AI robot

Artificial Intelligence making PR smarter

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The CIPR artificial intelligence (AI) panel has published an initial list of 95 tools that are helping to make PRs work smarter. Is anything missing?

The AI panel was founded in February to explore the impact of AI on public relations and the wider business community. Stephen Waddington, chief engagement office at Ketchum, is on the panel and said: ‘The conversation around the impact of #AIinPR on culture and society is getting louder. The new CIPR panel will aim to characterise its impact on public relations practice, workforce and conversation in the public sphere.’

The full AI panel is made up of 12 leading PR experts from a variety of backgrounds and is tasked with three projects in 2018:

  1. A crowdsourcing exercise to characterise technology and tools that are helping public relations practitioners work smarter and more efficiently
  2. A skills framework that will seek to estimate the likely impact of artificial intelligence on the public relations workforce. It will aim to produce a paper for the World PR Forum in April
  3. A literature and content review to explore the impact of artificial intelligence on the public sphere. This project will aim to produce a discussion paper for practitioners

The first project has created the initial list of 95 tools, but the CIPR believes there are plenty missing and is calling for submissions to be made through the website.

If you can think of a digital tool that can help PRs work smarter, take a minute to complete the short form here

The list is broken down into 22 broad categories, including those that Vuelio clients will be familiar with – media monitoring, media distribution, campaign management, stakeholder identification and management, and media relations workflow platforms – as well as platforms that manage audio content, written content and utilities like WeTransfer and Open Library.

The full list is likely to reveal new resources for even the most tech-savvy PRs, and includes hidden gems like PNG Mart, a library of images with transparent backgrounds; Readable.io, which helps make writing more readable; and GoAnimate, which allows anyone to create professional animated videos.

The AI panel is aiming to complete a full list of 150 tools for all PR professionals to easily access by April.

The next step will be benchmarking these tools against the skills and competences for public relations set out in the Global Alliance competency framework. Waddington said: ‘The overall goal is to start a meaningful conversation about the impact of tech on practice’.

For more information about the project, visit the CIPR website.

Shouldn't have missed

5 Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed – 2 March 2018

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This week’s five things includes the sexual harassment survey from PRWeek, the cancellation of Leveson II, Max Mosley’s bad week, Comcast’s attempt to oust the Murdochs and TWO national newspaper editors departing.

And there’s a sneaky sixth for all you PR fans out there.

1. Time’s Up

Time's Up

A survey from PRWeek, the PRCA and Women in PR has made for grim reading this week, after it was revealed that a quarter of women in the industry had faced harassment in the last year and one in six had been sexually assaulted. The shocking report also revealed that in nearly 45% of sexual harassment cases, it was a line manager or senior person within the organisation that carried out the offending behaviour, and in over two thirds of all incidents, the organisation took no action.

Bibi Hilton, president of Women in PR said: ‘We need employers to review policies and ensure there is a clear course of action for cases of sexual harassment: to train and empower men and women across their organisations in how to report and respond to cases, and to put in place clear codes of conduct for relationships between PROs, clients, journalists and influencers. Above all we need to drive real behaviour change. Failing to act is not acceptable.’

 

2. Leveson II cancelled

Matt Hancock

Matt Hancock, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport has officially closed the Leveson inquiry, quashing the hopes of some that the second part would be enacted. Hancock, speaking for the Government, believes the first part of the Inquiry was sufficient in bringing criminal convictions against wrongdoers and creating change within the newspaper industry due to the creation of IPSO (and to a lesser extent IMPRESS).

This a huge win for the press, as the Government has effectively endorsed the none state-backed regulator IPSO, and Hancock even revealed he is going to repeal Section 40 – a controversial piece of legislation that would have seen publishers pay legal fees for accusers in court cases, win or lose. For those that feel they have been victims of press intrusion and corruption, this is disappointing – but with the Government currently waging a publicity war over Brexit, having good relations with the press is a must.

 

3. Max Mosley’s bad week

Only partially related to the above, Max Mosley is having a bad week as he continues his war against the press, and they continue their war against him. Evidence of a racist leaflet Mosley published on behalf of Walter Hesketh (who was running in a by-election for Mosley’s father Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement) was found by the Daily Mail in archives in Manchester. The disputed leaflet reads ‘colour immigration threatens your children’s health’. The story led to this excruciating interview with Channel 4’s Cathy Newman:

Over the rest of the week, the Mail continued its attack on Mosley, discussing right wing links he allegedly had in the past – inadvertently drawing attention to the paper’s own right-wing links from the past.

The row is ongoing, with some members of IMPRESS – which is funded indirectly by Mosley through two charities – saying the revelations have made them reconsider their membership, as the Press Gazette reports.

 

4. Comcast aims to ruin Murdoch family fun

21st Century Fox

Completely unrelated to any of the above, the Murdoch family’s control over their share of the UK media landscape came under threat this week. Giant US corporation Comcast, stomped all over 21st Century Fox’s bid to take over the entirety of Sky, with their own, significantly higher, bid. The Murdochs have been attempting to secure Sky since 2016, but have hit multiple snags including the CMA’s uneasiness at the level of control over the UK media it would give them and the recent takeover of Fox by Disney.

Comcast’s bid may be favourable to the regulators, and a UK Government keen to be seen as open for business post-Brexit, but the Murdoch tradition in UK media is strong so it really could go either way.

 

5. Two National Newspaper editors quit

Express and Star

In a shock announcement, two national newspaper editors quit their roles this week, after their papers were acquired by Trinity Mirror. Dawn Neesom, the longest-serving female national newspaper editor (after 15 years in charge) has left her role of editor of the Daily Star to pursue a career as a freelance writer and broadcaster. Hugh Whittow has also left his role of editor of the Daily Express.

The moves led to a raft of changes at the papers, with senior Mirror staff now at the helm of each paper. How this will affect the political independence of each paper remains to be seen, but Mirror CEO Simon Fox remains adamant that his papers will stay on their respective political paths.

 

6. A sneaky sixth – Top 10 PR Blogs

Where do you go to read the best PR and communications content (other than Vuelio, of course)? If you don’t read them already, check out these leading blogs.

agency competition

Influence at Creative Shootout

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We are delighted to be supporting this year’s Creative Shootout and providing finalists with an ‘Influencer Hotline’ during their creative process.

The Creative Shootout is an annual competition that presents a charity brief to the finalists, who then have four hours create a ten-minute pitch. The ‘Live’ Final is just that, with the audience voting on each pitch to decide the top three, including a winner whose pitch will be supported by £250,000 media prize fund from 1XL, and £30,000 worth of agency fees from this year’s Charity FareShare.

Vuelio is known for its influencer relations, from the world-famous blog rankings to the Vuelio Awards – ‘the Oscars of the blogging world’. And we also publish a range of surveys and reports with unique insight into all types of influencers and their relationships with PR and brands. The Vuelio Influencer Database lists thousands of both new and traditional influencers from newspaper editors and politicians to the hottest Instagram stars.

