PR - Vuelio - Page 62

Five Things: Facebook, WPP, Disney and Sky News, Stranger Things and Marc Jacobs

April 6, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, social media marketing, journalism, PR, Marketing Media Analysis, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

This week’s five things includes the weekly Facebook update, Sir Martin Sorrell investigation, Disney’s Sky News offer, Stranger Things lawsuit and Marc Jacob’s public proposal.

1. Facebook’s tricky teenage years

It’s difficult to know where to start with this story. Facebook continues to be on the wrong end of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which means the spotlight is on the company searching for any and all issues. Yesterday we tried to break down the scandal so far, including that it’s now 87m accounts that were possibly targeted (this has been disputed by Cambridge Analytica), Zuckerberg’s position being under fire and that the chief would appear before congress but not the UK’s digital select committee.

Even as we were publishing the story, more information was released. A common search function on Facebook – the ability to find a profile by the person’s mobile number – seems to have been used by data scrapers and Facebook has said if you had the right (or wrong) settings, you can assume your data has been harvested. There’s also a story from CNBC that Facebook tried to gather data on ‘vulnerable patients’, and one from the TechCrunch about Facebook removing executive’s messages from users’ inboxes.

Facebook turned 14 in February, and not since Adrian Mole have those difficult teenage years been this public. Expect this one to rumble on.

2. Sir Martin Sorrell investigation

Sir Martin Sorrell, one of the UK’s highest paid executives and long-time chief of the world’s largest advertising agency WPP, is being investigated by his company. Details are few and far between but an email from Project Associates, which acts for Sorrell in his personal capacity, has been reported by Campaign as quoting Sorrell with: ‘Reports in the media have stated that WPP is investigating an allegation of financial impropriety by me, specifically as to the use of company funds. This allegation is being investigated by a law firm. I reject the allegation unreservedly but recognize that the Company has to investigate it.’

WPP has said: ‘The allegations do not involve amounts which are material to WPP’, which for a company with a £15bn revenue that pays Sorrell tens of millions of pounds a year, is fairly vague. The fact that no details of the investigation have emerged has left the press wguessing who could succeed Sorrell, should this be his downfall. The WPP succession plan is known to be a thorny issue, with various reports of how clearly it is laid out should the 73-year-old chief exit the business.

3. Disney offers to buy Sky News

21st Century Fox is attempting to buy the 61% of Sky it does not already own. The acquisition has been in stasis since the company first made its move in 2016, due to government regulations and CMA investigations. The CMA has expressed that it is not in the public interest for the Murdoch family empire to own more of the British news industry.

To help with the matter, Sky has outlined plans to make Sky News a separate entity from the rest of Sky and Fox has proposed funding for the service for at least 15 years (up from its previous offer of 10).

But possibly making the whole problem go away is Disney, who this week offered to buy Sky News outright, and remove the issues of media plurality. This would, in theory, allow Fox to continue its takeover of Sky (and eventually Disney’s takeover of Fox). The story has not yet developed beyond the initial offer, but a huge shift in the (traditional) UK media landscape looks to be on the cards.

4. Stranger Things lawsuit

The creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer Brothers, are being sued by director Charlie Kessler, who claims they lifted ideas for their hit show from his 2012 short film. Kessler has worked on a number of Netflix series including Daredevil and Luke Cage. The Guardian reports he is claiming to have screened his short, titled Montauk, to Matt and Ross Duffer in 2014. The lawsuit says Montauk’s storyline features a number of elements similar to the cult phenomenon Stranger Things, including children with enhanced thoughts and abilities, a military facility that carries out experiments and a monstrous creature from another dimension. Stranger Things was also given the working title ‘The Montauk Project’.

It is unclear why the suit is only being filed after the second series has been produced, but there are potentially unreported talks that have not led to a resolution. The road ahead is likely to be long, with plagiarism cases known for being particularly complex, as they can, at times, be based on subjective viewpoints and evidence.

It is not the only plagiarism case from the week, Tulisa has apparently won a challenge to be named as a songwriter and receive 10% of royalties from will.i.am and Britney Spears’ smash hit Scream and Shout.

5. Marc Jacobs’ public proposal

An unexpected piece of good news and incredible brand exposure for Marc Jacobs. The fashion designer organised a flash mob to dance to Prince’s Kiss before dropping to one knee and proposing to his boyfriend Char Defrancesco. In a branch of Chipotle.

And this happened…”Charly Defrancesco will you marry me”? #flashmobatchipotle #moves THANK YOU everyone for making this happen video @plural_nyc @laurengerrie @seandon212 @1.800.newbold And to my Ride or Die fiancé @chardefrancesco I LOVE YOU❤️

A post shared by Marc Jacobs (@themarcjacobs) on Apr 4, 2018 at 9:52pm PDT

The video has had 148K views on Instagram with overwhelmingly positive comments and coverage in the global press (how couldn’t it, it’s super cute), making this a win for Marc Jacobs and Chipotle, the latter benefitting from being the surprise destination of such a big moment in the fashion designer’s life. Rumours Jacobs planned the venue to secure free burritos for life are completely unsubstantiated.

Did you see something we shouldn’t have missed? let us know on Twitter @Vuelio.

87 million Facebook users affected

April 5, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, social media marketing, PR Media Analysis, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

It seems like an almost daily occurrence at the moment, but Facebook is one again facing a wave of negative press. Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it was believed that 50m users had their data scrapped – which was then allegedly sold and used by political entities. Now, Facebook has revealed that the number is 87m, including 1.1m in the UK.

The figure was published in a blog post by Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer, a post that largely focused on plans to ‘restrict data access on Facebook’. Near the end of the post is the statement: ‘In total, we believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people — mostly in the US — may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica’, accompanied by the following graph:

The small print at the bottom says: ‘We do not know precisely what data the app shared with Cambridge Analytica or exactly how many people were impacted. Using as expansive a methodology as possible, this is our best estimate of the maximum number of unique accounts that directly installed the thisisyourdigitallife app as well as those whose data may have been shared with the app by their friends.’

Mark Zuckerberg, the chief who took days to respond to the initial crisis that wiped billions off the company’s share price, is now everywhere, and, for the most part, apologising.

As reported by the BBC, he said in a press conference that he previously assumed that if Facebook gave people tools, it was largely their responsibility to decide how to use them. He then added it was ‘wrong in retrospect’ to have had such a limited view.

The lack of official regulation (forcing data control), and relative infancy of the company, is possibly the source of the naivety. The company is now making many moves to correct this position, which is particularly timely considering the upcoming GDPR. This week, Zuckerberg U-turned on an original decision to only comply with the GDPR in Europe, now saying Facebook will make GDPR-compliant changes worldwide. In regards to the GDPR, it’s lucky Facebook is learning before 25 May, but all these lessons are coming at a personal cost for Zuckerberg, who is having to defend his position as the head of Facebook.

As Dave Lee says, the idea that Zuckerberg’s leadership would be in question could not have been predicted even as recently as a month ago. But this latest snowballing issue led to him being asked if his position has been discussed – he replied: ‘Not that I know of’.

One investor, Scott Stringer – New York City’s comptroller, responsible for the city’s pension fund – is calling for changes to the board (which Zuckerberg is also chair of). With close to $1bn investment in the company, the fund may be a relatively small investor but it’s still a big voice demanding change.

The social giant is now in full crisis mode and is accepting responsibility, which is a development considering it previously threatened The Guardian over the original Cambridge Analytica story. The FT reports that Zuckerberg said: ‘I’m not looking to throw anyone else under the bus for the mistakes we’ve made here’.

He has refused to appear before the UK’s digital, culture, media and sport select committee, instead opting to send either Schroepfer or Chris Cox, Facebook’s chief product officer. But Zuckerberg will appear before congress in the US, on 10 April and 11 April at two separate hearings.

Only time will tell if what we’re seeing is a car crash in slow motion or a bump in the road. Zuckerberg believes it will take a ‘multiyear effort’ to resolve the issues – suggesting the end of this turmoil is not yet in sight.

Travelling the world with Michael Huxley, Bemused Backpacker

April 5, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

Michael Huxley is an author, nurse and founder of travel blog, the Bemused Backpacker. With hints, tips and advice for travelling the world, particularly those on gap years, Bemused Backpacker has built a loyal following with its stunning destinations and travel reviews.

We spoke to Michael about travel blogging, particularly how he likes to work with PRs and his personal pet peeves when it comes to PR/blogger outreach.

What makes your blog successful?
My audience without a doubt. There are other factors of course: integrity, tenacity and sticking with it for a long period when many others have given up; treating it as a business and not a blog; and trying to differentiate myself from everyone else out there! But I wouldn’t be anywhere without those who read what I write and say every single day. I have built up a lot of trust and a strong relationship with a good core of my regular readers and that just keeps growing.

