Indigo saves the day
In a small town by the sea, there was a girl named Indigo. She had golden curly hair that shone like the sun. She and her grandmother lived in a little house on a hill.
Indigo was very brave. Every morning, she would go to the beach to say hi to the seagulls and the waves. She liked to help the fishermen and save any little creatures stuck in their nets.
One dark day, a huge storm came. The clouds were thick and the wind was loud. Everyone in the town was scared.
Boom, boom, boom! Someone was knocking on Indigo’s door during the storm. It was the man who took care of the lighthouse. He looked scared as he said, "The light is broken, and there's a ship that can't see in the storm!"
Indigo put on her raincoat and grabbed her brightest lantern. "I’ll help!" she said bravely.
She climbed the tall hill to the lighthouse while the storm tried to push her back. But Indigo was strong and kept going. She got to the top, but the lighthouse light was still not working.
"Oh no!" said Indigo. "What can we do?"
Then, she had an idea. She and the lighthouse man got lots of mirrors from the town. All the people came out to help, too. They held up the mirrors to catch the light from Indigo's lantern and shone it out to the sea.
Far away, the ship saw the flickering light. With the help of the shiny mirrors, the ship sailed safely into the harbor. The town cheered and clapped for brave Indigo.
Indigo was all wet from the rain but she was smiling. Because of her, the town worked together to save the day.
From then on, every ship that came by knew about Indigo, the girl with golden curls and a big heart, who had saved them all.
The end.
Puffy’s Rainbow Adventure
Once upon a time in a colorful village called Rainbow Ridge, there lived a playful young panda named Puffy. Puffy was black and white and as fluffy as a cloud. Rainbow Ridge was known for its magical river that flowed through the village with water as clear as crystal.
Puffy was exceptionally curious, always looking for new things to discover. On a bright sunny day, while frolicking near the edge of the bamboo forest, Puffy found a worn-out map sticking out from under a blueberry bush. The map showed a winding path leading to a mysterious treasure marked with a rainbow.
This piqued Puffy's interest, and he decided to follow the path on the map. "I'm going to find the treasure at the end of the rainbow!" he declared with determination shining in his eyes.
He followed the trail with excitement, skipping past daisies and hopping over pebbles. Birds chirped songs of good luck as the forest filled with the sounds of Puffy's laughter.
Puffy encountered different animals along the path and happily greeted each one. There was Benny the Badger, who loved to dig tunnels. Lilly the Lemur, who swung playfully from tree to tree. And Sammy the Squirrel, who was always busy collecting acorns.
He shared his adventure with them, and each of Puffy's new friends provided him with tips for his quest. Benny told him to look out for the slippery slopes. Lilly warned him about the swingy vines. And Sammy reminded him to always have snacks for energy.
After a while, the sky grew dark, and a gentle rain began to fall, enveloping the forest in a serene mist. Puffy took shelter under a large leaf, waiting for the rain to stop.
When the sun returned, it yawned wide and stretched its colorful rays across the sky. That's when it appeared - a magnificent rainbow stretching right over Rainbow Ridge! Puffy's eyes widened in awe as he realized that the treasure was not a pot of gold, but rather the beauty of the forest and his newfound friends.
He danced under the rainbow, his heart full of joy. Puffy understood that sometimes, the treasure isn't something you can hold in your paws—it's the journey and the friends you make along the way.
And so, under the radiant hues of the rainbow, Puffy hosted a feast with all the delicious fruits of the forest, celebrating the true treasure of friendship.
From that day forward, Puffy was known not just as a curious panda, but as a great friend to all creatures of Rainbow Ridge. And whenever a rainbow appeared, all the animals would gather, laughing and sharing stories, making every day a treasure in itself.
And they all lived happily ever after.
The end.
PR is more data-driven than ever (and so it should be)
Marketing is one of the most data-driven industries today. Hackathons, data driven creativity, dynamic content engines and social media strategies are driven by insights from data.
One of the difficulties with measuring PR is that it is intangible and cannot necessary be tracked (yet) but data can show you something that is tangible.
Communications people typically use data less than their marketing peers do. Unless you are doing a research project for clients, it is often seen as an afterthought. How do you know your comms has affected someone to buy something? How do you know that opinion piece has made someone come and work for you without evidence?
Data in PR can be used in so many ways outside of just coverage tracking. It can be used to deep-dive into conversations, find out what content will be best placed and predict what conversations people will be having in months to come (and it’s happening already)
PR professionals are generally good at navigating what will go down well when live, but to have data back it up, is a resource we could benefit from.
