Social media is a great way for brands to connect to consumers. So, how have brands used the various platforms to get retweets, shares and pins?

This year has seen a variety of social media campaigns with the aim of getting consumers to retweet, share or pin a brand’s latest offering. Brands making an impact have included Three UK, British Airways and Coca-Cola.

Who remembers Three’s dancing pony adverts? The Shetland pony moonwalking to Fleetwood Mac let consumers know that the silly stuff is important and an accompanying Twitter campaign created a bigger impact. The associated #DancePonyDance invited users to share and comment on the campaign. There was also an app that allowed users to create their own pony dance and share with their friends. The campaign created a social media buzz and made people smile – a great way to make a connection with your consumers.

To mark the launch of its Dreamliner fleet, British Airways held a #RaceThePlane competition. The so-called ‘Tweetliner’ would virtually race a Dreamliner travelling from London to Toronto. Users could power the Tweetliner by tweeting using the hashtag which also automatically entered them in a competition to win tickets to Toronto. The use of the hashtag exposed BA to a wider audience and the competition added value to users. One tweet equalled one mile and the Twitter powered plane reached Toronto in seven hours and 37 minutes, compared to the Dreamliner which took seven hours and 41 minutes. The result: an engaging and measurable campaign on a relatively low budget.

Now, think back a few months. Did your friends spam your Facebook and Twitter feeds with photos of Coca-Cola bottles with their names on it? Probably!

Coca-Cola’s clever #shareacoke campaign saw its iconic lettering being replaced by first names. This coincides with the growing trend of personalisation: 78% of consumers feel that brands that create unique and personalised content are more interested in building a relationship with them (Hanley-Wood Business Media, 2013). Add this to the fact that the bottles are affordable and Coca-Cola was onto a winner!

The #shareacoke encouraged users to go online and let people know about their personalised drink, therefore promoting the brand. Although Coca-Cola’s target audience for this campaign was 18-25 year-olds, any consumer could take part, ensuring no one felt alienated and boosting the campaign’s reach even further.

And look at the results: in the first couple of months, Coca-Cola’s Facebook community grew by 3.5% in the UK and 6.8% globally. Volume sales for the Coca-Cola brand grew 3.88%, compared to the total soft drinks market’s volume sales growth of just 0.98%, according to IRI Worldwide. Consumer sentiment towards the brand also appeared to shift from negative to positive – a great result for Coca-Cola.

It’s great to see how the world’s biggest brands are embracing social media. Simple, well-thought out campaigns can have a huge impact on engagement, sales and even sentiment towards brands.

Image: theinspirationroom.com

2013 has been another great year, full of new products, interesting marketing and wacky stunts. But what have been the most spectacular PR stunts in the run-up to Christmas?

High Street retailer Game had a great idea to spread cheer this festival season; Christmas dinner in a can! And why did they do this? Because gamers will be too busy trialling their new PS4 or Xbox One of course. The well thought out stunt included a promotional photograph and infographic for use on Twitter, ensuring it was well shared on social media.

Morphsuits has been steadily growing in popularity over the past few years and this Christmas its festive jumpers could be animated via an app on your smartphone. To reach its audience of young party-goers, Morphsuits sent the animated Christmas jumpers to BuzzFeed, the website that offers “the viral web in real-time”. BuzzFeed staff then tweeted photos of their Christmas jumpers to their young followers, i.e. Morphsuits’ target audience. Cue the jumpers being talked about across social media. Have a look at them; we want some! https://bit.ly/1dS9xys

One family getting into the Christmas spirit this year and taking the internet by storm is the Holderness family from North Carolina. Instead of sending out bog-standard Christmas cards, mum, dad, Lola and Penn created a video entitled Christmas Jammies or #Xmasjammies. The video shows the family in their matching Christmas jammies, rapping along to the tune of Will Smith’s Miami with details of their achievements in 2013. But there’s another reason for the adorable Christmas sing-along; to promote mum and dad’s new video production company, Greenroom Communications. And it worked; the video has clocked up over 12 million views on YouTube so far and has been covered by national media in the US, UK and beyond. https://bit.ly/JHb9BC

One of the biggest PR stunts of Christmas 2013, however, was carried out by Canadian airline WestJet. Passengers boarding a flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport were greeted by Santa via Skype who asked them what they wanted for Christmas. While on their flight to John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Ontario, WestJet employees did a shopping dash to get the items from every passenger’s Christmas wish list.

