Good Noise

We are the Champions!

Last night was a great night. Even I, the grumpiest man alive cheered and whooped!

Resonate won the Media Guardian's Best PR Campaign of the Year for our work with the New Football Pools.

It was a great evening. At Sketch in London's swanky West End, with pod toilets, cheese toasties made to look like black cherry gateaux and more sweet, sticky cocktails than you could ever want.

But, much to Lisa's excitement, Lauren Laverne was hosting. As Lisa got to the stage, she told Lauren she was more excited in meeting her than winning the award! If was Lauren, I'd take out a restraining order, quick!

After copious amounts of booze and nibbles, we ended up at Lucky Voice, screaming until the wee hours of the morning.

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm not sentimental, but I am filled with pride. The team did a fantastic job on this campaign, just as all the teams do on all our work. So special thanks goes to: Graham, Nicola, Gavin, Lisa, Charlotte and Lewis.

I did go to on of the rehersals to hold the clients hand - so hoorah to me!

But seriously, all the teams at Resonate are exceptional and through good and bad, we are all focused on delivering for our clients.


WINNERS! And Lisa going to stroke Lauren's hair.......scary......










Ah, that's what the lipstick was for......
 















And look at what our very generous colleague, Claire Cater, bought us.....YUM! Thanks Claire.

Ghostbuster Beatbox 118 118

Twitter: interesting phenomenon! What's it there for, what's it useful for?

Whatever it was created for, I see there are a couple of key uses - this isn't rocket science but more of an overview for those who don't use it - and there lots out there.

If you're an interesting person of some notoriety doing interesting things then its an opportunity for fans to get closer.
Its a useful early warning system with more and more services using it to quickly communicate current service status.
Its a quick way to share information via links, within an interested community.
The most interesting is asking questions. I've been in several situations where a quick tweet has given a great spread of opinion and answers from followers who I respect.
I should note, my respect is built from who they are connected too and from what they are saying, not just because they follow me!

Twitter is not about just writing lots of tweets which no one reads. It then seems a waste of time and a mere ego massage.

There are lots of PRs using Twitter. There are those who use it to communicate with the media - nice! Then there are those who just use it to 'sell' what they are doing - not so nice! Then there are those who are on it because they've been told to and have no idea what to say - that's just ugly!

So what do I use it for:

1. Asking questions, I recently made a laptop buying decision based on Twitter feedback and conversations.
2. Interesting articles and commentary - its often a great source of pitch info.
3. Direct messaging. Being true to my nick name - I don't like long winded messages to people. Twitter has given me the perfect tool to talk to people but am very restricted to the length and depth of the conversation - perfect!

Posted by GrumpyPRGit

Serious Business

Monday 23rd Feb 9pm: Abbie and I have just been to the most bonkers beauty event. The premise is to take samples of products and vote for what you like once you've tried and tested.

The CEW Beauty Awards Demonstration Event started at 6.30pm yet as we arrived at 6.40pm people were leaving laden with bags of products! 400 beauty people and journos with sharp elbows and long arms!

The hall was a sea of black clothes and blonde hair all on a mission. All (very well made-up with gorg hair) women apart from some male demonstrators and the security (and Dominic one of the organisers). 4 aisles of tressle tables with a different product to sample every half meter. I got carried along at one point, my little feet not touching the floor. I even saw one glamorous lady go back and ask for more bags to fill.

As newbies, Abbie and I had prepared by taking business cards and ready to make new friends. We then timidly approached the 'desks' and listened to the chat and took the press releases whilst hands flew across us whipping products away... 'Oh sorry all the product just went' one demonstrator said 'would you like another press release'!!

Next year its rucksacks at the ready, flat shoes, freshly sharpened elbows, tips from the rugby boys and we are on the doorstep at 6.00pm.

I'm still shell shocked. The bag I have is resting and I know I have come home with things I never knew existed or needed... 'beautiful breast serum' anyone??!

Posted by The Street

Media Guardian Award!

Hooray! Resonate have been shortlisted for a 2009 Media Guardian Award. 

Our work on The New Football Pools Ballet is one of three campaigns shortlisted for the most innovative PR Campaign.

This category rewards the most innovative PR campaign for any product or service. Whilst the winner selection will be driven by a creative, pioneering approach to PR, some attention will be given to the effectiveness of the campaign.

Results are announced on 24 March.

Something to shout about

At Resonate, we're all about Good Noise, and not just for our clients. We like to shout about ourselves too.

Check us out showcasing our finest at the new PR Week Agency Showcase

Crispy

Crisps, I just love them. Always have and always will. Even my memories are tied up in crisp flavours. My early years (5 – 11) could be called the Worcestershire Sauce years, from 11 – 13 it was the Pickled Onion revolution, 13 – 18 saw a passion for strong Salt and Vinegar. University bought great change to my life and my taste buds followed, Wotsits became the order of the day.

Today, older, wiser and more cautious about the affects of crisps on my waist I look for my crisp kicks in Chilli flavoured potatoes.

So, its no surprise I love the Walkers Do us a Flavour campaign.

Those clever folk from Leicester know how to get the snack world talking. By giving the public a chance to create, vote and win from a new flavour they have sparked a passionate debate and generated great warmth to their brand.

