Award nominations for onechocolate
We come into work every day to deliver first class campaigns that impress our clients and make a measurable impact on the bottom line. To see our work help our clients hit their objectives – be it increase sales, grow brand awareness or encourage behaviour change – is more often than not enough of a reward. However, for your work recognised by the industry as outstanding and an example of best practice is the icing on the cake.
This week we’re having our cake and eating it too as we’re celebrating not one, but two of our campaigns being shortlisted for Gold SABRE awards.
i luv my can our consumer campaign to raise awareness of the sustainability of the drinks can for Beverage Can Makers Europe is a finalist in the Excellence in Public Relations Programming (UK and Irish campaigns with fees less than £50,000) category.
Whilst our activation of PC Tools’ sponsorship of the World Series by Renault sponsorship is a finalist in the Product Media Relations (Consumer Media) category. This marks the second consecutive year that we’ve been shortlisted for our work with PC Tools.
Run by the Holmes Report Group, the SABRE awards recognise campaigns that demonstrate the highest level of strategic planning, creativity and business results. This year they received over 1800 entries from campaigns across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, so it’s fantastic that we’ve been shortlisted. Congratulations to all the teams involved and we look forward to the winners will being announced on May 31st.
Never work with children, animals…and celebrities?
Celebrity endorsements are tried and tested ways of getting media traction for any brand. It’s a risky strategy because not only is it tricky to find that perfect someone that embodies your brand values, has media clout, can be managed to deliver your messaging, they also need to be within budget! As if that wasn’t enough, you also have to have faith that if (or when) they fall out of favour with the public, they won’t take your brand down with them.
Two PR campaigns linked to celebrities hit the headlines this week, both demonstrated how a name attached to a brand can secure column inches and drive social buzz, but neither managed to fully swerve the potential pitfalls.
Firstly, virtually unheard of dating site CougarLife.com claimed that it offered Caroline Flack (32-yr- old ex-girlfriend of 17-yr-old Harry Styles from boy band One Direction) £500,000 to be the face of the site. The PRs behind this deserve top marks because there is absolutely no chance that Flack would accept the offer, meaning they would never have to part with the cash. The fact that a start-up dating site is highly unlikely to have even have half a million to dedicate to PR, is besides the point. The coverage came thick and fast with Flack joining the conversation and jokingly tweeting, “Half a million to be the face of CougarLife.com?? YES! Finally I can afford my stannah sex swing!”
It may have grabbed the headlines, but the downside was that it was so clearly a PR stunt, the public saw through it. As a result a large proportion of the public attention and social media conversations highlighted questions about the brand’s ethics.
The second unsuccessful celebrity paring was the revelation that ‘Celebrity Mum of the Year’ nominee, Stacey Solomon was caught smoking during pregnancy. For a campaign hinged on celebrating inspirational motherhood, this could have been a serious PR fail. However, sponsors of the award, Foxy Bingo acted quickly, ousted her from the line-up, issued a statement and Solomon delivered an emotional apology on TV. The reputation of the awards have undoubtedly been jeopardised, as have Solomon’s commercial value. I’d like to think Foxy Bingo is now out of hot ewater and can look ahead to announcing the winner next week, but with the likes of Peaches Geldof, Natasha Giggs (who had an 8-year affair with her brother-in-law, Ryan Giggs) and TOWIE’s Chole Sims on the shortlist, you never quite know.
How to survive Dream Toys
Every year the Toy Retailers Association gather together their leading experts, select some of the best toys in the land, hideaway in their testing labs, then resurface in October to announce their predictions for Christmas.
These predictions are known as the Dream Dozen; the top 12 toys destined for a place under the Christmas tree. The Dream Dozen is unveiled at Dream Toys, a sell-out event for anyone and everyone in the toy industry. We attended alongside our client Playmobil. Their Top Agents Super Racer won a Kid’s Choice award, which is fantastic recognition for the global toy giant.
Although we enjoyed every minute, Dream Toys is a tough day out. Here are my top tips to ensure your experience is a sweet dream not a beautiful nightmare.
Get an Early Night
The show starts bright and early at 6am and runs until 2pm. There’s plenty of tea, coffee, Danish pastries and bacon butties at hand to get you through, but cashing in on sleep the night before will ensure you’re bright and breezy. Especially if like this year, the show takes place the morning after the PR Week Awards.