Passengers were then greeted by beautifully wrapped presents at baggage reclaim. The video shows passengers brought to tears by the generous gifts, including a young family who asked for a big-screen TV. The heart-warming video was a sensation, clocking up over 32 million views so far and countless shares on social media. If you’re not in the Christmas spirit already, you will be after watching this video: https://bit.ly/19fi5SA

So, whether the campaign is big budget gift-giving, a simple idea to encourage shares on social media or a family video, Christmas is a great time for PR stunts.

What will you do next year?

Image: www.youtube.com

The increase in social media usage has meant that brands need to adapt to continue to engage with consumers.

Take a look at Ikea, for example. It cleverly responded to a Facebook group called ‘I wanna have a sleepover in Ikea’ by actually letting them spend the night in its Essex store. Almost 100,000 people joined the group before Ikea picked 100 of them to be part of the ‘IKEA BIG sleepover’. The participants were able to watch films on big screens, get manicures and massages, sleep experts were there to help them choose the best mattress and they even got read a bed-time story by a reality TV star!

Another great example by the home furnishings giant was its Facebook competition to win a bed. All entrants had to do was upload funny photos of their friends while having a sneaky nap! Facebook users then voted for the best ones. Ikea’s YouTube and Facebook pages jumped in popularity. The simple and relatively inexpensive campaign was successful as it engaged social media users. The photos were funny so users were encouraged to share them with their friends, increasing the reach of the competition. The fact that the photos were funny also provided an emotional connection to the brand – you’re more likely to remember a brand that’s made you laugh, smile or cry!

Cookie giant, Oreo, had a hugely successful Facebook campaign in America in 2012. It reacted swiftly to a power outage during the Super Bowl by producing a poster saying ‘You can still dunk in the dark’. The speed at which the campaign was posted on Facebook meant that it spread well beyond Oreo’s 27 million fans; it also featured in more than 2,600 articles and lead to 1.3 million Facebook interactions. Proof that being able to react quickly to events can have huge benefits – and social media is the perfect tool to display them straight away.

There are many examples of how to utilise Facebook and other social media to engage and interact with consumers. Simple but creative campaigns can provide interesting content for your fans to ‘like’ and share. Developing engaging brand messages can increase your connection to consumers so experiment and improve communication – we’re sure you’ll get a few more ‘likes’ in the process!

Image: www.theguardian.com

Have great imagery for your product but don’t know how best to display it on social media? Image rich social media platforms such as Pinterest could be just what you’re looking for.

Pinterest allows users to pin their favourite images to specific boards; whether it’s creating a wish-list of gadgets or using it as inspiration for their dream home. Brands can tap into this, letting consumers see the latest products and then, hopefully, adding them to their must-have list!

Research conducted by www.visioncritical.com has found that Pinterest is the social network most likely to drive spontaneous purchases, whereas sites like Twitter and Facebook are more likely to be used when researching or considering a purchase.

The study also found that consumers are now ‘reverse showrooming’ meaning that they see products on Pinterest then head in-store to look in more detail or purchase. A huge 41% of those surveyed admitted to doing this – what more reason do you need to make sure your products are ‘pinned’?

Users can also add their own description to photos when re-pinning them; these can act as mini-reviews that can be seen by other users. The re-pins increase the chances of your brand being seen by other users, in turn increasing brand awareness.

Pinterest is utilised by brands across the board from fashion and jewellery to technology, home furnishing and motoring.
Brands can run competitions, come up with creative board titles and re-pin content. It is important that brands pin different content, rather than just its own products as this encourages interaction. Pins that link to other blogs and articles increase the chances of your account being seen by potential followers.

Used alongside and integrated with other social media such as Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest can be a key part of marketing strategies.

Hopefully, before long, your brand will be discovered by pinners, desperate to get their hands on your product!

As well as the popular technology titles like Stuff and T3, technology blogs are becoming the go-to place for information on the latest gadgets. How many times have you been looking for a new camera, phone or headphones and needed some advice? Chances are you would have searched online for up-to-date information on which product performs best and which products to steer clear of.

This is one of the reasons technology blogs are so important. Getting your product into the hands of the most influential tech experts who are trusted by consumers can be great for your brand. These blogs can range from small, personal blogs to ones that have grown into popular, well-respected titles.

