A bit more light on our name

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I’ve been away for a few days - almost incommunicado as the northern Scottish Highlands appear to be on my level of technological sophistication - and have come back to find that the rest of the Wolfstar pack have been posting furiously and making me look if not foolish (my original blogging fear), then pretty damned lazy.

So I plan to catch up fast and will start by trying to shed a bit more light on Beth’s theories about how we came by such a strange name.  Anyone who has started a new company will know how difficult and time-consuming naming the thing can be.  We lived with a few weird and wonderful names for a few days at a time - including Marabar, Uproar and another so unmemorable I’ve forgotten it -something like Blood?!

Nothing was working (tell me if we were wrong?!) so I started playing around with an intergalactic theme - not Star Wars, more www and beyond!  I had an idea that we would like to be seen as amongst the brightest stars so looked for lists of bright stars.  The Wolf Star appeared - somewhat vaguely as a group of stars - on one of these lists.  We liked the name, for the reasons Beth gave, tested it with friends, colleagues and clients, and registered it.  Only later did we discover that it is in fact a white dwarf!

But really, it’s just a name.  It doesn’t matter what it is or what it means because as our ‘brand’ it will come to just mean us to those who know us. 

Could ObamaGirl awaken interest in politics 2.0?

Been busy, so I’ve only just found out about ObamaGirl (via Loic Le Meur). The YouTube video below alone has had almost three million views.

It’s already had coverage in The Observer, The Economist and People magazine to name but a few.

Can’t see politics 2.0 in the UK ever being like this.

UPDATED: Unlike Loic (who worked for Nicolas Sarkozy on his French presidential campaign) I’m glad I didn’t have this idea while working on Alan Johnson’s deputy leadership campaign!

XP: Wolfstar blog, A PR Guru’s Musings, Stuart’s Soapbox

Blog No.2

Continuing on the musical front… I’ve just found a great site from the other side of the pond - www.protonradio.com. After using the site as background noise whilst working on my first proposal, the tunes are not only nicely varied, but produced by people I’ve never heard of.

I have a real respect for any media outlet that promotes the lesser known talents out there. Their goal: “To bring together the electronic music community by fostering growth and inspiring creativity with the latest technology.” Nice work guys.

For a more local feel, a good friend of mine based down in the smoke has started a Facebook group: Berlin and Detroit - A Techno Alliance - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2386588302 Also well worth checking out.

Global PR heads alert to social media and the internet

PR Week’s European/Global Report Card (behind a pay wall) on the 12 big agencies makes interesting reading. Five of the 12 CEOs/VPs identify social media, digital media and the internet as being significant drivers for the PR industry.

Jeremy Galbraith, CEO Europe for Burson-Marsteller says: “With the growth of digital media, the power of individual consumers has never been greater. In future, the trick for our industry is going to be to identify smaller and smaller sub-groups of the population and their needs and wants.”

Donna Imperato, global CEO of Cohn & Wolfe, said the most pointless buzzword or trend she has heard is: “Social networking being applied in the wrong context. And blogs - not everyone needs one.”

Richard Edelman, global CEO of Edelman said: “I’d like us to exert greater leadership in the social media space, because it enables our clients to listen and engage directly with their audiences.”

Andrew Laurence, CEO EMEA for Hill & Knowlton said: “This time we really have to put the PR industry at the heart of digital communications.In case you haven’t heard, the last bus is leaving.”

Tim Dyson, group CEO, Next Fifteen said: “I wonder how many of them truly believe that social media are going to remain such an important driver of change over the next 12 months. I feel that social media are going to remain such an important driver of change over the next 12 months. I feel that social media are radically changing the architecture of the way people consume content and that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I see the changes this brings as a great opportunity for PR to be ‘the next advertising’, but only if the industry embraces this change from top to bottom.”

Lots of food for thought and many of these comments confirm why it is the right time for us to start Wolfstar. Our belief is that PR is going to be at the forefront of these changes, but only if it is willing to learn, listen, change and adapt. Something that far to few PR people are willing to do at the moment.

