H&M Versace. Oh dear...

THE CUSTOMER MUST ALWAYS COME FIRST...right? Well perhaps H&M are trying a new technique, one that could have serious implications.

On Thursday 17th November H&M, recongnised for it low prices, lauched a massively publicised clothing range where by they have collaborated with Versace to produce a limited edition of dresses, jeans, tops and shoes, produced with the high end designer label intact but at high street afforable prices. Obviously creating excitement by the fashionista's of the world.

The public were promised ten minutes inside any H&M store worldwide stocking the goods, with one item of clothing per person. Seems reasonable right? But unfortunately not. It appears that when stating it would be a "limited" edition, H&M really meant it. Within 30 minutes of opening their doors, all stocks had sold out worldwide, with most who had queud for over 24 hours, left standing in the cold...(depending where you were located of course).

Ok so first come first served. But with reports coming through that special treatment was given to Fashion Journalists, Fashion Bloggers and VIP wrist band holders, have H&M simply ignored their existing target market and aimed directly at a whole new market resulting in massive uproar and serious longterm implications.

There are mixed reviews, but it would appear that a large amount of people who camped overnight and queued for hours, would not usually shop at the high street store and were simply targeted in order to get their hands on that worshipped Versace label.

But fear not, at least for those of us who were unable to get to a store and queue for hours in the hope of getting our hands on some of these fantastic goods had the reassurance of ordering online...wrong. The website crashed under the strain from the high demand they received, although a statement was released to apologise and the public were advised that H&M were doing all they could to get the website up and running again, but by the time it was, all stocks had sold out.

H&M may have made an executive decision that this collaboration was not targeted at the usual H&M shopper, perhaps they thought it wouldn't appeal to them, and this may have been a thought out marketing decision when joining up with the top designer.

But why did H&M publicise the launch so drastically, creating a massive hype to a wide audience? They would have always known their stocks were limited. Therefore it looks as though they have encouraged more and more of their local consumer base to attend, to then have to slam the doors in their faces within half an hour of opening. The company have now allowed themselves to look unprepared, deliberately understocked and careless about those loyal customer. All for a quick bunk up with some posh totty.

H&M may have boosted their sales but they have ultimately frustrated their exisiting client base and in effect lost alot of their loyal consumers. If I had been promised just as much of a chance to get my hands on these goods as one of these top fashion bloggers, (who probably never shops at the store, and can possibly afford the real deal). If I had stood outside for hours whilst the VIPs were being led into the warm and treated like royalty, but then refused entry for not being worthy enough to come in, even though I have shopped at H&M loyally over the years, I wouldnt be happy right now.
In fact I dont think I would bother shopping at H&M again. I think I may even tell my friends how loyal the high street clothing range is to their main consumer.

Oh dear H&M what have you done...

Welcome to the real world.

Its a well known factor that the value of print in contrast to online news is vastly decreasing in its value to the consumer. I spoke of this a few weeks ago and the effect this would likely have for the future of the good old Newspaper.

And then I spotted the story below last week...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/insideguardian/2011/oct/10/guardian-newslist

It backs up my point entirely, would you not agree?

So, The Guardian have decided to open their doors and allow the world to see what really goes on in the mystical world of Journalism...I think its a really great idea. I also love that they are going to use social media massively to their advantage and have mentioned how viewers can give them feedback and tips etc using the famous Twitter #hashtag.

Obviously they cannot reveal everything, but in terms of striking up a bit of publicity and interest in news, its a great way to create some interest, probably not costing a great deal either.

Would this have happened five or ten years ago? Undoubtedly. But it shows yet again, how the Media are having to move with the times by embracing Social Media and using it as a powerful and positive tool.

I will definately be Tweeting #opennews and letting them know my views.

Measuring the value of PR

Over the last decade their have been increasing debates over the reliability of AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent). Is it a good way to measure a clients coverage and does it really tell us how much ROI our client has had as a result?

