With the general election looming ever closer, the media is crammed full of stories discussing the wonderful world of politics. Whilst I’d be the first to admit skimming through this section in the paper to get to the sport and celeb pages, an article by Daniel Finkelstein in today’s Times caught my attention.

Finkelstein discusses the concept of the brand, using author Martin Lindstrom’s example of the curved Coca-Cola bottle as one of the most recognisable and best-loved icons, to the point that it can be considered “smashable”. If dropped on the ground, and smashed into a hundred pieces you would still be able to recognise what it is from any one of those pieces.

He goes on to explain that “consumers purchase the product as much for what it says about them, and how it makes them feel, as for what it does. The product is much more than functional; it is part of their identity.”

This idea isn’t new in itself, and I’m sure we can all bring to mind a couple of brands that, for us, fall into this category. However, the twist that took this down a new angle for me was Finkelstein’s application of the concept to the Conservative party. We’re all aware of the photos of David Cameron cycling through London and visiting local schools and we understand that public perception is crucial in the popularity polls, but surely in this case we don’t “purchase” based on how this makes us feel? Isn’t it policies on the NHS, education and taxes that decide who gets out vote?

Think again, according to research by the BBC it appears that we absorb far more about the character and broad messages of our political parties than the individual policies they promote. All the more important then that the parties remain true to their brand positioning as any deviation from this could have a bigger impact on voters than they might realise.

Just goes to demonstrate once again, the power of the brand and it’s personality over our decision making in all areas of life. Thanks @Dannythefink – I’ll definitely be keeping a closer eye on the positioning of our political parties ahead of the election, whilst challenging the norm to see if one or two actual policies creep through.

By Kelly Russell on March 10th, 2010

Tags: BBC, Brand marketing, David Cameron, Default, General election, Politics, Public relations, Television

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Whilst browsing Twitter last night, I came across an interesting survey, via @mediaguardian, on journalists’ treatment of social media as a source. The US survey conducted by Cision and The George Washington University is based on responses from 371 journalists, almost half of which have spent over 20 years working in the industry. It reports that 56% of reporters and editors believe social media is important for reporting and producing their stories and cites blogs as the major source with networking sites like Twitter and Facebook in second place.

The inclusion of user generated content, from YouTube, to substantiate media reports has become an established practice – highlighted so evidently through the use of bystanders’ videos of the police assault on Ian Tomlinson during the G20 protest. However, the use of information taken from other social media sites seems to be moving things forward a stage.

Predictably, of the journalists that acknowledged using social media as a source, the vast majority (84%) admitted that they treat the information taken from these sites as more cautious and less reliable than traditional media. Whilst on first reading that might seem sensible, surely this depends on the context in which they are planning to use the information taken from the ‘source’.

I’m not sure that anyone that regularly contributes to blogs or social networking sites would propose that their daily tweets and posts be considered as ‘fact’. In contrast, I would suggest that the purpose of consulting social media should be to add colour to a report by drawing on different people’s opinions to shed light on any given subject, rather than providing the ‘facts’ themselves.

From my own experience in PR, I can happily admit to being a source for a journalist on more than one occasion via Twitter. From a combination of my own posts about the projects I’m working on and following a number of relevant journalists, I’ve managed to set up a number of stories in press. Rather than the content of posts being used as content, they instead highlighted a common interest and shared goal which made me the source. Certainly from my world, social media is becoming an increasingly effective and common way of communicating with journalists.

My advice to the 46% of journalists that don’t consider social media to be important in their line of work would be to give it a go. It won’t tread on the toes of your reliable, traditional sources, but it might just provide you with access to additional resources, colour and opinion than the ‘facts’ on their own could offer.

By Kelly Russell on February 16th, 2010

Tags: Blogging, Public relations, Social Media, YouTube

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Being half Aussie, one of the stories in yesterday’s Brand Republic email caught my attention.

The Australian Government recently announced that it is looking for an agency to develop a new brand identity to embody Australia in the 21st century with a budget of A$20 million over four years.

In response to this, agency DesignBay has launched a competition challenging people to submit their own logo and strapline for the chance to win a A$2000 prize. The global competition, which opens today, will run for two weeks, with the winners and short-listed entrants announced in the marketing industry’s B&T magazine in November.