Mashable was started by Pete Cashmore from his home in Aberdeen and has grown into a website operating from the UK and America, receiving 50 million page views each month. It also has 1.6 million Facebook ‘likes’ and over 3.5 million Twitter followers.

Personal technology blogs can also be a great place for people to see the latest reviews of your product.

Most of these bloggers are very passionate about tech and love to get their hands on the latest gadgets. It can be useful to build up relationships with technology journalists and bloggers; making them a key contact when launching new products. Having a technology blogger as a fan of your brand, posting rave reviews to their website and tweeting praise, can be a huge asset. Quotes from reviews can be used on your own website and social media channels, building buzz around the brand.

Reviews and features on tech blogs and other media outlets are a useful way to get your brand into the public eye. Take the time to research appropriate blogs, perhaps offering details of the latest product before its release. Before you know it, potential customers could be reading the review to decide which brand is best.

Mashable states its mission as: To be the Connected Generation’s source for news, utility, inspiration and entertainment. This connected generation is ever-growing so why not make sure your brand is seen by them. Bloggers can be a great way to reach an influential, savvy and connected audience – hopefully, they’ll soon be your customers too!

With Vine and Instagram Video becoming more and more popular, video sharing platforms have become a firm favourite among individuals and brands.

Vine has over 40 million registered users and, increasingly, we are seeing brands utilise the platform. www.brandsonvine.com acts as a resource for the best Vines from our favourite fashion, food, drink and sports brands. It is obvious how seriously some brands take the six-second videos – brilliantly executed clips help show what the company has to offer. Dunkin Doughnuts even became the first company to use a single Vine as an entire television advert in September.

Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann has said that six seconds provided everything that was needed and the loop gave videos more depth. “If you give somebody constraints, it’s easier to be creative” says Hofmann.

And judging by the efforts of the brands on Vine, he just might be right. From Sainsbury’s live pumpkin carving to Twitter using video to show how to create an illustrated tweet. So how does the newbie decide what to record for brand Vines? We’ve suggested a few ideas to get you started…

How to: Create a ‘how to’ video and give consumers another reason to want your product. Record top tips, for example: a fashion brand could show different ways to wear a t-shirt.

Promotion: Give consumers a sneak peak of new products, or simply show how great an existing product is. Showing users something from behind the scenes will make them feel more attached to the brand.

Time lapse: A technique widely used is time lapse. It can be tricky to get right but if you do, it could be a great way to showcase your product.

Personality: Time lapse videos can also be used to show brand personality. For example, you could show a fun event in the office, the adventures of a company mascot or just something silly!

Competitions: Arrange competitions through a Vine – guessing games, naming competitions or even ask users to create a Vine for your brand.

Showcase: Magazines such as Cosmopolitan have used Vine to flick through the pages of the latest issue to entice consumers to buy.

Testimonials: Ask customers to document why they love your product.

Vines can be posted to Twitter and Facebook, giving you more interesting content to share while promoting your service or product. Why not give it a go, be creative and have fun!

Image: www.brandsonvine.com

As the last of the carefully carved pumpkins are thrown away and we recover from the sugar rush caused by the mass consumption of treats, we take a look at our favourite Halloween inspired PR stunts of 2013.

Pepsi Belgium took on its biggest rival by creating an advert featuring a can dressed up in a Coca-Cola cape! The cheeky campaign poked fun at the brand rivalry between the two drinks giants; a fun way to attract attention.

Kellogg’s Ireland went about promoting its ‘Malloween’ and ‘Totally Shocklately’ flavours of Rice Krispie Squares by unveiling a ‘haunted’ vending machine. The vending machine advertised ‘free Rice Krispie scares’ before a hand would reach out and grab the person as they went to collect their tasty treat. A video documenting the scares shows people jumping, running away and even trying to knock the snack out of the scary hand with an umbrella!

The remake of classic horror film Carrie was another reason for a scary PR stunt. A telekinetic coffee shop was set up to scare its customers. Secret cameras filmed a girl taking her anger out on a fellow customer by ‘magically’ sending him flying into a wall, pushing tables and making books and pictures fall from walls and shelves. The brilliantly executed stunt acts as a perfect advert for the film.