Get Dressed Up
No toy show is complete without our favourite characters. Rastamouse, a Sylvanian family and Moshi monster attended in their finest attire, but most of the exhibitors came suited and booted. To stand out amongst the throng we dressed up as characters from the Playmobil range. We were the only PRs in costume and it was a great icebreaker, starting conversations with a range of media from nationals to mummy bloggers.
Bring Your Running Shoes
You know the saying about mountains and Mohammed? Well, the same point applies to attracting media at this event. If you spot someone you want to speak to, head over straight away and get the conversation started. Given that every other exhibitor is looking to do exactly the same thing, it’s first come first served.
Get Down with the Kids
Dream Toys is a child’s idea of heaven. Unsurprisingly the venue was swar
ming with adorable little faces eager to get their tiny hands on the latest must-haves. Their eyes light up as they discover what each toy is capable of, but there’s always a suggestion of ways that it could be ‘cooler’. “Why doesn’t it fire out rockets?”, “Wouldn’t it be cool if it could fly?”, “Does it come in Blue? It’s my favourite colour”. Note down all the suggestions and take them back to the R&D team, it’s priceless marketing insight.
Embrace the Christmas spirit
It may be October but Dream Toys marks the gateway to Christmas. Snowflakes adorn the walls, icicles hang from the ceiling, kids are dressed as elves and Santa has been constructed out of Lego. All that’s missing is Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas is you’. Scourges, leave the cynicism at home and embrace the Christmas cheer.
Battle of the Playground
When I was at school, the new term signalled a brand new pencil case jam packed with WH Smiths’ finest. Highlighters, protractors, Parker pens – you name it, we bought it simply because shiny new stationery was the ticket to playground cool.
Fast forward twenty years however, and pens have firmly been knocked off their throne. For school children of today the reigning King of Cool are collectable toy figures. Known to any 7 or 8 year-old as “figs”, interchangeable plastic figures, sold in a series and packaged in mystery bags are the only way to earn your kudos on the playground. The aim is to swap with your friends to collect each figure in the series then mix and match to your heart’s content. So not too dissimilar to pogs, tazos or football stickers that have entertained previous generations of young collectors.
The only difference with this incarnation is that these pocket playthings are keeping the toy industry afloat. Despite the overall toy market being stagnant, sales of the £1 to £2 toys have increased by 12 per cent and this price range is now the fastest growing area of the toy market, accounting for £2 in every £10 spent on toys in Britain.
So what’s the secret to their success?
First and foremost it’s the price: £2 is the magic number that brings children into shops. They can treat themselves with their pocket money and still have enough left over for sweets, or even save up for a bigger splurge.
Secondly, it the freedom to make something nonsensical and downright ridiculous, just because you can. I can testify to this firsthand as we’ve recently helped client Playmobil successfully launch their Fi?ures range. Although I’m yet to create each of the 144 different possible combinations, I’m having a good time trying.
Thirdly, it’s the element of surprise. In what other life situation would you go into a shop and buy a product you can’t see, with no guarantee it’s the one you want? Madness.
In light of “figs” is hard to understand what we ever saw in a pencil case full of stationery.
How hot is your grammar?
I recently discovered this 10-point comma quiz on PR Daily. It’s a test to see how good your grammar is and an opportunity to see if you could ever cut it as a Sub-editor.
As PRs we’re sticklers for correct spelling and grammar. Everybody makes mistakes now and again, hence the need for proof reading. However, writing and proofing press materials day in day out, you can’t help but exercise the skill out of the office. For example, whilst enjoying a blog post or online article, I find grammatical anomalies jumping out at me.
The worst offenders tend to be incorrect use of punctuation and abbreviations, with some of the classic confusions being:
your / you’re
it’s / its
there / they’re / their
of / have (as in ‘should of’, ‘would of’ or ‘could of’)
affect / effect
DVD’s / DVDs
Naturally when writing a personal blog, it’s understandable to use an informal writing style. Additionally, there are some sentences that read better when inaccurately punctuated, suggesting that rules are meant to be broken.
Take the quiz to see for yourself.