How easy is it to become a great blogger?
It isn’t. It is easy to start a blog and call yourself a blogger, but there is a vast difference between that and being successful at it.

What’s the best destination for new travellers?
I used to say Thailand, because it was such a traditional go-to backpacker destination with all the traveller infrastructure any backpacker or traveller would ever need, and it still is to a large extent, but now I would say Indonesia too. Or Malaysia. Hell, just south east Asia in general really!

What’s the best destination for seasoned travellers?
Anywhere they haven’t been yet!

Where haven’t you been that you’d still like to visit?
I’m still waiting for that opportunity to trek across Antarctica!

If you could only take three items with you when travelling, what would they be?
My camera, my notepad and a pen. I’m assuming I still get to keep my passport with me!

What should PRs know about you?
That I am not just a travel blogger, I am a professional with a business. I have set – and fair – rates for a variety of marketing services and offer a strong ROI for all of them. And I never work for free, so please don’t ask.

What are you favourites campaigns you’ve been part of?
I have been part of so many good ones it is hard to choose. One of my all-time favourites was the RIGHT tourism campaign with the charity Care For The Wild International. I absolutely loved that because it was a cause that was so close to my heart, and ethical wildlife tourism is something that I still campaign for today.

And I was one of the first bloggers to work on the Trip Of Wonders Campaign with the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and that was an amazing trip, but I am proud to have worked on it because of how successful it was, and continues to be.

I have worked on many more but those are two that really stand out. At the moment I am currently working alongside Bug Off, a national campaign to promote awareness of insect-borne diseases and how travellers can protect themselves, and as a nurse as well as a blogger that is something I am passionate about too.

What shouldn’t PRs do?
There are so many things that PRs do that immediately get bloggers backs up (I am sure there are just as many unprofessional bloggers who do the same for PRs) and I could create a very long list, things like spamming us with endless and largely irrelevant press releases (we are not traditional journalists who need copy and it is not our job to report news/product info in that way); sending irrelevant mass phishing emails (we really don’t care if the initial email isn’t personalised, we understand that you need to send it out to a lot of people but at the very least do a little research. My travel blog is not going to be interested in a fashion show in London or a book on how to cook the plants in your garden!); moving jobs and disappearing halfway through a campaign; approaching us for campaigns and then never responding when we answer back; or getting snarky when we ask for payment and trying to tell us how to do what we do.

And please recognise that our websites are our websites. We are very careful about what we put on there, what we link to and we control how things work. We don’t care if the brand has a list of demands and expects their logo to be front and centre on our homepage; we decide what services we offer and how we execute those services. Our readers trust us, we do not give that influence up easily, and we know how to market to them, so please trust us to do that.

But the primary thing is do not approach us without a strong budget in place to pay us (we know there is a budget in place, that is how you are getting paid, you or the brand just don’t want to allocate any of it to bloggers), and do not expect us to work for free. Or tell us any part of our hard work is at ‘no cost to us’.

Many professional blogs are run as businesses now, mine included, and we expect to be treated as such. Bloggers are experts in what we do, we have built up strong and highly engaged audiences (in many cases as large as a lot of traditional media and in many more cases a lot more targeted with higher reach and engagement), we know exactly how to market to that audience and can give a strong ROI for any brand that we work with. The blogging world IS changing and this is becoming the norm. The freebie grabbing hobby bloggers will always be around but ask yourself what value are you really getting from them?

And please just show us a little respect too. We are the ones at the end of the day that you need to complete the brief from your clients. You know the power of influencer marketing, you know the reach we have and just how powerful a marketing force we can be for the brands you work with, so respect that. Bloggers want to work with you and brands alike, so please build up relationships with us, develop those relationships, and work with us to promote your clients.

What do you call yourself (blogger/influencer/content creator)?
I call myself the founder of a travel website/business. I hate the term influencer (if you have to call yourself one you probably aren’t), but do use blogger occasionally, especially within the industry because that is just a widely recognised and easily generic term. But to be honest I don’t think any of those labels describe fully what professional ‘bloggers’ are any more.

What other blogs do you read?
I read so many blogs from a whole range of different genres and interests, but sticking to travel blogs I read Teacake Travels, TravelBreak and Nomadic Boys amongst many, many others.

Mike Huxley and his blog Bemused Backpacker are both listings on the Vuelio Database, and include detailed requests for how he likes to be contacted by PRs.

PR Spotlight: Matt Cross, managing director, Hotwire UK

April 4, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, PR Spotlight PR Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

Matt Cross is the managing director of Hotwire UK. Hotwire is the global communications agency with offices in nine countries around the world and affiliates in nearly every major city on the planet. We caught up with Matt to find out how a global agency works, what makes a good campaign and his advice for anyone looking to start a career in PR.

What does your day-to-day role consist of?
Meeting with practice leads across the business to get updates on client work and services, organic growth projects, new business prospects and pitches as well as overall team happiness. Naturally, there is a lot of number crunching involved in my role but I try not to get too bogged down in it! The communications industry is all about people, and my priority is our people in the London office.

What’s the best thing about working in PR?
Definitely the team I work with. We have a unique culture at Hotwire which enables us to get to know our colleagues from across the world, both in the way we work together and socialise. Every year we hold a Hotwire Bootcamp which involves everyone getting together in a European city for our annual conference, team building and a party!

At the same time, I find the work that we do really fulfilling – both creatively and in terms of the business impact we deliver to our clients. We strive to build really strong relationships with our clients, a high percentage of which we have worked with for many years. Nurturing that relationship is rewarding.

How does the agency work on a global level?
We have offices in San Francisco, New York, Paris, Madrid, Frankfurt, Munich, Milan and Sydney, as well as the London HQ of course. We have exclusive affiliate partnerships in most other globally significant cities to ensure we can service clients wherever they do business.

Often clients prefer to work closely with the team in their home country, so that team takes on a hub role with all the other markets reporting into them. We use tools like Zoom, Slack and OneDrive that enable us to keep in touch with each other really easily, regardless of location, making global working a breeze.

Why do clients choose Hotwire?
Our heritage is in the tech sector but clients come to us today to help them create compelling stories around their innovation. That could be anything from a clever widget buried in a datacentre somewhere through to an incredible consumer services-focused website. We’re lucky to work with up and coming disruptive brands like FiveAI, established giants like Facebook, McAfee and Qualcomm, as well as large corporates across finance, pharma and the legal sector who are exploring new ways to tell the world about the cool stuff they are up to.

We have spent 18 years perfecting a true global alternative to other multinationals, with the clients and award wins to prove it. We’re fun to work with, challenging our clients in the right way, with bags of enthusiasm.

We want to be the best agency that our people and clients get to work with, not only here in the UK but across all our markets globally. We’re a global player with a local approach to comms, which feels completely aligned with how clients want to work with agencies nowadays.

What’s your favourite recent PR campaign [not one of your own]?
The campaign from Calm (The Campaign Against Living Miserably) which launched last week was brilliant. #Project84 tells the stories of 84 real men lost to suicide, representing the 84 men who take their own lives every week in the UK.

Alongside sculptor Mark Jenkins, friends and families bereaved by suicide took part in the making of 84 sculptures which stand on top of ITV’s This Morning studio and South Bank buildings in positions of strength, looking out over the capital in solidarity against suicide.

Not only was this picked up by tons of broadcasters, but plenty of print and online media too. I also saw friends, outside the industry, sharing it on social too. It’s not often a campaign goes ‘viral’ but this one has got campaign of the year written all over it.

Have you ever had any PR ‘disasters’?
I don’t think I can point to any disasters, but I’ve definitely made mistakes in my early career, which have stayed with me to this day. Within the first month of my PR career I accidentally CC’d the whole of the tech journalist community into a press release distribution rather than BCC’ing them. The torrent of abuse and general tutting that followed ensured I never made that particular error again… we’ve all done it.

I was also lucky enough to have a boss early in my career who loved proof-reading while armed with a red pen, which he used liberally all over my work. To this day I automatically proof everything that I read and get irrationally upset when I spot typos… especially in the newspapers.

What’s your most memorable PR win?
There have been a lot of proud moments over the years but one more recent win was Eaton, a multinational power management company – we work with the brand across multiple markets with the UK acting as the hub team. This really added momentum to the work we do in the energy space in the UK and enabled us to create a specialist energy practice.

I’m anticipating some more memorable wins in the near future to announce, watch this space!

What’s more important for public relations – traditional or new media?
Both are equally important but it depends what a brand is trying to achieve. Prioritising which channels are most important starts by truly understanding a brand’s audience, where they hang out, how they are influenced when using those channels and what’s on their minds.