There are some fantastic tools available to track coverage, but think about what else you can measure that data can help with. Like any comms professional, you should ask what other insights you can uncover from data that will add value to your client and overall comms strategy.
This then brings PR into your marketing mix for truly tangible business results. Everything is becoming trackable and accountable (and quite rightly in my view)
You can then learn and adapt as any successful business does. Did that opinion piece spike visits to your website? Did that press release spark more news coverage and interesting conversations?
This isn’t anything new and there are still many functions to a PR person’s role. Journalist relationships are still key, but PR pros need to mix with their marketing friends to drive the case for more data driven PR to further add value to clients businesses.
For the love of the slogan – because language is everything
A good slogan is short and unforgettable. According to Merriam and Webster it is defined as “a brief attention-getting phrase used in advertising or promotion.”
When you hear the phrase, "Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives," the first thing that comes mind is probably what to do when Covid-19 gained momentum. What about “Stay alert”…?
At the beginning of the government’s comms strategy for Covid-19 Boris prioritised the NHS and the slogan worked. In fact, it was so good; it was a victim of its own success. The new “Stay alert” slogan released 10th May was open to much criticism (“I don’t know what ‘stay alert’ means,” said Nicola Sturgeon)
Authoritative slogans are seriously powerful tools and can even embed brands in people’s everyday culture (an advertisers dream!)
Here are a few of the best (in my view)
“Good things come to those who wait” Guinness (1999)
"It does exactly what it says on the tin" Ronseal (2016)
“There is no substitute” - Porsche (1983)
The stages of comms in a crisis
It's difficult to say exactly when the virus hit the UK, but according to the BBC the first confirmed case was 29th January when two Chinese nationals fell ill at the Staycity Aparthotel in York.
It's now May and clear that the adrenaline of the initial crisis comms response has passed. It's also clear there are definite stages on how to communicate to employees during a crisis. For businesses (not that this is anything new) engaging with employees across all 'pressure points' as I have called them is crucial for long-term success. I've split the phases into six.
Expect – phase one. Let's be clear, no one could have predicted the terrible loss of life Covid-19 has brought. From a comms point of view, early signs of the virus gaining momentum happened in February and at this stage no matter what your business does you need to understand your threats (i.e will the business be OK if everyone can work from home?) Think of the worst-case scenario and plan around it. Communicate to all employees you are aware of the growing situation and are seeking expert advice.
Plan – phase two. Once you've established your threats, plan for what you are going to say at the various pressure points you've predicted (i.e the government telling everyone to stay at home) To ensure you are communicating effectively and with the right messages, for goodness sake get the right people involved – if you are delivering via video then that person has to be media trained, if it's via email, get a copywriter. Employees will be feeling nervous and need to be reassured the business is doing everything they can for the interests of all staff.
Crunch time – phase three. You have a plan and communicate what you know when you know it. At this phase, there is no such thing as over-communicating. Keep the communications lines open and make sure everyone can have direct access to the spokesperson (in most cases the CEO)
Getting back to a new normal – phase four. The initial shock has eased but the messaging should still be the same – about the well-being of employees. At this stage, strike a balance between frequency and relevancy. Over-saturation will isolate people further because they won't be engaged.
Living the new normal – phase five. Most employees will have adjusted to the new norm at this phase (but of course be aware of individual circumstances)
Judgement – phase six. Finally, how you acted in phases one, two, and three will get back to you. It always does.
The cat relationship from the dogs perspective…
They are everywhere, in every smell, in the walls, I can feel them and I can sense them. I knew one once, it was huge and scary. It used to slowly walk towards me, inches from my face and I hated it.
I always try and protect my human from them, sometimes there is no point, they are just too scary and most can overpower me in one swipe of their sharp, dagger-like claws.
I don’t trust them, the move strangely, they smell odd and have threatening eyes. They are outside most of the time; I think they are allowed to chase things during the day, or whenever they like. They must be tired from all that running around outside and they must be scared from all those high-up places they go.
I know they like humans, I’ve seen them with humans before and I think humans like them too. There is one next door - it teases and haunts me. I must be a good dog because my human feeds and plays with me. The thing next door must be bad because my human doesn’t play or feed that thing that climbs high walls.
If I think about it, maybe that animal must be good in some way because I have seen another human touch it, I’ve seen the other human next door touch it lovingly. I don’t know who that human is and frankly I don’t care. She is too close to my human too and I do not like it. It’s OK tho because when the other human comes close, I bark as loud as I can showing them I will protect my human at all costs. I think that human knows the situation because she doesn’t come into my home that much.
