We’re a bit partial to a sweepstake here at Berkeley PR, so you can imagine our excitement at this weekend’s Strictly Come Dancing final. With the loot currently standing at an impressive £14 (enough for a ‘vending machine lunch’ as pointed out by our Director, Paul) we’ll be watching with baited breath to see who takes home that glitter ball trophy.

But although Strictly is now a Saturday night-in stalwart – how many of us will be watching it in 3D? Last week presenters Tess and Brucey announced that the final will be one of the first BBC shows to be transmitted in 3D via Freeview HD.

3D television has been steadily streaming into Britain’s living rooms for a while now, but Strictly is one of the first family entertainment shows to be sprinkled with the 3D magic dust.  Avid cinema goers have been dabbling with 3D for a while now, and even football matches have been given that extra dimension.

Broadcasting live in 3D is still fairly experimental, so it’s a brave move from the BBC to invest in this new technology on one of its biggest viewing nights of the year. But to turn your home from living room to ballroom, you’ll need to invest in the right equipment. That not only means wearing the silly glasses, but also forking out for a telly with 3D capacity.

Many have been sceptical of investing in 3D while the technology is still in its infancy, but it seems to be a development which is in no danger of going away. In recent years, the quest of television manufacturers is to make the images on screen as real and lifelike as possible.

It started with HD, which is now pretty much standard, as are LCD screens. And now that 3D television is becoming less sci-fi and more day-to-day-life, it was really only a matter of time before Saturday night TV got in on the act.

If you have got a 3D television (and the glasses to match) make sure you watch Strictly on the right channel, as it will be being filmed in both 2D and 3D. As for our sweepstake, only Liam and Carolann (supporting Harry and Jason respectively) stand in between me and that £14 bounty.

Who knows, maybe I’ll put my winnings towards a 3D TV? Or, more realistically, just the glasses.

One of the best Christmas presents I ever received was a Mini Disc player. After a brief excited jig beside the Christmas Tree, I got to work downloading tunes and transferring my CD collection into miniature disc format. I had tasted the future (or so I thought). A  year later, my Mini Disc player was gathering dust at the bottom of my bedroom desk drawer. Like the Walkman before it, the technology had moved on. I longer had the neatest gadget in the playground.

Research published this week in the Daily Telegraph emphasised the point that technological advances are rapid and are constantly reshaping the way we live our lives. The research aimed to examine the impact of technology, looking for the top 50 things that have been killed off over the last 30 years. Number one in the list was ringing the cinema to check film times  – lost as a result of the internet and online booking. This was followed by going to the travel agents and recording things using VHS.

I’m sure there are several things in the PR industry that have been killed off as a result of technology. I remember @Paul_Stallard explaining that when he started out as a trainee exec, he had to fax press releases to publications – one thing I wouldn’t welcome back in a hurry!

However, having read the list I find that I do still maintain some of these things. I have bought the Radio Times this Christmas, rather than looking at the online TV guides and I often use the odd disposable camera on holiday. We are constantly being told about the new, up and coming, next big thing, but I believe it’s good to find a balance between tech and tradition. If I was to sweep the dust off my old Mini Disc player, I might just give it a play.

Liam Sherry

I recently read about a PR agency that has enforced an email ban for one day a week. Every Tuesday, employees are unable to use internal and external mail and are instead encouraged to think of alternative ways to communicate. Rather than pinging over a quick email, they are persuaded to use the phone, Twitter and the like to contact peers, clients and the press.

As a PR person, it took me a while to decide if I thought this was very clever or very crazy move. For example, I know many clients and journalists prefer to communicate via email.  Admittedly you miss out on the all-telling non verbal communication signs that could help you pick up on a potential issue or question, but it’s quick, easy and creates a ‘paper trail’ for future reference.

Then only about ten minutes ago, I found myself drafting an email to one of my colleagues who sits about ten feet away from me. Assoon as I realised what I was doing, the draft was scrapped and I managed to swirl myself round on my chair, make eye contact and ask the question. A bit embarrassing and a sign that it’s too easy to go into automatic pilot ‘email mode’ without thinking.

I think they key is in getting the right balance – a balance which may well be different when dealing with peers, clients and the press. There’s definitely a place for email and social media channels when it comes to getting your point across, but you really can’t beat good old fashioned talking.

Lauren Wood

Normally I’m not much of a Twitter fan, but lately it has been a treasure chest of stories and articles I absolutely feel the need to share.