For instance, the broad reach of the national newspapers might be key to changing perceptions of particular stakeholder groups, while some clients might be looking to drive a specific call to action through paid social promotion. Neither is better than the other but the business objective is what drives those decisions.

99 times out of 100, you should take an integrated approach in order to see the most impactful results.

Do you think PR should have to pay for influencer marketing?
The short answer is that you don’t always have to pay for promotional work with influencers but there should always be a genuine and authentic value-add for that influencer’s audience or the whole thing is pointless.

For some people, a value-exchange of some sort is enough – for instance, tickets to an event or conference or perhaps a product that they get to keep after the fact. For others, they have such a huge audience to leverage that they quite rightly want to monetise it. There is a perception that some social influencers nowadays do very little apart from sit on a beach and chuck a brand name in there every so often. The reality is that the really good ones work extremely hard to keep themselves relevant in an increasingly competitive world… they know it can all disappear in the blink of an eye.

Transparency is the key though – authentic comms where a brand is really aligned to the end-audience in some way has to be the starting point.

What advice would you give new people starting in PR?
Come and join Hotwire! No, seriously, we’re always looking to hire ambitious people at every level. We’re planning an entry-level recruitment day very soon, and we’d love to meet any budding PR executives with or without prior experience.

I got into PR because I had (still have!) a love of technology and in particular I liked the challenge of explaining something relatively nascent to a broad audience. I’d spent five years working in tech-based recruitment which I had fallen into pretty much straight out of school and that stood me in good stead from a general work experience perspective.

It doesn’t necessarily matter what your qualifications are but you do need to show me how you have applied yourself, whether that is at university or elsewhere. We hire based on attitude. We’re an ambitious bunch and we value proactivity and a keen sense of accountability more than anything else.

My advice would be: don’t wait for someone to gift you an opportunity, work out what you want, then make your case for getting it – nine times out of 10 you will make progress because you’re showing that you have already given it real thought, not asking for someone else to do that thinking for you.

Beano accuses Jacob Rees-Mogg of IP infringement

April 4, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, social media marketing, PR PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

The Beano has written an open letter to Jacob Rees-Mogg, accusing the eccentric Conservative MP of ‘infringing the intellectual property rights’ of one of their cartoon characters and ‘masquerading as Walter Brown’ (aka Walter the Softy).

The letter goes on: ‘It is evident that there are numerous instances whereby you have adopted trademarked imagery and brand essences of the character to the benefit of enhancing your career and popularity’.

If anyone is unsure of what these essences are, the letter lists seven points they believe are attributes of the character of Walter the Softy, which are being copied by Rees-Mogg:

The character’s hair parting and style
The character’s distinctive round reading glasses
The character’s choice of spotty ties and vintage apparel
The character’s enjoyment of classical music (because he thinks it makes him seem clever)
The character’s bullish behaviour with peers and stopping others from having fun
The character’s insistence to remind others of his father’s successful career
Snootiness

It then asks that Rees-Mogg ‘cease and desist’ in the ‘ongoing impersonation of the character, which remains the exclusive property of Beano Studios’. Tongue firmly in cheek, Mike Stirling, head of Beano Studios Scotland, signs off ‘A swift response on this matter would be greatly appreciate to avoid getting Teacher involved.’

The letter, tweeted out from Beano’s official account, has been caused by keen-eyed readers who have brought the issue to the comic strip’s attention. Replies to the tweet are just as mischievous:

The “Where’s Wally” people should go after him too.

— ROU You might feel a sharp scratch (@borismonster) April 4, 2018

Have you sent a similar one, on behalf of Dennis the Menace, to #BorisJohnson ‘s barber?

— Hugh Osborne (@HughRSOsborne) April 4, 2018

Many have applauded the Beano for a ‘perfect PR stunt’ and their great sense of fun. Rees-Mogg has yet to respond to the letter, much to the Beano’s disappointment.

How Trump’s campaign won Facebook

April 4, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, social media marketing, PR PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

Donald Trump’s successful Presidential campaign has previously boasted that it did a better job on Facebook than Clinton’s, and an internal white paper from the social media giant has shown they’re right.

Reported by Bloomberg, the internal white paper was published days after the American election and provides massive insight into two different methods of Facebook campaigns – and how important the platform is to political entities.

The white paper reveals that Trump’s campaign spent $44m on Facebook between June and November 2016, dwarfing the $28m Clinton spent in that time. The white paper also claims that ‘Trump’s Facebook campaigns were more complex than Clinton’s and better leveraged Facebook’s ability to optimize for outcomes’.

Next time you’re working out how many variations of advertisement to try on social media, think about this: Clinton’s campaign ran 66,000 different types of advert (seems high, right?), and Trump’s ran 5.9m. That’s five point nine million.

The campaign rapidly tested different forms before choosing the most successful to roll out further. Trump’s adverts were also focused on action – 84% asked people to do something, like donate, compared to just 56% of Clinton’s.

The Bloomberg article also suggests a possible link between the white paper and the Russian interference investigation, as the white paper was supplied to that investigation by a former Facebook employee. It says more than a quarter of Trump’s spend was tied to ‘third-party data files on voters’ and used a Facebook tool that helped the campaign show ads to people who looked similar to the names on file.

The former employee wrote: ‘Did Russian operatives give the Trump campaign a list of names to include or exclude from advertising that was running on Facebook?’

Clinton’s campaign was targeting broader audiences and only four per cent of her spend went on the lookalike tool.

Mark Zuckerberg is due to make his first congressional testimony this week and is likely to be questioned about this white paper. Whether he will be able, or inclined, to reveal what lists Trump’s campaign uploaded remains to be seen.

What is now arguable, is that Facebook helped Donald Trump win the election through a mixture of bigger budgets and more intelligent use of the system. Expect all future political campaigns to take note – Facebook victories can lead to real life victories.

Monty Dogge at Crufts

April 3, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Holly Hodges

Top Pet blog, Adventures of Monty Dogge, is written by Mark Sanders and follows Monty – the large white-and-black Newfoundland. Monty was recently invited to the world’s greatest dog show, Crufts, and has very kindly agreed to let Mark tell us all about it!

In what capacity were you at Crufts?
Monty has been going to Crufts for the past four years as a dog blogger. He was invited by the Kennel club to report on the show from a dog’s perspective and it’s very much Crufts unleashed. He particularly enjoys explaining to the ‘hoomans’ who follow the blog how the show is through his eyes, which is usually pretty different from how we perceive it.

Was Monty recognised at Crufts?
Every year people travel to Crufts specifically to meet Monty. It’s amazing how many times you get stopped walking around the show with people wanting to meet him. You hear people saying, ‘That’s Monty’ or ‘Look, it’s Monty Dogge’. As time goes on we meet new friends and it’s lovely to meet people in person and hear how the blog makes them smile and gives them a boost. We hear some very moving stories.

What’s the best thing about going to Crufts (from both your and Monty’s perspectives)?
Easy from Monty’s perspective – it’s the amount of treat stalls around the venue. It’s like watching an antelope graze as he goes from stall to stall fluttering his eyelashes and reaping the rewards. For me it’s an amazing opportunity to promote ourselves to a huge audience of dog lovers. We met with quite a few companies this year who are looking to work with us so it’s good chance to network as well.

What was your favourite product/stall/company at Crufts?
Monty would say any treat stall but in particular Sea Treats, becayse he loves fishy treats. He also has to pay a visit to the Canine Massage guild every year as he gets his pre-show massage and they see how he’s doing. He’s been going every year since we began going and they look forward to his visit. I love going to the dog charity stalls as we really enjoy supporting various animal related causes, like Hounds for Heroes and Canine Partners, throughout the year and it’s a nice chance to catch up.

Who was your favourite winner?
Well this year a Newfoundland got through to best in show which was lovely to see but for us, a puppy that we bred was competing for the first time. Merlot is two and was the only puppy that survived from the only litter we ever bred so she’s pretty special. She lives in Scotland with a friend and it was lovely to see her again. She came a very creditable fifth in a strong class so she was our ‘winner’.

What’s Monty like around other dogs?
Monty is very good around other dogs. He’s particularly good with small dogs and puppies and usually lies down so they can be the same height. It’s not uncommon to see a little dog jumping up trying to give him kisses. There’s no doubt though that his favourites are the ladies, he’s a big flirt. He does get strange reactions from some dogs who are just totally phased by his size and aren’t sure what to do.

Is Monty a future winner?
Monty will never be a show dog, he’s just too lazy. He’d lie down during the show and if he doesn’t want to move it’s pretty impossible to make him. He trained as a water rescue dog when he was younger but doesn’t like swimming because it’s all a bit too much like hard work. I think his future lies in his continuing school visits and charity work where he can take everything at his own pace… slowly.