Our in-house research team spend hundreds of hours identifying these influencers, understanding how they work and discussing what topics they like to cover. We create profiles and write biographies so our clients know the best ways to engage with each influencer on an individual level. Good influencer outreach is about identifying the people that can reach your audience and getting to know them, inside out.

We’ll be using our in-house expertise for the Creative Shootout with our dedicated ‘Influencer Hotline’. Our unique intelligence service will be just a phone call away for all the finalists when planning their pitches.

Whether it’s identifying the influencers that can unlock campaign success or revealing which social platforms are best for engagement, our team will be on hand for all the finalists’ influencer needs.

And if the finalists need to know anything about media outreach, monitoring or analysis – well we can help with that too. In fact, Vuelio prides itself on its diverse offering and is always happy to help people looking to engage their audience, whether it’s the public, media or government. Our integrated software can help you build and maintain relationships with, quite literally, anyone.

Hawaii missile

Hawaii missile alert due to drop-down menu

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The Emergency Alert that was accidentally sent to Hawaiians on Saturday was caused by two options on a drop-down menu being too close.

As part of the morning routine at Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HEMA), staff test the Emergency Alert system. As the Washington post reports, last Saturday’s error was caused by a staff member selecting ‘Missile alert’ from the computer programme’s drop down, rather than ‘Test missile alert’.

We’ve all clicked the wrong things at work and even sent emails in error, but this mistake was catastrophic. An alert went out to citizens and tourists, which said: ‘BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.’

Panic ensued, as thousands attempted to seek shelter and see loved ones. It wasn’t until 38 minutes later that the error was corrected (President Trump should have managed three holes on the course in that time).

Investigations into the error are ongoing. The Post reports a statement from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who said: ‘Based on the information we have collected so far, it appears that the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place to prevent the transmission of a false alert.’

There are now new safeguards in place to correct and avoid similar blunders in future, including a cancellation option that can be triggered within seconds of a mistake. HEMA has also suspended internal drills until the investigation is over, and put a ‘two-person activation/verification rule’ for tests and real alerts.

Any system that allows a simple mistake to have such a devastating – and public – impact, is clearly one that needs fixing. Communications professionals know the importance of checking, and double checking, comms before they go out but this is a timely reminder to check the whole system’s set-up, something that can often be overlooked.

Of course, if HEMA had been using Vuelio, they could manage who in the team had permissions to send alerts and know, before any communications were sent, who was due to receive what.

Whether you work with the public or media professionals, find out how you can avoid system errors by using Vuelio.

12 January

Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed – 12 January 2018

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This week’s Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed from the world of media, PR and comms includes YouTube’s response to Logan Paul, Facebook’s news feed changing, Steve Bannon, the Daily Mail and Virgin Trains argument, and Carrie Gracie’s BBC pay row. 

 

1. YouTube and Logan Paul

YouTube has apologised for taking so long to officially respond to the Logan Paul controversy of last week. The video-sharing platform posted an explanation on Twitter, claiming it was upset with the video Logan Paul had posted. It finished the thread with:

 

The ‘further consequences’ were later revealed, when YouTube announced it had cut some business ties with the viral star. This includes removing Logan Paul from its Google Preferred programme, the platform that allows brands to sell ads to the top 5% of content creators – which is likely to severely damage Logan Paul’s sizeable income. They’ve also put original projects with Logan Paul, including a proposed film, on hold.

Further details about the steps YouTube is taking to ensure ‘videos like this’ never circulate again are yet to materialise, but the YouTube community will be keeping a close eye on any policy or algorithm changes.

 

2. Facebook to change news feed

Facebook news feed changes

Mark Zuckerberg has announced the news feed algorithm is to change, with more focus on friends and family posts and less on those from businesses, brands and media. This is after feedback that the latter group is ‘crowding out the personal moments that leads us to connect more with each other’.

In Zuckerberg’s lengthy post on the decision, he says: ‘We feel a responsibility to make sure our services aren’t just fun to use, but also good for people’s well-being. So we’ve studied this trend carefully by looking at the academic research and doing our own research with leading experts at universities. The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being.’

The move from ‘focusing on helping you find relevant content’, to ‘helping you have more meaningful social interactions’ is very much going back to Facebook’s roots. The social platform was, for many years, primarily focused on posts from people you knew rather than promoting itself as one of the biggest content delivery platforms in the world. This change is likely to hit thousands of publishers very hard, as for many sites, Facebook is the biggest single source of traffic. The announcement has led to a drop in Facebook’s share price when markets opened. If the plan is properly followed through, expect corporate backlash, businesses closing down and huge changes to the media landscape.

 

3. Sloppy Steve

Perhaps it’s a rite of passage for all of Trump’s ‘enemies’ – once they get a nickname, they know they’ve really riled him. Trump’s former White House Chief Strategist, “Sloppy” Steve Bannon, was this week fired from his role at the helm of Breitbart News. It is the latest part of his tumultuous relationship with Trump and his supporters, from genius insider to detractor and traitor. After his comments about Donald Trump Jnr’s ‘treasonous’ meeting with Russian contacts appeared in Michael Wolff’s explosive book, Bannon’s departure from Breitbart seemed inevitable. Trump was quick to distance himself from his former ally, before laying into him:

 

 

4. Daily Mail attacks Virgin

Daily mail row

It was revealed this week that Virgin Trains has stopped selling the Daily Mail due to its incompatibility with the Virgin Trains brand. The company stopped carrying the paper back in November, but at the time it told the Daily Mail it was ‘saving space’ by selling only three papers: the Mirror, FT and Times.

Drew McMillan, head of colleague communication and engagement at Virgin, sent internal staff a memo that said: ‘Thousands of people choose to read the Daily Mail every day. But they will no longer be reading it courtesy of VT. There’s been considerable concern raised by colleagues about the Mail’s editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights and unemployment.

‘We’ve decided that this paper is not compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs.’

The Daily Mail struck back; a spokesman said: ‘It is disgraceful that, at a time of massive customer dissatisfaction over ever-increasing rail fares, and after the taxpayer was forced to bail out Virgin’s East Coast mainline franchise, a decision strongly criticised by the Mail, that Virgin Trains should now announce that for political reasons it is censoring the choice of newspapers it offers to passengers.

‘It is equally rich that Virgin chose to launch this attack on free speech in the Aslef trade union journal. For the record Virgin used to sell only 70 Daily Mails a day.’

They then made the issue about Brexit, as the spokesman continued with: ‘They informed us last November that to save space, they were restricting sales to just three newspapers: the Mirror, FT and Times. They gave no other reason, but it may be no coincidence that all those titles, like Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, are pro-Remain.’

Critics of Virgin’s move suggest the company is censoring ‘free press’ whereas supporters believe the company is well within its rights to choose which publications it sells to its customers.

 

5. Carrie Gracie and the BBC pay row

BBC

Carrie Gracie stepped down from her role as China editor at the BBC this week, after accusing the public broadcaster of ‘breaking equality law’ and ‘resisting pressure for a fair and transparent pay structure’. She highlights an ongoing struggle to be paid equally to the other international editors, particularly John Sopel, US editor, and Jeremy Bowen, Middle East editor. Her struggles proved fruitless so she’s quit her post and will return to the UK newsroom.