Our favourite Halloween PR stunt, however, has to be from Morphsuits. The prank, that is running until the end of November if you want to get in on the action, encourages people to nominate their friends for a scare via Twitter using #FrightMobMyMate . One such unlucky victim was Jason Oliver who was nominated by a friend for cancelling a night out. Morphsuits’ army of zombies, scary clowns and skeletons crept up on Jason and other unsuspecting victims at the gym with hilarious outcomes – as can be seen in the promotional video: https://bit.ly/1731z6Q

Halloween can provide great opportunities for fun PR stunts, whether they are simple like Pepsi playing dress-up or are interactive, allowing users to get involved like Morphsuits’ fright mobs.

We just can’t wait to see what brands will do to beat them next year!

Inverness, 28^th October 2013, Muckle Media has been named gold winner of Outstanding Small Consultancy in the 2013 Scotland Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) PRide Awards, announced on Thursday at a black-tie dinner at The Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow.

 
This year saw a large number of the region’s leading public relations practitioners attend the annual awards ceremony, hosted by broadcaster Bryan Burnett. The full list of the 2013 Scotland PRide Awards winners can be accessed via the CIPR website.
 
The CIPR PRide Awards, sponsored nationally by Precise, PRWeek and RedBrand/Specialist Speakers, receive entries from freelancers, consultancies and in-house teams across 12 UK regions and nations. The judging process for the PRide Awards is rigorous with a national panel of industry experts assessing the shortlisted entries and choosing the winners. The 2013 Chairs of Judges, Gill Dandy FCIPR, Senior Consultant at The Centre for Strategy and Communication, and Chris Genasi FCIPR, Senior Consultant at APCO Worldwide, assisted in ensuring a fair and consistent judging process.
 
Muckle Media director Nathalie Agnew, said: “We’re delighted to have been named Outstanding Small Consultancy 2013 by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. We’re seeing great momentum at the moment with multiple new business wins in the past few months.”
 
CIPR President Sue Wolstenholme FCIPR, commented: “The Scotland CIPR PRide Awards celebrate the very best public relations campaigns, teams and individuals from across the Scotland. The exceptional quality of entries received this year is a real testament to the thriving industry which exists here in the Scotland. The CIPR PRide Awards represent the best, most creative and most effective public relations work across the UK regions and nations and to win an award is a great achievement.”
 
High resolution images are available from photographer John Linton on 07986592673.

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About the CIPR PRide Awards
The CIPR PRide Awards is the only UK wide awards scheme that recognises excellence in public relations and communications work across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions. Now in its 10^th year the CIPR PRide Awards grow year-on-year as consultancies and organisations increasingly recognise the benefits of industry awards, and past winners continue to reap the benefits of receiving one.
 
Alongside CIPR Scotland, CIPR Wales/Cymru and CIPR Northern Ireland, taking part in the 2013 CIPR PRide Awards are East Anglia; Home Counties South; Midlands; North East; North West; Thames and Chiltern; South West; Wessex and Channel Islands: and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
 
About the CIPR
The CIPR is the professional body for public relations practitioners in the UK. With over 10,000 members involved in all aspects of public relations, it is the largest body of its type in Europe. The CIPR advances the public relations profession in the UK by making its members accountable through a code of conduct, developing policies, representing its members and raising standards through education and training.

From Morrisons renaming its Wimbledon store Murrisons in support of Andy Murray and other British Wimbledon 2013 hopefuls to Paddy Power getting four grown men to dress as giant babies to celebrate the birth of the royal baby, 2013 has already seen some fairly unique PR stunts but how does digital help take your message to the masses?

Staging newsworthy, and more importantly, unusual events that will intrigue the media is the key to gaining that all important coverage for your brand. Valuable photo opportunities can be utilised by journalists to produce an interesting story for their readers, videos can go viral and before you know it, everyone is talking about your brand.

Recently, a video appeared online, showing an awkward marriage proposal complete with Mariachi band in a Dubai shopping mall – ending with the woman walloping her boyfriend with a ukulele! The video was viewed 100,000 times just after being uploaded before being revealed as a stunt by Cadbury as part of its Not So Sweet campaign for Bournville. The accompanying Twitter campaign encouraging users to tweet their #NotSoSweet moments to be made into equally awkward videos, ensured consumers remained engaged with the brand well after the initial video was released.

