Archive

Building awareness of road safety

31-Jul-09 17:33

There are many reasons why I enjoy working in PR, but one of the main reasons is learning about lots of different businesses, products and services that could come in handy at some point in my life!

For example, having worked for a lower cost directory services client which only costs 25p a text; I will never again use 118 118 to find out a phone number, having experience in PRing many child related products; I now have a few ideas for when I am ready to have children and working for a directory service to help you find the right solicitor for your case, I will now know where to go should I need a solicitor!

On a more serious note, we have just started working for a client called Vispack which is a new road safety pack that has been launched for consumers and it is one of those products I find myself asking, "why had I not thought of that before?" It contains five high-visibility reflective vests to be worn in the event of a vehicle emergency and also contains an essential information card for drivers to record life-saving medical and emergency contact information about themselves, as well as essential vehicle details and roadside assistance contact information.

It highlights a real issue; that many Brits would not be prepared if they had an accident or breakdown on a busy road or motorway. How many people would have the right contact details for roadside assistance, and more importantly, how many people actually carry a high visibility jacket for themselves and each passenger to make them visible to other road users?
Vispack carried out a survey recently which found that a massive 80 per cent of drivers do not carry a high visibility vest in their vehicle and before I started working for Vispack, I would have been one of these people.

People can say what they want about PR, but I have been lucky to work on some great accounts which really do have a purpose and deserve to be shouted about; whether its playtime boxes which encourage children to use their imaginations (The Jollybox company), broadband information sites which help people get a better broadband deal (thinkbroadband.com) or a road safety pack which EVERY driver should carry with them in their car (Vispack) it is certainly a job where no day is ever the same!

Louise

Animals to the rescue

30-Jul-09 09:18

I was amazed reading the recent story about a beluga whale in a Chinese aquarium rescuing a drowning diver by pushing her out of the water.

How did the whale know she was drowning, could it sense her distress? From the picture you could be mistaken into thinking the whale is trying to eat her leg! But the story concludes that the whale did in fact save her life.
The diver had been taking part in a competition at the aquarium when she began suffering sudden cramps in her legs. I'm not quite sure why they would have a diving competition in an aquarium? Maybe the Whale just wanted the divers out of its aquarium and this particular one was hanging around a little too long?

Animal rescue stories always seem to make the headlines - a great human interest and photo story make for a winning combination. It seems ‘Lassie' has certainly set a president for the rest of the animal kingdom, but they have a lot to live up to.

Rachel

Finders keepers?

29-Jul-09 17:39

After reading the story on BBC News Online about the couple who have received a suspended sentence for cashing in a winning lottery ticket they found, it made me wonder what I would do in the same situation.

The couple, Amanda and Michael Stacey, had found the lottery ticket on a newsagent's shop floor and just thought they would try their luck. It turned out to be a winning ticket worth £30,000! Now I think most people out of pure curiosity would feel compelled to check the numbers, but the question is if it happened to be a winner would they keep the cash or hand it in?

When discussing this in the office we all agreed that if we found a purse on the floor we would hand it in, otherwise that would be stealing. However with the lottery ticket scenario, the opinions were far more mixed. I think before reading this story I would have been inclined to keep the money, following the playground rhyme ‘Finders keepers, losers weepers', although not now I have found out it is illegal to do so.

I don't believe that the couple took the ticket and spent the money out of malice, and perhaps you could say that the original owner should have taken better care of the ticket in the first place. Now it has been highlighted that by doing this the couple have committed a criminal offence, it makes me wonder what else people could be doing each day to unwittingly break the law?

Danni

Smile, and the world smiles with you

13-Jul-09 15:04

As the sunshine is forecasted to disappear and the weather is set to be wet, we start to feel a little downbeat and our smiling faces start to vanish. A Japanese rail firm has introduced a system to check that staff are smiling at all times. Computerised scanners will be placed in 15 Tokyo stations to measure smile curvature to make sure the smile is broad enough. Is this customer service/big brother going a little too far, or are they onto something?

People are naturally drawn to happy individuals, so when we smile, we appear more attractive. Smiling is contagious and changes your mood and the mood of others around you; smiling has also been proven to boost your immune system. On these findings, it could be assumed the Japanese are leading the way to become a happier society, but surely pushing someone to smile and measuring their smile curvature will create the ‘fake smile'. I consider a false smile to be rather offensive, but apparently we are generally bad at spotting the 'fake smile' even though they are forced rather than natural.

