December update!

It’s been a busy couple of months since our last blog post, chock-a-block with great PR and marketing activity. We’ve been working our little socks off, and we’re really pleased with what we’ve achieved, so we thought we’d let you all know what we’ve been up to!

We’ve had two busy launches with TeamSport, with fantastic new tracks opening in both Acton and Reading. Both tracks are already proving popular with journalists and local karting enthusiasts alike, and it looks like it’s going to be a jam-packed Christmas period for everyone at TeamSport.

We’ve had a number of exciting developments with Forces War Records. In September they launched their Forces DNA service, which allows members of the public to find out more about their ancestry going back many generations. We even tested Rory Bremner’s DNA and found that he had Middle Eastern family members in generations past.

The guys over at Forces War Records have also been busy transcribing and digitising thousands of records from a collection of over 1.5 military hospital records. To celebrate the release of these records, TV historian Neil Oliver helped us explain the records to people all over the country in a very successful radio day (over 150 pieces of broadcast coverage!)

We’ve also helped provide historical information and insights to a number of stories over the last couple of months with great results. In fact, we even got a sneak preview of Sainsbury’s beautiful World War 1 themed Christmas advert when they asked FWR for their thoughts.

Closer to home we’ve also been helping launch the new The North Face and Timberland store in Guildford. We started out with a bang with a joint event with the Guildford Book Festival; we managed to entice Griff Rhys Jones into the store, and he gave a great talk about his new book.

Since the event we’ve been keeping our foot on the pedal with regular railway station concourse take-overs, promotional events on Guildford High Street and three very popular competitions. We also took over social media promotion for the store, with successful campaigns both on Twitter and Facebook.

With Christmas fast approaching we’ve managed to squeeze in a lot of preparation for our newest client; The Live-In Homecare Information Hub, a group of 13 of the UK’s leading live-in homecare providers. Homecare offers a real alternative to residential and nursing care. Our clients feel so passionately about what they do that they have put competition aside to promote this little known service together.

Together we’ve developed a beautiful logo and informative website: www.stayinmyhome.co.uk. We’ve also started up a Twitter account as a platform to promote all the good work they’re doing to those making decisions about the care of elderly relatives.

PRCA Audit Success

More great news at The View headquarters this week: we have just passed our biennial PRCA audit. The Public Relations Consultants Association has a strict control process to make sure that all their members reach the very highest standards. This means that we are working in ways which are efficient, effective, properly run, fair and accountable. Which is wonderful news all round!

The Communications Management Standard (CMS) is the accepted kitemark of PR excellence and professionalism.  Independently audited, it was created by the PRCA in 1997 and it is based on ISO 9001 and Investors In People, with criteria specifically tailored to the needs of public relations consultancies.

Lovely news for the weekend!

Blackadder goes forth into vodcasts!

We just couldn’t resist blogging again to share the exciting news that the podcast we created for our recent Blackadder story for our client Forces War Records has gone live. You can find it in a number of places online, now including here! Hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did. 

The Alternative View

Looking at our namesake across the pond, The View, US-stylee, is still making waves following Barack Obama's appearance on the show last week.

Very witty blog from The Guardian's Richard Adams: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/jul/29/barack-obama-the-view-live - and the show itself, if you have the time to view... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4kqk7bg15I

What next - The Brokeback Coalition on Loose Women?

Planning & PR

By Andrew Serednyj, 15 March 2010

In much of the recent comment on the integration of ad agency styled planning into PR, the focus has been on the outputs. Having a planner in a PR agency naturally means better creative ideas and better evaluation.

Where there has been little comment is on how? What do planners do in a PR agency? And how does it change the traditional working practices and thinking of the agency?

An uncharitable view might be that PR agencies carry on working the way they always have done, but the addition of some clever thinking, talking and arguing will allow them to sell more interesting work and will naturally mean better evaluation.

The thing is; this isn’t how things work.

Firstly you need to distinguish between having a planning culture and just having planners. If nothing changes apart from some people called planners wandering around the agency, guess what, nothing changes.

Secondly it means having everyone at the agency adopting a new mindset. There is a tendency in PR to go straight from brief to execution without pausing for thought. For a planner to do some useful work they have to create a pause for thought. Whether it’s through the introduction of formal creative briefs or some other device, planning has to disrupt the traditional way of operating to give itself a chance of working.

Thirdly it should mean that the expectations of what planning helps to deliver in PR agencies, is properly presented. The sole aim of a planner is to produce more effective communications that address client problems and consumer needs. That’s it. If it’s a coupon promotion in The Daily Star that works, or a live webcast with your brand and Lady Gaga atop Big Ben that works, I don’t care as long as it works.

Having a clear picture of what ‘works’ allows you the chance to evaluate results properly. Evaluation is not about finding some kind of silver bullet of analytical veracity. The primary element that planning can add is by setting out objectives for activity that are clear, unique and therefore more likely to be measurable.

Planning has to make a difference to the PR agency before it can make a difference to the product of that agency.

Of course the easiest way of doing this for a planner is to start your own PR agency.