The last blog post I wrote was about the Mexican football team with their Twitter handles on their kit, but I personally think this Twitter story beats that:

Recently a PR firm in Australia made a big, and tragically fatal mistake. In an attempt to get media agencies to promote South Australia, Advantage SA and its co-brand Advantage Adelaide mailed out 55 goldfish in bowls with the message: “Be the big fish in a small pond and come test the water.”

Any guesses as to what happened to the little fishies?

The sad death of nearly all the fish prompted the CEO to apologise and, since then, the story has gone viral. The CEO even offered to come and rescue the lucky survivors and place them in a “good and healthy home “(I’m assuming that would not include the employees of Advantage Adelaide.)

While I appreciate trying to stand out – really I do – this was clearly not the way to go about it. And honestly, a PR firm should know better than anyone the power of negative press. Moving forward, let’s definitely be creative and think outside of the box, but also be aware of any potential risks/threats and long-term consequences -  not to mention the speed at which a medium like Twitter can commuicate our mistakes to the world.

This last month or so has been extremely busy at Berkeley PR.  A great month, of course, but incredibly busy none the less!

To name but a few of the recent successes the agency has seen:

• Securing a segment on BBC One’s flagship programme ‘The One Show’ on healthy eating at ThoughtWorks offices
• An incredible press launch for new a client, Beyond Analysis, resulting in some fantastic coverage and a very happy client
• A very triumphant Go Ape press launch which led to lots of press coverage and a video feature on the Sunday Times website and iPad edition
• In anticipation of the Cyberspace security conference, the Kaspersky team worked tirelessly to ensure Eugene Kaspersky appeared on Sky News, BBC World News and in the Financial Times
• A new client win

And, breathe…..!

So, in order to congratulate ourselves on these successes (and more) and our hard work, we all decided to let our hair down and visit our local Chinese restaurant come karaoke booth.  Yes, you heard right…

It was a great night, with great company and a lot of laughs (and bad singing!).  Just what the doctor ordered!

I could go on to write about Donna’s rapping skills, Denis’s break dancing or Carolann’s delight at seeing Mariah Carey on the song list, but I won’t…..I’ll just leave you with these pictures and your imagination

Many people are drawn to PR because it gives them a chance to write.  For us, the joy of a page of clear, crisp copy, a compelling headline or a well-argued point in an opinion piece is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.

And while our focus in PR is always on choosing the cleanest, clearest word and simplest, shortest phrasing, that does not preclude a private passion for literature and poetry.  I am currently reading the poems of Carol Ann Duffy and her mastery of expression when it comes to nature and human emotion is breath-taking.  

PRs are not alone. Yesterday, while doing some analyst research I came across a footer at the bottom of a technical web page, that proudly proclaimed ‘Coding is Poetry.’

Now I’ve done coding.  Well ‘done’ is maybe too strong a word; but while doing my Geology degree we were despatched to learn about coding and had to write a long complicated programme for analysing something.  And I hated it.  For me, there was nothing poetic or creative about it at all. But I love the fact that there are programmers across the world that do think so, and who even now are sitting in front of computers tapping away with their heads in the stars.

Poetry is about capturing the essence of something in a few words, words that can stay with you for the rest of your life even if you had to learn them in detention because you were caught passing notes in English.

PR writing can take a few important things from poetry:  the fact that less is often more, that it is important to make someone care about what you are saying, and that the best PR-writing can transform the way we look at the world. 

Tilly Travers

With all the doom and gloom in the press at the moment regarding youth unemployment, it can be pretty hard for young people to remain hopeful when it comes to landing that dream job. The rise in tuition fees, which is set to come into effect next year, seems to be reducing the number of people applying for university, but many A-level students still wonder if they will be able to get a decent job without a university degree.

Luckily, if you want to get into PR a degree is not essential – although being quick to learn and understand helps! –  as long you can demonstrate an interest in communications, strong writing and verbal skills, initiative, common sense and enthusiasm. These are key elements for working in PR.

There will be many times when you are called upon to think on your feet and apply your judgement to find a solution to a challenge face by a client.  Being able to come up with ideas is paramount: initiative and a fresh perspective  is what clients look for in a PR agency in order get their message out to the wider world. Enthusiasm is also very important as PR is a very full-on job. There is hardly ever enough time to get everything done and it can be quite stressful, but I think most people who work in PR thrive on that.

If someone without a university degree can come into an interview and convince a potential employer they have the skills, the passion and the drive to work in PR there is no reason that they can’t get the job, even if they don’t have a degree.

Work experience is also a great way to impress a company you want to work for. It shows that you have a genuine interest and have also gone out of your way to gain some experience and knowledge of the industry. Here at Berkeley, we are very open to having people in for work experience. I have only been here three months and we’ve had several people in already! I think this is a great idea as it gives young people a chance to get into a PR agency and see what it’s all about, and it also gives us staff a helping hand for a few weeks!