That animal is always outside my house, I see it from the top floor window. It knows I am here and I don’t like it. I will always protect my house and my human. Sometimes I bark so loud it can hear me through the walls. I think my human doesn’t like it but I can’t help it.
Thank goodness my human hasn’t come into contact with one, I don’t think I could handle that. I’ve had nightmares of my human and that monstrous thing sitting next to each other. If it was too close than I would have to defend my human, I don’t think I would be able to control myself because I will always protect my human.
But maybe, just maybe, they are not that bad, I might be being a bit dramatic. Maybe it’s one of those things in life where people are can be categorised. For example, some humans like running and some humans don’t. Maybe it’s one of those where some humans are friends with that enemy and others are not.
I wonder someday, if we will ever be friends, maybe we will. However, not today.
Good company culture is not a nice to have
Is this obvious? Are people thinking, erm yeah tell me something I don’t know…
If you have a website, in theory, you have a business, but without people, your website does not do anything. If you have really talented people working for you, then chances are you have a good business (or website in this case).
I’m not sure what it’s like in other industries but for the advertising industry, everyone seems to know each other and the turnover of talent is high. Look at Campaign’s Movers and Shakers column – they are never stuck for people moves.
Having the best people is a business’s ultimate competitive advantage and let’s make something really clear, good people will always go and work for someone else if they don’t like the company culture.
Getting good people in the door is hard because good people are always known to the right people. Let’s take up-and-coming creative talent. All the advertising agencies will know who they are, because as I say, everyone in adland seem to know each other.
Some agencies are doing talent recruitment really well. Let’s take Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Directors Showcase. It is such a brilliant initiative. Every year they offer up-and-coming talent a platform to showcase their work for free at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity (not this year, thanks Covid-19)
And what’s so good about it, is it doesn’t have an agenda (unlike most things at Cannes). It’s not selling you anything, it’s not putting a special service in front of your nose, it’s literally saying to creatives, show us what you’ve got.
Not only do most people know who is doing cool stuff, they are also being targeted by recruiters every, single, day.
Since recruiters are watching these talented people, this adds another layer of competition. People will always ask their contacts what’s it like to work at that agency and if your current staff don’t have anything nice to say then I promise they will run a mile.
So let’s bring back culture to the top of everyone’s agenda, because not only is it important to get the best people but keep them too or you never know, they might just be against you on that next new business pitch when they should be with you.
Working from home: A dog’s perspective
She has been here a lot lately, my human, in my house, tapping on that black screen thing, her face looking at it with such concentration. My human. My human is here and she is so close to me.
I don’t know why she bothers with the black screen, there isn’t any food coming out of it. Maybe it’s a machine that makes food, I don’t know, all I know is she is in my house a lot more these days and it’s great.
We have so much time together and I can look at her more.
Some mornings she wakes up early, changes into stretchy black and white clothes and takes me for a run with her. I like it she is here more; it might even mean I will have extra food. I think it will mean I will have extra food.
She says there is a virus going around and dogs can’t get it. I think she was really concerned we could. Our day’s together start out roughly the same, she gets me up and we go for a run. Sometimes we see other humans, and when we do, we make sure we don’t get too close to them (which works for me because the other day, I saw a dog and barked very loudly at it. I couldn’t stop it. I knew I shouldn’t have but it was impossible)
We then come back to the house, make a hot drink then the day begins for her. She talks a lot via her headphones on that screen. She also laughs a bit – maybe her new situation is funny, maybe it’s not. I do not really know whom she is speaking to but she feeds me treats so I don’t really care.
Around mid-day, she eats herself. I am asleep next to her and it is the best. When she moves I get up, stretch and follow her everywhere, I can’t help it.
I walk around the house making sure everything is secure. Sometimes I see enemies - cats, squirrels and birds – but it’s ok because I make them go away because I am fearless and must defend my home and my human. I am very good at protecting my house. You can never be too careful with things outside.
One time I saw a yellow ball outside and (not to show off) but I totally showed that ball who was in charge. Me.
Now it’s dinner time. It is the best time. Before my human was here so much, she would come back from wherever she had been (I think the place with the silver floor, she took me there once), and I would know where she was even if she hadn’t walked through the door yet. I would wait, bark, then run back to the window and bark again, and then she would be in my home.
When she is eating her dinner, if I sit and look up at her she gives me some of her food. I have to stay like this, still for around five minutes and she eventually gives me a bit. I like her human food but I have to eat it quickly in case it disappears. I don’t think she knows this but if I sit next to him, he also gives me his food from where I am, under the table.
We then sit on the sofas; my humans sometimes drink from glass bottles. Under my careful supervision they chat and then everyone goes to bed, ready to do it all again tomorrow.