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I’ve recently been talking to a good friend of mine who works in the music industry. A conversation that crops up more than any other is that of file-sharing. A term most people believe to be synonymous with ‘free-music’. At the somewhat naive age of sixteen, I myself downloaded Napster onto my parents computer, pulled off a few tracks before I accidentally added a nasty virus to their play-list. I forget the name of it, but needless to say, the PC was out of action for a long time!Based on this experience I swore never to indulge in ‘file-sharing’ again.

My friends main point was this; "if you see a car that you like the look of do you think you can just take it?" An ideal thieving opportunity presents itself - the key’s in the ignition, the door’s open, nobody around… Granted, this situation physically doesn’t compare to a few clicks on a mouse, but surely it becomes a question of morals…

When a CD cost £15-£20, 15 years ago, you did feel that it was a tad expensive, but it was a luxury good, so you paid it. You bought music when you could afford it, and it was special. Now the music industry is saturated. As a result you can by a whole album for next to nothing, be it on download or in the shops - this is one product that’s price hasn’t increased with inflation…. shhh… don’t tell Gordon B!

I’m aware there are several more debates to be had here, but I’m trying to drill down… So, how does this all relate back into public relations?

Well after having the afore mentioned conversation, I then brought the topic up with a couple of mates, who also work in public relations. At first they disagreed wholeheartedly… they believed artists to be "well paid", and "what was the problem?" … "It’s like lending a CD to your mate for a week." The obvious problem I had with this was that allowing several thousand people to share your files is a hell of a lot different to lending a CD. Then I found an analogy that had them both questioning their long-standing views:

How many times had they researched a brief at work, put together a high quality presentation and/or worked on a detailed proposal document? The answer was obviously lots! They immediately knew where this was going. I asked how many times, despite failing to win the new business, they’d seen their ideas, their concepts and sometimes even their very own time-plan and strategy, used and abused by an in-house team or competing agency post-pitch…

It makes me feel nauseous. If you want to hire an outside agency to do some work for you - then honour the process. If you decide to make your sourcing process competitive, fine, by all means do so, but don’t sit through a bunch of presentations and then rip off all their ideas. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, and before long you’ll earn yourself a reputation, and bad rep’s tend to stick….

Plus I’m a big believer in karma - and - what goes around comes around… try and do something on the cheap, and at some point or another it will go wrong… such is the way of the world.

I love Ajax

Since December 2006, I have been enjoying the tech world a lot more than I thought I ever would. What’s not to love? Social networking, speedy instant messaging, Vista, the Wii, RSS feeds, building blogs….

I’m now at a stage where my nearest and dearest believe I’m some sort of a new age geek. A cross breed of a digital marketer and blogger, meets wannabe chef and sports fan. I hold my hands up and whole heartedly agree. Why not embrace these new treats and enjoy the tools that are now available to us?

The thing that has continued to impress me over the past six months is Ajax.

Wikipedia: "Ajax (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), is a group of inter-related web development techniques used for creating interactive web applications."

Ultimately most people are impressed by functionality, but as my team mates remind me every day, I like things to look ‘pretty’. Until recently, I was an advertiser’s dream. The packaging was key, with usability coming close behind. For me, Ajax achieves both of these key elements to a very impressive degree.

I’m pretty sure that most people who use popular sites like Facebook aren’t aware they’re using an Ajax system, or for that matter, really care… and then there’s the new BBC site; allowing you to customise your own homepage with whatever BBC content you’re most interested in.

Basically, the way the world is moving, and the pace at which consumers are now living their lives means information must be informative, relevant and accessible. If it isn’t, then the information supplier looses credibility and inevitability users. And just to quickly revert back to my earlier point about how I like things to look good, or rather, slick… I really like the fact Ajax allows you to move content, style the design and customize a site to make it feel like your own. Personalisation is the key.

Here’s my top five sites that I would highly recommend having a proper look at:

1) BBC

2) Facebook

3) Netvibes

4) Google

5)  YouTube

Acer customer support 1, PC World 0

Yesterday I attended WOM UK’s first ‘How To’ workshop event. Very interesting day, with impressive presentations from Fiona at MESH, Andy from Ramp, Dave at Bzz Agent and Ivan at Wildfire. After even just a day out of the office it always seems to take a little longer than you’d like to get your inbox in shape, and your to-do list back on track.

For example - I’ve only just picked up on a post written this afternoon by a colleague that sits no more than 1.5m away from me. And… thinking back on the busy day, I do suddenly recollect a fair amount of agro coming out of his ‘moody’ corner. It seems the level of customer service he received from PC World regarding a fairly serious IT issue, was dealt with in a somewhat poor manner….

