Handling redundancy communications
We’re not out of the woods yet.
There was belated joy (or perhaps simple relief) last week as the UK finally emerged from the longest recession since records began. So can we expect the narrative to now be about “growth”, “”upturn” and “recovery”?
Maybe.
Charlie Brooker explains “the news”
If you’ve got two minutes to spare, Charlie Brooker and the Newswipe team provide a brilliant insight into just how a news story gets packaged for TV:
Charlie Brooker on How To Report The News
Contains some strong (but brief) language. As if the words “Charlie Brooker” didn’t give that away.
Bank-bashing is here to stay
So George Soros is the latest person to suggest that banks are just too big. President Obama and our own Financial Services Authority have already made their position pretty clear.
Banks are going to be smaller. Irrespective of whether that makes them less profitable. And that’s one of the interesting things here. The assumption appears to be that the profit motive is inherently wrong.
Eurostar was not a social media crisis
Back in December when this was still a gaping wound we promised to take a look at the Eurostar rail crisis in detail, to identify some lessons that could help us and our readers learn from this high profile crisis. As we said then, we’re not going to pass judgement on the situation because we weren’t in the room, and frankly there are a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks already on that case.
News in brief: Hill & Knowlton UK launches new website
Every day a new digital age dawns (or so it seems from all the media coverage it gets), and here at Hill & Knowlton we’ve undergone a digital facelift ourselves.
Healthy Futures
The moves of an industry giant to make its library of compounds available external scientists seeking cures for tropical diseases today, is one of those landmark moments that shouldn’t just pass us by.
The first 100 Days of a Cameron Government - What would it look like?
What will the first hundred days of a David Cameron government look like? Who will be the key players? What policies are the Conservatives planning to implement, and do they stand up to scrutiny?
With only months to go until the next general election, a lack of answers to these questions is a criticism often levelled at the Conservative Party.
How Cadbury’s Board can do Kraft a big favour
The news that yet another British titan of business is about to go into foreign ownership has been met with a collective groan from commentators. The Daily Express has even started its own campaign to keep Cadbury in British hands.
I’m not going to comment on whether Cadbury should be British-owned - although do feel slightly uneasy about the idea of national champions.
(Sorry) We’re just not that into you today
As if the concurrent enquiries into the Iraq war and financial crisis weren’t enough to keep the world’s media busy last week, we also watched as the Caribbean nation of Haiti was devastated by a massive earthquake.
This has been a massive humanitarian tragedy and our thoughts are with all those affected by the disaster.
How to avoid a Dappy moment for your organisation
The use of prominent, well-known celebrity figures as spokespeople to front a campaign is a standard tactic amongst comms teams looking to create impact for their campaigns. Not only is it standard, but it’s also usually highly successful in enabling organisations to connect with their target audience and deliver the right message.
Chris Evans - a promotion too far for the BBC?
There’s been much wailing about the promotional airtime afforded by the BBC to Chris Evan’s new breakfast show on Radio 2.
The latest critic has been former Capital Radio and Virgin Radio presenter, Steve Penk.
News in brief: Update to Hill & Knowlton London Twitter handle
Further to this week’s earlier post on the topic of Twitter, the London office of Hill & Knowlton has made over its Twitter handle. You can now follow @HK_London on Twitter (previously we were @HandK_UK but we’ve changed in order to help standardise our nomenclature across the network).
H&K appoints branding expert Shoicoi Yoshikawa as Managing director for Japan, Tokyo - 12th January
H&K today appointed Shoichi Yoshikawa Managing Director of Hill & Knowlton Japan. Mr. Yoshikawa, an expert in integrated marketing and branding solutions, will significantly boost the firm’s offering at a time when both multinational and domestic companies need cost-effective communications strategies. He brings 18 years experience in creating and executing marketing and PR plans for global and domestic companies.
What a GCSE in social media means for Crisis management
As of next year, it seems that teenagers are going to be able to turn their Tweets into UCAS points, with The Daily Telegraph reporting today that an exam board is set to launch a GCSE called ‘English Studies: Digital Communication’.
Are you really using Twitter for crisis management? Really?
Here’s a really interesting post on the Marketing Pilgrim blog, looking at a recent eMarketer report on the uses that companies are putting social media to.
Of immediate interest was the finding that more than forty percent (40% ?!?) of respondents claim to “Monitor Twitter for PR problems in real time”.