Indigo Red launches vlogyourjob.com

My favourite PR headhunters Indigo Red are continuing to show why they are the best in the business by launching www.vlogyourjob.com. I’ll let MD Steve Mallison-Jones explain:

“This is a new site that does something different for the job seeker and the employer. Much more than a job spec this site lets you talk to your potential employees before they come for an interview. Finding great talent is really tough and we believe employers need innovative ways to reach talent!! Check it out.”

I like it, although I’d probably have advised Steve to have a little bit more content on it before announcing it.

XP: A PR Guy’s Musings

Power150 adopted by Advertising Age

I’m pleased to see that Todd Andrlik’s Power 150 list of the world’s top marketing blogs has now been adopted by Advertising Age as its official league table.

I’ve just had another look at the list and it’s disappointing that most UK bloggers appear to have slipped down the list. Most of the UK blogs are marketing and advertising folk rather than PR people. And damn I’ve just noticed that young Stephen ‘PR Blogger’ Davies has become the highest ranked UK PR blog - it used to be me! When A PR Guy’s Musings first appeared on the list it was at about 40 (from memory) and now it has slipped to 100. If I worried about league tables I should be downing my sorrows by now. The full UK list as of July 22 is:

1. Russell Davies - advertising planning
2. Neville Hobson - organisational communications
3. adliterate - branding
4. Modern Marketing - marketing
5. BrandTarot - branding
6. MakeMarketingHistory - marketing
7. PR Blogger -public relations
8. A PR Guy’s Musings - public relations

That’s it I’m afraid - we don’t even have a UK top ten.

Neville has also commented on this.

UPDATED: As Neville pointed out that I’d missed James Cherkoff’s excellent Modern Marketing.

It’s all in a name

Tim Hoang asks where on earth does the name Wolfstar come from? Unfortunately for …the world’s leading… it has nothing to do with Star Wars or indeed Dr Who. In fact we can’t remember where the idea first came from, but we do know that when we tested it with clients and friends that they like it.

But for those of you who like a good tale, here goes…

The name Wolfstar was chosen as it represents our work ethic, attitudes and our spirit as a ‘pack’. Far too many PR companies start off with a new client as bright stars, but soon burn out and lose motivation. As a company we aim to shine brightly like a star with the endurance of the wolf. Wolves are built for stamina. They can run hard for long distances without relenting. This is how we aim to approach business, achieving fantastic results for our clients with the resilience of the wolf.

Wolves also work in packs. The pack work closely together and co-operation is essential to accomplish tasks and hunt prey. The leaders of the pack nurture and raise their young and hold the pack together by resolving dispute and controlling resources. As a team, we aim to follow the way of the wolf, valuing team work, nurturing individuals and striving for success. For wolves and for Wolfstar, camaraderie is preferable to solitude and the pack has strong social bonds.

Wolf paws are designed to enable wolves to tread easily on a wide variety of terrains. At Wolfstar we aim to blaze a trail through public relations and social media.

Beth’s blog

Hi! My name is Beth Kay and I have recently joined the team as an account executive here at Wolfstar. I have just graduated from Leeds University (actually my graduation is this Thursday) and have now entered the world of work after three years of student life (students beware!, three years of 11am starts does not make for easy 6.30am get ups). At university I studied Design Management, with a side of fashion and through completing a number of PR projects and work experience placements, decided PR was what I wanted to do with my life.

It was through university life that I discovered the wonderful world of Facebook (not boasting but I now have almost 250 friends, much to the annoyance of my director who is still under 20). It was this introduction into the world of networking communities that wet my appetite and stimulated my desire to investigate further into social media and the potential it could have in today’s society.

I first heard about the job opportunity whilst browsing the web, looking for graduate opportunities within PR, when I stumbled upon a blog on Stuart’s site ‘a pr guy’s musings’. The post was informing the world that a PR company was looking to recruit fresh faces, so I e-mailed off my CV and haven’t looked back since. It was the world of social media and blogging that presented me with this fabulous opportunity and being given the opportunity to explore its potential it is both fascinating and exciting.