On the flip side of Wolfstar’s IT scenario, I myself sent my Acer Travel Mate off for repair (that only took two short conversations, one with Acer and one with DHL) last Friday - today it was sat back on my desk, fully fit and raring to go… so hat’s off to the Acer crew down in Plympton - thanks very much!

How do we even start to talk about measuring social media?

I’ve just been to a Chinwag event in Soho, London where a panel of industry professionals battled out the debate of measuring social media.

I find this whole topic incredibly interesting, especially when the panelists on the stage all work within the marketing mix, but have such different professional backgrounds. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still loving all the new tools that are constantly appearing - Dopplr being by current favourite, but measuring conversations? Can it really be done? I think panelist Will McInnes described putting the words conversation and measure together as “wrong and slightly filthy”.

I reckon there’s a couple of thousand CEO’s out there that would love for a measurement formula to be created – even if it’s as ‘fluffy’ as the old school AVE. At least they would have something tangible to work with.

There was a lot discussed tonight, and I believe the full session will be available as a downloadable podcast, but I just wanted to pick up on a few things that got me thinking;

1) One of the panelists believes that focus groups are dead and buried……finite measurement can apparently be achieved by monitoring online conversations…

2) Another said that it is and has been possible for quite some time to monitor everything about a person through analysing their online profile…

3) Product development, word of mouth and transparency are all key to a brand’s success…

4) If you’re going to try and cheat the system – DON’T! Because “people know people” and you’ll eventually always get caught!

I agree with two out of the four above points – and I don’t think it’ll take a genius to work out which two I’m talking about.

Is it time for public relations and St Valentine to call it a day?

Before Santa has even parked his sled back at the North Pole, once again our shops are lined with a multitude of pink and red cards, fluffy toys and ‘naughty gifts’ ahead of the festivity of St Valentine’s Day. Now, I understand that everybody has their own opinion with regard to how much the day should be celebrated. Take my flat mate for example, nice guy with a very lovely lady, yet he’s adamant that he will do nothing out of the ordinary for this occasion… “I never have and I never will!” he grumbles.

I myself am slightly cheesier – nothing stupid, but where’s the harm in a home cooked meal and a bottle of red. We tend to do a lot of that anyway. My point is that romance is a good thing, but it shouldn’t be forced.

Anyway, I read this hilarious post this morning on the Real Business blog page, all about public relations companies using Valentine’s Day to promote their products. Amongst the offenders were Pearl Drops with:

“Girls, do you want to make a good impression on 14 February? If you have your eye on someone special, forget saucy underwear and flowers; just make sure your smile is shining for maximum seduction success!”

There are more where that came from, but I thought I’d open this topic up on our site too. So the question is, should Valentine’s Day be another excuse for a PR story, or should we all agree never to tenuously link an unrelated product to the day of love. Let the debate begin..

Eight things you don’t know about me

Stuart Bruce has tagged me with the ‘Eight things you don’t know about me’ meme. My theme for this post has to be all things random!

1) I love foreign languages; my Norwegian is fluent, but I have also embraced Indonesian, Italian, Persian (salam azizam is my favourite - it just sounds so cool), most of the other Scandinavian languages and very VERY basic Chinese.

2) I have swam down the azumini river in Nigeria.

3) My favourite drink is a dirty martini.

4) I was born in Scarborough.

5) I’ve won two trophies in my time - the first came from a rugby sevens competition at the age of 13, followed by a 1st place at a Golf comp in Pescara, Italy - which made it into the local papers!

6) I consider the middle east my future home and hope to grow our business in the Gulf.

7) My Didush (Granddad) is Ukrainian. He has taught me to grow and nurture fruits and vegetables in the most efficient and tasty ways - a few years ago we grafted two plants together to create a tree that grows both lemons and limes. Yet his favourite meal to date remains a pork pie and pint of Yorkshire bitter.

8)I’ve just asked the lady in my life to move in with me…..she smiled and said yes!………for those who know me well, you will appreciate this is a not a decision I made lightly. 

I’ve tagged some contacts,  but mainly people who’s blogs I read  or podcasts I download on a regular basis: Brian Solis, Annie Mac, Neville Hobson, Peter Darch, Paul Pritchard, Jemima Kiss, Graham Holliday and the team at Word of mouth.

TheBusinessDesk.com recruits Yorkshire Post journalist

In November 2007, former long standing business editor of the Yorkshire Post (YP) David Parkin launched TheBusinessDesk.com. Two months down the line, he’s already recruited Ian Briggs, an old team mate from the YP business desk to support him as deputy editor. Ian was the first journalist I ever met as a practitioner of public relations and remains a great contact. I remember our first ‘drinks meeting’ very well - Ian and his colleague at the time, Greg Wright and a squad of Harrsion Cowley members. Two weeks into the job, and less than two months out of uni, let’s just say I lacked a certain level of tact… before the heads on our pints had settled I was bending his ear off about my main client at the time - Gatecrasher… my direct approach was picked up on by an associate director, who later suggested I may be of some use in the new business department. I digress…

Congratulations on the move Ian – and good luck with your new online venture.

