TalkTalk | Put Pocketing

TalkTalk launches PutPocketing - the art of putting money INTO people's pockets without them realising, using real ex-pickpockets.
Happening now on London streets until the end of August 2009 - then to be rolled out across the UK. Designed to give Britons something back, no strings attached...

First-ever VIP (video-in-print) promotion

CBS and Pepsi Max are embedding a video player in a print ad for the fall-TV-preview issue of Entertainment Weekly in September. That's right, it's a TV commercial inside a magazine. And it's a 40-minute commercial, consisting of clips from shows on CBS's fall schedule. They're calling it "the first-ever VIP (video-in-print) promotion." Opening the page pulls a little mechanism that causes the commercial to start after a five-second loading delay. Which gives you exactly enough time to think, "What the heck is with that tiny screen?" The video device is a quarter-inch thick and seen through a die cut that conceals a larger circuit board. The whole effect is considerably more impressive than the e-ink cover of Esquirelast year. Of course, due to the high cost, only a small number of issues in New York and Los Angeles will carry the ad. As a stunt, it's extremely effective. As a new form of media, it's dead out of the water without some more interactivity. It's too bad it can't respond to its environment and work together with an out-of-home campaign. But the future is coming. This is just one small step for media technology, but one giant leap toward my dream of auto-updating periodicals that can respond to nearby ads.

15 savage mistakes commonly made by PR folks

After reading about the Brody PR fail I thought I’d compile a list of common issues experienced by journalists when dealing with PR people.

A good PR makes things easy for journalists. They coordinate things behind the scenes. They follow up promptly on requests for further information or interviews. The understand the subject matter and how the journalist / publication plays a part in communicating news to a wider audience. And they do not try to pull the wool of your eyes.

A bad PR can be ill-informed, demanding, haughty, deceptive, intrusive, and sometimes plain idiotic.

So if you work in PR and want to improve your game then try to avoid any of the following. Any of these things will harm your personal reputation, and damage the chances of gaining coverage for your client.

BCC fail
This is an all-too-common scenario, and it’s not limited to junior PRs. Instead of using the BCC field when emailing a group of journalists / bloggers, the PR uses the CC field. As such you have revealed your media list to all recipients, and completely ignored privacy regulations. Sometimes journalists are so outraged that they Reply All, which only helps dig a deeper hole for the unfortunate PR.

Totally irrelevant content
Sending me a press release about semi-conductors isn’t going to cut it. We’re not into that kind of technology, and a few minutes checking out our blog would reveal as much. Over the years I’ve had releases relating to agriculture and pharmaceutical, neither of which remotely appeals...

No understanding about audience
An understanding of audience is crucial, before you start pitching to journalists. In our case, many of our members / readers have been with us for years. Some were working in the internet in the late-1990s, when we first launched our website. These people are not juniors! In our case we’re unlikely to teach people how to suck eggs. So emailing us ‘Why email matters!’ press releases isn't really going to grab our attention (nor that of our readers).

Impersonal emails
“Dear journalist.” FAIL! If in doubt, leave it out. Just push out the press release. Better still, open up with a paragraph, to explain the news in a sentence or two, and to introduce yourself if you’re new. It’s not rocket science to automate the personalisation of email, but I suggest a hand-written sentence or two to ‘tier one’ media for the best results.

PDFs / attachments
Why anybody emails press releases in PDF or Word format is totally beyond me. Answers on a postcard please. It is best to paste the press release into the body of the email. Make it easy for journalists to read them.

Weird formatting
The best example recently came from Lady Ga-Ga’s PR. Not content with telling me all about The Ga Ga, she decided to use five different colours in the email, as this rubbish photograph will show:

“Feel free”
You bastards know who you are. I absolutely loathe this phrase. “Feel free to add this to your blog!", "Feel free to post this video!", "Feel free to promote our viral!” I have previouslycomplained at length about this horrible, throwaway phrase. It sucks.

“Let me know if you post something!”
Are you kidding me? If you’re not into online reputation monitoring then you’re not much of a PR are you? Feeds, feeds, feeds. It is easier than ever to monitor your clients, brands and competitors online, so get to it! Do not expect journalists to tell you… they expect you to be tuned in, given that you reached out to them in the first place.

Lack of a decent response channel
Some of the bigger internet firms have a bad habit of pushing out news but having no real desire to develop a two-way communication. Be prepared for questions, if you email press releases to journalists. Make it easy for them to get in touch with you (and your executives). If your executives don’t want to talk about it then we can assume it’s no big deal.

