It seems like a side effect of the recession is that people have more time on their hands to make things like this Fake Karl and the Darth Vader Twitter feed I just mentioned. What ever happened to just spending more time in the garden. As enjoyable as they are real life is always so much more fun so I point you towards Gavin Rajah’s blog.

This is my contribution to the articles at the end of The Annual. I was a bit worried it was a bit too vague and not terribly useful but then I read the other contributions and feel much better about it (i’m not saying they’re all self obsessed and stating the obvious). If you combine all of the articles together they basically say:

- The ad industry is still obsessed with making 30 second TV ads (generally considered a bad thing)

- Everyone should start “getting” digital more

- It’s all about the people you employ and creatives are the most important little princes and princesses to nurture (although it would be nice if they could work across platforms occasionally)

- Cutting (insert discipline of the writer) during a recession will do terrible, ungodly things to your brand

Anyhow this is my wisdom in full…

Having worked at an online PR agency when the web 1.0 bubble burst in the late nineties, and being aware that our industry has a bad reputation for breathlessly hyping issues, I’m wary of hurling another log on the Web 2.0 fire. With that said, I honestly believe that developments in the digital media arena over the last few years are significant to the point that they are changing how PR will be defined and practiced in the very near future.. I’d also add that of all the marketing disciplines, PR certainly has most to gain from Web 2.0 – if we can determine how to use it sensibly.

But what exactly is Web 2.0? Essentially it is a kind of a PR invention in itself. Blogs, podcasts, social networking (Facebook being the most significant example in SA), streaming media (e.g. YouTube videos) are all in fact a neat repackaging of features that have existed since the mid-nineties. The difference today is that these types of application have gone mainstream and the user experience has evolved thanks to broadband and the breakneck evolution of the web. Strip Web 2.0 down to what it basically does, which is sharing content, spreading messages across networks of people and having a conversation with people (e.g. peers whose opinion you value or potential customers) it becomes directly relevant to what Public Relations is supposed to be – that of relating and communicating with the public.

We’d like to think people move into Public Relations because they are passionate about enabling clients to get their side of the story across to their audiences. We’re not there to build websites, shoot videos or hold parties (not to say we won’t, if it meets our clients’ business objectives) but we are there to act as advocates for our clients, enabling them to connect and communicate with influencers that matter to them. So it’s not that the technology of digital media and Web 2.0 is particularly enthralling, but rather it is the sheer number of people online and the new innovative ways in which businesses and brands can interact with them.

And because PR does not have a vested interest in any particular channel or platform, we are perhaps best placed of all the marketing disciplines to make use of the opportunities presented by Web 2.0. The reason for this is that some of the best tools for online communications are either free or very low cost and only require the time and energy to figuring out how it works. For example, WordPress, a free blogging software, is (in my opinion) far superior to off-the-shelf content management systems that companies pay thousands for to create a blog. YouTube offers free hosting for video and is designed to make that video content found and shared easily. Facebook is a spectacularly useful CRM tool and is also free to use. The only associated costs lie in the development of ideas, bringing these to life and nurturing an audience for these.

While other marketing disciplines might see the free culture of the web as a revenue threat, it is a massive opportunity for PR practitioners as we typically sell our communication skills, and not the platforms we utilise. However, before anyone gets over excited, there are some elements of concern. Do a quick search on PR 2.0 and you’ll probably find a barrage of blog posts heralding the death of PR – wired journalists feel the web has more than enough tools to dig out stories without needing the help of PR people. Examples of this in practice are applicable to a number of international brands: once they launch a product/service in one country, information is instantly available to local journalists who can immediately write about it. The story will be decrepit by the time the local SA launch happens typically days, weeks or months later.
There are also many examples of how quickly bad new and criticism travels online via blogs to the point that it dramatically affects profits. Bloggers are a phenomenon that the PR industry needs to get to grips with and to be honest I think worldwide we’ve done this rather badly. Writing my own blog has really illuminated this as I have been on the receiving end of some dire PR pitches – both local and international. The dilemma is that PR’s assume that bloggers work in the same way, and obey the same rules as journalists. Wrong. Bloggers aren’t being paid to write, they’re doing it out of a mixture of passion and ego so being on the receiving end of a BCC’d press release mailout after a story has already broken is going to result in at best a swift delete, and at worst, a bitchy blog post read by potentially tens of thousands. Blogs have potentially vast influence but require special treatment and an intimate knowledge of what is appropriate to pitch as a story – in other words that old PR mantra of read the publication before you pitch is now even more relevant than ever before.

Perhaps one of the biggest opportunities of Web 2.0 though is for brands and companies to create, or rather become, their own media. Not necessarily as just another corporate website, but rather taking an editorial approach and thinking about what the outside would really like to know about their business or brand and what the best online tool for communicating this should be. Again, determining what is newsworthy from the mass of information that sits within a company is a core PR skill: it doesn’t take a huge leap to figure out how to tell a compellingly story via a blog, podcast (internet radio), a Facebook group or a YouTube video.