Gracie made the announcement hours before she was due to host the Today programme, which she has done all week. In a plot worthy of W1A, Gracie was unable to talk about her own news story, due to impartiality rules, and so couldn’t cover the biggest story of the day. Other journalists who had expressed support for Gracie were also banned from discussing the issue on air.

In a further twist, it has now been revealed that John Humphreys and John Sopel were recorded discussing the story off air, and Humphreys made several derogatory remarks including: ‘I could save you the trouble as I could volunteer that I’ve handed over already more than you f***ing earn but I’m still left with more than anybody else and that seems to me to be entirely just – something like that would do it?’

This might not be the last time we see Mr Humphreys in Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed.

BBC

BBC’s China Editor steps down due to pay inequality

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Carrie Gracie has stepped down from her role as China editor at the BBC after accusing the public broadcaster of ‘breaking equality law’ and ‘resisting pressure for a fair and transparent pay structure’.

In an open letter to the ‘BBC Audience’, published on her blog, Gracie says:

‘In thirty years at the BBC, I have never sought to make myself the story and never publicly criticised the organisation I love. I am not asking for more money. I believe I am very well paid already – especially as someone working for a publicly funded organisation. I simply want the BBC to abide by the law and value men and women equally.

‘On pay, the BBC is not living up to its stated values of trust, honesty and accountability. Salary disclosures the BBC was forced to make six months ago revealed not only unacceptably high pay for top presenters and managers but also an indefensible pay gap between men and women doing equal work. These revelations damaged the trust of BBC staff. For the first time, women saw hard evidence of what they’d long suspected, that they are not being valued equally.

‘Many have since sought pay equality through internal negotiation but managers still deny there is a problem. This bunker mentality is likely to end in a disastrous legal defeat for the BBC and an exodus of female talent at every level.’

Gracie goes on to describe how she took her dream role on the understanding that she was to be paid equally with her male peers. When the BBC released details of top-earning ‘stars’, Gracie discovered the two male international editors – US editor John Sopel and Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen – earned at least 50% more.

After learning of the pay disparity, Gracie asked her bosses to make all the international editors’ pay equal. She was, instead, offered a pay rise that, ‘remained far short of equality’. Gracie therefore quit her role and will be returning to her former post in the newsroom where she ‘expects to be paid equally’.

The story has made waves online, not least because Gracie was a presenter on the Today programme this morning. Due to BBC rules on impartiality, she was unable to discuss the story herself so it was covered in the news bulletins and, as PRWeek calls it, ‘a slightly ill-tempered interview between Humphrys and Mariella Frostrup’.

There has been support from all sections of the press, as well as MPs from multiple parties. On Twitter, the hashtag #IstandwithCarrie trended this morning, and was dominated by BBC staff:

A BBC spokeswoman said: ‘A significant number of organisations have now published their gender pay figures showing that we are performing considerably better than many and are well below the national average.

‘Alongside that, we have already conducted a independent judge led audit of pay for rank and file staff which showed “no systemic discrimination against women”.

‘A separate report for on air staff will be published in the not too distant future.’

As the BBC’s own story points out, director general Tony Hall has pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2020, saying the BBC should be ‘a n exemplar of what can be achieved when it comes to pay, fairness, gender and representation’.

Poundland

Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed – 5 January 2018

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Happy New Year! This is the first Five Things of 2018, covering all the biggest stories you shouldn’t have missed from PR, media and comms. This week including Logan Paul, Elf Behaving Badly, Philip Morris quitting smoking, PRWeek and BME PR Pros’ new initiative and the evacuation of the ITV News at 10 [VIDEO].

1. Logan Paul

Top American YouTuber, Logan Paul, caused outrage this week when he released a video showing a dead body at a suicide hotspot in Japan. Not only were the images of the deceased considered inappropriate (especially considering the young age of much of his audience), but concern was also raised that Logan and his friends were seen to be making jokes about the situation.

After fellow YouTubers, celebrities and the general public denounced his behaviour, Logan removed the video and replaced it with an apology. This video’s claim he was ‘attempting to raise awareness’ of suicide and mental health has been called a poor excuse, causing further problems for the star. Logan Paul hasn’t posted a video since the apology two days ago, but his subscriber numbers have remained steady at over 15 million.

 

2. Lewd Elf boosts sales

Elf behaving badly

Poundland’s now infamous ‘Elf Behaving Badly’ campaign – including an image that led Twinings to complain – boosted sales by driving ‘significant numbers of shoppers’ into stores in the week before Christmas. As reported in PRWeek, more than 200,000 ‘bad elves’ were sold, alongside over one million elf accessories – contributing to £59m sales, up 20 per cent on the same period in 2016.

The ASA is investigating the campaign after receiving around 80 complaints about the Twitter posts, claiming the ads are offensive, too sexualised or unsuitable as they could be seen by children. Poundland released a statement saying the complaints: ‘contrasted with thousands of people who said they loved our naughty elf pictures – not least because it reminded them that Britain is famous for the saucy postcard and panto’.

 

3. Philip Morris wants to give up cigarettes

quit smoking

One of the world’s largest cigarette companies has made a New Year’s Resolution to ‘give up cigarettes’. Philip Morris launched an advertising campaign with the claim, ‘Our ambition is to stop selling cigarettes in the UK’. The full advert, visible here in The Drum, explains the company is launching a campaign website to help smokers quit or adopt alternative options (like vaping); supporting local authority cessation services where smoking rates are highest; seeking government approval to insert information into packs on quitting or switching; and expanding its range of alternative products in the UK.

The campaign is focused on the UK, though the global Philip Morris brand also believes in a ‘smoke-free future’.

 

4. PRWeek’s BME mentoring scheme

BME PR and PRWeek

PR Week UK and BME PR Pros have launched a new mentorship scheme to support the advancement of individuals from minority backgrounds. BME professionals in comms and public affairs can apply to be a mentee, where they will be mentored by one of 15 top industry experts.  Elizabeth Bananuka, founder of BME PR Pros, said: ‘The BME PR Pros/PRWeek Mentoring Scheme is about BME leaders and rising stars joining forces to promote diversity and support the careers of talented BME professionals keen to progress to the next stage of their careers – be it from account manager to account director, agency to in-house, MD to agency owner.’

Applications to become a mentee close at 5pm on Friday, 16 February. More information is available here.

 

ITV News at Ten evacuated (sound the alarm)

ITV News at Ten was cut short this week when a fire alarm evacuation caused the programme to end early. While the alarm could be heard for some time before the programme was taken off air, the presenter, Tom Bradby, seemed unsure of the best course of action. See the full clip below:

7 PR New Year’s Resolutions

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Morning too dark? Feeling bloated? Groggy head? Welcome to 2018! Today is the first day back in the office for a lot of the country so now is the perfect time to make your professional New Year’s resolutions. And because it’s your first day back, we’ve done all the hard work for you.

