Case study: HMV’s Twitter #Fail
Top creative PR campaigns
Fabulous presentations!
Working with slum kids in Kenya a humbling experience
UNICEF Sweden hits out at “slacktivists”
Last week UNICEF in Sweden launched a new social media campaign and TV commercial entitled “Likes Don’t Save Lives”.
The campaign hits out at people who are quite happy to “like” and share pictures and videos, but not willing to part with any cash. As the video with Rahim and his brother highlights – for only 49 SEK (that’s $7.50 USD) they can vaccinate 12 children against Polio.
Definitely a creative twist for an NGO – it will be interesting to hear about if this campaign has actually increased their donations in UNICEF Sweden.
If you are inspired to be more than a “slacktivist” and help out children in need, I’m climbing Kilimanjaro this July to raise money for the orphans from HHFL in Nairobi, Kenya. We’re setting up a scholarship fund for this kids to help pay for them to go to university. My donation link is here: http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=24587
How to quit your job and create a buzz on social media
This week, Chris Holmes, a UK border force agent at Stansted Airport, handed in his resignation on a cake. As you can read on the cake, he decided to leave the Border Force to focus on his new budding cake business that he’s been building up in his spare time. He handed in his resignation cake on 15 April 2013 and the image of the cake went immediately viral. His brother in law posted the cake image to his followers on Twitter and it was picked up and shared by users all around the world. The story of the unique style of resignation went from Twitter shares to attracting the attention of the world’s media as well, with press coverage in the Guardian, Huffington Post, MSN.com, BBC, ABC, the Herald Tribune in Australia, etc.
In this instance, it was a pretty creative way to generate publicity for his new business - although he probably didn’t think about it at the time. According to media reports he’s had plenty of enquiries for baking cakes and his employer seems to be very positive as well: “he leaves with our very best wishes,” said the assistant director of the Stansted Border Force.
Chris Holmes’ resignation cake
A creative anti-smoking campaign
Top marks to the Thai Health Promotion Foundation that recently produced a video to get people to stop smoking. Instead of bombarding smokers with lots of negative messages that they already knew – they used children to help deliver the message. In the video you’ll see young children go up to smokers and ask if they could have a cigarette. All of the smokers refused to give the kids a cigarette and rolled off lots of reasons why they shouldn’t smoke. Pretty strong stuff. Check out the video:
What not to do in a crisis: spokesperson gaffes
For many spokespeople it’s their worst nightmare – having to communicate terrible news and face up to the media who are looking to find a story or lay blame on the company or organisation. Some spokespeople are better than others – some are unflappable – even in the worst possible crises, while others crumble as soon as the tough questions start to come. Any decent PR person would recommend that their spokespeople have regular media training and if there is a crisis that crops up, this should be urgently repeated before stepping in front of the camera. Here’s some examples of spokespeople that didn’t follow those examples. Read more 
Understanding cultural differences
Working in a very international environment, I’ve had the opportunity to experience the unique cultural dos and don’ts from many countries. Whenever I start working in a new country or market I spend lots of time researching the market, the culture, the business culture and of course the history. All of this makes it easier to work in the environment – whether it’s for a few days or a couple of months.
Getting creative with deodorant
Hats off to Nivea in Germany who recently ran a pretty creative PR stunt at an airport in Germany called the “Stress Test”. Read more
Creativity in the air
We’ve all sat on airlines and ignored the safety briefings. After all there are only so many times that you can watch the same video. Well, Air New Zealand seems to have cracked it. Start it off with some pretty beautiful New Zealand scenery, a few boy scouts and Bear Grylls – the famous British adventurer. Take a look - would you pay attention to your safety briefing?
Last year they also put together a clever briefing based on the Hobbit:
Social media: the latest trends
A few weeks ago, I sat down with Stuart Bruce, one of the world’s leading social media experts, to talk about all things social media. Have a look at our chat to hear Stuart’s thoughts on some of the latest trends, and what you can expect to learn in one of the social media courses that Pinnacle runs.
Communicating breast cancer awareness in the Gulf countries
Why a single month is not enough to promote breast cancer awareness
I’ve wanted to write about breast cancer awareness month for the past six weeks, but have been unable to find the right thing to say about it until today. My reason for wanting to write about breast cancer awareness month is personal: I was diagnosed with breast cancer six months ago and have just finished my treatment. I kept news of my cancer diagnosis quiet until my treatment was over. I finished radiation treatment in October 2012 and I am now back at work. There were two articles that appeared in the UAE’s National newspaper this week which have given me inspiration to write about this horrible disease from an area that I know well – the communications perspective. One article in the UAE’s National Newspaper reported that women in the UAE are not getting screened soon enough and if they do get screened many are not coming for follow-up appointments when requested, thus increasing the likelihood of their cancer becoming terminal.
Although breast cancer awareness month is in October, an ongoing communications and public information campaign is needed year-long in the UAE.
PR in the UAE: how much do you get paid?
Dubai is big draw (and a well-paid environment) for PR practitioners to work in.
Fabric Recruitment, the London and Dubai-based PR recruitment consultancy, has just released its 2012 salary survey for the UAE-based PR industry. The survey has been released through the Middle East PR Association (MEPRA) and looks at only jobs in the PR consultancy world in the UAE. Nothing new or surprising – salaries appear to have stayed relatively the same over the past three or four years. Salaries in the UAE are calculated monthly in UAE dirham. Roles in Abu Dhabi can pay slightly more than in Dubai, while a job in Qatar will pay relatively the same as in the UAE. PR jobs in Saudi Arabia pay more than in the UAE, but this fluctuates with supply and demand. Here’s a summary of the findings: Read more