Its something I have only recently became aware of but after scanning the net and checking out some PR blogs/weekly news it appears to have been an ongoing topic for quite some time now. If I'm completely honest measurement is not something we spend much time focusing on within university, and come to think of it, I feel it should be. After all its not all about the initial publicity, we need to be able to review any successful or negative campaigns in order to know what we did right or how we could improve next time.

When I recently did a placement within a PR agency, I found myself mainly focusing on getting the coverage, and only a brief amount of my time was spent on the outcome. Obviously coverage was observed on a daily basis and mornings were spent scanning all the daily papers/mags to see how much coverage we had obtained and getting cuttings to show our clients. But when it came to presenting the findings and putting together the final presentation to show our client how much of a success the campaign had been, and how much money we had saved/made them, it didnt appear that much time went into this process.

Obviously this is only one example and I may be completely wrong. But when observing how much space we had obtained in papers/magazines it was simply a matter of checking the relevant media database, seeing how much the coverage would have costed in advertsing costs and simple - we have the cost of the coverage...

For me I wasnt really too concerned about whether it was a reliable way to tell a client how much money we have saved them, as I was working in entertainment PR, (as opposed to Financial PR) and generally they would only be expecting an "average" anyway. But my concern, after observing, was how little time was actually spent on measurement as a whole. Surely this criteria of PR should be just as important as the coverage itself? Otherwise how does the industry expect to be taken seriously as a profesion if they have no reliable findings to prove what they do?

I will be very interested to see when getting a job in the industry next year how other agencies/in-house PR companies analyse measurement as a whole, is it something that is beginning to be taken more seriously?

This is a topic that is fairly new to me so I'm keen to find out other peoples thoughts and will obviously be looking out for more news on this debate...

How does your personal life affect you career choices?

Feeling very reflective today. Have been thinking alot about my career and personal life, its the crazy the amount of thoughts my mind can produce, some rational, some not. But it did lead to me to wondering why i may have chosen to study a Media related course and why I want to work in this industry?

I havn't really come to a conclusion just yet either. But I have started to wonder, do our personal lives have an impact on our career choices? And do our careers define who we are as people?

In my personal life I am a fairly independant person, or at least I was before I decided to go back into further education. I enjoy taking care of myself, being by myself and dont feel that I need to rely on another human being to guide me through the big decisions I make in life. I enjoy change, and I am not afraid to take chances or gambles if it means I could be better off in life.

Then I think about what I'm doing my degree in, Public Relations. This a fast moving, dynamic industry where you will have to work damn hard if you want to keep up, be successful and allow yourself to stand out. I wonder why I chose to do this for a living? And i wonder whether as I get older and change as an individual in my personal life, will I still want to do this for a living?

Its a strange thought to have had but I didnt always want to work in Public Relations. I decided to take this career path as I was working a standard 9-5 job that required no thought or challenge and when looking into degree choices PR stood out to me as it differed to that completely.

I have spoken with people who have also taken Media related degrees and a large majority have not stayed in the same field throughout, whether it be because a new opportunity arose or they just fancied a change, its a broad industry which is a very good thing to allow you to move around.

Its an exciting prospect when you are starting out your career fresh from university, you dont know what the next twenty years have in store for you and where you may be. I'm going to watch my life, watch the things that happen and the changes that may occur in my personal life/career life and see the impact that each have on one another.

RIP Steve Jobs

I will openly admit that I am not an obsessive over technology, it really does not interest me. But I just wanted to write a few words and make a firm point on the sad passing of Steve Jobs. Not because I appreciate his genius creations or invention of computer products, but because he was an example that no matter what life may throw your way, if you show true determination and ambition, anything is possible.

An attitude far to many lack in this day and age.

RIP Steve Jobs

The Media NEVER forgets

Each day there will be a damaging story in the paper. Whether it be on an organisation or an individual. Unfortunately once its being printed it never goes away. It may be ten, twenty or even 100 years down the line but you can be sure that once that negative story has come through its almost certain to one day rear its ugly head again. Mark my word, some point in the future when you least expect, or need it too.