How did you use social media during Crufts?
We did some live video this year for the first time, which was very popular. We set up a ‘Crufts according to Monty Dogge’ Facebook page that we use to build up to the show. We do things such as interviews with celebs with dogs and Monty’s explanation of the breeds and groups, which go down very well. This year we were featured as one of the dogs of Instagram and Monty appeared in the Daily Mail, which increased his profile further. I use Twitter quite a lot during the show as it gets quick responses and you can easily @ people or companies and get some good traffic.

What’s the next event Monty is visiting?
The next major thing will be the book launch for our third children’s book, Monty and the Poppit Dragon. The two previous books were launched in Waterstones but this time we wanted to do a bit of a book launch tour in Wales, where the story is based. We will then be at the inaugural Dog Lovers show in Glasgow in September. They have invited us to go up and have an area where we can read stories to the children and they can meet Monty and Cookie, the stars of the books. We will then be at the Family Pet Show in Manchester in October and in between they will be visiting plenty of schools, so it’s a very busy year.

Adventures of Monty Dogge (and Mark Sanders) are both listings on the Vuelio Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.

Four Things: Project 84, Tommy Robinson, Julian Assange and BBC woes

March 29, 2018/0 Comments/in Five Things, PR Pulse, journalism, PR, Media PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

As it’s a bank holiday weekend, we’ve dropped our number of things you shouldn’t have missed to four! Happy Easter and bank holiday one and all.

1. Statues on ITV buildings

ITV is raising awareness of male suicide by unveiling 84 clothed statues of men atop its buildings in central London. Working with charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), ITV launched Project 84 on their flagship daytime programme This Morning. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 45, with 84 taking their lives each week. A change.org petition is calling to ‘Make suicide prevention and support a government minister’s reasonability’ and, thanks to the huge coverage of Project 84, has managed over 160,000 signatures.

2. Tommy Robinson banned from Twitter

Tommy Robinson, former leader of the English Defence League, has been banned permanently from Twitter. Twitter has suspended and blocked his account on a number of previous occasions but it is understood that due to his breach of its ‘hateful conduct’ policy, this will be the final time. He had over 400,000 followers when it was last blocked at the beginning of March. Robinson continues to operate a Facebook page, YouTube account and personal website.

This ban follows Facebook’s banning of Britain First earlier in the month, and possibly shows signs that social media companies are now more willing to come down hard on hateful speech and high-profile policy infringers.

3. Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange’s internet access

Julian Assange has had his internet access from the Ecuadorian embassy removed, following his apparent ‘interference in other countries’. Assange has been living in the London-based embassy for six years but has been digitally prolific in that time. The Ecuadorian Government said that it had removed his internet access because he had breached ‘a written commitment made to the Government at the end of 2017 not to issue messages that might interfere with other states’. It follows a tweet from Assange that challenged Britain’s assertion that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning.

The Guardian reports two previous occasions that Assange has been in similar trouble, in 2017 he was asked to stop discussing the Spanish Catalonia dispute by Ecuador and in 2016 his access was stopped as Ecuador feared he was interfering in the US presidential election.

4. More young people watch Netflix than BBC TV

The BBC’s Annual Plan for 2018 has acknowledged that Netflix is now more popular for children and young people than the BBC. The report states that 16-24 year olds spend more time with Netflix than ‘all of BBC TV (including iPlayer)’. In further damning news, the report says that 15-34 year olds spend more time each week listening to streaming music services than all BBC Radio. The report fears the BBC risks being overtaken by competitors, stating that 82% of children go to YouTube for on-demand content, half to Netflix and only 29% to BBC iPlayer.

As a reason for failing competitiveness, the report suggests funding has fallen 18% in real terms since 2010 due to the licence fee freeze and additional extra costs. The report claims that in the same period, ITV’s income has grown by more than 30% and Sky’s by 90%. It doesn’t detail the financial details of Netflix or Amazon.

The full report exposes the core practices of the BBC and is available online.

Seen something we’ve missed? Let us know on Twitter @Vuelio.

The No.1 London Lifestyle Blogger: Angie Silver of Silverspoon London

March 28, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Holly Hodges

Angie Silver writes Silverspoon London, the lifestyle and travel blog which has been ranked as the UK’s number one London Lifestyle blog. Covering the finer things in luxury London, Angie covers retail experiences, restaurant reviews and uncovers hidden gems! We spoke to her about the best places in London, how to run a successful blog and how she likes to work with brands and PRs.

What makes your blog successful?
Even though blogging has changed so much over the years, the key to a good blog has always been content. I work incredibly hard on my content and produce around three blog posts a week. Photography was never my forte but I’ve worked very hard to get it to where it is today and I’m very proud of it.

Another key to blog success is relationships. In the four and half years I’ve been blogging, I’ve forged very strong relationships with brands and PRs who have returned to work with me again and again. My relationships and friendships with other bloggers has been one of the most significant aspects of the development of my blog. Not only do they provide a support network but we share each other’s content and champion each other’s blogs.

Finally, I’ve always kept it real! Stuck to my brand identity and kept my content authentic.

What’s the long-term aim of your blog?
When I started my blog it was a fun hobby but eventually it turned into so much more. It’s given me opportunities that I never dreamed of, I’ve met incredible people and I’ve been able to be my own boss and make my own hours. Honestly, my long-term goal is to keep being happy creating content and exploring beautiful destinations.

Where is the best place in London?
It’s hard to say the best place but the current popular places are the beautiful Instagrammable cafes. Top choices are Peggy Porschen, Saint Aymes and Aubaine in Selfridges.

Where is the best place to eat in London?
It depends what food you like and what atmosphere you’re looking for but here are my top three:

For Michelin fine dining, Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester is the absolute best in my opinion.
Hakkasan is one of London’s top Chinese restaurants but it also has a buzzy and lively vibe.
Bob Bob Ricard is somewhere that will please everyone. The food is hearty and delicious, the décor is beautiful and there’s even a ‘Press for Champagne’ button at every table.

What’s the best attraction?
Well you can’t miss the obvious such as Buckingham Palace, The London Eye and St Paul’s Cathedral but I’d definitely take the time to explore the more hidden side of London. I know a few people who specialise in coffee house tours or chocolate tours, which give a different perspective on the city.

If not London, where would you like to live?
I love London but the busy pace of life can be overwhelming. When my husband and I visited Australia a few years ago, we fell in love with Melbourne and discussed how it would be lovely to live somewhere so laid-back. The food and the coffee scene there is outstanding too!

How do you work with PRs and brands?
I absolutely prefer to meet face-to-face to establish a more personal connection. I also prefer to work on a long-term basis and develop a good working relationship and trust, rather than one-off campaigns or reviews.

I also think it’s very important that the blogger chosen for campaign is the perfect fit for the brand and market – that way everyone will get a return on investment.

What are your favourite campaigns that you’ve worked on?
Last year I worked with the Mayakoba resort in Mexico. They flew me out to stay at the Rosewood Mayakoba, a spectacular luxury hotel, in order to create content for them. It was honestly a dream come true!

I also worked with Classic Collection to promote their trips to Santorini which was a dream destination for me.

What do you call yourself (blogger/influencer/content creator/writer etc)?
I’m first and foremost a blogger because my blog is my main platform. However, I do think the term content creator is becoming more and more applicable to people in the industry.

What other blogs do you read?
So so many! For London recommendations I love Heroine in Heels, The Lifestyle Diaries and Adventures of a London Kiwi. For travel The Travelista, The Londoner and The Travel Hack always have great tips.

Angie Silver and Silverspoon London are both listings on the Vuelio Database along with thousands of other leading journalists, editors, bloggers and outlets.

London Lifestyle spotlight with Adrian York

March 28, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, journalism, PR, Media, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Holly Hodges

Adrian York is a contributor to London Unattached, the London Lifestyle blog that recently ranked in the top 10 London Lifestyle Blogs in the UK, and author of The Hedonist. We caught up with Adrian to talk everything London, from the best place to eat, from the best spot to stand at night to see the city lights. We also spoke about blogging and working with PRs.

What makes your blog successful?
Firstly, London Unattached is a contributor blog with a really strong team of specialist writers who are experts in their subject area. I know I want to transmit the excitement I feel to our wonderfully loyal readers when I go to an inspiring concert, eat a wonderful meal or have an amazing trip. Secondly, our boss, blogging ‘legend’ Fiona Maclean, navigates the blogosphere with style, wit and grace and holds the whole thing together brilliantly.

