A couple of weeks ago I posted an article discussing how traditional PR is dead and today’s Google Chrome announcement only furthers my belief that PRs must continue to looks at new and interesting ways of communicating to the media and consumers.
Google has pulled off, in my opinion, a mini masterstroke by announcing its new browser through a cartoon. Why? Well for a start it’s much more interesting than a press release. But, more importantly look at how the story is being reported, there are just as many blog posts and news articles discussing the cartoon as the product itself.
The cartoon does nothing more than communicate the key messages and features of Google Chrome but by packaging it in an interesting and unique way, (all of) those messages are reaching the end-user. By discussing or even posting scans of the cartoon the media are doing the equivalent of reprinting a press release.
I don’t think we can all go start sending out cartoons to journalists, we can’t lose sight that the Google brand and this particular announcement carries a fair amount of weight with the media. However, we shouldn’t be afraid of exploring new ways of engaging journalists and consumers, especially now that Google has given us the perfect case study.
I get a little bit of stick in the office for being a self-confessed techy but more and more I am finding an array of software, websites, gadgets and tools that allow me to stay one step ahead in the fast-paced world of PR
I thought I would compile a selection of things I kit myself out with to make me a little more PR 2.0:
1. Firefox & add-ons: I took the plunge with Firefox earlier this year and have never looked back. Aside from the speed, stability and usability it provides it also allows you to install add-ons and plug-ins to tailor the software. Pertinent to this post include:
- LinkedIn Companion: Allows me to keep access and my business network at the click of a button (Disclaimer: LinkedIn is an H&K client)
- Foxmarks: Invaluable for working between the office and home. Synchronises your bookmarks across computers so you never have to find that obscure news article you saved during some late night surfing
- Googlepedia: Displays a Wikipedia article next to your Google searches. Excellent resource and time-saver when doing desk research
- Cooliris: Fantastic tool for some one-man creative thinking. Turn your PC into a mood-board in seconds
- TwitterFox: I can’t remember the last time I visited Twitter.com. Tweet and access your feeds from the comfort of your toolbar
- Brief RSS Reader: I know a lot of people like Google Reader but I actually prefer this reader. It’s quick, intuitive and allows me track my 70+ feeds easily
2. Google Alerts: An absolute must for any PR worth their salt. Say goodbye to emails from clients that start, “Did you not see this article?”
3. Factiva Alerts: If you do have access to Factiva you’ll know it provides a useful if not limited service. People tend to overlook its alert service though, which I have found very good. I have it setup to send me an overview email of relevant news articles every morning at 8am. A good indication of what’s on your clients’ agendas that day
4. Mobile Internet / TV: I check the news on a regular basis either through Orange’s WAP site or via Sky News through Orange’s 3G mobile TV service (£5 per month). Increasingly useful as the meetings tot up in my calendar.
5. SpinVox: We all know what it’s like. Leave a 2 hour meeting, turn your phone on…”you have 15 new voicemail messages”. Streamline your voicemail by using SpinVox, a service that turns your voicemails into SMS texts. You’ll no longer be fumbling around for a pen on the 12:05 from Weybridge
6. The Web: Couldn’t really leave it out. But, whilst 99% of it is useless there are some gems in there that every (tech/consumer) PR should have in his or hers bookmarks:
Follow me, be a geek and amaze your colleagues and clients with your knowledge, speed and creativeness. Just don’t tell anyone that without the web we’d be nothing!
Have I missed any? Let me know!
Those that follow this blog will know I’m an advocate of Twitter in the sense that it allows brands to connect with their customers at ground level in a non-intrusive way. But, tonight I realised one of the major advantages of Twitter that could make it rival Google in the search sector.
Two things happened:
Firstly, I was watching tonight’s episode of Top Gear and Jezza showed a joke on the on-set TV during the “News” segment. The audience laughed but the cameras panned back to intentionally ensure living room viewers couldn’t see what was being shown. Odd I thought – so I jumped onto my generally-on laptop and did a search on Google to see if it could shed any light as to what was shown. Unfortunately not and I was none-the-wiser
Then…
Flicking around Sky I stumbled halfway into the Nascar Brickyard 400 being shown on Sky Sports. No sooner are we on-track than the producers taken us into the studio and a discussion starts about “how ridiculous this situation is. Nascar should be embarrassed!”. Sounds interesting, so as before I tap my search in as quick as a flash but again no clues. Then it hits me…Twitter Search. Sure enough DavidWallace gives me the inside track (pardon the pun). Goodyear have screwed up and there’s a yellow flag every 15 laps (indeed a ridiculous situation)
Twitter recently picked up Summize and swiftly turned it into Twitter Search that allows people to search through every Tweet up to the second. Whilst this is nowhere near as extensive as a Google Search, the advantage of Twitter Search is that it’s literally up-to-the-second. By the time Google’s spiders pick up the news my interest has gone, I want to know what the score is right now and fortunately 140 characters is enough to satisfy my intrigue.