7 New Year’s Resolutions for the public relations professional:

1. Make new friends…
2018 is a brand new year and you’ve got the chance to make new friends and find new ways of reaching your audience. If you’re stuck in a cycle of the same old influencers for your outreach, now is the time to reach newbies – there’s always more relevant influencers than you think. And if you’re struggling to find those people, you obviously aren’t using the Vuelio Influencer Database.

2. …and stay in touch with old friends
Making new friends doesn’t mean you have to forgot your old friends. Good relationships need nurturing, give your influencers a little bit of TLC in 2018 – wish those journalists, broadcasters and bloggers ‘Happy New Year’ and make it clear you’re available when they need you.

3. Adopt a healthy balanced diet
Instagram is great! It’s a great way to reach millennials and spread brand awareness. But is it great for links and tangible ROI? That’s fine, it’s what we use Twitter for! But is your entire target market on Twitter? That’s why we use magazines, most of your audience read them – but your client asked you to do something new and innovative… so an experiential event is in order!

Don’t use one channel to reach your audience, take advantage of all the routes that now exist in a healthy, balanced way.

4. Lose the flab
You’re a professional storyteller, not a salesperson. You don’t need to communicate your product or service by describing it as the most amazing, incredible idea since sliced bread! Be innovative and use your creativity – that’s why you went into PR in the first place.

5. Be more organised
Not sure who is talking to which stakeholder? How’s that line of enquiry going? Did someone get back to that member of the public? No one likes to be caught out and a little organisation can go a long way. Vuelio Stakeholder Management can track what’s happening with all stakeholder interactions in your organisation so you know what’s been said, when.

6. Stop being boring
Another PowerPoint? Is that really the best way to tell your company, colleagues and the board how awesome you are? Investors don’t want to sit through endless slides of static clippings, and let’s be honest – neither do you! 2018 is the year that visually attractive, interactive displays are used to share content and media coverage – check out this Canvas from the Vuelio Blog Awards to see what we mean, then find out how to make your own Canvas here.

7. Don’t be lazy
It can’t be said enough in these Resolutions. You’re here because you’re creative – so be creative! The year of 2017 is over, leave the concepts and ideas that made it great behind you, and focus on 2018. It may take some time to find the next big thing, but the UK PR industry is incredible – so that next idea could come from anyone, including you.

Beyonce Instagram

2017 – the year of Instagram

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Instagram has cemented its place at the heart of visual media. It’s now possible to be a star on Instagram and nowhere else; brands and companies will pay good money for influential posts; and some people will buy fraudulent followers in order to get to the top. Instagram has also been accused of dragging bloggers away from their blogs, as new forms of media ‘entertainment’ develop every day.

2017 truly has been the year of Instagram.

But what are the top hashtags, most-liked posts and most-followed celebrities? Instagram has trawled its data to put together the list of lists and deliver all the 2017 info you need about Instagram. And, who knows, maybe 2018 will see you become an Instagram star.

Most-liked posts

Beyoncé, Cristiano Ronaldo and Selena Gomez dominate the top 10. In fact, no one else managed to make the list (which may be sad news for Ariana Grande, who has more followers than Beyoncé). All three of the top posts were related, Beyoncé and Ronaldo connected by birth, and Ronaldo and Gomez related by hospital:

1. Beyonce

2. Cristiano Ronaldo

3. Selena Gomez

I’m very aware some of my fans had noticed I was laying low for part of the summer and questioning why I wasn’t promoting my new music, which I was extremely proud of. So I found out I needed to get a kidney transplant due to my Lupus and was recovering. It was what I needed to do for my overall health. I honestly look forward to sharing with you, soon my journey through these past several months as I have always wanted to do with you. Until then I want to publicly thank my family and incredible team of doctors for everything they have done for me prior to and post-surgery. And finally, there aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa. She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me. I am incredibly blessed. I love you so much sis. Lupus continues to be very misunderstood but progress is being made. For more information regarding Lupus please go to the Lupus Research Alliance website: www.lupusresearch.org/ -by grace through faith

A post shared by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) on

Ronaldo and Gomez also performed well when it came to most-liked celebrity videos of the year, but Beyoncé didn’t make the cut. Instead, the footballer and singer are joined by Leo messi and Emilia Clarke – though the latter only managed tenth place.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

New animal in the building Bugatti Chiron ???✌️?✈️

A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) on

2. Leo Messi

3. Selena Gomez

The top hashtags of 2017 were dominated by visual or positive words, though how people managed to use them without falling foul of the shadow ban remains a mystery:

  1. #love
  2. #fashion
  3. #photooftheday
  4. #photography
  5. #art
  6. #beautiful
  7. #travel
  8. #happy
  9. #nature
  10. #picoftheday

And a list that’s making headlines is the most Instagrammed cities. While you’d expect Western metropolises to dominate, the list has some surprises. Feel free to insert your own ‘Russian bot joke’ for number two:

  1. New York, New York
  2. Moscow, Russia
  3. London, United Kingdom
  4. Sao Paulo, Brazil
  5. Paris, France
  6. Los Angeles, California
  7. Saint Petersburg, Russia
  8. Jakarta, Indonesia
  9. Istanbul, Turkey
  10. Barcelona, Spain

Keep your eyes out for more Instagram data coming to the Vuelio blog soon.

 

If you’d like to monitor Instagram and find success on the social platform, get in touch to find out more about our social media monitoring.

Santa TV

The media news

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In the week that time forgot, the media headlines may be few and far between but there are still gems in this festive period. From Christmas viewing figures to Prince Harry’s Today programme, here are the biggest media stories of the week.

Christmas viewing figures
While the Queen’s Speech was enjoyed by 7.8 million viewers on Christmas day, these numbers were shared by BBC One (5.9m) and ITV (1.9m). For the biggest viewing figures for any one programme, the Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas special ran away with 6.8 million viewers, or 32.6% of the television-watching public. The top 10 was, as ever, dominated by the BBC but overall the viewers were down on 2016. Last year the average for the whole top 10 was 5.97m but this year it managed only 5.58m.

This decline could be attributed to the rise of on demand streaming services, but this cannot be backed up with data as no stats or figures come from those giants. To help beat the slump, broadcasters have this year released boxsets of fan-favourite shows – as reported in the Guardian.

Prince Harry takes over Today
The man whose engagement and wedding is currently making daily headlines, Prince Harry this morning guest edited Radio 4’s Today programme.  Including interviews with his father Prince Charles and former US President Barack Obama, Prince Harry’s edition focused on the armed forces, mental health, youth crime and climate change.

Showing his lighter side, which has given Prince Harry an ‘accessible’ angle over the years, he delivered quickfire questions to Obama including: ‘Harry or William?’ (‘William at the moment’), ‘The Good Wife or Suits?’ [the latter being the programme his fiancé Meghan Markle stars in] (‘Suits, obviously’), and ‘Queen or The Queen?’ (‘The Queen’).