In my spare time I am a competitive cheerleader (not girls prancing around with pom poms but actual stunting), which involves throwing other girls in the air; gymnastics and dance (think ‘bring it on’ without so much cheese). An interesting fact about the sport is that it is one of the most dangerous sports in the USA. I am a National and European champion and cheer for the Leeds University Squad called the Leeds Celtics. (Check us out on YouTube)

My claim to fame is getting through to the last 100 in the recent Britain’s Got Talent TV show, performing a cheerleading stunt act. We made it past 2 rounds and survived the wrath of the judges, but unfortunately lost out to some line-dancing dogs in the quarter finals. However, we did get to meet Ant and Dec and try to get them to do some moves for us (which they did, and it was rather amusing).

UPDATE: Our WordPress blog just doesn’t like playing with anything, unlike our various Typepad blogs that are very robust. At the moment WordPress appears to be randomly deciding which YouTube videos it will embed, so until we can work out what’s wrong here is the link to Beth’s video introduction.

Welcome to Seb’s world…

Hello all! I’m Sebastian Mysko, an account manager here at Wolfstar. I joined the team back in mid April and can safely say I’ve not looked back since!

I left my previous agency after two priceless years, and prior to that, completed a marketing management degree at Northumbria University. Whilst my course was incredibly varied, a few modules in PR, advertising and corp comms was enough to make me realise just how much I really wanted to work in this area of the business world.

The experience gained in my previous position was pretty amazing. I worked across various sectors, developing great client relations with ConstructionSkills, and test-driving Land Rover’s down 88degree slopes to name but a few of my happy memories.

As time went on, I found myself developing a real curiosity for new and social media. The fact that this space is so open and still so unpredictable really does fascinate me, and adds a real twist to what an agency can potentially offer.

My other passions are largely based around travel and music. I was born into the expatriate community and until first year uni, spent more of my years in Africa and Scandinavia than the UK. This background has led to a true interest in the different cultures the world has and to offer, both current and historically. My latest cultural curiosity comes after spending quite some time in the Middle-East. I’ve found myself inexplicably intrigued by the Persian Empire, a history never taught during my time in education…

On the music front, whilst I still believe I have a great ear for a well produced tune, I am a self confessed, failed bedroom DJ. My greatest achievement behind the decks would have to be my senior prom at my international school in Stavanger, Norway - until we blew the amp and had to move the fiesta elsewhere… On the events side however, the story is a little different. My evening job at university as an events co-ordinator for various record labels allowed me to meet, interact and listen to some of the finest musical talent the world has to offer – an experience I will never forget and hope to integrate into the business world.

So, in less than one month we’re due to move into our new and permanent offices and we’re pretty damn excited about the prospect! Let’s just say operations at base level haven’t exactly been fluid… but none the less, business is great and we’ve not even officially launched yet!

 

Technorati Tags: PR, public relations, social media, social networking, business

Hello from Susie Lawrence

So, a blog then. This is actually my second attempt as the first one mysteriously disappeared into some black hole in our system. This just about sums up me and anything to do with technology.

I’m finally jumping on the blogging bandwagon, although very grumpily because I thought I’d finished, and less than enthusiastically so maybe it’s not quite the bandwagon, more the trailer that’s being towed behind it. See, I digress already, just one of the many fears I harbour about blogging. Others include:

· Waffling at length about things that nobody is interested in – so looking a fool

· Talking nonsense about something I am supposed to know about – so looking a fool

· Wasting valuable client time trying to look witty and clever – so looking a fool (while losing said client’s account)

· The chip that is clearly hidden somewhere in me that reacts with anything to do with technology preventing me being able to post anything – at least this could stop me looking a fool!

Stuart tells me this paranoia is completely normal for a novice and that it’s unlikely anybody important will read what I write anyway. Which is reassuring, kind of. But he also says this is a vital tool for letting people know who we are and what we do. So here I am, doing my bit and actually secretly getting a bit excited about moving even outside my comfort zone.

I was trying to reproduce what I wrote the first time but I’ve forgotten the rest. It was too long anyway.

First (well, second but nobody saw the first) blog post complete – and another fear thereby conquered. I’ve cheered up now.

You can read all about me here (and even watch a YouTube video).

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