What’s the long-term aim of your blogging?
To share fantastic experiences with our readers. At London Unattached we are given opportunities to sample the best of London, the UK and the world, and the mission is to give an honest and accessible view. On a personal note, I enjoy the process of writing about food, lifestyle, music, men’s fashion and culture whether it is for London Unattached, my own blog The Hedonist, or for online news portals such as The Conversation, The Independent or The Huffington Post. I’d like to keep on doing it and raise my profile as critic and cultural commentator. It provides a different space for me to operate in away from my day job as an academic and jazz musician.

Where is the best place in London?
I love to stand on Waterloo Bridge at night and look at the river and the lights illuminating the greatest city in the world.

Where is the best place to eat in London?
I’ve been eating out in London since the 1970s and have seen a huge change in the range and quality of restaurants. I love how London has become a major player in the global gastro scene so choosing one place is always going to be hard. I’m going to choose a tiny new place in Hackney called Nest that epitomises cutting-edge trends in fine dining.

What’s the best attraction?
The whole city is the attraction. See it all from the top of The Shard. Experience cutting edge theatre at The Young Vic, immerse yourself in the street hustle and small plate restaurants of Soho, soak up the glitz and designer fashion of Bond Street and enjoy incredible Indian restaurants in Southall.

If not London, where would you like to live?
Somewhere warm! I’d love to be an urban nomad spending a few months staying in a place to really get under the skin of a city and then moving on. Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, New York, Madrid, Athens, Rome, Tokyo and Lisbon would do for starters!

How do you work with PRs and brands?
We are contacted by PRs who reach out to us when they have a product, event or launch that they want to publicise.

It’s important only to work with brands that relate to the demographic that you serve. At London Unattached and at my blog The Hedonist we focus on elements that will appeal to Gen X and baby-boomers.

What are the best campaigns you’ve collaborated on?
I really enjoy cultural and gastronomic trips around the world. I visited Hamburg for the ElbJazz Festival set in the city’s shipyards. I ate my way around Athens on a gastro walking tour of the city and explored the food and culture of Lake Garda in Northern Italy.

What do you call yourself (blogger/influencer/content creator/writer etc)?
I’m a blogger and writer.

What other blogs do you read?
The Sartorialist for fashion, Andy Hayler for restaurants, Pitchfork for pop and Ethan Iverson for jazz.

Adrian York, London Unattached and the Hedonist are all listings on the Vuelio Database along with thousands of other leading journalists, editors, bloggers and outlets.

Spring Forward: culture, confidence and choice

March 28, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

Spring Forward is a brand-new conference that will take place on 24 May in Bristol. The event is designed for women (with men also welcome) who are ready, or want to be ready, to take the next step in their career.

Sarah Pinch is the managing director of Pinch Point Communications and the chair of the Taylor Bennett Foundation. Sarah has long advocated the need for a strong professional network, particularly when encouraging women in business, and her latest venture takes that to the next level. She said: ‘Spring Forward has been a year in the planning. I wanted to put on something that inspires women to take that next step; but also equips them with real skills to do so.’

The conference will focus on three key areas that Sarah believes are vital to the success of women in the industry: culture, confidence and choice.

The event has a mix of big name speakers – including Karen Boswell OBE, the global CEO and managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, and Nathalie McGloin, a female racing driver paralysed from the chest down – as well as intimate workshops and focus groups.

Sarah said: ‘We have two fantastic key note speakers in Karen Boswell OBE and Nathalie McGloin, both women at the top of their chosen professions in rail and motorsport. Karen and I worked together at FirstGroup and her determination, hard work and great love of life is infectious. She is responsible for all the new trains coming onto our railways in the coming years. And I met Nathalie recently and she is so inspirational, a successful female racing driver, who is paralysed from the chest down; she’s totally smashing it!

‘And we have a great panel, drawn from the public appointments office, school governors and charities to talk about how you can get board level experience through volunteering – so you’re ready for that next step in your paid employment.’

While the aim of the conference is to explore the issues of culture, confidence and choice, there will also be plenty of time devoted to networking, ensuring the professional benefits that come from being part of such a group are felt by every attendee.

This event is just the beginning of Spring Forward, with plans for the sessions to inform a white paper due out in summer: Women and the C Words: culture, confidence and choice. How do those words hold women back currently and what can we do collectively, to change that?

For more information, and to book your tickets, check out the official Eventbrite page.

GDPR for comms – expert advice to get it right

March 27, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, GDPR, PR, PR News, Communications, Media PR, Comms Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

Vuelio is delighted to announce a comprehensive webinar about the GDPR for the communications industry. We’ll be joined by Rowenna Fielding, GDPR specialist at Protecture, the data protection consultancy.

The webinar GDPR for Comms – Expert Advice to Get It Right takes place on Wednesday 11 April at 11am (BST). Sign up for the webinar here.

The GDPR comes into force on 25 May 2018 and will be the most important change in data protection in 20 years. It affects everyone who deals with personal data, whether that’s names and email addresses or dietary preferences and pet names. Getting it wrong, or burying your head in the sand, is just not an option.

But don’t worry!

On top of our white paper and comprehensive guide, we have designed this webinar to specifically meet the needs of the comms industry. Rowenna will be outlining everything you need to do before 25 May and point out things you may have missed.

We’ll be covering all the main points of the GDPR and you’ll leave knowing:

The difference between legitimate interest and consent – and which you should use
When you’re a data processor and when you’re a data controller – and why it matters
How you can comply with the GDPR – and still communicate with everyone successfully

The webinar will be broadcast live and includes a live Q&A. If you have questions about the GDPR and working in comms, this is your chance to get them answered by an expert.

Join us, on 11 April at 11am (BST) and stop worrying about the GDPR. Even if you can’t make the date or time, we’ll send you a recording of the webinar afterwards.

Food and Travel: Fiona Maclean, London-Unattached

March 26, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

London-Unattached is a multi-author blog covering a range of lifestyle topics, with a strong focus on food and travel. Founded by Fiona Maclean, London-Unattached covers topics of interest to Generation X and up. Fiona told us about her best travel experiences, working with PRs and meat fruit.

What makes your blog unique?
London-Unattached is a contributor blog or blogazine – I work with six talented individuals, each with a different focus. So, for example, I have one writer who specialises in theatre reviews – she’s an actress and theatre coach for her day job; another is a university lecturer in music and jazz musician. We are all Generation X upward (over 45) so we address a niche that I believe is under represented but has a high disposable income and wants to explore. We all cover food (restaurant reviews and recipe development) and travel.

What’s your biggest aim with the blog/what would you ideally achieve with it?
I’d like to get to the stage where we have, say, a quarterly print magazine to complement the online content.

What’s your favourite location in the UK?
The Scilly Isles – I went last year and the islands had a wonderful Enid Blyton feel to them – very unspoilt!

What’s your favourite trip abroad?
As always, it’s my most recent trip! I’m just back from Rodrigues, a tiny island the size of Jersey, 150 miles north of Mauritius. Although it lacked the ‘resort luxury’ of some of the other destinations I’ve visited, it made up for it in a big way by having totally empty beaches, coral reefs, a plethora of wildlife and some fantastic food (French Creole with a seafood bias)

What’s the best thing about blogging about your travels?
Finding places like Rodrigues that I’ve never heard of but which are astonishingly beautiful – and then having the opportunity to share them with other people. Or finding a special feature that I know will be a hook for my readers – in St Lucia for instance, I’d have to highlight the luxury of the resorts as well as the activities, while in Bruges, for me, it was that the food was more than a match for the heritage and architecture.

Best meal you’ve ever eaten?
Last year, at Dinner by Heston (sorry to be so obvious – but I still dream of the Meat Fruit!)

What one thing should PRs know about you?
I’m more cautious on paper than I am in real life. Generally, given a bit of encouragement, I’ll have a go at things I’d say no to if you asked me ahead of time.

What are the best PR/brand collaborations you’ve worked on?
I love doing recipe development projects. I really enjoy being given a challenge and creating something to use a specific ingredient or to pair with a specific wine. I’ve done one recently with Spanish Sherry and a couple with Grana Padano and Prosciutto di San Daniele including this set of festive canapes.

I also like working with a country destination on a long-term basis. One of my first press trips was to Portugal and I’ve subsequently been back every year and now have a wealth of content about a country I love. Last year, I worked with the Czech Republic for the first time, went on two trips to Prague, Pardubice and Brno, produced six blog posts and won their ‘Blogger of the Year award’. I think it takes time to get to know a destination well – so being given the opportunity to go back really helps.

What do you call yourself (Blogger/influencer/content creator)?
Freelance writer (I do work on a number of other writing projects, from website development through to writing newsletters and blogging for other people).