Amazon introducing advertising products
The Drum reports that, in an effort to take on Facebook and Google, Amazon will launch new advertising beyond Amazon sites and products. The tech giant is also working with Kargo to pair advertising on television and mobile screens. This is in an effort to tackle the 63.1% US digital ad investment in Google and Facebook.

Too early to call the death of magazines
The Guardian has reported on the slump in advertising revenue in the UK magazine market with an 11% year-on-year fall marking the biggest fall since 2009. It also notes that one million fewer consumers purchased print magazines or gave up their subscriptions. All that said, Group M, which buys $75bn of advertising space on behalf of clients around the world, believes the UK consumer magazine market has been seriously undervalued.

Adam Smith, directed at Group M said: ‘It is too early to call the death of magazines. The decline in ad investment is disproportionate to the loss of magazine circulation. This is regrettable and probably not based on the evidence. The single biggest factor [in magazine ad decline] is probably the growth of Facebook. Google and Facebook both continue to grow strongly, and Facebook has been remarkable and is affecting every medium.’

Children’s annuals in decline
The BBC has reported that the sales of Christmas annuals have declined since 2009 with a 58% drop in revenue and a 45% drop in number of copies sold. In real terms, this means that in 2016 2.3m books made £7.8m in revenue where as in 2008 the figures were 4.6m annuals bringing in £18.7m. Annuals are still seen as a good choice for Christmas presents but are thought to be suffering due to the rise in digital media and smartphones.

 

How can Vuelio help you with your media outreach? Find out here. 

Tweeting

Twitter suspends Britain First

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Twitter revised its hate speech rules, which then led to the suspension of the official Britain First account and the accounts of its leaders: Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen.

The new rules have been brought in to ‘reduce hateful conduct’ and ‘abusive behavior’. Twitter has broken down its new policies into two sections:

New rules on violence and physical harm:

‘Accounts that affiliate with organizations that use or promote violence against civilians to further their causes. Groups included in this policy will be those that identify as such or engage in activity — both on and off the platform — that promotes violence. This policy does not apply to military or government entities and we will consider exceptions for groups that are currently engaging in (or have engaged in) peaceful resolution.

‘Content that glorifies violence or the perpetrators of a violent act. This includes celebrating any violent act in a manner that may inspire others to replicate it or any violence where people were targeted because of their membership in a protected group. We will require offending Tweets to be removed and repeated violations will result in permanent suspension.’

Expanding the rules to include related content:

‘Any account that abuses or threatens others through their profile information, including their username, display name, or profile bio. If an account’s profile information includes a violent threat or multiple slurs, epithets, racist or sexist tropes, incites fear, or reduces someone to less than human, it will be permanently suspended. We plan to develop internal tools to help us identify violating accounts to supplement user reports.

‘Hateful imagery will now be considered sensitive media under our media policy. We consider hateful imagery to be logos, symbols, or images whose purpose is to promote hostility and malice against others based on their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin. If this type of content appears in header or profile images, we will now accept profile-level reports and require account owners to remove any violating media.’

Twitter aims to be ‘more aggressive’ in its enforcement of these new policies as it attempts to battle the perceived hate flooding the platform. It acknowledges that it ‘may make some mistakes’, and is working to create a ‘robust appeals process’.

That the platform has moved forward to remove extremist Britain First accounts before creating this appeals process is testament to the problem Twitter is facing. That said, new accounts for Britain First and Jayda Fransen are now on the platform, the latter having joined yesterday. It’s unclear if these are genuine or how they’ll be treated by Twitter’s policies.

Other accounts that could be argued to breach policies remain active – from Katie Hopkins, whose tweets this morning suggest she fears being suspended (no links, feel free to check out her tweets), to President Donald Trump, who has previously retweeted controversial Jayda Fransen videos.

Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has previously said Donald Trump’s tweets are important as they allow him to be held accountable. They’re also ‘newsworthy’ and so allowed to remain as part of the discussion.

The problem with these new policies is drawing certain lines of acceptability for users, which only seem to apply to some. It’s not clear if Twitter genuinely believes Trump’s policy-breaching behaviour is actually important news or if they’re protecting their business by staying relevant. It could be argued that the more influential and higher status the individual, the more damaging their hate and violence-filled speech is.

Expect this story to build momentum as further accounts are suspended and, perhaps more significantly, others are allowed to remain.

PR master

7 tips to become a PR Jedi Master

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Sick of hearing that public relations is the ‘dark side’? Chances are you’re already a PR Jedi but we’re here to guide you to the next level so you can become a Master of the light side. 

*And don’t worry, no ‘The Last Jedi’ spoilers.*

A Jedi is selfless, doesn’t show emotion and stays in control for the good of others. A Jedi never uses their lightsaber to attack.

The dark side is about emotion over control, reacting with your heart rather than your head and attacking for your own needs. Which may sound like some industries, but not the PR industry.

It’s difficult to see in what way a PR pro isn’t already a Jedi; they manage reputations on behalf of others, always attempting to stay calm in order to maintain control in any situation. Their output is not determined by emotional responses but carefully considered to remain professional. And if the pen is mightier than the lightsaber, a PR uses theirs in defence of the business or brand they represent – and never to attack others.

Congratulations young Padawan – you’ve already attained Jedi status. But now it’s time to go one step further; become a Master with these simple tips:

1. Be patient
It takes time and hard work to become a Master, no one gets there overnight. It may feel like you’re brimming with incredible ideas that senior staff – the Masters – don’t understand the significance of. Be patient, they have the full picture and the final say; keep working hard and understand your current place in the order, and you’ll get there.

2. Control your emotion
A PR pro knows they need to remain clearheaded to be an effective communicator, and while ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity’ may work for some, it’s better not to get into petty squabbles with irate customers or cheeky competitors. Keep your cool to emerge victorious.

3. Gather all the facts
If an emotional reaction is instinctive and immediate, the opposite is considered and in possession of all the facts. Sometimes, not taking action seems like a mistake but caution is a PR’s ally when the story is generally told by others (your influencers).

4. Learn how to defend yourself
Jedi do not attack others but they definitely defend themselves. Firefighting is a bigger or smaller part of a PR pro’s job depending on the nature of the business being represented, but the need to defence can arise for any PR at any time. If something unexpected happens you need to know how to manage it, using all your Jedi powers.

5. Complete the story
A dark lord acts and moves on, not stopping to consider the outcome of their actions (or whether the rebel alliance are now forming a counter attack). A Jedi Master takes time to assess what’s been before and tells that story to the Jedi Council so they can plan what’s next. Use Vuelio Monitoring, Reporting and Canvas to make sure you can see the full picture of your work and easily deliver it to your own Jedi Council (the board).

6. Do or do not. There is no try.
Don’t spend forever planning and thinking about something. Maybe you’ve got the perfect campaign pitch, you’re desperate to start using video or you want to build relationships with the biggest bloggers in the business. A PR Master follows through on their plans, and doesn’t let the fear of failure take over. After all, as our friend Yoda says: ‘Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.’

7. Use the force
Obviously.

 

Good luck young Padawan.

