Check out the clever video below produced by Carlsberg featuring a cinema full of rough and scary looking bikies.

This type of stunt is not necessarily new, Heineken did something fairly similar not that long ago, which you can see at the bottom of this post.

Though just because it isn’t new doesn’t mean it isn’t successful or effective. For the fraction of the cost it would have taken to create an advertisement, not to mention the spend required to buy media, this clever stunt has generated in excess of 2.7 million views. It only went up a week ago, so this number will likely grow albeit at a slower pace! This number also doesn’t include the additional buzz traditional media and the blogosphere would have created. Check out a small snapshot of the additional buzz on Google.

Regardless of the fact that in retrospect coming up with an idea like this seems simple, I can guarantee it isn’t. Good work Carlsberg – a good fun and effective stunt.

Henieken’s similar stunt, which must be noted has only 900K views:

Keeping up with the scale of the internet and its associated stats and facts is a daunting task. In an attempt to simplify some of the data  OnlineSchools.org have prepared a pretty stunning infographic.

I love infographics generally, but this one is extra special special because it is interactive. Once loaded it will calculate how many new internet users there are in the world, the number of new websites being created and even how many dollars have been spent on e-commerce since the page was loaded last.

I have been banging on to colleagues and anyone else that will listen for some time now about the opportunity infographics represent for PRs. They are the ideal way to communicate complex information in a compelling and highly consumable way that is perfect for web consumption. In my opinion every survey or research media release should be accompanied by an infographic to bring the stats to life. There are additional thoughts and examples of infographics on the Edelman Digital blog.

Check out the interactive State of the Internet Infographic here, or simply marvel at its non interactive beauty below.

Hat tip to Digital Buzz Blog where I saw this first.

New business presentations, whether you agree with them or not, are very much a reality for just about every advertising, PR and media agency.

I reckon over the course of my career I have been involved in maybe 60 or more new business pitches and that numbers increases every single week.

Thankfully I have not won every pitch I have been involved in. I say thankfully because I have learnt something valuable from every single loss. So much so in fact that now I am in the fortunate position that I am winning more pitches than I lose.

In preparation for addressing a group of Newcastle University students this week, I developed a presentation focussing on what makes a good new business pitch. You can check it out below, but in case you don’t have the time to read it all below are my top tips.

Tips for winning new business

The most important point:

• Realise that the client will most likely buy the best new business performance, not the best agency

I have learnt this stuff because I have been privileged enough to work with some of the best in the business when it comes to winning new business. These people include:

• Michelle Hutton – CEO Edelman Australia
• Chris Savage – CEO STW
• Samantha Allen – Global MD Consumer Practice Ogilvy PR

I also learnt a tonne reading this book - Stop Bitching and Start Pitching by Marty Kellard and  Ian Elliot.

If you have additional suggestions for winning new business, or you disagree with any of my comments I would love to receive your feedback in the comment box.

Does the potential of a PR crisis played out in the modern social media environment keep you up at night? If so, this post and the presentation, created in conjunction with Edelman crisis management expert Grant Smith, at the bottom may provide some guidance.

Managing Crisis in the Digital Age

Last week I was invited to present on the topic of Managing crisis in the digital age at the PR and Communications’ the Future of Social Media Forum.

The event was a three day conference for people in the PR and marketing industries and  included presentations from the likes of Gavin Heaton (servant of Chaos), Ian Lyons (who I had never met before), Alexandra Kentman (who I sadly missed) and fellow PR agency staffer Dan Young.

The presentation in summary:

The context:

• Social media in and of itself is not the cause of crisis, it is merely a vehicle that people use to communicate about or learn of a crisis
• Social media has, however, changed fundamentally the speed of response required to get on top of a crisis at the early stages and requires constant responses throughout the crisis

• Organisations need a way to identify the differentiate between an issue and a crisis. An issue is unfortunate, a crisis prevents business as usual
• Crisis communication is part of the solution, but it isn’t the solution. An organisation’s (note I am not saying the PR person’s here) primary focus should be on finding the source of the crisis and fixing it

What do you think? Do you agree? Is there anything you would add to my advice?

Heineken’s Facebook Page has hit the 1 million member mark. In celebration of this milestone, the company sent out a team of Heineken Huggers onto the streets of Amsterdam. According to the YouTube video they hope to get to everybody eventually. I have just hit ‘Like’ on the page.

This is a great example of online driving, real world experiences, which in turn feed back into online buzz.

Nicely done Heineken.