Mysko let loose in Oslo

Amidst some much needed filing in my hectic inbox, I thought I’d get in a sneaky blog about my latest trip to Oslo. I arrived in Norway after a seven hour journey from the UK…. the sooner a new runway is built in Leeds the better! It seems you have to fly through Schipol to get anywhere other than the Costa del Sol.

Negativity… sorry, let’s get back on track. So I arrived in snowy Oslo, jumped on the speedy train into the city centre, where I was greeted by our client Fronter UK. The time was late, so after we enjoyed a £10 pint, I hit the hay and got some kip ready for a big day ahead.

I spent the morning with seven UK learning authorities at Kastallet School, south Oslo. We received presentations from the head mistress and supporting ICT teachers. The idea was to get a feel for how Norwegian schools had embraced the platform, pro’s, con’s etc. All in all, it all went down rather well, but then came the pièce de résistance! Three young lads, no more than 14 yrs old stepped in… and without their prior knowledge – so did NRK and the Dagsavisen! They gave an awesome 20-minute presentation, again talking through how Fronter had allowed them to increase communication and student interaction. The Dagsavisen asked one of the lads: “although this new technology has its benefits, doesn’t it mean you have less freedom to occasionally ditch the odd piece of homework”… with a cheeky grin on his face, Robin Svendsen replied… “well….you can’t help it if the net’s down can you…?!” There’s always a way!!!

After lunch I spent the rest of the day bonding with the marketing team, ironing out details for BETT 2008 etc – it really is amazing how much more you can get out of face-to-face meetings.

Six o’clock – time for a swift £12 pint (increased price due to plush venue at Aker Brygge) and some Bacalao. The walk home past the palace, winter market and numerous go-go bars was interesting. No real gossip on that note – just quite a surreal way to finish the night. Before sleep, I had one last check of the email and phone – text from Mum (living on the west coast – oil capital of Norway, Stavanger).

<<WE SAW YOU ON NATIONAL TV TONIGHT!!! SEE YOU IN TWO WEEKS FOR JUL!! MUMXX>>

It turns out the local TV story filmed at the school that morning had made it to the nationals, and Seb had been caught on camera. Nice way to finish a very productive day. The following morning I sipped my coffee at Oslo airport and quietly enjoyed the double page spread that had made it into the Dagavisen.

Media Guardian podcast - Murdoch’s musical chairs

I’ve been listening to the most recent media guardian podcast – a great little weekly update from Matt Wells . This week focused on the Murdoch takeover of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). In the words of Andrew Neil, it appears he now wishes to ‘step into the ring’ and challenge the mighty New York Times – currently the most powerful newspaper franchise in the world.

Similarly to when he launched BSkyB in the UK, Murdoch is taking his core team out to the big apple with him. The move sees Les Hinton take head position of Dow Jones and Robert Thomas, current editor of The Times, appointed publisher of the WSJ.

The move represents a total shift in Murdoch’s focus – ‘global institutions have more political capital than federal based governments’ says Emily Bell. With the media world evolving as it is, this tycoon is clearly more interested in delving into the minds at Google, than dining at Westminster and befriending the PM.

In Hinton’s place, Murdoch leaves behind son and predicted heir to the throne, the web savvy James, who is set to rule News Corporation in the the UK, Europe and Asia.  

In Neil’s opinion the move can be nothing but a good thing as ‘big American city newspapers are quite often lazy monopolies… the biggest newspaper battle of the early part of 21st Century is about to begin.’ All quite exciting really!

 

The first Fabric podcast

Last week I downloaded the first Fabric podcast recorded by Craig Richards, long term resident at the famous club and one half of Tyrant. The intro was a compilation of digital sounds and samples - kind of what you’d expect from such a well known underground establishment. Less than thirty seconds later, I was totally disillusioned. Instead of moody, thought provoking house music, the presenter gently eased into Latimore – ‘let’s straighten it out’, a beautiful track from the 1970’s. This continued throughout the entire forty six minute set in musical education, as Richards introduced each carefully selected record, based on his influencers and what “made him happy and sad”. The only slight resemblance of the dance beat I’d been expecting, came from Deux with ‘Game and Performance’ made during the French synth wave in the late seventies.  It was a pleasure to be allowed into the mind of such an inspiring DJ, but even more so to find such an eclectic mixture of simply great records hiding in there. It was almost like a lesson in musical appreciation, the kind you’d have actually enjoyed back in the school days.

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