Public relations santa

Are you on PR Santa’s Naughty or Nice list?

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As we approach the end of the year, have you been a good PR professional or will Father Christmas be filling your social media stocking with emoji coal?

There are certain PR bad habits that are easy to fall into, and now is the perfect time to identify whether you’re guilty of anything from the naughty list. After all, Christmas is just around the corner and it’s better to get into good habits now, before they have to become New Year’s resolutions.

PR Santa’s Naughty List:

  1. Mr Mass Emails
    Mr Mass Emails doesn’t have time to build relationships and he knows if he blasts enough contacts someone might run his story. This is lazy PR and only contributes to the bad reputation the industry can have among journalists. There’s a reason the Vuelio Media Database lists detailed biographies of influencers and what they’re actually after – use them.
  2. Mrs Follow Up
    There’s nothing wrong with talking to a journalist about a story or campaign you’re working on, but wait until they’ve reacted to your initial press release. Mrs Follow Up is straight on the phone to check her email has been received while attempting to push the journalist to publish. Of course, if the right relationships were in place, this wouldn’t be necessary.
  3. Miss Single Metric
    How are you measuring your, or your client’s, success? Miss Single Metric only choose one thing, sometimes it’s ‘reach’ and sometimes it’s AVE – either way she doesn’t give anyone the full picture because she believes that if the big numbers look good, then all the stakeholders will be happy. Vuelio Media Analysis allows you to present a multitude of measurements so you can prove your success how it matters most; to the people that care.
  4. Miss But Other Bloggers Work For Free
    Bloggers and social media influencers aren’t like journalists; for the professionals, this is their livelihood and they don’t get paid unless you pay them. Sure, some will work for free, but if you’re trying to work with the best, expect to pay. And don’t argue if they suggest you cough up – these guys are trying to make a living and deserve to be recompensed.
  5. Mr I Missed That Crisis
    If your monitoring isn’t up to scratch, across all channels, how are you supposed to manage crises and fire fight before the story gets out of control? Mr I Missed That Crisis is old school and only monitors print. As he doesn’t have a social media monitoring plan, he didn’t realise his brand was fast approaching headline news for all the wrong reasons.

PR Santa’s Nice List:

  1. Mrs I Make Time For You
    Journalists, editors, bloggers, clients and management are all made to feel just a little bit special by Mrs I Make Time For You. She knows that relationships, both internal and external, take time to build but she also knows that every second is worth it.
  2. Mr Deadline
    PR is busy, fast-paced and soon is never soon enough. Mr Deadline knows how to prioritise the deadlines of all his stakeholders using Vuelio Stakeholder Management. So, if it’s a media enquiry about a big story or a member of the public needing to be contacted, Mr Deadline knows which member of the team is dealing with it and when – all in one place.
  3. Miss Collaboration
    Miss Collaboration works with influencers. She knows which ones are best able to reach her audience and she even has budget to get them on board. But she doesn’t stop there – Miss Collaboration gets creative ideas from the influencers to ensure each iteration of the campaign is unique. She also pushes the bloggers to work hard and provide analytical data, which she can use to prove the campaign’s success.
  4. Miss Presentation
    Miss Presentation used to put PowerPoint presentations together after a campaign, and sometimes managed to fit more than four tweets on each slide. These were the dark days. Now, Miss Presentation uses Vuelio Canvas to gather all the relevant tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram pics, news stories, graphs and charts, so she can present everything beautifully – on one page and with one, shareable link.
  5. Mrs Shares
    Mrs Shares loves reading the PR Club post on the Vuelio Blog, and shares it on Twitter.

 

What bad habits are you going to drop this year, and what do you think PR pros should champion for 2018? Let us know in the comments below.

Event

10 ways to get the most out of events

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Events are a big part of a PR pro’s life, both as a host and as an attendee. But how can you ensure you’re going to get the most out of an event? Whether it’s the Vuelio Blog Awards or a roundtable of five, here are 10 rules to follow so you can get the most out of any event.

1. Prepare
Check timings, the date and location to avoid missing out or accidentally turning up at a yoga class the week before. Make sure you know the dress code so you feel comfortable in your surroundings. And find out who else going so you can plan who in your team is best to attend – make sure they’re audience appropriate.

2. Set goals
Professionally speaking, this should extend beyond ‘getting boozed up and having a good time’. Do you have clients or contacts attending? Do you want to meet new people? A huge benefit of events is being able to put a face to a name and have real-life chats – something that is often lost in the social media age. Don’t know if someone is going? There’s no shame in asking people directly: ‘will I see you at the Vuelio Blog Awards next week?’ (Of course you will!).  And if you’re a sponsor or host, make sure you’re monitoring event terms in association with your brand, both online and in print.

3. Plan your entrance (and exit)
Do you know your route to the event and the means that will get you there on time? Traffic, public transport delays and even slow tourists blocking your path while pointing at St Paul’s cathedral, can make the difference between attending the drinks reception (and all that valuable networking time) and just missing out. And when the event is over, how are you getting back to the office or home? A daytime exhibition is easier to manage but an evening awards? No one wants to be stranded at 1am.

4. Don’t be afraid to network
Meeting new people, meeting old friends, laughing, joking and enjoying the company of others is why you’re at the event. It doesn’t matter if you’re hosting and you feel like you’re running around like a headless chicken, you still need to make time to stop and chat. Don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation with someone new. Start with, ‘hello’ and follow it up with: ‘What brings you here?’

5. Don’t just hang out with old friends
Sometimes you don’t have networking fear because you already have your buddies with you. Maybe you’re attending with colleagues, maybe you’ve planned to meet contacts on arrival, but you’ll get more value out of new connections and conversations. So, if you’re in a group and someone is alone next to you, bring them into the conversation. Chances are they’re trying to find people to talk to and the more welcoming you are, the better it’ll be for everyone.

6. Relax when it comes to sales
No one is going to be impressed with the salesperson of the year, hitting as many contacts as possible while pressing business cards into hands as they shake. Good networking takes time to know your new contact: talk about them, what do they do, why they’re at the event and share the same info about yourself. Talk about your product or service only if it naturally occurs in the conversation, and business cards are reserved for people that will want to talk to you again. If it’s an awards ceremony, you can contact finalists beforehand and wish them good luck – and then the winners afterwards, especially if you’re a sponsor!

7. Remember you’re still at work
It’s 10.30pm, you’ve had wine with dinner, the dance floor is open and the bars are flowing. It can be easy to forget that you’re still at work, and you still represent your company so should be acting accordingly. Being professional doesn’t mean you have to be a buzzkill, but maybe save the Karate Kid and/or Tina Turner performances for when your professional reputation is not on the line.

8. Follow up afterwards
For event organisers this starts with a survey; mention it at the event and send it a few times so you get as much feedback as possible. If you’re an attendee, don’t let the business cards you’ve collected go to waste – follow each one up with an email saying how excellent it was to meet the individual and then bring in the ‘sales chat’ with what you do and how you could help them. If you spoke to someone about a specific feature, make sure you note it at the time so you can easily follow up.

