I nearly choked on my cornflakes when I read about the Daily Mail’s latest faux pas. Having noticed a tweet from “ceoSteveJobs” stating, “We may have to recall the new iPhone. This, I did not expect”, the tabloid ran a story on Sunday morning. The article was certainly a good read, but not for the right reasons.

This Twitter handle is a fake – and its biography does not hide this fact, plainly stating, "I don't care what you think of me. You care what I think of you. Of course this is a parody account." Sadly, this detail was missed and the publication went on to face national embarrassment by publishing an online story based on inaccurate facts. Of course the story was taken down (eventually), but it was too late, the damage had been done.

To me, two things come out of this…

1)     Twitter is a massively powerful tool (especially as part of Online PR), but there are a few trip wires to look out for. The fake Steve Jobs account is one of many of its kind – other new additions include a feed called “AT&T Wireless PR”. Its biography states, “Trying to counter the impression that AT&T Wireless sucks, especially our service with the iPhone. We don't suck. Really. We're doing the best we can. Xo”. Say no more.

2)     My heart genuinely goes out to the Daily Mail journalist and I’m not writing this to have a dig, however it acts as a sweat-inducing reminder to make sure you do your research. This too needs to be applied in technology PR – whether it’s from planning campaigns to media relations, research is undoubtedly the key to getting it right.

Lauren Wood

I find myself in a World of two halves.  Like many, many women I have returned to work after a career break.  I have spent the last nine years teaching my two little people to eat, walk, talk and stick up for themselves, whilst maintaining beautiful manners at all times.    I celebrate their birthdays with a glass of champagne that I have kept them alive for another year.   It has been a joy every day so far.   Then they went to school.  They became less dependent.  They are growing up.

So I have ventured back into the world of technology PR.  My first specialist subject from graduating with one of the first ever degrees in PR.  It was once very nearly my whole life.  Now, I am doing it part time, back at Berkeley PR, where I learnt my trade.

So what did I miss?  Technology has moved on of course.  The methods we use to communicate with our audiences has changed, online PR has emerged.  We've been through a recession.  PR companies have hung on for dear life.  Budgets and resources have to work harder.  PR has matured.

But people are still the same. 

I have been fascinated that, actually, nothing's changed at all.  At Berkeley PR we sell peoples time and expertise.  Clients buy our 'days'.  We fill them with results generating activities.  We work really hard, laugh, moan (sometimes), celebrate success and learn from each other every day.    Some clients are very demanding of our time, we check that we are not busy being busy, but are actually delivering.  Some we just love working with.  They get it.  They listen when we consult.  They tell us when we've done a great job.   Others are sometimes hard to get involved.  They're too busy to work with us, yet somehow expect us to magic up results from nothing.   Is it just me or isn't that the way it's always been?

 I had no idea how much I'd missed it.

Kate Jones

As people who follow me on Twitter will know, I attended Europe's Strongest Man at the weekend at Wembley Arena….stay with me I am going somewhere with this.

So there I was cheering on our British team – Terry Hollands, Mark Felix, Jimmy Marku and Rob Frampton – while they took part in the apollon's axle, the farmer's walk and the medoly event. When all of a sudden, Colin Bryce (the presenter) announced an interval. What proceeded confused me and the rest of the audience. First of all, we were treated to a female fashion show, washed down with a Polish Elvis impersonator who couldn't speak a word of English to introduce himself, but conveniently knew all the words to Elvis' finest.

Now the point that I am trying to get to is that the audience was made up of 85 per cent men and 15 per cent women, who enjoy watching muscley men lift, carry and heave heavy object. How does fashion and Elvis appeal to them?

The basic rule of PR – traditional or online – is to understand who it is you are trying to reach and what they are interested in. When we appoach the media we are offering them something that will be of interest to their audience and will hopefully be beneficial to our client. I had a fab time at the event but the interim "entertainment" was wide of the mark. If we did something similar then our clients would run the risk of damaging their brand and diluting the company message.

Hannah Humphreys

P.S.  If anyone is interested, Terry Hollands and Mark Felix from the UK qualified for the World's Strongest Man competition later this year.

Many large companies have turned to social media networks to deal with customer complaints and queries recently. American network provider AT&T are one of the most recent companies to use Twitter and Facebook to interact with customers who are experiencing network difficulties with their iPhones. However, a blog I read this week argued that setting up social media channels to deal with customer problems can be viewed as a PR campaign rather than having the sole purpose of helping customers. I can see how this might be the case.

In order for customer care to be administered using social media networks the advice needs to be comprehensive rather than the company putting out a caring statement acknowledging the problem. It is difficult for a social media team to provide advice that gets to the heart of every problem for each individual. Without providing real technical expertise, any tweet, for example, may be seen as little more that PR exercise.

That said, there’s nothing wrong with using social networks for a PR campaign as it can be an effective way of communicating with customers. However, the distinction between a campaign and customer service needs to be clear. 

Liam Sherry

While the headline I've used may be more eye catching, a more accurate one would have been "will the increased interest in tablet computers transform the way we consumer print media?".  Even the biggest technophobe will have heard of the Apple iPad, and according to most of the gadget press many other manufacturers are just about to launch their own take on the technology.  My prediction for these, and I'm sure this comes from watching far too much sci-fi, is that we'll all have one before long, and that we'll consumer a vast amount of written media (books, web sites, magazines) and broadcast media (TV shows and news) on them.  

However, I think my vision has already started.  Many publications, including the Financial Times, The Times, The Sun and The Daily Express have already launched paid-for applications allowing you to read the full print version of the newspaper from the comfort of your iPad.  As more and more and more tablet computers are launched, I think we'll see similar apps for them as well.  While there is genuine concern that print revenues are being damaged by free content on the internet, these kinds of apps might save the day.  With prices starting at around £4.99 for a month's iPad subscription for The Sun, and no printing and distribution costs, it looks like a great way to make up some much needed revenue.  

