to check in to your current location and tag others with yourself, a further link allows others to see specifically where the position is. “Facebook has more than 5
00 million active users”.

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

LBN currently came around as the websites felt that people didn’t just want to know what was going on but where it was. There have been many negative comments about LBN arguing that it is a breach of someone’s privacy. Many companies have taken advantage of LBN giving users discounts, one that I have experienced myself is checking into a Wetherspoons chain pub and receiving 15% discount on my order. People in the PR industry think that it will take off mainly because of LBN and that it is great PR spreading the information by word of mouth but whilst doing this having to look after brand reputation as many can take advantage of this.


”According to a rather speculative report by research firm ABI Research, location-based social networks like Brightkite, GyPSii, Pelago and Loopt could reach revenues as high as $3.3 billion by 2013. The report, however, also warns that the business models might differ from what most analysts are expecting today. According to ABI research, most of these networks will make their money from licensing and revenue-sharing with network providers or handset manufacturers.” http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/location_based_social_networking_3_billion.php

Saturday, April 30, 2011

My current Love- Maverick Sabre

"LONDON BORN, IRISH RAISED SINGER SONGWRITER MAVERICK SABRE IS BREAKING THE MOULD. WITH HIS SOULFUL VOICE AND SKILLFUL GUITAR PLAYING, HE DRAWS AUDIENCES IN A LEAVES THEM IN WONDER"

Mixing hip hop, r'n'b, soul creating great sounds, performing beside artists such as Tinie Tempah, Jessie J, Professor Green, Chase & Status and more. Could he be the next Plan B?

I Need

Look What I've Done- First official single

The Travelling Man Mixtape is available for download for free and his album and The Lost Words EP is currently out to buy.


Monday, March 21, 2011

Prodcut placement in Music Videos

Lady GaGa, Telephone;

  • Hearbeats headphones
  • Virgin Mobile
  • Diet Coke
  • HP Beats Laptop
  • Plenty of Fish Dating Website
  • Chevrolet
  • Polaroid
  • Wonder bread
  • Miracle Whip
  • Chanel
Kesha- We R Who We R


  • Plently of Fish Dating Website
  • Revolucion Tequila
  • Revolucion Vodka
  • G-Shock Watches
  • Apple Macbook

When do you know if something is product placement or simply there, is the line becoming merged?

Friday, February 25, 2011

The Brits, what a place to be!

The Brit Awards, the time for Britain to celebrate the wonder that is modern musicians! What a time for all the talented musicians to present their wonders to the public again and again.

Adele ofcourse with her performance was able to grab a tear from almost everyone watching the show, and not only that, her first album "19" is back in the chart - ADELE YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. She wasn't the only one, Plan B were able to bring their album back with their firery performance The Defamation Of Strickland Banks - Plan B  The Defamation Of Strickland Banks
I don't think i'm the only person to say that, James Corden, at first, little bit funny how he acted towards Justin Bieber, like any normal man would? Maybe? However, his tweets then onwards began to irritate me slightly, I myself find Corden a comical guy, but on this occasion, tweeting about Mike and Bieber several times became a bit tiring.


I love just watching the celebs in their bliss world, it's like living the musicians life, with their tables, friend and bottles of champagne. All of them just looked superb, Rihanna ofcourse was the one which stood out. Her performance was sexy and just down right gorgeous. The dress she was wearing, ofcourse the comment was made about a wedding, but she looked lovely as well as being able to promote her new perfume "Rebl Fleur". Good PR there, with millions of people watching, her perfume just being released as well as her dress taking up the majority of the camera view and looking as gorgeous as Rihanna could ever look and more.

 

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

London Fashion Week- Smoking



Perception of Smoking?

Awareness campaigns, the stop of cigarette companies sponsoring, shocking images, the rise is support groups, health awareness

Glam, Chic

Benchmarking yet Timeless, a form of expression and feelings

yet Judgmental and Opinion













Thursday, November 25, 2010

Adidas 'We Are London' Campaign


"WE ARE LONDON is a celebration of the unique talent and creativity that thrives within our capital city. The sounds, the sights and the vibrancy of young London. WE ARE LONDON is a declaration of the belonging - to a generation that are going places, making their own luck and forging their own path. London is the most exciting city in the world right now - show the world you're part of it." - adidas.com/wearelondon

In months to come 'We are London' advertisements will be popping up everywhere, already being on bill boards and widely advertised on public transport in London. The faces of the campaign being hip-hop/grime London artists; Bashy, Devlin, Scorcher, Loick Essien and Maxta. The campaigns aims are to let the young London public to show that they are part of and support a unique generation in London. As per the quote above "exciting city in the world right now" with the 2012 Olympics and current campaign to host the world cup here in 2018.


ADVERTISEMENT

There is a mass lot of social network involved and online media, such as facebook and youtube. Facebook is the main website allowing more involvement with the modern generation, for instance competitions and applications that interact with your own profile. Adidas own youtube channel has already posted 8 videos since the launch just over a week ago with more to come, this includes the TV advertisement and interviews with the 'faces' in conjunction with sb.tv. Launching just before Christmas will increase the sales in adidas as the target audience will be wanting to look like their peers. These musicians are very underground and are breaking through the stereotypical UK music industry following artists such as Kano and Dizziee. I am sure if you ask a majority of the older 30+ generation they will not know who these endorsements are, that is why they have chooses these channels to convey in this movement. Check out Adidas for the a/w 11 range and clothes seen on campaign. Adidas campaigns this year also makes up of 'Adidas Originals' and 'Starwars'.

STAND UP FOR UK ARTISTS


Tuesday, November 9, 2010

MOVEMBER!... Awareness for Prostate Cancer

Movember- Meaning the growing of the Mustache in the month of November.

If you didn't guess that gain some more intelligence.

"Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States."





Here's a promo vid for the 2010 Movember. If this was your first time watching this video and you had no idea what this charity was about this video would not help at all.
Although Mens Health Magazine is a big promoter of this featuring it on their front cover and inside spreads. Neither can i find this being endorsed by any high profile people just old photos advertising, for instance goal keeper David Seaman, for as long as i've known hes had a mustache! But sometimes a celebrity endorsements are a bit unrealistic weather to as they are going to do it or raise any money for the Charity.

But i love that how many of my friends despite not knowing much about the charity have decided to take on the task of grooming and growing their mustache. KEEP RAISING THE MONEY!!
Here's my handsome friend who's participating in the task. DONATE AND SUPPORT HIM NOW Ari Hayton- http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1088176/

OR ANYONE follow link to Movember homepage- http://uk.movember.com/?home