Another story that spread quickly online was tennis star Maria Sharapova’s intension to temporarily change her surname to Sugarpova; to generate interest in her fledgling confectionary range ahead of the US Open. And, although the name switch never actually happened, the story generated masses of coverage. Countless journalists reported the story and the number of tweets mentioning Sugarpova jumped from 50 to 9,000 within the first day alone, according to Topsy.com.

Some brands simply take inspiration from social media trends. British Airways, taking note of the success of the likes of Pinterest, Instagram and other visually rich media, launched Picture Your Holiday. Users can scroll through an array of photos from various locations to choose their favourites, creating a visual wish list which BA then turns into holiday suggestions. The suggestions can be shared via social media and it provides direct links back to BA’s point of sale – a simple but clever way to get consumers interested.

It is becoming more and more important to ensure PR stunts are digital friendly; allowing content to be shared easily and your message seen by the masses.

Whether it’s a world record attempt, dressing up as a giant baby or simply using social media to your advantage, PR stunts can gain some great coverage and generate interest in your brand.

So, what will your next stunt be?

We all know the importance of the brand of a product or service – building a well-known and respected brand can not only generate higher profits, but change the perception of consumers.

Think of Innocent™ for example, and you might associate it with being friendly, fun, healthy, light-hearted and trust-worthy. Even their packaging has jokes on it! The brand has managed to keep its core values and image of being ‘good’ – not bad for a company that’s now 90% owned by corporate giants The Coca-Cola Company.

Similarly, Red Bull™ has created an iconic brand.

“Red Bull gives you wings” describes it all – a product that keeps you physically and mentally agile and able to do anything. All complemented perfectly by its association with extreme sports. Perhaps the most memorable being Red Bull Stratos: when Felix Baumgartner successfully embarked upon a space dive from 24 miles into the stratosphere.

That’s one extreme PR stunt, but that’s a whole other blog post! The world was inspired by the jump, only adding to Red Bull’s branding that anything is possible.

What make them different?

They clearly identify target markets and passionately communicate to them. Even when a new product is released, it takes the form of previous campaigns, reflecting the values of the company which consumers respond to.

The result is individual campaigns that are cohesive and join together to form an overall picture of a trusted brand.

According to New Media Trend Watch, 74% of Britons have an active Facebook account and more than a third of UK consumers are using social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to specifically interact with brands.  

More recently though, Google+ has been growing in popularity. According to the Huffington Post, 625,000 people are joining Google+ every day – surely it is time for more brands to get on board?

Socialbakers.com reported last year that Google+ had overtaken Twitter in the growth of brands. Fashion house H&M’s Twitter following increased by 88,598 in 2012, whereas their Google+ following increased by 287,312. So, why is Google+ jumping ahead when it comes to the growth of brands?

Although the layout is similar to Facebook, Google+ has some key advantages for marketing, making it a dream platform for brands on the rise.

Google+ allows you to segment your connections into circles; brands can then organise these circles as desired which makes targeted marketing easier. The interface is interactive and easy to navigate while being enjoyable to use.

Similar to Facebook’s ‘like’, Google has ‘+1s’. More +1s on your page lets Google know that what you’re sharing is being read and shared. Google+ profiles and pages can have a significant impact on search rankings; so provided you’re sharing interesting and relevant content, you could be onto a winner. The Google+ Sparks feature gives users instant access to information to share, without leaving the page – unlike Facebook.

Google+ status updates and posts are indexed straight away, thus increasing the possibility of your Google+ network seeing your content in their search results. Also, don’t forget to add links to your other social media profiles, bringing them up the search results as well.

This is just the start; Google+ has so many other features to be explored. The only question left is: will consumers see your brand there?

Creativity can be incredibly valuable to any business. It can drive growth in a company, attract customers and really set you apart from your competitors.

There are a wide variety of methods used to promote creativity in businesses, each suiting different types of company. Some workplaces have even installed slides, interior gardens, writeable walls, pool tables and other fun elements to their offices!

As most of us don’t have the room for a park or arcade in the office, brainstorming is an easily accessible way for any company to generate new ideas – bouncing ideas off each other to reach that final, brilliant one. It involves really thinking about who your client is and what’s special about the product: what does it give you that no other product does? What is the most interesting way to tell your story?

Brainstorming can really let your imagination run wild, no matter how silly the ideas may sound – it may spark another idea that leads you to a great campaign.

Now, get those post-its out!