What other blogs do you read?
Too many to list. For quirky blogs I wouldn’t normally come across, I love the ‘Big up Your Blog’ group. It’s full of passionate and lovely people like Jill Creighton who writes Midlifesmarts and Suzanne Vickery who writes about her experience travelling the world as a House Sitter.

Fiona and her blog are both listings on the Vuelio Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.

PRmoment Awards 2018

March 26, 2018/1 Comment/in PR Pulse, PR, PR News PR Blog Posts /by Rebecca Potts

Huge congratulations to all the winners of the PRmoment Awards! It was a fantastic evening with winners across the whole industry, from big name agencies to smaller boutiques and specialist consultants.

We were proud to sponsor the drinks reception, which kicked off the event in style. It was great to see so many talented people in one place, able to let their hair down and celebrate their hard work over the past year. The volume of chat and excitement reached a crescendo by the time the doors opened for the awards.

The evening began with a welcome speech from the founder of PRmoment, Ben Smith. Thank you to Ben and the whole team at PRmoment for a great night. Hosting the awards throughout the evening was the hilarious Ellie Taylor (as seen at the Vuelio Blog Awards 2017!). The awards ceremony began with plenty of laughter, food and drink, but it was the awards and their winners that took centre stage.

Vuelio sponsored two awards: Event of the Year and Public Sector Campaign of the Year. Taylor Herring and Channel 5 scooped Event of the Year for their headline-grabbing pop-up restaurant, ran entirely by nuns serving soup. The pop up not only promoted the Channel 5 series Bad Habits: Holy Orders, but also offered diners a phone amnesty, possibly making it the first Instagram-free restaurant in London!

Kindred for HM Treasury & The Royal Mint won the Public Sector Campaign of the Year award. Kindred were tasked with getting the public and businesses excited for the launch of the new pound coin and did just that with the ‘New Quid on the Block’ campaign.

The only way to end any good awards ceremony is with plenty of dancing and there were many shapes being thrown! Thank you to everyone who attended (especially everyone Vuelio got to speak to) for a brilliant 2018 awards, and well done again to all the winners.

Five Things: Facebook, the GDPR, Ant & Dec, Count Dankula and Bumble swiping left

March 26, 2018/0 Comments/in Five Things, PR Pulse, GDPR, journalism, PR, Media, PR Club Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

Five Things You Shouldn’t Have Missed this week includes Facebook’s latest woes, political parties using data, Brand Ant & Dec, Count Dankula and Bumble swiping left on Tinder.

1. Facebook’s $50bn comms disaster

The news that Facebook allows companies to collect and use personal data for commercial gain should be surprising to no one; it’s literally the company’s business model. But the story this week that data firm Cambridge Analytica bought data from a Cambridge professor’s Facebook app to create 50 million profiles – which possibly contributed to Trump’s presidential victory – has hit the public like the elephant in the room on a rampage. We’ve explored the ways in which Facebook has suffered, and covered the four crisis comms mistakes it made.

The biggest of these is the initial absence of Zuckerberg and then his eventual explanatory Facebook post, which has been described as ‘totally insufficient’. (Facebook has now published open letters in a number of newspapers, possibly emulating Bumble, story below).

The alleged breach led to Facebook’s share price taking a big, $50bn-dollar hit – but is this the end of the social giant? (Probably not).

2. Political parties exclude themselves from new data laws

Talking of data being used to profile people for political gain without the individual’s knowledge or consent – the Independent has reported that UK political parties are excluding themselves from the new data laws so they can still use personal data ‘to find out how people are likely to vote’. The Independent directly linked this story to the Cambridge Analytica debacle, but the public outrage (obviously via the front pages of national papers) hasn’t followed.

The Independent reports, ‘All the major parties have agreed to the exemption from new data protection laws, arguing it clarifies their widely recognised right to canvas voters in order to target possible supporters.’

If you’re not a political party, and you’re worried about complying with the GDPR law, check out our comprehensive guide (which is a form-free download).

3. Brand Ant & Dec

Ant McPartlin was charged with drink driving this week after he was involved in a multiple-car collision. The troubled star is back in rehab, leaving his significant other, Declan Donnelly, to present the final two episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway alone. This is an historic moment for brand Ant & Dec – the pair that work exclusively as a duo to the point that they always stand the same way (Ant then Dec), are temporarily split up. Brand Saturday Night Takeaway has to continue for the final episodes, as the finale is competition winners in Orlando (Cat Deeley has been mooted to stand in as co-host, but probably not as Prozac the giggle fairy).

Brand Suzuki has ended its contract with the duo, but will continue to sponsor the programme (family friendly automotive brands generally avoid drink driving ambassadors).

Brands Britain’s Got Talent and I’m A Celebrity are later in the year so may continue as normal if Brand Ant & Dec recovers. Which, as long as Ant gets better, is almost a certainty. In terms of crisis comms, Ant has done everything right: he has been honest, admitted he’s struggling, and gone to rehab. Everyone is communicating about the situation and working together for the best outcome. Ant & Dec’s place in the nation’s hearts seems to be secure.

Long live Brand Ant & Dec.

4. Count Dankula and the free speech debate

Ah free speech and social media. This week the endless debate has a bizarre advocate – YouTuber Count Dankula, who was convicted of making a ‘grossly offensive’ video after he taught his girlfriend’s dog to react to phrases such as ‘Sieg Heil’ and ‘gas the Jews’. The UK doesn’t have free speech laws like the US*, but globalisation (spearheaded by the rise of American-based social media sites) has created the illusion that we do. Count Dankula, real name Mark Meecham, was considered to have committed a crime in line with existing UK law on offense. Open and shut case, right?

Wrong. Conservative West Yorkshire MP Philip Davies is now demanding a debate on freedom of speech. Davies said: ‘We guard our freedom of speech in this House very dearly indeed…but we don’t often allow our constituents the same freedoms.

‘Can we have a debate about freedom of speech in this country – something this country has long held dear and is in danger of throwing away needlessly?’

Once again, the responsibility of YouTube as host of such content is being overlooked. Perhaps Logan Paul and Cambridge Analytica didn’t actually happen.

5. Bumble swipes left on Tinder

Tinder and Bumble are at loggerheads, with Tinder’s owner, Match Group, filing a lawsuit for alleged intellectual property theft. In what is partially a PR war, Bumble has come out fighting with a stinging full-page advert in the New York Times titled ‘Bumble swipes left on Match group/Tinder allegations’. The open letter to Match Group continues the Tinder-swipe theme: ‘We swipe left on you. We swipe left on your multiple attempts to buy us, copy us and, now, to intimidate us.’ [bold text as printed]

Bumble has also scored PR points for making their women-first approach (the app’s USP is that women have to make the first move) very clear: ‘We – a woman-founded, women-led company – aren’t scared of aggressive corporate culture’. The letter uses the alleged ‘bullying’ by Tinder to describe how their platform is designed to be safe for women.

This is a master stroke by Bumble, and even using a traditional newspaper ad to run the advert, is a touch of genius – tying this modern tech company with tradition and therefore traditional values (oh hey Facebook). Obviously Match Group is massive, but Bumble has ensured the ball is firmly in their court (hopefully next week’s Five Things will include an incredible response!).

Did we miss something? Let us know on Twitter.

*For example: offensive comments, inciting hatred, inciting someone to commit a crime and legitimate threats are all illegal in the UK.

Is this the end of Facebook, or just a comms disaster?

March 22, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, social media marketing, PR, PR News, Communications, Blogger Media Analysis, PR, Comms, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

On a long enough timeline, the life expectancy of all social media sites drops to zero. Facebook is suffering, but is this the beginning of the end or just another bump in the road?

The Cambridge Analytica story is known to most people now. The large data company bought 50 million data entries from an academic, who had harvested it off Facebook for the purposes of ‘research’. It then used this data to some, as yet, unclear extent (against Facebook’s rules) to help political movements around the world including, according to its own claims, a contribution to President Trump’s victory.

After months of investigative research by The Observer, an undercover reporter from Channel 4 was able to film CEO Alexander Nix making bold claims that the company led politicians around the world into honey traps and bribing officials. He has since been suspended.

For Facebook, the news was damning. After the report was broadcast, and following work from the Observer and the New York Times, some $50bn was wiped from Facebook’s stock market value.

It has since recovered slightly but at one point was 10% down.

Facebook then made a series of seemingly rookie moves in terms of crisis comms: the company suspended whistleblower Chris Wylie’s Facebook and Instagram accounts; its chief of security Alex Stamos is reportedly leaving the company but nothing has officially acknowledged this; Facebook went into the offices of Cambridge Analytica to ‘investigate’ on the evening of the report, a day before the ICO were able to apply for a warrant; and, perhaps most damaging, Mark Zuckerberg was kept from making a comment until days later.