DesignBay founder Alec Lynch, has been quoted saying: “Australia’s brand is important. We want to find the best logo and tagline ideas that Australia’s creative talent and the world can come up with and we’re going to offer them, for free, to the government. We want to give people the opportunity to contribute to Australia’s brand and we want Australia’s brand to be the best it can be.”

In this day and age we are all used to brands and media outlets asking for our contribution and I’m right behind giving the public the chance to translate their patriotism into what could become the new identity for their nation. However on this occasion, I can’t help but think that the aim of the game is more to drive publicity for the design agency than to give consumers a voice. Although hats off to their PR team, as I’m writing about them and I’d certainly never heard of them before reading the article this morning.

The Australian government are due to launch the new identity domestically in February and internationally in May and I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled along the way to see whether the Design Bay competition has any impact on the outcome.

Either way, you’ve got to be in it to win it so I’ll be off to the drawing board…..

By Kelly Russell on October 14th, 2009

Tags: Brand marketing, Communications, Media, Public relations

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Following on from the St Patrick’s Day tour of Dublin, Alex handed the 6 Nations Trophy over to me for the final leg of the 2009 RBS 6 Nations relay. Crossing the Severn Bridge at lunchtime on Thursday, we had just two days until the final game of the Championship to capitalise on the rugby fever sweeping the country.

Day One was spent escorting the Trophy on a sightseeing tour of Cardiff to secure photos of the famous silverware in as many Welsh locations as possible. We visited Cardiff Castle, Millennium Stadium, the River Taff and even found a dragon.

Pick of the day – the pupils of Ysgol Gymraeg Treganna (Primary School) who came to school dressed in their native costumes, terrified me by speaking very fast in Welsh at me but, most importantly, posed beautifully for the photos.

The second day focussed on providing the Trophy to the many broadcast crews that had descended on Cardiff ahead of the weekend. Our magical mystery tour started with the BBC Radio Wales Breakfast Show and took us to Sky News, ITV Wales, Setanta Sports News, Ulster TV, S4C and the BBC News Channel.

Pick of the day – filming live for the early evening BBC Wales news from a pub in the shadow of the Millennium Stadium. The Head of News called to say how nicely the piece captured the enthusiasm of the crowd. From where I was standing the word ‘enthusiasm’ didn’t come close. Something along the lines of riotous and uncontrollable would have been a more accurate way to describe them.

And then it was onto the big day itself – three consecutive games, starting in Rome at 1.15pm, onto London for 3.30pm followed by the title decider in Cardiff at 5.30pm. The city was buzzing from early on, with touts selling tickets for £250 a go, hotels full of people who had come to experience the atmosphere even though they didn’t have a ticket and some fancy dress outfits that you couldn’t, and wouldn’t want to, imagine in your wildest dreams.

Our day was spent mainly inside the stadium checking branding, rehearsing the presentation ceremony, liaising with the media and representatives from the Irish and Welsh Rugby Unions. Seeing the teams arrive and hearing the anthems belted out, you couldn’t help but feel a real sense of occasion. I’m sure that every team that has had the RBS 6 Nations title within their grasp has been determined to win it, but the resolve within Millennium Stadium last Saturday seemed more prevalent than ever.

The Welsh were desperate to retain their title and the Irish, having not won the title since 1985 and with the only Grand Slam to their nation’s name won sixty-one years ago back in 1948, this was their chance to rewrite the record books. Add to that the individual incentive of places on this summer’s Lions Tour up for grabs and you get the impression. The pressure was on.

A great, close game ensued with the title hanging in the balance at various points. The drama continued to the very end with a successful drop goal from Ireland and a missed penalty from Wales the ultimate deciders. As the whistle blew, the fairytale became reality and, quite rightly, Brian O’Driscoll’s men started to celebrate, and probably haven’t stopped since.

For us, the time for celebration hadn’t quite arrived and we had to snap ourselves back into action and get the presentation ceremony underway. Seeing the Irish players cheer as they collected the trophy from Prince William and President McAleese was infectious, and I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. After they had done a lap of honour, bathed themselves in champagne and bear hugged every member of the team and management, the players headed off the pitch to start their own celebrations whilst the fans kept the bars of Cardiff in business all night.