Crisis Communication can help convince your Publics something or someone is a postive public figure, but once you have been tarnished with a bad brush it is much harder to change the public opinion as people love dirt and mud does stick. Its that old saying "Schadenfreude" we all love to relish in others misfortune.

And for one bad story it could take over 100 good ones just to attempt at getting the public back on side again. But now with resources being so easily available via the internet, its just too easy to click a few buttons and trace that negative story again...so best behave.

An example of someone getting unwanted attention from the Media at the present time is Amanda Knox who was yesterday aquited for the murder of British Student Meredith Kercher.
For the past four years the Media have shown an extreme interest in the American Student nicknaming her "Foxy Knoxy", because of her love of partying and sexual nature, and generally because she is an extremely intriguing person to have followed. The question now in the media is what the furture now hold for Knox and the decisions she makes will have a massive impact on her reputation as a whole. Should she have a good PR team guiding her she will hopefully fade into the background and not use this unwanted publicity to make money, as the media are now speculating.

Obviously the Amanda Knox trial is an extreme example of the impact the Media can have on an organisation/individuals reputation. Over the past four years the Media have effectively convinced the public to question and be suspicious of this individual through stories of her private life and the way she handled the murder enquiry as a whole. But now she has been aquited I suspect the way the public perceive her over the coming weeks will change dramatically dependant on the route she decides to take. One thing is for sure though, should Knox choose to go public and discuss her view on the trial and how she has been treated, she will never ever be able to get rid of the view that people will always have on her. Yes she has now been proved "not guilty", but in the back of most of the public's mind will always be a leering dark cloud and the image of the spooky, strange character that has been carefully constructed and portrayed to us over the past four years by the Media. That is something she is very unlikely to EVER get rid of.

Overall ones reputation is tarnished.

Public Relations..."ah i see"

With over 50% of coverage in Newspapers and Magazines now sourcing from Public Relations, I'm surprised so many people are still turning their noses up at the industry and for why? And that is just the people who fully understand the defination of what Public Relations actually is, or does. I have probably had 90% of the people who ask me what I'm doing my degree respond with an "ah I see..." and generally not not know what I'm talking about.

Why does no-one other than those within the profession truly appreciate or understand something that they all consume on a daily basis. Or is it naive to think that anyone would care if it isn't directly affecting their lives? Even though without realising it PR affects ALL of our lives, but because its done so quietly we are just not aware of it.

Without the industry our daily News would be fairly empty and damn right dull for that matter. But still there remains to be more critism than praise. I have had numerous people ask me the theory behind PR, and turn their noses up when i explain the career path I'm choosing or simply air their judgemental views strongly in belief that "its all spin and no truth", even though their are millions of case studies that would differ entirely. All of which have been achieved through trustworthy and honest mediums.

But I hope these doubts are changing and hopefully those that dont currently understand the industry will become further educated over the forthcoming years as most of the world begin to take part in Social Media. It has openly been acknowledged and debated the impact this tool is having on PR as a whole and how it is allowing the "Public" to get involved within campaigns much easier and enabling PR companies to communicate and give the "Public" back what they want. Effectively putting the "Public" back into "Public" Relations.

One of the biggest advantages of  PR via Social Media is its a great way to sell the positives of the industry directly to your Target Audience and effectively cut out the middle man. It helps keep the Target Market up to speed on what case study you may be working on and allows them to provide their thoughts or feedback. One of PR's biggest critics; Journalists, can also be contacted more freely. You are able to see what your potential Journalists interests and personality may be and use this to your advantage as when approaching them you can use the correct tone of voice that will appeal or catch their attention. Hopefully getting a much quicker response.

I really do hope that over the coming years the Public Relations industry continues to build its well deserved credibility and allows Social Media to enhance its chances of this.
Any critics of the industry should accept that everyone of us working in the Media, especially within a tabloid paper or celeb magazine is going to have to use "spin" at some point, otherwise we could see alot more papers going out of business. I'm obviously not condoning full blown lies but sensationalizing a story is part of attracting your Target Market and effectively the way to make sales. 