When a listed company takes a dive on the stock market, with investors and clients threatening to sue, advertisers pulling their ad spend, and governments around the world discussing heavy regulation, a CEO needs to respond swiftly to show someone is in control and the situation is being handled.

Instead, we waited four days for a Facebook post to appear, in which Zuckerberg acknowledged Facebook has ‘a responsibility to protect your data’, and ‘if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you’. He explained a timeline of events that led to the crisis, and says that it was a ‘breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us and expect us to protect it’.

Is this too little, too late though?

This article from MarketWatch certainly thinks so. It quotes Davia Temin, a management consultant who said, ‘This is a totally insufficient response, both operationally and emotionally. Yes, it is prescriptive, yet strangely hollow, limited, unemotional, and lacking any form of apology.’ Temin says that the company should be responding to such a crisis in 15 minutes, because on social media, 15 minutes is an age.

Deleting your Facebook account is now in vogue, thanks in no small part to some big names including the co-founder of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, who tweeted: ‘It is time. #deletefacebook’. WhatsApp, of course, was sold to Facebook in 2014 for $19bn. This issue is damning for the social giant, but as people are pointing out (mostly on Twitter), all the big social companies collect personal data and sell it to advertisers and third parties.

So, if Facebook now fails (and presumably the likes of Twitter, Google and Amazon remain healthy), it will be largely because it didn’t handle its comms correctly to get itself out of this hole.

Obviously, the state of social media, the collection of data and third party access is going to become VERY exciting after the GDPR comes into force. If, for example, the ICO decided Facebook had allowed the data breach through negligence and it was after 25 May – the fine would have been up to $500m.

Imagine.

If you’re unsure about GDPR, and not sure how it’s affecting the comms industry, download out our comprehensive guide.

Blogger Spotlight: Karen Beddow, Mini Travellers

March 22, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, PR News, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

Karen Beddow writes Mini Travellers, the family travel blog that frequently gets ranked among the best in the UK. We caught up with Karen to talk about the uniqueness of her blog (according to the views of her readers), the best PR and brand collaborations she’s worked on and working with her kids to make the blog amazing.

What makes your blog unique?
I actually asked this question of my readers a few months ago and I got some lovely replies, a couple of my favourites were: ‘Makes people realise that it is possible to do cool and interesting things as a family’, and, ‘I love the fact that you cover everything from Rwanda to Disney and days out at home; something for everyone’. They put it much better than I could do myself.

What’s your biggest aim with the blog/what would you ideally achieve with it?
In fairness it has already done it as the blog has allowed me to work from home, take the children to school and collect them, and have all the school holidays off to travel.

How do you plan your travels?
We plan our travel around flight deals, meetings we have had with PRs, reading lots and lots of other travel blogs that inspire me and sometimes just a gut feel that we have to go somewhere!

What’s the best place you’ve ever been to?
This is a really really hard one. Probably for the experience Rwanda – the whole trip was incredible and we’re off to Malawi as a family at easter as it worked out so well. For relaxation, a villa in Sivota, Greece with Simpson Travel as it just worked on every level.

How do your children feel about the blog?
They absolutely love it and are really proud of it. They know that it brings them great opportunities.

What one place haven’t you been that you want to?
Chile and Argentina – I’ve had two trips that I’d booked that had to be cancelled for different reasons so it is very high up the bucket list.

What’s the best day out in the UK?
Oh I think that’s a tough one to answer, so many but for so many different reasons. For us, it is usually a day at a beach with a really big picnic, some sun and lots of friends.

What are the best PR/brand collaborations you’ve worked on?
Again, another tough question to answer but some of the best were Malawi Tourism, Visit Brittany, Simpson Travel ambassador, Santa’s Lapland, St Mawes Retreats, and so many more that I enjoy every day.

What do you call yourself (Blogger/influencer/content creator)?
Blogger

What other blogs do you read?
Lots and lots but I recently met a couple on a trip to Morzine who are travelling the world and I was genuinely inspired by their amazing story. They were a really lovey couple too.

Karen Beddow and Mini Travellers are both listings on the Vuelio Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.

Blogger Interview: Craig Landale, Menswear Style

March 20, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

Craig Landale is the founder and editor-in-chief of Menswear Style, which won the Best Men’s Lifestyle Blog and Best UK Blog at the Vuelio Blog Awards 2017. We caught up with Craig to find out what it takes to make the UK’s best blog, what you need to be a full-time blogger and the best advice he has for PRs and brands.

We also put Craig on the spot with five quickfire questions – full video below!

Tell us about Menswear Style
Menswear Style started as a hobby. I left my job in Leeds as a digital marketing manager for a big clothing company and I wanted to keep writing content. I quickly started receiving emails from PRs and brands asking me to review their clothing. At first, they were just asking me to review and there was no talk of money but then the blog started to get more hits and traffic. I started to give the blog more consistency and was updating it every other day. I’d say six months into its existence I started to get good traffic, and good partnerships were coming through.

How do you feel about going from a hobby blog to a successful professional blog in such a short time?
I think today it wouldn’t happen because the industry is saturated – there’s too many influencers and too many bloggers. In 2012, I think I was just in time to enter when the market wasn’t so crowded. Even when I was working in men’s fashion I would only look at a handful of reputable menswear blogs – sites like FashionBeans, Highsnobiety, HYPEBEAST – I couldn’t have counted more than 10 really. So, I was able to get a good share of voice and get my name out there quite easily.

After a year, I quit doing the consultancy completely and the blog became my full-time job.

What was it like going full time?
It was rapid growth at the time. I used to be amazed at the analytics, I would watch the real-time traffic and see articles go viral with thousands on the site. I had studied at the Chartered Institute of Marketing and my experience working in digital marketing meant I could put everything into the blog. That was an advantage I had over some other bloggers, because not many had any SEO or digital marketing experience at the time.

Now the industry has been here for a short while, there’s some rules and guidelines you can follow, but at the time it was unknown territory and giving up my full-time job to leap into the unknown was a bit scary.

I don’t think I could do it today; I’m a father, I have a mortgage – I feel like the battle of the mind would weigh towards a secure paying job.

You said you were making the rules, what do you wish you hadn’t done and what are you glad you did do?
I used to spend a lot of time on affiliate marketing, which didn’t really go anywhere – it’s really difficult to make money from it (especially nowadays) so I feel like I wasted a lot of time on that.

I also put a lot of emphasis on banners because back then they made a lot of money, but now there are pop-up blockers and ad blockers, and it’s not something that makes as much money anymore. Even with sponsored content, I didn’t know what to charge – I would pluck a figure out of thin air!

Because I didn’t really know what I should be charging, I massively undervalued myself. I didn’t update my media kit for a few years, but a lot of brands were really honest and would say my prices were way too low.

I thought that until demand was more than I could keep up with, I would keep it low. But I have realised that the perception of having a high price can be higher quality as well – if a brand sees that a price for a sponsored article is a higher price, they feel the value they’re going to get back is good traffic, good engagement and good exposure. Low prices would make them feel like you didn’t have the traffic or engagement.

Now I’m not so cheap but I still give good value.

Well you have the Best UK Blog and you can’t beat that! How do you feel about winning twice at the Vuelio Blog Awards?
It was amazing. I’ve been going to the Vuelio Blog Awards since the first year and I’ve always been up against women’s fashion bloggers. At times I think I was the only man in the category. I knew I wouldn’t win that award – the womenswear industry is like the Champions League and menswear is the Championship. That’s just because of the size of the industry – the millions spent by women compared to men, it’s much higher and even though menswear is growing at a rapid rate, it’s still nowhere near.

Luckily for 2017, you brought in the men’s lifestyle category and I thought, I’ve got a really good chance. I was hoping I would win it – I had a feeling Ape to Gentleman could take it because that’s a website I use for inspiration and I know they’re good and reputable. And then I won – and it was a huge relief! Finally, I had won an Award at the Vuelio Blog Awards!

When it came to the final award, Best UK Blog, usually my wife and I try to sneak off just after it’s announced because we’re not night owls (we like to sleep). We were getting ready to sneak out and then it was announced.

It was a massive shock.

I thought it would be a women’s fashion blogger, or interiors or politics – I did not expect it to be menswear. My menswear friends and other nominees were amazed as well and so supportive. We’re a close-knit group – we’re always at the same events and know each other – they thought it was amazing for menswear blogging and the industry. The highest accolade has gone to a menswear blogger, so it’s a victory for all of us.