In the interests of public safety I have tried all the new flavours and while finding a few of them a bit, well, rubbish I did enjoy the taste bud challenge.

The folk at Walkers have cleverly captured this taste testing and snack fan conversation across the nation with a fantastic website to register your flavour votes.

Never have I been so attracted to voting (take note politicians the way to entice me is dress up as Squirrels). They have used humour and panache to engage with consumers.

This campaign will win awards for all those involved, but the reality is whoever came up with the original idea and the bravery of the team at Walkers who chose to embark on such a big / expensive campaign deserve the plaudits here.

The ad, the PR, the online mechanisms, the whole marketing mix is superb but when you have a great idea and product to work off, a big budget and a brave client everyone is always going to be a winner. See Bring Back Wispa and you catch my drift.

Anyway, here’s the results of my taste test.

1. Cajun Squirrel – Tangy and tasty. May start chasing squirrels around the garden

2. Onion Bhaji – Good but could be a bit more oniony

3. Crispy Duck and Hoisin – Could have been a winner but a nasty after taste

4. Builders Breakfast – Just tooooo Eggy

5. Chilli and Chocolate - Wrong

6. Fish and Chips – Smells like rotten fish and probably taste like it too

Has anyone seen Walkers Max Salt and Vinegar lately?

Posted by Gavin

The New Business Hunt

I've never been one for fox hunting - the blood, the guts, the speed of the chase, the elation when the fox is being ripped apart or the frustration when it disappears down a hole out of reach. Yet this is the life I lead every day - I just don't have to wear silly boots and jodpurs (sadly)!

I can empathise with both sides - sometimes I feel like I'm riding high on a mighty steed and other times running scared and hiding out of sight.

The fate of any agency rests on its ability to win new business - be it from existing clients or new ones. Its relentless.

After what feels like several decades of being in the saddle, as well as having bad saddle sores, I still can't get over the emotional journey of every pitch. You get excited, gee everyone up, brainstorm, strategise, create, get the downer when it all looks crap, re-edit, rehearse, present it, then either congratulate or cry.

Then the fun begins. Picking over the dead carcass of the pitch - what was good what wasn't, what did or didn't answer the brief. Me and my esteemed colleague, The Street, quickly persuade ourselves (literally within minutes) that all is lost - a sad and blatant defence mechanism to soften the blow.

The waiting begins and as time unravels there is an ongoing substantiation of why we wouldn't want the business anyway.

Finally the result is in - if we win it’s a quick climatic hurumph and onto the next one. If we loose, it’s a rather more slow, painful autopsy of pages of what instantly is irrelevant.

Exhausted yes, but it’s like an addiction. Maybe it’s the same as fox hunting and why some are so passionate about the outdated sport - you know it’s bad and unfair, but you just can't help doing it.

It’s what gets you're heart racing and you can only enjoy the highs when you've endured the lows.

Posted by GrumpyPRGit

Grumpy PR Git

I had an argument with a colleague a couple of weeks ago about 'digital PR'. We, as an agency have been working on-line ever since we started in 2003. All our content is pushed out into the on as well as off line environments.

Over the years we've either brokered partnerships or had clients from most of the prolific social media and search engine players. But most of our clients, including the internet ones, still measure success by traditional coverage. So when I asked - 'are we really utilising all new digital avenues?' Its no surprise that I was greeted with some confusion and a commentary listing the last 5 years digital results, awards and positive client feedback.

This is my issue. We all know about the proliferation of channels and convergence of media. We all know about the influence of the internet, the compelling examples of millions of dollars being wiped off of share prices because of one leaked memo or a short clip on YouTube. But is the PR world (or at least in the UK) really equipped to monetise the digital arena?

I watch the space closely, I see others either opening digital departments, making acquisitions from the digital design and strategy space or indulge in high profile hires. But does any of this really work? I see that is serves either as an add on that never really integrates or just expensive window dressing. In my, somewhat uneducated opinion - you can talk strategy till the cows come home but the real value only comes when you're in the space - not on the side lines talking a good game, but centre field participating in the match (if you know me, the fact I've used a football analogy is odd). And this just comes with a bit of confidence and a slightly cavalier attitude.

As PR people we are trained to find the client's story, what will motivate someone else to write about it - I hate being in-front of the camera, that's why I'm in PR, so I can stand behind it and tell someone else what to say. So suddenly, to be in the game, we have to look to ourselves, put our own opinions out there - engage our peers on what we think, not what our clients think. This is harder than it sounds. Even writing this I'm tempted to talk about our 'ground breaking work' or our 'fantastic clients'! But you can go to our website or see our glossy credentials for that - our carefully manicured 'shop window'. Added to the confidence needs to be some staying power - it was a massive eye opener for a 'twitterholic' friend, that an intelligent and savvy colleague couldn't work out how to login to Twitter. But the truth is, it's not second nature to the majority, hence you need to stay with it and loose yourself in the myriad of communities and sites to really get to grips with it all.

Only once you've had a go yourself can you start to understand where the real opportunities are and how you can make money from it!

Stop talking and waiting just dive in and do it!

Posted by GrumpyPRGit