Archive for November, 2007
November 29th, 2007
The PR industry has taken another bashing over the past couple of days for failing to embrace and understand social media as they should. If you’ve missed out on the conversations, it’s worth reading Will McInnes’ post “World has changed: PR agencies haven’t“, and Antony Mayfield’s follow-up post “Can PR evolve quickly enough?”.
Although Will makes the very valid point that “PR will NOT die at an industry level”, he insinuates that most PRs are in danger of being usurped by other agencies or disciplines, who have a better understanding of social networks.
And this is where I strongly beg to differ.
Expert PR thinking will always be at the strategic heart of any ‘PR’ campaign, and so long as we are always focused on being up-to-date in our approach and techniques, we will never be pushed out. The definition of ‘PR’ is on the very cusp of being radically overhauled, but our expertise and understanding of the media will never become redundant.
I am the first to admit that many PR agencies are taking too long over adapting and embracing the media climate that’s evolving so rapidly, but they shouldn’t feel bullied into having to becoming social media experts and having all the answers to hand. Their current PR expertise will be the only foundations and knowledge that they need to build on.
A great analogy to reference at this point is the publishing industry’s evolution from print to online. Ten years ago I got my first job at Ziff Davis, which coincided with the launch of its first two internet divisions - Gamespot and ZDNet. These websites were set up by traditional publishers and run by print journalists and editors - none had any prior knowledge of the Internet. To look back now it’s easy to see that we didn’t have a clue what we were doing, but we believed in the Internet and knew it was the right thing to be doing, and so just went for it! I don’t need to tell you how successful ZDNet and Gamespot are today.
My point is that we didn’t waste our time debating about how we should embrace the Internet, and who was best placed to succeed at it, or how we’d all lose our professions if we didn’t…we just did it, and learnt as we went along. As a result I’ve now been working in the digital industry for the whole of my career - I owe a lot to t’Internet!
So at the end of the day, us PRs are still the best people to do the job!
Technorati tags: pr, social_networks, socialmedia, willmcinnes, zdnet, communications
Heat in hot water for celebrity child slur
November 28th, 2007
For those who haven’t yet picked up on this shocking media story…Heat magazine is this week giving away free stickers - one of which includes a photo of Katie Price’s (aka Jordan) disabled five-year old son Harvey with the slogan:
“Harvey wants to eat me”.
The fattist humour is completely lost on me - does anyone get it?!
The magazine’s editor, Mark Frith, has apologised saying: “No offence was intended, but if any was caused we would like to apologise.”
I deeply hope this isn’t going to be his only effort to manage the crisis situation his magazine has caused.
I am completely lost for words, and a quick Google search reveals I’m not the only one! According to reports, Jordan is lodging a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission.
Technorati tags: heat+magazine, jordan, katie+price, harvey, crisis+management, disabled+rights, emap
BBC leads the way on interactive content rights
November 26th, 2007
I had to do a double take on this story when I was reviewing my feeds this evening as it seemed quite low key, but if I’m reading it right this has the potential to be massive for digital content producers.
According to Leigh Holmwood at MediaGuardian, Pact’s (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) interactive rights framework has been agreed by the BBC, meaning producers retain ownership of the IP rights to their content for the first time.
This deal, which was previewed by NMA last week, puts interactive content owners and producers inline with their counterparts in the TV industry and could be the catalyst for huge growth in the sector.
Assuming other major broadcasters follow suit and offer similar deals, digital content producers will now have the flexibility, recognition and opportunity that has previously been held back from them.
The interactive content sector is made up of a number of smaller but pioneering producers and this agreement could be a real boost and just reward for their creativity.
Technorati tags: interactive+content, pact, nma, interactive+rights+framework, bbc
November 22nd, 2007
The long-awaited digital edition of New Media Age has gone live today, available here. It is aptly part of an online video special, incorporating demos of cutting-edge online video advertising.
It’s a great first attempt at integrating digital-focused editorial with interactive content. For a magazine that pitches itself as being at the forefront of digital marketing, this is definitely a step in the right direction.
NMA has great journalists on staff, and is well-respected by the industry…but that won’t be enough to carry it through the social media era. My RSS feeds are full of expert digital commentators and bloggers, and for NMA to keep its head above the rest of the crowd, it’s increasingly going to have to find more ways of engaging with its audience online.
So big thumbs up to NMA!
As a funny aside, just as I was about to click ‘publish’, I received an email from NMA saying its advertising rates are due to rise in 2008. Great timing Centaur!
Technorati tags: nma, e-edition, publishing, online+video, magazines, digital+media, centaur
November 22nd, 2007
Check out this hilarious Frank Sinatra take on social media.
Just remember, 10,000 friends ain’t no rat pack!