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Are public protests getting too eggs-cruciating?

13Jun

More and more often it seems we are seeing people using major events covered by the media as an opportunity for public protest, and so ensuring their message is seen by a mass audience.

The French Open saw a shirtless man donning a white mask, waving around a flare and running onto the tennis court during the men's final. He was shouting ‘Help! France trample’s on children’s rights!’ It certainly attracted attention but is this really the right way to get your voice heard?

The public’s reaction is always going to be mixed with different opinions on what is right and acceptable and what is wrong and out of line. Some people will take notice of the message. Others will simply see the action as a disturbance and an act of wanton vandalism.

Television's Britain’s Got Talent is another example. Head judge Simon Cowell had an egg thrown at him by a member of the orchestra, a violinist with a grudge who interestingly had made it to the previous year's final. She made her public protest as, apparently, she believes the outspoken impressario holds too much power in the music industry.

Whether we agree with these outbursts or not perhaps we have to accept that in a mass communication, instant messaging world with a media savvy public these exploits are the price of freedom?

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General

PR

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protest

public

television

Bear-faced bravado and Panda-ring to the masses

12Jun

So what possible connection can there be between a central heating system, surfing the internet, taking a shower and a Rudyard Kipling classic? 'The Bare Necessities' of course!

As a way of promoting the forthcoming release of its Blu-ray version of Jungle Book, Disney turned to the tried and tested survey route as a way to create headlines. Using the catchy song from the animated film as the hook, they asked 2,000 people what they thought were the bare necessities of life.

At number one was an internet connection, number two ‘television’ and number three ‘a cuddle’. Also in this Top 20 were ‘central heating’, ‘spectacles’ and ‘a good cry every now and then’. Unsurprisingly ‘a pint’ and ‘a glass of wine’ also make an appearance. So not that illuminating then. But it did cause enough of a hula-Baloo (gedditt?) to merit a full page in the Metro.

Disney was not alone with this ‘bear-faced’ bravado. British Airways stuffed a plane full of giant pandas to promote its new service flying direct from London to Chengdu, capital of China’s Sichaun province.

It just goes to prove you can’t beat a bit of animal magic, even if they are just people in mascot-style outfits. Let’s hope the expected rush for seats doesn’t create too much panda-monium!

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José Mourinho – ‘The Marmite One’

07Jun

Love him or loathe him ‘The Special One’ is back in English football, bringing with him unceasing media conversation, intrigue and promotional flair characteristic of a true PR man.

Despite every match day drama - the goals, the harsh tackles, the controversy - Mourinho is renowned for that additional ingredient which brings a certain zest to the game: his confrontational personality.

Rightly or wrongly, he demands to be centre stage right from the pre-match press conference to his sideline prowling to his post-match interviews.

His critics will suggest that he brings out the worst in football, manifesting the confrontation and tribalism intrinsic to the game. But of course, he is undeniably too good and too entertaining not to be back on top.

As described by the Guardian’s Barney Ronay, he is “English football’s bad boyfriend, the guy who’s simply no good for us”, which perhaps is fair due to his obstinate arrogance, but he is undoubtedly magnetic – demanding everyone’s attention with his forthright attitude and salt and pepper sex appeal.

What he will do though is bring a heavy-weight personality back into the beautiful game, especially now there is a Fergie-shaped hole to fill.

The question is whether his rantings are because he just enjoys being at the centre of things. Or is he being clever and using 'the Mourinho effect' to bring a winning mentality to the dressing room and to the club he happens to be manager of at the time.

For Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard it's the latter. He says Mourinho's success and reputation are based on how “his own self-confidence reflects back on teams”.

Either way, what we can all look forward to is more self-promotional spin which, like it or loathe it, will keep the pundits and fans constantly anticipating what will next explode out of José’s box of publicity tricks and what his second coming to the Premier League will bring.

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Do you have a ‘monster’ personality online?

05Jun

Reading a newspaper on the train this morning I came across an interesting article discussing how people portray themselves online. An internet psychologist concluded that people are not showing you who they are but who they want you to think they are.

The expert, Graham Jones, made some interesting points. We have been going to the pub for centuries and codes of behaviour are part of our social environment. We understand what the rules are when we are down ‘the local’ with friends.

There are codes of behaviour for online too but it's still early days, he said. The individual portrayed online is often not the natural you. It is a distorted version where, for example, you will try to be the sort of person you think should be on Facebook, rather than your true self.

According to the psychologist you become a sort of ‘monster’. Not in the horror sense but perhaps, and this is my interpretation, a kind of Frankenstein character where you assemble the ‘best’ bits of your personality to present the perfect cyberspace you.

As Graham Jones, says it’s like that scene in Star Wars where Luke Skywalker walks into a bar full of weird monsters and they all turn and look at him as though he’s the strange one. Many of us are sheep pretending to be wolves, he says.

For businesses it's a similar conundrum. How to put your 'good side' across without having the consumer viewing you strangely or with cycnicism. As you will have heard before it's about engagement and having a two-way conversation, where both sides get something out of the relationship. But that's another blog post.

The article in today’s Metro also had an interesting ‘Top 10’ of annoying updates on social media.

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Delivering a brand message directly into the hands of the customer

04Jun

As consultants for Hermes it is Seal's remit to deliver even more of the creative marketing ideas that have supported it in becoming Britain's second biggest parcels carrier in the UK.

Our latest is a direct mail campaign, part of a wider brief that also included national advertising, that delivered Hermes Depots and ParcelShops into the hands of their customers. Literally.

It featured pop-out buildings for the recipient to make up together with a pre-loaded memory stick in the shape of a Hermes truck.

The 'mini-event on your desk' was sent to more than 1,000 key customer contacts who were invited to send a photograph of their built structure back to Hermes to be entered into a competition to win an iPad.

An outstanding example of delivering the brand message precisely into the hands of the customer!

Without prejudicing the final outcome, as the competition is still open, we've pictured a sample of the entries above.

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