People need to give the industry a fair chance and not generalise the industry as a whole with this uneducated outlook as it simply isnt a fair overview and doesn't allow people to appreciate the good that can come to an organisation or individual from such a useful tool.

Toooo Blog or not toooo Blog...

I am just writing a light one today as its a Friday afternoon and the sun is shining so to be completely honest I want to get my tan on while this lovely (brief) "summer" is still here.

So here goes...

Blogs have been around for many years now,  around twenty years if we want to be precise. The first blogs are recongnised to be those of Jerry Pournelle and Dave Winer who were created in 1994, and were mainly used for personal use. As many people still do today. But over the years they have become popular for enhancing a brands image, increasing publicity and just generally getting some recognition and feed back from our publics.

At first blogging did not really take off, which is strange to believe now as most people within a profession, especially within the Media Industry tend to now have one. And what a brilliant tool it has become.

I personally only started my blog a week ago, but its something i have been interested in and meaning to do for some time now as i feel its vital when starting your career in the Media Indusrty to show you have an opinion and hopefully get some recognition as a result of that. And even if you do not get any recognition at least you are showing you have an interest, whatever interest that may be, it can only look good to a future employee. Saying that, if we are going to use our blogs as a personal diary and wish to divelge our personal lives through social networking sites, blogging may not be the right channel if you want to get noticed for career prospects...

As a student I recognise blogging can give alot of power to those in higher education. It enables us to be heard as individuals and possibly communicate with people in our chosen profession, if we get noticed through publishing our work via Social Media sites.

Not only is Blogging a great networking tool its also extremely fun. By publishing blogs via sites such as twitter and linkedin, you are giving yourself an opportunity that you have full control off. If someone within your industry spots you and likes what they see you could be lucky enough to land yourself a job as a result, and if not a job you have the ability to get responses and feedback from a possible very reputable source.

As the current economic state stands, finding a job is hard enough. So why not help ourselves out a bit, show some initiative and take control to improve our chances of getting noticed? Or even better, employed.

Happy blogging people and have a good weekend!

The News is just not News anymore...

Remember the days when we would grab our morning papers to see the latest front page story. Or eagerly await our next copy of Heat magazine to see what hideous outfit Jordan has been recently snapped in?

Await no more.

I dont think there is a day that goes by anymore where i DONT know what the front page of the following days paper is going to be or the latest celeb gossip. And that is all thanks to New Media.

I love that i am now able to access immediate news via my mobile phone by either looking on news sites or simply just following the newspapers via Twitter, but i do wonder the longterm impact this may be having on the good old fashioned Newspapers. Does it make me more determined to go and buy tomorows paper when i get a snippet the night before online? Or do I wonder whether I will be paying for old news?

Obviously demographics is a bit part of this debate, as there will remain to be a wide group of people that will purchase hard copies of the news because they do not avidly use the internet. But in terms of the younger generation and particularly students who cannot afford to buy a daily Newspaper & Professionals who lead a very busy lifestyle, checking online news is a very convenient option.

As an example of how powerful online news can become, just recently we saw the riots in the UK get extreme publicity way before they made the front page of the papers - and that was all down to the dominoe effect of Twitter. As people Tweet, the news obviously spreads. In this particular circumstance we saw the massive impact this had. People were effectively using this site to encourage one another to impair more damage.

It appears to be the way forward in terms of spreading stories whether they be good or bad. And newspapers will need to embrace this if they wish to have breaking news on the front page the following day.

I am obviously not insinuating that i believe the sales of Newspapers and Magazines is in massive jeopardy and will suddenly plummet because everyone will start getting their news online - of course not.
Newspapers will still serve a purpose, as you just cant beat a good old copy of your daily Sun. But i do believe that in time Newspapers may become less effective as people will be able to receive the news quicker and easier elsewhere.

It all boils down to moving with the times, and if in such a short space of time sites such as Twitter can play such a huge part in breaking news stories to the world, who knows what the situation could be in another five years? Everything is becoming electronic and i think it would be naive to ignore that this could be the future in terms of how we receive our news.