I saw the video below on Lee Hopkin’s blog by Box HIll TAFE today and couldn’t resist sharing it here.

I love how videos like this can break down a bunch of stats into something entertaining. I am so not talented in this area. if I attempted to make something similar it would likely look like a series of moving PPT slides. If you can do this, and are looking for a start in agency land get in touch. I may some work for you.

Wow they sure don’t make crises like they used to. In days gone by they used to say that the first you heard of a crisis was when a journalist called you up to find out more details on the reason why one of your employees was drunk when he crashed a company vehicle. Nowadays by the time a journalist has called 40,000 or so people will have seen and shared the twitpic taken by a passer-by of your drunken driver stumbling from the crash.

A true modern digital crisis is currently unfolding for AFL players St Kilda team Capt Nick Riewoldt and teammates Nick Dal Santo and Zac Dawson after a series of naked photos of the players have been posted on the previously unknown Kim Duthie’s Facebook page. As expected the story went viral, very quickly, both in social and traditional mediums.

Following the posting of the first images mainstream media coverage started appearing on 19 December and the media storm continued throughout the day of 20 December. According to Google News there are currently 878 articles on the scandal. I expect this to continue to grow rapidly in the next 48 hours. The graph below highlights the growth of the story.

Facebook has closed down Kim’s page, but it hasn’t stopped her getting her side of the story out. No sooner had her account been closed than she turned her attention to Twitter where she has furiously been posting and responding to tweets throughout the day.

Today, 21 December, the story was a top news item across the nation. She has conducted radio and broadcast interviews, but what is most interesting for me is the way Kim has used traditional media to launch her own content channels, namely Twitter (she has increased her following by 3,359, in the last 24 hours) and most recently Ustream, where she rebutted the tone of the media interviews appearing late today on the validity of the story.

According to some quick research conducted on Tweetreach tweets that mention her Twitter handle have now reached a potential audience of 101,000 people – those are mainstream reach. What you also have to keep in mind is that traditional media have never mentioned her name. So tweets referencing her Twitter handle have solely been because people have sought additional coverage on social media.

To the likely detriment of all involved, the media cycle in this instance will be determined not just by the traditional media, but also by Kim on her own platforms. I have a feeling this story has quite a bit more to run yet.

What can be learned from this from a PR point of view? Below are a few tips from me on managing crisis in the digital age:

1. Monitor the web constantly – the traditional media was tipped off to this story because it appears Kim approached a series of papers with the photos first. There are plenty of cases where this isn’t the case. Monitoring to identify peaks in conversation will ensure you are aware of potential crisis hopefully before it hits the mainstream media.
2. Pre-crisis prepare your messaging – have pre-prepared media statements that can be adapted for media, Facebook, Twitter and launch these quickly. It took St Kilda until around 2.00 pm on 20 December to get a statement up to a story that broke in the last hours of 19 December – too long in the modern hype cycle.
3. Consider a dark site – having a site that can quickly be turned on in times of crisis can be invaluable. During the recent Gulf of Mexico oil disaster BP dedicated their entire home page to the crisis. St Kilda could have befitted from a similar approach. Despite the media statement currently being the top news item you could argue that the media response should be the only thing the St Kilda website is focussed on communicating presently. The decision to post a story about the cheer squad during this scandal is a strange on in my mind. Less strange and just unfortunate is the fact the advertisement featuring Reiwold is still showing on the St Kilda website.
4. Realise that anyone can cause a storm – typically the way a journalist’s enquiries or complaint about an organisation are handled and that of the public is radically different. Until a few days ago Kim was a nobody. Today she is an individual with a series of powerful content platforms and a traditional media following her every move. Treat everybody with a certain level of respect, you never know when an individual will become the next social media megastar – remember United Breaks Guitars?
5. Build it before you need it – it is always tough to build a social presence for response purposes when the crisis has already hit. Also don’t abandon during the crisis. St Kilda has made only made a handful of tweets since the story has broken and have not responded to any questions or messages of support from fans on Twitter or Facebook.

What do you think of the tips above? ? On the whole I think St Kilda and the AFL have done a good job of managing this, so don’t read these as solutions for this particular crisis. More observations and tips in general. Do you have other suggestions?

The card above was sent to me by the nice people at Optus’s Social Media team – Julz in particular. As you can see this is no mass mail out.