9. Analyse your goals
Maybe the event was a branding exercise or lead generation. Has your monitoring revealed an upswing in coverage and mentions? Do your key influencers know more about you? Have you made contacts you can now reach out to without a generic email? Present all the benefits back to the bosses, whether that’s a Canvas of the event (like this one we made for the PRWeek Awards) or a presentation of your media analysis.

10. Plan the next
Plan your attendance as far in advance as you can, maybe this means putting sponsorship in the budget or perhaps there is an early bird rate on tickets. Either way, talk to the team that went and work out how next year can be even bigger and better for you.

 

What rules do you follow when you attend events? let us know in the comments below.

Alex Salmond

Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed – 10 November 2017

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The latest PR, media and comms stories including the battle of the Christmas ads, Twitter’s increase in character, Sky News’ future, Vogue’s new look and Alex Salmond on RT.

 

1. Advertising is beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas ads

Aldi, Lidl and Argos broke cover early, with Aldi an increasing Christmas ad contender with its Kevin the Carrot sequel. M&S were next, for the first time using the John Lewis template but associating with the Paddington movie to make people feel festive – they’ll have a Paddington store to pull in fans of the Paddington 2 film.

Today John Lewis has released Moz the Monster from under the bed. The advert has already delighted and confused audiences across the nation, dividing opinions on Twitter. The fact it is under so much scrutiny shows its place both in the Christmas advert season and people’s festive celebrations generally.

Sainsbury’s and other brands are expected to launch their own Christmas ads this weekend.

 

2. Twitter’s 280 characters

Twitter bird

It’s a big one. Twitter has doubled the limit of everyone’s tweets so users now have 280 characters to play with. While it’s a struggle for most people to currently reach it, the platform is slowly getting used to longer messages (for better or worse). Whether this allows people to use better grammar and express themselves more clearly or if it is going to double the length of hate and ignorance remains to be seen.

Check out our guide of how to tell if you’ve used all 280 characters, and some of the best examples of brands using it, here.

 

3. Sky News under threat

Sky News

It’s been a big week for 21st Century Fox: the business trying to buy out the rest of Sky was revealed this week to be holding talks about a sale of some of its business to Disney; a Saudi prince, and Murdoch ally, sold his stake in the company; and then Sky explained if the Fox takeover doesn’t go through, the future of Sky News will be reviewed. The Competition and Markets Authority is currently reviewing Fox’s £11.7bn bid for Sky and this threat was setting the CMA straight (after it expressed an assumption Sky News would continue regardless).

The CMA is due to publish its findings in December.

 

4. Vogue’s December issue

British Vogue December

British Vogue’s new editor-in-chief Edward Enninful’s first edition of the magazine is the December issue. Published this week, the cover features Adwoa Aboah styled by Enninful himself. Enninful explained his Vogue is about being inclusive and about diversity – featuring ‘all different colours, shapes, ages, genders, religions’.

 

5. Alex Salmond on Russia Today

Alex Salmond

Former SNP leader and first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond will appear in his own political talk show on the Russian state-backed channel Russia Today. Airing on Thursdays, the show is reported to include guests from business, political and entertainment backgrounds.

Salmond said: ‘Of course, the show will have a sharp focus on politics, but I am not interested in catching people out but in finding out much more about the personalities which lie behind their public positions. My view is that the viewer will gain far more information and entertainment from a relaxed, informal style which allows them to express their point of view.’

Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said Salmond was, ‘a former first minister who fancies himself as the Michael Parkinson of Putin’s propaganda channel’.

 

How was your week in media, comms and PR? Let us know in the comments below:

John Lewis Christmas Advert 2017

The John Lewis Christmas advert divides Twitter

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The John Lewis Christmas Advert 2017 has been released and will premiere on TV tonight during Gogglebox. Watch the advert here:

The annual ‘event’ as it now is, is considered by many to be the biggest advert of the Christmas season, though in recent years M&S, Sainsbury’s and Aldi have all been nipping at John Lewis’s heels.

This year’s advert feature’s Moz the Monster (nothing to do with Morrissey, no matter what twitter says). It’s an ‘imaginary’ under-the-bed monster who at first irritates but then befriends a small boy. They have lots of fun at night but the boy sleeps during the day. The monster, seemingly aware of this, gifts the boy a nightlight thus getting rid of him/herself, because monsters don’t like the light, and allowing the boy to get some sleep.

The advert does raise a few questions about whether the boy would want to get rid of his friend (in the final moment he turns the light off and Moz growls again), and why the mother bought the light but made it look like it was from a monster she presumably thought her son was afraid of. And if she didn’t buy it, and it is from the monster, why she didn’t care there was a suspiciously wrapped present under the tree.

These areas of confusion have spread to Twitter whether opinions are divided over the advertising treat of the year.

These people are confused:

 

 

Some seem to have cottoned on to a meaning where the monster ‘had to go’ and all parties involved understood that. For these people, John Lewis has once again hit all the right emotional buttons:

 

 

What’s clear is that since 2011, Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the John Lewis advert. And for some people, the fact the advert has arrived is good enough to start celebrating the festive season:

 

What do you think of this year’s advert? Confused? Or crying your eyes out?  

Tweeting

Everyone has #280characters

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Twitter has finally rolled out 280-character tweets across the platform, after trialling the initiative with a handful of users at the end of September. As with any change on social media, the general consensus is to be outraged – but some brands are making use of the new limit to have ‘fun’.

*unneccesary warning* this post is much longer than it would have been before the new 280-character limit.  

To check that your account has been accepted into the 280 club, either write a really long tweet or check for a little blue ring, which has replaced character count, when you write a new tweet. It should look like this:

280 characters

280 characters

280 characters

A character count appears for the final 20 characters and the ring then turns yellow:

280characters

When you hit zero and beyond, it turns red and your numbers become negative:

280 characters

Not everyone on Twitter is delighted with the change, and for many social media managers this is seen as ruining Twitter’s USP.

Our own social media manager, Kirsti Kauronen, said: ‘One of the main reasons Twitter became so successful was because of the brevity of posts – if you can’t say what you want in 140 characters (which I think is most people’s attention span anyway) you might begin to bore people and Twitter might not be the right platform for you.

‘From a communications perspective, I can see why many social media managers would be happy to avoid the everyday battle with the character limit but, personally, I’d prefer to keep it!’

Keeping to such a short limit encouraged creativity and so some are planning to stick to 140 characters:

For charities, and those that generally have more worth saying, the new limit is being welcomed (and used to make a point):

But for other brands, the new limit seems to be more of a challenging target to reach:

Of course, the new character limit explicitly ignores the only technical request users ever seem to make to Twitter. And so, this morning, the most popular tweet is variations on:

What do you think of Twitter’s new limit? Is it killing creativity, or have tweeters now got a chance to express themselves properly?

