Great ad for EA produced by my friend Cat

Just a quick post to show you the brilliant EA ad produced by Cat Reynolds (my friend) for Dutch agency Wieden + Kennedy.

Gobbledygook manifesto

I have been wanting to share this ppt with you for ages. But I've been in internet hell for a month i.e. no broadband since August 14. Anyway, all sorted now. And now I can share this great "manifesto" by David Meerman Scott. It's a must-read for anyone responsible for writing copy for marketing materials or PR. And a great addition to the plain English campaign.

David aims to ban words such as "best-of-breed", "solution driven" and "world-class" from our writing as they are absolute drivel and mean nothing. His advice is similar to the plain English campaigners in that he recommends that we use simple language to describe our products and services. Language that everyone understands. He also highly recommends that we start with our buyers, not our products, when writing copy to show that we understand what our customers need. Complete common sense.

David's recommendations are, as you would expect, short and compelling. Click here to read his manifesto.

Lost in relocation

Apologies for not writing any posts for a few weeks. We've moved house and we're having difficulties with the internet providers. Their customer service and technical assistance has been ridiculously poor. We are currently questioning whether we should continue to use them. And have been lambasting them through WOM (word of mouth).

It's a reminder that while WOM can be great for spreading the word and promoting your products and services, it can also cause lots of damage to your brand. It's incredibly important to protect your brand every step of the way through excellent customer service and quality communications.

p.s. thanks to all the followers on Facebook. There is an extremely great new application called Network Blogs, which allows you to link your blog to your Facebook page. You can find more info at www.networkedblogs.com.

What form of media/advertising do consumers trust the most?

Sixty-nine percent of consumers still trust editorial content in newspapers more than most advertising including mobile ads, tv and radio ads, billboards, ads in search engines etc. Editorial content was fourth in the trust table behind recommendations from people I know (90%), brand websites (70%) and consumer opinons posted online (70%). The least trusted form of media/advertising was mobile ads at 24%.

The study was carried out by Neilson Online during their 2009 Global Online Consumer Survey.

Companies looking to build their reputation among their publics should aim to focus on the most trusted forms of media/advertising.

A good local example of PR

My favourite restaurant on Lamma Island, The Waterfront, had a kitchen fire a couple of months ago. Thankfully, no one was hurt but they had to close down the kitchen for a while. Meantime, they tried to keep business going by grilling steaks and salmon using an outdoor barbecue unit. This helped keep the interest of some of their loyal customers but about 75% of their diners disappeared.

They recently installed a new kitchen but diners did not return.

So last wednesday they decided to do something different to entice diners back. They had a curry night.They promoted the event on the island community blog http://www.lamma.com.hk/ and through word of mouth. Subsequently the restaurant was jam-packed on Wednesday. On the night, the owners also revealed that they were revamping their menu including introducing a regular bbq night on Monday's. And the owner, who we rarely saw before, came to each table and personally thanked everyone for coming back to the restaurant.

The Waterfront Restaurant through PR got their customers back. In simple terms, they had a crisis. They averted this crisis by making changes, they researched what customers wanted and delivered it. They then used the local online media tool read by their target audience to promote their new offering and thank their loyal customers. And then the owner engaged positively face-to-face with his audience on the night.

The food was delicious too.

WTF is Twitter and why should I care?

A really good presentation on Twitter for those who want to know more. That said, use Twitter carefully as a social marketing tool and make sure your target audience use it too before you embark on a campaign. Manage your reputation by keeping an eye on what is being said about your company on Twitter too..

WTF is Twitter and why should I care?

View more presentations from 3w pr .

Twitter is not for teens, Morgan Stanley told by 15-year-old expert

I love this story http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/13/twitter-teenage-media-habits. It's about Matthew Robson, a 15 year old boy, who while working for Morgan Stanley as a summer intern did a report on how teens use media.

Many people have questioned whether we should be listening to what a 15 year old says. But I actually think we should be listening to what 15 year olds are saying - they are after all a key audience for many marketeers and the drivers of future trends. (However, I do question the methodology used i.e. how many of his "friends" did he interview in order to make his research scientific)

The most controversial part of his research, which has got so many social media gurus knickers in a twist, is that he said that teenagers don't like, or use, twitter. Matthew says that most teenagers have signed up for the service but stopped using it when they realised no one really cared what they were tweeting! However, teenagers love facebook, and use it over four times per week, because it is highly engaging. Exactly how communications should be.

Read the actual report here http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/07/TEENAGERS1.pdf .