In my books this card is bloody good customer service and is indicative of the way Optus engages with its customers more broadly. Tweets I have sent Julz and the team requesting assistance, during office hours, are typically responded to within 30 minutes. Though the good service also extends beyond the social media team. The call centre staff are some of the best I have dealt with. If the issue cannot be fixed in the first call the consultant tells you when they will be working next and commit to come back to you personally. That makes a big difference to me and ensures I don’t have to repeatedly talk the consultant through the issue.

Obviously Optus isn’t the only company that has excellent customer service or a social media contact team, but I thought this was pretty special. It certainly made me feel special.

Thanks Julz and Optus – keep up the good work.

There’s nothing like flicking through the old family albums to give the laughing muscles a work out. In homage to this age old pastime, Virgin America has teamed up with the popular blog Awkward Family Photos (AFP) to promote its new air route to Orlando.

The premise is simple; upload your very own awkward family photo to AFP and you will receive 33.3% off your next trip to Orlando. As further enticement, Virgin America is offering four major prizes of roundtrip tickets to anywhere the airline flies for the best photos as voted by the Awkward Family Photos audience.

I love this promotion. A nice break form the normal Facebook/Twitter combo

Oh you’re still here? I thought you would be off scouring your old family photos already.

This post was originally written for and posted on the new Edelman Australia blog, but we’re not quite ready for that to fully go live yet. Stay tuned.

This week I had the honour of presenting to PR students at the University of Newcastle (my old university) on the topic of working in a PR agency. Above is the presentation I gave. It was intended to be light-hearted and was pitched assuming minimal knowledge of the agency environment. The simple reason for this is that when I was at uni I had no idea about what a PR agency did or how it all worked.

I often get asked what skills you should have to get a job in PR and how you go about getting a job at an agency. My advice typically covers the following points:

• Do work experience - every junior hire we make is via work experience, I know of almost no exceptions to this. If you want to get a job in a PR agency the best route is to identify the agencies you would like to work for and approach them about work experience opportunities.
• Know the media – understand the media. Watch all the television news regularly and not just the news you like. Understand the difference between ABC, Ten and SBS. Read the papers and not just the one you like best. Know the difference between the tabloids and broadsheets, understand the difference between the SMH and The Australian. Listen to the radio, think about the stories they cover. Read online voraciously. Google News is a good start. It provides a good overview of the Australian landscape but also gives an insight into international media too.
• Read and comment on blogs – read PR, marketing, social media and other personal interest blogs. Understand how writing for a blog differs from a traditional media outlet. Make sure you comment and engage. The beauty of blogs is that it is about  a two way conversation. Take part and enjoy the benefits. This post by the PR Warrior Trevor Young provides a good overview of some blogs to get started with. The fact I am listed in hist post is not the only reason I suggest following his advice either.
• Understand how Facebook can be used to build a community – Facebook is a brilliant platform for sharing photos and staying up to date with your friends, but it can also be a platform for building a community around a particular topic, brand or passion point. Join and analyse some of the Facebook pages of your favourite brands. In fact why not try it for yourself? Set up a page for your football club, your university club or other organisation.
• Have a digital footprint – I always perform a Google search when I receive a new CV. What will I see if I search for your name? Having a blog is one of the most obvious ways to grow your personal brand. Your traffic will not be high to start with, but it is not about traffic rather is more about having your thoughts and opinions there when someone searches. If having a blog is too daunting Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are easier places to start. For extra points you may want to start building an understanding of basic SEO and HTML. Check out my advice on growing your personal brand online.
• Get a university degree - having a university degree is one of the things I look at. A comms degree is the obvious choice, but really I am not all that fussed what degree you have. The reason I mention a degree is because it shows you understand how to research, know how to form and present an opinion and perhaps most importantly can stick at something and get it finished without having someone looking over your shoulder. Having said that I have also worked with some amazing people that don’t have a degree.
• Get involved and help a local charity - if you are a PR student odds are you already know a lot more about PR than the average punter. Why not volunteer some of your time to a local charity to assist them with their PR and social media planning. The experience you gain will likely be invaluable and will make a difference for a needy charity.
• The marketing mix is converging, so understand the whole marketing mix – gone are the days of clearly defined roles between marketing functions. Media, advertising, digital and PR agencies are all increasingly offering similar services as the roles blur. The more you know about all these disciplines the better.
• Finally, be creative in getting people’s attention - PR agencies receive a lot of CVs each and every day, so think about how you can stand out from the rest of the pack. Rebecca Griffith from the University of Wollongong got my attention by posting a job request on the Mumbrella job boards and this effort by an advertising hopeful in America is brilliant.

This is just my advice. What other tips should we be giving to students and others looking to start a career in PR?