Poor service
If you offer me an interview and the journalist accepts, then be sure to make it happen. We have somewhere between 30 and 50 interview requests in an average week, and we obviously can’t do them all. So whenever we agree to an interview let's make things happen.

Big Brother-style lurking
If you decide to sit in on conference calls or interviews then please remember who the journalist is trying to interview (clue: it isn’t you). PRs who try to step in and deviate the course of the interview are playing with fire. Brief your clients beforehand and give them – and the journalist – the space to have a proper, uninterrupted conversation.

‘Exclusive!’
The first thing I do when something is pitched as an ‘exclusive’ is to copy and paste some part of the release into Google. If I see it then it’s game over, no matter how big your news is. There are plenty of other things to write about. In any case, exclusivity is overrated these days. For my money it is all about ‘scoops of interpretation’.

‘Embargoed’
Ditto. And if you allow other publications to break your embargo, then I'll assume you have agreed that in advance and make a mental note for next time. As such I’m with Michael Arrington on this one.

PRspeak overkill
Jargon is one thing, and sometimes cannot be avoided, but telling me that a company is ‘leading’ or a service is ‘world class’ or an application is ‘mission critical’ makes me instantly doubt the validity of these claims. And any release that includes the word 'synergies' is immediately in a lot of trouble. See my Econusltancy Style Guide for a longer list of these terms.

CAPS LOCK SUBJECT LINES!
Hey, you know what? WRITING SUBJECT LINES AND HEADLINES IN CAPITCALS DOESN’T MAKE THEM ANY EASIER TO READ AND IT KINDA SOUNDS A BIT LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING AT ME AND CAPS ARE SEEN TO BE A BIT SPAMMY IN THE EYES OF THE AVERAGE EMAIL CLIENT AND AS SUCH MAY BYPASS THE INBOX ENTIRELY WHEN REALLY YOU SHOULD BE DOING ALL YOU CAN TO MAXIMISE DELIVERABILITY RATES GIVEN THAT YOU ARE THEORETICALLY AND EXPERT IN COMMUNICATIONS. See what I mean about readability?

50 Creative WWF Campaigns

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment. It is the world’s largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in more than 90 countries, supporting around 1300 conservation and environmental projects around the world. With the mission” to halt and reverse the destruction of our environment”, WWF is trying hard to make this world a better place.

To WWF, what’s important is to get their message passed to the public, and to arise the public awareness of the importance of protecting the nature. That’s why they rely heavily on advertisement. What we have collected here are some of the most powerful and eye-catching ads of WWF. They are all creative and well executed, and the message is clear. What it takes a make a great ads? Maybe you can learn something from the ads below.

Most of the the following WWF Campaigns can be found on Ads of the World. .

Turning off your TV, stereo and computer when not using them

Recycling glass, plastic, cardboard and paper

Choosing a hybrid or fuel efficient car

When you leave the light on, you’re not the only one who pays.

If we don’t stop global warming, nature will.

If we don’t stop global warming, nature will.

For once, the dark side saves the planet.

You can’t afford to be slow in an emergency. Act now for the planet.

You can’t afford to be slow in an emergency. Act now for the planet.

You can’t afford to be slow in an emergency. Act now for the planet.

Give a hand to wildlife.

Give a hand to wildlife.

Give a hand to wildlife.

For a living planet.

For a living planet.

Nature can’t be recycled.

Nature can’t be recycled.

Our life at the cost of theirs?

Our life at the cost of theirs?

Today on the coast of Galicia. Tomorrow on your plate.

Don’t buy exotic animal souvenirs.

The fate of the Indian Barasingha lies in your hands.

The fate of the Blue whale lies in your hands.

Save endangered animals before they disappear in front of your eyes.

Before it’s too late.

Deforestation in China threatens Giant pandas.

15km2 of rain forest disappears every minute.

Forests for life.

A single golf course sucks away 15.000 m3 of water!

Save trees. Save wildlife.

(Left)Stop climate change before it changes you.

(Right)The par: 200.000 trees! Building a single course puts thousands of trees at stake. Take action. Help us stop them.

A single tin of paint can pollute millions of litres of water.

A single can of dissolvent pollute millions of litres of water.

Save the world with a few coins. Donate at WWF.at

Save the world with a few coins. Donate at WWF.at

Save his life, save yourself.

Save his life, save yourself.

We are all together. Do your bit.

The future is man made.

The future is man made.

(Left)The first signs of global warming are now clealy visible.

(Right)Polluted river water kills as many people as a nuclear explosion.