The Trophy is now safely (or perhaps not so safely) with the Irish and we have turned our attention to the next tasks in hand. However, it’s not many times you get given an access all areas pass to watch sporting history being made and it’s something I feel honoured to have witnessed first hand.

Pick of the Day – Standing next to Ireland’s Lock Donncha O’Callaghan as he climbed into the crowd, holding the Triple Crown Trophy, to receive the adulation of the fans. Seeing the joy on his face really brought home the magnitude of the team’s achievement and the pride the rugby community, not just in Ireland, feels for what they have accomplished.

By Kelly Russell on March 27th, 2009

Tags: Rugby, Sponsorship, Synergy

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A rather unusual story caught my eye on Page 3 of The Sun today – don’t worry it didn’t invade on the usual space devoted to the beauty chosen for her intellect and commitment to good causes. However, alongside ‘Nikkala, 25, from Middlesex’ is a story on Francis Rossi from Status Quo chopping his infamous ponytail off. It seems that time hasn’t been kind to the ageing rock star who has been struggling to pull his now wispy locks into a ponytail.

I can see why the bods at The Sun gave space to this light-hearted story, particulary given the amount of depressing news that has filled our papers over the past months. However the part I don’t get, and that frankly makes me feel a little weird, is that they are running an exclusive competition to give away Rossi’s 35 year old ponytail.

I’d be interested to know how many entries they get for it and even more so, what the proud winner is planning on doing with the ultimate piece of Status Quo memorabilia . Then again, maybe it’s better not to know.

By Kelly Russell on March 10th, 2009

Tags: Media, Music, Public relations

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Hot on the heels of the announcement that ITV has asked the Government to consider plans for a three-way merger with Channel 4 and Channel 5 that would challenge the BBC’s dominance, Lastminute.com is one step ahead having already united the three in their latest advertising campaign.

Featuring thousands of people all over the world giving a thumbs-up, the ‘Mexican wave’ commercial was broadcast consecutively across the three channels between 9.50 and 9.53pm on Saturday 28th February.

Intended to promote their ‘Do more good stuff’ messaging, the commercial has been followed up with press ads and an online promotion to win tickets and holidays by guessing the number of thumbs up shown in the TV execution.

I like the fact that there is nothing over complicated about this campaign – just a simple idea, done very well. Definitely gets the thumbs up from me.

By Kelly Russell on March 3rd, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Brand marketing, Television

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Representing a sponsor at an event is usually a fairly straightforward procedure for the Synergy Communications team as all the hard work is done in advance. The public relations remit on site usually involves setting up interviews, making sure our brand appears in as many photos and articles as possible, mingling with the media and writing a few press releases. However, on one occasion last week I was happily towing the line on behalf of Ballantine’s Scotch whisky at the Barclays Scottish Open when a rather significant curve ball was hurled in my direction.

Approached by the Chief Press Officer for the European Tour, the request was made to sound fairly innocuous… “Angel Cabrera is about to come off the course and we really need someone who can speak Spanish to translate for the press conference.” Cue a quick scan of the room to see if there was someone more suitable around and a desperate search to find an excuse that would get me out of doing this. He was right that I speak some Spanish, but neither mastering golf vocabulary nor addressing a packed press conference is my forte in any language.

My blank expression obviously didn’t convey my inner anxiety successfully as the next thing I knew I was seated at the top table, next to one of the world’s top golfers, in front of the world’s golf press. Hoping for reassurance I looked out into the crowd, only to see my colleague Steph grinning and our snapper pointing his lens at me. No comfort there.

The press conference was soon underway and the questions were flying in my direction. With some help from Angel and the realisation that with no other Spanish speakers in the room no one would know if my translations weren’t spot on, it wasn’t quite as bad as I had feared.

Other than feeling very proud of myself for rising to the challenge, the best part was seeing myself quoted on the back page of the nationals. They might have been attributed to Angel, but I knew it was my choice of words and it’s certainly the closest I’ll be to appearing in print for a while.

On a final note, you’ll be pleased to know that I also learnt something from my translation experience. I now know the words for birdie, putter and tee… un birdie, un putter and un tee.

By Kelly Russell on July 23rd, 2008

Tags: Golf, Public relations, Sponsorship, Synergy

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