So whether fake or genuine, we all need to start smiling!

Hallane

Phone hacking? Whatever next?

09-Jul-09 15:29

Will the media stoop to any level to get the next big story, and feed the general public's craving for celebrity scandal? We'll it seems so. The police are to examine claims of widespread mobile phone hacking by the News of the World, following calls for an inquiry into the affair. Apparently the paper's reporters paid private investigators to hack into thousand's of phones, many owned by celebrities and politicians. One can only imagine the headline fuelled content that may lie within these phones.

The reality is that reporters are under huge pressure to present the next big scoop to their editors, and the question begs, what lengths will they go to find it? These kind of scandalous headlines certainly sell news papers and tapping into a personal mobile phone could give a reporter a really insight into what goes on behind closed doors. With laptops, CD's and memory sticks all carrying encryptions to safeguard content, could high profile individuals now be in need of sophisticated technology to protect their mobile phone data too, and ultimately their private lives?

Rachel

Stars in their eyes?

07-Jul-09 17:09

I was interested to read in PR Week today that a new website has been launched that allows celebrity fans to copy their favourite star's lifestyle. If one should actually care about such things (and I am sure plenty do), TheNod.com allows fans to see what products and services different stars recommend, and then follow links to buy them. We all know that celebrities make good headlines, people are interested in hearing about the latest PR stunt, whether it be a drunken frenzy outside a popular nightclub, an over-zealous wedding celebration or who has been spotted wearing (or not wearing) the latest fashion piece, celebrity stories certainly have their feet firmly under the table when it comes to ‘what sells newspapers'.

‘Nods' or celebrity recommendations are taken from mentions in news media and interviews. But the site is encouraging PR agencies, agents and publicists to tip them off about nods. If a celebrity has been photographed or spotted using a product, wearing an item of clothing or visiting a certain hotel, spa or restaurant, then this information can be submitted for inclusion. Visitors to the site can then click to buy these products and services online via partners including Net-a-Porter, Amazon, Boots, and British Airways.

The site will also have celebrity profiles and interviews. At launch, it had 750 celebrity profiles and 5000 nods. Both UK and USA versions of the site have been developed.

Natalie

One and Other seeking sixty minutes of fame

06-Jul-09 17:09

Trafalgar Square is now full of individuals seeking spotlight fame due to Antony Gormley's latest art work of living sculptures. The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square has for sometime been lifeless, but from 9am this morning it will be occupied by Elvis, a giant pigeon and Britannia. The ‘plinthers' as they are called were selected from random among 15,000 applications; changing sculptures every hour for 100 days meant the only 2,400 could be the lucky ones.

Can we actually call this art, or is it a great marketing/PR stunt? From the moment Antony Gormley decided on this project in Trafalgar Square the publicity around the plinth has dramatically increased. Art is meant to be thought provoking and PR relies on interaction with the public, so personally I feel he has linked the two together.

Each individual performance is likely to cause a stir somewhere in the UK, but the exhibition clearly builds a relationship between a specific person every hour and the watching public. Gormley must know that the more sensational his art work is, the more likely it is to score with the national press; making the fourth plinth a PR block. Plus this PR stunt has all the essential elements; it will undoubtedly educate to some degree, but it will also allow us to poke fun at some rather obscure guises.

Hallane

Does Facebook ruin lives?

01-Jul-09 17:31

I couldn't believe the story I read today in the Daily Mail last week and it really made me feel sorry for the poor lady involved. After innocently posting photos on Facebook of her wedding and honeymoon with her new husband, Jane Sherbrooke received an ugly start to newly married life. Whilst uploading the photos Jane and her husband never once worried about their privacy and the couple were happy for family and friends to share in their amazing experiences.

Then one day out of the blue, Jane received a message that she never expected from an unknown ‘friend' on the social networking site. The mystery woman was claiming to have had an affair with Jane's husband! Obviously Jane was distraught and the trust in her marriage was being questioned. As Jane and her husband had decided to leave their privacy settings as unrestricted it meant that anybody could access their page and make comments.

In this case it turned out to be just a cruel hoax, but by leaving themselves open to the world the Sherbrookes found themselves in a terrible situation which could have jeopardised their relationship and future happiness. This is a shocking reminder to people that they should only post up information on social networking sites that they would want the whole world to see. However by taking full advantage of privacy settings which are available on most good social networking sites, people can safeguard themselves from something like this happening to them.

Danni