What’s the menswear blogging community like?
When you go to events and on press trips, you bump into the same people and everyone’s friendly. I’ve been doing this since 2012, so I’m one of the older guys. Now I don’t go to as many events as the other guys but when I first started, I went to everything. I was at an event every night of the week with my wife. We used it as our way of socialising in this new city we’d just move to, for free. But now I’m a father, I handpick the events I go to because it can be overbearing. I have a team of freelance writers as well, so I usually pass it down to them.

What’s your day to day?
I’m writing content, doing social media, I edit every article that comes in from the team and I take care of the commercial side. I deal with all the brand and PR emails – some have great budgets and I’m happy, some aren’t a good fit so I turn them down. There are some who don’t have a good budget but they’re doing work I admire so I do work for free, but it has to be a brand I really really like. If it’s an up-and-coming brand I might be interested in featuring them.

Who is the competition?
Other bloggers are definitely competition. When a brand pitches a brief, they’re going to bloggers and publications. I always want to make sure we get a look in, the engagement we get on social media is fantastic and I want to make sure the brands know about that. I also put the last three months of google analytics performance on the blog so it’s clear for PRs to see what we can achieve. I’m not taking it for granted that anyone would know who Menswear Style is, you can spend a long time getting to know PRs and then they could leave the industry and a new wave of PRs could come in who don’t know you anymore. Especially as I’m going to events a lot less – out of sight, out of mind.

What are your dos and don’ts for PRs?
The big don’t is when a brand just sends out a blanket email to everyone and you can tell. The worst is when they forget to BCC and then someone replies and you end up getting hundreds of emails.

Also, if the email is too long. It sounds bad, but when you have lots of email pitches to get through, you want to read one paragraph to find out what they’re after. Some brands come through and they know exactly what they want, and they’re up-front about budget – making it clear if they’re willing to pay or not. I always ask about budget to make sure we both know how to work together.

I have a lot of brands coming back year on year. The majority I’m working with now, I’ve worked with before. The competitions we host are really successful; some brands will come back every year or season to do a competition. The entry method also has opt-in forms, so it’s good for their email marketing, and brands keep coming back for those.

The competition from influencers is also strong, but I’m not so worried about them because what I do and where I make my money is through the blog. They’re making money on social, like Instagram. For me, social is not a commercial stream, it’s a chance for people to see ‘behind the scenes’ at Menswear Style and to share our blogs. I add it on as a sweetener, if a brand books a brand-focused article, which means we write about their brand, we add it on but we don’t do Instagram posting for money. I’m not personally an influencer.

What’s an influencer?
An individual that’s living the lifestyle that people like to watch. It’s usually on Instagram, the insta-influencer is rising rapidly. They’re the new celebrity, kids nowadays don’t know traditional celebrities, but they know who influencers are.

I call myself a blogger and digital content creator, when I’m trying to explain my job to people. I think the average guy our age, would probably not realise blogging is a full-time job, and think it’s just a hobby. They probably know you can make money but not enough to replace a salary. But I think teenagers today know this is the career they want. You could probably ask a class of 12-year-olds and half would say they want to be a vlogger, blogger or an insta-influencer. They’ve grown up with technology and they’ve seen it work.

What’s next for Menswear Style?
People ask me this and I always say I want to continue – when things are going good, don’t fix it. I’m always tweaking the website, but no drastic changes; the categories are great, the streetstyle is great, it’s all just going great. I might get ‘radical’ ideas, but I they’re always little things being added on, nothing major.

I do want the articles to be a bit longer though. When I first started it was about shorter articles (300 words), but I know longform is coming back and they please Google too. I want stories to be a bit more interesting, not just about a new collection but about the person who made the clothes, the area they were made in or the traditions in manufacturing. Just something more engaging than the bare facts.

Quickfire Five – VIDEO

Craig Landale and Menswear Style are listed on the Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.

Blogger Spotlight: Geoff Maxted, DriveWrite Automotive

March 19, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, Blogger, Blogger Spotlight Media Database, PR, Press and Bloggers Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

DriveWrite Automotive is a leading auto blog written by Geoff Maxted. Including car reviews and features about the driving life, DriveWrite Automotive recently featured on the Top 10 UK Automotive Blogs. We spoke to Geoff about branching out his writing, issues facing the automotive industry and working with brands.

What makes your blog unique?
I don’t follow the motoring journalist herd, avoiding endless car reviews of vehicles that everyone else is reviewing. I am less concerned with the very latest thing. I am very much trying to present things in an original and varied format that responds to the broad topic of ‘automotive’ and always taking care with grammar and spelling. You won’t find any profanity on my blog.

How and why are you now branching out as a writer?
I am certainly broadening the scope of DriveWrite, although non-automotive work will be on separate blogs in due course. My experience of writing has led me to other avenues and I am now very experienced in writing to order and to a brief, regardless of the topic. I welcome commissions.

What’s your favourite car?
Audi R8 V10. That’s me in the mugshot, driving one.

How important is photography to automotive blogging?
Very important. I am a former lecturer in photography so always strive to make my images as good as possible. I have recently upgraded my cameras and this year will be shooting video for the first time. Video is the way to go now for almost any blogger.

How difficult do you find it to convey an experience in a blog post?
I like to write creatively and don’t find conveying a mood or feeling or experience difficult.

What’s the biggest issue facing the automotive industry?
Convincing the public to move with the times. The attempt to persuade people into electric cars for example has been half-hearted in my opinion. They really are good vehicles.

We’ve discovered that for many bloggers, social media has become the new comments section. How important is social media to your blog?
Very. There’s a lot of garbage on social media and it is important to rise above it. The popular mediums are vital to getting the good word out there. Word of mouth still has its place too. You need readers talking to others.

What are the best PR/brand collaborations you’ve worked on?
I can’t really name one. It’s always best to be on great terms with collaborators.

What do you call yourself (Blogger/influencer/content creator)?
It’s what other people call me that’s important. I want to be known as a writer of quality first and foremost.

What other blogs do you read?
Leisure time? What’s that?

Geoff Maxted and DriveWrite Automotive are listed on the Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other leading bloggers, journalists, editors and outlets.

What does it take to be a global PR?

March 19, 2018/0 Comments/in PR Pulse, PR, PR agency, PR Club Media Monitoring, PR Blog Posts /by Jake O'Neill

New York-based Relevance International recently opened its London office and has its sights set on more. With a raft of clients from the luxury, real estate and corporate worlds, Relevance International has come a long way since its launch in 2012 – driven by its founder and CEO, Suzanne Rosnowski.

Relevance’s London office recently announced two appointments, Anita Gryson as associate director and Alice Lacey as account director, and it has been named global public relations agency for The Royal Atlantis Residences in Dubai. So, how does an agency go from seemingly humble beginnings to taking on the world in just six years?

Luxury and prestige brands have a global client base, and it can be a challenge targeting such an expansive audience. For Suzanne, finding this audience and, more importantly, reaching them with the right messaging is an ‘art form’ for which Relevance International has an unwavering passion. Growing a global presence is part of this challenge, and the new London location – coupled with an engaged affiliate network of publicists – aims to tackle it.

We’re delighted that Suzanne Rosnowski will be joining Vuelio for a live webinar on Tuesday 27 March, at 2pm (BST). She will tell us how she grew her agency for the global stage, how US PR differs from UK PR, and why she has her sights set on even more locations across the planet.

Sign up to the webinar here. Even if you can’t make it, we’ll send you the recording

Suzanne will also discuss the PR industry more broadly, and has a wealth of experience to talk with authority on everything from social media to the benefits of being a partner at a firm. We will be exploring a huge industry issue – the ethical dilemmas around paid/earned media, with Relevance’s position of not blending advertising and PR, part of their global approach. This is particularly significant when considering the rise of influencer marketing and paying for coverage.

The webinar will also include a live Q&A with the audience, so if you have any burning questions, and want answers from the top, this is the webinar for you.

Request a Quote

Travelling the world with Michael Huxley, Bemused Backpacker

PR Spotlight: Matt Cross, managing director, Hotwire UK

Monty Dogge at Crufts

Four Things: Project 84, Tommy Robinson, Julian Assange and BBC woes

The No.1 London Lifestyle Blogger: Angie Silver of Silverspoon London

London Lifestyle spotlight with Adrian York

Spring Forward: culture, confidence and choice

Food and Travel: Fiona Maclean, London-Unattached

PRmoment Awards 2018

Blogger Spotlight: Karen Beddow, Mini Travellers

Blogger Interview: Craig Landale, Menswear Style

Blogger Spotlight: Geoff Maxted, DriveWrite Automotive

What does it take to be a global PR?

Try it for yourself

Products

Industries

Press & Bloggers

Request a Quote

Try it for yourself

Subscribe to Vuelio newsletters!

Products

Industries

Press & Bloggers

Request a Quote