Carolann

It’s been a Big Week for football in our house.  The 10 year old was officially scouted by Reading FC for its advanced academy training!  Proud isn’t the word.

My son is Reading born and bred and it’s our closest team geographically, yet his allegiance from a very early age has been to Newcastle United.  It’s down to heritage from his Dad’s side, and goes back literally generations, through highs (and very often lows…).  There’s something very special about Newcastle supporters, which has been well documented.  The passion centres around the city itself, where St James Park dominates.

So the controversial decision to change the name of the stadium for commercial gain, as reported in the Daily Telegraph, is major stuff:

Newcastle United has defended the decision and argued that the extra revenue will be used to keep ticket prices down as well as increase the size of the manager’s transfer budget.

But none of that justifies the change to the loyal fan base.  To this critical audience, it’s just not right.

At Berkeley PR we have recently done some great work  on messaging and branding with several, very different, clients.  It’s often a fascinating process: facilitating the thinking of management teams towards the ‘killer’ line that defines what it is they stand for and what they actually do.  Often the name of the company is part of that debate, and proves to be the biggest decision of all.  This is because it is a keeper and can have an impact on literally every aspects of an organisation.  And it’s not just about choosing a name that fits what you do today.  Often it is also about legacy, history, heritage and association.

The personality of a brand, and the meaning behind it, is often overlooked.  When this is properly defined, it must be sustained and extended to all influencers of an organisation.  And critically, you can’t then just decide to change it for commercial gain.

It’s clear that Newcastle fans will never watch their team at the Sports Direct Stadium, it will always be St. James’.

Hi, our names are Holly Woodford and Zoe Phillips; we have spent this week at Berkeley PR for our year 11 work experience. Berkeley PR is a successful b2b and consumer public relations agency; everyone was welcoming and found us plenty of tasks to do so we were kept busy throughout the week.

We knew we were off to a good start when Zoe thought Berkeley PR was an accountancy firm and Holly made Chris (The CEO) a cup of coffee with a whole tablespoon of coffee granules in!

Whilst we have been here, we have worked with the accounts department updating their contract lists, created potential client lists for the sales team, worked with the PR team creating contact details lists, made cuttings boards of media coverage for different clients and maintained media lists and learnt how important it was to keep them updated.

We found work experience very different to school; we have worked harder than we do at school. At first we felt the need to raise our hands if we needed help or to go to the toilet, but we soon realised how the work environment gives us much more freedom.

We have really enjoyed our time here! We’d like to thank everyone for putting up with our giggling fits, hitting each other in the face with different office items and calling it ‘office banter’ and never leaving each other’s side. This has been a great experience!

Twitter:
Holly
Zoe

Criminals are profiting from my mobile phone….what? Well it seems that this week Get Safe Online is warning the general public about the increased risk of mobile malware due to the rise in popularity of smartphones and mobile web applications. Computer Weekly reports that these clever but vicious online crooks are now creating malicious versions of legitimate mobile apps which, once installed, generate cash for criminals by sending text messages to premium rate services controlled by the criminals.

Apparently, the victim is usually unaware anything is wrong until they see their phone bill….and then it is too late, you have to pay!

Mobile malware is not a new thing. In fact, the first smartphone ‘worm’ was created back in 2004.  Called ‘Cabir’ it was a proof of concept written to infect Symbian-based devices. In August 2011, the Kaspersky Lab research team highlighted just how big a threat mobile malware had become, discussing with Channel 4’s Ben Cohen how it had identified 2,564 threats in 2011 – compared to 906 different viruses in 2009. Then this week, V3.co.uk’s Security Watchdog reported that recent figures put the growth rate in mobile malware at an astonishing 800 per cent in just four months, wow!

Now, I didn’t have a smartphone back in 2004 (I’m a little late on the PC/phone thing!) but I am genuinely concerned about this. I know how oblivious I am of the security risks when using my mobile phone, so to imagine it is as easy as simply downloading a new app…

Bob Tarzey, an analyst at Quocirca suggested in an IT PRO article that many of the attacks would focus on Android, the most popular mobile OS in the world and one of the easiest to develop for.  And guess which ‘click happy’ mobile user has an Android based smartphone….?  Yes, this one.

So, on that note I will leave it up to Maksym Schipka, director of hosted and streaming technology research at Kaspersky Lab to tell us all about this mobile threat in a Channel 4 news clip: Is your smartphone under threat from hackers?

Melanie Johnson