Marks and Spencer Christmas ad 2017

Tis the season to take on John Lewis

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Marks & Spencer is launching its Christmas advert this evening during the Pride of Britain awards. The Paddington-fronted #LoveTheBear campaign, goes beyond just a 90-second TV spot, with in-store product tie-ins, charitable fundraising and cross-channel promotion making it a campaign worthy of undisputed Christmas-advert king, John Lewis.

The association with Paddington will be seen in soft toys and duffle coats, just two of the 90 products M&S will sell in its campaign shops in 78 stores. The advert will play in cinemas before screenings of Paddington 2, released this week in UK cinemas.

M&S are also using the Paddington campaign to raise money for the NSPCC to fund its ChildLine service over Christmas, strengthening its family-friendly approach this year.

Turning a Christmas advert into an event has become John Lewis’ speciality and what’s surprising is how long it has taken competitors to catch up. John Lewis reportedly sold £2.5m of campaign-related goods in 2014 with its Monty the Penguin advert, and last year raised money for The Wildlife Trusts with its Buster the Boxer ad.

The biggest difference between this M&S campaign and previous John Lewis efforts, is that John Lewis doesn’t associate with existing products or ideas. Only time will tell if the Paddington relationship will pay off.

M&S are saying the campaign fits with its ‘Spend it Well’ philosophy launched earlier this year, which encourages customers to: ‘focus on the people, experiences and things that matter to them most, something that is never more important than at Christmas.’

It is even going as far as to encourage staff to carry out ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ in stores throughout December, which could include free marmalade sandwiches in cafes and ‘cheeky’ Paddington chocolates at the till.

Though M&S has the jump on John Lewis this year, it is by no means the first Christmas advert of 2017 with Argos, Asda, Aldi (with a welcome return for award-winning Kevin The Carrot) and Lidl’s ads already released. The advert schedule over Christmas could now rival Hollywood, as no one wants to be lost against the big one (ads: John Lewis, Films: Star Wars) but no one wants to go too early and peak too soon.

With the press coverage this Paddington advert has already received, and an organic trend on Twitter with #lovethebear, M&S may have found the sweet spot for 2017 success.

03 November

Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed – 3 November 2017

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A round up of the biggest PR, comms and media stories this week including the sexual harassment scandals, a spoilt Bake Off, Ian Katz’s appointment, Fake News and Halloween.

1. Sexual harassment dominates the news

The allegations against Harvey Weinstein quickly led to allegations against others in the Hollywood, this week including Kevin Spacey and Dustin Hoffman. But the entertainment industry is not alone in the scandal, a #MeToo campaign on social media – which gave people a chance to share their own experiences of harassment – followed, and now the allegations have hit the UK’s Government and media.

A so-called ‘sleaze list’ (of questionable intent and accuracy), appeared in the media before Michael Fallon MP left his role as Defence Secretary amid the allegations, causing a minor reshuffle.

What’s clear, and obvious to many individuals outside of the mainstream media’s gaze, is that sexism and sexual harassment is rife everywhere. Now that people feel able to share their stories, expect this one to continue to hit the headlines.

 

2. Prue Leith spoils the final Bake

bake Off

The Great British Bake Off has been flying high – the series, which moved to Channel 4, was expected by some to be a flop but the familiar format and atmosphere in the tent has led to sizeable viewing figures and peak-time audience shares for Channel 4. All was right in the world (if you excuse the fact Liam went home two shows too early #JusticeForLiam) before Prue accidentally tweeted the winner 10 hours early.

Yikes.

Though she quickly deleted the message, the damage was done. Prue, who was in Bhutan, claimed the time difference was to be blamed, before telling the Press Association: ‘I’m in too much of a state to talk about it. I fucked up.’ Channel 4 was less concerned (probably due to its record numbers) as Prue, Noel and Sandi will join Paul again for the next series.

 

3. Ian Katz appointed Channel 4’s director of programmes

Newsnight, Channel 4

BBC Newsnight’s editor, Ian Katz has been appointed to the top creative role at Channel 4, following Jay Hunt’s departure in September. While Katz doesn’t have significant programme commissioning experience, he is considered by Channel 4’s CEO Alex Mahon to ‘live and breathe’ the Channel 4 values. The role is considered one of the most influential in the UK’s media – Hunt’s departure followed her acquisition of the programme in our second story. Katz starts his new role in January.

 

4. Fake News is the ‘word’ of the year

Trump figure fak news covefefe

Collins Dictionary once again announced its word of the year, which follows in-depth research of language trends across millions of sources. The ‘word’ that has most increased in usage for the last year is ‘Fake News’. (Yes it’s two words, which has upset a surprising number of people).

The phrase (that’s better) was thrust into the spotlight by Donald Trump who used it repeatedly throughout his Presidential campaign to attack first the ‘mainstream media’ and then anyone who disagreed or cast allegations against him. More recently, Fake News has been flipped against the President, now describing Russia’s influence on the American election results.

 

5. All Hallows’ Marketing

Halloween feature

The Halloween season is now embedded in British society where people wish each other ‘Happy Halloween’ and brands and businesses spend increasing amounts on their Halloween tie-ins. On the Vuelio Blog we’ve rounded up five of the best campaigns, including Google’s heart-warming Doodle (no really), Fanta’s big budget 13th floor experience and the Beano’s investigation into the scariest outfits (pictured).

 

That’s everything from this week – think there’s something we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments below.

Trump figure fak news covefefe

2017 is FAKE NEWS

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‘Fake News’ is the Collins Dictionary word of the year for 2017. Defined by Collins as ‘false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting’, Fake News has taken the political world by storm thanks to Donald Trump.

Trump’s presidential campaign violently objected to the mainstream media, doing what it could to portray them as ‘Fake News’, while the culprits of fabricating stories have more often been among the fringe ‘publishers’, who lack journalistic integrity and standards.

More recently, ‘Fake News’ has turned against its creator and is being used to describe the nefarious influence of Russia during last year’s presidential election – allegedly to help Trump win.

Now it has been named as Collins’ word of the year (the second time word of the year has been two words, following ‘binge-watch’, which is at least hyphenated, in 2015), Fake News will be included in the dictionary from next year. This makes it a permanent part of Trump’s legacy as President, one of the few certainties to come from his time in office so far.

Has one of your expressions made it into the dictionary? No? SAD.

As a mark of its power in the current zeitgeist, it is hard to pick out tweets mentioning ‘Fake News’ in relation to its word of the year status against the new Lion King being fake news, CNN being fake news, or Julian Assange’s accusations that the BBC and ABC are fake news.

When you can find tweets that have noticed Fake News’ new found glory, users are mostly upset that it is actually two words:

One user even went as far as to suggest the story was itself fake news because it is two words rather than one. Meta.

The other words monitored by Collins as having grown in usage over the last year were unicorn, gig economy, echo chamber, echo chamber and cuffing season. This mix is typical of previous word of the years, which flit between serious newsworthy terms (Brexit in 2016) and social trends (Photobomb in 2014).

With Brexit negotiations starting to ramp up, Trump’s presidency continuing to surprise and technology evolving at a rapid pace, 2018’s word of the year could come from literally anywhere.