I appreciate this is all a bit obvious, the entire premise of Twitter is that fact that it’s a collection people’s musings and thoughts at any point in time. However, as membership grows it will become an even more important and useful tool for any Internet user. People are questioning where the future of Twitter lies and in my view it is Twitter Search – perhaps not a rival to the current search giants but certainly an increasingly useful alternative.
The AmIHotorNot of brands, Superbrands, has today announced its top brands in the UK and Google has knocked Microsoft off of top spot. Sony is the other tech brand to edge into the top 10 as the sector dominated the overall list.
It will be interesting to see how the growing privacy debate affects the public’s affection for the search engine over the next 12 months! But for now they’re sitting pretty…
The top 10 looks like this…
1. Google
2. Microsoft
3. Mercedes-Benz
4. BBC
5. British Airways
6. Royal Doulton
7. BMW
8. Bosch
9. Nike
10. Sony
In an act of unimaginable mercy, Viacom has bowed to public pressure and scaled down their request for personal information from Google/YouTube.
Google can now provide anonymous but unique identifiers about their users rather than specific IP addresses.
Good news for privacy advocates and those that scrambled manically to delete any evidence that they once watched South Park in the office.
So as I mentioned earlier I wanted to touch on the recent iPhone 3G launch which many are dubbing iPocalypse. I’ve gone with iPhocalypse (see what I did there).
So Friday, the much hyped (rightly?) iPhone 3G hit UK shores and saw the inevitable queues outside O2 stores across the country. So far so good but remarkably Apple failed to deliver on the day, the problem was not so much stock (although they ran out within hours of stores opening) but the fact that those that did manage to get hold of them couldn’t activate them due to a glitch on the iPhone website. This has largely been fixed now and the iPhone 3G can now be seen attached to ears near you.
But what damage has this done to Apple and specifically the halo sitting above the iPhone?
Well the immediate affect is very little, the iPhone is still being hailed a revolution in communication and those that have one are reaching new levels of smugness. Those without (me included) having to deal with the inevitable
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jealousy. However longer term, Apple may feel the backlash. The new must-have gadget has launched in a much more competitive market than last year and competitors such as Samsung and HTC have much stronger products that can match and beat the iPhone in the functionality department. Already many consumers are questioning whether an iPhone is the right option for them and the bad publicity will do nothing to quell their concerns.
Apple has done the right thing by getting the problem fixed as quickly as possible and then addressing the PR fall-out, but competitors will now doubt see this as an opportunity to kick Apple while their down and ensure the way back up is as hard and as long as possible.
What a week for Apple and Google!
Fresh from Viacom-gate that put the search giant at the heart of a privacy storm, Google this week was lambasted by none other than the Daily Mail for planning to roll out its Street View service in the UK. This is the extension to the widely used Google Maps that allows users to view maps at street level. Google hasn’t admitted it plans to introduce Street View to the UK but vans with “Google” splashed across them carrying 20 external cameras driving around our major cities kind of gives the game away.
What’s interesting about this is the press reaction to Street View compared with when it launched Google Maps. That launch was vaulted as further online innovation – a step in the right direction, one that will benefit millions of people.
So what’s changed? Why hasn’t Google’s face blurring technology quelled any unrest around this forthcoming launch? Well for one the Viacom story has caused people to question just how anonymous they are online, soon our personal viewing habits (legal and illegal) will be picked over by a media giant. But also it shows how consumers are becoming much more aware of how far the Internet has come. Whereas a couple of years ago we welcomed any kind of unique service that further opened up the world from the comfort of our PCs, we have now become more intrigued by the motives behind online behemoths that have all but lost their “do no evil” charm.
And it’s no bad thing…
Whilst the lawyers shouldn’t get in the way of innovation, I do think it’s important that as consumers we engage in the discussions that services like Street View throw up. If nothing else it will make Google look at how it treats the personal data we freely hand over every day. More importantly however it allows us to have a direct influence on how the online world is shaped and how it affects our offline lives. The Internet and the www is becomming more and more integrated with every aspect of our lives and we shouldn’t rely on the Googles of the world to dictate how it changes the way we work, rest and play.
Whether Street View is good or bad (personally I have no problem with it), the debate will bring the best out of Google and will ultimately benefit the people that use it.
As for Apple…well I’ll get to the iPhone launch later!
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