I really think that most people will have some kind of tablet device within ten years. We'll get our newspapers automatically delivered to them every morning,  we'll watch TV on them, and we'll even use them instead of books.  As much as I like the printed press, it does seem like we've got a paperless future to look forward to.  I'm just waiting for a worthy iPad rival now!

Luke Davies

I have avidly been watching the World Cup and have even managed to generate some interest in the tournament from @luke5938. In between Spain’s shock defeat and Argentina finally showing the rest of the teams how to play with a bit of flair, the other story that caught my attention was the ambush marketing by Dutch brewers, Bavaria.

For those that don’t know, the brewery arranged for 36 glamorous women wearing orange mini-dresses and Bavaria branding to try and grab the attention of the cameras inside the ground. Unfortunately, as they weren’t the official drinks sponsor the reaction by those in charge was swift. All of the women were ejected from the venue (caught on camera) and the two organisers were arrested and charged with unlawful commercial activities. On top of this, a spokesperson from Fifa (the governing body) said they were looking into available legal remedies.

This strong response from the organisers have actually propelled this stunt into the limelight. I feel that if they had ignored the whole thing it might have been noticed by a couple of people but wouldn’t have had the worldwide impact that the story now has. The five seconds that they may have achieved during the match has been replaced with coverage on all major new broadcast stations and papers. It is also set to continue as it is easy to imagine further interviews with the imprisoned girls and a Facebook/Twitter petition.

I’m sure that whatever fine Bavaria receive will be considerably less than Budweiser have paid to be an official sponsor of the tournament. I’m also sure a few million people have heard of the brand that hadn’t before. Although it will inevitably encourage a barrage of lazy copycats trying to crash events for the rest of the summer I’m sure that Bavaria will see this marketing activity as money well spent. This is demonstrated by the fact that its website Bavaria.com, which previously had no measurable traffic, was the fifth most visited beer website in the UK on Tuesday after Carling, Cobra, official World Cup beer sponsor Budweiser and Carlsberg according to Marketing Magazine.
 

Paul Stallard

Spelling mistakes

I think I can safely say that as a PR professional, my eye for proofreading and spotting spelling errors is pretty good, but I think even a five year old child wouldn’t fail to notice the spelling shockers I saw yesterday.

On driving to see my sister in Birmingham, I was confronted with two metre high marketing banners on some new build retirement apartments with two glaringly obvious spelling mistakes. The word apartment was spelt wrong not once but twice in letters two foot high – “appartments” and “aptartments”. I wanted to get my marker pen out to correct it, but my husband wasn’t prepared to stop the car so I could deface a public building!

I was so shocked that I forgot to make a note of the company in question, but I am sure I’m not the only person to have noticed the errors and that the person tasked with proofreading has been duly named and shamed.

Kate Bartholomew

On Monday, The Guardian ran a chart showing the main newspapers’ support for UK general elections since 1945. I can’t seem to reproduce it here in a format that people can read without a magnifying glass, but you can see it in all its technicolour glory over at The Guardian website.

This year, the Tories have won support from the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, The Sun and – most recently - the FT. Meanwhile, The Guardian asked readers who they felt it should back and has come out fighting for the Lib Dems. The Daily Mirror remains the sole supporter of the Labour party.

Sure enough, today’s front pages reflect that support:

The Sun: “In Cameron we trust. Our only hope.”

Financial Times: “UK bonds reach highs as markets gamble on Tory election triumph”

Daily Mail (leads with Greece and relegates the election headline to p2): “Tories edge closer to outright victory”

The Times: “The fate of the nation”, illustrated with a cartoon of Gordon Brown, standing in front of a mirror with a graph showing economic performance. The reflection makes it appear to him that the economy is improving rather than going downhill.

Daily Mirror: “Don’t let Cam con you…Vote Labour” with a photo of Dave, circa 1987, pictured with other Bullingdon Club members

Daily Express: “D-day. David Cameron “is our only hope.”

So it seems odd that Radio 4 was banned from talking politics on the Today programme this morning. Instead, we got Frank Bruno talking about his breakdown, an interminably long interview with the chap from BP, a random report from Skegness, an “investigation” into the number of unsolved murders in the UK and Paul McCartney trying to persuade the world to go meat-free on a Monday.

Jo Jamieson

After the recent volcanic ash crisis which has seen many tourists stranded all over the globe, I spotted a collection of articles on UTalkMarketing.com questioning whether airlines could do more to provide decent customer service. Many travellers have been in limbo as to where and when their flight home will be and disappointed holidaymakers have been left in the dark as to whether or not their holidays have been cancelled.

It seems to me that the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull (try saying that sober let alone after a few drinks) volcano in Iceland has presented a perfect opportunity for airlines to go out of their way and raise their profiles and achieve some positive PR.

The articles I read stated that there has been a distinct lack of information for customers and that they would have benefited from a text service or hotline to give advice on what steps to take to get to where they need to be. Swissair has led the way to provide for its customers, using the powers of social media to create a Facebook page designed to communicate with its passengers, answer customer queries and delivering updates of the airline’s progress of getting its planes back in the air.

As the situation begins to improve in the UK it’s been apparent that some airlines have fared better than others in taking the opportunity to improve customer loyalty and repeat business. The refusal from Michael O’Leary of Ryanair to pay for its customers’ food and hotel bills has made me think about which airlines will be remembered by travellers now the dust has started to settle? I wonder whether certain airlines will look back on this international incident as a loss of business or a missed opportunity

Liam Sherry