The "Reality" of Reality TV

It is something that has been around for years, but recently I have noticed the hype around Reality TV has become pretty big in the UK again.

In the past year seen shows such as The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE), Made in Chelsea (MIC) and Geordie Shore have taken the country by storm. But why? What is the big fascination with these "Real life" people? Or is it that exactly? I personally switch over to these shows because it gives me an escape from the routine day to day lives most of us lead and allows me to sink into a world of glitz, glamour and parties...or if you are living in Essex Fake Tans, Vajazzles and Marg.

Obviously we are going to get the synics, but anyone with a remote sense of humour will be taking these shows with a pinch of salt and accepting them for what they are. And why not? Its so refreshing to have a couple of hours a week when you can get stupidly excited to see whether Caggie and Spencer will finally get it together or will Mark and Lauren break up again?!

But why have these shows suddenly become so popular? Was there a huge gap in the market that was desperately craving Reality TV? Probably. Especially with that gaping hole in all our hearts following the loss of Big Brother on C4...But would these shows have been half as successful without the help of online sites such as Twitter and Facebook? And again i come back to the power of Social Media.

We now have the ability as the public to communicate with the celebs, stars and get immediate access to the latest news. Which is something we could have only dreamed of ten years ago. But not only does this brilliant invention allow the public to feel connected with the rich and famous, it also allows the producers of these Reality Shows to have immediate responses from its viewers. Something that can only give more power and control to give their publics what they know they want. Leading to bigger hype, bigger viewings and bigger publicity.

In terms of the PR around Reality TV, the control the industry has on these shows is massive. The fact we can now reach our target audience through Social Media also makes the job alot easier.
The hype surrounding Reality TV can be immediately analysed and controlled, allowing us to know what to give our publics as soon as they want it. This factor makes it easier to enhance the publicity surrounding these shows, because we know what our publics think and want.

It also shows how the public themselves have massive control over the fate of these shows thanks to Social Media, as we effectively decide their success with our open views and public opinions, leading to either success or failure. Essentially resulting in much more conversation and publicity than could ever have come from a tabloid or magazine article...

The effects of Social Media...

Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin... the list is endless and its something no one can escape from anymore because it has literally taken over the world! I will openly admit I am addicted to Social Media. I cant even go ten minutes without checking my Twitter account at least fifty times (and im not exaggerating) to see the latest TOWIE v MIC updates.

It has become very apparent to me recently that Social Media can serve a purpose to almost anyone. Whether it be for business or pleasure these sites are becoming extremely powerful in the outcome they are able to produce. And with such a mass audience its no wonder really.

Not only can these social networking sites be used to tell our public what we may have for breakfast, lunch and dinner today, but are also able to provide a brilliant tool to the industry by allowing us to reach our target audiences and commuicate with them at such ease, having a massive impact on Reality TV, Businesses and the Media as a whole.

So what has happened to us all? Have we all become so socially retarded that we now find it easier to express ourselves through our glass screens to hundreds of random followers rather than just have a good old fashioned face to face conversation? Or is it just that modern society has become even lazier than we already feared?

Im really interested to hear what people views are on this topic as its something i'm going to be researching much more deeply over the next few months. Do we think Social Media is having a postive effect on PR? Is something that can be used as tool to enhance our knowledge or could it actually weaken the effects of PR and in longterm make the industry useless?

Please let me know what you think. Im going to be discussing the relationship between Reality TV and PR tomorrow and the effects Social Media is having on this new TV...

A little about me...

Hello. My name is Kelly. Im 23 and currently studying PR at The University of West London.

Im passionate about PR especially Entertainment/Media  and pray/aim that this time next year ill be working within this exciting, fast moving and dynamic industry. Fingers crossed.

I absolutely love writing, being creative and having the opportunity to express my opinions on topics i feel strongly about. And im not afraid to say how i feel.

I have decided to start a blog whilst writing my dissertation as a guide and feedback process, so any feedback would be much appreciated!

I hope you all enjoy reading what i have to say and i look forward to hearing your comments...