Just as in the “traditional” PR domain, there are going to be some companies and agencies that get online PR and some that just get it spectacularly wrong. If as an industry we’re willing to put in the homework and really figure out how to translate our core skills into this new, exciting environment, Web 2.0 holds some great opportunities.

While I was out they stopped making Polaroids – this  is like reading Ethan Hawke has slipped away quietly in his sleep at the old people’s home and Winona Ryder’s just had her second hip replacement. Where’s my world going? Luckily the refuseniks at Dazed are collecting digital versions before they all go to the great attic shoebox in the sky. Check it out here: Polaroid Nation. You can also join the Save Polaroid campaign. Next you’ll be telling me Wayfarers aren’t cool anymore.

My personal predictions for branding and PR trends in 09:

1: Twitter is the new Facebook (via Sentient/Quirk)- expect more brands and companies to use Twitter as a PR tool. Example Springleap.  (also take it as a given that you’ll get daily freind requests from every brand known to humanity)

2: Pop-ups – Nike, Virgin Mobile, Peroni, ghd and Baileys all ran different twists on the pop-up trend expect continuations on the theme in 09 as everyone else catches up. Example ghd style lounge.

3: Online video – the rebirth of the video press release. Online video is a great way to explain complicated products/technology or very visual stories. Example Triumph Inspiration Awards on YouTube.

4: Ecotysing – expect more eco-friendly design competitions, plenty of branded tote bags and the showing off of green credentials

5: Alternative Reality Games – Can You Twist pioneered this in South Africa expect more brand led exploits

6: Crowdsourcing – why pay a designer/creative agency when you can get it cheaper from your consumers example ideabounty.co.za

7: Brand media – seeing as traditional media is in death spasms expect more brands making their own media both on and offline. Examples Vida’s Obrigado or Nike’s Be True campaign

8: The death of the global PR launch tour – as a journalist why bother to wait for the local launch when you can watch the first one in New York/London online and via the blogs (in particular new tech products such as phones). For example the iphone was covered months before it was actually available.

9: Quirk Arms Race – the internet loves a good quirky marketing story: expect things to get stranger and more outrageous as the competition to out quirk one another heats up amongst brands.  For example: Love Jozi fakes itself

10: Interactive maps – gps treasure hunts, geo-tagging, maps showing the stress levels/crime stats/parties/well being of our cities. Example Cow PR’s excellent Mobikasi – geotagged documentry for The Grid

Atmosphere recently launched the first blogosphere survey in South Africa. About 20% of the estimated 5000 bloggers in SA took part (including me) which I think makes it pretty representative.

The average blogger it seems is English, 25-34, married, white, living in Cape Town, with a good salary in media and/or marketing.

But some of the more interesting stats for me:

• 40% are using embedded video (although i assume not creating them themselves) – this shows blogging is going multimedia…
• 88% don’t make any money directly from blogging but that means 12% do (although very little) and 24% have received some kind of freebie as a result of blogging (where’s mine dammit?!)
• 40% have previously written another blog – it takes a couple of false starts to get it right
• Most bloggers have been online for five years and more
• 73% have attended some kind of bloggers meeting (MOB) – this seems surprisingly high

More on Computing SA

The BBC was serving up 16 million podcasts a month back in May – which really shows how mainstream podcasting is becoming (in countries with widespread and cheap broadband). The iplayer which streams the BBCs archives of radio and TV programmes has around 250,000 regular downloaders and anticipates doubling that figure by April 2009. Be interesting to find out what the usage is in South Africa of podcasts – don’t think there is any stats or research on this yet?

The videos from trends blog PSFK’s conferences are highly recommended viewing. The recent asian conference are just going love now and they feature some of the leading lights in marketing/communication. If you have itunes just click here.

Pitchengine.com is an interesting tool for the PR industry. It’s a free service (you’ll have to pay for upgrades) that creates and stores web 2.0 friendly press releases. The idea being instead of mailing word documents and photos its all available in a journo friendly format online. Even better it can be picked up on search engines and added to social bookmarking tools. Also like the quick pitch box at the top. Will definitely give it a try in the new year.

In their words:

PitchEngine is PR for the Social Web. What’s that mean? Don’t think of PitchEngine as a distribution service. Instead, think of it as a way to package all of your PR assets (like a press kit) in one concise, easy to share package – the social media release (SMR) – that you can edit and make changes to even after it’s been made live.

I came across the whole unboxing thing last year doing a project for HTC. Possibly the most geeky thing on the internet: tech bloggers video themselves opening new products and talking through features.  I love this spoof version which is one of the top ten viral videos of 2008 according to the UK’s Guardian.

Ah Chew Magazine how I wish you were made of paper, then I could take you into the bath, put on The Smiths and read you properly. I just don’t feel the quick flick PDF format does you the justice you deserve. Just “read” issue 3 of the collaborative digital mag. Probably the strongest point are the photos but it’s also a great finger pointer to what’s culturally cool in South Africa at the moment.